Pace ADS200 soldering station

[Hydrawerk]

In Microsoft Edge I have AdBlock. But in Firefox I have no AdBlock. I filled in the address book at https://paceworldwide.com/. I still get the error:

The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later.

I am located in central Europe.

[Hydrawerk]

OK, I sent them a message here. https://paceworldwide.com/contact-us We will see.

[Shock]

Seems to work ok here. You need to accept the popup to use cookies (just like most other sites). Once you click checkout it goes to account or guest login. From there it asks to complete payment details.

I'd say the problem is your end if you can't get that far. Try deleting cookies and cache for that site and turn off any blocking etc, then ensure javascript etc isn't disabled. If that doesn't work try another browser or another device.

I tested firefox 92.0 for you as well, works of course.

[Shock]

Btw Farnell/Newark/Element 14 whatever you want to call them got a large amount of stations in. I think you will find once vat and shipping is considered etc, it's cheaper getting one locally than importing. The stations/stands are heavy and not particularly cheap to ship individually.

[Hydrawerk]

Try deleting cookies

Yes, this helped me. Thank you. Well, I have bought stuff at many online shops  and never experienced this.

[Shock]

Yes, this helped me. Thank you. Well, I have bought stuff at many online shops  and never experienced this.

First time for everything I guess. It's typically not site or online shopping specific, if you tried another browser or device it would have helped you narrow it down a bit easier.

[gnavigator1007]

Anybody else had an issue with the ads200 going into setup on power up every time? Haven't been doing a whole lot of soldering recently and know it had happened a few times, but now it is literally every single time i turn the station on. I've only had mine for maybe a month or two

[2N3055]

Anybody else had an issue with the ads200 going into setup on power up every time? Haven't been doing a whole lot of soldering recently and know it had happened a few times, but now it is literally every single time i turn the station on. I've only had mine for maybe a month or two

I never had that problem. Two years of production soldering..

[gnavigator1007]

I have a couple observations to share:

1. Occasionally on power on the station goes into the Setup  mode. Perhaps  turning the power on may produce glitches on the power bus that kick the micro into the Setup mode. Would be good if Pace looked into it.

This was the only other mention I could find of someone experiencing a similar issue. It's extra annoying as I already have to swap out the TD-200 & the MT-200 tweezers and I lose my preset temps. I contacted Pace already. Doesn't seem like Aaron has been active here in quite some time. I'd like to avoid returning it if possible. Would appreciate any ideas

[grantb5]

As far as I  know, it's a standard 8031 circuit, so maybe something in the reset circuit probably needs to "fixed".  I don't remember what the procedure is to get into Setup mode, but it might be good to know when it comes to trouble shooting.

[2N3055]

As far as I  know, it's a standard 8031 circuit, so maybe something in the reset circuit probably needs to "fixed".  I don't remember what the procedure is to get into Setup mode, but it might be good to know when it comes to trouble shooting.

You need to press Program button on powerup to enter program mode.
Maybe it is stuck, or damaged.
So I doubt reset line is problematic.

[labjr]

This was the only other mention I could find of someone experiencing a similar issue. It's extra annoying as I already have to swap out the TD-200 & the MT-200 tweezers and I lose my preset temps. I contacted Pace already. Doesn't seem like Aaron has been active here in quite some time. I'd like to avoid returning it if possible. Would appreciate any ideas

I think someone mentioned that Aaron retired earlier in this thread. I would call Pace directly.

[gnavigator1007]

Was hoping it might just be the program push button switch, but swapped another and same issue. Assume I probably won't hear from pace today, so going to live with it until I hear from them or I can devote more time to troubleshooting. Station works great otherwise and I'm loving the hot tweezers

[Shock]

No problems here 2-3 years. Take direction from Pace as it's possibly a warranty issue but you can try a few things since it's happening all the time now. Like moving the station to another room plugging in direct to a properly grounded mains outlet and try another cable. Leaving the instant setback and iron disconnected and your mobile phone in another room. This is all emi/rfi type troubleshooting.

If you brought it to me for repair first thing I'd ask, was the switch replaced when it was an intermittent or constant problem. If intermittent you could have inadvertently changed the variables and the new switch made matters worse. That's an old trap to fall into when troubleshooting.

