Inside a Pound shop car-USB charger (with schematic)

I'll warn you in advance, that if you want more from a USB charger than a measly 500mA then this one isn't for you. It might have uses for powering low current devices though.
This came from a generic pound shop as opposed to one of the higher profile ones like Poundland. Now I want to get a recent Poundland car-USB charger and compare them.
The one good thing about this charger is that it shows how minimalist the circuitry can be in a mass produced device when they can justify using a dedicated buck converter chip.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
www.bigclive.co...
This also keeps the channel independent of KZbin's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.

[@deansundquist9601]

I always love the photos, you do this low budget hardware serious justice. Those prints probably far exceed the price of the device.

[@heyarno]

He could also use a tablet and doodle live in the photo on it. The photo probably is easier to use in varying light conditions.

[@dingo596]

If you have refillable ink cartridges the price of printing a full colour A4 image is a few pence if that. And I know Clive does use them because he mentioned having a few syringes for that purpose because that is what made me aware of refillable cartridges.

[@BigClive]

I've moved onto a tank based ink system. I get the best part of a year out of a refill.

[@two_tier_gary_rumain]

@@BigClive How about a review of the printer?

[@spongygryphon]

@@BigClive I know a lot of people have asked this over the years but you should make a video on the printer

[@l3p3]

When I see these car-USB chargers, I collect them. When I need a 5v converter, I solder them in there. One example is for connecting hard drives (requiring 12v and 5v) to my 12v supply I took from an old LCD.

[@cybernaab]

Wonder if i can use this to connect to my portable home made boomboxes and use these to simply convert power to 5v for a bluetooth audio usbstick receiver. Seems alot easier than using 12v to 5v power converter boards, no need to solder.

[@brentfisher902]

@@cybernaab Also if you need 3.3 volts off of the 5V line just put 3 silicon diodes in the right direction (enabling current flow) in series. I did that back when I had a Raspberry PI LCD screen that I glued to a PC case as a case-mod to run it off an old-fashioned hard drive connector and the HDMI output. Use some settings in Xrandr and Kmag and you have a progress indicator monitor when encoding video or doing another 'talk about carbon footprint' CPU hungry task that takes a couple days to complete.

[@cybernaab]

​@@brentfisher902 Hmm nice idea, had never tought of making a small progress bar that way, clever cheap way to convert the 12volt lines to 3.3 volt. Funny how i always think so difficult when iam busy with electronics (also have problems doing simple math) when it can be this easy. Only thing iam worrying about is the quality of such cheap power converters, arent you a bit scared to destroy your computers psu and maybe ssd/hdd data etc when it shorts? If you look at how many months years this power converter wil keep working without issues do you think its worth it in the long run or expensive in the end from buying new converters after they break i have no clue about it's life span with probly copied knockoff parts or unknown crap (speaking for all the alie expres/amazon dollarstore random quality items)

[@brentfisher902]

@@cybernaab Given that the whole PC was a gift from a friend, and I always back data up to recordable blu-ray discs...I wasn't too worried...I got to use the computer for 2 years and I paid $0.00 for the privilege.

[@CaptainDangeax]

After opening a faulty charger, I figured out the famous MC chip Clive was mentioning and then ordered an handful of them, with self and schottky diodes, in order to easily power my creations

[@pauldzim]

Whoever sent you those expensive-looking scissors was probably horrified to see you using them that way 😃😃

[@SquishyZoran]

I sure would be!

[@horacegentleman3296]

Nah, that metal is zinc based potmetal. Could have bitten it off.

[@happyundertaker6255]

Well, i have engineer brand small scissors, and they are made to be used as tools. They are made to be used like this.

[@shlibbermacshlibber4106]

this concept brings be pleasure for some obscure reason

[@wyokaiju992]

@@SquishyZoran Those scissors sure would be good for popping things tho

[@6344Dragonkingon]

I remember looking at your super high quality photos of the PCBs you're working with and thinking - Gosh, this guy has to be using some hi-tech microscope worth millions of pounds. Yeah no, then I bumped into the tupper-cam video. Amazing video as always, really enjoyed watching this one, I hope to see thousands more!

[@BigClive]

Yeah. Pro results from a light that can be dropped without worrying about it.

[@agenericaccount3935]

Well, you probably rescued it from a life of struggling to keep my S20 battery at 10% without actually adding anything to it on long road trips. I like the color coding on the pictures. That helped a ton.

[@kirkjohnson9353]

I was getting the same performance with mine and half wondering why. Now I know.

