Cold Heat Soldering Iron review.

[crazygamelover]

Previously we had a thread about a new soldering iron called ColdHeat. It was suppose to come with a standard tip and a smaller tip for percision soldering. It was advertized to be able to go from cold to hot in seconds and then cool down almost imediately. This soldering iron is no good for ps2 boards. First off it has a split tip that doesnt make connection until both sides make a connection. It does work when the connection is made however, it could do more damage than good for small circuitry.
Once the connection is made it arcs like a weld and heats the soldering points up. Some times the arc just sparks sending a surge to the points. I am not the solderin' master so I have asked Spedmetal to assist me in this review. I bought 2 of them and sent him one to test. He is our top mod installer here in the US and he will agree that it is not safe to use. If anyone has purchased one for the purpose of modding a ps2, please consider this post a warning as it could damage your console. For those who remember the previous thread back in 8/04, I appologize for not bringing you this info sooner. Most who know me here, know how busy I have been and it has really been keeping me pretty occupied. I'm sure Spedmetal will be adding his input on this thread soon. He can give you more details on why it should not be used. This thread could be moved to the ps2 forum if any of you mods deem it appropriate. I recommend sticking to the already tested and proven products.

[Neipas02]

Hey CGL good job on the review. I was wondering about it myself. Other than the PS2 drawback, does the iron work like it was advertised? (Super hot in a second and cold to the touch just as quickly)? The barrier does pretty much kill most main uses for the iron though. That's a shame..

Anyway good job on following up.

[crazygamelover]

Originally Posted by Neipas02

Hey CGL good job on the review. I was wondering about it myself. Other than the PS2 drawback, does the iron work like it was advertised? (Super hot in a second and cold to the touch just as quickly)? The barrier does pretty much kill most main uses for the iron though. That's a shame..

Anyway good job on following up.

Yes it does heat up and cool quickly only because once it makes contact it cause the arc just like welding does. When the connection is broken and turned off, it has no heat at all. (note: Gutzy move to grab it though but I had to try it.) It would be the same as hooking up jumper cables to a car battery and when touched <spark> and so it is with the iron. The spark is why I do not recommend it. It can send a surge thru one of those little diodes or resisters, and cause severe damage to the point that it could render the console dead. I think the more proven and tested products are much safer and recommended for tiny circuitry. btw thanks Neipas02.

[Grumpy]

@CGL
I too would have to say top review. It will certainly save a few people a few bucks. I had considered buying one myself, not that I mod consoles or anything but you never know when a small compact soldering iron will come in handy. Again well done and thanks for the dollars saved.

[spedmetal]

I first want to thank CGL for offering up his hard earned money to purchase this product for the sack of this forum and offering the info learned from it to us all. Also for sending a sample to us for testing.

Upon my opening the box my first evaluations of this iron were visual. The iron is kind of bulky in size when I compare it to the irons I like to use which are very small and much like holding a pen or pensile. The cold heat iron is nothing like a pensile. But then again this iron wasn't necessarily made for precision soldering work. Upon further visual examination I noticed it had a little switch to turn it on with. I wondered from day one when I say this thing on TV what they where using to power it with, so I then opened the thing up and to my surprise found that it gets its power from 4 AA batteries. The batteries are what make this thing so bulky because I'm sure you all know what I did next.... that’s right I ripped the guts out of the damn thing to see what made it tick!

There is nothing to this thing, other then a few wires a switch and 2 LED's and one very small PCB with one IC chip on it and its all plastic housing for the batteries. This thing is dependent upon the current that the batteries drain between the two tips of the iron. That’s right I said two tips, like CGL has already stated this thing simply has a split tip and when the two are electrical joined current starts to flow through the two tips and what ever is making them join.

This would like CGL said be very unsafe for any precision electrons work such as doing mod installs or anything involving IC circuitry of any kind. But like I said I doubt that’s what this thing was really made for.

So I put it all back together and gave it a test drive. I put in the batteries and flipped on the switch..... Wow it’s got a light so you can see what you’re doing...cool. I then looked at the tip a little closer and noticed that it was all black! My first thought was CGL was using it to smoke his crack again....errr no just kidding.... my first thought was CGL had used it already and it was simply dirty like a well used iron gets over time. No I was wrong the irons tip isn't made of metal like a normal irons tip would be. From the best I can tell it’s a carbon material (graphite). The tips are kind of soft and I would imagine if used too roughly or dropped they would brake very easily.

Ok so here I went for the first run. I cut two pieces of 22AWG stranded wire and butted them together, I then touched the irons tip to the joint..... Ooohhh that’s what the other LED is for! When there is an electrical contact made the LED on top lights red to let you know it’s ready for soldering. I assuming this is what the small PCB with the IC is for.... turning on the red LED.

The wire heated very quickly and when I put the solder on it soldered quit well in fact. I took the iron off and touched it and it was still worm but could be touched with out harm.

One other thing I would like to point out is that this iron is not ESD safe and was never meant to be used with precision electronics. ESD safe...LOL the damn thing is designed to emit electricity through its tip! I also like my iron hot and at the ready and like a tip that can actually be tinned. Carbon won’t tin.

Anyway, all in all this would make a great little iron to have around for the one or two wires that might need to be soldered here and there over a year. But if you plan on doing a lot of soldering this is not the iron for you.

If you are in the need of a portable soldering iron like this one and plan on doing a lot of soldering I would recommend a butane iron over this one. But if you want something for the kid to learn with or the wife to not burn the house down with this is the toy for you!

Thanks CGL... you da man!

Ok officially my longest post ever!

[Grumpy]

@Spedmetal
Thanks, nice work.

[crazygamelover]

Thanks Spedmetal for the help with this review and I hope this warns off anyone looking to mod with it. Be it ps2 or any other precision soldering. While it does exactly what the comercial said, it is not recommended, nor safe for consoles, or circuit boards of any kind.
Speaker wires, uh? OK. LOL
Thats about it.


This message was brought to you by the CrAZy OnES.

[AXmichigan]

haha woah
ive been here for a while
and never have i heard crazygamelover be referred to as cgl
its always craaaaaazy
either that or i must be loosin it

[spedmetal]

Originally Posted by AXmichigan

and never have i heard crazygamelover be referred to as cgl

Been calling him that for some time now as well as others, I would say yes your loosing it AX

[TylerDurden]

Originally Posted by spedmetal

I would say yes your loosing it AX

Just call him Michigan, he likes that.

and call me Big Tymer
i like that as well



Tyler!

[Neipas02]

You guys crack me up.. *Waits on the big warlock to close this thread*

[spedmetal]

Hi I'm Ax
I cant type
more then 3
words with out
hitting the enter
key on my
computer key board.
why I do
no one knows,
it has become
my signature almost.
I like it
cuz it makes
the short witty
things I say
look more involved
then they are.
I also like
mix up my
words and spell
them different, like
I spell time
like this tyme


Just kidding AX
but you know
its true

[Luciel]

mean... *taps ax in the head* dont worry mate, ull get over it :P

[Grumpy]

C'mon you craaaaaaaazy Mods, you are ruining cgl's and Sped's excellent review thread! If I was a Big Tymer I would hop of the LooSeal, throw a sPAS and take to it with an Ax! Now that would make you all Grumpy!

[AXmichigan]

i was about to say man
im like.. woah
talk about the hostility

hello my name is spedmetal. no not speedmetal, but sped. that's right. i mispelled speed from the start and have coincidentally screwed myself so that i can no longer change it. i feel ashamed, but i hope that nobody realizes it or anything.
just kidding speeeeeeeeeeedy, but u noe its true

haha grumpy's not too grumpy afterall