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Hi all,

Do you have some recommendations for a soldering station that would meet my needs?

I've been into hobby electronics for a few years, doing mostly analog audio projects but recently got into repairing and repurposing broken electronics (Bluetooth earbuds, speakers, USB cables and such).

I've been using a cheap Parkside(LIDL)-rebranded "generic Chinese product" (I came across the exact same model on AliExpress, in different colors); which has served me well until now but has a few flaws that I can't be bothered with anymore. Mainly: -it takes ages to get hot. -the cable going from the station to the iron is super thick and stiff, which is annoying as hell...

I would like it to be the least expensive possible, while being good enough I'd be happy with it for the foreseeable future.

I have been looking at these:

Old tech, cheap tips (<1€)

Newer tech, "expensive" tips (8-10€)

And wondering how these "newer" types of iron compare to stations, what are the main drawbacks?

Thanks a lot in advance for any input, Please be gentle if you think I'm an idiot :)

Edit: changed the "Smolderin" in title to "soldering"

I haven't really been able to find much on this. I recognize the totem-pole and what that's for. Would love help understanding:

• What's the triangle?
• What's the rectangle immediately after?
• Why are there two outputs instead of one? A lecture I watched claimed this is common.

I've got a few projects on the list which will be battery powered. I'm thinking of using 18650s just because of how ubiquitous they are, but I know there's other options out there. Are they worth it?

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• Home assistant remote controls Etc etc etc

So, I had some issues with installing the GPU in the case, and the GPU bottom (those metals things at the bottom) ended up scratching part of the motherboard. From what I can tell, there's a bunch of similar components all the way up, so I'd think there's redundancy, so I guess it's not that important. Here is a picture (I was told some people couldn't open postimg, both links have same image):

https://i.postimg.cc/7LBwkr3h/62e626.jpg

https://files.catbox.moe/62e626.jpg

PC boots fine into bios, fans work, stuff are recognized, mouse and keyboard also works, but I haven't really done much beyond that.

Motherboard is: MSI B650 Gaming Plus Wifi

It's located here, and on them, it is written K72 then vertically smaller K2 (the 2 has an underline), as you can see in the above image too:

https://i.postimg.cc/XJNcnppT/modelblock-gaming-pd.png

https://files.catbox.moe/7otcn6.png

I was told to ask here, and the best guess from what I've been told is that this is this:

Paralleling power metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) is a common wayto reduce conduction losses and spread power dissipation over multiple devices to limit the maximum junction temperature.

Which could mean that the others could pick up the slack.

Should I get a new motherboard?

It's not available anymore and even if it was, I don't really want to buy one from him. And I need about 15 anyway for the youth group activity. It's far more cost effective to order direct from pcb fab shop.

I’m working on driving a very finicky lcd. I have it working now with an FPGA dev kit. I had to use an FPGA because some of the timing requirements are in the tens of nanoseconds.

At the end of the day, I wrote a block for a one shot/continuous clock with a programmable duty cycle and initial delay. This block was repeated six times for the various clocks with their specific values.

Moving to the final product, this feels like overkill. In the past, I’ve managed to make this kind of thing work with a Rube Goldberg collection of on-board timer/counters on the microcontroller.

I’d like to avoid that mess this time around. If I can generate the clocks externally, I can have the host MCU send the data quickly using DMA.

An FPGA works great, but they’re expensive and there’s the issue of licensing for FPGA and and CPLD software.

I’ve seen this problem solved with a lookup table, but there aren’t a lot of cheap/small rom/ram options for what I’m trying to do.

Basically, what I’m asking is is there a component that can be easily programmed to generate a number of clocks, doesn’t need any costly software licensing, and comes in a very small package? (Like wlcsp)

Found metal weight inside

I wanted to learn more about electronics, and I found this https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/an-introduction-electronics/content-section-0 to start from so I can have a grasp on theories first, and I want to try learning microcontrollers afterwards but I can't afford to buy any IRL atm, are there any softwares to simulate them to assist on learning without having the physical hardware? I'd be happy if anyone could give me any tips toward that, thank you if you read this far

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My question is this. As soon as I opened it up I noticed the water very quickly evaporating. I actually can't see any more now. Anyone who does mobile device repairs, what do you think? Could I skip the deep-dry? I looked at all the components and none of them have any parts that could have trapped water that I missed and I don't really look forward to cleaning the entire thing of starch ( though I do just have silica beads but let's stay on topic)

Am I right to feel confident about the dryness of the components? Let me know!

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It's possible this feature just doesn't work with the Kindle, but I have a new Kindle arriving soon and will have another shot at this, so I was curious if there was some way I can precisely locate and mark where the charging coil is on the back of my new Kindle to at least eliminate that factor. Any ideas?

I've been wanting to experiment with Wireless Charging for a bit now, for which I need a qi standard Transmitter and a separate single Female USB C input that I can use for soldering.

I've been told both amazon and Ebay are overpriced when it comes to stuff like this, so what dedicated Websites would be best to buy this typa stuff in and around Europe/Germany

Thanks!

Hello Ask Electronics community, please help me identify the name of this connector.

For context, this is from a motor scooter: Yamaha Mio M3 125. This socket connects the ECU to the wiring harness.

I wish to know how to open this socket to access the rubber/silicone seal inside, and to know that first I need to identify the name of this connector.

So anyone know what is the name of this connector?

Something like "Superseal 24-pin" or so. Also, to clarify: I am not searching for replacement part for this connector. I only need to know the name.

Here are some more pictures of the connector (hover above the picture to see alt-text).

(None of the pictures are mine, I just copied them from the internet).

