TWT #7: Yihua 862D+ Safety Mod
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 มิ.ย. 2024
- Hello Everyone, in this episode I will hopefully explain and show how to mod the Yihua 862D+ SMD rework station to make it safer.
DO NOT PLUG THE UNIT IN WHILE WORKING ON IT, be aware that this is modding the AC Mains side of the unit to try and make it safer, please take every possible precaution before attempting this mod. Also it is good to make sure the capacitors are discharged before poking around in the unit.
Fast Forward Music:
So Far Away - Riot - TH-cam Audio Library - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Thank you for this video - as a point of reference, these units are still (August 2018) shipping out with this configuration. I used your video as reference to correct mine before I ever even plugged it in.
Thank you for the comment, I'm glad to hear the video was useful! It is very unfortunate that these are still shipping with issues like this, I suppose it is unlikely that they will ever change.
Thank you for your video, very informative. I can also report that I purchased one of these days ago and it's wired 'incorrectly' for NA use, with neutral going through the fuse first and then the switch, and the transformer bearing March 2018 as the manufacture month. I ended up wiring it so the fuse is behind the switch on live.
Glad you found the video informative. It is unfortunate but I feel the majority of these will ship with incorrect wiring until something new comes along to replace it, there doesn't seem to be any incentive for the factories to fix the issues. I suppose if nothing else, it is a good reminder to always inspect cheap electronics before using them!
Thank you very much for your information and solution, very well explained and practice your video. tomorow I'm going to make the right connection in my soldering station
I'm glad you found it informative, I hope yours goes as well as mine did. Just remember to take your time and be safe!
Thanks for the heads up. I just ordered one of these on eBay, so I will check the polarity as soon as it arrives. The problem probably occurs because other than North America, almost all other countries use 240v with two live wires. I suppose in that case it wouldn't matter which wire is connected to the switch and fuse, although those should have a two Pole switch to positively turn off the power.
Yeah that does seem to be the most likely reasoning, I suppose it is just, more or less, an oversight on the NA and UK versions. Hopefully yours will be wired correctly out of the box!
I suppose, to be fair to Yihua, the station isn't actually compliant with NA code and doesn't ever claim to be (or at least didn't back when I bought mine 2 years ago). On the plus side there seem to be a lot fewer units shipping nowadays with the reversed wiring inside, at least based on the very small sample size of this video's comments section.
Even with the potential issues it is still a very good soldering station in my opinion at least, based on my hobbyist usage. Really I suppose the simplest fix to the issue would have been to plug the unit into a power strip with a switch and turn it off whenever it was not in use. In the end though it has been a very decent soldering station and hasn't needed any repairs in 2 years of hobbyist usage.
Correction. 240V countries still have one LIVE and the other neutral. The only live wire is 240V not 2 live wires.
Thank you for the heads up. I just bought one of these units and is in the mail.
I for one love to open my Chinese units to see what's been done incorrectly. Quality control is an expense they like to relax on. It's like they transferred QA funds to their customer service dept for overall cost effectiveness.
What was the outcome ?
You're awesome for doing this video! Subbed.
Thank you for the positive comment it made me smile. I'm just glad people find this video helpful, or interesting.
@@TinkeringWithTerrius Np man. You deserve it. It's surprising to me with the amount of the reviews on this (and 'similar' devices) that say they have this flaw and that there aren't more videos on this. Even if it's just to complain about the flaw or QA or whatever else.
Anyway it helped me see if it was right and I thought it was. I decided to plug it in and bam. Lights blinking '------' and '8' alternatively. Hot air fan restart cycling.
Tried to open the hot air part but I didn't feel like breaking it. Welp, I'll come back to this after finals are over.
@@TinkeringWithTerrius turns out a cap basically got destroyed when I first plugged it in. No evidence there was even a cap there other than a couple burn marks. Plus a few cold solder joints fixed now.
Just wanna say thanks again. While I didn't have this specific issue, it's always nice to check. :)
ac + and - will still be live and will still give the same shock . so it does not matter what side the fuse is on . so to isolate bot put a stdp switch on so it sorts all problems out . a transformer does not need to be positive or negative so it does not matter how you connect it.
I bought one of these in 2020 and it was wired correctly, so that's a plus.
Nice job on the video. Just a few things though... Throughout most of north america, we call them "alligator clips". :) You are correct in that the device came mis-wired, and would leave 120VAC potential between the positive side of the circuit and earth ground. You could have simplified the repair, and shortened the video significantly, had you simply swapped the two incoming leads. The fuse and power switch would subsequently have been corrected automatically having done just that.
Those things aside, have you done much with this rework station? I'm currently in the market for a hot air rework station, so I like to hear from people using those that I've considered based on price and specifications.
Thanks in advance,
Oops, forgot to mention, one last thing. For most applications where wires are concerned, tinning is great, however, soldered butt splices are an exception. Best to strip your wires to about 1/3rd more than the length of the splice, then overlap them diagonally at the two centers of exposed ends, and twist each end from the junction point towards the insulation of the opposing wire in both directions. Once you have the two wires evenly wrapped with no strays dangling, sweat the solder into the splice by heating the wire and introducing solder once hot enough to be wicked up into the bare splice. Heatshrink as you have, and you'll have a proper splice. I know, everybody is a crittic... Sorry, I really am just trying to help. Great video though...
Steve
I think alligator vs crocodile just comes down to personal preference, in Canada at least it seems a equal number call them croc or crocodile clips versus alligator clips. That being said alligator seems more common in the US and Crocodile in Europe and Australia based on watching different TH-cam channels.
The station seems to work reasonably well, I've been using it as my main soldering iron and only heat gun since posting this video. The iron tip heats quickly and so does the hot air gun's heating element. For the price I don't imagine there are many better rework stations, especially if you are in the US and can get it for $50-60 with free shipping.
Thanks for the advice on splicing the wires!
I was thinking crocodile was a regional thing, based on indigenous species of large mouthed reptiles of the continent to which we reside.
