Cold Heat Soldering Iron

[Greyersting]

I have heard horror stories about them shocking and destroying peoples components and also that they take a long time to solder.  Has anybody here ever used one?

[Fsck]

Yes, almost a decade ago. they're horrible, relying on the user to short the tip somehow to heat up the tip is a bad way to heat it up.
plus, I've never been able to get a decent joint out of it it doesn't deliver enough power, so I went back to my radioshack iron.

[Greyersting]

Yes, almost a decade ago. they're horrible, relying on the user to short the tip somehow to heat up the tip is a bad way to heat it up.
plus, I've never been able to get a decent joint out of it it doesn't deliver enough power, so I went back to my radioshack iron.

Thanks.  I had gotten one at Radioshack yesterday and hadn't opened it yet so I decided to ask here before decided to return it or not.  I look forward to getting my $35 back.

[IanB]

If you really, really need a battery powered portable soldering iron, then this one works satisfactorily:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2911246

However, it will be tiring to use for more than the occasional small job. Also it eats batteries and is more practical if used with rechargeable batteries rather than alkalines.

For anything other than usage far from mains power, get a corded iron.

[ijchan223]

like other users it has been ages since i used one, but from what i recall it was a total waste of time. I recently bought a weller iron similar to the radio shack one it gets me by but nothing like a 70watt soldering station.

[Fsck]

If you really, really need a battery powered portable soldering iron, then this one works satisfactorily:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2911246

However, it will be tiring to use for more than the occasional small job. Also it eats batteries and is more practical if used with rechargeable batteries rather than alkalines.

For anything other than usage far from mains power, get a corded iron.

you should never need a tiny AA-ish battery powered iron.  butane-irons is far superior.
anything more than a butane iron, just bring a big ass battery® (or just a UPS), some way to convert it to ACV and a standard soldering station.

[potatogun96]

I have used one once, and I hope to never use one again. Luckily, it wasn't mine, so at least I didn't waste any money. It was difficult to use, it didn't always work or heat up correctly, and overall wasn't a pleasant experience.

[warmage]

i used one from ebay that used to be advs. ontv , worst thing i ever got

totally not worth it , a butane solder will do if you have to go portable for some reason

[marshallh]

Completely useless. Only good for the white LED as a flashlight. And even then you risk zapping something in the dark.

Cold Heat; Not Even Once.   

[Avi]

If you really, really need a battery powered portable soldering iron, then this one works satisfactorily:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2911246

I have tried 3 different battery irons similar to this, the latest being this one
They seems to develop button contact issues, and even when it did work, it was not very good on the finger to keep pressing in on the button for ages.
Wish they'd use a decent click in/click out switch instead of a cheap quality momentary one.

[nukie]

Worst soldering product ever. No it's not worth to be a soldering iron it's called "disappointment iron". It probably work on TV because they kept changing the tip. The concept is great but the graphite tip is too piss poor weak I bet you if you drop it on the floor with the tip pointing south it will break in one go. From 6" / 150mm height.  So I was one dumbwit to purchase two because I thought the first one was manufacturing defect, years later.. no dice!

Here's the tip, of course it doesn't look like the original because it's so weak everytime you poke it on the copper it chips away I had to file it again and again.

Fragile graphite is one problem, the second problem is that the glue/epoxy/binding agent that holds the two piece of graphite together in the middle actually melts and expands then ooze out when it heats up. It hardens when it cools and create a barrier between the two graphite and there you have to break out the file again to remove it. You need the two piece of graphite to create a short but the insulation prevents it. Piss poor engineering.

It just makes me boil everytime I see it, I want to shaft this rubbish up the person's backside. I hope you are reading this because you one EVIL motherearthkiller who created an unnecessary landfill.

[mjrandle]

If you want a portable iron then a butane iron is your best option.  I've had a Portasol unit for years and it's very handy when in the field.


Cheers,

Mike

[amyk]

Thanks.  I had gotten one at Radioshack yesterday and hadn't opened it yet so I decided to ask here before decided to return it or not.  I look forward to getting my $35 back.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=19240

[Circuitous]

For those occasions when I really do need a cordless soldering iron, I've found the Hakko FX-9901 to be the best so far.  I've had a couple of other battery powered ones, including the Cold-Heat, and they were all useless.  The butane powered ones work, but are a real hassle... I'd only use those for soldering large connectors.

There's also a chisel tip available for the FX-901.
http://www.all-spec.com/products/FX-901.html
 

[IanB]

I have tried 3 different battery irons similar to this, the latest being this one
They seems to develop button contact issues, and even when it did work, it was not very good on the finger to keep pressing in on the button for ages.
Wish they'd use a decent click in/click out switch instead of a cheap quality momentary one.

Yup, the momentary pushbutton is annoying. I modified mine so the pushbutton does not need to be pressed.

[Sylwerdragon]

I think those portable irons are not good at all. I know when you need it and there is nothing else..even not good iron is better than nothing .

 But for normal soldering only normal iron can be used..or you will have problem and you wouldn't solder much...

[SpectrHz]

Oh man, Cold Heat. That brings back relatively recent memories... Bad ones, at that. I remember having one of those atrocities a while back, and as someone previously pointed out, not only was it a bad way to solder, but the tips broke if you looked at them funny. I really hated that iron...

[zapta]

If you want a portable iron then a butane iron is your best option. 

+1. Works great for me.

The Cold Heat reminds me the 'solder iron' we made as kids using pencil graphite and 6.3VAC transformer.

[robohotic]

I have an official Cold Heat soldering iron and have noticed that the tips wear out very fast.
I do a lot of soldering which doesn't help the situation.
The tips are very expensive and not available in NZ.

I have found that you can file down the tip to get a 'new' point on them.
They don't work properly when worn as they are basically a mini arc welder.

A butane soldering iron is the best option for a portable soldering iron.

[marshallh]

People,

Throw out your crap heat irons. Please. Butane irons get bad raps because everybody cheaps out and buys crap ones.
For the price of 1 iron and a few tips you can get a Weller Pyropen JR:

http://www.amazon.com/WSTA6-Pyropen-Self-Igniting-Cordless-Soldering/dp/B000ICBX8S/ref=pd_cp_hi_0

It heats up in about 10-15 seconds and has its own built-in lighter. I have used the provided tip for soldering 0,5mm pitch huge QFP packages no sweat. Trying to desolder a big connector with a fat ground plane? No problem. It has plenty of heat to spare.

One refill gets you about 40 minutes of continuous on time. An average $4 can of lighter butane gives you about 8-10 refills.
$4 for 6 straight hours of soldering action. No, I don't work for them. I have put over 40 CANS (400 refills) of butane through my first Pyropen in about 4-5 years (it was my primary iron, I didn't use anything else) before the catalyst started to become hard to light. The tip was still in brand new condition.

Then I bought a second one. I don't use them as my primary irons anymore but still use them where no AC is available (out in car etc)

[RobbieC]

Some bright bulb at my work must have thought that a Cold Heat "soldering iron" would be a good addition to one of our field service kits. Considering that we work in extremely remote environments, I'm surprised it made it back to the shop and wasn't thrown off a cliff or into a swamp.
I did find it a few months ago and even with fresh batteries and an unbroken tip could only make it spark.
We took the next logical step and "compacted its frame" using the company forklifts rear left tire.
If you need portable soldering, get a good Weller butane version. We've even used them for soldering folded tinned metal for rain gauge tippers.