True. They cannot be killed!

Healthier than alcohol or other drugs ;-) And cheaper in addition (unless you do not buy everything I show on the channel).

+Ioannis Vrellis :-)

:-)

Thanks for the congratulations! I got this tip with the USB irons already a few times. So I will maybe make a test in the future...

Thanks for your feedback!

You're welcome. I am glad you like the iron.

Good choice!

+myounges :-)

Glad to read that. Hope, you like it, too.

Glad to read that. I am always a little alone in the lab when I do videos and I am never sure if I do everything right. And, if you make mistakes, the internet is not very forgiving these days...

Internet can be cruel and unforgiving indeed, so I guess the pressure of doing everything right when you upload something to the internet is quite high. There's nothing to dislike in your videos though. They are really informative and any mistake is either insignificant or it's corrected by you in post (with on-screen comments, for example). I really enjoy your content. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience with us.

:-)

You're welcome. I am glad you like the iron.

+Adrian :-)

Andreas Spiess it would be good to know how long lasts the TS100's tip. You should make a video about tricks in soldering, tip maintance /correct usage of the sponge, cleaning steel wire/, how to store soldering iron after use etc., how to select correct temperatures etc. :)

+Adrian I wold definitively not be the right guy for these topic as I do no care about them. I use a brass sponge to take the excess solder away and never replaced any tip in the last years. Maybe somebody else has more experience

Glad it was helpful!

I agree with the first statement. And for the second: We never know what future will bring to us...

Thanks a lot!

:-)

The "wind" is rather small because it is very close to the tip. So, no issue there.

Good choice!

I am pretty sure you will like it.

C MJ they work great. Have a battery lead to use it with Lipo batteries in the field.

+Bob Christy (christyinnovations) After the tests I ordered a new iron directly from Aoyue, because I think, that my replacement part was not original. I will include an annotation after the tests. 20Watt is definitively too low. Yes,the extractor sometimes get sometimes in the way.Everything has its advantages and disadvantages ;-)

You are welcome! Glad it helps.

Glad you share the same experience! Thanks.

It really has no right to be that good. Thermal mass is and has been important forever.

But with a small thermal mass and a strong heater you could then "recharge" the heat very fast and the temperature drop then also would be reasonably small. But I am not a specialist, just a user.

Andreas Spiess But you have to admit that generally "mass is good." but this iron is really good despite the size. Part of it is the control circuitry (and the strong heater). RC batteries are great for high instantaneous current.

Of course, mass is often good. That's why I drive a Harley ;-) But I am glad, that my wife does not have a huge mass...

Thanks!

You're welcome!

Nobody knows where these dislikes come from. They are on all my videos and seem to belong to the game...

Thank you for your compliment!

btw, i do have the mustool mt223 that i got from banggood awhile ago and yes it doesn't have any sort feedback from its heating element. i remove the pcb and it too have an identical circuit as yours but mine is kind of works. i got a variation of around 250degC to 510degC by adjusting the setting knot, around a offset of 50degC from its nominal. i never actually study the whole circuitry but its looks awfully like a simple TRIAC current control to me. i believe your unit may have a faulty reference resistor, protentiameter or the TRIAC itself.

Thanks!

Thank you for your information.

I learned that they switch the heating off for a moment to measure the temperature.

I only use solder with lead.

I’m an old fart, and some habits never die … so I still love my good old 60/40 solder. But I also solder lead-free. My tips here: You might need flux, investigate in Kester 186 (almost liquid) and the Kester 951 flux pens. Clean afterwards using isopropyl alcohol. To clean the tip, it’s great to have one of these bronze sponge thingies-much better than the old watered sponge.

Thanks for the nice words and you are absolutely right: I use a dark green highlighter because I thought, that it will be better viewable than the yellow one. But of course, I did not think about the fact, that most of my viewers are male and that the male population has this problem of color blindness. I should have known it better because I used to work in the photo finishing industry and there, the first test at job application was always the color test. So, in the future, I will use your proposal and circle things. Thanks for the hint!

Here it's for 46.99 dollars with coupon code: OLEDS www.gearbest.com/boards-shields/pp_266258.html?wid=21&lkid=10737299 Cheers ukposts.info/have/v-deo/fHV2lYKErWyV0Js.html

Wow, the price has almost doubled on Gearbest ! Now it's €71: www.gearbest.com/boards-shields/pp_266261.html At this price, better get it from Amazon instead: faster delivery and better service overall. You can get it for €61 on Banggood, though or at $60 on various american websites like this one: www.getfpv.com/ts100-digital-oled-programmable-interface-mini-soldering-iron.html, showing that the chinese websites are no longer the cheapest ones. Finally you can get it for €45 shipped from Malay on eBay.

I couldn't work with a pipe hanging off a soldering iron.

