Adding a solder port to a solder station

[hqbert]

And maybe the picture of the board would help, which I was able to upload.

It shows there is no functionality to support another iron.

Maybe something like, the transistors, resistors, capacitors, triac, pcb etc serves these functions and capabilities and therefore they aren't capable of supporting an additional soldering iron.

How easy do you think it is to attach another pair of wheels to a car which has no provision for such upgrade in it's design?

I guess you're not seeing it from my level. If you tell a toddler why they can't do something, they'll always respond with why? Things my be obvious to you and many here, but not everyone, but yeah I can accept there's no functionality, but I'll never know exactly why.

everybody with experience here should agree with wraper. in case of a car, if you want to add 5th wheel, you will not just add the wheel, you have to add the arm, absorber, bolting to body everything. in case of your station, you have to add the optocoupler, power elements (fet or/and triac) and everything identical supporting elements resistors, diodes everything to your pcb. knobs to control, and modify firmware if your station have one mcu. can you do that?

in case you cant (which all of us suspect you will as we all wont dare get into the hassle) we always have another way, you can parallel port connection, ie power wires of your soldering iron, but you cant parallel heat sensor's (sort of resistor divider) wire because of Ohm Law, your iron temperature will go either extra red hot or blue cold. and you also risk damaging your power elements because 1 power elements can only have burden 1 solder iron. if you put 2, it could breakrendering you have to buy a new one.

of course we cant stop you if you still want to try to see what will happen and find a reason that we usually have encountered. cheers happy learning.

Thanks. Very helpful.

[Mechatrommer]

Now we're getting somewhere. That's not my board,

not your board? so we are not getting anywhere... we should wait until your real board arrive and snapshot the real thing..

As for E, which is my area of interest, it is an unused header and it looks similar to B.

you said your station is WEP 992DA+ thats a "hot air" and "solder iron" unit and desoldering pump (maybe) and smoke suction. there are more to drive there than just 2. hot air will need dedicated power thats why i suspect E, solder iron is another identical powerfull element i'm guessing B, other connectors probably motor and pump. then how can you say E is unused? then where the hot air connection goes? and its power element?

[hqbert]

Now we're getting somewhere. That's not my board,

not your board? so we are not getting anywhere... we should wait until your real board arrive and snapshot the real thing..

As for E, which is my area of interest, it is an unused header and it looks similar to B.

you said your station is WEP 992DA+ thats a "hot air" and "solder iron" unit and desoldering pump (maybe) and smoke suction. there are more to drive there than just 2. hot air will need dedicated power thats why i suspect E, solder iron is another identical powerfull element i'm guessing B, other connectors probably motor and pump. then how can you say E is unused? then where the hot air connection goes? and its power element?

I can't get a good angle at my board without taking the entire thing out but I can see E is unused. But that picture is basically my board. For now, there's not much point taking my board out and going too far when that picture is the same. Yes, hot air, soldering iron and smoke suction.

[S. Petrukhin]

If you do not want to change the soldering irons in the output socket, add a second socket and select the sockets with a switch, then you need the second soldering iron to be exactly the same design. There are different designs, different characteristics of the heating element, different characteristics of the thermocouple and the presence of additional sensors in the soldering iron handle, as well as the circuit of the thermocouple is sometimes in series with the heating element, sometimes a separate wire.

Why don't you specify the model? There are probably people here who know your model inside.

I didn't realise it was important since they're all essentially the same. It's a WEP 992DA+. I can find replacement soldering irons and desolding guns that I'm interested to use. I'm aware of the different heating elements and number of wires used in the various desoldering gun models. I cam move them around and match them with the soldering station. The main tasks to overcome is the station itself.

This appears to be a version of the very common T-900 system. Dave broke down a similar station:

It is very easy to find a handle with a heating element of this type and you can really use a second handle by installing an additional connector and a switch on 2 groups of contacts to select the active soldering iron.

I had a similar station for a very long time ago, I can make a mistake, but there is only a heating element and a thermocouple in the handle, which are connected to the connector by separate wires and the ground wire of the tip.

Whether this will be useful, I doubt. Only if you have no money at all and can only buy a hsmdle for $3.
I recommend that you pay attention to the T-12 system. It is significantly better and not very expensive from Chinese friends.
For example https://aliexpress.ru/item/32945257770.html as second iron.
The T-900 can only work tolerably with fully copper tips, and it is always necessary to inflate the temperature.

