I hate butane soldering irons.

I especially hate the jet exhaust that comes from those torches. I hate managing the direction of that jet vs tight spaces. I hate burned hands, singed wires, and coil wrappers with that campfire smell. I was seriously just one step away from replacing my butane torch with my Hakko 888 for field work - but man, that's a lot of bulk in my bag.

A friend of mine in the tech industry introduced me to an alternative. One that he could take on airplanes - as carry on. No pressurized cans of gas, no hot jet exhaust. Runs off batteries. I was skeptical - the last time I saw a battery powered "soldering" iron, it was one of those "cold heat" pieces of crap.

"No, really, try this."

Folks, I'm in love with the Mini (minidso.com) TS80 soldering iron. (I'll also talk about TS100 in a followup post).

ts80 with tips

The TS80 is a light weight compact 18w thermal controlled soldering iron.

• USB powered (requires QC 3.0); supply must provide 9v 2a
• Or off a static 9v supply (but see TS100 info later)
• Runs up to 400C active in 10C increments; with separate idle standby temp setting
• ~30 second warmup from cold
• wedge or conical tips; most kits you order have only one, but extra tips are easy to get

How well does it work?

That is the real question, isn't it?

There's a number of videos on YouTube for this; I'd suggest

.
In that review he illustrates soldering to a large ground plane; zero problems.

For pinball repair, I can say that reheating old solder on coil lugs, the solder melts like butter, and quickly. Quick enough that I'm no longer burning my fingertips from the wires conducting heat. I'd also use this for quick board repair, if I don't need the magnifying glass at the bench.

What does it come with?

.. Depends on what you buy. Not to sound flip, but there are a ton of vendors selling variations of this package, especially on AliEXpress (China's version of eBay). The cool part of this is it means you can pay for just the parts you want, and skip the parts you don't.

Sample kit

Instead, I'll share what to look for:

* TS80 itself, probably comes with one tip. If you only get one tip, I'd suggest the edge tip. There are great forum topics on Pinside about soldering.
* Power adapter. The big white adapter that some kits have will work in your service outlet.
* ESD ground strap. I'm only using battery power; I haven't used mine.
* Small case that holds two tips and the holder; but doesn't really fit the usb cable or brick. In hindsight, I ... didn't need this. I'm using a different case that holds my battery and other things. Most vendors sell this separately.

Powering the Iron

The TS80 expects to negotiate QuickCharge 3.0 (QC3.0) USB ports for 9v, 2a. You can also use a static supply.

Most kits come with a power brick brick. This will work in a pinch with your service outlet. You'll probably want a longer USB cable to reach the far end of the playfield.

I bought this for *battery powered* use. And for field work. I wanted a solution with as few hacks/adapters as possible. As such, I bought Anker's 26800 PowerCore+ QuickCharge 3.0 battery. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N3TVRP2/

PowerCore+ 26800 Premium Portable Charger with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 (Aluminum 3-Port Ultra-High-Capacity External Battery) PowerCore+ 26800 Premium Portable Charger with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 (Aluminum 3-Port Ultra-High-Capacity External Battery)

I plug the iron into it, and it just works.

Demonstration with Anker PowerCore 26800+ QuickCharge 3.0 Battery

It is worth noting that this iron does not support USB-PD (USB Power Delivery). If you have a USB-PD capable power source, you'll need an adapter. Perhaps "yzxstudio"'s ZY12PDN. It has a button. You plug it into your USB-PD source, hit the button to pick 9v, and then use it to power the TS80. My engineering friend does this, because he has several low voltage devices; the ZY12PDN is effectively a power supply adapter for all his devices. I personally don't want the hassle.

Third party yzxstudio ZY12PDN - Adapter for USB-PD batteries to provide selectable DC voltage

Your USB cable should be rated for charging. The silicon coated ones will also not kink so easily.

Docs and Firmware

I hope you can read Chinese.

I can't, but I made do with Chrome, with a plugin to handle translations (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-translate/aapbdbdomjkkjkaonfhkkikfgjllcleb). You could also use translate.google.com and give it the forum URL; and view (badly formatted) translated paged. Even without that, you can probably find your way to the correct page.

minidso-ts80-forum.gif

To hopefully save you hassle, these are the links (as of April 7 2019).

• Forum page for firmware:
  http://minidso.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=3202
• v1.07 firmware: Hopefully http://minidso.com/forum.php?mod=attachment&aid=NzE3OHw5ZGM5NmRjOXwxNTU0NjUxNzUxfDB8MzIwMg%3D%3D
• English Manual: http://www.minidso.com/forum.php?mod=attachmentaid=NzAzMnw3OTJiNzBhNnwxNTU0NjUyMDU2fDB8MzIwOA%3D%3D
• Unofficial mirror: https://github.com/TripleDogDare/ts80

Upgrading the Firmware

* There are two buttons on the iron
* Hold the one closer to the tip
* Plug in to USB on a computer.
* DFU3.45 should show up on the display of the iron.
* That acts like a memory stick. Copy the firmware with the .hex filename onto the stick.
* Wait for the filename to rename itself to .rdy, and disconnect.

