On 04/05/2020 03:32 PM, Pete Turnbull via cctalk wrote:
A few hours ago I started looking at three "smart" light
switches that need LEDs replaced, and switched on the
soldering iron, and ... nope. It's a Weller WP80 and it
seems the sensor in the heating element has died. I
discovered that only after resetting and then dismantling
the control unit to check it out with a DVM, of course.
Clearly I need either a new WP80 element, or a new
soldering iron. I could get a WSP80 for far less than the
cost of a new element for the WP80, but I'd get the
element faster. So which, if any, is the better iron?
What would you guys do?
I begrudge paying UKP 92 for a new element. That's the
cheapest I could find -- /half/ the most expensive price
-- but just seems ludicrously extortionate for what
amounts to a piece of swaged stainless steel tube with a
short length of resistance wire and an even shorter length
of thermocouple wire inside it. I could buy a whole new
solder station with more bells and whistles, albeit of a
"lesser brand", for less.
Is the sensor a separate component? On the EC1302 and
several other models, the sensor is
a separate piece that fits up through the center of the
heater and poked into the back of the
replaceable tip. I got one for that iron years ago from, I
think, Newark. So, you might try
at Farnell and see if they have spares.
Jon
