Heh. I bought some Ultrafire "6000 mAh" cells from ebay (knowing full well they were generally about 1000 ma, but quite cheap and with a protection circuit), and I opened one up out of interest. Small cell as expected. And compacted *sand* to make it feel "quality in the hand". Lol. Chinese sellers are such good scammers.
Banggood is advertising 9,900 mah cells. Someone called them out and they came back with an odd run around reply and in the end they said they were really 1,500 mah.
There are legit 3500 mAh cells now. I have some that I've tested all the way to 3550 or so. These cells came in my Olight s30r iii flashlights. Olight is a Chinese company that makes very high quality lights and sells very well rated batteries with them. FYI, Clive tested an Olight magnetic charger a while back and liked it a lot as well.
There was a time when you could report a U.K. supplier to Trading Standards and action would be taken against them for selling faulty, dangerous or fraudulently advertised goods, but sadly it doesn't seem to be the case any more what with the cuts to council budgets and the proliferation of resellers of Chinese tat. It'll probably take something truly horrific to happen before we see any change.
The actual seller is likely still in China, just with a distribution warehouse in the UK staffed by an illegally underpaid patsy who doesn't speak english and just puts stuff in boxes to be posted.
Saud Siddiqui Huh? Nothing to do with "political correctness", everything to do with Trading Standards and local council budgets being cut to the bone thanks to austerity, and the proliferation of cheap Chinese imports making any sort of control almost impossible.
People buy these devices directly from Chinese suppliers, they are usually sent by "free china mail" and pay no VAT or duty and as such the buyer takes on the risks directly. This lamp looks a great product if you bin the batteries and chargers at a fraction of a branded price product, but with any purchase like this you should known what you are buying and how to test it before you use it. If you are not able, then buy through a regular supplier, you will pay VAT and duties, as well as importer costs and profits, and the product will by liable to EU safety regulations.
+Woogoo336 Overpopulation being the biggest one, and the cause of most others. Treating humans as disposable is a sensible long term strategy, which also diverts blame, unlike the old policy of trying to directly limit production of excess humans.
John Doe Treating humans as disposable, like slavery? That's not good. Who gets to decide who is disposable? Is everyone disposable? Great place for extreme racism and bigotry to start. That's kinda the paradox of population control, how can you do it without becoming corrupt and tyrannical (and mass murdering) and/or getting rebelled against?
Your such an intelligent man. I have watched 100+ of your videos and i love every single one of them. Just listening and learning from each. I started watching with little to no knowledge in electronics i thought i knew abit but you have showed me otherwise lol. I love learning and watching these videos defiantly teach :) Thanks for making videos and i look forward to watching them in the future :)
ChrisD4335 If the power goes out clives house would be brighter than it is when the power is on, because he finally has an opportunity to test all the lamps
"What's the best way into this? Violence, I'm guessing..." And that's what electronics is all about. Great stuff. Informative, and entertaining, as always. Nice one.
14:52 *_"Don't try this at home, by the way cause ah, well I mean, who am I to say you know. Try it at home if you wish"._* 😉👍🏻 No other UA-camr has ever had the guts to say this before. Brilliant. Thanks so much for sharing. 👌🏻
Regarding the low capacity batteries: Could it be that they are produced in such numbers that the battery manufacturer(s) have/has developed a QC process akin to resistors and such components that they separate the failed cells out by how much capacity they have then sell them to mass production houses so that the battery producer still makes money even on the "bad" ones.
That's not a QA failed battery though. They've so little in them that they'd never reach a decent capacity and the 8800mAh marking is just pure fantasy.
Thermal Ions well, not *just* a qa fail battery. It could be a QA fail and then sold to the people who made them into a fake cell. But it looks like they're just made like shit.
Perhaps there was a defect on the manufacturing line so it wasn't winding them properly any longer, and they noticed that and threw away the whole batch. They were never going to be high-capacity battery with electrodes this short, but perhaps they were intended to be more properly packed. Then someone else picked up the junk under the pretence of recycling it, labeled it up and sold them on.
