Julian's Postbag: #63 - Sensible and Silly Stuff from China

[@Ggddsdddhhhhy6fv]

The moon icon was on because you didnt have the solars connected up. So it was getting no charge. And assumed it was night. The troubleshooting page was, check if the solars connection is tight if its sunny out and the moon icon is showing.

[@robbieaussievic]

........ A 'Poor Man's' Zombie apocalypse kit with those Walkie-Talkies ?

[@Wiresgalore]

Awww i was totally ready for you to measure the current/usability of the USB ports, more importantly i suppose is what the data lines are sitting at. Even a 1A USB supply can be useless if it doesnt tell the device its charging to draw maximum current!

[@proyectosledar]

you are the master of the dc-dc converter. you must be in guiness record!!! some day you can make a video of all that you have. saludos amigo

[@JulianIlett]

+Proyectos LED Good idea - I'll do that :)

[@Firecul]

+Proyectos LED I'm wondering what kind of voltage he would get if he linked them all in series personally.

[@pepemiranda0]

que sorpresa encontrarlo aquí! me gustan sus vídeos saludos desde Guatemala para Proyectosled y Julian Ilett

[@Llop66]

May we hope a full review about this DC/DC boost converter ? I've read the instruction, but they seem to be quite unclear from a bad Chinese translation. Hope a review could help !

[@josephchambers5390]

Could you do a full review on the 900watt boost converter?

[@SilverGreen93]

+Julian Ilett, you bought several adjustable CV/cc power supply modules. can you tell me which of them have isolation between the input and output? I bought a couple from eBay but the negative terminal is common between input and output. thanks!

[@JulianIlett]

+Mihai Vasiliu None of them. They're all non- isolated.

[@SilverGreen93]

+Julian Ilett Thanks for reply. That's bad news. I need a dual power supply and have no idea how to make one without isolated modules.

[@B0G0MIP]

haha, that unexpected 'parents have left you' just hit me off the chair

[@mozismobile]

that solar controller looks very handy. One important note is that they do tell you the "No load loss: 0.05W" which a lot of controllers don't. A bad one will sink 20mA or more just to drive a few LEDs telling you that the battery is charged. I have one $20 controller that hits 50mA (600mW!) loss if you have a load and the battery if fully charged (measured by putting a 20mA load on it...)

[@maestrovso]

Julian. You are certainly a bigger spender than me on Banggood. Love your videos. Watching them save me spending money on some of these silly things but no less in virtual first hand experience. Keep up the good work.

[@bazahaza]

Why do you keep getting these power supplies? What are you doing with them all?

[@ytu52973]

Julian, Can you do a more in depth review of the solar charge controller?

[@JulianIlett]

+Y Gator Will do - if the weather holds

[@Garry.Anderson]

+Julian Ilett cue the heatwave! - waiting with interest on this, i was about to buy one, then noticed it in your postbag, so holding station for the time being.

[@TheBlackadder-Edmund]

Hello, I got the charge controller for 20 amps but when I add a 4.5 amp load I get the "OC" error. When putting a 0.2a load all is good. When using the same load with another controller all is good).Any chance you could test with a 4.5+ amp load to see if you have the same problem?

[@brundog807]

Hey, so I have this charge controller installed with two 10w panels in parallel. When the panels are in full brightness, I get around 18v. However, when the controller is charging a lead acid battery, it basically brings the voltage up to 14.8 @ 2.2Athen kills the amperage momentarily, and repeats this process. If I was to hook up a buck converter to the solar feed and say drop it to 15v would I get a constant charge current? Or is this switching on and off on the charge end of things a normal occurrence with solar charging?

[@NMrick505]

Curious....do you leave feedback on your eBay purchases? I'd think some comments regarding lack of LCD on the Wallie-Talkies might be appropriate.

[@christothegreat1]

Could you test a 48 volt DC 75 Amp MPPT charge controller, such as for example the Intronics on eBay. To test if they're all they're cracked up to be.

[@p1nesap]

Nice controller for your batteries. My first solar item from China is a supposedly 100K mAh phone charger, which so far has charged a 19K mAh battery _nearly_ 3 times, and the solar panel appears to be purely decorative, as only a phone wall charger can charge the thing. Yikes!

[@puriap250]

8:05 Mommy where are you? 😂😂😂

[@GregoryGHarding]

@Julian Ilett, i ordered that CMG2410 model you talked about. i have it connected to a powersupply for PV in and its pulling current into the battery all the way to 15v and cutting off, dropping to 14, then pulling current into battery until 15v again, constantly. is this correct. it seems like its pulling the battery pretty high. or is this correct? how does your model work out? thanks

[@mmmk1414]

hi Julian , im working on something and im kind of stuck ,,, need your help . my problem is at the power supply i need one 220v AC / 80v 12amp DC . and don't know what to do , need you advice !! HELP!!

