SDG #352 Quick TS11 Intelligent Soldering Station

The Quick TS11 is an 80W digital soldering station positioned well below the 120W TS1200A, using small cartridges the size of a JBC C245 without its thermal mass. The handpiece is compact, closer to a JBC T210 than a T245 in size, but its glass filled plastic body feels lightweight rather than refined. Cartridges push into a plain shaft with no retaining click, and the 1.8 m silicone lead ends in a custom connector. The metal stand has no electrical connection; sleep is triggered by a vibration sensor in the handpiece, and brass wool replaces a sponge.

The 1.8 kg unit contains a conventional mains transformer with a single 230 V primary, a 10 V 200 mA winding for the electronics and a 27 V 3 A winding for the heater, which is about 81 W. The heater is switched by a triac in whole or half AC cycles with zero crossing detection, avoiding the switching noise of a DC chopper. A GigaDevice ARM microcontroller and an instrumentation amplifier for the thermocouple sit on a neatly assembled board, with mains wiring kept to the rear and the earth soldered to the transformer tag. The interface offers 1 degree steps, presets, a password lock, a sleep mode that switches the heater off rather than reducing it, and an auto power off.

Calibration was within a couple of degrees at 350C and can be adjusted from the front panel. Heat-up draws around 111 W and real soldering averages roughly 40 W, and a four layer board with solid planes needed the setpoint raised to around 380C before its large pads flowed well. Performance is closer to the JBC C210 range than C245, and the limited cartridge selection is the main drawback, offset by reasonable cartridge pricing compared with JBC.