A few years ago I got this Weller WE1010 NA desktop soldering iron for around $100 CAD. The iron has worked well for me, and fits great on my hobby desk, but it has a major flaw: it does not auto power-off.
The iron does reduce temperature if left idle for a period of time — e.g. I typically run the iron at 330º Celsius, and it will lower the temperature to about 180º when idle — but it will never turn itself off, no matter how many hours you’ve left it sitting on your desk untouched. Huge waste of power and a potential fire/burn hazard.
The base station of the iron does have a LCD to display the current temperature, but it does not have a backlight so you can’t see it from across the room.
Because of this, I am constantly forgetting to turn it off when I’m done with a project.
Well, not any more!
I added a red LED power indicator light to my WE1010 after watching videos from Adapting Camera and Tek Tech on YouTube. If you want to try this mod, I suggest watching their videos!
Looking inside, it is evident that the WE1010 is definitely built on a budget. I added the kapton tape and clear heat shrink tube to the plugs so there is some basic short-circuit protection. Honestly, I can’t believe none of the connections were protected!
Unfortunately I didn’t get a good photo of the LED installed on the front-plate, but you can see the newly soldered wires running from the PCB to the LED.
My method of installing the LED was very similar to the approach shown in the video from Tek Tech.
I’ve had the LED installed for a few months now and it has been working great. The LED is bright enough that I cannot possibly overlook it, especially at night when I turn off the lights in the room.
Would I do this LED mod again? Absolutely! Honestly, a power indicator LED or LCD backlight is sorely missing from this unit.
That said, would I buy a WE 1010 again? Absolutely not!
This iron cost me something like $100 CAD a few years ago, but it’s going for $170 CAD now. It is definitely not worth $170. Maybe you can find it on sale for half-price, otherwise I would look into better alternatives on the market.
Here are a couple of alternative soldering irons:
- Pinecil from Pine64 for $25USD – These are fantastic USB-C powered soldering irons which use TS100/ST/PTS200 tips. There are mixed reviews online since newer alternatives have become available, but I’ve has a Pinecil for a few years and it works great for me!
- FNIRSI HS-02 and Alientek T80 for around $20-30 USD – Both use C245 tips which are bigger and more robust than the Pinecil. They also seem to accept the Pinecil tips, so these might be a viable replacement or second iron! Shop for these on AliExpress for the best prices.
I hope you found this interesting or helpful! Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply