I think crimping and screwing in should be better than soldering in power applications. Solder is not to be relied on for vibration resistance and mechanical strength.
Yes, I completely agree with you. But unfortunately, a lot of these "cheaper" soldering stations have mains lines that are VERY poorly crimped. In this scenario I would much rather have a hard-soldered, mechanically bonded interface between my AC input and the rest of the electronics than have the risk of having a poorly crimped AC line break off, float around and short to something else, that could be devastating!
For govt work, make it mechanically secure then solder. Crimps are good when well done. But solder is gas tight. I've replaced hundreds of crimps done with any old pliers, multi tools, etc. With the proper tool and clean wire and terminals, crimps will last.
this x100000. Ive been soldering for years but I have picked up tips just from watching how he does things. I would love to have a how to starting at even the basics of soldering 2 wires together and moving to advanced techniques. I know theres probably thousands of videos on this already...but none of them are Voultar...
@@Voultar This would super excite me. I've always been interested in the idea of electronics repair but I haven't ever really dove in. I can solder guitar pickups and follow wiring diagrams well enough, but (for example) the idea of re-capping my dead model 1 Sega CD is still terrifying.
A clear concise, accurate informative review, I am a retired electronics technician, 50 years in the industry , my go to daily driver is a Metcal set up - excellent but also very expensive, the Metcal tips are around half the price of this unit ! I have looked at various reviews of this unit and found that after your presentation I am very impressed, therefore , on the strength of your recommendation I have ordered the head only version ( I am going to provide my own 24v supply), the tip price seem to good to be true ! Incidentally, although Metcal is US company ( my unit is US manufacture ) all their production is now in China as are many many branded goods, not all CE products are rubbish , British Dyson for instance. Kind regards. Richard. Yorkshire. England
Thanks for this video! Just wanted to share that I used the provided link to buy the t12 station from Banggood. I just received it, checked inside to find that while the circuit has been revised including a different microcontroller (not surprising given this is 4 years later) the internal build quality appears very similar to what's shown in your video. I've only had a few minutes to test it so far but it fired right up and I was soldering in seconds. I'm just getting into console modding, I have some experience soldering and even took classes 20 years ago but we didn't cover the tricks you use for repairs and mods and I'm sure my old Radio Shack irons would not be up to the task.
Just got mine today. Ordered 4 biz days ago and it's already here. With the exception of a few minor revisions, it appears to be identical to the one in the video. It didn't come with a box or manual(or any kind of documentations at all), but thanks to your video, everything is easy and straightforward. The "brains" board has been revised a bit. The board is now longer and is soldered directly to the irons output plug instead of the plug being attached to the board via removable wires. The RTC battery has also been relocated to the top of the power transformer. The beefy heatstinks and good soldering is all still present and accounted for.
First time I've watched any of your videoes, must say, it will not be my last! You voice is really comforting and clean. Love it! Keep up the good work!
I’ve been looking to buy a station, but wasn’t even sure where to start. You’ve made the decision a lot easier and for $50 it doesn’t seem like I can go wrong. Thanks!
by some chance youtube recommended me this video in late December. Ok, maybe not by chance. Previously I was watching Louis Rossmann discussing differences between soldering iron technologies. But anyway, I feel really, really, REALLY lucky I got this video recommended. I only watched it and I knew this is something for me. I've had the station now for a week and I absolutely love it. A great station an order of magnitude cheaper than grossly overpriced brand names'. Thanks for this video!!!!
Damn. I went and found a power cord that fits and plugged the thing in. Flipped the switch, and DOA. Nothing on the screen, nothing to see. I was sent a dead soldering station. For those who got ones that work, fantastic. I'm happy for you. For me, I can't wait another 6 weeks for a fix to be sent to me. I am very disappointed in the long wait, and the absolutely dead on arrival paperweight I now own. Time to break out the multi-meter and the old soldering iron I have and try and figure out why my station is completely DOA. VERY disappointed right now and have no plans to purchase from them again. Edit: Thankfully, these things are pretty simple devices so I was able to find the problem. One of the wires connecting the front panel to the main board was broken. No continuity. I replaced the wire assembly and fired it up and it works great. So if you get one that's DOA, just open it up and check for continuity where there should be continuity.
Just received mine an hour ago, completely DOA, and completely missing the wires for the front handle power port... Going to see if I can get a refund and look elsewhere.
mine was also doa, I reflowed the solder on the power pins and got it to turn on, but everything is in chinese and it just says ERROR. I love your vids voultar but banggood is a terrible place to buy electronics
@@displaytalk Hey, if you scroll through the settings list by holding down the dial you should be able to find an English option written under one of those categories in Chinese. Also, according to him the latest batch of the soldering *handle* not the station itself is actually DOA, something to do with the wiring. He's sending me a new one no-questions-asked, but it's going to take like 30 days again...
Nice thick isolation cutout and they actually used an optocoupler to communicate to the low voltage side. Definitely doesn't look like your typical cost cut Chinese product.
I've done a lot of testing with the v2.1S on my channel. I go through the menu as well as show how to measure and calibrate each tip. I also demonstrate the break in procedure for the tips. This is a very impressive unit. I highly recommend it.
I have exactly the same soldering station (KSGER) from 6 mouth, and i just love it. Is small, powerful, precise, really comfortable handle and why not is looking pretty in my working table.
I have been looking for a decent station setup that doesn’t cost 400-500 bucks and, I’m super glad I saw this video. I’ve been subscribed for a year or so now and NEVER noticed this video. I really wish I had seen it sooner!
Just received it, very nice soldering station. Ended up with a different stand, but the guts of the soldering station matched what you showed. Thanks for the recommendation.
@@d.stamandNope, not yet. It was scheduled fpr shipping after restocking on the 1st of december, was then shipped on the 5th. Based on the original projected arrival date I now suppose it will arrive the week before christmas. At least, I hope so.
Bought this one too. I think this version also has an option to change the PID parameters. There's also a hot air version of this station, would be great if you reviewed it!
Any way you could do an updated version of this. I think a lot of people would be interested in seeing from you a video on what tools would be needed to start getting into this hobby. Kind of like a Voultar soldering starter kit.
