Soldering station

[CW.]

Can anyone recommend a decent soldering station capable of soldering EC5's and 12awg cable?
Wanted to spend about £100 if its a quality "buy once" item.
There doesn't seem to be a lot of choice in the £100 bracket.
I've looked at this http://www.howardelectronics.com/xytronic/lf1600.html
But it's only 80w. Up to the job?

[xygax]

Weller TCP 45w or similar had mine for 30 years....

Steve

[ghost2212]

For the task's you've just described spending £100 would be a waste of money, Just get a 100W antex such as this ANTEX HP100 100W Mains Soldering Iron with 1.5m Cable 855436 | eBay

[CW.]

Soldering station

Does it get the 5mm bullets and 12awg battery wires hot enough and quickly enough? I didn't think 45w was enough!
I have a cheap (£19)maplin temp controlled 50w soldering station and its no where near up to the job

[CW.]

Soldering station

That's cheap for an Antex! Wonder how quick that would heat up?

[ghost2212]

It's pretty quick, Solders EC5's with ease and I've done quite a lot.

[danch]

Re: Soldering station

I use this & after 2 irons I'll not go back

http://mobile.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=35516

Heats up nice & quick, makes easy work of EC5's

[scotty123]

I was in the market for the same kind of iron so had a look through some reviews here and there........ I have been soldering for a long time with my job and have soldered EC5 's with no problems with a good make 45W iron, but wanted something a bit more powerful and variable, so I ended up buying this after reading the reviews and it does look very good. I bought the extra tips for an added £5 that gives you a larger surface area knib for the larger stuff......I'll have to see how it goes...
60W Professional LCD Solder Station with ESD Protection : Temperature Controlled Irons & Solder Stations : Maplin Electronics

[tsangbou]

For the task's you've just described spending £100 would be a waste of money, Just get a 100W antex such as this ANTEX HP100 100W Mains Soldering Iron with 1.5m Cable 855436 | eBay

This iron is fantastic! Perfect for ec5s!

[senoj]

I have one of these from Circuit Specialists. Excellent quality and performs well.

CSI Station60W 60 Watt Temp. Controlled Soldering Iron Station

[Guest]

Weller TCP 45w or similar had mine for 30 years....

Steve

The number of times I've come *this* close to buying a used WTCP51 on ebay, but only the ones in a pretty knackered state are cheap enough for me I worry about the tip, I've heard they're expensive and I couldn't find the right part on RS to size up the cost

[Toolman]

I use a 50 Watt Soldering Station Pro from Robotbirds, I find this fine for EC5s and everything else.
The only important thing is to get a range of tips.

They seem to have a 80 watt for only little more might be worth it, though 50 watt is fine.
It much more powerful than the watt rating says.

Soldering - 80 Watt Soldering Station Pro version, Robotbirds

I went through quite a number of different irons, but this one makes me actually look fwd to soldering!

Tim.

[mc_clean_david]

I use a 100w iron for the EC5's and also have 25w & 40w irons for smaller connectors such as Deans or wire.

It can be done with smaller irons but I find the 100w iron passes the heat better when inserting the thick wire into the EC5 connector

[CW.]

Thanks for the advice

I pulled the trigger on one of these today
Xytronic LF 3000 90W Soldering Station

I realise its overkill for what I use it for but should last me for ever and make soldering big 12awg wires and EC5's a pleasure.

Chris