180W Electronic DC Load is a Fun Gadget

[@darkknight145]

I purchased one of these a couple of years ago, great for checking solar panel wattage, just increase the load while monitoring the voltage from the panel, once you reach the panels max power voltage (normally about 17.6v for a 12v panel) read off the wattage from the display.

[@newburypi]

K! That's it. Done. Just submitted my order. Not over impressed with the quality (blown wall wort, bowed PCB) but prolly nothing I can't fix. I've been planning to buy an electronic load for a while now, and your review pushed me over the edge. (That's a thanks, by the by :)

[@ethanpschwartz]

I'm completely on board with the "If we're gonna drain power, we might as well give you a show" design philosophy.

[@antibrevity]

To each their own ;). I'd rip out the fan LED's within a week, but that's because I hate "cheese" unless it's done for satirical effect :). The lights are probably a happy accident in this case as I suspect that these coolers or fans were originally designed for the "cheesy PC parts" market and simply had the LED's on board when the electronic load folks decided to buy them for this application. I do understand your sentiment here, though, as the power's being wasted anyway.

[@SidneyCritic]

Locally down here it's a few $ more, but at least it's quick. For expensive stuff It's still worth buying from China because the percentage makes the difference in $s bigger, and even delivery is not much more then 2 weeks anyway.

[@zebo-the-fat]

I would be concerned about the tracks on the pcb cracking with the board being bent and permanantly stressed

[@Ghozer]

Wont be an issue, it's a CPU heatsink and bracket, and mounts the exact same way... Checkout der8auer's video on PCB flex... kzbin.info/www/bejne/jH7HnqpqpNJ3aZI

[@webchimp]

An interesting Arduino project would be have a nano with a few input switched connected to that button and outputs a number of pulses for whatever function you are wanting.

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

Less power in fet or power is taken before the measuring circuit, measure the Input current and see.

[@john_hind]

The presence of the buck-boost converter suggests an attempt to power the unit off the supply under test? Maybe between 4-30V under test it can work without a separate power supply? The external load socket is interesting too - could you cascade two of these and get up to 360W? I guess you'd need both the watt limit and the current control on the first unit to go high enough?

[@rilosvideos877]

Nice review! I have a similar one with this one-click-button mode - its really a pain in the ass! To figure out how to adjust values downwards was a nightmare. And its beeping all the time when you hit any limit before or after connecting the power source to measure.

[@BeezyKing99]

looks like they could add a backplate to provide the PCBs with some strength for the heatsink... what happened to your diesel heater you were setting up a while back? you could use that as a shed heater.

[@JulianIlett]

The diesel heater has gone rusty and is covered in cobwebs - I only got it because it was a freebie. I totally sold out :)

[@BeezyKing99]

@@JulianIlett oh i'm sure it'll fire up with a fresh dose of diesel either way.... mine has gone rusty (corroded to heck) as well and still coughs to life after a few minutes

[@PhoneVidoes]

@@JulianIlett and we're still waiting for the tear down to find out what went wrong ;-)

[@antibrevity]

I realize that they're building to a price here, but these appear to be using a standardized cooler footprint (no idea which) and they should have also installed the under-board brace that is typically used with such coolers. This PCB or some strategically located components may eventually fail from the strain.

[@Godzilla941]

I have a couple of those Drok cross-shaped USB A/USB C power monitors that have that exact same interface. I just learned here about 2x/3x/4x clicking the button to clear the cumulative monitors individually instead of just holding the button down to clear them all at once. The upside of using that same interface and control software for all of them is that when you learn one of them, you've learned them all. :) Now that the original adapter has proven itself unreliable you could do an electrical safety necropsy (or send it off to clive or diodegonewild)

[@hullinstruments]

I had a few of these and was really impressed with them for what they are. But I have to say I really like the kunkin/array brand of programmable loads. They can be picked up ranging from $165 to around $500. I got lucky and snagged one array branded unit that’s good to 400 W… I think it’s usually around 500 but I got it on auction through eBay for around 200 new in the box. Then I got lucky and picked up a kunkin brand that’s good to 400 W also I believe. With an exceptionally high voltage potential if needed. It’s a pretty nice unit also and I snagged it through Banggood when they first listed them. The less expensive kunkin brand that runs for around $200 is also really nice. Dual channel, not quite as nice as the ones I was lucky enough to snag… But still really nice!!

