Weller Soldering Station WT Series - Review

Table of contents

RoadTest: Weller Soldering Station WT Series

Author: 14rhb

Creation date:

Evaluation Type: Test Equipment

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?: For functionaily and quality I would also suggest looking at the ERSA range and Pace range.

What were the biggest problems encountered?: Lack of detail in the guide book - I had to overcome much of this by experimentation to determine how the menus worked.

Detailed Review:

image

The Weller WT Series Roadtest - by @14rhb for Element14 Community

 

1.     Introduction

 

I started to get interested in electronics when I was 8 years old having been given an electronics kit as a present: it had spring connections to each component so a quick push allowed a stripped back connection wire to be inserted. Great as that meant no soldering...indeed I didn't even know what soldering was at that time. Years moved on and my electronics equipment didn't really expand quickly but I started to visit Tandy stores, Maplin and the local Electro-outlet (that had benches full of new and recycled components, elements for cookers, vacuum clearer belts etc). I think it was from Tandy that I picked up some 'solder strips' (maybe 20mm long by 5mm wide) that could be wrapped around some wires and melted with a match - they were not great, but I think they did sometimes work. And that experience led me to spend some of my pocket-money on my first real soldering iron - a 25W Antex unit. Yellow with a nice yellow plastic hook.

 

My 25W Antex iron served me well for approximately ten years before but eventually stopped working. At that point, some twenty five years, or more, ago I decided to make an investment; I purchased a Weller TCP-Z 45W soldering iron and base unit, and it has served me very well up to the current day. I believe it used magnetic bits that activated at set temperature values. At the time I could never foresee my choice of iron not being the main iron I would need for electronics. I also have a much larger power Weller SP200 iron for heavy duty connectors and a butane powered portable Weller unit: useful for working on the car, although I need a new tip for it as it got dropped and bent.

 

However what I didn't really consider was the change-over already underway by industry to lead-free components. My old Weller cannot use lead-free solder and although that may not be a huge issue for a hobbyist making small numbers of boards from scratch it does limit me when I need to repair a board that is lead-free as I cannot melt the solder. However there is a little cheat that may help others in a similar situation: add a small amount of leaded-solder to the joint to lower the melting point and often that works.

 

When this roadtest was offered on Element14 I was intrigued as to what innovations had been achieved in those decades since my soldering iron had been designed. Surely, apart from maximum temperature and heat capacity of the iron to enable large soldering tasks to be undertaken, what else could have changed? Therefore I applied for this roadtest so I could find out the answers, and in doing so enlighten the Element14 community about this Weller product.

 

My roadtest application was probably one of the hardest ones I've written, although far from the longest or most detailed. The reason being is 'How do you actually test out a soldering iron?'. I pondered what the sponsor would likely wish to see their iron being used for, what the Element14 team wanted to see and what us members would like to see (remembering we have a very varied range of backgrounds). I asked myself if I were reading one of these roadtests then what would I be looking for? Twenty five years on and I might be looking for that next investment or perhaps a newcomer deciding to make that large investment rather than buy a low-cost starter soldering iron. Hopefully my roadtest that follows helps to answer some of these questions.

 

2.     Soldering Techniques

 

I'm trying to think where I learnt to solder properly. There wasn't the internet or Youtube to watch when I setout and I remember making Veroboard circuits up long before getting my apprenticeship. I'm concluding that I probably learnt from articles in the Maplin catalogue and one of their thin paperback books they used to sell. I'd also say I was quite pleased with the quality of my soldering - this was all through hole components and with clean copper strips I had very few dry joints. The components were soldered to make the nice meniscus of solder up the lead and then cropped off with side cutters.

 

During my apprenticeship I ended up on a small production run and immediately fell foul of the quality inspector. He insisted that I cropped leads first and then soldered to create a balled surface! I still wonder how many were rejected at later stages due to dry joints. A few months later I was back on a standard production run and able to return to normal soldering practices.

