GQ 5200 teardown - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 09, 2013, 06:17:13 am
content: As requested, here is the GQ 5200 teardown. Enjoy.Please note that I'm still trying to catch my stride on this video blogging stuff, and I've got a long ways to go... but let me know if you want anything in more detail.

author: chibiace
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2013, 02:57:10 pm
content: cool, im liking that suspension action.just curious, is that a manual ranging multimeter on your bench?

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 09, 2013, 03:01:39 pm
content: Yeah, it's one of those cheapy chinese ones. I bought it before I saw Dave's rant on them, and while I agree with him, it's what I have. I do have a Tenma bench one now I use way more often, I did a teardown on it.For being a cheapy chinese one, it's, as Dave would say, "good enough for Australia".

author: chibiace
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2013, 04:13:16 pm
content: Quote from: duskglow on June 09, 2013, 03:01:39 pmnice, i like the tenma video you did.i use an older version of:http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digitek-DT-4000ZC-TekPower-TP4000ZC-Data-Logging-Multimeter-with-Temperature-/200912705694for my home electrical jobs, power points etc.and recently got a ut61e for electronics work.although there is alot of crap chinese products, many are fit for purpose, some can be downright dangerous though, better to have a sneak peek at those internalslooking forward to more of your reviews/teardowns.

author: staxquad
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2013, 04:50:44 pm
content: Quote from: duskglow on June 09, 2013, 06:17:13 amLooks like a better unit than the KADA 952D+ (and probably their whole stable), I cannot recommend the KADA to anyone, just too many flaws, and they've been repeating those same flaws for over 4 years, they are oblivious to QC and oblivious to improving their product.Yours has an IEC socket, much better implementation: can you check the fuse value?More modern board with *C and *F selectionYour transformer is mounted better and has identification on it.Yours has more meaningful panel function identification, the KADA uses A and B to identify the heater which is daft.How is the soldering iron cable for flexibility?How is the soldering iron holder for holding?(The soldering irons included in cheap air station are not great, so reviewing those are kind of a waste of time.For Americans, a cheap solo air station and a Hakko FX-888 would be ideal in terms of price/quality, maybe $30 or $40 over the combo with a not so great soldering iron.)did you check chassis grounding?Looking at your video, at 7:20, it seems like you dialed the air back to 0 (no air movement) and the dial indicator was still at around 4 to 5. In my unit, there's no air movement until it's dialed past 5. I see no point having no air while the heater is heating, so it's still in the cards for me to change the pot so the air is on low rather than off when dialed to minimum and progresses to maximum thereafter.(high resolution still pictures and descriptions suffice, no need for a video production)

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 09, 2013, 05:48:27 pm
content: To answer the questions that I don't have to go over to it to answer (I'll answer those separately), the soldering iron cable is quite flexible, and the holder is pretty good at holding (though I'll post pictures too). It's got hakko compatible tips (came with ten of them of different shapes), and the pack actually came with a replacement element for both the air gun and the soldering iron.Yes, I did cover the grounding - the chassis is directly grounded to earth via a lug nut. I wasn't able to see if the actual hot air gun was, though, it may be but that ground may have come through the board. I should go after that with a continuity tester.It was kind of hard to show when there was air movement, but there's pretty good airflow even at 5. If you turn it down too low, it actually slows an "Err4" on the display, which means there's too little airflow.The C and F selection is kind of lame, though - you have to turn the dial to a specific position in order to change it. But at least it's there, which is good.chibiace, mine's a Mastech MY-61. No temperature (that was the best one available at the place I bought it from) but it does have transistor and capacitor checking.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 09, 2013, 08:46:55 pm
content: The fuse is 10A.