Actually with such low capacity cells, usually they're tiny cells inside of the 18650 case and the rest is filled with sand (which is why they were dented)
Gah... Now I feel like a horrible child... I've sent one of these to my parents... I'm glad they don't really use it too often, time to give them a call, see if I can get them to see if it's made just as cheaply
For getting the lithium cell open, toenail clippers work well to pry open the sealed end. Then once the sealed end is lifted around the circumference, needle-nosed plyers can be used to peel the outer casing down by rolling it.
you should definitely put one of the batteries on to charge with the car charger and leave it to see what happens. in the pie dish ofc, so its guaranteed to be safe
clive, what you need is a fine-toothed hack saw, a clamp, and a guide rig so you can saw open batteries the long way (just enough to split open the case) to the point cutters can do the rest of the job
I suspect that the construction of the cells is done to allow the scammers to use the same equipment to make them as the real cells. All they have to do is temporally change a setting on the winding machine during the night shift and they can switch over to fake crap. Plus they don't have to worry about scrupulous potential customers wanting to inspect the factory and finding extra incriminating machines.
Clive, in the states we can buy knitted kevlar "tradh handling" gloves in sny hardware store, about $5 a pair. They're fireproof, cutproof, good protection and good dexterity when you are working with things that might bite. In case you decide to become a pianist and need all those fingers. :-)
I picked up a flashlight with the same exact head but on a regular type flash lantern type body, it takes 3 18650's the entire unit is made from aluminum, rather heavy and extremely nice when working in tight areas, has a top handle and will stay on flat surfaces rather nicely
Regarding li-ion battery capacities, currently the highest capacity available at the moment is 3600mAh and is produced by Panasonic (and possibly others), but they are quite expensive. I recently found a 4-pack of 3400mAh (and they are, I tested them) Panasonic batteries for about £10. Was very pleased!
I bought a cheap 'Cree' bicycle light with four 18650 Li cells. When I took the cells apart two of them were in fact dummy cells with no functionality at all! Replaced them with two Li cells salvaged from a very old Nokia phone and all is well three years later.
I bought a couple of these lamps about a year back, without the batteries thankfully (and considerably cheaper), the lamp unit itself actually works pretty well and is decently made, but mine has a UV element (about 390nm) instead of the flashing mode . This UV mode wasn't mentioned at all by the seller, but makes it about twice as useful to me. The chargers which came with them is 4.2v, but seemingly cut out the instant any load was applied to them, To make it worse, one of them fell apart leaving a pin in the power socket. The chargers went straight in the bin after that.
You are way too cool Clive! You tear into the same products I buy but that I have not dared to peer inside. Keep making these vids as it's far more entertaining watching and listening to you! Cheers from Texas.
Clive, you know we all wanted you to charge the cells with the included car adapter. Also, you should replace the charge jack with a micro USB jack and add a TP4056 charger board.
I don't get it, if there's just a resistor inline with the 13.7V input, then shouldn't the output also be 13.7V if there's no load on it??? And shouldn't the output voltage drop under load?
SpudHead I did not get a close look at the PCB, but it is possible that the LED was drawing power from the load side of the resistor, which would pull the voltage down a bit with a 68-ohm resistor inline. But, otherwise, you would expect to see nearly the same voltage on both sides of the resistor since the 10-megohm impedance of the meter will cause very little voltage drop across a 68-ohm resistor.
Yes that's probably why, there did look like there was another resistor on that board which I guess is the limiter for the LED, as there's no way that LED was drawing 200mA. So my guess is that 68 ohm resistor is inline with the input/output, and like you said, the load side of that resistor is connected through another resistor and LED to ground.
They want it to explode so they can sell more of them like how the big manufacturers design in something to break in their product like using all rubycon caps and putting in a single no name cap so it will die
Clive your knowledge of electronics, circuits and electrics is incredible but what I find just as impressive if not more is your knowledge of dismantling shit.
Be it 24 Dollars, 24 Euro or 24 Pounds, that would be a very surprising cheap price for 3 18650's. They cost 15-20$ for decent quality ones, not that much less for cheap ones.
I would just deattach the battery pack from the PCB and put the contacts on a seperate 18650 charging board with protection. Then stick the output contacts to the actual battery pads on the PCB. Also of course solder the input wires onto the 18650 charger board, toss the chargers to a different universe and just use a USB --> tip plug of the proper size to charge/use the batteries/light.
