COB Rechargeable USB LED Keychain Light

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Teardown of a COB LED keychain light.
www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004590286376.html
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(We each get £50)
#ElectronicsCreators

[@SomeReefer]

I have one of those lights and use it for trucking. It is bright and lasts long. Oh and there is another brightness level, if you hold the the power button it is even brighter than the one click high.

[@ChunkySteveo]

Was about to comment on the super secret hold for full power mode! Haha

[@phil955i]

I did not know that 👍 You'd think they'd list that in the instructions that comes with it

[@ChunkySteveo]

@@phil955i mine did have it listed in broken English. It's deep in the text!!

[@jayzzrulezz4284]

Yea..It's work.... Thnx for the info

[@Electronics-Rocks]

I bought them from AliExpress 8 for £12 Found really useful and works really well. Also the interesting thing is the light dims over time which resets on switching off and on. Presumably for heat.

[@eyefishinggunkchannel1011]

u f.............. joking 8 for 12£ i would pay 15 for 1 but my town u get nothing like this plus i have no bank gutted

[@crazycrab8578]

best i could do is 4 with 2 free stands for £14 :), the price has gone up, but for what I need them for, still cheap and good

[@Electronics-Rocks]

@@crazycrab8578 Hi I just bought another 10 for £16.41and that's the 500mah against the 300mah

[@crazycrab8578]

@@Electronics-Rocks :(, lucky :)

[@procrastinator1842]

​@Shaun Tremayne I'd bet my last dollar that it's still 250mah...you ain't gonna get twice the battery in there

[@frankowalker4662]

I like the case design of that torch. The picture is slightly darker than ususal and the audio is quieter and mono. :)

[@DIYwithBatteries]

It looks nice fit in pocket 👍

[@cebtropico]

Just bought one 😂£2.30 posted!!

[@LeoDDJ]

And of course they forgot the USB-C CC resistors again... (the two remaining unconnected pins on the USB-C socket) So it won't charge on a real USB-C power supply.

[@ravenbarsrepairs5594]

Looks more useful than the one my mother bought in bulk for xmas(multiple years x everyone), if only as its got a build in magnet an carabiner rather than just a chain/keyring.

[@TuttleScott]

uh oh, expect a visit from big clive. you're on his territory now.

[@dlinnoedlinnoe]

Just bought a couple of such things at ali for $5 for a pair w/free shipping. Pretty good lights. Very useful here with 2 or 3 light off periods during a day :) Around two hours at what they claim 60%. (1 press - 60%, 2 presses - 30%, 3 presses - blinking; long press - 100%). The box says it's 6W COBs.

[@michaelkaliski7651]

The lack of a complete power cutoff is always an issue with these type of lights. They might be okay if left unused for months, or they could self discharge in a week, you just never know. The inclusion of a bottle opener on the carabiner style clip is curious.

[@jtb2586]

Sound is really soft

[@JulianIlett]

I also felt it was a bit muffled, but my hearing is such that I can't evaluate high frequency content anymore.

[@kapegede]

After switching on you can hold the switch for extra brightness.

[@JulianIlett]

Yes, you can :)

[@procrastinator1842]

Mine does not do that. The first press is full, which rapidly dims, the second press is low and the third press is flash. Long press does nothing.

[@Palmit_]

the video seems unsharp @1080. only when focused on nearby to lens did sharpness happen.

[@jawjuk]

Thanks for taking these things apart so we don't even have to buy them :-D

[@SirHackaL0t.]

Have you played with electronic shelf labels at all? I was thinking of getting some to label boxes with their contents that can be updated via nfc or bluetooth. Might be an interesting project.

[@RuneInternational]

think the 20 pound version is the genuine 1 million lumen key ring light

[@electromaniacal]

Julian... now in stereo!

[@IrregularShed]

I've got one of these, but I've also got a different model which has two levels of cold white, two levels of warm white, a static red and a flashing red. No carabina on that one sadly, so it's not my everyday carry. Oh, and it has a cigarette lighter as well!

[@micropower8]

Is Pin7 of the Chip U2 soldered on properly? (it goes to C2) We have here such a glue, I think "B7000" for a good connection of smartphone-displays. This glue is s bit soft, so you can use it to add the front-part to the lamp.

[@Boda.Attila]

I also have a motorola g31. It's a very good phone for its price.

[@andymouse]

Yeah have to put volume up to hear this one....This is like the dentist who invented the glue that's taking the Aerospace industry by storm and they tried to ban it !...cheers.

[@fredflintstone1]

Cheese!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@andymouse]

@@fredflintstone1 Squeak !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Ni5ei]

Picture with your new camera is still the same: Still 2 JLCPCB ads in the top corners.

[@followthetrawler]

Audio is a bit low Julian, you could always get a bluetooth lapel mike or some such. But honestly, we can just turn the volume up here :) Are you ever going to finish the Vocoder or is it permanently gathering dust now?

