I’m looking for a good battery operated soldering iron for work. I would only need it for an occasional electronic solder, nothing serious so 10-15 mins runtime would be fine.
It doesn’t have to be 18650, AAs will work if there are any good ones. A co worker has a 4 AA unit he got at Radio Shack for like $20. It seems to work ok but 18650 would be better.
I bought a Hakko FX-901 several months ago. The build quality is decent. Runs for about an hour continuously with 4 AA Eneloops. It's not designed for heavy duty soldering, but for normal light duty, up to #16 wire, it's more than capable. I bought mine on ebay for around $31
I have a couple of hobbyking’s 3xAA. They’re cheap, yet works pretty good.
I modded them to use single 14500 (4.2V) and another 2x14500 (8.4V). My favourite is the 8.4V - draws 2.3A, heats up to solder temp well under 10s. You do get only around 10min working time though, but since it heats so quickly you need only 20-30s per joint.
My first post:)
I am a fan of Ryobi 18v one plus battery tools. So far I have only used (and own) their pruning and digging gear for the garden and an amazing and very bright Hybrid Worklight, which with the battery out, accepts an AC plug for power (in Australia at least).
I have noted that they have two soldering irons that plug into the same batteries. I will report back if and when I trial either. https://www.ryobi.com.au/power-tools/products/list/category/soldering-irons.
Amazing forum, thanks all.
The $85 cordless solder thing is $50 at home depot.
I was actually going to grab one today to try out, since I have a ryobi to dewalt adapter. I have the ryobi single hand inflator and glue gun. Both work great so far. Im still a dewalt guy but I buy other brands if they make something dewalt doesn’t make.