Best BST-863 hot air station

[Nisei]

I found this hot air station that could be interesting.
It looks a lot like a Quick 861DW with the same specs but has a touch screen instead of buttons.
If it's the same quality as the Quick it will be a good competitor. At $182 shipped it's quite a bit cheaper!
Really curious to see a review of this one.

http://www.szbesttool.com/products/BST-863-Best-Quality-High-Power-1200W-Digital-Touch-Screen-Display-Hot-Air-Heat-Gun-SMD-Rework-Desol.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Lead-free-Adjustable-Hot-Air-Rework-Station-Soldering-Touch-Screen-LCD-1200W-220V-For-Phone-CPU/32919021140.html?spm=2114.search0104.0.0.3fca14e3XLdRup

[sn4k3]

Looks like the same but inside can be different. Also i don't recommend Touch Screen, that tiny buttons will make your life hard and it can have problems, imagine the touch screen stop to work, imagine touch screen all messy from your fingers and dirt.
Go Quick much more pratical and you know it's good, that touch screen is just a fancy marketing for noobs

[dicky96]

What I think is a bit odd about that, is in the specification it never mentions the airflow in Litres per Minute anywhere.  It just says Airflow 0-100 but that doesn't mean anything at all does it?  Shame someone hasn't reviewed one of these though

Rich

[Nisei]

Totally agree about the touch screen. Just curious what's inside.
And IF it's on par with the Quick then the price is awesome.
Just hoping to find an in depth review.

[wraper]

Looks like the same but inside can be different. Also i don't recommend Touch Screen, that tiny buttons will make your life hard and it can have problems, imagine the touch screen stop to work, imagine touch screen all messy from your fingers and dirt.
Go Quick much more pratical and you know it's good, that touch screen is just a fancy marketing for noobs

Yep, that display is actually quite small for touch buttons to be any good.

[wraper]

And a whole 4th button on the screen for just setting Celsius/Fahrenheit each time you are setting temperature is a waste of space and crap interface design. Also apparently you cannot adjust temperature and airflow without going into menu separately for each of them.

[dreamcat4]

Not sure what happened there. But it ate my comment / reply. I am a new to the forum.

Photos of insides, all thanks to @LegacyCode

https://imgur.com/a/7J6rcGy

Please take above photos ^^ and attach them to 1st post at top of thread. Thank you.

Here are any other photo(s) that are not in above link:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/414286193124048906/508046613286092810/ProShot_20181102_233405.jpg

These photos may be deleted in future. So please somebody re-attach them here. I cannot as a new user - the forum does not let me.

[HexfeT]

it looks almost the same product. Except LCD screen.

https://youtu.be/wDSWtZ0P1jQ

[Gsavas]

Hi. This station looked very tempting to me and I bought it. This thread is the first result that shows up on google, so I thought there might be others who will search for this and decided to post here. It cost about €150 for the 230v version shipped to Europe. I don’t have a quick 861dw to compare this to, but man this thing is a flamethrower. Heats up in an instant and has adequate airflow. It’s on par with weller wtha 1, the only high end hot air station I currently have access to compare with. On a quick glance it seems to use a different heating element than the quick. The air pump is also different, it’s loud. I did a teardown, the insides look similar to the quick, but not entirely the same. The build quality is somewhat lower than the quicks. I’ll post some pics later.
User interface is bearable, it makes a beep when you press/touch a button, and beeps constantly when holding down a button to quickly change temp/air flow. Which I found quite annoying. Thank god they decided to leave physical preset buttons, so you won’t spend much time fiddling with the touch screen. All in all I think it’s a great station, a good bang for the buck/euro.

[wraper]

wtha 1 has only half of max airflow Quick 861DW provides. So if BEST knockoff station has about the same airflow, then it's worse than quick in this regard.

[Gsavas]

As I said, it definitely has a different air pump from the quick, judging from quick teardown videos and comments about how quiet the quick is. I can’t really compare the airflow by feel, but I think it is adequate. Considering the fact that the bst-863 is almost half the price of the quick, I can live and work with that.
Edit: I talked to my coworker who works with the weller daily and is more familiar with it. He said that the bst-863 has higher airflow.

[Guni]

About touch sensitive keys. Take look at advertisement picture and proportion hand and hotgun.
Like inflatable swimming pool with 2m diameter and ten happy people inside 

Anyway I decided to order one.

[Gsavas]

I sold the bst-863 to my workplace and got a quick. First impression of the quick is that it is definately much quieter, and it takes a while for it to spin up the air pump. While the bst station reaches it’s max speed almost instantly. The quick probably uses a soft start mechanism. The airflow is similar, would like to do a proper test sometime.

[dreamcat4]

Perhaps for the BST-863 there is the potential to quieten it down a bit. Thought careful modifications. I would hope so, since it is otherwise a very good station.

[dreamcat4]

Point taken. I have emailed BEST company representative. So as to give feedback about this. Perhaps they can change that part (the controls), for a future product to replace the current BST-863 station.

[SteveyG]

Just in case anyone is interested, here are the insides of the BST-863. Seems pretty good to me, I've used the Quick 856AD extensively and it pretty much does the same job (without the footpedal). Regarding the touch screen, it seems to work through gloves, but once you've set the presets you'd not need to touch the screen anyway.

Product link is here: https://bit.ly/2XRCkAQ

[thmjpr]

Yeah I use the same temperature 99% of the time so a few presets is fine: heatshrink, reflow high/low air flow maybe. Seems like a good deal.

Quick on sale for $265: https://www.tequipment.net/Quick/861DW/Desoldering-Equipment/Rework-Stations/
This one is $172: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32969155119.html

Would be nice if they could do a "high quality" version of the brushless in handle type: high temp silicone cable, ~800W+ heater, etc.

[Chuck60]

Can you do a breakdown of the handle construction. Not a full breakdown but just to see the metal and handle.

[JoeMuc2013]

Hi all,

just received mine and I'm a bit worried. It worked when I first powered it up but ever since it behaves like the handle is in the stand all the time, or at least similarly. If I pick up the handle, the display goes bright but the fan won't spin up and (luckily) the heating element stays cold as well. The stopwatch is running though. After two or three seconds, the moon icon appears in the display. Putting the handle back will set the display backlight brightness down considerably. Nothing else happens.
I can adjust temperature and airflow with the touch screen buttons as shown in the reviews but it never has any effect. Just like a fuse was blown right in my first round of tests?
I also found that keeping the preset buttons down in order to store the current settings won't work. It will immediately switch to whatever is behind the button (400, 350, 300°C), and not overwrite these settings with mine.
So that's not going too well then. Returning to Banggood might get troublesome, in my recent experience anything that is returned to China is getting lost on the way and no refund is being paid.
I'll see what I can do about this. Maybe somebody has an idea. If I manage to repair it somehow, I'll let you all know. I might get to take a peek inside the handle and send some photos even though it's probably not the fault location.

Cheers,
Joe

[xlnx]

I also have the BST-863, and here is what I've figured out.

Inside the handle there's a reed relay that reacts to magnets inside the handle stand. The handle must be in the stand - i.e. the relay must be closed - when the unit is powered on - else it will not work. I found that the magnets in my stand was too weak to close the reed relay. If I held a strong external magnet adjacent to the stand, it would work.

The 2 cavities in the stand are not fully populated with magnets, and it is possible to add more to make it more reliaible. The magnets inside the stand are glued. Use a citrus based dissolver (glue remover) if you want to get them out. One suggestion is to move all magnets to one side only, in order to make a stronger field closer to the reed relay.

[JoeMuc2013]

@xlnx: excellent, you're right. The machine must be off before picking up the handpiece. I could not stand the buzzer any longer so I opened the BST anyway and desoldered the speaker. It was quite some ordeal as the display sits on top of the solder joints so the display needs to be desoldered as well, with 12 board-to-board interconnects which are soldered on both sides. Bastards.
I decided to put two 1/10" sockets and shorten the pins accordingly so it still fits, just in case I need to revisit this side of the board. Works beautifully. (sorry, no photos of this)
I perceived the buzzer as ten times louder than the rest of the device, and feared it would annoy the sh*t out of my neighbours.
So it's awesome now. Thank you all!

[dreamcat4]

Just in case anyone is interested, here are the insides of the BST-863.

Hi there, watched your video today on this station. Quick question: do you have any line of contact to the Best company? Because it would be nice to give a user feedback directly to them about the user interface. Having digital rotary dials / rotary encoder instead of the touchscreen is definately preferred. As it allows much faster and more pleasant setting of the temperature and airspeed. - not just me who thinks this, many of us do and it's glaringly obvious.

Others (well, Lois) have also previously commented about the need for dials as when you have your head to the microscope. Well then you cannot actually see the controls on the hot air station without taking away your head from the microscope. Then putting it back again afterwards into the eyepieces. That is where the dials can really help. Do you can quickly turn up/down tweak the temp or airflow away off the baseline preset (as required) for whatever you are blowing at. Since some objects on the PCB have a higher thermal mass, whilst others not. Let's please make this process a more pleasant and rewarding experience. Well that is a way how it can be done.

A good question to be thinking about if there is no stop point on the dial, and it's a continuous rotation. Then having the station chirp or beep at you at coarser temperature increments (For example every 20C) might also be helpful here. To keep track of how far the temperature has changed whilst adjusting it. But buzzers can be pretty annoying. A better solution is just really good haptic feedback on the dial itself. Where the increments are easy to feel. Preferably with a fixed with a stop point at the far end of the adjustment range. I have seen other solutions be implemented very well (and digitally) on other test equipment such as bench supplies etc. by having actually 2 dials for the 1 control. To let the user adjust in both coarse and fine increments. This then permits both a fixed stop point, and a wide adjustment range. With very fast user adjustment to dial in the desired value.

BEST Company - please implement this! Isn't it the Best way? 