[@malrofo]

I use the 500ma usb port on my router to slow charge my s8 overnight

[@kevindondrea144]

Since I found your channel, I'm no longer throwing out Electronics without tearing them apart first. My grandpa Dondrea inspired me when I was young, back in the 70s. You've re-inspired my love of Electronics again but now I'm in my 50s,

[@PraxZimmerman]

If you get merchandise, that should be on a shirt. "It's all gone horribly wrong allready. That's okay, these things happen."

[@nickwallette6201]

Zen AF.

[@SigEpBlue]

♫ It was acceptable in the 80s ♪ 😁 I've gotta give them credit: it did actually output what the sticker said, in terms of voltage and current. Would've been nice to see a 'scope trace of the output voltage, because some switcher outputs are horribly noisy on consumer/budget stuff like this.

[@brainsploder4841]

I get chills when he starts using his non existent fingernails to try and pry off that back piece and then it makes that sound every time he pulls and then loses grip, ugh.

[@TheAechBomb]

click Click *Click*

[@horacegentleman3296]

Grow a pair

[@pyromen321]

That’s what fingernails are for!

[@alancordwell9759]

I was waiting for the 'unreasonable force' to be applied - I thought Clive was quite restrained!

[@dimitrijekrstic7567]

@@horacegentleman3296 it's normal to feel that if you've ever had such short nails and tried doing something with them

[@apollyonn2447]

You are one of the channels that I have no idea why I subscribed but I watch your videos and then end up enjoying them because they are fascinating and I enjoy listening to your voice

[@BoozeBelly]

its like unintentional asmr

[@pyromen321]

That was me about 8 or 9 years ago. Now I have an electronics lab in my home partly thanks to clive

[@greenaum]

@@pyromen321 That's the process. You come for his lovely calming Scottish purr, but the words subliminally enter your mind, and a couple of years later your house looks like a branch of Maplins. [That's old Maplins, when they had loads of components, and not just ropey disco lights and remote-control cars, WTF kind of shop they thought they were...]

[@ZakkandtheJ]

I found him when he was drinking methylated spirits that I knew I had to see that because I knew it was a disaster waiting to happen several years later I watch all his videos I tune in for all the live streams I'm a patreon supporter.

[@ralfoide]

Amusingly I got one from a dollar store here 2 years ago that claimed 1 A yet would never achieve that. I opened it back then, at least I got $1 of entertainment out of it. I realize it's exactly the same circuitry. Déjà vu! No wonder it wouldn't do 1 amp.

[@StarkRG]

"It's all gone horribly wrong already." Excellent. Just like we like it. Sadly it didn't go wrong in a firey way.

[@connorPiper0]

Lol, I got more than 20 of these on eBay for less than $0.02 each. Part of a review boosting scheme. It counts as a sale and both of you get good feedback. I mainly just wanted to see what a sub 2 cent USB charger was like. All of them worked, many were not built very well.

[@g7mks383]

Thanks for the teardown, one up from a regulator with no heatsink. But still gets hot mmmm smoke potential.

[@ZaneDaMagicPufferDragon]

Crappy 12V to USB 5V!!! Gotta Love ❤️ The Simplicity!!!

[@tyronenelson9124]

Not forgetting 24v to 5v aswell.

[@OntologicalQuandry]

The circuit is an asynchronous buck converter. Nice and cheap because the chip only needs one FET inside and works with the external diode to freewheel. The heat from the chip but not the inductor or diode indicates a fairly high on resistance that is wasting power. It's probably an old chip or one who's lithography does not have good power structure. Two things to note: - The D+ and D- pins being shorted indicate to the device that the connection is to a charger only and so the device can turn up charging current until the voltage collapses and then back it off a bit (this sets the fastest current charging). - The input capacitor from the car's 12V is the most important component to suppress noise that could interfere with other electronics (depending on the switching frequency and the on/off time of the FET). It is poorly laid out in this circuit with the usual mistake that the positive is near the input but the ground side is forgotten and takes a tortuous path around the edge of the board to the ground pin and the diode. Layout to suppress noise on buck converters is one area that I get into blazing rows with colleagues who just assume the ground is all one voltage and always forget switching currents and how local their effects can be.

[@BigClive]

I don't think it's a FET in this chip, going by the datasheet and pin labelling.

[@OntologicalQuandry]

It's a close call either way. Vce(sat) of a typical BJT is around 0.35V. 0.35V*0.5A=0.175W multiplied by the duty factor (5/12) gives a power of 73mW. Whereas, if the Rds(on) of a FET was 1ohm (not unheard of) 0.5A*0.5A*1ohm=0.25W multiplied by the same duty factor gives 104mW.

