ERSA I-CON2V (Port Switch Hack)

[sn4k3]

Hello,

After ask for a soldering station i opt for ERSA I-CON 1 and latter I-CON2V, if you want read take a look at: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/new-soldering-station-recomendation-weller-vs-jbc/
As i already know ERSA dual or quad port stations are not ON/OFF switched controled independent, which is a big drawback to me, fry un-use tools without need are not required, disconnect and connect port is also bad and pain, also can lead to broken port or pins. So i wan't a easy way to switch on/off each port. Ersa could do this easy by software side as i already adviced, 20m of programming could solve this problem, still i come with my own solution by modify the station.

Beware: If you follow this do it by your own risk, warranty will be void, test your station, make sure pins match

After some hours of inspection and debug i have discover all pins and thier relationship.
Tested with i-tool and chip tool vario
Please see attachments (PDF have the hack) and switch the data pin
Route cables from bottom vent holes to switchs, myself i will place them at left side but you can come with different approach.
Dont forget to insulate every cut, cable joins and switch terminals as well -- heatshrink tube

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Don't try to understand my sketch, look at PDF only








































PDF Revision: 3 (Final and tested)

[sn4k3]

(Reserved)

Next hack: Implement macros (Temperature presets) with buttons

[sn4k3]

Modification was completed today 
All went very well.
With this modification turn on/off tools are almost instant and don't require to disconnect tools anymore.
This what ersa should be done at first place. Still the station and tools are great.

Make sure you pick good switch and not crappy ones.

[eKretz]

That is an interesting solution and looks like it will work just fine, but doesn't that station have a "sleep" function? My i-Con 1 is able to be set to reduce power after a pretty short inactivity period and then completely shut off the heater after a bit longer. This works great for me, I'd think that would have worked just fine for your situation also. If it's just your personal preference not to have to wait a few minutes for the station to go to sleep, I could understand that too.

[sn4k3]

That is an interesting solution and looks like it will work just fine, but doesn't that station have a "sleep" function? My i-Con 1 is able to be set to reduce power after a pretty short inactivity period and then completely shut off the heater after a bit longer. This works great for me, I'd think that would have worked just fine for your situation also. If it's just your personal preference not to have to wait a few minutes for the station to go to sleep, I could understand that too.

For i-con 1 this mod is useless as it is 1 tool only. I have sleep at 5m inactivity still i never use two tools at same time and chip tool rarely use, so why i will have chip too to always heat up, waste resistor and oxidize the tips? 350ºc-370ºc for 5m every time i use the station is enough to dramatic reduce the tip life span and they are not cheap, no need to. So this mod is a win win to me.
Think about Vario 4, 4 tools heating up wasting tips, resistor, power, heat, etc. (except s-air) sleep and hibernation is not an excuse to ersa skip individual switch but is a way to win more money, it will reduce tools life and station as well so you will need to buy sooner.

Another way to save your tools is set them at lowest temp (150ºc) when not needed

[eKretz]

Yeah it would be nice if they'd add something like that to firmware I suppose but most of their stuff is probably used in a production environment so the tools are constantly being used. I'm guessing they don't care enough to implement it.

I never really thought about it causing damage in the 5 minutes or so when it comes on until it goes to sleep, didn't think it would really do any in that short of time. I also clean and re-tin my tip every time it goes back into the holder for more than a few minutes, so it shouldn't do any oxidizing when it's completely covered in solder. I still run the same tips that I bought when I first got my station in 2012 or around there so there must not be much damage happening, they all still work perfectly.

[sn4k3]

Yeah it would be nice if they'd add something like that to firmware I suppose but most of their stuff is probably used in a production environment so the tools are constantly being used. I'm guessing they don't care enough to implement it.

I never really thought about it causing damage in the 5 minutes or so when it comes on until it goes to sleep, didn't think it would really do any in that short of time. I also clean and re-tin my tip every time it goes back into the holder for more than a few minutes, so it shouldn't do any oxidizing when it's completely covered in solder. I still run the same tips that I bought when I first got my station in 2012 or around there so there must not be much damage happening, they all still work perfectly.

Not only prodution, since thier price its low many hobby people will use them, adding a touch to heat up is simple and not hard to implement, any programmer with thier source code could add that in about 20m. beside that i really doubt any person use all tools in a vario 4 even in a production mode with multiple persons, also multi tool station only selected tool got priority, in description they say  only selected tool is heated properly, while others are "secondary" heated, so not good heat recovery.
Their products are good, why not make it better if they can? When you decide to buy a new tool you will compare with others, ersa is good but not the only one, when it come to features it can be a plus if ersa add this, like JBC already have a tool in stand detection.

The problem is not the 5m, is the 5m multiplied by the times you turn on and off the station, if i turn off/on 10 times, 5m is turned into 50m, time that are burning tin and wasting tips, the in rush current to fast heat up first boot reach 400ºc and cool down up to 350ºc (my case). I also retin tips if shutdown or long time  without use, still is a waste of everything to let a tool heatup all that times if i will never use it in that turns.