Astute marketing opportunity there Clive - sell your "hand-signed" explosion containment pie dishes via your patreon site! You could start marketing your very own line of "dubious safety Chinese electronics - as dismantled by Big Clive" :-D
How about rigging up a Dremel + disc in a frame, with some kind of non-metallic hand cranked chuck? Whizz it round one end like a mini can opener, turn over and do the other; then a final cut by a second handheld Dremel + disc along the length, and you will have opened it up in 30 seconds. On the downside, there'll be less fear of sudden detonation!
WOW! I noticed the on/off button looks similiar to what I have in my chinese headlamp, otherwhise is, ofc, looks completely different. It has the SOS mode too! I've had it for many years and didnt know about it :D
LEDs in lights like that usually are Cree, though they tend to be low-binned Crees since it's cheaper and easier to get a low-binned Cree than it is to try and knock off Cree.
I wonder about two possible hidden safety features: 1. Maybe the circuit doesn't charge the batteries at all, only power the lamp from the input, in that case 3V is optimal battery substitute, 12V needs something limiting the LED current. 2. Maybe any attempt to overcharge would be stopped by the current eaten by the LED or some feature in the chip (or even a clever use of the second FET in that package).
Finding all these new devices on Ebay must be a practice thing - when I go on and look around I spend countless hrs scrolling through tons of identical, me-too items. Never seem to find any variety - the Zen of Clive eludes me.
the advanced search feature is good for when theres loads of identical listings getting in your way, put in a keyword they share to exclude from your results
I recently bought a cheap flashlight which takes 18650 cells. It came with the same rubbish 1 resistor only car charger and paper weight 18650 cells. But a 4.2volt wall charger putting out 4.15 +- volt. I have some panasonic cells for it. They are non protected ones though. Am i save charging the 18650 with the wall charger, or should i charge them externally with a 18650 charger?
Chinese quite often use Li-Ion cells from recycled notebook accu-packs. You can usually find it out seeing spot-welding marks on the bottom of the cell.
One tp4056 based board, a dremmel cut slot (or repurpose existing charge port hole) for its the micro USB and you get a plethora of charging options and battery protection for less than a dollar.
xD I like this guy always going out of his way and tearing into stuff- when he can. I like how he does all the math behind it as well, very good. I like tearing into electronics myself, and I can say that he deserves more subs. Best of UA-cam I'd say. BigCliv- Thank you.
They are selling this on Ebay as a 30 watt light. 30W Rechargeable Convex Lens Lamp Focusing Unless they are going for an incandescent equivalent, it's a bit cheeky.
I like your videos, they are fair. I like them mostly because you are not angry like the others. But use some real "fireproof" gloves. If one day a lithium battery burns you will get seriously injured. The plastic of your gloves can melt on your skin. I say that for you, and for the peoples that will do the same after viewing your videos. Please keep continuing to be so kind on your videos. I really like it.
I used a plumber's 15mm pipe cutter to get into a fake 18650 -- just the tool. I cut the top off the cell rather than the bottom, and the air gap was immediately evident.
I wonder if the loose wrapping of the electrodes in the cells was done purposefully to make them more tolerant of overcharging? The extra air-space could provide expansion room for off-gassing of electrolyte during overcharge, which could then recombine later after the charger has been removed.
... was that running with two of the 18650 cells? "dont try this at home... who am i to say? try it at home if you wish" lithium ion batteries are non-toxic btw although they can be a fire hazard
Phillip Aboody I'd believe it for the AC pack but for the 12v the current going through that would be great enough to charge the cells even when the led is at full power.
Given that nowadays plastic corrective lenses are both just as effective and more resistant to damage then glass ones, the focal setup in this thing is pretty reasonable. Shame about the dodgy electronics, because from an engineering standpoint, this is very well made for something of it's general price range.
"Don't try this at home by the way...What am I saying. Try it at home if you wish. I'm doing it"
-Clive 2016
Hey - it's still miles safer than neon transformers... ;)
or playing with microwave transformers and magnetrons ;-)
Especially using Clive's FART Transformer (what with methane + air being a rather explosive mixture - one spark and you're curtains, mate!)
