Help Me Please. My Weller Soldering Station Has Gone Off.

[Xtrem]

But now i think i have the best solder station of the
world ,and the cheapest, he he he, do not laugh,
TRY IT.
It is a makeshift construction, and no more permanent
than the temporary one. can be improved and made perfect.
im using this for the last 5 months , and working
better than ever, the little pcb doing nothing now.
it has to be improved to.
The BIG (little) secret is the cheap chinese tips are
made inside with iron , so the induction is working
perfect.

[Xtrem]

[Xtrem]

[Xtrem]

Same history, im also was using Weller magnastat
for over 30 years,from 1984, before i was using the 220 volt,
one 25w and one 40w, at the crisis in Greece ,i have
problem with the tips. then i bought also, this cheap
Chinese soldering iron (hakko style)and i found out that it
is garbage for me. ...EXCEPT ONE POINT , the soldering tips.
they are better than original old Weller, the last years
im cut these chinese tips with Dremmel , and the magnastat tips
and make a cheap (not bad) solution for the Weller
iron. WEller is using this solution to.

[ivconic]

I was using Weller Magnastat WTCP-S for over the 20 years.
With original heather. Only changed peaks from time to time.
And finally heather died last year.
Trust me; as a part of me died as well.
Nothing was the same after that.
Even my attitude towards Electronics changed.
Why?
In local shops (wider in region, not only in my country); you can not find such quality heaters.
They are expensive (40-70e) and yet very low quality. Can die randomly within few months.
It's not problem to pay 70e, but i want it to last at least year or two.
Some colleagues did that, changed heater, and it dies usually after few months, sometimes earlier.
Also there is complete handle brand new with cable. 130e price.
Some of the colleagues also did that, bought complete new handle. It is not the same as the genuine one, they say.
Also it can die randomly in short period.
Either those are not genuine... either they don't make it good as in the past.
All my colleagues that i know are using Weller equipment. So i collected experiences during the years.
Therefore i didn't even try to fix it and replace the heater. I dismantled it to see what's inside and scraped it.
Than i bought cheap Baku 936D. Poor design at handle, poor design at attaching the peaks.
Most of all; poor peak quality. They simply taking a part after few hours of soldering.
So my "emotional" life towards Electronics went down rapidly.
I started to hate each moment spent on the bench soldering some stuff.
Worst thing that can happen to "radioactive" mad enthusiast as i am.

[keith777]

It's also most likely that the fuse has weakened with age.

hopefully this was just the case.....

[Qiaozhi]

I read some years ago that turning off the primary power to a transformer when the sine wave is at the peak of one polarity, and then turning it on at the peak of the opposite polarity will result in a current surge that will pop a properly rated primary fuse. That would be a possible, but rather rare event.

It's also most likely that the fuse has weakened with age.

[rickb]

I read some years ago that turning off the primary power to a transformer when the sine wave is at the peak of one polarity, and then turning it on at the peak of the opposite polarity will result in a current surge that will pop a properly rated primary fuse. That would be a possible, but rather rare event.

[Qiaozhi]

sorry for late reply.
i managed to find 11 of them small glass fuses. the smallest amp one that i could find was a 1amp. well i thought what the heck and tried the soldering iron out with it anyways. Woo Hoo it's a live. i have left the soldering iron switch on for awhile and it seems to be fine.

[Andi68]

[keith777]

sorry for late reply.
i managed to find 11 of them small glass fuses. the smallest amp one that i could find was a 1amp. well i thought what the heck and tried the soldering iron out with it anyways. Woo Hoo it's a live. i have left the soldering iron switch on for awhile and it seems to be fine.

[rickb]

It almost certainly popped for a reason. Look for a short circuit before replacing the fuse (or buy a bag of 100). The transformer primary resistance should be in the range of roughly 20 to 100 ohms. The secondary will be much lower. Beware, sometimes there is a thermal fuse inside the transformer.

[keith777]

i have just located the fuse socket at the back of the unit. just under wear the cable plugs in and it is blown. the fuse is a 250V 500MA
i will have a look to see if i have one laying about later tomorrow and test it out again........

[Polymer]

Possibly, but I think keith777 is located in the UK, and we have mains plugs with built-in fuses. If I read post #3 correctly, it was the fuse in the plug that he tested, not the one located in the mains socket. If he's not in the UK, then I've got that wrong.

I also thought that he checked the fuse inside the plug that goes into the mains socket in the wall. The UK and many other former Commonwealth countries have this feature.

[Carl-NC]

Oh, I didn't realize that. Yes, the IEC connector also has a fuse.

Edit: As Polymer says, it's a 1/2A slow-blow type.