Poundland's 2016 power banks. (not a good start)

Poundland seem to be having the same experience that Pound World did when they started stocking power banks. Dead units out the box and unusually low capacities. Here's a look at two that fall into those categories.
Followup data. The low capacity one was drained and recharged and clocked in at 287mAh (supposed to be 1200mAh.)
The circuits have a disappointingly high quiescent current of 100uA (0.1mA) which means they are probably best used on an ongoing basis and not left in storage for too long.
I've been charging the completely flat cell for some time now and it's currently clocking in at over 1000mAh. Not sure how much of that is capacity and if any of it is internal self discharge. Also not sure how much of a risk this cell is having been completely discharged to zero. This is usually an issue with lithium cells and can cause "stability" issues.
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.com/coffee.htm

[@morphman86]

At first I was surprised when I moved to England and noticed how many thing of Poundland's stuff was actually broken out of the box. In Sweden we wouldn't stand for that, everyone would bring their stuff back and it's not cost effective for the store nor the manufacturer. But I've noticed that here in England, the mentality around it is different. Though the consumer law is very similar and you're eligible for compensation (including potential postage or travel costs), very few people exercise this right. Most people just go "Oh well, it was worth a shot" and throws it away, then goes to buy another one. If more people went back to the store with the broken item, to get a new one for free (and possibly their travel cost reimbursed), that would put financial pressure on the store. They would have to cut some other costs in order to increase the quality of the items, even if it only costs a pound. As a consumer, the price shouldn't matter. Nothing should be broken when you purchase it!

[@daviddavidson2357]

Yeah the mentality that most people have in the UK and US (being from the UK myself) is utterly silly, maybe it's the scandanavian genes I have that make me feel this way. The peoole going out and buying something cheap, finding that it's broken, tossing it out and then *buying the same thing* and hoping that it works blows my mind. If you're going to pay twice why not just buy something that costs double and works. I'll usually fight tooth and nail if an item is dead on arrival, if a seller who says they do a 3pm cutoff doesn't ship despite getting 20 hours notice (if that's the case and I paid for expensive shipping I usually ask for a shipping refund as they made a guarantee that they would ship) the only exception is if it costs me so much in time that the cost of the item is negated. I didn't know they had to also reimburse for travel. Can you get me the UK legislation that states this? Does it include any travel or only the cheapest possible form of travel? I've a leg injury that makes it very impractical (and extremely painful) to get a bus instead of a taxi and I can't see a taxi fee being reimbursed, but if that's the case then all the better for me, personally time taken to return an item should also be factored in by law and a company made to pay the consumer hourly minimum wage (rounded up) for each (proven) hour it took them travelling to return the item. I had an ebay seller sell me a 'brand new in box' phone which turned out to be refurished and from the US. They got pretty aggressive in their messaging (pretty much saying that if I returned it I would get nothing back) and since ebay wouldn't do anything about it I looked their business up. Turns out they weren't declaring their taxes. They don't have a business anymore. I don't know how poundland would manage with people getting refunds in the hundreds however. I already assume their stuff is made in China using slave/child labour so the only thing I could see them doing is putting their prices up.

[@morphman86]

@@daviddavidson2357 since this comment, two chains in UK have gone belly-up. Poundland is the last pound store standing.

[@ThunderboltWisdom]

@@morphman86 Good comments. I don't know understand the shoppers mentality here in the UK either. People put up with a lot of crap here when they shouldn't. 👍

[@looksirdroids9134]

@@daviddavidson2357 Because higher price doesn't mean higher quality.

[@daviddavidson2357]

@@looksirdroids9134 Fluke make some of the most expensive multimeters. They are considered the best in the world. Siglent make some of the best oscilloscopes. They are again considered one of the best brands of oscilloscopes you can get. Those are two examples.

[@_s_9920]

Once bought a radio from Poundland. Put the batteries in, no effect. Open it up, completely empty with no electronic components whatsoever :P

[@bigclivedotcom]

So how did it sound?

[@_s_9920]

I'd give the sound about a 4/10 too much feedback.

[@TopkekCheburek]

You prolly got latest 2017 model

[@Taz1451]

To be honest, you probably got the best radio poundland have ever sold.

[@_s_9920]

Taz1451 True that.

