Inside a cheap Chinese Yihua soldering iron. 

As i understand, there are many different levels of satisfaction to this Yihua solder station. I have bought two, about two years ago. One was for the firm i worked for, and one for me. I have used it for almost all my solder work to date and have never exchanged the heating element. haven't burned any tip, and have had it on for about an hour at a time. Never had any transformer smell or red hot glowing solder tip. I have made some pretty beefy solderjoints with a large heatsink, allthough that required that i put the solder station to max waited so that i rebuilt the thermal capacity in the tip between the spots. So it was the max capability of the iron. but overall i have beed satisfied with it.

Well don't be shocked if the design is good, if it is indeed based off Hakko, which are Japanese soldering irons that probably are the best quality ones in the world. And this Chinese company Yihua is indeed a proper company, so there will be quality involved, it's not like an unbranded ripoff for example. I think Yihua is what most Chinese use, so for example in China they don't generally use the unbranded ripoff stuff that some naive foreigners waste their money on, in China they usually find a good Japanese or other foreign design, and have a legit Chinese company try to clone it at a decent level of quality, so the domestic Chinese workers can have a reliable product etc.

Just bought one and I'm impressed. Thanks for your unbiased reviews

I have one Yihua 939D+, I use it for 3 years 7 days per week without any issue. This is a very good option if you are in budget. I have a Hakko FX-888D but I prefer the Yihua because it have 3 memory easy to reach. Best Regards.

Just took apart my hakko 936 iron, and it's exactly the same construction technique though they use wires with proper heat resistant coverings, and the bit has a small metal sleeve that fits snugly between it and the heating element for a bit better thermal transfer.

i got the 240v 50w irons with the same setup its been in use everyday for upto 10 hours at a time .. and it is still solid .

My friends and I use the same iron for a 120 Volt supply, (40 or 50 Watts?) with a tiny temperature control knob in the handle and a LED that indicates the power level that the temperature control is set for. They look identical using the same parts, a set of tips, no spare heater, all for $17 delivered. We all love them. I also have a 12 Volt 50 Watt version that has a cigar lighter plug with no temperature control that works great in cars, which uses the same accessories. ($?) They all heat up very quickly. All are from amazon.com over the last 5 years.

For years I did field work and swore by my butane irons; however nowadays I'm a bench guy and a great soldering station makes all the difference. It's good to know that this is usable to the point that you've made it a go-to device.

I nearly watched all of your videos but then I realized that I'm not your subscriber, congrats you have a new subscriber

I've also had an Antex XS25 for many years, The reason I got one was because that's the type we used at school so I thought it must be good and reliable, it has been. I only have trouble with the tip which I have to give a light file occasionally to keep solder sticking to it. I've never learnt soldering since school so it probably makes experts cringe knowing I do this but I get by fine doing this :)

Very good review. I have owned several cheap stations and if you truly need it to repair just a few joints or switches, then there is probably no reason to spend more, but these stations tend to fail out of the box or not produce a temp at the tip anywhere near what the dial reads. You will save yourself some headache and time by buying a proper Hakko or Weller station.

I have one of the cheap china ones that look like that, but are powered directly from mains, and have a temperature adjust pot in the handle. I'm actually quite happy with it's performance, it is my day-to-day go-to iron. I'm guessing it's a triac chopping off mains through a heating element...

we have those antex irons in school!

I've had this soldering station for almost five years now and it has been working perfectly, I have never had a problem with it. Mine is the same as all the basic 936 clones with a black plastic face and plastic knob to set the temperature, but mine says "W.E.P. 936 ® sol dering station," printed exactly with that space between "sol" and "dering." Perhaps a limited edition. I have no idea what could W.E.P. mean. But I can definitely recommend the station, it is great value.