8800mAh is the total charge you can put into it over the cycle life of the cells. ie 10 cycles of use, and 5 were used in the factory.
SeanBZA I think that's probably an overestimate:-)
hahaha
tearing into a lithium cell with pliers... safety squints engaged!
Another AVE fan I see!!
stereomike111 Have your mom on speed dial! Corntact!!!
I love AVE
What's AVE?
youtube chabnnel
"I could enter by the other end, this is going to end in tears isnt it"
oh my
I was very disappointed when no sand poured out of the battery. On a side note, those chargers are hilarious.
RescueRick911 Yes - the choice is between one that doesn't charge it at all, and one that overcharges it so much the batteries might explode.
I wonder how many people will start their car on fire with this thing
RescueRick911 or smuggle cocains inside of those...
I was rooting for dirt, or rice.
The best is when they stick in some coin-cells :)
Top tip - one of those adjustable pipe cutters work very well at opening battery cases - you can get them at Wickes, B&Q, etc.
Serious request: You should start selling t-shirts with slogans like "Explosion containment pie dish" and "Vise of knowledge" etc. on them
"Let me get my snips"
Not the good snips. Also, "Let's take it to bits!"
"What could possibly go wrong?"
righteo
ummm ok
Cheap chinese ebay shit
One moment please
"quite a modest..."
Heh. I bought some Ultrafire "6000 mAh" cells from ebay (knowing full well they were generally about 1000 ma, but quite cheap and with a protection circuit), and I opened one up out of interest. Small cell as expected. And compacted *sand* to make it feel "quality in the hand". Lol. Chinese sellers are such good scammers.
Banggood is advertising 9,900 mah cells. Someone called them out and they came back with an odd run around reply and in the end they said they were really 1,500 mah.
"This isn't a good idea.
Excellent."
Why I love you.
13:53 “What’s the best way into this... Violence, I’m guessing.” :-D
Charlie Dobbie Do you know what a Glasgow kiss is? :-)
"I may have to enter this at the other end. This may end in tears."
This 18650 over-rating is getting silly now.
There's now some on eBay that are rated 10,000mAh... even though the theoretical maximum is Panasonic's 3400mAh cell.
There are legit 3500 mAh cells now. I have some that I've tested all the way to 3550 or so. These cells came in my Olight s30r iii flashlights. Olight is a Chinese company that makes very high quality lights and sells very well rated batteries with them.
FYI, Clive tested an Olight magnetic charger a while back and liked it a lot as well.
Ive seen 13000mAh and 16000mAh on ebay in the past year. Shits hilarious and so so many have sold.
overstated by 4x!! will they soon advertise 12,500 mAh?
I'm interested in what kind of ebay feedback you leave lol
There was a time when you could report a U.K. supplier to Trading Standards and action would be taken against them for selling faulty, dangerous or fraudulently advertised goods, but sadly it doesn't seem to be the case any more what with the cuts to council budgets and the proliferation of resellers of Chinese tat. It'll probably take something truly horrific to happen before we see any change.
The actual seller is likely still in China, just with a distribution warehouse in the UK staffed by an illegally underpaid patsy who doesn't speak english and just puts stuff in boxes to be posted.
Thermal Ions You are almost certainly correct.
Saud Siddiqui Huh? Nothing to do with "political correctness", everything to do with Trading Standards and local council budgets being cut to the bone thanks to austerity, and the proliferation of cheap Chinese imports making any sort of control almost impossible.
Luckily, not many baby elephants use US swimming pools...
People buy these devices directly from Chinese suppliers, they are usually sent by "free china mail" and pay no VAT or duty and as such the buyer takes on the risks directly. This lamp looks a great product if you bin the batteries and chargers at a fraction of a branded price product, but with any purchase like this you should known what you are buying and how to test it before you use it. If you are not able, then buy through a regular supplier, you will pay VAT and duties, as well as importer costs and profits, and the product will by liable to EU safety regulations.
Whenever i feel that humanity has some hope, all i need is a video about chinese "quality products" to remind me of the reality.
Humanity in general has hope, but the Chinese have a few things to worry about...
