#17 - How to fix your faulty KSGER T12 Soldering Station. Factory damaged capacitor! 

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Final inspection is left to the consumer... (Thanks for the warning)

2 minute video drawn out to fill 56 minutes! Well done! BigClive would be proud.

Maybe a bit late here, but here are a couple thoughts I have about the physical appearance of that capacitor. The reason that it looks like it is dented in is because of the rapid expansion and contraction of the electrolyte inside the cap. It heated up quickly, causing it to out-gas as as it boiled, thus splitting the case. That "X" design on the top of the cap is actually a design found on most electrolytic capacitors. It is designed to "fail" as a pressure relief to help prevent a more catastrophic explosion of the capacitor in case of an internal failure. The reason it looked dented in is because as power was removed, the contents (or what was left of the contents) of the cap quickly cooled, creating a partial vacuum inside the casing. The hole that was blown in the top was not able to let enough air in all at once to fill this vacuum. Since it was already weakened due to the initial failure, the metal was weak in that spot and caved in slightly until the pressure was nearly equalized. Now if you want to see a dramatic capacitor failure, picture what happens when a 4700MFD 600 volt cap blows! How do I know? Had two of them pop in one of me bass guitar rigs some years ago. Had it not been for that "X" design on the tops of those cap's, they likely would have grenaded, and taken out half of the components in that unit. Sorry 'bout the long comment. Just thought I might share a little insight as to how electrolytic capacitors act (in most cases) when they fail. They do not often take other components out when they do. In most cases, simply replacing the cap will get everything back up and running. But they can be very messy indeed!

Having bought a KSGER T12 V3 I turned on to set it up but nothing more. Being interested I watched this video and afterwards had a look inside. Low and behold, exact same damage to the Cap (cracked along one of the creases with evidence of a small round impact) and electrolyte on lid. Glad I watched this video. Thanks. Update. Got full refund from Bangood.

Thank you for the PSA. The final safety inspector is YOU!

Thanks for the review. Here are some more questions about the capacitors in the power supply. It seems like there were no complaints, but, for example, C7 according to the scheme for the PWM controller SG6842 should be 1.5nF x 1000V, and for some reason set at 4.7nF x 100V. (2A472J instead of 3A472J (3A152J) or at least 2J472J). The main thing is not to put a ceramic instead of a film, otherwise the power supply starts to make noise. It is advisable to replace the electrolytes too, there were complaints about their malfunction: 2pcs Rubycon 1200uF 35V ZLH 12x25 long-life with low ESR are suitable for the output filter. In the input circuit 1pc Nippon chemi-con 68uF 450V KXG 18x25. In the latest modification, the manufacturer sets 400V, 82μF. (it is better to replace with nichicon PT 420V, 120uF. 30x18mm. - installed horizontally.) PWM CR6842 (SG6842) power supply 47uF 50V KY or Rubycon ZLH 56uF 50V. And also pay attention to the heatsink of the rectifier diode MBRF20200 - the Chinese forget to smear the diode with thermal grease, and the heatsink itself is installed directly on the high-voltage circuit track next to the 68uFx400V capacitor, where all the insulation is only varnish on the track.

Thanks for the info, much appreciated. Just ordered one and will open it up and inspect it and do the ground mod before using it.

After viewing your video, I opened my KSGER unit. And I was surprised to find the same 400v, 68uf capacitor leaking. i was unable to find any physical damage. I have not used the KSGER station much, and I did not expect to find a leaking capacitor. I just ordered some 450v, 68uf replacement capacitors from EBay. Thanks for posting this video.

Happy to be #100, look forward to more vids in the future.

Thanks! I just ordered one, I will check the inside before powering, and probably leave the cover off for a while so I can eyeball it.

Thank you for this. I have the KSGER t12 for some days, a few hours running, and today my capacitor pops up too. Fortunatelly i had made some modifikations before: 1. Add an earth ground connection for the housing 2. Swap live and neutral (turn over socket 180 degrees, new connection by wires) to ensure both lines have a fuse in series (in germany swapping is not locked mechanically) 3. Add a 24V dc input with banana plugs, decoupled with 2 schottky-diodes The device still works with the 24V dc input. Update: What a mess, the PSU switch controller chip and some resistors are burned too. Not sure to try a repair of the PSU.

