TS80 Miniware I love you ~

I got this lovely Miniware TS80 solder iron about a year and a half ago as a gift, and it’s easily become one of my most loved items! You can view the products on the official Miniware site.

It’s quick to heat up to temperature and works like a charm. I’ve been using this almost exclusively and haven’t had any issues.

The beauty of it is the portability – you can pack it up and take it anywhere, even in your purse! You just need a battery pack and boom, solder on the fly! I use one similar to this solar pack, this one looks better than mine as you can charge your phone wirelessly on top of it.

TS80 showing scale of the pen size — It’s the size of a pen! So easy to carry around.

A few things to note though is that it does have a need for energy to support this heat and quick heat up time. It can use a 9V source.

Change your firmware

The TS80 works fine as it is but I found it can struggle with the current firmware. There seemed to be an issue with different power sources. If you change the firmware, you can choose between a 12V or 9V source. It also has some nice little settings graphics and heating up / sleeping animations that are worth getting.

New software to change settings on the soldering iron. This is a super useful thing to do, you can find the files on GitHub. I highly recommend doing this. It added a lot more settings to the soldering iron. Who doesn’t love a lot of settings?

View of the charging port — USB C to power this little guy up! TS80 solder iron with hot swappable tips.

TS80 Details

Details of the solder iron are as follows:

Power 18W
USB C powered (requires QC 3.0); supply must provide 9v 2a
Or off a static 9v supply
Runs up to 100 – 400C active in 10C increments; with separate idle standby temp setting
~30 second warmup from cold
wedge or conical tips; most kits you order have only one, but extra tips are easy to get
OLED Screen
Open Source
Control part: length: 96mm, diameter: 16.5mm.
Heating part: length: 72+33mm, diameter: 5.5mm.
Weight: 200g
Compliant with EU certification: CE FCC.

What’s in the Box?

Packages typically Included:
TS80 Soldering Controllor (Black color) ×1
D25 Soldering Tip ×1
UK Standard 9V/2.0A Power Supply Adapter ×1
Type C USB Cable ×1
Soldering iron stand ×1
User Manual ×1

Replacement tips are available or if you prefer a different tip for your soldering needs.