DL24 Electronic Load Battery Capacity Tester

▶Follow me on Facebook for daily updates: / techtronic9000
⬇️⬇️⬇️OPEN DESCRIPTION FOR MORE INFO⬇️⬇️⬇️
The DL24 is a "180W" rated electronic load tester that is very useful for determine things such as true battery capacity. It provides several main working modes such as CC - constant current, CV - constant voltage, CR - constant resistance and CP - constant power. With the integrated LCD you can also check and adjust a lot of parameters in real-time.
Available from: bit.ly/3gkpaop
Newer improved model: bit.ly/2ImZQ5B

[@RizwanSaeed]

very informative video really appropriate your work

[@TechTronic9000]

Glad you liked it

[@notreallydaedalus]

You can use a dab of hot glue or silicone adhesive on the hole of those piezo beepers to significantly reduce their output. I do that for the battery monitors intended for use with radio control planes and drones -- they're designed to be heard over motor and propeller noise, at significant distances... it makes a huge difference.

[@TechTronic9000]

Yes that works nice also. I usually just add a bit of duct tape over.

[@enrikomulawarman7617]

Rubber band are not for LCD, it's for attaching temperature probe to anything you test

[@exgenica]

I suggest it is likely playing a dual role. A band on the LCD during shipping seems to me a very good idea. I've received 2 SIMILAR testers where the LCD was completely detached from the device in the box and had to be carefully realigned with a flexible conductive connector. On one of the units either realignment wasn't possible for some reason or there was some other kind of display subassembly damage) as the display basically just showed pixelated garbage.

[@MTatoox]

Thanks

[@TechTronic9000]

Welcome

[@supercurioTube]

I'm at my second unit dying, testing it with a PSU before connecting to 18650 battery packs to test. What I did is set the load to constant current, connected to a 84V 5A charger. When increasing the constant-current value with the buttons, the unit happily increases the current and warns about power overload at the same time as the main MOSFET dies. And once the unit failed to protect itself, the input is shorted, which would likely result in a fire if directly connected to a battery pack. The seller Atorch doesn't answer unless there's a dispute. I would not recommend. If you want to use it, I'd strongly suggest to always add a fuse to avoid short-circuits if the unit fails.

[@TechTronic9000]

84V@5A = 420W, the limit is 180W for this device. You should set the current to voltage before starting, if it exceeds 180 (185)W it will give you a warning and not start. But if you turn it on with a low current and then you keep increasing it and exceed the limit it will no longer enter protection, this is a workaround if you change the the mosfet and cooler.

[@supercurioTube]

@@TechTronic9000 we might have different versions of this product, the behavior you describe is not the same as what's sold currently. My first unit died as a load to test a booster converter unit, DL24 in constant power mode. When adjusting the booster's CC limit, lowering it reverted to lower voltage and higher amperage and the DL24 MOSFET died at the same time as it displayed "overload > 185W" in red. Second using was connected to my 84V 5A PSU, DL24 in constant current mode. I increased CC value progressively to see what would happen if I did the same when connected to a battery pack. At some point (wasn't filming) the DL24 displayed the same overload warning again at the same time the MOSFET burned up. In both cases the input was shorted so that would have been really bad if connected to the 1.6kW battery pack I wanted to measure. I have seen the warning be effective in some cases and some other not. In my memory, the unit would stop at the same time as the warning would be shown, preventing failure. Do you think that the safety mechanism only provides protection if voltage and current from the source don't fluctuate, and can only prevent to start if parameters are wrong? I thought that in early tests I saw it stopped when increasing the DL24 CC or Power targets to overload values. So maybe the current version is different, and maybe the MOSFET they put in now is of bad quality and burns before safety is engaged.

[@exgenica]

François Simond said, "If you want to use it, I'd strongly suggest to always add a fuse to avoid short-circuits if the unit fails." At the very high currents that can be involved here, I suggest using a CERAMIC fuse of approriate ratings. Glass fuses can shatter/explode under such conditions. Another alternative may be to enclose the fuse in a tough casing. Either way, don't just use a bare glass fuse connected with wires with fuse clamps on the ends (as I've seen too many experimenters do). Glass fuses can explode during very high current failures and in the event of failure send out shrapnel of glass and molten metal, and can even cause secondary fires.