If automation was used to insert components the part may have been hammered during assembly and may have worked for moment of instant on/off. Good catch and recovery. I was going to buy the kit and use my 1971 Weller TCP-L power Supply. May not be as safe but reliable. Adding fuses. Thanks D

after buying such a roll of soldering stations, I first of all changed the input electrolytic capacitor to 120μF 450v, secondly I replaced 4 input rectifier diodes with a 3A diode bridge, thirdly I removed the resistor at the input, which was to replace the fuse (you can replace the resistor with a jumper or a larger fuse than the fuse rating on the rear panel). I carry out this kind of modernization in those cases when I come across power supplies in which the manufacturer saved on components and to prevent failure during power-up or power surges.

thanks nice video! i just got one and it was fine inside but the case was not grounded so i fixed that.. mine only goes out ot standby mode by shaking if its gone into standby it self via the timer if i force standby mode i have to click the knob. nice little unit for the price. unselecting all the tips you dont have and only have the ones you have or use checked in settings makes selecting the tip much faster

Looks like it was assembled with either a faulty capacitor, or the capacitor was damaged after assembly. It was an interesting video, but it was way too long. I ended up kind of skipping over minutes at a time just to progress it. Glad you got it fixed and it actually turned out to be a really good unit (as the majority or the reviews say).

Bad cap.. it happens.. Swap out the cap for a few cents.. and then run it. Look at the top of the housing and you'll see exactly where that smoke came from.. Probably burning electrolytic It doesn't slide.. it just lifts on/off

Have a KSGER T12 arriving in a couple of days. I'll be sure to check the cap before I power it on.

I just got one of these and I also noticed both the cold end temp jumping all over when not not set to the CPU and the shake sensor not waking it from standby (I think it isn’t supposed to wake from sleep). I did a bunch of digging into it and found schematics for the handle and din plug and it turned out they switched the wires on the handle plug for the temp and tilt sensors. White goes to temp, which is N on the controller board and blue goes to tilt which is S on the controller board. I confirmed how mine was wired at the handle and at the plug end and just swapped blue and white wires at the plug. Now the tilt sensor wakes it from standby and the cold temp reading from the handle is stable. I’m curious if your handle is also wired incorrectly and if this is a common issue. If yours does have this issue a video documenting fixing it could potentially be helpful to others.

I just got one of these units, and double checked it before powering it up, (just in case of a rocket hiding) but it all seems ok, powered it on and worked from the get go, just got to fix the grounding issue..🤙🏼🇦🇺

I was debating between this or the Quick ta1200a, opted for the Quick unit, glad i did not, its amazing!

Thanks for sharing , one question please I have Yihua 937d soldering station so can I buy just the handle of KSGER T12 Soldering Station and use it with my station ? Thanks

Sad to see, I'm in need of a new solder and I have been looking at this one. As ya said "it's all the rage" and alot of good reviews for it. Looks like the cap got punctured/impacted some how on yours and possibly caused this issue. Maybe a QC issue, or maybe a postage handling issue? Thank you for showing this to us.

Ive bought the new version 3.1 mini and used external PSU, works great!

Leave the leads longer so you can wrap the bodge wires around them then trim.

I laughed at the "I feel like GadgetUK with his Amiga repairs!" comment

Good job on the video 👍and luckily you had another soldering iron to repair this one. I wondered if the shake switch brings it out of standby and not sleep. Not sure if we saw that or not. Is there a means to calibrate the tip or is it ready out of the box (bag)? If calibration is needed I can see where a table of stored setups for each tip might be handy. I guess you would name each one by the tip style or something easily remembered (or keep a chart and number them).

what a knowledge, something is wrong with that cap!!! and still try it again.

At least cap was inside when it blew, the way you handled it with a live heatsink and power on made me think next pop would be yourself.

yeah that cap is a power filter and mine was clearly used!

