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Comment by systems_glitch | Hacker News Reader

I run kit assembly workshops at Vintage Computer Festival East and bring a bunch of Hexacon temperature controlled soldering stations. I've had a number of comments on how much better 30-40 year old soldering stations perform than various USB/battery powered options. There's no firmware in there, just IIRC a quad comparator, some passives, and a triac.

Maybe these little portable irons are handy for the toolbox (I have a plug-in non temperature controlled Hexacon in my toolbox) but I'm not sure why someone would choose them for their bench iron, which seems to be what a bunch of attendees were suggesting they do with their USB/battery irons.

Seriously asking, what do these USB/battery irons do that's desirable?

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At least for me they're compact, reasonably cheap, and yet still much better than a £10 plug in soldering iron from Amazon or wherever. I'm sure if I soldered regularly I'd want something better, but in practice I solder two or three times a year, and don't have space for a workbench with a soldering iron permanently on it, so the point of comparison isn't a full blown soldering station, its the £10 bargain basement iron.

I also was critical at first, but I sold my soldering station and use a TS80P instead (though I would probably choose a Pinecil v2 nowadays). It heats up fast, is small and portable and works well for my hobbyist needs. I can take it anywhere and solder something quickly, if needed using a power bank. For me its just the upside of convenience and no downsides.

The newer ones put thermocouple and heater in the tip so you get much faster reaction, which means they can get away with less power as they react faster. Not gonna help with desoldering some thick cables tho, for that you need raw power. Then again, ones like TS101 have the raw power comparable to the stations.

That being said difference between one and good classical soldering station isn't that big.

> but I'm not sure why someone would choose them for their bench iron, which seems to be what a bunch of attendees were suggesting they do with their USB/battery irons.

Frankly because they are cheaper...

> Seriously asking, what do these USB/battery irons do that's desirable?

Not necessarily a feature of only battery powered ones, but the more “high tech” irons have an advanced thermal sensing and regulation feedback loop that is aware of how much heat is being sunk into whatever the tip contacts with. This allows for easier soldering of many different thermal masses to heat up, e.g. if your circuit board has beefy traces for high currents without thermal reliefs, you will see some plug-and-play irons struggle heat it up in a reasonable time. If you are working with consistent trace sizes and thermal masses per joint, then you may not see a benefit.

An advantage of battery powered ones specifically (especially for new learners) is that you can eliminate the need for an cord that could be damaged by the user of the device in which it’s powering.

> An advantage of battery powered ones specifically (especially for new learners) is that you can eliminate the need for an cord that could be damaged by the user of the device in which it’s powering.

Proper irons have heat resistant cords, though!

Thanks for the replies, everyone! With all the price comments, I took a look at the Pinecil v2 and apparently it's in the plug-in unregulated iron price range, so I can definitely see why some people are choosing that over an unregulated iron for the toolbox.

There must be some generational gap where older hackers are used to the mindset of having to buy industrial castoffs and fixing/refurbing to get something decent, whereas a lot of folks getting going now can buy something like the Pinecil and start out way ahead of the Rat Shack plug-in tip melters, heh.

For me, it's the portability/size.

I don't have a benchtop I can use just for soldering, so my soldering toolkit lives in a box with all it needs. When I wanna do some work, I pick up the box, open it, and most of the stuff gets used directly out of it.

I put a silicone mat on a table, pull out the copper scrub and iron holder, and work on whatever pcb. When it's done, I can pack it all in the box and store it.

A TS80 is portable enough to fit in the box. A full on station would be a bit harder.

> I'm not sure why someone would choose them for their bench iron, which seems to be what a bunch of attendees were suggesting they do with their USB/battery irons.

Me either. I have both -- I have a very nice battery/usb-powered one that I keep in my portable electronics kit, and a mid-level bench iron for at-home work.

The bench iron simply works better in every way, and I'd never even consider using the portable one when I have the option of using a bench one.

How much of that is due to having a larger thermal mass near the tip? That makes a fair bit of difference.

Otherwise: what would USB change? Power is power. I like that I can plug my laptop charger into it, rather than needing yet another unique barrel jack supply.

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