Another point which you noticed in your review was the amount of air blowing. In this scenario a digital option in the settings to switch between logarithmic and linear scaling of the airflow control - could potentially also be helpful.

After having seen your teardown I really agree overall that this bst-863 station is really the Best one out there right now... haha. Excuse the joke. But it could be better with a refresh / revamp the design. Just keeping everything same except for the front panel and it's controls. That would be perfection 

Here is my existing / previous discussion on this matter. Since there is now this other product with such type of dials control https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/new-hot-air-rework-station-nt-861dw-quick-(not-quick!)-761dw/msg2707394/#msg2707394

However it's not very likely to have such a great quality of build, which we would also like to see. All together in the same device.

[tibimakai]

If you could buy either of these, which one would you buy?
Weller WTHA-1, Quick-861DW, or Best BST-863?

[JohnnyG56]

If you could buy either of these, which one would you buy?
Weller WTHA-1, Quick-861DW, or Best BST-863?

I made that decision last night.  I did not look at the Weller but I had the Quick and the Best in the shopping cart because I kept going back and forth.  In the end, I went with the Best. I noted a couple of important (to me) differences between the two.  There are many versions of the Quick on the Aliexpress website, 900, 1,000 and 1,300 watts.  The prices ranged from just over $200 to the mid $300.  The Best is 1200 watts and cost me $168 with free shipping to the US.

I am not too concerned about the touch screen because I plan on using the presets most of the time.  That should cut down on some of the wear and tear.

Stay tuned...
-G

[korlatos]

Hi JohnnyG56, could you please share your experience with BST-863 so far? I am trying to decide which hot air station to get.

[ant17]

hi guys i thought i would contribute. I just brought a best bst-863 and have had trouble removing components. I was trying to remove a fpc connector off a old mobile logic board at first i tried 350 degrees at 50 airflow for about 2 to 3 minutes. but still would not come off. eventualy i tried 400 degrees then after about 2 minutes it came off i am thinking its out of calibration but i don't think you can calibrate this unit like the quick

[gnavigator1007]

hi guys i thought i would contribute. I just brought a best bst-863 and have had trouble removing components. I was trying to remove a fpc connector off a old mobile logic board at first i tried 350 degrees at 50 airflow for about 2 to 3 minutes. but still would not come off. eventualy i tried 400 degrees then after about 2 minutes it came off i am thinking its out of calibration but i don't think you can calibrate this unit like the quick

What flux are you using? Got a thermocouple for a multimeter? How much distance? How many layers is the board?

Haven't checked my own for accurate temps in awhile, but I'm usually set at 400

[ant17]

interflux i have thermocouple setup thats partly how i new something was not right i am not sure howmany layers

[SteveyG]

hi guys i thought i would contribute. I just brought a best bst-863 and have had trouble removing components. I was trying to remove a fpc connector off a old mobile logic board at first i tried 350 degrees at 50 airflow for about 2 to 3 minutes. but still would not come off. eventualy i tried 400 degrees then after about 2 minutes it came off i am thinking its out of calibration but i don't think you can calibrate this unit like the quick

There's a lot of factors that dictate the suitable temperature and airflow. If you're concerned, check the temperature with a thermocouple.

1 year on, my BST-863 is still working excellently despite heavy use. I also reviewed several other hot air stations recently.

[dreamcat4]

Whilst i very much like the look of the BST 863 being discussed here, i also feel that only 3 preset slots is simply not really enough given how fiddly and how many button presses it takes to make any frequent adjustment and in only 1c increments.

Actually the point was not originally my own but brought to my attention during a discussion with Paul Daniels. And I agree because when you add heatshrinking plus the ability to cope with both very thick and heavy pcbs and also very thin and small boards. Then with a preheat mode also taking up a slot that is at least 4 minimum. However Paul says he actually needs as many as 6. For not needing to go back and keep making a manual adjustment.

Now I did email BEST company already (many months ago) asking them to make an update to the BST-863 just with better manual controls. Rotary encoders. However I myself am not high profile enough to bring attention to this. My request has fallen upon deaf ears.

So what about the possibility of modifying the firmware of this unit, to support a greater number of presets instead? The LCD has these 3 fixed symbols one for each preset. So I was just wondering if you can press or hold down 2 of the preset buttons simultaneously. And have than registered by the microcontroller. Then have a software mod that illuminated a combination of 2 preset symbols together as a pair. This would then let the capability to add an additional layer of 3 extra presets. Allongside the original 3 presets.

However if 2 button presses (or held down) cannot be registered simultaneously on the MCU. Then that would not be possible or elegant. At least not without some type of an additional hardware modification. For example to access unused GPIO pins and rig up exttra external buttons. Which of course is not really so nice when the front panel is already nicely mooulded etc. Which is also why I requested that BEST (the manufacturer) do a new front panel / revisions themselves in the first place.

I know making a custom firmware may sound a bit crazy however you'd be surprised its already been done to a much greater extend for other products such as the TS100 soldering iron, the STM32 T12 OLED soldering controller, and also the really cheap fan handle 858D+ hot air station.

Wheras i'm talking about is the ability to store some extra presets. Where those preset management routines already exist. And just need a bit of finessing. Rather than completely rewrite an entire firmware from scratch.

So what do you guys think? Wouldn't those be the next logical improvements to this unit? Improving the controls.... Considering that it already performs in almost all its other aspects so well? Who's with me here eh?

 

[ercapoccia]

Would the Quick nozzle fit the Best? Under the microscope bent nozzle are a must.
I

[kubino]

I ordered nozzles for QUICK and they fit nicely. No problem here ;-)

[SpecialK]

Just in case anyone is interested, here are the insides of the BST-863. Seems pretty good to me, I've used the Quick 856AD extensively and it pretty much does the same job (without the footpedal). Regarding the touch screen, it seems to work through gloves, but once you've set the presets you'd not need to touch the screen anyway.

Product link is here: https://bit.ly/2XRCkAQ

I've been looking at hot air stations for some time.  Hobby use, so I wasn't going to spend big money.  After seeing your videos and Voltlog videos, I was impressed.  I was able to pick this unit up for about half the price of a Quick.

I must say that this unit is quiet.  The 120V version I have seems to have a subdued fan compared to the 240V versions.  I use mine at 50% to 58% airflow, and the power up/power down squeal is very slight compared.  It really seems to remove components like butter at 400 to 410 celcius.  Is that too hot?

 

[wraper]

It really seems to remove components like butter at 400 to 410 celcius.  Is that too hot?

Yes, it is too much. I do not suggest going over 360^oC unless it's very hard to do the job otherwise, and preferably stay at 350^oC or lower. 400^oC as minimum will burn a component surface, especially noticeable on yellow tantalum capacitors which become brown. Also many Chinese stations actually output higher temperature than on the display to appear working better than they actually are. In that case you would need to set temperature even lower.
EDIT: this is for lead free. With leaded solder you should drop the temperature by about 30^oC

[SpecialK]

Okay. That's good to know.  So far I've just been trying it out on stripping components on some practice boards.  I would imagine there should be a certain dwell time and if it takes longer then you need to up the temp or airflow?  Any rule of thumb?

[luwii]

Thanks for photo of the board.

I took R12 off, instead of going through the hassle of taking too much apart. That stopped the buzzer, and the rest seems to work fine.

On mine, R12 is 10 . I then played around with a variable resistor in it's place and settled on changing to 330 . (A little higher value might be nice, but I did not have anything suitable in stock.)
It is not nearly as loud, but the up/down sound turns into an annoying chirping sound. Decided I do want some buzzer feedback, and hope that the up / down is not used too much. Time will tell if it take it out again.

[MrBean]

Hi All

First post from a newbie to electronics who's bought a Best BST-863 to play with 

I got it from Banggood, and after opening it up I first sorted the grounding issue out by filing the paint away below the earthing points on the case, however I'm perplexed by the internal wiring. It seems (photos attached) to my not very knowledgeable eyes that the AC plug is wired up incorrectly internally, with the live female spade connector going to the neutral male and vice-versa (this is the same on SDG Electronics' unit but different on VoltLog's unit - both reviews/teardowns on YouTube). Then where the wiring runs into the EMI filter, the live and neutral wires have been switched round on in/out (does placement matter for this?). Then on the screw block connector for the front panel, where on SDG Electronics' unit there are live wires, I have neutral wires and vice-versa. I had to tighten the screw connectors up - One was nearly falling out! The front board is quite messy too, lots of flux everywhere, unlike all the other internals I've seen. Mine didn't have the Best holographic sticker on the case, but I imagined they'd just ran out that day or decided to stop using them...

Would you knowledgeable folks please be able to take a look and tell me if I'm being silly or if it might be an issue? I haven't plugged it in yet as I'd like to check it's all OK first...

Thanks in advance! 

MrB

[fatmir]

Hi,

i tried both Best BST-863 and quick-861DW. I think there is no difference in the work. Just the touch panel at Best BST-863 worries me a little?
I would also like to try the ATTEN ST-862D, if the opportunity arises to test.

best regards
Fatmir

[RandomHacks]

I got this station April last year, the price is good for the quality but the firmware/interface... 
I got so annoyed by it that I designed a board from scratch. I'll leave the links to the videos here in case anybody is interested.
No more screaming buzzer

Presentation:


Installation:

[dreamcat4]

 

Awesome man!! You did it!  Pretty darn awesome... Looking forwards to it!

 

Very good work there. Can't wait

[tatel]

I got this station April last year, the price is good for the quality but the firmware/interface... 
I got so annoyed by it that I designed a board from scratch. I'll leave the links to the videos here in case anybody is interested.
No more screaming buzzer

Man, I have been looking for a hot air station for some months now. This had gone under my radar.  Then your post made me aware of it. It's now on Banggood for some €140, shipped from Spain. I got it and also ordered one of your kits from Tindie.

