A look inside the notorious EE Power Bar.

A look inside the slightly notorious (recalled) EE Power Bar and some analysis and tests to see if it is as dangerous as the media made out.
In brief, a UK based mobile phone service provider made these handy power banks available with their contracts, with the novel idea that if you were caught short for power you could pop into their nearest shop and exchange your flat Power Bar for a freshly recharged one.
Then there were some incidents where the Power Bars caught fire, with one incident resulting in a picture of a burned hand where the owner had woken to find the Power Bar on fire and had justifiably panicked and picked it up to get it to a safer place. The media pounced on the image and implied that all these Power Bars were dangerous and EE recalled them all.
If you enjoy these videos you can chuck a dollar to Big Clive for cookies and coffee at / bigclive

[@paschalconneely2374]

The "vice of Knowledge" and the "grips of overindulgence" Do you by any chance have a "hammer of persuasion"?

[@Spirit532]

+Paschal Conneely I wonder that too. And maybe angle grinder of militant invasion?

[@paschalconneely2374]

***** yes and im sure that was the "Dremmel of truth" we got a look at.

[@trojanwalrus2928]

I liked the anti explosion tray.

[@SupremeRuleroftheWorld]

+Paschal Conneely we need a list of tools people like us need. personally i find the "dremel of lost patience" and the "club hammer of fuck it" to be a must have in any tool kit.

[@paschalconneely2374]

flippynl and the "router of optimism"

[@Volvith]

Kind of sad that the media just completely obliterates products like these because a single unit failed. (likely due to rough treatment.) Could have been a great product, judging from the concept.

[@ajpw6785]

Volvirth don't worry about ee they've got enough money

[@DisneyMarkUK]

Volvirth They were junk, didn't charge your phone much at all and EE charged you if you didn't swap it within a set period. We handed ours back as they just didn't work well.

[@gooseknack]

Volvirth money mate, plane and simple!

[@Alexander_l322]

Or now they can re make these with usb type C and they might be better?

[@Adkatka]

@Ellis The DJ there were only couple note 7 incidents

[@gl1500ctv]

They used glue so people couldn't open it, mess with it, and return it to the store for recirculation.

[@PaulApplebyphotography]

As our friend from AvE says, "the problem was between the seat and the steering wheel".

[@888johnmac]

+Paul Appleby.. one of my friends works in the IT helpdesk of a large company, a common error code they use is PEBKAC.. problem exists between keyboard and chair

[@danielw2139]

+888johnmac lol that reminds me of an old colleague who used to say "their seems to be a problem with the keyboard chair interface"

[@TheCoffeehound]

+888johnmac And, of course, the old ID 10 T error.

[@skylined5534]

@@TheCoffeehound Also particularly pertinent to those looking for the 710 filler cap under the bonnet of their car...

[@topilinkala1594]

@@888johnmac My best was when I was responsible of some critical net connections on thick ethernet. The cable connecting from the thivk ethernet to the computer was not connected by screwdown connectors but just bajonets where a sliding arrest was keeping them in place. One terminal was notorious because it was on wheeled table and the connecting cable could get under stress if the table was wheeled too far. So one night the terminal user calls and complains of not having network connection. So I asked him if he'd checked the connecting cable and he almost crawled through the telephone line complaing that he had definitely checked the cable. So I said him to calm down and I'd come and see what was the problem. I called a cab and went to the facility and to the terminal. Lo and behold the cable was loose from the thick ethernet side. The operator came in and I told him that like a sausage each cable has two ends. If you say you checked the cable connection I assume that you've checked both ends. He went quite red.

[@BillyJoe1305]

If I had to bet I'd say EE's mistake was thinking they made this idiot proof.

[@bigclivedotcom]

+BillyJoe1305 They made a valiant effort, but nothing is idiot proof.

[@jjwarner9419]

+bigclivedotcom Whenever you idiot-proof something, the universe invents a better idiot.

[@vxrjohn]

Glad I kept mine still going strong no problems

[@Forbiddina]

after watching it all kinda feel sad for EE... not that i have ever used them, i'm sure if i did i wouldn't. but still shame people don't understand QC, its like the "hoverboards" here in the states, a few cheap clone boards don't include a lipo charger and overcharge the batteries add one or two bad cells and mass panic ensues BAN BAN BAN now ya can't use them anywhere. its also like how every quadcopter is now a "drone".