 

My soldering experience since those early days varied between final equipment installation, requiring the soldering of 28+ buckets, to bespoke PCB population and prototype board layouts. Somewhere in that period I also started to look at Surface Mount Technology (SMT) and also started to experiment with soldering SMT at home. As an aside on the multipin connectors - there is a correct end of the cable for each connector: the individual cores run in a pattern that allows one end to be soldered to the final connector without swapping anything over.

 

3.     The Roadtest Package

3.1     Contents

image

This section of the roadtest report details what was supplied in the box from Weller. I've omitted the unpacking stages for two reasons: (1) who really wants to see the outside box that it turned up from UPS in ? (2) And more honestly, I was too eager to get the parts out and assembled (this was the main reason, my other is justification to make me feel better). This roadtest item from Weller consisted of three main parts:

 

  • The main Power Unit - a Weller WT1
  • A soldering iron - Weller WSP-80
  • A soldering iron stand - Weller WSR201

image

 

Although this all arrived in a single Weller box it consisted of these three separate packages, so think of it more as a crafted bundle. This allows Weller to tailor several bundles of stand, iron and base unit accordingly....quite a nice way of doing things in my opinion.

 

3.2     Soldering Stand

The stand needed a small amount of assembly which luckily was quite self-explanatory. That was good as I actually found the simple A6 folded diagrammatic supplied was not too helpful being language agnostic, although I could get the gist of what was being relayed. The instructions are available online here and and diagram in it shows this, my bit stand was as in the lower-left diagram and that agreed with the WSP80 manual that listed other available bits as LTxx. I guess the choice was whether to go for the sponge or the wire-wool....I configured mine for wire-wool at the front initially.

image

What was great to see in that A6 sheet is that these stands can be joined together, great for professional setups where several different irons are being used for various assembly tasks. The blue plastic side cheeks can be removed to allow this at a later stage if required. Of note here is that the stand is also very robust and of a decent weight (who want a flimsy stand and the iron getting knocked off ? ).

 

I'm still not quite sure what stand I have received. It seems to hold the WSP80 iron correctly although the WT1 manual also has this diagram which shows the WSP80 in a simple sprung stand. Other roadtesters also discussed this, maybe it is the wrong part but it does seem to work OK, and therefore I think I'll move on from the subject.

image

 

3.3     The Base Power Unit

My first note was that the base power unit was heavier than I'd expected. Great news as in my opinion that equates to a decent amount of transformer or other circuitry. The specification lists the WT1 as 1.9Kg. Another observation was that it was larger than my old Weller base unit and also had a much more useful flat top - indeed this was covered with a removable rubber insert (nice to remove and wash or tip off into a bin). This flat top would be useful for holding reels of solder or hand-tools that needed to be close by.

 

There is little connectivity to the WT1 base unit: a circular connector for the WSP80 iron, the mains voltage input IEC connector on the rear and on close inspection there is a RJ11 connector on the underside (more about that later).

image

The display was protected by a peel-off and I noticed a slight 'effect' on the LCD which after peeling off persisted as if the LCD had been knocked or stressed during assembly.

 

The WT1 base unit draws 95W from the mains supply.

 

3.4     The WSP80 Soldering Pencil

This iron is rated at 24V / 80W and my first thoughts were how thin and lightweight it was. Straight away answering my questions on soldering iron development over the last few years I can see that materials and cable construction has obviously improved to allow these higher currents in thinner and more flexible, heat-resistant cables. Also, to be investigated after turning on, there is little separation between that 400 degree centigrade heater element and my fingers !

 

The plastic knurled nut allows a tool free removal of the metal barrel sleeve and the bit is constrained in the end of that. Another surprise was how small the overall tip/bit was although I was unable to determine which tip was supplied. The WSP80 manual listed some other tips as available and to give myself a wider choice I bought two from CPC Farnell and these were:

image

The range of available tips is vast and I was also very pleased with the prices. My choices were a fatter/squatter bit for soldering larger connectors or earth plane components and a thinner-longer reaching for close pitch SMT parts.

