Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

Hopefully it wont explode like mine did 

[Specmaster]

I don't think it will if he gets the complete system and uses it as a mains powered system rather than cobble 2 things together not designed to go together.                                           

[bd139]

But it was greater than the sum of its parts!

Until it exploded 

[xrunner]

Hopefully it wont explode like mine did 

[Specmaster]

That's a just what you said when it happened too 

[bd139]

My T12 ownership story.

So I bought a DC one after all the hype. I wanted to run off a 12V SLA so I could go and futz around with soldering stuff outside like antennas. Absolutely sucked on 12V. Not enough grunt to get the element in any useful state. So I got a bought a full size mains unit power supply case and put a cheap Chinese boost converter in it to boost to 24V. That gave it the heating wumph back that was lost running it on 12V.



Happy days. Worked nicely, for a bit. End station:



So I dig it out of the cupboard a few weeks back to go and fix my antenna which got trashed when that numpty hit my fence. Plugged it in, BEEEEP, then fuse goes inline with the SLA. Hmm something up. Popped it on the PL154 with current limit on, BEEEP, current hits limit. Shut it down. Inspect it, find nothing wrong. Measured the tip resistance in case that was short. Absolutely fine. Reassembled, works on power supply fine then. 

So I put a new fuse in the SLA feed lead and plug it in and head outside. Turn it on, BEEEP ....... BZZZZZZZT POP! .... MOSFET explodes on the back of the control board followed by the fuse about 5 seconds later (ffs!) 

Well it turns out after some investigation and a second MOSFET tacked in which also exploded, that the root cause was a dead short in the handle receptable because the plastic had melted at the base of the element  . 30 seconds of thought suggested that it would require a new control board and handle and I honestly couldn't be arsed so I grabbed the trecherous fucker and swung it like an olympic hammer and it now resides on my neighbour's garage roof.

I bought a replacement Weller TCP12 12V iron NIB from ebay, put powerpoles on the lead and it's sterling in comparison and was cheaper than a replacement T12 after you get mugged for import duty.

Conclusions:

1. Handle design is crap.
2. Doesn't survive edge cases of operation at all.
3. Difficult to swap that MOSFET out.
4. MOSFET is the world's fastest fuse

Edit: honestly during the time it worked it was pretty good. But I rather want to use a soldering iron rather than spend all the time fixing it

[Specmaster]

Wish I was your neighbour, I'd retrieve it from the garage roof, wack a 240v power unit designed for it into that case, chuck out the power buck convertor as and the old control module, stick a new control module and handle in it and be happy with it cos I just know that thing will last and last then given a proper decent power supply 
 

[bd139]

Hadly worth it. The only good bit was the boost converter and that was £1.50 on Aliexpress

[Kosmic]

The Quicko psu seem a bit simplistic (unsafe  ). For reference this is what the Ksger look like.

[bd139]

Yeah mine is just a 12 -> 24V boost converter.

I'm not happy with the T12 mains supply designs. The mains pins lap soldered onto the board, ground included, is just dire. They wouldn't pass approval here. Chassis isn't grounded properly and it's not double insulated. someone's going to end up dead.

[kj7e]

So Frequency references are like Voltage references.  If you have just one  , but add a second  .  Just ordered a third GPSDO, but with genuine Trimble guts 

[Kosmic]

Yeah mine is just a 12 -> 24V boost converter.

I'm not happy with the T12 mains supply designs. The mains pins lap soldered onto the board, ground included, is just dire. They wouldn't pass approval here. Chassis isn't grounded properly and it's not double insulated. someone's going to end up dead.

Ah ok din't even noticed it's dc in. 

[bd139]

So Frequency references are like Voltage references.  If you have just one  , but add a second  .  Just ordered a third GPSDO, but with genuine Trimble guts 

You can never be too sure 

[kj7e]

I just want two to match, even if they are wrong (I wont know but will feel better).  Stupid millihertz.

[tggzzz]

So Frequency references are like Voltage references.  If you have just one  , but add a second  .  Just ordered a third GPSDO, but with genuine Trimble guts 

Multiple voltage references are not uncommon, partly to allow failures to be spotted, partly to allow error reduction via the usual sqrt(N) stats.