Hey there. I just bought myself a t12 from eBay. I'm new to electronics and soldering. It product didn't come with a power cable. I have a power cable that fits and it turns the device on. It's a 250v cable I just want to know whether this is appropriate for use with the device?

i bought older type with 7seg display diy kit without psu. Powered with laptop power brick :) so no such problems. Using already more than 2yrs.

I have had one for almost a year, and have never got a problem! You must just have a bad unit

Those ltec capacitors are also used in the xbox one external power supply, they're of a different value but are as shitty as the ones used in the station

I'm not keen on the clock battery attached to the heatshink. Well least of the problems considering lol

Did you mod it to ground the case and lift the heatsink from the PCB in the end?

I replaced all the electrolytic capacitors on the PSU with high-grade overspec Panasonic/Rubycon components. The other parts like transistors etc. were actually very decent as they came and pointless to upgrade. Seemed to be cheap peace of mind, only cost an additional 9 bucks - mouser or digikey can hook you up

You realise that the exposed trace was the active rail... The capacitor aluminium was exposed at the bottom making the capacitor live. Also, no earthing on any of the case.

Capacitor has a torn wrap insulator sooo…. It is possible that the aluminum will conduct the traces that it is pressing on… but this is an old video so I guess it is not a concern 🤷🏼‍♂️

Though in general things are fine from this online-supermarket. Sometimes it does happen... But I am not a fan of keeping on about it. More interested in repairing it.

Did you figure out your shake setting issue? I'm going based on memory but I think I read someone said in some cases the blue and white wires internally may be switched up which makes shake not work. Don't go re-wiring based on my comment! I think you should be able to find out if I'm right fairly easily. I don't have this iron yet but am expecting it in the next few days. Thanks for the video.

I have been looking at this model for a while and looking at all the reviews I can find. All are positive, with the exception of this one. A bit of a drama queen in the beginning, it's obvious that the cap got bumped in production, and it leaked the electrolyte out. Unfortunate, but certainly not something everyone should expect. I'm still buying one despite this over dramatic catastrophizing.

That's sad. I hope someday, all capacitors would be solid capacitors, even the really big ones or better- SMD. Let's hope and pray, my newly bought KSGER T12 have been replaced with better caps and all faults (they seem to have grounded the aluminum case) fixed. God bless, Rev. 21:4

My problem is with lcd, very dimm. Is there any way to fix it?

best comedy I've seen in a long time...jeez, it's a bad cap, swap it out and be done. not too much to say about quality though....

Isn't it only a 70w station? Forgive me if I am being stupid, but what does it need a 400v cap for?

I'm surprised you plugged that iron in as is and started working with it right away! xD Your safety is your responsibility ONLY, take better care of yourself, man ;) Chinese cheapos only care about profit at the end. Like AvE says: Buy it, disassemble it, if you break it - fix it, THEN plug it in for the 1st time. And if you can't fix it, it wasn't worth using it anyway xD P.S. : DEFINITELY inspect the handle if you still haven't! Expect some cold joints worth redoing and add some heat shrink for extra protection ;)

I was really wanting to purchase one of these but i dont have the skills to do all the work it takes to make it work properly

40:00 says length of case in mm, then height and width in inches. LOL.

Dang you blew the cap

Hello mr, can you guess me?. I want buy this stuff.

Hey not fair, mine come without smoke.

Hi XYZ Concepts. After reading many of the comments, one gets the impression this station's only for those with advanced electronics skills. (Wires crossed in handle/wand temp & tilt sensors [Brent Bettis], holes in caps, not grounded case, etc). ¿Can a low experienced person [myself] expect to receive a good working unit when purchasing? (That wires crossed in handle/wand plug is most worrisome, as I would not know the symptoms of such a malfuction). (I'm budget constrained, & this is a cost effective upgrade from my plug-into-wall_AC soldering iron). Any/all comments appreciated. Thank you. t\.

I got the quicko works trouble-free the same price.

