I tried finding Hidden Gems on AliExpress AGAIN!

[@richardlighthouse5328]

Would love to see you modifying that wind generator to get it to work.

[@greatscottlab]

I will certainly have a look at it again in the future.

[@testboga5991]

Probably impossible without putting a different motor/generator in

[@richardlighthouse5328]

@@testboga5991 I think the controller is shitty/broken instead of motor not producing useful power.

[@TJJewett]

@@richardlighthouse5328 Probably a combination of both. I imagine when he tears the generator apart he'll find it doesn't have the right winding or enough windings to work properly, and probably the control board is just e-waste. But I also hope he makes a follow-up video on that product because it seems like there should be a way to get it working.

[@peejay1981]

@@richardlighthouse5328 That's what I was thinking - the generator shouldn't freespin that fast if it was under any sort of load.

[@lpt2606]

i am actually very interested in the windmill, maybe a follow up video where you see what is wrong with it or try to improve it?

[@greatscottlab]

Will try to do so soon when it gets warmer outside

[@joeledwards6587]

@@greatscottlab Yes please, maybe it just needs better magnets and coils? I'd love to see it made useful instead of it being a garbage product, since the quality looks so good might as well make it good :)

[@FaizanKhan-iq3yd]

+1

[@Mr.Engine993]

@@joeledwards6587 maybe the one he got was faulty

[@Cor_Netto]

Perhaps test it on top of a car at different driving / wind speeds?

[@advisedpotato8983]

Hope this turns into a regular seires! Im loving it so far

[@greatscottlab]

I am having fun with it as well and viewers seems to like it too. So I guess from time to time I will make such videos ;-)

[@shivavarunadicherla]

Everyone feels the same. I think a passive element of surprise make this series fun to watch

[@Patrick-dw8hq]

Yeah make more

[@cryptout]

yes these videos are valued and entertaining

[@seljd]

My wallet doesn't, videos like this motivate me to start exploring AliExpress just to buy something that i don't need

[@StuffPeterLikes]

A tip re battery spot welding: When there is a gap in the metal strip touching the cell as seen around 8:45, you should weld across the gap. The gap makes the path of least resistance pass through the battery cap instead of through the strip, this results in more energy being used to make the required weld and less being lost to heating the strip. Great content. Keep up the good work.

[@danielwebb9621]

I just have the same thought when watching that scene too. Thanks.

[@RawDR]

Maybe re-purpose the Schumann coil as a coffee mug warmer. Just have to put a current limited supply through it... being careful not to let it get too hot and de-laminate.

[@greatscottlab]

Not a bad idea :-)

[@cavemaneca]

At first that exactly what I thought it was.

[@satibel]

Add a small temperature probe (either diode or resistive) I wonder if a random op amp (tl071/72) wired as a dead bug with a 1n4148 as the temperature sensor and a zener as the cv source would be enough to get a good temperature shutoff.

[@cbs1710]

@@satibel This contraption sounds interesting. Could you perchance elaborate on how it is supposed to function?

[@satibel]

@@cbs1710 diodes and bjt transistors, which are similar, PNP or NPN for a transistor vs PN for a diode, lose around 2mv per C at constant current and so if you have a constant voltage and a resistor, it basically behaves as a cc source, you can use an operational amplifier as a schmitt trigger (basically it turns on at a higher temperature that it turns off at, so it doesn't switch between on/off all the time) and add a potentiometer to the output of the diode/transistor to adjust the temperature. with a bit of calculation (or experimentation) you can make the max temperature between something like ambient +10C and ambient +40C (because the rest of the circuit isn't temperature regulated it'll change depending on the ambient temperature, though it's a bit more complicated than that, but you have a warm to hot knob, which is good enough.) the zener diode is there as a voltage reference, so it doesn't change too much depending on the power supply. though tbh, it'd probably be easier to get a 40, 50 or 60C NC temperature switch and fix it to the bottom with some thermal interface material (TIM), then use a constant current source (basically an op amp with a resistor and a transistor) to feed the coil as a heating element and avoid overloading the power supply. but since we need an op amp to feed it, we could use a chip with multiple to do the temperature regulation cheaper and with some control, but for a one of project the 60 cent difference isn't worth it, unless you're doing it for fun or education. you could have a selector switch and switch between the 3 temperature switches if you want warm to hot.