 

4.     Initial Run Up - the base unit

Having assembled the WSP201 stand and connected the mains voltage to the base unit and the iron to the base unit I was ready to turn on. At this point I was armed with just the Weller WT1 manual which consists of a couple of language agnostic diagrams and 24 different language sections. Unfortunately the section did not actually explain anything else from the diagrams and so initially I had to try and work through the menu options from that language agnostic diagram. What I would state is that in time the functions became more obvious but initially I really struggled to determine what some of them were.

 

However I did manage to find a supplementary manual which did help, but was hard to find and not obvious.

 

From the four front buttons the user can adjust various settings within the WT1 unit. There are essentially two setups, some functions are explained later, and these are:

 

Setup A - quick press of the 'MENU' button. This then cycles through options for:

  • Standby Temperature - what temperature the iron will drop to after the standby time has elapsed.
  • Standby Time - low long the after the iron has got to temperature will it operate before dropping to the standby temperature
  • Time for Auto Off - how long the iron will run before it shuts off completely. Handy if, like me, you go to start work one day and find you'd left the iron running all night !
  • Window - not understood initially. Explained later in this roadtest.
  • Lock - the base unit can be locked to prevent the settings being changed.
  • Offset - not understood initially. Explained later in this roadtest.
  • Units Change - between degrees Fahrenheit and degrees Centigrade

 

Setup B - holding the 'MENU' button for greater than 3 seconds enters this mode, with options for:

  • Turning the unit on and off - useful to allow it to cool whilst monitoring the iron temperature. Turning off the switch won't give that information.
  • Adjusting the backlight on the LCD
  • Extraction fan option - not understood initially. Explained later in this roadtest.

 

5.    My Soldering Setup - the 'Cold' Shed

 

My soldering normally consists of having to go out to the cold shed. Indeed whilst making my Happy New Year Element14: my last project for 2019 LED fireworks I've had to resort to two pairs of socks, wool hat and some Faggin style gloves [as in the fingerless type often worn in Victorian England]. And after about an hour my hands and feet were still going numb. I had expected to have to test this iron under the same conditions but as luck would have it, and quite by surprise, milosrasic98 picked my Catherine Wheel blog post as his Gift to Give. Well that was the ideal opportunity to spend the money on a solder-fume extractor. More importantly this means I can now sit in the warm and comfort of the house and undertake my soldering projects image.

image

  • Setup. I bought myself a silicon soldering base-mat for this roadtest (also from CPC Farnell) and was very pleased with it. I also cashed in a previous shopping cart for Project14 and got a Weller WSA350EU fume extractor unit. That is great as it allowed me to do soldering indoors rather than in the outside shed.

image

6.     Weller WT1 Features Explored

 

6.1     Firmware Features

 

Standby: On the WT1 unit after the last adjustment of temperature or turning the unit on a timer will run and after the set time the WT1 unit will turn the soldering iron temperature down to a preset value. The default period is 2 minutes, the minimum is 1 minute (or OFF) and the maximum is 99 minutes: when the timer is expired at that point the iron will drop to 180 degrees C (or whatever value is set). When in standby mode the LCD displays an icon to show that is the mode and the user will see the temperature starting to drop. It is also possible to deactivate this feature from the Setup A menu and then the WT1 will behave more like a traditional iron where the user would have to turn the unit off when not in use. At this point the user will see the 'HEAT' bar flickering periodically as the WT1 occasionally heats the iron to maintain that 180 degree C temperature.

 

The standby temperature can be adjusted between 100 degrees C and 300 degrees C

 

The feature is useful to help prevent leaving the iron running at high temperatures when not required as that will waste energy and also shorted the tip life (and likely the element).

