CFW for KSGER/Quicko STM32 Soldering Stations

[mastershake]

i have i think 7 3.0 boards and they all have different stm chips id have to check them all again.

anyway to fix it or will the previous build be the final one for 3.0?

[DavidAlfa]

Nothing is final, but I have to work 8h a day and a life, for now revert to previous release, will be fixed when possible.

[ygi]

I can confirm it works on V1.5 with the higher end chip.
Can't say I'm thrilled by the extra clicks and scrolling required to save all my tips or the now wasted/empty screen space because of the extended name field, though. I'm curious what you and others think about it.

[DavidAlfa]

You don't need to click 10 times, remember you can move from side to side using the "drag-clicking" method, much faster.

[mastershake]

is there an easy way to say remove some of the extra languages to make some extra room or anything simple i can remove (i have not done code in a LONG time so it def will take me some time to figure it out again) honestly i only personally need english but not sure how much space that would free up

[ststefanov13]

is there an easy way to say remove some of the extra languages to make some extra room or anything simple i can remove (i have not done code in a LONG time so it def will take me some time to figure it out again) honestly i only personally need english but not sure how much space that would free up

English only preferred. Who wants another language when compiling to specify it. However, many of the translations have incomprehensible abbreviations or anglicisms.
The tip name can be stored as 4 or 3  characters but displayed as (station profile - tip name) on the main screen and in the tip list and only the last 4 or 3 characters edited. But if there really is no resource, this is not a problem.

[ygi]

You don't need to click 10 times, remember you can move from side to side using the "drag-clicking" method, much faster.

I forgot about that, thanks. Still, I'm well aware you can't please everyone when it comes to UI design so I'll revert the change for my own build.

is there an easy way to say remove some of the extra languages to make some extra room or anything simple i can remove (i have not done code in a LONG time so it def will take me some time to figure it out again) honestly i only personally need english but not sure how much space that would free up

Languages enumeration is in Core/Inc/settings.h  . You need to set LANGUANGE_COUNT to 1, and then look for lang_english and remove the extra languages lines.
And the translated strings are in Drivers/graphics/gui/screens/gui_strings.c . There you can go ham and delete the blocs you don't need.

That's pretty easy if you have the environment all set to compile your own binaries. If not, tell me what build(s) you need.

[DavidAlfa]

Reducing tip count to 35 (Who has 35+ tips anyways?) and shortening the tip name to 8 chars seems to make just enough room for 10KB devices.
Release v1.10.2.

The languages use only flash, there's still plenty of it, removing them will make zero difference to this problem, which is the RAM.

The issue comes when saving data into the flash (Profiles, settings...), everything must be stored into ram prior writing, as the entire flash sector needs to be erased first.
That means storing ALL the profiles (T12, C210, C245), not just the one being modified, so it temporally uses a lot of RAM.
A possible solution would be to store each profile on a different sector, using additional 8KB of flash, which is not really a lot, reducing the backup buffer by 2KB, saving only one profile at any given time.

But this again, needs time, testing.... no ETA!

[ststefanov13]

8 symbols are enough, t12 soldering tips no more than 4 symbols, c245 and c210 no more than 3 symbols.
Let's not be maximalists, David is right, no one works with 35 soldering tips.

[DavidAlfa]

Yeah, more than enough, still allowing the full name,  "T12-JL02", "C245-963", etc.

[Quarlo Klobrigney]

I never got a chance to "impose" upon my OLED version with better firmware but I'm interested.
One of the problems with the factory FW is that it does not see the shaker switch to wake up.
I've even done a bridge short between the input and black minus and still no deal, so I will try some new FW.

So the 2 questions are, the color codes and PCB markings for the newer white handles which are a vast improvement over the black/blue crappy socket types.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HQ69VND
I can't seem to find anything that agrees between any of these white handles as to what goes where.
I have it as Red +, BLK -, GRN as GND, WHT as Thermocouple, BLU as Shaker SW.
Pictorially it's all over the map.
Look at this nonsense:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832554212325.html
Scroll down to English Manual

I also bought a simple LED version for a friend of mine who does simple.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KNT9DXL
Of course there are no instructions...
The 3 pin power plug is red, yellow and black. Just apply 12v-24v? so what is yellow for?
I have posted here because Google and the supplier are useless.
Sorry it this is in the wrong place, if not here can someone point me to the right place?

