Hakko 888D Interface FIXED - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2016, 03:46:12 pm
content: I had an idea kicking around in my head for fixing my new 888D. I've been stuck in a rut on another project, so I figured this walk-in-the-park would basically amount to a break and a bit of a confidence lifter.After setting up the iron to have 5 presets, this interface will automatically jump between them with the press of a single button. The Hakko factory firmware ignores button presses for a few seconds on boot up and for a couple seconds immediately following a preset change, but this is handled by my mod interface by a timer interrupt flag. So I can set it and forget it, and the iron will reach my final selection after the mandatory Hakko "timeout." It also knows when you are messing with factory defaults; if you hold the UP button while booting, it will not respond.Video has no commentary or subtitles. But in case you care to see how this actually works, here's me demonstrating the above. And trying (and failing) to get it to mistrack. I think I nailed it:;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;edited to place a new, working video link. Its a different video, so I don't know if my OP will have some discrepancies, particularly regarding LED colors. I have done the mod to 3 stations now, and I probably used different color LEDs on all of them. And the original video is gone, along with Photobucket being useful.video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNqCKLNKZEk&feature=youtu.be;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;BTW, if you watch the green LED just below the 7 segment diplay*, you can see it flash for each button press that you would normally have to make. And when it's lit solid, that's when the Hakko is ignoring user input. So that's why there's noticeable lag on many of my presses; whenever this LED is lit, you would otherwise be waiting for the Hakko to acknowledge your presence before you could do anything.*When I started to think about where/what I could put on a silkscreen, it struck me. The model number of the "8.8.8." is staring you in the face evertime you turn on/off the station. Isn't it ironic that it was originally analog?So I paid $100.00 for this station. And then spent 10 hours creating the pcb and firmware (and maybe 20 minutes installing it). And I have yet to use the iron for the first time, even. I honestly finished the schematic, pcb design, toner board, and population before I even opened up the station to see what was inside! I guess I got lucky, because electrically, everything was exactly like I expected, and the installation was breezier than I imagined. The two "membrane" buttons are actually through hole tac switches, so I didn't even need to scrape any traces or take anything apart other than 4 screws and the cover. The only permanent mod to the station is a couple of tiny drill holes through the plastic to bring out the 4 wires.If I was worth $50.00 an hour, I guess this thing cost me $600.00. But the small size and replace/dispose-ability of the 888D fits the bill for travel while my analog 888 holds down the fort.Edit: Now I use the (modded) 888D on my home bench, too, and I never want to use the analog, again.

author: RobertHolcombe
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2016, 01:08:51 pm
content: Cool!I haven't used an FX-888D before, I assume the normal preset selection is made via the UP button to increment from 1-5 and then it resets back to 1, and ENTER to confirm selection? Does the station recall the last used preset upon power up?Really nicely implemented, very clean

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2016, 11:46:58 pm
content: Harumph... I mod what is one of the more commonly recommended stations on the site, one with a peculiar/quirky control, and the only response I get is from someone who has never used one! This makes me wonder how popular the 888D really is!Yeah, pretty much how you described, except you have to press UP once, just to enter preset mode. So to move from preset 1 to 2, you would press UP twice, then enter. To go from preset 5 to preset 4, yeah, there's a rollover. You would press UP 5 times and then ENTER.QuoteYes, it does. The PIC 16F1828 on my PCB saves the current mode to EEPROM, too. You can see this when I first power on the station in the vid; it starts up profile 3, 350C. And later it starts up to profile 1, 180C.This save to EEPROM is the only race condition that I can't completely resolve, regarding what happens if you were to switch off the station exactly as the mod presses ENTER after changing presets. AFAIK, there's no way to get that to coincide 100% just with firmware. One of the chips will save to EEPROM before the other. I just checked my code, and it saves the profile immediately after pressing ENTER, which is going to make it pretty close. But basically, you shouldn't switch it off while in the middle of changing presets. (Hmm, come to think of it, I also need to add a verification that the EEPROM value is within valid range, and a rewrite to 0 if it is not, just in case of a failed/spurious write. edit: done!) But if you managed to do this and create a mismatch, all you have to do is change the preset on the station in the normal fashion to match whichever button/LED is lit up on the pcb. (The timeout after this manual change is still preserved, as well. Basically after an ENTER press is detected, the PIC restarts the timeout so that if you change presets, it will wait until the station is ready before sending the data.)QuoteThanks! This seemed like the easiest way to do it. I managed to make all the traces on the top. The back of the board is solid 5V rail, only, which made the toner transfer very easy to do. To simplify the layout, I combined the LED and tac switches to share a pin, so only 8 pins of the micro are used. There are only 6 vias to catch the 5V rail.The SOT part is a diode, and there's a 0R jumper below it. The PIC runs off the rectified 5V rail, so I can flash the chip while the station is off without powering the station control board. There are some extra pads there, because I have mostly LF variants, and I wasn't even sure I could dig up a 5V part. So there is room for a ghetto voltage dropper of 3 diodes to get 3.3ishV, too.I still have to drill some screw holes to affix the board to the housing for real. There is plenty of thick plastic area above and below the 7 segment display for two or three screws. It's just hot snotted, for now. Thetwoone major drawbacks are thatyou would have to remove the pcb if you ever needed to open up the station, because of the way the cover slips on/off.* And the other major drawback is that the station is no longer insulated. I hesitate to share the files because I am not qualified to call this safe. I didn't even look at the 888 schematic, and I'm sure it disqualifies the UL listing, at any rate. But I'm completely comfortable with this because of the transformer, personally.*edited, because it turns out you can leave the pcb on there and still open up and close the station; it's just a teeny, tiny bit fiddlier. Also I have reverse engineered essentially the entire schematic and the mains/primary is pretty well tidied away and fused, and only the xformer secondary makes it to the control PCB; there's a beefy SMD -5V regulator making the power rails, not a dinky little TO92 or SOT23 part. The Reneasas micro gets a zero crossing signal from a PNP transistor on the 26V secondary side, and it switches the 26VAC via a TRIAC, using a FET to drive the TRIAC. LM358 dual opamp conditions the thermistor temp sensor signal.After playing with it some more, I realized my mod wasn't responding to button presses while IT was pressing buttons. So I spent another hour on the code. I got that sorted, and it appears to be always responsive and correct. It's amazing how such a simple code grows when you sort out all the finer details.I don't have a use for 5 presets, yet. So right now I think I'm going to use the left button for a 200C manual standby. And the right button for a "soft off" switch. It's kinda neat to set it to the minimum of 50C and watch it take like 20 minutes to cool down.

