Review of Weller 200W High Powered Digital Soldering Stations

Name: Weller 200W High Powered Digital Soldering Stations
Rating: 4.6111110 (3 reviews)

RWM over 12 years ago

RoadTest: Weller 200W High Powered Digital Soldering Stations

Author: RWM

Creation date: 29 Feb 2012

Evaluation Type: Independent Products

Did you receive all parts the manufacturer stated would be included in the package?: True

What other parts do you consider comparable to this product?: China-made soldering station

What were the biggest problems encountered?: Information about USB feature not clear

Detailed Review:

Weller has good reputation for its soldering tools. I had a chance to test one of them, WX1012 (WX1 station + WXP65 65W iron).

Tool was delivered in sturdy cardboard box

There were two smaller boxes and one bigger inside.

In first smaller box there were WXP65 iron and holder (WDH10 safety rest).

There were attached instructions in 20 languages

WXP65 iron has heating output 65 Watts

Soldering tip XNT A is 1.6 mm wide

Cleaning element (metal wool) can be easily exchanged - elastic ring holds parts together

Iron in holder

Second smaller box was empty. WX1 power supply was inside bigger box.

There were also attached instructions in 20 languages, safety information and CD with instructions and software (WX Monitor 1.2). Newest version (1.4 as on 29 Feb., 2012) can be downloaded from Weller website http://www.weller.eu/content/downloads.php?pgid=2

WX1 after unpacking

Small 3.5 mm plug is useful for different equipotential connections: hard-grounded, equipotential bonding, floating and soft-grounded.

There are provided touch controls, interesting is control wheel - ring cavity, but for my fingers more place on bottom would be better.

Sockets are located on front and back. On front there are: soldering iron, RS232, USB. On back: RS232, equipotential, mains, fuse. There is also power switch.

Soldering station is well built. It is made in Germany. Power suppy is heavy (aluminum die cast + plastic) and stable. Soldering iron is lightweight (30 g) with very elastic cable.

Welcome screen after switching station on.

There are two factory preset temperatures: 350 and 380 deg. C. It takes about 18 sec. from cold start (power on) to reach 350 deg. C. Another about 5 sec is needed to change temperature from stable 350 to 380 deg. C. Stability is within 2 deg. C. Temperature settings can be easily changed using touch wheel.

When you don't use iron, after 2 minutes station goes into standby mode with tip temperature 180 deg. C (default - can be changed).

When you lift iron, temperature increases to working value within 7 seconds. But if iron is not in use, station goes into auto-off mode.

All parameters can be adjusted. You must go into parameters menu by pressing two buttons:

Menu is in German language by default (for item received from Weller in Gemany):

You can change language to one of ten available: ENG, GER, FRA, ESP, POR, ITA, CHN, TUR, RUS, DAN. I have chosen English:

You change settings using touch wheel and accept using central button:

You can adjust different parameters: temperature in standby mode, time to switch to standby and auto-off modes:

Offset - tip temperature difference from -40 deg. C to 40 deg. C

Performance mode - speed of heating: standard, soft, aggresive

Temp. Window - blue ring on iron lights steady when tip temperature is within the window (nominal temperature, e.g. 350 deg. C + or - 20 deg. C in this case)

Next you can change language, set temperature unit (C or F), set password to configuration menu (if password is set, only temperature setting 1 or 2 can be chosen) and disable button sound:

On the last screen you can set LCD contrast and brightness, enable screen saver and potential free output.

So now soldering station is ready to work. I will use it to solder elements onto small PCB. There are used different elements: passives from 0603 to 2510, actives in MSOP and SO etc. I think it will be good test.