[@DatBoiOrly]

can you make this a regular series this was fun to watch!

[@greatscottlab]

I hope to do so :-) Last part performed super well. And if this one does too then I will keep going for a while :-)

[@DatBoiOrly]

@@greatscottlab yay!

[@rfmerrill]

7:42 to melt the enamel on magnet wire you always want to start at the tip, passing the tip of the wire through a very hot blob of solder on the tip of your iron. You start at the tip because there will always be some exposed metal there from when you cut it, and thus the heat will get in through that end and the solder can "lift" the enamel up as it burns/melts.

[@_BangDroid_]

I got one of those USB C cables with the power meter in the connector after seeing on your channel. I was super skeptical after seeing the $4 price free shipping, but I've been using it every day now and it's really good! The connectors are even anodized aluminium and the power reading is pretty accurate. Great recommendation!

[@JaredConnell]

I got a similar one from Amazon and I love it

[@Hoopty_Poopty]

This series is so great for hobbiests because AliExpress is the first place to go for cheap electronics

[@greatscottlab]

Glad you like it :-)

[@Simon_Rafferty]

Great idea for a series! I think many of us have been the victim of misleading advertising on AliExpess - but also had some gems!

[@NinoJoel]

5:46 funn fact about that charge controller. Most of them are straight up filled with dirt / soil so they are heavier

[@koningbolo4700]

8:20 I build a spot welder/resistance welder using a microwave oven transformer and a dimmer circuit from a vacuumcleaner to be able to tone down the device which is unchecked capable of pumping out over 1000 Amps of current (at 1,7Volts)

[@JustPyroYT]

Please Continue this Series! I really like it! 👍

[@greatscottlab]

Will try to do so :-)

[@ModelLights]

'Melt the varnish' is somewhat difficult to do. You'll probably get better results if you get a small file, or tiny bit of fine sandpaper on a stick or skewer. Then just break through the varnish with that before soldering. I've done quite a bit of similar soldering, but I bought a large spool of wire with a nylon coating, so melt through is much easier. Even with that I still prefer scratching through with a file or sandpaper.

[@TechsScience]

Yes i think that wind turbine is a good product but due some failure or wiring issue it's not generating the expected power

[@zaydabbas1609]

That flying wire thing looks very useful but I agree you have to be pretty aggressive/ use heat to get the enamel off

[@qviewq2071]

I have always used a vero-wire varnished wire dispenser pen for prototyping. Saves hours. You do need a hot iron to melt the varnish and constant ventilation because of fumes.

[@harriehausenman8623]

Great format, highly compatible with YT. I would love to see more, even with some more quirky and maybe obviously bad stuff. BigClive & Co are quite successful with it and you also have your own humor and approach to testing. 🤗

[@RestoreTechnique]

Nice to see other people buying random stuff from AliExpress. Shame the wind power didn't work

[@DirkFedermann]

Thanks for testing the battery welder. I was looking at it a couple of weeks ago and was like "maybe... maybe not". But it seems to be ok.

[@greatscottlab]

Yep. Better than I expected. Would recommend.

[@satibel]

According to someone else, it may have self discharge issues, so you may want to add a high current switch between the battery and the board

[@_tiredofidiocy_]

6:43 You only need tinnable enameled wire which you can bye in every electronic store around the world and tweezers for this job

[@pauls5745]

the spot welders are actually pretty good. Takes a little practice knowing proper pressure and settings, but you can get clean, strong welds and the device is not fussy at all.

[@TheVirusWar]

These series are amazing, and I would love to see more! I know its most definitely expensive to collect, order, ship and all that stuff, but maybe a bit more often would be nice to see. Keep it up!

