Poundland's 2016 power banks. (not a good start)

[@_s_9920]

Once bought a radio from Poundland. Put the batteries in, no effect. Open it up, completely empty with no electronic components whatsoever :P

[@bigclivedotcom]

So how did it sound?

[@_s_9920]

I'd give the sound about a 4/10 too much feedback.

[@TopkekCheburek]

You prolly got latest 2017 model

[@_s_9920]

Taz1451 True that.

[@alberttatlock5237]

Scar Hilarious.

[@morphman86]

At first I was surprised when I moved to England and noticed how many thing of Poundland's stuff was actually broken out of the box. In Sweden we wouldn't stand for that, everyone would bring their stuff back and it's not cost effective for the store nor the manufacturer. But I've noticed that here in England, the mentality around it is different. Though the consumer law is very similar and you're eligible for compensation (including potential postage or travel costs), very few people exercise this right. Most people just go "Oh well, it was worth a shot" and throws it away, then goes to buy another one. If more people went back to the store with the broken item, to get a new one for free (and possibly their travel cost reimbursed), that would put financial pressure on the store. They would have to cut some other costs in order to increase the quality of the items, even if it only costs a pound. As a consumer, the price shouldn't matter. Nothing should be broken when you purchase it!

[@daviddavidson2357]

Yeah the mentality that most people have in the UK and US (being from the UK myself) is utterly silly, maybe it's the scandanavian genes I have that make me feel this way. The peoole going out and buying something cheap, finding that it's broken, tossing it out and then *buying the same thing* and hoping that it works blows my mind. If you're going to pay twice why not just buy something that costs double and works. I'll usually fight tooth and nail if an item is dead on arrival, if a seller who says they do a 3pm cutoff doesn't ship despite getting 20 hours notice (if that's the case and I paid for expensive shipping I usually ask for a shipping refund as they made a guarantee that they would ship) the only exception is if it costs me so much in time that the cost of the item is negated. I didn't know they had to also reimburse for travel. Can you get me the UK legislation that states this? Does it include any travel or only the cheapest possible form of travel? I've a leg injury that makes it very impractical (and extremely painful) to get a bus instead of a taxi and I can't see a taxi fee being reimbursed, but if that's the case then all the better for me, personally time taken to return an item should also be factored in by law and a company made to pay the consumer hourly minimum wage (rounded up) for each (proven) hour it took them travelling to return the item. I had an ebay seller sell me a 'brand new in box' phone which turned out to be refurished and from the US. They got pretty aggressive in their messaging (pretty much saying that if I returned it I would get nothing back) and since ebay wouldn't do anything about it I looked their business up. Turns out they weren't declaring their taxes. They don't have a business anymore. I don't know how poundland would manage with people getting refunds in the hundreds however. I already assume their stuff is made in China using slave/child labour so the only thing I could see them doing is putting their prices up.

[@morphman86]

@@daviddavidson2357 since this comment, two chains in UK have gone belly-up. Poundland is the last pound store standing.

[@ThunderboltWisdom]

@@morphman86 Good comments. I don't know understand the shoppers mentality here in the UK either. People put up with a lot of crap here when they shouldn't. 👍

[@looksirdroids9134]

@@daviddavidson2357 Because higher price doesn't mean higher quality.

[@daviddavidson2357]

@@looksirdroids9134 Fluke make some of the most expensive multimeters. They are considered the best in the world. Siglent make some of the best oscilloscopes. They are again considered one of the best brands of oscilloscopes you can get. Those are two examples.

[@TheLarryburns84]

I don't understand electrical stuff, but it's interesting and he has a pleasing accent, I'm satisfied

[@mygetrichslowplan]

I feel like Clive gets quite giddy whenever he buys some cheapo electronic doo-dad and finds it to be non-functional. "Ooh, yeah, something new to disassemble on camera!"

[@DieselDragon]

Always good to make the best of a bad lot! Better than my "Dig out the receipt and straight back to the shop" habit, anyway! :-)

[@mygetrichslowplan]

Diesel Dragon I certainly appreciate his attitude, and the content we get out of it. I find it oddly soothing. Between his accent, his genuine excitement over seeing the inner bits of things, the way he explains the topic he is so knowledgeable about so eloquently. Are there channels I watch more than his? Sure, but there aren't many that I can just put on and veg for a while.