Hey Voultar. I wanted to let you know that they are not shipping the soldering station that you reviewed in this video. I think that the one I received works fairly well. I was a bit upset that they didn't send me the same station that you reviewed, but the one I received still works great! This is my first soldering station, and I've already resurrected a few Gameboy games following your reflow and battery swap video. Thank you for your research, and keep up the amazing content!
@@seyul The internals are not the same as the one in the video. It's like the hardware revision 2.0 I think this has the handle input soldered directly to the controller board, and the controller board is there green PCB, and not the blue one with the better hardware control. Also, the RCA battery is not soldered to the board, and they double sided tape it to the transformer. I disassembled the case, and moved the battery on the bottom case between the front panel, and the bottom PCB. I'll try making a video today showing how it works. Also, I'm not sure if it is the handle, or the actual unit, but the power regulation is a bit off.
Thanks for this! I love my FR300 I've had for a few years and have been looking at Hakko soldering stations to replace my ensemble of basic irons. I just ordered this stuff thanks to your review. Can't wait to give it a whirl. I'll finally be able to stop using epoxy to keep my joints together.
Really nice video but things have changed today unfortunately Which one should we buy today? Thanks for the video! Please tell us any new recommendation!
@@StavrosHc not really. I don't have the knowledge and experience to take the decision myself and I didn't manage to find something on this form factor. I only heard really nice things for TS-100. I probably try that if I don't see something better.
Just bought the same one from Amazon, payed a little more cause I did not want to wait. Came with 3 tips and a different wand that's carbon fiber. Plugged it in a a big ol ERROR started flashing on screen, twisted the tip in wand a little and boom worked! So far so good do not hesitate to buy.
Thanks so much for this video. I've been using a cheap POS soldering iron for several years, and recently decided to upgrade. I had been researching the Hakko FX-888D and X-tronic 3020-XTS soldering stations, when I randomly came across this video. You've sold me on this one, and I just ordered all 3 items via your affiliate links without hesitation. The $40.99 coupon didn't work, presumably because it's currently a promo item, but the 20% off coupon for the tips did work. Thanks again! Liked and subscribed!
Hey everyone, I spoke to a rep, and BangGood should have their stock fully replenished within the next day or so in case you're still holding out for one of these.
Just ordered one :) Not in a hurry, but it would be sweet for it to arrive sooner. Also what is your opinion about the TS80? I was planning to get that one until you posted the video, but I decided on this for the cheaper price, it is relatively compact (not us much as the TS80 of course) readily available tips etc. But the TS80 seems sweet for places where you don't have an outlet, but you can easily carry a few 10k Mah power banks. Maybe a review/comparison, if it fits within your budget. Also just noticed, I have been watching your vids for a year now, but I am not subed, not sure if YT, or me.
For anyone still wondering, i was told the restock would be at 25/12/2018 There was a restock indeed yesterday but apparently it was already sold out due to previous sellout
@Voultar i hope you will make an video where you recommend a cheap desoldering station because mine from Star Tec is a piece of garbage, it has an soldering and desoldering station, but you need to hook the sucker part to your solder iron, which is extremely inconvenient :( Btw i ordered the entire ksger recommendations you made :)
I just bought it! $43 after the discount and shipping. There is really no better deal out there for a T12 iron with these features. Thanks for the heads up
Mine showed up a few weeks ago. I broke it down and went through the electronics before plugging it in. Everything was solid. Temps come up quick. And it holds temp pretty good even when it's on a big ground plane. Only issue I ran into was the cord was stripped back twice as much as it needed to be at the connector. Broke out the Hakko and fixed it right up. So this is the best $45 station you can buy.
Great video as always! If/when you get around to it, an episode on types of solder and good vs. crappy solder will help a lot of the newbies out there who do not know the difference. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've opened up a system or cartridge and saw a terrible hack job inside.
I don't even need another soldering station but this review made me want to order one of these. Had me at the heat shrink in the power supply. Liked and subscribed.
A chip just popped on me using THIS soldering station purchased from your link in your description! The chip I am talking about is the one next to the top left of the big capacitor which is at the rear right of the station.
I bought the one from your Amazon recommended list. Not the same exact model, but internals looked solid. Continuity between the iron tip to ground was good. Power rails hard soldered to the board, which looked the same as this one. Main controller board looked different, but didn't look like trash. Fuse for the power plug just like this one. Solid.
It's a bit late but thanks to you I have just ordered my first Soldering Station. No more having to deal with crappy $3 soldering irons from my local hardware store.
I've had the new soldering station for a couple of weeks now (after contacting the site to find out why I hadn't gotten any news about my order in a while and they finally got it shipped) and I have already seen a huge improvement in my solder work as a result of using it. I did take it apart to check out it's insides and I'm glad I did because whoever put it together decided to put the battery (which is now connected with a cable instead of being soldered directly to the board like the one shown in the video) on top of the transformer which then presses it up against the top of the case so I pried it up from the adhesive holding it down and kind of shoved it under the power board so it wouldn't catch on anything. The connector for the heating element is no longer soldered to a cable and plugged in to the board as shown in the video (although the connector is still there) but an extended piece to the board now has the connector soldered directly to the board which I see as a huge improvement to the version in the video. Beyond that everything internally looks pretty much the same. As for what I've done with it well I cleaned up some mod chip work on one of my SCPH-101 PlayStations (found some cold solder joints that was causing the chip to not function at times) and fixed a still present solder bridge on another one that was causing a huge video error that scrambled the boot screen and then installed a new mod chip in that PSone as well. While it's not as clean as what Voultar did it in an older video it is far better then the job I did on the other PSone where I was using the cheap $3 soldering iron I've been using before getting this new soldering station. I am very happy with my purchase and my poor ILS tip I think is now begging me to replace it though it still looks like it can take some more work from me before it become totally useless (I have no idea how long these things are supposed to last and I'm sure I'm not taking proper care of it but the tip is still melting solder at 250 so I can't have totally ruined it yet and I scrape it off with some old steel wool as I see it getting dirty but only a light rub so not to totally ruin it). I've now even thought about looking in to installing a mod chip in my PS2 with how well things are working with what I've done so far. Thank you for your videos and for this video which finally got me to get a proper soldering station to do this kind of work with rather then hoping I could get away with the crappy soldering iron I've been using this whole time. Maybe I might start selling modded systems myself since it seems eBay's anti mod chip policy is clearly not being enforced if they even have it anymore (haven't bothered to check in a while).
