Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?

[DerekA]

You're welcome.  Hopefully, it is just stray solder in the wrong place.  I will give Aixun enough credit that they may check each unit before boxing and shipping, that your unit passed initially, and something moved around in transit. 

Mr Angolan. I thank you again for your help. Took the station apart today inspected and cleaned everything. Didn't see any issues on the main board.

Powered it up out of the case and spotted the little LED on the PSU going on and off as it boot cycled so I extrapolated that the issue was with the PSU.  Looked closer at the PSU and found a couple of iffy joints so sorted those out. While I was at it replaced 3 of the 5 Caps on the PSU board, two of the caps I had wouldn't go in because they were a bit larger in diameter so wouldn't fit.

Anyway long story short it now works perfectly! I'm happy, even though I did manage to crack the front panel whilst removing it. Never mind, I can live with a little cosmetic flaw.

Thanks again.

[Ungolian]

Well, so much for my "Aixun checks them before shipping" theory.  They do a great job with firmware support, but QC still leaves a lot do be desired.  Only 2 reported issues now, but still could be better.  CGF5's "singing handle" seems to be unique to his unit, so there's that too.  Mine doesn't do that, and nobody else has reported it.  Probably one of the connections in the handle is just loose enough to oscillate. 

[smile]

How can you trutst KSGER when you find these kind of photos about their carbon T12 handle?



Usual Black handle is not better






So maybe I should get Aixun T12 handle for my KSGER and modify it with the tilt switch? Any tutorials how to add it would be very appreciated.

[mastershake]

i use the black one in the middle and no issues at all. they fixed the tightness issue i have 4 of those and none have any issues. i actually prefer them to the aixun t12 handle (both of which had soldering issues inside i had to fix)

[Andrew LB]

I finally got around to ordering one of these T3A's yesterday from a company here in the United States and it just arrived about an hour ago ($17 for FedEx overnight Air... wtf?) and it seems to be working just fine for me. I updated the firmware before ever plugging it into mains which brought it from version 1.15 to 1.23 and so far everything works great. No problems with rebooting or singing handles.

As the old saying goes, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.... i've decided to fix it anyway and ordered new electrolytic caps and will be replacing them when they arrive next week. I'm not the biggest fan of the handpiece stand. I much prefer the one that came with my Hakko 936ESD. It makes me wonder if the old Hakko stand could be modified to work with this station.

edit\

So i drilled a 5/16 hole in the side of the hakko holder and installed the banana jack from the Aixun stand into the right side, then unthreaded the silver holder off the Aixun stand and while it sat inside the hakko holder, it was far from a good fit. So i found a piece of 5/8 copper pipe in the garage, and thinned the ID to 18mm and cut a ring off the end and they all press fit together. The T3A using my old hakko stand works perfectly now. goes into sleep mode and everything. I had no idea what it used to sense the handpiece but i'm pretty sure it simply completes a circuit which puts it into sleep. If it was anything more complex, this probably wouldn't have worked.

https://youtu.be/9r8eE6dKZ5g

[mastershake]

they have a new stand for the t3a specifically and imo its really nice. for a little over 30$ on aliexpress.

[Andrew LB]

they have a new stand for the t3a specifically and imo its really nice. for a little over 30$ on aliexpress.

Yeah. I saw SDG's video about it a while back. Cheapest i found was $36 and for that much money, i'd expect it to be made of metal.

I'm just really used to the hakko stand and the spool holder i made for it. I'm probably going to further modify it to hold the tips where the side trays currently are on it. It's also got enough weight to remove a tip without having to hold it down with the other hand, so another bonus.

[smile]

No problems with rebooting or singing handles.

The problems with "rebooting or singing handles" is with T12 or C245 handles?

[smile]

https://www.tme.eu/lt/details/jbc-c245301/lituokliu-kotai/jbc-tools/c245301/
54.45 EUR
https://www.tme.eu/lt/details/jbc-c245808/lituokliu-kotai/jbc-tools/c245808/
38.96 EUR
https://www.tme.eu/lt/details/jbc-c245866/lituokliu-kotai/jbc-tools/c245866/
36.06 EUR
Not cheap.

First tip is gigantic 8.8 mm. T12 doesn't even have 6.6 mm or 8.8 mm. Biggest T12 I could find cheaply is 5.2 mm. Price is irrelevant if you can't even buy T12 version.
Thus no T12 comparable tip costs 50 EUR. They are expensive, but you making it seem bigger than it actually is.
I brought C245 clones for 12-15 EUR, they work acceptable for me. I couldn't find difference between genuine and clone so far. 12 EUR si more than T12 clones, but it's also way less than 50. You can make it work if you want.