My Final Kit

This is what's in my tool bag now; and all of it is packaged into the bag mentioned.

https://www.amazon.com/SainSmart-ToolPAC-Soldering-Intelligent-Complete/dp/B07H8D1PHH/ Iron, Tip, Power Cable, etc
https://www.amazon.com/NovelLife-Original-Soldering-Tip-Replacment/dp/B07K244Y46/ Cone tip
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005C789EU/ Mini stand and tip cleaner
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N3TVRP2/ Battery - Anker PowerCore 26800+ with QuickCharge 3.0
https://www.amazon.com/BAGSMART-Double-layer-Organizer-Electronics-Accessories/dp/B01N21QFVN BagSmart case

In fairness, I bought the TS80 iron and tips from AliExpress - it saved me about $30, but cost me about 30 days. Evertything else I had.

The BagSmart bag was a gift, and it's intended for small electronics, memory sticks, etc. But it's working out great for me to keep all the soldering related stuff in one place - easy to get in and out of the tool bag (versus all the bits mixing like soup at the bottom).

The one thing I need to do next is come up with a way to pack "enough" solder, but in the BagSmart bag, instaed of having the spools running loose. I carry a couple sizes of solder, depending on whether I'm working under the playfield or on a circuit board.

Is it worth it?

That's entirely subjective. I was considering starting to carry my Hakko 888. Compared to that, it's worth it to to spend $100ish on the iron, extra tip, etc; and another $70 on a battery. I consider this a *fine* alternative to my bulky Hakko desktop iron or the butane iron.

I'm a fan of spending money on good tools that make better use of my time (and patience). I'm a person who will throw money at a problem, if it solves the problem. Of course, not setting myself and other things on fire from the butane jet exhaust is absolutely priceless.

I've shared this with a good friend who's much more frugral than myself. Runs the local pinball museum as a non-profit. He's been in this shared obsession for decades. He's got his own TS80 now...

About the TS100

The TS100 is actually the predecessor to the TS80. It supports a wider range of input voltages, and works specifically with dumb power supplies. It's a bit bigger.

What's worth noting about the TS100:

• Faster warm up (~10 seconds to 300C when using 19V/40watt)
• More tips available
• Works with dumb power supplies
• Works with more voltage ranges, from 12v to 24v (and wattages ranging from 17w to 65w)

If you're into remote control toys, chances are you can make an adapter for your existing battery packs, and not bother carrying any purpose-specific battery for your iron.

Bumping (just once). Posting on a Sunday morning was not a wise choice.

You’re welcome to play with mine this weekend!

I’ve been working on making a small organized kit of the stuff. Those big lumps of solder are invaluable but I rarely need that much. And I’m too cheap to pay for the tiny tubes.

So, pill bottles. The 6 dram size fits two coils of solder wound around my screwdriver.

28E46F71-C0B0-4EA3-BB59-B6E0555FFADF (resized).jpeg99B46B76-8407-4538-BFA2-6370A7F577A6 (resized).jpeg

I’ve got coils of both 0.031 (~6 feet) and 0.060 (~3 feet). Couple holes put into the lid, and now I have a replaceable stash that fits the bag. I can grab the small bag and know I have enough for any immediate need without dragging the larger tool bag.

048A47D3-F190-4825-BAF9-6DBF1068A577 (resized).jpeg

And the bag:

7B561F73-F2B5-41EF-9ABB-57C92D7A4717 (resized).jpeg75C32534-C3F9-4C01-9E16-D4727C78A147 (resized).jpeg

Closed up and it’s not so bad for either quick fixes, or at least just keeping the tool bag tidy.

0E5F356B-C9E7-4283-A287-C2E39F9F9EA5 (resized).jpeg

If I were more clever in wrapping the coils I could get more in. Maybe next time..

When the wife is not looking I’ll toss in a pair of nail clippers which work in a pinch for wire stripping.

If we got full power out of the battery until it was dead, in theory the 99 watt hours of battery could power 18watts full tilt for 4+ hours.

It does not run full tilt once warm. And I rarely run more than a few minutes at a time.

The battery I charged a few months ago is still at ~80 percent, and it gets used every Saturday morning at the PPM.

I thought I'd post a followup.

After 4 years, my ts80's display.. too dim to see. But, I love this thing. And they are cheap. So..

I just got a hold of the updated model, the TS80P. With it, a bit more flexibility on power.

• USB PD: 9v2a (18watt). Claims 22 seconds warm up time - same as TS80.
• USB PD: 12v3a (36 watt). Rare. If you can find it.. warm up time is 8 seconds.
• QC 3.0: 9v2a (18 watt). This was the only mode TS80 supported.

I bought a bare bones set https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9MR5PM4 for $69. It came with one fine tip, no cable, no kit. My existing TS80 tips work fine (I usually work with a wedge tip).

Finding a battery that supplies 12v3a is tough. Most USB PD batteries don't itemize what they support voltage/amperage wise. And, 12v is non-standard.

I settled on https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0936TKBX9 "Froggen Laptop Power Bank 20000mAh(Max 130W) Portable Laptop Charger External Battery Pack, 2 Type-C PD (C1-100W/C2-30W) and 1 USB-A QC 3.0(22.5W) for Laptop, Tablet, Smartphone, Drone, Headset etc".

It seems to work. It's physically thicker than the usual Anker I'd carry, but .. it still fits in the carry pounch. $50 for the battery. I also had to swap out my old cable for a USB-C/USB-C charging cable to take advantage of the 12v3a capable port on the battery. The old USB-A/USB-C cable negotiates 9v2a on the USB-A port.

8 seconds from cold to hot is pretty damn amazing. That's faster than I could ever get the damn butane sticks to ignite.