+Woogoo336 Overpopulation being the biggest one, and the cause of most others. Treating humans as disposable is a sensible long term strategy, which also diverts blame, unlike the old policy of trying to directly limit production of excess humans.
John Doe Treating humans as disposable, like slavery? That's not good. Who gets to decide who is disposable? Is everyone disposable? Great place for extreme racism and bigotry to start. That's kinda the paradox of population control, how can you do it without becoming corrupt and tyrannical (and mass murdering) and/or getting rebelled against?
Woogoo336 Release some predator animals they aren't racist at all!
you know what this means Clive you now have to plug the car charger in while it's on muhahaha
I wanna see this. Load it with those batteries and plug it in with that car charger. I wanna see something go bang.
so do i, lets see it explode.
We all do!
#BigCliveGoesBang!
Just a thought. Would a plumbers' rotating tube cutter be a handy cell opener?
Yes, yes it would be. I've opened batteries using one before. Ah, childhood memories.
@@michaelcalvin42 thanks for the info!! I have some lithiums that look like they're a little too full :)
Your such an intelligent man. I have watched 100+ of your videos and i love every single one of them. Just listening and learning from each. I started watching with little to no knowledge in electronics i thought i knew abit but you have showed me otherwise lol. I love learning and watching these videos defiantly teach :) Thanks for making videos and i look forward to watching them in the future :)
Clive, get one of those Atomic LED flashlights advertised "As Seen On TV" that claims to have some ridiculous amount of lumen output.
Yes please do, my Dad just showed me a 'bargain' on eBay of one of those lights, my Olights, Thrunites, Zebralights probably out shine them easily.
Knuckles the Echidna those lights are usually powered with AAAs. They dont stand a chance even against cheapos like the forrader c12
If the power goes out and the people next door ask to barrow a flashlight I bet Clive tells um oh sorry I don't have one.
He took all his apart
He'll tell them "I have all the parts that make flash lights, but no actual flashlights"
"Give me thirty minutes, I'll build you one." And then it has twenty warm white LEDs, a solar panel, and a disco mode. And farts fire.
They will get a free tour thru his flashlight museum and will have the choise of 5000 flashlight models in the gift shop.
ChrisD4335 If the power goes out clives house would be brighter than it is when the power is on, because he finally has an opportunity to test all the lamps
"What's the best way into this? Violence, I'm guessing..." And that's what electronics is all about. Great stuff. Informative, and entertaining, as always. Nice one.
Hand rolled like a cuban cigar.
AvE fan here.. Keep it in a vise.As an aussie like Dave on EEVblog.
Don't turn it on, TAKE IT APART!
i cant stand ave or eev blog with their annoying hosts
hand rolled on the thighs of Chinese virgins
14:52 *_"Don't try this at home, by the way cause ah, well I mean, who am I to say you know. Try it at home if you wish"._* 😉👍🏻
No other UA-camr has ever had the guts to say this before.
Brilliant. Thanks so much for sharing. 👌🏻
One of these days, your nickname will be "The 3 Finger guy"
But... You're the best Ever!!!! Your sense of humor is great!!!
I love it when these videos arrive just in time for dinner.
Regarding the low capacity batteries:
Could it be that they are produced in such numbers that the battery manufacturer(s) have/has developed a QC process akin to resistors and such components that they separate the failed cells out by how much capacity they have then sell them to mass production houses so that the battery producer still makes money even on the "bad" ones.
That's not a QA failed battery though. They've so little in them that they'd never reach a decent capacity and the 8800mAh marking is just pure fantasy.
Thermal Ions I appreciate your insight, thank you!
Thermal Ions well, not *just* a qa fail battery. It could be a QA fail and then sold to the people who made them into a fake cell.
But it looks like they're just made like shit.
Perhaps there was a defect on the manufacturing line so it wasn't winding them properly any longer, and they noticed that and threw away the whole batch. They were never going to be high-capacity battery with electrodes this short, but perhaps they were intended to be more properly packed.
Then someone else picked up the junk under the pretence of recycling it, labeled it up and sold them on.
Actually with such low capacity cells, usually they're tiny cells inside of the 18650 case and the rest is filled with sand (which is why they were dented)
might get one of these, thanks Clive. I need a new car
I think I'd rather have a classic 18650 torch with a sliding focus control.