You are right, your board isn't the cheapest thing in the world  But, hey, I love open source things. I find there is value in being able to  fiddle with the FW, should the need arise. Moreover, it already seems to overcome the drawbacks exposed on this thread. And I'm willing to support people that makes us free of vendor-locking. So I'm going to happily give it a try. 

I think this combination can be good, better than getting the Quick 861DW for about €260 plus VAT, shipped from EU, without open source firmware. You have a good selling point.

Just two details: 1) I think you should really post a link to the code and 2) Although this is a minor consideration, the knobs should be included in the kit.

Best wishes

[SpecialK]

This looks pretty good to me.  I'm impressed.  I might just order one.

[dreamcat4]

OK i have a question about the inner workings of this device. So ones of the PCBs, is square shaped and it sits on the bottom next to the fan. And it is dual purpose. Both the PWM fan controller, but also it supply +15v DC power to the front panel control board (for MCU display etc).

And there is a simple 4 pin header in the top left corner of the photo here (see below). Markings are:

[+15, GND, A1, PWM].

Clearly when you set a fan speed on the front panel touch display, and unhook the handle. Then the MCU controller should be sending a pwm signal on the pin #4 PWM. Between 0 and 100% pwm. Is that correct?

Because on my machine it never happen. It has aproblem. So when I unhook the handle there is no PWM signal. At least not at any frequency that is low enough for me to detect here on my poor DSO150 toy.

And the A1 pin always remains at +5v.

Clearly I would like to debug this issue further. So I was just hoping to get some help for confirming that I should drive the board with +5v pwm signal? And maybe at a low frequency < 30khz ?

Because if the PWM freq is much higher then I cannot see it on my test equipment here. The DSO150 is just a toy. It does not go much higher than about 40khz without aliasing.

Also when I trace the A1 pin on this fan control board... it seems like an output signal from the fan controller, to tell the control board it's ok and ready?

Because this remains at +5v, maybe this pin must be dragged low, before the front panel MCU will actually emit any PWM fan signal? (or if not, then was just not capable to detect it, because PWM frequency is much higher... hehe)

Any help appreciated. Many thanks.

I was really also just wondering where the issue occur. Because since ordering the new upgrade kit. Then it will replace the old front panel main control board. So depending on the location of the problem, whether fix or not. Many thanks.

[dreamcat4]

Ah ok, to answer some of my own questions:

After disconnecting A1 and PWM pins from the front panel. Then I was able to see a +5v pwm signal being generated by the front panel, and it's at 10khz freq.

At least during power on cycle, for 2-3 sec. It does not seem to matter if A1 pin is tied to GND or not. It is the fan control board, pluggin in the PWM pin, it is dragging down the pwm signal to shallow bumps.

The other thing is after removing the handle. To begin with I was seeing a PWM fan signal on presets 2 and 3 (but not on preset #1). Which was reliable at first (and at that time the A1 was initially tied to GND). But then after some few times of power cycles. Then it stopped doing this. And now there is 0v pwm after lifting the handle. Despite the fan icon appear and then temp reads 0c.

So it leads me to believe that perhaps the front panel PCB is working. But not the fan control PCB, that one perhaps might have some type of an issue.

[RandomHacks]

I got this station April last year, the price is good for the quality but the firmware/interface... 
I got so annoyed by it that I designed a board from scratch. I'll leave the links to the videos here in case anybody is interested.
No more screaming buzzer

Just two details: 1) I think you should really post a link to the code and 2) Although this is a minor consideration, the knobs should be included in the kit.

Thanks for the feedback. This is the github repository for the code but I still have to organize some things before I post it, soon. https://github.com/RandomHacks-Git/Best-Improvement
As for the knobs I did order them ages ago but they never arrived and that is why they aren't included. I will order some more on july 1st as hopefully aliexress/ebay will start to collect vat at checkout because I don't feel like paying a service fee to the post now with the new customs rules.

Ah ok, to answer some of my own questions:

After disconnecting A1 and PWM pins from the front panel. Then I was able to see a +5v pwm signal being generated by the front panel, and it's at 10khz freq.

At least during power on cycle, for 2-3 sec. It does not seem to matter if A1 pin is tied to GND or not. It is the fan control board, pluggin in the PWM pin, it is dragging down the pwm signal to shallow bumps.

The other thing is after removing the handle. To begin with I was seeing a PWM fan signal on presets 2 and 3 (but not on preset #1). Which was reliable at first (and at that time the A1 was initially tied to GND). But then after some few times of power cycles. Then it stopped doing this. And now there is 0v pwm after lifting the handle. Despite the fan icon appear and then temp reads 0c.

So it leads me to believe that perhaps the front panel PCB is working. But not the fan control PCB, that one perhaps might have some type of an issue.

The A1 pin isn't used at all by the station (not on my stations atleast), it is supposed to be a feedback pin to check if the motor is running but they messed up the schematic of the ESC board so you don't get any signal from that pin (I looked at this ages ago so I don't exactly remember, but there is a current limiting resistor (in series of course) and immediatley after there is a pull down (or pull up? don't remember) resistor with a lower value so it drags the signal down (or up?) I'm sure I wrote the exact issue somewhere on my notes I would have to look it up, but long story short, the pin isn't used and can be unplugged with no effect. Swapping the two resistors around would solve this but it isn't implemented in the firmware on either the original board nor mine although I left the pin connected to the mcu in case someone would want that (I don't want to get into much detail as I don't quite remember the circtuit they used on the esc but I believe they tied the feedback pins of the chip together so if the motor is not running but twitching between two hall sensors there still wouldn't be a way to detect a fault)

So your blower does not work at all? You should have a PWM signal of around 10kHz on the PWM pin as you said, to check where the problem lies I would suggest injecting a signal on the ESC's pwm pin with a signal generator or arduino (don't forget to tie the GNDs together).
 

[dreamcat4]

Ah very interesting...

So then as you say if the true purpose of the A1 seems to be to return a feedback signal to the MCU, to say the motor is in fact spinning around. Because if it is not blowing any air (with a valid PWM signal)... then the MCU should probably turn off the heater. To prevent damage or overheating in that error condition. Since the heater requires an airflow to keep it cool. So this might also help to explain why there is no heating ATM. And the screen reads "0c". If it did not receive fan spin return signal.

OK so looking at what you are calling the ESC board (sorry I do not know these terminology so well). It is in fact an Allegro A4931 brushless DC fan controller chip. And so this is a great start already, since we know BLDC motors require pulsing at the right times and although I know almost nothing about bldc. Clearly there is a great potential for some high current upset or pulses / backfeeding voltage spikes etc. All on that BLDC board.

So while I still did not begin to debug the real issue (yet). I can see maybe a clue in my microscope, which is between the pin header contacts for the motor. Because between the different pins, and phases of the motor wires are very thin and long tin whiskers.

Actually I already broke them up mostly, in trying to wipe them away too soon. But clearly this is due to the lead free solder. And also the high current pulses due to BLDC motor driving. Which in combination with no protective coating etc... there was probably some sort of bridging occured. Due to these tin whiskers.

So maybe an event occured during operation, with a current from one coil got dumped to the pin for another coil. Or one of the hall sense wires. And then some large current or induced voltage spike on the wrong connection. Or at the wrong relative timings. Whatever happened. This seems the most likely reason for the failure as far as my limited knowledge permits. Because since this BLDC fan seems reasonably somewhat powerful output device, it might be enough to cause some sort of a damage.

Although these tin whiskers are really thin filament. So maybe if i just clean them up and no damage was done here. Then it might start to work again. If it is just a safety cut out feature engaged by the BLDC controller chip IDK.

But for everybody else out there with these stations.... I think you guys all should be unplugging and removing this board. And inspecting it for the tin whiskers. Then cleaning it up. Then maybe just apply some silastic, or other physical barrier underneath the long pin header pins. (that the soldered pins sticks out on the under side).

For the physical barrier to create IDK what is best. But maybe just some silastic, or glue gun. Or conformal coating IDK. Should be enough for only +15v DC. Its a low voltage.

Please take this advice because they really will grow over time. The more hours of operation for the fan and get worse. So it is worth the hassle to protect against this.

[RandomHacks]

Ah very interesting...

So then as you say if the true purpose of the A1 seems to be to return a feedback signal to the MCU, to say the motor is in fact spinning around. Because if it is not blowing any air (with a valid PWM signal)... then the MCU should probably turn off the heater. To prevent damage or overheating in that error condition. Since the heater requires an airflow to keep it cool. So this might also help to explain why there is no heating ATM. And the screen reads "0c". If it did not receive fan spin return signal.

OK so looking at what you are calling the ESC board (sorry I do not know these terminology so well). It is in fact an Allegro A4931 brushless DC fan controller chip. And so this is a great start already, since we know BLDC motors require pulsing at the right times and although I know almost nothing about bldc. Clearly there is a great potential for some high current upset or pulses / backfeeding voltage spikes etc. All on that BLDC board.

So while I still did not begin to debug the real issue (yet). I can see maybe a clue in my microscope, which is between the pin header contacts for the motor. Because between the different pins, and phases of the motor wires are very thin and long tin whiskers.

Actually I already broke them up mostly, in trying to wipe them away too soon. But clearly this is due to the lead free solder. And also the high current pulses due to BLDC motor driving. Which in combination with no protective coating etc... there was probably some sort of bridging occured. Due to these tin whiskers.

So maybe an event occured during operation, with a current from one coil got dumped to the pin for another coil. Or one of the hall sense wires. And then some large current or induced voltage spike on the wrong connection. Or at the wrong relative timings. Whatever happened. This seems the most likely reason for the failure as far as my limited knowledge permits. Because since this BLDC fan seems reasonably somewhat powerful output device, it might be enough to cause some sort of a damage.

Although these tin whiskers are really thin filament. So maybe if i just clean them up and no damage was done here. Then it might start to work again. If it is just a safety cut out feature engaged by the BLDC controller chip IDK.