[@GrahamReid34]

+Forbiddina crikey how many moans did you get in there, "Its like what came first... chicken or the egg"

[@Forbiddina]

+Graham Reid (Grizzle) XD apparently lots. I was just kinda thinking out loud there. sorry if it came off like a rant. I was just dumping what I've seen recently.

[@any1alive]

+Forbiddina pretty much, befor the whole drone shebacle, it was a fun thing flying rc models and multirotors now its jsut liek omg no get out of this park theres kids pedo around omg horrible person , when befor the kids would be like wow cool, sbutyeahi do agree its a few bad eggs like a1or2% then bam shame the whole area of everything, funny they dont saydrunk drivers or mass panic over cars or things everyone uses, XD tis a shame they didnt do it on the persont hat got flouride poisioning then theyd atleast stop florinating our water u.u but if they did that people wouldnt be as much of sheeps wow my mind went off then

[@sleeptyper]

+any1alive Liked the content you wrote, but for fuck's sake, get a grip on them typos. :)

[@TinBryn]

+sleeptyper I'd blame it on lack of flouride.

[@ChaossX77]

I've found this video hilarious! He paused to use "violence" as he says and then it cuts back to a decimated case.. And he's just so honest and off the cuff. Love it!

[@ProudToBeNoob]

So you're saying that the British tabloids mislead the public by overreacting and dramatizing it? Nooo! They would never do that just to make some quick money... That's slander, sir! I demand you retract this libelous video immediately! *sarcasm*

[@divinity4053]

ProudToBeNoob you have a minecraft profile pic your words (even sarcastic) are invalid

[@edgeeffect]

In the past everyone would realise your comment was sarcastic and it wouldn't require labeling as such.... but this is the 21st Century SJW / Alt Right / flat Earth society and Dan Ashcroft recommends we label all jokes now.

[@snerttt]

@Bob Sacamano or /s

[@skylined5534]

You mean media outlets in general all around the world mislead people?! *Cough* Consumer Reports *cough* Suzuki Samurai *cough*

[@whatr0]

@@edgeeffect what on earth are you going on about

[@zx8401ztv]

I suppose all power banks could be dangerious under the wrong conditions, but that one did have all the protection, as you said. What a shame, it looked quite a neat job :-(

[@jusb1066]

+zx8401ztv o hope he saved the cell, apparently they are panasonics decent ones (worth about a tenner each to buy) i wish i had a few of those to make my own decent powerbank. ive been trying to find out if there are any genuine powerbanks that actually have their mah correct, im wanting to buy a largish one, 20,000 or bigger but they all seem fake! and buying 6x panasonic cells is a bit pricey!

[@zx8401ztv]

+jusb1066 Err yes they would be expensive here, i keep hearing the numbers 18650 for some odd reason, im sure ive watched too many videos lol. Anyway, what are you going to use a 20ah battery for, your just power crazy :-)

[@jusb1066]

zx8401ztv well i actually have a 21ah lead acid battery that is semi portable, with cigar connectors and a voltmeter and aa charger on it, along with the usual car usb adaptors.....but thats not light! i was looking for something that was just about (large) pocket sized, the current powerbanks that pretend to be around 25000mah look fine for what i want, but they are full of lies!

[@zx8401ztv]

+jusb1066 Im not too supprised about the lies, i did find that portable work light that clive showed us a blatent lie, that battery was ridiculous , i just dont know how they sleep at night. What about those ones designed to jumpstart a car, oh you would have to sell a kidney for one of those :-(

[@any1alive]

a 10000mah battery is 6ish 18650 batteries, if you were so inclined you could tear apart a old laptop battery, and use those cells, but yeah, usualy you wouldnt draw that many amps out of one to the cells can be pretty low quality the mainthing is just not overchargeing and undercharging

[@TheManLab7]

I'd say the reason it caught on fire was down to the user.

[@GeneralSeptem]

+Joshua Charles Campbell If you knew the person before the person before the person who used your power bank, you'd always use a condom.

[@jusb1066]

+TheManLab7 yes, clive said it was under her bed, that could be covered in clothes, in a ton of dust, the wire being trampled on and pinched under a chair leg, most peoples charging cables (except my own!) are yanked, pulled out, in the walk zone and like trips wires, and ive seen so many with wires hanging out, bits of tape, and people complaining they have to wiggle it etc, funny how my looked after cables work fine!

