Pinecil: Portable USB-C RISC-V soldering iron

Been super eager to get one of these after reading the announcement last time on HN. Placed an order right away! $25 for a TS-100&#x2F;80 like features with a RISC-V processor?! Sign me up! To be honest, I have no clue why I need a RISC-V chip on my soldering iron...but seems like it&#x27;ll be worth the $40 (with shipping) worth of entertainment.<p>Edit: Seems like this batch has a GPIO + JTag breakout board!

For the ignorant software only folks like me: why would a soldering iron need a CPU?

It&#x27;s theoretically possible with USB-C to avoid the power MOSFET for the heater, and instead instruct the power supply to vary the voltage between 5v and 20v which should adjust the heat output by a factor of 16... Could be a neat way to make an ultra low cost iron...

&quot;Device Warranty: 30 Days&quot; =&gt; Totally illegal in my country

I have given up on understanding the mess that is USB-C.<p>It lists “USB type C: PD and QC 3.0 12V-20V 3A”.<p>Would this work via a USB Type A port, with an A-to-C adapter&#x2F;cable?

Sidenote if someone from Pine reads this - what is the difference between &quot;courier shipping method&quot; and &quot;standard shipping method&quot;?!

The body is plastic just like TS-100. I&#x27;ve changed 2 cases on TS-100 already because they crack around the tip socket even without tightening. Only because of that issues this is not interesting.

Isn&#x27;t it just a rebranded TS80 ?<p>EDIT: The tip and the base are %100 the TS100, so I guess they took the TS100 and added the USB QC of the TS80.

Not sure about how well these works, but at this price I had to give it a shot.<p>Oh. And this will be my first RISC-V device too :)

How does it compare to the TS100?

What&#x27;s the significance of it being RISC-V?