So I made the mistake of leaving my soldering iron in the garage last spring after doing some wiring work on my Jeep lighting. Unfortunately, we had an incredibly wet summer and fall this year. My iron rusted inside and out, including the what I assume is aluminum heater wire. When I tried to dissasemble it and work on removing the rust, said wire snapped and broke. I can't dissasemble the entire tool, so it looks like I killed my 15ish year old iron. Perhaps it was a sign to move onto something that heats up faster than 5 minutes and doesn't have a spliced power wire... don't ask, what you assume is the correct guess. So, I'm seeing Weller seems to still be a reputable brand that was out of my price range when I bought my old Radioshack iron. Does anyone have any experience with their BP650MP battery powered unit? It would be so nice to be able to have a soldering iron that doesn't require a power wire when I'm working under the Jeep's dash, as well as be able to use it for hobbies again. I realize I will still need a tiny low power pencil iron when I want to get into nano-LED wiring, but for general use I'm hoping someone I can say I trust a little more than anonymous seller sponsored review has some insight on this battery powered iron. TIA Edit: I guess I should also mention that I have some 2000mah rechargeable AA size batteries for my RC controller that should have enough juice to work well in a battery powered iron.
Weller has always seemed to be a good name. As yet I have not experienced a battery style. It has always seemed to work well for me to have both a higher wattage two step pistol grip type, and a low wattage pencil.
Also take a close look at Hakko soldering stations. I bought one several years ago, and it works very well for everything from decoder installs to rail joint soldering.
I buy a lot from Amazon.com and use the reviews to get an idea of how good a product is. Has worked for me. The one you mentioned has no reviews but the BM860MP a better model has 43 reviews. If you have soldering experience, it might be ok. I would not buy one. I use a Weller WLC100 soldering station I bought used off of ebay some years ago. Rich
Soldering Soldering. Many years ago I could not afford a soldering station. I had a Radio Shack soldering pencil plugged into a lamp dimmer that worked quite well when I developed a technique that worked for me. rich
I have a fair amount of soldering experience using an iron doing car audio back in my younger days, and RC electronics and vehicle wiring in addition to audio in my more recent hobbies. I'm really starting to get anxious to get my Unitrack feeders soldered, decoders in my Kato diesels, and attack a bunch of other small solder jobs on my railroad to do list as I am starting to have the opportunity to get out of the armchair and start using my new workbench. Boxcab, My dad has a gun if I ever need one, but for me I think they're probably a little overkill right now. Fishplate, I will look into Hakko, thanks for the lead. Lexon, As easily as I'm tempted to go back to Radioshack, and I may still do so, it would be for a plug-in iron, no one gave their battery unit a good review. I'm still intrigued by the battery powered variety due to the types of small jobs (some in cramped places) I tend to do with a soldering iron on my Jeep as well as whatever hobby projects I make for myself. I'll take a look on Amazon, I saw the BP650 at the local hardware store. And Weller's site is really frustrating to try to "shop" on.
I'm not sure what is affordable for you. Weller stations have been around for a donkey's age and people swear by them. I bought a Hakko station and like it, its is cheaper than the Weller's and just as good, they get good reviews. A more budget station a buddy uses and likes is the one available at Radio Shack, cheaper than Hakko and Weller. I was at my local Electronics store and notice had a cheap iron with some goodies on sale, obviously to grab the Xmas crowd, I think it was something like $12. I also have a cheap Weller iron knock off that I bought for $11 with needle nose pliers included, this iron works amazingly well.
The more I keep reading about battery powered irons, the more I'm seeing the trend that for an iron plus new rechargeable batteries I could buy a real good $70 wired iron, so I think I'm going to shop around town either at the hardware store or RadioShack and see what else I can find for around $50 with a wire. Maybe something with variable wattage even.
I have a 12w Antex iron that I like so much that I am considering replacing my old Weller SP23 with a higher wattage Antex. The Weller tips just don't last for me anymore. I'm spending ~$12 per year on Weller tips, and it's my secondary iron. I haven't replaced the Antex tip yet and it's been my primary iron for 5-6 years. The Antex heats impressively fast. I find it a second iron of different wattage is lighter in my toolbox than the the power supply of a good variable. As always, match your solder size to your work. My step-daughter found the Antex online for me.
Antex is the brand of iron that Ngineering sells for working with their nanoleds... I'm not sure however about the plug type, are British or European plugs compatible with US outlets?
I am very pleased with my Weller WTCPT soldering station. It is more than 30 years old, has performed upwards of 10,000 soldering operations, and still works like new. I have used it to solder everything from heavy duty RF connectors to N-scale decoders. I am still using the original three tips I bought when the unit was new. Both the soldering station and the tips appear to indestructible. - Jeff
It took a while to decide I wasn't going to find a decent pencil iron local, and i had to pay off some holiday debt... but now my new Antex M12 is on its way from Virginia. Thanks Sepp K for the idea! Sent from the magical mystery box
Bought one of these new from Amazon last year and very pleased with it. Recommend it for general use. Get the finest tip possible if doing decoder soldering.
I purchased an Iso-Tip wireless battery powered unit. It has a good selection of tips and works very well but when I attempted to do small work I could not depress the button and keep my hand from shaking. I now use it only around the layout and not on the bench. Harold