[@rjc0234]

+TheManLab7 but when the product is as basic as "plug your phone in" you cant really blame the user. its not like it was an extramly complicated piece of machinery that requires weeks of operational instruction.

[@SparkyWaffles]

+rjc0234 Never underestimate the ingenuity of a fool.

[@geraldhenrickson7472]

+rjc0234 While assigning blame is not the best approach, the end user IS in control once a product is placed in service. They can easily get the product wet or wrap in a blanket so it cannot cool or plug into the incorrect voltage. They can drop or crush or use crappy cables, bake the device on the dash of their car, the family pet can chew on it.... the list of unintended types of abuse can be extensive. Also, in the madness of the moment, the user can choose to take action, sometimes causing an injury or simply making an injury worse. Sad but true...

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Could be Chinese "quality fade", and maybe later ones were more shoddily made.

[@jusb1066]

+mikeselectricstuff i think they were produced in a short production run, so no time for that to happen, i think the user is more suspect than the gadget

[@SupremeRuleroftheWorld]

+mikeselectricstuff seeing the pcb i put my money on dodgy cells. from the (numbers on the) cell i cannot recognise any notable brand name. probably they used cheap cells because they had all that protection going on thinking that would prevent dodgy cells exploding.

[@drkastenbrot]

Maybe the charger failed

[@jusb1066]

drkastenbrot the internal circuit should have cut off when the voltage reached a threshold, so cant blame the charger, the crux of the problem is, lithium is the only battery that tends to go bang if you overcharge it, lead acid and nimhs/nicads tend to be forgiving.

[@EnricoConca]

+mikeselectricstuff Maybe fake devices that slipped into the supply chain? The TP4056 that controls charging is definitely faked, and some fakes overcharge the battery rather bad. Or maybe lack of overtemperature protection? Assuming a constant overload not enough to trip the DW01 but enough to overheat the choke or the boost controller...

[@BillyNoMates1974]

was the serial number E1-06 (the recalled version) ?

[@bigclivedotcom]

+BillyNoMates1974 I didn't check that. And the shattered remnants of plastic were binned. They did recall them all though, didn't they?

[@Lancastrian86]

+bigclivedotcom Hi Clive, not quite, only the first model was recalled (the E1-06), are you able to check your serial number at all? It's quite possible that the non-recalled versions were a different design.

[@Ultra2040]

+Lancastrian86 yes e1-06 were recalled to start with then they asked for them all back in return for an EE voucher

[@lukehebb]

+Lancastrian86 +bigclivedotcom +BillyNoMates1974 they eventually recalled all power bars. Clive is correct

[@DavidGalletly]

+bigclivedotcom +BillyNoMates1974 They did recall only the E1-06 models at first but then went on to recall the whole lot a few months later. I sent back my E1-06 when they first made the announcement but we've kept my wife's non-E1-06 model around. It's been fine.

[@rihndou]

I told that woman not to listen to my mixtape with the power bar plugged in

[@userPrehistoricman]

+Rikunius999 Reminds me of Brainiac's "You Can't Stop Rock and Roll" test.

[@Krytern]

Damn you've made me miss watching Hamster blow up caravans. A shame that show isn't on anymore!

[@HELLORLD]

It was quite incredible the amount of effort that EE went into making sure that all their customers received one of these for FREE. I receive one and it was recalled within a week of getting it. As I had to return it to an EE shop the assistant gave me a £20 voucher to spend in the on-line EE accessory shop. I got my wife a great set of fluffy headphones that double up a earmuffs when you detach the lead.

[@rubusroo68]

it looked a really neat & well engineered product. i suspect user error.

[@zlotvorx]

+Rubus Roo Most probably yes! But this kind of equipment has to have thermal and overcurrent protection at minimum! Most users have no slightest clue how this thing works and/or how dangerous can be. And they don't bother to use them correctly. The designer has to assume the output device will be a nail, or paperclip and design according.

[@geraldhenrickson7472]

+zlotvorx This device did have those protections but any amount of protection can be circumvented. Perhaps this is why the user manuals are mostly devoted to warnings.

[@درعالجزيرة-ح4ط]

zlotvorx

[@0aux]

watching this while holding my EE power bank lol

[@MagicRat]

2020 and I'm still using mine :-) Also, is the the first appearance of the spudger?

