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Question about wire gauge in soldering pencil's cable

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  • Question about wire gauge in soldering pencil's cable

    I bought a replacement pencil for my hakko. The cable was very short and i was suspect that it was a counterfeit. So since it was only the plastic handle that was broken on my old one, i put the old guts and cable into the new one's handle. But i still wanted the cable longer because even my original was shorter than i'd like. So since i had this new one o got a DIN plug and took the cable and made about a 2 foot extention for it. I worried the extra cable might make it slower to heat up, but more than that the new cable wires were a smaller gauge. Anyways, with the extention it doesn't just take longer to heat up, it NEVER does. It gets hot, but not nearly enough and won't even melt solder. Even the heating light never goes out showing it's up to temp, and all this happens even if i turn it to the lowest heat setting. Do you think Is this because it cannot work with the extra length or the wire gauge being smaller? I was considering making another extention with heavier gauge wire, but if it's the length and not the gauge i'll pass.

  • #2
    Are you sure ALL the conductors are included in teh extension? I might worry you have the heat sensor wiring wrong.
    Education is what you're left with after you have forgotten what you have learned.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Enzo View Post
      Are you sure ALL the conductors are included in teh extension? I might worry you have the heat sensor wiring wrong.
      Positive. And oriented correctly. In fact, if i had made a mistake i'd have to have made it twice because what i didn't mention in the first post was that i made the extension cable twice. First with the original cable to use with the new pencil, then with the new pencil's cable when i decided to go with the old pencil with the new one's handle. So first i was using the new one with my old one's cable made into an extension. Then i put the old one back together with the new handle and made an extension from the new one's cable. I also tested each cable when i made them for continuity both for orientation and to make sure all contacts were good.

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      • #4
        Does the cable get warm? If your concern about the wire gauge is correct them I would expect the wire to be getting warm.

        Also, it isn't clear from your original post. Did you try the replacement pencil before you began the surgery? Did that one work properly?

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        • #5
          Enzo's mention of heat sensor got me thinking maybe the added resistance (of thinner wire) in series with the senser is messing things up. However, you mentioned the light stays on yet the element is not heating up enough. This is opposite of what I would expect, that if the light stays on the element would get hotter than normal.
          So perhaps something got messed up during dis/reassembly? Or the heating element coincidentally went bad at this time? To me, if the light is on, the element should be heating.
          Might be an idea to wire it back up with the stock cable (no extension) and see if it still works correctly.
          Originally posted by Enzo
          I have a sign in my shop that says, "Never think up reasons not to check something."


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          • #6
            Originally posted by g-one View Post
            Enzo's mention of heat sensor got me thinking maybe the added resistance (of thinner wire) in series with the senser is messing things up. However, you mentioned the light stays on yet the element is not heating up enough. This is opposite of what I would expect, that if the light stays on the element would get hotter than normal.
            So perhaps something got messed up during dis/reassembly? Or the heating element coincidentally went bad at this time? To me, if the light is on, the element should be heating.
            Might be an idea to wire it back up with the stock cable (no extension) and see if it still works correctly.
            Of course i tried w/o extension and it works fine like that. they only didn't work with the extension hooked up. It's just a female plug on one end so i can unplug it and use it w/o the extension in seconds.
            The light stays on BECAUSE it never heats up enough. That light goes out as soon as it reaches the temp it's set too, so that makes sense. But not with the extension because it can never get hot enough to even melt solder. Maybe if i let it sit for 5 minutes, but if it takes that long it wouldn't be any good to me. Soon as you solder to something substantial and the tip cools off you'd always be waiting for it to heat back up forever. This station melts solder in about 20-30 seconds normally.

            Also, it isn't clear from your original post. Did you try the replacement pencil before you began the surgery? Did that one work properly?
            yep, works fine.

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            • #7
              The resistance of a couple feet of extension wire is negligible in that case, you must have a wiring or connector problem.
              Sorry.
              Juan Manuel Fahey

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