[@kirkjohnson9353]

I am not very smart about these things but I've managed to really learn something here. I use one of these from our 'dollar store' to hook up my phone to in my truck. I've noticed that it does almost NO charging of the phone- now, thanks to Mr Clive, I know why. AND , that if I get a decent one I know what to look for and it should work ok. Thanks for that.

[@superfreq7378]

I hope that someone is archiving the entire channel. Years of useful content here!

[@AiOinc1]

Rest assured that in a few months / years they will find a way to integrate the Schottky diode into the IC to further simplify the circuit Finding stuff like this at 99 cent stores is a great way to start a fire. I once found an "Eye safe" green laser pointer for $6 that was easily 400mW! Ought to send some of that stuff your way should any of it be truly interesting. EDIT: I noticed the video was grainy only to find I'm so early that KZbin hasn't processed the HD video yet...

[@pyromen321]

Even better would be if the integrate those active rectifier components (the ones with two terminals and look like diodes but are actually self powering diode/parallel mosfet combos). Manufacturing costs might be too much, though, as I assume those active rectifier chips require more expensive fab processes than a cheapo switching chip

[@BRUXXUS]

The video was capped at 720p and has been for a few days. Not sure what’s going on there.

[@OntologicalQuandry]

Those chips have existed for several years but they are more complex inside as switching time becomes a serious issue to efficiency. They don't integrate the diode, but use a low-side FET. They are called synchronous buck converters to the asynchronous buck that Clive has in this video.

[@ianhosier4042]

The idea of an eye safe laser pointer of any power makes me laugh

[@OntologicalQuandry]

@@ianhosier4042 Why? Laser projectors exist and lasers are used in the latest AR/VR technologies to project images directly on the retina without the need for complex focusing.

[@BRUXXUS]

I was half expecting it to just be a single 5v regulator. 😂

[@BigClive]

That wouldn't have surprised me.

[@D4no00]

I bet this chip is even cheaper.

[@SparkY0]

I was half expecting a two resistor voltage divider

[@MadScientist267]

@@SparkY0 That's been the standard for years... Most of the "classic" versions of these were running on either MC34063 or a TL494.

[@rpdom]

Many years ago I had a radio that needed 6V. It came with a car power adaptor. It was basically a very chunky 6V Zener, a low value high current resistor and a capacitor.

[@Kulvinder1974]

Hi Clive, one thing that has been going round and round in my head for a while is, have you ever considered taking apart a hearing aid?… I would be absolutely intrigued to find out exactly how the circuitry is all made up, video for the future maybe?…

[@MothKeeper]

WHAT?

[@plainedgedsaw1694]

Well I guess it's just mic and audio amp on single board.

[@Kulvinder1974]

I'm sure that was the case a few years ago but I should imagine it's more than that now... I have one.

[@hermannhalbeck2815]

@@plainedgedsaw1694 some modern ones also have bluetooth headphone capabilities

[@plaws0]

The original USB specs only required (allowed?) 500 mA current.

[@yeliab814]

going by the book at least, i think that by shorting the data pins a charger is advertising itself as a v1.2 charging port, good for up to 1.5A. how naughty of them to short those pins!

[@davidnull5590]

I'm not sure what an original USB was. A million years ago while I was working at a large company noted for their mainframes, I remember very spirited discussions with other companies over the current allowed, I think it was 1988 or 1989 for what is now remembered as USB 0.3 (?) this was before the official industry standard was set seven years later. A series of meetings where everyone was The Expert trying to decide on a design standard for which no one could agree on the actual requirements, bang your head against the wall. Tell me why the connector **had** to have a physical orientation? Sure, label it with lettering that required bright lights and a magnifying glass to read, And require an orientation and let hundreds of millions of users forever try to insert the connector upside down. Oh, those were fun times. Fun times I wish never to repeat.

[@joj.]

@@davidnull5590 _"So guys, ideas for the new USB standard connector?"_ "Well, it should only work if you plug it in perfectly, and even then, sometimes it should fail to connect properly, forcing the user to replug it." _"That's great, what else?"_ "How about we make a secondary connector type that has the same problem, but is a completely different shape, so it doesn't fit into the regular socket." _"That's amazing! Should either of them be durable?"_ "No, they're basically hollow and made of thin metal, so if you drop something on them or accidentally stand on them, they immediately bend out of shape and can't be used again." _"What an idea! We should also make it so that after 100 plugs and unplugs the connector becomes weak enough to just fall out of the socket, and if the user bends the cable then the internal wires immediately snap."_ "Great work. We'll get that to Intel in time for it to become the norm."

[@yeliab814]

@@davidnull5590 fascinating to hear your tales. Totally fits with the resulting user experience over the years!

