The hot air tool arrived on Tuesday, and sure enough, the included "IEC" power cord was incorrectly wired. The load/neutral wires were reversed within the power cord, yet the actual hot air device is wired correctly.

So I cut up and tossed the power cord, and just grabbed another from my stash. Even with the faulty power cord, there didn't seem to be any immediate danger though. The neutral inside the unit was (correctly) not attached to anything external, so no obvious shock hazard. But I have cut/tossed the faulty cord regardless.

The hot air tool works quite well, and had no issues at all in soldering down the replacement chip in the ECU I was working on. That board is now back with the mechanics, though I have yet to hear whether the repair was sufficient to bring the host vehicle back to life.

Decent hot air tool for CAD$72. With an extra (spare) heating element included for when the original someday burns out, as well as various tweezers and solder pick tools etc included. I did also (separately) purchase a larger assortment of tips for use with the tool, and those fit it without issues.

In all, a nice addition to the kit here, and I could really have used one many times over the years of repairing empegs, cellphones, and other gear. Happy to finally get there now though!

Cheers