Cordless soldering iron

Run butane model is ok,battery model won't get hot,it is junk.
I had 2 ,they worked great,I can not find them after move my workshop a few times.
 
DO NOT... I repeat... DO NOT use the portable "Cold Heat" irons on your games.

Butane irons are good, but watch out that you don't melt something you don't want to or that you don't set the cab on fire.

The butane irons have an additional plus in that they are great for heat shrink tubing.
 
Lowe's actually sells a 3 aa battery powered soldering iron. Says it heats up in 15 seconds, and will do 120 joints.... Not sure how many watts it is, but i don't really think i'd trust it personally.

I have one of these -
http://www.lowes.com/pd_246066-717-...RL=/pl__0__s?newSearch=true$Ntt=micro torch
and it has a soldering tip with it. Works fine, but it gets really hot.
Not sure why your needing a cordless iron, but Harbor freight sells a 45ish watt 12v soldering iron that i use a good deal working on electric model airplane stuff while i'm flying and away from power. I have one of those "jump start" units that powers it nicely (as well as my r/c field box).
 
I just hate cords on tools and was looking to upgrade my cheap-o $5 soldering iron. That Portasol looks good.. Good reviews on Amazon...
 
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Some tools just /need/ a cord to get enough power. IMO, soldering iron is one of those. Cordless might be good for some occasions, but for using it a lot, a corded type is necessary.

And get rid of the $5.00 unit and get a decent iron. It's like night and day.
 
I'll add my vote for the Wahl ISOTIP - They're inexpensive, I had a couple where the batteries eventually went bad, but you can always replace them, and the heat up and work very well for basic soldering stuff when you don't want to wait for an iron to heat up.

Plus my Weller WTCP iron gets fully hot in just under a minute so thats not an issue there either.
 
I've had a portosol for years and it is incredible. I've done small board repairs to some heavy wire splices with it. Temp control is hard. I stopped using it on boards as it tends to get a bit too hot.
 
I've had several of the Portasol P1C over the years & totally love them. I believe they're discontinued now & they sell the P2C. I've never tried the new one but I expect it is just as good. Last one I bought though is the Wahl Solder Pro 120. Larger than the Portasol, lasts much longer between fills, gets hotter faster (not that that's a problem) & the tips seem to last longer. Think I used to pay around $35 for the Weller & around $60 for the Wahl. Also, remember to keep a spare can of butane. If you run out during a job you're screwed.
 
I'll add my vote for the Wahl ISOTIP - They're inexpensive, I had a couple where the batteries eventually went bad, but you can always replace them, and the heat up and work very well for basic soldering stuff when you don't want to wait for an iron to heat up.

Plus my Weller WTCP iron gets fully hot in just under a minute so thats not an issue there either.

I have one of these too, and it has worked fairly well on the few rare occasions that I've used it. It takes two C-size cells. I bought a couple high-capacity Ni-MH batteries for it, and it lasts quite a long time when they're charged up (not that you'd want to do a lot of work with a cordless anyway). My problem is that the rechargeable cells self-discharge to a useless level in about a month, so the thing is never charged up when I want to use it.... I think they have Eneloop (aka "pre-charged") C cells now, so that might be a good choice.
 
From what I understand - they suck. I've also seen the tips get trashed very easily on them. Even a cheapo radio shack soldering iron is better.
 
From what I understand - they suck. I've also seen the tips get trashed very easily on them. Even a cheapo radio shack soldering iron is better.

I should have a cold heat iron here somewhere. One thing I noticed was that the tips on them are pretty large. They work by nearly shorting the battery across a very small resistance in the tip, that's how they heat so fast, but the way they did it makes the tip fragile and big.

Is there anything else about them that makes them bad for games? I just thought they were too damn big for any board work.
 
The arcing across the tip is not good for solid state components, especially static sensitive ones like integrated circuits.
 
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