[@MikeHoughtonasUnit8720]

Forgive for being dense, but I haven't been much into electronics for just about 30 years since I got into computers service and programming. When the inductor makes that sound isn't that an danger sign?How does it make that sound?

[@KN100]

+Mike Houghton Inductor whine is quite normal, If you google 'coil whine' you'll find it's a common complaint on many computer graphics cards, as well as other consumer electronics. You can build circuits to minimize it or you can just cover the inductor in some cementy crap (which is what most manufacturers seem to do) to minimize the audibility.

[@MikeHoughtonasUnit8720]

Good to know. Thanks

[@EngineMismanagement]

The connectors on the solar panel look like the Radox twist lock solar connector.

[@JulianIlett]

+EngineMismanagement Yes, I think they are.

[@ellenmadden8343]

Funny, I've been eyeing that exact solar charge controller for my planned solar garden lighting, mostly because of the USB outputs. I figure during the day when the lights aren't running, I can charge my battery banks up, and then I can say my phone and tablet are charged with green energy.

[@JulianIlett]

+Ellen Madden It should be ideal for that.

[@planespeaking]

+Julian Ilett I was just thinking the same, one question what kind of size solar panel would this controller cope with in terms of watts?

[@planespeaking]

+robleake I'm assuming 240w panel would be the maximum 12v 240w = 20a current

[@slothsd1]

Do you have the 900W boost circuit driver IC part number? Has anyone been able to find a schematic?

[@maicod]

I think the SOC isn't State Of Charge but System On Chip

[@Roy_Tellason]

Is that solar charge controller for lead-acid batteries or what? You don't say...

[@JasonMasters]

Misprint. They meant "inadequate", not "adequate". It shows a moon (night) when there's inadequate input from the solar panel.

[@brunofonseca9686]

Can someone shed some light on the relation between the inductor and the chip right beside it? Thanks

[@planespeaking]

Can anyone please recommend a suitable battery & supplier for the solar charge controller? Assuming using a 240w panel i.e what would be the ideal Ah size to ensure the battery remained in a good state of charge whilst being the minimum to match 200w for 7hrs or so of sunshine. I know I could probably work this out but I'm sure somebody could answer this very easily...Thanks

[@Luke-san]

Julian, again nice stuff, very enjoyable! Question about the charge controller, do you know if the output is programmable? The old one I have here I can program so the lights stay on for 1, 2 .... hours when the sun goes down. Also pwm, saw a scary thing here. Not sure if you remember but I posted something about a 16V capacitor that was blown in charger that I connected to my solar setup. Yesterday I sometimes measured peak voltages of 15,x Volts over the 12V 7Ah batt that I have.

[@Luke-san]

+Julian Lett can you check if you can program the lamp output?

[@falafelfajt]

clas ohlson batteries :) Did they push you to buy them at the register

[@JulianIlett]

+herpderp No, I just saw they were a good price.

[@flossemd]

360p?

[@TheBlackadder-Edmund]

The solar charge controler seems to be definetly rubish on the load, the seller (not the same as yours) is arguing that the load limit is 2amps dc as described on the 12Vdc output and NOT 20 amps discharge. Some people would argue that the load could never be 20amps but the instructions have pictures with up to 5.1 amps output (but it cannot handle 4.5amps). As another example i have another controller that handles the 4.5amps on the load output without any issues (but without the displays). I would suggest anyone wanting this for the output display not to buy it.

[@Elfnetdesigns]

The problem with the walki-talkie's is in the US they are not legal to use on the set frequencies due to the fact 406 - 420MHz is reserved for US federal govt and military use.

[@iamdarkyoshi]

Still processing? 360p? Ah well, its better than 144p. Time to watch Julian open his mail :D

[@timonix2]

+Luke Den Hartog My favorite re-occurring segment

[@ljmike1204]

if you look for a headlamp thats realy good try the Ambe FA-K8 dont know if they sell on Ebay i bought mine at a flee market for 15 euro 5W "cree" led 800 lumen with batary pack

[@mousefad3673]

Those cheap walkie talkies operating at 409-410 MHz should not be used in the UK - those frequencies are allocated for maritime and aerospace navigation equipment. Across the EU, a set of frequencies around 446 MHz is allocated for unlicensed low power use for walkie talkies and the like.

[@reggiebacci]

R12 looks like a current shunt for the ammeter. Also, these videos are getting more entertaining by the day - between the "LCD display" and the Tesla coil the other day I've been cracked up a couple of times. :)

[@AerikForager]

@8:10 Are you my Mummy?

[@brettefantomet]

fucking gas masks

[@kyoudaiken]

I STRONGLY doubt that the DALE resistor and the caps from "nichicon" are genuine...