author: haveissues
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2016, 12:23:50 am
content: Whomever designed the UI on the 888D needs to be slapped around a bit. I would have gladly paid a bit more for a couple of dedicated up/down buttons or a few preset buttons. Good job on the mod.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2016, 01:53:32 am
content: QuoteThat was my initial reaction.But I suppose it's possible that it is meant for a production environment. Where you are just a peon worker who does one job on an assembly line, over and over. And you are required to punch in the exact temp as indicated on some prepared instructions, or you are tossed in a river overflowing with industrial waste and your children are put into slavery.So I am trying to cut some slack.

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2016, 12:36:57 pm
content: Quote from: haveissues on February 25, 2016, 12:23:50 amits not 888, its whole HAKKO, they make good gear with garbage UI straight from the 1980s. Its bad to the point I use shitty chinese DIY controller with my hakko t12 tips, all I want is a display and a knob, no stupid buttons or presets.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2016, 12:03:40 am
content: I wholeheartedly share your dislike for the 888D UI.But to play devil's advocate, Hakko also made the ubiquitous 936. And they also made a very simple desoldering gun, the 808 (now replaced by the FR300) with very simple controls. They also make/made a hot air station 801-11 with only a knob numbered 1-8 for temp, and another knob for airflow with no markings, just an analog flowmeter.They also make a pretty groovy battery powered pickup tool with just an on button. (This thing is awesome).They also made the analog version of the 888 for a couple of years, which Dave made famous for its not having even an on/off indicator LED.And of course, there's also the fact that everywhere you go, the reviews and customer satisfaction of the 888D are almost universally glowing. So maybe the UI is not quite as bad as you or I think it is? I find a mention here, or there, about the quirks, but even these reviewers are leaving 4 or 5 stars. Maybe most users don't need to change temp very often. But this thing is not a Metcal, and I personally change the temp more than once in a blue moon. (And often, after bumping the temp up, I want to turn it back down soon after).On the 888D, I think maybe someone got a little carried away with keeping the esthetics streamlined, working within constraints for the housing and pcb that were originally designed as analog.

author: tablatronix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2016, 09:16:42 pm
content: Pretty neat, do you plan to add some kind of auto sleep?Might want to add, mod or hack to your title.Too bad about that delay, a rotary encoder would be nice, but you would need your own display for that.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2016, 09:32:28 pm
content: Thanks.No to autosleep. I don't want my iron doing anything on it's own. I put an auto shutdown on my DIY battery powered iron. Even on that, it's annoying.Well, I have got to use the station several times, now. It works pretty much perfectly, except one time my station reset on its own while I was using it. Maybe the power cord wiggled in the socket. I dunno. I can't imagine w/e I did spiking any significant current.