Love my Yihua station.

hi Clive. Up until today, i had a maplin soldering station - precision gold A55KJ - looks exactly like the iron you dissected. Today, it tells me " - 5 -E -" [without quotes] which, according to the manual is faulty element. trouble is, if i apply 19 volts at 1.6 amps to it, it heats enough to desolder the triac that should control the temperature to it - for testing - it too is fine. My question is - how can the unit detect the temperature of the iron - with pins 1+2 and 4+5 shorted out? [no thermocouple] I cant find a diagram for it anywhere and im not clever enough to reverse engineer it as its quite complex. cheers in advance - Andy

Did you ever get to take apart the base unit?

hi clive love the vids , any ideas on a v cheap set up for plastic welding ? cheers for reading .

Wait a minute I get the replaceable tip and heating element ,but how are you supposed to replace the heating element if the leads are soldered on ,do you have to get another soldering iron to solder on the element

I have a dual hot-air reflow plus soldering iron station. Some Chinese brand that I bought from a cellular repair shop down the road. Same type of iron and it work beautifully. They're crazy cheap. The only problem is the Schuko plug since I can't get a Schuko socket in South Africa. (they sell cheap, plug-in 3A 'Schuko' adaptors for the un-earthed Chinese knock-off plug but not proper sockets)

Still have a couple of Antex irons, I agree with yuour comments about the bits. Plan on going for one of the import jobby soldering stations, probably a digital one, works out cheaper than a new Antex.

Hey big clive. I know it's been a while since this video was posted, but what is your current view on YIHUA (or Hakko) soldering stations? There are a few on Amazon and i'm considering to get one.

I would take a look inside that if i were you, some are down right dangerous, good luck with the heating element. Good videos though makes me smile at times.

Someone said you could take measurement with resistance to find out if it’s the soldering iron is that possible

Great video, very helpful, Thank you, Are these irons rated at 24 volts ? i applied 23 volts to one and it burned out the element in less than a minute !! I powered another with 16 volts AC and it has been working fine,,

They are great, I have one..

I bought a "Hakko" 24V 50W Chinese soldering iron on eBay, it's exactly the same construction as this one. I want't to build a diy soldering station with a 24v 3A switching power supply but it's not enough. I measured the internal resistance of the heating element and it's 4 Ohm's, that means, this soldering iron requires 6 Amps witch is extreme for this little supply and it switches off. What can i do in this case to power it up? I need to buy a much bigger supply?

Hi Clive! Did you come across the SH72 iron?

Did you ever do a review of this soldering station? - if not, how is it?

Sure does look like the iron on my hakko 936. Though the original has much tighter tolerances between the tip and heater.

Please help I have one of those 907A soldering irons and it doesn’t seem like it’s heating up even though at the station at showing 400° is there a way to measure or find out if it is the soldering station or can you take a multimeter to that little circuit board inside that soldering iron to find out if it’s the soldering iron

I think your video has driven up the price on this station. But I love that little heat gun. I hate turning on my big heat gun fire small projects.

Hello. For all solderers out there, you can get 5or 10 times more use out of your tips if you re-tin the tip right when it starts to turn a brownish color. I have found that a Sal Ammoniac Bar to work the best and they are not very expensive. First clean the brown deposit off the tip by wire brush, light sand paper, steel wool or whatever trips your trigger. Then I dig a small channel into the bar big enough for my tip to fit in and put a little solder into the channel. Then I lay my soldering gun flat on the bar into the channel with the solder in it and keep rotating it. It will not take long. In less than 2 minutes, you have a brand new soldering tip all tinned and ready to go.

Good review thanks! Provided the thermocouple is well calibrated, what is the maximum temperature compatible with those iron tips?

How's the build quality, specifically, the plastic threads on the plastic/metal cover you start unscrewing at 03:31? I'm asking because I've seen some 936/907 clones where those threads don't allow you to screw the tip cover properly (basically, they aren't strong enough to support the connection, they 'give out', and then you can (pretty much) keep turning the screw forever, without being able to tighten the cover properly). You say "nice construction" at 05:34, but - is it? :)

I got a 3 pack of the 2mm slanted tips for about £12

I totally agree with you that the best soldering iron bit to use is a 3mm chisel type. I have always preferred this style of bit as I find it better suited to various situations than the alternatives. I can't understand the obsession with finely pointed bits that the manufacturers seem to have. Given that you often have difficulty trying to find a 3mm chisel bit to buy and that I also found that the only bit not in stock at Farnell was the 3mm chisel bit, there's obviously quite a demand for this style of bit. Perhaps manufacturers should supply a small chisel bit as standard and suppliers should certainly maintain stock of such bits more efficiently. I use a Hakko-esque soldering station from Farnell which is obviously a Chinese copy with the same type of iron as in your video and I haven't had any problems with it in the year or so I've used it - plus the cost of replacement parts is a fraction of the cost of original Hakko parts!