[@metallitech]

I feel that he's a smart-alec.

[@NekoMichi]

Wow, saw these in Poundland just an hour ago and thought "hmm, these look different, maybe Clive would have more info", and then BAM! saw this video in my subscription feed. :D

[@purplehippo6602]

Can't unthink "Our friends at Signalex" whenever I see some of the iffy tat that they distribute from underneath their umbrella of wonders.

[@greenaum]

I'm 99% sure Signalex is one of Poundland's own brands, like DIY Time and whatever else. They do it to make it seem like you're getting a real product at a bargain price, rather than some shite made to a budget, an extremely low one. Which it is of course.

[@joinedupjon]

Yeah the postal address on the signalex branded packaging is the same PO box as poundland's correspondence address in Birmingham - it's a phantom brand. The powerbank case itself looks totally generic though - pretty sure the exact same case style with the same symbol and lettering appears at pound stretcher, pound world etc.

[@groc]

greenaum there's even a term for it "phantom brand". Lots of supermarkets do it these days.

[@lorenhusky2717]

You can buy the same exact case this signalex uses on ebay, and ironically it costs more than $1. I can only imagine the corners that were cut in order to get this thing to market lol.

[@Tarbard]

I have that exact "cheapy meter" - an overview of multimeters would be great.

[@jusb1066]

the mastech one is the original, when you get the unbranded 830 meteres, they have terrible construction, no fuses sometimes, and the worst circuit board inside

[@kokodin5895]

i don't care what brand it is. It is Yellow and from my childhood i belived that yellow meter of that design must be better than black. When i was in highchool i didn't buy one just because there was no yellow ones anymore in the shop. And now i use two uni-t which i love and hate at the same time :]

[@Friendroid]

Darren Tarbard look at lygte-info.dk

[@ryanohoro3764]

EEVblog has done a few of the junk ones.

[@Tarbard]

jusb1066 Thanks, mine is mastech.

[@russtang]

I bought a couple of these without the cells off ebay a couple years ago. They were a couple of dollars each, and have spring contacts to add your own 18650s. One of them outputs 5.1v and the other puts out around 4.7v. The quiescent current draw on both is about 100 microamps. Charging the cells works fine in both, but I usually use one of my dedicated chargers. Definitely a good idea to keep the cells out of circuit when not in use.

[@Lucy-ie9zb]

I sat and watched all of this! Took me back to my school days. Sounds good but once again, my eyes glazed over but kept listening, as I like your voice. :)

[@kkzooi]

i still dont know much about electronics but watching your video's help me learn a thing or two and i always find them quite relaxing to watch. keep up the good work!

[@SuperAWaC]

Hey Clive, have you considered getting one of those Anker powerbanks to see what a so-called quality product is like in comparison? I got one on the Amazon black friday and it seems pretty solid, but who really knows what's actually worth the money, these days?

[@TheRetroGamerGuy]

I have 2 Anker powerbanks from 2012 and they still do wonders for my electronics. I haven't had one problem with them since I got them.

[@TRJx86]

The internals have worked flawlessly for just over a year for me , I have the Powercore 10400 or something, I havent particularly babied the product however I found that the plastic often chipped and broke around the seams and in particular around the corners , have you experienced that ?

[@TheRetroGamerGuy]

These are the ones I have except older. www.amazon.com/Anker-PowerCore-Lipstick-Sized-Generation-Batteries/dp/B005X1Y7I2/ref=pd_lpo_107_lp_t_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=2RA852WAG3XGA8D6CRXK I haven't encounter any chips around the seams at all. I believe my dad has your model though from what I saw on amazon. He has had it for a couple of years and travels frequently. He usually keeps it on his work desk and I haven't noticed any damages that you are talking about.