Great video, very helpful. I am a bit confused however. You mention in the description that the links you listed may NOT be internally identical. So are you saying we should not purchased from those links? Where’s our best chance of getting the correct version of this station?
Awesome video voultar. Great job in putting in the work for these guys starting out and also creating a bundle for them to rely on and try to hone their skills. I’m no pro and have learned a lot of technique from you but you really go over the top to help these guys no jack something up. Again great job man and I will continue to stay up to date on the best soldering material to watch on the web!
Bought the soldering station, absolutely amazing after breaking it in. Love it as my first full feature station. Have a question, what would you recommend for a hot air rework station?
This identical model on Amazon does NOT have direct soldered AC socket to the board. It still looks good though. And there is a mini version of this device which is less than half the size but uses a DC power supply. I wonder if the performance is the same.
I would like to add that if your screen is a bit crooked, you can loosen the knob mount and straighten it up. It is easy to do. Also, new tips need to be run at a low 150C or so for a few minutes to stabilize or break them in. They may act funny or produce an error message at first, no worries. This goes away after the break in procedure.
Got one myself, the only differences i noticed were the battery was a cmos battery rather than what you had, and the wires to the left of the AC port were not wired but rather soldered in place.
It would have been interesting to see the display as an inlay to the video while you were doing the demo soldering to see the % go up and down etc. Good video && review!
From the factory, the temperature (with the K-Series tip) was within a few degrees. An outstanding feature of this iron is having the ability to manually dial in calibration for pretty much any and all T12/T15 tips ever made... Really nice!
I just got one, thanks for the review, I do soldering all the time, on consoles and guitar pedals, and never had the money to invest in a good soldering station, I can't wait it for arrive!!!
Hi all been a fan of Voultars channel for years and now looking to purchase of of these soldering stations. Can someone please post a link to the latest version to get please as like he said in the discription some of the links and products maybe outdated. Thank you.
I wanted to add to this review for anyone reading the comments. I recently ordered this item. After maybe a month in transit, it finally arrive yesterday. I can confirm that the internals are the same as the ones shown in the video, albeit a few small differences. These differences are improvements in my opinion and in no way seem to affect the effectiveness of the item. I soldered with it last night and as far as I could tell, the review is spot on with everything I was shown in this video. I'd say the recommendation still stands on this product if you're ready to wait for the delivery all the way from the Chinas.
I want to order it because my soldering station is awfull, but i read the Faq on bangood of this soldering station and they're calling it fake and with old firmware and someone on this comment box said the same
I recently bought one as a backup for my Hakko at your behest. Barely any differences in the one I got but one particularly noteworthy one was that instead of connecting the DIN with cables, it is directly soldered into a secondary board connected to the brain board with quasi mouse nibbles between the two (presumably the non-power DIN lines are tucked between the holes), and the power lines for the DIN connector are cabled from the secondary board directly to the power board. Maybe a better choice to not have the DIN power lines do an unnecessary hop through the brain board? Slightly beefier RTC battery too. Anyhoo thanks for the recommendation, I'm really pleased with it! Edit: Oh, one other possible design improvement. The thermocouple for room temp is soldered on the other side of the board with the screen. I reckon having it on that side insulates it a bit from the heat generated inside the box and puts it closer to enclosure temperature.
Just got mine as well, and it has the exact same differences as you describe, plus the rtc battery is now connected through a socket and cable with the battery itself just glued on top of the main transformer. A thing that worries me a little is that the tip doesn't seem to be grounded Edit: the soldering handle might have some issue? The soldering station is stuck on error constantly, except when I move around the handle. I can also hear something moving in it? Edit2: nvm, it was just me assuming things. The thing I'm hearing is the component that detects flailing for quitting standby mode and the contact issue was due to an included standoff that was not designed for another tip size than the one that was included
@@Consolethinks I had this for a bit too until I set everything up in its final workspace, and tightened it down then it worked fine. Also the thing you hear moving around is just the shake sensor (or at least it is on mine). To test this out, let it go into standby and very gently move the handle (without tilting it) and it should not come out of standby. Give it a good enough jiggle or tilt it tip up to make the sound happen and it should come out of standby. So yeah, 90% sure it's just a sensor for shake to wake.
@@tumest yep, everything works now, it was really just due to the included standoff that it didn't work (it's not needed for this type of tip), and the sound was indeed coming from the sensor.
Hi. KSGER T12 is my other favorite too; now- amazing station, heats 100% faster than a Hakko (it uses the same tip & the heating element tech from JBC) and has the beautiful OLED screen (usually you need to buy a separate power plug and the newer 3.1S firmware is a bit more expensive but it's a small improvement with the old ). Quicko at almost half the price (about US$22 only in our local online site, shipped), is a rebranded KSGER T12 but only comes in the mini form factor but is more modular (separate power supply) but the lettering and name look less classy than KSGER. God bless, Proverbs 31
Thanks man, I was looking for a good secondary/backup iron and this fits the bill perfectly!! Thanks for all the hard work on finding one of this nice of quality!! :)
Unless you're rocking a metal, jbc, or high end hakko (t12 type, like the 951), I'd recommend this as the daily driver. The fx888d just cannot compete.
About 22-23 years ago I paid $60 for an early digital Radio Shack soldering station. It's still working just as good as it did, and about 10 years ago I finally found a very nice set of compatible tips. Lately I've wanted something a bit more new and have been looking at systems that use T12 tips. This particular one keeps popping up, and I'm heavily leaning towards it and a nice Aoyue desoldering station.
You should also be able to move the rotary coder left 5 clicks to get out of the menu. Quicker than a long press although I wish they had it set to 2 at the highest.