[Rasz]

wraper you are jumping up and down on newbies head 

hqbert read on the principle of operation of a typical digital control temperature controlled soldering iron:
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/projects/do-it-yourself-soldering-station-with-an-atmega8/
yes, you need whole bunch of electronics and smarts for each additional connected soldering wand.

First lets start by stating the obvious. WEP 992DA+ is pretty shit, especially at $200 it actually delivers lower value than buying same crap components separately, not that you would want those crap components in the first place. Hakko 907/908 is ancient technology, and clones are even worse than original, 937D $30 sold separately. Then you get bundled bottom of the barrel 858D $50 worth of hotair. "suction" vacuum is just useless gimmick.

If you want dual soldering irons this https://hackaday.io/project/162676-dual-t-12-station/details is a good ghetto starter pack. $15 gets you DIY handle + controller using best under ~$500 technology available today, Hakko T12 integrated tip/heater cartridges.
$36 will get you assembled station with free shipping
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-T12-Soldering-Welding-Iron-Station-75W-OLED-Temperature-Controller-Kit/113691926456
https://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Digital-Soldering-Iron-Station-T12-Tip-Handle-Controller-110V-220V-For-HAKKO/223524763501

[hqbert]

wraper you are jumping up and down on newbies head 

hqbert read on the principle of operation of a typical digital control temperature controlled soldering iron:
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/projects/do-it-yourself-soldering-station-with-an-atmega8/
yes, you need whole bunch of electronics and smarts for each additional connected soldering wand.

First lets start by stating the obvious. WEP 992DA+ is pretty shit, especially at $200 it actually delivers lower value than buying same crap components separately, not that you would want those crap components in the first place. Hakko 907/908 is ancient technology, and clones are even worse than original, 937D $30 sold separately. Then you get bundled bottom of the barrel 858D $50 worth of hotair. "suction" vacuum is just useless gimmick.

If you want dual soldering irons this https://hackaday.io/project/162676-dual-t-12-station/details is a good ghetto starter pack. $15 gets you DIY handle + controller using best under ~$500 technology available today, Hakko T12 integrated tip/heater cartridges.
$36 will get you assembled station with free shipping
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-T12-Soldering-Welding-Iron-Station-75W-OLED-Temperature-Controller-Kit/113691926456
https://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Digital-Soldering-Iron-Station-T12-Tip-Handle-Controller-110V-220V-For-HAKKO/223524763501

Awesome thank you. Let me read over and try to comprehend all that stuff.

[Mechatrommer]

Whether this will be useful, I doubt. Only if you have no money at all and can only buy a hsmdle for $3.
I recommend that you pay attention to the T-12 system. It is significantly better and not very expensive from Chinese friends.
For example https://aliexpress.ru/item/32945257770.html as second iron.

link corrected... https://aliexpress.ru/item/32945257770.html but that is $40, not $3... btw, i always use $10 iron, sweet! and another YIHUA 908D standing by if i want quick startup. hot air is entirely separate YOUYUE 8858 because i learnt a lesson from KADA 852AD+

[S. Petrukhin]

wraper you are jumping up and down on newbies head 

hqbert read on the principle of operation of a typical digital control temperature controlled soldering iron:
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/projects/do-it-yourself-soldering-station-with-an-atmega8/
yes, you need whole bunch of electronics and smarts for each additional connected soldering wand.

First lets start by stating the obvious. WEP 992DA+ is pretty shit, especially at $200 it actually delivers lower value than buying same crap components separately, not that you would want those crap components in the first place. Hakko 907/908 is ancient technology, and clones are even worse than original, 937D $30 sold separately. Then you get bundled bottom of the barrel 858D $50 worth of hotair. "suction" vacuum is just useless gimmick.

If you want dual soldering irons this https://hackaday.io/project/162676-dual-t-12-station/details is a good ghetto starter pack. $15 gets you DIY handle + controller using best under ~$500 technology available today, Hakko T12 integrated tip/heater cartridges.
$36 will get you assembled station with free shipping
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-T12-Soldering-Welding-Iron-Station-75W-OLED-Temperature-Controller-Kit/113691926456
https://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Digital-Soldering-Iron-Station-T12-Tip-Handle-Controller-110V-220V-For-HAKKO/223524763501

It seems to me that the author of the topic does not want to use two soldering irons at the same time, he wants to connect the second one and select the active one with the toggle switch.