But for everybody else out there with these stations.... I think you guys all should be unplugging and removing this board. And inspecting it for the tin whiskers. Then cleaning it up. Then maybe just apply some silastic, or other physical barrier underneath the long pin header pins. (that the soldered pins sticks out on the under side).

For the physical barrier to create IDK what is best. But maybe just some silastic, or glue gun. Or conformal coating IDK. Should be enough for only +15v DC. Its a low voltage.

Please take this advice because they really will grow over time. The more hours of operation for the fan and get worse. So it is worth the hassle to protect against this.

Does your blower spin up at all when turning the station on?
I just installed the original board back on one of my stations to test this. From what I understood you get a PWM signal only for a few seconds after turning the station on and you get 000ºC displayed on the screen right? this is the behaviour of turning the station on without having the handle in the support which makes me believe you have a faulty reed switch (magnetic switch) inside the handle. Check for continuity between the black and white wires on the first JST connector from the left, it should be close to 0 ohm if the handle is in the support and open if not.

After checking it turns out that if you tie A1 to GND the station also shows 0ºC and does not heat up but the blower works so I guess it is either the reed switch or something is pulling A1 down on your station.

[dreamcat4]

Does your blower spin up at all when turning the station on?

No, the fan never spins. However I can detect the PWM signal on my DSO150 toy oscilloscope. It a clean PWM signal during power on when the link is disconnected from the esc board.

However the PWM signal is very much smushed down (over loaded) when it is connected as factory. So it seems like the esc board is loading it. However when I measure to GND the pwm pin on the esc board, i get 10kohm. So it seems like some kind of an active circuitry doing that loading. Like going through a little transistor. Sorry I have not had time to check the data sheet yet for the BLDC controller.

I just installed the original board back on one of my stations to test this. From what I understood you get a PWM signal only for a few seconds after turning the station on and you get 000ºC displayed on the screen right?

Correct.

this is the behaviour of turning the station on without having the handle in the support which makes me believe you have a faulty reed switch (magnetic switch) inside the handle.

Yeah they are kindda dodgy. I added some extra magnet in the handle today. What still happens (after adding missing magnet) is if the handle gets stright vertical. Then the reed switch works well (no matter the rotation). However if the handle becomes tilted a little bit backwards in the cradle. Then there is some roatations positions that the reed switch does not close. And the station thinks handle is out of cradle (when it's just tilted in cradle).

Check for continuity between the black and white wires on the first JST connector from the left, it should be close to 0 ohm if the handle is in the support and open if not.

So yes, I just tested (thank you to telling me the wires!). And my reed switch does work as it should. The reed switch is not stuck. It will open and close depending on the magnet.

The only improvement left there is to help stop the handle tilting backwards so easily. Maybe with some extra added 'half' strap or loop going around behind, or other modification to the cradle. Like a way to jam it vertical.

Thanks though! Is helpful to debug the reed switch better. To make sure it works better. Hehe 

=====

The FAN issue seems the ESC board at this point.

Anyway, here is photos of the tin whiskers. This was after breaking them off (not realizing before). So there was more than 1 whiskers per solder joint. And clearly the whiskers a plenty long enough to bridge and reach the next contact. Before I messed them up sorry!

Just wanted to make sure there was at least some kind of photo. Before cleaning up the contacts and/or looking somewhere else.

I am not sure if as a current pathway, it was solid enough to cause a permanent damage. Or if there was any bigger whisker before. Sorry i didn't pay enough attention. But at least even a thin whisker could be enough to confuse the BLDC motor controller driver. Which needs to know the rotation position etc. To stop it from working properly.

Clearly no real experience before with any BLDC circuit. But maybe it can help for others who might get a similar issue in future. If you have any other comments to add please say so! 

[dreamcat4]

The A1 pin isn't used at all by the station (not on my stations atleast), it is supposed to be a feedback pin to check if the motor is running but they messed up the schematic of the ESC board so you don't get any signal from that pin (I looked at this ages ago so I don't exactly remember, but there is a current limiting resistor (in series of course) and immediatley after there is a pull down (or pull up? don't remember) resistor with a lower value so it drags the signal down (or up?) I'm sure I wrote the exact issue somewhere on my notes I would have to look it up

OK so (this is all on the ESC board) for the A1 pin i can see now, what they did. The have tapped off the HA wire from the motor itself, which gives 1/3 of the hall sensor click for the motor rotation. This HA pin on the motor header appears as R7 next to the bldc controller IC.

Then R7 is a 25kohm resistor, which connects up a ladder, to an NPN transistor on the left side of the board. But also with a smoothing capacitor. So if the motor is rotating, the base of the NPN transistor is supposed to become active. And this should then conduct the CE and ground the A1 pin.

But if the motor stops rotating. Then there will be no trigger signal repeating from the HA --> R7. So the capacitor cannot keep the transistor fed with current. It will decay, and the NPN transistor will turn off. This will then mean there is no path to GND anymore, and the A1 pin will be pulled HIGH (=+5v).

So it is not matter though, if the controller ignored this signal. Or I can just drag it to GND myself on the controller side. So long as I do not also end up on the other side of the transistor (before the Base), because dragging the HA line low would confuse the BLDC.

I think for debugging I should (power off) manually rotate the motor by hand. And check that all 3 of the hall sensors inside the motor are triggering (HA, HB, HC). So to know the motor is OK.

Hehe such a noob with these BLDC stuff. Please ignore me while I continue to learn more. Must read the datasheet too would help 

[RandomHacks]

The A1 pin isn't used at all by the station (not on my stations atleast), it is supposed to be a feedback pin to check if the motor is running but they messed up the schematic of the ESC board so you don't get any signal from that pin (I looked at this ages ago so I don't exactly remember, but there is a current limiting resistor (in series of course) and immediatley after there is a pull down (or pull up? don't remember) resistor with a lower value so it drags the signal down (or up?) I'm sure I wrote the exact issue somewhere on my notes I would have to look it up

OK so (this is all on the ESC board) for the A1 pin i can see now, what they did. The have tapped off the HA wire from the motor itself, which gives 1/3 of the hall sensor click for the motor rotation. This HA pin on the motor header appears as R7 next to the bldc controller IC.

Then R7 is a 25kohm resistor, which connects up a ladder, to an NPN transistor on the left side of the board. But also with a smoothing capacitor. So if the motor is rotating, the base of the NPN transistor is supposed to become active. And this should then conduct the CE and ground the A1 pin.

But if the motor stops rotating. Then there will be no trigger signal repeating from the HA --> R7. So the capacitor cannot keep the transistor fed with current. It will decay, and the NPN transistor will turn off. This will then mean there is no path to GND anymore, and the A1 pin will be pulled HIGH (=+5v).

So it is not matter though, if the controller ignored this signal. Or I can just drag it to GND myself on the controller side. So long as I do not also end up on the other side of the transistor (before the Base), because dragging the HA line low would confuse the BLDC.

I think for debugging I should (power off) manually rotate the motor by hand. And check that all 3 of the hall sensors inside the motor are triggering (HA, HB, HC). So to know the motor is OK.

Hehe such a noob with these BLDC stuff. Please ignore me while I continue to learn more. Must read the datasheet too would help 

I might be looking at this wrong but if the resistors on your ESC are the same as mine that little transistor "T7" will never turn on because R20 which is in series is 100k (+ the resistance of R7, R8 or R9) and R19 which is a pull down immediatley after is 10k so I don't think whatever tiny voltage that reaches the base of T7 will ever be high enough to turn it on and A1 will stay floating, if you swap R19 with R20 you will be able to see the signal on A1, I think they messed this up in the design.

The 5v you see on A1 come from the main board (pullup), if there are still 5v on that pin while it is connected to the ESC, this should not be what is causing the problem, as far as I can tell the station only shows 0ºC if this pin is grounded (or the handle isn't in the cradle/faulty reed switch as I mentioned earlier but we already ruled that out).

My R7 is actually 10k so maybe they changed the values. Did you try do disconnect A1 only and check if the blower works that way?

Those are some impressive tin wiskers, never saw anything like that in real life 

[dreamcat4]

I might be looking at this wrong but if the resistors on your ESC are the same as mine that little transistor "T7" will never turn on because R20 which is in series is 100k (+ the resistance of R7, R8 or R9) and R19 which is a pull down immediatley after is 10k

Ah yes, sorry for not being clear enough earlier. I seem to have all of the same silkscreen markings (component names) over here. For which resistors, capacitor etc.

But the value of R20 i measure is not same as yours (not 100k):

R19 = 8.9k
R20 = 25.1k
R7 = 8.9k

I do not believe the other 2 hall sensors, R8 and R9 matters for A1. Because they do not connect to R20. Instead they connect to +5v (pulled up HIGH), which is for the bldc controller IC only.

But those are similar:

R8 = 9.7k
R9 = 9.7k

So maybe that can help you to get yours working.

I think they messed this up in the design.

Yes, or it could maybe be a component error in manufacture. My board is dated: BST-2019.4.23. Perhaps the issue was specific to earlier models only. Or to a bad batch.

Did you try do disconnect A1 only and check if the blower works that way?

Thanks for explaining this part. What i did was to moved the A1 pin to GND, on next header. Because it seems active LOW (pull up otherwise).

* The blower does not work, however I did see some PWM signal squished. This means it's almost 0v. But you can still see a very small increase (few mV) bumps, when the PWM is high.

* So I think that is my next area to focus on.

What I have also done is to rule out the blower bldc FAN itself. This is not anything about the handle. This is only the FAN:

* Removed the fan housing and inspected the fan blades
* They are all fine. So the fan did not explode
* Checked all 3 motor coils - all coils are about 12 ohm. They connect circular in a loop to each other
* Checked all 3 hall sensors [HA HB HC], (for shaft position) all the position sensors are working

The hall sensors inside the motor become active during rotation. And the closed magnet reads about 12 ohm (same value as the coil resistance). And off is high impedence.

