Any opinions on the AiXun T3A?

[DavidAlfa]

What's the hype around the smps vs transformer for just driving a simple resistive load?
I would understand that for very low noise device like high end audio stuff, but not for a heater.
KSGER brand is just the same thing, renamed with +20...50% extra cost.

[dreamcat4]

i am guessing it is because some people like to keep switched on their other sensitive test and measurement equipment. next to it nearby in the lab. for example if the oscilloscope takes 2+ min to boot up. into it's OS. or because they have other sensitive gear that gets thrown off

if not that, then it more about being obsessed with the noise, the design or the quality. then no real inconvenience

speaking for myself i would not care anything if doing some little bit of soldering throw off my scope. just so long as did not have to reboot it every time. then it really should not affect those typical workflow.

 

uh... i suppose maybe if you were somebody who wants to keep the iron switched on in automatic standby / sleep mode for all the time. and not physically keep turning off the iron main unit at the psu side main power switch perhaps? but that never bothered me. because the boot time and heat up time is really fast, right? only a few seconds

[cgf5]

Code: [Select]

1.23 (2021-11-01)
1.Optimized heating logic control;
1.优化加热逻辑控制;
1.23 didn't change much. Overshoot is similar to 1.22. Handle is still singing - maybe bit less? Not sure on this one.

[smile]

50 euro each is really expensive.  On TME, the common 245 tips are 24usd/20eur, while the long life tips are 38usd/33eur.  Not sure what VAT would be, but it shouldn't double the price.  Unless VAT is 100%...   

https://www.tme.eu/lt/details/jbc-c245301/lituokliu-kotai/jbc-tools/c245301/
54.45 EUR

https://www.tme.eu/lt/details/jbc-c245808/lituokliu-kotai/jbc-tools/c245808/
38.96 EUR

https://www.tme.eu/lt/details/jbc-c245866/lituokliu-kotai/jbc-tools/c245866/
36.06 EUR

Not cheap.

[smile]

ill have to take apart the t12 aixun handle again. the one i got didnt work so i had to take it apart when i got it. the blue wire going to the 10k resistor was broken off and the green going to the switch inside was also broken. i had to replace the resistor (it broke right at the resistor so i couldnt use the one it came with) i can say the outside quality of the t12 handle is really nice but the one i got the wiring inside was crap. ill have to re solder it all one day when i have time there was no heat shrink on the resistor leads and they were ALMOST touching the other solder joints it was suuuuper close. i added a piece on the resistor but the rest should get it also imo. it actually worked with a 9.6k i had on hand recognized it just fine. the aixun does show up like its working on the ksger but does not heat up.

i also dont like how hard it to to put the t12 into the heater and pull it back out. with the ksger it goes in nice and smooth. both the aixun t12's ive used you have to really push it in there and to take it out while hot you really need something to grab it with or hold the stand down good. and the tip to grip is a lot closer on the ksger ones then the aixun t12. very comfortable handle to hold though.

Do you compared the KSGER T12 Aluminum Alloy FX9501 Handle Carbon Fiber For STM32 OLED Soldering Iron Station Pen Welding Tip Electric Tools V2.1S

The Aixun T12 handle has a ring that needs to be loosened to easily remove the tips, no?

[cgf5]

https://www.tme.eu/lt/details/jbc-c245301/lituokliu-kotai/jbc-tools/c245301/
54.45 EUR
https://www.tme.eu/lt/details/jbc-c245808/lituokliu-kotai/jbc-tools/c245808/
38.96 EUR
https://www.tme.eu/lt/details/jbc-c245866/lituokliu-kotai/jbc-tools/c245866/
36.06 EUR
Not cheap.

First tip is gigantic 8.8 mm. T12 doesn't even have 6.6 mm or 8.8 mm. Biggest T12 I could find cheaply is 5.2 mm. Price is irrelevant if you can't even buy T12 version.
Thus no T12 comparable tip costs 50 EUR. They are expensive, but you making it seem bigger than it actually is.
I brought C245 clones for 12-15 EUR, they work acceptable for me. I couldn't find difference between genuine and clone so far. 12 EUR si more than T12 clones, but it's also way less than 50. You can make it work if you want.