[hqbert]

It seems to me that the author of the topic does not want to use two soldering irons at the same time, he wants to connect the second one and select the active one with the toggle switch.

Ideally two simultaneous connections but if I can get away switching one out for the other with a flip of a switch, it's still a benefit.

[S. Petrukhin]

It seems to me that the author of the topic does not want to use two soldering irons at the same time, he wants to connect the second one and select the active one with the toggle switch.

Ideally two simultaneous connections but if I can get away switching one out for the other with a flip of a switch, it's still a benefit.

Your station will definitely not be able to support 2 soldering irons at the same time.
Only select the active switch or replace the connectors with quick-set ones.

When I bought the T-12 station, I was thinking of changing the connectors so that I could easily change the handle. Good connectors cost half the price of a station. The T-12 has handles to quickly change the tip in one movement, but this is also inconvenient: for thick tips, a large handle with a nut for fixing is convenient, and for small work, a thin handle with a small tip removal is better. And, moreover, after changing the tip, you need to manually select its type to adjust the temperature profile, they do not have automatic identification - this is also inconvenient. 

In the end, I bought a second station.

[hqbert]

(attachment)..

good! but thats not very helpful,which pin goes to where? i guess B and E are where the hot air and older iron are connected, correct? A and C should provide power to E and B respectively correct? can you fill what the others "?"s? i'm guesssing H and I are high voltage power elements? whats the numbering labelled on the body? please note there are D,F,G optocoupler that means there are high voltage involved so be extra careful.

As I look further

A is L7805CV.
H & C are BT137.
I is BTA16.
D & G reads M003041 427Q
F reads M0C3021 431Q

Can someone explain what these do? I'm guessing they regulate power to the hot air, soldering iron and pump, although I don't understand the purpose of A & E.

The 2-pin header on the right top go to the transformer.
The 2-pin headers on the right bottom three go to the 110V and power switch.
The 4 pin header at the top controls the hot air flow dial.
The three 2-pin headers at the bottom are for the solder, vacuum and hot air on/off switches.
The 3-pin header at the bottom goes to the hot air gun.
The two 2-pin headers on the left go to the transformer.

[hqbert]

It seems to me that the author of the topic does not want to use two soldering irons at the same time, he wants to connect the second one and select the active one with the toggle switch.

Ideally two simultaneous connections but if I can get away switching one out for the other with a flip of a switch, it's still a benefit.

Your station will definitely not be able to support 2 soldering irons at the same time.
Only select the active switch or replace the connectors with quick-set ones.

When I bought the T-12 station, I was thinking of changing the connectors so that I could easily change the handle. Good connectors cost half the price of a station. The T-12 has handles to quickly change the tip in one movement, but this is also inconvenient: for thick tips, a large handle with a nut for fixing is convenient, and for small work, a thin handle with a small tip removal is better. And, moreover, after changing the tip, you need to manually select its type to adjust the temperature profile, they do not have automatic identification - this is also inconvenient. 

In the end, I bought a second station.

I just saw this. Thanks. This may be the reality but it would still be nice to know what all those parts do.

[tooki]

Yes, but there is "stuff" (aka "electronics") inside, which regulates your iron. Most likely a single channel station only has electronics for one channel (iron).
So where do you add a second iron? Driving both from the same circuit will not work (obviously).

Yes I'm trying to confirm if the components would have a problem with it and I was thinking about splicing into the existing port. If there's a problem, maybe I could add a switch to flip between port 1 solder and 2 which I could use to desolder. If I was using port 2 to desolder, I would still need to match the wiring but that's been done by others before.

Do you not understand there is a temperature sensor in the iron and power is supplied to it according to temperature readings?

Yes, it is also a hot air station with one soldering iron. No I don't understand how adding a second iron would be a problem. I was hoping for a clear technical explanation explaining how the circuits generally work.

Bear in mind that it’s not the responsibility of the forum to teach you both the generalities of how circuits work AND the technical details of why it won’t work here.

Maybe something like, the transistors, resistors, capacitors, triac, pcb etc serves these functions and capabilities and therefore they aren't capable of supporting an additional soldering iron.