[@brentfisher902]

@@yeliab814 Compared to the days of RS-232 serial ports that are slow as molasses in January through an oil-burner nozzle, parallel ports where if you look at them the wrong way the pins bend, having to reboot the computer every time you plug in a new device, and having to have a separate charger for every single device you own, USB is a godsend...They could have made it better, but this B on test sure beats the 38 Double Z cup size grade connectors that came before...

[@DeusKDuo]

Is it just me or is his voice the most enjoyable thing in his videos its just relaxing and soothing.

[@H3wastooshort]

I got one of these from a friend who got it as a marketing gift. Same Design, same Rating. It now lives in a little bird box, supplying 5V to an ESP32-CAM from a 12V solar system.

[@aberakadabra1285]

I use this charger , its is great. however my phone takes a 500mA charge, now i know why these units don't like charging a 2000mA phones. Very good work Sir ;) love your channel.

[@Smelter57]

The way Big Clive describes it, sounds more like a PWM output than DC. Of course I'll now have to go out and buy one and slap it on the scope! 😊

[@michaelmoorrees3585]

I cracked open a couple of these cheap chargers a couple of years ago. Those all used the old Motorola MC34063. This chip seems to be a simplified version. The MC34063 goes back to the 80s. I still use it, as its a very versatile chip. Still used on these cheap chargers as late as 2015.

[@davidv1289]

Engineer tools are great - I have one of their manual solder suckers for small projects - a bit pricey but works perfectly!

[@KJ6EAD]

That Motorola chip they all used to have was a MC34063A. I modified a few to other voltages. I bought good brand name used phone chargers from the thrift store, choosing the ones that had screws so I could easily work on them. You only had to change one or two resistors to change the output voltage and make sure the inductor was big enough and low resistance to handle higher output current.

[@Big_Computer]

Tip I you want; the brand Ugreen on aliexpress or Amazon makes fantastic ones; especially one dual 18W usb type C, Qc4.0. That is 36W total (5v 3A, 9v 2A, 12v 1.5A). This one is fantastic if you want to try a fancy one, I have this one and it is really good. I think it cost about 13 pound

[@andymouse]

you make a great point regarding optimization, the early chips could be tailored, more parameters, but this guy now has one purpose in life and that is to switch at a set frequency and operate to a fixed 5V, it could be very useful if you know you want half an amp at 5V, worth spending a quid and putting the components on to some small project you might have, in the past I have ' hot plated ' (not a real word) components I have needed off these cheap boards and used them elsewhere for a fraction of the cost of buying them...cheers.

[@mastergx1]

I used one of these for a while - it was JUST powerful enough to keep my phone going when using sat nav app and when I say "just", I drove from cardiff to manchester and gained only 4% battery on my phone on the way there. The biggest problem though was when I hooked the phone up to the radio to play my music- the noisy supply translated through the audio output and was VERY obvious. Alright in a pinch but get yourself a proper branded 2A one - far superior.

[@1o1s1s1i1e]

Well explained Clive! Our county gave out free boxes with energy efficient lightbulbs and a "smart" power strip. The power strip is sold by by Megalight in Hudson, Ohio (made in China) and they call it "Megalight Advanced Power Strip w/7 receptacles and surge protection" (model APS-7-600). It has two "always on" receptacles, a "master", and four "energy saver" receptacles. We plugged our router into the always on receptacle and a light into the master. We turned the light on and switched the power strip to on but the four energy saver receptacles do not work no matter what we do. Very disappointing, but these were bought by the government so I really did not expect much. Wish I had your knowledge to take it to bits!

[@BigClive]

It may require a higher load in the master socket to trigger the slave sockets.

[@1o1s1s1i1e]

I will give it a try! Thank you.

[@1o1s1s1i1e]

Plugged the toaster in to the master and everything works, you were spot on Clive! Thank you!!!

[@jdlech]

I once had a car charger for my laptop. But the charger got so hot that it slowly melted the plastic all around it until the plug deformed and eventually shorted itself out. But it wasn't any chip that caused all the heat. I solved the problem by installing two RCA jacks in my car - one for hot and the other for ground. By replacing the standard car plug with RCA jacks, it made a much better connection, reduced the resistance significantly, and cut the heat generated by at least a factor of 4X. The takeaway is that car adapter connections totally blow. Almost anything would make a better connection. A half amp is all you should ever want flowing though a car adapter.

[@C-M]

I got a pair of them scissors myself and they are unbelievably good.

[@iamdarkyoshi]

Our dollar stores sell these in lovely pattern printed cases, same circuitry, claiming to do an amp. Handy as a medium current 5v source from a 12v source

[@plainedgedsaw1694]

Good enough to power a small "supercomputer" in your car..