* Problem is somewhere else on esc board
* I cleaned the board with IPA, to remove tin whiskers
* Found they did put some white paint between the MOSFET legs
* It looks just like the other silkscreen, white lines. However it not!
* It is an extra layer of paint after above the silkscreen

They did on the top side the mosfets. But not on the bottom side, where the motor connector is. They missed that

My next focus is to look for why the PWM signal is killed, and drained to almost nothing. That is not normal operation, is it?

So maybe there is a bad (shorted) capacitor? Or other active component like small transistor? Maybe that is worth to investigate

[tatel]

Thanks for the feedback. This is the github repository for the code but I still have to organize some things before I post it, soon. https://github.com/RandomHacks-Git/Best-Improvement

Well, code can't be called free until effectively released...

As for the knobs I did order them ages ago but they never arrived and that is why they aren't included. I will order some more on july 1st as hopefully aliexress/ebay will start to collect vat at checkout because I don't feel like paying a service fee to the post now with the new customs rules.

These new VAT rules are going to be a circus, I'm afraid. I'll be abstaining from buying anything from outside EU until the way these rules work -and sellers react- is clear.

[thm_w]

Anyway, here is photos of the tin whiskers. This was after breaking them off (not realizing before). So there was more than 1 whiskers per solder joint. And clearly the whiskers a plenty long enough to bridge and reach the next contact. Before I messed them up sorry!

So they aren't fibers from something, they are conductive?
wild

[wraper]

Anyway, here is photos of the tin whiskers. This was after breaking them off (not realizing before). So there was more than 1 whiskers per solder joint. And clearly the whiskers a plenty long enough to bridge and reach the next contact. Before I messed them up sorry!

So they aren't fibers from something, they are conductive?
wild

Zero chance those are tin whiskers. Just some fibers stuck to PCB. Tin whiskers grow from solder joint, they cannot just lie on a solder joint, with middle touching it and both ends being free.

[dreamcat4]

they are only sitting in those moved about position because i already broke them off and tried cleaning them off partially. before first realizing what they actually were. and before taking any of the photos.

fibres have some curved shape. these are not that because 0% are curved. they also are made from metal when handling them they have a grey metallic sheen and they break / crack into pieces very easily. fibres do not behave in that way. also there still stubs of where the lines starts eminating from the roots actually embed from the body of the round solder joints itself. before getting to the length when they become delivate and broken off. and those begingins of the roots which were not fully cracked off are still in fact present on the solder joings.

it is in fact tin whiskers. i am 100% sure

[wraper]

They are also too thick for being tin whiskers. And I ho no idea why you think that fibers must be curved.

[dreamcat4]

They are also too thick for being tin whiskers. And I ho no idea why you think that fibers must be curved.

they are really actually very thin. sorry you don't seem to be saying anything of a value that also matches the reality

and you misquote me: i never said fibres must be curved. i said 0% of them are curved. which is a different meaning. it means: there is no positive proof of being a fibre. because something that bends or curl would prove your point. but it doesn't,

all i see here is somebody who wants not to walk back their statements. and admit they are wrong. and you never have this in front of you IRL. you are backseat driving from the beginning

what do you think, why i would not be saying this to begin with if there was not strong enough scrutiny already to close examination? i have seen before that is fibres so many times. this is not the same thing. it's also not anything else that grows in this ways from a solder joint, like a crystal. and at straight angles

my description and photos matches it here well enough. so what evidence do you have to the contrary?

nothing 

just an opinion you are unwilling to change, for looking like a bigger fool for being so wrong about it. and then not conceding the mistake

because your reputation means more to you than the truth

[thm_w]

they are really actually very thin. sorry you don't seem to be saying anything of a value that also matches the reality

Don't overthink it, just measure the conductivity of one if you have a chance and still have it around, if not forget it and don't worry about any comments. 

[tatel]

Well, I got this station delivered today, and all I can say is it doesn't work

I get the handle out of the holder and screen changes, so the reed switch seems to be working. But, fan never goes on, and heater seems to be on hollidays.

I have to say that Banggood has delivered to me wrong or faulty items in three of my last four orders. They solved all the issues quite quickly, but it looks as if their QC is with my station's fan and heater: on hollidays.

[dreamcat4]

yeah my unit was also doing a similar misbehaviour from time to time occasionally. with the display showing 000 temperature. maybe just some buggy behaviour? which it should snap out of. do not really know what else to make of it. perhaps others here know better

btw which i dont worry about anymore. since ordering the excellent new upgrade kit, will replace the mcu and firmware

but the big question is: does your fan spin during power up? because it should do that for 2 sec regardless of any other issues. to know the fan works

[tatel]

but the big question is: does your fan spin during power up? because it should do that for 2 sec regardless of any other issues. to know the fan works

No, it doesn't

[dreamcat4]

huh. maybe they updated the firmware recently then? to stop the fan spinning on startup?

otherwise if it really is DOA then that is pretty bad form

if it is indeed brand new from factory (and not any type of refurb etc), then DOA not happen with even the most basic QA. except for due to damage in shipping

and i dont really see why shipping would cause any real or serious damage. however if they have not used enough silastic on all the connectors. to stop them from being vibrated loose

so i suppose maybe you can reasonably open the case to check that all the cables are properly seated and still all connected up.

but you should also not do anything to jeopordize your position for RMA / complain, returning it, get a refund or compensation

so maybe opening the case is a bit counter to that objective. however its also the only way to check for loose connector plugs so.... idk what else. given how much hassle it is to return these things all the way back to china. unless it was sent from a reseller more local to you. like within europe etc.

[tatel]

huh. maybe they updated the firmware recently then? to stop the fan spinning on startup?

otherwise if it really is DOA then that is pretty bad form

if it is indeed brand new from factory (and not any type of refurb etc), then DOA not happen with even the most basic QA. except for due to damage in shipping

and i dont really see why shipping would cause any real or serious damage. however if they have not used enough silastic on all the connectors. to stop them from being vibrated loose

so i suppose maybe you can reasonably open the case to check that all the cables are properly seated and still all connected up.

but you should also not do anything to jeopordize your position for RMA / complain, returning it, get a refund or compensation

so maybe opening the case is a bit counter to that objective. however its also the only way to check for loose connector plugs so.... idk what else. given how much hassle it is to return these things all the way back to china. unless it was sent from a reseller more local to you. like within europe etc.

Fortunatelly they ship this thing from Spain. Otherwise, with the new EU VAT rules coming into force, I wouldn't have purchased it. So, no need to return it to China, and a couple of days are enough to get this thing delivered over some 300 miles distance. Not 3000.

I'm not going to open it indeed, althougth I would be inclined to do so. I agree this is probably an easy fix, but I'm letting those Banggood guys do their work.

Parcel was in good shape. I'm missing perhaps the protective film on the screen. But, IIRC, it could be inside the case? Anyway I'm willing to return it, and let Banggood manage this matter. They have always given satisfactory and quite fast solutions to me.

After getting a working station I'm going to change the board anyway, but first I'm going to make sure I have a good working one out of the box.

[SteveyG]

Well, I got this station delivered today, and all I can say is it doesn't work

Your last picture seems to tell the story (the moon symbol). You must make sure the handpiece is seated and activating the reed switch when the unit is first turned on otherwise it'll never allow you to use it (just in case it's sitting out of the cradle).

Can you check this? This stumped me once or twice until I realised what was going on.

If you've already done this, the something is stopping it from running as the crescent moon says it's going into sleep despite knowing the handpiece is out of the cradle.

[tatel]

Your last picture seems to tell the story (the moon symbol). You must make sure the handpiece is seated and activating the reed switch when the unit is first turned on otherwise it'll never allow you to use it (just in case it's sitting out of the cradle).

It has an sticker on top saying it. Please see attachment. I'm doing so, handle is always on the cradle when station is turned on.

Can you check this? This stumped me once or twice until I realised what was going on.

When turning on, maybe a second after the initial big "beeeeep!", moon symbol appears.

By pressing any of the CH* buttons, it's gone; some five seconds later, it's there again.

Getting the handle out of the cradle has no influence over the moon symbol, it just remains there.

If you've already done this, the something is stopping it from running as the crescent moon says it's going into sleep despite knowing the handpiece is out of the cradle.

Yeah, bad luck, I guess.

[grantb5]

Apologies if this has been posted before, just saw this today. I don't own a hot air unit, but I am shopping for one:

https://www.tindie.com/products/randomhacks/best-bst-863-improved-control-board/

[pgo]

Hi,

A persistent problem with the unit I have is that the reed switch in the handle 'sticks'.
Tapping the handle will open it but it is not a good idea as the heater would be a bit vulnerable.
This is another thing to check.

I will get around to looking at trying to fix it eventually.

bye

[dreamcat4]

so then it would be nice to know the part number for a higher  quality replacement to order. that will also fit and be compatible (same sort of activation force). but perhaps with a higher durability etc.

so we can order and replace it. actually i already have to order some other parts from digikey soon

another good question is if we can install a 2nd reed switch and wire them up together for redundancy. if that is any possibility

[tatel]

so then it would be nice to know the part number for a higher  quality replacement to order. that will also fit and be compatible (same sort of activation force). but perhaps with a higher durability etc.

so we can order and replace it. actually i already have to order some other parts from digikey soon

Mine came with a spare one. 13 mm long, 2 mm diameter

[tatel]

FWIW, this is banggood's answer to my ticket:

Would you mind sending back the product for a replacement? Would you like to consider this solution? Here is return address： ATTN:EWORLDHOME LIMITED ADD: Dongguan Chuanjing electric machinery factory, No.20 Qinglong Road, Huangjiang Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province,China 523750 Mobile:15914368548 Could you contact your local post office to ask for the cheapest standard air register with tracking number? (please not send the items by DHL , UPS or EMS, it is expensive and easy to lead tax issue ) If the price is reasonable, we will send you another email with the return information.

