Cold Heat mini Review

[MrAl]

Hi there,

A friend picked up a Cold Heat soldering iron recently
(made by Coleman) and i tried it out. I liked it enough
to go get one ($16 at Costco). I decided to write this
post up for the benefit of others that might be considering
one of these soldering irons.


Pros

1. From the time you pick up the tool till the time you've soldered a joint
can be as little as 5 seconds even though the tool isnt hot when you first
pick it up.
2. From the time you stop soldering till the time you can touch the tip without
getting burned is about 1 to 3 seconds.
3. Works very well on thin wire like #22 gauge.
4. Works very well on quick and not too critical work, like soldering
aligator clips back on when they break off (like with clip leads and meter leads).
5. Has a nice white LED on the bottom to light up the work piece, but may need
directional adjustment on some tools.



Cons

1. The tip has to make very good contact with the work surface. This is
sometimes very difficult to achieve. It requires moderate pressure and
if the piece can swing a little it's hard to keep the tool contacting
the work piece satisfactorily. It works, but it may take time.
2. Metals like copper corrode when heated, so if reliable contact isnt
made the metal may need cleaning with a knife or something. This isnt
hard to do but it's another problem. There are times when you try to
solder and the metal corrodes again so you have to clean again. The
best approach is to anchor the piece somehow so you can apply firm
pressure with the tip.
3. There's no limit on the heat output so the piece can possibly reach
red hot temperature. This can damage some parts so you have to make
sure to pull the tool back or finish quickly.
4. Tip is fragile. New tips are $5 plus $3 shipping, so that's $8.
If the tip becomes damaged it wont solder until it's replaced.
5. Cant be used on parts where a bridge across two pins of the part may
occur because the tool will pump massive current through the device.
It may be possible to be very careful about soldering these kinds of
parts, but even the manual states that it's mainly for moderately
sized parts. A workaround is to make ABSOLUTELY sure that the tip
never touches two pins at the same time, nor even a part's lead and
a solder pad because the tool can pump current through the part and
the trace connected to the solder pad on some circuit boards.
Ditto with a joint that is the last joint where something turns on
once the joint is made -- bridging might occur which could burn something
out. In general, mucho caution required, but it's possible to do.
6. The manual says they dont recommend rechargable batteries.



Recommendations

This shouldnt be your only soldering iron unless you only intend to
solder clip leads and do wire splices and stuff like that. If you're
going to solder ic's regularly you really need a 'regular' iron. Works
ok on resistors, even small 1/8 watt ones. Transistors with long leads
should be solderable also, but beware surface mount parts.
If you're going to solder very heavy work you'll need a big iron.


Take care,
Al

 

[andrewwynn]

I really like having mine... it works really well on smaller terminals.. but i had a really hard time getting it to work on the ground lead on audio jacks.. i put a speaker jack on my grandmother's tv last week so i could pump sound to some local speakers right by her chair.. now she can watch TV in her room w/o blasting the TV to 'grandma levels'.. i put in an 'a-b' switch to pick inside speakers or outside speakers.. and put some powered speakers right on both sides of her chair.. every house with somebody over 55 should have this arrangement i'm going to put speakers in my dad's chair next.

it is key to have the items to solder mechanically connected first because you do have to press and kinda fiddle around with position of the split tip before it works.. also.. just letting it sit and warm up before trying to solder... on a larger tab it took about 12-14 seconds to get hot enough to melt the solder well.

I wouldn't try to use the coldheat on smaller deviced like smd... but to a solder pad on a board should be ok.

-awr

 

[newo]

I bought one of these at Radio Shack yesterday, and happen to have it on my desk. The chisel tip has a gap going up the middle, so that it is partially split into two. The directions are also interesting.

