Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?

[al777]

Probably the CD-1BQF (for US) or CD-2BQF (for 230V land), https://www.jbctools.com/cdb-soldering-product-1605.html

[pope]

Probably the CD-1BQF (for US) or CD-2BQF (for 230V land), https://www.jbctools.com/cdb-soldering-product-1605.html

Thank you.

So, cost aside, do you think it would be a better idea to go for the JBC one or the T3A is still a better option? The JBC seems to be around 300euro (exc. VAT) which is not too bad, if it's worth it of course comparing to the AiXun

[al777]

Wrong thread to give advise to purchase a real JBC station over T3A :-) - but yeah, if you can afford genuine product - support the inventor of the system, not (as good as it is) a follower. Now, there are benefits of T3A aside from the cost, one is how compact it is - the real JBC station would take more of the precious space on my bench.

Besides, cost is still a valid question to ask & answer - I got T3A for just under $150 USD all-in, shipped to my door. If the genuine JBC would be around $300 USD - I'd consider it, but the link I gave above shows MSRP of $545 USD (plus $$ for original tips/cartridges - same as with T3A, plus shipping unless it's free - likely in US only). More like $700+ CAD shipped, vs. under $200CAD for T3A, so 3.5x more for the JBC...

If there are deals out there to get it for ~$300 USD/Euro shipped - then I'd say go for it. But there will be no fun making it better. Pure consumerism .

Jokes aside - if I'd be doing with it any product I'd be selling in any tangible quantities/with tangible liabilities - I'd go for the actual JBC. But electronics is mostly my hobby of 35+ years (aside from formal engineering education) - so I'm ok with T3A and I'm having fun making it better :-). Choices, choices... :-).

[SHTechnics]

The JBC CD-2BQF is available in Belgium and the Netherlands from € 375 to € 450 with taxes. But the T3A is in terms of price/quality a good choice.

[dreamcat4]

is the a way to manually force dormancy mode in the controls? or does it only work by grounding the special black wire going to the stand?

[janoc]

is the a way to manually force dormancy mode in the controls? or does it only work by grounding the special black wire going to the stand?

AFAIK you can't, it goes to sleep the moment you put the handle in the stand. I am not sure why would you want it to go to sleep without the handle in the stand?

[dreamcat4]

go to sleep without the handle in the stand?

if ever loose the stand. or want to take it somewhere (using it portable without the stand). is ok just wanted to know. but i know what to do about that now so is fine.

[janoc]

go to sleep without the handle in the stand?

if ever loose the stand. or want to take it somewhere (using it portable without the stand). is ok just wanted to know. but i know what to do about that now so is fine.

If that bothers you, just make a short wire that you stick to the rear connector to ground it to simulate the handle being in the stand.

[dreamcat4]

yes, have now today rewired added back the original stand idle 4mm banana plug on the rear of my unit. In case should ever need that in future, for other scenarios when not using the 'decent' desktop stand. which is now handled by new mod: the extension cable (1st seen by mario). is OK

[LegzRwheelz]

Have you seen a way to rewire JBC handles to work with the Aixun T3A/T3B? I would like to grab c245, 210 and 115 handles and rewire them to work with my stations. Maybe find a way to rewire the nano tweezers, though I am not holding onto hope for that one.

[dreamcat4]

Have you seen a way to rewire JBC handles to work with the Aixun T3A/T3B? I would like to grab c245, 210 and 115 handles and rewire them to work with my stations. Maybe find a way to rewire the nano tweezers, though I am not holding onto hope for that one.

I am not sure the wiring for genuine JBC T245. However what I can say is that the aixun T3A handle only has 3 wires inside of it, and those 3 wires corresponds directly to the 3 terminals of a C245 cartridge.

There is also a white wire being bridged from another pin to GND (negative wire). However that is only being used on the Aixun T3A station for 'ID' which is handle identity to know which handle is currently been plugged.