[@borayurt66]

You can see what's going on more clearly with the internal (mosfet) and external (light bulbs) loads if you connect a decent power supply (with voltage and current display on it) instead of a battery.

[@xyzconceptsYT]

I also reviewed one of these units, not bad for the starter hobbyist.

[@PhoneVidoes]

You might want to get a few spare mosfets and the cooling isnt enough, got one of these and kill the mosfets @ all voltages over long test periods i.e many hours, often at 50% of its so called load capacity.

[@TKomoski]

Becareful they blow up fast , MAKE SURE THE CONTROLS ARE TURNED DOWN ALL THE WAY BEFORE USING

[@JulianIlett]

Good advice :)

[@mdesm2005]

The load doesn't "apply" amps, it allows amps to flow, by lowering it's resistance. The battery provides that amps.

[@-yeme-]

sorry but one button interfaces are the work of the devil

[@JulianIlett]

Oh come on, they're fun. You have to re-learn them every time you use them :)

[@xumatyt]

@@JulianIlett it's a fun engineering trick. But a garbage user interface.

[@CrAzYDr1veR]

you are a smart guy i have the same one how hard would it be to convert it to a 4 wire system with 2 extra wires just to sense the voltage?

[@MiniLuv-1984]

@Tiago Ferreira I see where you are going, but before we try and solve the problem, we should consider how big a problem it is and if it warrants fixing. The device is rated for 180W with a maximum current of 20A. At this current using 6AWG cables you will get 52mV drop per leg assuming 1m of cable each side - 104mV total. Increase the gauge from 6AWG to 2AWG and the total will be 42mV. Decrease the cable length to 330mm and the error is now only 14mV with 2AWG or 35mV with 6AWG cable. The claimed resolution of the device is 50mV. This voltage drop will only marginally effect kWh values and will not impact current or Ah measurement at all. Its debatable if it will be detectable by the voltmeter on the device. Given that, I would beef and shorten the cables between the source and this load and I will be confident that I am well within the claimed accuracy of the device. Why go to the extra effort with modifying it and adding a 4wire capability?

[@CrAzYDr1veR]

@Tiago Ferreira o positivo consegui a minha ideia era pesquisar o negativo a ver se também encontrava uma bifurcação

[@MiniLuv-1984]

@Tiago Ferreira Thanks - yes, I actually was answering the previous commenter, but clicked on your "reply" accidentally.

[@frankowalker4662]

Wow, that PSU lasted.

[@henrikjensen3278]

The problem with these loads are the SOA specification of the transistor that handles the power. Most MOSFET's cannot handle a high amount of DC power. If you really want a load, buy something like the KEL103, it cost significantly more (£250), but includes a nice enclosure, user interface, computer connections, etc. (But it will probably ruin you reputation as a primitive guy).

[@singhpk99]

A device called a rheostat or even the heating element from dryer ... cut up and wired in parallel

[@iamdarkyoshi]

I've had similar units to these The transistor is really running outside of its heat dissipation spec and mine ended up shorting

[@JulianIlett]

I pushed this one up to 185W - although it was only 12V. Maybe it's high voltage that kills the MOSFET :)

[@iamdarkyoshi]

@Julian Ilett Interesting. Also, that cooler is a low cost PC heatsink, and it'd have a real challenge cooling a 180W CPU Maybe there's a difference in acceptable die temperatures in the mosfet vs a CPU die I'll grab one of these and give it a shot, there's always a possibility the unit I had a while back had a fake mosfet...

[@Gengh13]

Most people have problems with it at higher voltages, and if I remember correctly another improvement that is recommended is to add a zener at the gate of the MOSFET because under some conditions there were over voltages at the gate.

[@TzOk]

It's not only a buzzer, but it should cut off the load when exceeding any of the set thresholds. My does a short circuit instead, and blows the main transistor :/

[@markgilbert9930]

Dang, now I have to buy one..

[@twotone3070]

A cheap capacitor and the morning after a dodgy curry, so many similarities, both cause a rupture at the bottom and the loss of electrolyte.

[@UpLateGeek]

I would've liked to have seen some external verification that it's actually reading the load voltage and current correctly. Not much good if it says it's drawing 1A, but it's actually drawing 1.5A or something. And it would also be nice to compare it to the fancier units with the colour screen, to see if it's worthwhile splashing out on the deluxe model. Anyway, good to see everyone's favourite power bank getting some use in a video. I really wish I'd have grabbed one when you first showed ages ago! Instead I have to pull out the benchtop power supply whenever I find something that needs a power adapter that's not 5 or 12V.