Recently I got a cable with a battery connector and I used it with a 3S battery. It worked fine. Not as fast as with the Laptop adapter, of course.

My pleasure!

Currently I use a TS80. It is very light-weight...

I've been using my Hakko 936 for over 10 years now

I calibrated the old iron. It was not easy because the trimmer seems to have a wrong value (a very small movement already changed the temperature a lot. Maybe I will do it with the new iron, when I have time. I can hardly compare tips because I use them not enough. So, somebody which uses the soldering iron every day eight hours would be the guy for that.

I'm not sure how yours works, but mine had a self calibrate feature or something similar. After letting it run that it was quite simple to adjust the temerature in small increments. Before it was out by about 70 degrees!

Maybe I have to read the f****ing manual ;-)

I just bought some Weller tips for my TC201 handle iron. They were $3.44 a piece with free shipping. I'll see when I get them if they're genuine Weller tips or not. They were sold as the real thing.

You're welcome. I use this one here: www.aliexpress.com/item/2PCS-Metal-Soldering-Iron-Tip-Solder-Cleaner-Box-Brass-Sponge-Holder/32267966973.html Make sure, it is brass and not only steel.

Andreas Spiess, Thanks for reply. Didn't know if it is good or not to use it. Now I am sure everything is fine. And the metal must be brass.

The only difference is the speed of heating.

I would check if your measuring method is good. Maybe you try to find out at which temperature your solder starts to flow and compare it with the specs of the solder. Then you know if your measurment is correct

Thanks for your feedback. I am sure, it helps other viewers in their decisions.

I replaced the complete iron (handset) because the one I used in the test was a fake one.

Sorry for that!

This is why I did not recommend it

+suraj bhawal So, the fume extractor is a real waste for you?

Andreas Spiess Oh no! I do se a fume extractor.....it's just nice to sometimes just sniff the nice smell of flux.

:-)

Enjoy it while you can. It's very unhealthy.

You should get flux sick someday just so you know the difference. But basically if you're not writhing on the floor with dry heaves then the fume concentration is too low to adversely affect you.

+GoatZilla Yes, I ran it

and did it improve ?

yes did it improve the accuracy of the temperature?

The TS-100 is a DC device. I assume it needs a reasonable DC voltage without too much ripple. I use it with an old Laptop power supply.

Thank you. That is what I expected. I will get the DC regulated and filtered with 10,000 μF.

The station has the power supply built-in. With the TS100 you need an additional power supply.

1. You're welcome. Thanks for your comments. Channels like that live of returning "customers"...2. Pay attention to tax authorities. I heard, that Mr. Trump needs money to build new infrastructure ;-) 3. I have never used a butane device, so I have no experience.

I have used the butane soldering irons, they are great for working on cars, not suitable for regular lab work in my opinion, they run really hot, temperature is hard to control, but they sure come in handy when working on something that does not have regular power nearby or when you have to move around a lot (e.g. splicing a car wiring harness).

Thanks for the feedback. Actually, that is exactly one of my uses. I hate crawling around under the dash of a vehicle with the electrical cord wrapped around and under everything. Very frustrating sometimes.

Trust me, don't! I have one and broke it in a matter of a 2 weeks of use! Look into Bakon 950D, they come with Hakko's T12 tips and they are very cheap.

No, it only works on 220 volt

Ok thanks

+Mr.Martin This is really another class! If you use this for living, this for sure a very good choice.

Thanks for your comment. I think, Hakko is also a very well known brand for hobbyists. But I never owned one, so I had no experience with it. The TS100 is a real small and lightweight iron.

+Ian Wilkinson I use only one in the lab and occasionally change the tip

+iLive2Ride76 I do not know too much about electric savety and do not have any instruments to deal with it. I am also a biker and therefore, safety usually is not always my first thought ;-)

Andreas Spiess LOL I know what you mean. I'm a biker too. What kind of bike do you drive? I'm all into Harley and the lifestyle that comes with hd.

I have a Breakout, but without the livestyle ;-) But I still love it.

Andreas Spiess nice bike. But you should consider the lifestyle 😝

You do not change old people like me easily...

I had to dump my 968 (it was defective) and I use a TS80 now.

+Juan Campos :-)

Mine also still works in my brother's garage ;-)

You are welcome

+Jake Kirby You are welcome

Thanks for the info about your experience. Concerning fume extractor: How far away from where you solder do you have the entry ?

It works fine until about 20cm distance at a medium, not nerving speed. If used at full speed it works up to 40cm. I could also provide some pictures and details of the circuit if you are interested

Yes, please. I am sure, many viewers are also interested.

Ok. I will collect those infos and pictures. Can I send them to you so that you can publish them? I am not so into all those instructables and github things. You and the audience can use them in any way you want.