KSGER has these huge ones

[smile]

Anyone knows why T12 or china clone C245 tips has nothing like this for desoldering SMD caps, resistors

[mastershake]

im pretty sure the one i got is metal ill check tomm but i dont think its plastic.

[smile]

i use the black one in the middle and no issues at all. they fixed the tightness issue i have 4 of those and none have any issues. i actually prefer them to the aixun t12 handle (both of which had soldering issues inside i had to fix)

"the black one in the middle" does not have any strain relief on the solder joints inside, you pull on the cable and there is no strain relief that you can use inside the handle they removed it compared to the plastic blue one.

Nobody shown how the aixun T12 handle looks inside yet, perhaps it's mot hard for you to upload few photos?

[mastershake]

i used a small zip tie inside the black ksger ones to hold the wires in place. have yet to have any issues with them at all. im waiting to get some 10k resistors for the aixun t12 handle since one of mine has a bad one and i was out of them they are on the way. ill take some pics when i take it back apart. the aixun has a plastic tab that extends past the wires inside almost exactly like the ksger does. the only real difference is the strain relief off the back of the handle is better but i used a piece of heat shrink on the ksger to take up the extra space over the wire then slid it back into the handle and it fits much more snug now. both of my t12 aixun handles had to be resoldered fairly quickly the blue and green wires are super short on both and tore away from the resistor and the switch inside after a little while even with the zip tie they put on them.

[I Broke it Again]

Hi guys, Picked up the T3A after seeing SDG Electronics video. Was looking for something in the 245 format and thought it was pretty good for the price.

Anyway thought Id throw some info in this thread for anyone who finds it. Also seen some people asking about the T12 Handle so thought Id post a few pics to try and help out.
I bought the T3A in the 936 version and got the T12 handle 3 tip and stand set along with the 245 3 tip and stand set. Worked out to be the cheapest way to get it all at the time. Wanted just the 245 version but thought Id try and and get it to switch on the fly between the 245 and T12 in the future. I don't really need the 245 performance all the time and I have a bunch of specialized T12 tips already and they are cheaper so I don't feel I have to baby them. I got the 936 handle for no real reason and I most likely will never use it.

First down side was that while 245 handle fits the stand fairly well, the T12 and 936 do not. Although the best pictures I could find before I ordered appeared to have slightly different collars, the ones that showed up are all the same.



Oh well, the handles flop around a bit kinda sucky. Cost about $4 a handle to add the stand. Would have been worth it if they sent the handle specific models but they must have been prototypes for the pics. As long as I'm talking about the stands , I haven't seen it mentioned much but the stands have slots to pull most of the 245 tips out and give them a push back in JBC'ish style if you like that, not awesome but its there..




I had an issue with a mains wire that had gotten loose and caused my unit to turn off if I moved it rapidly when I first got it. Opened it up and popped it on and all has been well.  If it worked loose in shipping or was installed incorrectly, I"ll never know.  My package looked like it went through hell and US Customs also opened it so its likely had a hard trip.

Just like someone recently posted, you can open the unit from the rear and disconnect the front panel power connector and slide the power supply out the rear after removing some glue. No reason to pull the front panel to mess with the power supply. I have to order some caps, and will replace them soon. I usually have bad luck with cheap caps in cheap tools. I was one of the lucky ones who got punctured caps in Two KSGER stations before they fixed that issue, lol.

[I Broke it Again]

Sorry for the multiple posts don't want to exceed the image cap in one post.

The T 12 handle.

Well its a handle, it works. Nothing special.
I'm going to go with I believe its mastershake and say I like the cheap KSGER one the best, yep its crap but the short tip distance makes all the difference.

The "Turn and Lock" cap is goofy and not really needed. It has an O-ring in it that keeps it electrically insulated from the tip, not really so cool when we NEED the connection so it will sleep when put in the stand LOL. Thought it would be ok to hang it c115 style and ground it from that rear aluminum sleeve, nope insulated too. So to sleep in the included stand it has to sit at an awkward angle so the tip itself hits the collar, but that's OK since it sucks and wont sit straight anyway.



The handle looks nice and feels pretty good, kind of a pain to pull apart mainly because of the super tight strain relief. I may or may not get the body grounded so the sleep function works better, Ill see if i use it much. Got some pics and a real bad paint drawing of the wiring.