[@Tarkov.]

Those are some very nice scissors, I may have to pick up a pair.

[@ABaumstumpf]

The USB specifications For batetry-charging allows the shorting of the data-pins to signal it is a dumb passive USB-charger. A "normal" USB port is only allowed to supply 500 mA to a highpower-load and for that both sides need to communicate, while having a resistance of no higher than 200 Ohm (so shorting) means that the outlet is for power-delivery only and is ALLOWED (not required) to deliver 1.5A (first specification) or 5A (later specs) without any negotiations. This greatly simplified USB-chargers as they no longer needed to implement chips that follow the actual USB-Protocol but just provide the correct voltage/current.

[@SparkY0]

What do I expect from a pound? Complete satisfaction.

[@l3p3]

For about a pound you can already get 2A chargers.

[@phatman808]

ayyyy lmao

[@shlibbermacshlibber4106]

Big Clive makes poundshop stuff go fizzbang, one of lifes luxuries

[@supergeekjay]

He should do a Photonicinduction job on it and put 240v through it! "Where's my 'amma?"

[@SECONDQUEST]

Wild to see how far Clive has come. I left and came back, still grew like hell. Keep it up my dude

[@BigClive]

I never thought I'd ever reach 100K in the past let alone 750K.

[@QBFreak]

I had the 1A version of this charger. The case looks amazingly similar, except two screws on the round plate and two USB ports. I got it from one of those impulse bins on the counter at the pharmacy. I paid a good bit more for it, but it was a few years ago. At some point the spring for the positive contact popped loose and shorted out until it finally melted through the spring. It had no fuse, and the car had a pretty good sized fuse for the accessories, so the spring gave first. I've actually still got all the bits sitting here on the bench, I've been meaning to do something useful with them.

[@loganross656]

As an American I thought "pound shop" was hilarious took me a solid 2 seconds to get it.

[@BarryPiper]

Same.

[@youtubeistyrannical1787]

I like going to pound town after I go to the pound shop Edit:@ youtube, stop shadow banning my comment..

[@chitlitlah]

It's the dollar store, man.

[@ralphmcmahan2139]

Been there.

[@j5892000]

Ooooooh I just realised. I though Clive was cracking a joke when he called it pound land. Though it was was a sex shop site that also sold crap electronics like led lights and none sex items

[@nyetloki]

When I checked them out a few years ago they used to claim 1A rating but had a regulator with a switch/inductor output rating of 1.5A and a max actual rating of .75A. The sense resistor limited it to about 700mA

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

I'm using a cheap Bluetooth to headphone jack adapter in combination with a cassette adapter to listen to stuff from my phone in my old car. The Bluetooth adapter has a tiny battery inside (I guess

[@RobertMarchini]

My local dollar store has these too, looks like the same manufacturer, but they’re rated 5v @ 1amp; I got one in pink with rhinestones to power a little usb gizmo I made.

[@BRUXXUS]

That sounds fun! Haha

[@Bladerunner4511]

I had one of those in my car and one morning driving to work with my phone on charge it started to smell fishy it was coming from one of those in the cigarette socket they can get very hot enough to melt lol great video all the best

[@JJ-kr6ky]

Great explanation. I’d like to see you use the little scope to show the transistor switching the inductor

[@rarelycomments]

I've got something similar (although claims more current). It emits enough noise to completely jam all radio reception. 10/10

[@mibars]

I happen to have even smaller car USB adapters that are "rated" 2A and sure they supply high current... For couple of seconds after which they switch off and on again. A tiny piece of folded aluminum sheet out of deodorant can glued to the top of the chip with cyanoacrylate was enough to make it work continously with my old phone.

[@bland9876]

I remember one time I went on vacation and forgot to bring a charger and had to use my mom's 700 milliamp hour charger. It also had a built-in micro USB cable meaning you couldn't remove the cable if it got freighed or something

[@SodAlmighty]

There is no such thing as a 700 milliamp-hour charger.

[@bland9876]

@@SodAlmighty there is no such thing as a 0.7A charger? Explain why

[@SodAlmighty]

@@bland9876 that's not what I said. I quite believe you had a 700mA charger. Milliamp-hours is a measure of total energy.

[@bland9876]

@@SodAlmighty so i used the wrong turm in my original comment? Woops

[@SodAlmighty]

@@bland9876 No such thing as a turm...

[@paulsccna2964]

It was mentioned. And I could be wrong. But, a point worth noting is that USB 3.0 is Backward compatible. The point I take away is that this blue device will take a lot long to charge a device, than a high power version.

