4 ms·

The thermostat is analog and dumb, no code involved. I don’t want my soldering station to run an OS, and I don’t want to program a Raspberry Pi when I need to i

The thermostat is analog and dumb, no code involved. I don’t want my soldering station to run an OS, and I don’t want to program a Raspberry Pi when I need to interact with something over UART. In my mind, these tools are a means to an end, but I understand that people enjoy hacking on them.

adolph 3y ago
> The thermostat is analog and dumb, no code involved. I'm not certain about how dumb something is if no code is involved. Just might be very smart to be able to leverage fundamental physics in such a way. That said, analog processing can be subtle. Have you disassembled the thermostat to see how it implements PID?
- fellerts 3y ago
  I mean “dumb” in the sense that a non-smart TV is dumb compared to its modern counterparts, not that it’s stupid or poorly designed. IMO, dumb systems are often preferable. Less magic that can suddenly break on you. Also, the Weller in question (WECP 20) isn’t doing PID. There is a potentiometer knob and a resistive temperature sensing element in the iron that together either turn heating on or off. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. Full schematics are readily available online.
  - adolph 3y ago
    Wait, so it uses a continuous range of voltages instead of PWM to control the heating element? Do tips not have an ideal voltage for efficiently emitting IR?
    - fellerts 3y ago
      > Wait, so it uses a continuous range of voltages instead of PWM to control the heating element? Heating is either on or of, but it's on the order of "a few times per second". The heating action is connected to a small indicator lamp that lights up when the transformer is pushing power through the iron. You can hear the transformer buzzing briefly every few seconds to keep the tip around the set temperature. Touch the tip to a large thermal mass, and the transformer buzzes continuously. I expect there is a Schmitt trigger or a simple comparator in the control board that is in charge of the heating action. Again, check out the schematics to see how simple it is. > Do tips not have an ideal voltage for efficiently emitting IR? What do you mean by emitting IR? A soldering iron doesn't melt tin by radiative heating. You make physical contact with whatever you are intending to heat. Are you perhaps thinking of Curie point soldering (or inductive heating) [0]? Those employ a much more complex process. My Weller goes by the "make the pointy metal stick reasonably hot" principle. [0] https://www.metcal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/how-it-works-inductive-vs-hand-soldering-systems-whitepaper-by-metcal.pdf https://www.metcal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/how-it-wor...

adolph 3y ago

> The thermostat is analog and dumb, no code involved. I'm not certain about how dumb something is if no code is involved. Just might be very smart to be able to leverage fundamental physics in such a way. That said, analog processing can be subtle. Have you disassembled the thermostat to see how it implements PID?

fellerts 3y ago
I mean “dumb” in the sense that a non-smart TV is dumb compared to its modern counterparts, not that it’s stupid or poorly designed. IMO, dumb systems are often preferable. Less magic that can suddenly break on you. Also, the Weller in question (WECP 20) isn’t doing PID. There is a potentiometer knob and a resistive temperature sensing element in the iron that together either turn heating on or off. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. Full schematics are readily available online.
- adolph 3y ago
  Wait, so it uses a continuous range of voltages instead of PWM to control the heating element? Do tips not have an ideal voltage for efficiently emitting IR?
  - fellerts 3y ago
    > Wait, so it uses a continuous range of voltages instead of PWM to control the heating element? Heating is either on or of, but it's on the order of "a few times per second". The heating action is connected to a small indicator lamp that lights up when the transformer is pushing power through the iron. You can hear the transformer buzzing briefly every few seconds to keep the tip around the set temperature. Touch the tip to a large thermal mass, and the transformer buzzes continuously. I expect there is a Schmitt trigger or a simple comparator in the control board that is in charge of the heating action. Again, check out the schematics to see how simple it is. > Do tips not have an ideal voltage for efficiently emitting IR? What do you mean by emitting IR? A soldering iron doesn't melt tin by radiative heating. You make physical contact with whatever you are intending to heat. Are you perhaps thinking of Curie point soldering (or inductive heating) [0]? Those employ a much more complex process. My Weller goes by the "make the pointy metal stick reasonably hot" principle. [0] https://www.metcal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/how-it-works-inductive-vs-hand-soldering-systems-whitepaper-by-metcal.pdf https://www.metcal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/how-it-wor...