@@alexstone691 List Price on the JBC is $1,395.00, though obviously you can often get it for less. MX 5210 is list at $799.00, but the new high power handpiece is needed to get most out of it.
That Ersa station maybe's not so good looking, but is an amazing tool. I have a icon-2 for six years now, and works fine, the tips are very good, varied and cheap.
My I-Con1 doesn't have anything like the massive overshoot you're seeing, and the build quality is better (metal stand, unmarred front plate). However your comments on the tip are spot on, that's my experience exactly. I can't connect anything but the basic I-Tool to it AFAIK, and that's a shame. It seems to me Ersa isn't innovating or even keeping up with the market, but is saving money by reducing build quality. The comparison to Weller hits home!
I find it odd that they haven't moved with the times. It seems to be a common theme with many long standing brands that have previously had success only through their reputation.
The metal stand is the very old style stand. They changed to an all-rubber stand fairly early on, and then not too long thereafter they created the rubber and ceramic stand they’ve stuck with for many years now. (I actually really like the rubber and ceramic stand. Solder doesn’t stick to it, the rubber won’t damage the tips, and the front of the brass wool cubby is intended for wiping the tip.)
As for overshoot: I have the i-Con nano at home, and use the 2V at work, and I also don’t get the big overshoot on either of those. The 2V at work a bit more, but only when pulling away from a big joint.
@@sdgelectronics I think due to improvements coming faster these days the market is a bit different now. I don't mind investing in a new solderingstation if it gives me noticeable better performance. Weller and such long standing brands still go by the longevity rule, ie 30 years use of one unit rather than innovating at a greater pace and replacing units every 5-10 years. Switch mode psu's suddenly make some sense now. They don't last as long as a EI transformer but are cheaper and more energy efficient and smaller. Maybe having an external psu/replaceable is the next step.
Thank you for these reviews. I bought an Aixun T3A based on your last review, which seems to be best system for the money right now. I can't believe this Ersa station is £600 and still using the inefficient decoupled tip tech. Even a KSGER station with a good tip like T245 will be better, what a joke.
Yep, pretty sad for the ersa model, used one during school, but normal tht so no complaint for that but as an allpurpose iron for small and these big tasks its seems really bad. I wouldn't directly compare to the KSGER with the T12 or the T245, since i dont know if a "real" soldering iron manufacturer could use either of them without a patent infringement. But yeah, they need to step up their game to compete with the cartridge irons. I am currently building my own unisolder to retire my beloved Weller WECP-20. As handles i am going to use the T210, T245 and a FX-8804 clone.
I'm very interrested in seeing some "nano" type soldering hand pieces/tips, like the JBC NT115/C115. The only JBC station that takes a NT115 hand piece are the very expensive NASE/NANE stations. But there are some off-brand alternatives like the Sugon T36, or one of those "JBC add-on modules" like the K-308 or one of those TEC modules.
I’ve had an Icon Pico with an i-Tool as a starter station for some time now. It works fine for what it is. I’ve not had the collar problem you mentioned, they sit loosely around the tip. A niggle I have with the handpiece though is that it gets quite hot in the finger area on prolonged use. I’m still using the Pico as a secondary fitted with a very fine high mass special tip from Ersa for smd soldering. Thanks for the video.
I have the same experience with changing the tips. I did have an issue with bad contacts between the heater cartridge and the handpiece. A new handpiece solved the issue. This was my upgrade coming from a cheap 35W plug in iron. I think the performance shown in this video is very similar to what I notice when using the Pico. This gives me a very good impression on how much better the performance of all the other tested soldering irons actually is. Will keep this in mind if I ever need to replace/upgrade.
I have had the iCon Nano for many years now (it was like 400 euro when I got it!). The idea of the "rubber" handpiece holder is that when you need to clean it from solder drops and various dregs that tend to accumulate inside, you just squeeze it and the solder pops right off and in the trash. No need to scrape it out of a difficult to access spot using a knife or screwdriver or something similar. Also the wire wool is quite a recent addition, e.g. my Nano came only with a sponge inside that hole of the stand. That's what it was originally designed for. The collars on the tips - that can be quite hard to pop off but it will loosen up a little after a while. Generally the idea is to pop that off only when you are replacing a worn out tip. For hot swapping tips it is much better to spend the little extra and buy an extra collar. They are not that expensive and you need to buy them only once. Oh and confusing information on the ERSA's website is nothing new. E.g. good luck trying to figure out what the exact difference between the Pico and Nano stations was apart from the Pico not being ESD safe, apparently ... It is still good technology and works great compared to many cheap junk stations but they are really living from their past successes and not innovating much. The iCon stations have been on the market for good 10 years now, if not longer, with only minimal changes apart from price. Today there are better choices for the money, IMO.
I fully expect this station would outlast many of the cheaper systems built down to a cost, and for every day soldering it would work absolutely fine (although I noticed the handpiece gets quite hot). Just a shame it's so expensive for what it is, but it is manufactured in Germany and seems to be good quality in most areas.