[@WayneJohnsonZastil]

I don't like fact can't turn off the solar charger display with switch i.e. to save power!

[@WayneJohnsonZastil]

+simontay1984 Running on solar only is all about saving every bit or current everywhere possible!

[@kamil004]

Julian replace driver PCB with LCD from BST 900 to BST 400, if change panel then BST 400 raise up fast voltage. This is only front panel issue. I checked RX and TX and nothing found, maybe you will succeed ;)

[@JulianIlett]

+Kamil Gorecki OK - interesting. But doesn't the front panel have the upper limits for voltage and current programmed into it?

+Julian Ilett Well, it's just fancy PWM signal generator, isn't it? You might even be able to get out more power from that. Worth trying.

[@kamil004]

+Julian Ilett try 40V only for LED ;) dont worry about different voltage range.

[@kamil004]

PS: So I think that the panel has programmed limit tensions and the rate of voltage increase. I think that you can simply reprogram the microcontroller using the Rx and Tx pins but I do not know whether we can: /

[@OzmoMac]

When can I send you stuff I got a lots of electronics

[@JulianIlett]

+Ozmo Mac Before I can accept donated stuff, I need to do one of two things. 1. Find somewhere to store all the stuff, but rented storage is ridiculously expensive. 2. Learn to throw stuff out, which may require psychological councelling.

[@OzmoMac]

+Julian Ilett man I know that trouble I had to go tho trow out stuff it's frustrating and difficult

[@Designandrew]

dot matrix?

[@MrOpenGL]

The reason for the low efficiency is because a boost topology with an inductor is not very effective at boosting more than ~10-15V especially at high power. With such high power and voltage difference, it is best to use a transformer in flyback topology.

[@buythingsinchina6314]

Can't wait to see the video about the walkie talkies, I'm planning to buy a set for the kid.

[@mgtow-extraits]

5:45 "moiré"?

[@JulianIlett]

+comalies halftone is what I was trying to remember.

[@fododude]

I was thinking mezzotint but now that I think of it ... they mean the same thing!

[@JonByrne]

Nice video as usual. worth noting if those walkie talkies are 409MHz then they are not legal for use here in the UK. 409MHz is the HongKong equivalent to our 446MHz PMR licence free band, hence why any cheap radios fr China fall on the 409MHz range.

[@ProdigalPorcupine]

They're just 49MHz toys, the advert is lying!

[@Weshwey_]

Ugh the coil whine!

[@XFolf]

Solar "Gharge" Controller.... fancy

[@iceberg789]

well, who needs a bench power supply, when they have tons of power supply modules laying around on the bench .....?

[@xddbotnet1370]

Maybe it's: CMG-2420: common ground CMF-2420: common ???

[@tech-rich]

Be careful if those walkie talkies are operating at 409MHz. That part of the spectrum is often used on military bases!

[@JulianIlett]

+hifromrich They only transmit a few tens of metres

[@tech-rich]

+Julian Ilett I think you will be ok then!

[@alaricsnellpym]

Still not legal in the UK, even at low powers... Proper UK PMR sets are cheap AND legal :-)

[@electropancake1554]

Sorry kids your parents have left you hahahahaha 😂 😂

[@atbglenn]

The "Kid's" in the description should have made you run away, and fast

[@danielaustin7643]

those power supplies just get bigger and bigger

[@jmnori]

Why you gotta be such a badass Julian.

[@pirlo8988]

just tell you in a video before that this are huber+Suhner connectors....

[@danielhorne6042]

no audio wtf lol probs the app

[@thomasvnl]

Pitch was extremely irritating when your ears are young enough ;) very load high pitched noise

[@thomasvnl]

I meant loud

[@marco_evertus]

+Thomas Verschoof they were irritating and loud at the same time, and yes I am young enough.

[@newrhea13]

I still wish it wasn't illegal to power my house with solar and not share it with other homes... so lame.

[@NoName-bt3oy]

Should've just bought a Boafeng 2M walkietalkie.

[@nicnl255]

06:30 rekt

[@R4MP4G3RXD]

+Nicnl Burn of the century ;'D

[@yurigagarin4974]

those walkie talkies are so terrible its beyond belief, you could have nearly got a 3rd of a baofeng uv5r for that!!!😜

[@jplangbehn]

Holy crime on and on and on......

[@samuelashdown7994]

first!!

[@ElmerFuddGun]

+Samuel Ashdown - Ah... you two must be some of the young 5 and 6 year old kids getting into electronics. That's great but be sure to ask your mommy and daddy before plugging in any batteries, OK? Be safe and stay in school.

[@Phantom0309]

cheap tat

[@tyttuut]

+Phantom309 Exactly.

[@Phantom0309]

+The Tyttuutface you get what you pay for, buy cheap and youll end up buying twice