[@TheNimshew]

Silly me! I always thought sliced bread was a good thing. One learns something new everyday

[@bigclivedotcom]

+richard wysham I screwed up and got my sayings wrong. Sliced bread is definitely good.

[@TheNimshew]

I know. I was teasing.Thanks for your work

[@alanhughes657]

It's August 2020 I still have my EE power bank and still use it. Never had a problem

[@dennell]

I've got 4 of these... Are they still any good at charging latest phones??

[@Connie_TinuityError]

@@dennell Unfortunately not as the battery capacity of the latest phones is higher than the battery of this power bank, so you can never get it to 100% charge.

[@scyther1141]

"the vice of knowledge" That was fucking gold.

[@Azurren]

Whelp I'm glad I didn't send mine back :D I use it everyday to recharge my G930 and goes back on charge every night. Depending how long I'm at the computer it often drains completely. Still going strong! I used to use a Teknet battery bank with 8000mah capacity until it started bloating. I got concerned and popped it open to find one of the lipo cells had swollen badly. I discharged it and left it on my desk, overnight the cell had ballooned to about 3x its original size! I'll stick with my EE powerbar thanks ;)

[@any1alive]

+Azurren lipos batteries can be amazign for its energy sendity , to size, but yeah they need balanced charged, im guessing it was only being charged by power going through em all

[@geraldhenrickson7472]

+any1alive One cell in this case. No balance needed. Yet balancing the cells with lithium is very important for longevity.

[@crh231]

The difficulty you had getting into it seems like a good thing to me. If I am going to be picking up some random unit, putting it in my bag, plugging it into my home power and plugging my phone into it I want to be reasonably certain that no miscreants have had it open and had a fiddle with the internals. I can imagine a few malicious thing you could do just off the top of my heaf

[@crh231]

*head. Guess who's typing on a phone.

[@Syndiball123]

weird question what pen are you using

[@bigclivedotcom]

Not a weird question at all. If you search my videos for pilot you will find it featured in a few. (Pilot V-sign)

[@Syndiball123]

thanks so much

[@ajpw6785]

Syndiball123 why did you ask?

[@Syndiball123]

Looks like a nice pen

[@Space_Moth]

I'm a proud owner of one of these power bars and have already deemed it too useful to return, so it is encouraging to see this video. That being said, I've noticed the device seems to get pretty hot when discharging to charge a device, with the heat seeming to be coming from the full USB side of the circuit board. Could an overheat during normal charge and discharge be the cause of the spontaneous combustion feared? I am not sure how well the device will be able to dissipate heat while self enclosed.

[@DrRawley]

LOLed at "vice of knowledge"

[@thebobman56]

+DrRawley ''the grips of over-indulgence''

[@DrRawley]

and I suppose that was the Dremel of certainty?

[@DrRawley]

***** I have several...of various levels of persuasion.

[@CathodeRayKobold]

+DrRawley They worked, too. Look at all that knowledge we got.

[@thra5herxb12s]

Great review. The units are probably glued together to prevent user tampering and the failures were possibly down to user caused problems.

[@JoeCal.]

Guess you could say the news "blew-up"

[@bigclivedotcom]

+Joe Calvert The newspapers went into meltdown.

[@JoeCal.]

We'd better be careful what we say, don't want to get into a heated discussion.

[@jacobstephens6937]

+bigclivedotcom Or I guess you could say EE's competitors were "ecstatic"

[@stevesteveson2435]

"The pie dish I use to contain lithium explosions" Great Video!

[@nicgreen4234]

Any idea how many mAh's the 18650 has? It's usually a good pointer to the quality of the cell.

[@jusb1066]

+Nic Green i belive it was a panasonic with 3400mah

[@FntX-Video]

+jusb1066 something like the NCR18650B but it is in a grey shrinkwrap and these were never wrapped in grey so it can't be a panasonic cell. Now, given that the max. discharge current is 1A it is unlikely that the cell blew up just by overload. I'd suggest that this was a dodgy cell and this could have happened (and does happen probably) on any bank on the market. The usual ICR cell puts out 8A at 3400mAh capacity and there is no way the controller could pull more than 8A from the cell to achieve 1A current at the output.