The infamous return to China, even if it has been shipped from Spain. No way. I'm asking for a complete refund instead.

[dreamcat4]

This is why I use Paypal for payment method (or you can use a Credit Card too). In case there is need for using a chargeback. In fact there may also be a chargeback form supplied by your local bank for Debit Card payment too. But it's a longer process (more form filling)

[tatel]

I did use PayPal, but I'm not familiar with that chargeback thing. Could you please give me a link?

Anyway, I'm going to take it easy. 

[dreamcat4]

Paypal has it's own dispute resolution process which is effectively similar, their own equivalent of a chargeback.

Perhaps one way to start the process by logging into your paypal user account, then finding the transaction that corresponds to the sale. And there will be a link on the transaction summary to start the dispute.

Perhaps the other way to get there might be to first go into help / support, then find the resolution center. And then it should ask you to find the transaction from a list of recent transactions.

There are limitations to the Paypal system. Like maybe can only use it within a specific number of days time window. Like 45 days or something. Otherwise if you purchased an item thru ebay, then you cannot use the Paypal resolution centre for the transaction, and will have to use the ebay's own system instead. I really cannot remember now.

Anyhow you upload your message, with a description of the problem. Why they fell short. And usually a photo or 2 is also generally expected. (Which you already have taken). And wait some number of days for the dispute to go through.

Clearly the critical thing here is the unit is clearly faulty. As I questioned you about the fan at boot time. If it does not spin that's a definate fault. + the other symptoms too (basically it's never worked). So you read the manual, consulted with other more knowledgable users of the same device. And nothing worked / device never worked.

 

[DavidAlfa]

If there's no warranty sticker, I would have a look into the wiring and the board.
These kind of failures are usually simple things like solder short.

[tatel]

Well they are offering a full refund now. Well done, Banggood. I'm going to ask for some more details about it. Item has to be returned to China. Hopefully they will take return expenses. And I will probably ask for a working unit instead of any refund. We'll see.

No "warranty void" sticker. However, in my experience, DOA things are usually jinxed. I mean they are often faulty in more than one way. Maybe the workers had a very bad monday, or were drunk, or something. I do value my time, so I'm not willing to fight with microscopic solder craks, ESD damaged components, whatever. I paid what they asked for an item supposed to be good out of the box. So I want an item that works fine out of the box, even if I'm going to void the warranty immediately by changing the MCU board... even more so, because, should the mod go south, then I will know it's me who goofed it.

[SteveyG]

Well they are offering a full refund now. Well done, Banggood. I'm going to ask for some more details about it. Item has to be returned to China. Hopefully they will take return expenses. And I will probably ask for a working unit instead of any refund. We'll see.

They're normally quite reasonable about things, but they'll always offer the least cost/effort thing for them first as seems to be the case for anything in China. Confirm they will cover the postage of your selected tracked service before sending otherwise start a Paypal dispute.

[mastershake]

im thinking about trying the mod board for one of these (i have a few of them...long story) anyone try one and did it work okay? id love to have the dials and some of the new features on one.

[giovannirat]

I've installed a mod board and it works great. The mod board is nicely designed, everything fits as it should. The youtube video regarding installation is really helpful.

The only thing I miss is a user manual and of course the software on github....

[mastershake]

yeah he said it was open source and after ordering the mod i realized he has no code listed on github which is a bummer. i already fixed the buzzer issue so hopefully this will make it just more useable. i got the best so cheap i ordered three of them at the time (109$ and like 2.xx$ shipping on banggood im guessing it was a mistake because they changed it later that day back to i think 160$ or something like that i figured this way i have spare parts if i need them for that price lol)

[tatel]

Yeah, code should be already released under a free license, it doesn't matter if it's not in the best shape. As said, until then it can't really be called free software.

[RandomHacks]

Alright code is now in the github repository. I really wanted to organize some bits and create more functions as I have repeated code here and there but I didn't have time and you guys seem eager to look at it so it is what it is

I'm actually working on a version of the board with the RP2040.

I plan to write some simple instructions, I will try to find the time in the weekend but can't promise. For now you can watch my two videos on youtube as they explain pretty much everything.

Thanks to all that purchased the board, I plan to ship the new orders today.
More stock should be available by the end of the month.

[dreamcat4]

very good. thank you 

personally i would recommend converting this project to platformio IDE, which is an extension for the popular vscode IDE (vscode + the PIO extension). After being converted, then it might not open anymore in the original arduino software. just due to different filename

but there are 2 huge benefits to doing project conversion:

* no problem with broken arduino library conflicts. this is because the library system on the original arduino ide is fundamentally broken and flawed. it simply cannot cope with multiple versions of the same library being installed on the same computer.

this then becomes a problem for any person(s) who want to build multiple different projects on their same computer. and where project A uses a different (conflicting) libraries than project B.

the PIO environment solves that problem very elegantly

2nd major improvement is for debugging. because you cannot run a debugger with the ordiginal arduino ide. however you can in vscode + pio. it uses the swd hardware protocol, and then realtime hardware debugging, it becomes incredibly easy

those are not the only benefits for converting your project. there are also many other more minor smaller advantages. for better quality of life etc.

learning how to setup and use PIO does have a learning curve. and requires a bit of extra time / effort and knowledge to configure and setup. however overall the total benefits which are rewarded back is much greater than the cost of switching to this newer platform. and it is a one time cost. which you can then use for all of your other existing future embedded projects going forwards 

[giovannirat]

I'm actually working on a version of the board with the RP2040.

Is there a special reason why changing from STM32 to RP2040 ?

Do we have now old (no longer supported) boards?

Will future software be compatible with the old version?

[dreamcat4]

this is just a guess, i do not know. however maybe it is something related to the global chip shortages. which has affected most of the stm32 platform

but the thing about the rpi pico is that.. it is still very new micro architecture at this time. and with some features like the internal io bus, or multi core which are not so wel supported in the software libraries (not yet). but some people are still working on that stuff

[RandomHacks]

I'm actually working on a version of the board with the RP2040.

Is there a special reason why changing from STM32 to RP2040 ?

Do we have now old (no longer supported) boards?

Will future software be compatible with the old version?

STM32 prices are ridiculously high right now (about 19$ a piece) and are hard to find due to the silicon shortage. I should have bought a few hundreds when I started this project. It would have been a better investment than crypto 

Software is pretty much the same between the two boards, there are only slight changes so updates will be made for both boards.
This also doesn't mean I will stop selling the stm32 version completely, when the shortage ends I will possibly start selling the stm32 version again if it makes sense then.

Both boards will behave exactly the same.

[mastershake]

as im new to rpi is there any real advantage or disadvantage to this over the stm32 other then cost? im just now looking into it. im much more familiar with the stm32. what about other chips like cks? i have used them a handful of times and they have worked just the same for me so far. also can you tell me which stm chip you are using on these? im just being curious. cant wait to get them installed thank you!

[tatel]

Yep. CKS look like very good clones. In Quicko soldering stations, that now are shipped with CKS, they seem to be working almost exactly the same that STM32.

[dreamcat4]

sorry my follow up, it was posted as a new thread by mistake 

which is here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/no-fan-spin-issue-and-solution/msg3604686/#msg3604686

then now is photos after successful fan board repair

[hafrse]

Just in case anyone is interested, here are the insides of the BST-863.

Hi there, watched your video today on this station. Quick question: do you have any line of contact to the Best company? Because it would be nice to give a user feedback directly to them about the user interface. Having digital rotary dials / rotary encoder instead of the touchscreen is definately preferred. As it allows much faster and more pleasant setting of the temperature and airspeed. - not just me who thinks this, many of us do and it's glaringly obvious.

Others (well, Lois) have also previously commented about the need for dials as when you have your head to the microscope. Well then you cannot actually see the controls on the hot air station without taking away your head from the microscope. Then putting it back again afterwards into the eyepieces. That is where the dials can really help. Do you can quickly turn up/down tweak the temp or airflow away off the baseline preset (as required) for whatever you are blowing at. Since some objects on the PCB have a higher thermal mass, whilst others not. Let's please make this process a more pleasant and rewarding experience. Well that is a way how it can be done.

A good question to be thinking about if there is no stop point on the dial, and it's a continuous rotation. Then having the station chirp or beep at you at coarser temperature increments (For example every 20C) might also be helpful here. To keep track of how far the temperature has changed whilst adjusting it. But buzzers can be pretty annoying. A better solution is just really good haptic feedback on the dial itself. Where the increments are easy to feel. Preferably with a fixed with a stop point at the far end of the adjustment range. I have seen other solutions be implemented very well (and digitally) on other test equipment such as bench supplies etc. by having actually 2 dials for the 1 control. To let the user adjust in both coarse and fine increments. This then permits both a fixed stop point, and a wide adjustment range. With very fast user adjustment to dial in the desired value.

BEST Company - please implement this! Isn't it the Best way? 

Another point which you noticed in your review was the amount of air blowing. In this scenario a digital option in the settings to switch between logarithmic and linear scaling of the airflow control - could potentially also be helpful.

After having seen your teardown I really agree overall that this bst-863 station is really the Best one out there right now... haha. Excuse the joke. But it could be better with a refresh / revamp the design. Just keeping everything same except for the front panel and it's controls. That would be perfection 

Here is my existing / previous discussion on this matter. Since there is now this other product with such type of dials control https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/new-hot-air-rework-station-nt-861dw-quick-(not-quick!)-761dw/msg2707394/#msg2707394
However it's not very likely to have such a great quality of build, which we would also like to see. All together in the same device.

Hi, I have shopped it out , it is very easy

[mastershake]

wow that was fast. parts showed up today. i cant believe how fast they got here. i cant install them at the moment but hopefully soon.

