WELLER WLC 100 free download

File name Repairing a Weller WLC100.pdf

Weller WLC100 Electronic Soldering Station One day you walk to your workbench, you flick the switch on your soldering station and the red light comes "ON", indicating that everything is okay. Ten minutes later, when you are ready to solder you find that the soldering pencil is not hot at all. What?! After the usual frustration period of confusion and bad words you decide to investigate and fix the problem. After all, you are a techie or technically inclined and "you can fix anything!" Well, read on. I was in a similar situation and attempted a 'quick-fix'; NOT! I did NOT THINK of checking the soldering pencil first. (Tony failed to realize that the HEATER is the most common element of any soldering iron or station that fails!) I started to take the one visible screw out from the bottom cover plate. The other two screws are hidden underneath the rubber feet at the left edge. The circuit board inside the base unit is small. I pulled the knob off and removed the nut holding the switch to the body. I marked the wiring on a piece of paper and took the printed circuit board out all the way. Earlier that afternoon we had brown outs and powerfailures that afternoon - so my first thought was a defective DIAC. I tested the DIAC with an instrument called a "Huntron Tracker". It showed okay. Okay, on to the TRIAC. The TRIAC tester showed that the component was switching and holding its state. So this part was okay. Finally, it occurred to me to check the heating element of the soldering pencil itself. Yes, the iron's heater was open (infinite resistance). Murphy's Law at work again! I could have saved myself a lot of time by thinking FIRST, instead of taking the station apart impulsively. Oh well, LESSON LEARNED! The Weller® WLC100 is a cheap and well built, soldering station and works really well for most of my applications. This station served me for about 6 years of 7-hour a day -- so fantastic service. Power output is adjustable from 5 to 40 Watts via a potentiometer on the front panel. This station is supplied with a ST3 1/8" screwdriver tip. This 1/8" tip is suitable for almost many common tasks (e.g., connectors, point-to-point wiring). I was unable to locate the replacement iron (SPG40) or the replacement heater (HE40) for my older WLC100 model. I was forced to purchase a new station, not really expensive though, as they are still a good buy around $55.00 CDN in my area. I have drawn the component lay-out for the printed circuit board (next page), which measures about 1-7/8 inch by 1-inch; circuit schematic and parts list. This document may help in repairing your own station by identifying key components or replacement parts ­ if and when that time comes. Printed circuit board layout for the Weller®WLC100 base unit Parts List: R1 = 15 Kilo-Ohm, brown-greenorange, 1/8 Watt, 5% P1 = 220K potentiometer C1 = 823K, 250V D1, D2 = 1N4007 D3 = DIAC, bilateral trigger type Q1 = *Q4012LPH, TRIAC, 400V/25A, Made by Teccor Unlike the Weller® photo at the top