TS100 Soldering Iron test ?

[MrZeroo00]

Hey guys,

I would like to know if somebody already tested the Chinese TS100 Soldering Iron ? It showed up on Bangdood and AliExpress a few weeks ago http://www.banggood.com/TS100-Digital-OLED-Programable-Interface-DC-5525-Soldering-Iron-Station-Built-in-STM32-Chip-p-984214.html

It seems pretty good for quick soldering and repair especially considering the price, any thoughts ?

[nukie]

Notice the length of the shaft between the tip and the grip? What you want is a shorter tip for precision work. However it looks pretty good design coming from China.

[spadger]

I have  used TS100 for a long time, and It's a wonderful tool.

Hey guys,

I would like to know if somebody already tested the Chinese TS100 Soldering Iron ? It showed up on Bangdood and AliExpress a few weeks ago http://www.banggood.com/TS100-Digital-OLED-Programable-Interface-DC-5525-Soldering-Iron-Station-Built-in-STM32-Chip-p-984214.html

It seems pretty good for quick soldering and repair especially considering the price, any thoughts ?

[continuo]

It seems pretty good for quick soldering and repair especially considering the price, any thoughts ?

Buy one and do a review, please 

Judged only by the looks of it, the handle seems to be made out of slippery hard plastics and there is no rest or indexing for your fingers. Doesn't look very comfortable to hold or very ergonomic, imho... It's also quite funny how they brag about their "upgraded" soldering tip and compare it to a Hakko T12, but don't mention that the T12, for the most part, rests inside the handle. Grip-to-tip distance on the Hakko may very well be superior to their "Upgrade", lol... But, yeah, buy one and do a review 

[KL27x]

My first thought is that if I didn't use it regularly, I would probably lose the cord.

My second thought is to wonder how much li ion battery power I could pack into that thing to make it self-contained. But I would probably end up tossing it and making my own simpler control board, to make room for more battery.

I also wonder if I wouldn't rather have a butane powered Portasol, to begin with.

If you have access to 12+VDC where you need your portability, this would be great. Working on or around your car or model airplane/drone, etc.

[spadger]

4x18650 can work well. 12Vdc also can work well. The DC jack is 5.5*2.5.

My first thought is that if I didn't use it regularly, I would probably lose the cord.
My second thought is to wonder how much li ion battery power I could pack into that thing to make it self-contained. But I would probably end up tossing it and making my own simpler control board, to make room for more battery.

I also wonder if I wouldn't rather have a butane powered Portasol, to begin with.

If you have access to 12+VDC where you need your portability, this would be great. Working on or around your car or model airplane/drone, etc.

[KL27x]

I was thinking something more like 6x AA-sized cells wrapped into two bundles to make a trianglular core for the grip. That would get around 18-20V of juice.

All that fancy electronics and OLED. Programmable temperature curves? LOL, no. Replace that with a buck converter and charging IC for the integral battery, so it can charge with a USB cord that I CAN lose as many as I want. And for controller, simple temp regulation +- 10 degrees or so is fine. A thermocouple in the tip, a couple opamps, a comparator, a pot, and a mosfet. Controls: on/off switch and a knob; don't even need degree markings, just a dial indicator and a scale from 1-10. I don't want to hold a button for X seconds to start up and shutdown or to cycle thru menus, or to use a touch capacitive control to slide the temp up/down. And I don't want a soldering iron to give me warning messages thru an OLED. If I can't tell my iron is malfunctioning, then it's working fine. If the iron knows the iron is too hot, then it can switch off the heater like it's supposed to and keep that info to itself.

Better yet, instead of using a 24V heater element designed for a bench station, how about a design made to run off 6-7V at high current. Run from 2x high output 18650 cells. It doesn't matter if it lasts 10 minutes, because you're probably using this kind of iron to fix something, not to assemble a board. Manufacturing a heater and tip is the hard part, though.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Just ordered one - looks like some wanky features but shows promise.
Having given up looking for a decent lithium battery powere iron, looks like this could run from a laptop supply or power bank.
Manual here
http://hrajme.si/pictures/articles/00/280/TS100%20Soldering%20Iron%20Instruction%20Manual.pdf

[Mochaboy]

I just received mine...I got mine from ebay for $75 (didn't see it listed anywhere else but I see it's on Banggood for $62).