[@jusb1066]

El Neuro Quila yes by purely statistics, a few lithiums go bad, i guess this product got it's hit early and thus lead to a full recall, but there is nothing in particular wrong with it, i guess the only safety device i could think of would be a fuse between cell and circuit rated just over normal use (say 2 amps) i just assumed panasonic cell as due to the high capacity i didnt think the competition (sony, samsung) made anything quite so high. and i doubt they are using chinese fake capacity cells

[@FntX-Video]

I too think that was the case. Even the worst of the worst deliver at least 3A which would be way above the safety zone... But it even can happen to high current cells like the VTC4 or VTC5 from Sony which are tested stable up to 35A continous discharge but only deliver 2500mAh capacity.

[@bigclivedotcom]

+Nic Green 2600mAh. Full charge only seemed to be 2200mAh though.

[@urveen]

I wonder if the MOSFET suffered some ESD damage in the defective unit? Have smoked a few in my time due to improper handling...

[@cap6733]

So the galaxy note 7 incident wasn't something new.

[@mayac4147]

Cap673 I mean exploding batteries isn't a new thing

[@bhume7535]

nope, those kinds of batteries explode more often then you think... the only reason the note 7 got big was because it was a flagship product of a high end company.

[@ChrisD__]

Bhume Yeah, a Xiaomi Mi Max exploded a week before the Note 7's started exploding. I'm not sure how much coverage Xiaomi got in Asia, but the news was pretty obscure in America.

[@russellhltn1396]

At least one tear-down has suggested that Samsung didn't allow enough space for the battery and it was too tightly squeezed, causing it to eventually short. That's why the replacement units burned up as well. It wasn't bad batteries.

[@jimporter]

Cap673 ask Boeing - search Dreamliner and battery. Also if you want real fun check for their solution.

[@morelenmir]

Fascinating analysis. I came here from a chance KZbin suggestion on the eeVBlog. Top quality and heartily subscribed!!!

[@TechyBen]

I know so many people who wiggle leads... ... wait I've got a couple of leads like that. X(

[@drkastenbrot]

I have a fairly high quality 2200 powerbank, which has three sot-23 chips. Controller, charger and protection. The protection chip is completely cutting the cell on either short or low voltage, which makes it very safe even if the controller chip fails.

[@ghost_ship_supreme]

It would seem in this channel, safety is number two priority. The first is k n o w l e d g e Also it could have been the woman's fault that the power bank started on fire, as who in their right mind would pick up a flaming power bank and run with it outside?

[@pohuing3037]

Better than burning down the house, you never know if she didn't have a pair of scissors or something to grip it.

[@CrazySteve113]

Or, you know, go grab the fire extinguisher that every home is supposed to have.

[@tysonromaniuk7674]

CrazySteve113 no home I've seen has one

[@CrazySteve113]

I've lived in six different places, and every one has had a fire extinguisher in either the kitchen in the pantry or under the sink, or in the laundry room/closet that has a clothes dryer in it. That's a pretty important bit of responsible home ownership.

[@HaraldSangvik]

Yeah, but it's really expensive to clean up if you have a powder one. So really only for "burn your house down fires"

[@MichaelBennett1]

"Grips of over-indulgence" - I love you Clive.

[@jusb1066]

exactly my thoughts! give a load of idiots a new gadget and some of them find a way to set it on fire and then everyone thinks they are dangerous!

[@markpunt9638]

I wonder whether you had one from an early batch which were well made and, perhaps, in later batches corners were cut somehow to reduced costs maybe?

[@GetGame1010]

Sad these things don't come with note 7's

[@jacob-gy8yj]

they are note 7s in disguise

[@OAleathaO]

6:24 - "...I had to get the _Vice of Knowledge_ into it and it failed." Next video: _The Pneumatic Press of Finality_ LOL

[@majinjeff2365]

Weird, you sound EXACTLY like my dentist.

[@mattharper890]

what model of high capacity power bank would you reccomend, like the ability to start a car at least once and charge mobile devices but as you have shown is still made safe?

[@tylerhoban]

Did EE help Samsung with the Galaxy Note 7?

[@stab456]

Did you by chance get the model number of the battery? I'm curious if they're using Chinese re-wrap 18650s

[@Elfnetdesigns]

And WHY was the thing under the womans bed??? I cant help but think there was some USB powered sex toy involved that she did not mention.. That or the whole thing was scripted, Yes people will injure themselves to sue a company and get some attention.