@@sdgelectronics Mine doesn't really get hot - warm yes but not hot. Even the tips are possible to change while hot if one is quick and careful (I don't even have those "tweezers"). Obviously that's not a great design but it is possible and I do it quite regularly. Another wart I don't like much is the rather stiff cable on the handpiece. It is likely silicon insulated but it tends to twist the handpiece around which is annoying when using other than a conical tip. That seems to be different on your iCON (Nano has a different cable, there is only a JST-like connector at the end that does into the bottom side of base, the handpiece is not meant to be removable). Yeah and totally agree about the two last points - the quality is good, never had an issue with the iron, just the price is not. ERSA was always very expensive for what it is, even 10+ years ago when the iCON system was introduced. When I got the Nano I wanted a decent station, couldn't justify the expense of something like a JBC, Pace or Metcal and Hakko is basically non-existent (or very expensive) in Europe. It replaced a cheap Aoyue iron/hot air combo and a Pros'kit branded Solomon station - which was a big upgrade at the time. Today I would rather get one of the JBC clones but it wasn't an option years ago when I got the ERSA.
Ersa’s specs are indeed a nightmare, especially regarding wattage. ESD safety is the only difference between the pico and Nano. The Nano uses the same heater as the “big” i-Tool (but run at lower voltage), while the pico uses a cheaper heater with plastic threads. I got my i-Con nano in 2015 and it came with the brass wool.
Concerning loose tips: I am pretty sure the metals are selected in a way that their expansion will provide appropriate heat transfer. Thats the concept. I think that is a valid way to do it, but annoyingly the tips need a little cooldown before you can brake them loose again… Mine works well, but I would agree on innovation and pricing angles.
It's an interesting feature, though I didn't see a practical indication that it was useful in the end. The two coins you see were actually 1x high overshoot and 1x low overshoot mode - the result was practically the same.
@@sdgelectronics This probably indicates that tip power is maxed out. The advantage is to have a higher initial temp when your tip lacks temp mass, but not in between solder joints. It would slow down tip oxidation compared to it being at e.g. 400degC during the whole rework.
Hi. Excellent videos as usual, much enjoyed. 👍 I would like to point out that Weller have used a cartridge based system for some time now. The Weller WX1 station accepts one device (iron) and the WX2 station accepts two devices. The station is rated to supply max of 200 watts of power to a single device. They do the military standard rated irons, WXUP-MS (150W), WXMP-MS (55W), WXPP-MS (40W) for the micro solder cartridge tips. Thought I would point that out in case your interested.
WXUP-MS spec says 24V, looking at an example tip (RTU 015 S MS) its $40, ok average price. But see that its using a 3.5mm TRS jack, do you really think it can pump 150W (6A) through that thing? I find that incredibly hard to believe.
@@jaro6985 No idea but I have one and I'm happy with it. Maybe the 150W is maximum as they do a 33mm beast of a tip (RTU 330 K MS). Would be nice to see it compared by an expert like SDG
Good test there. Yes, this is quite disappointing for the price. My experience with Ersa is the same. I have an Icon Pico which is 80W but with the same old heater/tip configuration. Ok for sure that is not in the same price league... After a relatively short period of time my heater failed which costed me 50€ to replace which is quite a lot. Based on my experience the tips are way more expensive than what you told here. Fine curved tips that I use costs over 20-28€ each. The tip quality is also poor because I cannot put solder to the tip of the tip case of a 0,6mm tip for example and for QFN chips I usually replace is useless this way beacuse I cannot put solder onto the pads.... An other huge dislike goes to the temperature accuracy for each tips. On the same 0,6mm small tip I measured 60C lower temp than the set tempearture which is like a bad joke. Now I use a Ksger station which way overperforms the Ersa. I have the feeling that Ersa is living from their old brand name and they do not do the necessary upgrades to keep up with the technology which is quite sad.
FYI, on the i-Con tips, it is *essential* to screw them down tightly! They should not be loose, and if the tip is even slightly loose, the performance plummets. If you change a tip while the iron is hot, you will need to tighten it again once the tip has heated up and expanded.
I use Ersa at home and at work, and the tips should not have any looseness when screwed down. The stand is not made of two kinds of plastic: it’s rubber and ceramic.
I've got an I-Con 2 (not a 2V) which looks identical to the one in your video (apart from the letter V) and use it every day. I think it's a great iron and it has no problem soldering 0603s one minute then going on to soldering the large tabs of D2PAK transistors to ground planes the next without changing irons, tips or settings. I use a 0.8x2.4mm chisel tip, Ersa part number 102CDLF24. I can do everything with just one iron even though I've got two, with two different tips. But perhaps there are better options out there, I don't know because all I've got is one of these. Mine has a nice feature when adjusting temperature - the acceleration is "sticky" to the nearest multiple of 50 degrees, so if you quickly advance it upwards from say 300, it will "stick" on 350, then 400 and so on. My firmware version is 2.26 dated 28/02/2014 - it's what came with it when I bought it. I don't see overshoots anywhere as large as you see, nor do I see the random drifting when the iron is in the cradle. The turn-on overshoot is about 10-12 deg. C max and the drift is within a couple of degrees with the iron in the cradle. Mine is also quicker to display the "OK" in the bottom right of the screen upon power on. Mine takes about 8 seconds. Also I've rarely needed to change tips whilst it's been hot (or indeed in general) since it's a dual station and I've got two irons each with a different tip, but I just tried it, whilst on, having been on for about 20 minutes at 250 deg. C (the sleep temperature) and the plastic collar was probably 40 degrees C to the touch and wasn't uncomfortably hot. My station is set to "medium" overshoot or whatever they call it. Thanks for the video though, I appreciate the time and effort you've put in!