So i built a outdoor hoop antenna to replace my cheap and crapy walmart antenna. IDK if the pre-amp fried the 5g/LTE filter or it wad my diy antenna. Is it possible for a 5g/LTE filter to stop working and filter out every channel. I orderd a new filter to see if it is the problem. Here is the antenna tutorial I followed: https://youtu.be/Tg0JjeotXq4 And the 5g filter: https://a.co/d/gwpNo2g

I recently got a nice deal on a stereo microscope, and leapt at the chance. I've had a few projects in mind that would entail SMD soldering, and now all I need is a proper soldering station.

My current iron is pretty basic, but gets the job done for splicing wires and DIP work. Now I want something with temp control and a good supply of tips.

It seems like hobbyists are all talking about affordable Chinese T12 stations from brands like KSGER and Quecoo. There are just so many different models, it's hard to understand the features and differences. It also seems like there's a lot of "Reddit folk knowledge" where people just keep repeating what others have said. Eg: People say that some KSGER stations have no case grounding, but nobody says which models do or don't have the issue. All of them? Then people talk about the microcontrollers STM vs STC, but nobody says why it matters.

Back in my day, you could usually sip a few mA from a USB2 port without any trouble.

When I try that now, Windows pops up with a “device not recognized” error. I know you can draw up to 150mA before enumeration, but it looks like after some time, Windows will complain that you haven’t enumerated yet.

Is there an easy way to keep from getting this error without having to actually make the device smart?

I’m hoping for something dumb along the lines of USB-PD but facing the other direction. For the record, it has to work on a USB-A port, so USB-C hacks won’t work.

Hi, my 3d printer psu fan gave up the ghost, and I wanted to replace it. It was pretty noisy, so I thought about upgrading from a 30mm to an 80mm fan. I am designing the top case with mounting holes, and want some input on where to place the new fan. The original placement is the box with the red color. The green and blue box are some options I thought of for the new fan placement. Would placing it over the busier part of the pcb yield lower temps, or is that a bad idea? Does placement even matter for psu fans? The new fan has higher airflow, but lower static pressure than the original one, and the plan is for it to always spin at a low rpm and occasionally speed up when the psu detects a high temperature. The original config runs it completely fanless until the psu reaches 50c and only then does it send voltage to the fan header.

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In an ideal world it would be a male and female banana plug thing, but that wouldn't hold under tension. So I'm hoping you folks have ideas.

Bought a new PC, and I was measuring its consumption out of curiosity. I noticed something weird (to me): when the PC is off (in fact, I completely disconnected the PSU and did the same test), there is quite some current running in the power cable to the PSU (0.15A).

Further measures showed a power factor of (almost) zero, and I can actually measure a capacity of 2uF across the PSU ac input.

I did the same thing on an older PC I have, and there is no current / capacity. So what would the reason of a capacitor across the mains on the input be in a PSU?

PS: the PSU is a Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 1050W

Edit: I found some official measurements for this specific PSU: https://www.cybenetics.com/evaluations/psus/2249/ that have 40W standby apparent-power by design

I'm looking for a 5 pin connector type that I can easily find chassis plugs for both male and female.

I've looked at DIN and mini xlr connectors, but have unsurprisingly been unable to find male chassis sockets.

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*realistically only expects about 6-7A flowing through 1 pin and one fourth of that through the 4 others.

The electric PTO clutch on my 1969 mini tractor is dead and discontinued.

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I just attempted a coil with 18 gauge copper magnet wire. I made it to the max dimensions I can get in the housing with a scramble wind. I'm getting 1.2 ohms, which would pull 10 amps or so. Not good.

Was able to get 187 feet given the resistance.

If I go with 20 gauge copper, assuming I can get 235 feet (1.26 * 187) and I should get 2.319 ohms. Probably get a little more than 235 feet and get the resistance up a little more.

What does this do to the strength of the magnetic field?

Would I be better off putting a power resistor in series with my 18 gauge coil?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

I'm working on a mod kit for a popular item, but my target audience isn't likely to have a soldering iron. The majority of the project connects to an exposed ribbon connector, but I need to short two terminals to force a power supply on.

Any ideas on a method I could provide for people who can't solder? Maybe a strip of copper tape?

Hello everyone, I bought a bottle dynamo for my bicycle with a rear and front light. Though I have one little tweak that I would like to add and that's a way to keep it light up for about 1 minute (at least 30 sec) without pedaling. I thought of putting a capacitor in the circuit to store some energy but I would like what do you all think of it ?

Thank you for your time and have a nice day you all !

Can I charge a 19V laptop from multiple USB ports?

My laptop's charger is rated at 19V 2.1A. I was wondering if it would be possible to build an adapter which would allow me to charge it from a power bank, even if just slowly or via multiple USB ports.

I know you can buy adapters which utilise USB power delivery, but most outlets and powerbanks don't have PD yet.

@askelectronics #AskFedi #Electronics #DIY #USB

I've been messing around with circuits my entire life but this design was time sensitive and I've never done my own PCB designs before, so I hired someone to put this together. After getting some test boards, when I plug them in the charger chip gets very hot and smells like burning....

Circuit is just a simple li-ion usb charger and a switch. I've gone through the datasheet for the bq25302 more times than I can count and I'm missing something obvious here. Using it just for delivering power seems to work fine, the problem is only when charging.

I do see R6 + R7 off TS don't have the recommended 10k values, but I don't feel like that would cause what I'm seeing. This is being connected to a 21700 lipo.

Someone mind lending me their eyes please?

bq25302 datasheet - https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/bq25302.pdf