Weller WD1002 95w/120v Digital Soldering Station with WP80 Pencil

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Price: $333.99 $327.70   

Product Feature

• Modern LCD technology gives the user critical information at a glance
• 3 programmable temperature preset buttons allowing quick and easy temperature changes
• Programmable features such as temperature standby, lockout, set-back, and offset
• °F/°C switching which allows the unit to either read temperatures in °F or °C
• Comes with WP80 (80w) soldering pencil and stand (WDH10)

Product Description

Weller wd1002 [PRICE is per EACH]

Weller WD1002 95w/120v Digital Soldering Station with WP80 Pencil Review

I have an electronics repair bench in my home shop, and for at least 30 years had an old Weller WTCPN-TC202 soldering station on it. I picked this model because it is what I has used for years previously at work, and I knew it to be high quality, reliable, and that parts would probably always be available (and still are today). Finally the handle broke, and then I has having trouble doing some RoHS circuit board repairs because the iron was not getting hot enough and/or did not have enough power at 60 Watts. I checked and found that the tip was a PTK-7, which is supposed to be 700 degrees F. Since most RoHS solders melt at around 400 degrees F, I figured that the magnetically activated tip, or the heating element, or something else was just 'tired', or the station was not powerful enough. Time for a new toy!

I was overwhelmed by the number of soldering stations out there, so I finally called the Apex Tool Group, the USA master of the Weller brand. I still don't know if Apex owns Weller, or if they just act as USA manufacturer representatives and distribution. It also seems that Weller is now a German company, or at least has some products coming from a German division. I always thought that Weller was an American brand, but I have not researched to find out the whole Weller story. Anyway, the technical sales department at Apex and I discussed what I already had, what I would be using it for, etc; and their recommendation was the model WD1002, which after some additional research I bought from Amazon. Note that the WD1002 is made in Germany.

The WD1002 is actually a combination of Weller items, including the WD1 control unit, the WP80 soldering iron (soldering pencil) itself, and the so-called 'safety holder' for the iron, model WDH10, and a LTB soldering tip.

The pencil (aka the 'tool') is an 85 Watt unit, and the temperature range is 150� F to 850� F. The soldering pencil is sleek and nice looking, with a solid yet lightweight design. It is much slimmer than the older Weller irons, for a more comfortable grip. The front barrel unscrews for access to the replaceable tip, and the 60" cord attaches to the front of the control unit with a quarter-turn twist-lock connector. Unlike my older iron, where power was modulated on and off by a switch operated by the heat-dependent magnetism of the PTK series tip, the tip for the new iron is not the temperature control device. Instead there is a temperature sensor in the iron right behind the tip, so the controller can directly measure the actual tip temperature. The pencil comes with the LTB tip which is a chisel shaped one of about 1/3" length and tip width of 3/32" (0.094"). The 'LT' series of tips includes many different variations, of which the LTA (same as LTB but with 1/16" wide tip) and LTC (1/8" wide) are probably common choices for electronics work.

The control unit consists of the large transformer, a solid-state temperature controller circuit board, and the front panel circuit board with its microprocessor, LCD display, and selection pushbuttons. It plugs into 120VAC power through a heavy power cord via an IEC type plug at the rear of the controller (just like the plug on the back of your desktop computer, etc). The IEC plug also houses the fuse. The Weller literature lists the controller as operating on either 100V - 50/60Hz, 120VAC - 60 Hz or 230VAC - 50/60Hz. However, the nameplate on the bottom of my WD1 controller says 120VAC - 60Hz, so apparently there are different versions of the WD1 controller for different regions, and I don't see anywhere that the part number changes to reflect which version you are getting. Looking at the American Weller website, the WD1002 is listed as being powered from 120V only, so perhaps there is a different model number for the kit if it includes a different voltage version of the WD1 controller.

The controller has a 3.5mm pawl socket on the bottom for connecting a ground (aka 'Equipotential bonding') wire. "3.5mm pawl" is the European, or at least German, term for what we here in the States would call an 1/8" phone plug, of the general size and type common to portable music headphone plugs. I plugged in my headphones to test the fit (it would have been great if some music came out!) The choice of this connector type would initially suggest that you can rig up your own ground potential wire using an 1/8" phone plug from Radio Shack, but if you do this you'll have to leave off the plug housing and trim the metal connection tabs, because there is not enough depth to the recessed socket on the bottom of the controller. The Weller manual has a short section on different ways to ground the soldering tip:

- Hard earth/grounded: this is the way the unit comes by default, with nothing plugged into the 3.5mm jack, and the power cord plugged into a properly grounded wall socket. In other words, in this configuration the soldering tip is grounded to your building's ground.
- Equipotential bonding: when you plug an 1/8" (3.5mm) phone plug into the bottom jack, the power cord's ground wire is disconnected from the soldering tip, and you run a wire from the ground pin of that 1/8" plug to the ground potential of your choice, usually the ground of the circuit you are working on. In other words, the ground wire you rig up is connected to the soldering tip, but the earth ground in your building is not.
- Floating: plug the 1/8" plug into the bottom jack but don't connect a grounding/bonding wire to it. Now the soldering tip is not electrically connected to anything.
- Soft earth/grounded: you do the same thing as with the Equipotential bonding described above, but you wire a selected resistor in series between the plug's ground pin and the equipment ground. The manual suggests a 1M resistor. This will bleed off charges but at a slower rate, and allows some potential to remain.

At any rate, the manual does a poor job of describing all of this, and the pictures are pretty much worthless. I figured it out through experimentation.

Note that there is a version of this WD1 controller, the WD1M, which has a USB plug on the back to allow some sort of communication with the controller's microprocessor. This is for updating the microprocessor firmware and for remote controlling and harvesting statistics. Some online information I have seen confuses the WD1 and the WD1M, or does not distinguish between them, so I am confirming that the WD1 included with the WD1002 does NOT have the USB connector.

The controller has a large LCD display that shows the following:
- large 'actual measured temperature' display in either degrees C or F
- three small 'temperature setpoint' displays for the three temperature presets
- 6 position status/option display area, used mostly for navigating the option menus
- a few more indicators to show that the large display is temporarily showing time instead of temperature, that the soldering tip has reached the preset temperature, that the controls are locked, and whether the displays are in degrees C or F

The controller has six controls:
- power on/off rocker switch
- UP button (for temperature changes and navigating some parts of the menu)
- DOWN button (for temperature changes and navigating some parts of the menu)
- 'I' button, for selecting temperature preset 1 or navigating the menu
- 'II' button, for selecting temperature preset 2 or navigating the menu
- 'III' button, for selecting temperature preset 3 or navigating the menu

These pushbuttons have a nice solid feel with a good tactile feedback click. Basic operation of easy enough; you either use the three factory presets or modify them to the three temperatures you desire, then use the I, II, II buttons to select from those presets. You can raise or lower the current temperature using the UP and DOWN buttons. The controller quickly changes the tip temperature to match the preset or other temperature setting. Without looking closely at the display, as long as you see the spark symbol icon on the display flashing, you know that the tip is at the desired temperature.

Beyond the basic operation, you really need the manual for the more advanced options, and you will have to read and re-read and re-re-read the manual because it it not written very well, or at least the English translation from the original German leaves a lot to be desired. Luckily, there is a good chance that you will never need to use the advanced options. Some of the options include:

- Standby/Setback: after the tool has remained unused for a time that you specify, the temperature will be lowered to a standby temperature of your choice.
- Automatic switch-off: controller turns off the tool if not used for a time that you specify. The manual seems to not describe how this works without using the power switch, or how to turn power back on. I have not played with this to find out.
- Temperature offset: This is not adequately described in the manual.
- Change between degrees C and F
- Change between locking and unlocking the controller
- Recalibrating the controller
- Resetting to factory defaults

The controller is comprised of two halves, with the bottom half being a heavy metal casting with black painted matte finish, and the top being a "Weller blue" plastic shell.

The WDH10 tool holder is a separate item that is not part of the controller, and which cannot be attached to the controller. It can sit next to the controller on your table, or be placed elsewhere within range of the tool's cord. It is made of metal, and is fairly heavy for stability. At the top of the holder is a pivoting 'funnel insert' where you stick the soldering tool when not in use. It has a slight funnel shape to help guide the tool into it, and this piece is made from some kind of temperature resistant plastic, probably Bakelite or similar. The funnel insert pivots to four different angles with a detent at each angle. Below the funnel insert is another high temperature plastic piece that acts to secure the wad of brass wool used for cleaning the soldering tip (this is in place of the small sponge used on older soldering irons). The wad of brass wool and its plastic cover are held in place with an elastic rubber piece, apparently this is just an O-ring pulled into an oblong shape. The entire tool holder is an attractive and solidly made assembly. Note that if you remove the elastic rubber O-ring and the wad of brass wool and its plastic cover, what remains below it is a tray where you can put a traditional sponge for wiping the soldering tip.

I rate the WD1002 high for features and quality, but can't give it 5 stars on account of the rather poor manual, less than user friendly display options, and awkwardness of location of the 3.5mm bonding socket (it should probably have been on the back instead of the bottom).

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