[@edgeeffect]

It's nice to see an SMPS so simple that even I can understand it.

[@StrongOneX]

Had one of those, the plastic got so hot that it started deforming, one of the sides deformed so much that it wasn't circular afterwards at all. It wasn't £1 either, bought it at a gas station so it was more like £15

[@Sashazur]

For that price are you sure you didn’t buy it at an airport?

[@PeterMilanovski]

I just took one apart that I have had for a few years now which I got from eBay and it looks identical to to the one that you just took apart but inside the PCB board is the same shape and that's where any similarity end's, my one has an ON semiconductor MC34063A, 4 resistors, a ceramic capacitor, a 50v 10uf input electrolytic capacitor and a 100uf 10v output capacitor instead, I haven't measured it's output but from memory it was an extremely slow charger! There is a datasheet available for this IC which shows that it could deliver greater than 1.5A of current with an external transistor and an optional output filter network which the Chinese somehow couldn't see any point in implementing. I'm sure that no one would have had any problems in paying 1.5 times the retail price to have these extra components thrown in to make a better USB charger and uphold their own reputation and integrity as a people, but instead they choose to make this crap and sell it to people who expect something good but instead get landfill additives... I'm personally trying to find the perfect single cell Lifepo4 battery Stepdown isolated output charger! I know that the components for this purpose exist but the circuit itself doesn't seem to exist! I'm looking at every possible Controller IC that I come across for something that fits the criteria but I'm not as DC to DC converter savy as I would like to be and it's taking forever to get this particular project up off the ground! I have the Idea that I believe should be implemented right now but the current method is used everywhere and it's not the right way to do it! I think that I'm just going to have to hook up with someone who understands DC to DC converters and together we can possibly change the world!!! That what I'm trying to achieve is something that everyone needs but no one has, the components to build it exist and just needs someone to put it all together! The search continues!

[@ChindoCaine]

Well, I guess they could have made it even cheaper by just putting in a 7805... :D I think I've actually seen that in a car USB charger before. But seriously, why not just use one of these dirt cheap buck converter boards with the MP1484 for example? They run a lot cooler with higher current and I guess it wouldn't be much more expensive to produce...

[@dantronics1682]

what he show was a 12/24v to 5v buck converter

[@microwave221]

Had one of those meltdown on me the other day, with possibly the same topology. It failed when the inductor heated up so much that it melted the solder holding it onto the board and warped the plastic shell where it made contact.

[@tanishqbhaiji103]

In India, ambient in a car might get upto 50c and it would get even hotter with direct sunlight so what’s gonna happen is somebody left it plugged in

[@mmwarrior4535]

This is the earliest I've caught one of yer videos, just what I needed to fall asleep to. I modified one of them to hard wire my light strips in my truck, it does get rather warm so I may rig up something else as a replacement later on.

[@nacernait1374]

The LC51 is very popular now in these Chinese cheap chargers and the 51 stands for 5.1V according to the datasheets I have found. bigger versions of this chip have an output current of 1.2 amps

[@marcrhsn]

Got a few of these from the local radio station, together with lanyards, lighters and bottle openers.

[@mentalhealthme128]

I've no idea what you're talking about in this video...did I watch to the end? Yep, will I watch again? definitely

[@robertomurta]

I had one of these, bought in an emergency at a gas station, and during the trip I heard and smelled the high pitch boom from capacitor explosion. Luckily without major damage. :-P

[@snowflakemelter1172]

Love the way Poundland use easy access packaging as if they know your going to nick it anyway 😲

[@dantronics1682]

I was shocked when I went into poundland and saw a security guard at the door.

[@johnphillips4783]

@@dantronics1682 that just means the area that poundland is riddled with shop thefts or theft in general.

[@snowflakemelter1172]

@@dantronics1682 he's there to stop people bringing decent stuff in.

[@b4tty]

@@dantronics1682 No security guard = posh area Picture of a security guard = dodgy area Actual security guard = R U N

[@brentfisher902]

In the USA the Bread & Circus activists are looting the Dollar Stores here, they have even scared off all the police forces....

[@williamjohnson1264]

I have one like that , from one of our' dollar stores', it puts out just enough to keep my phone (flip phone) from dying in the car, I don't think I've seen the phone ever full up on it .

[@GeorgeVCohea-dw7ou]

Have you tried turning it off? kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3XalXmjipt0ldk It is, what it is!

[@stridermt2k]

Exploration like these are keep me going these days. I warned the wife that we will be making a Dollar Store run this week and there will be blood. :D

[@stridermt2k]

TODAY!!!

