Decided to buy one of these thanks to your review. Was quite skeptical for a €7.50 soldering iron but it seems to do it's job. Already have a proper iron in the shed for heavy duties and needed one for on the road and doing minor quadcopter repairs. Looks like this one is a steal for it's price with my purpose in mind. Cheers!
Same here, use it for quad repairs. The only thing it falls down on a bit is the likes of large ESC pads. Still very handy though 👌 Thanks for commenting. Cheers John
Thanks for the review. But at 420 degrees C, you would breeze through the joints, and also there's a possibility of lifting tracks and pads, it burns the the flux inside the solder wire immediately before cleaning oxides too. The 500C is just on the verge of the madness. :))) Will appreciate I you do a follow-up on tips durability. Thanks again.
Thank you for the comments.I think the overheat is intended due to the rather small thermal reservoir in the tip, as the tip temp would drop rather quickly I feel to a more acceptable level the instant it touched even smaller joints. Cheers John
It’s a Vape Pen battery case (tube), I have had people ask me to repair these from the momentary switch breaking, or the top part with the inside threads coming loose from the case (just glued). Luckily you wont be pressing the button as often on a soldering iron, or screwing and unscrewing tips. The tri-color LED with three owner settings might even be the same circuit as on some of the vape pens. After all the vape pen heats up a low resistant mΩ coil, probably similar to what’s in the iron tip. Big Clive vapes, I think? He might get a kick out of tearing this down.
Your correct mate 👍️, I think it's also close to being a cheapo mini screwdriver body too. Just like most I was intrigued to see what was inside that tube, to see what the little circuit was made up of, however as you say It's all bonded. This one was VERY bonded! I put soo much force on the ends I thought I would have popped open.. However I couldn't get into it. The next stage would have meant a trip to the garage for the heavier Snap-On variety of tools and the grinders. I very much doubt there would have been much left of it after that though :) Cheers mate John
Just got mine a few moments ago.. I couldnt get it to properly initiate until i powered it on without the tip, was almost very annoyed. Works decently, i hope it lasts a while.
Is the USB cable a silicone type? I just got a 30 gauge wire box set in today and was amazed that the insulation just sits there and laughs at my iron as I'd never had this kind of wire in stock except from the Hakko/Weller station cords. That's pretty amazing for such a low cost! Thanks for sharing John.
Hi Dino.. You wouldn't believe it, I had that question covered, but forgot to insert the clip that I'd recorded during editing, I only remembered after uploading 😯 Yes it does have silicone wire my friend. Not very thick but silicone none the less. Cheers John
Hi John ! Thanks for the video :) I was wondering how hot is the plastic part, especially in the red mode. You think it's still useable (not too hot) after an hour of soldering? Regards :)
Hi mate, sorry for delay in responding. Ok so this iron as you will guess is nothing like an industrial iron that is made for all day use, this type of iron is really only really made for small infrequent hobby projects, & as such I use it in my FPV drones back pack for any quick soldering jobs that may pop up. In response to your question.. I would recommend you do not buy this iron if you're going to be using it for extended periods as the metal part where the tip screws in does get rather hot. The heat doesn't transfer fully to the plastic body immediately, but after about 10 minutes on full the white part of the iron adjacent to the silver metal part does start to get quite hot to touch. You can of course just hold the iron further away from the silver part, say slightly above the button. If you want an iron that can be setup and used for hours on end, perhaps consider one of the 'T12 KSGER' variants from Banggood etc. They are pretty good. Hope this helps Cheers John
@@OrbiterElectronics It was actually very fast ! :D Thank you for this helpful response and recommendation ! Now I know everything I need to make the decision. I wish you a nice day ! Jakub
Perhaps they have changed the irons or updated them. But as you can see at the top of the Left Side page at 3:04.. It mentions that The 'Electric soldering iron contains no batteries'.
Yes i would say it is good for small connectors where normal irons have a tip that could burn the plastic part of the connector. For some reason when you said "This is the end of the video guys" i expected you to say "Bugger off now" ha ha :-D. Sorry john, my silly brain :-D
Hi Harv. LOL :) .. I can't say that! I'd like my subscriber count to increase not disappear. Saying that though, maybe it would increase if I started telling jokes and messing around a bit. There are plenty of channels out there that do just that and have millions of subs :D Cheers mate John
You can use any 5v powerbank really. the type of powerbank I have used In the video from about 13:45.. Is a product by Imuto & is just a standard 3 port USB 5v powerbank from Amazon. Just make sure you choose the correct usb cable. The one for this soldering iron at the time of the video was a micro USB, which I believe they are still using.