For an all in one solder rework station, I think that Yihua 862D+ you have gives the most bang for the buck. With Yihua, I have somewhat of a love hate thing going on. Pretty much everything they make is copied from much higher quality, as well as much higher priced Japanese vendors. You really can't compare the quality of what they produce to a brand like Hakko, but come on. Who can afford top of the line for home use? I know I can't. What Yahua does, is makes a usable, sub par alternatives to tools I can't afford, which allows me to work effectively in my home without spending a fortune.
There are a few examples of things Yahua does that actually makes their products better for home use, than having the real thing. For example, the bulkhead connectors they use for connecting irons to their stations are standard GX16-5's, which are readily available for next to nothing. That means if you want to replace the crappy PVC insulated iron chord with a high quality silicone chord, you can buy the cable and ends to make high quality attachments to whatever length you desire.
The components used in their rework stations are decent and reliable enough for long life usage, it's the assembly process that trashes the quality on many of their products. That said, you're buying a solder rework station, so, chances are you're savvy enough to repair manufacturer defects, and are able to replace any failed generic component throughout the life of the tool.
My current soldering station is a Yihua 936b, which comically, is a Chinese made clone of a Chinese made clone (Aoyue 936) of a Japanese made Hakko 936 solder station. I chose this clone over the many 936 clones out there for it's ergonomics. Aoyue made common sense upgrades to the Hakko design. It has a front mounted power switch, rather than along side, where I like to store my iron holder. They also moved the iron connector off of the PCB so that you're not stressing the solder joints every time you plug in your iron. Additionally, it's a 50watt unit, more comparable to Hakko's original 65watt 936 than most of the others which are only 35watt units. My clone of a clone was only $19.00 delivered, and works great! I'm happy with it mostly because I'm no longer struggling to find compatible tips for all my ancient plug in, non-grounded irons.
The iron it came with is decent enough, but best of all, uses replacement Hakko style ceramic heaters, and is directly compatible with all the 900-M tips. Thus far, I've found tips for handling anything from the smallest joints to any larger joints on through mounted components. I was considering a larger iron to support the 900-L tips, but nobody is cloning the 908 irons, so I was torn between paying a fortune for an actual Hakko iron, or an adapter that still cost $5.00 more than I paid for my station. :) I ordered the adapter, I'll let you know how it works out.
I like the all-in-one that you have, so I'm definitely considering giving up my 936B and going that route. My setup for doing SMD work and reflows is comically bad. I'm using a pneumatic plastic welder with a 1/4" tip and a 2.5 horse compressor regulated at 5psi for hot air. :) Hey, sometimes you just have to work with what you have... :)
It will be a while before I upgrade, but I'll drop you a note to let you know what I end up going with.
Keep tinkering, it's the BEST way to learn! I'm a pretty old dude who's spent his whole life tinkering and learning. You should know that it has been my experience that I have learned far more from what I've done wrong, than from what I have done right. So anytime somebody out there, myself included, comments on something you're doing wrong, it's most likely because we too have done it wrong and learned the hard way over the years. We learn best from our own mistakes, so by all means, make mistakes.
Steve
hay i have this same station. for the price its worked great for the year and half i've been using it to build racing drones, just recently the hot air went out, and that is due to a wire broke internally in the cable between unit and hot air gun, they used stiffer wire then should have been used due to needing flexibility and fact that it moves around quiet a bit. i've just recently decided its time to upgrade instead of repair it. wish there was a decent name brand hot air and soldering station. but there isn't so gonna get a hakko iron and then look for a decent small hot air station of quality. so i recommend it for small to general use, but if your a daily solder, then maybe step it up to a little better station.
oh also, what you were saying about just rewiring instead of listening to this hak, so if i just unsolder the black and white wires and then switch them. everything will be good?
@@wiytboi yes if I understood correctly, I am waiting on this same station, and as soon as I get it, i will check if in july 2020 they still make the same mistake. In my case will not due any splicing will just remove and switch the black and white wire and double check.
Hello there
thank you for your good video
I want to ask is there a sleep mode in the soldering iron section of this product and how many watts is the soldering iron section?
oops! has Yihua since changed that, for the U.S. market? the unit you are modifying is the one i am considering getting, or a Zeny 862D+ thanks for the great, helpful video!
I have 852D++. I will check if this is a problem too when i have the chance. Thanks for the video
I received a "Zeny" 862D (same exact unit) in Oct 2017 and the wiring issues had been corrected in mine.
Glad to hear it, I'm hoping this means that they are being more careful now and it isn't just a luck of the draw type thing.
I think this is the case because in many countries the position of live/neutral in the socket is not strictly defined.
Yeah that seems to be the main theory. It still seems a bit odd though, since they are using integrated plugs instead of just a standard C14 socket. You'd think it wouldn't take much effort to make sure that when you're attaching the N.A. plug you wire the fuse and switch on the live side.
Alas it just seems to be the way these units are made and it isn't going to change.
I just bought one of these and came across your vid just hours later. My version doesn't have the master power switch on the rear, only the fuse. Gonna check anyway.
Hopefully it was one of the correctly wired ones, I suppose the variant with no master switch is just a cost cutting measure, can't think of any other reason to remove it.
is that what causes the whining sound from hot airgun when i turn off the main power switch on the back? we have 240volt and no neutral since the main plug have a different design and can be turned both ways.Mine has a fuse on the back like yours but also one in the mains plugg
Honestly I'm not sure, I suppose it is possible since the hot air gun would always be live.
what does that do to the internal fuse in that transformer?
hello! so after the mod can I leave the box plugged in now when I'm not using it? is it ok? also, could you make another vid that would make this machine 100% safe? oh and in Canada, are you using 120 volts? please make suree to answer all of the questions. great vid btw
Hello, thanks for the questions!
First up, after the mod you can indeed leave the box plugged in, as the switch will prevent the 120volts of the mains from entering the unit. (Assuming the switch isn't damaged or somehow faulty). I personally keep the soldering station and all of my electronics gear plugged into a heavy duty fused power bar which I turn off whenever I leave the room, this is just a personal preference though.
Second, Unfortunately as a hobbyist I don't quite have the knowledge nor expertise that would be required to redesign this unit for 100% safety. After fixing the mains switch and fuse I am confident enough, at least personally, to use this station on a nearly daily basis, so while not 100% safe(very few things are) it is within the acceptable risk zone for me.
