What? The problem started with primary insulation failure due to higher voltage than specs. Then a short circuit between the primary coils due to dielectric failure. So overcurrent has not damaging fault!
What? What this supposedly is ohm’s law!? NOT
Beyond moron. People follow him like lemmings. Totally blows my mind.
/\ 
… That is somewhat disturbing. 
I saw the video the other day. First off, he was totally milking the situation for views. No doubt. I’m not a fan of this guy.
Then there is Weller’s response, where they offer him a free product for a better review. WTF? That’s low.
As for the fuse, you can’t take it for granted there will be one. But Weller positions their product as premium, including implying it’s safety. Then cut all the corners they can get away with. That’s low too.
I just made a comment on his video with my name, Glenn Martin. It wasn’t kind.
Excellent…… :+1:
I just read it & ’seconded your emotion’! I thought your comment was straight forward… not unkind at all. Very factual. 
Yeah, I was thinking power, not current. Dee-oh! :person_facepalming:
Well, that makes it even worse, because the difference in current (120V vs 240V) is only 2×, not 4×.
You’ll probably get more than that when firing it up cold vs steady-state.
Thanks pal 
My pleasure… trust me!! I loved reading your ‘perspective’ of the situation. :+1:
didn’t mind pouring a bit of fuel on it either…
Hmm, just suffered through the videos… mostly. What should’ve been a 2min video he stretched out to 20min, and a 30sec video stretched to 10min. Good Lord… Didn’t make it that far for either one.
And that voice… Talk about nails-on-blackboard. 
Okay, me personally, I’d stick a fuse on the primary side anyway, to protect against (as intended for fuses, and what happened) catastrophic failures.
So this wasn’t just cooking itself slowly because of 240V vs 120V, but almost the whole primary shorted thanks to cooked enamel on the wire. Could’ve been a bubble or thin spot, who knows.
I got space-heaters that only have thermal fuses in case they go China Syndrome, but no fuses on the mains that I ever saw. And they’re UL and CSA rated. I keep ’em at work, though. Haha.
So… yeah, wouldda been nice (and smart) if Weller would’ve put a big fuse on the primary. At least twice the cold-startup current. But they didn’t. So, lesson to be learned, don’t spill hot coffee on your crotch, and don’t leave things like soldering irons (or Li-cell chargers, for that matter) unattended.
I’d like to know your thoughts, but I don’t know how to search and find your comment. It’s not near the top.
Huh… never knew that transformers’ ratings were designed to be at the edge of core-saturation neat/at the rated maximums. So that’s what cooked it. Interesting. I always assumed it was due to maximum heat dissipation of the bottled-up windings.
But yeah, that’ll do it. 
You don’t put much more steel into a transformer than is required for correct operation.
That would be economic insanity.
It was designed and wound for 110V.
The same amount of metal would also be fine at 240V with at least double the turns on the primary winding. Which is why Weller make just such a thing.
He’s milking his idiot mistake for everything that he can get, possibly even created it just to generate revenue.
I always thought he was a gobby self-important uneducated potty-mouthed f’witt, with an irritating manner, to whom I took an instant dislike, now I am even more sure.
But here we all are, still discussing the tw@t’s latest bilge.
How clever does that make us ? Best ignored.
If he took up Weller’s offer of a 240V iron, he might actually have to do a decent review, and declare it good, and eat his words, and appear even more foolish. But that’s not what he likes to do, hence his disgraceful ranting, name-calling, character assassination attempts, etc. A hateful, horrible, spiteful man, behind all the jocular bonhomie.
If you can bare to watch his channel, you will detect a theme where he basically rubbishes everything that he reviews, finds fault, explains his superior knowledge, how if he was in charge of design it would have been done so much better, etc. Subtly, with back-handed “complements” but the snide comments are always there. Nothing is ever good enough for him, and he always knows best.
I can’t imagine why any manufacturer would still send him free stuff for review, but it seems some still do.
Didn’t learn that tidbit from him, but from the comments. And I like any opportunity to learn sumpin’.
Compounding the problem, though, is hooking it up to 50Hz AC vs the designed 60Hz AC. Was already starting out with 1-2 strikes against it, even if due to a boneheaded mistake.
The guy just bugs me. Reminds me of a cross between Robin Leach and that irritating guy on commercials here for… whatever (thank B’harni [pbuh!] I tune out those idiotic things).
There was one part in the video that he repeated something which he said just before, several times. As in said something but then said it again in a different way probably to stretch out the time. And repeated himself as in saying something over again even though it was said the first time, but he said it again. Oh yeah, repeated something after saying it the first time around, but said it again.
Got to the point I just wanted to punch him in the face…
I’m sure I’ll get reported by a snowflake, but this is what I said to Dave on his YouTube Channel:
” You are a complete asshole. You did this on purpose to make an American company look bad. If you were stupid enough to plug a 120 volt soldering station into a 240 volt outlet, your credibility is zero in my book. Go back to school you nitwit.”
Yeah, go to town you overly sensitive wimps, and report my horrifying comment here…
Ha, thanks for sharing.
I think too he likely did it on purpose. He showed zero remorse and zero humility in the video I saw. I find it near impossible to believe he would adapt to 230v without checking the labelled input voltage. Only portable computers and phone chargers commonly run on both. I know this. I would never ‘forget’ this before adapting something to mains power. He had to know this too.
It’s more likely he got tipped off online about some Wellers not having fuses, or he investigated his, then hatched a new idea for a popular video.
I know I risk being banned for this but Tom Tom, please take a look in the mirror.
I rarely agree with TomTom, but I have to say he’s right on with his comment on Dave’s channel. The guy is a self-centered POS who thinks he knows it all. Plus his voice sounds like his balls were squeezed in a vise. The only thing big about him is his knife.
I don’t disagree with Tom Tom’s opinion of Dave, I just find his hypocrisy astonishing.
For all of the people who can’t stand Dave’s voice, that’s understandable but it’s probably best if you don’t visit Australia.
I can’t totally agree with these comments but i also don’t disagree, Dave is seeing things from a engineers stand point and is much more strict on a piece of equipment than most. Take a look at the difference between bigclive and Dave both have the same products like the fake 936d soldering irons one will like it (bigclive) but Dave will hate it. Difference in expectations and also a fact that you are buying a ripoff. I think he has an issue with most items like this. Hes job is electronics so of course he will want the best.
Things like the TS80 soldering iron made in China and he loved it, Aneng 8008 cheap meter and he loved it for electronics use.
Under UL listing this meter is meant to have a primary fuse but Weller get around this by saying its an industrial piece of equipment. Are you and me going to look at the UL listing and think Weller done the dodgies and listed an iron as an industrial piece of equipment?