So does anyone know the difference(s) between the various pre-MX-500 stations? Why is it so hard to find official technical information on Metcal stations?
Here are the ones I've seen:
Soldering System: STSS-001
Power Unit: RFG-30
Notes: No LED, glossy
plastic trim piece down the middle
of the front, 115 VAC, 60 Hz., 1.5 A
Soldering System: STSS-002
Power Unit: RFG-30
Notes: One LED,
115 VAC, 60 Hz., 1.5 A
Soldering System: STSS-002
Power Unit: PS2
Notes: One LED,
115 VAC, 60 Hz., 1.5 A
Soldering System: STSS-002
Power Unit: PS2
Notes: Two LEDs,
115 VAC, 60 Hz., 1.5 A
Power Supply: PS2E-01
Notes: Two LEDs,
115 VAC, 60 Hz., 1.5 A
Soldering System Power Supply: STSS-PS2V-02
Notes: Two LEDs,
230 V~, 50 Hz., 1.0 A
Besides the different number of LEDs (or lack thereof), and the different circuitry associated with them, and the obvious power standard difference of the STSS-PS2V-02, what are the differences among these power supplies? They can all use the same handpieces (as they are all 13.56 mHz), and all of the 115 VAC ones are rated to draw 1.5 amps. Note that the 115 VAC MX-500 is only rated to draw 1 amp, so they are either more efficient or they have less power, because, not taking into account efficiency, 1 amp @ 115 volts = 115 watts, while 1.5 amps @ 115 volts = 172.5 watts.
It wouldn't surprise me if the MX-500 has less power than the older units, because like I mentioned earlier, when I worked at the PCB factory, the older units seemed to perform a little better when pushed hard, which is why I always tried to swap with a co-worker if I got stuck with an MX-500. I usually sat at the same bench every night, but those squirrelly first-shifters liked to move things around, so I'd make a trade so I could have my trusty STSS-whatever one night, come back the next night and an MX-500 might be sitting there again.
The Metcal problem was not the adjustment screw. If it did go into shutdown it would not wake up. Problem was it did it intermittently, about on time out of maybe four or five. You never knew when. Just enough so you would have worked for a half hour and then all of the sudden you had a cold tip. Only way to get it back on was to shut the power off. I suspect maybe a bad solder connection somewhere but when an acquaintance said he'd take it as is (for what I paid for it) I sold it since I have several other stations. Next time I see him I'll have to ask him if he figured it out although I suspect he's just using it without standby.
That was another reason I preferred using the older STSS stations to the MX-500 stations at work; that auto-shutdown function irritated me to no end, even when that function was working correctly (and we did have a few that sometimes wouldn't come out of shutdown properly as well).