I guess you're not seeing it from my level. If you tell a toddler why they can't do something, they'll always respond with why? Things my be obvious to you and many here, but not everyone, but yeah I can accept there's no functionality, but I'll never know exactly why.

You also need to accept that as a very beginner, the concise but accurate explanations probably won’t mean anything to you. Just like when a toddler asks “where do babies come from”, you don’t go into the details of ova, spermatozoa and the double-helix and why we need genetic diversity to protect the species against harmful genetic mutations. You say “the mommy and the daddy make love and 9 months later the baby comes”, and then iteratively go into more detail and accuracy as the child grows older.

Remember also that a toddler’s “why” and your “well I want it to be possible so I’ll just repeat the question” aren’t the same thing.

Not trying to go hard on you, just making sure you think about why you’ve gotten the pushback you got. It’s great that you’re curious, but be respectful of others’ time by not insisting on details that are still way over your head. Electronics is complex and there’s tons to learn, and you have to start with truly understanding the basics and working from there.

As for the components: google the part numbers to find the datasheets and read the introductions, as well as to find others’ circuits that use them. That’ll give you an idea of what they do.

[aqibi2000]

OP is truly ridiculous

[hqbert]

Bear in mind that it’s not the responsibility of the forum to teach you both the generalities of how circuits work AND the technical details of why it won’t work here.

Maybe something like, the transistors, resistors, capacitors, triac, pcb etc serves these functions and capabilities and therefore they aren't capable of supporting an additional soldering iron.

I guess you're not seeing it from my level. If you tell a toddler why they can't do something, they'll always respond with why? Things my be obvious to you and many here, but not everyone, but yeah I can accept there's no functionality, but I'll never know exactly why.

You also need to accept that as a very beginner, the concise but accurate explanations probably won’t mean anything to you. Just like when a toddler asks “where do babies come from”, you don’t go into the details of ova, spermatozoa and the double-helix and why we need genetic diversity to protect the species against harmful genetic mutations. You say “the mommy and the daddy make love and 9 months later the baby comes”, and then iteratively go into more detail and accuracy as the child grows older.

Remember also that a toddler’s “why” and your “well I want it to be possible so I’ll just repeat the question” aren’t the same thing.

Not trying to go hard on you, just making sure you think about why you’ve gotten the pushback you got. It’s great that you’re curious, but be respectful of others’ time by not insisting on details that are still way over your head. Electronics is complex and there’s tons to learn, and you have to start with truly understanding the basics and working from there.

As for the components: google the part numbers to find the datasheets and read the introductions, as well as to find others’ circuits that use them. That’ll give you an idea of what they do.

Sorry but being around forums, never expect anyone to provide an A to an Q&A. But that's why people chat in forums, to get information and learn. No? Look through every thread that's been started and it's a question to get an answer. But right off the bat before I made a comment, Wrapper provides a pissy response. Look through all his post and you'll see he's pissy in nature to everyone.

Honestly, I never expected any response really and I've been around a few forums to know many posts go unanswered and nobody can seriously expect any kind of legal repercussion for making any kind of posts, whether it's a Q or A. But yes I've seen all those datasheets but they don't put the parts in context or use case as a whole.

[S. Petrukhin]

I don't understand why someone is annoyed by forum posts. Yes, there really can be beginners, there can be children and people who do not have enough money to buy expensive equipment. If someone doesn't like the topic or doesn't like communication, you can just keep silent and ignore it. No one forces. All professionals were not born like this and also once received help.

[hqbert]

I don't understand why someone is annoyed by forum posts. Yes, there really can be beginners, there can be children and people who do not have enough money to buy expensive equipment. If someone doesn't like the topic or doesn't like communication, you can just keep silent and ignore it. No one forces. All professionals were not born like this and also once received help.

Well I think this case is closed. Thanks to everyone who tried to chime in, even wraper for being the first. I thought this forum was dead and not too popular.

[Mechatrommer]

(attachment)..

good! but thats not very helpful,which pin goes to where? i guess B and E are where the hot air and older iron are connected, correct? A and C should provide power to E and B respectively correct? can you fill what the others "?"s? i'm guesssing H and I are high voltage power elements? whats the numbering labelled on the body? please note there are D,F,G optocoupler that means there are high voltage involved so be extra careful.