Finally, Canada does indeed use 120v, though depending on region and power supplier it seems to fluctuate between 110-125v which as far as I know is
a common fluctuation even around the United States. Most of the time the power in my house is sitting around 117V, at least according to my UPS units.
Hope these helped!
awesome! and a fast reply back! you definately helped, thanks a lot!!
Hi there again! So Today I just got my work station. Its very nice. I used it already. But can I still do the safety mod or do I have to "drain" the remaining power when it's not plugged in?
I left my station unplugged for a while before opening it and doing the mod, but mostly because I had to set up for recording it.
I would say to be extra safe let it sit for a while, there are a couple fairly large capacitors inside but they should drain fairly quickly and while they shouldn't be able to cause any problems when working with the Neutral and Live wires, sometimes it is better to be cautious.
I took it apart and saw that my wires are different colors 😮 what do I do? How do I even check if its wired correctly or not?
Any chance you could see if the Yihua 959D has the same exact wiring as this unit? Mine also seems to have the wrong side (neutral) going to the fuse
Thnaks.
the reason for this issue is that these units were originally designed for the type F euro plug market where there is no polarization on mains plugs www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/f/ and were then later retrofitted with 120 volt guts
Interesting, that certainly seems plausible. I would have thought if they were redesigning it for 120V they would have put the fuse in correctly. Then again I have heard of units with the fuse installed correctly, so I'm still leaning towards a lack of inspection before sending it to North America playing a large part.
I purchased one of these and used it several times until it failed. I opened it, and the fuse housing was broken. I will replace the fuse housing and rewire it according to your video. My question is: What is the correct AMP for these stations since there is no marking in the station itself?
I know in Canada that the white is neutral and the active should be either black, red or blue depending on the phases used, but wouldn't it have been simpler to just change the plug and correct the wiring there?
Yeah, in hindsight it may have been simpler to just swap out the cord and rewire it correctly.
Thanks for unboxing and disassembling this device. I am quite interested in buying one for myself.
One thing I am really startled about ... In Canada you know exactly which side is neutral and which is live? Quite a great electrical design done there ...
Don't know if you know our eu-plugs than can be used "normally" and by 180° flipped ... You can never tell which side is live ... Nor you can at the wall socket, depends on how reasonable the electrician was and even more important ... If you know which side should be live. Not even I know which side is normally live, even I am a learned electrician...
I think, if I buy this device, I will mod a 2-phase switch and another fuse in it.
One thing still bugs me ... You are telling "soldered earth connections are bad" but you solder the main wires too ... Not the "good way" either ;-)
Thank you for commenting!
Indeed, in North America if the cord has a ground connection then the Live and Neutral are always in the same position, much the same as the UK plugs (though their plugs are much sturdier and just overall better designed.)
Looking back now I really should have done a proper mechanical splice on the wires before soldering them, maybe someday I will get really ambitions and revisit this mod and tidy it up a bit.
I think he meant the ground soldered on the plate or body instead of having a screw attached to the body as we see here. COuld be wrong but that's the way i understood it.
I purchased this unit unbranded from an Ebay seller e-vipcom.
Mine is missing the rear switch, but it wired properly.
It also has 2 broken capacitors floating around in it, and the iron will not go into standby mode.
Otherwise it heats quickly and seems to stabilize. I will report back with how they handle the situation.
Glad to hear it was wired correctly, even if it has broken capacitors inside. I look forward to hearing how the seller handles the situation!
wow urs has standby, wish mine did
Why not just swap live and neutral wires right after the mains cable enters the unit? The unit was designed for unpolarized plug, so I don't think there could be any harm in just reversing the polarity basically, thus making sure the switch and the fuse are on live wire and everything else is on neutral. Am I missing anything?
I have also read that in similar Chinese soldering stations sometimes blower is not grounded or is grounded to the front panel, which in turn is not grounded at all, so sometimes what's needed is to fix ground connections or scrape some paint next to the screws and holes so front panel is grounded to the base. So if you haven't - check continuity between the blower and ground tip of the AC plug.
I just ordered the same station, with no name on it, but I think they are all the same. I've seen some photos with shorted soldering on the board, so I will check the board for visual problems with soldering.
Honestly I can't remember 100% why I didn't just swap the polarity, as long as the unit truly was designed for un-polarized plugs it should be fine. I wonder though if there are any major or even minor differences between the PCBs for the 110V North American units with polarized plugs and the un-polarized 220v euro plug versions.
Thanks for the heads up about the blower grounding, I will be sure to pop the unit open again and check that out. I'm pretty sure mine was okay, but I'm not gonna risk it until I know for sure!
The soldering in mine was pretty well done, there was a ton of flux on the board but other than that I had no shorts. There are a ton of these units that look nearly identical, I wonder how many of them are manufactured in the same place and how many are copies. If there are multiple manufacturers copying the same design it might explain the vast difference in quality between the units.
Considering they screwed up a simple US wiring I doubt they made any changes to PCBs. Also, I'm not a pro, but I think when circuit is closed AC current flows exactly the same way regardless of polarity (it goes both ways changing direction 60 times a second), so the only possible difference as far as I understand, is that the "hot" wire that should be interrupted by a fuse and the switch. But I may be mistaken, that's why I asked my question. There might be copies, or might be same factory that makes them all and just slaps brand names on it. Mine doesn't even have a brand name on it. They look too similar, including paint job, on the photos. I think it's the same factory. But who knows...
My limited understanding is yes the circuit should be able to accept the AC current travelling in either direction. The circuit should just be the transformer and hot air gun heating element and neither of these care about polarity.
Why would you need a soldering station if you dont even have the most basic educationin electrics. And look up the difference between electrics and electronics.
I jist purchased this on ebay... so... what happens if I jist leave it as Is? what situation would cause a fire or shock? because.. I'm worried about tampering with it. I haven't even got it yet
Since it is using mains voltage all it would take is a short somewhere in the unit to cause a shock, fire is less likely but could occur if there is a severe enough short inside.
