Intriguing. I have one of these sitting in the pile of "stuff to be videoed". Annoying that it uses a shunted dimmer type circuit for the temperature control, but then again, the Antex unit is thermally balanced too i think. Even if the triac was in circuit it would be quite a high load for continuous use and also generate a lot of electrical noise due to the lack of a filter choke..

Did anyone else notice that the poor solder pot seemed to be screaming "KILL ME!" in Morse code when +John Ward was testing the earth? :)

That blue diode thing is a diac. It should do nothing until it reaches a certain voltage (my guess is 32v) and then it conducts. Using a capacitor and variable resistor, you can set the delay until the triac fires, and it does this through the diac.

I don't think the adapter is "to satisfy the law", isince it doesn't achieve that at all, t's just to satisfy customers because it technically works.

You can see the heater wire has been put into the wrong hole! it should have gone into the hole next to it. (from the triac). Great quality control! Also the "diode" is a diac.

I deciphered the Morse code at 15:40, it said "Help!, I'm being held prisoner in a Chinese low cost solder pot factory and beware, you get what you pay for".

Looking forward to the part where you finish building this kit and test it. I was looking at them recently, might get one.

Thanks very much for this. I bought a similar pot off of Amazon, it worked for about 30 minutes and died. While it wasn't identical to this unit, I was able to take it apart, reflow several joints on the PCB (adding quality solder) and get it working. Many thanks!

John if you change the power cord, add a proper UK plug, touch up the solder points and re-wire the earth connections and the circuit board you might actually get a usable solder pot for say 1/10 of the price of the Antex unit. The circuit board seems to have what's needed for a triac circuit to work. Give it a try and upload the job =)

Apart from the horrible things you found to me that pot is huge. When i was young & doing electronic assembly i used a little pot attached to a weller soldering iron.

I bought one of these solder pots some time ago for a laugh and there was a direct short inside the potentiometer to earth. After replacing the pot with a plastic bodied one and a rewire it appears to work quite well.

Love the adapter, I like the name bigclivedotcom has given it the "DeathDapter", great channel JW, keep it up..

You rarely, if ever, get what you pay for; what you mean is that you do not get what you do not pay for!

I bet that mains lead isn't actually 0.5mm2

I guess all of us who decide on buying one of these can thank you for the heads up on the quality and operation. Some star washers and filing of ground points will take care of ground connections. Perhaps some fibreglass insulation around the heater will improve it's performance. A comparison of and re-enginnering of the unit should get you what you initially wanted. Then to see if the coating stays on when heated and hope it doesn't contaminate to solder. Lots of luck.

Hi John. I believe the little blue thing in the circuit is a diac. used for firing a triac

Lowest price doesn't always mean lowest quality, very often "cheap" is the same stuff you end up seeing retailed by Maplin, Rapid, Farnell/Newark for 3 - 4 times the price. A lot of the gear I use at work, which came from the above mentioned retailers, with a bit of searching I can sourced direct from China for next to nothing and indeed my workshop at home contains a lot of this unbranded stuff. You just have to be careful, take it apart and make sure it is what it should be.

It would be interesting to see if you can get it to work properly

A swear word haha! Very good vid John. Since watching yours and other channels here I now dismantle and check that what I'm buying is safe to use. Cheers!

Is the little blue diode thing is actually a Diac?

Mine lasted three years. The wire leads to the pot basically burned away over time. I’m investing in a taller mini solder pot.

The small blue diode is installed backwards, at least per the labeling on the circuit board.

Bought the same thing a few weeks ago. Mine was even worse. There was no grounding at all, only a neutral and live wire in the cable. No cable ties, no fuse holder, just the bare PCB with a fuse soldered in. Case metal was thin like paper, except for the pot mounting part. Also replaced the mains cable, grounded the case and put some insulation in. It works fine, but I‘m not trusting this thing any farther than I can throw it. I‘ve seen many cheap Chinese devices, but this one was the scariest so far. Interestingly the main cable was actually real copper and the Euro plug was also made like it should be (only the tips being conductive, not the whole pins).

That's an Aussie plug on it which is MOST unusual. Most CN stuff I get has only the 2 parallel spaces and the dreaded adapter of which I've had to put a few on my charger bank/bench :(

Looks to be easily fixable by moving the element wire to the correct pad on PCB - the one going to the triac centre lead.

I bought one of these recently and found that the conductor for the earth wire is faulty. The wire disintegrated into a peculiar dust in multiple places in the mains cable. I complained forcefully to Banggood saying that it wasn't safe but they just offered me a refund and wouldn't publish my comment.

I love your videos John,you wud make a great news reader!!!

at 11 pound maybe still useful as a component for a DIY solder pot project?

Thanks for video. Did you see a little damage on the blue wire in 10:47.

what is the oldest electrical wiring you have seen still in use? any house wired with sockets pre BS1363, old wiring, no sockets etc?