Unfortunately mine was defective out of the box.  Either an issue with the tip or the temperature probe.  It starts to heat up but the temperatures fluctuate all over the place from 200 to 400C but it never comes up to heat.

Reaching out to the manufacturer for a replacement (and another 3-6 week wait).

First impressions - Coming from a WES51 - it's small - like really small...as mentioned - there are no rubber grips or otherwise any other ergonomic features that make it nice to hold and the plastic is slippery.  I had a bunch of 12v barrel plugs here but they were all 2.1mm ID and this one needs I think a 2.5mm ID so if you're DIY'ng your power supply you'll want to account for that.  I do a lot of radio control so I have tons of 12v batteries I can chain into a nice light 24v power supply but you will still have that wire to contend with.

Real shame it didn't work - this is definitely one of those geek purchases you get for the guy who has everything

[AF6LJ]

Is it okay to say I'm not impressed?

[Mochaboy]

So I opened it up and took a look around under the microscope.  I didn't see anything that popped out at me, but once I reassembled it - it suddenly started working fine (smh).  I'll see if I can slap some video together of it in action. 

I do a lot of field repairs on the flying field so a Portasol Pro Piezo has a permanent place in my field box, but even that butane torch has trouble when there's a stiff wind blowing.  So much so that for larger events, I just tossed my WES51 in the car with me.  I was in the market for a portable-'ish soldering iron and so far this fits the bill.  I would definitely like to have seen some ergonomic design go into the handle, but for the size, (not so much the price) I'm ok with it.

I also reinstalled the firmware.  Very simple process - plug in micro usb cable - press A on power up to enter DFU mode. After the driver is installed - and the usb soldering iron shows up as virtual disk in your file manager, copy the .hex file into the drive and it should disconnect on its own.  When you reconnect the iron - the file extension should have changed to .RDY and you're done.  This step wasn't really necessary I just did it to be safe.

I got those instructions from this forum post:
http://miniware.com.cn/forum.php?mod=forumdisplay&fid=67

With only 4 tips available and each costing ~$17, I'll mostly likely pick up the fine point conical tip and leave it at that.  I have 3 models to build so I'll put this little guy through the paces and report back.

[Mochaboy]

Sorry one last gotcha - if/and when you folks get yours and you feel the need to open it up (who doesn't love a good tear down) - when you go to put it back together take special note of a copper tensioner plate near the shoulder of the iron.  When you lift the back hatch off it springs down - you have to pry that plate up before reseat-ing the back plate or the back plate won't fit.

[Mochaboy]

Here it is next to old faithful (which died this last weekend - talk about timing).

[Mochaboy]

Found the tips cheaper here:

http://www.banggood.com/Original-Replacement-Solder-Tip-For-TS100-Digital-LCD-Soldering-Iron-p-984215.html

Looks like the TS-I should be just about right for surface mount parts - I'll let you know in another 3-4 weeks

[Augustus]

Firmware upgrade, really? 

[GreyWoolfe]

Is it okay to say I'm not impressed?

I will see your  and raise you  .  Ergonomics regarding tip to grip distance looks dismal.  Hopefully, it won't be a regrettable purchase.

[Mochaboy]

Yeah - I got this specifically so I could toss it in my field box but I don't see it replacing my Weller (that is if I ever get around to diagnosing and fixing it)...

Time to put all this 3D printing gear to use and print out a mold for a silicone grip. 

I did manage to do a little bit of soldering with it today and it's more than capable of handling whatever tasks you throw at it, but it took some getting used to with nothing substantial to grip on to.

[KL27x]

If you have access to mains, seems like a Peakeep iron may do the trick for a portable temp-controlled iron.

http://www.amazon.com/Peakeep-Temperature-Performance-Soldering-Capability/dp/B00WM6CKLC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446077476&sr=8-1&keywords=peakeep+iron

It takes the ubiquitous 900m or T18 tips, and you don't have to carry around a laptop brick. The rating is only 40W, but it reportedly heats up as fast as a 65W Hakko FX888, takin only 8-10 seconds to melt solder.

The Hakko 73W FX600 stick iron takes around 25 seconds per reviewers. Makes me think the Hakko sticks are simply power-modulated with an SCR, not temp-controlled, like the Peakeep would appear to be in comparison.