Is the same true of frequency references?

[kj7e]

Multiple voltage references are not uncommon, partly to allow failures to be spotted, partly to allow error reduction via the usual sqrt(N) stats.

Is the same true of frequency references?

This applies to both;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segal%27s_law

[Specmaster]

The Quicko psu seem a bit simplistic (unsafe  ). For reference this is what the Ksger look like.

Nah, that Ksger power unit is almost a carbon copy of the Quicko and has the same issues as bd mentions in his post, mains pins soldered directly onto the PCB, thats a failure for the future right there and the case is not properly earthed, hence why I modded mine, installed flexible connections between the IEC mains socket and the PCB and also added a proper earth bonding post and made sure that all 4 parts of the case are properly earthed as well as the iron tip.

[bd139]

I fixed mine by buying an ass end metcal   

[Kosmic]

The Quicko psu seem a bit simplistic (unsafe  ). For reference this is what the Ksger look like.

Nah, that Ksger power unit is almost a carbon copy of the Quicko and has the same issues as bd mentions in his post, mains pins soldered directly onto the PCB, thats a failure for the future right there and the case is not properly earthed, hence why I modded mine, installed flexible connections between the IEC mains socket and the PCB and also added a proper earth bonding post and made sure that all 4 parts of the case are properly earthed as well as the iron tip.

Wondering how many times ou would have to plug the power cable to break one of the pin. About grounding of the case yes there is no excuse. Will check mine tonight.

[xrunner]

So I put a new fuse in the SLA feed lead and plug it in and head outside. Turn it on, BEEEP ....... BZZZZZZZT POP! .... MOSFET explodes on the back of the control board followed by the fuse about 5 seconds later (ffs!) 

Well it turns out after some investigation and a second MOSFET tacked in which also exploded, that the root cause was a dead short in the handle receptable because the plastic had melted at the base of the element  . 30 seconds of thought suggested that it would require a new control board and handle and I honestly couldn't be arsed so I grabbed the trecherous fucker and swung it like an olympic hammer and it now resides on my neighbour's garage roof.

Danm between you and me I think we could destroy any soldering station they could throw at us. 

Specmaster,

My stated goal is to recover the other one. It's gotta be possible. All I did was somehow enter the wrong numbers. It has to be possible to get the right numbers in ... has to be.

It's like this:

You want me do do the improbable? It'll will take a week or so.

You want the impossible? Give me a little longer. 

Meanwhile I'm getting a new Bakon 950D from the seller with more T12 tips so at the least I can use the tips with the new KSGER unit I ordered this morning.

[bd139]

Wondering how many times ou would have to plug the power cable to break one of the pin. About grounding of the case yes there is no excuse. Will check mine tonight.

Knocking it off the bench worries me. The entire mass of the power supply with respect to the mass of the case is held with the glue under three pads.

[BU508A]

Just curious:

would you buy a used Tek MSO2014 for (net) 1925.- Euros or US$ 2426.-   

Looks to me very expensive for a special offer.

Source:

https://www.instrumex.de/en/2961

[mnementh]

Hadly worth it. The only good bit was the boost converter and that was £1.50 on Aliexpress what toasted everything else.

There; fixed that for you. That's EXACTLY how my first OLED T12 died. I replaced the shite regulator with a decent one, and it's been a happy camper for over a year now. 

I won't lie; there is a VAST OCEAN of shit out there in the T12 soldering station quadrant... But you DO have to keep it all running at 26-28V or it's gonna puke; you can't blame the controller for that. 

mnem
 

[bd139]

It wasn’t that. It was the (measured) dead short across the heater in that handle when pushing the tip in exceeding the SOA of the MOSFET. Boost converter was fine as it wasn’t even in circuit when the second one exploded.

[mnementh]

 

It wasn’t that. It was the (measured) dead short across the heater in that handle when pushing the tip in exceeding the SOA of the MOSFET. Boost converter was fine as it wasn’t even in circuit when the second one exploded.

I guess that falls down to the quality of the individual handle then. I did mention in all my proselytizing that there was great variance in the quality of the handles; particularly the connector block inside. 

mnem