It depends what you're soldering the wire to really. It might be able to tin or solder in an 18awg wire or join two together. But depending on heat sinking in other components, wires or ground planes etc it will very likely struggle as there is just not enough power & thermal capacity in the iron & tip.
Yes. As long as the power bank or 5v USB you're using can provide 1.5 Amps. If not you will find that the iron may not work properly, or it will only work on it's lowest setting.
@@HanaOuka_ All USB outputs are normally 5v.. But all electronics devices should state on them what their output is. Look for a sticker or very small print on your powerbank. It will say something like... Output = 5v.. 1A Or 5v.. 500mA Don't worry too much as unless it's been modified its likely 5v/1A or similar so it will be ok to plug your USB iron into.
OK, can you advise this silly novice please, if this would work on a favourite saucepan I have that unfortunately has become almost detached from its handle...would this little guy be up for the job??? 🤔
Hi.. Sorry I don't understand the question, as no soldering iron would be suitable for repairing a saucepan. Unless one piece.. pan handles are normally riveted or screwed together during assembly.
Decided to buy one of these thanks to your review. Was quite skeptical for a €7.50 soldering iron but it seems to do it's job. Already have a proper iron in the shed for heavy duties and needed one for on the road and doing minor quadcopter repairs. Looks like this one is a steal for it's price with my purpose in mind. Cheers!
Same here, use it for quad repairs. The only thing it falls down on a bit is the likes of large ESC pads. Still very handy though 👌
Thanks for commenting.
Cheers
John
Thanks for the review. But at 420 degrees C, you would breeze through the joints, and also there's a possibility of lifting tracks and pads, it burns the the flux inside the solder wire immediately before cleaning oxides too. The 500C is just on the verge of the madness. :)))
Will appreciate I you do a follow-up on tips durability.
Thanks again.
Thank you for the comments.I think the overheat is intended due to the rather small thermal reservoir in the tip, as the tip temp would drop rather quickly I feel to a more acceptable level the instant it touched even smaller joints.
Cheers
John
It’s a Vape Pen battery case (tube), I have had people ask me to repair these from the momentary switch breaking, or the top part with the inside threads coming loose from the case (just glued). Luckily you wont be pressing the button as often on a soldering iron, or screwing and unscrewing tips. The tri-color LED with three owner settings might even be the same circuit as on some of the vape pens. After all the vape pen heats up a low resistant mΩ coil, probably similar to what’s in the iron tip. Big Clive vapes, I think? He might get a kick out of tearing this down.
Your correct mate 👍️, I think it's also close to being a cheapo mini screwdriver body too. Just like most I was intrigued to see what was inside that tube, to see what the little circuit was made up of, however as you say It's all bonded. This one was VERY bonded! I put soo much force on the ends I thought I would have popped open.. However I couldn't get into it. The next stage would have meant a trip to the garage for the heavier Snap-On variety of tools and the grinders. I very much doubt there would have been much left of it after that though :)
Cheers mate
John
Just got mine a few moments ago.. I couldnt get it to properly initiate until i powered it on without the tip, was almost very annoyed. Works decently, i hope it lasts a while.
I only use mine in my race drone bag for the odd emergency repairs, it still working ok though 👍
@@OrbiterElectronics Yeah, i got it so i wouldnt have to drag an extension cord outside for Yard/Vehicle projects.
It's rechargeable
Is the USB cable a silicone type? I just got a 30 gauge wire box set in today and was amazed that the insulation just sits there and laughs at my iron as I'd never had this kind of wire in stock except from the Hakko/Weller station cords. That's pretty amazing for such a low cost! Thanks for sharing John.
Hi Dino.. You wouldn't believe it, I had that question covered, but forgot to insert the clip that I'd recorded during editing, I only remembered after uploading 😯
Yes it does have silicone wire my friend. Not very thick but silicone none the less.
Cheers
John
Excellent review - thank you for this.
