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MANUAL.md

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RT soldering pen MANUAL

Specs

  • Supported pens: all Weller RT (RT, RTM, RTP and RTU) tips with 3.5mm JACK
  • Operating voltage: 5 - 24V, recommended maximum:
    • 13V for RT, RTM and RTP tips
    • 24V for RTU tips
  • absolute maximum voltage: 25V
  • Supply current: pulse peaks to 6A @12V (average resistance of RT heating elements is 2 Ohm, so current depends on supply voltage)
  • Supply current in idle: max 15mA
  • Regulation: PSD (PID) regulator with PWM power transfer (125ms period)
  • Set-point temperature: 50°C - 500°C (400°C with old HW v0.3)
  • Maximum measurable tip temperature: 999°C (530°C + ambient temperature with old HW v0.3)
  • Maximum heating power: is limited by SW to 40W or by supply voltage:
    • 20W @7V, 40W @10V (with RT, RTM and RTP tips)
    • 12W @7V, 40W @13V (with RTU tips)
  • Heating speed: 30°C -> 300°C: about 4s with RT-2 pen and 40W limit
  • Temperature accuracy: about +/-5°C
  • Other features:
    • Celsius / Fahrenheit
    • right / left handed mode
    • normal / advanced mode display
    • High brightness mode
    • Auto turn off display to prevent OLED burning
  • FW updating: by any SWD programmer (ST-Link) actual firmware, firmware is still under active development.

Powering

  • supply pins are marked with GND, - or BLACK wire as negative pole and +12V, + or RED wire as positive pole.

WARNING

  • Always check if RT tip is fully inserted before turning ON heating. If is not fully inserted, then temperature measuring is not working and tip can be overheated. Protection for this will be created in future SW releases.

  • on old HW v0.3 be careful with connecting supply and always check polarity before turning ON!

    • Although MCU is protected for reverse voltage by diode, power part is not protected. If is connected RT tip, with reversed voltage then will heat on maximum power and also MOSFET transistor will overheat. (this is for HW v0.3)
    • HW v1.0 has full reverse voltage protection with FET diode

  • Do not solder something under voltage if is powered from same supply, because RT tip is connected with GND. (for example inside car when pen is powered from lighter connector, or some AC power supplies where is negative pole connected to ground conductor).

    • MS (Military Specs) tips have isolated tip from ground.

Supply from AC power supply

Switching power supplies must be able to withstand high current pulses (12V/6A). These supplies has almost always connected negative pole with protective conductor.

Or you can use Transformer with good capacity and these supplies don't have connected minus pole to ground conductor.

USB-C USB-PD

For that exists ZYPDS and similar modules - it is a converter from USB-PD to selected output voltage and current. But this is not tested and it should have some problems, because all the supply voltage is switched with PWM to 2 ohm load (inside RT tip) so: for 12V it is almost 6 Amps and in normal USB-PD is maximum rating 5A but only at 20V.

Supply from battery

Best batteries for supply RT soldering pen are hobbyist LIPO 3S or 2S (but not full output power) with capacity at least 1Ah (with continuous discharge current at least 5A).

From my practice 2.2Ah 3S LIPO battery can last for about 5 to 10 hours of soldering.

Hybrid power supply battery/USB(AC)

Also is possible to use small 3S LIPO battery about 0.5Ah / 20C and this battery will be continuously charged with small charger - steup-up from USB 5V (about 0.5A charging current) - this battery will work as capacitor with very high capacity. For that is enough also standard and cheap USB. and also is possible to work for some time without USB supply.

Buttons

RT soldering pen has only two buttons: UP and DOWN. Firmware recognize different pressing states and combinations.

Pressing states

  • PRESS press button shortly (shorter than 1 sec) after release will be generated action
  • LONG hold button longer than 1 sec, after 1 sec will be generated action "long"
  • HOLD hold button and after 1 sec will be generated repeat actions

General operating principles:

UP DOWN BOTH
PRESS select, increase, scroll select, decrease, scroll heating off, exit menu
HOLD edit edit enter menu, change item
LONG scroll, increase scroll, decrease -

Screens

Actually there are two screens.

Main screen

Normal mode

oled6

Show very basic information

  • preset temperatures and selected preset (with arrow)
  • actual TIP temperature (if no TIP is attached, -- is shown, if is detected error on pen, Err is shown)
  • bar-graph - actual heating power.

Advanced mode

oled3

Show some verbose information:

  • preset temperatures and selected preset (with arrow)
  • actual TIP temperature (if no TIP is attached, CPU temperature is shown)
  • consumed energy (this is restarted with power cycle)
  • status
    • NO RT TIP - RT TIP is not attached (or TIP has broken temperature sensor)
    • STANDBY - standby mode (no heating), if blink: temperature is over 50°C
    • IDLE - if during heating is not detected any work, after 5 sec is shown this message and after 30 sec is set standby mode
    • OVERHEAT - temperature of the TIP is higher than 500°C. (this can hapened due an error) if high temperature is detected, immediatelly is put into standby.
    • BROKEN RT TIP! - TIP has broken heating element (heating element resistance is more than 100 Ohm)
    • SHORTED RT TIP! - TIP has shorted heating element (heating element resistance is lower than 0.5 Ohm)
  • actual heating power
  • supply voltage
  • supply voltage drop - show dropped voltage of power supply during heating, generally it depend on power supply resistance and resistance of wires

oled1 oled2 oled4

Left handed mode

Display is upside down, also with some rearrangements.

oled7 oled8

Editing preset temperatures

On Main screen are two (up and down) preset values, which you can easily change. Editing is visible by blinking appropriate preset value.

Entering edit mode:

  • LONG press UP or DOWN button of the appropriate preset temperature.

Changing the edited preset temperature:

  • UP or DOWN button.

Exiting edit preset value:

  • PRESS BOTH buttons.

Menu screen

oled5 oled9

This screen show simple menu with:

  • version information
  • basic settings:
    • High Brightness
    • Advanced mode
    • Fahrenheit
    • Left handed
  • some verbose information:
    • Total power
    • Heater power
    • Heater current
    • Heater resistance
    • CPU temperature
    • CPU supply
    • Current sensor error

Entering menu screen:

  • in main screen LONG press of BOTH buttons

Scrolling main screen

  • UP or DOWN button

Changing ON/OFF values:

  • LONG press of BOTH buttons

Exiting menu screen:

  • PRESS BOTH buttons

Exiting menu screen also store settings