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Messages - JJAnderson

1
Project logs / Re: Really universal soldering controller
Quote
Just another question (i can't neither search for "power" nor "current" in the topic). If i want to use a 24Vac transformer, how many VA will I need?

120VA transformer is recomended Controller output current is limited to 6A
2
Project logs / Re: Really universal soldering controller
Quote
I will upload the new firmware with added Weller WMRT and PACE TD100 (both black and yellow) profiles soon.

Are you using the cold juction in the TD-100 handpeice? Do you have switchable profile between black and yellow heaters?

Quote
Also, you will be able to upload the firmware with PC software using the bootloader and the USB connection. It will be ready in a week or so.

That will be great :)

The best open source soldering station gets even more universal.
3
Project logs / Re: Really universal soldering controller
Yeah I did pay about £200 for parts to build the unisolder. From those components I have enough parts to build five of them though. Two for bench at home, one for battery site use. Not got that far yet and no harm in having a couple of spares :) Good soldering practice and enjoyable project with nice useful tool at the end. Spare components hopefully be of use for next project. Who am I kidding, be a completely different BOM. Doesn't matter how many components you have, never the right ones.

I have spare PCB's £6 for all in one PCB £4 postage to EU and £0.5 for Paypal fee PM me for If you need one.
4
Project logs / Re: Really universal soldering controller
Quote
I will have to disassemble mine and see if the coloring is the same. Red+gold means 2.2K 5% according to the datasheet

That was the datasheet I looked at. The measurement was a little up and down but 2k2 seemed to tie in with the Vishay datasheet colour code.

I have attached my parts list numbers mainly from RS Components. Some from Farnell and Mouser as well Not very organized either. I had also started to use a colour index as to which board the components were fitted to but didn't complete. Might be of help?
5
Project logs / Re: Really universal soldering controller
Quote
Don't bother. It is a standard 2k NTC.

I'm not sure what you mean by "don't bother" I did look and posted up what I found? Maybe not enough information?

So now that you know what the thermister is do you plan to incorporate it somehow?
6
Project logs / Re: Really universal soldering controller
Quote
Do you have any idea what is the value of cold junction thermistor of TD100? I've just ordered a TD100 handpiece, but it will take a while to arrive. So far I cannot find any information regarding this.

I will have a look at it later tonight

Just checked it and the NTC thermistor bead is red with a gold top. Resistance measures about 2k2 at 25 deg C.

Hope it helps
7
Project logs / Re: Really universal soldering controller
[quote author="electronics"]Hello JJAnderson,

Do you use the original JBC stand for the DR 5600 desoldering iron or do you use another stand ?
How long does it take to heat up the hole desoldering iron with the unisolder (desoldering nozzle and the pipe of the heating elemet up to the solder containe) and not only the desoldering nozzel ?[/quote]

Yes I do have the original stand but haven't connected it to the controller as of yet. To be honest I was a little wary of connecting the mains earth referenced iron sheath to control ground at any point other than the iron? For the same reason I am unsure weather the stand chassis should be connected to control ground, mains earth or left floating?

Heating of the joint is not something you could put a time on, too variable depending on copper mass, number of layers, lead free or no. Heating of the iron from cold to 350 deg C is between 45 and 50 seconds. I did try it with sleep function in homemade stand but the re-heat time from even 200 deg C is a bit of a pain, not unworkable but does mean you have to wait for about 10-15 seconds for the iron to achieve heat.
Normally speaking I turn on the desolding iron remove all of the items I want to extract then turn it off. I'm just an electrician with an electronics hobby. I see the new JBC desoldering iron is specified as having max power of 160W and looks to be the same. But any reference I could find for the DR5600 shows max heater as 75W. Maybe I could drive the element harder? The Unisolder certainly has the capacity, it is currently being limited by software at 75W. Heat loss during joint heating and vacuum use is not an issue though. Very large heater mass and element is certainly capable of maintaining the heat.
8
Project logs / Re: Really universal soldering controller
[quote author="sparkybg"]Spotted it! It was a bug in the PID.c file. A stupid mistake, VERY hard to find.
[/quote]

Thank you Sparky. Compared the files and can see it would have been easy to miss -

Much appreciated :)
9
Project logs / Re: Really universal soldering controller
[quote author="Cr0oK"]Hi JJAnderson I would be interested in your experience with the DR5600. Can you share the wiring??[/quote]

Wiring is the same as JBC245 you have two additional wires for the switch which you can use to operate your pump or valve. On the Weller station which I used had a drive transistor for the pump motor already so the switch is just providing base current. I don't think you'd want to switch much more than that by the switch on the iron. Means you need an additional pair of pins on all of your plugs ans sockets.

Iron profile is the same as JBC245 with modified power.

Code: [Select]
{
        0,
        0x1412,
        "JBC DR5600              ",
        {
            {
                1,                          //Type
                {
                    0,                      //HChannel
                    7,                      //SChannel
                    1,                      //CBandA
                    1,                      //CBandB
                },
                0,                          //CurrentA
                10,                         //CurrentB
                0,                          //HRCompCurrent
                87,                         //Gain
                0,                          //Offset
                {                           //TPoly
                    0,                      //c0
                    43.5,                   //c1
                    0,                      //c2
                    0,                      //c3
                    0,                      //c4
                    0,                      //c5
                    0,                      //c6
                    0,                      //c7
                    0,                      //c8
                    0                       //c9
                },
                1,                          //WSLength
                11,                         //PID_DGain
                (UINT16)(0.3 * 32768),      //PID_KP
                (UINT16)(0.003 * 32768),    //PID_KI
                10,                         //PID_OVSGain
                75,                        //PID_PMax
                130                         //PID_PNom
            },
            {0}
        }
    },

Outer shell (green wire) connected to GND and SENSEB
Heater positive(red wire) connected to Vout1- and SENSEA
Heater negative(blue wire) connected to Vout1+
820R between ID and Vout1+
1K2 between ID and Vout2+
Can't remeber the colours of the switch wires, whatever is left, think they were yellow and black? Also check I can't remember if any of those two wires were initially connected to the heater shell inside the iron. Easy enough for you to measure between shell and both of those wires. If it is you'd need to remove the link so you have a completely volt free switch contact or be aware of it for interfacing with your vaccum circuit.

