EEVblog 1650 - Sequre HT-140 SMD Desoldering Tweezers REVIEW

[thikone]

Anyone can recommend a DC5525 power supply that is not a fire hazard? Thought of using an Asus laptop one but it's 19 volts not 20 as the iron will expect.
It's the only 120W adapter I have. 140W will be harder to find.

SlimQ F150, the one that has UCB-C but also DC5525 jack! It works with tweezers, and (!) it can drive C245 tips in S99 to full power! There is also nice silicon cable that feels like JBC handpiece cable from AliExpress:https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005865036528.html

It seems that it also outputs 19.5 and not 20?

Max 150W Output (19.5V-20V)
https://slimq.life/products/150w-usb-c-gan-charger-for-universal

In the PDF it states 20V 7.5A on DC
https://slimq.life/pages/150w-gaming-laptop-charger-specifications

Is that where the voltage compensation is for?

Does anyone know what the voltage compensation is? The manual doesn't say anything specific about it.

I think they try to not go over 20V because laptops don't like it. Compensation might be for the wires.

Regardless, it sure heats up C245 tip of 2.5 Ohm in two seconds or so and my power meter in a wall socket reported 164W for a second.

But that is only from DC5525 output of SlimQ F150. USB-C output is only 100W limited and has over current protection.
That causes S99 to reboot several times until tip becomes hot enough.
You can limit S99 to 70% power in the menu to not do rebooting loop while tip is cold though.
But then it is not that fast from cold to hot anymore...

[Krotow]

Have these with all 5 advertised tip sets. Though turned out that default thin tips do the job just fine. For me it solved the problem of temperature sensitive SMD component with large-ish flat pins like electrolytic capacitors and diodes and simply larger and unconvenienf for removal component like smd inductors desoldering. Also for SMD component desoldering in thick spaces where hot air flow may cause carnage and mayhem. Pretty amazing thing for a fraction of cost of brand tweezers. If tips would be easier to change too, these tweezers would be perfect.

[ceut]

I have received a mail from Sequre: New firmware has came today,  v1.04 

Changelog:
"
1. Optimize protocol compatibility, menu names, etc.
2. OLED Menu: Added "WorkShow" and "LogoDelay" functions.
3. Idle menu: Added "Sensitive" function, and the sleep and wake-up sensitivity can be adjusted.
4. When entering or exiting the sleep state, a buzzer and screen display progress reminder function are added.
5. In the added alarm state, you can also press the buttons to enter the menu to adjust parameters."

But, no "Standby" on the HT menu "8.Startheat"  for start-up behavior  (standby = heat off until moved like my TS-100).

They also have updated the user manual on v1.1 for the new add

[W00fer]

That update took them some time.
Better late then never.

The sensitivity option is nice.
I hope they do a better job at documenting the features in the manual now. As there are quite a few that are not in the manual now.

Sadly Sequre Team replied the following

Dear customer,
Thank you for your contact.
You can upgrade from V1.03 to V1.04.
But if you upgrade to V1.04, you cannot back to V1.03.

This should be made illegal as it's anti consumer.
I hope someone is able to reverse engineer this block

[W00fer]

In a deliberate way to get the ground wire kit (which is now delivered with all new orders, but not on those when the product launched) I contacted Sequre.
They cannot deliver the ground wire kit seperately to distributors (my local electronics store now also sells the HT140 with the kit).
So after a bit of back and forth they now will ship it to me for 8.50 USD (shipping costs only).  This is not free, but a solution after all.
You can argue if it should have been under warranty, since the product can only safely be used if it is grounded.

[thm_w]

You can argue if it should have been under warranty, since the product can only safely be used if it is grounded.

Its just a feature they added, nowhere in the aliexpress listing do I see any claims of "ESD safe". So I don't think its a warranty issue. It is something to watch out for though.

Looks like they made a USB A to banana and ring terminal to banana cable. Can try that.

[W00fer]

You can argue if it should have been under warranty, since the product can only safely be used if it is grounded.

Its just a feature they added, nowhere in the aliexpress listing do I see any claims of "ESD safe". So I don't think its a warranty issue. It is something to watch out for though.

Looks like they made a USB A to banana and ring terminal to banana cable. Can try that.

You forget that they adjusted the Aliexpress listing and under a Youtube review the discussion started that they should deliver a ground wire.
In other Sequre Irons they had this feature on a screw on the back. It's the same behavior. Something is missing in revision 1 and is rectified in revision 2. Early adopters are left in the dust.

[thm_w]

You forget that they adjusted the Aliexpress listing and under a Youtube review the discussion started that they should deliver a ground wire.
In other Sequre Irons they had this feature on a screw on the back. It's the same behavior. Something is missing in revision 1 and is rectified in revision 2. Early adopters are left in the dust.

They are free to adjust the listing and add or remove whatever they want.
It is fairly normal with chinese products for early adopters to have hardware issues that are fixed in later revisions. Not really the same situation here though.

The fact that they responded and improved the product is a hell of a lot better than Aixun.

