Modification to a ZD-987 desoldering/soldering station using a external switching power supply

[sam_sam_sam]

This switching power supply that I replaced two smaller separate switching power with one much bigger switching power supply is the best thing I could have done to the soldering/desoldering station I am glad I found this switching power even though it is a Chinese brand switching power supply

[sam_sam_sam]

I decided to buy another ZD-987 desoldering/soldering station I have decided to sell one my ZD-917 desoldering/soldering station I will be posting it on eBay soon I will post when the item is available

I decided not to move controller around to make it have the sleep function feature because this idea could become a nightmare
I have changed controller boards on these units before and sometimes everything goes good and sometimes it goes wrong

One more reason for not doing it was because I do not have a desoldering gun controller that has the sleep feature for the desoldering gun and the soldering iron controller are not programmed exactly the same way in that desoldering controller has slower temperatures response time the soldering iron does and would way over shoot the set point or would cycle way often so this is my concern about doing

The reason I know this when there was an eBay seller that sold these replacement controllers you had to make sure that you bought the right version for the model number you have and the seller had this in the description for items for sale

[sam_sam_sam]

Update I was thinking about getting another 18 volt @ 20 amp output capacity switching power supply but the cost of them have gone up by $30.00 from a year ago I might take a while to make the decision weather or not to buy another one or not

Very disappointed about this turn of events with these switching power supplies going up in price by this much in this short time frame

They are decently made I have been using it for almost a year now and it works like a charm on my soldering desoldering machine and works so much better than the original switching power supply that was in it what is really nice and most importantly thing in the cooling fan and it being temperature controlled when the heaters turn on the fan speeds up and when the heaters go offline the fan slows back down again

And most important thing is that the switching power supply can be on for hours and just be barely warm to the touch yeah I know this switching power supply is probably over kill for what it is powering but so much better in the long run

[stj]

on this subject,
i have still not seen a single original psu failure in europe,
i think it's the input voltage, 230v is good, but 110 has double the duty cycle so it stresses the semiconductors more.

[sam_sam_sam]

on this subject,
i have still not seen a single original psu failure in europe,
i think it's the input voltage, 230v is good, but 110 has double the duty cycle so it stresses the semiconductors more.

You could be right about that but there is no easy solution for this other than using an external switching power supply at for me because I just got tired of repairing them and not really getting any where but I like I mentioned earlier in my comment above that now these switching power supplies are now $71.00 not as affordable like they were when I first found them and bought a couple of them I still have one of them to modify but I want to fix another device that has issues as well but I think I might hold off on doing it for awhile

[stj]

you should wire some 240v outlets in your workshop.
they would be handy for all sorts of psu testing
btw, china is 240v so getting stuff like rcd's and breakers is easy

[sam_sam_sam]

you should wire some 240v outlets in your workshop.
they would be handy for all sorts of psu testing
btw, china is 240v so getting stuff like rcd's and breakers is easy

But you have to buy the 240 versions of devices for this to work because there are two versions of the soldering desoldering stations for the switching power supplies that I am referring to there is a switch to change from 120 to 240 volts

[stj]

i thought the soldering stations were universal voltage?

[sam_sam_sam]

i thought the soldering stations were universal voltage?

No you have to order the voltage version that you want or need there is no selector switch on this device

[Agent24]

Can't you upgrade the silicon to handle the 110v requirements better? That could be an interesting project... maybe a FET with lower Rds(on) and higher current rated rectifiers, etc?

[sam_sam_sam]

Can't you upgrade the silicon to handle the 110v requirements better? That could be an interesting project... maybe a FET with lower Rds(on) and higher current rated rectifiers, etc?

The problem is two fold one is that the switching power supply transformer is not big enough for the current and second if that does not fail then the switching power supply regulator fails so like I said it is two fold