Yes, of course. And I post a link into the description. Please use twitter or Facebook to send it.

+Vince Herried The Mustool and the Weller (!) are not grounded. The others are or have a screw to do it (TS100). I did not say anything because I am not a ESD specialist.

If you only have to solder wires the temperature is probably not as important for you and you can use a higher temperature. Better is to use high wattage irons with a temperature control. They replace the heat quickly but do not overheat your devices.

You are welcome!

No, I did not upgrade. But I can live with the difference if I know it... Maybe I will update it, too when I am back in my lab

Web learning Could you reccomend the ts100, or should I buy something else? I'd use it for 3d printers, rc, and stuff like that

I did not have any problems so far. But I have to say, that I do not know the situation in other countries, only in Switzerland.

Late answer, just for the records: I’m located in Germany and never had problems buying from Aliexpress or Banggood. That said, you’ll have to pay import VAT above-I think-€20 and customs duty above €150. Parts have never been a problem, but complete appliances that need CE in the EU (like measuring instruments) might be sent back or even destroyed by customs, so I usually check if they have a "CE" on them, even if it only means "China Export" … sigh. For some things it may be a little easier to get things through if you’re a registered ham radio operator.

And I added overlays about the results with the original Ayoue iron (not in the table, UKposts does not allow to change videos)

I have no knowledge in this field :-(

@@AndreasSpiess thanks

Sometimes, old stuff is not worse. But often, I love the choice of today's times. And sometimes they overdo cost cutting by replacing dials with buttons. This is probably for the younger generation which is conditioned to the IPhone with a flat screen ;-)

Yeah, I’d just LOVE the Aoyue Int968A+ to have a dial for the hot air gun temperature, mumble, grumble …

You are right. For my part, I most probably will be dead in 30 years :-(

I thought the same thing myself 30 years ago and here I am. I still might get a T12 station kit and build it up someday. I need to do some other things first though.

You see the temperatures I normally use in the video (around 360 C). This video should help you to decide if you want to buy a new soldering iron and which one. I have nothing to add.

Devjit Paul, I'd throw away (or try to return to store) the Mustool MT223. It doesn't have temperature control at all, it only has power control. Just look at the PCB, there's nothing except a thyristor on it. You have been ripped off, because temperature controlled irons in same price range are available, and the temperature numbers printed on it have no relationship with actual temperature at all. Now it's possible to solder well with an iron which has no temperature control, if it has temperature balance point, but this is a heater and tip design reused from a temperature controlled iron that really doesn't, so it's not very good at all at this. It's important not to solder too hot, else you'll be causing damage to components, and the solder doesn't stick to the copper very well. The reason is that high temperature degrades the flux before it can work and promote contact between metals. Since temperature calibration is usually pretty bad out of the factory on many irons, it's advisable not to go by the absolute numbers. Instead, you get the solder that you're going to use, and you slowly regulate the temperature up until the solder just starts to melt, and then you turn it up by approximately additional 50°C. If it's too cold, the solder doesn't melt well enough, so you'll know it. As to which solder to use, i suggest Sn62Pb36Ag2 or Sn63Pb37, because these have the lowest probability of detaching or cracking, and get one with high quality flux core if possible. If the tip was getting glowing red hot, then the heater element inside was much, much hotter yet! That would ruin it of course. You may be curious whether you ruined something else inside, and it's likely that you didn't, but i don't think it's worth restoring, after all you're likely to run into the same issue again later. Chances are, TS100 is more expensive than necessary for your use, but there's a lot of choice in between.

Oh BTW, Andreas, have you noticed that TS100 has only two pins to the heater too? Well there's a trick there, the heater and the sensing thermocouple are actually in series! The iron controller alternates between heating and sensing multiple times a second. In heating mode, voltage is supplied to the heater. In sensing mode, the heater generates a tiny voltage that is measured by the control electronics. Of course this is not so trivial, not something you'll find in a $5 iron, but still, it's sometimes necessary to look at the electronics besides the heater wiring to know whether it has temperature control.

Thanks!

I bought it here: www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-New-Hakko-FG-100-Soldering-Iron-Tip-Thermometer/1074061512.html I have no reference, but saw videos where people said, there is not a big difference between the original and this one.

:-)

Thank you!

+mickael Laplace :-)

There are many new choices appearing these days. If you browse through the internet you find that many reviewers like the TS100.

TS100 will not last, I admit it's cute. I have a Hakko and I've been using it for 8 years now, every weekend and most weekdays. Same with my desoldering gun, it's a Hakko and it has lasted 8 years. No repairs, no new heat elements. There are also Wellers that are 10, 20, 30 years old and still work.