[mastershake]

i will check mine (i have 2 t12 aixun handles) the tighten and loosen is meh on one it kind of works better then the other one. on one of them its really hard to "snap" the tip into the handle at the end. the other is better but neither one is as smooth as the ksger handles to slide the tip in and out of when changing them.

i dont personally like the carbon fiber aluminum one personally i prefer the plain black aluminum one. but other then feeling cheap due to the added tip length id use the regular plastic blue ksger first before the aixun even though that ksger one feels really cheap. the aixun one feels great in the hand it feels well made but i dont use it to much. my t3a's really only see the 245 handles most of the time i bought the t12 ones to test them out. the aixun t12 one does solder well but check the wires inside i had to fix one right from the start and the other one i decided to re do also it was not done very well.

[Ungolian]

What's the verdict on firmware?  Have there been solid performance improvements with each version, or is it a matter of personal preference from 1.20-1.23?

[cgf5]

I don't see much difference in practical results between 1.18-1.19 and 1.20-1.23. So I would not recommend updating. Most noticeable change is singing of handle, and you probably don't want that. I would wait until something useful gets implemented.

[mastershake]

i updated one of my 2 stations and there was no noise from the handle. i decided to try the other one same result no issue. there is the slight overshoot now but it works more like the real jbc does now.

[DavidAlfa]

It's amazing how people trust what's seen on the screen.
As far as I know, JBC do overshoot, might be intentional to provide a quick boost.

[mastershake]

yup jbc def overshoot its normal they way they work now this one works very much the same way. doesnt bother me at all but with the older firmware it didnt do the overshoot so some people dont like it i guess???

[cgf5]

What overshoot JBC really has tho? SDG did test DDE-2C JBC station where temperature was consistently higher than display by 20C+. That's not overshoot - that's wrong temperature. Overshoot was almost non-existent (at least by looking at the graph). So does JBC really have big overshoot or just wrong temperature readout?

i updated one of my 2 stations and there was no noise from the handle.

Do you use stock aixun handle? I tried two T245 handles + both clone and genuine tips and all combinations did make noise.

[mastershake]

yes oem aixun handle both 245 and t12 (i have 2 of each handle). my jbc units if set to lets say 300 will go up to maybe 340 or so upon warm up then drop right down to 300. i consider that overshoot. but its only during warm up. the 1.23 firmware is for me performing almost the same way. even sdg's video of the new stand for the t3a shows similar after he updated to 1.22. and his handle i dont think is making any noise after the update or i would think he would have said something in the video.

[mastershake]

the new stand is excellent vs the old one. here is the new video from sdg

[DerekA]

Hi all.

I just recently had one of these T3A C245 stations delivered. Now, I'm just a beginner in electronics so bear with me here...

With the tips provided the station boot cycles over and over until the tip reaches the set temp (2-3 min heat up time). It then settles down into a stable state. If the iron is put in the stand and allowed to cool then picked up again the boot cycle returns till up to temp.

I purchased another tip (C245 clone) from a different vendor and with that tip the station will boot cycle twice on the first power up of the day it will then perform as it should for the rest of the day, with that tip. Change tips and I'm back to square one.

Strikes me that I may have got a faulty station or I'm sure one of you would have experienced the same issue. It's as though the current draw during heating from cold is causing sufficient voltage drop that the microprocessor is tripping out.

I have ordered the capacitors so I can swap out the ones on the PSU. Don't think that will solve the problem though.

I really don't want the hassle of sending it back blah blah blah and would like to get it working properly.

Has anyone got any ideas what the problem could be?

Any pointers would be helpful, as I said I am just learning and this station is a bit complicated for me to troubleshoot from scratch on my own.

Thanks in advance folks.

[mastershake]

what firmware is yours one you tube video shows this and he said after updating the firmware it was much better. also if i power them with a bench power supply for some reason i have seen this once going straight to the wall i did not see it again

[cgf5]

Gather more information. For sure looks like faulty/weak power supply, but it can be as simple as loose wire/connector. If you think brownout occurs - verify this by looking at voltage when station is booting from cold. I would first look for obvious shipping damage then I would verify that all connections are solid. Different tips can have different resistances and thus will have different inrush - this may explain why some are acting worse than others. You could also test internal power supply with electronic load to verify it can deliver around 7A @ 24V.