The other thing to realize is that you have to chop off the original 6-pin HiRose plastic plug. To then replace it with the metal 5-pin GX12-5 aviation connector. For the T3A

The wiring for c210 / T3B and tweezers will be further different. Don't have those others but i know the C210 has different cartridge Thermocouple pinout. Not the same. The thermocouple in C210 also has a different slope coeffecient too. So it's (generally speaking) not worth to make cross compatible with the T3a base unit. Somebody did that once with an H bridge but significantly too much more of a pain to deal with.

[dreamcat4]

quick question:

can we re-purpose the 24v dc output jack on the back as a 24v dc input? perhaps with some extra couple of components

seems like this could be of value for portable use. connecting to a battery pack etc.

[dreamcat4]

quick question:

can we re-purpose the 24v dc output jack on the back as a 24v dc input? perhaps with some extra couple of components

seems like this could be of value for portable use. connecting to a battery pack etc.

well i looked into this matter this morning and... there are solutions out there with mosfet and 'ideal diode' or pmic chip etc. However the simplest form of that with just a p-channel mosfet, i was just not clear on. And anyhow there really is not much room inside the chassis anymore for such extra circuitry. To do intelligent switching i think is also overkill, because the user knows at any time they are mobile or plugged into mains supply. It's never needing to auto switch between both.

My conclusion was we can avoid unnecessary complexity with a simple toggle switch,

like the set 1 here: (Color: 3Pin Black Black, on-on)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001165908155.html

correction like the set 1 here: (Color: Black, Size: 3 pin on-off)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001187370402.html


Mounted on the fan grille area. And next to that a DC power connector (either barrel jack or XT60, or whatever you prefer to use). Again in the same fan grille area.

Then route the DC power with some new cabling, need an extra 2-pin VH connector for that (but might as well buy a full kit, for general purpose use)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32815738433.html

The only thing left still missing are some small metal guard rails to recess this 2nd new toggle switch. So that it cannot be accidentally get knock on/off without realizing. For example by other things on the desk etc. Or in mobile use scenario.

They're just a U shaped piece of metal. One to be added on either side of the switch. I know we can get them for hifi amplifiers etc. Just anything really to make the switch protected and recessed. It does not have to be so particular.

The other major point of interest here (for mobile use). Is to see what the widest good and safe operating voltage is for the front board. If could be anything less than the nominal +24v DC. For example as low as 20v could potentially make possible a USB-c power bank. Which would be pretty handy.

However also power tool batteries. Which can vary anywhere between 16v and 22v. That is another common one.

And 2x lead acid batteries (in series) could be anywhere up to 27v when fully charged.

So there is a lot of potential voltage ranges there for powering in mobile situation. And that perhaps may also influence somewhat the decision for the DC connector plug. Really not sure about that side of things yet.

[dreamcat4]

a lot of potential voltage ranges there for powering in mobile situation ...not sure about that side of things yet.

edit: *btw my unit is running the v1.26 firmware, (for other firmware versions i would not be certain to know if its same behaviour).

OK so when the DC supply voltage is less than 15.25v...

Then the front home screen on these Aixun will show a text indicator text saying "low voltage". And it will refuse to turn on the heater mosfet anymore.

* However the unit remains powered up and alive. This is fantastic.
* If the voltage increases and stays above 15.25v then it will work the heater.
* If the voltage dips at any time during heating below that 15.25v threshold. Then it will temporarily disable the heater (while heating). Until the DC supply voltage recovers. And then continue from when it left off.

So while heating this is observed as a sort of a 'stall condition'. At its ramping up, it will pause to gather itself. Then continue for another burst, until the voltage sags again. etc.

So great... this might OK to drive from a +20v usb-c power bank. With one of those little DC power chips to give the fixed voltage from. However this is assuming that when it tries to draw too much current, the usb-c power bank doesn't cut off the power. But instead it will need to limit the current draw somehow. To some maximum value that the usb-c power source is capped at. IDK how that is handled in such power sources. Or for high current usb-c chargers. But it would be nice to know before proceeding further.

