KSGER hot air station very slow to warm up

[JayBee82]

Hey guys,

A few months ago I bought a KSGER hot air SMD GX16-8 station.
It works nicely, but is super slow to warm up from cold start. The first 100 degrees C are quite fast to reach but then it slows down more and more, and takes several minutes to warm up to 300/400.
I though it was normal as it's the first time I have a hot air station, but then I saw several people using the same station and it gets warm in seconds.

I tried to reduce the flow a lot, it does help a bit but it's still very slow.
Do you guys know if there is something I can check or do to try solving the issue?

[ygi]

If your profile's filled correctly, you're in Japan. That mean your mains voltage is 100V. Since the heating element of most (all?) hot air station is powered straight from mains, it needs to be the correct one for your country. Unless specified otherwise, it's very likely your heating element is made for 230~240V.

[floobydust]

Measure the heating element's resistance. I have:
120V heating element 19.8R giving 727W
220V heating element 71.6R giving 805W - but on 120VAC mains gives only 200W, or 100VAC gives only 140W.

It is common to send the incorrect wand. Just ask them to send a correct heating element. I got (from Youyue, not KSGER) a 220V heater and it worked (at 200W) fine though.
Check the main fuse is correct too, if it is 5A or 10A.

The only other time it is slow to read warm up, is if the nozzle is very small. The hot air does not blow past the thermocouple sensor very well.
Or the thermocouple is bent inside the heating element and not getting enough air past it. You can also look at the heater % indicator to see if it is 100%-on during warmup.

[JayBee82]

Ah damn you are both right, the model is made for 220v... I feel dumb how can I have missed this detail.
Thanks for your help guys!
I'll contact them to ask if I can order a proper 110v one.
And I guess I need to change the fuse too?
There are no changes needed on the board side right?

Edit:
Damn I can't find any ksger hot air end at 110v anywhere.
Do you guys know if this even exists?

[ygi]

The wand provided by ksger is the same as on every other cheap Chinese stations so you should be able to find plenty of replacement. Floobydust says youyue has them, there's also yihua, atten and many others (just look up those brands on aliexpress, I'm sure you'll find what you need very easily).
And yes, a 250V fuse would be selected with lower current rating than its US counterpart so it will probably blow.

[JayBee82]

I found one that should be compatible.
Thanks again for your help guys!
Just in case, do you know what fuse current should I aim for at 110v?

[ygi]

The logical answer would be to double the current rating of the original since you're halving the voltage. So if your station came with a 250V 4A fuse, you replace it with a 125V 8A.
And to make it clear, I'm assuming Japan uses the same fuses as north America but I don't know that for a fact.

[JayBee82]

ok so ordering another 110v hot blower for the station was a very bad idea.
I bought one that should be compatible, but instead of working it game me big error right away, and then shut down and never came back (it's dead).
I first though it was the fuse, but the fuse is fine.
So I guess the pin out of this new one (even if looking exactly like the old one) is not the same and blew up the whole board...

Edit;
Nevermind, when plugging the old one it came back to life. So it seems that those hot end blowers aren't standard even if looking exactly the same and have the same model number.

[JayBee82]

I contacted KSGER and they confirm to me that 110v model simply doesn't exists, at least under their brand.
Do you guys know of a good hot air rework gun of that type that works at 110v?

[floobydust]

Here are pictures of my 858D+ to show differences between 110V and 220V heaters. The coils are thinner for 220V. I think the KSGER uses the same handle.

Which part did you replace? Was it the entire handle, or just the heater?

The heating module has 4 wires- two for the heater and two for the thermocouple. Polarity is important with the thermocouple wires, or else the temperature reading will be incorrect. The (+) wire has iron and is magnetic, and colour can be mixed, red or yellow some are blue. It's a mess.

If you changed the entire handle, the pinout might be different at the connector. A "GX16-8" is the name of the connector to the handle, not a model number.

[JayBee82]

I replaced the entire handle.
Yeah wrong pinout is what I though too, I believed it was standard with the model number, but obviously it's not.
I'm going to open the 220v model and rewire things the same way and see if it works.
Just worried the station hardware might also have different settings and calibration for 220v that would make it not work as expected.

[floobydust]

Just be careful messing around with the connector pinouts. These things have crappy PE grounding, skinny wires, not much for spacings between mains and the low voltage side electronics. Never ever leave it plugged in to mains. Some chinese hot air stations have mains live/hot going right to the heating element with neutral being switched. So when it's off you still can get a shock, touching the GX16 connector is bad

Between 120V/220V no difference, the temperature control isn't that great on these anyways because the nozzles change the system response so much.
If PID tuned for a big nozzle, a small one does poorly I find. How far away the hot air blast is all over the place, some people up close some far away, it's all imprecise.

[JayBee82]

yeah the electronic inside and pinout seem vastly different. and since everything going to the hot end is taped, no way to know what is what
I just want to give up and buying a full hot air rework station made for 110v directly