There’s a few searchable threads for advice on what iron to buy.
I want to recap my SP10 power supplies after one went a little haywire.
My current solder Iron is like a luke warm poker.
A few bits of advice would be helpful. In no particular order:
Would a desolder gun be worthwhile?
I can search for the what solder to use as there’s already threads.
I could do with a very basic multimeter to make sure it’s working and check stuff. Any advice?
anyone nearby who could lend me the above?
I’m reluctant to invest a lot as I don’t suspect I’ll use it again… once I’ve stuck the 8 caps in it’s just a matter of testing the voltage lines (two fixed and one variable for the strobe).
What do you mean by ‘desoldering gun’. If you need to remove silver, then a decent solder pump (solder sucker) is the minimum. With a bit of practice, you can do a good job an copper desoldering wick will also help.
For solder, get the eutectic 62/36/2 (SnPbAg). The sp10 will have leaded solder in there anyway.
Just get a cheap Chinese £10 meter from eBay. They’re generally surprisingly good these days.
I saw a person recommend a Hakko desolder thing that removes the stuff as you take items off.
Then i saw the price!
To be honest it’s not a lot to do, just 8 caps per unit, but they are fiddly to reach so I’m keen to get them in and out without a pulling and prodding effort. I found when I tried to remove some in a home theatre amp recently that had to drag them out after spending ages trying to get the iron to make a dint in the solder. Bad tools make the job a pain.
The meter just needs to tell me the voltage and not kill me!
I suspect it will be cheaper to recap and hope as a plan A than pay labour and parts?
Seems a lot of people have resolved the same issue this way as it’s a common diy fix.
Worst case if still won’t work but at least the electrolytics will be new and good to go!