ERSA iCon Pico vs iCon Nano! Is ESD protection important?? Soldering station.

[equilibrium]

Dear All,
I'll shortly buy a soldering station that is going to be my long-term main one. I've got my choices down to icon Pico and icon Nano. I'm a bit biased towards Pico due to price concerns (Nano costs around 130 CHF more here in Switzerland), but I really need to know if Pico has auto stand-by when the iron is put down in the stand, i.e iron temperature goes down significantly until it's picked up again. If I understand correctly, Nano has this functionality and Pico does not according to the specs on the Ersa site. Can anyone who used either of them help me out? Thanks!

[jpb]

I don't know about the pico as I have the nano. The nano will reduce in temperature if you don't use if for a little while - it doesn't drop immediately. A slightly annoying thing is that to wake it up you need to press a button not just lift the iron up.

I am very happy with the nano though and would thoroughly recommend it.

Personally I went for the nano over the pico because having it ESD safe I felt was important.

[nanofrog]

Isn't the Nano more of a general purpose iron (can do thru-hole as well as SMD) vs. the Pico being meant for small SMD sizes?

Keep thinking the Nano would be comparable to JBC's T245 iron and Weller's WP80 or WSP80 irons regarding size of what it's meant to tackle joint wise, and the Pico to JBC's T210 or Weller's WMP.

[L1XV]

Here some difference which annoys me to dead. My soldering iron is crap, I have the pico. I don't recommend it, if you plan to change the tips frequently.  .

Don't know why, but its crappier than the cheapest Chinese clone station. Look at the thread.  On the Pico both are made of plastic.


And the iron stand is also crap, go for the iCon Nano. And i suggest to anyone not to buy the 0102PDLF02 tip. It get to less heat as the station shows you. For example you adjust 350°C on the station an will get about 210°C.
 

I wouldn't recommend it at all to buy the i-Con Pico or the nano. It has to many things that are bad designed. On/Off switch on the back  . Fixed Power cable, you have to use a sd card to program the station etc... better get a good Hakko 936/937 Ripoff (or Original) and genuine Hakko tips.
Very expensive spare parts like the heating element or soldering iron...

[equilibrium]

Thanks for the detailed explanation Also, Nano's stand looks much sturdier indeed.

So I guess I'll be going for Nano then.

[unicornio]

for me, the best welders and soldering stations is weller, are Germans and in tin solder issues they are best...
i have one like this (is not exactly the same, but very similar):
https://www.google.es/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=QngmY1-JsZWLBM&tbnid=YGv2DC1DZgHcJM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hksolder.com%2FWELLER-LEAD-FREE-SOLDERING-STATIONS-WSD81-301.html&ei=dAx-U9_6JMqq0QXRt4HQCA&bvm=bv.67229260,d.d2k&psig=AFQjCNFoESg_wluEHv_Un98dEWW8cjEfmA&ust=1400855962180231

[tooki]

I don't know about the pico as I have the nano. The nano will reduce in temperature if you don't use if for a little while - it doesn't drop immediately. A slightly annoying thing is that to wake it up you need to press a button not just lift the iron up.

Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but just FYI, if it's reached the standby temperature, you don't have to press a button -- just touch the tip to the brass wool. It will detect the temperature drop and wake up. The only time you have to press a button to wake it is when it's in the process of entering standby, when it's expecting the temperature drop.

I do wish they'd just put in the accelerometer as in the large i-Con series. Oh well.

[Alfons]

The motion sensor of thze i-Tool has advantages and disadvantages. If the standby time is set too low and you have a steady hand during soldering, it may happen, that the soldering iron suddenly goes into standby. Is already happened to me.

[nanofrog]

The motion sensor of thze i-Tool has advantages and disadvantages. If the standby time is set too low and you have a steady hand during soldering, it may happen, that the soldering iron suddenly goes into standby. Is already happened to me.

Turn on some music, and regularly perform some air drumming while soldering; see if that doesn't help stop false standbys.   

[jpb]

I don't know about the pico as I have the nano. The nano will reduce in temperature if you don't use if for a little while - it doesn't drop immediately. A slightly annoying thing is that to wake it up you need to press a button not just lift the iron up.

Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but just FYI, if it's reached the standby temperature, you don't have to press a button -- just touch the tip to the brass wool. It will detect the temperature drop and wake up. The only time you have to press a button to wake it is when it's in the process of entering standby, when it's expecting the temperature drop.

I do wish they'd just put in the accelerometer as in the large i-Con series. Oh well.

Just seen this - useful to know, thank you. Though currently my electronics lab is all packed up in boxes whilst I live in a (small) rented place. I look forward to soldering again when I finally sell my house and the family can move into a new one (with enough room for my lab I hope - my lab being only a smallish desk).

[tooki]

The motion sensor of thze i-Tool has advantages and disadvantages. If the standby time is set too low and you have a steady hand during soldering, it may happen, that the soldering iron suddenly goes into standby. Is already happened to me.