If I had that problem myself I'd start by restoring to the default settings and check if Pace had some reset procedure to clear stored config. If it's a physical problem on the board reseating the micro or removing it and cleaning the board with 99.9 IPA is a good start. In other devices I've seen the effects of humidity causing some really intermittent and weird problems.

As I mentioned though take direction from Pace and everyone's skill level is different, some people will absolutely butcher the micro removal because they didn't use the right tool or technique. According to the RE schematic forum member Mbless made, the switch lines use 47k pull-up resistors to 5v and grounded when switched. So after trying all the obvious above I'd then then take some measurements, check ground, probe 5v and the switch line. The resistors are next to each button on the front.

[gnavigator1007]

Thanks Shock, I had already done everything you mentioned trying, minus reseating the 89c51 and actually taking measurements beyond resistance after reinstalling the original switch. I noticed an odd bit of reddish discoloration on one of the pins very close to the packaging. Definitely not messing with it until I hear from Pace, but might get a closer look under the microscope. To be clear, the button does allow me to move through the setup process. I can save my settings fine and proceed soldering. Everything is reset after I power it off. Password, timers, and temps are all wiped. It starts up as if the program button had been held down while power is switched back on and enters setup automatically.

Edit: one further thing to note is that I also powered it on with the switch completely removed and it still entered setup

[SteveyG]

I have a couple observations to share:

1. Occasionally on power on the station goes into the Setup  mode. Perhaps  turning the power on may produce glitches on the power bus that kick the micro into the Setup mode. Would be good if Pace looked into it.

This was the only other mention I could find of someone experiencing a similar issue. It's extra annoying as I already have to swap out the TD-200 & the MT-200 tweezers and I lose my preset temps. I contacted Pace already. Doesn't seem like Aaron has been active here in quite some time. I'd like to avoid returning it if possible. Would appreciate any ideas

I also had it the other day with mine. It happened several times in a row when I first got my unit until I made a change and saved the settings.

[gnavigator1007]

Just heard from Pace and I'll have to send it back  I was really hoping they could just send a replacement board, but oh well.

[Shock]

Sounds like the symptom could be a communication problem with the external 93C46 eeprom then, I assume they use it to store config. That more closely matches the config lost/corrupt scenario. I still suspect humidity or some resulting form of contamination is the likely cause. MCU Pins 17, 18, 19 go to U6 according to Mbless.

An interesting point though, if config is only stored or corruption overwritten when the individual parameters are changed and going to the "END" on the menu then up arrow (red) button to save. You would then need to repeat this between troubleshooting steps in order to see if it's resolved.

If they use a binary semaphore until a good read or save of the config is achieved then that may keep pulling up the menu by design also. Of course programmatically it could be done various ways. That leads me to another thought, if invoking the menu via the button while powering on makes any difference.

[grantb5]

Oh yeah, good thinking. Or the config gets corrupted on power loss.

[gnavigator1007]

That leads me to another thought, if invoking the menu via the button while powering on makes any difference.

It did not on repeated attempts

Attached is a picture of the discoloration I mentioned earlier. I already sent the unit back to Pace, but I believe this is pin 40. Sorry for the poor quality. Just snapped a quick picture of my screen with my now ancient phone

[Shock]

Tilting my head at an angle that is pin 7. According to the schematic, the down switch. Seems poor plating at the Atmel factory, would have to inspect it and perhaps give it "the scrape of death" to be sure. The function of that switch/button (within setup/config menu) invokes setup to start again. But how it manifests if there was a high resistance problem at boot, unsure. I'd call it a maybe, if it was it's trivial anyway and probably not a design or assembly issue.

[Hydrawerk]

Any news?

[gnavigator1007]

Any news?

Not yet. The person I talked to told me that the shipping would be the longest part of the wait, but it made it to them faster than expected. Hope to hear something by Monday

[gnavigator1007]

I never heard anything else, but my ads200 arrived a few minutes ago. Looks like they just replaced the pcb. Everything is working as it should and no more setup issues 

[Shock]

Pace posted this video a few weeks back. Bit of marketing in it but towards the end you can see what looks like a load testing setup with ADS200s and some drawings of a new tool and 3 port station.