The reason it is unsafe is that having the fuse on the neutral side bypasses its purpose in the event that there is a ground fault inside the unit, the most dangerous of which would be a fault in the transformer or in the heat gun circuitry (the heat gun runs at mains voltage on mine). Having the fuse on neutral means that it would never see the current from a ground fault and thus would never pop. You would be relying entirely on the circuit breaker in your house to trip in order to protect you. (Which here in canada means it would need to draw more than 15A sustained or spike for an insane amount on regular non GFCI breakers)
Fire wise, whenever you have a ground fault heat is inevitably produced and in worst cases it can actually cause arcs. Heat can eventually start a fire, and if there is significant arcing that too could result in fire.
It depends on how lucky you are with your unit, or if they have changed the wiring since I got mine. If you're lucky the fuse will be in the correct place on the live wire (which I have seen in some units) so if there is a short it will pop and prevent any further damage to you or your property. I have also seen units with the switch wired correctly but the fuse still on neutral.
I would recommend leaving it unplugged and removing the case just to take a look inside before using it the first time. Follow the mains wires and check to see where they are going, use a continuity meter if you want to be sure. If it looks okay inside then there is no need to be concerned.
The warranty on my unit was basically 1 year limited with me having to pay the shipping to send it back to china if it was defective... Thus I had no issue with voiding it as it would cost $50+ to ship it back to them for me.
Finally the reason the switch being on Live is important is similar to the fuse, if there is a ground fault the switch will not be able to turn off power to the unit since mains will be flowing from the Live wire into the ground wire and bypassing the neutral.
Even after fixing the dubiousness inside of mine I keep it on a switched heavy duty power bar (that also has a fuse) and I never leave it on for more than I need to, and switch off the power bar whenever I leave the room (to be extra safe). Call it mains voltage paranoia! :)
Tinkering With Terrius I certainly will take your advice, thank you for the time you took to reply In such detail.
Thank you for the question, I always enjoy when people take time to ask questions! Hopefully my response helped, it was a bit rambling due to writing it prior to Coffee... :)
Every typical heat gun runs off of the mains I bought one of these a couple of years ago, and mine is fused /switched correctly. I like this thing. Works great.
Thanks for the comment! I really like mine as well, it makes life so much easier than using a fixed temperature one. I'm glad to hear that there are some that are wired safely though, I guess I can hope that mine was an exception to the rule, but of the 3 I have seen so far they were all wired wrongly (though for different reasons).
Good to know that most heat guns run off mains, I imagined they would have more protection or at least isolation than they do in reality I guess.
Double check if you buy one! I just checked mine and my right side was fused (ie the hot)
Glad to hear some of them are coming wired correctly! Was the switch in the correct location as well? (immediately after or immediately before the fuse)?
Tinkering With Terrius immediately after the fuse, however the case is not grounded because of the giant glob of loctite they used. I actually don't see any ground going to the board
In aircraft construction I can tell you that in installing all ground cables we used a small rotary steel brush with a guide pin that fit into a drill chuck. You grind away paint down to bare metal, install the ground cable and then we would dab on a weather-proof coating to seal the connection and prevent moisture intrusion that could oxidize or corrode the ground and make it unstable. I wouldn't use RTV as it breaks down over time.
I have this unit and have been using it for years.
The safety mod was done years ago.
But I'm wonder if anyone else has done a mod, using an Arduino or ESP32 to add a little LCD to be able to add an auto off function?
I've been lazy and haven't done it yet, but it's something I really need to do.
I tend to be using it, then to get called away, forgetting to turn off the unit. LOL
Needless to say, this isn't good for tips or heater elements.
I wish that I could get a schematic for this thing, because a more major mod would be to remove the digital LEDs and replace with a pretty Nextion display that would display everything that's there now, as well as the auto shutdown feature and perhaps an hours counter.... other features as I think of them.
So I'm curious if anyone has done any major mods to this unit?
How does this happen? I'll tell you because I have built electronics in China. The workers you get are by and large uneducated and often have little concept of quality. They build the box turn it on, it works, good, done. I had a product that we sold to a very picky telco. The box was to contain specific items includiing docs, a CD, a wireless modem, antenna etc. Everything was to packed very specifically including the locations of labels on the box etc. I went and showed them. On our first shipment the carrier did 100% inspection and we failed on over 30% of the items. No hardware failed and indeed passed all tests. It was th packaging order and location of labels etc. We literally had to give them videos and pictures of the items. On top of that we hired a guy in China to just turn up and the plant every once in a while and start pulling product for QA. In the case of this item the worker believed it was OK and ju8st packaged it. Yihua didnt built it - a third party did but Yihua should not that you have to own QA if you want to build in China!
Yeah it is unfortunate that there is no additional QA before shipping them overseas, or even a QA step by these sellers once it has arrived from overseas.
At least it isn't too difficult to fix the issue, at least it wasn't in my unit. I suppose for the insanely cheap price, some compromises on quality must be assumed. It is a good soldering station once the issue is fixed.
I have a similar station - Zeny. Now that I've seen this video I have to look inside or get someone to check it. But I just checked the three-prong power plug on it and there is continuity between the hot and the neutral. That's wrong? The ground seems ok; I get continuity from the ground to all parts of the case. Please help. Maybe save my life. Thanks!
Continuity between hot and neutral should be correct as it is feeding into a transformer. If the continuity stays with the switch turned off, or the fuse taken out then you should be concerned. No continuity from neutral or live to ground is also a good thing.
I've heard that the grounding on the hot air gun is disconnected in some units, so it may be worth while to check the ground continuity on that as well.
Thank you for the quick response. I'm not sure what you mean by "if continuity stays with switch turned off". Of course, there is no power to the station and it doesn't matter which position the power switches are in - there are only the two on the front - there is still continuity between hot and neutral. If I take the fuse out, then no continuity. So, it's ok?
Sorry, I assumed your unit would have a main power switch on the back that kills power to the entire unit. If there isn't a main power switch then be aware that a portion of the internal PCB and a lot of the wiring will be live whenever the unit is plugged in. I would recommend keeping it unplugged or on a switched-off power strip when it is not being immediately used.