Also mine had issues to start. Lack of ground to body. The rotary encoder mechanical bond to the board wasn't soldered. The ground plane on the board wasn't used. Solder issues, the gx12 connector was unscrewed - all photos show the gx16 connector which rotates slightly and has a retention screw and mine didn't have that. Heat up and error which takes longer than my ceramic core with hollow 900T based tips iron to heat up. Banggood will be making it right apparently. Also ordered a spare iron to see if that'll help. The logic board was put in crooked. The GX12 was soldered directly to the board - yours has the wires going to a connector and on my board it looks like that part can be broken off and then a header soldered - but then only 1 side of the board would be supported.. I do like how the power board is separate from the logic board - their heat gun station combines them O_o... It also has a permanent connection - I modified that on my rework station and I may replace it with the KSGER and do the same thing and wire it up the same so I can use both. I would've preferred the plastic stackable case - maybe I'll buy that separately.
Have you tested the temperature accuracy with a soldering tester? It's reported that some of those Chinese stations generates significantly higher temps than what you set them to.
@@tedmahsun Weird nobody in china started making them! can't take very long now.. hahah. Until then this might be a solution: (shortened alie express links) bit.ly/2GIWdFT bit.ly/2QWwkXK not as cool as his silicon pad tough!...
Roelof Pothuis haha! Those are some nice alternatives! Thanks! Wife actually has one of those which she uses to lift hot pans off of the stove. Bought from a dollar store I think. Time to sneak into the kitchen...
Thanks for this excellent review. I've been uncertain about which soldering station to get, but this really helped me make up my mind. I need something for replacing components on retro computer parts, so it needs to be relatively decent, and this really seems like it should do the job. Keep up the great work :)
Thanks a lot Voultar! I just ordered the Soldering station and the Holder. I am finally glad to have a great working soldering iron, i used an old Radio shack one i got years back, so lets just say it was hit or miss. I need this new one to put in some capacitors in a Pc engine duo i am getting. Wish me luck! (I will be ordering the tips soon as well!)
I wish I could press the like button multiple times. One question though... Were you applying the tip directly to the surface of the board, or were you hovering above?
Just bought the lot on Banggood. Total was $84.49 with the %20 discount code. Couldn't figure out how to use all of the coupon codes without buying everything separately, but nonetheless, pretty damn good buy. I was going to buy an X-Tronic model on Amazon, but glad I saw your video first. Speaking of the X-Tronic, maybe another review is in order to see the difference in quality of some of these similarly priced soldering stations. The fact that this one has T12 tips makes it the obvious choice for beginners. So much easier. One thing I couldn't find was the tip remover you show in you video. Where do you get one of those? It seems pretty necessary.
I ordered this on December 8th and it finally arrived today, part of the delay was the back order and part was just that it takes a long time to get stuff to the middle of the US from China. Anyway, it’s much better than the old Weller station I was using. I took it apart to make sure the internals matched what was in the video and they did for the most part. The power board is definitely the same. The controller is different but that doesn’t matter to me much. The menus and everything are all the same, the board for that part was just different. It heats up quick and did the job comfortably without getting in my way.
I think crimping and screwing in should be better than soldering in power applications. Solder is not to be relied on for vibration resistance and mechanical strength.
Yes, I completely agree with you. But unfortunately, a lot of these "cheaper" soldering stations have mains lines that are VERY poorly crimped. In this scenario I would much rather have a hard-soldered, mechanically bonded interface between my AC input and the rest of the electronics than have the risk of having a poorly crimped AC line break off, float around and short to something else, that could be devastating!
@@Voultar why you do not use your hakko station
@@andreiciora2765 They are. They are just making this video to demonstrate a cheaper item for people on a tighter budget
For govt work, make it mechanically secure then solder. Crimps are good when well done. But solder is gas tight. I've replaced hundreds of crimps done with any old pliers, multi tools, etc. With the proper tool and clean wire and terminals, crimps will last.
Great video! I’d really like a “soldering 101 class by Voultar” video series, that would take my gaming geekness to the next level!
this x100000. Ive been soldering for years but I have picked up tips just from watching how he does things. I would love to have a how to starting at even the basics of soldering 2 wires together and moving to advanced techniques. I know theres probably thousands of videos on this already...but none of them are Voultar...
Let's do it!
@@Voultar
@@Voultar Make it so...LOL
@@Voultar This would super excite me. I've always been interested in the idea of electronics repair but I haven't ever really dove in. I can solder guitar pickups and follow wiring diagrams well enough, but (for example) the idea of re-capping my dead model 1 Sega CD is still terrifying.
A clear concise, accurate informative review, I am a retired electronics technician, 50 years in the industry , my go to daily driver is a Metcal set up - excellent but also very expensive, the Metcal tips are around half the price of this unit ! I have looked at various reviews of this unit and found that after your presentation I am very impressed, therefore , on the strength of your recommendation I have ordered the head only version ( I am going to provide my own 24v supply), the tip price seem to good to be true ! Incidentally, although Metcal is US company ( my unit is US manufacture ) all their production is now in China as are many many branded goods, not all CE products are rubbish , British Dyson for instance.
Kind regards. Richard. Yorkshire. England
Thanks for this video! Just wanted to share that I used the provided link to buy the t12 station from Banggood. I just received it, checked inside to find that while the circuit has been revised including a different microcontroller (not surprising given this is 4 years later) the internal build quality appears very similar to what's shown in your video. I've only had a few minutes to test it so far but it fired right up and I was soldering in seconds. I'm just getting into console modding, I have some experience soldering and even took classes 20 years ago but we didn't cover the tricks you use for repairs and mods and I'm sure my old Radio Shack irons would not be up to the task.
I gotta say, a year later, I still have this station and, it's still the best.
Just got mine today. Ordered 4 biz days ago and it's already here. With the exception of a few minor revisions, it appears to be identical to the one in the video. It didn't come with a box or manual(or any kind of documentations at all), but thanks to your video, everything is easy and straightforward.
The "brains" board has been revised a bit. The board is now longer and is soldered directly to the irons output plug instead of the plug being attached to the board via removable wires. The RTC battery has also been relocated to the top of the power transformer. The beefy heatstinks and good soldering is all still present and accounted for.
