240v to 220v maybe?

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confounded

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Hi, i've ordered a soldering station that is 220V, while i'm sure it will work on UK mains 240V i'm worried that it could fail prematurely.
Should i be worried?
If i should be worried is it better to build a homemade 220V regulator or buy one?
 
All of the EU is officially 230V, and has been for years - so presumably it's a non-European device?.

As long as it's temperature controlled, it shouldn't make much difference - most 220V stuff back in the past used to work fine on 240V.

If you're really concerned, then buy an auto-transformer with a 220V tap - you may already have an old mains transformer with the primary tapped at 220 and 240 - you can use that as an auto-transformer.
 
I'd say +/- 10% or so would be safe from the nominal voltage on most devices. The only thing I would be slightly wary of is 'stupid' loads like incandescent bulbs where the extra starting current might severely shorten the life of the bulbs.
 
It'll be fine, the nominal mains voltage here in the UK is 230V which is under 10% over.

Where is the iron from?

If it's eastern Europe you can be certain it'll be fine (as long as it's good quality of course), the voltage regulation there is almost non existent, at a guess, it can vary from 180V to 260V.
 
Hero999 said:
It'll be fine, the nominal mains voltage here in the UK is 230V which is under 10% over.
Click to expand...

It's 'officially' 230V, in actual fact it's 240V just as it's always been, but 240V is within the permitted tolerance of the 230V it's supposed to be.

Likewise, the rest of the EU is 'officially' 230V, but is really 220V just as it always was, but withijn tolerence of 230.

The 230V unification was just a paperwork change, and manufacturers have to supply equipment that will work perfectly on 230V +/- whatever percent, but includes both 220 and 240.
 
10% would be 207-250 volts. Things with switch mode power supplies like PC's actually have quiet a bit more tolerance than that, though I wouldn't push it too much.
 
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Sceadwian said:
10% would be 207-250 volts. Things with switch mode power supplies like PC's actually have quiet a bit more tolerance than that, though I wouldn't push it too much.
Click to expand...

The old Ferguson 9000 series (Cyclops) TV worked from something like 90V to 280V, pretty impressive.

The Cyclops name came from the fact that it used a single transistor as both SMPSU and line output, at the same time.
 
Same over here too! Officially we have 120/240 volt systems. Realistically if your like me and live right off of a primary feed from a rural substation I have 128/256 most days!

If you however live in town in the older part of the residential areas like a buddy of mine, he usually has between 114/228 and 121/242. Depending upon the time of day.

Just for fun comparison, figure that a 100 watt incandescent bulb runs on 120 volts. That means the filament has a resistance of 144 ohms.

At my house the 100 watt bulb is actually using 113.75 watts!
At my buddies house his 100 watt bulb only uses 90.25 watts.
 
You may want to use a series dropping resistor for longer iron life. 20v drop for a 50w iron is 90 ohms at 6w, min. There may be an incand. lamp that will do it.
 
It's from china

Lead Free Repairing System...

http://www.allendale-stores.co.uk/pcb/manuals/aoyue_int2702.pdf

I first wanted a reasonably high wattage soldering iron (1st ive ever bought) but after calcullating what a desolder gun and hot air gun would all cost on their own this seemed like a good deal.
I'm a little worried by it being a low cost brand and a multipurpose unit but hopefully they have done a good job immitating more established brands

thanks for your help guys
 
I use the low tech system for desoldering and doing IC replacment! I still have not found a rework and desoldering system that can beat it!
Its just a 150 watt buzz gun and a can of canned air!

 
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Willbe said:
You may want to use a series dropping resistor for longer iron life. 20v drop for a 50w iron is 90 ohms at 6w, min. There may be an incand. lamp that will do it.
Click to expand...

Can someone explain to me how 90ohms at 6w is calcullated i'm not sure how you would work this out.
 
That's not true, the resistance of the filament increases as it gets hotter so the power dissipation will be less than 113.75W.
 
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