Pinecil Power Supplies

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Power Options for Pinecil

Overview

  1. Using a power supply that is at the higher end of the Voltage/Amps requirements will give faster heating and performance.

Pinecil can use:

  1. Any Usb-C power supply that supports PD (Power Delivery) and has at least the minimum Volt/amps listed. The Usb-C PD65W, 3.25A, 20V is recommended, but a lower PD45W will also work on V1).
  2. Any quality "center positive" DC barrel 12-21V battery or power supply using a DC 5525 (5.5mm outer diameter, 2.5mm post) see Video on center-positive polarity. It is sometimes better to get a used name brand laptop brick Dell/Lenovo/HP etc., over a cheap brick which could have voltage spikes that damage the pinecil or other electronics.
  3. V2 can handle a DC barrel supply up to 24V without modyfying the PCB (always check polarity, must be a center-positive jack).
  4. Any typical tool battery 18V-21V, see tool battery section for details.
  5. QC3.0: not recommended, it is weaker and does not auto-negotiate like Usb-C PD. Minimum of 3 amps is needed and many QC phone chargers are only able to provide a low 12V 1.5amp, limiting Pinecil to about 17W of thermal capability which is weak and slow. It may not even start to heat, but if it does, it may get repeated "Thermal Runaway" message (this means the weak power causes Pinecil to auto-shutdown).
  6. QC is more problematic for V2 which comes with the special shorter 6.2 ohm resistance tip. This means the V2 needs more power than the V1. Switching to a longer tip in V2 would reduce the power requirement a little, but then you lose a small amount of heat speed/performance.
  7. Magnetic tip USB-C cables are not recommended, and not USB compliant

Troubleshooting QC chargers

  1. older QC 2.0 chargers are not supported, check if your charger is at least QC3.0.
  2. Some QC power adapters only allow a limited time for QC negotiation, otherwise voltage will fall back to 5V.
  3. To address this, starting from firmware v2.16+, there is a PD timeout setting (in 100ms steps) which allows QC negotiation to start earlier. Change this only if you are having issues with your QC charger. (Power Settings > PD timeout)
  4. This enables some QC adapters to work (i.e., some Baseus QC chargers). Alternately, lowering the number may result in problems with PD negotiation on some PD type adapters that are slower to negotiate. If you switch between QC & PD adaptors, you may have to change this setting.
  5. For certain QC adapters, lowering the PD timeout value to 15 could help, and most PD adapters will also still work using 15. If a PD charger does not work at 15, then increase the timeout (PD defaut is 20 = 20x 100ms = 2 seconds). Note that some QC chargers simply will not work, are too weak, or cheaply made.

How to Test if my charger will work?

As long as you do the following you should be fine:

  1. Don't plug in something that is higher voltage than the official ratings for V1 (21v limit) or V2 (24V limit).
  2. if using a DC barrel charger, check the Polarity first, must be center positive (see Video)
  3. use a known good quality cable that will not short.
  4. if the Pinecil heats up very slowly or gets "Thermal Runaway" message, then the charger is too weak, get something else.
  5. Phone chargers are too weak, most are only 12V 1.5 amps which is too low.
  6. QC 2.0 not supported at all by IronOS firmware (only QC 3.0).
  7. most PC & laptop ports don't work as they are only 5V. 5V is good enough for simple Firmware update but not to provide the constant higher power an "resistance" type of soldering Iron needs to run and maintain heat.
  8. Check the specs on your laptop/PC ports and charger ports, most of the time when it doesn't work, it's because the rating is very low on it and not designed to power an Iron (check specified Watts, Volts, Amps on the port and see if they meet the minimum needed by Pinecil).

Links to Chargers/Batteries

This is a very small list compared to all the possible chargers that work, and new chargers come on the market all the time.