[@supercurioTube]

@@exgenica That's good advice 👍 I got a pack of automotive fuses and a holder for them which is enclosed, within some kind of tough plastic/rubber. That way any explosion, arcing or fire of the fuse should be quickly stopped. Since it's very difficult to find fuse that will not arc at higher DC voltages tho, that's what I ended up with as workaround.

[@DroneDaysgr]

Nice 👍

[@TechTronic9000]

Thanks for the visit

[@rokiedecentra9656]

got a kit version of this, doesnt come with the cooler so used an intel stock cooler from a 9th gen i3 so its all aluminium. It is cheaper but there is a gap that i had to bend the FET and press down on the heatsink to make contact. I was able to dissipate 100W with the internal temp staying under 80C, it can do 120W under 90C..... just for others who might want to same some money on it

[@TechTronic9000]

I've upgraded mine with a old but large ZEROtherm ZT-10D, now it won't go past 60-65°C at 150W.

[@tedhancock68]

Good review. I was wondering if you've tried any heavy loads? My unit was working fine and then I starting discharging a 15v battery at 10 amps (150w). After a few seconds, the unit caught fire. I'm not saying smoke, I mean flames several centimetres high. When I disassembled, I saw that the tiny trace, leading to one of the fet leads, melted and started the fire. Banggood is sending another, but I wonder if that one will be any better?

[@TechTronic9000]

Until now the "worst" case was 150W for 10 minutes, it worked ok but the temp sensor was already at 65°C+. I might try to change the cooler with a larger one from the old age of quad cores :D

[@tedhancock68]

@@TechTronic9000 Yeah, got plenty of those. I even have a water cooled radiator system. LOL

[@mrspeedprog]

I burned out the orignal IRFP260M MOSFET with 300W (30V 10Amp) because mine said to support 1000W on aliexpress :) I have a heavyer heatsink through. So I replaced the MOSFET with a 1300W rated one (IXFK98N50P3) and then I put 300W through it for a couple minutes turned it off afterwards because my external temp sensor that was connected to the board didn't work and my multimeter thermal probe was showing like 80C on the base of the heatsink. Currently waiting for new temperature probe to arrive and when I have it connected and stuck between the MOSFET and PCB I gonna see if it can take 300W stable. What I really wanna tell you is that the trace probably was a oneoff I would say, because I slowly, waiting every time for temperature to stabilize, increased power from 100W to 300W there was > 150W there for at least 1h. But yeah I would stress the original ones with more then like 150W-200W, 250W is probably already pushing the limit for a 300W rated MOSFET.

[@tedhancock68]

@@mrspeedprog It could be that the mosfet burned first and caused the trace to melt. In any case, I now have two of the 180w units and don't trust either past 50 watts.

[@TechTronic9000]

I've managed to blow up mine! It was a combination of not paying attention to the warning message and reconnecting the clips. I set it to pull 300W, so the mosfet shorted out, this shorted out my battery, blew the alligator clip and battery BMS. It have got a new mosfet and it's interesting as even though it's the same model, all the writings are different so the original one might have been a cheap clone. Also updated to a huge fan. After I get the time to do the repairs i will also add an in line fuse so I will avoid blowing up stuff. Will try to make a video of the repairs.

[@tedhancock68]

Very detailed video. I feel the same way about the app. The 300 volt scale is absolutely ridiculous. The app is wasting everyone's' time. How do you get the USB-C port to trigger? I've tried connecting my trigger board, but the unit doesn't respond.

[@TechTronic9000]

I haven't tried the usb c port yet.

[@brianwest2775]

On PC, click on the top number of the y axis and you can change the y-axis scale on each graph. (Maybe the same on the phone app.)

[@vincentlai8689]

Thanks for the detail review. I am interested in the app part. It seems the app is not very powerful. I would like to know if there are any USB loads that provide APIs for programmable by PCs. Or the only solution for me is the large expensive traditional E-loads from instrument companies.

[@TechTronic9000]

In this price range you can't get a good app based device, sadly you need to spend a few time more to get something that does a similar job but it has true app control.

[@laurv8370]

The mobile app DOES show everything on screen, you have to enlarge the scales for current/voltage/power (use two fingers on the axes)

[@TechTronic9000]

Maybe that works for newer firmware / app versions. It's been 2 years since my review and I still remember the awful 300V scale which was not adjustable and the hard to navigate menu with the same up/down/left/right buttons.

[@privatear2001]

Do this thing have any kind of data logger, which could enable you to plot the discharge curve? I bet the data could be tapped off of somewhere... but then again the circuitry is pretty small here...

[@TechTronic9000]

Yes it has both a PC and a Android app for that, but they are rather crude

[@PansarNisse]

Hi TechTronic9000 Could you tell me the brand and number of the diode (I think, 2 legs) under the heatzink on the left edge of the pcb. Mine become very warm and exploded when I connected a 25V battery for the first time. That makes it impossibly to read the letters and numbers. on the diode. Many thank you for your answer.

[@TechTronic9000]

Sadly currently i can't reach mine for now, maybe this can help you a bit syonyk.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-atorch-purple-fan-mosfet-destroyer.html

[@PansarNisse]

@@TechTronic9000 It was not the same pcb but thanks for the reply.

[@danbarb9728]

can you test a USB power adapter with lets say 20V ? Because some newer and stronger USB power adapters have also 9V or 20V

[@TechTronic9000]

It has several supported options and protocols for USB such as PD / QC 3.0 etc. When you buy this try to get the newest official version as they constantly update the firmware and hardware design. You can check their official store and also the new modular model: bit.ly/3pYezH4

[@bluegizmo1983]

Does the USB-C port on this tester actually trigger PD modes like it should? USB-C PD (Power Delivery) requires that the device communicate with the charger to negotiate what voltage and amperage to use. So for example, if I use a USB-C PD charger that is capable of outputting between 5V-20V at 3.25A, and I connect that charger to this tester via a USB-C to USB-C cable, will the tester negotiate the proper 20V output from the charger like it should?

[@TechTronic9000]

There are a lot of variations and clones of this product. Mine doesn't have specific USB settings such as QC/PD protocol. For testing usb devices I use this kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3TXqWp7iLKbfck

[@bluegizmo1983]

@@TechTronic9000 ah ok, thanks! I have one of those kinds of testers already and they work great for seeing what current a device is drawing from the charger, but they don't allow you to force a specific current or wattage load like DC testers do.

[@TechTronic9000]

You can get a usb load, there are some models, but they are usually just resistors and don't have PD/QC triggering.

[@rokiedecentra9656]

you need an external PD trigger

[@xsauce3858]

Can you set a low voltage disconnect to prevent discharging a battery that does not have a bms ?

[@TechTronic9000]

Yes sure, you can adjust the voltage it stops to.

[@randydicotti3975]

One major flaw with DL24 and DL24P is voltage resolution on output is only 0.1. The Display gets 0.001 resolution but not the data output. This means you can't really make nice graphs from the data.

[@TechTronic9000]

Well, I can't complain about that for the price you pay for it....

[@ericklein5097]

Are you looking for higher resolution for LiFeP04 discharge graphs because the middle 70% is flatter than a Wisconsin girls ass? 3.27, 3.27, 3.27, *seven hours and 140Ah later* 3.27, 3.27, 3.27, 3.26!

[@RizwanSaeed]

can we increase the output power by apply parralel mosfets let's suppose this is designed for 150watt I want it to test the battery at 800 or 1000 watt load is it possible to make change in it?

[@TechTronic9000]

Might be possible but with no schematic of the device it's hard to know if the mod is possible.

[@raduradu1289]

@@TechTronic9000 It is possible if the shunt is modified and use several MOSFETs in parallel. www.bristolwatch.com/ele2/pm.htm

[@BorgOvermind]

This is good up to 180W, or a little more if you mod it. It there something in the 300W range ?

[@TechTronic9000]

There is modular model where you can hook up several modules to increase the power, check my video info for links to those newer models.

[@BorgOvermind]

@@TechTronic9000 I can always change the MOSFET and add up a huge CPU cooler, then recalibrate, but I rather get something 300+W from start.

[@TechTronic9000]

I have upgraded the cooling on mine already with a massive heat-sink and large high airflow coolers.

[@joaovictorf.carvalho458]

Anyone knows if someone managed to get the data that goes through BT or USB/Serial port? I'm wondering this as if someone is able to get that a better application for showing /displaying can be created.

[@TechTronic9000]

Beside the existing provided apps I haven't seen anything developed for this...

