Weller soldering station.

[Linnovice]

Hi all, I just taken delivery of a nice little Weller PS-2D soldering station. All is pretty obvious on how to use but I have one question. On the front there is a small hole about 2mm in diameter with two symbols adjascent. One looks like a soldering tip and the other a side view of an IC Chip. Does anyone know what this hole is for? I've tried looking online for a manual but there doesn't seem to be any available.
Cheers,
Mike

[Bobdger]

Earthing point for MOS / ESD connection, Mine is just under the front middle of the power supply.

[high_vacuum_house]

Absolutely, The connection on the front panel is hardwired directly to the iron body via the 3 core cable.

To make sure everything is safe (I.E everything is at the same potential) for static sensitive parts the socket is connected to earth via a 1M ohm resistor as well as your ESD wristband and mat if you have them.

Christopher Capener

[Linnovice]

Oh, right. So does that mean if I'm soldering something that is static sensitive I should do it on an anti static mat and connect the mat to that little socket? Does that make any difference due to the fact that the mains cable from the base does not have any earth? Incidentally, it arrived with a 13A fuse fitted (in the plug). Would that be correct? My 45w station from Maplin's only has a 3A.
Thanks for the advice lads, Mike

[Radio Wrangler]

You're expected to earth the mat (via the usual 1 meg resistor) and then link the iron to the mat or to the same earth.

The game is to provide leakage paths between everything so that static charge cannot build up, yet not to have things earthed so hard that fault currents could be large. The wrist straps and heel straps all should have 1 meg resistors in them. The idea is that if you touch something live and get a shock, you aren't earthed so well that the anti static gear makes it worse.

David

[Herald1360]

Originally Posted by Linnovice

Oh, right. So does that mean if I'm soldering something that is static sensitive I should do it on an anti static mat and connect the mat to that little socket? Does that make any difference due to the fact that the mains cable from the base does not have any earth? Incidentally, it arrived with a 13A fuse fitted (in the plug). Would that be correct? My 45w station from Maplin's only has a 3A.
Thanks for the advice lads, Mike

The transformer in the base unit means that the iron body is double insulated from the mains. Tieing the iron body and antistatic mat and yourself together via high resistances means that you, the workpiece and the iron cannot build up any static which can discharge via the workpiece.

The 13A mains fuse is wrong. The mains cable to the base is good for at most about 5A continuous so a 3A fuse is a good idea, unless the switch on surge from the transformer takes it out when I guess a 7A one would have to do.

FWIW I had as look at my old PU2D base- no earthing socket on that, but it does have a 2A mains fuse in the plug that's never blown. AFAIK other Weller versions have earthed irons connected to the base via 3-pin connectors but the iron on mine is two wires going to binding post type 4mm sockets on the base front panel.

[Herald1360]

Originally Posted by Linnovice

Oh, right. So does that mean if I'm soldering something that is static sensitive I should do it on an anti static mat and connect the mat to that little socket? Does that make any difference due to the fact that the mains cable from the base does not have any earth? Incidentally, it arrived with a 13A fuse fitted (in the plug). Would that be correct? My 45w station from Maplin's only has a 3A.
Thanks for the advice lads, Mike

The transformer in the base unit means that the iron body is double insulated from the mains. Tieing the iron body and antistatic mat and yourself together via high resistances means that you, the workpiece and the iron cannot build up any static which can discharge via the workpiece.

The 13A mains fuse is wrong. The mains cable to the base is good for at most about 5A continuous so a 3A fuse is a good idea, unless the switch on surge from the transformer takes it out when I guess a 7A one would have to do. It's not an urgent problem since the iron is unlikely to be left on and unattended, one would hope.

[Linnovice]

Thanks for all that great info guys. Much appreciated. I haven't checked out the onboard fuse on the base unit yet but I will be installing a three amp fuse in the mains plug this morning. The iron plugs into the base via a small three pin Bulgin type plug.
Mikep

[Lucien Nunes]

The 13A mains fuse is wrong. The mains cable to the base is good for at most about 5A continuous so a 3A fuse is a good idea, unless the switch on surge from the transformer takes it out when I guess a 7A one would have to do.

Best practice might suggest a 3A or 5A fuse, however 13A would not be inherently 'wrong' unless the manufacturers' instructions state that a smaller fuse must be used, or the flex is 0.5mm². The transformer is internally protected at T315mA, hence cannot overload the flex; tight internal fusing or thermal fusing is a normal requirement for small transformers as even a 2A plug fuse would not prevent them overheating. Thus the plug fuse is only required to protect the flex against short circuit, for which purpose any flex 0.75mm² or greater is adequately protected by a 13A BS1362 fuse. 0.5mm² flex, as found on some older instruments etc, is not adequately protected by a 13A; 3A is recommended. That is why this size flex has fallen out of use as goods must be suitable for pan-EU use where OCP is in the DB, not the plug, hence cannot be reduced to 3A.