Alternatively it should be OK to drive from +18v power tool batteries too.  Those can droop down to 16v (or even as low as 12v when nearly flat). But that should be ok it would seem.

As for maximum voltage I am not sure yet. It would first be better to analyze the circuit (for example with the schematic generously given earlier). To see what the maximum safe input voltage should be considered.

For now I think I just want to look into the high current (20v) usb-c power delivery a bit more. And maybe find something worth purchasing. As I have no usb-c power bank nor usb-c high current charger yet. And would like to get one to play around with.

edit 2: found that the usb-pd spec requires OCP and it's max 5a current on the usb-c. for 100w. So maybe an extra circuit to limit the current manually to 5a is required here? i.e. in order to stop triggering OCP on the usb power bank source? Maybe something a bit like this could work?

https://320volt.com/en/irf4905-ile-5-amper-akim-regulatoru/

[LegzRwheelz]

Have you seen a way to rewire JBC handles to work with the Aixun T3A/T3B? I would like to grab c245, 210 and 115 handles and rewire them to work with my stations. Maybe find a way to rewire the nano tweezers, though I am not holding onto hope for that one.

I am not sure the wiring for genuine JBC T245. However what I can say is that the aixun T3A handle only has 3 wires inside of it, and those 3 wires corresponds directly to the 3 terminals of a C245 cartridge.

There is also a white wire being bridged from another pin to GND (negative wire). However that is only being used on the Aixun T3A station for 'ID' which is handle identity to know which handle is currently been plugged.

The other thing to realize is that you have to chop off the original 6-pin HiRose plastic plug. To then replace it with the metal 5-pin GX12-5 aviation connector. For the T3A

The wiring for c210 / T3B and tweezers will be further different. Don't have those others but i know the C210 has different cartridge Thermocouple pinout. Not the same. The thermocouple in C210 also has a different slope coeffecient too. So it's (generally speaking) not worth to make cross compatible with the T3a base unit. Somebody did that once with an H bridge but significantly too much more of a pain to deal with.

Thank you very much for such a detailed response. I'm not fully discouraged as of yet. I owe you a second thanks as well because I came back here to ask what size aviator plug I need to create a sort of selector box to keep both the t12 and t245 handles plugged in without having to switch and put additional strain on the plugs and station and your answered it for me, so thank you once again!

I was also wanting to create a selector box for the T3B to be able to switch between the t115 and t210 handles, would you happen to know the correct plug I need to grab to accomplish this? Thanks again and thanks in advance. You're awesome!

[dreamcat4]

I was also wanting to create a selector box for the T3B to be able to switch between the t115 and t210 handles, would you happen to know the correct plug I need

it looks just like the original jbc one, which is this one

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003508680416.html

i have heard it referred to as a hi-rose 6-pin and otter iron pro should have the bom part number over on its github repo

https://github.com/jeanthom/Otter-Iron-PRO-BOM

[LegzRwheelz]

Thank you once again! I have one more question, do you have a link to the pinout for both the T3A and T3B stations? Thank you once again for being so informative and friendly!

Edit: since Aixun is using JBC's plug, do you think this will work with my T3B? https://a.aliexpress.com/_mM3P7vw

[dreamcat4]

Thank you once again! I have one more question, do you have a link to the pinout for both the T3A and T3B stations? Thank you once again for being so informative and friendly!

Edit: since Aixun is using JBC's plug, do you think this will work with my T3B? https://a.aliexpress.com/_mM3P7vw

for the t3b i do not have a pinout. however i am with steve in saying that imho the most ideal combination of irons is to skip the t210 entirely. and just have the t3b for the nano t115 top only. then you will not need to bother with any of that.

the reason is because there is a lot of overlap in the cartridge sizes for micro soldering.

