Hakko FX-888D-29BY Soldering Iron Repair
This is my Hakko FX-888D-29BY soldering iron. The soldering handle for it is a FX-8801. I have had it for nearly three years and it has been a great iron. As you can see in the photo above, the temperature somehow is not working right – it’s nearly 180⁰F off! I immediately thought something was wrong with the heating element, then went to the Hakko website and ordered a new one.
Everything else around here is conking out on me! I was watching my Sanyo 42” LED/LCD Flat screen TV, and the backlight went out on it. So I started to vacuum the dust off of it so I could remove the back and my vacuum cleaner quit on me, and tripped the breaker!
I was already replacing a charge port in a Kindle Fire 2012 2nd Edition when my TV and vacuum cleaner quit. So when I started working on the Kindle again my Hakko soldering iron wasn’t getting hot enough. So, considering the bad recent events, I assumed the worst and ordered the new heating element.
I started wondering what else was going to happen. I was glad that my little Weller SPG40 soldering iron was still working well, because I am going to need it. You can see the front of the Hakko board in the above photo, and a photo of my Weller iron below.
I took more photos of the iron while disassembling it, but I can’t find them. So I had to disassemble the iron again to retake the photos that I lost. That is why some of them have a later date than the others.
I couldn’t find anything wrong with the iron except for the temperature. The photo above is of the back of the board. The red wires on the board, 26V and 0V, are coming from the secondary of the transformer.
The black wires, H1 and H2, go to the heating element through the plug. The two white wires, SE1 and SE2, go to the sensor in the heating element through the plug. The red 26V wire measured about 25V. The Triac, Part #BTA06-600C, tested to be good. So did the Nichicon e-caps. Everything looked ok!
In the photo above you can see the heating element, Part #A1560, and the terminal board #B2028, removed from the iron’s handle. The grounding spring and white fiber tube that protects the contacts on the heating element are also removed.
All of the wires are soldered on both sides of the board. The two wires with the blue fiber heat tubes are for the sensor. The two wires with the red fiber tubes on the other side of the board are for the heating element. The wire with the black shrink wrap is the ground wire that the grounding spring plugs into.
The other four wires connect with the heating element and sensor here on the terminal board and run through the cable and connector to the mainboard in the soldering station unit.
All of the solder joints look good, but leaded solder will be better. The heating element is removed from the terminal board. The heating element and sensor checked to be good when I checked them, onboard and offboard.
You can see what I measured in the next photo. The measurements that I wrote in pencil are what the old element measured. The new heating element and sensor measured about the same.
In the above photo I’m setting the new element onto the board. According to the instructions, the heating element needs to be 64mm from the edge of the terminal board to the end of the heating element. In the next photo you can see the measurement.
My little Weller soldering iron is doing a great job! It doesn’t have as many types of tips to choose from as my Hakko does, but it does a great job with the tips that I do have.
I’m glad that I have two soldering irons, besides my big Weller D550 240/325 watt soldering gun. It is a good idea to have many soldering irons in case one is having trouble, or the job requires a lot of heat. My Weller D550 is a monster, and laughs at heatsinks. Lol!
After soldering both sides and trimming the heating element leads, I can turn the terminal board over and start soldering in the other wires. Then turn the board back over and solder them on the other side.
In the photo above, the board is together and cleaned with the white fiber tube and ground spring installed. In the next photo the heating element is installed back into the handle and ready for a tip to be placed onto it.
In the next photo you can get a look at the transformer and the back of the main board. The Microcontroller used in the station is a Renesas, Part #R5F1007CA.
The components look like top quality, and the soldering looks top notch – I was impressed. The Varistor on the small Primary HV board, Part #V271U, is a “ZNR” Transient/Surge Absorber (Type D). A close-up photo of the HV board is below.
In the photo above I am calibrating the temperature. I also changed my Hakko station and Fluke 87V meter over to degrees Celsius. Most people now-a-days use Celsius anyway. And since I was a mechanic for a while earlier in my life, I am used to using both SAE, and the Metric system.
If you notice, the temperature is still off by about the same amount! There was nothing wrong with the original heating element! 350⁰C – 268⁰C = 82⁰C × 1.8 + 32 = 179.6⁰F. Somehow I must have messed up the calibration of the iron and didn’t even notice it. Or maybe there was a glitch or something, I’m not sure.
