Fixpoint EP5 (51098) - Reviews

(4.7)

6 reviews

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For Fixpoint EP5 (51098), 6 customer reviews collected from 1 e-commerce sites, and the average score is 4.7.

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6.1.2013

I purchased this Fixpoint EP5 digital soldering station as I am currently doing a lot of repair work on PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards) and my current 50 Watt mains soldering unit was not controllable and tended to deliver too much heat. This is the last thing you want with PCBs as you can make a real mess with too much heat, also with my iron being of mains voltage it was not possible to replace ICs (Integrated Circuits) without the risk of damaging them form leakage from the mains.This Fixpoint soldering station is a high quality unit and provides a very controllable 24v 48W soldering iron that can be controlled to almost exact temperature limits,it is also isolated from the mains via a transformer so there is no possibility of damage to ICs and the like. The front of the EP5 has a mains switch and can be left plugged into the mains if you wish, the soldering iron is detachable from the station by a 4 pin metal keyed captive plug. Switching on the EP5 the blue backlit LCD display has 2 temperature displays the top indicates the soldering iron temperature and the bottom is the value that the iron is set.The iron will heat up to 150oC within 30 seconds from ambient and up to 450oC within less than 2 Minutes from ambient, this is due to the very low mass of the actual soldering iron itself as there is very little latent heat left in the iron, the iron also cools down quite quickly, not as fast as it heats up, but still very quick compared to standard irons. The station retains the last temperature that the iron was set at on when it is switched off. The temperature is set with two buttons Up and Down on the right side of the display, you can increment or decrement the temperature by 1oC up or down by pressing the required button momentarily, but if you keep the button pressed then the temperate setting will increment or decrement by 10oC.The tip that is supplied with the soldering iron is also very low mass and good quality, the tip is hollow and slides over the soldering irons metal heater core, a sleeve then slides over the main shaft of the tip and a threaded thumb wheel locks this into place at the base of the shaft. This provides an excellent thermal contact and therefore a more accurate method of ensuring that the tip is the same temperature that as indicated by the station. This is a great improvement on the traditional approach as too many manufacturers supply a tip that slots into the hollow end of the heating stem and is usually contained by a screw, the problem with this method is poor contact and therefore reduced thermal transfer to the tip, you usually find that you cannot get a good enough temperature at the tip while the shaft is mad hot. Different purpose and replacement tips are readily available from various sources and are reasonably priced considering their quality as are the spare soldering irons themselves.For all intensive purposes I thought that the unit was made in Germany, but I was alerted by a comment that the station is in fact manufactured in the far east, however it is still made to a very high standards and has a temperature range of 150oC - 450oC with a tolerance of 5%, when temperature does not match the set value the display indicates "HEAT ON" in the case of the temperature being too low and indicates "WAIT" if the temperature is over or under 10oC higher than it is set at. The EP5 has a separate soldering iron stand fixed to the right hand side of the station, this consists of a standard spring type coil heat spring, but is enclosed within a plastic case, which is handy as you cannot get burnt off the spring.There is also a good quality cleaning sponge with a metal tray that slides out just below the iron stand, I find this very handy as you can push it in out of the way when you are not using the station, as you can also remove the soldering iron from the station if required when not in use. The EP5 is no light weight as it contains a heavy isolation transformer, but this is a bonus as it is a sturdy stand and there is no fear of it slipping or moving about.I have used the EP5 for a good few weeks now and I cannot fault it as it has all the qualities of a well thought out design, right down to the soldering iron itself as it is very light weight with the rubber grip and does not get hot and uncomfortable as normal irons do after extended use. The fact that you can control the temperature of the iron to within degree's of your requirement is a big bonus alone, but the fact that the iron itself heats up and down so rapidly is excellent. This is a first class system that I think will last me for many years and I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for an extremely versatile low voltage soldering station.The only thing that I forgot to mention is that the unit comes fitted with a European schuko plug fitted and you will have to replace this with a standard 13 Amp plug top fused at 2 Amp, but this is a small price to pay for such an excellent soldering station.I have updated this review as I have repaired some PCB boards that would have been impossible with a standard soldering iron as they were on surface mounted flat pack devices, when removing these devices I have to use a clip on heat sink to divert any excessive heat away from the device and use the soldering station on a minimum setting allowing me to de-solder the legs of the device from the copper track prior to removal, if I had used a standard soldering iron the excessive heat would have damage the circuit board copper track and would have damaged the replacement device and could possibly damaged the device from mains leakage.I have used the soldering station now quite extensively and I have had no problems whatever, the ability to control the temperature to such an accurate level has opened up the possibilities of repairing PCB boards that I would not have contemplated, namely surface mounted PCB's. The only thing that has deteriorated with use is the soldering tip, this is due to the flux contained in the multicore solder, fortunately fixpoint are selling a pack of replacement tips on Amazon and I found that a well known high street store sell a replacement pack of tips that fit this iron perfectly, both these tip offers are good quality and are a very reasonable price.