Velleman temperature controlled soldering station VTSS5

[Tomi Engdahl]

Product type: Velleman VTSS5 soldering station

Short description: Temperature controlled soldering iron station for electronics work. 50W soldering iron with around 170-480 degrees celsius temperature control. Device works from 230V 50Hz AC power and sold in Europe.

Manufacturer: Sold with Velleman brand, I quess that this is some Velleman branded product originally made in China or other cheap country, Velleman home page is at http://www.velleman.be/

Product price: around 20 Euros

Place the priduct was bought: Radioduo Oy electronics shop in Helsinki Finland, homepage at http://personal.inet.fi/yritys/radioduo/

Product comments:
This was very cheapest temperature soldering iron station I could find. I needed a second soldering iron on some occasions, so I bough this as my secondary soldering iron.
This soldering iron looks quite good for the money bough. The soldering iron tip that came with the kit was OK for general soldering work, like soldering components on "normal" circuit boards and for soldering audio connectors to different cables. Temperature controlling seems to work, but without accurate temperature scale in the device it is hard to say how accurate it works. It was well adequate for basic soldering jobs.

This very OK for the price paid and does the job. The construction seems to be in some places a bit "cheap" (when comparing to my trysty old much more expensive Weller soldering station).

One downside is that the soldering iron itself seems to be heated with mains voltage directly (power to it controlled through temperature controlling electronics). This might not be best thing if soldering sensitive electronics. More expensive soldring iron stations generally use low voltage (24V typical) powered soldering iron and have transformer in the soldering station base.

Availability of new soldering iron tips in the future is a question mark, as it is seems to be with all cheap small sildering tool brands.


(image form page http://www.dil.nl/nl/details.asp?artcode=VTSS5)

[Tomi Engdahl]

I needed to open my sildering station. I ofund out that there is not much electronics inside it ( already expected that). I found out that the temperature controlling on the device is a very simple small circuit board that just switches the power on and off to the soldering iron, the on/off ratio is controlled with a potentiometer (works almost like a light dimmer). This method can be used to control the soldering iron temperature, but the controlling accuracy of this system is nowhere near to any real thermostat controlled soldering iron. This means that this product might not be the right tool fol sodering the most sensitive electronics and works that need accurate temperature controlling. For general soldering job like soldering cables, connectors, etc.. this is still OK. It is easy to turn the temperature up and down as needed. For simple soldering job this soldering station is a great improvement over the basic soldering irons without any controlling, but this is not the the best tool if you are working on sensitive electronics circuit boards.

[Guest]

Dear Sir / Madam,

After visiting your business website, we were impressed that our product line might be interest of you.

Please feel free to visit our new website and contact us, we will be more than happy to assist you.


Sincerely yours,


Robert Ron, VP
Q-TECH CORPORATION
Tel: 972-50-4600004
Fax: 972-3-7312887
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.q-tech-co.com

[Tomi Engdahl]

New link to product information
VELLEMAN VTSS5 LOW-COST SOLDERING STATION 50W 175-480°C
http://www.velleman.be/ot/en/product/view/?id=346033



Link to spare bit information :
Order Code: BITS5
http://www.velleman.be/ot/en/product/view/?id=346043



Another note:
Velleman seems to sell nowadays another soldering station with quite same technical specifications, but different base unit design. Soldering iron looks pretty much the same, and the unit is claimed to use the same spare bits as well (BITS5)

VELLEMAN VTSS4 ADJUSTABLE SOLDERING STATION 48W 100 - 450°C
http://www.velleman.be/ot/en/product/view/?id=363894



I have not tested this myself, but I quess that this would be pretty similar to the model I tested.

[julythermostats]

Temperature controlled soldering adamant base for electronics work. 50W soldering adamant with about 170-480 degrees celsius temperature control. Device works from 230V 50Hz AC ability and awash in Europe.This adjustment can be acclimated to ascendancy the soldering adamant temperature, but the authoritative accurateness of this arrangement is boilerplate abreast to any absolute thermostat controlled soldering iron. This agency that this artefact ability not be the appropriate apparatus fol sodering the a lot of acute electronics and works that charge authentic temperature controlling..


________________
Programmable thermostats

[Visitor Saturation]

I've used those, and it works perfectly for any through hole technology. For repairing SMT, you can use it too, but given the size and risk of damage, you want something better; that's why these Velleman's have no real temperature output. You can buy a $5 IR thermometer to check the actual output of the iron.

You only need expensive truly temperature controlled soldering stations for production in pure SMT work.

An equivalent Weller station will put you back $250.

P.S. The reason for the design change is that the black plastic shield atop steel version, melts. Its better to remove it.

[Tomi Engdahl]

Good description.

In what conditions the black plastic shield atop steel version melts?
I have the original version of the soldering iron and I have not had that problem myself.