I made a DIY station using SS-331 gun. I bought the components from Aliexpress, including the pump motor. The motor was rated 12V 10W. When I tested with 12V it consumed about 6W. To reach the 10W consumption I needed to raise the voltage to 19V. I fully agree with you raising the voltage of the suction pump. In my case there is no need a separate dc-dc converter at all. And the sucking power is quite diferent.
THANK YOU. Dude this is a fantastic tutorial and the upgrade is 100% worth it. The buck converter you found fits so perfectly into the old spot it's like a match made in heaven. Super easy to swap in, no case modification or cutting, and worked with almost zero trouble shooting. Cannot thank you enough for taking all the guess work out of something like this. BTW, my unit seems to have an upgraded PSU; it's fully enclosed and looks exactly like what comes in the pro'skit station. Not sure how many versions of the ZD-915 there are but I'm very happy with the performance after this mod. P.S. my dad loves you C64 videos, over the years of taking care of him it's been a struggle to keep him interested in just about anything. But your restorations, upgrades, and general love for the system is a great walk down memory lane. Keep up the amazing work, I really cannot thank you enough
Thank you, and glad to see your dad is enjoying the videos as well, that's fantastic. With the buck converter, I think in the end I have it putting out about 15volts. According to another viewer the pump is rated at 24V, so in theory you could just wire it direct to the power supply, although in practice that might be a bad idea 😅
I just got one of these the other day and I think the stock version works just fine. Thanks for this video now I know I will not be wasting time and money upgrading it.
Like other people before, I must thank you for those tips. I found that buck converter for 2.30€ on Ali... One difference, I ended using still the factory resistors for the pump. It's a bit overkill to use a buck converter just for one fan instead of some transistor as shown in another video about improving that ZD-915, but it's a fine and easy way to go straight to a good result. To conclude, the pump's suction is now perfect, when I was earlier kinda disappointed.
Thanks for this. I've had one of these stations for a couple of years & will do this upgrade. The fan has always been annoying, but lately it's been making a whirring noise so I'll probably have to replace that too.
Just a quick update, my buck converter arrived today & mod was completed successfully! The fan is still ok too, just needed a little oil. ;-) Thanks again.
My ZD-915 has 24V fan wired directly to the power supply (actually these 2 connectors on resistor PCB are used as input, and the single connector is used as output). The pump motor is labelled 6-24VDC, so it could easily work with 18VDC from the PSU, but it makes it really loud.
Interesting, yes I've heard some of them have a 24v fan but didn't realise the pump could handle the same. Mine didn't have a sticker on it, just some random markings that yeilded no results with a Google search. Maybe I should bump it up even higher, or just wire it directly to the 18v 😁
Thank you very much for the tip. I just finished upgrading my ZD-915 with a buck-regulator (I set it to 13 V for now). It definitely sucks better now than before and the fan (I also had the 12 V fan installed) is significantly more silent, even though I didn't cut away the grille. My motor had the correct polarity marking and I also installed the diode and three suppression capacitors in X/Y-connection on the motor.
Is funny how you start every single sentence off with enthusiastic and varying normal tone in your voice with clear pronunciation then slowly turn it into a quiet, low and bass tone..
I have this same unit. I may bump it up to 14V eventually. It seems to do the job ok for now though. Sometimes I need to use my heat gun on really stubborn solder blobs though.
The ZD-8915 and 915 and the one u have there all use 24 Volt heater element. Mine has a 36volt fan no problem with overvoltage on my 8915. but the 18 volt to the heater bug me. know there are mods on psu easy done to get 23.5 .psu on all these stations are ZD-P150 V 2.0. 18 volt 12 A, at least what other confirm they have in those models with or without sleep "sensor" The fans have different rating on many, Same as mine had a 12 V fan while mine is 36V
Intersting. I thought that the higher-quality buck converter would be a notable improvement.🤔 However, I did know that attaching the hose would improve the suction strength.😜 On a serious note, it is difficult to find that SD-915 here in a 120VAC version. I'm curious does the tranformer indicate that it might be 120VAC configurable?
I'd love to know if anyone else in Australia has managed to procure a ZD-915 recently. I tried and failed, so I ended up settling for a Yihua 948. It does a better job than a manual solder sucker, but the build quality doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Seeing this video, and how a ZD-915 can be modded like this, makes me kinda wish that I tried a bit harder to track down a ZD-915.
I been using a Hakko 808 for 10 years and now is time to do a change, I have many throughole desoldering stations, Some in their boxes without use. Top throughole desoldering stations cost over Us$500 dollars, if can't afford the Yihua 948 is the right tool or you. I bought one Yihua 948 and works fine, very quiet, strong suction. Has sleep mode , looks well made, I have 3 weeks with it, without any problem. Best Regards.
I did the mod, and it brings the fan speed down to generate much less, and less annoying, noise. However, the 1 ohm dropper would have 18 - 12 = 6 volts over it, which means a 6A current would be drawn (although I didn't measure the actual voltage over the dropper, just assuming 6V). The replacement bucket converter is rated for 5A. Potentially a problem?