It has to be said for almost all of these soldering stations that every day soldering will be just fine. My testing tries to show the extremes so that we can see the limits of operation. I still think they have let themselves get a bit behind though. I used to use the Ersa RDS 80 and the performance IMO is pretty similar.
@@sdgelectronics Of course, you're right. It's not even reflected in the price, they're still very expensive soldering stations and there's not really anything special inside to justify the price tag, especially since they've been making the same model for quite a while now.
Could you test Kasyan analog T12 station as the cheapest but still cartridge soldering station, as it's cost is ~$5? depending where you are I guess you could also put jbc on it if you wanted But i personally think it performs really well for such a simple station
Actually surprised Weller hasn't made it into this series. I know their reputation has suffered, but I wonder if their cartridge stations can be of any redemption. Are they really this unpopular? Came to mind when a recent Hasselblad cameras documentary had Weller stations throughout their production floor.
I will have another look at their range, I thought only the small lower power handpiece offered the cartridge system but I only had a brief look a while back.
It will perform between the PS2E-01 (40W) and the MX5200 (80W). As the performance is simply based on the RF output power. Tips are a bit cheaper than metcal.
Hakko also advertises that the FX-100 station has a boost mode one can use for very high thermal demand. But how would this work when they're limited to the temperature set by the curie effect in the tip?
@@hansibull my guess on the boost mode was that it temporarily bumps up the RF output power. However, the manual actually says it increases tip temperature, which makes no sense... as you said. Anyway it can't bump it up too much as the rated station input power is 85W.
I don’t know if you noticed but when it had big overshoot it also had massive undershoot too, the low overshoot looked best for both, seems it’s PID control is a bit crap really.
Just all part of the problem with that thermal resistance between the tip and the heater. In day-to-day soldering, you probably wouldn't notice, but with so many well controlled systems available it makes this stand out as a poor performer.
I recently discovered your channel, and I'm many hours deep in so far. Thank you for the amazing content! I came across a JBC clone by Mechanic, the MA-SD01. It'd be great to see how it compares with the Best / Jabe clones
This seems to perform no better than my 30 years old Ersa Analog 80. The old Ersa tech was OK 30 years ago, but for a new soldering station today the Ersa or Weller range of products was no option for me. It was between Metcal and JBC for me (and perhaps Pace). Today I have a new JBC CDE-2BQA on my way from Welectron.
I have a clone FX-951 on the way, but I'm not sure whether to get the real thing. I don't expect the performance to be any different to the KSGER for example. The FX-100 should behave the same as the Metcal. I'll probably get hold of one or the other.
I couldn't get beyond the fit and finish of the unit. Even the collar on the handpiece looked strangely odd and out of place. Looks like my old metcal is safe for a while longer. Karl
Sad to see that Ersa is lagging so much behind the competition, even with their higher priced products. A couple of years ago I bought one of their cheaper RDS 80 stations for hobby use at home and I was really disappointed. SMD soldering was more or less impossible. Poor heat transfer, super long grip to tip distance and worst of all was the very stiff PVC cable. Do you plan on testing Weller soldering irons? At work we used the WD2 station with WMRP irons and different cartridges. I think they were quite nice. Wellers product line-up is however a bit convoluted in my opinion :-)
Are you ever gonna check out a Weller WXMP based soldering station? It is surely the best soldering station I've ever worked with but surely also expensive. I'm using the WX2 station with 2 Weller WXMP's
What about the " I2C" Jbc clone Station from Ali rexpress. They advertize many station( Mainly the clone of Jbc compact line). And Support the three types of handle 245, 210 and 115 on the same station. they also seemed like to be made qualitatively. A review of them would be great too. Although i am still waiting on chinese to make a clone of almighty metcal. That would be really intersting to see..... BTW great work. I almost check your channel daily for new vids....
My Aixun T3A with C245 tips to the job without struggling seen here. Seems tips aren't good enough. Pity that Ersa even don't provide T245 compatible handles for C245 tips. Or at least try to make their tips with better thermal response.
Considering the tip design it wasn't as slow to heat up as I was expecting - "time to use" is my main criteria, ie, I hate waiting. lol -. I guess the tip has to be loose because the hotter heater expand more, ie, it might thermally bind. Is it just me or does it seam like European companies are being left behind in tech, ie, sitting on their past laurels.
I used to use an Antex station which relied entirely on friction to keep the tips in place. They did used to get stuck over time. I don't really know why some of these companies have no vision for future products.
Do you have any interest in reviewing the Hakko FX-888D? It was very widely recommended as a good beginner soldering station at one point, which was why I bought it.
Could you perhaps also review some low cost chinese soldering stations I have a Ksger T12 V3.0 STM32 Oled Digitale Temperatuur Controller Soldeerstation. Which outperform this station its about 50 euros and works like a charm. Also the tips are cheap as chips and are very good I have this soldering station about 18 months and works greath
Can we order copy/clones of the unisolder board you submitted to JLCPCB? ie directly from JLCPCB. Love some notes on how to order it most efficiently (and accurately). I'd like to build 5-10 for my hackerspace.
