V.T. Eric Layton Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Well, it's sorta' like hardware, right? Anyway, being (or having been) an electronics technician for many years, I've had numerous soldering stations out in my shop; always more than one. You don't want to be stranded without a hot iron, you know. My baby, which I was forced to sell a couple years back (along with my two O-scopes, a spectrum analyzer, and other miscellaneous pieces of test equipment ) was a Hexacon Dial-a-Temp soldering station similar to this one... My backup soldering station was an old Weller TC202 like this one... A couple nights ago I turned the old Weller on to solder something and guess what? It was cold as ice. I checked the output of the base and all the voltages were there. I figured the element in the iron finally took a poop. I checked the prices of a replacement iron and was shocked to find that they are nearly the cost of the entire soldering station... $100 or so. Oh well, I've had this station for many years now. I figured it was time to move on. In the meantime, I had another backup, a straight iron like this one... ... but much older. So, I was out there in the shop again tonight playing around with my brother's old Gateway AMD Athlon K-7 system (but that's for another thread) and afterwards I decided to take the Weller handle apart to see if there was anything obviously wrong with it. There was. Boy! There was. I thought maybe the element had gone bad, but that wasn't the case. The problem was the cord. The three-conductor cord was so bad that the individual wires were turning to dust in my hands. The copper had oxidized to nothing almost. It was like this on both ends, the iron and the plug. I started to cut off a few inches to try and reattach it, but I had to keep cutting and cutting. I didn't get to solid wire till I had cut about a foot off each end of the cord, leaving about 18" of cord to work with after that. It all went into the trash can. I rewired the handle using a standard computer power cord, which like most of you, I have numerous lying around the shop. It's black instead of white, but it worked perfectly! YAY! I saved my soldering station from trash heap. If all goes well, I should be able to keep using it for many years to come. So, there you go.... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goretsky Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Hello, I've never heard of that kind of damage to an iron's AC line cord. Any idea what caused it? Regards, Aryeh Goretsky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Way to go Eric. It is always a real hit to rejuvenate an old friend. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Awesome! Resurrection of that nature feels so good!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted December 6, 2013 Author Share Posted December 6, 2013 Hello, I've never heard of that kind of damage to an iron's AC line cord. Any idea what caused it? Regards, Aryeh Goretsky It's a low voltage output (24VAC) from the base. The cord doesn't get hot or carry any large amounts of current. The guage of the wires were very fine braid, though. This is probably to facilitate flexibility of the cord. Being that it was OK in the very middle, but deteriorated on the ends, I'd say it was probably just normal age/oxidation due to exposure to the atmospheric moisture. Don't really know for sure, though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted December 6, 2013 Author Share Posted December 6, 2013 These are the best kind of fixes for me. I really enjoy being able to salvage something that would otherwise be destined for the trash heap. The problem with this world these days is that everything goes to the trash heap. Very few still have the know-how or the motivation to repair/salvage anything these days, sadly. It's a throw-away world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 It is the price we pay, sadly, for demanding cheaper and cheaper goods these days. But these are the best kinds of fixes. I enjoy this when I can. The price of being super busy these days...... Adam 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 It's a low voltage output (24VAC) from the base. The cord doesn't get hot or carry any large amounts of current. It will carry 5 times as much current as a 120V iron of the same wattage. I have two el-cheapo ($20) irons, one 25W and one 80W which have lasted quite a while. Rather have a Weller but I don't solder so much these days to justify the cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted December 9, 2013 Author Share Posted December 9, 2013 It will carry 5 times as much current as a 120V iron of the same wattage. That would be correct, you would think. Current (in amps) = Power (in watts) / Voltage (in volts) We don't know the actual current or power figures. We only know the voltage for the two irons: the iron handle from the soldering station runs on 24VAC the stand-alone iron runs on 120VAC Assuming power consumption is the same @ 40Watts, say, then mathematically speaking, the 24V iron will draw less more current than the 120V iron. 40 watts / 120 volts = .33 or 330 milliamps 40 watts / 24 volts = 1.67 amps However, there's more to it than that for the soldering station. If you're interested, HERE is a spec sheet and method of operation for that station. It's actually pretty neat how it regulates tip temps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Assuming power consumption is the same @ 40Watts, say, then mathematically speaking, the 24V iron will draw less current than the 120V iron.40 watts / 120 volts = .33 or 330 milliamps 40 watts / 24 volts = 1.67 amps s/less/more/ You're competing with Temmu today. Those Weller stations are good, and I know the power input is intermittent to maintain stable temp. The basics of power/voltage are the same, but you have to allow a bit of loss for transformer efficiency. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 Haven't you heard the old Linux Bash saying, "less is more". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 Haven't you heard the old Linux Bash saying, "less is more". Haha, almost. man more NAME more — file perusal filter for crt viewing man less NAME less - opposite of more What is the opposite of "file perusal filter"? It's like saying "what is the opposite of a duck?" Speaking of ducks, reminds me of this; Q; why is a duck? A: because both legs are shorter than the other. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted December 12, 2013 Author Share Posted December 12, 2013 Less is more... http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/less-is-more-the-hidden-treasure-of-less-command.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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