[@any1alive]

+ElfNet Gaming mhm, be like oh nao my bed leg was lifted and fell onto it and it punctured the cell and thenit started exploding and fire, but yeahw hy would you grab a plastic melting thing thats burning, youd atleast throw a towel over it pull it outside and throw it down and yeah you can throw towels over things and by the time itd not be in flames as much as holding melting plastic

[@astrangeone]

+ElfNet Gaming Ow. I wouldn't burn myself for the opportunity to sue a compnay. I charge a lot of electronics near/under my bed, but I won't put anything with a 18650 battery on anything that's not fireproof.

[@Gambit771]

+any1alive maybe she had to disconnect her usb powered sex aid and that's why she picked it up. she didn't want her mum to see it. And find out she had 'borrowed' it.

[@rosiehawtrey]

You ever had a serious burn? If not you've no idea how much pain they cause, especially on the palm of the hand. Even a relatively small 2nd degree burn can kill (20-30%), just from the pain, the other issue is infection.

[@Penguat]

was it effectively waterproof? Liquid damage could kill it?

[@MothJosh]

"smoke the choke"

[@over00lordunknown12]

Why wasn't there a short circuit chip for things like what you said, cheap charging cables that can cause a short? (I don't know much about hardware so I may have just missed it)

[@bobbutyoutube3708]

ima plug one into a note 7

[@decoder7139]

There are these Powerbanks, with an additional aluminum cover, to buy in Germany. They are called Realpower Pb-260 Alu and have exactly the same circuit and even the same colored plastic case inside.

[@silverfortytwo9506]

The Molotov Cocktail is the precursor to the Napalm, as the EE Power Bar is the precursor to the Note 7.

[@liuwaiching9109]

Is the excessive adhesive for tamper-proofing? Cuz these are circulated in the public.

[@nahnope8581]

That's a push pop

[@zachhart-n1d]

Nah nope no

[@FindLiberty]

Maybe a low temp fusible link against the battery might have helped... unless the battery has an internal (mechanical or overcharge/chemical) failure that causes it to "blow up" though externally open circuited. Is that just normal wire inside that tubing that runs along the outside of the battery, or could that be a "fuse"?

[@zman1508]

you don't like sliced bread?

[@bigclivedotcom]

+zman1508 I do, but that was the first thing that came into my head under the pressure of a rolling camera.

[@zman1508]

+bigclivedotcom ha ha no worries I really do love your videos though rekindled my childhood joy of tinkering with electronics

[@jackwhite3820]

+Mike Oxlong Ahh language, what an amusingly ambiguous thing you are.

[@barrybounces]

Interesting! I have one that buzzes and overheats (E1-06)... If you think the cable might have been causing it... do you want a look at the cable?

[@bigclivedotcom]

+barrybounces I've been sent an E1-06 and will do a video shortly.

[@MiniMattTV]

What model did you strip down because I did hear the recall only applied to a certain serial no

[@bigclivedotcom]

I ended up taking apart two versions (both as videos) but again no major visible flaws other than the ever increasing current demands of modern smart phones.

[@d1rcwill]

How do you ensure you don't have/get a dodgy lead or charger? My trusty Blackberry charger (came with my BB in '09) recently got to "doesn't work unless you wiggle it just so" and I can't be doing that so I've been running off my USB out from my PC and power strips... but I don't have any portable charging solution for when I'm at college.

[@Sicgaming]

Did you check the yellow charging cable that came with it at all? Just wondering what the quality of the cable that came with it was like

[@wisteela]

It's great that you've done a video on these

[@TheOldHammer1]

ive still got mine that i got originally, i never swapped it in the store for a new one so brand new from box. i use it regularly and i have never had a problem with it. honestly i was worried about it after the media coverage but since not having any problems with mine... and now seeing this video, it does make sense to me that it is mostly down to improper usage from other people and as a result im very happy i never swapped mine in store or gave it back

[@leexgx]

so i assume this did not have thermal protection (people sleeping on them or covering them in a blanket, can make them overheat) other issues as well is charging it up and using the charge port at the same time (most of the ones i have had place the 2 usb ports right next to each other to prevent you from been able to plug both in at the same time)

[@MikeColes]

Grips of over indulgence and anti explosion tray.. Love it!!

