Last week I posted a blog Banggood Shopping on my recent electronics purchase from Banggood. This is a quick review of the 8W USB soldering iron.
First let's look at the manufacturer given specifications of the USB soldering iron.
Specifications-
The manufacturer specifies that the it consumes 8-10W power, can reach up to 450 C temperature and melts solder in less than 15 seconds.
Before I test out these specs, let's look at the unboxing.
The iron comes in a nicely packed box with good quality graphics and feel. On the back side, it mentions the contents of the box.
The iron is batteryless and feels very light weight. It is about 10.5 cms in length without the tip and the tip is about 4.5 cms so the soldering distance is really close to the PCB. The overall feel of the iron in hand is great. It has a rubbery coating which provides a good grip. The box contains the main handle, a fine soldering tip (it's probably a 0.3 mm tip), a USB cable, small stand and sponge and a soldering wire.
Testing
Let's perform some tests
I powered the iron using a mobile charger with 5V 1.5A output. On powering up the LED ring around the switch lights up in RGB mode.
After pressing the button on the iron, the ring turns green. As per the specs the temperature should be around 330 - 350 C. So I used my soldering iron tip thermometer Soldering Iron Tip Thermometer Review to check the temperature.
I have attached the results below
The iron took about 15 secs to reach a temperature that can melt lead free solder. I was quite surprised as for an inexpensive iron this is pretty good.
From the thermometer tests it seems that the iron is not calibrated properly. But the switch does change the temperature, so it's not just a marketing gimmick.
| LED | Temperature as per Manufacturer (deg C) | Thermometer temperature (deg C) |
|---|---|---|
| Green | 330 - 350 | 452 |
| Blue | 370 - 400 | 490 |
| Red | 430 - 450 | 523 |
I'm not sure if my thermometer is calibrated well or if the iron is really calibrated. But from my previous tests of the thermometer, I think it's the iron that's not calibrated.
After the tests, I'm skeptical about the use of this iron. As the temperature in the lowest mode is around 452, which can easily damage small SMD components.
Usually, I keep the soldering station at around 350-380 for lead free soldering. This USB iron is reaching a max temperature of 520 deg C which is also way above any of other soldering irons/stations I have worked with. Maybe some experts here can suggest me some use cases for this iron.
I also performed a thermal capacity test in all three modes but the due to the low power of the iron, it was not able to melt solder over a one rupee coin. As soon as I touch the tip on the coin, and feed the wire, the wire stops melting and sticks to the iron giving a cold solder joint on the coin. I was able melt the solder on the coin after keeping the iron on the coin for about 40-45 secs. But still the results were not good. I will update the thermal capacity tests and some PCB soldering once I get the aluminium PCB manufactured.
Summary:
In summary, the USB powered iron is portable, light weight, the soldering distance is less which gives a precision while holding and soldering, also the iron has good grip.
It has three temperature modes and heats up really quick. However, I don't find the modes quite useful as with the lowest mode, it reaches a temperature of about 452 deg C.
I will keep it as an emergency use iron at home when my other irons fail or for travel and road trips for some quick repairs and fixes on the electronic devices.