[@JulianIlett]

The vocoder is in the shed. The shed was meant to double up as a workshop, but it's not suitable for that. It's either far too cold or too hot in there. It needs 12 inches of insulation in the walls to maintain a workable temperature. The roof is also a problem. It doesn't leak, but condensation collects on the underside. That drips down as a brown sludge onto all my stuff (including the vocoder PCBs).

[@David_11111]

AUDIO seems ok here ! :)

[@PhoneVidoes]

@@JulianIlett What you need is a diesel heater 😁

[@alanpatterson2384]

@julian ìlett, I intended to repurpose one of my existing sheds as a workshop, but quickly realised that it was not feasible. I built one with 120mm of insulation all round, which is more than sufficient. Less than 200 watts of power is all that is required to keep it warm. I have a 7.5 watt extractor fan to provide some ventilation. It made a good project.

[@JulianIlett]

Did you insulate the roof?

[@km_photo]

Thanks for this "review", nearly bought one myself but was questioning if it's worth the money - it's not.

[@micmiclee47]

@JulianIlett - just curious, if you remove the battery for the mini keychain would the LED still turn on via the type C charger only?

[@sargentmaxis]

souned is a bit to low iv got to turn up my volume up lewder

[@JulianIlett]

I'll speak a bit lewder in future ;)

[@chilllytube]

Camera: Sound is a bit quiet. The picture is not that sharp, maybe a depth of field issue.

[@eone2345]

My concern was the charging module chip. My TP4056 chip can get very very hot when charging almost fully discharge battery. Thanks for these video, never thought the inside components of this product was too simple.

[@fredflintstone1]

I have never seen a youtube advert?? ABP saves the day 🙂

[@JulianIlett]

What's ABP? If it means I'm not getting my advertising revenue - I'll be cross ;)

[@fredflintstone1]

@@JulianIlett I guess you maybe cross🙂

[@NickNorton]

I like the triggers here Julian. Your audio is OK for me. I've used a Signetics NE570 for decades. DRC, ALC has been a thing for decades. But kids will always prefer to be triggered and leave hate.

[@r1273m]

Why is it only in Black & White? (Only joking!)

[@flagpoleeip]

It's really quiet

[@flagpoleeip]

Ironically when you did the screen grab it was louder.

[@flagpoleeip]

just go back to the previous camera. people will not stick around if the audio is so low :(

[@JulianIlett]

The previous camera (Nexus 4) is awesome, but the battery is so bad it keeps crashing and losing shots. It was becoming a real problem. I bought a new battery, but it was no good (I was scammed). Maybe I'll try again. The Moto G31 has a much better OLED screen which is great for monitoring, but the audio (using the Open Camera app) is terrible. I'm really disappointed.

[@flagpoleeip]

Can you not leave it plugged in? Or is it worse than that?

[@JulianIlett]

The Nexus 4 has been plugged in for the last year or so (the battery is that bad). But I don't think USB can provide the necessary current peaks and the phone keeps crashing.

[@jlucasound]

The audio is low. When you came on with the ali express listing, I had to back off the volume. 😲😉🤩

[@JulianIlett]

Sorry about that, I'll fix this - even if it means another trip to Currys.

[@spokehedz]

The audio was a bit weird, but not bad. The quality was much better, IMO, but that might just be nonsense.

[@jeoffosker1768]

I heard left and right stereo sound as you did it with headphone. Picture is quite a bit darker than usual.

[@electro2606]

That led i got was discharged and the circuit was leaking mili amps or the bms doesn’t work it killed 2 batterys

[@JulianIlett]

Well, it is cheap ;)

[@David_11111]

YAY

[@ReverendFlatus]

Sound seems a bit dull.

[@matambale]

Please mess around with the audio levels during the edit.

[@mikebarrett2621]

Audio levels grossly mis-matched!

[@JulianIlett]

I can easily rematch them by not raising my voice during the screen capture.

[@flagpoleeip]

@@JulianIlett i can't if that is a serious suggestion or not.

[@JulianIlett]

I'm serious - Windows Movie Maker is not good for matching audio levels. Actually, I can reduce the microphone level in OBS, but I'd rather all my audio was at 0dB.

[@flagpoleeip]

I would also rather that 😁

[@mikepanchaud1]

@@JulianIlett you need a video editor upgrade, I'd suggest the free kden live. numerous tutes on KZbin.

[@phakalanep7241]

Please check your price 4 X led = £5.22 what ali does is show the largest amount you can get BUT shows the least amount of cost

[@jyvben1520]

those empty pads and the 1ohm resistor next to it, influences the brightness ?

[@ethanpschwartz]

I'm 100% here for arbitrarily throwing bottle openers onto things. This could replace my bottle opener/carabiner/ruler/hex nut driver keychain.

[@phil955i]

I bought mine on Ebay for £3.95 with free shipping 👍 (I would post a link but KZbin doesn't allow it). And yes, as you say the ad on KZbin lists it for 20 quid 😂

[@outaspaceman]

Saw them for £1 on Wish, but shipping kills it..