[@fpvkabo]

how to calibrate video, using to test quality of 18650 batteries, getting 4.007 on dl24p but 4.11 on meteer3 other sources, tried to menu to calibrate doesn't seem to work

[@TechTronic9000]

You can't, it's related to voltage drop, use thicker cables, better clips. A new version was made that has extra wires for more accurate measurement and has no longer problems with voltage drop, here is that one bit.ly/39eWNtI

[@motleypixel]

Seems you have it hooked up to a 3S1P Li-Po pack which if I understand correct is 3.7VDC per cell and a 3.0VDC per cell LVCO or 9VDC LVCO, but your LVCO is only set to 3.0VDC...wouldn't that damage the pack if you started a 1A CC discharge and walked away?

[@TechTronic9000]

It's indeed a 3S1P LiPo pack and yes you are right about the low voltage cut out. In this video I'm just showing the product working not giving tips of how to establish battery capacity and properly discharge them. For LiPo I would actually stop at 3.2V/cell. Li-Ion might go to 3V/cell.

[@motleypixel]

@@TechTronic9000 I just received my unit in from AliExpress yesterday. Cool little gadget, I bought it because of your video. Just curious how necessary is it to use the sense V+/- on the battery terminals for more accuracy? I'm trying to find a better explaination of how voltage drop of the load wires would be any different from non-load wires. So far I'm just jumped the A+/V+ and A-/V- and it seems to be working just fine. Also, have yet to get the BT app to connect on my Android Samsung Galaxy S10+ Thank you.

[@TechTronic9000]

The newer version with sense wires has a different schematic and it's more accurate. When you discharge a battery you also calculate power which is based on the current draw measured by the the resistance. The old version take into account also the wire resistance, clips resistance etc. The sense wires fixed on the terminal will read the exact power source voltage so it will not measure voltage internally after the voltage drop.

[@BorgOvermind]

I have this model now; how can you reset the capacity by only using the buttons (no blutooth)?

[@TechTronic9000]

It has an option in the menu settings.

[@TonyMontana-xj3zv]

Probably you hold the "on/off" button for 2 seconds and you have some options to go on

[@sandipmajumder9344]

Can I do battery capacity testing for 24v 30ah using this module??

[@TechTronic9000]

I have added a link in the video description for where you can buy this and it also has a full datasheet there. It can support up to 200V. Power is limited to 180W so you can choose various combos between voltage and amps.

[@shovonsaha8556]

Hey! Thanks for the nice video. Unfortunately, my QR code has faded. Can you kindly provide the link for the app?

[@TechTronic9000]

There is a link for the app in this product page here bit.ly/3b3S3Zf

[@herbertvonsauerkrautunterh2513]

I got the one with the add on boards and battery box

[@TechTronic9000]

That is the newer and better version. I would recommend you to put a in line fuse on one of the discharge wires.

[@herbertvonsauerkrautunterh2513]

@@TechTronic9000 ok

[@marlowe7604]

does it have a voltage cutoff feature?

[@marlowe7604]

can this also be used in parallel to increase the discharge power?

[@TechTronic9000]

Yes it has adjustable cutoff voltage. I think you can also paralel two devices then you have to sum of used capacity from both of them.

[@gkeith4120]

Yes. The Bluetooth application voltage and current are mislabeled as well the developer has not completed yet.

[@Random_4400]

can i test a 48v 7.5a power supply with this or is it too much?

[@TechTronic9000]

The limit for this model is 150W. You can calculate 150/48 = 3.12A. But a 48V battery actually has 54.6V when full so 150W/54.6 = 2.74A is max discharge current.

[@TechTronic9000]

For high current get the modular new type and get more blocks: bit.ly/3i6yWOf

[@randydicotti3975]

Has anyone figured out a way to turn OFF the bright Fan LED lights ? Very happy with this device. Used it overnight many times at 10Amps load no problems.

[@TechTronic9000]

Just follow the led wires from the led shroud. I have replaced my fan and heat-sink with a much larger one and keeps it much more cooler now.

[@andreb.3206]

What is the mosfet model?

[@TechTronic9000]

It was a irfp260n bad quality clone, I have replaced it with the same model but from a trusty source, works OK for now. Also added a bigger cooler and an in line fuse on the discharge wires.

[@user-fz5lf2xp5n]

Should I proceed the test with a fully charged battery?

[@TechTronic9000]

Yes, and you need to set the discharge limit, when the test is over you will find the capacity.

[@user-fz5lf2xp5n]

@@TechTronic9000 Your reply was very helpful. Let me ask you one more thing. If the known Discharge Cut-off Voltage is 1.5V, is it correct to set it to 1.5V? Or does it help protect battery performance by holding it to 1.6V?

