TS80P Soldering Iron

DJ reviews the TS80P Soldering Iron

I’ve been through most of the TS range of soldering irons, the original TS100 was a solid performer, mostly limited by its power supply. The OLED display and the microcontroller driven internals offered up so many possibilities for smarter soldering. Many of which would be unrealised until folks started hacking their own firmware for the device. It was super compact though and created a new space for compact smart soldering irons for the maker toolbag.

The TS100 was followedf by the TS80 and the TS80 brought in a whole new way of doing soldering tips, with a comelete plug in tip unit connected with a 3.5mm jack plug and a USB C-type connector for power. Disappointingly, that USB C type connector didn’t handle PD (Power Delivery) PSUs so you had to use a QI power supply.

And now we’re on the TS80P, which “fixes” that by supporting Power Delivery on the PSU. And yet it almost doesn’t support Power Delivery. What? Well, Power Delivery works by negotiating what power is needed by the device and available from the PSU. That’s why you see a list of possible powers on a PD capable PSU; a voltage and an ampage. The idea is from the range available, the most suitable is selected.

Thing is the TS80P only knows 20V at 2.5amps and thats not common on PD PSUs. If your PSU does support it, you’re good to go. If it doesn’t… time to find a new PSU….

… To be continued…

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