RTFM idiot! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: AlfBaz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 01:04:04 am
content: Yes I'm referring to myselfSo I ordered a Hako 888D, gave the pamphlet/manual a brief glance and away I went.Not long after I'm thinking to myself, these tips aren't very good, they seem to go off colour, gunk up real quick and are terribly hard to "wet" after a couple of usesThinking that leaving the iron sitting in its holder for a few minutes may be causing an issue I decided to read about the presets so I could dial it down to a low temperature rather than turn it off.At this stage I come across how to calibrate the temperature and realised that's what I was doing. Press and hold enter instead of up arrow. So the display said 350 but I must of "calibrated" it to its max!

author: con-f-use
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 01:09:05 am
content: As Yoda said: Sith happens. A friend of mine published results that were off by two orders of magnitudes. He wrote about how extraordinary his results were.At least you didn't tell your peers about it.... oh wait?!We've all been there.

author: AlfBaz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 01:23:25 am
content: Quote from: con-f-use on April 20, 2014, 01:09:05 amAt least I'm a consistent idiot

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 01:37:48 am
content: 1. You figured out your mistake.2. It's fixable.Learned your lesson, and isn't going to cost a fortune to rectify (maybe a new tip or two, assuming they're past reconditioning). Not that bad of an event all things considered, so don't beat yourself up over it IMHO.

author: aroby
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 01:45:18 am
content: Quote from: AlfBaz on April 20, 2014, 01:04:04 amMine has the same symptoms. I think I know what I'll be doing tomorrow morning. I wonder where I put the manual ...Anthony

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 01:50:52 am
content: And this, friends, is why the original FX-888 was a much better product. Why do marketing people feel compelled to take something with a simple, easy to understand user interface and turn it into something with a complicated interface that is easy to screw up?

author: AlfBaz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 01:55:01 am
content: Quote from: IanB on April 20, 2014, 01:50:52 amYep.Aside from the initial choice of button to press the procedure to calibrate is precisely the same as it is to set the temperature

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 04:58:52 am
content: Quote from: IanB on April 20, 2014, 01:50:52 amWhen screwing up means you are going to have to buy more stuff from them, to replace the bits that failed?Why do consumers fail to understand what marketing people try to achieve? Selling more product is their job, and there are multiple ways to achieve that. One is called planned obsolescence.There's a rather good hour-long documentary called 'The Light Bulb Conspiracy' on other examples of the same thing. Youtube watch?v=vfbbF3oxf-E or just search for the title.Comment deleted: Don't push your luck.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 07:05:11 am
content: Quote from: AlfBaz on April 20, 2014, 01:55:01 amAnd then you wonder why (aside from the 888D and other digital Hakko clones) the majority of Chinese stations with a digital display still have a big old-fashioned analogue knob, while only Hakko seems to be trying to cram everything into as few buttons as possible...

author: lapm
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 07:14:02 am
content: Part of normal learning cycle... I have lost count how many times i have goofed up something in electronics. Incorrectly set instruments, wrong settings, just plain reading it wrong, to putting regulator and other components wrong way in. Not to mention mistakes i have done on coding something: Various assembly languages, C, PHP, Perl...Once spend day looking bug in firmware i had done. I had forgotten one single command from all that code...Sometimes in afterwords just wondering, why the heck i didint notice that as its happening...

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 10:18:41 am
content: Even running at max temp a tip wont die right away, they just age faster.I accidentally left my hakko running at 450C all day once. I forgot to set it back after doing a quick job needing high temp.The tip looked all black when i noticed 8 hours later but a quick clean and re-tin and it was still good.I'm sure it shortened the lifespan but didn't seem to have any immediate effect on the tip tinning and use afterwards.

author: VK5RC
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 10:30:05 am
content: One really good review of an amateur radio transceiver, written by an EE ex HP, started with the paragraph to see if he could get it on airwithoutlooking at the manual.While the marketing types want us to stuff up and buy more, these venues esp Dave are our opportunity to try and strike some sense into the final design!

author: AlfBaz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 10:50:52 am
content: Quote from: Psi on April 20, 2014, 10:18:41 amThe tips seem fine after cleaning. The conicle one suffered the most and was the hardest to clean (without getting too rough with it)

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 10:53:49 am
content: Heh, if I had previously owned a soldering iron that used the up arrow, I probably would have done the exact same. I can't remember the last time I read a manual

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 12:04:14 pm
content: I tend to read the manual first unless I have had similar equipment before and know roughly what to expect. Of course sometimes the manual is written in the worst possible way ( I have written some myself that came out as totally unusable unless you have a clue, just as they had to conform to a style sheet and fit a specified layout, but YMMV) and is essentially unusable, often condensing a whole range of models into one sheet, and often being 15 or 20 hardware and firmware versions out of date. Sometimes not even for the particular model you have there. Chinese make equipment is definitely up there, but even EU or USA made stuff suffers from this. Worst is when you get a 50 page manual, and it is basically the same thing in 70 languages, and the English side would fit on a postcard in large print.

author: AlfBaz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 02:43:47 pm
content: @ ShockNice one thanks, although in my situation a thermocouple did the trick

author: lewis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 03:34:14 pm
content: Not your fault Alfbaz, one shouldn'tneedto read a manual to use a bloody soldering iron.

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 03:38:11 pm
content: Quote from: lewis on April 20, 2014, 03:34:14 pmAgreed.You shouldn't be able to accidentally recalibrate something. Calibration should require a nice song and dance found somewhere in the service manual along with the rest of the calibration procedure. That applies to soldering irons as much as it does to expensive multimeters - no, you don't have to pay a fortune to recal it, but youcandestroy things thinking the temperature is lower than the display indicates.

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 07:27:38 pm
content: Quote from: c4757p on April 20, 2014, 03:38:11 pmI would have to agree with this.Basic operations should be intuitive on a soldering iron. Things like setback function settings, resets, ... , RTFM would be warranted IMHO, as you don't want the keystrokes to access such settings to be something common to prevent unwanted changes.At least there doesn't seem to be a major cost issue for the OP though (perhaps a tip or two).I get the need to build to a cost, but the UI on this station is a failure on Hakko's part, entry level model or not IMHO.

author: electronics man
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 09:35:16 pm
content: Quote from: c4757p on April 20, 2014, 03:38:11 pma nice pot is what it should be

author: Rigby
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2014, 03:15:23 pm
content: Quote from: electronics man on April 20, 2014, 09:35:16 pmA nice pot is what it was, until someone decided it needed improvement. That's the way of non-technical people: improve something until it is useless, then blame the customers.