CFW for KSGER/Quicko STM32 Soldering Stations

[wickated]

if more accurate - ntc should be place in place where copper wires still have low thermal resistance.

[DavidAlfa]

Meh, it's enclosed inside the handle, surrounded by 4-5 wires that will move the heat from the connector.
I think the temperature inside will be pretty much uniform.

[Tugo]

Ok, got it.
Great explanation, thank you! 

[DavidAlfa]

Did some work, this looks extremely close to what I got manually measuring the temps:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-gHFioHSMEHnq2Rf6m0XHOzFCaLRm-75jOYCPRLmUlw/edit?usp=sharing

As you see, using polynomials you only need one-step calibration to calculate the ADC gain, after that it'll perfectly track the temperature along the curve.

Also, it's clear why the linear interpolation is only ok for 150ºC range max.

More tests coming. Yet to find what's the TC type in JBC tips, I'd need an accurate plot graph to compare...

I dont know what I'll do. I might restore 3-point calibration, go for the polynomials, or leave as it is.
After all, going below 250ºC in a soldering station is pretty useless, and an error of 3-4ºC in the whole range is perfectly acceptable.

On top of that, given the extremely dispair calibration results of different tips, leads me to think the quality control of these tips are just inexistent, so every TC will be different, and the coefficients will no longer be valid.

It's just that I discovered Type C (TUNGSTEN 5% RHENIUM 26%) and type D (TUNGSTEN 3% RHENIUM 25%) thermocouples, which aren't commonly used, and I decided to play a little.

[wickated]

you said "adc value per 1C step" ? could i help?

[DavidAlfa]

*per 0.05ºC step* 
Are you crazy? It's enough with 25ºC steps. But these steps must be measured using a thermometer. You might need ex. 252ºC setpoint for true 250ºC.
But don't break your head, it's very unlikely that I implement this.
The most important part is to measure the voltage at the input of the amp at least once to check the actual gain and scale the ADC readings.
But won't be easy. You can't correctly measure 8mV when there're 24V spikes everywhere, and the tip will cool down quickly if you remove the power.

[wickated]

i remembered one cool thing ivee seen in one station

could it be possible to make diy attachment for selfcalibrating ? or shop-shelf TC K type also have huge parameter spread?
once i used broken t12 tip to clabirate one station with another  but i definitely had tip calibrated before breaking:-DD

[DavidAlfa]

Usually, calibrating a tip takes less than 1 minute!
You don't have a secondary channel to read, so that would be a deep hardware mod.
You would need to calibrate the thermometer anyways.

And remember this FW targets existing stations, at most with little mods like adding a pull up resistor to improve tip detection.

[wickated]

Usually, calibrating a tip takes less than 1 minute!

im too lazy to pick termocouple for multimeter from shelf
everything is better when there is no need to lift ass 

[hanzz]

see gui_strings.c with first Version of German Translation attached

[DavidAlfa]

Thanks for the effort, but... Half of the strings are just too long, they don't fit even using the whole screen space  .
That's why I didn't translate to spanish. Tried the scrolling text, made it worse... Not easy with such limited screen.

I suggest you to compile the fw when working on the translation, it's really easy, and you'll be able to see how it fits.

[ygi]

IMO it's awkward to use tools or many electronic devices with a localized interface, it hurts my soul when I'm forced to. Sure, you can translate the words but the technical significance behind them is lost most of the time and you end up with nonsensical phrasing. And that's when you have plenty of screen real estate.

[wickated]

i dont think that most of languages dont have proper words for technical terminology.
even simple "sby" translated makes station looking more solid

[DavidAlfa]

I do prefer english, too. Makes it much easier.
The idea for the russian was because it's a completely different language, but most european countries will do fine with basic english terms.
So yeah, if someone breaks his head and finds really short words in their language that fit the menu, I'll add the translation, but that will never be a project objetive.
I just made the support for it and left the door opened.

[hanzz]

...next try with German Language
Now it looks good...
But Ä Ö Ü are missing

[DavidAlfa]

I added üäÄöÖÜ chars.
Yep, as I said before, the fonts only included the basic Latin charset + very specific localized chars and symbols.
The most stripped font is the big NO IRON font, it only has the very specific chars required, because it's huge, so I added the required ones too.

I made a quick lookover:
- The big error "KEIN KOLBEN."  doesn't fit in the screen (EIN KOLBE).
- Iron screen "Kein Kolben" slighly overlaps with the ADC value.
- "Aktiv Erkenn." and "NTC Anschalt." overlaps with "AUS"
- "LÖTSPITZEN EDIT." Fits without the '.' , still uses the whole screen.
- Boot screen "SPEICHERN" is too large. Consider using something like "OK".
- Reset screen "SYSTEM EINSTELLUNGEN", is tooooo too large

I can't spend too much time in this.

I updated the project.
Now you only need to download the latest code, and spend some time on changing the strings and compiling until it fits.

[mattek]

Hello,

first of all, I would like to say a big thank you for developing such an awesome T12 CFW. I really appreciate this work!