First time I've watched any of your videoes, must say, it will not be my last! You voice is really comforting and clean. Love it! Keep up the good work!
Got mine ordered. I like everything about this thing. Great video! :D
Are you still using yours? I just ordered the one on Voultar's Amazon Page along with a CO-Z 858D Rework Station also on his Amazon Page
It's been a great investment.
I’ve been looking to buy a station, but wasn’t even sure where to start. You’ve made the decision a lot easier and for $50 it doesn’t seem like I can go wrong. Thanks!
Just received mine today!!!! It’s a thing of beauty. While I was opening it I was whispering to myself “show me the butter”
@fuckin kazars whatever floats your goat
Wow so apparently I needed a new soldering iron. Couldn't pass on that deal. Great video!
an entire YT channel about soldering. Thanks, really.
by some chance youtube recommended me this video in late December. Ok, maybe not by chance. Previously I was watching Louis Rossmann discussing differences between soldering iron technologies. But anyway, I feel really, really, REALLY lucky I got this video recommended. I only watched it and I knew this is something for me. I've had the station now for a week and I absolutely love it. A great station an order of magnitude cheaper than grossly overpriced brand names'. Thanks for this video!!!!
Soldering is for chumps, you only need a dab of hotglue and a little brasso mixed in for conductivity and, BOOM, you're done!
And some epoxy to keep the electrolytes in place. Never forget he epoxy. The more the better.
Always more hotglue
iCach0 you forgot the bubble wrap!!
Am I the only one who wants to see a totally proper parody review done on this method??? I can't be the only one, this is youtube comments section...
"it's that simple." - Lord Voultar
Damn. I went and found a power cord that fits and plugged the thing in. Flipped the switch, and DOA. Nothing on the screen, nothing to see. I was sent a dead soldering station. For those who got ones that work, fantastic. I'm happy for you. For me, I can't wait another 6 weeks for a fix to be sent to me. I am very disappointed in the long wait, and the absolutely dead on arrival paperweight I now own.
Time to break out the multi-meter and the old soldering iron I have and try and figure out why my station is completely DOA. VERY disappointed right now and have no plans to purchase from them again.
Edit: Thankfully, these things are pretty simple devices so I was able to find the problem. One of the wires connecting the front panel to the main board was broken. No continuity. I replaced the wire assembly and fired it up and it works great. So if you get one that's DOA, just open it up and check for continuity where there should be continuity.
fixing soldering station with soldering. Nice
Just received mine an hour ago, completely DOA, and completely missing the wires for the front handle power port... Going to see if I can get a refund and look elsewhere.
mine was also doa, I reflowed the solder on the power pins and got it to turn on, but everything is in chinese and it just says ERROR. I love your vids voultar but banggood is a terrible place to buy electronics
Wasted 50 bucks
@@displaytalk Hey, if you scroll through the settings list by holding down the dial you should be able to find an English option written under one of those categories in Chinese. Also, according to him the latest batch of the soldering *handle* not the station itself is actually DOA, something to do with the wiring. He's sending me a new one no-questions-asked, but it's going to take like 30 days again...
Nice thick isolation cutout and they actually used an optocoupler to communicate to the low voltage side. Definitely doesn't look like your typical cost cut Chinese product.
The Bob Ross of soldering
@@naorunaoru would be interesting to hear his thoughts on this iron
"We're just gonna open up this modified console and heatgun the devil out of it"
No.
Totally, yea.
I've done a lot of testing with the v2.1S on my channel. I go through the menu as well as show how to measure and calibrate each tip. I also demonstrate the break in procedure for the tips. This is a very impressive unit. I highly recommend it.
I have exactly the same soldering station (KSGER) from 6 mouth, and i just love it. Is small, powerful, precise, really comfortable handle and why not is looking pretty in my working table.
A beautiful morning with a Voultar soldering video it's gonna be a good day
I have been looking for a decent station setup that doesn’t cost 400-500 bucks and, I’m super glad I saw this video. I’ve been subscribed for a year or so now and NEVER noticed this video. I really wish I had seen it sooner!
5 Years In and its still my daily driver thanks !
Just received it, very nice soldering station. Ended up with a different stand, but the guts of the soldering station matched what you showed. Thanks for the recommendation.
Joining the club. Ordered. I’ve been looking for a solder station for a while, and this thing looks more than solid for its price point.
@@d.stamandNope, not yet. It was scheduled fpr shipping after restocking on the 1st of december, was then shipped on the 5th. Based on the original projected arrival date I now suppose it will arrive the week before christmas. At least, I hope so.
dstamand It‘s here now and it is as great as Voultar says. I can absolutely recommend it.
Bought this one too. I think this version also has an option to change the PID parameters. There's also a hot air version of this station, would be great if you reviewed it!
So does this still hold up to this day ,or are there better options out there now?
@@andreamitchell4758 I don't know if there are others better options now but its still doing fine without any problem
Any way you could do an updated version of this. I think a lot of people would be interested in seeing from you a video on what tools would be needed to start getting into this hobby. Kind of like a Voultar soldering starter kit.
Thanks for the review, been looking for a new soldering station, and this one looks very good that you recommend.
Hey Voultar. I wanted to let you know that they are not shipping the soldering station that you reviewed in this video. I think that the one I received works fairly well. I was a bit upset that they didn't send me the same station that you reviewed, but the one I received still works great! This is my first soldering station, and I've already resurrected a few Gameboy games following your reflow and battery swap video. Thank you for your research, and keep up the amazing content!
I wanted to buy this one too, but i red the faq, what's the difference?
@@seyul The internals are not the same as the one in the video. It's like the hardware revision 2.0 I think this has the handle input soldered directly to the controller board, and the controller board is there green PCB, and not the blue one with the better hardware control. Also, the RCA battery is not soldered to the board, and they double sided tape it to the transformer. I disassembled the case, and moved the battery on the bottom case between the front panel, and the bottom PCB. I'll try making a video today showing how it works. Also, I'm not sure if it is the handle, or the actual unit, but the power regulation is a bit off.
Great video! Could you do something similar for a desoldering station please?