I have a 30 year old Weller that I upgraded for more power and pen type iron. The old iron is still working as brand new. It had needed only some spare tips in 30 years and not too many of those either. I have an Aoyue 968 as well. My version has low heating power as well. I almost never solder with it and use just as an hot air gun. With weller already I could have saved some money if I'd got only a hot air gun for smd work. I liked the idea of fume extraction but after getting a pen type iron it feels so bulky.

:-) It was really not easy...

+Mehmet Kaya O you have a suggestion for one?

Andreas Spiess Currently using this one and I'm kinda happy with it. Using it with Xiaomi 10K mAh PowerBank. www.aliexpress.com/item/Mini-USB-Electric-Soldering-Iron-Portable-Soldering-Gun-with-LED-Indicator-Hot-Iron-Welding-High-Quality/32629514881.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.oJAc3l P.S.: Never use it with phone/tablet charger. Use PC USB port or a PowerBank. Charger will burn it to a red core.

Thanks for the link and the tip!

Thank you for your information. I also bought some stuff in Germany, but only later. And You are right with the heating element. I had a wrong one and now it is much faster!

You’re welcome. I think we all learn from errors we make. And sharing is improving, for all of us. :-)

I bought that 10 years ago locally. But they should be available in many places.

Thank you for sharing!

10 watts seems a bit too low powered. Is it really ok?

Surprisingly, yes. For stuff like pin headers and other through hole componente it works really well. You can look at bigclivedotcom s video on it, he tested it.

roidroid Actual power is determined by the.supply voltage. Heater is really strong and there seems to be enough mass for 14/16 awg wire. It is nuts.

Thanks for the info!

+Arnoud van Leijden Thanks for the compliment! Why should I change my "brand name"? What would be your proposal then?

Hello Andreas, sorry for this remark. I meant you speak English very well. I didnt know it was your brand name ;-) I hope you will make a lot more videos!

I did also not know when I started and at the beginning, I thought like you. But now, if you google "guy with the Swiss accent" you get already 274 hits in forums etc. and I get a lot of nice comments about my accent. So, out of an "excuse" for my bad accent actually emerged something useful. So, sorry, you have live with it (or you mute the first few seconds)

Thanks!

You are right. Otherwise it does not work.

:-)

The problem was solved when I bought an original Aoyue iron...

Rob B - you're not quite correct - what you describe is the 'old style' of regulated tip, where the tip is slid over the heater/thermo couple, whereas the newer 'direct heat types -Hakko 952 (clones included) for example, have the heater and thermocouple built INTO the tip itself, so heating/sensing is immediate, unlike the older style, like a Hakko 888 eg (original and clone).

I do not understand?

On the first sight, you are absolutely right. However, there are some reasons behind (right or wrong): 1. Aoyue: As mentioned in the video, at the beginning I was not sure I will continue. So I did not invest too much. However, during the production of this video I looked at a new Wellers and how much it would cost me. A WT 1010 Set would costed around 400$. The WTHA 1 hot air station which fits nicely was another 950 $ and I still had no fume extractor. This is, when I gave up... 2. The most important rule for all my tools is: Best price performance. I did not find a cheaper spectrum analyzer giving me the 2.4 GHz range. And this is, what I wanted to be covered because without taht, it would have made no sense for me. So again, in a way a "cheap" solution... (I have to admit, it was always my dream since I was a young engineer) 3. I have many young viewers starting with the hobby and sometimes also not living in high wage countries. Especially for those, I try to do a "triage" because they cannot afford to buy a "too cheap" tool. 4. The Weller is still circling somewhere in my head, but probably with a small trick....

thanks for explaining; price/performance of course is important for me as well, and yes, i'm also an enthousiastic ALI buyer ;-). But i also recognise that sometimes you only get what you pay for... I love my cheapo YOUYUE 858D+ (with pimped firmware), and of course my Rigol - but with irons i did not yet see something really decent. But i wonder if 400$ Wellers are the only answer? I'm considering an Ersa i-pico; or if a used Weller comes along... Some collegues swear that JBC are the best.. For now, the ZD-937 does its job quite ok

There are many voices about irons, and in the top league, JBC seems to be one of the best. But the prices go to 1000$ and so far, this was too much for me. I think, Rigol is similar to Siglent: Good price performance...

Yes! Because he is en Engineer ;-)

Mein "Lehrling" braucht ihn und ist sehr damit zufrieden

Schade, Banggood kann nämlich gerade keine Liefern. :-) Haben sie oder er die Temperatur Probleme mit der neueren Firmware in den Griff gekriegt?

Ich habe gar nichts gemacht. Die Temperatur ist ja stabil, nur nicht ganz genau. Das reicht mir. Ich stell für die verschiedenen Arbeiten einfach diejenige ein, die letztes mal gut ging...

They last forever. Maybe not a good business model for the company ;-)

I have a binocular with a big distance. So no problem.

Thank you for sharing your experience!

+xennelul thanks a lot!