Trimmer MUST be set to show as close to 10 ohms as possible, when calibrating. When it is away, the amplifier gain is not set properly. Also, you must test the current sources. For surrent of 128 in the calibration menu, the current between SenseA/SenseB and Vout- shoud be as close to 382.8125uA. If it is off by more than 1% (ideally if shoud be within 0.1%, if the voltage reference and the resistors are the correct one with 0.1% tolerances and the current source mosfets and opamp are not fake ones), then the current sources themselves are not sunctioning propery.
Although the current sources are not that important for thermocouple measurement (maybe 1-5 degrees), they directly impact the resistive sensor measurement and along with amplifier gain setting the end result can be way off.
This is very important indeed. To illustrate: I re calibrated with two 0,1% 10 ohm resistors. One resistor gives a R: value of 1001, the other 997. When I take this as the calibration, the difference between the two irons is only 6 degrees instead of 25 degrees with my previous calibration value that I changed slightly when calibrating with pure lead.
This means to me that calibrating with melting temp can give a good result for a specific tip, but it will throw off the calibration of other tips/irons. The best thing is to accept a small offset per tip, and make sure you calibrate as close to R: 1000 as possible for most consistent behavior.
I appreciate both of your responses. The bit of information I was missing was that the intention is for the JCB-style connectors to be replaced with alternative ones that are wired up to be electrically compatible while the original ones are not. That clears up my question and the documentation makes sense to me now taking that into account.
Thanks!
You're welcome. Please make sure to use good quality connectors. I use Amphenol T 3527 100 and Amphenol T 3524 501. Available at Mouser.
Some parameters of the red line as shown in the figure above, just modify them on the menu.
The values to change are GAIN and C1, correct? so for C245 GAIN = 87, C1= 41.85, for C210 GAIN = 202, C1 = 122.94?
It is strange: When I change like above, C245 works as expected, same as original FW. But C210 still too hot by 25 degrees compared to the original FW. So maybe there are other parameters I need to change?
The information from page 1 that you're referring to again to me still seems to indicate that it's not possible to wire up a receiving connector for C245/C210 handles that'll transparently accept either style of handle based on the pinout differences between them, and I'm still looking to confirm whether or not my understanding of that is correct.
To me the documentation seems to only describe how to connect either one style of handle or the other, but not both in such a way that either can be plugged in and just work transparently.
Use an 8 pin socket and connecor, and follow the connection schematics on page 1, even if you find them not logical. They work. All irons can be connected on the same 8 pin receptacle. It is true that the T210 and T245 are connected differently electrically, but I assure you this is correct.
I can recompile, but there are more than a dozen handle parameters that need to be modified. It may take a lot of time and check, because the code has been changed a lot, and it can not be completed by simply copying and pasting. Wait for me to change it. , I will upload again. But it will take some time
That sounds great, thank you !!
Can anyone in the meantime let me know what the standard parameters are for T245 and T210?
The key parameters can be adjusted on the firmware. You can refer to the original firmware to adjust the corresponding parameters to be the same as the original. This is not difficult. This firmware has been changed many times, and many codes have been modified, and the changes are messy. I chose to release the compiled version, which does not violate the spirit of sharing. Besides, I am not used for commercial purposes. It is purely a personal hobby. This does not violate the open source agreement.
If you think I am accusing you of violating the open source agreement I am sorry that is not what I mean. I understand completely this is just a personal project for you and your friends. But it would be great to at least have a version with the standard iron settings because the rest of the FW is much more complete and I would love to use it :-)
I don’t have this plan for the time being. If you think it’s inappropriate, just forget it. This is just a personal version.
Hi Catear, You've made a wonderful FW, which you shared in the spirit of this project, which is to say, this project should be free and public to use. So thank you a lot!
But please do not take this the wrong way, why will you not share the source code? You yourself were able to use the source code Sparky wrote to adapt it to your liking. Would it not be in the same spirit of this project to share the source code so that others can build on it again?
Or at least could you share the original Sparky parameters in the iron config?
I used the original T210 in the original firmware, which is 30 degrees lower, so I can only modify the firmware parameters. But maybe the T210 made in China is 30 degrees higher than the original version, so your temperature is accurate in the original firmware, but by what standard, at least my friends around me got the same result as me. Use the original 210, the original firmware is 30 degrees lower. This firmware can have C1 parameter in IRON CFG under the menu, and C1 can be adjusted to get the desired effect
The issue I have with your FW is that also the (genuine JBC) T245 settings are not correct. I am not going to fiddle with parameters in the menu because I have insufficient knowledge of the actual effects. And moreover, the original settings in the FW by sparky are perfect.
Could you make available your FW with original settings, not adjusted by you and your friends please? If not possible, could you please post your uncompiled FW? I am sure we will have enough people here that will be able to compile a version with the original FW settings
With the resistor I use, I end up at R: 965 in the calibration menu when fine tuning the calibration from R: 1000 with pure lead and eutectic solder on all my controller boards.
I suggest you test it with the original 210. As far as I know, the temperature of many Chinese copied 210 is tens of degrees higher than the original one. There may be some temperature that is the same as the original one. If you just bought it, the temperature is higher than the original one. If the original temperature is high, it will become the same temperature on the unisolder, because we use the original 245 and the original 210 to compare, the 210 temperature is 30 degrees lower
The problem is in your tip parameters because on the original FW I get a very close match between T245 and T210. T210 is a bit hotter, about 4 degrees.
I think you changed the parameters on both irons in your FW because with your FW, I need a lot of adjustment on the trimmer resistor to get T245 at correct melting temp compared to the original FW, and the T210 is way off: about 35 degrees hotter than T245, which is what you describe.
Re-flashing the original FW results in perfect behavior of both irons at my original trimmer resistor setting, which closely corresponds to the 10ohm initial setting.
Unfortunately your FW will not be workable unless you change back to the original iron settings. Which FW build version did you use as a basis for your FW? I know Sparky changed the iron parameters in the latest one because he found an error in the previous versions. Could it be that you did not use the latest one?
It is nice to read and learn more about these extra features by Catear but anyone in here likes the idea of having the sleep function in auto mode while the Iron in your hand?
I think it could be useful to have if you do not want to design a specific holder for several different irons.
I only use t245 and t210, and I use a ring insert in my t245 holder for the t210 iron so I can use the same stand, but others will maybe have a Weller also, requiring a different solution for the holder.
Yes, indeed. The previous code could be made to crash if you went wild with encoder inputs (quickly turning left/right while pressing the button down simultaneously, etc). The display would just freeze up. I cannot manage to crash the encoder on this one. Also, the first encoder option is a perfect match to my optical encoder now, which it was not in the original firmware: Each indent on the encoder shaft is corresponding to an actual digital input. So no more "skipping". Nice!
Like JBC, the temperature change display in a certain temperature range is shielded
That is actually something I really missed, it makes the display so much less "busy", which I really appreciate. Even the +/- 2 degrees make a huge difference. Thanks for that :-)
It is even the reason why I had my holder temp and sleep temp to 252 and 172 degrees instead of just 250 and 170 degrees. This prevented the constant toggle of the middle digit. No need for that anymore :-)
