I think my soldering iron might be "leaking electricity" -
I read something in a japanese service manual about this, but I don't really understand what it means. I have noticed that when I'm soldering onto circuit boards I can hear pops and crackle from my PC speakers (which I use to test stuff). generally the jack plug is lying around on the desk next to the circuit board, and not plugged in.
Obviously there are no sparks or other visible signs, but the oscillation/crackle/pops I'm hearing is only audible when the tip is in contact with the trace.
As well as my dead AMSTRAD keyboard, another machine has died on me. I'm wondering if this chip death could be as a result of a dodgy soldering iron?
I believe that the iron is quite an old model 'weller' as it says 240 volts 50/60 C P S. C P S - that's cycles per second, old fashioned speak for hertz, right? It is apparently 24v temperature controlled so I presume it's good quality, and worth trying to repair....
SO, is there a safe way to fix this problem? Does this problem actually exist at all, or am I just mis-understanding a badly translated Japanese manual??