A different effect happens with the Nano/Pico, which use temperature drop to detect inactivity. When it sees a stable temperature for the standby delay, it drops into standby (e.g. the default of 250C or whatever). If you try to solder a small joint during the transition to standby (when it's expecting the temperature to drop slowly), the joint may not draw away enough heat to make the temperature drop steeply, and the station won't detect it as activity and will happily keep dropping down to the standby temperature. Once it's reached the standby temperature, though, the temperature drop from wiping the tip on the brass sponge will tell it "hey, there's activity!" and heat it back up by the time you reach the workpiece.

The same problem exists if you grab the iron and try to wake it on the sponge right after it leaves standby to drop down to sleep mode (50C default). It just happily keeps dropping until it reaches the sleep temperature. This requires pressing a button to wake again.

This is why, regardless of which model i-Con you have, Ersa advises that this can be a consequence of a short standby time in some cases.

Just seen this - useful to know, thank you. Though currently my electronics lab is all packed up in boxes whilst I live in a (small) rented place. I look forward to soldering again when I finally sell my house and the family can move into a new one (with enough room for my lab I hope - my lab being only a smallish desk).

I also live in an apartment and have to have my electronics crammed into a very small space. (It gets a dedicated 60cm wide swath of my desk.) I feel your pain!!

[Alfons]

The motion sensor of thze i-Tool has advantages and disadvantages. If the standby time is set too low and you have a steady hand during soldering, it may happen, that the soldering iron suddenly goes into standby. Is already happened to me.

Turn on some music, and regularly perform some air drumming while soldering; see if that doesn't help stop false standbys.   

I now have a second extra-i-Tool worried me, and then i play with both a drum. With only one makes it no fun.
If I have a very tight next to each other set of pins, I succeed, the sensor 20sec. long not trigger. Either the sensor is insensitive or I have actually too steady hand.

I'll help me now with extra strong espresso from my San Marco-Espresso-machine. Double dose per cup.

[exk]

I have found three differences. i-con nano has:
1) ESD protection
2) more flexible soldering iron cord
3) the iron doesn't heat up after few hours continuous use
3.5) the heating element is more expensive
Reference in non eng lng ERSA soldering stations

[eKretz]

The motion sensor of thze i-Tool has advantages and disadvantages. If the standby time is set too low and you have a steady hand during soldering, it may happen, that the soldering iron suddenly goes into standby. Is already happened to me.

Turn on some music, and regularly perform some air drumming while soldering; see if that doesn't help stop false standbys.   

I now have a second extra-i-Tool worried me, and then i play with both a drum. With only one makes it no fun.
If I have a very tight next to each other set of pins, I succeed, the sensor 20sec. long not trigger. Either the sensor is insensitive or I have actually too steady hand.

I'll help me now with extra strong espresso from my San Marco-Espresso-machine. Double dose per cup.

I have my standby set to 20 seconds (lowest it will go on i-Con 1) and have never had it go to sleep in my hand. Maybe I drink too much coffee.

[wraper]

From current newark price, Nano and Pico are sold at the same price, so I cannot see any reason why anyone wants a non ESD soldering station.
Valid reasons for not grounding gears like soldering irons or scope exist, but only at rare cases. For most of the time I cannot see any reason not to ground your gears -- if shit happens, either the grounding wire takes the current, or your body takes the current.

Cannot find nano on newark webside, and price for pico is ridiculous. On EU farnell they cost quiet differently.

[sainter]

I bought mine here:
http://www.lokmita.lt/elektronikos-gamyba/litavimui/stoteles/antistatines-litavimo/greitaveike-skaitmenine-antistatine-litavimo-stotele-i-con-nano-su-greitai-kaistanciu-lituokliu-i-tool-nano-0ic1200a.html][url]http://www.lokmita.lt/elektronikos-gamyba/litavimui/stoteles/antistatines-litavimo/greitaveike-skaitmenine-antistatine-litavimo-stotele-i-con-nano-su-greitai-kaistanciu-lituokliu-i-tool-nano-0ic1200a.html[/url]

Prices without VAT.

[ebastler]

Best prices I have found for Ersa equipment are from this distributor:
https://www.ersa-shop.de/index.php

The website seems to be in German only, but they ship internationally. Prices on the site are incl. 19% VAT. They are an official ERSA distributor and carry the complete line, spare parts etc.. Disclaimer: I have ordered an i-CON 1 station from them and have been happy with the service, but have no other affiliation with them. 

[sainter]

I would say, that ERSA soldering stations ar great. Tip selection is through the roof, even for the low end models. It even has a few beef-up ones that have enough thermal mass to desolder larger heat sinks. And 80W of power from i-con nano still gives you only 10-12 s heating up time for this monster tip. (~6s for normal tip).