Hi Big Clive, could you tell me which soldering station you have? I've got the Antex 660A and I was wondering if those cheap irons would fit. It's always good to have a spare iron, just in case... Thanks a lot!

Is it possible to take multi meter and read the output of the four wires to see if The element is bad or the board of the soldiering handle is bad ... and what would the reading be on the four wires? The soldering station that I bought gave me a replacement element with the four wires but I don’t know if it’s the handle or the main unit that’s why am asking the question.

Which base unit did you buy? I've been experiencing similar problems with Maplins soldering iron tips i.e. lack of them so could really do with an alternative. Also, have you ever noticed that Maplins carrier bags have a giant knob on them?

I can't get over the plug looks just like the ones use on a old Uniden CB radio. How Low of voltage is it?

Hey big c I've got 1 of these 825D+ with 80 w iron and air love it. Mine has a hum when switched off so i unplug, better fix? Only complaint other than that is iron cord is 2 short. I got multi colored silicon ins. wire(what they call it at least) Can i cut and extend the length or will that change something I'm unaware of?

I'm staggeringly disappointed not to find out the outcome of the hot transformer smell! 👍

i would get a 1mm chisel tip for that new iron.

I ordered that iron without station very cheap and I will try to make my station for school ,will make something like 10 times amp with op amp to boost input from termocouple and make comparator with histeresis also with op amp add variable resistor and just conect output to a gate of a mosfet add a led and that will be it,also I have mains soldering iron that uses same handle and everything just changed circuit board with one that containg triac control and a pot for adjusting i keep the pot on lowest setting and works just fine very good iron. Do you know what type of termocouple it uses ?

Does the air gap between the element and the tip matter that much?

I prefer the needle bits.

Would like to extend the cable. Is the connector a 5 pin 270 degree plug?

Have you looked at any butane/gas fueled soldering iron? There normally pocket sized and are very handy as they don't require any wires.

Some to increase the thermal conductivity between the ceramic heater and the tip put off grit graphite or copper paste (as you know both solutions can transfer electric charge through the soldering tip) It is better to press a small amount of thermal paste used for the CPU - IMPORTANT that the paste does not conduct the charge electric, so it must NOT contain silver or other metallic ingredients in the composition! Thanks to this, we eliminate the air gap between the ceramic heater and the tip and get better heat transfer to the tip.

Why are there different types of tips? I've always just used the point ones like this but a few mates have said to swap to the flatter tips. What's your thoughts on this?

i would like to try less than 120 volts on a red soldering iron. maybe 60 - 80 volts.

I Got this Yihua soldering station, after the fist try the heating element is broken, from where to get a replacement and how to do it?

I just bought one on eBay for $13 including a desoldering pump and some solder and a screwdriver and a PCB tweezers and a stand and some flux (also its 60W) so far its going great but its not the greatest iron in the world but I'm still happy, the brand is stearnel

I've been having issues with the soldering iron falling apart where it screws together with the plastic housing sleeve. Does anyone know where to get a good quality replacement iron?

My how times have changed as the tips for these on eBay are 10 for 50 US dollars.

Im sure the actual pronunciation is "yee whaa" But "yeehu-ah" is good enough. Lol

yep those are robust and nice to use when the station is roughly accurate in managing the temperature. nice old video 😉👍

Good video, would you have the link to heating element for hk soldering iron (yihua 936)? I broke mine.

