battery powered soldering irons

[huffmuds9320]

I want to buy a soldering iron for general use such as repairing electronics. I saw at Home Depot they have battery powered ones which seems nice because its more portable and uses 4AA batteries. How do the battery powered soldering irons compare to the plug in kind? Also does the wattage really matter considering I'm not doing heavy duty work. Any suggestions, Thanks.

 

[Colt45ws]

You can use them for wiring in non-sensitive circuits. But it will kill any sensitive electronics because it is basically an arc welder.

 

[saberz]

I don't think they would last that long(battery life). I went and purchased a plug-in type a few days ago to fix my Pontiac keyfob and it was easy peasy. I just like plug in tools(cept cordless drills, they've improved ALOT since they first came out). I still remember my cordless dremel and how much it sucked as it would die rather quickly.

 

[JustinH]

I was excited to buy one of those Cold Soldering irons a few years back, it came in a special case and all.

The thing never worked right, it isn't even close to the 2 dollar harbor freight plug in iron.

I could never get the cold one to work properly, or successfully solder one wire together.

 

[Seguino]

Originally Posted By: JustinH
I was excited to buy one of those Cold Soldering irons a few years back, it came in a special case and all.

The thing never worked right, it isn't even close to the 2 dollar harbor freight plug in iron.

I could never get the cold one to work properly, or successfully solder one wire together.
My experience exactly. Like Colton said, it's a 6 volt arc welder, not a real soldering iron.

 

[djb]

Originally Posted By: JustinH

The thing never worked right, it isn't even close to the 2 dollar harbor freight plug in iron.


H-F has a $2 soldering iron? I haven't seen it. I occasionally see dollar store irons, and have even bought one for a one-off fix.

Batteries are a fundamental limitation for portable irons. No technology can get more heat from the same available power.

I have a Radio Shack battery soldering iron. It works OK for very light work -- quickly soldering a light-weight wire back to a circuit board. But four AA batteries just can't put out enough power to do more. You might be able to very briefly pull 9 watts out of new ones, while even the lowest power plug-in irons are 25 watts and take a minute or two of drawing that power to get to get hot enough.

My butane powered soldering irons work better, but do have a warm-up cycle and always seem to be out of gas when I need them.

 

[EricF]

I like my Portasol.. butane always leaks out tho..

 

[USA1]

I once found a 12v plug in style soldering iron for automotive use. Works great for doing stereo and speaker installs, although a touch slow in getting the heat going. I have no idea if that one is an arc welder though.

 

[huffmuds9320]

Thanks for the input everyone.

I ended up just getting a 25watt plug in soldering iron from Home Depot, it works great.

Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
You can use them for wiring in non-sensitive circuits. But it will kill any sensitive electronics because it is basically an arc welder.


Thats good to know, I don't risk damaging sensitive electronics. I remember seeing one of those tv commercials that advertise the cold soldering iron. They demonstrated that it heats up quickly when soldering and then instantly cools when not in use. It is probably an arc welder type thing.