Finally, an usecase for USB irons!
this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
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I just got one, and it’s so practical with a PD battery bank. Can now solder inside or outside on my car/bike with zero hazzle
I love my Pinecil. I recommend them to kids as a beginner iron cause of the low price and sleep function.
I have one too, I like the idea of it but can't solder with it. For any serious work I use my old transformer iron that has enough power to melt the solder.
Sure, a Weller station will probably last a lifetime even with serious usage, but I do maybe…. 20 total solder joint per year, so I couldn’t justify the price.
I do agree that it’s better at what it’s supposed to do though
Not quite a Weller station, but also will last a lifetime ;)
Edit: I'm aware that USB irons are good and I'm just shit at using them
I really appreciate that you took the time to take a photo to show us your iron. It’s nice to get the more personal touch as I keep forgetting we are real people talking together.
It looks like an old clenodium. I’m sure it has seen its fair share of work. Thanks for sharing!
I've had a similar experience as a child. I live in Germany and found this voltage switch on a hair dryer. My thoughts were like: Switching it to less couldn't possibly hurt, could it? Well it could. It was super efficient though but only for a few seconds before it self destructed.
Shoudn't it be 25%?
Current is not controlled here, resistance (aka the soldering iron) and voltage are.
Power = Voltage ^ 2 / Resistance. Double the voltage, that quadruples the power. So you only want to plug in 25% of the time to get the equivalent power of 120V.
But it might not melt at double power? Maybe the extra heat helps, I can't find a resistance/temperature curve for a soldering iron...
Source: EE dropout.
nnnNNEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRd!
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there's the STEM bell curve. XKCD shows the axes as 'how well your computer works' vs 'how well you know computers'. that is accurate.
but if you've ever known serious engineers who didn't just live boring white collar work-home-work-and-some-marvel-shit lives, you'll have seen things that make this look mild.
edit: and it gets really crazy when you're talking about a civil engineer. closest thing you'll ever find to an eldritch location.
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Should have just left it in, and been able to get the soldering done twice as fast.
New manufacturing hack unlocked: Install 240v outlets at workstations and fire half of the workforce. Golden parachute and douchey, hand-wavey TED Talk, please!
Elon knows more about manufacturing than any other person on earth, he said
Hey. If it works, it works.
Any port in a storm right?
There are gas powered soldering irons that are essentially lighters with metal around the flame. Real life savers
There are also battery powered soldering irons.
Yes, and they actually have a working thermostat, so they aren't complete garbage to solder electronics with.
Gas powered soldering irons are great for soldering stuff like copper water pipes. But even soldering through-hole components with them is a pain in the ass due to the temperature instantly evaporating all your flux. Soldering SMD components is near impossible with them
I like the pinecil, usb-c powered soldering iron with temperature control. If you are not doing anything intensive any fast smartphone charger will power it.
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Why plug and unplug? Doesn't the wall outlet have a switch?
Afaik it is a safety thing that is handled differently in different countries.
Uk and their colonised countries have this. The reason is that the fuses are in each plug. But no (or almost no) fuses in the power grid of the house. In Europe most countries have a single GFCI and several fuses for power grid sectors in a single place in the house where the power comes in.
I assume the switches on the power outlets are for turning off a switch because there is no GFCI in the house.
I think in the UK at least this view might be a little outdated - every house I've ever lived in has had GFCI sectors across the house, or had to be updated to have it when work was done.
Well I would need to do research on that so I can make actual claims here, but I think the switches on the power outlets are somewhat related to the kind of how fuses are handled.
I think it's mostly due to the the way the "ring mains" are often wired in UK to basically cheapout of copper I think . . .
The consumer unit/fusebox/gfci protects the whole ring mains wire from overheating or ground leakage - up to the socket - but that will likely be more current than any individual appliance would want to see maybe 20A or 32A or something. So it's up to the appliance to protect itself (and its wiring from the plug) from overcurrent scearios per its own tolerances.
I have actually never met a wall outlet with a switch.
Really? Where are you for that? I don't have a wall outlet without a switch, and I've never seen one because why would it just be live all the time?
I'm in Australia for reference.
We're the exception, most places don't have switches on their outlets.
Looks like it's mostly a UK, Australia, and New Zealand thing.
I'm in NZ and I've always hated it. Someone always goes and switches them off, and they're totally unnecessary when every device already has its own switch
I also have switches indoors for balcony/outside outlets. Finland.
India as well!
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Germany. It's just live all the time, because why wouldn't it? If you plug something in, you want it to work. If you don't want it to work, you either plug it out (which works just as well as a switch, with the same convenience), OR you use the switch at the appliance because why would you try to reach the hypothetical switch at the wall outlet if the wall outlet is behind a drawer, under a table, or whatever inconvenient place? I use my remote control to turn the TV on or off, I don't physically walk to the wall power outlet.
I can't turn my tv entirely off without cutting power to it because of the standby light. Same thing for my laptop. The switch is typically not hidden behind things because that is really annoying. Power switch in my room that I use is right next to my bed, can turn the light off without leaving bed.
Things that don't get moved don't get unplugged because why bother when you hit the switch and it's entirely off, and actually entirely off unlike what most of my devices do when 'off' but powered
Keep in mind modern TVs have very low standby drain, and if it's an OLED then unplugging it or turning off the outlet instead of letting it stay in standby will actually slowly break your panel
Tv is like 10 years old and definitely not OLED. Good information to have though.
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