@@sdgelectronics I know. It's just uploading gerber and specifying stacking for 4 layer boards. not made personally. is fraught with potential error. Hoping JLCPCB had a community 'same for me' order option that had all configurations preset.
The ersa software story is also horrible. I got the pico but returned it. You had to use some weird ass window program to write a binary config file to a sd card. (WTF) And it then didn't accept the sd card. I even was in contact with the product manger and dev team. Performance wasn't great either. I just returned it.
If its sparking then its not properly earthed. Do yourself a favor and if its using a 3 prong plug, check the earth is properly connected internally. If not, run a dedicated earth wire.
@@jaro6985 Well, that's kind of the first thing you do when you see sparks flying at your qfn56 package (checking for good grounding on all exposed metal parts..).. but I guesss it has to do with the usb power supply I use, it is 2 prong.. seems it doesn't filter correctly.. I kind of thought about a diode and a resistor to fix that. but for now I keep away from soldering on live circuits ^^ (even it is very convenient sometimes)
@@tinygriffy yeah never solder live circuits, please. Since it is two prong you'll need to plug an additional earth-only cable into your power outlet, run it to the soldering station, and attach it to the case or similar.
Its going to be the same as metcal, essentially. If you want cheap, get a used metcal. If you can't find one or want cheap stands, tips, etc, get them from thermaltronics.
It should be pretty much identical to the Metcal, though I can't vouch for the build quality. The Hakko FX-100 should also be very similar. I will add to the list.
Hand piece looks like they have copied what's inside a Weller WMRP pencil. It has a 4ch ADC, memory chip, but only a crude movement sensor and talks to the controller via I2C.
@@sdgelectronics i like the 951 very much this station can put the power very nice in the groundplane where i solder . But i need to be onest is not the most powerful unit i ever see maybe a Hakko fm 203 , fx 100 or the fn1010. This are more powerful then the 951 and i think is a hard choise .
There is just no reason to buy a Ersa I-CON 2V. It would be a nice soldering station back in 1995 or so... Thermal regulation is so poor. No temperature presets probably. I do not want a hanpiece with a microcontroller. The 0100CDJ handpiece is also bloody expensive.
@@simonspeaker ADS is over $300 but definitely a very solid station but it lacks a rich feature set. Wasn't PACE the supplier for NASA back in the space race days? Or was it weller?. Some of those old soldering tutorials on YT are by far the best I've seen.
I NEED PRITATICAL I HAVA A OLD CHIP SOLDER 25 W IRON BUT NOT HIT PREFACT NOT WORK DONE iF SIR GIVE ME A GOOD QULITY SOLDERING STATION LIKS KSGER MINI 2.1 V SET I DONE MY WORK PREFECTLY .IHAVE NO RUPPES THAT MOENT
Realy love this series really adds value when a single person does so many reviews.
TLDR: ( my take away) Not bad but there are better ones at this price point. Metcal mx-5200
@@Ender_Wiggin metcal mx5200 cannot be beat tbh
@@alexstone691 JBC HDE is a possible contender. But it's a bit less versatile.
@@sdgelectronics It also beats metcal in pricing by quite a bit at $1200
@@alexstone691 List Price on the JBC is $1,395.00, though obviously you can often get it for less. MX 5210 is list at $799.00, but the new high power handpiece is needed to get most out of it.
That Ersa station maybe's not so good looking, but is an amazing tool. I have a icon-2 for six years now, and works fine, the tips are very good, varied and cheap.
My I-Con1 doesn't have anything like the massive overshoot you're seeing, and the build quality is better (metal stand, unmarred front plate). However your comments on the tip are spot on, that's my experience exactly. I can't connect anything but the basic I-Tool to it AFAIK, and that's a shame.
It seems to me Ersa isn't innovating or even keeping up with the market, but is saving money by reducing build quality. The comparison to Weller hits home!
I find it odd that they haven't moved with the times. It seems to be a common theme with many long standing brands that have previously had success only through their reputation.
The metal stand is the very old style stand. They changed to an all-rubber stand fairly early on, and then not too long thereafter they created the rubber and ceramic stand they’ve stuck with for many years now. (I actually really like the rubber and ceramic stand. Solder doesn’t stick to it, the rubber won’t damage the tips, and the front of the brass wool cubby is intended for wiping the tip.)
As for overshoot: I have the i-Con nano at home, and use the 2V at work, and I also don’t get the big overshoot on either of those. The 2V at work a bit more, but only when pulling away from a big joint.
@@sdgelectronics I think due to improvements coming faster these days the market is a bit different now. I don't mind investing in a new solderingstation if it gives me noticeable better performance. Weller and such long standing brands still go by the longevity rule, ie 30 years use of one unit rather than innovating at a greater pace and replacing units every 5-10 years. Switch mode psu's suddenly make some sense now. They don't last as long as a EI transformer but are cheaper and more energy efficient and smaller. Maybe having an external psu/replaceable is the next step.
ERSA stuff here in Australia is at the high end of cost. As in not far off JBC.
Thank you for these reviews. I bought an Aixun T3A based on your last review, which seems to be best system for the money right now. I can't believe this Ersa station is £600 and still using the inefficient decoupled tip tech. Even a KSGER station with a good tip like T245 will be better, what a joke.
