On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 19:55:44 +0000, Zak wrote:

I had always lived in the belief that a 15W soldering iron ran cooler than
a 35W iron but recently I read something which said they both run at the
same temp.

Presumably the real difference is the speed at which the iron reheats once
the thermostat kicks in to say the iron is too cool.

I'm in the Uk and I currently use a 25W Antex. It seems to "run out of
heat" all too often when I am soldering undemanding things like a fine
wires to small tag.

If the temp is the same then would I be ok using something like a 35W iron
even for working on electronics components.

Actually it depends on what iron it is.

Temperature unregulated irons can vary greatly on the temperature they get
to. Wattage alone is not a good indicator of whether one iron will be
hotter then the other.

Temperature regulated irons hold the temp they are set to. In that case
the wattage will determine how MUCH heat can be applied to whatever is
being soldered. Generally the more material you are trying to heat, the
more powerful an iron you need.

In your case I would strongly recommend getting a temp regulated model.
The wattage you need will then depend on what you want to solder. From
your comment "soldering undemanding things like a fine wires to a small
tag" I'd say something in the 50-75W range will suit you perfectly
(overkill for the small tag, useful when soldering bigger things).

The best part about temp regulated irons is they won't heat small things
up to much, something a temp unregulated iron will do.

TTYL