[@TheLarryburns84]

I don't understand electrical stuff, but it's interesting and he has a pleasing accent, I'm satisfied

[@mygetrichslowplan]

I feel like Clive gets quite giddy whenever he buys some cheapo electronic doo-dad and finds it to be non-functional. "Ooh, yeah, something new to disassemble on camera!"

[@DieselDragon]

Always good to make the best of a bad lot! Better than my "Dig out the receipt and straight back to the shop" habit, anyway! :-)

[@mygetrichslowplan]

Diesel Dragon I certainly appreciate his attitude, and the content we get out of it. I find it oddly soothing. Between his accent, his genuine excitement over seeing the inner bits of things, the way he explains the topic he is so knowledgeable about so eloquently. Are there channels I watch more than his? Sure, but there aren't many that I can just put on and veg for a while.

[@metallitech]

I feel that he's a smart-alec.

[@purplehippo6602]

Can't unthink "Our friends at Signalex" whenever I see some of the iffy tat that they distribute from underneath their umbrella of wonders.

[@greenaum]

I'm 99% sure Signalex is one of Poundland's own brands, like DIY Time and whatever else. They do it to make it seem like you're getting a real product at a bargain price, rather than some shite made to a budget, an extremely low one. Which it is of course.

[@joinedupjon]

Yeah the postal address on the signalex branded packaging is the same PO box as poundland's correspondence address in Birmingham - it's a phantom brand. The powerbank case itself looks totally generic though - pretty sure the exact same case style with the same symbol and lettering appears at pound stretcher, pound world etc.

[@groc]

greenaum there's even a term for it "phantom brand". Lots of supermarkets do it these days.

[@lorenhusky2717]

You can buy the same exact case this signalex uses on ebay, and ironically it costs more than $1. I can only imagine the corners that were cut in order to get this thing to market lol.

[@NekoMichi]

Wow, saw these in Poundland just an hour ago and thought "hmm, these look different, maybe Clive would have more info", and then BAM! saw this video in my subscription feed. :D

[@kkzooi]

i still dont know much about electronics but watching your video's help me learn a thing or two and i always find them quite relaxing to watch. keep up the good work!

[@Tarbard]

I have that exact "cheapy meter" - an overview of multimeters would be great.

[@jusb1066]

the mastech one is the original, when you get the unbranded 830 meteres, they have terrible construction, no fuses sometimes, and the worst circuit board inside

[@kokodin5895]

i don't care what brand it is. It is Yellow and from my childhood i belived that yellow meter of that design must be better than black. When i was in highchool i didn't buy one just because there was no yellow ones anymore in the shop. And now i use two uni-t which i love and hate at the same time :]

[@Friendroid]

Darren Tarbard look at lygte-info.dk

[@ryanohoro3764]

EEVblog has done a few of the junk ones.

[@Tarbard]

jusb1066 Thanks, mine is mastech.

[@IrishSkruffles]

I've brought many an 18650 back from the dead (0v) with no adverse effects.. albeit two batteries which had crazy self discharge problems. Anyways, lithium ion batteries are tougher and more stable than previously thought and there's a lot of misinformation about charging/discharging out there.. That being said, I wouldn't like any lithium cell to be repeatedly drained under 2 volts as this will reduce the capacity

[@bigclivedotcom]

So far it's taken a full charge twice albeit with reduced capacity second time around (if it's not shunting some of the charge current too). It's theoretically coming in at around 1000mAh, but I'd need to do a proper discharge test to find the true capacity.

[@LachiBoii]

Holy shit, they sell the Orange type power banks at my local Kmart for $10AU. What a bloody rip off...

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

They may just have the same casing though, but a better circuit and a higher quality cell.

[@SuperAWaC]

but they probably don't

[@brandonfrancey5592]

Depends on what is inside. Some of these $1 power banks look like a rip off and could cost you a lot more when a short kills your phone.

[@calderhutchins]

Walgreens sells a $20 10000mAh bank, seems sketchy.

[@sexychris]

you can get them on aliexpress really cheap sometimes 50 cents

[@Lucy-ie9zb]

I sat and watched all of this! Took me back to my school days. Sounds good but once again, my eyes glazed over but kept listening, as I like your voice. :)

[@TheCormTube]

I picked up one of these and it's working but i'm not expecting longevity after watching your vid, thanks for the insights!