I will be buying this one to. Looks like good balance money vs quality vs performance.
I just got my FX-951 and really was considering the Aixun T3A but was skeptical as there weren't any review at the time.....
The Aixun definitely seems to be the best so far in terms of raw performance vs cost.
Yep, pretty sad for the ersa model, used one during school, but normal tht so no complaint for that but as an allpurpose iron for small and these big tasks its seems really bad. I wouldn't directly compare to the KSGER with the T12 or the T245, since i dont know if a "real" soldering iron manufacturer could use either of them without a patent infringement. But yeah, they need to step up their game to compete with the cartridge irons. I am currently building my own unisolder to retire my beloved Weller WECP-20. As handles i am going to use the T210, T245 and a FX-8804 clone.
I’ve one of this, the ersa icon v2, and it’s a beast.
I'm very interrested in seeing some "nano" type soldering hand pieces/tips, like the JBC NT115/C115. The only JBC station that takes a NT115 hand piece are the very expensive NASE/NANE stations. But there are some off-brand alternatives like the Sugon T36, or one of those "JBC add-on modules" like the K-308 or one of those TEC modules.
I'll bear that in mind. Thanks
@@sdgelectronics A comparison of similar size tips on the T245, T210 handpieces would be great!
the iron holder in the stand is not hard plastic, but ceramic material.
I’ve had an Icon Pico with an i-Tool as a starter station for some time now. It works fine for what it is. I’ve not had the collar problem you mentioned, they sit loosely around the tip. A niggle I have with the handpiece though is that it gets quite hot in the finger area on prolonged use. I’m still using the Pico as a secondary fitted with a very fine high mass special tip from Ersa for smd soldering. Thanks for the video.
I have the same experience with changing the tips. I did have an issue with bad contacts between the heater cartridge and the handpiece. A new handpiece solved the issue.
This was my upgrade coming from a cheap 35W plug in iron. I think the performance shown in this video is very similar to what I notice when using the Pico. This gives me a very good impression on how much better the performance of all the other tested soldering irons actually is. Will keep this in mind if I ever need to replace/upgrade.
I have had the iCon Nano for many years now (it was like 400 euro when I got it!). The idea of the "rubber" handpiece holder is that when you need to clean it from solder drops and various dregs that tend to accumulate inside, you just squeeze it and the solder pops right off and in the trash. No need to scrape it out of a difficult to access spot using a knife or screwdriver or something similar. Also the wire wool is quite a recent addition, e.g. my Nano came only with a sponge inside that hole of the stand. That's what it was originally designed for.
The collars on the tips - that can be quite hard to pop off but it will loosen up a little after a while. Generally the idea is to pop that off only when you are replacing a worn out tip. For hot swapping tips it is much better to spend the little extra and buy an extra collar. They are not that expensive and you need to buy them only once.
Oh and confusing information on the ERSA's website is nothing new. E.g. good luck trying to figure out what the exact difference between the Pico and Nano stations was apart from the Pico not being ESD safe, apparently ...
It is still good technology and works great compared to many cheap junk stations but they are really living from their past successes and not innovating much. The iCon stations have been on the market for good 10 years now, if not longer, with only minimal changes apart from price. Today there are better choices for the money, IMO.
I fully expect this station would outlast many of the cheaper systems built down to a cost, and for every day soldering it would work absolutely fine (although I noticed the handpiece gets quite hot). Just a shame it's so expensive for what it is, but it is manufactured in Germany and seems to be good quality in most areas.
@@sdgelectronics Mine doesn't really get hot - warm yes but not hot. Even the tips are possible to change while hot if one is quick and careful (I don't even have those "tweezers"). Obviously that's not a great design but it is possible and I do it quite regularly.
Another wart I don't like much is the rather stiff cable on the handpiece. It is likely silicon insulated but it tends to twist the handpiece around which is annoying when using other than a conical tip. That seems to be different on your iCON (Nano has a different cable, there is only a JST-like connector at the end that does into the bottom side of base, the handpiece is not meant to be removable).
Yeah and totally agree about the two last points - the quality is good, never had an issue with the iron, just the price is not. ERSA was always very expensive for what it is, even 10+ years ago when the iCON system was introduced.
When I got the Nano I wanted a decent station, couldn't justify the expense of something like a JBC, Pace or Metcal and Hakko is basically non-existent (or very expensive) in Europe. It replaced a cheap Aoyue iron/hot air combo and a Pros'kit branded Solomon station - which was a big upgrade at the time.
Today I would rather get one of the JBC clones but it wasn't an option years ago when I got the ERSA.
Ersa’s specs are indeed a nightmare, especially regarding wattage.
ESD safety is the only difference between the pico and Nano. The Nano uses the same heater as the “big” i-Tool (but run at lower voltage), while the pico uses a cheaper heater with plastic threads.
I got my i-Con nano in 2015 and it came with the brass wool.
Concerning loose tips: I am pretty sure the metals are selected in a way that their expansion will provide appropriate heat transfer. Thats the concept. I think that is a valid way to do it, but annoyingly the tips need a little cooldown before you can brake them loose again… Mine works well, but I would agree on innovation and pricing angles.