Hi! John, thank you for your reviews. Could I ask you to first check the plug pins to confirm that they are wired properly because, as you said, the switch was wired to the blue ( neutral we think ) wire? They could also have wired the plug the same way - blue to live! This would almost make this a little safer!!! Thanks again, Colin

For the price I suppose it makes a good "fixer-upper". Trash the cord and board, and whip up your own. A case, heater, and a few parts for less than $20 Cdn isn't bad :-P

At point 13:50 I noticed on the top right side of the Pcb an unsoldered pad, as though a wire had been in it and unsoldered and taken out, possibly to be put in with the other wire????

This was designed by the Chief Engineer of the Failboat.

Neutral/live is not off any concern over here in Holland since we can plug in either way....Just like "Europlugs". I highly doubt most users over here would even know there is a difference.... With mine the triac is wired in and I have been using it for about 3 yrs now, without any problems...My board is fully populated, so the fuse is also inside , instead of on the front/back outside...I paid a hair under 10 euros for it ...

I dunno, at this price I'm only really bothered with: will it work, and will it electrocute me. Being the sucker for Chinese landfill that I am I've just bought the £6 100w one... I'll take it apart and see if it's the same as this. Could be useful for occasional use.

The plug is a Australian plug and it’s pins are not sleeved (not to code)

J.W. Thx. What kind of work mat are you using?

Isn't the lack of some sort of thermal cut-out a problem? It might just be that it can't get above 400C, but I wouldn't like to bet on it, especially if that pot is empty. Even 150W is quite a lot of power.

From a safety point of view, I think those round ventilation holes are a bit to big.

Bang good are hit and miss. Some of the stuff is great, others seem to be thing that have failed QC and sold for pennies.

Say, what do people used for the solder to fill the pot? Surely you don't use a clump of resin cored solder.

The Fluke 'Morse Code' on the EPC check basically said - ''... Lis is velly clap masheen '' . . Thanks for the heads up (warning) JW. I was toying with getting one of these. I think I'll make my own instead. . Yeah and what *is* it with *Antex* and *Weller* , that they feel justified in hawking their kit at such ridiculously extortionate prices? Which then gives sellers on 'The Bay' the misguided reasoning that they need to hike the second hand price for these stations, irons and heat guns. . Tis all just a racket!!

The meter was giving Morse code

L200=L11 pot + L189 Health &Safety. The earth is special chinese engineering when shorted it is delayed while paint burns off. :-) I cannot believe the pot is not connected.

That "power controller" certainly looks to be not only Chinese built but Chinese designed too...

14:25 it's probably a diac; the symbol on the screen print would confirm this and it's in series with the triac gate as it would be.

not seen a dimmer like that since 1980......

lol they solderd the heater on the input and not the output ;)

These things could be made safe by pricing them at about £2,000 each so no one would buy them or ever try to use one. .

holy moly.. that is a disaster. it's amazing they even put a circuit board in there they may Aswell have just bolted a novelty potentiometer to the case. it's like they try to make it seem like it does something to an less experienced user. sleezy if you ask me.

Nasty. As always you get what you pay for. Thanks for sharing JW, yours also JW

its mess up work! damn.....

In reality, the people who make this thing probably know at that it wound´t do anything on the lowest level, it need to be fully powered to melt any solder. No harm no foul.

Hello it,s an nice Organ in the Background!

Quality.

It's a diac the blue diode looking ting 😉

Could you melt any other metal in this solder pot? I need to melt White Metal?

Can you remove the Chinese plug and replace it for a UK plug? Probably a dreadful question.. Just gotta ask.

You present yourself in a prim and proper manner with a staid expression, but then unexpectedly, you mutter the F-word while describing something mildly irritating. 😂

Thanks for tearing down another nightmare item. Scary stuff....

Good to see those dreadful adaptors again.

I assume the Antex equivalent is a lot better, but I wouldn't buy it unless they dropped the price a hell of a lot. I dislike Antex kit intensely. Compared to Weller, Antex doesn't qualify as professional kit. Antex barely qualifies as hobbyist kit, and then only if you're not a very discerning hobbyist.

China uses the AU/NZ plug and the USA/Canada plug

Looks like a clone of a clone. I have a similar unit although a bit more expensive around $30 US and the temperature control function is fully working. It was built with a decent 10A rated power cord that was grounded well. The fuse connection on the board also actually goes to the fuse holder. Still a china built device, but you could tell more care was put into the assembly. Seems to be a common theme with many of these Chinese products when you buy the cheapest possible.

Rip off !!! throw into bin !!!

Your videos are very informative, but I personally find it hard to listen due to you ending every sentence with increasing volume, as if the end of every sentence has an exclamation mark..

Great info but you also do a great deal of rambling if you scripted a bit I think I'd have even better content

If he spent less time trying to be smug and just got on with it. the world would be a happier place

You really have to learn to speak in a more constant volume. You say the most important stuff so quiet that we can't hear it and then finish your sentences with the most trivial drivel at 40 dB above the important stuff. Really, work on your presentation unless getting only 6500 hits in two weeks is your goal.

You could stop whispering then elevating your voice in that irritating way, please.