[@j.rohleder3794]

I would assume this ic doesn‘t have any CC/CV battery charging functionality. It seems they used Q2 as a diode and the current / voltage limit for charging the battery only relies on the voltage drop and the hfe + R1 base resistor (+ the resistance of the charging cable) and the Charger voltage of precise 5V. The base current is limited just because of the high output resistance of the microcontroller. If the battery is drained the led will turn off at probably a safe level for the battery cause of it‘s minimum voltage level, but in the worst case the mcu is going to operate down to 1.8V, so you donˋt realise the battery gets dangerously deep discharged (because it still wants to saturate Q1)...if you then try to charge it you‘re probably going to have a nice fire hazard!

[@jaro6985]

Yeah looks like a terrible design. I'll assume there are other versions out there with proper charging ICs.

[@robertalabla]

Charge control is done by the micro. Q2 base is pulled low by the micro(pin4) when the battery is fully charged cutting USB power to B+. Track goes under the transistor Y1(SS8050). Just tore one down and measured it.

[@PaulMJohnson]

Picture is good, stereo is good, just a bit too quiet.

[@r.in.shibuya]

Hobbit hands!

[@EsotericArctos]

Your manual level adjustment was a fail to be honest. Your voice on the screen captures was a fair bit louder than the camera level. It didn't make it unwatchable, but it did make it seem like you were shouting during screen grabs. Picture quality is pretty good though. Maybe an external microphone would work?

[@JulianIlett]

Yes, I'm going to try an external microphone next time :)

[@paulwright5440]

The video is blurred

[@Ajtech369]

The audio is a bit quieter and muffled.

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

well you're ads are now nice and loud.

[@JulianIlett]

Looks like my sister will be getting a nice new smartphone as a present.

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

@@JulianIlett I've gone the camera route, the Cannon M50 MKII gives me the best of both worlds. a nice stills camera, and a great channel camera via the HDMI output.

[@fredflintstone1]

woof!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

@@fredflintstone1 too loud man too loud.

[@midinotes]

The listing stated 20 pcs, so surely you should have received 20 for $4? The audio is fine by the way, nice to have a bit of stereo space and image quality looks bang on.

[@dogastus]

Not if you click on the picture showing 20 pcs. It's a common trick on that site to make something look like more of a bargain than it is.

[@Okurka.]

The $4 is the price of a bag that doesn't even fit the keychain light.

[@CravingBeer]

Can you speak up a bit son?

[@yazarluo2010]

This battery is fake ! I test it , 130 mA capacity!!! Original version is 500 mA

[@JulianIlett]

Of course it's fake.

[@FaridShakil]

I've Been Using This Light For About 10 Days Now And Based On My Personal Experience I'll Strongly Suggest To All Of You That, Obviously You'll Never Buy This Tiny Keychain Light Before Testing It With Your Highest Attention. Either Way, You’ll Be A Loser Like Me. 😡 Well… There Are 3 Important Reasons Behind My Suggestion And Based On My Own Testing, I'll Never Recommend You To Buy This Beautiful Piece Of Trash Without Your Acknowledgement. 😔 Firstly, The Most Critical Problem I've Found Is That, After 1 Or 2 Minutes Of Using This Light It Will Start Dimming Suddenly And Will Automatically Go Into Dimming Mode (Candlelight Position) Within The Next 3 Minutes, Which Is The Most Annoying Part Of This Light. 😡 Secondly, I've Observed Closely That, Its Charge Lasts Only For 10 To 20 Minutes If I Use It Irregularly. I Mean, If I Need To Search Something In My Room In A Dark Environment, At This Moment I've Turned It On For A Shorter Period Of Time For Searching My Thing And Again I've Turned It Off Within A Minute After Finding My Thing. Like This, The Charge Has Last For 10 To 20 Minutes As I've Experienced. 😡 Thirdly, The Worst Problem I've Faced Is That, For Getting A Better Output, I Thought If I Kept This Light Connected To A Power Bank All The Time (At Charging Mode) As A Direct Source Of Electricity, Maybe I'd Get A Slightly Better Result From My Previous Experience. But Alas, In This Case The Output Result Also Comes Out The Same. 😡 I Mean… After Continuous Use For Below 10 Minutes While It Is Charging At The Power Bank, It Has Again Started To Decrease Its Light Down To The Candlelight Position Within The Next 5 Minutes Of Time, Which Will Make You Extremely Uncomfortable And Unhappy With This Shitty Thing. 😡 So I'm Never Going To Suggest Any Of You To Buy This Cheap Chinese Tech, By Wasting Your Most Valuable Money. 😶 Thank You Very Much. 🚩

[@alankingvideo]

Generic bicycle light control chip

[@cs3194]

Sorry, this is unwatchable, audio levels are terrible

[@EsotericArctos]

Not sure what you were listening on. It was lower than usual, but certainly not unwatchable. I had my HP Laptop volume at 60% and that was fine to watch it with

[@Soapy555]

you sound different

[@fredflintstone1]

20 units are ￡34.47 still not bad if you had 20 friends to sell too them at £4 a pop🙂