[@82garrou]

I will add that the extremeley short cablethey were supplied with( maybe the length if the unit itself) did start to fail after about 5 charges from new

[@matthewmiller6068]

I like your load tester, is that something you built or purchased? I've constructed a load-test rig using 10x #1156 car tail-light bulbs (2A @ 12V) that I can turn on and off individually giving me a reliable load for testing up to 12V sources at various power intervals. I made an adapter so I can also use them to load-test USB 5V at 1A multiples (but I don't dare go over 3A) to check charger output and I'm in the process of making a micro-USB adapter so I can load-test USB cables to see if they have any hope to do 2.5A fast-charge.

[@honggao9610]

Just to keep you updated on this unit. It ended up on TaoBao.com for sale with a price around 1.6 pounds per unit(postage included). My guess is that after the recall, EE simply auctioned these recalled and unused units.

[@honggao9610]

You can try search ' EE power bar' on taobao.com .

[@ArduinoKing]

Looking for a cheap power bank to use. In all you're testing have you found one you would recommend?

[@ElliottVeares]

+bigclivedotcom, do all power banks lack short circuit and resistive load protection, or just some of them like the EE one?

[@bigclivedotcom]

+Elliott Veares No. The cheap ones are not good at handling short circuits at all, and can over-discharge the cell if a load is left attached.

[@gbjbasdw1]

Can the cell from these be used in one of the empty powerbanks that I think you reviewed some time ago ?

[@GadgetBoy]

What was the neat load tester? was it a kit or something you built?

[@bigclivedotcom]

+Gadgetboy Ebay USB tester.

[@GadgetBoy]

Oh, cool. I'll have to look into one. P.s. I enrolled in the red seal electrician foundation course at VCC today. Intake is in April, very excited.

[@saaaaaaaaalt838]

I still have one and I find it quite useful. The distance between my bed and the plug socket is too long for a reasonably lengthed wire to reach. So I use this as an extendor.

[@coloradostrong]

Do you prepay for your electricity and gas if you use gas? Or is it like a regular bill? And do you have separate hot and cold spigots? And do you pay a tele licence still or have they done away with that? Not trying to be too personal, just curious, as I heard about the "prepay" for electricity a week ago.

[@bigclivedotcom]

All those options are available.

[@briansonof]

Is the insulator on the 18650's positive post actually attached in a meaningful way? Those are typically held on with the PVC insulator wrap and that seems to not be the case here, so if it got glued on poorly, I could see the welded tab on the top bridging that miniscule distance between the positive of the cell and the negative body underneath.

[@bigclivedotcom]

+Brian Fundakowski Feldman There were two solid layers of insulation on the positive cap. A ring and a disk of fibre material.

[@LightTheUnicorn]

I still have one of those that wasn't (originally) recalled. It's been fine, nothing bad to report. My dad had one of the bad models and it did get warm when charging. There are a whole bunch of very, very similar designs available dirt-cheap, but it was a nice idea.

[@JamesMossR33]

Daughter was clearing some old crap out of her room and found hers (E1-05) in a box. I noticed she'd left it with the yellow cable connected to both USB ports, in and out. I was slightly alarmed at first but then thought it must be ok as the house hadn't burned down. It charged and seems to work ok.

[@huffdiggler]

still got mine, I know I should have sent it back, but it's a great bit of kit, and after watching this, I can feel smug about not sending it back, rock on!

[@garrygadget]

brilliant camera angle brilliant articulate informative style interesting accent If you did this pre youtube era you would have been on "How" - wonder how many remember that programme.

[@gooddeed26]

How can the voltage be manipulated if it's DC?

[@coondogtheman]

I have tons of power banks and only one of them has failed on me. My Soundlogic XL 5600mA. I still have it as it's still good as a flashlight.

[@Forbiddina]

oh god Clive i love the names of your tools "the anti explosion tray" XD

[@kasparroosalu]

Oh my! Vise of Knowledge, Grips of Overindulgence and Tray of Explosioncontainin'. You do keep a good company! Also, it sounds like a good RPG.

[@dietbruboy]

Clive, I was in PoundWorld today and bought one of their PowerCell branded 1,200 mAH power banks. I've never seen these in store before and your recent review of the EE product made me wonder what £1's worth of lipo power bank bought us. It also comes with a usb cable and I thought that might make you even more concerned given the cheapness. Would you like me to pick another up and send you it? (Least I can do given all the hours of yours I've watched and enjoyed 😜). Best wishes, Roy.

