They are a beast! Love this thing!

The best ones I have are the ones I pulled out the dumpster - I (over)built my own power supply and they have been fantastic. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bseWiaiSyqqVpWg.html

But were they invented 45 years ago? I mean how else would they know?

Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) and Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) is typically stated on the manufactures data sheet. There is a whole science behind it and a typical value is 100,000 hours for an LED. So just over 11 years. That being said we know they die well before that, it is typically due the power supply that is driving them failing and providing the wrong voltage & current to the LED, shortening its life span.

Checked your site and couldn't find a LED kit for Weller soldering gun.

I used to have a tube of that, I used it on my snowmobile trailer connections and any connections on the sleds. worked awesome. one day a wrench or something got on top of the tube in my tool box, when I got back down the mountain it was everywhere but in the tube. I'll have to pick up another tube at some point. As this wasn't going to be out in the weather, I wasn't that worried about it. I have specified and bought a lot of switches over the years from mil-spec to surface mount PC board units - so I hear where you are coming from!

Thanks! I have used the crap out of it since fixing it!

you have the idea backwards all the way back = low, part way back = high

@@adamkempa5157 It is counterintuitive, but you are correct.

Thanks a bunch!!!

Thanks for the sub! I am already subscribed to your channel!

That is not what they taught me in school. If you have 120 windings on the primary (Line Voltage) side and 120 windings on the secondary side you have an isolation transformer with the same amount of voltage and current on the secondary as the primary, minus some losses in the conversion. When you reduce the number of windings in the secondary, you don't have as many turns being cut by the magnetic field of the primary, thereby reducing your voltage and increasing your current. This is typical of may microwave oven transformer projects you find on You-Tube, where they have the 120 Volt primary coil intact but add a turn or two of heavy gauge wire as the secondary. They have decreased the voltage to only a couple of volts but massively increased the current allowing for welding. The same is true for the reverse, if you double the turns on your secondary, you will double the voltage output, but half your current. In this way you can make a step up transformer to operate 220 Volt equipment in a 110 Volt county. Turn the transformer around so that the 220 Volt side is now the primary and the reverse is true - you have a step down transformer allowing use of 110 Volt equipment in a 220 Volt county. Taking the step up transformers to the extreme you have the Tesla coil as an example, where relatively few windings on the primary are coupled to a huge number of windings on the secondary creating very cool high voltage arcs that have very little current associated with them. This is what I was taught in school and know to be true due to personal experience. This page essentially explains it the same way, with the math included: www.electronics-tutorials.ws/transformer/transformer-basics.html Thanks for your comment!

@@BradsLaboratory: Yes, but the secondary winding consists of but one turn -- the shiny tube which holds the tip. If the gun is a multiple-wattage device, any changes in the power output must be made in the primary winding because the secondary is fixed. Under load, my Weller D550 (older model rated at 240/325 Watts) produces around 0.3 VAC across the tip. At 325 Watts, that means about 1,000 Amperes(!) are flowing through the secondary circuit -- the shiny tube and the tip. The gun is rated at 20% duty cycle -- one minute on, four minutes off. By the way, the lamps are 222's, and there are several places (1000 Bulbs and others) where you can buy a box of ten for about three bucks.

Thanks a bunch! You have a great channel!

Got you back, let me know when you've done the same.

I am going to take an educated guess at around 200 turns of 22 AWG solid wire. This is based on an iron core calculator I found here: www.ajdesigner.com/phpinductor/inductor_equation.php#ajscroll with 200 turns on an iron core (.00653 Permeability) and a coils area of about .4" x 3.9" comes up with about 26mH of inductance which is about what I measure with my inductance meter. Also It just looks like about 200 turns, by counting 10 and then looking at it - it seems about right.

Glad you liked it, I have a couple more electronics type videos I am working on. But shooting and editing takes time!

Especially creative trigger fix.

Few coils means low voltage and lots of amps . . . cool.

Thanks for the sub and the comment. I had just got my GoPro and was still figuring the best way to film.

I am #634 on your channel!

Tips came that way back then, I think it was part of the manufacturing process, pulling the bend together. It was probably a person doing that step.

Yes - still using it today.

They are most likely lying about the power. Sounds like you are right on it with the red wires

For low power (only) connect the mains between red and black. For high power (only) connect the mains between red and yellow. The switch operation is easier to understand if you think of it as 2 separate switches controlled by a common trigger . First click closes the master section and sends power to the slave section. The second click determines which one of the two taps on the transformer receives power from the slave section The high power you observed when paralleling yellow and black wasn't going to the tip. If left that way it would quickly burn up the primary winding of the transformer. The actual power you measure is highly dependent on how well the tip is connected to the posts. Even a small amount of extra resistance at the connection points will make a big difference in power delivered.

It is all about the transformer, that is the most expensive part of the soldering gun. I would just look for a 100 watt gun, otherwise you are winding a new transformer and then it won't fit in your old gun.

i must say Frankie Yip - it's not just boys. i Totally Agree with you about the deciding part; All my life. I find everything fascinating to the point people get tired of my questions. Trying to teach yourself is not very productive when it's the interpretation that means so much. =\ one last thing - this is my first time on Planet E; i'll be back - (in spite of mean ppl) and hope i remember, 'What Not to do'. *~> He's been here before. =]

I am sorry for the so old fashion-minded words, I really doesn’t mean something like boy-only or girl -only. Actually I do admire any gender who did great job on their interested field. I wish you found yours in your life.

I did not take it far enough apart to count the turns. Turns can be calculated with a formula. testguy.net/content/246-Transformer-Turns-Ratio-(TTR)-Explained

Just try to clean the switch with some contact cleaner. www.amazon.com/CRC-5103-Quick-Electronic-Cleaner/dp/B000BXOGNI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1477946197&sr=8-3&keywords=contact+cleaner

The primary winding typically doesn't change - you build it to take in 120 volts, and then change the secondary to get different voltages. Fewer turns on the secondary equals less voltage and more current. Power is derived from the voltage/current of the secondary.

NO WAY! I use this thing all the time! You can get a new one for $40: www.amazon.com/Weller-D550PK-260-Watt-Professional-Soldering/dp/B00002N7S1/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=soldering+gun&qid=1555617148&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Thanks! Did you get yours fixed?