Cold heat?

[Franchesca]

Originally Posted by Ted Boucher

Ok... I will say that i have bought one of these ( since I babysitted my cousins for 3 days) and it does work.

I COMPLETELY understand! It is hard to save money from babysitting ... it takes forever !!! Anyway, its an honest job so no worries there!!

Originally Posted by Ted Boucher

You turn it on and connect the tip to metal and it instantly heats up ( about 5 sec.) when you disconect it then it cools down very fast ( about 6 sec until cool).

Thanks for the info. Its good to know that it does work, that way people 'interested' don't waste money on something that's completely bogus such as the car wax or else!!

And to agree with Elgin, I also believe that the marketing industry is ripping us all off!! They stink ... darn advertisers!! I'm also unto them !

[Joe Ross]

I just saw it today on thinkgeek: http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/tools/69d3/

[sanddrag]

About the car wax, my uncle worked in show biz and he once shot a commercial for some car wax, and right before take 1 they were waxing the car with the wax they were going to sell and it just would not shine. So they had to run out and buy some Simonize wax to shine the car that would be selling the cheapo wax.

[JohnBoucher]

No Ted didn't use the soldering gun on his cousins.
We stocked up on duct tape and cable ties.

[bigboi146]

I have one and it works fine. My team used it on every soldering job we had.

[KenWittlief]

my son got one - it does work

but

the tip has to maintain electrical contact on both sides of the tip for it to heat

and as someone else said, there is voltage present across the tip (I dont know how much)

I like my Weller. Never yet grabbed it by the wrong end and burned myself. And Ive never NEEDED to stick a soldering iron in my pocket 3 seconds after using it.

If you need to cool an iron quickly you simply wipe it with a wet sponge or paper towel.

Neat product, but I thinks its a solution in search of a problem.

[TubaMorg]

civil war, bittersweet, open secret, genuine imitation, smart blonde, drag race, cold heat, plastic glasses, painless dentistry, freezer burn, pretty ugly, criminal justice.

Don't forget "hot water heater"

[Andy A.]

I've used one.

It does work- it heats up quickly and cools down quickly. You can even solder with it.

The problem is that it's pretty useless for doing more then quick fixes. It heats up quick, but it has so little thermal energy that youd be sitting there for an hour trying to heat up a large joint enough to get solder to flow properly. So don't even bother trying to solder up a crimp connector. For small PCB stuff, it's pretty snazzy. I wouldn't want to do more then a few joints with it though. An electric iron may take a few minutes to heat up, but once it does it will stay hot for as long as you want. It may seem silly, but waiting those few seconds for the coldheat to warm up is annoying.

I'd say its not overly useful for FIRST, but it could be handy for the average joe. It certaintly is a lot faster and easier then a butane powered iron and more portable then a corded. There is more concern with keeping it clean, as solder stuck on the tip fouls it up right quick.

-Andy A.

[Erics626]

We have one, but I didn't like it. It is true to its word of heating up and cooling quickly, but metal must be in the little slot for it to work. It might be good for small jobs around the house, but I did not find it very useful for robotics.

[Jay H 237]

Originally Posted by Erics626

It is true to its word of heating up and cooling quickly, but metal must be in the little slot for it to work.

That limits what gauge wires you can solder with it. The average person who sees it will think it will totally replace, or they'll have no need to buy a regular soldering iron. It may be fine for 18, 20, 22 but wait until they try it with 12 or 14 and become disgusted with it. What they would expect is for it to do everything and then they'll wind up with not only the Cold Heat but also cold solder joints!

[ICE MAN]

Originally Posted by Andy A.

I've used one.

It does work- it heats up quickly and cools down quickly. You can even solder with it.

The problem is that it's pretty useless for doing more then quick fixes. It heats up quick, but it has so little thermal energy that youd be sitting there for an hour trying to heat up a large joint enough to get solder to flow properly. So don't even bother trying to solder up a crimp connector. For small PCB stuff, it's pretty snazzy. I wouldn't want to do more then a few joints with it though. An electric iron may take a few minutes to heat up, but once it does it will stay hot for as long as you want. It may seem silly, but waiting those few seconds for the coldheat to warm up is annoying.

I'd say its not overly useful for FIRST, but it could be handy for the average joe. It certaintly is a lot faster and easier then a butane powered iron and more portable then a corded. There is more concern with keeping it clean, as solder stuck on the tip fouls it up right quick.

-Andy A.

This is quite true as I myself had this same problem. It is OK if you want to solder a cheap fix, but if you try and solder for anything complicated like r/c cars or robots it is pretty ineffective. I once tried to solder my r/c car with it and before the solder melted the plastic encasing around the tip melted and it has never worked since. My advice leave it alone, any plug in wall solder gun will work fine and there really is no reason why someone needs to put their solder gun in their pocket after using it. This is my experience and may be biased, so don't follow my every word if you choose.

[jkoci]

I'm not exactly sure how it works, but there is a spark somewhere in the thing and that's how it gets the solder hot. however, there is still a possibility of you burning yourself with this iron. my team decided to stay away from this and stick to the normal irons. according to one guy, this thing is also hard to get into small places. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6151688/

[greencactus3]

Originally Posted by bigboi146

I have one and it works fine. My team used it on every soldering job we had.

even for battery cables? i havent ever tried to use a cold heat so i dunno but our 80W one makes it really easy.
and with such a small tip it may take a lot of heating to get a good joint with bigger wires

[KenWittlief]

Originally Posted by greencactus3

even for battery cables?

definately not! for soldering the terminals on the battery cables you need an 80 to 150W iron or gun-style

or a propane / butane torch.