"To heat the tip, carefully place it against the electrically conductive work piece so that both tip electrodes make solid contact with it. The red operating light will shine and the top will heat almost instantly, allowing for clean solder flow and the formation of a smooth joint. A slight spark may occur at the tip during soldering. The best method is to put the tool's tip on the part to be soldered. Then immediately bridge the gap with solder. As the solder melts it continues to bridge the gap while transferring heat to the junction being soldered." Under the "Tips" section it says "Pressing down on the tip is not likely to help establish the contact and may actually damage the tip." They also warn against allowing solder to build up in the gap between the split in the tip. It continues to complete the circuit, and bad things happen . . . .

Haven't used it yet. As previously noted, it doesn't look to be designed for small, fine work. Still, if you like tools, it is interesting.

 

[kitelights]

I'm glad to finally see some positive comments on the Cold Heat. Quite a few have made very negative comments. I agree that it isn't a general purpose soldering tool, but for the applications that it does work, it is very convenient and I enjoy using it. I think the main problem is not its limitations, but the learning curve. It doesn't work like a traditional solering iron and you have to learn to use it.

Regarding preheating - it doesn't.

"also.. just letting it sit and warm up before trying to solder... on a larger tab it took about 12-14 seconds to get hot enough to melt the solder well."

It creates heat only when you close the "circuit" between the two legs. If I understand it, it's kinda like a heating element, only the element is whatever you're soldering and the "juice" is supplied by the two legs of the tip.

 

[andrewwynn]

re 12-14 sec. comment.. was just trying to alert future users to be aware that sometimes it'll take longer to heat the tab your are soldering up to melting temperature.. and in some cases.. yikes almost impossible.. it was really hard to solder the ground tabs on the audio cable i was building (chrome is not easy to solder onto).. i think next time i'll pre-tin down on my bench soldering iron.

there is a small defect in the tip of mine that is also likely introducing some inefficiencies so i won't be surprised when i replace the tip and it works better.

-awr

 

[kitelights]

There's two different sized tips, obviously the larger one will do larger things and the smaller one for smaller items.

I've kinda decided when using it, if it doesn't work relatively easily (as long as I'm sure that I'm making good contact with both sides), then I'm probably better off going ahead with a traditional iron. One reason I decided that is, I don't want to ruin a tip and have to buy another one. They are fairly delicate and not cheap.

 

[pbarrette]

Hi all,

Regarding the tips. If they aren't making good contact, then the tip may be fouled with flux. If the end of your tip has a dark, glossy look that is different from the rest of the tip's graphite material, then fouling is the problem. You can use sandpaper, a small file, a nail file, etc. to remove the flux build-up and also to reshape the tip.

Since the tip is made of 2 pieces of graphite, you can reshape a chipped tip by sanding it down to the shape you like. As long as the two halves are still separated and you haven't worn it completely down, the tip is still good. I'll bet that you could even use a dremel cutting wheel to lengthen the tip's slot and get even more useable life from a tip.

I have to keep reminding myself to not use much pressure with this tool. When soldering wire, I straddle the tool over the wire, parallel in line with the point on the wire that I'm trying to solder. The wire falls between the slot and thus forms the electrical contact required to generate heat.

A picture would probably show this better:

The light is pretty obviously near useless in my model. I'm not sure how the others are set up, but I'm guessing it's the same. I'll probably have to open mine up and set the LED at a better angle so it actually illuminates the work piece instead of the area just behind the work piece.

As I stated in my earlier review, I think this really is a great tool, but only for limited purposes. Nobody should be buying this expecting a replacement for a corded iron. On the other hand, it's certainly not the useless pile of crap that other threads have described it as.

pb

 

[MrAl]

Hi there Folks,

Yes i've found this tool useful too, and not a pile of
junk. It just requires patience when you first try it out.
I really like it for soldering those aligator clips back
on the end of my clip leads when they break off when used
for measuring something...happens enough and firing up
the big iron just for that takes several minutes so i
usually end up putting a bunch of leads aside until next
time i decide to fix a bunch. Now i can fix them as soon
as they break. I think i can get repair time down to
about 30 seconds when before it would take about 10 mins
and then the iron would have to cool down etc.
So far i've done the smaller aligator clips but i think
the slightly larger size will work ok too.