And yes their tools are durable and tips are too, but if i can preserve it i will take the care Now clicking a button is easy and give me the freedoom i want

[eKretz]

Like I said, I'm with you on that. They really should add it on the firmware, it would make a lot of sense there since it should take so little to implement.

[gbix]

(Reserved)

Next hack: Implement macros (Temperature presets) with buttons

do you want do this from smartphone or pc?

i making now interface for icon 1/2 devices with fume extractor, lower heater and interface with pc or smartphone via bluetooth

[bateau020]

This topic inspired me. But I have a i-con 1V.

Same pcb inside, just less components and also 1 port less. Electronics is part of my job, but I do not do enough of it to mandate a large lab setup. So I bought the version that I thought would just fit me.
I love that thing, and I also have the i-tool and the chip tool vario. Fast, accurate, powerful. Such an improvement over my old weller clone. I also love it when the controller starts to "sing" faintly when power needs to be dumped in the tools. Lets me know I have a good contact.

So there I was, in confinement, nowhere to go, and doing more electronics than usual. And there I got really tired of switching plugs all the time. I did not want to hack the controller too much, so I made an external switch.
A switch with 3 states: left, right and a timed inbetween "no tool". The latter is mandatory between left/right tools for about 2 secs for the controller to not freak out. The switch is fully isolated, and via monitoring of the signals, switches itself on and off automatically in sync with the controller.

I even thought about implementing communication with the tools to show "too hot to touch" temperatures of the disconnected tool, but that was characteristic overengineering, and I wanted to try out the Attiny 214. That guy would probably be too small for a full comms stack and it would require some more components and a lot more time. So I saved that for later.

I found a nice case that would fit very well under the controller, milled the font panel and the pcb (with a mill that was way too blunt as I found out after I started, but the PCB was luckily still usable after some cleaning), and was able to put it all together in rather short time. Yeah, the metal plug and the white cable are an eyesore, but hey, I took what I had lying around. Postal service was/is extremely limited. And did I need dual color leds? No, but they were all I had at hand, so made a use for them.

Does the switch work well? Yes, and it is a joy too, since the heat up time of the tools is so short. Really easy to use. One big pushbutton. I designed it so that the relay click pattern gives audible hints too, so in short time you don't even have to look anymore as for what tool is active. You just grab it.

Is it economically viable? No. For a one-off the BOM gets close to 100 EUR if you have to buy it all in small qty. Just get the i-con 2V if you really use more multiple tools regularly. But on the other hand you could use this to extend the port range of a 2V to 3 tools or more if you want (while keeping your warranty).

[Nuno_pt]

Is it economically viable? No. For a one-off the BOM gets close to 100 EUR if you have to buy it all in small qty. Just get the i-con 2V if you really use more multiple tools regularly. But on the other hand you could use this to extend the port range of a 2V to 3 tools or more if you want (while keeping your warranty).

Even at that price point for a single user with I-CON it could be useful, some users could join and send the board to be made, and make a BOM for all, spread the costs to a more acceptable, if this is good for all the 1, 1V, 2V it can have a lot of guys making this.

I remember @TiN from xdevs, here was trying to see if he could get someone with a 2V, to compare the missing components of the board, since the 1 and 2 use the same board, to extend the tools of is CON1.

This way is probably better since it allows you to have maybe 3 or 4 tools on the I-CON1.

Would you be willing to publish the schematic for the board and the BOM.

Thanks for your effort.


edit: from what I could see, the Finder relays are 5.83€ each and the support 3.24€ each.

[bateau020]

Would you be willing to publish the schematic for the board and the BOM.

Here you go. Kicad. Added the source code (please forgive style, that was a real quicky).

https://github.com/hb020/ersaswitch

I did not detail the cables, screws, heat shrink and the cable crimp endings. Also, some of the header connectors (male/female) in the BOM are not what I used. There are a couple of 1-pin female connectors mentioned that are simple holes in reality, and in 1 situation I used a more expensive connector than a simple kk-254, as I used what I had at hand.

[Nuno_pt]

Thanks for that.

Let's see if anyone jumps for a group buy.

[sn4k3]

Excelent work! In fact you don't need control power (relays) if you disable or switch the data pin is all you need, internally ERSA already cut power with triacs when data is missing.
So in fact a expander board is very easy to do, COM everything and switch only data pin. For me would be easy to do and replicate expanders with 3D printed enclosures, PCBs are really cheap...
A simple rotatory switch could control up to x position units, or with a simple atmega about 23 tools

EDIT: I was looking wrong into the thing, a relay or triac will be needed to cut power to the connected parallel tools, still this don't add much more complexity. Could do 2 versions, V1 with a row of ports and a V2 with two rows so it allow to use two tools at same time (Port1 and Port2)

[Nuno_pt]

Hi @sn4k3,
I was thinking maybe one step ahead, instead of a expander to carry the connectors and the board, would it be more difficult to 3D print the case of the station (the black part)??, but a little more deep so the board would be inside the station, and a more wide on the part below the screen where the connectors are, so you can have all in one case.