[@LoneWolf0648]

id like to see how that little spot welder holds up over time and something seems off with that wind turbine like a bad solder connection or similar with its internals. id like to see a deeper dive into those 2 items

[@squeakers27]

That mini spotwelder seems really good for the price. Definitely was expecting some shoddy piece of equipment.

[@ax-50]

Quality contents here dude, make it a regular series because there are a lot of undiscovered gems on Aliexpress

[@supersosiska]

Wow, I was expecting garbage like toddler coloring books or knockoff usb drives. But this guy is killing it with DiY components! Bravo!

[@Honzaonza]

Shorts of individual product like this would be really cool

[@jayls5]

Please do more of these kinds of reviews. This was super useful.

[@kylenelson944]

The fingerprint scanner you showed at the end actually worked great for me, looking forward to whatever you use it for!

[@Fluxkompressor]

8:50 You supposed to spotweld across the slit in the nickel strip, not along it So the current must go thru both spotweld points doing usefull work, instead of going directly thru the strip itself getting wasted

[@Lukas-jt3sz]

One thing I could recommend for this series is the MPH30 mini Hotplate for repairs and SMD soldering

[@handlemissing]

Regarding the spot welder, I had issues with the penetration. My mistake was that I was pressing on the leads too much. The trick, according to a reddit post, is to push the leads very lightly.

[@CEzikMaj]

Those Li-Ion spot welders will die after one month of occasional usage. I had 3 of those. Every one of them lost all the power rendering them unusable for anything.

[@artytomparis]

The Schumann coil is used by musicians. Some claim it balances the energies in buildings but our brains are attuned to the frequency and it's the 'sound of silence' which we experience in nature.

[@JanEikeK]

That perfect diode rectifier output looked interesting as a base waveform for a synthsizer, though...

[@gummikalli2]

Surely you can use the parts from the wind generator to create your own working wind generator?

[@olafschermann1592]

Great series - please make more of that kind!

[@martyb3783]

Great information. I especially liked the spot welder. Nice.

[@patvickers8189]

@GreatScott! The Schumann Generator looks remarkably like a Petlowany antenna. With a little math and modification,it might work as an antenna for wifi, lora, or Software Defined Radio! If anyone tries it, be mindful to tune it where it's going to be used. Nearby metal objects really affect the tuning.

[@therob39]

there are powerbanks with the additional cables for giving a jump start for your car battery. they seem quite interesting and very handy to have them lying around in your car for multiple purpose!

[@DemsW]

I like this video idea, very nice to watch and a lot of information packed into it. I also imagine it must be fun getting to play with all these devices. Great execution also

[@greatscottlab]

Thanks. It really is fun :-)

[@teravolt1195]

It's said that you should buy a higher generating voltage wind turbine than you're going to use it for as you're likely to get actual power to charge with at lower speeds, in other words, actually work. Not sure if there are MPPT wind controllers available but you could always put a zener on the gen output and if the solar MPPT rejects power the gen voltage will come up and go through the zener to a dump load to prevent no load overspeeding of the turbine.

[@themastereal8345]

The night thingy is good because it’s a placebo effect and technically works but yeah it doesn’t do anything

[@rickbailey7183]

The problem with aliexpress is that they USED to be OK to shop at. Now they try to force you to use their (tracking) app in order to make a claim (over a third of products arrive damaged or not at all). I’ve given up on them.

[@jovaraszigmantas]

I could be wrong with this but I think the gaps in the nickel strips located on the battery terminals are used that you place the spot welder probes on different side of the gap and thus lead the current to go through the battery and not the nickel strip. As I said I am not sure but, but in all of your footage you placed your probes on one of the sides.

[@greatscottlab]

Hmmmm I think both way should do the job

[@guycxz]

I find using a large amount of flux helps me melt the varnish around enameled copper wire. I don't know whether it's a chemical reaction, faster heat transfer through the flux itself, the solder wetting the wire sooner, which facilitates a greater rate of heat transfer, something else, or a combination of all of the above.