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[I Broke it Again]

Hmm, Im doing the attachments wrong, I'm putting them as inline expandable but i must be messing it up.
936 Handle
Not much to say about this one as likely no one else is probably going to buy one. I plugged it in to see if it worked and that's likely all the use it will see. Not a great fit in the stand, but sleeps right away as its all grounded. Has a cartridge/plug in heater. I will have to see if I can find spares anywhere.

I have the 245 New stand coming even though I don't mind the cheap one that came with it. Also have two TB3's coming, looking forward to checking them out.
I have very little time on this unit but so far I'm pretty happy. I recommended the KSGER stations before but they have really started to climb in price. So far this these stations seem to be a pretty good value.
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[Ungolian]

It's good that you lined up all the handles like that.  I wasn't aware that the Aixun T12 and KSGER T12 were so different, length-wise.  The KSGER is the winner.  But a majority of the people that get the Aixun are going for the 245.  The variety of tips and performance are superior.  *HOWEVER* if you already have a T12 handle and a variety of tips, you can upgrade to the 245 whenever you want to.  You can spend the $80 US/70 euro to just buy the Aixun base unit (no handle or stand), change the wiring in your T12 handle, get creative with your stand solution (it just requires a mono banana plug and continuity with the iron's tip), and you're good to go.  People have to buy the good stand separately anyways, and it's relatively cheap.  Same with the 245 handle.  Tips are a different story...   The 936 is pretty much in the same boat as the T12- if you already have a handle and invested in a bunch of tips, you can just get the base unit for now, then upgrade to the 245 at your own pace.  Performance-wise, I don't think you're going to see any difference.  The 936 system is kind of outdated anymore.  But it's still in people's best interest to at least get the base unit before the price goes up.   

[smile]

Thanks for in depth review and photos. Good work.

I see the Aixum T12 handle has the mercury switch like KSGER. So why it does not sleep if not moved?

[cgf5]

Well, so much for my "Aixun checks them before shipping" theory.  They do a great job with firmware support, but QC still leaves a lot do be desired.  Only 2 reported issues now, but still could be better.  CGF5's "singing handle" seems to be unique to his unit, so there's that too.  Mine doesn't do that, and nobody else has reported it.  Probably one of the connections in the handle is just loose enough to oscillate. 

Actually first noise was reported by pipb here. I have two different T245 handles and both do the same. It's not as simple as you say. There are for sure more singing T3As!

Well they may check if station works, but they don't do proper cleaning since there was many reports of loose solder balls. I would even believe all units work before shipment but if you ship them dirty across world then the debris inside can break some of them.

[Ungolian]

Pipb called it switching noise, which may or may not be the same thing as yours.  I assumed your issue was more of an oscillation.  You and pipb are both in Romania, not sure how close you are, but could it be a mains power issue local to both of you?  Do you have to use an adapter plug for the power cord?  Maybe try a different one?  There really aren't any moving parts in the handle, besides the tip connections, but the resistors in the handle can also broadcast sound under the right circumstances, they can act like a transducer.  And just because sound is coming from the handle, that doesn't necessarily mean that's where the sound is originally generated, only where it's broadcast from.  Just like a radio and a speaker- the speaker isn't the origin of the signal, it's only broadcasting it.  You could trace the noise with an oscilloscope, but at 24v/8A/200w,  that's dangerous to both you and (depending on the specs) your oscilloscope.  Good luck!         

[cgf5]

Remember it started with specific firmware. It's noise controlled by switching of station. Full power 100% - no noise. Zero power 0% - no noise. Between 0% and 100% - makes audible noise. How could any external source make noise in this way? Only sometimes and dependent on how is station switching. I don't see any way.

See images - there you can see how switching looks between heater and station when it makes audible noise (measured through doggy inline coupler) . It's clean. You see only one frequency - main 24V switching. There is no other lower and higher frequency noise. Ignore orientation I have it connected backwards. 10V per division. 1ms, 10ms, 50ms per division. In result of all measurements correlated to audible output: 0% = 0V on heater (no noise); 100% = constant 24V on heater (no noise); between 0% and 100% = switching 0 to 24V at ~1Khz or higher on heater (audible noise). What do you think now?