[@youtubeistyrannical1787]

You mean its that time of the month for her?

[@whitehoose]

The spec for a standard data USB2x is 4.5-5.2v @500mA - so it's sort of in spec for the bog standard output. Most designated chargers use the 2.1 default of 1.5-2A (unless they are cheap and shitty - then you'll only get 1A), no data lines or data shorted. Then there is USB3.x which could be combined with QC3 and 3.2 to include PD compat - both give 20v @5a (100w) but that has active data lines to negotiate the output.

[@roycejulian1517]

In my experience the end falls off and shorts the lighter socket. They work quite well until then

[@olmostgudinaf8100]

The bridged USB data pins indicate to the connected device that this is a "dumb charger" with no capacity for negotiating the current. The current limit is 500mA. This is part of the USB specification.

[@zande_dj]

The way Clive says "Rrrruideng" 🤣 Never laughed so hard 3:37

[@joshfriesen9401]

Your vocabulary is amazing. I enjoy watching your videos and they make me so happy, you are by far my favourite KZbinr

[@mrmobodies4879]

There was Ancher one i brought many years ago:"Anker Quick Charge 3.0, 42W 2-Port USB Car Charger PowerDrive+ 2" and it seems to charge certain phones up really quick than the mains quick charging chargers..

[@iot_galaxy7424]

This shite was bought by my prev boss. It was so funny when he couldn't figure out why his car fuses keep blowing! The idiot didn't realize it was this amazing device 😂 I told him. after a few days...😎

[@TheStarStreak]

On the thumbnail it says "500MA", you really got my hopes up that it claimed 500 mega-ampere. 😅 (M = Mega, m = Milli)

[@AttilaAsztalos]

Well, connect it in series with a lightning rod and it might just do that... once... :)))

[@hdrenginedevelopment7507]

It's like the "1500W peak" car stereo subwoofers at walmart...sure they could hit 1500W output, for like 0.002 seconds if they were struck by lightning. 😂

[@brentfisher902]

@@hdrenginedevelopment7507 All you would have to do is hook the subwoofer up to a crystal radio set with a paper clip as an antenna within 6 feet of the cable modem power supply...I'm surprised that my internal organs aren't cooking from all the RF noise it puts out...would blow the MTX Jackhammer cone clear out the basket through a concrete and rebar wall.

[@eDoc2020]

A while back I bought a bag of 7 identically-constructed adapters (with a company's branding on the side) for $1 at a thrift store. Mine have the conventional MC34063 which Clive was expecting. What I found interesting about the one torn down here is the IC's package, it's like DIP except half the width. Mine is a bi weird. The sticker rating is 12-24v in 1A out and it actually has parts which would hold up on the higher input voltage. However the output is only 500mA or so before the voltage drops. Also its "output" LED is inexplicably connected on the input side so it won't actually let you know if there is a problem with the output. It's less efficient and less useful than a proper output LED and it also varies brightness based on input voltage.

[@MrRoan00]

Bought a cheap 1A charger a while back. Turned out the switching frequency totally jammed the FM band. So couldn't listen to radio while charging. Ended up buying a proper one instead, with quick charge support :)

[@phils4634]

Pretty minimalist but would be ideal as a reasonably stable low-current 5V supply "on the extremely cheap"! Even at 500mA, that's still 2.5W which for many 5V devices is plenty of power.

[@StaticVapour590]

Oh man, I got cheap one with "2 Amp" output about year ago. That thing decided to blast it's internals inside the lighter socket one day. Upon closer inspection the plastic was cracked exactly in half.. I'm pretty sure that cheap plastic is not winter-proof, that's the reason why it exploded.. Anyway, they are pretty useful as compact 12V -> 5V step down converters.

[@ianhosier4042]

I was expecting a 7805 with a small heatsink jammed into that tiny case

[@michaelholmes2101]

Hey Clive , I think you have a great natural ability to explain things. would be interested, perkaps next year to pay you money to give me a tutorial for a couple of days. I have always been interested in ekectronics though not terribly knowlegable - far from it. Anyway, keep up the good work - Michael and thanks

[@BigClive]

It's all available here free.

[@conrad2892]

Ashens but tech reviews, I love it

[@BensWorkshop]

Cheers for that Clive, looking forward to seeing a teardown of a big one.

[@Georgesanderson1965]

Hi Clive, It maybe interesting to reverse engineer a toothbrush with inductor coil. I’m looking forward too that. Yours sincerely, George Anderson.

[@skylined5534]

Brilliant stuff Clive, very entertaining and informative as always! I use a TomTom charger in the car to charge my phone and it's astonishingly fast given the 12v power source! While obviously not as quick as a fast charger on mains it really does bring a near dead phone battery back up quickly.