Following author's advice, I bought a QUICKO station with a CKS chip. Flashing the firmware went just flawlessly and the soldering station works pretty well after calibrating my tips. However, I would like to ask a simple question about proper earthing this device: should I be worried about the lack of a GX connector's grounding? My multimeter doesn't show any continuity between PE pin and outer case of the socket or GX plug (metal screws, nut etc.). Obviously, the handle's tip and encoder's case itself are grounded. I know that it can be quite simply fixed, but is it necessary?

Thank you in advance for any help

[DavidAlfa]

It's not directly grounded, but through a resistor, 100K if I remember correctly... Just to avoid static charges from building up.
Edit: sorry I understood it wrong. The 100K resistor is used between power supply and mains earth.
The connector is connected to the housing in mine, must be the paint isolating it.
I don't see how is it going to be a issue. I don't recommend disassembling it, it'll need the gx12 desoldered, the jelly-made board won't survive the beating.
If it worries you, you can simply take the earth from the handle connector, using the pin that goes to the tip shell, and connect it to the connector outer shell.

[ntchris]

I spent one or two days to find the original KSGER FW, just in case I need a chance to go back.
Now I can confirm that, for my KSGER device , the backup original ksger 3.1 fw can be flashed and it works again.

    (my ksger: screen sysinfo HW 3.10  SW Ver3.1s , PCB black , silkscreen  OLEDV3.0,  Stm32F103RB 64pin , the tiny battery connector below the STM32 chip),
    Using the FW from some page in this thread, file name ---  3.1Snew1.hex , it works, it can be loaded to the system, it didn't ask for some register code, and it has the same spell error and bugs or signature behaviour(option 5 code end  (should be cold end) ,  Standby -- doesn't allow user to set zero and save (after system reboot it's default to 10min), sysinfo says the same version 3.10 and 3.1s, the only difference is the sys start info says WILDA , not Ksger. 
(firmware attached  ---   3.1Snew1.hex.zip   )
For the flasher, a cheap and popular 2$ stlinkv2 clone works well.
So, hopefully more people with my device model or similar model can relax and encouraged to try the customized open source FW and knowing that they can always go back should they choose to, without worrying anything about losing the current solder station or desoldering a 64PIN chip to backup or getting a new same chip to replace or buying a new stm32 discovery dev board to do time glitch attack, or porting the original attacker program from asm to C and from a weird discovery STM32F303VCT6 (not so cheap, out of stock , and paying high shipping cost )  to a popular blue pill (stm32103C8T6), while the original attacker program is using PD port while the bluepill doesn't even have that port  (PA PB PC only )....good to know that all those problems are gone now. 


When flashing/erasing,  need to solder a 4 pins header connector to the ksger pcb, CDGV, but the TH holes are a little too tiny, so just use a filler to work on the new pin header to make them a little smaller, then they can fit in. No need to remove the PCB from the front panel (mine is CNC Ksger panel, looks good, but not easy to remove the pcb )

Another note,  when booting the Orig Ksger fw with stlink, need a twezzers to short the capacitor C4 below the stm, which is the reset pin - and Gnd, then it can be connected using STM32CUBEProg program.
then destroy the read open option byte and at the same time erase the KSGER protected fw.


And, thanks all contributors !

[DavidAlfa]

Can you post the exact file you used? So I can add it to the project.
Are V2./v2.1 files available too?

[ntchris]

Can you post the exact file you used? So I can add it to the project.
Are V2./v2.1 files available too?

yes,  3.1s ksger fw attached to my original post , (just  to keep the info whole ).
I do have a bunch of 2.1 firmware but I didn't test them....they should work...I guess.

attached everything here:
KSGER_Original_Firmware_2_and_3.zip
and another file  drive-download-20210802T050454Z-001.zip.
(too large to combine exceed forum limit)

for Ksger 2, people say it need register code to activate the system, so the register code link is also included in the notes.txt file  ( not written by me, but by some other fellow contributor).
,  and here:   http://t12.omegahg.com/keygen.htm


thanks for everything !

[DavidAlfa]

Great! Can you Ksger guys test these versions? So I can create an accurate restoring guide in the project, people will appreciate not needing to replace the stm32 for testing custom firmwares.

What are the spell bugs?  Unless they use some kind of checksum protection, ut should be easily patched.

[ricktendo]

Great! Can you Ksger guys test these versions? So I can create an accurate restoring guide in the project, people will appreciate not needing to replace the stm32 for testing custom firmwares.

What are the spell bugs?  Unless they use some kind of checksum protection, ut should be easily patched.

I tested upgrading my boards from firmware v2.11s to v2.12s (worked fine,) you only have to use the keygen once (maybe they store the key in the SPI flash)

Couple misspellings in the 2.1x firmware:

- The abbreviation they used for Tuesday (Thes instead of Tues)
- The DateTime sub menu title (Data & Time)

There may be other misspellings, so if you or somebody could post instructions how to fix these typos would be nice!

Edit: I would probably shorten Tues and Thur to match: Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun

[DavidAlfa]

There are more files there than words in the german translation 
What exact file did you use?

[ricktendo]

There are more files there than words in the german translation 
What exact file did you use?

I used T12_HW21S_Encryption-SH1106.hex from this folder

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Yp-jdfl9CQ28IoZ9sAB_wfVKQHx2rJlv

Edit: Direct Link

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B3VXI1EOx0QLJluB5b7UdXvYLR9J_kso/view?usp=sharing