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A comment on IronOS: Open-source soldering iron firmware. Parent comment

Re:IronOS: Open-source soldering iron firmware by Majromax on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @09:01AM (#36955402)
In particular, for portable soldering irons the whole "plug it in" part is not simple. The small irons that are the target for this software predominantly use batteries, USB-PD, or QC for power. The former needs voltage measurement and cutoff, and the latter have negotiation steps before drawing high power.

This firmware also controls tip temperature with a PID loop, whereas a classic 'dumb' temperature-controlled soldering iron might use a thermostat with on/off control.

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Re:IronOS: Open-source soldering iron firmware by jsheard on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @09:13AM (#36955520)
These "smart" irons also have an automatic shut-off if they're not being used, which is based on an embedded accelerometer, so the firmware needs to be able to filter the noisy IMU data into a reliable on/off signal.
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Re:IronOS: Open-source soldering iron firmware by fanf2 on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @09:09AM (#36955476)
Smart irons also have a configurable target temperature, so they can be adjusted to work better with the particular solder alloy you are using. Their cost is more like a dumb iron, with functionality like an expensive soldering station.
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Re:IronOS: Open-source soldering iron firmware by kevin_nisbet on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @10:12AM (#36956183)
Also, I can understand for some the cable being quite annoying. In electronics class in highschool, a few soldering irons got wrecked by students melting the cable insulation and sparks would fly.
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Re:IronOS: Open-source soldering iron firmware by ilyt on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @12:40PM (#36958474)
> This firmware also controls tip temperature with a PID loop, whereas a classic 'dumb' temperature-controlled soldering iron might use a thermostat with on/off control.

I'd imagine on-off being perfectly fine for thermocouple-and-heater-in-tip, as you have very short feedback loop there

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