[@XOIIOXOIIO]

Do you have a link for that load tester (if you didn't make it) and that new usb charge monitor? Haven't been able to find anything but the regular 7 segment display ones, I must just be wording it wrong.

[@jusb1066]

+Jesse Levesque for the charge tester search ebay for keweisi, for the other one, just search 'use load tester' and are about 2.35

[@XOIIOXOIIO]

+jusb1066 Awesome, it measures mah as well, that's pretty handy. Thanks.

[@jusb1066]

+Jesse Levesque the kawiesi is even more awesome, it has a memory and a timer, i use it to test mah capacity of various lithium devices (as charge in from flat to full is a reasoable estimate of capacity)

[@XOIIOXOIIO]

Ah neat, I just saw the mah section, didn't really look at the features section. Definitely picking one of those up.

[@owenjroberts]

I had one and I was worried about the heat coming from the circuit board. not one of the original recall.

[@MikeL-FL]

Wonder how the Mophie power banks compare? Actually just sent one back to them for warranty replacement because it wouldn't charge. Should have kept it and sent it over.

[@TuxieBSOD]

Isn't the positive voltage lead completely bare? If you then fuck up your construction so its a bit longer than normal, doesn't take a lot of imagination to imagine it shorting out?

[@JasperPeters]

Actually quite happy to see you can not open the power-bank without it being visible. Could you imagine people deliberately shorting the cell to make it explode.

[@ValugaTheLord]

What about battery cycles? Aren't they limited, how did EE check this? I think there are more holes in this idea than they have though of.

[@MrNotorius5500]

Lol I like that you name your tools. Vice of Knowledge. Grips of Overindulgence. Brilliant!

[@patchouli_s75]

The USB lead you get with a PS4 is really good, try it out. It feels high-quality and is neatly shaped so that you don't put in the wrong way around. My controller's charging port broke before the cable did.

[@patchouli_s75]

(cable never broke)

[@Dumiirr]

I got powerbank like this for 2 years now first time i hear for recal, i do always use genue cables for charging and replace them reguraly

[@chevsev]

what about a long time with a 1-2 amp load or short AND the charger plugged in?

[@sillysad3198]

Clive! may i request a video on a very important topic? i believe many people have problems very similar to the following of mine: i have a battery powered portable electronic device (mp3 player) and sometimes i want to use it at home -- no need to burn batteries -- what are typical requirements for the primary power source, what type of voltage regulator they use, therefore what could be a safe replacement for a battery? (how stable the voltage should be, what are maximum ratings, etc etc)

[@Mrbullydog66]

I didn't return mine, still works fine. Plus if I use their option to get the 20.00 coupon offset against another type they sell, I'm forking out another tenner.

[@yossitambourna6823]

I still got mine I still charge it and use it on a regular basis didn't know that you could have it in and exchange it for a new one maybe that's why they went wrong maybe if everybody just kept their own it will be a better system?

[@BaddaBigBoom]

That cell is an 18650, the same type of cell used in most box-mod and mech-mod style vapes ("e-cigs"), a few of the latter types of which have famously exploded a few times. I wonder if EE have used 18650s that have slipped through the QC net. Low quality 18650s can and do explode if an abnormal load is placed upon them..

[@remotecontrolled]

Hey Clive, where did you get that load tester from?

[@bigclivedotcom]

+koec12 It's one of many styles on ebay.

[@remotecontrolled]

+bigclivedotcom Would you recommend the model you are using?

[@agvulpine]

Did you learn any more about the battery? Does it have its own protection circuitry as well?

[@bigclivedotcom]

+agvulpine All the protection circuitry in on the PCB.

[@agvulpine]

+bigclivedotcom ok. thought i'd ask since many or most quality 18650s have, and it'd be remarkable if this double redundancy still made it go explody

[@agvulpine]

...unless there's a condition of strange electro feedbackity circuitration between the two

[@sockatume]

I wonder why they don't print cell batch numbers on the outside of these things. It's the part that's most likely to spectacularly fail due to a manufacturing error, and it's a part with markings that are unlikely to be readable after the magic smoke gets out. (Your comment about simple charging circuits got me wondering what sort of overcharge protection those cheap "hoverboards" have. They failed in ways consistent with either bad cells or overcharge.)

[@theirisheditor]

Another possibility is that they got water inside such as being dropped in a puddle, which probably affected its circuitry such as the charging cut-off voltage.