Gah... Now I feel like a horrible child... I've sent one of these to my parents... I'm glad they don't really use it too often, time to give them a call, see if I can get them to see if it's made just as cheaply
Looks like somebody bought the light, the batteries, and the chargers separately in bulk and soled them as an ( inappropriate ) set?
The typical "the connector fits so it must work" kind?
Moose the connector must fit and ill take the cheapest available
For getting the lithium cell open, toenail clippers work well to pry open the sealed end. Then once the sealed end is lifted around the circumference, needle-nosed plyers can be used to peel the outer casing down by rolling it.
I knew it... "It seems quite a good deal... except..." That has to be one of the classic lines form you Clive. Nice.
"What am I to say? Try it at home if you wish, I'm doing it!"
"Of course, AvE just saws it in half" - Shots Fired!
Always nice when the ECP-D comes out. :)
Your explosion containment pie-dish won you my subscription
you should definitely put one of the batteries on to charge with the car charger and leave it to see what happens. in the pie dish ofc, so its guaranteed to be safe
The famous last words of an electrician: "what could possibly go wrong?"
Why do they insist on putting that irritating flashing mode on led torches
Thanks Clive for the video. I have never deconstructed a Li++ battery. Appreciate the view of its internals..
clive, what you need is a fine-toothed hack saw, a clamp, and a guide rig so you can saw open batteries the long way (just enough to split open the case) to the point cutters can do the rest of the job
I suspect that the construction of the cells is done to allow the scammers to use the same equipment to make them as the real cells. All they have to do is temporally change a setting on the winding machine during the night shift and they can switch over to fake crap. Plus they don't have to worry about scrupulous potential customers wanting to inspect the factory and finding extra incriminating machines.
Explosion containment pie dish. This is my new favorite channel.
Cool linemans pliers, used to wear a set of those with my Amy field uniform, way back when I was a field wireman.
Clive, in the states we can buy knitted kevlar "tradh handling" gloves in sny hardware store, about $5 a pair. They're fireproof, cutproof, good protection and good dexterity when you are working with things that might bite. In case you decide to become a pianist and need all those fingers. :-)
As it is with almost every cheap chinese product: most of the work is done, you just have to finish it yourself ;)
I picked up a flashlight with the same exact head but on a regular type flash lantern type body, it takes 3 18650's the entire unit is made from aluminum, rather heavy and extremely nice when working in tight areas, has a top handle and will stay on flat surfaces rather nicely
"Don't try this at home, I mean who am I to say? try at home if you wish, I'm doing it"
-bigclivedotcom
PSA of the year!
This is going to end up in tears... EPIC!
I wonder if that's a hichikers guide to the Galaxy quote, lol.
Regarding li-ion battery capacities, currently the highest capacity available at the moment is 3600mAh and is produced by Panasonic (and possibly others), but they are quite expensive. I recently found a 4-pack of 3400mAh (and they are, I tested them) Panasonic batteries for about £10. Was very pleased!
_"violating the integrity of the curvaceous cell in a dramatic manor"_ I love Bigclivedotcom
I bought a cheap 'Cree' bicycle light with four 18650 Li cells. When I took the cells apart two of them were in fact dummy cells with no functionality at all! Replaced them with two Li cells salvaged from a very old Nokia phone and all is well three years later.
Take a shot every time there was a sexual innuendo in the 18650 teardown
tomatolicious if I wanted to get hammerd Id just ex a bottle, same effect
Just a thought...do Clive's dustmen get danger money?
I bought a couple of these lamps about a year back, without the batteries thankfully (and considerably cheaper), the lamp unit itself actually works pretty well and is decently made, but mine has a UV element (about 390nm) instead of the flashing mode . This UV mode wasn't mentioned at all by the seller, but makes it about twice as useful to me.
The chargers which came with them is 4.2v, but seemingly cut out the instant any load was applied to them, To make it worse, one of them fell apart leaving a pin in the power socket. The chargers went straight in the bin after that.
You are way too cool Clive! You tear into the same products I buy but that I have not dared to peer inside. Keep making these vids as it's far more entertaining watching and listening to you! Cheers from Texas.