[W00fer]

You forget that they adjusted the Aliexpress listing and under a Youtube review the discussion started that they should deliver a ground wire.
In other Sequre Irons they had this feature on a screw on the back. It's the same behavior. Something is missing in revision 1 and is rectified in revision 2. Early adopters are left in the dust.

They are free to adjust the listing and add or remove whatever they want.
It is fairly normal with chinese products for early adopters to have hardware issues that are fixed in later revisions. Not really the same situation here though.

The fact that they responded and improved the product is a hell of a lot better than Aixun.

Define early adopters. It's basically the same Sequre iron they have been selling for years, but now with two heads instead of one.
The TS100 and other USB-C soldering irons exist for quite some time already.

I received the ground wire kit yesterday from Sequre. The quality and thickness of the wire isn't really high but I hope it will do.

[cheater]

has anyone who received the HT-140 tested whether the tips are wired correctly, or if they're wired backwards like the S99 described earlier in the thread?

if the tips are wired correctly, has anyone been able to reproduce the issues seen by some people where there are ~ several V voltage spikes between the tips? people postulated the voltage spikes are created because of the following points happening at the same time:

1. the heating voltage is present on the tip, i.e. the tips are wired backwards

2. the tip heating and sensing cannot happen at the same time, so heating has to be turned off while sensing is done.

3. the tips use two separate tip controllers which do not synchronize with each other, so they will provide different voltages for heating and will take measurement breaks at different times

here's what someone had to say about this:

I thought I was safe running from a 6s battery pack, nothing connected to mains at all.   Then I went to desolder a green LED from an otherwise unpopulated board, and the darn thing briefly lit up!    I connected the two tips of the hot tweezers to an oscilloscope coupled DC, and found that the output was quiet when stopped - but extremely noisy when working.  Every ~15 ms there is a sharp positive or negative pulse, later measured as 2.5 V for 20 ns.  Sometimes a smaller DC bias showed up in between.  Based on my understanding of how C210 tips work, there is a thermocouple in series with the heating element.  When powered, every so often the iron will briefly interrupt voltage source and measure the resistance across the tips.  I suppose that is harmless for a single tip.  Evidently a dual tip implementation with two independent driving circuits running off a common power source is a recipe for significant electro-potential between the two tips!

this was posted by pault6533 in the comments to Ian's video, here:



to try and reproduce this issue you'd first have to make sure your usb power supply is properly earthed, e.g. with the trick of connecting a usb A cable to a mains protective earth lug.

[cheater]

>All is grounded to USB-C and DC ground. About 100VAC between tips and mains ground. Will try also to put the mains ground on negative, but I have to check the leakage current before.

could you please check if the transients described in my previous reply exist on the voltage between the tips?

[cheater]

One more suggestion: maybe someone could try and put a red LED across the tweezers, and see if it lights up. That could be interesting. Red LEDs have the lowest turn-on voltage by the way. So if that poster saw a green LED turn on, then a red one should turn on as well.

[dermitza]

>All is grounded to USB-C and DC ground. About 100VAC between tips and mains ground. Will try also to put the mains ground on negative, but I have to check the leakage current before.

could you please check if the transients described in my previous reply exist on the voltage between the tips?

I did some measurements on the one i got recently - note the below were when the unit was powered by a powerbank @12V. Both tips are grounded, the voltage is only present when the unit is active (heating), FW: 1.04

Between GND and tip(s):


Between the two tips:

[shapirus]

I have these tweezers, but didn't like the lack of earth ground on the PSU which was generating 104Vrms / 335Vp-p on the tips!

......so did something about it:

https://youtu.be/se6-jGZsHS0

Ian.

This mod is no longer required, apparently.

I've just received mine, and they are now supplying grounding cables in the box! Good on them to be listening for the customers' concerns and ideas.



Not sure what the other one is for. To screw directly onto the tips?

I have measured the resistance (unpowered) between the tips and between each tip and the USB connector's shield: 29 mOhm; 14 mOhm; 18.5 mOhm.

So effectively an all-way short.

I'm not sure what the talk regarding the potential between the tips is all about then, unless there's some commutation using an active element (which must be a depletion mosfet or a jfet, since it's short when not powered) and it's not really a physical short.

Haven't turned it on yet.

Was tempted to take it apart, as it's all assembled using screws, but there's a "QC Pass" sticker over one of the screws, so I'm gonna leave it for later.

[Astralix]

Sorry for being late!

I do own one of the AIFEN dual soldering stations that also supports original JBC tips. Even AIFEN does sell tweezer soldering stations, I cannot find the tweezer part solely as an add-on for existing AIFEN owners. Should I try to continue searching for an AIFEN add-on or can I go with the HT140?

The main purpose is to exchange SMD caps in R&S, HP and Stabilock / Schlumberger / Wavetek equipment in my hobby lab. It is not professional but it's always 300+ caps per unit. Unfortunately a real JBC isn't currently in the budget.

Would love to read from a long time HT140 user or long time "I prefer something else" user.