Thanks for this! I love my FR300 I've had for a few years and have been looking at Hakko soldering stations to replace my ensemble of basic irons. I just ordered this stuff thanks to your review. Can't wait to give it a whirl. I'll finally be able to stop using epoxy to keep my joints together.
Really nice video but things have changed today unfortunately Which one should we buy today? Thanks for the video! Please tell us any new recommendation!
@@StavrosHc not really. I don't have the knowledge and experience to take the decision myself and I didn't manage to find something on this form factor. I only heard really nice things for TS-100. I probably try that if I don't see something better.
@@StavrosHc δεν το έχω δοκιμάσει οπότε δεν μπορώ να ξέρω. Δείχνουν φωτογραφίες από το εσωτερικό οπότε βοηθάει.
Just bought the same one from Amazon, payed a little more cause I did not want to wait. Came with 3 tips and a different wand that's carbon fiber. Plugged it in a a big ol ERROR started flashing on screen, twisted the tip in wand a little and boom worked! So far so good do not hesitate to buy.
Thanks so much for this video. I've been using a cheap POS soldering iron for several years, and recently decided to upgrade. I had been researching the Hakko FX-888D and X-tronic 3020-XTS soldering stations, when I randomly came across this video. You've sold me on this one, and I just ordered all 3 items via your affiliate links without hesitation. The $40.99 coupon didn't work, presumably because it's currently a promo item, but the 20% off coupon for the tips did work. Thanks again! Liked and subscribed!
Hey everyone, I spoke to a rep, and BangGood should have their stock fully replenished within the next day or so in case you're still holding out for one of these.
Just ordered one :) Not in a hurry, but it would be sweet for it to arrive sooner.
Also what is your opinion about the TS80?
I was planning to get that one until you posted the video, but I decided on this for the cheaper price, it is relatively compact (not us much as the TS80 of course)
readily available tips etc.
But the TS80 seems sweet for places where you don't have an outlet, but you can easily carry a few 10k Mah power banks.
Maybe a review/comparison, if it fits within your budget.
Also just noticed, I have been watching your vids for a year now, but I am not subed, not sure if YT, or me.
@@Rok_Satanas I actually just bought the TS100, hasn't come in yet but it sure looks sweet! Guess we will see.
For anyone still wondering, i was told the restock would be at 25/12/2018 There was a restock indeed yesterday but apparently it was already sold out due to previous sellout
@Voultar i hope you will make an video where you recommend a cheap desoldering station because mine from Star Tec is a piece of garbage, it has an soldering and desoldering station, but you need to hook the sucker part to your solder iron, which is extremely inconvenient :( Btw i ordered the entire ksger recommendations you made :)
Are there any Vintage American Brand soldering stations you would recommend?
I just bought it! $43 after the discount and shipping. There is really no better deal out there for a T12 iron with these features. Thanks for the heads up
@@d.stamand it's back ordered so not yet.
Mine showed up a few weeks ago. I broke it down and went through the electronics before plugging it in. Everything was solid. Temps come up quick. And it holds temp pretty good even when it's on a big ground plane. Only issue I ran into was the cord was stripped back twice as much as it needed to be at the connector. Broke out the Hakko and fixed it right up.
So this is the best $45 station you can buy.
Today I collected my KSGER T12 from post office using your web link, because of your review. Thanks, it is my first station
Great video as always!
If/when you get around to it, an episode on types of solder and good vs. crappy solder will help a lot of the newbies out there who do not know the difference.
I can't begin to tell you how many times I've opened up a system or cartridge and saw a terrible hack job inside.
I don't even need another soldering station but this review made me want to order one of these. Had me at the heat shrink in the power supply. Liked and subscribed.
A chip just popped on me using THIS soldering station purchased from your link in your description!
The chip I am talking about is the one next to the top left of the big capacitor which is at the rear right of the station.
The chip says, R300 on it, well it said R300 on it, now it's just all burnt
I bought the one from your Amazon recommended list. Not the same exact model, but internals looked solid. Continuity between the iron tip to ground was good. Power rails hard soldered to the board, which looked the same as this one. Main controller board looked different, but didn't look like trash. Fuse for the power plug just like this one. Solid.
It's a bit late but thanks to you I have just ordered my first Soldering Station. No more having to deal with crappy $3 soldering irons from my local hardware store.
I finally order this thing and I get an email 2 days later telling me it's out of stock..here's hoping they get more in soon.
I've had the new soldering station for a couple of weeks now (after contacting the site to find out why I hadn't gotten any news about my order in a while and they finally got it shipped) and I have already seen a huge improvement in my solder work as a result of using it. I did take it apart to check out it's insides and I'm glad I did because whoever put it together decided to put the battery (which is now connected with a cable instead of being soldered directly to the board like the one shown in the video) on top of the transformer which then presses it up against the top of the case so I pried it up from the adhesive holding it down and kind of shoved it under the power board so it wouldn't catch on anything. The connector for the heating element is no longer soldered to a cable and plugged in to the board as shown in the video (although the connector is still there) but an extended piece to the board now has the connector soldered directly to the board which I see as a huge improvement to the version in the video. Beyond that everything internally looks pretty much the same. As for what I've done with it well I cleaned up some mod chip work on one of my SCPH-101 PlayStations (found some cold solder joints that was causing the chip to not function at times) and fixed a still present solder bridge on another one that was causing a huge video error that scrambled the boot screen and then installed a new mod chip in that PSone as well. While it's not as clean as what Voultar did it in an older video it is far better then the job I did on the other PSone where I was using the cheap $3 soldering iron I've been using before getting this new soldering station. I am very happy with my purchase and my poor ILS tip I think is now begging me to replace it though it still looks like it can take some more work from me before it become totally useless (I have no idea how long these things are supposed to last and I'm sure I'm not taking proper care of it but the tip is still melting solder at 250 so I can't have totally ruined it yet and I scrape it off with some old steel wool as I see it getting dirty but only a light rub so not to totally ruin it). I've now even thought about looking in to installing a mod chip in my PS2 with how well things are working with what I've done so far. Thank you for your videos and for this video which finally got me to get a proper soldering station to do this kind of work with rather then hoping I could get away with the crappy soldering iron I've been using this whole time. Maybe I might start selling modded systems myself since it seems eBay's anti mod chip policy is clearly not being enforced if they even have it anymore (haven't bothered to check in a while).
from China means you need to quality inspect yourself which is intimidating for many
Update video ?