[@TRJx86]

TwistedSyn ya like I say its most likely me , more or less just impressed with its durability though , tough little buggers , great for travelling its probably been on around 8 trips around Europe and never left me with absolutely no charge even after I charged up family and friends phones up fully. (I have an S6 and get about 4 or 5 charges out of it) $13 for that 'lipstick' anker is cheap. Over in the UK were paying £13 right now. :)

[@JJayzX]

I actually took my Anker apart and posted a video on my channel. They do actually use good quality parts like they say. I play Ingress and we all swear by them. Also good customer service.

[@fliedaway]

Hi Big Clive ,I just bought some of these funnily enough because of seeing them on your channel! Just as you found on yours, mine were all dead on arrival, I didn't check the cell voltage I just plugged them into a usb power supply and left until the red L.E.D stopped flashing, took around 4 hours. I then dismantled and discharged directly from the cell @800 mA down to 3 volts. My charger/discharger recorded 942mAh. I'm repeating the test at 1x cell rating, charge @1.2A and a discharge @1.2A I will post the result soon. I enjoy your channel and especially like your LIVE demonstrations 240V live that is! Beer and live wires respect!

[@fliedaway]

Charged @1.2A and my charger detected high internal resistance of the cell so it dropped to 560mA then to 240mA as the cell voltage increased. It accepted 1001mAh. When discharged at 1.2A the capacity dropped to 642mAh when the discharge stopped @ 2.99volts the voltage quickly recovered to 3.65V with no load. I,m doing a third test with lower rates of 300mA charge and discharge.

[@fliedaway]

Ok 3rd charge @ 300mA, the cell took on 618mAh due to not being fully discharged when drained to 2.99V under the 1.2A load in the previous test. When discharged @ 300mA I got an indicated capacity of 1014mAh. Hope this is of interest. Ok for a quid imo. Cheap source for cells in low current situations.

[@spress97]

Iceland Frozen Food Stores are selling texet powerbanks for £3 just now. 2000 mAh. It seems to work fine, well for me. Keep up the good work.

[@cookiemonster7861]

Alexander Presslie rought one yesterday ☺️

[@cookie1218]

I'm beginning to love your power bank videos.

[@geoffbirkinshaw8466]

I bought three and checked the capacity by connecting a torch bulb directly across each battery after a full charge , measuring the current, and time for the voltage to fall to 2.5V. The results were fairly consistent, 700mA/H, 770mA/H and 780mA/H. I glued the boxes together, wired the batteries in parallel, removed the two outer USB/ regulator chips so now I've got a slightly more useful power bank of 2.2A/H.

[@TheCormTube]

I picked up one of these and it's working but i'm not expecting longevity after watching your vid, thanks for the insights!

[@Ammoniummetavanadate]

I'll have to run one of these on my battery test cabinet. It has been on my to-do list for a while. A lot of people forget how bad the efficiency is for cheap power banks and charge circuits in phones.

[@WildernessRocks]

5 years or so ago I purchased three of these from RadioShack on sale for 3 dollars. They worked ok and all stopped working after a couple of years. They look identical! Inside and out. Great video! Best regards, Joe

[@baruta07]

Thanks for your video series. I received a USB power bar for Christmas and thanks to your videos it was tripping my "Something is wrong here" Chinese manufacturer. It turns out that there was a piece of cardboard sitting across live 110v wires. Yikes!

[@LachiBoii]

Holy shit, they sell the Orange type power banks at my local Kmart for $10AU. What a bloody rip off...

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

They may just have the same casing though, but a better circuit and a higher quality cell.

[@SuperAWaC]

but they probably don't

[@brandonfrancey5592]

Depends on what is inside. Some of these $1 power banks look like a rip off and could cost you a lot more when a short kills your phone.

[@calderhutchins]

Walgreens sells a $20 10000mAh bank, seems sketchy.

[@sexychris]

you can get them on aliexpress really cheap sometimes 50 cents

[@IrishSkruffles]

I've brought many an 18650 back from the dead (0v) with no adverse effects.. albeit two batteries which had crazy self discharge problems. Anyways, lithium ion batteries are tougher and more stable than previously thought and there's a lot of misinformation about charging/discharging out there.. That being said, I wouldn't like any lithium cell to be repeatedly drained under 2 volts as this will reduce the capacity

[@bigclivedotcom]

So far it's taken a full charge twice albeit with reduced capacity second time around (if it's not shunting some of the charge current too). It's theoretically coming in at around 1000mAh, but I'd need to do a proper discharge test to find the true capacity.