[LegzRwheelz]

I started my journey into the world of better soldering stations by getting the t210 have with the T3B thinking the t115 would be a bit too small for my needs and decided last week to get the t3a with the t245 handle and ordered the t12 the larger jobs. So I'm kinda stuck with the 210, I'm still going to order the 115 after Xmas though. Since I'm going to have both handles, I may as well come up with a way of switching between the 2. Do you think that Kaisi selector box would work since they use the JBC connectors? Also, I'm still trying to figure out the safest and smartest way of building this selector box for my t3a, I haven't made any final choices besides the enclosure I'm using. I will be posting to the beginners forum asking for a bit of guidance on the best route to take as I'm no electronics genius by any means, I just feel building this box would be great experience and extremely self gratifying upon finish.

[dreamcat4]

not my area of expertise sorry

[Ungolian]

Honestly, the Kaisi is kind of overkill and unnecessary.  The connectors are on the front, and only takes a second to swap.  Really, you have a good set up.  Both Aixuns have really good hibernate functions, and if you're limited on bench space, they'll stack on top of each other.  The T3A and T3B together are cheaper than the 420D (and again, takes up less space), plus I'm a little hesitant about the 420D in that both irons share one screen and PSU.  If something goes wrong, you lose both sides.  I think the only thing you MAYBE lost out on cost would be the t210 handle for the t115, and even then, there are times when I could see you using t245 and t210 at the same time to remove IC's, multi pin connectors, etc.  It's a good thing to have 2 soldering irons, and the t115 just doesn't have the "oomph".  Instead of getting the Kaisi, I'd look more into a preheater solution, and probably a hot air station.  Then there's literally nothing you couldn't do soldering-wise. 

For hot air, the Quick line off of Aliexpress is the most budget-friendly.  But reliability can be an issue.  Screens burning out seems to be the most common.  The Quick 861dw performs really well, and is probably their best unit.  Maybe a bit expensive though, so if something goes wrong...  Just don't get a station that is basically a hair dryer connected by a power cable to the base unit.  You want the hot air coming out of the base itself. 

For preheaters, the Sainsmart/Miniware MHP30 is a functional (if not powerful) little device.  Reasonable priced if you get them off of Aliexpress.  But they can have issues too.  Seems like the heating diodes can burn out (and I didn't see any way to replace them), and the temperature is somewhat off.  It's not for heavy jobs, just spot heating.  A full sized hot plate or air heater is large, and depending on what you want to do, is just entirely too much.  Not to mention an air heater is just uncomfortable to be around.  You get preheated too.  If you really want to build something, there's a good youtube vid on a DIY preheater that looks really cool.  I haven't made one yet, but it's on my list.  He makes mention of separating the unit into 2 parts- the control unit, and the heating plate, so the heater is disposable.  Which is totally do-able.  Good luck!

[HT-787]

I seem to have a similar problem with T3A. I put the aixun arrowheads in just for a moment to check if they work. I ordered original JBC tips from TME and I also heard buzzing when using JBC tips, I don't remember if the buzzing occurred with aixun tips because

I didn't use them. The station operated less than two weeks and is now dead. I'm thinking about returning it, because if there are problems with the original JBC tips, then the station is useless to me. It seems to me that most T3A customers assumed correct operation with T3A tips.


The Chinese seller offered to send me a new station, but if there is the same problem, I'd rather they give me my money back. I do not know if the problem is with a poor contact in the aixun handle or in the station itself.


Below is a link to a video I recorded before the station died. 

[Krotow]

Bought AiXun T3A 3 months ago as home/DIY soldering station. Find it as best non-big brand soldering station I had and used so far. Power output is good so tips warm up to desired temperature very fast. Tips are grounded. Both original and clone C245 tips work. Find out that it is posible to use T12 handle with it thus making possible to use some funny wide T12 chip and flat cable desoldering tips. Form-factor allow me to put station body in very narrow place at corner of my table. Would like to have separate calibration profiles for some tips. And SMD soldering tweezers for it. But in general I'm very happy with this station.