 

Auto-Off: there is also another timer that will expire and start the unit shutting down whilst showing the tip temperature. The display will show OFF and COOLING whilst this happens. The auto-off timer can be set between 1-999 minutes. Pressing the UP and DOWN buttons together will abort the shutdown. As the cooling process is simply by convection this can be quite a slow process when compared to the 10s heat up times. At 50 degrees C the display light turns off and the user can just see OFF on the display - of course the units switch is still physically ON. Pressing UP and DOWN will make the unit switch back into life. The default value is 10 minutes before auto-off activates.

 

This feature is useful for people like me that inadvertently leave irons running overnight (or sometimes even longer). During that time there is always the risk that they will char and ignite something nearby or someone else will burn themselves not knowing the iron is running.

 

Window: this feature is not clear from the basic user manual where it is referred to as PROCESS WINDOW. Some more detail is provided in the supplementary manual but it is still not clear. It appears there are two options available depending upon the setting of ES-FE and ES-rob in the Setup B menu.

 

  • ES FE: This window function is adjustable between 1 and 99 degrees C and turns out to be the amount the user can adjust the temperature by whilst in the LOCKED mode. For example if this were set to 10 degrees C and the user set the iron to 370 degrees C before activating the LOCK, the using the UP and DOWN keys would enable any user to adjust the temperature between 360-380 degrees C.
  • ES rob: When this is selected in Setup B then the variation in the Setup A still appears the same. However what happens then is that as long as the iron temperature is within that range then the opto-coupler (from the RJ11 connector) will activate.

 

These features allow tow different features to be enables. The ability for the unit to be locked whilst still allowing the 'untrained' user a slight adjustment window on temperature. However more interesting is the ES rob which is intended to allow automatic fume extraction. The RJ11 would power the fume extraction system and this setting would allow hysteresis rather than the fan constantly coming on and off as the unit heats and cools.

 

Lock: the lock feature is where I fell over. I inadvertently managed to activate it and only later realised and managed to tr a few codes to get the unit working again. With the default WINDOW range of 0 degrees C there is no adjustment available to the user when the unit is locked. The STANDBY and AUTO-OFF still function but the user can only adjust the temperature within the range given in the WINDOW option (which is defaulted at zero). When activated the user uses the UP and DOWN keys to set a value between 1 and 999...this is the code required to unlock the unit.

 

Offset: this is detailed as being between -40 degrees C and plus 40 degrees C. I conclude it is used for calibration such that the system can be setup to account for differences between the LCD display and the actual tip temperature, perhaps invaluable if a long/high loss tip is being used. Once the actual tip is measured accurately by a calibrated thermometer then this value can be adjusted to allow the LCD display to be correct.

 

Display Options: these include the ability to change the temperature reading between Fahrenheit and Centigrade as well as to adjust the LCD back light level. Both are accessed from the setup menus and fairly straight forward to set.

 

Fixed Temperatures: in Setup B there is the ability to set two different temperatures. These are both adjustable by the user once selected and the user can simple switch between them using the UP to select the upper temperature or the DOWN to select the lower temperature setting. After selecting there is a very brief window where the user can use UP and DOWN to change that temperature setting.

image

 

Floating Switching Output: I am still unclear about the explanation in the supplementary manual for this feature. The Setup B allows the user to switch between ES-FE and ES-rob. The ES-rob can be seen to operate the Optocoupler and therefore allow a fume extractor to be switched on remotely. However the ES-FE is detailed as 'Zero-smog' but no other description is given.  I need to check but I believe the opto-coupler is permanently activated when in this mode.

 

Sensitivity: The sensitivity of the iron is adjustable between 1 and 5 in this setting and comes as setting 3. I had hoped this was the feature that allowed the iron to come back on if the user was still using it however it was unclear from the instructions if this were the case.

 

6.2     Physical Features

The WT1 base unit allows units to be stacked or for a handy storage of solder reels and small tools. The stands to also be joined together.