[@crbenne]

Hey Clive, do you ever get the chance to bring up concerns about these products with the retailers?

[@britishcadet]

Not likely in the store.

[@AchrafAlmouloudi]

There is no point in doing so, they know it's shit and they don't care, people buy it.

[@davebell4917]

They're selling them with a described capacicty of 1200mAh, and they're way below that. Start with the local Trading Standards office. Of cause, buying something like this from a Pound Store is as good as admitting that you don't care about quality.

[@ProfuzniChevap]

It's Poundland . Everything is priced at 1GBP . What do you expect ?

[@LynxBlack]

I never buy 'tech' from Pound shops, never trustworthy

[@jayc2469]

I bought 5 of these back when you reviewed them first and 2 were faulty :D For a quid each, it isn't such a hardship. One had a badly soldered -'ve wire. was very surprised that the manufacturer *soldered* directly to the ends of the 18650's. I find it hard to see how even a bedroom manufacturer couldn't throw an improvised MOT transformer spot welder.. The second of the failures had a completely goosed battery, so without much ado I slapped a 3Ah 18650 in instead. Works great!

[@untrust2033]

Its 2019 now, and i mainly just buy these for the casing and cables, but these are really handy as a portable 5v power supply for DIY projects, i usually hack up the cable so whatever i had made could use USB power. I have no doubt Im abusing the power banks but if they die they can be easily replaced. The casings are actually pretty good for small projects also, and the plastic can be easily melted wit ha soldering iron then be widened with a penknife. Not too bad.

[@untrust2033]

@Joe Black That sort of thing yea, I noticed there are a few different variants with slightly different layout and LED placement (Or none, in the case of a reputable brand one) The boards take forever to charge the cells so its not worth it really. (Plus they can only deliver 1A output max so charging other devices takes a while)

[@untrust2033]

@Joe Black I already use the tp4056 boards lmao. They charge at 500ma or something so good luck waiting for it to charge :3

[@richardturton6900]

You must be unlucky Clive, I picked up 6 of them this morning from my local Poundland here in Essex and all showed 5V output straight from the box. I have a couple on charge and will do a capacity test later.

[@Penguins247]

I still remember the Poundland solar LED keychain torch I bought a couple of years ago... It contained, wonder of wonders, a standard button cell, non-rechargeable.

[@--Zook--]

best thing about those cheap little meters is they are basically free with any purchase at harbor freight here in the usa. perfect to throw in a tool bag for a vehicle, or keep a few around as disposables.

[@taff1538]

keep up the great work mate, very informative and enjoyable.

[@Ddabsolve]

Love the channel like a mix of tech moan and AVE keep up the good work

[@90msg90]

Ahh... I see the well-known shape of 18650 cell and USB boost converter in a small casing in my subscription feed and I already know I am going to have a relaxing 10 minutes. Thanks!

[@rexapis2125]

I have one with the same case in black and white, purchased in Poland in 2015, and have only used it a few times - it is also rated at "1200mAh", yet only charges my 3630mAh phone about 18%", so that means around 650mAh capacity in reality.

[@Bleats_Sinodai]

I saw one of those golden "dalek" lamps at a local shop where I went to get some LED strips. warned the store workers about the issue you observed. almost bought one to test if it had that issue, but I prefer to not play around with my safety

[@motorbiking18650]

Great Video - I tried one of these - the 18650 cells are junk, but I upgraded mine with a laptop battery very easy to replace the "1,2Ah" cell for a 2.8Ah cell. I found the cells were quire light too.

[@lasersbee]

7:14 Yes there is a fuse protecting the 200mA and lower settings. Unfortunately there is no fuse when on the 10A setting using the 10A connector socket hole. These are pretty good inexpensive hobbyist "disposable" meters for use under 50 Volts.

[@JN.0_o]

Just bought a couple of these and swapped the cell out of one for a 2400mAh (tested) Sony cell from a dead laptop battery. Not a bad little power bank now. It's giving me 1341mAh on the 5v side measured with the Keweisi meter.

