Piggyback Board Brings Touch Sensing to USB Soldering Iron
1 min read
Summary
A problem with the current generation of USB-powered soldering irons, which automatically start and stop, is that they can turn off in the middle of a soldering job.
To address this issue, developer [DoganM95] has designed a replacement control module with a TTP223 capacitive touch sensor that can be fitted to the SJ1 soldering iron from Awgem.
The module turns the iron’s aluminium shell into a sensor plate, meaning it will only turn off if left untouched for a long period.
It does not require extensive modifications to the iron, aside from the removal of one MOSFET.
The designer states that the BA6 variant of the chip should be used, as other chips have a 10-second timeout which would nullify the modification.