If continuity breaks when the fuse is out, that is good because it means the fuse holder is wired without any shorts.
Ok, thanks again. I'm looking at the innards now and it looks pretty good except for the red stuff everywhere! Yes, I see the one wire from the plug going to the fuse and the other going to a plastic connector and there's power there when off but plugged in. I finally turned it on and tested everything. Seems to work and without any smoke. I appreciate your help. Stay safe.
Do you know that there are lots of countries, for example Germany, where the mains plugs are symmetrical and nobody is able to tell where neutral and live will be connected to ?
The construction of a device has to be safe, no matter where the live and where the neutral wire will be connected to. Opening up a case or changing a fuse without disconnecting
a device from mains is not recommended IMHO. Otherwise, of course if Yihua is supplying countries with definite positions of live and neutral, it should obey the regulations
of that countries or even better use IEC receptables in their cases.
Wonder if ALL THE VARIANTS of these units are wired like this one??
There are a ton of variants of this unit, but I've heard of multiple different branded ones all having this same issue. It just seems to be roll of the dice as to whether you get one that is wired correctly or not.
My Gaoyue 850, a Chinese Hakko 850 knock-off was miswired in the same fashion. My Yihua 936B soldering station was partially miswired in a more peculiar fashion. It's been a very long time since I encountered that, but if I recall, the "on/off" switch was switching the neutral, however, the hot line was fused. It may have been the other way around. Since I had it apart to replace the power cable with an IEC 3 prong receptical, I moved both the switch and fuse to the hot side of the circuit. I don't think any of these type devices are "UL" listed. :)
It's a safe bet that half of the Chinese made products of this type do not have their mains wired properly. To be fair to the Chinese manufacturers of these devices, they aren't inherently unsafe to use, they are just not abiding by electrical standards we maintain here in the US and Canada. There is no real circumstance, during ordinary use of these pieces of equipment that will put anybody in jeopardy. If the switch is turned off on a machine that switches the neutral rather than the hot, the only live potential is still inside the machine. The same goes for the internal fuse being miswired. The earth ground is still present, and if in some bizarre situation, the fuse blew, the live potential could only short to ground on a closed enclosure, and likewise for the same situation having the neutral switched rather than the hot.
These things really only become dangerous when we open them up, not knowing only how it should be wired, but not understanding electricity in general. Having standards makes life easier all the way around. Consumer safety is just an easy means to coax manufacturers into not only building safer products, but products that abide by our standards. I like standards, the alternative is chaos, which I don't appreciate so much in my old age... :) I buy so much Chinese made junk, especially where tools are concerned, that I can't think of any electrical device I've purchased in recent years, that I haven't had torn apart before ever plugging it in. I correct what I find wrong, and improve deficiencies that will affect usability or longevity, but that's just me. If I had the money to buy high quality tools, I probably wouldn't need them because I could then afford to buy new stuff to replace what breaks, instead of fixing broken stuff all the time.
Steve
My home doesnt have ground wires, If I apply the safety mod, will it be useless?
I would still recommend to move the switch and fuse to the live side of the incoming power, assuming you have a live and neutral connection, at least this way the fuse interrupts the circuit with less chance of the casing still being live. Having no ground wires can be dangerous due to the potential for electric shock or electrocution if a short develops inside and you touch the unit.
If the plug can be inserted with either pin in the same hole there is no point. If as in this case the plug is oriented by different sized pins you should arrange it so live is fused.
This is a very common problem with these soldering stations from China. So common, in fact that I starting to think that they do this with all of their products. If you look around for a bit then you will see that of the many different brands, shapes and sizes, this particular schematic design seems to be in all of them. Lost in translation or culture somehow? I don't know. But as much as I do enjoy the excellent prices of these devices, I will certainly be checking 100% of these as time goes on.
Saike 952D, Yihua 862D, Kendal 862D, are identical stations, in all details! Is a market issue! But I think the producer is just one !!
Not too surprising I imagine there are quite a few different items like this which are just re-badges of the same product from the same producer. Good to know that the Saike 952D and Kendal 862D are the same.
I just hope they eventually get some quality control and make sure they don't leave the factory so dangerous! It it a great soldering station for the price once the safety problems are fixed.
I was just stating that it was good to know that the Saike 952D was the same as the 862D+, until you mentioned it I hadn't heard of it.
After some research it indeed appears to be identical, the only difference is the name badge and the model number. That explains why the box had numerous part numbers on the outside, one being 952D. They are almost certainly all manufactured by the same supplier.
It looks like this, after several searches I did. I just ordered the Saike 952D and if you said the components were different or poor quality of the Yihua 862D it was likely I would have canceled the order, sorry for my bad english, I'm translating with google translator from english to italian.grazie yet
Did you looked inside it? Don't think Terrius can tell anything about "better or poor" quality components since he only has the one. Still I am interested in this too...
hey uhm...you are using 120 volts. I saw the vid again.
hello, I have such a device is broken me. I need for this data sheet or circuit diagram. can you help me, thanks
I spent quite a long time searching around for a schematic/circuit diagram for the 862d+, unfortunately I wasn't able to find anything. I'm sure there is one out there somewhere, I just haven't had any luck finding it. Wish I could have been more help.
Tinkering With Terrius Thank you
As promised, I came back to let you know what I decided on for a SMD station.
As you pointed out, the 862D+ is available from U.S. sellers on Ebay for $54.45. After spending way too many hours debating what would serve me best, economically and functionally, I had limited my options down to two units. The final contenders were the unbranded 862D+ for $54.45, and the Gaoyue 850 stand alone hot air station for $37.99.
While I truly believe the 862D+ is a better value than the Gaoyue 850, I opted for the latter.
Honestly, I am kinda a cheapskate when it comes to buying myself things, but it wasn't the $16.46 savings that led me to the Gaoyue whatsoever. There were several small reasons that would not have compelled me individually, however, combined, the scale tipped towards the Gaoyue.
For starters, I already have a really good Chinese Hakko knock-off iron that I'm quite fond of, and used almost daily. I do SMD repairs maybe once or twice a year. Having something as large as a SMD rework station on my desk year round just gets in the way. My solder station takes up about 1/2 the space, and still, I frequently move it to clear up momentary space for other things.
