Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?

[mastershake]

do you have a tip installed in the handle? it will not go past this until you have a tip in the handle.

[fkfaraz]

The I2C version of JBC Compact Line on Ali can do All of three. (they say so).....
Their are at least 2 youtube vid showing that. the guy in the vid changes t245, t210 and t115 simultaneously and they heats up without any problem. There are some good reviews on ali about it too.
Although the I2C version is completely different from the Aixun and is more towards the origional JBC and is expensive at least at double price...

[dreamcat4]

it has an H bridge to do the necessary switching

[Ungolian]

I saw the I2C as well, and it has credible reviews on Ali.  It uses a nice toroidal transformer, and seems well made. I can't say if there are any long term issues.  I don't have one, and there aren't any reviews on the forum.  Not sure if there is any factory support for firmware, or if that's even necessary.  But if you need all 3 in one unit, and don't want to spend JBC money, this seems like the top contender.  You can get them for 180$/150euro on Ali if you look around.  Really, it seems like there are only a handful of stations to consider if you're looking to upgrade your soldering iron without breaking the bank.  KSGER/Quicko, Aixun, I2C, and Unisolder (in order of cost).  Jabe, Sugon, and Hakko deserve mentions too, but the I2C appears superior to the Jabe and Sugon, and Hakko just needs to modernize their stuff.  Of course there is the TS80/100 too, but they don't seem to be intended for prolonged use.

[exe]

I personally don't trust aliexpress reviews. A lot of crap I bought from there had excellent reviews. I'd rather sponsor SteveyG to do the review. Not just a review, but a comparison with other stations. Coin test will do it.

[mastershake]

i had one of those i2c units they were meh. i mean it was okay but overall i did not like it that much

[Ungolian]

"Meh" kind of says that it didn't stand out in either a good or bad way.  What didn't you like about it?  For the price, it's expected that certain concessions have to be made.  But if you're on a budget, and needed a station that could run multiple handles, could it do the job?

[mastershake]

i guess it prob could. there were times where the screen locked up and i had to reboot it. the controls are poor imo. and sometimes it would nto recognize a tip inserted and i had to re insert it or turn it off and turn it on again. the seller sent me a new handle which did not make a difference. when it worked fine performance was not to bad. ill say i find the aixun t3a to perform better but it cant do 210. it just wasnt for me overall.

[electrozap]

I haven't been using a bottom heater, but I do remember they have them at work. Do you think it's just a matter of adding a preheating plate? It's a mixture of power electronics and some small micro-soldering work. Would pre-heating the board ruin some smaller components, and would it also help with those small parts? Something like this? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002788761296.html

Preheating to 100-150C will not damage the components. If you have some cheap low temp plastic connectors (unlikely) those can be shielded. Will help massively with a 8 layer board.
Why are you screwing around with $100 soldering stations on 8 layer boards? If its for your job, get them to buy you proper equipment.
If its for hobby, the Yihua/Gordak 853 are good, or the one you linked is also good too, its a larger size and higher power.

To be honest, it’s not technically a work-from-home job, but my work has been nice with the long commute that I have in letting me work from home. If I can stay home a couple extra times, this equipment will pay for itself in gas money. I haven’t been asking them to fund my home lab because I don’t want to give them too much of a reason to stop supporting my request to work from home.

I ordered the aixun t3a with the t12 stand and a separate t245 handle with the separate nicer stand so that it will support both systems. The AliExpress seller is telling me that I’m the first person to order the t245 stand, so there might be a slight difference between the t210 and t245 stands, but I’ll let you know if it’s directly compatible when it comes in.

[dreamcat4]

if they can just sell it without a stand, or make a listing with only the new t245 stand. then i would suggest buy that + the t3b with the smaller 115 (NASE / nano) handle. and skip over the t210 for being there in the middle in-between and as such too similar to either of these ^^ others

that way you have 2 dedicated stations. one for general purpose + one for the micro soldering finer work

and if you still need to get the t210 for any reason... you can still buy just the t210 handle only later on. as an extra accessory

i think this makes sense. and although buying 2 stations is more expensive than the i2c, you are getting a better product(s), those aixun ones are going to perform better


but the 1 thing you still won't have are the micro tweezers...  which then calls into question this strategy. because in theory a single base station with dual outputs. well that could be capable of running tweezers too. and ideally you don't want to shell out in the end for a 3 base units. when the tweezers handle itself is also expensive... then in total that really adds up. food for thought there

so then i would suggest to appeal to aixun specifically... to make a new product that is dual output unit in future. and can support tweezers in addition to 2 seperate handles. since these t3a and t3b ones seem better than the competition now. it makes the most sense that way. rather than expect other chinese brands or models to actually be any better than these aixun. which would seem is not happening