[mastershake]

see here is this what yours is doing?? https://youtu.be/7OyU_cC6m7U?t=743

[DerekA]

what firmware is yours one you tube video shows this and he said after updating the firmware it was much better. also if i power them with a bench power supply for some reason i have seen this once going straight to the wall i did not see it again

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I'm on the latest version v1.23. I fully expected the update to sort the problem as per the video you're referring to but it didn't help my station!

[DerekA]

see here is this what yours is doing?? https://youtu.be/7OyU_cC6m7U?t=743

Hi. That's exactly what it does only it keeps on doing it over and over till the tip reaches the Temp set point (takes 3min!), then it stops re booting till it cools down again.

The firmware update did not solve the issue for me though.

[mastershake]

are you plugged into the wall directly or are you using a bench power supply? i did hear this happening also with a bench psu that was not providing enough to it.

[Ungolian]

Sounds like a current issue.  While heating, it draws more current, which causes the boot loop.  Once it reaches set temp, it's not drawing much current, and no boot loop.  The psu isn't current limited, current throttling and sensing happens in the firmware/microcontroller, and since the unit updated fine, displays fine, and holds temperature once it reaches set temp, the microcontroller is generally fine, but there may still be an issue.  It seems like the GD32 current limit is being exceeded on start up.  If you would solder something big that draws a lot of current, it would probably cause another boot loop.  My guess is it's one of 3 things- possibly a stray ball of solder bridging some of the current pins on the microcontroller, an actual fault in that part of the microcontroller, or an issue with one of the capacitors on the power supply (a bad cap, or a bad joint).  You're going to have to open up the back, pull out the power supply, inspect the joints (take pics and post them if unsure), and even make sure the capacitors are oriented the right way (see attached image).  Make sure you discharge the caps first too!  While the board is out, you can see the controller board through the back.  Use a good light and magnification to inspect the GD32 (the large black square on the front control board) looking for stray solder balls bridging any pins.  As shown in SteveyG's video, getting to the controller through the front is kind of a pain.  You have to heat the front panel to warm up the double sided adhesive, then pry it off.  That can complicate things as far as returns go, so it's best to go through the back for now.   

And yes, if the big capacitor wasn't in the right way, you'd know immediately.  Just beating people to the punch.   

[DerekA]

Sounds like a current issue.  While heating, it draws more current, which causes the boot loop.  Once it reaches set temp, it's not drawing much current, and no boot loop.  The psu isn't current limited, current throttling and sensing happens in the firmware/microcontroller, and since the unit updated fine, displays fine, and holds temperature once it reaches set temp, the microcontroller is generally fine, but there may still be an issue.  It seems like the GD32 current limit is being exceeded on start up.  If you would solder something big that draws a lot of current, it would probably cause another boot loop.  My guess is it's one of 3 things- possibly a stray ball of solder bridging some of the current pins on the microcontroller, an actual fault in that part of the microcontroller, or an issue with one of the capacitors on the power supply (a bad cap, or a bad joint).  You're going to have to open up the back, pull out the power supply, inspect the joints (take pics and post them if unsure), and even make sure the capacitors are oriented the right way (see attached image).  Make sure you discharge the caps first too!  While the board is out, you can see the controller board through the back.  Use a good light and magnification to inspect the GD32 (the large black square on the front control board) looking for stray solder balls bridging any pins.  As shown in SteveyG's video, getting to the controller through the front is kind of a pain.  You have to heat the front panel to warm up the double sided adhesive, then pry it off.  That can complicate things as far as returns go, so it's best to go through the back for now.   

And yes, if the big capacitor wasn't in the right way, you'd know immediately.  Just beating people to the punch.   

Thank you very much. The 1st part of your post is exactly along the lines that I was thinking.

Thanks for the pointers, I now have a place to start.

[Ungolian]

You're welcome.  Hopefully, it is just stray solder in the wrong place.  I will give Aixun enough credit that they may check each unit before boxing and shipping, that your unit passed initially, and something moved around in transit.