Secondly, that 862D+ is crazy complicated in it's construction where the electronics are concerned. I need something that I can adjust temperature and airflow when I do SMD work. I mentioned my old setup was comically bad, and it was, however, I was turning a potentiometer for heat, and a pressure regulator for air. I work with hot air by feel. It's not important to me what the actual temperature or CFM of of airflow are, so I'm looking at the integrated SMD station with all the bells and whistles as something that has a ton of needless potential points of failure. The two dial 850 with no displays just works for me how I've been working for years, only far more efficiently.
Additionally, I kinda wanted a unit with an internal pump, rather than a fan in the handle. I hear people say those "fan in the handles" work just fine, and even Dave from Eeevblog gave it a thumbs up, but it looks awkward to me. I prefer only to be moving the heater around.
The Gaoyue 850 is the cheapest, most bare bones unit that meets all my criteria. It doesn't have a hall effect or magnetic switch to shut the heater off when you hang the gun. It doesn't even have a thermocouple in the heater to monitor the temperature, nor circuitry for monitoring or displaying the temperature. It simply turns the heater on and off with frequency varying according to how high you have the heat turned up. The air pump runs constant, but changes how fast based on input from it's potentiometer. It does have a "cool down" feature that runs the pump motor at full for one minute after the unit is powered off. That's pretty much it.
I had to laugh. I always lop cables off of these type devices and install IEC plugs in their place. When I was disconnecting the old cable, I noticed that Gaoyue wired it EXACTLY like your machine. Yes, they neutral was both fused and switched with the power switch while the hot was neither switched with the power switch, nor fused. Since I was replacing the cable with a plug, of course I corrected that.
I made a handful of other mods to the unit, purely due to my OCPD, but nothing to change how it works. I think this is going to be the best setup for me. I just need a project now to test it out... I'll probably just start removing surface mount components off an old board, just to get comfortable with it. It should be a lot easier to maneuver around than my old setup.
Steve
Thanks for keeping me updated, I apologize for not replying sooner!
I had considered just a hot air station when I bought mine. I ended up deciding on the 862D+ only because I figured a temperature adjustable iron would come in handy as well. Of course I don't have an iron tip thermometer to actually test how accurate the unit is, or a thermal couple to test the air gun yet.
It is quite bulky though and if I didn't have a large desk to work with I could see it getting in the way. I actually use it as a counter weight for my camera arm that is attached to a piece of plywood, so the bulk actually comes in handy!
I imagine a unit with the internal pump would be more reliable over the long term and probably less noisy as well. I do wish I could afford a super fancy one, but really I have no reason to get one at my level of skill.
I think you made the right call getting an "all in one" station if you didn't already have a temperature controlled iron. Since I already had the soldering iron setup I'm happy with, I just needed a better method for hot air than the crazy mess I had going on here for that. :)
In terms of maintaining your hot air setup, you might also be better off with what you bought, rather than the internal pump style like I bought.
Don't get me wrong, I like what I bought for the reasons I mentioned, but I also try to think about how tool purchases will stand the test of time, and how little things will affect cost of ownership.
You can find both styles of replacement heat guns on Ebay for really cheap, and about the same price either way, however, when you replace your gun, you get a new blower to go with it. In the case of mine, just the heating element. That said, heating elements are dirt cheap, so I'd swap it first rather than replace the whole nozzle since it's the only thing that can go wrong with mine. If your blower fails, you can buy a whole new nozzle, or just replace the fan in your nozzle, and if the heating element fails, they are cheap. In the case of a station like mine, if the pump fails, a direct replacement of the pump would exceed the cost of the entire station, so I'd have to fabricate a substitute, which would no doubt take some time.
As for the accuracy of your heat control on either the hot air, or the soldering iron, I don't understand why people go to such lengths with those concerns. If you wanted to tune the heat on your hot air, you can use a meter with a thermocouple, however, I don't see the point in that because the ideal temperature to melt solder on SMD's will change wildly from little factors, such as the nozzle tip you're using, and how high you have the air. You'd have less luck gauging your iron tips temperature with a standard thermocouple because you won't get even heat transfer touching the tip to the couple. You could spend about a hundred bucks and get a Hakko thermometer that will give you a fairly accurate reading, but again, why? If it's not hot enough, turn it up. If it's too hot, turn it down. The thermalcouple in the iron heating elements reads just like the style you'd connect to your multimeter, but is accurate because it's surrounded by heated porcelain and the base of your iron's tip. Again, your choice of tip will dictate how much heat is actually applied to the joint you are soldering. The more mass your tip has, and the more surface area of the tip is contacting your joint, the more heat that will actually be applied. That's why the conical tips are only good for the smallest SMD style joints. In any case, if it ain't melting, turn up the heat.
I bought one of those knockoff Hakko 191 thermometers a while back, just because I was curious, and because it was less than $15.00 delivered. Here's what I found:
My soldering iron was nearly 20degrees Centigrade hotter than what my dial indicates at the temperature I tend to leave it at, 350degrees. So I calibrated my iron's station to compensate, now I set my dial just under the 350 mark. Nothing is changed about how I work, the dial reads just a little lower than it used to. I don't see how or why that should matter. The bottom line is that whether you're using air or iron, the right temperature for the job is not going to be what's printed in a manual, it's going to be the temperature that works for the job, and that will vary with job. Recommended heat settings should be taken as ball park figures to get you roughly where you need to be, but are certainly not absolute.
Anybody here who is just getting started with soldering and will not be doing any SMD work should consider getting a temperature controlled iron/station. Anybody who has no equipment and wants to do SMD work should strongly consider an "all in one". I bought my iron station separate from my air station primarily to save desk space. My iron station stays on my desk because I use it all the time. My air station sits under my desk until I need it, and will be placed under my desk when I'm done with the job.
I think one of most difficult things to do is to maximize efficiency in confined space. If you're building the ideal workshop from scratch, make it 3 times larger than you imagine it needs to be!
