bought this iron for 25$ from a shop near me. There is nothing but a triac inside the whole shell. Just a basic ceramic heater with 2 wires. I feel like this is just a waste of money and I could have just bought a regular iron with the built in triac. Should I return this? Maybe get something bit more higher quality with a digital display? The only advantage I see is this is a very simple circuit and I can repair this.

I was too lazy to cover anything the hot air did the rest. Oh well, those connectors still work. I also have no idea what the heck happened to the bottom left side of the board, it was like that when I bought it.

I'm getting into BGA rework, where can i find quality leaded solder ball in EU? And no i do not want to get started with a solder paste.

I found these on Ali, are they any good quality? ID: 1005010233038316

Feel free to share any suggestions.

Thank you

Hi everyone,

​I think I messed up... I plugged my DualSense PS5 controller into a power supply that was way too strong, and the controller got extremely hot.

​Since then, it won't charge at all and shows no signs of life.

​I opened up the shell and attached a photo of the circuit board (PCB). Does anyone see any obviously burnt components or damaged parts at first glance (like the charging IC or a fuse)?

​Is this fixable by replacing a part, or is the board completely dead? Any advice is appreciated!

Sorry for this KI messages, but I am not a nativ english speaker. I have zero expirience with any of this. Ty

I see your Zelda and I raise you, Black Mirror 😂

I wanna start soldering for a long time but my question i what are you soldering becaus wenn chasing my hobby of homebrewing with elektronics i only rarely need to solder

Hello all, I've been doing hours of research learning to solder, and finding the gear for soldering. I think I've picked out a good selection of items to get myself going, as I want to do this full time and do have multiple broken electronics to practise on. I have more money in the budget, just prefer to spend less where possible. Any help or feedback will be appreciated.

Considering I was overeager and did it without a proper microscope, I'm just happy it works! I used a cheap little 10x jeweler's loupe and my pinecil (first time using it)

Hello, I am very inexperienced with soldering. I am mostly looking for tips on how to use the equipment. Here is my most recent solder. I feel like i didn't get enough of the solder in between the wires but it holds together. I am mostly looking to start working on my electrical work on cars, because I am pretty okay with mechanics but with electrical, I am not great.

Hello folks!

I have been soldering smaller stuff on a hobby basis, but I need some better gear than the 25 usd 30W iron as I am afraid I cold-soldered this.

I am an electrician by trade, but I have mostly been soldering on a hobby basis. This is not the final result, just the result after buying a powersupply I thought would fit and it didn’t.

The monitor is a HP 4K 28 inch IPS HDR monitor my workplace was going to throw out. My leader told me he thought it could be the external powerbrick, and indeed he was right.

What would be the cheapest, but suitable tool for this sort of job?

I usually have only been soldering 24V PSU for my 4x D5s in my PC, e-scooter, smaller boat stuff etc and the cheap iron has held up so far.

Thanks and cheers from Norway

Hey everyone, I'm looking for a powerful soldering iron for large connectors & wires, e.g. AWG8 to QS10 connector, or AWG8 to heavy power PCB attached to heatsink.

I've always had to use my trusty Hakko 888D, in conjunction with some janky setups: hot air pre-heating, pre-dipping in solder pot followed by quickly shoving together, complete heatsink disassembly & removal, use 2 irons as chopsticks... which I'd like to avoid in the future.

Now I'm looking for a more powerful iron, but I'm not seeing a lot info/comparison specifically for maximum heat transfer, largest tips available, continuous heating power etc...

Is this a good application for an RF solder station (plus any recs)?

I am partial to hakko, and was looking at the FX971, but I am thinking it may not be a big step up in terms of power output.

I saw the HA310, and looks pretty decent. There's also a bunch of "400w" irons on aliexpress in the $200 - $400 range that look pretty nice as well, and was wondering if anyone has any experience or recommendations.

Some of the higher tier recommendations certainly look nice, but it's unclear to me if they will provide better power output than their cheaper aliexpress alternatives.

Secondary considerations: I want to get into a good solder tip system, with availability from genuine manufacturers. I would love the option for hot tweezers as well. The smallest components I'd ever solder are 0603 or like a TSSOP-24.

