Author Topic: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?  (Read 231318 times)

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Offline Hundleton1

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #350 on: January 16, 2022, 05:29:48 pm »
Yea I have a look when I tear mine down.  It’s just feels loose with a wobble on the shaft. Not solid if you get my drift.  However that could also be the knob. 
A little bit Mad here and there.
 
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Offline dreamcat4

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #351 on: January 16, 2022, 08:39:04 pm »
yeah totally man. those dodgy chinese encoders. it is something recurring which keeps coming up again and again. not the first time its happened

wooley, loose or missed steps. or double clicks. of course not everyone has such issue. or maybe cleaning it can help? by spraying a contact cleaner in there. however that isnt going to fix a defective one

i cannot remember who it was who recommended the bournes brand of encoder. must have been over on one of the previous ksger t12 thread

we need to know the package dimensions / footprint. shaft diameter. and number of steps per rotation. to then feed into a parametric search criteria on digikey

bournes should sells the same encoder family different sizes versions / specs. for the different most common types.... but specifically the reason i ask right now is because of parts shortages. for sometimes will be out of stock for several months.
 

Offline JM1010

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #352 on: January 16, 2022, 09:04:12 pm »
Expecting my T3A soon, can't wait!
If I hear you well... if the unit shipped with firmware 1.19 it is recommended to keep it and not upgrade to 1.25, correct?
Is there any must do upgrade (better earth... etc) or it's pretty much good to go as is?
 

Offline Hundleton1

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #353 on: January 17, 2022, 12:43:23 am »
Mine shipped with 1.23.

I was live streaming tonight and plugged it in to the app and it upgraded to 1.25 automatically.

Don’t like that feature one bit.

So now I have 1.25 lol. 
A little bit Mad here and there.
 

Offline SteveyG

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Re: T3A bundle
« Reply #354 on: January 18, 2022, 06:33:05 pm »
Does anyone have a link for a T3A + new style stand + T245 handle + 3cartridges? Aliexpress search results are confusing. I'm looking to get this as my first soldering station kit. Shipping to Canada if it matters.

Sadly I don't think this combo exists. I don't know why they bother shipping with the folded steel stand.

easy100fix Store has been excellent so far, so I'd recommend them: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AKt4pQ

They sell the T3A + T245 + 3 cartridges, you have to get the better T245 base as a separate item, but they have it on that page too.
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Offline SteveyG

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #355 on: January 18, 2022, 06:34:30 pm »
Expecting my T3A soon, can't wait!
If I hear you well... if the unit shipped with firmware 1.19 it is recommended to keep it and not upgrade to 1.25, correct?
Is there any must do upgrade (better earth... etc) or it's pretty much good to go as is?

For soldering, it works perfectly even on the really early versions.

The lack of downgrade option is a bit disappointing really.
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Offline toktoksp

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #356 on: January 18, 2022, 06:42:25 pm »
Hello All,

i'm new here but reading along for a long time now.  ;D
Today one good looking T3A arrived and i immediately openend it and had a look around its insides. I already build a Unisolder 5.2 and i'm really happy how the Unisolder performs.
I bought the T3A out of curiosity and maybe as backupstation if the Unisolder needs work or fails  :-[. My daughter too started soldering small projects so she will
definitely gets this one. I ordered just the station, because i allready have a t245 clone and one originial t245 from JBC. I would like to connect the clone
to the T3A, i have Gx12-5 connectors here (so no problem on that side) but i cant find the value of the id-resistor for the t245 handle. I have a picture of the pinout from the backside of my
pcb, so connecting it should be hopefully be easy.
Does anybody know the value of that resistor? Is there a bridge in the connector between pins, like in the 936 handle?

Thanks in advance
Uli
 

Offline dreamcat4

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #357 on: January 18, 2022, 06:43:23 pm »
would hope that downgrade is possible with lower level hardware flashing. by hooking up over SWD. although less convenient than the usb port
« Last Edit: January 18, 2022, 07:07:46 pm by dreamcat4 »
 

Offline SteveyG

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #358 on: January 18, 2022, 10:44:16 pm »
Hello All,

i'm new here but reading along for a long time now.  ;D
Today one good looking T3A arrived and i immediately openend it and had a look around its insides. I already build a Unisolder 5.2 and i'm really happy how the Unisolder performs.
I bought the T3A out of curiosity and maybe as backupstation if the Unisolder needs work or fails  :-[. My daughter too started soldering small projects so she will
definitely gets this one. I ordered just the station, because i allready have a t245 clone and one originial t245 from JBC. I would like to connect the clone
to the T3A, i have Gx12-5 connectors here (so no problem on that side) but i cant find the value of the id-resistor for the t245 handle. I have a picture of the pinout from the backside of my
pcb, so connecting it should be hopefully be easy.
Does anybody know the value of that resistor? Is there a bridge in the connector between pins, like in the 936 handle?

