Hakko FX-951 auto power off with sleep? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: zibadun
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2018, 04:56:33 pm
content: heyJust got this gemFX-951but for the life of me can't figure out how the sleep/auto power off customization works.It seems I can choose *either* a sleep (throttle down to 200°C) after a set number of minutes OR auto power off after 30 min. But not both.Say I want the iron to sleep after 3 min and power off after 30 min. Is there any way to do that?The manual (slightly cryptic) is herehttps://doc.hakko.com/download.php?_gs=on&l=en&kp=FX+951+old&d=398

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 16, 2018, 05:54:44 pm
content: I just use the sleep setting. When I am done, I shut it off. I might have to go play with mine to see if I can get both to work.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 16, 2018, 11:12:15 pm
content: Idling at 200C is probably only drawing something like 3 watts on a T15 iron. And you can probably leave a Hakko tip at 200 C for weeks without touching it, with no ill effect. I think heat cycling might cause more stress to the internals than the worry over oxidation at relatively low temps.If I could set both, I would have the auto power down at like 3 hours, maybe. 30 min is hardly time to read a datasheet while figuring out what the heck I'm doing.I regularly leave my 888 on when leaving the building to go eat or something. At soldering temp. I have replaced only one tip in 9 years, and on further examination that tip is fine, too. (The iron sleeve on the inside broke loose, but it looks like it's just a press fit extra shim/doodad to begin with, put in there to protect the chrome plating on the "real" iron layer from wear when inserting/removing the tip. The creamy copper filling is still perfectly sealed and intact.)Hope you get your answer from someone with this station. Sorry for the sidetrack.

author: simone.pignatti
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2018, 06:58:24 pm
content: Quote from: zibadun on April 15, 2018, 04:56:33 pmthis video may help

author: metrologist
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2018, 08:46:56 pm
content: Thanks!

author: theirishscion
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2018, 08:51:33 am
content: Quote from: simone.pignatti on April 18, 2018, 06:58:24 pmNo, sorry but that doesn't answer OP's question (and I have the same question) at all.I believe we've both worked out how to get into settings and modify them. What we can't work out is whether or not it's possible to enable sleep and auto-off at the same time. Hakko's documentation for the iron (once you create an account on their documentation site, so you can hunt the current version down and download it) isn't so much bad as it isf*&king woeful.As best I can tell, this is what is possible;Setting a sleep time between 0 and 29 minutes works as you would expect, which is to say the iron begins to sleep (displaying 'SLP') between 0 and 29 minutes after it is placed in the holder. However, the iron does not turn off automatically after 30 minutesSetting a sleep time of 30 causes the iron to turn power to the element off completely (displaying '---') after 30 minutes in the holder. However, it does not enter the sleep state at all prior to thatIf you don't wish to use the sleep or auto-off function at all, unplug the switch cable to the iron holder. There is no software disable for the featureAs best I can tell, there isnoway to enable sleep AND auto power off functionality together, which seems like a crazy omission on Hakko's part. Granted the FX-951 isn't a new model, but then my FM-204 is no spring chicken either and it's quite happy to put itself to sleep after 0-29 minutes, andalsoturn itself off after 30. Both features are independently switchable in the configuration, though the auto-off seems to be fixed at 30 minutes if enabled, while the sleep pause can be set like the 951.

author: metrologist
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2018, 06:39:56 pm
content: That is pretty much what I concluded (actually, I thought I was just too dumb to figure it out, but suspected it might be possible) after several minutes playing with it.

author: theirishscion
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2018, 09:15:43 pm
content: I've shot Hakko USA an email asking. They're normally very responsive so we'll see what they say, but I'm not optimistic.For what it's worth, I suspect that one could leave a regular T15 tip sitting at the sleep temperature of 200C for about, oh, a decade or two, before you'd get significant oxidation or degradation taking place, so from a tip life perspective it likely makes no difference, and it's likely only drawing 10-15 watts average to maintain that temperature, so it's not like it's going to cost much either. It mostly just bugs me psychologically; why _wouldn't_ you make that an optional switch, you do on your other models, and it _is_ a nice safety feature as well. Perhaps from a production standpoint it's considered an unnecessary complication and liable to annoy bosses as irons on the line all have to be shut down and restarted after lunch.

author: theirishscion
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 01, 2018, 03:02:29 pm
content: Ok, our suspicions are confirmed; we can have one or the other, not both.I askedQuoteSheryl at Hakko USA repliedQuote(Sheryl's a customer support rockstar, by the way. She's helped me in the past and she's great. One of the better advertisements for the brand in the US)