[mastershake]

im sure they will prob sell it by itself soon they sell the t3a by itself. the discount though usually is not enough to not just buy it with the stand and handle imo. i got my 245 ones for 105$ each shipped. by itself it was 9x$ so less then like 10$ for me i may as well have the extra stand and handle. depends who you are buying it from and for how much. the t3b is a good amount more money though

[Ungolian]

I noticed that some of these units have a 120w power supply now.  I assume they did this because the 245 tips aren't rated for 200w, and it probably decreases the lifespan.  At start up, it looks like all 200w is dumped into the tip.  An 80w difference is a significant performance drop, but overall probably for the better.  Although it does make the differences between it and the KSGER merely cosmetic now.  I've been holding off getting one of these because I'm always hesitant to get the first model of anything.  There are usually bugs to work out.  Although the Aixun does seems to get significant firmware support (something a lot of similar units are lacking).  It is obvious that they are still changing things though.  This is probably headed towards the 3A model looking like the 3B model.  Not sure how long that will take though. 

[dreamcat4]

oh i really hope they are not cheaping out on components, bait and switch style. that would be a very disappointing situation

[mastershake]

where are you seeing these with 120w power supplies other then in the reviews at aliexpress? is there another thread somewhere where people are taking them apart and talking about them? i dont always trust reviews in aliexpress honestly

[Ungolian]

Actually, it is the same photos Alex posted on page 4 from Ali.  And yes, generally I am hesitant to believe Ali reviews too.  It's all "Greatest Thing Ever" propaganda.  But it's the negatives written in correct English I tend to believe. It's absolutely not in Ali's best interest to post negative reviews that cast doubt on their products.  Either way though, there are still a lot of questions with no answers.  Could it still be a 200w power supply built on a 120w silk screened board?  Yes.  We still don't have any conformation on over current and power protections.  AFAIK, there is still only one mosfet preventing the tip from going nuclear.  Is it possible there is over current protection in a non-accessible part part of the firmware?  Yes.  Are all the power supplies identical?  Who knows.  Ideally we can get conformation from actual owners.  Which is probably going to be a little while longer.   

[fkfaraz]

Correct me if i am wrong but i thought that handle identification would have been done by detecting some kind of resistor change when tip changes and in software, and the H bridge would then be controlled to put out the required voltage i.e either 24v or 12v etc...

[fkfaraz]

Toroidal transformer is another thing i like abt these I2C station. There is less electrical noice when using main's Transformer as well as very little chance of something going bad on power side. Also they Provide necessery Isolation from the main's too..

On the other hand, SMPS emits huge noice and i dont trust them after the t12/ksger power supply safety issue's. And they are still making and sending them to coustmer with the same power supply. Who knows, may be in future, there is something like taht discovered in Aixun too??
IMO, Using transformer is much more safer then SMPS in these type of chinese Product.

Sugon, Xsoldering Pro, Jabe all looks to me inferior to the i2c version in terms of build quality and handle competability.

I think the safe approach would be to get the I2C station only without fake/clone tip, and get the genuine JBC tips. As they say the magic is in the tips. In terms of driving these tips, both JBC and I2c would be doing the same thing...

[Ungolian]

The construction of the I2C seems fine.  But there are firmware issues and it seems like there is zero support from the manufacturer.  They seem to be relatively minor.  Rebooting the the system or pulling the tip out and putting it back in seems to fix them.  The Xsoldering Pro has the same issues, and a worse power supply. Which is a shame because the graphic interface looks nice.  But it's unreliable.  JBC makes a wide range of tips for the 245 handle, and with a steady enough hand or an arm support, there probably isn't anything you couldn't do with it.   

