this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2024
440 points (96.2% liked)
Technology
58112 readers
4565 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related content.
- Be excellent to each another!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Approved Bots
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Those look pretty cool.
But I'm confused about the marketing around the cpu/ram, etc. Does that really matter for a soldering iron? (Serious question, not being snarky).
I get they're using that tech to make it adjustible/smart, but it's a soldering iron, not a pocket computer.
Is there some way those specs genuinely matter? Or is it just to say "we're using the latest tech to provide controls"?
Smart soldering irons have been around a while, so yes. It is now like a PC and specs matter a little.
One advantage smart irons have is being able to give you a readout of the exact temp of the tip of your soldering iron, something a traditional iron cannot do.
It also needs chips and sensors to do things like auto-off when it is set down.
So the quality and speed of chips affects performance.
Sounds like marketing foo.
I have a 10+ year old Weller station with digital temp adjustment, and I don't recall it having a cpu and ram.
So, what's updating the display? Power supply imps?
If it has digital temperature control then it has something resembling a CPU and memory. If it's analog then it's probably just not that accurate and will drift over time without manual calibration.
I have a pinecil and direct heat soldering irons blow away non direct heat irons like your weller (and I think this ifixit one). Once you switch you never want to go back. Which is really disappointing because I don't think this new ifix it one is.
Digital temp adjustment is different than a sensor that tells you the exact temp at the tip.
Pretty sure any 10+ year old unit is just setting a temp, not telling you the actual temp through a measurement.
The Weller WESD51 sets the temp at the tip and mine has done that since I bought it in 2016. A look at a datasheet dates it back to 2006 but it could be older. By definition that means it has to know what the tip temp is. As it heats up the digital display tracks the temp going up.