Got mine today, ordered after new year so they are still making them and shipping good stuff :-)
Great video, very helpful. I am a bit confused however. You mention in the description that the links you listed may NOT be internally identical. So are you saying we should not purchased from those links? Where’s our best chance of getting the correct version of this station?
That was a well built unit. Good review sir. Peace.
Listening to you talk about this station gives the same vibes as Bob Ross painting.
You are the Bob Ross of console modding.
Awesome video voultar. Great job in putting in the work for these guys starting out and also creating a bundle for them to rely on and try to hone their skills. I’m no pro and have learned a lot of technique from you but you really go over the top to help these guys no jack something up. Again great job man and I will continue to stay up to date on the best soldering material to watch on the web!
Ordered one. Fingers crossed all goes well.
Love the video and this product was exactly what I was looking for. I just got one too. Cant wait to get my flow on.
Very good video, impressed by how this little unit did its job.
I loved it, went straight to the links and bought one!
Bought the soldering station, absolutely amazing after breaking it in.
Love it as my first full feature station.
Have a question, what would you recommend for a hot air rework station?
This identical model on Amazon does NOT have direct soldered AC socket to the board. It still looks good though. And there is a mini version of this device which is less than half the size but uses a DC power supply. I wonder if the performance is the same.
Your soldering were so satisfying to watch
Thanks a ton for the links & coupon codes! This looks like an AMAZING value for the money! I am so excited to get mine!
@@d.stamand Not yet, I just ordered it like a week ago. It's coming from overseas so its gonna take a while.
I would like to add that if your screen is a bit crooked, you can loosen the knob mount and straighten it up. It is easy to do. Also, new tips need to be run at a low 150C or so for a few minutes to stabilize or break them in. They may act funny or produce an error message at first, no worries. This goes away after the break in procedure.
Got one myself, the only differences i noticed were the battery was a cmos battery rather than what you had, and the wires to the left of the AC port were not wired but rather soldered in place.
Thx for the update .... I want to order one next week.
Any of the desolder vacuum you can recommend on banggood.
Just bought your setup. Thanks for the recommendations! Excited to learn to fix a few of my consoles with popped caps.
It would have been interesting to see the display as an inlay to the video while you were doing the demo soldering to see the % go up and down etc. Good video && review!
Thank you so much for this video! Just ordered all 3 things, finally replacing my cheapo $10 soldering iron with the real deal.
Purrrchased cheers dude.
The 15% off didn’t work but I’m not complaining was a steal!
I just found my next solder station !
Excellent video !
Thank You !
Thanks mate, i bought a set for a Christmas gift to myself :) I love it so far, easy to use, and FAST heatup
17:25 That's nice to hear! Very uncommon nowadays.
Great video. I'm going to buy it.
I would have liked to have seen you check the temperature accuracy, but good video anyway.
Do you think you’ll be using this as your main station?
From the factory, the temperature (with the K-Series tip) was within a few degrees.
An outstanding feature of this iron is having the ability to manually dial in calibration for pretty much any and all T12/T15 tips ever made... Really nice!
I just got one, thanks for the review, I do soldering all the time, on consoles and guitar pedals, and never had the money to invest in a good soldering station, I can't wait it for arrive!!!
5 years later, is the T12 still your recommendation for someone wanting to learn how to solder and eventually modify game consoles?
yes because lord voultar only use good tools
Hi all been a fan of Voultars channel for years and now looking to purchase of of these soldering stations. Can someone please post a link to the latest version to get please as like he said in the discription some of the links and products maybe outdated. Thank you.
I wanted to add to this review for anyone reading the comments. I recently ordered this item. After maybe a month in transit, it finally arrive yesterday. I can confirm that the internals are the same as the ones shown in the video, albeit a few small differences. These differences are improvements in my opinion and in no way seem to affect the effectiveness of the item. I soldered with it last night and as far as I could tell, the review is spot on with everything I was shown in this video. I'd say the recommendation still stands on this product if you're ready to wait for the delivery all the way from the Chinas.
I want to order it because my soldering station is awfull, but i read the Faq on bangood of this soldering station and they're calling it fake and with old firmware and someone on this comment box said the same
Excellent! Just bought this for my 2nd station, and THANK YOU for pronouncing solder correctly 😁
I recently bought one as a backup for my Hakko at your behest. Barely any differences in the one I got but one particularly noteworthy one was that instead of connecting the DIN with cables, it is directly soldered into a secondary board connected to the brain board with quasi mouse nibbles between the two (presumably the non-power DIN lines are tucked between the holes), and the power lines for the DIN connector are cabled from the secondary board directly to the power board. Maybe a better choice to not have the DIN power lines do an unnecessary hop through the brain board? Slightly beefier RTC battery too.
Anyhoo thanks for the recommendation, I'm really pleased with it!
Edit: Oh, one other possible design improvement. The thermocouple for room temp is soldered on the other side of the board with the screen. I reckon having it on that side insulates it a bit from the heat generated inside the box and puts it closer to enclosure temperature.
Just got mine as well, and it has the exact same differences as you describe, plus the rtc battery is now connected through a socket and cable with the battery itself just glued on top of the main transformer. A thing that worries me a little is that the tip doesn't seem to be grounded
Edit: the soldering handle might have some issue? The soldering station is stuck on error constantly, except when I move around the handle. I can also hear something moving in it?
Edit2: nvm, it was just me assuming things. The thing I'm hearing is the component that detects flailing for quitting standby mode and the contact issue was due to an included standoff that was not designed for another tip size than the one that was included
@@Consolethinks I had this for a bit too until I set everything up in its final workspace, and tightened it down then it worked fine.
Also the thing you hear moving around is just the shake sensor (or at least it is on mine). To test this out, let it go into standby and very gently move the handle (without tilting it) and it should not come out of standby. Give it a good enough jiggle or tilt it tip up to make the sound happen and it should come out of standby. So yeah, 90% sure it's just a sensor for shake to wake.
