Ersa i-Con 1 Review - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Felicitus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 04, 2014, 04:39:27 pm
content: I've owned my Ersa i-Con 1 for quite some time now, and I think it's about time to write a review.Ersa is one of the two german top-notch brands for soldering stations (Weller being the other one). Prior buying the i-Con 1, I owned the Ersa i-Con Nano, with which I was very satisfied. One day I found a pretty cheap eBay auction, which I eventually won for 250€ (about 100€ less than a brand-new station).The specs are:80W (station), 150W (soldering iron)150°C - 450 °CHeat Up Time 9 secondsIron Weight 30 gramsThe StationLet's begin with the station. It has a bigger footprint than the Ersa i-Con Nano and at least 1kg heavier than the Nano. It has a big LCD and a rotary knob with push button. On the front, there's a connector to connect the soldering iron (and other tools, like the SMD tweezers) and a 4mm plug for grounding. Solid construction, doesn't feel cheap and it has a nice, modern design. The firmware allows quite some configuration settings:Set limits for low and high temperatures (process window)Password ProtectionUnits °C and °FLanguageTimeout for sleep and suspend modesCalibration Setting for the i-ToolTip offsetEnergy mode (affects the overshoot during heat-up: low = almost no overshoot, med = some overshoot possible, high = overshoots often, haven't noticed big overshoots on high when soldering)Soldering Iron (i-Tool)The soldering iron (which is called i-Tool) is really nice, it's small and very light - and that was the primary reason why I opted in for the i-Con 1 and previously the i-Con Nano. I can easily hold and operate it with two fingers only, and it feels more like a pen than a soldering iron. Power is adequate, and there's a wide range of tips available. Tips are usually about 9-15€. Replacing tips is pretty simple, just unscrew the tip and pull it out. If done carefully, this can be done without letting the iron cool down - however, you should remove the power to avoid damage to the heating element. The heating element is replaceable and is about 69€, the heating element on the i-Con Nanois not. The i-Tool has also a sensor in it, so it can detect if you aren't using it - and the station goes into standby (and even shutdown) after a configured period of time. As soon as you pick up the i-Tool again, the station heats up again.StandThe stand for the i-Tool is made of rubber, which is very silent if you place the iron. It also features holders for the different tips and the modern metal-type sponge.Overall RatingI really love the i-Con 1. The power is adequate for most soldering work, only when I got huge ground planes I wish for a little more power, but it still works quite well. However, there is one drawbacks which could easily be fixed in firmware: The station doesn't have temperature presets or a way to adjust the temperature in more coarse steps. If you turn the knob slowly, it changes by 1 °C, and if you turn it fast, it changes by 50 °C. I often work at 330°C, which takes quite some time to adjust if I had another job which required a different temperature.I would buy it again, but it's a bit hard to justify the price difference between the i-Con 1 and the i-Con Nano if you don't need process control. So the only benefit for me personally is that I don't have to push a button to cancel the standby mode as I would need to do on the i-Con Nano.

author: jpb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2014, 10:24:11 am
content: Thanks for the review.I have the i-Con nano and have been very pleased with it. The only issue I had was having trouble desoldering caps from a DVM I bought of e-bay, so I felt it might be lacking a bit in power, but then I discovered the trick of melting some fresh solder onto the 10year old stuff on the board and it worked a lot better.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2014, 10:27:17 am
content: QuoteI hope it is the other way around (150W for station and 80W for iron)?

author: DL8RI
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2014, 10:40:01 am
content: Hi,it's 80W but 150W PeakJust like the JBCs for example, they also have a much greater peak-power (130W I think).I will pick up my i-Con 1 in an hour or two from the post officeQuoteOne should always do that. Not only because of fresh solder, but you make a by far better thermal contact.Especially if you're using a rather small chisel or these "pencil"-type tips. 80 Watts should be enough for nearly everything except real "heavy duty" work, it's more or less all about thermal contact.

author: Felicitus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2014, 12:40:01 pm
content: Quote from: Kjelt on March 05, 2014, 10:27:17 amAccording tohttp://www.ersa.com/art-0ic1100a-358-1970.htmlandhttp://www.ersa.com/index.php?modul=entry&id=358&sub_id=387&entry_id=1571: No.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2014, 12:46:52 pm
content: Well that is weird but looking up the specs they use these values for the iron:Maximum heating power: 150 W +/- 10 %Mean heating power: 80 WI find that a strange way of specifying the power.

author: Felicitus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2014, 01:47:07 pm
content: Quote from: Kjelt on March 05, 2014, 12:46:52 pmI haven't honestly looked into that in detail, as I've found that the power is adequate for most of the tasks I do. Probably two different marketing managers messing things up?

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2014, 01:54:21 pm
content: I guess so, for me it brought back the whole PMPO (Peak Momentary Power Output) discussion where some audio amp could deliver 1000W for a few ms but only had a continuous power of 20W.But 80W is more then enough to do some serious soldering

author: Frost
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2014, 03:41:53 pm
content: Quote from: Kjelt on March 05, 2014, 12:46:52 pmThe i-tool is able to heat with a maximum of 150W,if you use it together with a station that can deliverthe appropriate output power.For the i-tool this are the i-con2 (150W),the i-con VARIO 2 (200W) and VARIO 4 (500W) stations.It's always the same iron, but you can use it togetherwith different solder stations, which can provideless or more power for the iron.

author: DL8RI
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2014, 04:31:59 pm
content: As far as I understand the whole System is -just like the JBCs- overdriven to 150W.It could not handle 150W all the time, but it is able to deliver peaks up to this Power, for example when powering up or heating a big ground plane.In the german description of the ICon 1:QuoteMeaning:You can choos out of three power-stages which regulate the heater according to the needs of application. With the highest setting the system delivers up to the maximum power of 150W, in the lowest the power will be strongly regulated to prevent overshoots.

author: Xaero1982
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2014, 12:09:29 am
content: Quote from: Felicitus on March 04, 2014, 04:39:27 pmThe I-Con Nano uses the same heating element as the I-Con 1 and is also replaceable as can be seen in this video:Quote from: Felicitus on March 04, 2014, 04:39:27 pmWhile the I-Con Nano does not have a motion sensor, it still wakes from standby if the tip temperature is lowered by about 10c. (Wiping the tip on sponge)

author: Felicitus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2014, 09:42:57 am
content: Quote from: Xaero1982 on March 07, 2014, 12:09:29 amThat's odd, I remember that my i-Con Nano didn't have a replaceable heating element in my case. I may not remember correctly, or they fixed it.QuoteGood to know. Probably I never did wipe the tip prior pressing the buttons

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2014, 02:45:54 pm
content: I have the Nano as well and the sleep works as follows:- standby after few minutes, the temp goes down to about 250C. If you pick up the iron it will typically register it and starts heating up to the set temperature immediately- sleep after some 15-20min (it is configurable), the temp is kept at 50C. Here it doesn't wake up for me by automatically, I have to press the button to wake it up.Jan