pb:
I've also found that rosin coating the tip after making
a solder joint is a problem. When you go to make the next
joint the rosin acts as electrical insulator so the tip
doesnt make good contact. Best to try to keep rosin from
getting on the tip.
I've found another nice way to clean the tip without wearing
it down...
Turning the tip over so you can see the flat side (and the
tool turned on) take a razor knife and touch both contacts
with the non-sharp edge of the knife (corner of the blade
metal). This causes the tip and the knife blade to heat up.
Once the tip heats up the rosin burns off or you could
very gently scrap the excess off (with the blade) as it
melts. I've done this and it works without removing any
of the tip's material so the tip should last a long
time. Takes about 30 seconds.
<font color="blue"> Read your review...nice... </font>
My tool's white LED points at the work itself, while
a friends points just below the work as you mentioned
yours did too. I guess it varies from tool to tool.


Take care,
Al

 

[Quickbeam]

Well, Here's my quick opinion: total piece of junk. I tried to use it to make a quick fix on a headlamp. First off, it couldn't get the wire and solder pad hot enough to actually melt the solder and get the wire to stick. Then I tried to remove a wire from a solder pad - same problem! Then I look at the tip and one corner had managed to snap off! They should'nt say that "the tip is fragile" - more like "the tip is made from the most delicate substance on the planet, don't touch to anything!". $20 down the tubes.

 

[MikeLip]

I think all in all I'd prefer a butane soldering iron like one made by Weller as a portable solution. While they don't heat up and cool down as quickly, you have some control over the output. They also take a variety of tips and, with the right one, can do everything from fine soldering to putting out massive amounts of heat for lugs and ground planes. Also they have torch tips and hot air blower tips. They're only about $30. Less than the cost of a Nuwai QIII.

Mike

 

[MrAl]

Hi again,

Quickbeam:
Gee, sorry to hear about your bad experiance. I know also
that these irons absolutely CAN NOT heat up large connections,
as i've tried that myself. Even some medium ones i've had
a problem heating, even though the 'red' led on the iron
stays lit for 20 seconds.
These irons have a very small heat output compared to
most irons i've used in the past, but i have got some
very good (and fast) results with smaller joints.
Just yesterday one of my audio speakers jack started
humming again (noise because of bad connection).
I've replaced the thing several times, and each time about
3 months later it starts humming again. Yesterday i got
totally fed up with replacing the jack with a new one
(as well as buying new jacks) so i decided to cut it off
and solder it directly to the feed wire.
With the Cold Heat thing i was done in about five minutes
and even had the iron put away in it's case.
Cut off the jack, cut off the plug, stripped all the wires,
tied grounds together by twisting, soldered two connections.

Lucky the two wires were only about 22 gauge though.
If they were 12 gauge (heavy speaker wire) it may not have
worked at all.

Yeah the tip is fragile, which is a drawback for sure.
New ones cost too (see previous posts).

Mike:
I was just looking at two models like that at home depot
the other day (well about a week or two ago). They have
a thin tipped one now too, which looked very nice.
I'm still thinking about getting one for the larger jobs
where you need a quick heat up. I guess i dont mind waiting
for the thing to cool down, it's the start up of a regular
iron i dont like...you have to wait 5 minutes before you
can start using it. If the butane type are fast, im going
to like them too.
BTW, i also have a 12vdc soldering iron i got a long time
ago with a cigar plug (for the car) on the end. It works
very nice but you do need a 12v source and it takes the
usual 4 or 5 minutes to heat up fully.
My gun, on the other hand, is about 100 watts and takes
seconds to heat up too...almost forgot about that...
if you need a lot of heat fairly quick that's the tool
I've soldered lugs on the end of number 8 gauge wire
with that thing. It took a good 15 minutes to do it but
at least it worked.

Take care,
Al