Temp of watts on Soldering Irons
 

Anybody know approximately what the temps are for the different watts of soldering irons?
I'm getting a station that has variable temperature range from 350º to 840º F (200º to 450º C)
I was just wondering what a 60 watt standard iron puts out temp wise.
I don't want to set it at 840 and have it blow things up!:lol:
Thanks.

I once tried temping my 60w before , however my exergen maxes out at ~500F :lol:

i always thought that watt had nothing to do with how hot the iron gets...just how quickly it gets upto temp.

:confused:

Well then I'm confused too.:confused:
So then why do they say to not get anything below 40 watts because it will not get hot enough for batteries?

because as a say 100watt iron will heat up much quicker than say a 30watt.

and while you solder batts, the batts take a lot of the heat out of the iron and because it takes longer for the 30w to heat back up you have to keep the iron on for longer.

where as on the 100watt it will heat up quicker when the battery takes away the heat.

i think thats why higher watt irons seem to be hotter because they retain their heat more/heat up quicker while soldering etc.

if that made sense:weird:

that is dead on!!!!! nicely said..

Well Explained.
Now, what is the temp for that?
If they all have the same temp regardless of wattage, what is a good temp for using a variable soldering station?

i don't have a clue about temps....i just use a 25w 12v iron (sounds puny and crap but it don't half put out some heat)

considering your mains socket proabbly puts out an amp or 2...a 12v battery puts out about 80-120 (depends which battery you get)

what are you looking to solder?

if its batteries just make sure you have one big chunky tip...like 5mm or so, the bigger the tip and higher wattage the more heat the iron will retain making it a damn site easier to solder things.

I'm going to be using it for RC.
So batteries, motor and electrics.
However, I want to upgrade to a station. The ones I like have temperature settings. You set it to whatever temp you want. Since all I know is to buy 40-60 watt wands, I have no idea about temp settings.

just crank it up all the way!!!! thats what i do wit my hakko and so far no problems. when i do something that is very delicate i turn it down bout half way. But for batteries and connecting ya motor, all the way will do....

lol, i guess highest temp is fine for general soldering (motors...and when you build batts) as quick soldering has always got to be the best (one tip when soldering motors...take the brushes out of the hoods...excessive heat through the comm can sometimes create a "layer" on the comm which might take a little while to get rubbed off.

you will also find it quicker to solder with the brushes out as the comm/armature won't disapate as much heat.

I've got a 40 watt plug in iron, with a 1/4 inch chisel tip and it doesn't solder batts for beans. I can solder wire to a batt just fine for my saddle packs, but soldering batt bars on it just won't do it. Very well at least.

How well do those 12 volt irons work and where do you get them? If I go with direct solder for offroad I want one of those b/c I refuse to cart around a generator. I'm just a gas guy dabbling in electric..

my 12V iron works very well....at the moment its only got like a 3mm tip (didn't have any bigger ones instock at the time) and it still does batteries with ease.

it is rated at 25w at 12V and you should be able to pick them up from most electrical stores....we got ours from RS components (not sure if you have Rs components over in the US but i'm guessing you will have a similar shop

Cool, thanks.
How quickly do those Hakkos heat up to working temp? I heard they where quick.

when installing batteries, (soldering them in) i use around 700, when building a new battery i turn it all the way up, 850
the hakko, can sit all day at 700-750 and it doesn't bother it.