Doesn’t work real well for me.
Is anyone else using this device?
I hope there is a learning curve I can master.
Soldering with AA batteries has got to cost a lot of money.
Couldn’t tell you. I use a Weller at 775 degrees F, and it works great.
Those cold heat units are resistance units, meaning an arc generates the heat to melt the solder. Never used the cordless, but I did use a friend’s Hotip base unit once to fix a brass model.
Resistance units in general are used for things like jewelry and model making because the heat is localized; it won’t spread and soften other joints. Don’t ever use one for electronic projects because they’ll blow ICS just as fast as a static discharge.
My guess is that they eat AAs like candy, but like I said, I’ve never used a cordless. YMMV.
I depend on Dansdata for my reviews. Thus:
His coumn
A follow-up.
I just read a review in Cycle World that pretty much said it was worthless and didn’t work at all. The reviewer tried 2 units to make sure he didn’t get a dud and the second worked no better.
I gave mine to the Goodwill. It was a POS.
I won’t buy one. It annoys me that the commercial shows a guy so stupid that he yanks on a power cord instead of moving his soldering iron to another outlet, getting an extension lead, or simply moving his work closer to the plug. ‘Arrrrreeeee-roooo! I pull, but co’d not making longah!’ :rolleyes:
I bought one for my dad for Christmas, as he does a fair amount of soldering in his line of work, and he’ll soon be doing some field installations. He loved the idea of it, but like everyone else, discovered that it’s junk. Ah, well. Back to Costco.
I work in the Hardware/Tools department of a major home improvement chain, and on the weekends, we do tool demos. We’ve tried to demo the Cold Heat tool twice, and we haven’t been able to use it successfully on either occasion. It’s designed for small soldering projects (18 gauge and smaller wire), but the split-point tip it uses makes doing fine work very difficult. Since it’s resistance based, both sides of the split point need to touch the work area in order to complete a circuit and heat up the iron.
We tried to demonstrate how to wire up a doorbell, and we had a hell of a time getting the solder to flow at all, despite multiple people attempting to use the tool. On the second occasion we tried to do a demo, we had a little more success, but I still think it’s a piece of junk and not worth buying. Once we finally got the solder to flow onto the work area, it was still creating connections so weak that even a gentle tug would pull the wire off of the contacts. When people come in looking for this thing, I tell them about the problems we’ve had, and advise them to stick with an electric soldering iron. Looking at other posts in the thread, it seems to be a consensus that this thing is a piece of junk.
Thanks guys
I was going to buy one of those things.
I’ve used cordless soldering irons with good results. This one looks like a good one and would be really handy but apparently it looks better than it is.
I guess I’ll dig up my cordless that uses butane lighter fluid.
I sure like the way the cold heat cools quickly, though.
I agree with the others.
Complete, utter POS.
It can melt the low-temp solder, but nothing else. It can’t even get things hot enough to wick properly: you’d be better off trying to join things by duct tape.
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