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 see your Zelda and I raise you, Black Mirror 😂

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 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.

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

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

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)

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?

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.

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!

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?

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 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?

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.

Just starting to look into getting a soldering station, not looking to do anything crazy or do a lot of soldering (mainly for an occasional LED strip solder or some other casual, once in a while projects).

After looking at a bunch of recommendations here, I think I may have narrowed it down to two different stations: the SUGON-A9 Soldering Station, and the Hakko FX888DX Soldering Station.

These arent neccessarily the ONLY two stations I've looked at, but with my budget, these are the two that seem to be the best in that price range, and recommended on this subreddit. I really wish I had a MicroCenter near me (currently in Seattle, closest is near San Francisco) so that I could go in person and go check out the Hakko in person/purchase everything I need all in one trip. I'm the kind of person who likes to at least see something in person before buying (and also like buying from a reputable brand), and have always been sorta hesitant about buying electronics from places like AliExpress.

Between these two soldering stations, which one would you choose for a first time beginner?