[@popepaul4438]

You do realise now I’ve got to talk nicely to my wife I’m convinced that I need one of these LOL

[@john_hind]

Just remind her of your infallibility! (Although the celibacy thing might become an issue!)

[@user-qf6yt3id3w]

Cameras focus faster if you say 'Focus, you f*ck!'.

[@pete3897]

Or buy a decent cam, like David L Jones

[@andymouse]

I was watching Marco Reps build his own IGBJT based electronic load yesterday, and I thought to myself ' I think Julian used the same transistors in his ' for some reason I thought that you had designed and built your own, it seems like the sort of thing you would do ! but obviously not, I think I might though, but I wouldn't bother with quite such a tedious menu system ! a couple of extra buttons and a pro mini will do the job...cheers.

[@antibrevity]

These will often just beep when triggered by the under-voltage alarm while the load continues to run, but these products are only useful for me if the alarm also turns off the load. I'd appreciate it if you could test the under-voltage alarm functionality in the next video, but thank you for the review regardless. Interesting to see how the manufacturers have pushed this design to higher and higher wattage mainly by upgrading the cooler size. I don't much like the interface, , but it's tolerable considering the wattage and price. As many of the "digital" Chinese interfaces with 2-3 buttons are horrible, at least this one is somewhat intuitive. The apparent lack of button debouncing is unforgivable, however, and may require a mod to preserve the user's sanity.

[@gregorythomas333]

The power supply input has a micro-USB type B...which is 5VDC...but the text says 6-12VDC??

[@douro20]

At least they put a decent quality cooler on it. I would still upgrade the fans, perhaps with ones from older Intel premium thermal solutions. I would had ditched the included power supply to begin with. A 12V power supply from a Pace or DirecTV satellite receiver would be a very good quality replacement.

[@JulianIlett]

Actually, I'm thinking of repairing the PSU. I found a physically larger 400V 4.7uF capacitor from an old CFL :)

[@douro20]

@@JulianIlett The safety of the those supplies is dubious at best. I don't think I could trust it running with 240VAC.

[@englishrupe01]

@@JulianIlett Please check and tell us if it was just soldered on the wrong polarity, Julian? Thanks!

[@JulianIlett]

@@englishrupe01 Just checked - the capacitor is in the right way round.

[@englishrupe01]

@@JulianIlett Thanks, Julian! Hope the new one fixes it!

[@TinkerbatTech]

I like mine!

[@JulianIlett]

Me too

[@TKomoski]

Me three

[@popepaul4438]

Omg Julians managed to get some Borg Technology no It’s me it’s just green sorry couldn’t resist

[@kapegede]

18:20 User interface fresh from hell...

[@robbieaussievic]

.... I concur, give us an encoder !

[@SodAlmighty]

So, let's summarise: - Costs over 40 quid - Included PSU blows up when you plug it in - Rear USB port requires more voltage than USB provides - Fan comes on when totally unnecessary - Fan has annoying green lights that serve no purpose - "DIY 300W" only applies in very limited circumstances - Specifications of unit disagree with those published on the seller's Ebay page Sounds awesome. I'll take four.

[@fumthings]

any tips on how to remove the annoying green led from the fan?

[@davidv1289]

The slip-joint pliers might be a good starting point 🙃

[@userou-ig1ze]

thanks for the review and info! One remark: this is one of the few videos that seems slow on 2x

[@JulianIlett]

Yeah, I took this one really slow - I must be getting older :)

[@KariArgillander]

It really feels like normal speed. Amazing :D

[@MiniLuv-1984]

You do know that you age faster if you watch yt at a high speed playback?

[@userou-ig1ze]

@@MiniLuv-1984 *starts to watch backwards frantically*

[@MiniLuv-1984]

@@userou-ig1ze Shti! Brilliant idea - quick, where is the reverse button???!

[@fredflintstone1]

That capacitor when very quickly in the Power supply was it connected backwards?? other than that a good video and I will not be buying that item:-)

[@englishrupe01]

He just responded that it was fitted correctly.

[@VVerVVurm]

it definitely needs some RGB lights .. mod it! ;)

[@FlyingShotsman]

Always enjoy a review of the latest Chinese tat, but honestly Julian, for all the money you've spent on those cheap toy electronic loads, you could have had one decent lab-grade instrument!