[@Radu44]

I upgraded with water cooler (ID-Cooling Frostflow X 240 with TDP 250W) and much stronger mosfet ( IXFX160N30T 1400W and 160A)

[@TechTronic9000]

I have also upgraded the cooler to a old massive Zerotherm ZT-10D, don't remember the TDP but i was using that with an old Q6600 CPU that was overclocked form 2.4 to 3.2Ghz. I'm still using the stock mosfet.

[@Barc0d3]

What exactly does this mod achieve? Did you have to adjust the firmware of the device to work with the replaced mosfet? :)

[@francescacosentino6975]

@@TechTronic9000 excellent choice to keep the original mosfet, at the time of writing it is IRFP264 and for the price it costs it is one of the best in doing the job of dissipating heat, a job for which 90% of the Mosfets are not designed. Suitable ones are linear mosfets like IXTK90N25L2. but they are very expensive (40€) and almost unobtainable in this period. Here I see many people replace the original mosfet with others considered more powerful, i.e. with higher currents in A and greater dissipation in W. But few know that what matters is the graph of the "maximum safe operating area" SOA If they looked at it they would realize why a 100A 200V mosfet burns with 20A at 20V used continuously for several seconds: In particular the much more powerful IXF160N30T is one of the least suited to work in linear regime as it is used in electronic loads and in fact at 20 volts 20 Amp it is well outside the SOA safety area, so it can burn out immediately or operate for a short period unspecified : therefore unreliable, imprudent to leave in operation without careful supervision. At least use a model that even if not designed for "linear" use in the SOA graph has the curve in "DC"

[@mohammedsiddique8563]

I would like to control this through commands, is it possible? If yes, how? Thank you for your contribution.

[@TechTronic9000]

You can use the bluetooth app.

[@randomvideochamber1723]

can you calibrate it?

[@TechTronic9000]

I don't remember seeing an option to calibrate. Still there is a better newer model released that is a lot more accurate than this one.

[@randydicotti3975]

Welp, after about 25 uses, my new DL24P ($52.00) has failed. I was doing a test at 11amps and it just quit. I hope it's just the big MOSFET under the fan. Otherwise, garbage. Ironically I had made sure it stayed as cool as possible by using an external 60mm fan to keep cool air blowing on it in addition to the included top fan.. Didn't help I guess. The persistent problem will be that if these things fail at anything over 10Amps, then it's not really a 180watt load tester as advertised. That MOSFET is rated for 345F (175C) and 50Amps so it should have been able to handle it.

[@TechTronic9000]

Mine also broke after some usage, only the main mosfet was blown, it's a knock of chip, try to get an original mosfet. Also I advise you to install an in-line fuse on one of the discharge wires. As for 180W power, it depends on the battery voltage, 10A @ 18V = 180W already.

[@randydicotti3975]

@@TechTronic9000 I'm ecstatic to report that changing the MOSFET IRFP260N did the trick YAY !! I bought Bridgold off of Amazon. Just ran a 10A load and no problem. What is the purpose of the fuse? Thanks for the feedback and video above.

[@TechTronic9000]

When my mosfet gave out it shorted out. I was testing a newly built 48V ebike battery. It destroyed my battery BMS. If it would have had a fuse that BMS might still have worked today.

[@randydicotti3975]

@@TechTronic9000 Wow. Thanks for letting us know. I also use it to test a 48v ebike battery. If it was a BtrPower battery you can get a replacement BMS for $20

[@Jaultaub]

what is the differnece of DL24 and DL24-P ??

[@TechTronic9000]

The new "p" or Plus version is newer and it's more accurate as it has two wires / two circuits one for power draw and the other to measure the voltage at the source and avoid voltage drop, here is it: bit.ly/2ImZQ5B

[@Jaultaub]

@@TechTronic9000 Great! I will get this version than!

[@MrSharky1972]

I have had the DL24P Plus model for a couple of days, in my tests I have detected that it shows voltage values ​​higher than the real ones, in a 32.2v battery the DL24P Plus shows me 35.9v. I have no idea if it can be calibrated

[@brianwest2775]

@@MrSharky1972 Yes, it can be calibrated if you have a calibrated source. Some other videos show it.

[@null7969]

Wondering whats under the heatsink

[@TechTronic9000]

IRFP260N MOSFET

[@null7969]

@@TechTronic9000 wow how they can use only mosfet as load?