Honestly I would rather get this for $30, do some mods like grounding, recap it with nichicons, and get genuine hakko tips for less than $50 than to buy a $250 hakko

Been looking at the reviews of this model, I think you were just an unlucky customer, that copped this, but luckily you caught it in time, who knows what would be the outcome had you not of, great rescue, id like to know, do you still have the unit? If so, can you do another review of it in action please? Fellow Aussie 🤙🏼🇦🇺🤙🏼🤙🏼

TRY REVERS NTC SENSOR IN HANDEL. ALL RESPECT.

I have to ask, since you named the video "How to fix your faulty KSGER T12 Soldering Station", have you ever had anyone say "thanks" because the video solved their problem, too?

desoldering model?

i made my own soldering statiopn like this for 35 usd i bought in parts so the customs wont charge me coz parts came from diferent places at diferent times

Just change the cap

I never say anything negative, I'll grow old while you go on and on and on and on saying the same thing. I just ordered one, I have to suffer through it to see if there is another problem.

2nd jumper is useless, the ends were already connected by the trace, only the via was missing

no quality check on thay one.haha

Like you never seen blown cap, come on. I'll replace those in first place.

This looks like sabotage. In our country, its very common for the guys in the customs Dept to do this. They will do it just to be spiteful. Or to steal parts off the boards.

You get what you pay for. I got a Hakko 888d, which is old tech but works for decades, instead of these poorly made Chinese that can burn down your house.

One hour just to replace a capicator

Now you wouldn't have been paid by Weller or Hakko by any chance, would you? I'm not accusing you, but it is curious that these units are a huge threat to those brands due to how inexpensive they are. And no offense, but you're a channel with 100 subscribers currently. You're not a long-time youtuber with a fantastic reputation (yet). It's quite simple to poke that capacitor and then turn it on. Then of course, film a shot of you "discovering" the busted cap.

You bought it, what are you expecting for thirty quid,

You are are telling me cheap electronics use cheap parts

Chinese manufacturer damaged component destined for Australia…not exactly chums these days. Let’s do the math.

Change a capacitor to shoot a 56-minute video？

I'm gonna be frank and direct here, hope it helps you build your channel This video is too long, a 10 minute video at most has been stretched to almost an hour, your viewers aren't gonna have that long of an attention span specially since you're still a small youtuber and haven't built a following like louis rossman or pewdiepie, be less pissy/dramatic and be more informative and maybe even add some humor This video could've been split into these parts -Damage Showcase -Danger Explanation (if there's even any) -Capacitor Salvaging, and some extra trivia, like why some people just use bigger/smaller caps when they don't have the part -Quirky Board Cleaning maybe, pour alcohol and scrub, maybe even a shot at an ultrasonic cleaner doing its magic, douse it with alcohol and use a blower to dry it maybe -Finished Product Showcase Vioala, a short,concise and informative video around 10 minutes long with enough room for monetization

1. Hmmm smoke, lets turn it on an off a few more times. 2. 1st time use, you really didn't just pack the thing up and insist a replacement/refund?

Made in China !

Good video made unwatchable by the annoying and unnecessary 'music'!

one hour of crying for a bad cap. There's nothing spectacular and no potential fire risk because the case is made of metal.I saw a lot of high quality and price equipments who had capacitors failed this way ( bad lot of cap from third party).

No need to be such a drama queen over a straightforward capacitor fault ...

I couldn't take it any more after a 1/2 hour of watching you futz around with a single cap. At first, I thought you were just being thorough to document the problem, and then I was just screaming in my head, "just replace that cap!". Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. BTW, your writing on the screen said it was perfectly fine... but it was NOT perfectly fine, now was it. Perhaps your sentences should actually make sense next time.

56 min for a -wrongly- change of a capacitor . Even Fast foward was slow enougth . And yes it was wrong because he damage the insulation of his "new" capacitor and put it on top of naked high voltage copper ... wrong and dangerous...

Ok... this is done... but you keep repeating yourself over and over about how nasty the cap is ... you must have used every word to describe it..times each... it's a leaky cap...move on..