[@kzh2559]

Vartan means human operating tram train, here where I live:-)

[@RodneySolarCircuits]

I have one too. but a dc charger for RC is easier.

[@spykillergames8402]

the reason the fans have green LEDS in is because the fan is actually a large CPU cooler for a gaming pc...l.ooks to be for an older intel going by the hole arrangement

[@JulianIlett]

..and CPU's only work when bathed in green light :)

[@lariveePhoto]

@@JulianIlett RGB is better ;)

[@raykent3211]

But why go to the expense of two pots when you could require the user to tap in the binary values they want?

[@piconano]

They used the exact current meter module in your shed, and built around it to make this unit. I bet the other 8 pin chip is an op amp, and the chip next to it, is the ubiquitous Chinese mcu.

[@JulianIlett]

The other 8-pin chip is a 24C32. The 16-pin chip is marked 00U3T06 - it looks like it has been coated and re-marked.

[@piconano]

@@JulianIlett 24c32 is an eeprom. The 16 pin chip is an mcu. Where is the op amp that amplifies the current shunt? On the other side?

[@JulianIlett]

There are a couple of 5-pin SOT23s next to the micro (and near the current shunt). One is marked 321 (TS321 maybe) - the other has been coated in black goo.

[@piconano]

@@JulianIlett Funny how they steal every one's ideas, but don't want others stealing their designs!

[@johnshaw359]

Can it do 4 wire measurements?

[@ZillionPrey]

Yew

[@tasmedic]

Hi Julian "a whole nother" only seems to sound right to me, when you use "aks" or "axe" instead of "ask", at some point during your video Maybe try it out next time. Gangsta! ;-)

[@hullinstruments]

Dang I got near A dozen un- skippable five second ads on this short video

[@DreitTheDarkDragon]

Oh no, artifacts in video at (not only) 8:00 and 15:50, guess memory card in camera is dying. Those loads look pretty interesting, but that green light in fans, why would anyone want that?!

[@taliakuznetsova7092]

It's literally a evo 212 cooler on it.

[@NiHaoMike64]

A cheap clone of one, a real Cooler Master 212 has more copper tubes.

[@williamsquires3070]

If it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing with a big a** fan and heat sink! If it’s not worth doing, send it to Bigclive for a teardown and reverse engineering! 😂

[@TKomoski]

BUY ALOT of these IRFP260NPBF TO-247

[@thulinp]

The power supply would be a very easy fix, but it was never very good I suppose

[@GEORGE-jf2vz]

I would pay an extra 20.00 if they made an easier to use human interface.

[@SodAlmighty]

I have a question. Isn't it *really goddamn stupid* to have a USB power port that expects 6-12V? I don't know about you, but all my MicroUSB cables connect to 5V supplies...

[@AndyShell]

I avoid ebay like the plague. Aliexpress Amazon and maybe if I'm desperate alibaba.

[@krellft]

That's not a UK seller ... they're based in China ... always click on the sellers name to get the correct information ... I find a lot of people don't do that ... the seller's can put what they want, as the Item Location (on the item page) ... but then it comes to their profile page, it has to have the proper location ... in this case China ... there's even a Chinese address at the bottom of the page ...

[@stevetobias4890]

I have one of those, got it cheaper on AliExpress. After testing a lot of batteries, it is crap, not accurate at all. Also turning off the backlight can be a pain to turn back on. Anything over 1 amp is extremely inaccurate.

[@skysurferuk]

That one button being intuitive? Many thanks for showing how to actually change those values. I find it damned frustrating. The WORST interface ever!

[@nullerrno]

2:02 the camera cant take the load

[@JerryEricsson]