 

7.     Putting it to Work...60 days of soldering starts here

My initial plan was to also do some comparisons with Sn/Pb and Pb-free solders. However before starting on the Sn/Pb versions I realised that I would like to keep this setup completely clean of Pb, or as clean as I can knowing that reworking an unknown board would likely introduce some. After some reading I found these solder melting ranges:

  • Pb-free at 220 degrees centigrade.
  • Sn/Pb at 183 degrees centigrade.

image

 

During this 60-day period I knew I'd have a wide range of products needing soldering and therefore decided to take that informal approach: when something needed fixing or building I would flash up the WT1 and add that experience to my roadtest. I had planned to do some intense projects but they didn't materialise but the variety of smaller projects soon seemed to cover many of the tasks I could envisage anyone using this iron for. In the 60-days of this roadtest I tried to take a photo of some of the tasks I got up to, although some slipped through as I got caught up in the moment !

 

  • An Arduino MKR1000 Header. This was my first Pb-free soldering 'project' as the Arduino had sat in it's box with the 0.1" headers for a couple of years. The Pb-free experience went well thanks to the Weller WT1 setup.

image

 

  • Re-working a PCB. I had broken the PSU connector off a security webcam. My existing iron would not re-work the solder on this board as it was ovbiously Pb-free. The new Weller was able to get the connector off the board without track damage and allowed me to solder new fly-leads to the pads to power the unit up again.

image

 

  • SMT using Pb-free. I found a very old SMTPLL board that I've had for about 15 years. It was actually my first attempt at SMT and failed with blobs of solder across many of the pins. Well, with some liquid flux and the LT-S fine tip I was able to re-work that board and get a good quality of finish.

image

 

  • Medium Connectors. I chose to make up some 4mm banana plugs for test leads. Generally these take a reasonable amount of heat and so were a good test for my Pb-free setup. The Weller WT1/WSP80 soldered them up very easily.

image

  • Neopixel Connector. A simple task to be able to get this working on my breadboard was to add a 0.1" header. Again using Pb-free kept the item toxicity lower so it was OK to use beside my plate of biscuits image.

image

  • Component Scavenging. I needed some RGBLEDs and decided to de-solder some from some old strip light.

image

 

8.     My Verdict

 

8.1     Heat Handling and Ergonomics

Having used the Weller equipment for a multi-tude of tasks over the full 60-days I wasn't disappointed with the ergonomics of the WSP80 soldering pencil. The cable was light weight and flexible so it laid well when the iron was placed back into the stand and wasn't a burden when holding the iron for long periods of time. The thin soldering pencil diameter fitted naturally into my hand and again I didn't notice any issues over time. Generally it also stayed cool apart from when I took the temperature up to 450 degrees C for a about 20 minutes whilst I was trying to re-work the power connector on a webcam...at that point it did start to get quite hot towards the knurled knuckled.

image

 

8.2     Supplied Equipment

There was some confusion about which stand should have been supplied and also how it was meant to be used. Although generally I was quite content with the provided stand and can adjust my practises to make it work. The bits sit quite neatly in the horseshoe but if the metal sleeve is included they will touch the sponge.

image

image

The above is not an issue if the sponge is configured at the front instead of the wire wool.

 

8.3     Fume Extraction

Coupled with some of the soft-features in firmware there RJ11 output allows the unit to remotely power up a  fume extraction system. Although my lower-cost Weller fume extractor doesn't specifically have this feature I do plan to use the output from the WT1 to activate a mains relay and turn my fume extractor on accordingly.

 

8.4     Bricked WT1

Quite early on I managed to get the base unit into some kind of locked mode where I was unable to make any adjustments. Was I the first person to ever be able to state that they had 'bricked' a soldering iron ? I let Randall know I was having trouble and had also contacted Weller for help. What it turns out is that I had inadvertently activated the lock mode but without realising what code I had entered to lock the unit. This was because of the difficulty understanding the instruction manual and where I just started to experiment with the settings.

 

On reflection I was then able to see that to unlock I was able to enter a value, which always started at 000. I recalled incrementing this value as I experimented and therefore thought I didn't take it too high. Working my way through I soon found that at 7 the unit unlocked again.

