Soldering Irons - battery powered

Not under $30 but I can wholeheartedly recommend the TS80 and the TS80P.
I have the TS80 and it is a really useful tool, all you need is a QC3 compatible phone charger or powerbank and your are good to go.
The TS80P is more powerful but needs a PD capable charger or powerbank.

 

I use a variation of the Bernzomatic ST500 butane iron and a basic Weller 20 watt corded pencil.

I was never happy with the cordless electric irons. They were underpowered or overweight. Probably better on both counts now, but I still have to question the idea of putting up with maintaining a battery for a tool that isn't getting at least monthly use.

Good luck!

 

Don't ever buy a battery-powered soldering iron. They simply don't have enough power, and their point of heat is too small to be effective. I had one and gave it every possible chance before actually throwing it in the trash. You will never go wrong with a Weller branded iron. For automotive wiring, I'd recommend the gun-style with 2 heat positions in the trigger.

 

Simply not a true statement. USB powered soldering irons are pretty good and are battery powered.

The TS80 has 18W power which is more than adequate for most simple soldering jobs.
The TS80P is up to 30W.

Granted, when doing PCB work with heavy thick ground planes it might come up short but for most work it is more than enough.

 

I've got a couple of these and am very happy with them:

https://www.staples.com/Weller-6-8-W-Pro-Series-Battery-Solder-Iron/product_200774

Weller 865MP battery powered soldering iron. Works in either 6W or 8W modes, so keep that in mind as an upper limit.

If you check reviews, you'll find several that say it is great and several that say it cannot even melt bare solder. I have experienced both conditions, on both of these that I have. How can this be?

The answer is written in my review on that staples.com site: for some reason, the heating is very sensitive to the state of the 4x AA Alkaline batteries it uses. With marginally weak batteries (good enough to do all kinds of stuff in other devices), the iron will appear to be working just fine, LEDs lighting up as they're supposed to, but very little heat will be generated and you will want to throw it in the trash, but ...

If you're willing to keep it stocked with fresh batteries, you'll probably have good experiences with this one. That's what I do, and then usually cycle the slightly old batteries into less sensitive devices like flashlights. And of course if the job I'm doing calls for a 40W or 60W iron, I use those and don't complain about this one.

 

I have a Ryobi "hybrid" (18V/120V) soldering iron, but I haven't actually tried it out yet. I got it as a freebie with a pack of two 4AH 18V batteries for $99 (or perhaps $99.99).

 

Soldering Irons have changed so much in recent years... From the $4 Harbor Freight ones to the Ebay ones that are not much different than the Harbor Freight ones. But they come with a temp control box and digital readout like the expensive kind they have in electronics labs, but for only $30. I tried both of those and am ready to try something else.

And of course the better your soldering tool, the more likely you'll be able to do reflow/soldering on circuit boards which is way harder than most other types of soldering.

And so now there's USB-powered soldering irons, like the TS100 that seem to have become the most popular, though I've yet to try one I do indeed plan too. Here's more info about where things are going, which oddly is starting to morph into soldering Iron software instead of just the actual tool... And how many of us won't use Mac or Windows because Linux is better? Well, your time for soldering has come: Pine Made Phones, Laptops, And Now Soldering Irons? | Hackaday

PS: The comments section in that link is loaded with extreme soldering iron nerdery!!!

 

TS100 is not powered by USB but with a laptop charger for example.
The TS80 is USB QC3.0 powered and the TS80P is USB PD 2.0 and QC3.0 powered. If I would buy one now I would get the TS80P but I love my TS80 for quick soldering jobs, even at work.

 

I've completely given up my desktop FX-888D in favor of a TS100, for both bench and field use.

I stuck an iron holder to the side of my benchtop PSU and just run the iron from one channel of said PSU when I need to do soldering. It'll run from as low as 12 volts, but only has access to about 15 watts of power, whereas on its preferred 24v, it's a 60-watt monster. I also made a cord that lets me run it from any Thinkpad brick, which yields 20 volts and a quite pleasant experience, or a Ryobi 18v battery (made a little cap that fits atop the post, so the battery itself is the stand), which is my favorite field soldering solution now.

I'm not a fan of the TS80 because it won't run from spec-compliant USB-C PD, and I think I only have one QC-capable powerbank around. Whereas with the TS100, literally any source of DC between 12 and 30 volts is fair game. I suppose if I get some PD-compliant chargers in the future, the TS80D might be attractive, but I expect the Pine Soldering thing to be out by then.

Nothing cheap is worthwhile in this space, sadly. The TS100 is a gem and they know it and charge accordingly.

 

I have my TS80 mostly for portable use in the field.
A simple QC3 compliant powerbank is enough to use it.
For home use I would probably get the TS80 PD or the TS100. My home setup is a Hakko FX888D which is perfect for stationary use.