[tatel]

I got a second unit, this time from Banggood's CZ store. This is what I have to say:

[WattsThat]

After reviewing this thread, I bought a real Quick 861 from Tequipment with the EEVBlog discount. It arrived the next day with free shipping. It helped that I’m only 100 miles away from the source.

No fuss, no pain, no drama, first project already completed. I wanted to build boards, not a hot air station ;-)

Thanks for the uhhh, reviews.

[tatel]

Good decission, I think. But, man, no drama here. Just I'm not going to buy lottery anytime soon...

[grantb5]

After reviewing this thread, I bought a real Quick 861 from Tequipment with the EEVBlog discount. It arrived the next day with free shipping. It helped that I’m only 100 miles away from the source.

No fuss, no pain, no drama, first project already completed. I wanted to build boards, not a hot air station ;-)

Thanks for the uhhh, reviews.

That looks like a good deal. Can someone explain to be why this combo I've been looking at is not worthy?

https://www.circuitspecialists.com/csi853bplus.html

[thm_w]

That looks like a good deal. Can someone explain to be why this combo I've been looking at is not worthy?

https://www.circuitspecialists.com/csi853bplus.html

Doesn't really have anything to do with this thread, but it looks OK to me. Looks like a Yihua 853AA.
Personally I would prefer to have two separate units. But combo unit will reduce bench space slightly.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32619093836.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32834022177.html

[dreamcat4]

the thing to realize here is that in fact the quick 861dw shares the exact same fan design internally as these best bst-863. and there are certainly more people out there, whose quick fans have failed in the exact same fashion

there are these plastic welds that attach the disk which forms the side of the fan. and under the sharp jerky acceleration when it switches on, those plastic welds are the weakest point in the construction and will get sheared off by the sharp edges of the holes punched into the aluminium disk, which they are melted into

so what i have done on my one today is get a toothpick and some ca glue / super glue. and then put a little drop of super glue along the half of the toothpick which is not being held by your hand. and then turning the fan face down. (so that the aluminium disk is face down). and smearing the bottom inside joint where the curved fan blades meets the inside of the disk. you want a kind of arcing motion, like playing a violin. to get the glue applied evenly along the entire length of the fan blade seam. and hopefully some of the thin watery ca glue has been sucked into the tiny gap where they meet.

after the glue has dried with the fan kept upside down position, then you can turn it back up facing. and maybe put some tiny little dots of super glue on each of the black plastic welds. to help a bit more. here a tiny drop is much less than a full water drop. only enough to connect the pastic weld to the disk

hopefully that will be enough to prevent the sharp hole punched disk from shearing the welds. and keep the 2 components in place relative to each other. we shall have to wait and see what happens. which may be months / years. if it will still fail regardless. or if the repair was effective IDK

it just seems worth trying this as a precaution, before the failure occurs. because you know, if the disk comes off it will have broken those welds off. which is a valuable element contributing to the total strength of the joint. and if the fan is spinning fast when it fails, there is a potential for it causing more severe damage

you should all probably do this, regardless of which model station you own (except for the atten st-862d). because... all of them use these same exact blower fan. it is shared between all of them except the atten. of course i also am not mentioning older and lesser stations here. i mean all the current ones within this same general performance category


in regards to so many DOA for these best stations - it is indeed pretty unfortunate. i am not at all sure the reason(s) for this happening. although we could put together a list of the most likely causes. which are the actual ones is pretty hard to know. it could be any combination of those things.

therefore it would seem wise to nowadays only buy these bst-863 stations from local resellers inside your own country (or within EU etc). that should help a lot for dealing with the DOA possibility. YMMV

[SteveyG]

I got a second unit, this time from Banggood's CZ store. This is what I have to say:

That's massively disappointing, apologies if your decision to get the BST-863 was swayed by anything I had shown/said. It seems the QC has gone massively downhill recently so I shouldn't be recommending it any more.

in regards to so many DOA for these best stations - it is indeed pretty unfortunate. i am not at all sure the reason(s) for this happening. although we could put together a list of the most likely causes. which are the actual ones is pretty hard to know. it could be any combination of those things.

therefore it would seem wise to nowadays only buy these bst-863 stations from local resellers inside your own country (or within EU etc). that should help a lot for dealing with the DOA possibility. YMMV

I am guessing cost cutting, fake parts etc,  but this should all be picked up at end of line testing which they definitely USED to do. There was a burn-in period of 1-2 hours with them running.

We can't exclude returns being resold by the sellers though, which would not surprise me in the slightest.

[tatel]

That's massively disappointing, apologies if your decision to get the BST-863 was swayed by anything I had shown/said. It seems the QC has gone massively downhill recently so I shouldn't be recommending it any more.

I think the blame could only be put on those "Best" guys and their QC. So, don't worry. I'm trying to get in contact with Best directly. Should I got any answer, I will let people here know.

I feel bad for @RandomHacks; It's real bad luck to develop an aftermarket product for a station just to find out that QC has vanished from OEM production line. I received my kit past week, but after getting two faulty BST-863 units in a row, I doesn't look as if it would get out of the box anytime soon.

[dreamcat4]

well i guess it depends on how much you paid and your prior expectations before buying it. because for myself i can definately say that this station, despite these issues around the fan, i would still have any day over my previous 858d+. which this unit is replacing. because while the higher performance fan is somewhat less reliable. it is never the less eminently fixable, and there is no better general blower fan design out on the market right now. and if the blower+motor fan unit does end up failing terminally... then the spare part is available (not so cheap), is $75 USD listed by multiple sellers on aliexpress

as far as i can tell all of the fault here i have seen is purely related to the fan function. for which i have found 2 different ways to fix it. so in other respects it seems ok to me. after you ditch the original control board, then what you have is some pretty dumb pieces (other than the bldc fan). you have a decent quality handle, a decent quality mains filter, internal wiring is pretty neatly done and all that

this is.... miles better than my 858d+. and while the quality is better in other more expensive stations, the extra quality is not a linear scale for the price... you are paying relatively more for that last mile. when compared to the base price / base materials price and bom cost

next i am migrating the open firmware source code to build in platformIO. so literally there is no other station that has that capability. all apart from the 858d+ too, which of course does not have a high enough performance to cope. so i'm pretty happy overall

however i did also pay #100 GBP less than everybody else. for buying the item as faulty to begin with. so there is that too

 

[SteveyG]

DOA's should be minimal though, but I'm hearing of a few of these now. That said, I used mine daily for well over a year with zero issues, but it was pretty new when I got mine.
I'm now using the 861X since it had been sat on the floor for a year  I don't like the extremely slow ramp up/down of the fan on the Quick station - the rapid cooling on the Best station is really good in comparison.

[mastershake]

i own three of these stations (for use in different places) and the only issue i had with one of them is the paint is cracking and peeling at the top left corner like they did not prep the surface there well enough. otherwise not a single issue (minus the beeping which i fixed day one simply using a small screw that threads into the hole in the plastic on the buzzer on board then a blob of hot glue to hold it from backing out. this way you can adjust it to be as lout or quiet as you want simply by turning the screw or even kill it altogether. but i did buy these all over a year ago so i cant say they did not go downhill since. i also have some other best things that work fine as well. when i contacted best about a few parts i wanted they were good and got back to me pretty quick. maybe they can help if you contact them directly they sent me a few parts without much of a hassle

[dreamcat4]

yes great. do you have a solid contact information for getting best parts within the company? and did they quote you a replacement cost for any of them at the time? that would all be pretty helpful. many thanks

 

[mastershake]

i sent contact through their website https://www.szbesttool.com/products/BST-863-Best-Quality-High-Power-1200W-Digital-Touch-Screen-Display-Hot-Air-Heat-Gun-SMD-Rework-Desol.html

the couple parts i needed they just sent them out to me so i didnt bother asking for cost. the person i dealt with asked for some pics

[tatel]

as far as i can tell all of the fault here i have seen is purely related to the fan function. for which i have found 2 different ways to fix it. so in other respects it seems ok to me. after you ditch the original control board, then what you have is some pretty dumb pieces (other than the bldc fan). you have a decent quality handle, a decent quality mains filter, internal wiring is pretty neatly done and all that

Well, it does look as if the handle/reed switch would be also giving problems. Like the first unit delivered to me, and, IIRC, there are other posts in this thread about that.

this is.... miles better than my 858d+. and while the quality is better in other more expensive stations, the extra quality is not a linear scale for the price... you are paying relatively more for that last mile. when compared to the base price / base materials price and bom cost

I could agree here. I wanted to have a mightier hot air station with a big fan in the case, not a little one in the handle. I wanted it no crazy expensive. So I was leaning to the Quick 861. But, after realizing this station looked very much the same, being cheaper and having a mod board with FOSS FW available, I tought it ticked all my boxes and decided to purchase it.

However, my three year old Yihua 853D, while being clearly weaker, was nevertheless able to work out of the box, and is still working. Should Best be able to do the same that the somewhat infamous Yihua brand do, I would agree 110% with you.

however i did also pay #100 GBP less than everybody else. for buying the item as faulty to begin with. so there is that too

Yeah, I wonder why the original owner didn't returned it to the seller. 100 GBP are more or less equivalent to 120 EUR, which is what I paid for the second unit. So it looks as if you got it mostly free, and with minor faults only. It means you got lucky. However, it also means that the original owner did bear a 100 GBP loss. Not so lucky. So I really couldn't recommend the Best BST-863 to any prospective buyer.

Don't get me wrong, I still would like to have it working. Good to know that spares can be obtained. They don't look so cheap, however. Anyway, could you give us some links?