 

8.5     Standby Feature

This is a great feature however as the iron cannot sense the user actions the timer will keep running regardless and this can lead to the iron deciding to go into standby mode whilst being used. That happened to me a few times and was really annoying. Even pressing the temperature UP button prior to the period expiring didn't seem to extend it. Personally I will likely keep this at the 99 minute maximum setting or even turn it off completely, although I do like the idea of the temperature being retarded when not required. This feature could be improved upon.

 

8.6     Auto-Off Feature

Another great feature but like the Standby feature, the unit has no idea the user is actually doing anything. Therefore this feature can start to activate whilst the user is busy soldering. Without looking they would soon wonder why their joint won't melt. The feature could be supported by a simple audible beep or better still the iron can tell the WT1 when it is being used and therefore reset this timer.

 

8.7     Window Feature

Whilst the ability to allow a locked unit to be adjusted is perhaps debatable I did like the range that allows the RJ11 contacts to make and thus run an external fume extractor to be interesting. It is this feature that I hope to exploit myself to connect up my Weller fume extractor to.

8.8     Lock Feature

Needless to say I don't like the lock feature having 'bricked' my unit, albeit temporarily. I can see huge utility in a production environment where there are strict limits on temperatures and it would be disastrous to quality if users inadvertently adjusted them. The feature is quite simple and combined with the WINDOW feature should provide much flexibility. In the home setting I would see this feature being turned off.

 

8.9     Temperature Offset Feature

Another professional feature that allows the unit to be calibrated accurately and this offset utilised to ensure the LCD display correlates to the tip temperature. This feature would likely be used in controlled production runs of quality products and the previously mentioned LOCK feature would ensure it remains locked in its calibrated state.

 

8.10     Display Features

These are useful features enabling the user to change the display units between Fahrenheit and Centigrade as to suit their preference. Additionally the LCD backlight is also useful to adjust between the darker 'shed' and the bright sunshine lit office.

 

8.11     Fixed Temperature Feature

Although hidden away somewhat, this is a great feature in my opinion. I can easily use this to switch between my favourite Pb-solder or Pb-free temperatures as required. Alternatively if using Pb-free I might have one setting for normal use but a slightly higher one for that added 'ooph'. I like this feature.

8.12     Floating Switching Output Feature

The ability to run the fume extraction when only within a set temperature range is interesting although I never got around to exploring what the ES-FE feature meant. Hopefully I'll update this roadtest when I find out.

 

8.13     Sensitivity Feature

I hoped this would allow the iron to activate again if the soldering iron were moved however having tried all settings of sensitivity I was unable to get the WSP80 to re-activate the WT1 unit remotely.

 

8.14     Future Updates

Such a product cannot properly be tested in such a short timeframe and it could be possible that with continued use certain parts break or wear far quicker than expected, perhaps annoying traits start to surface or the user may find previously unknown useful functions. Therefore as I finish my 60-day roadtest of this Weller WT1/WSP80 combination I propose that this will not be the last mention of this great product.

 

9.     My Scores

I feel it is useful and constructive to justify the marks given in the various categories at the start of the roadtest. My reasoning therefore is:

 

  • Product Performed to Expectations                         8

          The product is well made and gives a feeling of quality build which should last for many years.

 

  • Specifications were sufficient to design with           10 

          This is Not Applicable and therefore has been given top marks to not offset the result

 

  • Demo software was of good quality                        10

          As above, this is not applicable to this product

 

  • Product was easy to use                                          9

          It was fairly intuitive. Probably because it isn't too complex it was easy to determine many of the features by experimentation.

 

  • Support materials were available                             7

          This was the area in my opinion where the product lacked support. The manual and online material could have made the features far easier to understand and make use of.

 

  • The price to performance ratio was good                8

          Perhaps slightly over-priced as there are other features that could easily have been incorporated for the same price.