[mastershake]

yup the i2c otherwise was a good station. i tested 2 of them both had similar issues. the firmware was really the main issue. i agree having a toroidal is much better overall. but it got annoying with the i2c when i had to keep stopping. sometimes it was fine for a while then it would start up again and be a royal pain in the ass. both i had (they swapped the first one by sending out a replacement) had the same issues. if it had a better controller / firmware it would be a pretty killer setup for the money

[fkfaraz]

Whats wrong with the Ali reviews??
I personally order 95% items from Ali(As Amezon is too expensive in my country vs Ali), and the people reviews is the 1st thing i would be looking at ali. Hack i dont even look at the store description of the item and head straight to the feedback/reviews. I think if You know what u need and research it throughly there will be very less chance of something going bad.....

I dont know if posting someone's comment from Ali abt the I2c soldering station here would be approperiate or not but Here is Someone the from Aussie land And i Quote

" This I2C station is *so much* better quality than Sugon T26 or Jabe UD1200. Like a JBC station, it can use different series handles. Cool and quiet 100VA toroidal, idle power consumption <3W. Precision TC amp, Hall Effect current sensor, ESD protection on all inputs. All silicone wire, even inside the station. Even more powerful than JBC station. Software quite complete. However it isn't perfect. At 230V and above it drives C245 far beyond 130W, risks heating element burnout. At 230V+10% it will drive 180W. Unlike JBC, there is no earth current sensor to detect if tip touches powered parts. Just a few mA DC can fool TC sensor and cause temperature surge burnout. The supplied I2C tips have faulty manufacturing. Extremely high thermal resistance from heater to solder. Jabe tips work fine. The plastic isn't melt resistant."

And another one from Poland
"It is not the first cloned JBC station I've tried, but it's the best so far. It's made with quality components with "premium" feel. I love it. It supports multiple tools. tried C245, C210, C115. C245 and 115 works flawlessly out of the box. C210 had temp too low. I guess that's because CD-2E stations are not compatible with 115 and it's handled as 210. Not a problem if you're not planning to interchange 210 and 115, because it's possible to recalibrate controller. There is a toroidal transformer inside with separate winding for 12 and 24V, so there is no SMPS noise nor wandering AC voltage on DC output. Tip is properly earthed. Stand sleep function works well. It also detects contact with tip changer and turns heating off. The only reason to complain so far is that there is metal shielding inside tip changer but only on the bottom, not on the walls. And it's angled. So when disconnected hot tip falls on it, it slides and starts to melt plastic case. Easily fixable though."

Seems like they are pretty heppy with it....

[fkfaraz]

May be a bad tip. As the one they are sending with it looks pretty bad or bad handle who knows?? :-//
As i said the safer bait would be to get the real JBC tips...

[mastershake]

if you are responding to me all my tips are genuine jbc i use. so i doubt it was the tips

[dreamcat4]

lets wait and see more real teardowns of the aixun psu before completely writing it off shall we? the because rest of the station seems good so far

conflating them with ksger without any evidence merely because it uses an smps too is just

your $2000 apple computer also uses an smps.so does a million other things made outside china. it does not automatically mean they are like the ksger psu

[Ungolian]

Well... If you have one, you could verify the power supply.  And I'm positive there's more than one other person in this thread that could do the same.  All we really need is one instance of a 200w power supply built on a 120w silk screened board, or a 120w supply built on a 120w marked board.  Just one casts doubt.  Simple enough. 

Second, the KSGER/Quicko is not a bad unit.  However there are more variations between units.  Especially now that some units don't have an STM32.  David has given it plenty of firmware support, and seems to prefer the Quicko.  Better hardware.  The power supply seems to be the main issue, but there is also the mini version that you could run off of a bench supply.  Problem solved.  Aixun could do the same (even in the current units if USB C power got straightened out).

Third- COSMETICS.  Have any of you played an online game where they charge you stupid prices for skins? Skins don't do anything functionally, they just look better.  I think we are all sucked in by the Aixun's shiny casing and nice display, but at the end of the day, it's the 200w performance everyone wants.  If the roles were reversed, where the Aixun was in the KSGER casing and monochromatic display (but still 200w), and the KSGER was in the shiny aluminum casing and TFT display, everyone would still want the ugly KSGER.  The 245 system is what most of us are really after.  The more watts the better.         

Every singe unit we've been talking about/looking at comes down to 5 things- handle, controller, power, firmware, and reliability.  Appearance should not have anything to do with it, yet it does. 

[mastershake]

i had thought SteveyG back on page 1 of this thread tested it and said he got 200 watts with his unit? i will not be back to try and take mine apart for at least 10-14 days i know a few people have taken them apart already maybe they can verify for us.