I'm thinking like this (if this would be doable);

The board could be done for 4 channels out, anyone could populate the channels they want (one board fits i-CON, 1, 1V, 2, 2V), the channels would be selected by rotary knob.

3D print a new case (black part) but a little deep and below the screen little wider (to accommodate 4 connectors), the connectors could be pre-drill from the inside, and with a knife you can cut the channels that you want to have (2, 3 or for 4) for i-CON1, or (3 or 4) for the i-CON2.

The wiring to the original connector would be route to the board, and from the board to this connector, and to the others.

Could this be done?? Maybe.
 

[sn4k3]

Hi @sn4k3,
I was thinking maybe one step ahead, instead of a expander to carry the connectors and the board, would it be more difficult to 3D print the case of the station (the black part)??, but a little more deep so the board would be inside the station, and a more wide on the part below the screen where the connectors are, so you can have all in one case.

I'm thinking like this (if this would be doable);

The board could be done for 4 channels out, anyone could populate the channels they want (one board fits i-CON, 1, 1V, 2, 2V), the channels would be selected by rotary knob.

3D print a new case (black part) but a little deep and below the screen little wider (to accommodate 4 connectors), the connectors could be pre-drill from the inside, and with a knife you can cut the channels that you want to have (2, 3 or for 4) for i-CON1, or (3 or 4) for the i-CON2.

The wiring to the original connector would be route to the board, and from the board to this connector, and to the others.

Could this be done?? Maybe.

This can be done, just need to design the case part, but i think clone it would require some time, and while i think it look great it's not functional when come to stacking due oval design at top. So instead of clone do a rectangular case would be faster, and allow stacking.
Your idea can be done but require more work. My ideia is:

Code: [Select]

Print a case similar to "bateau020" prototype, that stays under the i-con.
That case would have the enconder and 1/2 input ports and 4/8 output ports
With a patch  cable, connect i-con port 1 to expander in 1
+ If i-con 2/v2 - With a patch  cable, connect i-con port 2 to expander in 2 (optional)
That way is much more easy to setup, no warraty void, every person can do it, cheaper and usable.

UI idea:
- Every port have an dual or RGB LED, current in work port stays RED.
- Single click to enter port 1 select OR Double click to enter port 2 select (icon 2/2v)
- While cycle ports with enconder, preview slot turns white or whatever, it blinks for a short period of time, if you click encoder in time it will select to that port otherwise it quit the selection mode after some time.
Simple and easy?

Btw, anyone know where to buy the F/M ersa connector ports? or the name of them?

[Nuno_pt]

Yes, I thought it would be more complicate, and I miss the oval part on top of the case, so a rectangular case would be best.

I understand the warranty, but my thinking was no patch cable to make the connection between "case's", just the tool cables, and when you grab the station to move you just grab one thing.

The board could be use for the two scenarios, like all the rest of the stuff.

The only thing that will change is the case for the station (voiding the warranty with all inside), or a case for the patch unit (not voiding the warranty with all outside).

The rest is ok to me.

Could this (board) be use in the two scenarios? What you think?

[bateau020]

Btw, anyone know where to buy the F/M ersa connector ports? or the name of them?

The ones I used are:
8 pin DIN plug with bayonet: PREHKEYTEC 71430-080/0800
8 pin DIN socket with bayonet: PREHKEYTEC 71206-080/0800

Haven't found plastic nor black when I looked.

But after some searching, Amphenol should have some also.
Look at the C 091 B series, they look like what ersa uses. They even have an angled connector that would allow a more flush connection with the controller.

http://www.amphenol-sine.com/pdf/catalog/C091.pdf

Amphenol T 3524 501 or T 3524 005 (angled) for the plug, and they have a series of sockets, panel and PCB.
They are not cheap though....

[sn4k3]

The ones I used are:
8 pin DIN plug with bayonet: PREHKEYTEC 71430-080/0800
8 pin DIN socket with bayonet: PREHKEYTEC 71206-080/0800

Haven't found plastic nor black when I looked.

But after some searching, Amphenol should have some also.
Look at the C 091 B series, they look like what ersa uses. They even have an angled connector that would allow a more flush connection with the controller.

http://www.amphenol-sine.com/pdf/catalog/C091.pdf

Amphenol T 3524 501 or T 3524 005 (angled) for the plug, and they have a series of sockets, panel and PCB.
They are not cheap though....

The important factor is if they are plug&play compatible with ersa? Can i tool direct connect with then without adapt a new connector, the ones you use?

[bateau020]

The ones I use are completely compatible. They lock correctly.

[bateau020]

Just found some cheaper connectors: Binder 678 series.
https://www.binder-connector.com/en/products/miniature-circular-connectors/bayonet-ip40-1/female-socket#9906480008
Haven't tested, but they look OK.
Or try hirose.

[zmerli]

Hi, Do you guys think i can make a "Weller WXP 120 Soldering iron 24 V 120 W" work on the "Ersa i-con" and "Ersa i-con 2" if yes, can anyone tell me how? thank you

[bateau020]

That would surprise me. You'd have to look at the serial communication protocol. I would guess they are not compatible.