[janoc]

I seem to have a similar problem with T3A. I put the aixun arrowheads in just for a moment to check if they work. I ordered original JBC tips from TME and I also heard buzzing when using JBC tips, I don't remember if the buzzing occurred with aixun tips because

I didn't use them. The station operated less than two weeks and is now dead. I'm thinking about returning it, because if there are problems with the original JBC tips, then the station is useless to me. It seems to me that most T3A customers assumed correct operation with T3A tips.

That is most likely unrelated to the tips. I am using both the cheap Aixun supplied tips and original JBC ones (also from TME) and no issues whatsoever, no buzzing.

That looks like a defective unit, the controller is obviously restarting for some reason. It also doesn't seem to heat the tip, so my guess would be something in the power supply for the iron has died and now the controller is resetting.

[LegzRwheelz]

Honestly, the Kaisi is kind of overkill and unnecessary.  The connectors are on the front, and only takes a second to swap.  Really, you have a good set up.  Both Aixuns have really good hibernate functions, and if you're limited on bench space, they'll stack on top of each other.  The T3A and T3B together are cheaper than the 420D (and again, takes up less space), plus I'm a little hesitant about the 420D in that both irons share one screen and PSU.  If something goes wrong, you lose both sides.  I think the only thing you MAYBE lost out on cost would be the t210 handle for the t115, and even then, there are times when I could see you using t245 and t210 at the same time to remove IC's, multi pin connectors, etc.  It's a good thing to have 2 soldering irons, and the t115 just doesn't have the "oomph".  Instead of getting the Kaisi, I'd look more into a preheater solution, and probably a hot air station.  Then there's literally nothing you couldn't do soldering-wise. 

For hot air, the Quick line off of Aliexpress is the most budget-friendly.  But reliability can be an issue.  Screens burning out seems to be the most common.  The Quick 861dw performs really well, and is probably their best unit.  Maybe a bit expensive though, so if something goes wrong...  Just don't get a station that is basically a hair dryer connected by a power cable to the base unit.  You want the hot air coming out of the base itself. 

For preheaters, the Sainsmart/Miniware MHP30 is a functional (if not powerful) little device.  Reasonable priced if you get them off of Aliexpress.  But they can have issues too.  Seems like the heating diodes can burn out (and I didn't see any way to replace them), and the temperature is somewhat off.  It's not for heavy jobs, just spot heating.  A full sized hot plate or air heater is large, and depending on what you want to do, is just entirely too much.  Not to mention an air heater is just uncomfortable to be around.  You get preheated too.  If you really want to build something, there's a good youtube vid on a DIY preheater that looks really cool.  I haven't made one yet, but it's on my list.  He makes mention of separating the unit into 2 parts- the control unit, and the heating plate, so the heater is disposable.  Which is totally do-able.  Good luck!

I apologize for the delayed response been on holiday. So I have my stations stacked on top of one another, they look great together. I love how well these stations work. I love the amount of different handles that are available. I know it seems like overkill to use that Kaisi box but it is what I want to  have as an option. If I am understanding correctly, are you saying it will work with the T3B? It uses the same plug but am uncertain if there is special circuitry inside the box. I was considering the d420 but ultimately decided to buy the stations separately for the same reasons you mentioned. Alsop, I have been considering to buy myself a preheat plate, I do like the Great Scott! video you shared, I honestly watch his videos all the time. I just think I want an actually plate that is much larger than the little MiniWare one, I love the way it looks and am honestly very partial to MiniWare products but it just doesn't have enout surface area for me, so I will be looking at potentially one of the Mechanic branded ones. As for hot air rework stations, I have one but it isnt very good and I have been eyeing one of the Mechanic stations. The hardest decision for me is a desoldering station. I have been looking at the Pro's Kit stations but they are an eyesore, imho. I know it is a strange reson to make a decision on equipment but I want an attractivbe station as well as functional and as a result, I am most likely going to get the Hakko FR-301-3/P, it will match the Mechanic rework station and preheat plate.