Steve
So for a good test, red aligator on nuetral plug, black probe on white cable + continuity test mode should = no beep? This sound right? Also mine does not have a on/off switch at rear. Pic here: imgur.com/a/tBl0yxC
Very odd that they just omitted the mains switch in that unit.
Assuming a North American style plug, If the meter is attached to the Neutral plug, and you probe the white wire you should have continuity if it is wired correctly (based on colour code of the wires). If there is no continuity then it is likely wired up as Live rather than neutral.
I would remove the fuse and then check where Live and Neutral terminate. If Live has no continuity to any of the live connection with the fuse remove then it is wired correctly. If it does have continuity I'd check and see where the neutral terminates, just to be sure, if neutral makes no continuity to it's connection points then the fuse was wired in backwards.
The colour of the wires seems to imply that the wire that should be Live (the bluish wire in your picture) is going to the fuse, but I'd still double check and make sure that the blue wire is actually live not neutral. I've seen these units where the white wire (which for NA is supposed to be neutral) is Live and in that case the wiring would be backwards.
Pics here: imgur.com/a/xYuowLx
I have a blue wire going into the center of fuse from power, and a red cable on top of fuse going to the controller board. I get a neutral continuity beep from the threaded part of fuse (when it is removed), and switching to the right hot line i get continuity in the center of fuse. I also get continuity on ground, from screws at bottom, the ground connector bundle, and middle bottom pin for hot iron connector at front. Update, checked connectors going into motherboard 5 are both hot and neutral, but only neutral with fuse removed. It kind of seems like it is wired good, but i really dont know.
Down below you mentioned "If the continuity stays with the switch turned off, or the fuse taken out then you should be concerned." That sounds like me, i have neutral continuity at the motherboard with fuse out. But hot continuity stops.
This sounds like it is wired correctly. If you have neutral continuity to the main board with the fuse removed, but do not have live continuity to the board with the fuse removed then everything should be fine!
Basically the important thing is that, if the fuse trips we want it to stop the live side of the circuit as early as possible. From what you are describing in the last 2 replies, it sounds like yours is one of the lucky few that is wired right!
Can i solder this with the 862D+ itself ? ;-)
Well, a hard no. How did it go?
My 862D+ didn't even come with an on off master switch, just the switches on the front panel to turn on the hot air or the soldering iron. The way it was set up from the factory, the transformer would always be connected to the mains power, even if the switches on the front panel were set to off. This bugged me as I knew it would be needlessly wasting power just by being plugged in. So I wired an additional switch to disconnect the mains power before the transformer. I wasn't even thinking about the safety aspect, but hopefully I addressed that concern with my modification as well...?
I've never heard of them completely omitting the main switch before, I'll add that to my list of possible dangers. It seems there is quite a variety of these units around and each has its own unique design flaws.
From what you've said, yes, your mod should have dealt with some of the safety issues as well. If there is a fuse I'd recommend putting it before the switch, other than that it should be as good as it can be.
Yes, mine does have the fuse on the back like yours, but the switch that's directly above it was completely omitted on my unit. I can't remember if I wired the fuse before or after the switch I added because it's been a little while. How important do you think that the fuse be before the switch and I'm also curious why that is important? I'm thinking that most likely I wired my switch before the fuse to cut everything off as I wasn't thinking of safety concerns until now stumbling across your video! Thanks a lot for the helpful feedback and advise!
Having the fuse before the switch allows it to protect the switch as well, in the case of the fuse blowing this means that everything else in the unit is completely disconnected from power, except for the live terminal of the fuse holder. If the fuse is after the switch then the switch will remain live should the fuse blow as will the live terminal of the fuse holder.
From what I've read the only reason to put the fuse before the main switch is to reduce the number of components that could potentially be live when it blows. Regardless, if the fuse blows you should always unplug the unit before replacing it.
Got it! I'll have to check mine and make sure I have the switch wired AFTER the fuse! Thanks!!
I just threw a fuse in my power cord
Buy a hakko fx8801 soldering iron and replase the bad dangerus sodering iron that comes with those stations.The plastic basenut close to the rubber on handle where the grounding spring for the tip is inside making the basenut crack up when its hot and tip asembly fall hot in your lap.Mine lasted for a week got a new one from them the same happend againg.Thats when i bougth the hakko fx8801 replasement soldering iron for hakko sations.i just used the plug and cable and print board in handle from the bad irons since they have a movement sensor for sleep mode at 200 degres celsius. It fits straigth in no problem since all those stations use this bad hakko clone type with terible plastic.Now it works better dont get as hot near the base off the handle and the hakko has god plastic basenut that can take the heat witout eny problems.Hakko fx8801 soldering replasement iron cost around 16 us dollar.i also changed the triac fro those bt... 600 to bt139 800 PHm 97 12 pilipines.if it is a 2 in one station it will be 2 triacs swap them both or at least the one for soldering iron control.those i got is much higer quality and dont get as hot and can take more power.i can se the transformator is clamped together like in mine.Take big plyers and press the 2 upper corners and solder them so the press hold cause they have a tendensy to start rattling bad.Like the video.good stuff
Lol you dudes and your dangerous 120v :D Whole europe can tur their plugs both ways and we use 230v and somehow its still secure ;> The important thing is that the ground is connected.
Thank you for taking the time to comment!
The big thing to remember in this regard is that electrical standards are very different between Europe and NA. Even worse, most every state/province has different electrical codes over here. In a lot of cases Electrical codes, in Canada at least, are very antiquated and there hasn't been much change to them in decades.
The ground being connected is indeed very important, however you are making an assumption that the ground is indeed connected properly, in addition that does not prevent all possible issues.
Where I am located there is only a requirement for GFCI/RCD breakers in rooms that have running water and more recently bedrooms (and as far as I know this is only on new construction, old construction only needs to be retrofit if you are doing major permitted work on it). This means that only bathroom/kitchen/outdoor and bedroom plugs would be able to handle and break the circuit reliably if a ground fault is detected. The other 15 amp breakers would require a huge current spike or a sustained 15 amp current to trip their breakers, which a ground fault may or may not provide.