 

10.     Summary

 

10.1     What I Liked:

  • It melted solder....my reel of Pb-free that had been bought a few years ago and never used.
  • The sleep mode - I've often neglected to turn an iron off for several days (often going off for one last tweak of the circuit thinking I'd be back again to solder and then unexpectedly finishing for the day)
  • Option to select the digital readout in degrees Centigrade or Fahrenheit
  • Iron weight, balance and cable flexibly
  • Ease of tip changes, without the need for tools and also can be done whilst hot.
  • Tip prices - the ones I bought were not expensive and there was a great range
  • The iron stand is very heavy and won't get inadvertently knocked over
  • The flat area on top - either to stack units or to place solder. My previous Weller unit had a smooth top and things fell off.
  • And the best bit...this iron pumps some serious heat capacity into that tip. The heat up time from ambient to ~340 degrees C is just over 10 seconds !!!
  • The ability to remotely activate a fume extraction system

 

10.2     What I Didn't Like:

  • The instructions were very limited - a generic diagram and multilingual pages but nothing too detailed on the functionality

 

10.3    What Could Have Been Improved:

For the price I think Weller could have included more in the package for very minimal extra cost:

  • A second tip, as that provided was perhaps better suited for general purpose use in the 80's - more through hole at 0.1"
  • The ability for the soldering iron to sense if it was moving - this could awaken it from sleep mode or trigger the sleep mode. This seemed to be included but didn't work for the WSP-80

 

10.4    Product Conclusion:

Although the Weller WT series is quite high priced I believe the quality of product is there and therefore it should be a great investment for anyone undertaking a reasonable amount of soldering without the disappointment of failing equipment or replacement obsoleteness. The range also allows for additional expansion of capability in time (should the budget allow).

 

10.5     Thanks:

My roadtest review ends with the greatest thanks to Weller for sponsoring this with equipment and to Randall Scasny for organising the roadtest and passing my application onwards image.

 

 

Finally, more so than ever, best wishes to all.

Anonymous
  • Hi Fred,

     

    My roadtest was for a 230v WT1 rated at 95W.

  • Thanks Shabaz,

     

    After reading your post I tried again, allowing the WT1 to go into standby but no amount of waving the iron around deactivated the feature....which is slightly disappointing.

  • I was going to ask whether it's a specific 230V model that you road tested, but I think Inderpreet has answered that one!

  • I have this station. Brought it over to Canada from India. It's in a box... 220v image

  • The WXP 65 Iron implements it, regardless the stand. It has motion detection.

  • Hi Rod,

     

    Very useful review!

    I was wondering, the standby automatically deactivates when lifted from the stand, right? If it doesn't, it's likely the stand is incorrect, because I can't see how the standby (and auto-off) feature is supposed to work otherwise, if the tool doesn't detect activity.

    I wonder if there's a magnet or something in the stands to allow this feature to work.

    I have a different manufacturer iron, and it has a stand detect feature, but probably implemented differently because in my case the tool is plugged into the stand, not the base (so it could be relying on electrical contact perhaps). But in the case of a separated stand as in your case, I think a magnet or something might be in the stand?

     

    EDIT: Maybe I'm talking nonsense.. I've not used a Weller in years, so have no idea if they would have implemented this. Their WTP 90 advertises a sensor in the tool handle, so maybe that's only on those models.

  • Thanks for the great review, and the attention to relevant details is on the spot. The WSP80 cable just felt odd because it's very thin and very flexible, might grow to like it!

  • Having finally completed my roadtest of the Weller WT1 set I decided to have a much more detailed read through my fellow roadtesters' reports on the same item. As I read I also checked out the Farnell website to purchase a second barrel as recommended but instead found an adapter for my trusted TCP-Z Magnastat iron which allowed it to use the WSP-80 LTxx bits. That soon led me to find that there are Magnastat bits rated at 425 and 480 degrees C....so I'll pop a couple of those on order so I can continue to use my old TCP-Z as well.

    image

  • Very good road test report.

     

    DAB