[AndyC]

So the 2 questions are, the color codes and PCB markings for the newer white handles which are a vast improvement over the black/blue crappy socket types.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HQ69VND
I can't seem to find anything that agrees between any of these white handles as to what goes where.
I have it as Red +, BLK -, GRN as GND, WHT as Thermocouple, BLU as Shaker SW.

I've seen many handles where the blue and white wires are swapped. The important thing is of course that the pinout is right.
On most KSGER boards the pinout is: 1-Switch, 2-NTC, 3-GND, 4-(-), 5-(+)
Post a photo of your board and handle, maybe we'll be able to help.

I also bought a simple LED version for a friend of mine who does simple.[/size]
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KNT9DXL
Of course there are no instructions...
The 3 pin power plug is red, yellow and black. Just apply 12v-24v? so what is yellow for?
I have posted here because Google and the supplier are useless.
Sorry it this is in the wrong place, if not here can someone point me to the right place?

On the ones I've seen, the yellow seemed to be GND.

[Quarlo Klobrigney]

As far as the white and blue, it can be what ever way they want it to be.


The Chinglish manual found in various Aliexpress pages is useless. They should stop trying to speak English and just draw pictures. It really is better.
I've learned much more from the photos, but never from the text within them.

On this one the Yellow is 12V+-24V+

Before taking the 5 pound sledge hammer to it, I will explain why I would want to do such a thing.

Many photos all of which do not agree with each other, forced me to take a DMM to do some ohming   out of the traces.
I did find between my unbiased results and the photos, where I needed to hook the 3 power wires to. +12V. Red and Yellow to +12V. Black to -. I used 12V on both to play it safe.


The display lit up and showed 500 as seen in all the photos.
I know the new handpiece-wand works from my testing it in my OLED station.
None of the menu settings work or change the LED with the handpiece.


An Amazon call resulted in a refund + the original amount and pity money all in excess of the purchase.
I can keep the original (free handpiece)! kit and the bad board. No torturous replacement board to deal with.
Free money, free iron, let the hammering begin! (no tension headaches that way)


Buy the STM-OLED one (KSGER, Quicko (Quecco)) for just a bit more in price.
Plenty of support here and elsewhere.

The original OLED one was very easy to build into an old flat faced, old Weller station with the original built in 18V torroidal transformer.

A new face made out of Formica, Dremeled and drilled, did the job.
Adding a 5A bridge and a 1000µF cap was easy, it came from the junk box.
That's what I made for my friends LED board version. FAIL.


Thanks anyway for trying. NEVER buy the LED version, it's just a dumb display.


Quote from: AndyC on 2023-04-29, 03:55:44>

[Rixi]

Hello guys,
since a few months I own a HANDSKIT T12 soldering station.

With the help of @yelkvi I already prepared it a bit to use it with C245 cartiges. I (re-)wired the T12 handle and C245 handle and do have some nice (genuine) C245 cartiges on my desk.

The only thing missing is David's awesome CFW. But I'm struggeling to identify my board type and which firmware version to use for it.

Attached (sorry, I was to stupid to include them into the text) are pictures of the station, it's board, it's STM32 and another STM32 of an Arduino that I could use, if that would be beneficial (I have a hot air gun and could swap the STM32s).

Thanks for your advice which firmware to use!

[yelkvi]

Here's what David's instructions say:

  "4 pin (I2C) = Generic v2 (KSGER/Quecoo/Handskit/etc.)"

So your firmware: KSGER_v2_OLED.zip

[DavidAlfa]

Don't put the stm32 from that Blue Pill, it looks fake from miles away!
You have the original firmware to restore, so no problem.

[Rixi]

Thank you both for your quick replies!

This morning I flashed the KSGER_v2_OLED.bin. As the ST-Link Utility was missing the mfc140.dll (according to google this requires the installation of Visual Studio 2015 , which I wanted to avoid) I used the STM32CubeProgrammer. I'm not very familiar with this and not set/changed any settings, but I think the flashing was successfull. At least at next startup the CFW showed up 
One question regarding this: Should I have full-erased the chip before flashing the CFW? So far I did _not_ because I wasn't sure if it might "break" something (erase the boot loader etc. etc. -- again: I'm not very familiar with this...).

The station boots with the CFW and seams to work as desired using the T12 handle (tested it just for a few moments).
However, re-starting the station, switching the profile to C245 and connecting a C245 handle incl. genuine cartige leads to this sequence (see pictures attached):
1: 24°C
2: -99°C [showing only for a fraction of a second]
3: Cartige Error

...and the cartige is not heating up at all.

Any suggestions what might cause this error?

