T12A - soldering station
A chinese noname station, a SMPS, µcontroller, OLED-display and a Hakko T12-clone solder tip, all in a small aluminum casing, costing only 35€.
First impression is a good one. The casing is solid, the SMPS looks decent, the tip heats up very fast and it offers quite more power and comfort than my old Weller WECP. Will see how it performs in daily work.
The T12 solder tip is a clone of the Hakko T12 tip. It features the heating element and temperature sensor within the solder tip and very close to the head. This allows for rapid heat-up and improved temperature constancy at the head and easy and fast change of tips. A multitude of different tip shapes is available also at low cost. Due to the µcontroller one can easily setup several parameters like sleep time and temperature, off-time, wake-up mode (by moving the handle or pressing the knob), PID control parameters an so on. This cheap variant doesn´t offer as much comfort and doesn´t feature the learning PID algorythm as the costier KSGER stations, but I bought it as a test thingie anyways. If it does its job well I´ll probabely buy one of the bigger models.
What´s missing with all of these stations is a direct PE-connection to the casing. It´s easy to modify and should be done for your own safety. At least the tip itself is connected to PE (which seems to not be the case with the costier KSGER models).
Now that I have worked with the station a couple of days and also taken it to work so my colleague could also test it, I can say that this little device is simply great fun to work with. My colleague also said he´d prefer this station over the Wellers any time now.
update feb.2021:
The little soldering station which is branded YUANHE T12A Soldering Station btw. has proven its useability. It utilizes a STC µController and runs a Vers. 2.1 firmware. As mentioned earlier this station doesn´t feature the 3-point tip calibration of the KSGER, but at least a single point calibration. (note by: its of course an adjustment and not a calibration). This became neccessary because the temperature of the tips was way too high in the beginning, beeing almost 40°C up at 330°C setting.
Having no manual and with differing menues to other T12 stations it took me a while to figure out how to calibrate up to 5 tips.
But first a couple of pics of the displays.
After switch-on the station shows its main display with the following parameters:
-upper row: Set temperature / number of chosen tip (0-4) / actual time
- middle row: actual tip temperature
- lower row: supply voltage of the internal power supply / bargraph and figure indicating the percentage of supplied power
Pressing the button on the right longer than ~1sec the display changes to the main menue where You can choose from five sub-menues. Temperature calibration is the third down.
Scroll down to Temp calibration and press the button shortly. A sub-menue opens where You can choose from 5 different tips (Select iron, 0-4). The chosen number appears in the main display right to the set temperature figure.
Scroll down to =0...4 # Cali. and press the button. A number appears on the right, indicating the percentage of power supplied to achive a certain tip temperature.
Now how to adjust the tip temperature such that set temperature and actual displayed temperature match?
There are videos on Youtube offering several methods. What worked for me was to use the K-type temperature probe supplied with a multimeter.
Fix the probe so that You can later rest the tip on it. Choose the set temperature You usually work with ... 330°C in my case. Let the tip heat up and melt a small blob of solder. Place the tip on the probe so that the solder wets the probe well. Allow some time for the temperature to settle. The last 5°C settling takes rather long. Compare the probe reading with the displayed tip temerature.
Switch to the calibration menue, choose the right probe number and adjust the percentage value.
Switch back to the main display and compare temperature values again.
Repeat the adjustment steps till the temperature values are close enough for Your taste.
Since there are dozens of different tips available for this station and You just can adjust only for 5 different types, it may be best to ´group´ similar shaped and sized tips as they will probabely be very close in their temperature behaviour. I mark the calibration number on the different tips with a felt pen.
After the adjustment the tip reaches the set temperature within 5°C tolerance in just a few seconds, slowing down in speed after.
Apart from the PID settings which I have not yet evaluated in their behaviour (preset values 5, 5, and 5) the other menue settings are straightforward and easy to set.
This little station -remember it costed only ~35€, two tips included- never fails to amaze me with its speed and precision.
After the experience with these kind of soldering stations resp. solder tips, my colleague and I decided to order a JBC CD-2BE from Welectron for work. Of course it costs 10 times of my T12A and for one JBC tip I can order ten of my tips, but the JBC is clearly a professional station, heating up even faster, putting out more power on demand, features a softer cable and a better lighter handle, it´s tip temperature is adjusted right from start (+-2°C) and it adds some more very practical features. It certainly is worth its price and I´m really tinkering with the thought to buy me one for personal use. On the other hand the T12A is perfectly ok for hobby use.
You served me well over many years my good friend.
You took abuse, fell and rose again.
Never complained or asked for something but a new tip every now and then and some tape to keep Your bruised body together.
You were so simple and easy to live with.
No fancyisms no bitching.
Just a decent guy and always a straight performer.
But the last fall took Your life prematurely at the tender age of 38.
I´ll miss You .... WECP50
R.I.P