Reflow hotplate at BG

I just ordered one. Are they any good? Anyone have any info?

https://m.banggood.com/220V-300W-LED-Remover-PTC-Heating-Soldering-Chip-Welding-BGA-Station-Split-Plate-p-1328753.html?rmmds=search

Only thing on this hot plate I could find is this.

I have a 120v version that I haven’t used because I don’t want to deal with mains power.

I do use some 12v PTC heaters stuck to some aluminum plate to do my reflows, though.

Thanks Moose, so there’s already been some discussion on it.

Call me slow, eas, but why not plug it into mains?

Hmmm…
Thin aluminum, a whopping 300 Watts and no thermostat, not even a built in thermo couple or ntc.
I’ll pass.

Any one pulled one apart? Its basically a dead short besides the resistive load the heating element so im not sure how safe it is.

Plus it has no way to control the temp and a 300w heating element that could get hot enough to melt after a bit of time.

It does scare me a bit also. You will be inputting the full 240 volts at up to 10 amps into this thing. Maybe do a strip down and review on it. I’ll donate some money for the cause.

Uhm… 10 Amperes would be 2300 Watt…

Let’s say it’s 1.5 Amperes when it’s still cold.

He has the capability of putting ten amps, 240 volt through it straight out of the power point. :frowning:

Hmm… so lots of speculation but no one has actually used it?

I ‘could’ do a review but it’ll be very short. I can measure temp with an IR gun, check for earth leakage, measure current with a multimeter (don’t have a clamp meter)…. uumm not sure what other parameters I could check.

I’ve got one of those AC inline variable power controllers. I could see if it helps control the temperature.

Of course, these highly scientific tests will not be up to blf standards since electrics are not my forte.

Oh, i see what you meant now.
Sorry…

Providing there’s no earth leakage I’m not sure I understand the negative thoughts about this product

Me neither.
Also, you could ground the plate.

Well its more so if some thing goes wrong? If the heating wire breaks it could earth on the plate. If you have a RCD that should be okay maybe.

Heating wire/elements are brittle when hot and a strong bump could cause the element to break.

All electronics in sold in Australia have to be either eartherd or double insulated and this appears to be neither.

You also have the issue like its got no regulation and if you forget to turn it of it could be an issue.

Its a basic design so the less power you feed in the colder wll the element will go so the power supply should work.

Yea grounding the plate with a earth plug would be best if you have a RCD. its better the current goes to earth than through you.

I like my pp. Just dont want to see him get fried. :slight_smile:

Wife’s old electric Frypan (with lid).
Comes with built in thermostat. and on insulated legs.
I do allsorts with that thing. Plenty of heat.

Okay, I understand the concerns now. Thanks for explaining EDSG :beer: I looked at my soldering iron and it appears to be an earthed appliance.

I’ll see what I can do to protect myself. Along with earthing I’m thinking of laying a sheet of silicon over the plate so my tweezers cannot make contact.

I have this plate here (cheaper on AE btw) - it draws a bit over 5Amps at the start, but just for a few seconds, then it goes down to under 2A.

I haven’t used it yet and I only bought it to heat up PCBs so my reflow soldering station would have an easier job.

I also think that earthing the metal part is important and pretty easy to achieve, also.

The normal fuse will blow if you short live to ground and you don’t have a ground leak fuse.
Should be fine.
But, You’re right that when it gets really hot if you don’t use a thermostat of some sorts, something will go wrong…