I wish more stations had an "overshoot" mode as an option for non-sensitive tasks.
It's an interesting feature, though I didn't see a practical indication that it was useful in the end. The two coins you see were actually 1x high overshoot and 1x low overshoot mode - the result was practically the same.
@@sdgelectronics This probably indicates that tip power is maxed out. The advantage is to have a higher initial temp when your tip lacks temp mass, but not in between solder joints. It would slow down tip oxidation compared to it being at e.g. 400degC during the whole rework.
Hi. Excellent videos as usual, much enjoyed. 👍 I would like to point out that Weller have used a cartridge based system for some time now. The Weller WX1 station accepts one device (iron) and the WX2 station accepts two devices. The station is rated to supply max of 200 watts of power to a single device. They do the military standard rated irons, WXUP-MS (150W), WXMP-MS (55W), WXPP-MS (40W) for the micro solder cartridge tips. Thought I would point that out in case your interested.
When I took a quick look at their website before, I think I only saw it on the small handpiece. I'll have another look.
WXUP-MS spec says 24V, looking at an example tip (RTU 015 S MS) its $40, ok average price. But see that its using a 3.5mm TRS jack, do you really think it can pump 150W (6A) through that thing? I find that incredibly hard to believe.
@@jaro6985 No idea but I have one and I'm happy with it. Maybe the 150W is maximum as they do a 33mm beast of a tip (RTU 330 K MS). Would be nice to see it compared by an expert like SDG
@@pow9606 If you have a killawatt style power meter you can test it for yourself.
@@jaro6985 I don't have that power meter. I guess It doesn't matter to me, It does what I need it to do.
Good test there. Yes, this is quite disappointing for the price. My experience with Ersa is the same. I have an Icon Pico which is 80W but with the same old heater/tip configuration. Ok for sure that is not in the same price league... After a relatively short period of time my heater failed which costed me 50€ to replace which is quite a lot. Based on my experience the tips are way more expensive than what you told here. Fine curved tips that I use costs over 20-28€ each. The tip quality is also poor because I cannot put solder to the tip of the tip case of a 0,6mm tip for example and for QFN chips I usually replace is useless this way beacuse I cannot put solder onto the pads.... An other huge dislike goes to the temperature accuracy for each tips. On the same 0,6mm small tip I measured 60C lower temp than the set tempearture which is like a bad joke. Now I use a Ksger station which way overperforms the Ersa. I have the feeling that Ersa is living from their old brand name and they do not do the necessary upgrades to keep up with the technology which is quite sad.
FYI, on the i-Con tips, it is *essential* to screw them down tightly! They should not be loose, and if the tip is even slightly loose, the performance plummets.
If you change a tip while the iron is hot, you will need to tighten it again once the tip has heated up and expanded.
this is an underrated channel
I really like that you test soldering stations.Please test as many as possible
I use Ersa at home and at work, and the tips should not have any looseness when screwed down.
The stand is not made of two kinds of plastic: it’s rubber and ceramic.
I've got an I-Con 2 (not a 2V) which looks identical to the one in your video (apart from the letter V) and use it every day. I think it's a great iron and it has no problem soldering 0603s one minute then going on to soldering the large tabs of D2PAK transistors to ground planes the next without changing irons, tips or settings. I use a 0.8x2.4mm chisel tip, Ersa part number 102CDLF24. I can do everything with just one iron even though I've got two, with two different tips. But perhaps there are better options out there, I don't know because all I've got is one of these.
Mine has a nice feature when adjusting temperature - the acceleration is "sticky" to the nearest multiple of 50 degrees, so if you quickly advance it upwards from say 300, it will "stick" on 350, then 400 and so on. My firmware version is 2.26 dated 28/02/2014 - it's what came with it when I bought it. I don't see overshoots anywhere as large as you see, nor do I see the random drifting when the iron is in the cradle. The turn-on overshoot is about 10-12 deg. C max and the drift is within a couple of degrees with the iron in the cradle. Mine is also quicker to display the "OK" in the bottom right of the screen upon power on. Mine takes about 8 seconds.
Also I've rarely needed to change tips whilst it's been hot (or indeed in general) since it's a dual station and I've got two irons each with a different tip, but I just tried it, whilst on, having been on for about 20 minutes at 250 deg. C (the sleep temperature) and the plastic collar was probably 40 degrees C to the touch and wasn't uncomfortably hot.
My station is set to "medium" overshoot or whatever they call it.
Thanks for the video though, I appreciate the time and effort you've put in!
It has to be said for almost all of these soldering stations that every day soldering will be just fine. My testing tries to show the extremes so that we can see the limits of operation. I still think they have let themselves get a bit behind though. I used to use the Ersa RDS 80 and the performance IMO is pretty similar.
@@sdgelectronics Of course, you're right. It's not even reflected in the price, they're still very expensive soldering stations and there's not really anything special inside to justify the price tag, especially since they've been making the same model for quite a while now.
Thank You for the reviews.
Thank you, Steve! You just saved my money :)
If your budget is here, go for the MX-5200 or the JBC DDE 👌
@@sdgelectronics Sure both are good! But too good for my budget.