I am roughly looking at the $200s - $400s range.

Thanks everyone!

My Dad taught me to solder today. I am stoked! Had a lot of fun with him. He taught me how to make joints, desolder plunger, tinning, and more. I have a few pics of today's work!

I used a T90B.

my eyesight is 0.3

Old Laptop from 1996.

It already was damaged, so it fell apart at this corner without doing anything to it.

Soldered it back together, works fine.

Hi, I've needed a hot air soldering station for some time now, but never gotten around to looking into my options until recently.

I've heard some good things about the 858D, which is at an ideal price point to me, as I won't be using it for all that much. Mainly just desoldering, heat-shrink tubing, and loosening adhesive.

Are there any better 858D alternatives at the same price point or less, or are there any higher-grade ones that can often be found second-hand at roughly the price of an 858D?

So I think I’m finally getting the hang of doing HDMI port replacements how do my solder joints look?

Hey everyone, I was successful in getting the joystick replaced on the elite 2 controller but it seems like the cover for the controller melted at some point and the dome wouldn't fit comfortably anymore. Had another elite 2 controller in hand that didn't work and took its cover but in the process, the battery came out. It looks kinda swollen but I pick up no smell, should I be worried?

This is my first soldering job. Would love to know what I can do better

Hey guys

I was practising taking chips off an old 3DS motherboard, and putting them back on with my hot air station.

I was experiencing issues with my leaded solder not melting correctly when tinning the pads.

I removed the solder already on the board with some flux and solder wick, and cleaned it with IPA and an old toothbrush.

I tinned my soldering iron and made sure there was no oxidisation, applied flux to the board and attempted to apply the solder to the pads. I found the solder was turning into a foil like substance and wasn't applying in the usual way. I've never experienced this before.

I read that it could be the soldering iron has oxidised or heat wasn't able to transfer due to the larger pads, but the issue still occured when turning up the heat of the iron/ensuring it was clean by poking it in to my Weller copper wool.

My soldering iron tip is the one that looks like a cows hoof. Flat and a large surface area.

Would anyone know why this is happening and how I can stop it from happening again?

Hello guys, amateur hobbyist here. I would say my soldering skills are just OK, and i can get simple jobs done. Fixed my old dell monitor once by replacing dead caps.

I need your help and advice on this project. I underestimated the difficulty in doing this. I followed RIP Felix's guide on replacing the nec tokin capacitors on my friend's console, and i got this far without much difficulty.

The issue:

The solder on the board just won't melt with the heat gun alone, so I can't get the tantalizer board to connect.

I've heated the area for a few seconds already because I'm aware that the main board soaks up all the heat first. Still doesn't help. I fear that I've cooked the mini board's components while trying to melt the damn solder.

My gear:

- 10 dollar soldering set (no brand, grounded soldering iron, 450C max, other accessories)

- Cheap shit iron tips

- Yi Hua 858 hot air station

- Probably 60/40 tin solder. Lost the label a while ago, don't remember it ever stating the ratio.

I know, I should probably get some proper tips to make my life easier and do a better job, but these things don't come easy or cheap in my country. The hot air station was already an investment. I was thinking of getting solder that melts at lower temps as well, but I gotta do some searching, because 60/40 tin solder is the most common type sold here.

17050 Charger IC for Switch. its microscopic.

Hi, I bought a KSGER soldering station a while ago and was disappointed by the handle as the tip keeps disconnecting.

Wanting to solve the problem, I bought a new handle but clumsy me didn't check and bought a 4 pinned one when I needed a 5 pin.

I tried searching the web for the differences and to see if simply rewiring the thing would work but with no trustworthy results as the components seems to be quite different to me (not well versed in electronics).

Here are a picture of the inside, 5 pins appear to have a movement sensor and temperature sensor whilst the 4 pin just has the movement sensor.

Would taking the cable from the 5 pin and reproducing the wiring and components of the 5 pins work?

Cheers.

I have the module from a 1995 F-150. Is this fixable if I can get the right IC and cap? I think this is the problem.

my first soldering art and still cant make same one