[@Zadster]

For reference: I just measured the quiescent current on my Pound World equivalent power bank at 21.5uA. The chip on those is an FM9833E.

[@Thomas-cu5hp]

Bought one from the Poundland in Scarborough on the 30th of December. Discharged it to 3.3Vish and charged the cell directly with a IMAX B6AC battery charger. The charger says it took 956mah but I've not performed a discharge test. Near 1Ah is very good for £1.

[@paulsengupta971]

I bought one of these. It tests out at about 712mAh at 5V. Not bad for a quid. Haven't tried to see how long it keeps a charge.

[@dom3827]

Wow, Bigclive learned to read minds. A was searching of a review of these crappy dangerous Power bank Bombs. Now you uploaded one :D

[@JamieMale]

I have a 500mah battery from a old drone I'm thinking maybe I could solder battery to the other battery terminals and make a bigger power bank??

[@bodilidily]

Anyone else think Clive should do some beginners guides because some of this is way above my head!

[@tristongibson1737]

I've bought many​ of those and I've seen many that look exactly alike and none of them have seemed to actually work past 5 minutes

[@Hastings1066TV]

Having bought several of these, and even buying as gifts, it was quite sad to find the power banks mostly all dead and it took a while and some careful charging to get them to work. We in the UK do seem to get the shoddy end of products, not just electronics, but also clothing, white goods and pretty much anything made in China. Of course there are some premium priced products that are good, but then why produce all the crap that will go into the landfills and the energy and resources to produce them in the first place 🙄 Thanks for this vid Clive 👍

[@MrRyan13214]

i purchased 3 of these for a project ripped the batteries form it and used them with my own charging system. worked perfectly good source of rechargeable batteries even if not for power banks.

[@davidfalconer8913]

I have a couple of these , and listening to you comments , I have fitted a ( tiny ) slide switch to the side ... this can disconnect the cell immediately after charging ... only to be reconnected when I want to draw some power ! ( the cell never goes flat in storage now ! ) ... ( tried - n - tested ) ..... DAVE™ ............

[@nathanlucas6465]

interestingly, I've just bought a few of these and they have different construction inside. One of them had already let the smoke out before I opened the box though

[@SE09uk]

If pound land sold cars, guns, hookers and houses ...

[@paulsengupta971]

Christmas lights not good enough, eh?

[@Firecul]

SE09uk that would be a hell of a review

[@gavincurtis]

Give it time.

[@SE09uk]

The Dollar Guy I'd like an AK 12 and a G18 or 1911 But the hooker for £1 may come with a free STD lol

[@SE09uk]

Firecul42 Just as long as he didn't decide to take her apart

[@kenrawlings4184]

very interesting Big Clive. love your videos. you are the man.

[@michelebarbera9918]

i always enjoy your videos, even if i can understand a bit of electronics i really like how you describe the steps needed to understand the circuits. I was wondering about why don't you examine what are sold as "great quality products" , such as aukey, anker, xiaomi and one plus (talking about power banks of course) . Keep doing vids, and thanks in advance !

[@arsingtonfek]

Works fine now I have replaced cell with LG 2500mah. 35% charge from flat on UMI Super phone with 4000mah internal battery

[@charliedobbie8916]

Do you have any buyers advice on these? Is there any way for consumers to check that their devices are safe, and check the capacity?

[@xccxvindaloo]

I have a question and wonder if anyone could answer it for me. Would the amount of current that the board draws on its own prevent the battery from ever completely charging. I have replaced the battery in mine for a Sony vtc4 18650 with 2100 mAh and it doesn't seem to ever stop being on charge, the light is constant red. So any help or info would be appreciated.

[@OrbitalSP2]

Andrew Martin do you have the same chip as in this video? I have one and mine red led stops blinking when fully charged.

[@xccxvindaloo]

OrbitalSP2 yes it's the same, think I might have got a dud one 🤔

[@juanhunose1]

Hmmmm....... it actually states to "fully charge before first use" on the packaging. Also not to leave on charge overnight or whilst you are out of the house. Accidental fire waiting to happen maybe?