[@PiratWeber]

@greatscottlab did you check if the MPPT controller wasn't broken? The wind turbine itself looks fine and may be worth it. I just suspect that they had to cheap out somewhere and that could have been the mppt controller. Also the spot welder looks really hackable. Maybe a microcontroller and some LCD display can be added to make it a bit more user friendly. Love the series, please continue doing them!

[@greatscottlab]

I might check it out in a future video

[@AndyFletcherX31]

Looking at the rotor diameter you would need close to a hurricane to get 1KW from it.

[@TulusTube]

You can also use a modified transformer from a microwave and a monostable circuit to control it for a spot welder

[@jo3ld0wn]

"no healing effect for me" is an extraordinarily generous review 😁

[@snakewithapen5489]

The information on the back of the first item is literally a copy-paste of the Wikipedia entry on Schumann resonances lol

[@merijnotterman527]

About the wind turbine: Even if it had worked, the output power it states can not possibly be true: The power in the wind speed is given by: 0.5×rho×A×v^3, which for this turbine is 0.5×1.225×(pi × (0.8/2)^2)×13^3 = 663W at the rated wind speed of 13m/s. However it is theoretical impossible to extract 100% of the wind power (completely stopping the air from moving), the max that can be extracted is 59%, it is called the betz limit. This would result in 391W if your turbine was 100% efficient, both electrically and aerodynamically. I would be impressed if you reached even half of that. But its not over, the rated wind speed pf 13m/s is crazy high. The average wind speed on your roof will most likely not be much more than 5m/s, which would result in an average power of 22w for an ideal turbine, so yeah... There are two things we learn from this, size does matter here, there is a reason commercial turbines keep growing. Secondly the wind speed in the equation is ^3, so you better put it on a 100m pole on some open land or sea if you want to make decent power.

[@12012004]

I really enjoyed this kind of aliexpress products review. Please do more like that!!

[@dogukancil5128]

Ip2368 requires you to set the input number of cells in series and their input voltage range before connecting it to a battery. The default is usually 4s and the 18v battery is 5s. You should have set it to 5s by modifying the resistors on the board. That's probably why it died. They also do not like being plugged in without having a battery connected. Also, some of them need "activation" before being able to discharge. You can activate them by connecting them to any pd source with which they can negotiate type-c to type-c.

[@mcrotbot]

very cool vid. I'm glad to finely see someone test those cheek wind mills that I can trust thanks man!

[@greatscottlab]

Glad to help

[@TJJewett]

It might be a fun video idea to take apart the electronics of the wind generator kit and figure out why it doesn't work as advertised, and what it would take to make it work correctly.

[@2231puppy]

11:33 Fingerprint reader? Exciting!

[@djSpinege]

I was 100% confident you were going to say "check it out or chuck it out" I like a good curve ball.

[@TheRealFreznoBob]

good luck finding any good wind turbine generators, sailors use water turbines to get results that are worth the cash outlay

[@inothome]

Definitely need to find out what was wrong with the wind generator!! It's a pretty simple device to not be working.

[@yacce4463]

Please Scott, Make that windmill work properly, and outputting the most energy possible! You can do it! Awesome video as always.

[@campionpesate4647]

I never thought I'd see a Schumann Resonance. Let alone create one.

[@Robbedoes2]

10:14 DONT DO THAT! The BMS for most power tools do not switch off the load, but tells the load to stop. You can easily damage the cells by discharging them too much. Luckily your bidirectional charger exploded, THAT BATTERY OUTPUT IS NOT PROTECTED AGAINST OVERCHARGING.

