A few hours ago I started looking at three "smart" light switches that
need LEDs replaced, and switched on the soldering iron, and ... nope.
It's a Weller WP80 and it seems the sensor in the heating element has
died. I discovered that only after resetting and then dismantling the
control unit to check it out with a DVM, of course.
Clearly I need either a new WP80 element, or a new soldering iron. I
could get a WSP80 for far less than the cost of a new element for the
WP80, but I'd get the element faster. So which, if any, is the better
iron? What would you guys do?
I begrudge paying UKP 92 for a new element. That's the cheapest I could
find -- /half/ the most expensive price -- but just seems ludicrously
extortionate for what amounts to a piece of swaged stainless steel tube
with a short length of resistance wire and an even shorter length of
thermocouple wire inside it. I could buy a whole new solder station
with more bells and whistles, albeit of a "lesser brand", for less.
--
Pete
Pete Turnbull