Soldering Iron Automation: WiFi-Powered Convenience

2023-09-05 | By Zach Hipps

License: See Original Project Wifi

solder_1

In this article, I'm going to try solving a problem that maybe you can relate to. I have a ‎really hard time remembering to turn off my soldering iron after I've been building a ‎project. Sometimes I'll come into my office the next day and realize that I've left it on all ‎night. I really like the idea of my soldering iron being able to send me a notification ‎anytime I forget to turn it off, but it would be even better if I was able to remotely turn off ‎my soldering iron after I receive that message. When I told my friend Jonathan about ‎this project, he suggested that I give the soldering iron some personality, and he came ‎up with a really good suggestion on how to do that. ‎

First, I'm going to need a microcontroller with WiFi capabilities. I don't need anything ‎fancy here, so I'm going to use the Adafruit ESP8266 Feather Huzzah WiFi ‎microcontroller. I'll also need a way to disconnect my soldering iron from the wall outlet, ‎so I've got an Adafruit Power Relay Featherwing module that sits right on top of the ‎microcontroller. I need to solder some headers on the relay module before sliding it on ‎top of the microcontroller. ‎

micro_2

While it’s possible to program the ESP microcontroller using other methods, I'm using ‎the Arduino IDE because it’s the one I’m most comfortable with. I’ll open the Library ‎Manager and search for the Universal Telegram Bot Library. You don't have to use ‎Telegram for this project; I could accomplish the same thing using email, WhatsApp, or ‎even an SMS message. I opened one of the library’s examples and put in my WiFi ‎credentials, then I created a Telegram bot by launching the Telegram app. I searched ‎for a user called “bot father” and created a new bot for this project. From there, I ‎received the unique bot token to copy and paste into my code. That bot token is what ‎creates the link between the Telegram app and my code. Once I compile the code, I can ‎test it.‎

code_3

Now that I've got the Telegram bot sending and receiving messages, I need to be able ‎to activate and deactivate the relay based on those messages. So, I need to add some ‎logic that starts a timer any time I turn on the soldering iron. When it's been more than ‎‎45 minutes (or some other predetermined duration), the board will check to see if the ‎soldering iron is still on. If it is, it will send me a notification asking if I'm still working. I ‎want to be able to remotely control the soldering iron, so I need to add some quick ‎responses that will let me turn it on or off. If I ignore the message altogether, the iron ‎will just shut itself off after 15 minutes more.‎

I want to safely connect my soldering iron to this relay module, so I’m using a NEMA 5-‎‎15R Power Receptacle and an IEC 320-C14 Power Receptacle to make that task ‎easier. I've also designed and printed an enclosure for all of the electronics. I added a ‎button and a status LED so I can turn on and off the soldering iron manually.‎

enclose_4

enclose_5

This is working really well so far, but I think my soldering iron is missing some ‎personality. My friend Jonathan suggested that I use ChatGPT to generate some ‎funny/snarky notification messages from my soldering iron. So, I made a list of 20 ‎snarky responses, and it will randomly choose one every time I forget to turn the iron ‎off.‎

messages_6

It doesn't matter if I'm in the other room watching a movie or if I'm in my bed late at night ‎researching my next project, I can turn off my soldering iron from anywhere. This same ‎project could be adapted to control other appliances as long as their current draw ‎doesn't exceed the rating of the relay. Is there something that you regularly forget to ‎turn off? If so, what kind of funny or snarky responses would you program this device ‎to send? I would love to hear about it!