[@Patrick-dw8hq]

Now i will say i have learned something today. If i had a cracked version of idm i would download your whole playlist

[@greatscottlab]

Thanks....I guess :-)

[@LongNguyen-dh3bm]

Open source software exist...Learn how to use yt-dlp, you'll never need another KZbin downloader

[@matata127]

Thaaanks. Was looking for spot weldr there but was worried about quality Very helpful

[@Xadro]

I've had this spotwelder for a long while and it works great, they released a version 2 a while ago and it features much better build quality of teh housing and leads

[@greatscottlab]

Thanks for the feedback. Good to know :-)

[@danhle1032]

How do u know if the listing is the 2nd version

[@zodiacfml]

the spot welder is nice for the price. the only issue with it is battery longevity or maybe standby power loss, you need to charge it monthly so that it is always ready for use. otherwise, battery is dead when you need it.

[@volkmarl.2010]

Another problem is the limited power of this kind. Only usable for Ni strips of 0.1 to 0.15 (evt 0.2) mm thickness. For a tool battery pack like makita you should use 0.3mm because of the high currents, but that can only weld a better spot welder than these.

[@zodiacfml]

​@@volkmarl.2010 right, I forgot about that. this spot welder is too weak for nickel strips found in power tools or cordless vacuum. this only works with thinner strips or the free nickel strip they include in the product

[@TheUnknownCatWarrior]

Would be interesting to see you modify that wind turbine. Weather its the dodgy motor or the charge controller.

[@Z0DI4C]

Aren't you supposed to hold the spot welder electrodes on opposite sides of the slit, so that the current goes through the battery instead of the nickel?

[@daviddeakin2172]

My thoughts exactly

[@noeoep]

Maybe the Schumann resonator’s coil can be turned into a ghetto PCB preheater for SMD work? If it has suitable resistance of cource.

[@umer6069]

love to see a video on you figuring out how to fix the IP2368 MINI and have it tested like the Two previous powerbanks.

[@deirdreorourke8631]

the copper wire spool reminds me of a tool used to tie fly fishing flies! you use such a tool (albeit much simpler) with twine to secure the main elements of a fishing fly

[@honzikkubik7935]

Thanks for great video. was looking for spot welder for a long time so i ordered this one immediately.

[@FridayHouseXYZ]

The spot welder is impressive for how cheap it is. I may get one for Christmas lol I'm glad to see someone who knows how these products work inside are doing the review/testing. Also looking forward to see what you do with the useful parts of the useless products. Your videos seem to write themselves.

[@jarls5890]

Looked very interesting. One question however. The two welding ends have a long section of what looks like exposed copper. The part you hold on to! Why is it not shocking you every time you use it? It looks like it was intentionally made this way.

[@FridayHouseXYZ]

@@jarls5890 I would assume this is because of a low voltage but a high current. Also because the current is flowing through the metal strip, it will have no need to flow through the skin, as the metal strip is the path of least resistance. Plus, the internal circuit seems to look for a short across the probes before supplying any current, a short circuit the resistance of skin cannot provide. In any case this is nothing a little shrink wrap couldn't fix. :)

[@jftechdrones]

@@jarls5890 It's powered by a 1S lithium battery which is only 4.2V max - not nearly enough to feel.

[@TheFreak111]

Did you get one for Christmas and test it?

[@FridayHouseXYZ]

@@TheFreak111 unfortunately I did not. Funds were a little tight last year.

[@peterd1234567890]

Would love to see you make that windmill work and the body of it looks good

[@siyuanliu8043]

This video is very informative and also very fair to aliexpress products. (what it is, what it does, and what it costs.) I see a lot of people bashing on ali for "cheap chinese" stuff, but if you are buying something much cheaper than the "proper" price you should expect that it comes with "catches". Also there are good quality stuff on aliexpress, just not as dirt cheap.

[@Anteksanteri]

That spot welder is mind-blowingly cheap for its size, functionality and build quality.

[@philoso377]

Nice video. My favorite channel. A word about spot welding. The slot came with the connecting tabs placed on battery casing were intended to promote better weld result from increases impedance between the two weld junctions. This impedance will be lower if probes were placed on the same side of the slot, for compromised result and lower battery longevity.