Clive, you know we all wanted you to charge the cells with the included car adapter. Also, you should replace the charge jack with a micro USB jack and add a TP4056 charger board.
I don't get it, if there's just a resistor inline with the 13.7V input, then shouldn't the output also be 13.7V if there's no load on it??? And shouldn't the output voltage drop under load?
You are correct, I also wondered about this.
SpudHead I did not get a close look at the PCB, but it is possible that the LED was drawing power from the load side of the resistor, which would pull the voltage down a bit with a 68-ohm resistor inline. But, otherwise, you would expect to see nearly the same voltage on both sides of the resistor since the 10-megohm impedance of the meter will cause very little voltage drop across a 68-ohm resistor.
Yes that's probably why, there did look like there was another resistor on that board which I guess is the limiter for the LED, as there's no way that LED was drawing 200mA. So my guess is that 68 ohm resistor is inline with the input/output, and like you said, the load side of that resistor is connected through another resistor and LED to ground.
What kind of logic were the manufacturers of that car charger following when they decided to use a single resistor!?
Cheap, charges battery, sometimes does not explode
and sometimes they do
'For use with devices that use 12V'
What purpose does the resistor serve though? Some super-crude attempt at a current-limited supply?
They want it to explode so they can sell more of them like how the big manufacturers design in something to break in their product like using all rubycon caps and putting in a single no name cap so it will die
Good to know, many cheap headlamps have suspiciously cheap versions which include the charger and batteries.
Clive your knowledge of electronics, circuits and electrics is incredible but what I find just as impressive if not more is your knowledge of dismantling shit.
Be it 24 Dollars, 24 Euro or 24 Pounds, that would be a very surprising cheap price for 3 18650's. They cost 15-20$ for decent quality ones, not that much less for cheap ones.
Did anyone elce catch that the focus ring is labeled "dimmer"?
It's called the same on my cheap chinese focusable flashlights.
I would just deattach the battery pack from the PCB and put the contacts on a seperate 18650 charging board with protection.
Then stick the output contacts to the actual battery pads on the PCB. Also of course solder the input wires onto the 18650 charger board, toss the chargers to a different universe and just use a USB --> tip plug of the proper size to charge/use the batteries/light.
3500mah for the new Sanyo NCR 18650GA 10amp ones, love love love them.
Glad you put gloves on :)
Where can one get an explosion containment pie dish? CERN? NASA?
+slypeartree just use Grannies Pie dish like Clive does :) I use a stone soup cup
probably poundland
Aperture Science
Astute marketing opportunity there Clive - sell your "hand-signed" explosion containment pie dishes via your patreon site! You could start marketing your very own line of "dubious safety Chinese electronics - as dismantled by Big Clive" :-D
Phil S LOL
Come on clive, that's a high quality hand rolled Chinese cell. You don't get that kind of quality and uniqueness anywhere else!
How about rigging up a Dremel + disc in a frame, with some kind of non-metallic hand cranked chuck? Whizz it round one end like a mini can opener, turn over and do the other; then a final cut by a second handheld Dremel + disc along the length, and you will have opened it up in 30 seconds. On the downside, there'll be less fear of sudden detonation!
"Jam packed with chemicals", Now that sounds like a good time at Clive's house to me.
WOW! I noticed the on/off button looks similiar to what I have in my chinese headlamp, otherwhise is, ofc, looks completely different. It has the SOS mode too! I've had it for many years and didnt know about it :D
The way you're so casual about shit blowing up makes me laugh everytime, you have no fear Clive, no fear at all you madman!
i don't know, did you see his hands shaking with those nippers
LEDs in lights like that usually are Cree, though they tend to be low-binned Crees since it's cheaper and easier to get a low-binned Cree than it is to try and knock off Cree.
Shaking like a leaf while you were dismantling that cell... LOL.
I wonder about two possible hidden safety features:
1. Maybe the circuit doesn't charge the batteries at all, only power the lamp from the input, in that case 3V is optimal battery substitute, 12V needs something limiting the LED current.
2. Maybe any attempt to overcharge would be stopped by the current eaten by the LED or some feature in the chip (or even a clever use of the second FET in that package).
'I could enter by the other end' - bigclivedotcom 2016 (so much inuendo in the episode haha)
The lens assembly is.. rather reasonable, I was surprised.
