Soldering Station

[ShadowReaper]

Hello,
I am thinking of buying the Hakko FX888 soldering station http://www.hakko.com/english/products/hakko_fx888.html

What is your opinion about it?

The problem is that the one I found requires input voltage of 110V, but I am in Europe and the input voltage is 220V...
If I buy a transformer will it be fine?

[mariushm]

Re: Soldering Station

Hakko stations are good, expensive but good.


You would have to get a 230v to 110v converter capable of about 100-150 watts.

Like these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/240v-120v-St...ref=pd_cp_ce_3
http://www.amazon.co.uk/500-Watt-Tra...358063&sr=1-23

The ones in the links above are with UK style plug but you can use 1-2 euro adapters to convert it to the regular european plug... or you could just change the cable.

I guess you could also just change the transformer but these don't use 5$ transformers and a converter may be more useful for other things as well.

[popeye]

Re: Soldering Station

Hello,
I am thinking of buying the Hakko FX888 soldering station http://www.hakko.com/english/products/hakko_fx888.html

What is your opinion about it?

The problem is that the one I found requires input voltage of 110V, but I am in Europe and the input voltage is 220V...
If I buy a transformer will it be fine?

check out ebay they do 220v version

[ShadowReaper]

Re: Soldering Station

check out ebay they do 220v version

Sure they do, but it's about $100+ more expensive

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Soldering Station

How much does a 100 watt transformer cost?
You'll need one about that big for a safety margin.

[ShadowReaper]

Re: Soldering Station

How much does a 100 watt transformer cost?
You'll need one about that big for a safety margin.

There are transformers like this

which cost about 12-13 $

and like this:


which cost about 25 $, both rated at 100w

What's the difference between those two?

[mariushm]

Re: Soldering Station

The first one can do about 45-60 watts... which is kinda small for your needs.

Here's one like the first picture but for 100 watts:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...pf_rd_i=468294

[ShadowReaper]

Re: Soldering Station

The first one can do about 45-60 watts... which is kinda small for your needs.

Here's one like the first picture but for 100 watts:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...pf_rd_i=468294

In the item description of the first states that it is for 100w...

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Soldering Station

On AC VA usually does not equal Watts.
Must adjust for the Power Factor [PF] of the device.
The watts will always be lower than or equal to the volt-amperes.
To be equal the PF would have to be 1, which isn't going to happen with a cheap transformer.
.
You need one that is at least 100 -watts-.
.

[retiredcaps]

Re: Soldering Station

The problem is that the one I found requires input voltage of 110V, but I am in Europe and the input voltage is 220V...
If I buy a transformer will it be fine?

eevblog has a discussion with pics on this very topic

http://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=4137.0

[Agent24]

Re: Soldering Station

I wouldn't bother with the stepdown transformer, unless you really need to save money and it does help you get the thing cheaper.

Getting the correct voltage for your country is a good idea, because it's possible that you (or more likely someone else) will one day forget to use the transformer, and plug the iron straight into the wrong voltage, at which point the money you saved will have been for nothing.

Shop around, don't just look on eBay.

It took me a lot of looking before I bought my 230v Proxxon tool eventually from a shop in Singapore, which turned out to be the cheapest overall and most convenient. I could probably have stuffed around with a stepdown transformer for a 110v eBay deal but in the end I decided it just made sense to get the right one to start with.