[@KevinT3141]

If they had left the data lines floating then this charger would be perfectly acceptable. Any downstream device implemented according to the USB spec wouldn't draw more than 500 milliamps upon seeing the floating lines. Edit to add: Actually, a spec device wouldn't draw more than 100 milliamps without communicating with the host and getting permission to go to 'high power'. On further reflection, they had to short the data lines to keep this thing from being completely useless.

[@shanejohns7901]

Rechargeable batteries always have a finite number of recharges in them before they start to degrade and self-discharge inside the battery cells themselves. However, you can usually get more charge cycles out of them if you take care not to recharge the battery at too high of a rate during any of the recharging sessions. So fast-charging tends to be convenient for time, but not so convenient when it comes to needing to replace the power banks. So even though this device can't pull much power, that's not necessarily a bad thing. It may be better to have two power banks, so that one of them can always be on slow-charge. Rather than the rate at which it charges, I would be FAR more interested in the amount of efficiency losses it has while it charges.

[@terencegalati970]

So some modifications: Cut the data trace so it will advertise 100 ma. Put a small heatsink on top (like a copper shark fin). It would be neat to see an O-scope trace of the inductor and LED at different load levels. Also, measure/estimate conversion efficiency at different load levels. You might as well do a 10 pound review of a pound land device. Thanks for sharing your insights.

[@Qui-9]

Thanks for the info! Even though it's a low end device, I've seen ones made embarrassingly cheaply using what looks like a single transistor and no inductor, and other ones which look built well, but with poor regulation for some unknown reason. At least yours regulates well. In your diagram, I am willing to bet that the output of the chip to your inductor is a collector of a PNP transistor, so the base of it doesn't need to swing full voltage, and it would completely saturate easier. But it's a step down converter in this use so I may be wrong about that.

[@objection_your_honor]

Can anyone guess what would happen to the device being charged, when the emitter-collector of the chip goes short? You won't have to worry about 500mA limitation to the load. It will be dead!

[@Toobula]

Finally got a gander at the brand of that spudger. I've been coveting it for a while. iSesamo! Order on eBay. I bought the kit with the regular and the mini for $11. Clive, you should start selling tools and stuff on eBay, as I know you are a frequent shopper there.

[@jacoblf]

Even though I didn't like your putzing around at the beginning, your excellent content made up for the bad beginning. Next time, please edit out the "Lets try cutting off our finger tips by using this razor blade to snap off the top". photos and highlight are excellent. ty

[@gullett125]

Hey Clive. I had one of these a few years back! When I put it into my car to charge my phone, it worked great until I started to smell burning plastic. I took it out and saw that the main body had partially melted. Haven't used it again since

[@poptartmcjelly7054]

IIRC shorting the data pins tells the devide to take as much current as it can from the USB port. Basically it draws as much as it can without the voltage dropping.

[@6643bear]

Great video as usual Clive, I look forward in higher output , lot of the cheap adapters and semi decent ones the 5V chucks out RFI and caused interference on dab in my Land Rover disco 4 , eventually found clean o/p ones all made all metal. Also fitted clip on ferrite in to dc feeders too. Regards mark

[@McTroyd]

I could see this being somewhat useful if the chip accepted higher incoming voltages, like being able to plug into a 24v DC socket. But even if the chip can, they nerf'd it with the high-side filter capped at 16v. 🤷‍♂️

[@tocsa120ls]

Downside of these circuits is, when the switching transistor shorts, it just sends 12V to the USB port... there is ZERO protection, not even a clamping Zener.

[@sanderd17]

Would a zener even help? If the chip fails, the zener would get 12V, probably not be designed for it, likely blow up open circuit, and give the same result.

[@tocsa120ls]

@@sanderd17 that's what the fuse is for

[@robmacdonald7004]

It has a fuse! I heard a horror story about a cheap phone charger without one. The cheap SMPS failed short (as usual) and caught fire. The vehicle was a near-new Cadillac Escalade. It was a write-off.

[@tundramanq]

I may be misunderstanding how USB chargers for Lithium cells should act. Most battery chargers maintain a voltage and the sign of a fully charged battery is reaching a set voltage or a set low current flow to shut off the charge. I saw it acting correctly dropping voltage to limit current for the case of a shorting or over heating battery in a device designed for 1/2 amp charge rate.

[@RedFathom]

can't even plug a flash drive in my keyboard anymore. everything just needs so much power.

[@straightpipediesel]

I'm pretty sure you can externally power that USB power meter via the micro-USB port. That way it won't blank out at low voltages.