There's the relatively more powerful Hakko FX601 (at only 65W, but I guess it has more thermal transfer). It takes the larger T19 tips. Limited selection/availability.
http://www.amazon.com/Hakko-FX601-02-Adjustable-Temperature-Controlled/dp/B00FZPSX3G/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1446077598&sr=8-3&keywords=hakko+soldering+iron

[crispy_tofu]

I was nearly sure that someone's posted this already, but I can't find it, so:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/trial-on-the-ai-controlled-ts100-soldering-iron/

[mikeselectricstuff]

It takes the ubiquitous 900m or T18 tips, and you don't have to carry around a laptop brick. The rating is only 40W, but it reportedly heats up as fast as a 65W Hakko FX888. So maybe the heating element manages to be more efficient.

But chances are you'll already be carrying the laptop brick anyway, and a DC iron gives the additional advantage of powering from a battery pack - laptop, drill or powerbank.

[zagnut]

Just ordered one - looks like some wanky features but shows promise.
Having given up looking for a decent lithium battery powere iron, looks like this could run from a laptop supply or power bank.

what's wrong with the weller WSM with the WMRP handle?  well other than the ridiculous price.  the "cheaper" non-battery version still has room for a 3 cell 18650 li-ion which should last for 3 hours if you go with something around 3,000mA.

there is also the red WHS "hobby" version that is identical inside,  just add a jumper and the WSM firmware is enabled.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Just ordered one - looks like some wanky features but shows promise.
Having given up looking for a decent lithium battery powere iron, looks like this could run from a laptop supply or power bank.

what's wrong with the weller WSM with the WMRP handle?  well other than the ridiculous price.  the "cheaper" non-battery version still has room for a 3 cell 18650 li-ion which should last for 3 hours if you go with something around 3,000mA.

there is also the red WHS "hobby" version that is identical inside,  just add a jumper and the WSM firmware is enabled.

hadn't seen that. A bit expensive, and big.

I definitely think the TS100 is the right direction - self contained control, with flexible power options so you have a very small package to use with a PSU or battery you already have for other purposes

However it falls down in implementation :

Poor ergonomics - they've tried to make it too small, with no decent grip, or inbuilt stand. Both could probably be addressed with a suitably shaped silicone grip below the main body.

No way (AFAICS) to turn it off via the buttons

Supply voltage range is a fairly reasonable 12-24v, covering laptop PSUs, drill batteries and 19V power banks, with varying power depending on supply voltage, however it would be much better if it had a proper buck (or boost) regulator, so you could set a current limit, e.g. to stay within the limit of a power bank, laptop supply or other source.
Probably asking a bit much technically to have it run down to 5V, though 10W at 5V might just be useable at a pinch.

And like every other portable iron, nowhere to store a small supply of solder

[zagnut]

the WSM is basically an empty box with a single barely populated board inside.  with a smaller display it could easily be shrunken to the size of a tic-tac box or smaller.  going by the 3 cell LiFe battery and the car adapter it must be fine with something like 9-14v already.

here is a simple arduino project that works with the same RT headphone jack tips.  if it can control temps even half as good as the weller then it's going to be a far better option than this TS100 thing.  just need a short piece of aluminium tube over headphone jack to make it more comfortable.
http://www.martin-kumm.de/wiki/doku.php?id=Projects:SMD_Solderstation

[kenny_ken]

Hey guys,

my TS100 arrived today and I need to say - It's incredibly awesome! For a chinese product coming from a website like bangood it's really nice and sturdy. The quality feels good, the tip heats to 300°C within a few seconds (I'm using by 19V laptop PSU) and configuring is really easy. Besides that, the soldering tip is pretty short, which makes soldering a lot easier compared to those long ones. Almost no shaking and very controlable.

I tried soldering a few SMD components, works like a charm. Also, the standby mode works very good by just laying the iron on a little metal stand for soldering tips.

The next step would be making my own firmware, which seems to be pretty easy, since you can get the firmware toolkit. It's just plain C, and all needed libraries are included aswell as functions to read temp, write characters on the OLED display and many more. I am just struggling a bit because I haven't found out yet which libraries I need to include and how to "initialize" the iron, but as soon as I found that out I will provide a few sample firmwares

Greetings from Germany

Kenny

[mikeselectricstuff]