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2016, 11:40:04 pm
content: I dunno, I don't have any problems changing the temp on my unit. Hold the button for a sec, first digit, second digit, enter enter. Once you get used to it, it's really not bad at all. Certainly not worth going through all the trouble of making a mod that sticks on the outside like this. As far as UIs go, it's nowhere near the worst I've ever used. Not even the top 10.The only thing I wanted was an auto-sleep, because I do occasionally get side tracked and have left the iron on once overnight. So I ended up plugging mine into a Wemo outlet I got for $10 on clearance at Wal-Mart. You can program them for auto-shutoff X minutes/hours after turn-on. And, since the outlet is level with my desk and easily reachable, I simply keep the Hakko's power switch turned on and use the power button on the Wemo itself. (If the outlet was behind my desk or something, I'd have to use the Wemo App.) I have it set for a 3 hour timer, works great. I can even turn my iron on/off from across the globe!TL;DR: My solder station is wifi controlled.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2016, 08:08:50 pm
content: Sticks on the outside, yeah. I finally screwed in on there, too. It's not going anywhere.A couple coats of silicone conformal coating, and it's right as rain. My standards are not so high, I guess. I actually get a kick out of the way it looks.On my bench, the equipment esthetics is secondary to function. I don't arrange my equipment so they look good, either. I put things where they make my life easier, for the frequency and the how/what I use them for. Hacking my bench, if necessary.My memory is shoddy. I will never get used to changing temp on an 888D unless I do it regularly. And I don't need to change temp by one degree resolution... like ever.QuoteI have done that a few times. The energy it wastes just to stay at temp is less than leaving on a 10W light bulb. Only once where I had the heat turned up real high did I notice any problem. The chrome plating over the entire tip darkened a little, is all. This tip still works fine.Most of the time when I forget and leave the iron on, I'm dicking around rather than using high heatsink/batch assembly temperatures.I also have a glue gun with an adjustable temp setting, which I set where I can and have left it on overnight many times with no ill effect. I must have had it on for 72 hours straight, at least. And I didn't have to purge burned glue.But if you wanted to do soft sleep, you could hack it the same way I did, by using one of the presets for the sleep. The lowest setting is only 50C, which is so low I can pick up and hold the iron by the tip. It takes like 20-30 minutes for the temp of the iron to drop to 50C after using it!

author: tablatronix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2017, 05:12:28 pm
content: Photobucket links are dead. Is there a repo for this?

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2017, 09:10:30 pm
content: I'm not using Photobucket, anymore. AFAIC, this file is gone, sorry.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2017, 09:46:30 pm
content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNqCKLNKZEk&feature=youtu.beHere's a vid of another one, which I have been using as my main iron for awhile, now. Went with hakko yellow and blue for the LEDs. Yes, they're annoyingly bright, but from where I sit, I can't even see them. This is why I added the LEDs at the bottom.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2017, 11:42:34 pm
content: I can see the image (probably becauseI'm special) Attached it for future reference.

author: tablatronix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2017, 04:20:20 pm
content: Video says not available

author: Nuno_pt
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2017, 04:35:28 pm
content: Quote from: tablatronix on August 13, 2017, 04:20:20 pmSame here.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2017, 09:45:02 pm
content: Oh, thanks. The latest link should be viewable, now.

author: Tarloth
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2020, 03:48:14 pm
content: Hi, very good jobBut why not using the preset mode? Two or three clicks and Voila!I use since forever this mode, never adjust degree by degree and set only the two or three temperatures in presets that I use everyday to work. Enter+UP+UP it's my max interaction with the UI.

author: MarkF
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2020, 04:04:45 pm
content: Quote from: Tarloth on March 13, 2020, 03:48:14 pmThat's what I did also.I setup three presets (high, medium and low temperature) and never looked back.

author: Tarloth
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2020, 11:18:15 pm
content: Quote from: MarkF on March 13, 2020, 04:04:45 pmExactly! Never need any other adjust.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2020, 11:23:45 pm
content: Presets are ok, but you have to look at the station to use them, or you have to remember what setting you are on when you change. And you still have to look at the station to make sure it's doing what you wanted.If you can program a micro and you actually study the Hakko 888 interface and the algorithm, you don't have to do any of that. The guy who coded (or came up with the algorithm/specs for) this thing just plainly sucks at human interfaces.I'm sure I already answered this question 3 years ago. But since this thread was necroed, I might as well add that this mod has worked flawlessly in the interim. Identical installation on 3 different stations. Once it's installed and set up, it's a rock.

author: Tarloth
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 16, 2020, 01:29:28 pm
content: I insist, Great Job!!!! My comment it's only in the sense that I never did suffer the UI of 888D, it's not a radio that I change the station all the time, some presets and Voila! But your work it's excellent, thanks.

author: sab
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 16, 2020, 05:48:21 pm
content: Great Project! I would have never thought of it.Sanjay