Soldering iron - different watts at different voltages

Thread Starter

Panosmobm

Joined Mar 6, 2022
4
I want to buy a new soldering iron for 220v and i saw this 80W (100V), 100-120W (110-120V), 50W (220-240V) in the specification page of the soldering iron.
I'm interested for the 220v but the wattage is only 50w.
Is the 100-120w 100-120v for heavy work and the 50w 220-240v for hobby use? ( we are talking about the same product ).
If i understand correctly the 100-120w is more than the double of the 50 w so more powerfull.
Please explain to me.
 

eetech00

Joined Jun 8, 2013
3,856
I want to buy a new soldering iron for 220v and i saw this 80W (100V), 100-120W (110-120V), 50W (220-240V) in the specification page of the soldering iron.
I'm interested for the 220v but the wattage is only 50w.
Is the 100-120w 100-120v for heavy work and the 50w 220-240v for hobby use? ( we are talking about the same product ).
If i understand correctly the 100-120w is more than the double of the 50 w so more powerfull.
Please explain to me.
You only need about 40W to solder parts on a circuit board. Anything higher may cause the copper trace to separate from the board.
Especially when repeated attempts are made to install and solder a part or remove solder to remove a part.

Higher wattage may be useful for soldering large areas of copper to a large wire or component that has a case that must be soldered. These parts tend to become "heatsinks" that draw heat away from the solder point and prevent good solder connections.
 

Externet

Joined Nov 29, 2005
2,200
The power of the iron depends on what you want to solder as bertus said.
And the temperature factor depends on the type of solder.
Another factor is the time the soldering iron is applied to the parts being soldered.
Another factor is the heat loss from ambient temperatures (as working outdoors under wind or cold)

The amount of heat = Watts is not the same as the amount of temperature degrees.
A match burns at about the same temperature as a house on fire, but the amount of heat is vastly different.
 

Thread Starter

Panosmobm

Joined Mar 6, 2022
4
Hello , the soldering iron i am talking about is this : https://en.goot.jp/products/detail/px_280
It's an automatic soldering iron and i can set the temperature i want.
The problem i have is why the company chose to make the 220v for hobby use 50w while the 110-120v 100w for more heavy work.
Am i right or i miss something?
Please see the specs.
Thank you all.
 

Thread Starter

Panosmobm

Joined Mar 6, 2022
4
Please see the specification page of the product.
I am not an expert , that's why i ask here.
Is the 110v 110-120w more more capable for delicate work on motherboards for example than the 220v 50w?
Even if i work with 220v , should i buy the 110v version and work with a converter just to have the double watts?
What is your opinion?
We are talking about 60w more.
Thank you.
 

DickCappels

Joined Aug 21, 2008
10,153
Please see the specification page of the product.
I am not an expert , that's why i ask here.
Is the 110v 110-120w more more capable for delicate work on motherboards for example than the 220v 50w?
Even if i work with 220v , should i buy the 110v version and work with a converter just to have the double watts?
What is your opinion?
We are talking about 60w more.
Thank you.
Doubling the voltage does not necessarily double the watts because the heating wire in the soldering iron has a positive temperature coefficient of resistance, to the higher the voltage, the higher the resistance. I have a soldering gun that has a hot/no-so-hot switch. In the hot position a 1N4007 in series wtih the 240 VAC is shorted. It makes the gun hotter but not twice as hot.

The soldering iron that you buy will be intended to operate within a specific range of temperatures. Forcing it to operate at a higher temperature might have unexpected consequences, like damage to the soldering iron or damage to you. If you do anything to modify the power, use a diode in series with the heating element that you can run it at half power and then flip a switch to run it at full power.

OR

You may wish to do what I have been doing for over 10 years (15?). I use a cheap (About U.S. $2.00) soldering iron with a plated tip and a large heat reservoir close to the soldering tip. It plugs into a lamp dimmer which is housed in a plastic enclosure and with the dimmer I can keep the tip cool enough to last for years, but am able to crank up the power when it is needed.
1666369412735.png
It doesn't have to be expensive to be good.
 

panic mode

Joined Oct 10, 2011
2,715
for unregulated soldering irons you really need to pick the right tool for the job.
fortunately it is easy to get temperature regulated version and larger wattage may be a good asset. it is only max power available, not the power actually used.
 

drjohsmith

Joined Dec 13, 2021
852
Can you stretch to a temperature controlled iron
They try to keep the tip at a constant temperature, and make soldering boards more of a joy
 

wraujr

Joined Jun 28, 2022
160
80W (100V), 100-120W (110-120V), 50W (220-240V), this looks like a nameplate spec for input voltages.
How about a link to the actual product.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
Please see the specification page of the product.
I am not an expert , that's why i ask here.
Is the 110v 110-120w more more capable for delicate work on motherboards for example than the 220v 50w?
Even if i work with 220v , should i buy the 110v version and work with a converter just to have the double watts?
What is your opinion?
We are talking about 60w more.
Thank you.
100 W is WAY more than what you need for delicate work on a motherboard. When I was doing work soldering voltage taps onto the side of superconductor samples, I used a 7 W iron and it was more than enough. Back then my personal soldering iron was a 15 W unregulated iron from Radio Shack and it did a very good job on typical electronic solder joints.

If the tip is temperature controlled, all that really matters (or should matter, if the controller is working properly) is that you have enough power for the job that needs the most power. When doing delicate work, it should only draw what is needed to maintain the tip temperature. The advantage of more power available is that it has the ability, at least potentially, to dump more power into the tip as the temperature starts to drop in order to minimize the drop.

As for your earlier notion that 110 V is for heavy work and 220 V is for hobby work, I don't see any basis for that. There's nothing that says that "hobby work" can't be heavy work.

The reason for the different ratings is more related to what they did inside the iron in order to be able to work over a wide range of input voltages. At some point as the voltage is increasing, they are doing something to prevent over voltage that is causing the available power to drop. If the supply were linear, I could make some good guess as to what the issues are, but I have no idea how they are regulating the power to the tip, but I can see them needing to throttle the power down to prevent overheating their regulating elements (triac/thyristor?).
 
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