[@webchimp]

I must have got lucky with mine, it has a 930mAh battery. I've done a few charge/discharge cycles and it seems to be working fine. It's been sat untouched a few days and the battery is still at 3.8 volts.

[@reluttr2]

I have a feeling that if you cut open those cells they would be one of those knockoff ones that contain a much smaller cell, like the ones used in the dollar solar sidewalk lamps, packed with sand/dirt as padding inside the larger cell.

[@KN100]

Hey Clive, reckon I could use the circuit in one of these to charge a 600mAh lipo type quadcopter cell without it exploding?

[@richardmcdade2696]

Hi Bigclive (like your vids) I got a few of these power banks from poundland myself the first one would not take any charge. It was a dead pcb. the battery is marked 1200Ma i ran a charge and repeated discharge test three times on my B6AcV2 Charger/ Discharger at 800Ma Charge and 1A Discharge result 1197Ma output . No heating of the battery the other units appear to be working ok. No problems as yet with them for a pound thats not bad.

[@HandyFox333]

Do you have a video on potentiometers? Like the different types from dials to the ones used in analog/analogue sticks?

[@dos541]

Is the ac volts and the amps range on that multimeter next to each other so one click of the range switch could cause a problem

[@Skyuni123]

We recently had a two day long power cut in my home town and I ended up purchasing a couple of these power banks for a tenner each so I could charge my phone. I was really disappoimted in both of them - i think i only got about forty minutes of charging out of the two in the end.

[@gregzarkodimos9711]

When not in use, I always put sticky tape or Kapton tape between the lead and + side of the battery on power banks.. A bit tricky and/or bothersome, but does the trick to prevent quick discharge.

[@normanparker2103]

I've bought 10 of them farther than work completely dead fully charged and they are perfectly fine now not losing any voltage at all

[@jeremyvoshage2410]

I need to learn more about these 18650s.It seems like they are in all kinds of devices

[@relishgargler]

Hey Clive, would you consider tearing down an expensive power bank like an Anker, and comparing it to the cheap ones? It would be interesting to see your analysis of where the tradeoffs are.

[@gaza102289]

I have one of those. my battery isn't soldered in though. could I hook up a 9v connector and run it off a 9v battery?

[@Neffers_UK]

Would putting a bit of red lighting gel (maybe a couple of layers?) over the LED display of your USB meter help with the clarity?

[@BrandonMk3Fez]

I have two of those and they work perfectly I was using it today and I have had them for a few months and I have had no problems whatsoever

[@OriginalUsername9000]

It's worth noting that 1200 mAh capacity refers to the cell which gets boosted to 5V at the output. In that specific case and a generous 85% conversion efficiency you'd get about 800 mAh at the output at 5V. I might be completely wrong though, I'm sure someone will correct me.

[@shlomsi2000]

I would consider 100uA quiescent current as excellent in proportion to an average 18650 cell @ 2600mAh - that's about 3 years of standby. Also some protection chips miss under voltage cutoff at very low discharge currents and can drain the battery slowly to 0v.

[@charis6142]

do you think it would be ok to replace this type of battery with a rechargeable battery as a replacement.?

[@donixion4368]

I have 4 of these exact types of power banks rated at 1800 mAh. I have had no trouble at all out of them and while in storage they lose about 2,5 to 3% charge per month. I mostly use them to charge a Blackweb Bluetooth headset (for headphones) while I'm walking because the Bluetooth adaptor has a vert small battery giving only 3.5H of usable time. All in all,for $4 CAD a piece, I am ok with the performance they give.

[@spidspider]

Clive, Have you thought about putting a red filter over the USB voltage/current meter display to improve the contrast on camera?.

[@martindalby3941]

I bought two of these exact units yesterday. got 300mA discharge from unit one and about 500 from the second. disconnected the cell of one and dropped in a cell from an old laptop charger and discharged. it took 2000mA to charge. not bad for a 2.1 cel and discharged at 1293mAh.

[@robhj9933]

I picked a couple of these up recently. One has broken inductor, top snapped off, so understandably doesn't work too well (can these be fixed with e.g. conductive glue ????). The second took 752mAh on charge and gave 450mAh output with a test load. Not too good, but what do we expect for a quid..........

