Soldering Stations - what you have pros and cons

I spent a few years at first using just your run of the mill $15 soldering iron which worked great. Especially if your main purpose is for soldering on wires to strips, joining strings and wires together and not doing a great deal of board soldering then i see no reason to go and spend lots on a fancy soldering iron as these cheapos will do the job very well.
 
Here's my budget little number to get me started and only $20. Now just have to wait for my new rainbow floods to arrive next week so I can test this thing out.
 

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pipersmall said:
Here's my budget little number to get me started and only $20. Now just have to wait for my new rainbow floods to arrive next week so I can test this thing out.
Click to expand...


what size tip is on this unit and are tips readily available if needed?
 
I think it is about a 1.5mm tip that came with it. They also have a range of tips available from 0.5mm up to 3mm and seems like they are fairly easy to get hold of. I got mine from here
 
I have got the 58W version of the same iron from a different vendor and I love it. Much better than the Jaycar cheapie that I had.
I have also got a hand help Weller that I use for work but it is too big for tight cct boards and I can't get a smaller tip for it.

Jon
 
I am looking to buy a soldering station for $100-$200 for soldering led strip, wires etc.. What do you recommend?
 
I am looking at this one http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/260686424506 as mentioned by another poster. Is it the best one to get for what I am doing and under $200?
 
So I've been looking at a new soldering station & these are the ones I like the most, what are your thoughts?

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-3in1-ESD-Safe-Soldering-Iron-Station-Hot-Air-Gun-DC-Power-Supply-Tips-Kit/121294673835?_trksid=p2047675.c100012.m1985&_trkparms=aid%3D444000%26algo%3DSOI.DEFAULT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140107090229%26meid%3D5592899116312540051%26pid%3D100012%26prg%3D20140107090229%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D10%26sd%3D121279416555 Updated to 220v version

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-2in1-Soldering-Iron-Rework-Station-Hot-Air-Gun-Lead-Free-Tips-Nozzles-Kit-/111204559291?pt=AU_B_I_Electrical_Test_Equipment&hash=item19e44ee9bb

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2-in1-862D-SMD-Hot-Air-Rework-Station-Soldering-Iron-LED-Display-w-4-Nozzle-/360867855787?pt=AU_B_I_Electrical_Test_Equipment&hash=item5405667dab&_uhb=1



Thanks
 
1st 1 has a rated voltage of 110V AC so not much good in Aussieland. Specs on the power supply are lacking but it looks like it might be 15V/2A. There's no specs on the iron.

2nd 1has an iron that looks nice and it looks like it might use Hakko tips which would make replacements easy to sort.

3rd 1 appears to be a very similar iron to the 2nd but an uglier control.

A soldering iron really should be at least 48W so it can pump some heat into any thicker wires etc that are being joined. Any lower wattage and you can end up taking too long to solder things which ends up heating the wires/components/etc too much. The 15V power supply is barely enough to do much testing. If you're sticking with 5V or 12V lights it would be usable as long as you weren't connecting more than about 30 pixels to it. IMHO a 30V 5A supply is what blinkyheads should be playing with if they are considering a power supply.
 
Shell,
Did you buy that from Amazon or from somewhere else. And did you get a 240v version or was it a 110V and then got a step down transformer for it?
 
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