Thanks in advance
Uli

I've just measured the pins on my T245 handle, it's zero ohms between the ID pin and the pin to the right of it when viewed from the back of the PCB
« Last Edit: January 18, 2022, 10:48:40 pm by SteveyG »
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Offline mastershake

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Re: T3A bundle
« Reply #359 on: January 18, 2022, 11:50:59 pm »
Does anyone have a link for a T3A + new style stand + T245 handle + 3cartridges? Aliexpress search results are confusing. I'm looking to get this as my first soldering station kit. Shipping to Canada if it matters.

Sadly I don't think this combo exists. I don't know why they bother shipping with the folded steel stand.

easy100fix Store has been excellent so far, so I'd recommend them: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AKt4pQ

They sell the T3A + T245 + 3 cartridges, you have to get the better T245 base as a separate item, but they have it on that page too.

the link you posted the first option is the t3a with new stand but the price is more and its not an "original" kit the seller just changes out the stand it comes with. a few sellers are doing the same thing.
 

Offline toktoksp

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #360 on: January 19, 2022, 08:33:19 am »

.
.
.

I've just measured the pins on my T245 handle, it's zero ohms between the ID pin and the pin to the right of it when viewed from the back of the PCB

Big thanks to you. 🙂
 

Offline SteveyG

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Re: T3A bundle
« Reply #361 on: January 19, 2022, 09:12:38 am »
Does anyone have a link for a T3A + new style stand + T245 handle + 3cartridges? Aliexpress search results are confusing. I'm looking to get this as my first soldering station kit. Shipping to Canada if it matters.

Sadly I don't think this combo exists. I don't know why they bother shipping with the folded steel stand.

easy100fix Store has been excellent so far, so I'd recommend them: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AKt4pQ

They sell the T3A + T245 + 3 cartridges, you have to get the better T245 base as a separate item, but they have it on that page too.

the link you posted the first option is the t3a with new stand but the price is more and its not an "original" kit the seller just changes out the stand it comes with. a few sellers are doing the same thing.

There were several options there, as you mention with a 'modified' kit, or there's another option which just ships with the metal stand (option 7) and you can order the updated stand separately.
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Offline toktoksp

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #362 on: January 19, 2022, 05:04:38 pm »
Hi,

so today i had time and put the TS245 Clone on a connector. Works fine now. :) Again thanks to SteveyG for helping with the pinout.

Pin 1: nc
Pin 2: just bridged to pin 3
Pin 3: red wire / -   (yeah red means -, must be a jbc thing???)
Pin 4: green wire / sensor
Pin 5: blue / +

Hope that helps someone.  :)

I was positively surprised that the station was calibrated pretty good out of the box.
 
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Offline damanloox

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KSGER T12 handle (again)
« Reply #363 on: January 20, 2022, 09:30:25 am »
I know this has been discussed but.. did anybody actually modified ksger T12 handle to work with T3A? KSGER handles may not be... the best but the tip distance is really nice while AIXUN feels like I'm working from another room... Not really using T12 much but when I have to it's really hard to go AIXUN knowing there's KSGER handle around..
 
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Offline int0x2e

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Any chance of getting C470 (T470) to work on the T3A?
« Reply #364 on: January 20, 2022, 12:10:47 pm »
If I understand correctly, the T245 and T470 handles (and tips) are compatible, which I believe should mean that if I were to acquire a genuine JBC T470 handle (and tips), all I'd need is an adapter between the T3A and JBC pinouts.
I believe I've seen the pinout posted above, which I believe means making the adapter shouldn't be too hard to do.

Anyone care to correct me or perhaps point me to relevant past efforts?
 

Offline dreamcat4

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #365 on: January 20, 2022, 12:32:16 pm »
had the same idea and asked recently. however the biggest problem is that the cartridge resistance is over double. it is 7 ohms (c470) instead of 3 ohms (c245).

why this? well IDK but clearly they have very thin flexible silicone cable to the handle. so to transport all that power without needing thicker gauge wires. this 7 ohm lets jbc double the voltage from 24v to 48v. and keep the same thin wires. but with more power

the implication here is that at 24v the 7 ohm would need a much higher pwm duty cycle. so clearly the no-load heat up time from cold will no longer be only 3 seconds.... perhaps anything up to 6 seconds? which is then similar to a t12

then during actual heat sinking with a large chisel tip. how much pwm duty cycle will be needed to saturate the maximum heat transfer rate at 24v for these larger t470 cartridge being 7ohm? well IDK! but it might be gimped a lot depending how much overhead left remaining in the pwm duty cycle. for example (these are not real numbers, they are a fiction to make the point). but if t245 were typically 40% duty cycle. then over double to 7 ohm would be something around 90% then? ... well that means there is only 10% higher in the duty cycle remaining to deliver 11.1111% extra power transfer to the t470 handle and heat the tip with higher wattage. which does not really sound worth it anymore? if you only gains about 10% extra performance at the same +24v dc...