Could you test Kasyan analog T12 station as the cheapest but still cartridge soldering station, as it's cost is ~$5? depending where you are
I guess you could also put jbc on it if you wanted
But i personally think it performs really well for such a simple station
That's the thing - badly tuned PID controller with a uC most of the times behaves worse than a simple P controller on a comparator.
It's a tipically European product. It was cutting edge 30 years ago and they never improved it since
Actually surprised Weller hasn't made it into this series. I know their reputation has suffered, but I wonder if their cartridge stations can be of any redemption. Are they really this unpopular? Came to mind when a recent Hasselblad cameras documentary had Weller stations throughout their production floor.
I will have another look at their range, I thought only the small lower power handpiece offered the cartridge system but I only had a brief look a while back.
It would be really interesting to see how the Hakko FX-100 soldering station performs! AFAIK it's using the same technology as Metcal
It will perform between the PS2E-01 (40W) and the MX5200 (80W). As the performance is simply based on the RF output power. Tips are a bit cheaper than metcal.
Hakko also advertises that the FX-100 station has a boost mode one can use for very high thermal demand. But how would this work when they're limited to the temperature set by the curie effect in the tip?
@@hansibull my guess on the boost mode was that it temporarily bumps up the RF output power. However, the manual actually says it increases tip temperature, which makes no sense... as you said. Anyway it can't bump it up too much as the rated station input power is 85W.
I don’t know if you noticed but when it had big overshoot it also had massive undershoot too, the low overshoot looked best for both, seems it’s PID control is a bit crap really.
Just all part of the problem with that thermal resistance between the tip and the heater. In day-to-day soldering, you probably wouldn't notice, but with so many well controlled systems available it makes this stand out as a poor performer.
WOW, I can't believe that the Metcal outperforms all the other soldering stations with the coin test while it's much less wattage
Thanks so much for a very enlightening video.
I recently discovered your channel, and I'm many hours deep in so far. Thank you for the amazing content!
I came across a JBC clone by Mechanic, the MA-SD01. It'd be great to see how it compares with the Best / Jabe clones
This seems to perform no better than my 30 years old Ersa Analog 80. The old Ersa tech was OK 30 years ago, but for a new soldering station today the Ersa or Weller range of products was no option for me. It was between Metcal and JBC for me (and perhaps Pace). Today I have a new JBC CDE-2BQA on my way from Welectron.
My Pinecil is the best iron I've ever had - don't think I'll be changing anytime soon.
Hi, have you reviewed the Hakko FX-951 and FX-100 yet, and if no - do you plan to do it soon (at least the FX-951)?
You have right this are very good stations and the can comppet with athers brands as well.
I have a clone FX-951 on the way, but I'm not sure whether to get the real thing. I don't expect the performance to be any different to the KSGER for example. The FX-100 should behave the same as the Metcal. I'll probably get hold of one or the other.
@@sdgelectronics Ok great will look forward to viewing the review - and many thanks for the consideration.
Agreed, performance for that price does not seem too solid.
I couldn't get beyond the fit and finish of the unit. Even the collar on the handpiece looked strangely odd and out of place. Looks like my old metcal is safe for a while longer. Karl
Sad to see that Ersa is lagging so much behind the competition, even with their higher priced products. A couple of years ago I bought one of their cheaper RDS 80 stations for hobby use at home and I was really disappointed. SMD soldering was more or less impossible. Poor heat transfer, super long grip to tip distance and worst of all was the very stiff PVC cable.
Do you plan on testing Weller soldering irons? At work we used the WD2 station with WMRP irons and different cartridges. I think they were quite nice. Wellers product line-up is however a bit convoluted in my opinion :-)
Yes I used to the RDS 80 for many years. I could never get good heat transfer on some of the finer tips.
Hi do you have also review on sugon t3602
Any chance you could get Quick 202d for a review? Imho, great soldering station, total bang for a buck.
Interesting, I hadn't come across this one so I'll see if it's available.
Are you ever gonna check out a Weller WXMP based soldering station?
It is surely the best soldering station I've ever worked with but surely also expensive.
I'm using the WX2 station with 2 Weller WXMP's
I will add it to the list.
@@sdgelectronics Yes! I tried yesterday a random 50øre(danish crowns) and even with the small tip that i have it surely performed well!
At 21:50 it looked like it was having issues on the legs.
Definitely very sticky. Quite a difference compared to the Aixun from last week.
Strange that you are talking about the lower performance while your test is showing that it performs on-par with the rest.
What about the " I2C" Jbc clone Station from Ali rexpress. They advertize many station( Mainly the clone of Jbc compact line). And Support the three types of handle 245, 210 and 115 on the same station. they also seemed like to be made qualitatively. A review of them would be great too. Although i am still waiting on chinese to make a clone of almighty metcal. That would be really intersting to see.....
BTW great work. I almost check your channel daily for new vids....
My Aixun T3A with C245 tips to the job without struggling seen here. Seems tips aren't good enough. Pity that Ersa even don't provide T245 compatible handles for C245 tips. Or at least try to make their tips with better thermal response.
Ersa I-CON 2V 120W has some strange design decisions...
Considering the tip design it wasn't as slow to heat up as I was expecting - "time to use" is my main criteria, ie, I hate waiting. lol -.
I guess the tip has to be loose because the hotter heater expand more, ie, it might thermally bind.