PD/QC/DC Barrel Chargers/Batteries/Cables

Usb-C Cables

  • Silicone USB-C cables are recommended if possible, they are more flexible and heat resistance. They do not melt or smoke if touched briefly with an iron compared with most other cords.
  • These work with usb 20V chargers and have been tested with Pinecil.
  1. silicone, 1-cable, PINE64
  2. silicone, 2-pack cables, Inter9er
  3. silicone, Baseus
  4. silicone, Anker
  • EPR PD 3.1 Usb-C cables (240W, 48V, 5A), needed for 28V, 140W PD3.1 chargers. Backwards compatible for all lower USB-C devices/chargers.
    • There are no silicone 240W cables available yet. The below cables have been tested to work, but are not silicone.
    • certified 240W+Low speed data Club 3D (slower usb2 480mb/ps data speed = 0.48G speed)
    • certified 240W/40Gbps, coupon $25 off, highest USB-IF data speed, 40Gbps, USB 4 Gen3
      • (if amazon promo is expired, or from EU/other country, scroll all the way to the bottom of page, and click on paypal to buy directly).

Usb-C Charger

File:USB C PD65 Shared Power Chargers.jpeg
Many multi-port Usb-C chargers give 65w-20v-3amps+ Only when using the single top port. For the best performance on these chargers, only use the single top port with Pinecil.

Battery Power bank


DC Barrel Power

Check the polarity of the DC Barrel plug before plugging in a random charger or it could break the Pinecil.

DC Laptop Brick

  • Generally a center-positive laptop charger with more than 3 Amps and 19V-24V will work on Pinecil V2 (video how to check if polarity is Center Positive). Plugging in a DC barrel charger with the wrong polarity symbol on the back will break the Pinecil.
  • DC5525 barrel plug will plug in directly (5.5mmm x 2.5mm) but if you have a different plug, there are many adaptors to convert it to 5.5mm, 2.5mm (don't force a different plug into Pinecil, it will Break the barrel port).
  • DC barrel 24V is supported on V2 (most V1 can only do a max of 21V unless a modification is performed to cut the trace to the Vbus, and enable 24V safely (see Ralim's IronOS DebugMenu for details)

Tool Batteries 18V-21V

Power-Wheels adapter link with Ryobi battery
Power source = 5S, Minimum Voltage = 3.3V
  • Tip: only if you change to a different size battery do you need to alter this. If you only ever switch between a USB-C charger and the tool battery, you could just leave the 5S/3.3V setting. Overdrain means using the battery past the point where you can charge it again. Many tool batteries have internal protection to prevents this, but some brands don't have it (unfortunately, unlike most brands, Dewalt puts it into the tool & not the batttery). Setting it in Pinecil is an extra safety setting in case you are not sure and want to preserve batteries.


Limited usability:

  • Nintendo Switch AC Adapter (USB-C wall-wart) (PD@15V). Does not work on V2 (needs 3+amps). Works on V1, but slower heat speed because it's low amps and only 15V.
  • Notebook Docking Station HP Thunderbolt Dock 230W G2 (PD@20V)
    • (had problems with lower firmware versions, but works fine Pinecil firmware: 2.15 and DockingStation firmware: 1.0.69.1)
  • Smartphone Charger Samsung EP-TA20EWE (QC2@9V)
  • Smartphone Charger Google Pixel G1000-US (PD@9V)
  • Notebook AC Adapter Delta Electronics ADP-65JH BB (DC@19V) and ADP-90CD DB (1.7x 4.8mm need adaptor, tip is not DC5525)
  • Notebook AC Adapter LITEON PA-1700-02 (DC@18.5V, 65W) (tip is 1.7mmx5.5mm would need adaptor for DC5525)
  • Nillkin 63W USB Car Charger Quick Charge 3.0 PD (Pinecil Firmware: 2.14.2425902)
    • QC3@9V/12V and PD@15V work, PD@20V doesn't
    • PD@20V works fine when using PDC004-20V or ZY12PDN on dc jack (DC@20V, limit: 45W)

Not compatible

  • Zendure Power bank like this one does not work. It does not appear to be USB-C PD 3.0 compliant. Only the USB-A port seems to work at lower QC voltage. It does not deliver USB-C 20V-5amps or USB-C 20V -3amps.
  • Smartphone Charger RAVpower 30W Dual USB Turbo Wall Charger (Should provide QC3@9V/12V, but only provides 5 V on both ports)
  • Sabrent HB-B7C3 USB3 hub, 7 data ports, 3 charge ports, 60W supply -- does not negotiate higher voltages.

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