5V - 1.5A ... sound good to Laptop USB-A port which typically charge 0.8~2.4A.
For phones this is excellent !
Hi John ! Thanks for the video :) I was wondering how hot is the plastic part, especially in the red mode. You think it's still useable (not too hot) after an hour of soldering? Regards :)
Hi mate, sorry for delay in responding.
Ok so this iron as you will guess is nothing like an industrial iron that is made for all day use, this type of iron is really only really made for small infrequent hobby projects, & as such I use it in my FPV drones back pack for any quick soldering jobs that may pop up.
In response to your question.. I would recommend you do not buy this iron if you're going to be using it for extended periods as the metal part where the tip screws in does get rather hot. The heat doesn't transfer fully to the plastic body immediately, but after about 10 minutes on full the white part of the iron adjacent to the silver metal part does start to get quite hot to touch. You can of course just hold the iron further away from the silver part, say slightly above the button.
If you want an iron that can be setup and used for hours on end, perhaps consider one of the 'T12 KSGER' variants from Banggood etc. They are pretty good.
Hope this helps
Cheers
John
@@OrbiterElectronics It was actually very fast ! :D Thank you for this helpful response and recommendation ! Now I know everything I need to make the decision.
I wish you a nice day !
Jakub
@@Drieps No problem Jakub, glad to help 👍
What do you mean by no battery? I have the same iron and it has internal battery
Perhaps they have changed the irons or updated them. But as you can see at the top of the Left Side page at 3:04.. It mentions
that The 'Electric soldering iron contains no batteries'.
Thanks
Yes i would say it is good for small connectors where normal irons have a tip that could burn the plastic part of the connector.
For some reason when you said "This is the end of the video guys" i expected you to say "Bugger off now" ha ha :-D.
Sorry john, my silly brain :-D
Hi Harv. LOL :) .. I can't say that! I'd like my subscriber count to increase not disappear. Saying that though, maybe it would increase if I started telling jokes and
messing around a bit. There are plenty of channels out there that do just that and have millions of subs :D
Cheers mate
John
Ta lutownica działa jeszcze czy elektronika spaliła się ?
It's still working fine, but to be honest it doesn't get used all that much
What’s the thing you use that shows the wats and temperature?
The USB current device is a YZX Studio amp meter. And the dual thermometer is a UNI-T UT335.
Thank you :)
You're welcome, thanks for commenting 👍
Can it work without being plugged in?
No unfortunately not, there is no rechargeable cell inside, so It's just USB powered.
If I use to power by power bank what type I wan to use ?
You can use any 5v powerbank really. the type of powerbank I have used In the video from about 13:45.. Is a product by Imuto & is just a standard 3 port USB 5v powerbank from Amazon.
Just make sure you choose the correct usb cable. The one for this soldering iron at the time of the video was a micro USB, which I believe they are still using.
can it solder size 18 wires ?
It depends what you're soldering the wire to really. It might be able to tin or solder in an 18awg wire or join two together. But depending on heat sinking in other components, wires or ground planes etc it will very likely struggle as there is just not enough power & thermal capacity in the iron & tip.
can i just use this straight out of my power bank????
or my desktop/pc?
Yes. As long as the power bank or 5v USB you're using can provide 1.5 Amps. If not you will find that the iron may not work properly, or it will only work on it's lowest setting.
@@OrbiterElectronics how can I found out that my power bank is 5v?
@@HanaOuka_ All USB outputs are normally 5v.. But all electronics devices should state on them what their output is.
Look for a sticker or very small print on your powerbank. It will say something like...
Output = 5v.. 1A
Or 5v.. 500mA
Don't worry too much as unless it's been modified its likely 5v/1A or similar so it will be ok to plug your USB iron into.
a vape with a soldering tip lol
OK, can you advise this silly novice please, if this would work on a favourite saucepan I have that unfortunately has become almost detached from its handle...would this little guy be up for the job??? 🤔
Hi.. Sorry I don't understand the question, as no soldering iron would be suitable for repairing a saucepan. Unless one piece.. pan handles are normally riveted or screwed together during assembly.
@@OrbiterElectronics no its not riveted, so will give it a bash anyway. And will only use it if it feels safe to do so.
....and thank you for your swift response.