@@tumest yep, everything works now, it was really just due to the included standoff that it didn't work (it's not needed for this type of tip), and the sound was indeed coming from the sensor.
Hi. KSGER T12 is my other favorite too; now- amazing station, heats 100% faster than a Hakko (it uses the same tip & the heating element tech from JBC) and has the beautiful OLED screen (usually you need to buy a separate power plug and the newer 3.1S firmware is a bit more expensive but it's a small improvement with the old ).
Quicko at almost half the price (about US$22 only in our local online site, shipped), is a rebranded KSGER T12 but only comes in the mini form factor but is more modular (separate power supply) but the lettering and name look less classy than KSGER.
God bless, Proverbs 31
Thanks man, I was looking for a good secondary/backup iron and this fits the bill perfectly!! Thanks for all the hard work on finding one of this nice of quality!! :)
Unless you're rocking a metal, jbc, or high end hakko (t12 type, like the 951), I'd recommend this as the daily driver. The fx888d just cannot compete.
About 22-23 years ago I paid $60 for an early digital Radio Shack soldering station. It's still working just as good as it did, and about 10 years ago I finally found a very nice set of compatible tips. Lately I've wanted something a bit more new and have been looking at systems that use T12 tips. This particular one keeps popping up, and I'm heavily leaning towards it and a nice Aoyue desoldering station.
Outstanding review, great content and no blah blah. Thanks for your time!
Like for the info, respect for the Famicom Goonies music toward the end. 😄👍
I just ordererd 1 with all the tips and the stand.
Thx Voultar for the exellent tip for us.
Thanks for the video. I've been looking into getting into soldering (again) and I love that unit. Definitely going try and get it next month.
Thanks Mr. Vaultar, been looking for a decent and affordable soldering station. 👍
Just like your first sex session, it's an important decision. You don't want unwanted solder all over your hot rod.
You should also be able to move the rotary coder left 5 clicks to get out of the menu. Quicker than a long press although I wish they had it set to 2 at the highest.
Also mine had issues to start. Lack of ground to body. The rotary encoder mechanical bond to the board wasn't soldered. The ground plane on the board wasn't used. Solder issues, the gx12 connector was unscrewed - all photos show the gx16 connector which rotates slightly and has a retention screw and mine didn't have that. Heat up and error which takes longer than my ceramic core with hollow 900T based tips iron to heat up. Banggood will be making it right apparently. Also ordered a spare iron to see if that'll help. The logic board was put in crooked. The GX12 was soldered directly to the board - yours has the wires going to a connector and on my board it looks like that part can be broken off and then a header soldered - but then only 1 side of the board would be supported..
I do like how the power board is separate from the logic board - their heat gun station combines them O_o... It also has a permanent connection - I modified that on my rework station and I may replace it with the KSGER and do the same thing and wire it up the same so I can use both.
I would've preferred the plastic stackable case - maybe I'll buy that separately.
Have you tested the temperature accuracy with a soldering tester? It's reported that some of those Chinese stations generates significantly higher temps than what you set them to.
Nice video, thanks! Where did you find the silicone tip pad that you mentioned 12:40. Can't seem to find it anywhere..
Roelof Pothuis yeah, I’ve been looking for one as well. It looks like it only comes with the stations you buy from Hakko or Weller though
@@tedmahsun Weird nobody in china started making them! can't take very long now.. hahah. Until then this might be a solution: (shortened alie express links)
bit.ly/2GIWdFT
bit.ly/2QWwkXK
not as cool as his silicon pad tough!...
Roelof Pothuis haha! Those are some nice alternatives! Thanks! Wife actually has one of those which she uses to lift hot pans off of the stove. Bought from a dollar store I think. Time to sneak into the kitchen...
Thanks very much for the comparison. Ben looking for a station for a few months. Just picked one up from your link
Thanks for this excellent review. I've been uncertain about which soldering station to get, but this really helped me make up my mind. I need something for replacing components on retro computer parts, so it needs to be relatively decent, and this really seems like it should do the job. Keep up the great work :)
Thanks a lot Voultar! I just ordered the Soldering station and the Holder. I am finally glad to have a great working soldering iron, i used an old Radio shack one i got years back, so lets just say it was hit or miss. I need this new one to put in some capacitors in a Pc engine duo i am getting. Wish me luck! (I will be ordering the tips soon as well!)
Just ordered, awaiting some soldering goodness!
Thanks for sharing! I was just shopping for a supplemental iron. Looks like I've found a winner! :)
I wish I could press the like button multiple times. One question though... Were you applying the tip directly to the surface of the board, or were you hovering above?
So funny you show a clip from the pace world wide training series. I watched that entire series to increase my soldering knowledge about 2yrs ago.
Where can I find the good one ? Any recent nice buy ?
Just bought the lot on Banggood. Total was $84.49 with the %20 discount code. Couldn't figure out how to use all of the coupon codes without buying everything separately, but nonetheless, pretty damn good buy. I was going to buy an X-Tronic model on Amazon, but glad I saw your video first. Speaking of the X-Tronic, maybe another review is in order to see the difference in quality of some of these similarly priced soldering stations. The fact that this one has T12 tips makes it the obvious choice for beginners. So much easier. One thing I couldn't find was the tip remover you show in you video. Where do you get one of those? It seems pretty necessary.
Look for Hakko B2300 pads or similar clones. $6-$12 usually.
Just ordered one from your link. Thanks for the informative video.
I ordered this on December 8th and it finally arrived today, part of the delay was the back order and part was just that it takes a long time to get stuff to the middle of the US from China. Anyway, it’s much better than the old Weller station I was using. I took it apart to make sure the internals matched what was in the video and they did for the most part. The power board is definitely the same. The controller is different but that doesn’t matter to me much. The menus and everything are all the same, the board for that part was just different. It heats up quick and did the job comfortably without getting in my way.
Please don’t make me spend more money
jajajja
Great review! Perfect timing because I needed a new iron.. ordered from the links in the video.. thanks!
Thank's Voultar. Just ordered one with the T12 tips and stand!