so then you would also need to raise the voltage too. maybe the existing psu can be tweaked of modded, to get a few extra volts? IDK. and nobody has even looked into that.

and what would be a sufficient voltage, in order to satisfy the maximum heatsinking under load? would it be possible with +36v dc? or is that not high enough? if not then maybe it would need a full +48v. (or at least 40v?). no idea

finally you might hit other unforseen issues. or complications generated from these changes. so it is a considerable more work and investigations. what might be perhaps simpler is to request aixun for this feature. and ask them to make future model t3c. to support just t470 only. or both handle inclusive t245
 

Offline FransW

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #366 on: January 20, 2022, 02:36:24 pm »
Hi all,

Does anyone know where to get an OEM T470 for a reasonable price?
I am using a "480W Adjustable Switching Power Supply" to accomodate
all available JBC clones.
The different supply voltages & maximum currents are made pre-settable.
Thanks in advance,

Frans

« Last Edit: January 20, 2022, 03:28:08 pm by FransW »
PE1CCN, Systems Engineering, HP, Philips, TEK, BRYMAN, Fluke, Keithley
 

Offline JM1010

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #367 on: January 23, 2022, 05:58:19 am »
I just bought this T3A combo from them with the upgraded stand. It's now available.
 

Offline canvas

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #368 on: January 23, 2022, 06:15:15 am »
Looks like there is going to be a new Aixun soldering station soon. It will be 2 ports just like Sugon equivalent.

 
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Offline mastershake

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #369 on: January 23, 2022, 06:44:35 am »
damn wish i would have waited to order a dozen of them the prices seem to have dropped across the board on the stations, stands, handles etc
 

Offline int0x2e

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #370 on: January 27, 2022, 10:01:10 am »
That combo station looks amazing. Wish I didn't just order a T3B last week! :-(
 

Offline damanloox

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #371 on: February 02, 2022, 09:16:50 am »
Nice! but my T3A and T3B are on the way from China so I guess I'll stick to these ;) But I wish they made a pair of micro-tweezers that work with t3b... That would be great addition to the family...

BTW - anybody purchased their P2408 power supply? Looks interesting but haven't seen any reviews yet...
 

Offline Andrew LB

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #372 on: February 02, 2022, 11:29:07 am »
Mine shipped with 1.23.

I was live streaming tonight and plugged it in to the app and it upgraded to 1.25 automatically.

Don’t like that feature one bit.

So now I have 1.25 lol.

Yeah, mine auto-updated on me this evening and was really surprised how it just did it on its own upon connection to the software.
 

Offline coldfire

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #373 on: February 04, 2022, 05:48:16 am »
Got mine today. Impression:

Rattling sound inside. Opened the case and it was a small plastic piece broken off somewhere.
Very noticeable handle buzzing sound (once temperature reaches stable)
Foam handle cover already included (blue, same as the handle)
LCD can be hard to read when low and laying flat.
Sleep function works pretty reliably
Default firmware version:1.24
Default language: Chinese
Large temperature overshoot: over 60 degree (from 0 to 350). I am guessing they use fairly aggressive PID parameters to reach the temperature set point
The new style stand is OK. Probably looks better in photo. Mostly made of plastic.
User manual says input voltage 110/220. When I placed the order I choose the 110v option
Audio is on by default. but can be turned off pretty easily. The UI is not the most intuitive
Encoder keeps rubbing against front panel. They could done a better job for that part
 

Offline Ungolian

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Re: Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?
« Reply #374 on: February 04, 2022, 05:26:50 pm »
Again, their quality control is just plain bad.  But their firmware support is overall pretty good.  There have been a couple of mistakes here and there.  If anyone still has 1.23 on their units, I'd really never connect it to the app ever again.  Just uninstall it and don't look back.  1.25 is fine, it pretty much works the same as 1.23 with the added (and unnecessary) graph function.  If the broken plastic floating around in your unit is black, it's probably from the inductor.  That's been reported a couple of times.  The ringing in the handles seems to vary.  Some units do it, some don't.  Some people have reported that a FW update fixed it, but those were older FWs before 1.23.  If yours is doing it on 1.24, it will probably still do it on 1.25.  The only change between the two is fixing the messed up icons.  No one has yet to definitively identify the cause.  I got lucky, my unit was fairly well soldered, clean inside, no screen issues, nothing rattling around, and no ringing handle.  I'll eventually replace the cheap Chinese electrolytics on the power supply with Nichicons, and call it done.  For the money, these are amazing stations.  Too bad it's a bit of a crap shoot with QC.  Honestly, I'm kind of surprised Dave doesn't get involved with the company.  With all the work he's done with the multimeters, a good soldering station seems like a no-brainer.     
 
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