Very nice offer, Ersa soldering station

[Level42]

OK, I had a bad experience with Conrad, let's give them a second try.

My trusty Weller broke down, and since I use it so much the last years, I thought it would be a good idea to get a temperature controlled station instead of the magnastat.

Today I was mailed this special offer:
http://www.conrad.nl/goto.php?artikel=813123

Ersa is a famous brand in soldering. They do everything related to soldering, including the big factory soldering machines, so it's not a no-name product.



Looks like a very nice price too, normally €165, now €89.95. I know it's not a Metcal, but they are simply too expensive and not available used here.
I think by any means, this is a good upgrade.

Here's a datasheet:
http://www.elkatek.com/pdf/vakumluhavyalar/ersahavyalar/ersaRDS80_e.pdf

Bet it was a pretty popular deal as delivery date is now stated at feb. 10, but I have no rush at this moment.

Maybe a nice suggestion for some other Dutchies here, but beware offer is only TODAY.

[CheffoJeffo]

That is definitely much sexier looking than my soldering station ...

[Level42]

This is my currenct station and it looks like ancient compared to the Ersa:


Read a couple of reports by people who already bought it and it's apparently a pretty good one.

The pluses:
-3 buttons to quickly select preset temperatures (handy if are doing some fine work and then have to do a really large area)
- pretty quick on temp
- good tip(s)

Minus:
- no teflon lead between station and handle. Not really a problem for me as my current one has a pretty sturdy PVC cable too

This may not be for the people who are soldering all day, but it'll be fine for the hobby.

[Kevin Mullins]

Damn.... I'm sad to admit I remain in the stone ages then.   
El' Cheapo at it's best.
(but I just finished replacing surface mounts on a harddrive pcb with it)

That Ersa unit looks sweet.

[Level42]

SMD with that ! Impressive. You like to torture yourself right ? 

So there are still people doing component repairs on HD PCB's. Impressive ! With current prices most people just get a new drive....(unless there was some precious data on there ?)

[Blanka]

Again I went to RS:

60 euro excl. VAT
Works great.
Edit: I bet this is the same machine as your offer Mr. 42. Look at the display, the button layout, the connector and the switch. All the very same. Only difference is design vs. non-design.

[Kevin Mullins]

Ain't it funny how there are a lot of "manufacturers" or "brands" that are in all reality the same guts in a different case. Both the Ersa and the RS look like nice units. But of course longevity and accuracy is where it counts.

I love all the optional tips for those, that's a big plus.

SMD with that ! Impressive. You like to torture yourself right ? 

Yeah, I don't recommend it..... heck just looking at the stuff gives me a headache.
(need a magnifier)

[Level42]

Nice one Blanka. I have to thank you for the tip about RS. Ordered the "good" IEC connectors there. Delivery was very fast !
I'm sure I will be using them a lot in the future !

I did also look on the RS site if I could find a nice station but must have overlooked that one...they have SO many (even Metcals !)

However the one you have is 50 Watts, compared to 80 in the Ersa. Not that will mean that much on the work we will do with it, but it is a difference.

Also, from what I've read, the Ersa has it's "own" handle to use the Ersa tips, but if that's not true, this is info I read from someone else on the internet.

How are your experiences with it so far ?

[polaris]

how did you sort out buying from RS ?

[Level42]

I'll PM you Polaris....

Hah, look at this:

http://www.testberichte.de/test/produkt_tests_elv_elektronik_ls_60_p59360.html

A test of 6 "different" stations by a German "homeworker" magazine.

Contestant 1:


Yes, exactly the same as Blanka's RS station (Except for color ).

Contestant 2:


Different, yes, but I wouldn't be surprised that this one comes from the same factory....

Contestant 3 is the Ersa RDS 80.

In the test the Ersa reaches the same (highest) score as the Weller WS-81.

I think it's safe to say that the "50" and "80" come out of the same factory. However, I do think the Ersa has put one of their own "irons" on the set. It looks really different:

Ersa:

[Level42]

Mmmmmmm, it's Chinese.