Finding all these new devices on Ebay must be a practice thing - when I go on and look around I spend countless hrs scrolling through tons of identical, me-too items. Never seem to find any variety - the Zen of Clive eludes me.
the advanced search feature is good for when theres loads of identical listings getting in your way, put in a keyword they share to exclude from your results
I recently bought a cheap flashlight which takes 18650 cells. It came with the same rubbish 1 resistor only car charger and paper weight 18650 cells. But a 4.2volt wall charger putting out 4.15 +- volt. I have some panasonic cells for it. They are non protected ones though. Am i save charging the 18650 with the wall charger, or should i charge them externally with a 18650 charger?
Good video Clive. You know the car charger and batteries must be tested. I may have a line on Titanium pie plates (bomb shields)
Oh no don't smell that, you'll die!
haha, you always crack me up Clive.
Chinese quite often use Li-Ion cells from recycled notebook accu-packs. You can usually find it out seeing spot-welding marks on the bottom of the cell.
One tp4056 based board, a dremmel cut slot (or repurpose existing charge port hole) for its the micro USB and you get a plethora of charging options and battery protection for less than a dollar.
ANOTHER good one Clive. A thousand thanks.
xD I like this guy always going out of his way and tearing into stuff- when he can. I like how he does all the math behind it as well, very good. I like tearing into electronics myself, and I can say that he deserves more subs. Best of UA-cam I'd say.
BigCliv- Thank you.
They are selling this on Ebay as a 30 watt light.
30W Rechargeable Convex Lens Lamp Focusing
Unless they are going for an incandescent equivalent, it's a bit cheeky.
I like your videos, they are fair. I like them mostly because you are not angry like the others. But use some real "fireproof" gloves. If one day a lithium battery burns you will get seriously injured. The plastic of your gloves can melt on your skin. I say that for you, and for the peoples that will do the same after viewing your videos.
Please keep continuing to be so kind on your videos. I really like it.
You know you have to use the car charger and see what happens, right? You can't get away with teasing us like that. Nice video.
Hoorah! New episode!
Explode the batteries with the 12v car charger xD
Zachary Strickler Agree
Thanks Big Clive.
I was expecting both chargers to be 5V. The wall charger disappointed me, but the car charger is pretty exciting!
The LED looks like a fake Cree XM-L, probably has a horrible tint and will burn out quickly. One of the most faked / copied LEDs about.
Grrrrr I hate angry blue tints!!!
You mean that ricer wanna-be street racer bluish white dashboard illumination "white"?
The Dollar Guy it's even worse than that! Mega low CRI making all colours especially browns and greens look washed out and grey.
Knuckles the Echidna
Sounds depressing and cold...
I used a plumber's 15mm pipe cutter to get into a fake 18650 -- just the tool. I cut the top off the cell rather than the bottom, and the air gap was immediately evident.
Sweet, I bought one of those a couple months ago for a shop/work light.
I wonder if the loose wrapping of the electrodes in the cells was done purposefully to make them more tolerant of overcharging? The extra air-space could provide expansion room for off-gassing of electrolyte during overcharge, which could then recombine later after the charger has been removed.
you could use one of those pipe cutters to open them.
... was that running with two of the 18650 cells?
"dont try this at home... who am i to say? try it at home if you wish"
lithium ion batteries are non-toxic btw although they can be a fire hazard
Yes, they are connected in paralled. Could even run on one cell.
oh, right. same voltage less current? im still learning electronics
Correct. If you put cells in series, the voltage adds up, when in parallel the current/capacity does.
AvE crushed a fully charged 18650 in a hydraulic press and it didn't even catch fire. I don't understand that at all.
is it possible that the auto and AC power packs (chargers) are not chargers and are used for direct plug in and use whilst plugged in?
Phillip Aboody I'd believe it for the AC pack but for the 12v the current going through that would be great enough to charge the cells even when the led is at full power.
Given that nowadays plastic corrective lenses are both just as effective and more resistant to damage then glass ones, the focal setup in this thing is pretty reasonable. Shame about the dodgy electronics, because from an engineering standpoint, this is very well made for something of it's general price range.