PINECIL – Smart Mini Portable Soldering Iron, New Version 2

Product Information

PINE64 is about to launch the second generation Pinecil RISC-V soldering iron with the Pinecil V2 featuring a new Bouffalo Lab BL706 RISC-V microcontroller with Bluetooth LE connectivity, optimizations for higher power levels, as well as tentative support for the new USB PD EPR standard (Extended Power Range) working at up to 28V. Easy way: just get a Power Wheels adapter. They are made for different tool brands and get a DC5525 Pigtail wire. EPR 28V USB-C is new to the market in 2022. The first wave of these smart chargers are 28V/140W, are more expensive, and require a PD 3.1/240W cable to fully allow the 28V power to V2 (28V seen on screen if correct cable is used). For most soldering tasks, it all depends on what you are soldering and what the nearest power source is. Heating up to a stable 350 degrees Celsius was identical in our tests, with both power sources hitting the magic temperature in 15 seconds. We tested this with a USB-C bench power supply (Pine’s Pine Power) that provided 20V at 2.6A (52W) and a DC PSU which provided 19V at 2.1A (39.9W).

Review: Pine64 Pinecil Soldering Iron | Hackaday Review: Pine64 Pinecil Soldering Iron | Hackaday

Will Pinecil work with regular USB-C PD 65w 20V-3.25A chargers also? Yes, as long as it supports PD (power delivery protocol). Protocol Droid bot: the live chat is bridged to Discord, Telegram, Matrix and IRC. Those bridges will not have all the features available within all platforms, but the chat is relayed between all four by a bot named "Protocol Droid". I got mine and it makes a hissing sound from time to time, especially when I use my cheap USB QC3 charger (~10V) but also on my 19V Barrel. On their Chat at least two others had similar problems. I’m really not sure how long my iron will last. And they only have 30 days warranty…And “significant thought has gone into it”… they initially had a 21V Zener diode right across the power rail without a series resistor. So above 21V the Zener was immediately blown. They didn’t populate it on the production run. But at least one guy was sent a preproduction unit instead. After complaining he got a replacement. But I still wonder how often that error occured. For certain QC adapters, lowering the PD timeout value to 15 could help, and most PD adapters will also still work using 15. If a PD charger does not work at 15, then increase the timeout (PD default is 20 = 20x 100ms = 2 seconds). Recommend operating voltage 12-21V, some components can tolerate higher voltages at "absolute maximum" but it's very ill-advised If you want the designs of the cores themselves, many are proprietary, but many are open or licensable. https://riscv.org/exchange/?_sft_exchange_category=core If you want the source to the cores like C906 or C910, companies like Alibaba publish those under open licenses, like https://abopen.com/news/alibabas-t-head-releases-c906-c910-risc-v-cores-under-a-permissive-licence/ and you can find synthesizable RTL at https://github.com/T-head-Semi/openc910 as one example. Except in this device it actually brings some interesting features on the table, all that on open and relatively simple hardware, offline and feature oriented, which is important.

PINECIL – Smart Mini Portable Soldering Iron (Version 2)

Some tips come pre-dipped in solder for protection and may look odd. Heat them up then wipe clean on a soldering sponge or brass wool and inspect. from a 20V capable USB-C PD charger or power from DC barrel charger that is the appropriate specifications. The screen displays the voltage from the charger. most PC & laptop ports don't work as they are only 5V which is good enough for simple Firmware updates but not to provide the constant higher power a "resistance" type of soldering Iron needs to maintain heat. QC3.0 phone chargers: not recommended, it is weaker in power and does not auto-negotiate like USB-C PD does. QC3 requires manually setting the voltage in the Power settings. A minimum of 3 amps is needed and many QC phone chargers are only able to provide a low 12V 1.5amp, limiting Pinecil to about 17W of thermal capability which is weak and slow. It may not even start to heat, but if it does, it may get repeated Thermal Runaway message (this means the weak power causes Pinecil to auto-shutdown continuously).Silicone USB-C cables are recommended if possible, they are more flexible and heat resistance. They do not melt or smoke if touched briefly with an iron compared with most other cords. Need troubleshooting advice for the PINE64 Pinecil soldering iron? Join through one of the community chat links below. Types Mini Stainless Steel Soldering Iron Tip Replacement for TS100 Portable Outdoor Soldering Iron Kit (1pc TS-D24 Soldering tip) One guy on the chat had a Diode floating in his case another one found a capacitor that was soldered very crappy. The PINE64 Mission is to get hardware into the hands of open source developers and tinkerers. Buying authentic Pinecils supports that mission (see this article).