I for one am not at all interested in soldering "tests" on copper chunks. I have a 300W soldering gun for chassis work.
What would be illuminating is to test performance on 16-layer PCBs with small components connected to large planes. A board could be designed for this type of test.
Not a perfect test but it's not like it was deliberately fixed against Pace.
I for one am not at all interested in soldering "tests" on copper chunks. I have a 300W soldering gun for chassis work.
What would be illuminating is to test performance on 16-layer PCBs with small components connected to large planes. A board could be designed for this type of test.
I've just received a couple of test PCBs which will hopefully test exactly this. Not 16 layers, but 4 with many of the SMT pads tied through with thermal vias. It's likely to be a tough test for any soldering station.
The PCB I had assembled by PCBWay was clearly hand soldered, looked terrible and was of similar construction.
I for one am not at all interested in soldering "tests" on copper chunks. I have a 300W soldering gun for chassis work.
What would be illuminating is to test performance on 16-layer PCBs with small components connected to large planes. A board could be designed for this type of test.
I've just received a couple of test PCBs which will hopefully test exactly this. Not 16 layers, but 4 with many of the SMT pads tied through with thermal vias. It's likely to be a tough test for any soldering station.
The PCB I had assembled by PCBWay was clearly hand soldered, looked terrible and was of similar construction.I look forward to seeing the result!
Btw, which Ersa station were you planning to test? It’s a shame that Ersa is so obtuse about giving review units, so their products never end up in the comparisons, even though they’re a major player in Europe. (Dave said they would only do so if given editorial veto power, so he rightly told them to pound sand.)
(I have the i-Con nano at home, and it’s been a great tool. Clearly not as powerful as the JBC at work, but just as good in everyday soldering. The tips don’t oxidize nearly as badly as JBC. And the i-Con series has configurable heating profiles — aggressive (lots of overshoot), medium (a bit of overshoot), and gentle (no overshoot) — so you can choose how much performance to give up in exchange for adhering to tight temperature maxima.)
I for one am not at all interested in soldering "tests" on copper chunks. I have a 300W soldering gun for chassis work.
What would be illuminating is to test performance on 16-layer PCBs with small components connected to large planes. A board could be designed for this type of test.
I've just received a couple of test PCBs which will hopefully test exactly this. Not 16 layers, but 4 with many of the SMT pads tied through with thermal vias. It's likely to be a tough test for any soldering station.
The PCB I had assembled by PCBWay was clearly hand soldered, looked terrible and was of similar construction.I look forward to seeing the result!
Btw, which Ersa station were you planning to test? It’s a shame that Ersa is so obtuse about giving review units, so their products never end up in the comparisons, even though they’re a major player in Europe. (Dave said they would only do so if given editorial veto power, so he rightly told them to pound sand.)
(I have the i-Con nano at home, and it’s been a great tool. Clearly not as powerful as the JBC at work, but just as good in everyday soldering. The tips don’t oxidize nearly as badly as JBC. And the i-Con series has configurable heating profiles — aggressive (lots of overshoot), medium (a bit of overshoot), and gentle (no overshoot) — so you can choose how much performance to give up in exchange for adhering to tight temperature maxima.)
I was planning to get the i-Con 2V (0IC2200V), however I don't know much about the Ersa range, so I'm not sure if this is the best one to test. If you have a better suggestion, please let me know as I've not bought it yet. I still have an old RDS80 at the office, but I think it's quite outdated by today's standards.
I actually repeated this test about 10x off camera.
...
The main point though is that the readout is showing 10 to 15 degrees LOWER than the setpoint, yet it's not putting more power into the heater to bring it back up to temperature!
As I mentioned near set temp it regulates. It's a variable temp station. Did you try to turn up the set temp? The amber led shows when it's heating. I can't reproduce your test as you used UK 2p coins. As far as I'm aware those coins are either copper plated steel or bronze.
I was planning to get the i-Con 2V (0IC2200V), however I don't know much about the Ersa range, so I'm not sure if this is the best one to test. If you have a better suggestion, please let me know as I've not bought it yet. I still have an old RDS80 at the office, but I think it's quite outdated by today's standards.
Does ERSA have induction heating??
I think they do not have any cartridge type soldering tips like those made by JBC, PACE, HAKKO...
I was planning to get the i-Con 2V (0IC2200V), however I don't know much about the Ersa range, so I'm not sure if this is the best one to test. If you have a better suggestion, please let me know as I've not bought it yet. I still have an old RDS80 at the office, but I think it's quite outdated by today's standards.Does ERSA have induction heating??
I think they do not have any cartridge type soldering tips like those made by JBC, PACE, HAKKO...
Does ERSA have induction heating??
I think they do not have any cartridge type soldering tips like those made by JBC, PACE, HAKKO...
It seems it's fairly representative of "old" technology, the blurb says:
" The i-TOOL „Silver Bullet“ heating element represents the most significant heating element
design accomplishment in Ersa’s over 90-year-history. "
But no mention of anything fancy, or why the heating element is supposed to be any good. If there's a better suggestion, let me know, since it's a fair amount to drop on a tool which will likely only be used for testing...
I would say it’s a very atypical representative of old technology. In use, it could easily pass for a cartridge heater system if you didn’t know it wasn’t. It wouldn’t be class-leading, but you wouldn’t think “oh, this is an old school iron”.
And that’s based off my real-world experience using the weak version of it at home, and JBC at work.
I would say it’s a very atypical representative of old technology. In use, it could easily pass for a cartridge heater system if you didn’t know it wasn’t. It wouldn’t be class-leading, but you wouldn’t think “oh, this is an old school iron”.
And that’s based off my real-world experience using the weak version of it at home, and JBC at work.
That's all I need to know, thanks
The tips are great value so I should be able to get a decent selection
Here is a capture of the JBC chart I took a while back.
If you look at the whole document I think it's a Metcal STTC036 (357C) tip not a STTC136 (412C) tip. I think even JBC were fooled. I cannot see the STTC136 self regulating 75C under set temp and idling that low under no load. That would be worse than the Pace if it was the case (imagine that).
Thanks for showing the JBC running over temp in your latest video. Shows how easily set temp, actual temp and tip affects the results.
Any thoughts on how best to show the actual tip temperature on other stations? I'm struggling to think how to reliably show the difference between systems.
I should probably start a separate thread for discussing all the different soldering stations.
It is good to know that some PACE cartridges are cheap and some are not!