Last winter, I sold mom's house. It was a nice little house, she had it built for her by a local contractor about 40 years ago, now she resides in the nursing home and shall never be on her own again, really a good thing over all, at 95 years of age, she just can't care for herself any more. At any rate, she saw this coming over 18 years ago, and transfered ownership of her home to my two sisters and I. Life does go on you know and before you knew it, both my sisters passed away from Cancer, my wife followed a few months later, again Cancer, damn that blasted desease, I never knew a man could hurt so baddly just by the emotion of loosing your family members like that, especially my lovely wife, we had just celebrated our 51st aniversary, well if you can call sharing some watermellon and ice cream in her hospital room a celebration, I did buy her some roses, and brought her the golden rose I purchased for her on our 50th, in fact I burried the rose in her hand. 4 days following our celebration she went to be with our lord and the greatest pain ever experienced by an old man hit me dead in my chest. That was last August and with the help of the many drugs my doctor has been pushing on me, I have sort of come to terms with the great loss. Thankfully our youngest daughter, who had been living with us, helping me care for my wife as the cancer ate away at her stomach and liver stayed with me after my wife's passing, and is caring for the old man now. At any rate, getting back to the gest of the comment, the money from mom's house was to be split with we children, there was a stipulation that should one of us die, the money would pass on to our kids, so when the house sold, because of some complications, the money was split between me and my youngest sisters kids. My eldest sister had relinquished her interest when the cancer that was eating away at her brain was going to send her to a nursing home, this to protect the funds from being taken by the State, the same reason mom passed on the house to us. So the money is in my bank account, well half of it, and has been there for several months left untouched until we could determine the tax problems, that has been sort of taken care of now, and it appears each of we who got our half's need to send a check to the other sisters eldest child and this will indeed free up our money to be spent. Now my daughter has been put on my bank account since she is paying all my bills from my bank account, and doing the grocery shopping and so forth. In fact after suffering a nasty fall last week, she went to the furniture store here in town and got me a new recliner so I should not fall again, as this one helps me getting out of the damn thing. So now I sit here with an extra few thousand bucks in my bank account, surprising to me, the bills that my wife had on her credit cards went away when her heart stopped and unless I have the courts intervene the bills will never come due to me. This helps me a LOT since we were living on our combined social security checks and my check from Workers Comp, who cut it in half a few years back telling me that I was now retired thus the pay cut. My mind is not what it once was, and I have lost my train of thought. I believe I was going to comment on that soldering iron you picked up several years ago, you see I decided to unleash a few bucks and resupply my collection of electronic parts as I still experiment and build projects, just to take my mind off my losses, and keep myself from inflecting grievous wounds to my head with my old duty pistol, a neat little .45 ACP built on a design from Mr. Browning in around 1911, well that's when it was accepted by the US Army, of course the actual design goes back to the early 1900's, I believe it all began around 1903 I have seen some that were called the Model 1905 and others dispersed in that year range. So I wanted to know if you still love that iron? I did buy a couple cheap ones made on the back of vaping devices and they work fine for an occasional speaker wire repair or something quick like that however their battery's don't hold much charge and if you do more then 10 or so joints you are out of snuff, and since the soldering head must be removed for the device to receive a charge. Not good for a fellow who wants to build a kit or recap a radio. I ordered the iron, a charger, the one tip and the other accessories that come with it. Not much considering the price of 75 us bucks. I looked at the case and extra tips, another hundred bucks once youget shipping involved and such. Now surely I do have the funds now, and at 70 years of age, I don't know how much longer I shall walk the face of this big blue marble, I hope a few more years at least, I have a couple of grand sons who I care for a LOT and I want to see how they do after college. One of the boys, the eldest is a genius, no question although he does have a bit of a problem that comes with the blessing. The other, youngest is going to be a football star, at least in college. He wants to follow in my footsteps and become a police officer. Now that makes me proud as HELL, but in today's world, the life of a cop will not be a happy one, in fact if I were still on the job, I would be looking at other options. At any rate thanks for the wonderful videos, I am afraid I have let my following your channel drop for many months as the darkness eclipsed my very soul but I think enough time has passed where I can once again get back on the electronics pathway and once again return to my favorite pastime, building crap! Oh, sorry for the small book of a post, it is just that I get so Damn lonely sitting here, day after day, week after week, looking out our window and dreaming of the happy days before the cancer. Thankfully we did fulfill one of our dreams and got a second hand motor home, we took it South and enjoyed 4 winters in the Arizona/California/Nevada/Utah area seeing the wonderful sights and meeting great people who live the nomadic lifestyle. I shall miss that. The motor home sits in the back yard wasting away. I owe the bank more then the blasted thing is worth and I don't see me ever getting in it and driving south once again,. Nice dream but without my wonderful wife in the co-pilot seat, it's just not the same, you see my biggest thrill was watching the wonder in her eyes as we looked down into the Grand Canyon and other wonders of that area, as we walked through the desert, and took a trip to the London Bridge to eat Fish and Chips on the shore of the Colorado river as cars passed overhead on the old bridge.