It’s about the way things have been going lately. Because of everything else quitting on me, I just assumed the worst for my Hakko iron and ordered a new heating element when it wasn’t necessary.
But, I’m not mad about it. It has been fun, and also allowed me to have another article to write! So, that’s not a bad thing, right?
In the photo above, you can see the thermocouple touching the soldering tip. It’s actually closer to the tip here than it was with the original heating element.
The Hakko soldering station here is set to 350⁰C, and my trusty Fluke 87V is measuring the temp at 353.5⁰C. That’s good enough for me.
This repair is finished after I put the cover back over the soldering station. I’m going to keep the old heating element for a spare in case someday this new one goes bad.
The photo above as you can see is a close-up of the ZNR Varistor. A close-up of the Triac is below.
Here is a look at my new Circuit Specialists 853B SMD Preheating station. It will make SMD rework much easier. I hate needing to crank up the air temp and air flow because the board is sinking so much of the heat. That also makes it easier to blow tiny components into never-never land.
Now it’s time to repair my TV, and then take a look at my vacuum cleaner. I hope yall enjoyed this article. See you in the next article.
Robert Calk Jr., is a Hobbyist from the U.S.A. that loves Electronics Device Repair. Please leave any comments or suggestions that you may have below. Thanks.
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Please check out his previous repair article below:
https://jestineyong.com/crate-bx-15-amp-repaired/
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Albert van Bemmelen
September 15, 2018 at 2:48 pm
First of all congratulations with this great new nicely written and superb detailed article Robert! And second very sorry to hear about the circumstances of faith that crippled your appliances at the same time. No matter what!... good thing was that your computer was not one of them! So there was nothing wrong with your Hakko but only with Calibrating it. My at least 28 years old Ersa MS6000 soldering station is also ESD proof and never quits on me. Those newer tiny heater elements in the T12 and Hakko models are not as trustworthy and sturdy as my Ersa is. I noticed you use some kind of stander to hold your Hakko soldering iron? Did you buy it, or make it? Good luck with fixing your TV and Vacuum cleaner. This cheap heater plate is a great help in replacing backlight leds easily, or for bga work: https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/PTC-Heating-Thermostat-Heater-Plate-220V-300W-260Degree-For-TV-Backlight-LED-welding-Soldering-station/32855427150.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.20c54c4dqMZ67A
Robert Calk Jr.
September 15, 2018 at 10:08 pm
Thanks Albert, I'm glad you enjoyed the article. Yes you are right, I was very glad that my computer didn't conk out on me!! But it wouldn't have surprised me if it had, although I take very good care of it. I was probably feeling bad and accidently messed the calibration up on my iron.
This Hakko iron has been a great iron! I think that I looked for an Ersa iron before I bought the Weller, but I don't remember why I didn't get one. People in forums also gave it high regards.
I have 2 of the stands - they are the Hakko C1390C Omnivise. I love them because they grip well without being too tight, and are heavy enough to stay in place easily. They are also ESD safe. But they are not cheap! I got two of them so there would be less strain on holding larger boards.
I thought about getting a plate like that but not all boards lay flat. I wanted a preheater that didn't let the board lay directly onto the heat.
I'm going to take the TV apart and check the LEDs tomorrow. If I don't find anything wrong then I'll reflow the BGA processor when my 27mm X 27mm hot-air nozzle that I ordered gets here.
Albert van Bemmelen
September 16, 2018 at 2:19 pm
Thanks Robert. I probably looked for those Hakko C1390C Omnivise stands before after another of your great detailed articles, because the price must have held me back from buying one? You were lucky you got two for the 86 Euro they cost a piece. About your TV: according to Damon Morrow's e-books many TV's suffer from Firmware Amnesia. Often they work again after you refreshed the NAND with new FirmWare or with a new NAND chip and also new FW. And no FW means a not working TV. Or they suffer from a bad Eeprom causing the same problems. (before you go hotfixing your BGA chip which is a more dangerous repair). Just getting the right FW for your TV can be a problem. Which you can extract from another identical TV that still works with a RT809H universal programmer easily through VGA isp or through its HDMi port, or from other engineers who have it for you.