[@mmmaximusss]

Oh, wow! My dad had just got one of these, it charged his phone 1% lol

[@NicholasAarons]

Great Video Clive. Very Interesting. Keep up the great work. Nick.

[@dejanzdravkovic9010]

Bigclive i have the same powerbank,can i change that plate with tp4056 and how?Thanks

[@themaritimegirl]

They're selling these in Dollarama in Canada right now, for $4 CAD. Very slight cosmetic differences, but same circuit based on the same chip inside, and the same blue cell as well. Mine came out the package reading 3.9V, so I'll be interested to see what the capacity turns out to be when my USB charge analyzer arrives. The package says 1800 mAh. Odd things - the package says it's a LiPo battery, but surely it must be Li-Ion? Also, the package warns not to use a charger rated more than 1A to charge it. Why would that be? Surely it has charge regulation built-in?

[@johnstouchpad6437]

Did you ever do the cheap meter video?

[@philipcross1586]

i would love to compare the poundland specials against the ones they sell at the factory outlet stores as well as some of the other bargain shops.

[@naturalunited2943]

The exact power bank is everywhere with different brand name, i have exactly one like that here in australia and by a brand called laser and its exact same

[@jonathanwarner1844]

A closer look at the case reveals some spaces for inserting springs, at either end, so you can easily turn this into an 18650 charger. The batteries that come with these feel a lot lighter than should be, and tend to show voltages too low to be healthy for a Li Ion battery.

[@Martin-uf4ut]

any chance of a live stream at any point Clive? Julian tried his first this weekend so maybe you should as well

[@bigclivedotcom]

The Internet connectivity here is too slow to be able to stream. They're a bit behind the times with Internet speeds here.

[@TheLinkoln18]

martin Peters They still get the noises from the modem on the island.

[@TheLinkoln18]

...-..-...--.-..-

[@magnets1000]

Might be worth looking into 4g if you can get signal

[@rupertrooksby]

Live streams really stink and ought to be discouraged. I get why some creators might like them, they are way quicker and easier to lazily toss out than planning and constructing an actual proper video. Just turn on the camera, yammer away for 30minutes, or worse an hour, and call it done for the week. But as selfish punters we really should not be encouraging that sort of thing. Horrible streamed laggy video and audio quality, improvised haphazzard stuttering narrative, perhaps some chat window nonsense, it all compounds to make for a waste of valuable youtube viewing time. The whole point of video and film is the edit. The cut. It's the most important aspect of the art. An efficient, tightly focussed no-nonsense, no fat 12:22 video on powerbanks. Not the risk of that being substituted for 45 minutes of paper shuffling, blurry camerawork, and Clive reading inane chat comments.

[@frankside1203]

can please help me iv got a slim juice powerbank . power the led go off . but well keep powering a led light up sync and chrrger cables. thank u so muck

[@samirkhan3096]

I try to upgrade the cel from 2300 to 3800 its not working its strt nd then stop again nd again charging problm?

[@alexgray552]

Have you mentioned this to your local Trading Standards office +bigclivedotcom ? Last time I looked it was an offence to materially misdescribe goods offered for sale (even in the Isle of Man?). If someone was selling 250ml bottles as 1.2 litre bottles, they would soon get a slapdown!

[@adamchambers5599]

I wish he would as I, sorry we do watch his channel!! ( TS officer)

[@TinySpongey]

I have a couple of the earlier "dodgy" Poundworld ones which have the 18650 in a battery holder and the flush case. Those have the same chip as the Poundland ones you have there: maybe there is more than one sort with the same appearance? I also have a later Poundworld sticky out case one, that had a duff charging LED but seemed otherwise OK. It did have the annoying feature of cutting out under low current drain. Although they all say you can draw 1A from them the output voltage drops significantly well below that for the earlier ones. None of the ones I have are anywhere near 1000mAH. Additional: just had a look round a local B&M shop they have some powerbanks which are reported to be 1800mAh for £3.99... the case looks familiar but they have the "Intempo" brand.

[@skilletpan5674]

Clive: You should cut the cells open and see if they are just dodgy. Do the cells hold an ok charge if you take them out and use them with out the crap circuits?

