Seriously, many soldering irons don’t have a switch. Fancy soldering stations have switches, temperature dials, etc. But basic ones are just a resistive load wired directly to the plug.
I’m an engineer that’s been in that sort of situation. If it’s planned, you have the tools. Unfortunately, sometimes these things happen and it’s not planned. At that point it’s taken what you can get. A cheap fire stick will still do the job better than no fire stick.
Don’t they have switches?
No.
Seriously, many soldering irons don’t have a switch. Fancy soldering stations have switches, temperature dials, etc. But basic ones are just a resistive load wired directly to the plug.
I think they meant on the wall or outlet not the iron.
Sounds like a cheap portable soldering iron, which just heats up to some roughly usable temperature whenever it’s plugged in.
Textbook definition!
Ive seen some really cheap irons that have zero controls, you plug them in and they operate at max power. Basically a wood burning pencil, really.
An engineer that has a project to show off at a trade show will have will have both a power switch and a temperature control on their soldering iron.
I’m an engineer that’s been in that sort of situation. If it’s planned, you have the tools. Unfortunately, sometimes these things happen and it’s not planned. At that point it’s taken what you can get. A cheap fire stick will still do the job better than no fire stick.
Every one i’ve owned has and I get the cheap ones. I guess you can find them for under a dollar or something