USB 8 watt Soldering Iron -- Pro's-Kit SI-168U

RE: USB 8 watt Soldering Iron -- Pro's-Kit SI-168U

shabaz — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 12:02:48 GMT

Hi Allen,

It does seem useful for travel as you say, and as a backup iron to keep for repairs where the main iron is not convenient, or for non-engineers to keep around the home.

I wasn't too surprised 8W functioned, my daily use iron is 20W, but I'm guessing it concentrates its power toward heating a small area. I switch to a bigger iron (I think 60 or 70W capable) if soldering large connectors though.

I've been trying to make a list of basic tools, since so many non-engineer people have asked offline about what tools to keep at home.

In the UK, I had these suggestions.

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RE: USB 8 watt Soldering Iron -- Pro's-Kit SI-168U

aswinvenu — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 07:46:20 GMT

Interesting! I am sure that the NE555 is used for the capacitive touch sensor.

Normally USB ports laptops provides only 500mAmps. Did it work fine with that setup?

RE: USB 8 watt Soldering Iron -- Pro's-Kit SI-168U

mp2100 — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 22:00:00 GMT

Update, if anyone is interested. Yes it achieves 250 C. I grabbed my 100 ohm Pt RTD and powered on this USB soldering iron. I don't have an RTD board to display temperature, so I used my ohm-meter. My RTD has a coefficient of .00385, so 194 ohms would be just under 250 C, but that 385 is just an approximation. Checking the chart for DIN 43760 (or BS 1904 for the UK) gives me a value right close to 250 Celsius. It's a good thing it wasn't much hotter, my RTD is in a teflon carrier (PTFE) and the teflon is only rated for 350 C.

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RE: USB 8 watt Soldering Iron -- Pro's-Kit SI-168U

three-phase — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 13:57:29 GMT

Certainly looks like a viable option to a gas powered soldering iron. That perhaps has more versatility, but carrying around a pressurised refill canister usually gets frowned upon and with the other option of going out and trying to find a refill when you have reached your destination, this USB powered one is certainly interesting.

Kind regards.

RE: USB 8 watt Soldering Iron -- Pro's-Kit SI-168U

kmikemoo — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 23:15:09 GMT

[mention:5e331c213c4142eab9f53ae1e127bf18:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] Very cool. Thanks for sharing this. I will have to get one.

RE: USB 8 watt Soldering Iron -- Pro's-Kit SI-168U

dubbie — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 11:09:18 GMT

I am surprised that it works as well as you indicate. I have a 15 W mains powered soldering iron which is OK but I have upgraded to 25 W to get that bit extra heat and speed.

Dubbie