As I look further

A is L7805CV.
H & C are BT137.
I is BTA16.
D & G reads M003041 427Q
F reads M0C3021 431Q

Can someone explain what these do? I'm guessing they regulate power to the hot air, soldering iron and pump, although I don't understand the purpose of A & E.

The 2-pin header on the right top go to the transformer.
The 2-pin headers on the right bottom three go to the 110V and power switch.
The 4 pin header at the top controls the hot air flow dial.
The three 2-pin headers at the bottom are for the solder, vacuum and hot air on/off switches.
The 3-pin header at the bottom goes to the hot air gun.
The two 2-pin headers on the left go to the transformer.

you probably being lucky if you really have one unused section for another soldering iron, you have 3 power triacs there, but i dont know one of them may power the suction motor or something else. i have feeling this triacs will feed directly to heaters of you soldering iron and hot air, which means you are dealing with risk of contact with lethal voltage 110V, this if not taken careful or by unlucky, can kill you. to be sure, you need to dismantle your unit and see the connection inside, also for us to analyze the possibility. but then you have mcu controlled display, if you are lucky again, the firmware may auto detect if 2nd iron is installed and display it on screen, if unlucky, you out of luck if no programming skill. make sure the device is totally disconnected from mains electricity before dismantling unit. (and again disclaimer: we will not be held responsible for any of this, its dangerous voltage you have been warned)

https://cdn.datasheetspdf.com/pdf-down/B/T/1/BT137-600E_PhilipsSemiconductors.pdf
https://cdn.datasheetspdf.com/pdf-down/B/T/A/BTA16-CDIL.pdf

[S. Petrukhin]

Sorry but being around forums, never expect anyone to provide an A to an Q&A.

Read my messages carefully and you will find all the answers. No one is interested in dealing with this chinese board. It is not very good and does not differ fundamentally from dozens of similar ones. Maybe later a person who has already done this will appear and share their knowledge. But there won't be anything useful for you, I think. If you are very interested, figure it out yourself - this will give you experience and maybe you can tell someone later.

Next time, write in the beginners section - it will be clear that you need a detailed explanation.

[Rasz]

I thought this forum was dead and not too popular.

 

are there bigger, more active electronic dedicated ones?

[Mechatrommer]

we still waiting for the teardown picture...

[hqbert]

I thought this forum was dead and not too popular.

 

are there bigger, more active electronic dedicated ones?

You're probably interpreting incorrectly. I don't know anything about any electronic repair forum and I certainly didn't expect any responses to my post.

[Haenk]

Is this your board?

Right south of the model number on the PCB, there seems to be one dodgy solder joint (might be a reflection, though). As well as several on the east and north side of the board, which have no solder at all (but might be soldered from the bottom). Certainly check those...

[wraper]

Is this your board?

Right south of the model number on the PCB, there seems to be one dodgy solder joint (might be a reflection, though). As well as several on the east and north side of the board, which have no solder at all (but might be soldered from the bottom). Certainly check those...

Those are buttons and display which are soldered from the opposite side.

[Squoip]

Now we're getting somewhere. That's not my board, but it's the same. What is C? But it should tie to B, which is the header for the soldering iron. As for E, which is my area of interest, it is an unused header and it looks similar to B. Is this where I can attach an additional soldering iron? I think H & I and the nearby headers support the hot air gun and the pump. So what's A and does it support E like you mentioned? If so, that's an extra unused slot.
[/quote]
First of all, that PCB is from a Xtronic 9020. It may be the same as your unit, but unless the part number is the same, it's not the same. The board does not have support for a second iron. If you look at the components on the board, what do you have? If there were multiple slots for multiple irons, you would see duplicated circuits, but there isn't anything like that on the board. Look up the datasheet for C. I bet it's a triac since there's a MOC3041 right next to it. A MOC3041 is a zero crossing triac driver which indicates it's used for on/off control of an AC device, not for phase shift. You need to do some investigation with a DMM to see what's tied to what. I can fairly confidently say B-C is not the same relationship as A-E since there's no triac driver near A. There are four power components, likely for: Soldering Iron, Fume Extractor Pump, Hot Air Heater, Hot Air Fan. With the exception of the vacuum pump, all should be variable speed/heat.