Ive been using my zd915 for a couple years. Definitely got my moneys worth. I wanted to grab a heating element for if/when mine goes out but all that available is the parts for the proskit new version. I wanted to order the whole new priskit gun but its 7 pin and the zd915 is 6 pin. Any idea what the extra pin is for? Would you still suggest the buck converter mod? Thanks
No idea what the extra pin is for, it could be the pinout is completely different anyway. I'd still recommend the buck converter mod, but in saying that it seems mine is having issues lately - the suction power has definitely dropped. I don't think that is down to the buck converter mod, but if yours is already had a lot of use it may not be worth the effort. These don't seem to last that long and yeah spare parts seem to be drying up. I do have a spare gun so I'm going to take a closer look and see if my issue is down to the gun, or pump or something else. Otherwise I'm thinking I'll get a Hakko FR-801 from Amazon Japan, they're much cheaper from Japan but will require a stepdown transformer to work here (which I already have). Don't know if it will work 100% though
@@TheRetroChannel The hakko 801 is a hot air station right? I did end up ordering the buck converter, it was only $5 so figured its worth a shot. I was going to order the proskit new desoldering station but only see the 220v models on aliexpress and need the 110v. Guess ill just wait untill the zd-915 craps out and probably get one of those handheld hakko 301 units although to me they look bulky and worry about the suction power.
Hello All. I'd like to try this mod but being VERY amateur with electronics, could somebody out there give me "monkey see, monkey do" instructions, please? Wiring up the fan is straightforward, but not the rest. Many thanks.
I made a DIY station using SS-331 gun. I bought the components from Aliexpress, including the pump motor. The motor was rated 12V 10W. When I tested with 12V it consumed about 6W. To reach the 10W consumption I needed to raise the voltage to 19V. I fully agree with you raising the voltage of the suction pump. In my case there is no need a separate dc-dc converter at all. And the sucking power is quite diferent.
My solution... a resistor with value 100 ohm 5 watt in the red wire of the fan. Fan now runs smoothly on approx 5 volts Greetings Erik ;-)
THANK YOU.
Dude this is a fantastic tutorial and the upgrade is 100% worth it. The buck converter you found fits so perfectly into the old spot it's like a match made in heaven. Super easy to swap in, no case modification or cutting, and worked with almost zero trouble shooting. Cannot thank you enough for taking all the guess work out of something like this.
BTW, my unit seems to have an upgraded PSU; it's fully enclosed and looks exactly like what comes in the pro'skit station. Not sure how many versions of the ZD-915 there are but I'm very happy with the performance after this mod.
P.S. my dad loves you C64 videos, over the years of taking care of him it's been a struggle to keep him interested in just about anything. But your restorations, upgrades, and general love for the system is a great walk down memory lane.
Keep up the amazing work, I really cannot thank you enough
Thank you, and glad to see your dad is enjoying the videos as well, that's fantastic.
With the buck converter, I think in the end I have it putting out about 15volts. According to another viewer the pump is rated at 24V, so in theory you could just wire it direct to the power supply, although in practice that might be a bad idea 😅
I just got one of these the other day and I think the stock version works just fine. Thanks for this video now I know I will not be wasting time and money upgrading it.
Very noble of you to keep your schoolboy error in there!
Like other people before, I must thank you for those tips. I found that buck converter for 2.30€ on Ali... One difference, I ended using still the factory resistors for the pump. It's a bit overkill to use a buck converter just for one fan instead of some transistor as shown in another video about improving that ZD-915, but it's a fine and easy way to go straight to a good result. To conclude, the pump's suction is now perfect, when I was earlier kinda disappointed.
Thanks for this. I've had one of these stations for a couple of years & will do this upgrade. The fan has always been annoying, but lately it's been making a whirring noise so I'll probably have to replace that too.
Just a quick update, my buck converter arrived today & mod was completed successfully! The fan is still ok too, just needed a little oil. ;-) Thanks again.
I've installed the exact same buck converter in mine, and I'm now contemplating installing a mosfet to drive the pump.
It makes me feel better when I see you trying to test suction with the hose off. Did that when I first got mine. :S
My ZD-915 has 24V fan wired directly to the power supply (actually these 2 connectors on resistor PCB are used as input, and the single connector is used as output). The pump motor is labelled 6-24VDC, so it could easily work with 18VDC from the PSU, but it makes it really loud.
Interesting, yes I've heard some of them have a 24v fan but didn't realise the pump could handle the same. Mine didn't have a sticker on it, just some random markings that yeilded no results with a Google search. Maybe I should bump it up even higher, or just wire it directly to the 18v 😁
Thank you very much for the tip. I just finished upgrading my ZD-915 with a buck-regulator (I set it to 13 V for now). It definitely sucks better now than before and the fan (I also had the 12 V fan installed) is significantly more silent, even though I didn't cut away the grille. My motor had the correct polarity marking and I also installed the diode and three suppression capacitors in X/Y-connection on the motor.
Is there any documentation or links to the mod you did?
@@LameGaming it should be in the video - I just replaced the board with the two resistors for a step-down dc/dc board. Minute 4:20
@@uwezimmermann5427 Sorry, I meant the part about adding caps in line with the motor. I didnt see that mentioned in the video.
