The current generation of USB-powered soldering irons have a lot going for them, chief among them being portability and automatic start and stop. But an iron that turns off in the middle of soldering a joint is a problem, one that this capacitive-touch replacement control module aims to fix.
The iron in question is an SJ1 from Awgem, which [DoganM95] picked up on Ali Express. It seems well-built, with a sturdy aluminum handle, a nice OLED display, and fast heat-up and cool-down. The problem is that the iron is triggered by motion, so if you leave it still for more than a second or two, such as when you’re soldering a big joint, it turns itself off. To fix that,[DoganM95] designed a piggyback board for the OEM controller with a TTP223 capacitive touch sensor. The board is carefully shaped to allow clearance for the existing PCB components and the heater cartridge terminals, and has castellated connections so it can connect to pads on the main board. You have to remove one MOSFET from the main board, but that’s about it for modifications. A nickel strip makes contact with the inside of the iron’s shell, turning it into the sensor plate for the TTP223.
[DoganM95] says that the BA6 variant of the chip is the one you want, as others have a 10-second timeout, which would defeat the purpose of the mod. It’s a very nice bit of design work, and we especially like how the mod board nests so nicely onto the OEM controller. It reminds us a little of those Quansheng handy-talkie all-band mods.
so i guess i missed the import of this innovation but it sounds like now you can get soldering irons with the c210 super light tips for like $50? and the only downside is they have usb-c and some mildly frustrating grounding hack? and they heat up in 3 seconds??? it sounds like the sequre s60 has a configurable up to 60 second time out on motion.
it took me years to realize that i am absolutely destroying my tips somehow and now they have an iron that turns off when you set it down and comes back on in just a few seconds. i’d feel stupid spending more money on this problem given how little soldering i do but this is a game changer that i had somehow not noticed. an on-demand iron! my dad showed me one of these that his employer bought, and it seemed so whacky to me and now it’s just another cheap thing neat!
Once I got my Metcal soldering iron, it was a game changer. Since temprature overshoot is nearly non-existent, lifted pads became a thing of the past. The tips last far longer as well. One time I left it on overnight. No damage to the tip beyond a layer of oxidation that could be scraped off.
If you do a lot of soldering, an iron with a directly heated tip is worth it. Or in the case of Metcal, RF heated.
JBC and Metcal are top of the line and unbeaten. But they’re pricy. And the next best thing is a Pinecil, which has a ridiculous price/performance ratio that wipes the floor with Hakko for most users.
Most of these trendy portable soldering irons seem to have at least one major flaw.
Hopefully there is one out there that just works, and doesn’t require modifications to be useful.
Pinecil :)
Also: cheaper and OSS
Thanks, I’ll check this one out.
After some quick research, I’m nearly convinced. I like the option of power from a DC barrel jack. I also like the style of tips used.
The only thing I might add is to make sure it’s fully updated. I know it was likely a fluke, but mine had a runaway temp on 2 occasions while in a stand, but never while in hand. I’d been using a TS80 up until that point and lost track of it so I picked up a pinecil from the US vendor. I did a few dozen pads and tinned some wires, set it in the stand and started stripping some new wires. When I looked up 10 or 15 seconds later, there was some smoke coming from the front of the stand, and a red tip. The shell was fairly hot to the touch but not melting or disformed in any way. Unplugged it, let it sit for a half hour and then tried again. Same thing, few dozen pads, tinned wire, in a different holder this time, and it happened again. I was about to rma it but decided to try the firmware, it never happened again. I have a discolored tip as if it’s been through years of abuse, but otherwise it works perfectly every time, and seems fine in both stands. Fantastic iron overall
I got one to replace a similar style random AliExpress soldering iron, the pinecil is very good, especially since it works properly with USB PD, you just need a charger capable of 20 V 3 A. The DC jack is great too, I use it for drones and it is very portable, just plug in a drone battery and it works wherever.
If you do 3D printing, CNC kitchen sells tips for it for inserting brass threaded inserts and some for other irons too.
Plus the firmware is open source so you could modify it if you wanted too and it does get updates.
I have a Pinecil since it came out. Haven’t found a flaw yet. I sometimes take it to work if I have to do a lot of soldering so I can use my Pinecil instead of the fancy Weller station. It falls and stands with the cable though. The Pinecil cables are amazing because they are silicone cables. They are light and very very flexible and heat resistant. Normal USB cables are a pain to use with a soldering iron because they are too stiff and that makes the entire experience a lot worse. I also got a cheap powerbank from China that does 20V/60W PD. Usually use it for my Steam Deck but if needed, I can easily power my Pinecil with it.
Funny, my 20+ year old Weller uses heater current to determine whether the iron is in use or should turn off. That would seem like an entirely trivial thing to add to a “smart” iron.
Why would you need to go through the nonsense of “touch” sensing when you already have a perfectly good sensor to tell when you are touching something (the heater control loop)?
Modern soldering irons turn off entirely when not being used, since they can get up to temp in 1-2 seconds (the time it takes to pick up the iron). Typically they turn off when set into the stand but for the portable usb ones they can’t do that since there isn’t a stand.
With the Pinecil you can with some slight mods. You can add a hal effect sensor in the pinecil:
https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/Pinecil_Hall_Effect_Sensor
Then you can add a magnet to the stand you want to use and when you put it down, it automatically ramps down the temperature.
Is that a hardware hack to compensate a buggy FW ? Better move on to ironOS, then….
I bought an Antec soldering iron in the mid 1990s. I’m on second fine tip. Both still work fine. 🤷
This just seems a workaround for a badly designed soldering iron. When you can get very good irons for cheap then why would you bother with something like this? Rather than encouraging people to do the mod why not just tell them not to buy the soldering iron?
I have had a Weller MT1500 ” micro- touch ” soldering station for 30 years…yes it still works. It is awesome for crazy mod work. You keep your index ( pointy finger) on a ring on the pencil. Lift your finger the iron stops heating. This is like having a gas pedal at your finger tip on your soldering iron. Do crazy drag solder mods are a snap.
I use JBC NANE-1C because I needed insanely tiny tips and often use two irons simultaneously. If it had touch it would be the ultimate. But $2k for a dual pencil soldering station is a bit nuts. Oh add laser and sonic welding then its the ultimate 👌
I have had (3) Weller MT1500 ” micro- touch ” soldering station for 30 years…yes it still works. It is awesome for crazy mod work. You keep your index ( pointy finger) on a ring on the pencil. Lift your finger the iron stops heating. This is like having a gas pedal at your finger tip on your soldering iron. Doing crazy drag solder mods are a snap.
I now use JBC NANE-1C because I needed insanely tiny tips and often use two irons simultaneously. If it had touch it would be the ultimate. But $2k for a dual pencil soldering station is a bit nuts. Oh add laser and sonic welding then its the ultimate 👌