[@danielroibert5631]

Hello and thank you for all your quality and very informative videos. I was surprised to see how you place the electrodes for spot welding batteries. Indeed, it seems to me that when you have the chance to have slit tabs, you should take the opportunity to place the electrodes on each side of the slot. This promotes the passage of current through the tabs and also through the battery. This way, there is less current going directly from one electrode to another and the solder should be better.

[@Cornz38]

The pen is for wire wrapping round component legs with non copper perf board. You wrap the wire round the legs and then solder it, the varnish menas you can criss cross wires. We used to sell them at Maplins, Veropens i think they were called.

[@kikihun9726]

Please read the product description. On the last 100w module you need to change a resistor to set the battery cell number. R7 resistor 2 cell 6.2K 3 cell 9.1K 4 cell 13K 5 cell 18K 6 cell 27K

[@kikihun9726]

You blow the voltage divider and with that the chip.

[@kikihun9726]

R2 unsoldered= liion R2 shorted liFe R6: battery capacity. Privided by a table of resistors

[@sairfan06]

Hi Scott this new series is very interesting and really helpful, I hope you will keep exploring useful items at aliexpress.

[@Moosetraks21]

I love a good technical magazine. The paper versions too. Just hits different.

[@johnsummers7389]

Thank you for the magazine heads up!! Just got it.

[@fritzfahrmann4730]

spotwelder is more about 28€, pls always add up shipping since aliexpress sellers often lower there product price by adding parts to the shipping costs

[@Stuff_happens]

This is a great concept. Describing Ali express electronics. They should’ve giving you kickbacks.

[@Jon-yh3gb]

I was considering the fast charger but waited hoping you'd test it first. Thanks!

[@girthquake1413]

Love this series! Hopefully the community engagement is enough to keep it funded! I especially like the spot welder- I have two similar cheap ones (The ones with red PCB, you've likely seen them), but they were both $10-15 more and lacked internal batteries. The kWeld is awesome but it's hard to justify the $200+ pricetag when a hobbyist can get nearly the same, for a tenth the cost.

[@imjody]

8:21 - "...and according to the charging current, that should TAKE A WHILE." 🤣I literally LOL'ed when you said this.

[@wiedapp]

The ideal diode is VERY interesting, I didn't know they existed. Thanks a lot!

[@testservergameplay]

Yes please make this a regular series!

[@yearls]

That spot welder is pretty cool. In the sense that it is easy to use and you just need to charge it.

[@TheWebstaff]

I'd like you to have a look at that wind generator see why it's not working must be something simple.

[@mortezatourani7772]

Since you're finding electrical and electronic gems from Aliexpress I thought you should review the *movable power track* too

[@AtlantisArch]

* Using the "perfect diode" seems GREAT for solar panels BUT : 1/ is it as as safe as simple diode ? (the more complexe, the higher the failure number are) 2/ is it possible to have one with real domestic solar production, like I had in the past with 6 groups of 2 pannels of 340Wc each ? * The unit not supporting the power negociation is EXACTLY what I mentionned in your USB C cable video. It happend to me before and it'll happend to many others. If this stay like this it's ok, but if it turns into a fire, it's no good.

[@Robbedoes2]

Ideal diodes come with current consumption as well, so it's good for higher currents but absolutely not worth it in 'low current' (battery) applications.

[@twh35]

Be careful recommending those DIY 18V battery packs. In my experience, the control boards do an extremely poor job protecting the cells. The balancing is weak, and the board has no issues discharging the battery pack to 5V or less. After about a year, 4 out of 5 batteries I built failed due to overdischarge. Of course, if you use carefully matched, brand new cells, you will probably fare better, but as you said, that is not worth the money.

[@peaps]

Strange about the wind turbine..It looked like it was spinning way too freely, almost as though there was no load on the generator. I would take the output directly from the generator, bypassing the charge controller, and try again.

[@drakmeir3507]

I have a similar, if not slightly smaller spot welder. Absolutely love it. Variable power output, good battery, good welds, all I could ask for for hobby electronics really

[@vpakkirisamy4906]

I like the way you analysing the product bro 👌👍

[@greatscottlab]

Thank you 🙌