Ehm, about those caps- why and where did You put them?
Very good work ...
Thank you from Portugal :)
Simply add a small 110 or 220 V fan depending on your mains voltage and you're done.
Good information and good comparison. I have the same solder tool and it's an upgrade I'm interested in doing now. Thanks!
Is funny how you start every single sentence off with enthusiastic and varying normal tone in your voice with clear pronunciation then slowly turn it into a quiet, low and bass tone..
I have this same unit. I may bump it up to 14V eventually. It seems to do the job ok for now though. Sometimes I need to use my heat gun on really stubborn solder blobs though.
Yeah, like I said it seems to work a lot better but I'm sure there will still be times when I'll need to break out the heat gun
The ZD-8915 and 915 and the one u have there all use 24 Volt heater element. Mine has a 36volt fan no problem with overvoltage on my 8915. but the 18 volt to the heater bug me. know there are mods on psu easy done to get 23.5 .psu on all these stations are ZD-P150 V 2.0. 18 volt 12 A, at least what other confirm they have in those models with or without sleep "sensor" The fans have different rating on many, Same as mine had a 12 V fan while mine is 36V
7:53 - I bet it's worse, seeing as the hose isn't plugged in. 😋
I have a major upgrade, ditch the internal pump and run a ac vacuum pump externally.
can you try the Relay mod and then get see if it makes a difference on the current draw, and test if runs more effective ?
Intersting. I thought that the higher-quality buck converter would be a notable improvement.🤔 However, I did know that attaching the hose would improve the suction strength.😜
On a serious note, it is difficult to find that SD-915 here in a 120VAC version. I'm curious does the tranformer indicate that it might be 120VAC configurable?
Haha, yeah connecting the hose certainly made a difference.
It seems fixed to 220-240v. Apparently even the 240v version is now hard to find.
Hi, Thanks for your video, what sort of diode would you recommend between the 2 motor contacts?
I'd love to know if anyone else in Australia has managed to procure a ZD-915 recently. I tried and failed, so I ended up settling for a Yihua 948. It does a better job than a manual solder sucker, but the build quality doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Seeing this video, and how a ZD-915 can be modded like this, makes me kinda wish that I tried a bit harder to track down a ZD-915.
Bugger, yeah the zd915 seems to be hard to find these days. Maybe the original manufacturer Zhongdi? will do another run but who knows.
sell ya mine for the price of a jbc lead sucker. XD
I been using a Hakko 808 for 10 years and now is time to do a change, I have many throughole desoldering stations,
Some in their boxes without use.
Top throughole desoldering stations cost over Us$500 dollars, if can't afford the Yihua 948 is the right tool or you.
I bought one Yihua 948 and works fine, very quiet, strong suction.
Has sleep mode , looks well made, I have 3 weeks with it, without any problem.
Best Regards.
I did the mod, and it brings the fan speed down to generate much less, and less annoying, noise.
However, the 1 ohm dropper would have 18 - 12 = 6 volts over it, which means a 6A current would be drawn (although I didn't measure the actual voltage over the dropper, just assuming 6V). The replacement bucket converter is rated for 5A. Potentially a problem?
Just drop an lm7812 12v reg across the fan power.
Ive been using my zd915 for a couple years. Definitely got my moneys worth.
I wanted to grab a heating element for if/when mine goes out but all that available is the parts for the proskit new version.
I wanted to order the whole new priskit gun but its 7 pin and the zd915 is 6 pin.
Any idea what the extra pin is for?
Would you still suggest the buck converter mod?
Thanks
No idea what the extra pin is for, it could be the pinout is completely different anyway. I'd still recommend the buck converter mod, but in saying that it seems mine is having issues lately - the suction power has definitely dropped. I don't think that is down to the buck converter mod, but if yours is already had a lot of use it may not be worth the effort. These don't seem to last that long and yeah spare parts seem to be drying up.
I do have a spare gun so I'm going to take a closer look and see if my issue is down to the gun, or pump or something else. Otherwise I'm thinking I'll get a Hakko FR-801 from Amazon Japan, they're much cheaper from Japan but will require a stepdown transformer to work here (which I already have). Don't know if it will work 100% though
@@TheRetroChannel The hakko 801 is a hot air station right?
I did end up ordering the buck converter, it was only $5 so figured its worth a shot.
I was going to order the proskit new desoldering station but only see the 220v models on aliexpress and need the 110v.
Guess ill just wait untill the zd-915 craps out and probably get one of those handheld hakko 301 units although to me they look bulky and worry about the suction power.
Haha, oh yeah sorry I meant the 301 not 801
@TheRetroChannel
How is this compared to the WEP Yinhua 948 ii
I don't know as I've only used this one
Did you print the case for your Buck converter?
It's the case that the resistors were housed in
Your "303 UV protectant" ebay link is dead.
Thanks, I will update it.
Hello All. I'd like to try this mod but being VERY amateur with electronics, could somebody out there give me "monkey see, monkey do" instructions, please? Wiring up the fan is straightforward, but not the rest. Many thanks.