I have the same base unit you're talking about. You said you're not comfortable about it. Why is that? I couldn't make it out in the video? Better yet you can make a video on it if you feel up to it!

If anyone is looking around to buy one of these be careful. Came across a UK seller on eBay that was advertising some units with a US plug but also asserting that it had a 220-240VAC input. After asking how they knew this to be true (these units are typically simple voltage specific transformers) their reply was, "we haven't had any complaints and have sold many of these units". o_0 edit: I am specifically talking about the family of 936/937 base units with just the soldering iron. I am unsure about the dual hot air gun units, perhaps those do have selectable input ranges (though I sort of doubt it).

Is this Antex ok for smd work

who can tell me, how much voltage this heat element needs

I just got a iron and it glows red is that normal as the solder will not run as iron is to hot

Ya

Clive makes my mouse click on Buy Now buttons. This time an actual, new, original Antex XS25 for only 20 quid popped up on my desk and I have no recollection of how it got there. Oh well.

I have learnt to hate these Yhiua irons. I bought 2 one after another. After one use i now get the 5-E error.

You should go on ebay and search for those tips there You have better luck finding them There What about size you looking for.

1980's weller clones?

that plastic coupler between the metal and the plastic handle is very flimzy to say the least. Otherwise it's OK

I’ll stick with my Weller tcp

darn, that soldering tip is really loose.

1:45 "makes a really strong smell of Hodkin's Formalin in use" ????? what???? Anybody?

So you need to get another soldering iron to replace the heating element? lol...

There are three types of heating elements for those Chinese soldering irons A1321, A1322，A1323. The one in this video seems to be A1322（ceramic），you can also use A1323（metal & long-life），but not A1321.

i buy cheap chinese soldering iron and the filament broke after 10 min

I can't stand electric irons myself. once I used a good gas one there was no turning back.

I got one for 1.60

Some good stuff from China,insert Coronavirus jokes here...

Wait you need to solder the soldering irons circuit board to repair it...but your soldering irons broken... Noooooooo

5£!!! Those bits should be .5£

Don't bother with the cheap tips. Get some hako tips and you will have yourself a good iron.

heat transfer from heating element to tip is the key for all soldering irons, and this one fails big time. look inside the tip you ll see that sleeve pushed in but doesn't make tight connection only touches the tip at few points inside, the rest is air gap. now look how tight is the tip on the heating element, yes it is very loose, touching each other at few points not with a big surface. remove the ceramic white part around the heating element and the same here, the coil which producing the heat barely touches the ceramic part, loads of air gap. so lets count how many air gap does this crappy iron has: 1, coil to ceramic part 2,ceramic part to sleeve 3, sleeve to tip wow loads of air gap very low heat transfer. the heat sensor is near the coil, if there is any, sometimes there is only 2 wires coming from the solder station, in that case the resistance of the coil is measured, if higher the temp is higher. Anyway, the temp is not measured on the tip but for the heating element and therefore stabilized fir it. NOT FOR The TIP! So if you set 350 C degrees eventually the tip will reach 350 C but when you start soldering tip temp will drop, and because there is loads of air gap from heat source the heat only goes to the tip very very slowly. Making soldering hard, frustrating or impossible. Works better at 450 C but many times even that fails to melt the solder on pcb. Interesting thing that the wattage of the station doesnt really matter. If this iron would be powered with 500W station the heating element would get hot faster but because basically it is heat insulated with air gaps the tip temp would be the same slowly rising crap. This thing is only good for melting plastic, hot glue, so you are not gonna make your good iron dirty. If a chinese brand says power consumption is 100w actually mean 60-80w max (not that if higher wattage would help). Even Weller wes51 is uncomperably better.

I've had this soldering station for almost five years now and it has been working perfectly, I have never had a problem with it. Mine is the same as all the basic 936 clones with a black plastic face and plastic knob to set the temperature, but mine says "W.E.P. 936 ® sol dering station," printed exactly with that space between "sol" and "dering." Perhaps a limited edition. I have no idea what could W.E.P. mean. But I can definitely recommend the station, it is great value.