A simple fix for us North Americans is to have an inline fuse (like used in U.K. plugs) or to have a fuse that is properly installed in the unit (which is a very simple fix, or could easily be resolved at the factory by using C14 sockets with built in fuses rather than dodgy built in cables.) In my case I have the unit plugged into a fused heavy duty power strip in addition to swapping the fuse to the correct side of the mains, redundancy is almost never a bad thing.
230v is certainly more dangerous, but the fact is, any mains voltage can be deadly when handled poorly, so why take the risk of poorly assembled products if you can fix the issue? Personally If I was dealing with 230v I would be even more concerned about the safety of these devices.
I suppose my take away from opening this up was, 1) Never trust cheap imported and un-certified products to adhere to electronics standards, 2) It's better to be aware of issues before they occur, and 3) It's always better to be safe than sorry. Besides it can be fun to open these products if done safely to see how they work and are constructed.
Personally, if mine was wired backwards (it's not), I would remove the old wire entirely, cut the back case, add a IEC C14 (male side of the super common power cord standard used in PCs and more), and wire it correctly.
Otherwise, my Zeny branded one is actually pretty well built, aside from the /terrible/ iron tips and fitment. Actual Texas Instruments chip and a Samsung microcontroller.
Yeah that would be a more ideal mod for sure. Unfortunately I don't have any C14 sockets. I'm actually surprised they don't just use the C14 socket by default, though then they probably wouldn't include a power cable at all.
Evidently the zeny branded ones are nicer. The schematics and cases are sold to small companies in china and they assemble them in smaller shops. Some hire students to qc their process ( not the products) and they hire people to build units. So they have no proprietary designs or formal patents. Thats why you see 500 types of the same product. The zeny brand has mostly samsung controllers or sony in some cases. I have 1 sony 2 samsung and all TI chips. I did notice the element on 1 of my heatguns is made in japan the other 2 were chinese.
Tinkering With Terrius they dont add a socket because the sockets in china are something that varies greatly and unless its specd out correctly you can crash your whole company. The build they bought didnt spec it with one so they didnt add one. I agree any company with an engineer on staff would add a socket just to save money because even marking boxes makes 2 voltages expensive. They use a guy who knows how to setup processes to make the first couple after that most small shops are 10x20 ft shops and the 5 employees live in the shop that makes them. China is crazy when it comes to manufacturing. I have seen nike shoes being made in a 10x10 shop by 10 kids who lived in the shop that go for 200 a pair in the US. The newest way to do things is to build 1000000 and put them in a big boxes and have them reboxed in route to the us to save money. The workers live on the cargo ship and box things constantly. This works because it takes a month to get there and no labor laws to follow. Waste is thrown overboard.
They build a complex device like this, yet screw up on the basics. Unbelievable. Mine is the ZENY-branded variant; I'll pop it open and give it a look later.
yes, it is very unfortunate though not entirely unexpected, after all these cheap stations don't have any certifications. I just wish they had better quality control.
I have the same station. I need replacement tips for the soldering iron. Do you know where i can find them. Hope to hear from you soon. Many thanks in advance
i'M SURPRISED THEY CAN SELL IT IN AMERICA. You should not have to fix your equipment when you buy it.
That's the joy of ebay and amazon, most of the merchandise doesn't have to meet safety standards because nobody ever audits the sellers and even if they did, they'd just create new stores. If you need mission critical equipment that doesn't potentially have these kinds of issues, you have to go to a supplier like Digikey or one of the other big names that actually care about the products they sell. :/
k so i cant help myself, when stupid smart people do things that make no sense.. you apologize for the horrible filming job, you just want to get it safe,, so explain to me wtf the point was of making the video, if you dont care if other people can see in detail what your doing to also fix there machines and be safe. then wtf you wasting are time for by even making a video. if your only concern is your safety. then dont worry about the video and do what you gotta do, but if you were making this video to show how to correctly fix it and make sure others are safe. then worry about making sure the viewer can in detail see and understand what your doing, and then on your own time fix yours however you want.. but recording you telling us ya really dont care about our safety as long as yours is correct... its like a giant FU. but have a nice day.. lol
Thank you for the feedback and taking the time to make a comment. I do agree that the video could have been produced better with a more solid focus on the method for the fix.
The goal of the video has always been to highlight and explain why (in my opinion) this unit was unsafe. To this day I think this video accomplishes that goal and is the reason that there is so much exposition before the mod is ever performed and why the actual soldering portions are fast forwarded and skipped over.
If I were to ever remake the video there are certainly things I would change based on what I know now versus what I knew back then. (Especially in regard to the splices, they really should have been soldered inline splices rather than just side by side solder joints.) If I remade it I would also likely include alternative methods of the mod, since this is in no way the only option for fixing the reversed wiring, but was the only method I had thought of at the time.
The video itself was only the 10th that I had ever created and was posted back when I had a total of 11 subscribers and less than 10 views on my channel per day. The apology for the poor video quality was exactly as stated, the video quality overall wasn't great and I was making do with what I had at the time, the recording setup was awkward, I couldn't change shots once recording started and this was the best that I could manage.
In the end, it is what it is, though if I am being honest I don't entirely understand why it has been as popular as it has.
@@TinkeringWithTerrius or like you did with the paper could have done again in detail to what wires were going were. Then viewer would and could understand what you were doing and where you were doing it.
That is a really good idea, it would have made the process much clearer, it is unfortunate I didn't think of doing that at the time. If I ever revisit this video I will be sure to keep that idea in mind!
This is a very common problem with these soldering stations from China. So common, in fact that I starting to think that they do this with all of their products. If you look around for a bit then you will see that of the many different brands, shapes and sizes, this particular schematic design seems to be in all of them. Lost in translation or culture somehow? I don't know. But as much as I do enjoy the excellent prices of these devices, I will certainly be checking 100% of these as time goes on.
This is a very common problem with these soldering stations from China. So common, in fact that I starting to think that they do this with all of their products. If you look around for a bit then you will see that of the many different brands, shapes and sizes, this particular schematic design seems to be in all of them. Lost in translation or culture somehow? I don't know. But as much as I do enjoy the excellent prices of these devices, I will certainly be checking 100% of these as time goes on.
Ah, Would you repeat that one more time, I didn't quite hear you