[Ungolian]

There are just so many potential issues with these because of bad soldering, cheap components, and non-existent quality control.   And any real issues we've seen always goes back to the SMPS.  The firmware update just exposed the issue, I don't think it was the cause (you could prove or disprove that by removing the psu and powering the unit with a bench supply).  As per the patch notes, the heating logic was changed, so it draws differently from the psu.  So the easy answer is it's the psu.  Did you pull out the board and inspect it?  Honestly, EVERY issue people have had with all of these Chinese soldering stations is handle/tip issues (which I'd rule out since you tried two different handles), firmware where all units of a specific model do the same thing (not the case here), or the SMPS of a few units is doing something odd while the rest are fine (most likely).  I don't think I've ever seen an issue with a control board.     

[cgf5]

TL;DR - T3A singing is feature! Not a fault!

I'm trying to understand your train of thought but this doesn't make sense to me if I look at the facts. Maybe I'm thinking about this in wrong way, not sure.

Let's assume my power supply is faulty - power supply is the source of this noise (or noise is coming from wall or whatever different source you can think of) - how this noise can get from station into handle? It would need to go through the cable, right? But in previous post you can see - there is nothing else than 24V heater power. Is my measurement wrong? It's possible, but we are talking about audible noise. It would be periodic repeating signal less than 100kHz. Such signal is easy to catch on oscilloscope - even on the shittiest oscilloscope with the worse probing setup. Thus I don't think my measurement is likely to be wrong. In such case - how could audible noise get from power supply into the handle if it doesn't go through the cable? It can't.

Then what is the source of this noise? Look carefully at the 24V wave form for the heater (first image in previous post). Heater is switched in audible frequency range. What if I don't hear any "noise"? Instead I hear the main 24V switching of the heater? Power for heater is 24Vpp 1 kHz square wave into 2.5 Ω heater winding -> 8A peak current. This output would make powerful audio amplifier. With such output I'm not surprised I'm hearing audible noise. I'm surprised that you don't hear it! T3A is very strong audio generator.

Sound is likely to be generated as the common "coil whine" - electromagnetically induced acoustic noise. Repeated current flow through conductor creates tiny movements of such conductor. Vibrating conductor touches surroundings and creates sound by tiny rubbing motion. If this repeating current flow has frequency in audible range then you will hear this as noise. Pumping 1 kHz @ 8A sure will make some movements somewhere. Perhaps this doesn't make movement in heater but maybe movement of contacts touching cartridge? Heater should be solidly potted thus no movement can happen? I can't really pin point where the sound is coming from - if it is coming from tip or handle.

Why did firmware upgrade change this? They likely changed switching frequency from less audible to more audible? I don't have any way to confirm this - but this makes the most sense.

Why you and others don't hear it? I have no idea. It would make sense if you have different hardware version of controller, and your version is using different switching frequency because of different mosfet or driver. This is possible but I don't think there are multiple revisions. In any case it would be awesome if you or anyone else (who has new firmware without noise) could check how switching wave form of the heater looks like. For the science!

I did open my unit when I got it - there were no major issues like bridged contacts with solder or damaged components from shipping. I also tested my internal power supply with electronic load and output was stable. No oscillation under different load conditions. I could replace internal PSU with external power supply but does it even make sense to do?

I can't confirm many things - thus I'm not sure if this is all correct. This is just what makes sense to me if I look at facts. It's not really important to me, but it's great mental exercise! I like T3A anyway, performance is solid and the bit of noise doesn't bother me. It's more curiosity than anything else.

[vonionel]

Hello,
My unit after firmware upgrade from version 1.19 to version 1.23, I got a lot of overshoots when the unit try to warm up the tip. I got 90-100 degree Celsius overshooting temperature for small tips like original JBC 245-064 to 30-40 degree Celsius for large tips like JBC 245-755 . The handle singing noise appear to be the same. There is anyone who experienced that?

[cgf5]

Hi,
Overshoot is well known - it gives you boost when you pickup handle from stand/cold = it gets to temperature faster this way. 90-100 C overshoot is too high. I see more around 30 C even with small tip like
C245906 - it's different profile but similar size as your example. Is your offending example clone? Then I would think this specific tip is at fault. I tried all sizes and all but one (large) clone have reasonable overshoot around 30-40C. I don't think there is any significant relation between tip size and overshoot. I would say some clones are lesser quality and have for some reason bigger overshoot and not as good temperature regulation as others.

So far only few people reported the handle noise issue. You can read what I think about the noise above. There is no known solution so far.
BTW: All 3 people who reported the noise are from Romania, not suspicious at all. What a coincidence!