soldring iron resistance and AC leakage

[SnakeBite]

Hello,

i noticed lately that a lot of manufacterers have devices that check soldering tip temperature as well as tip resistance and AC leakage.

a few questions:

1. how important is to test the tip resistance and the tip AC leakage?
2. it's important to check it dayley?
3. it i found wrong tip resistance or/and AC leakage can i fix it in some way?

thanks
Ido

[JohnS_AZ]

For the most part concerns about tip resistance and leakage are to reduce or eliminate the potential for EOS/ESD damage of the board being soldered. Here's a really good reference...

http://www.esda.org/documents/openforumhandtoolsprass08.pdf

John ( Past President, Arizona Chapter of the EOS/ESD Association   )

[Zero999]

The electrical safety standards in the UK state that the resistance of the earth conductor of and class 1 piece of equipment must be lower than 1 Ohm (I think, it might be even lower).

Some soldering irons are powered off a transformer which is best for both ESD and safety alike. The transformer's voltage is always under 50VAC (normally 12V or 24V) so the soldering iron is considered to be a class 3 device which requires no earth connection, although some models connect the tip to earth via a 1M or 10M resistor to limit the current of ESD as well as protecting the transformer.

[Simon]

when we lived in italy and the house had no earth (which I later installed myself) I remember getting a tingling feeling from a board I was taking apart and eventually realized it was coming from the iron, I was rather surprised (must have been like 20mA). Problem went away when i installed an earth

[Zero999]

when we lived in italy and the house had no earth (which I later installed myself) I remember getting a tingling feeling from a board I was taking apart and eventually realized it was coming from the iron, I was rather surprised (must have been like 20mA). Problem went away when i installed an earth

I had the same problem before the house was re-wired.

There was no earth connection in my bedroom and the earth wire had a shocking voltage/current on it until I bonded it to the radiator.

[SnakeBite]

so basically i don't need this device if i got grounding in my room that what you saying?

Ido

[Simon]

well if your soldering iron tip is connected to earth and you have an earth connection you should be ok

[alm]

well if your soldering iron tip is connected to earth and you have an earth connection you should be ok

Indeed, as long as the tip is grounded, you can safely touch it .

[Zero999]

Indeed, as long as the tip is grounded, you can safely touch it .

I wouldn't say a soldering iron tip, heated to over 300^oC, is safe to touch. 

[SnakeBite]

the iron i'm using is PACE MBT 250 WITH PS-70 soldering iron so i think they take care of the grounding.

thanks for all the helpers
Ido

[djsb]

Just ask PACE themselves. I don't know why you asked the question if you knew the answer already. Besides PACE has all relevant information on their website.

[SnakeBite]

i didn't know that the grounding of the soldering station is related to the AC leakage and the need to check grounding .

but thanks anyways
Ido