The desolding iron performance isn't as good as I hoped. I have a Pace SX80 which is probably better but prone to blocking the nozzle. Haven't had that problem with the DR5600. I haven't tried using the Pace vacuum pump with the DR5600. might be worth a try. The Weller pump is much more quiet but I'd rather have suction than worry about noise. The next one I do I'm going to try a venturi to see if I can get a bit more suck out of the DR5600?
10
Project logs / Re: Really universal soldering controller
[quote author="sparkybg"]I've just reproduced it. It does it only with C245. I will correct it after I find where the problem is.[/quote]

Hi Sparky, My DR5600 is just a copy of the C245 iron profile with the power rating reduced. Thanks for looking into it.
11
Project logs / Re: Really universal soldering controller
[quote author="electronics"]Hello sparkybg,

Do you know, if the JBC DR 5600 desoldering iron or the AOYUE  desoldering iron for e.g. the AOYUE Int474A++ desoldering station is compatible to the UniSolder?[/quote]

Yes JBC DR5600 works perfectly. Though it's performance isn't stellar. No fault of the unisolder and may be improved with a better vacuum pump. Unisolder wont control the pump/venturi though. For that you need your own controls. I bought an old Weller DS 801 stripped the soldering iron controller and replaced it with the Unisolder. Works perfectly, just wish the DR5600 nozzles sealed against the heater body better, loose a lot of suction though the lack of sealing.

[quote author="sparkybg"]No one else reported such problem and I cannot reproduce it either. I am using C245 on a daily basis.[/quote]
 
I can confirm the same thing happened with JBC DR5600. Left on in the stand. Picked up the iron and tip was blue. Controller in Zzzz... Switched off the controller then back on, temperature 512 deg C. Sleep temp set to 150 deg C. It is like to cotroller just stops regulating the temperature when it enters Zzzz... I think the only thing stopping it heat is the ADC going over range, somehow it is losing the setpoint.

I did have a look at the source code but I'm not proficeint enough at coding to fathom it out. The furthest I got was the case statement that generates the Zzzz.. text by the value of CMode. Can the stand by function be disabled? The shut back temperature works fine when I use the holder with the PCB in it just haven't finished manufacturing a base for it yet.

Otherwise I'm enjoying the controller thank you.
12
Project logs / Re: Really universal soldering controller
I still have spare boards. £6 each plus £4 for European postage. Can fit two boards in one envelope if needed. Use PM to contact me.

The last time I used my Unisolder I have a feeling it overheated the iron when it went to sleep. Wasn't using a stand with standby function and iron left unused in the stand for a good period of time. JBC 245 tip blue and seemed very hot. Station displayed Zzzz...

First time it's been left unused for any length of time makes me a little nervous. Anyone else have this happen?
13
Project logs / Re: Really universal soldering controller
I just uninstalled V1.33 and installed V1.32 tried to build both the NoOptimizations and the Standalone. The Standalone version flags the same warnings about the free version. Neither of the two function correctly after programming the device.

Are you using the free version of XC32 V1.33?

If so it must be something I am doing wrong.

From your software download. I take the Project Front US_Firmware and drop it into the folder  C:MTTTLS2101US_Firmware.X
I open MPLAB IDE
Open Project [Navigate to the above project]
In the Projects Tab I select the Project [US_Firmware]
Right click on the project and set as main project
Right click on the project and go to Properties
I select the device as PIC32MX564F128H
Choose the Pickit3 as the hardware tool
I select XC32 V1.32 as the compiler
In the categories pane I select the Pickit3 and select the power options
Select power the target from Pickit3 [yes]
OK
On the main window I select clean and build
Then make and program the main project.

Programs fine but as reported, temperature problem comes back.

Programming the HEX file direct from the download works perfectly, just doesn't give me the ability to adapt irons.

I'm either doing something stupid or the difference is in the optimizations?
14
Project logs / Re: Really universal soldering controller
Hi Sparky,

I am trying to modify the iron parameters to suit my Pace TD100. Before doing any major alterations I tried only editing the text string for the Hakko T15 iron to "Pace TD-100 Standard    " (24 characters) When I build and program the PIC the new text is displayed, when I plug my iron in. But back to iron temperature being erratic then reading room temperature while still heating the iron at full power.
To get the Unisolder to function correctly I have to program the hex file directly from the download. I had initially had problems with this, where the Pickit3 would report no target device. I found that if I disconnect the front panel and select the option to power the target from the Pickit3. I can program the pre-built hex file which works fine.

When I try to build the PIC32_Standalone I get lots of errors relating to XC32 being the free version and requiring a licence for this option.

When I build the PIC32_NoOptomizations. I get no build error and the PIC programs but still with erratic temperature.

Could it be that the optimazations are required for proper operation of the controller?

If this is the case it would mean I need a licenced version before I can modify to suit my Irons?

I will uninstall XC32 1.33 and install 1.32 to see if it makes any difference.

I also noticed that when I open the project for a start it specifies a PIC32MX534F064H and that one of the source code files is PIC32MX534F064H.c The Micro that I have is the one in the BOM which is a PIC32MX534F128H. I'm guessing that the difference is just memory?

Thanks Jim

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