Albert van Bemmelen
September 17, 2018 at 1:28 am
You convinced me Robert to also buy one of those Hakko C1390C Omnivise stands. But only one. They indeed are pricey! But they are very safe in holding a solder iron to keep our hands free if need be.
Robert Calk Jr.
September 17, 2018 at 7:38 pm
I'm just saying how I love my Omnivise's. I'm not trying to convince anyone into buying one mainly because they are expensive. But be careful, because if you buy one, you will want another one! Lol
Robert Calk Jr.
September 17, 2018 at 5:33 am
I paid $59.99 each for my Omnivise's. I don't know why they are so expensive. Maybe they have some gold in them? Lol! But I love them! I have some of Damon's books.
Albert van Bemmelen
September 18, 2018 at 4:54 am
Yesterday I paid 87,06 Euro's including 21% TAX for one Omnivise Robert. That is including 21% TAX on 6,95 Euro Shipping cost! So I doubt if I will buy another one soon. Tomorrow it will be here. I noticed that they were sold out on some eBay site. And there they were just as expensive as where I bought it in the Nederlands but I get it much quicker now of course.
Robert Calk Jr.
September 19, 2018 at 10:07 am
That's good Albert. I hope you like it. I like them because they have some weight to them, don't take up much space on my bench, and grip very good. You can just barely put pressure on the turn knob and it grips good. But you will want another one for larger boards or for holding two different things.
Albert van Bemmelen
September 19, 2018 at 4:42 pm
PS: About the above mentioned PTC Heater element it is tested yesterday with the double layer thick copper LG Led strips of the LG LC420DUE 42 inch TV. It was not capable to heat the leds on the top layer enough to be able to disassemble them with this Heater. Only the one thin layer copper led strips and (bga) boards are usable with this Heater.
Robert Calk Jr.
September 19, 2018 at 11:15 pm
Hi Albert,
Even using Hot-Air on top you could not desolder the LED's? I'll be checking my preheater soon on LED's. If it is just one LED that is bad on my TV, I may just jump across it and put it back together. But my Preheater has been working great so far. It is supposed to be capable of reaching 400C.
Parasuraman S
September 15, 2018 at 3:09 pm
Great job, that too in minute detailed article! Well done and many thanks for sharing! (
Robert Calk Jr.
September 15, 2018 at 10:09 pm
Thanks Parasuraman. I'm glad that you enjoyed it.
Henrique Jorge Guimarães Ulbrich
September 15, 2018 at 7:52 pm
Robert, don´t worry about the out-of-focus picture. As a matter of fact, all the pictures are of excellent quality. Greetings for the very good maintenance report.
Robert Calk Jr.
September 15, 2018 at 10:24 pm
Thanks Henrique. When I take the photos by hand I normally take 2 or 3 of every shot. Then I load them into my computer and look at them all and choose the best ones, then delete the others. I took many more shots but can't include all of them or the article would have 50 photos in it!
Mark
September 15, 2018 at 8:36 pm
Well done Robert.
Good to see you can get 'Old Faithful' up and running again!
Robert Calk Jr.
September 15, 2018 at 10:11 pm
Thanks Mark. Both of the little irons have been good ones. I love the Hakko more because there are so many more styles of tips available for it!
Mason sarles
September 15, 2018 at 9:32 pm
Robert,
That was a super detailed article. Absolutely great really enjoyed the read and troubleshooting. Good pictures I have an old hakko soldering station that is probably 25 years old and it still runs like a Swiss watch. Thank you and thank everyone for sharing their posts.
Mason
Texas
Robert Calk Jr.
September 15, 2018 at 10:17 pm
Thanks Mason. I'm glad that you enjoyed it. I love all of my Hakko products! And you are welcome! I love the hobby of electronics and enjoy writing articles and sharing my experiences with everybody. I also live in Texas, born and raised here!
Yogesh Panchal
September 16, 2018 at 10:36 pm
Excellent! Article Sir,
Robert Calk Jr.
September 17, 2018 at 5:21 am
Thanks Yogesh. I am glad that you liked it.
Thales Maia
June 7, 2019 at 9:09 am
Nice work Robert! I've powered my station today and got a "---" blinking.
Tested the sensors and heater. Everything seems good. Any tip? Is there a way to test the triac?