Quick Note: This post was started over 3 years ago, and I just never got around to finishing and posting it. At the time, there were no (good) options for a USB-powered soldering irons, so a 60W USB-PD TS100 was quite novel. These days, many new options exist, and I’ll probably be buying one of them before too long since the TS100 isn’t the most ergonomic thing to use.
After my last TS100 project, my iron is NEARLY perfect. But one thing has been bothering me still. Because the tip has a fixed resistance, heating power is dependent on input voltage. At 24 volts, the iron is 60 watts, which is pretty great. However, if you drop the input voltage down to 20V, you lose 15 watts off the top. 45W still totally gets the job done, but its a bummer to say the least that the iron is capable of so much more. Especially so, since USB-PD will happily support up to 100W supply. Ignoring increased voltage options in the latest PD 4 spec, what we need is a way to boost the 20V a USB-C supply will give us, up to the 24V required to pump 60W through the iron.
Luckily, fully integrated boost converters are a dime a dozen on the internet, including plenty that will handle the 3A in/2.5A out (plus some extra on the input since it’s only so efficient). As a bonus, the boost topology shares the same input and output negative terminal with a low impedance path, so the hacks I used in the last post to achieve tip grounding still function even through this converter.
Besides just wiring it in, the only things left are to dial in 24V on the output, 3D print a housing for it, and to make sure you only use a power supply capable of 60W or more. Come to think of it, wouldn’t it be convenient if the converter could intelligently pick an output voltage (and thus max power) based on what the attached PD supply is actually capable of? … project for next time, I think.
The construction is pretty simple – it’s an off the shelf XL6009 boost converter like this one, with a bit of superglued perfboard to support 5mm screw terminals, and a fixed 20V ZYPDS USB-PD trigger, deadbugged together with glue and hookup wire. All of that fits into a custom printed plastic enclosure, though it’s hardly the most elegant looking thing. STLs and PrusaSlicer 3mf below.
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