[@fixman88]

I recently bought a blue, slightly larger version of one of those powerbanks at my local Walmart (having recognized the design from one of your earlier reviews; I'm hoping it's one of the 'better ones' the review mentioned. It had a partial charge on it when I brought it home, I plugged it in to completely charge it (a red oval light on the top came on and went out when it was done), I plugged it into my iPhone 6 and it charged it to around 83% or so. It seems to be ok so far *crosses fingers*. I may pop mine apart just to take a look, though.

[@joinedupjon]

Those cases are pretty easy to open and close again without damage - I guess there's a factory churning out the same powerbank case which several companies are buying and putting the cells and circuit board in to... so there's no way of telling if it's going to be alright just by looking at the outside... though yours is probably the same internally as the other identical looking ones bought from walmart

[@torqued666]

I have the same Keweisi USB meters. Last night I charged two 610mAh quad copter batteries with it. The first one ended at 1050mAh, The second one ended at 727mAh. They are two cell batteries. Are these meters reliable?

[@ferongr]

It's possible the reason you measured 2000mAh on the "good" one is that it uses a linear regulator arrangement for charging (as opposed to a switcher). A TP-Link 10400mAh powerbank I have uses a linear regulators for charging too, and the circuit board gets quite hot. Also, the input current does not vary regardless of voltage, that's a dead giveaway of a linear regulator. In any case. I find that measuring discharge power is better to determine powerbank capacity.

[@joannewhilde7359]

I had two of these, one Cell failed however the second was fine. I took mine to bits and moved it into a small toy car and made it rechargeable etc..

[@jg97873]

Hi. I have a bunch of 18650 2200mah bateries. Can I use this circuit with those bateries on parallel to increase the mAh? Good video. I'll wait for the multimeter overview too

[@bigclivedotcom]

If the cells are all good then you can usually parallel them if you make sure they are at a similar voltage before doing so. And powerbank module designed for lithium cells should work with a parallel array of cells.

[@jg97873]

I'll make sure the bateries are all working and try then. Thanks!

[@gazeddy]

ive done exactly that and added a fast charge cable 10 Ah takes a while to charge at 500ma. also added a switch as the parasitic drain is awful

[@mainelyelectric]

Is there a way to tell if a lithium cell is protected from looking at it externally? Because I have a pair of protected lithium ion 18650 cells for a flashlight that I have and I love the flashlight and I love the batteries but I was thinking of getting a few more batteries so that I could have a few backups. And noticed at my local Walmart they have 18650 lithium cells in a four pack for $11 for replacement for one of their brands of solar garden lights that take an 18650 sold under the name Westinghouse but I couldn't see anything on the battery that said protected so I'm wondering if it's a good deal or not?

[@bigclivedotcom]

It usually says protected and there may be a gold coloured PCB at the negative end of the cell.

[@Wreighn]

Clive, how accurately does the keweisi device monitor the amount of charge that goes into something? I have one of those. I'm about to receive a 1200mah power bank, and I'm curious if it will measure the charge correctly.

[@lepterfirefall]

I bought one of these and it charged my galaxy s5 to 75% straight from box. Will be more wary in future though. I value my phone.

[@k1rk1c]

Hi Clive (Great videos by the way), I just got a couple of the Poundland Power Banks, exactly the same as yours, I assume, Model IP023. I've just discharged and recharged using my Anker A2021 USB charger. I got good results using my power monitor - 1241mAh in 2hr 20mins I'll see how they perform over time. Maybe you had a dud, maybe they've been watching as well and upped their game :-) Keep up the good work.

[@TinySpongey]

There is a new style of poundland powerbank. These come rated at 2200mAh and cost 2 quid. They have "power geek" on them. Might be worth a look, if they have a genuine 2.2Ah 18650 inside that's pretty good for £2.

[@maicod]

I got the same Keweisi 'Power Doctor' and its measurements are way off. 4.69 V when the simple alternating displaying voltage/amps one that I also have (like yours) reports 4.99 V. Is yours doing that too ?

[@HowardHalifax]

Nice to hear Gordon Brown making KZbin videos :)