[DavidAlfa]

Show us the handle wiring and the board modification.

[mastershake]

davidalfa beat me to it lol i was just about to post you have to do the mod to the board for 245. a couple pages back there is some more info where someone else posted pics.

[Rixi]

On the board I opened a bridge that was existing between PINs 1 and 2 (marked as H and T+) of the connector (Attachment 1).

For the T12 handle I added the bridge (PINs 1 to 2) inside the handle's 5-Pin GX12 Connector.

On the PSU I added a 1 Ohm resistor (Attachment 2).

C245 handle wiring/connector:
I just realized I can't take a picture of the wiring of the 5-Pin Connector (GX12) because I made a nice isolation (red shrink tube) as it has a metal housing (Attachment 3).
I can't open my handle anyways, so I figured out the handle wiring by measuring it. My handle came with a 3-wire cable so PINs 4 and 5 of the connector are not used. Here is what I re-measured on the connector with an inserted (used) C245 cartige a moment ago:
Pin 1 to 2: 2.9 Ohm
Pin 2 to 3: 1.0 Ohm
Pin 1 to 3: 2.9 Ohm
With no cartige inserted I have no connection/resistance between any connector pins.

[DavidAlfa]

Ensure the handle wiring is correct:

Read page 134. C245 consumes a lot more power than T12.

[Rixi]

I did already read through many pages of this thread before and did again yesterday night (including page 134). It looks like I have a lack of understanding to find the problem with my wiring (or whatever might be wrong). What makes me curious is that I don't measure the resistance values you mentioned:

You should measure something like this:
- Heater-GND : ~2.6 Ohms
- TC-GND: ~0.7 Ohms
- Heater-TC: Sum of both (~3.2Ohms)

BTW: I noticed a typo in my last post: I actually measured 2.9Ohms for 1to2 and 1to3 (not 3.9Ohms which I wrote earlier and now corrected it to 2.9):

Here is what I re-measured on the connector with an inserted (used) C245 cartige a moment ago:
Pin 1 to 2: 2.9 Ohm
Pin 2 to 3: 1.0 Ohm
Pin 1 to 3: 2.9 Ohm
With no cartige inserted I have no connection/resistance between any connector pins.

I would like to check the wiring and contacts of my C245 handle, but can't open it. Is there a trick or best practice to open the handles? I have this one (which BTW has a good quality feeling), and already tried to open it by twisting it between the green grip and the black back-side, but it seams to be glued together strongly and I'm affraid of breaking it.

I also want to understand and double-check the pin-out of my board. @celica uses PINs 3+4+5 (photo in this post), but for my understanding with my board PINs 1+2+3 need to be used (Which I already do for the T12 plus 4+5 for the shake sensor and it works). Can anyone check/confirm the PINs?

[DavidAlfa]

Pins 1-2 put the Heater and the thermocouple in series, you should measure the sum of 1-3 and 2-3.

Green (H), red(T+) and Black (G):

[ststefanov13]

Тhis is my connector arrangement and my modification of the Handskit to work with the C245 handle and stand. and like you, I have moved the bridge for T12 handle in the connector.I'm using CSK32 with clonefix off from this dealer Wan Xing Da Chip franchise Store and no problems.

[ststefanov13]

Pins 1-2 put the Heater and the thermocouple in series, you should measure the sum of 1-3 and 2-3.

Green (H), red(T+) and Black (G):

David, the HANDSKIT uses a different arrangement of the GX15-5 connector. See my last picture.
H is the thermocouple, T+ is Plus on the soldering tip, SW is the vibration sensor, GND is the signal ground, PE is the protective ground. With the Handskit, the NTC is soldered to the board.

And about the HANDSKIT, changing the soldering tip after insert tip with version 1.10.2 does not work, while it works on the KSGER. For information, the HANDSKIT soldering tweezers work on the KSGER after replacing the cable with a five-core one and placing the NTC in their handle and wiring the rod according to their scheme.

Settings  for HANDSKIT soldering tweezers:

Power:150W
Heater:4 Om
PWM:10X

Heaters and Thermocouples on HANDSKIT soldering tweezers is connected in paralel.

The HANDSKIT uses a 150 Watt power supply and is the same as AIXUN uses in the T3A.


G12-5 pinout for HANDSKIT whith JBC C245 Handle:
This colors is standart for JBC Handles.

1=RED=Theromocouple
2=BLUE=Heater +
3 bridge 4 = GREEN = Signal Ground + Protective Ground