My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

[gilly1984]

Is it worth fixing or just buy a new one?

And what is it that went bang? Is that a cap, I'm only used to radials at the moment.

[multimeter]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

Is it worth fixing or just buy a new one?

And what is it that went bang? Is that a cap, I'm only used to radials at the moment.

thats a polyester cap,cheap to replace

[gilly1984]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

thats a polyester cap,cheap to replace

From what i can make out is that its a 474j 400v cap. How on earth has it exploded rated at 400v?

Think i may just buy another iron.

[SmartVision]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

From what i can make out is that its a 474j 400v cap. How on earth has it exploded rated at 400v?

Think i may just buy another iron.

Maybe the cap is not the only problem, but electronics characteristics are falling with ages

[gilly1984]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

Maybe the cap is not the only problem, but electronics characteristics are falling with ages

Ok, deffo a new iron then

I found this years ago and its been the best iron i've ever owned, i even gave away my new one when i found this.

Been great since 2009. You will be missed Mr Richards

[budm]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

I would try replacing the cap and check the Diode and the Zener diode, the cap is used as a voltage drop to supply power to the relay, more likely the relay is used for controlling the temperartue of the soldering Iron by cycling the power on/off, it gets the signal from temperature sensor to control relay. It should be simple to fix.

[PeteS in CA]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

If the cap is subject to voltage spikes, it may occasionally have spikes that punch through the film dielectric. With a metalized film part - e.g. polyester or polypropylene - this isn't fatal to the part in the immediate sense. The arc-over usually clears the metalization from the arc site, leaving a hole with residue from the plastic film but the metal cleared from around the site. But the residue does allow a small amount of leakage, and over time, as such arc sites accumulate with voltage spikes, the leakage current and the power dissipated becomes significant, eventually destroying the part (usually catastrophically). If your local power is clean and normal operation of the iron doesn't generate spikes, the failure point might never be reached; OTOH, if local power is not clean, or if that relay's operation generates spikes the cap sees, well, it should take several years, but eventually the cap will fail.

The cap is a .47uF, 400V part. If a 630V part can fit, it could be more robust. Or, if you repair your soldering iron, replacing that cap every 3-5 years could be done as preventive maintenance.

[gilly1984]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

And now my microwave has gone?

It does everything it used to do but my food doesnt get warm?

Bad day.

[selldoor]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

I have just fixed a microwave - perhaps the same fault?

Inside there are more fuses - I ended up getting mine from China
it is a 5kv 750ma. 40mm x 6mm - didnt realise it was a fuse at first as
it was inside an unmarked plastic case about 3 inches x .5 inch.

Wrongly is suppose , I jumped it first with an ordinary 1 amp fuse and heated
a small amount of water so I knew it would work before ordering anything.

Got it for free so didnt really want to spend a lot on it if the magnetron had gone.

Very careful if you go inside capacitor holds VERY VERY HIGH Voltage.

[gilly1984]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

For a few days i have noticed a plastic burning smell coming from it, bit drunk last night so didnt think about it.

[kc8adu]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

i have never seen a fuse on the hv side of a nuker.
that is more likely the rectifier.

I have just fixed a microwave - perhaps the same fault?

Inside there are more fuses - I ended up getting mine from China
it is a 5kv 750ma. 40mm x 6mm - didnt realise it was a fiuse at first as
it was inside an unmarked plastic case about 3 inches x .5 inch.

Wrongly is suppose , I jumped it first with an ordinary 1 amp fuse and heated
a small amount of water so I knew it would work before ordering anything.

Got it for free so didnt really want to spend a lot on it if the magnetron had gone.

Very careful if you go inside capacitor holds VERY VERY HIGH Voltage.

[selldoor]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

i have never seen a fuse on the hv side of a nuker.
that is more likely the rectifier.

Not sure what you are saying? its definitely a fuse.

[joshnz]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

i have never seen a fuse on the hv side of a nuker.
that is more likely the rectifier.

90% of the microwave ovens I have come across have a cap, diode and fuse on the hv side.

[joshnz]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

selldoor posted before me and has proof of the fuse.

[gilly1984]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

Pics of my poor microwave.

A connection has melted off the transformer?

This was a metal connection so solder isn't going to work.

Fixable or electronic heaven with the iron?

Sorry about the pics RC but the battery died in the cam (10 pics and battery's were dead lol)

[selldoor]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

Well you have nothing to lose by trying. If it had been soldered in the first place
it wouldnt have come slack and burnt through.
What I would try is dependant on what you have left when you clean it up.
On the good connector is the spade connected to the wire by whatever the blob is underneath the insulation card?. If so and the blob on the faulty connector is still connected to the transformer winding in some way, then you could perhaps solder the wire onto that blob.

If there is enough of the spade left just solder it onto that.

[Uranium-235]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

so you would have to solder in a cap, on a soldering iron. Oh, the...irony

I believe that is the most clever joke I have ever told

[budm]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

Good one Uranium-235, LOL.

[tom66]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

I had a "cheap" soldering iron which used the same crappy cap solution. Bought it new for £50 so not really cheap but it was all I could afford. First day blew its fuse, got a replacement next day (to Rapid Electronics' credit, they were fast), that one lasted 2 weeks before blowing its fuse again. But they told me to keep it and refunded me so can't complain too much. I suspect inrush current was too high leading to failure.

Now I've got an old Antex digital temperature set soldering iron, surplus from workplace for nothing. With about 10 tips to boot.

[gilly1984]

Re: My Iron just went bang. Pic of internals.

so you would have to solder in a cap, on a soldering iron. Oh, the...irony

I believe that is the most clever joke I have ever told

Straight over my head?