Found an interesting thread about these similar stations here (in German):
http://www.mikrocontroller.net/topic/93174

Now, this all appears to lead to this Chinese factory:
http://www.china-zhongdi.com/tcss01.htm

Hey, look familiar, right ?

Click around on all the ZD- models.....you'll see some familiar stuff:

Sold as Velleman (electronic kits manufacturer) here:


Hey, this one is familiar, I've worked with one of those when I worked a year on VGA monitor repairs. Not a bad station at all....


Talk about familiar looking:


If you don't recognize this as a Weller, you haven't ever actually soldered I guess.......jeez direct copies ! (At least on the outside). However, these would be "older" Wellers now.

Here's the original....:



I guess some of you guys have seen these too:

Another Zhongdi product. If I'm not mistaken this is actually sold under the Weller brand, but I could be wrong...

[daywane]

Damn.... I'm sad to admit I remain in the stone ages then.   
El' Cheapo at it's best.
(but I just finished replacing surface mounts on a harddrive pcb with it)

That Ersa unit looks sweet.

I am here with you.
I use a 15 what radio shack solder iron
a sponge
and a glass plate 

[richms]

No hakko's tho? Thats what I have pretty much always used after getting rid of the weller magnetic one with all the issues that it brings...

[Level42]

Thought about canceling the order, but I figured I'll give it a try first (can see if I like it and return it within 7 days anyway). The mere fact that the base station is Chinese built does not automatically imply that it's rubbish. The Chinese _can_ do proper jobs if guided by some western guys.

I still think the "iron"/handle set-up is Ersa's own design, I don't see a similar set-up on any of the other stations.

So, for that kind of money, I guess it's not a bad deal.

While looking at all those stations I also had a second look at the Metcals and what struck me is that you have to change tips to select temperatures. Doesn't sound very practical to me....weird !

[richms]

No, my old weller was the same, and to make it worse, its slightly magnetic so it would take small SMD things off the board if there was any steel in them when trying to solder them.

[Level42]

Heheh, SMD just started to get out when I was learning electronics. I never had to deal with (de)soldering SMD and in all honesty I have little desire to

[CheffoJeffo]

I never had to deal with (de)soldering SMD and in all honesty I have little desire to

+1

 

[richms]

All the cool stuff is smd only now, and to tell you the truth, its not that bad once you have some practice in.

Given the choice between drilling my own board for a 40 pin chip, or doing some SMD work... well the SMD wins out every time. Perhaps if I was getting the boards made it would be different, but a solder masked SMD board is even easier again then without mask so its still a tossup.

[Level42]

I'm soldering mostly on cool stuff: 80's arcade PCB's

The station arrived today. Comes in a nice printed box, well packed. There's a pretty good instruction manual but it's not in Dutch. AFAIK it's illegal to sell a product over here without a Dutch manual, but I have no problem with reading English or German.....


The good (so far, haven't actually used it):
The station itself looks and feels very robust and professional. Heavy.
The buttons feel good quality. The display is really large.  Setting/using the station is easy and straightforward. There's a good range of settings (like auto-shut off, auto- "low temp" , setting the buttons to your prefered temps.)
The iron feels good. It's a lot sleeker than the magnastat I had before.
Turned it on and set 300 degrees (celsius). It was on temp pretty quickly, much quicker than the magnastat.

The bad (so far, haven't actually used it):
The mains cord is short ! Too short IMHO. Why do companies try to save 3 cents on a freaking power cord ?
The cord on the iron is not very flexible as expected. Wonder how it will hold while working
Not sure if I'm going to like the stand. I like to "throw" the iron in the stand. That is, I don't want to have to think about how I should put it in. This one looks like it's going to need that....
The tip seems a bit big for general PCB use.

Overall, it looks very nice. I'll open the thing up to see how it's inside. Also will report after some actual use.

[Kevin Mullins]

The tip seems a bit big for general PCB use.

So I'm assuming it only comes with the ONE basic tip ?
I see they have a pretty big selection of "optional" tips.....does anyone offer any kits that include a couple different tips maybe?
The whole collection would be nice, but obviously pretty spendy I'm sure.