Aixun T3A T245 hand piece connector replacement - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: agarg
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2022, 10:15:46 pm
content: Hi All,I just received an Aixun T3A and I noticed that the T245 hand piece connector is not making good contact with the base GX12-5 connector. The station will report either an insane temperature or no hand piece detected whenever I move the wire.I disassembled the T3A and the front panel PCB is 1.2V. Solder on the connector looks really good, better condition than some of the other posts on this forum. So I suspect the female end of the hand piece has intermittent contact with some of the pins. I used a tweezer to bend them a little to help for now.It looks like the plug is GX12-5. I cannot figure out what the equivalent part is from a quality place like TE Connectivity. Can anyone recommend a quality replacement for the hand piece's connector? I can only find low quality stuff on Amazon.Thank you!

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2022, 11:45:16 pm
content: Just buy it from a somewhat reputable seller, they are basically all of similar quality.This is probably the same as the ones on amazon:https://abra-electronics.com/interconnects/connectors/aviation-connectors/gx12-5-pin-12mm-male-and-female-connector-kit.htmlYou could replace both connectors if you want to switch to something of high quality. But considering the connector is plugged in once and basically never removed, I think it will serve its purpose.Can you dissemble the female connector and look at the solder joints on that side?

author: agarg
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2022, 12:13:08 am
content: Thank you for the link. Also, I will respond to your other post once I am in the office (regarding solder tip temperature on the metcal).Yes, I disassembled the connector, pulled back the heat shrink sleeve and didn't see anything wrong.The female pins in the socket seem to be the culprit. I think when I was soldering, my arm rested on the plug for a second and slightly bent it. That must have caused the female pins to open up. I tried to use a fine tweezer tip to bend the socket pins in a little to help with contact. That seems to have helped.

author: GnomeZA
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2022, 12:12:19 pm
content: I don't want to hijack but this seems relevant. Anyone able to give a picture of the connector internally? I desoldered mine after getting up early in the morning and stupidly didn't take a picture of the wire orderEDIT: No worries I was able to figure it out. For future reference, the front of the handle where the c245 cartridge enters is connected to earth (and used as ground wire). So probe until you find that wire. Additionally the Aixun has a sense wire to determine which handle is being used which is also connected to this earth terminal using jumper wire. Thereafter you have a power and temp sensor wire (or whatever the thermo couple is called). I had them connected up the wrong way which manifests as the iron stuck on your ambient and flicking the temp (but not heating). Swapped them around and it worked without a hitch.

author: agarg
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2022, 03:31:45 am
content: I just saw this. I would have taken apart my connector and posted pictures if needed. Let me know. Would be good to document if it isn't already.

author: GnomeZA
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2022, 01:05:37 am
content: Quote from: agarg on March 12, 2022, 03:31:45 amThank youSeriously I appreciate that. Maybe do take a pic for the record if you have some time. Someone else might need it. What is interesting is, the wire colours they use on the Aixun handle is the same wire colours as the JBC. But in my case the wiring order was definitely different. On the JBC the green wire is earth/ground, red is v+ and blue was the thermocouple. And although I lost track of what the original Aixun ordering was, I'm pretty sure their colours were indeed different.

author: agarg
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 15, 2022, 01:50:31 am
content: Okay, so I finally received a set of replacement connectors off Amazon. They are tighter than the present handle connector. I keep losing connection with the iron while I'm using it if theres any movement between the wire and base. So I replaced the connector. Looking forward to using it with the new connector.Here was the pin out before I removed the original connector:Gx12-51) no connection2) red3) green bridged with 44) green bridged to 35) blueThe quality of solder is shown in the image below (before I replaced it. I used a flush cutter to break the plastic between pins 3 and 4 to bridge it same as original.