[@TechTronic9000]

The MOSFET is just used as a controlled load. It has other logic circuits to measure voltage, current etc.

[@sajanoli999]

Can we test lithium ion battery with this?

[@TechTronic9000]

Yes you can. I use it often to test out ebike batteries that are rated to 36-48V. You need to take care about total power. Also add a fuse inline for safety in case the MOSFET shorts out.

[@londonbikeride7566]

First😺

[@TechTronic9000]

Thanks!

[@deejaytiger6910]

Can test battery pack 36v?

[@TechTronic9000]

It works up to 200 volts, you just need to keep power rating in mind. 180W / 200V = 0.9A maximum discharge current. For 36V - 180W/42V (fully charged) = 4.2A. I would recommend to keep the power under 150W otherwise the MOSFET will burn out.

[@Stefanseiner]

I bought this load too but it does not work correctly because of the voltage drop through the two cables the detected voltage is not correct. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXW8n2Oup6mEoas I bought this thing to make a capacity test of my LiIon batteries, but therefor the low-voltage cut-off have to work exact and not with differences of +/- 1V For exact voltage meassuring you need the original load device with 4 wires. 2 for the load and two separate wires just for voltage meassuring

[@TechTronic9000]

You can replace the original wires and clips with something better, that reduces the voltage drop. Also if you limit the discharge current the drop will be smaller.

[@Stefanseiner]

@@TechTronic9000 I am already using 2.5mm² wires, that's the biggest which fits the terminals. And I tried to lower the current from 20A to 10A but with same bad voltage meassuring. Lower the current below 10A is pretty useless because this means less than 37 watts load - wich will make the test at a powerbank with 60 or 80 pieces of 18650 cells an endless story. I wrote lots of mails with the seller and finally they said, that it's not possible to get valid voltage data with just 2 wires and they modified a second load for me with two separate voltage wires. It arrived a few days ago and I did not test it yet, but I will do when I have some free time. If this modification works I will take some detail pictures of the points where they connected the new voltage wires and show it on my webpage at mona-stefan.de/li-ion-akkus-18650/akkus so maybe other peaople can modify their existing load too

[@TechTronic9000]

Well for me it's another story, I use higher voltage such as 30-60V range from 18650 batteries with general capacities of 8-20Ah, this takes the device to over 160W+ discharge power and means that I need to keep the amps low.

[@manuelsilva8640]

@@Stefanseiner Any news on the second wires remote voltage sense?

[@Stefanseiner]

@@manuelsilva8640 yes, with the additional wires for voltage meassuring it works just fine. Atorch / Hidance now provides a new model which comes with 4 wires, the DL24P-Plus. Seems good to me but it's a little bit expensive (about 42USD) because they only modded the "p" model which stands for the bigger 180W model instead of the cheaper 150W one I am using (about 25 USD as "old" version with 2 wires).

[@exgenica]

A test tool app (06:50) that requires you to enable reporting your precise GPS location? No thank you.

[@TechTronic9000]

It's an Android limitation that enables to pair BT devices with no cod, just by using them "locally" thus needing location. This is used in a lot of smart devices also such as TV, TV box, robot vacuums, wifi roaming repeaters, etc.

[@exgenica]

Early in the video you claim the ability to remotely press the buttons is "useless". I disagree. The physical buttons on the tester have a lifetime with a VERY low number of on/off cycles compared to many other momentary on buttons/switches. This type of switch typically begins to fail and operate intermittently fairly early into the life of the product. Thus, being able to reduce the number of times you actually use the physical buttons can provide a much longer lifespan. It can be quite frustrating to have any of those buttons start operating intermittently and the longer one can put that off, the better.

[@TechTronic9000]

Still it's not a great feature, they could either work on the app & device to program it easier or use better switches.

[@exgenica]

@@TechTronic9000 I agree...for example they could use optical switches. However, better switches increases the cost and manufacturers are always looking for ways to save even pennies in BMC when dealing with high volume production lines; leading to "just barely good enough" design decisions that turn an otherwise great product into a morass of bad reviews.

[@ericgee6585]

Small moan. I really wish reviews would remove the protective film fom screens etc!

[@TechTronic9000]

Yes, that is true, but if it makes you feel any better, I still have that on :) I'm keeping it that way as I'm too lazy to search for a screen protector and this devices usually sits on my workbench and easily gets in "contact" with other tools.