Is it just me or does it seam like European companies are being left behind in tech, ie, sitting on their past laurels.
I used to use an Antex station which relied entirely on friction to keep the tips in place. They did used to get stuck over time. I don't really know why some of these companies have no vision for future products.
Do you have any interest in reviewing the Hakko FX-888D?
It was very widely recommended as a good beginner soldering station at one point, which was why I bought it.
Could you perhaps also review some low cost chinese soldering stations I have a Ksger T12 V3.0 STM32 Oled Digitale Temperatuur Controller Soldeerstation. Which outperform this station its about 50 euros and works like a charm. Also the tips are cheap as chips and are very good I have this soldering station about 18 months and works greath
Can we order copy/clones of the unisolder board you submitted to JLCPCB? ie directly from JLCPCB. Love some notes on how to order it most efficiently (and accurately). I'd like to build 5-10 for my hackerspace.
Yes it's on the UniSolder github repository. This isn't my PCB github.com/sparkybg/UniSolder-5.2
@@sdgelectronics I know. It's just uploading gerber and specifying stacking for 4 layer boards. not made personally. is fraught with potential error. Hoping JLCPCB had a community 'same for me' order option that had all configurations preset.
Love the handpiece on this station so much but omg the price is silly..
The ersa software story is also horrible. I got the pico but returned it. You had to use some weird ass window program to write a binary config file to a sd card. (WTF) And it then didn't accept the sd card. I even was in contact with the product manger and dev team. Performance wasn't great either. I just returned it.
Could you not put a sponge cleaner in the rear of the stand?
600 quid ! ? .........cheers.
Can you get the Unisolder kit from jlcpcb or just the pc board?
Would test goot soldering station?
I
If its sparking then its not properly earthed. Do yourself a favor and if its using a 3 prong plug, check the earth is properly connected internally. If not, run a dedicated earth wire.
@@jaro6985 Well, that's kind of the first thing you do when you see sparks flying at your qfn56 package (checking for good grounding on all exposed metal parts..).. but I guesss it has to do with the usb power supply I use, it is 2 prong.. seems it doesn't filter correctly.. I kind of thought about a diode and a resistor to fix that. but for now I keep away from soldering on live circuits ^^ (even it is very convenient sometimes)
@@tinygriffy yeah never solder live circuits, please. Since it is two prong you'll need to plug an additional earth-only cable into your power outlet, run it to the soldering station, and attach it to the case or similar.
Are you going to look at the thermaltronics stations? They seem pretty good?
Its going to be the same as metcal, essentially. If you want cheap, get a used metcal. If you can't find one or want cheap stands, tips, etc, get them from thermaltronics.
It should be pretty much identical to the Metcal, though I can't vouch for the build quality. The Hakko FX-100 should also be very similar. I will add to the list.
Awesome
Wow. You are buying even more solder station than me......
Got to collect them all... :D
You have the older Unisolder boards?
yes, it's not the latest since I originally started building it a few years ago. The performance is no different though from what I can see
For a German product I'm quite disappointed with that aggressive temperature overshoot
Hand piece looks like they have copied what's inside a Weller WMRP pencil. It has a 4ch ADC, memory chip, but only a crude movement sensor and talks to the controller via I2C.
Apparently it's an ATmega micro in there with an Analog Devices ADXL323 iMEMS 2-axis accelerometer.
NICE VEDIO INDIA KOLKATA
What about the Jabe?
I did a review quite a long time ago on the Jabe/Best T245 system. It behaves pretty much exactly the same as the JBC.
When will be the Hakko time . The cheap alternative .
Which one specifically? I have a clone FX-951 on the way, but I don't expect any difference between it and the KSGER for example.
@@sdgelectronics i like the 951 very much this station can put the power very nice in the groundplane where i solder . But i need to be onest is not the most powerful unit i ever see maybe a Hakko fm 203 , fx 100 or the fn1010. This are more powerful then the 951 and i think is a hard choise .
There is just no reason to buy a Ersa I-CON 2V. It would be a nice soldering station back in 1995 or so... Thermal regulation is so poor. No temperature presets probably. I do not want a hanpiece with a microcontroller. The 0100CDJ handpiece is also bloody expensive.
👍👍👍👍👍
Seem to be way over priced for it's performance.
Pace ads200 eats it by 100%
ripoff for that kind of money, not that good of a performance, not even metal case
SIR GIVE ME A GOOD QULITY SOLDRING STATION LIKE KSGER BIT OR TIP AND POWER SUPPLU
What do u mean by give?
look at pace ads200
@@simonspeaker ADS is over $300 but definitely a very solid station but it lacks a rich feature set.
Wasn't PACE the supplier for NASA back in the space race days? Or was it weller?. Some of those old soldering tutorials on YT are by far the best I've seen.
SIR IAM A NEW STUDENT OF ELECTRONICS AND PHONE REPRING
I NEED PRITATICAL I HAVA A OLD CHIP SOLDER 25 W IRON BUT NOT HIT PREFACT NOT WORK DONE iF SIR GIVE ME A GOOD QULITY SOLDERING STATION LIKS KSGER MINI 2.1 V SET I DONE MY WORK PREFECTLY .IHAVE NO RUPPES THAT MOENT