[dreamcat4]

Well, it does look as if the handle/reed switch would be also giving problems

ah yeah sorry i forgot about the reed switch. this is the other thing very true

however it's a fairly minor issue, and something quite easy to fix once you know the solution (which was also already given in this thread earlier). To recap: Turn cradle upside down, and insert missing neodynium magnet. (you will need to get some small neodynium magnets from aliexpress). 2nd part of solution was to keep handle completely upright in stand, and not tilted. you can also rotate handle and mark an alignment. for the position where the reed switch engages the best. and/or buy replacement reed switches for the handle if they stop working. (although i forget the dimensions the other guy said now, they are inside the handle to check sizing)

could you give us some links?

this is the cheapest price i found for the fan+motor blower unit. it's the same as the Quick, so just search for quick blower fan etc. and it will show them

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001971508632.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.48e82e0eyY8QTY

you will probably find that is the least expensive option for this specific part. Because the higher end model quick TR1300, their official equivalent part replacement (in EU) is something like double that price (140 eur). however that part is also probably given a higher level of QA fwiw

[RandomHacks]

It's a shame that the quality seems to be going downhill, I purchased my last station 3 months ago and it arrived without issues.
I've been using the first station daily for more than a year and it still works fine even after abusing the heater atleast once in the initial stages of my firmware 
I wonder if banggood is trying to get rid of returned units.
@tatel wow two DOA in a row that's really bad luck, hope they provide a satisfactory solution.

I just released a firmware update for my board that improves the fahrenheit usability (change step for fahrenheit is now 5 for single key touch and 20 for long touch, also improved the fahrenheit steps for the potentiometer).
Firmware version is now displayed at boot for 1 second.

New orders will be shipped later this week with the new firmware.
If you already have a board and use fahrenheit you can download the firmware from my github and upload to your board (github https://github.com/RandomHacks-Git/Best-Improvement), there is no need to update if you only use ºC as there are no changes.

[tatel]

this is the cheapest price i found for the fan+motor blower unit. it's the same as the Quick, so just search for quick blower fan etc. and it will show them

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001971508632.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.48e82e0eyY8QTY

Wow that's really a fast answer. Thank you. However it puzzles me that there are 110-220V versions to choose? I was under the impression that the blower had a DC motor.

And here's the link to the heater spares (also 110-220V): https://aliexpress.com/item/1005001966661789.html

I wonder if banggood is trying to get rid of returned units.

Faulty units must be returned to the OEM. Please see attachment. So I don't think Banggood is selling again returned units. They could have a much better customer service, however. Since I'm still working these problems with them, I'm not speaking about it any more right now.  But I will let you know how it has been at the end of the journey.

[mastershake]

this blower motor is a bit less expensive then the one posted same one, https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001717942233.html?spm

[dreamcat4]

Hello again, just to add here some photos, to show better how to do this gluing operations. As a preventative maintenance step, before the fan has broken and disintegrated inside. Much easier to follow than the detail text description:

there are certainly more people out there, whose quick fans have failed in the exact same fashion

there are these plastic welds that attach the disk which forms the side of the fan. and under the sharp jerky acceleration when it switches on, those plastic welds are the weakest point in the construction and will get sheared off by the sharp edges of the holes punched into the aluminium disk, which they are melted into

so what i have done on my one today is get a toothpick and some ca glue / super glue. and then put a little drop of super glue along the half of the toothpick which is not being held by your hand. and then turning the fan face down. (so that the aluminium disk is face down). and smearing the bottom inside joint where the curved fan blades meets the inside of the disk. you want a kind of arcing motion, like playing a violin. to get the glue applied evenly along the entire length of the fan blade seam. and hopefully some of the thin watery ca glue has been sucked into the tiny gap where they meet.

after the glue has dried with the fan kept upside down position, then you can turn it back up facing. and maybe put some tiny little dots of super glue on each of the black plastic welds. to help a bit more. here a tiny drop is much less than a full water drop. only enough to connect the pastic weld to the disk

hopefully that will be enough to prevent the sharp hole punched disk from shearing the welds. and keep the 2 components in place relative to each other. we shall have to wait and see what happens. which may be months / years. if it will still fail regardless. or if the repair was effective IDK

it just seems worth trying this as a precaution, before the failure occurs. because you know, if the disk comes off it will have broken those welds off. which is a valuable element contributing to the total strength of the joint. and if the fan is spinning fast when it fails, there is a potential for it causing more severe damage

you should all probably do this, regardless of which model station you own (except for the atten st-862d). because... all of them use these same exact blower fan. of course i also am not mentioning older and lesser stations here. i mean all the current ones within this same general performance category

and it would seem wise to nowadays only buy these bst-863 stations from local resellers inside your own country (or within EU etc). that should help a lot for dealing with the DOA possibility. YMMV

[tatel]

Well, Banggood sent a replacement. I'm happy to say this one works fine.

Second unit's price was 120€. Shipping it to China was more than half that amount, so this time Banggood didn't ask me to return the unit to the OEM. They just sent the replacement to me instead. I'm quite happy with how Banggood managed it all. It could be way faster, however, and when they pay the freight expenses back to you, you lose PayPal's slice (if you paid via PayPal, that's it, because they use the way you choosed for payment in the first place). Should you need to return something with great expense, this could matter. But in this case, these have been just minor nuisances.

On the second, damaged unit, I have been able to fix the fan. I have to say I just got the aluminum plate out and sticked it again with some epoxy. It was sitting perfectly in his place. Also I didn't noticed any place where there could be friction between the blades (aluminum plate included) and any other parts, yet there was friction somewhere even after opening the fan. If made to spin with a finger, blades stopped almost immediately.
 
I got the aluminum disk out just as a first step, hoping to find where the problem really was. But then I was unable to find any way to dismantle it more without destroying it. Neither from the blades side nor from the motor side. After undoing the motor body, it seems there could be a couple screws/bolts, but they would be quite small and difficult to reach. Then I placed motor body again. Then I noticed the blades remained spinning longer after being finger-impulsed.

So I placed the aluminim disk on again. I needed to file the plastic welds since they have mushroom shape. I just made them a cylinder. Hammered the aluminum disk to get it straight again. Then I placed  a little bit of epoxy in all plastic surfaces that would be having contact with the aluminum disk, and clamped it all while epoxy was curing. A couple hours after that, it was working.

Don't ask me what the problem really was, I don't know. I didn't noticed anything weird while dismantling, friction aside. Perhaps blades were misaligned and the force used to get the aluminum disk aligned it? Or perhaps it was something in the axle? Fact is it seems to be working fine now. I'm taking it gladly anyway. Not bad to have a little bit of good luck after receiving two DOA units in a row.

So I could now just buy the heater (it melted when trying to give a second video to Banggood) then I would have two working stations... or could I let it as spares source? I don't know, will see after I put random_hack's board into the new unit.

[RandomHacks]

So I could now just buy the heater (it melted when trying to give a second video to Banggood) then I would have two working stations... or could I let it as spares source? I don't know, will see after I put random_hack's board into the new unit.

What melted exactly? The plastic? Do you have continuity on the heater connections? If not you might just need to replace the thermal fuse inside the handle.
Nice that banggood finally sent you a working unit.

[tatel]

It melted at least one of the heater spirals... it also blowed main fuse F5AL250V next to 220V socket.

Didn't knew about any fuse in the handle, I will check it eventually, should I decide to purchase a new heater.

FWIW, please see attached picture

[RandomHacks]

It melted at least one of the heater spirals... it also blowed main fuse F5AL250V next to 220V socket.

Didn't knew about any fuse in the handle, I will check it eventually, should I decide to purchase a new heater.

FWIW, please see attached picture

Oh I see, maybe you can use a crimp butt connector to fix it? Not sure if it would last long but it certainly would save you some money, as long as the rest of the heating element is fine.

[tatel]

RandomHacks' board installed. It has been easy, not any problems whatsoever. It's working fine. Pots are working like a charm. Perhaps the values change a little bit too fast, but that's probably a matter to get used to it.

[dreamcat4]

values change a little bit too fast, but that's probably a matter to get used to it.

Yes because the range is so large. But what you can do is to put on it the largest knob you can find. and that will help a lot.

Remember to leave a review after you have used it for a while. And state which hardware revision (rpi pico)

[RandomHacks]

RandomHacks' board installed. It has been easy, not any problems whatsoever. It's working fine. Pots are working like a charm. Perhaps the values change a little bit too fast, but that's probably a matter to get used to it.

I'm glad you like it. As for the temperature pot being sensitive it's exactly what dreamcat4 said, the range is big 450ºC (from 100ºC to 550ºC) and the electrical rotation angle of the pot is only about 285º so for every angle of rotation you get a change of about 1.6ºC. You could use a multiturn pot but I think that would be quite annoying as they tend to have a lot of turns. A bigger diameter knob also helps as dreamcat4 suggested.
This being said I think you will get used to it pretty quickly 

[tatel]

Yeah, I don't think it will be a problem.

BTW, I found another seller having the heater replacement, somewhat cheaper. €34, shipped. However, I found it only after purchasing the other replacement €42+5 shipping
Also, this new seller seems to carry only the 220V version

https://aliexpress.com/item/1005003069102798.html

[tatel]

Heater replacement arrived today. DOA unit is working now

Seems to be working fine, however, when turning it off after after it has cooled, it wakes up momentarily, like just a second, and, of course, beeps. I don't remember the other unit doing so.

Perhaps in the future I'll play some more with both the original boards and heater, but not anytime soon

[seephor]

Hello everyone. I purchased one of these BST-863 units (110v version) and it was DOA like many of you have stated. A few searches on Google brought me to this board. Just wanted to state that the problem ended up being the reed switch in the handle. As soon as I opened the handle, the glass just fell out. My guess is that this is common due to shipping bumps? Anyway, thankfully they included a replacement so I replaced it and it's working now. I'm considering ordering the upgrade kit from RandomHacks (nice job man, really impressed). At minimum, going to kill the buzzer. I'll do some more testing and report back if I find more issues with it. So far it blows hot air.