Replacement heating element too long, trim?

[caphair]

Ordered some replacement heating elements for my soldering iron. Went to install one and noticed it's longer than the other by a little.

The instructions are in Chinese so I have no idea what it says. Can it be trimmed? If not will it affect function?

[stj]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

isnt the element mounted on a spring so it can push in a bit? some are.

[caphair]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

Yeah it's pushed in all the way

[stj]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

how much did the elements cost btw?

[caphair]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

$5 from china

[stj]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

each?

[petehall347]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

what iron is it ?

[stj]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

cheap hakko 907 clone i think.

[caphair]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

It's a no name 852D+

[petehall347]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

might be better with all the correct parts ..
something like this ...

[caphair]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

I could only find a US seller that sold entire handle so purchased that but it seemed of lesser quality.

Shorter cable, thinner, different feel.

Found heating element on eBay in china for original handle so figured I'd get it so can have original feel I was used to but when I soldered it in I ran into that problem

[caphair]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

I tested it and it seems to work fine. I'm wondering if I alter the little indents on the bottom that seat into the soldering iron PCB if it would be safe to use?

See here the top is original and bottom is the replacement which said is for the 852D+ station. I also just noticed the original iron had writing that faded and all I can make out is "907" and the last letter I think was an "A"

Should I be looking for a heater element for a 907A instead of the station 852D+?

The iron as a whole just looks better quality compared to cheap alternative I got for $7 which was entire assembly but the wires are shorter, cheaper plastic, no labels and I noticed I need to crank the temp up higher than I did with the original.

[petehall347]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

look at specs for 907a .

[caphair]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

This is the exact listing I purchased the heater elements from

https://www.ebay.com/itm/161568266487

[Agent24]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

If you can't find some the right length perhaps http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-LUKEY-936...-/252254261836 would work. They don't have that mounting part on the end. They work for my TS-1560.

[caphair]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

Thanks. My concern is the resistance of the heater and sensor. Would it hurt anything if not exact to original? I can't take a measurement to compare since original is bad

[caphair]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

Had someone with a 907a iron measure heater resistances for me

Heater - 14.4 ohms
Sensor - 1.0 ohms

My replacements measure

Heater - 14.6 ohms
Sensor - .8 ohms

So close enough. What I ended up doing was trimming the holder slots on the iron PCB so heater sits recessed as needed.

[caphair]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

What I'm noticing now is solder is melting at a lower temperature than it was with the old entire iron assembly I had (not original iron that came with the system). I can melt leaded solder with a beveled tip at 155c where with the other one it would have to be set to around 230c. Is something wrong?

[Agent24]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

There are two types of heating elements for these irons, depending on how accurate your knockoff is compared to a genuine Hakko. One is a standard wire resistive heater with a thermocouple (cheaper) and the other is a ceramic heater with a thermistor (like the genuine one)

If you had the wrong type, I'm not sure exactly what would happen, but the heater either running full power or not at all would be my guess, because a thermocouple outputs a voltage, and the thermistor will change resistance, so you're measuring two completely different properties and a circuit designed to use one will be completely incorrect for reading the other.

If the iron does regulate and you can actually adjust the temperature, but the numbers are 'wrong', then it sounds like you have the right type of heater, but something isn't quite the same as the old one (I suspect cheap Chinese knockoff heaters for cheap irons don't have very tight manufacturing tolerances )

You probably just need to recalibrate the iron. There should be a calibration\adjustment trimpot on your soldering station somewhere. Obviously you will also need a known good thermometer.

[caphair]

Re: Replacement heating element too long, trim?

Yeah I thought maybe it's just fully on or off but if I keep it set to 100c (the lowest setting) solder doesn't melt, it doesn't start to melt till I hit 155c and if I try melting lead free solder it doesn't melt till 200c

So definitely lower than I'm used to. Before I'd have to crank it up higher to just melt solder and really crank it to solder on a PCB. This is with the knock off entire soldering iron assembly. I don't remember the number for original heater that came with the station.

Is a thermometer accurate enough to measure soldering iron temperature? I have an infrared type.

I do like that at lower temps it's hot as it leaves me plenty on the dial to increase if ever need be. Just worried if it'll ruin the station or not.

Don't want to start calibrating inside the station as I'm not even sure which heater is best suited for it lol