[@russtang]

I bought a couple of these without the cells off ebay a couple years ago. They were a couple of dollars each, and have spring contacts to add your own 18650s. One of them outputs 5.1v and the other puts out around 4.7v. The quiescent current draw on both is about 100 microamps. Charging the cells works fine in both, but I usually use one of my dedicated chargers. Definitely a good idea to keep the cells out of circuit when not in use.

[@taff1538]

keep up the great work mate, very informative and enjoyable.

[@cookie1218]

I'm beginning to love your power bank videos.

[@SuperAWaC]

Hey Clive, have you considered getting one of those Anker powerbanks to see what a so-called quality product is like in comparison? I got one on the Amazon black friday and it seems pretty solid, but who really knows what's actually worth the money, these days?

[@TheRetroGamerGuy]

I have 2 Anker powerbanks from 2012 and they still do wonders for my electronics. I haven't had one problem with them since I got them.

[@TRJx86]

The internals have worked flawlessly for just over a year for me , I have the Powercore 10400 or something, I havent particularly babied the product however I found that the plastic often chipped and broke around the seams and in particular around the corners , have you experienced that ?

[@TheRetroGamerGuy]

These are the ones I have except older. www.amazon.com/Anker-PowerCore-Lipstick-Sized-Generation-Batteries/dp/B005X1Y7I2/ref=pd_lpo_107_lp_t_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=2RA852WAG3XGA8D6CRXK I haven't encounter any chips around the seams at all. I believe my dad has your model though from what I saw on amazon. He has had it for a couple of years and travels frequently. He usually keeps it on his work desk and I haven't noticed any damages that you are talking about.

[@TRJx86]

TwistedSyn ya like I say its most likely me , more or less just impressed with its durability though , tough little buggers , great for travelling its probably been on around 8 trips around Europe and never left me with absolutely no charge even after I charged up family and friends phones up fully. (I have an S6 and get about 4 or 5 charges out of it) $13 for that 'lipstick' anker is cheap. Over in the UK were paying £13 right now. :)

[@JJayzX]

I actually took my Anker apart and posted a video on my channel. They do actually use good quality parts like they say. I play Ingress and we all swear by them. Also good customer service.

[@spress97]

Iceland Frozen Food Stores are selling texet powerbanks for £3 just now. 2000 mAh. It seems to work fine, well for me. Keep up the good work.

[@cookiemonster7861]

Alexander Presslie rought one yesterday ☺️

[@NicholasAarons]

Great Video Clive. Very Interesting. Keep up the great work. Nick.

[@geoffbirkinshaw8466]

I bought three and checked the capacity by connecting a torch bulb directly across each battery after a full charge , measuring the current, and time for the voltage to fall to 2.5V. The results were fairly consistent, 700mA/H, 770mA/H and 780mA/H. I glued the boxes together, wired the batteries in parallel, removed the two outer USB/ regulator chips so now I've got a slightly more useful power bank of 2.2A/H.

[@WildernessRocks]

5 years or so ago I purchased three of these from RadioShack on sale for 3 dollars. They worked ok and all stopped working after a couple of years. They look identical! Inside and out. Great video! Best regards, Joe

[@michelebarbera9918]

i always enjoy your videos, even if i can understand a bit of electronics i really like how you describe the steps needed to understand the circuits. I was wondering about why don't you examine what are sold as "great quality products" , such as aukey, anker, xiaomi and one plus (talking about power banks of course) . Keep doing vids, and thanks in advance !

[@untrust2033]

Its 2019 now, and i mainly just buy these for the casing and cables, but these are really handy as a portable 5v power supply for DIY projects, i usually hack up the cable so whatever i had made could use USB power. I have no doubt Im abusing the power banks but if they die they can be easily replaced. The casings are actually pretty good for small projects also, and the plastic can be easily melted wit ha soldering iron then be widened with a penknife. Not too bad.

[@untrust2033]

@@gormenfreeman499 That sort of thing yea, I noticed there are a few different variants with slightly different layout and LED placement (Or none, in the case of a reputable brand one) The boards take forever to charge the cells so its not worth it really. (Plus they can only deliver 1A output max so charging other devices takes a while)

[@untrust2033]

@@gormenfreeman499 I already use the tp4056 boards lmao. They charge at 500ma or something so good luck waiting for it to charge :3

[@dom3827]

Wow, Bigclive learned to read minds. A was searching of a review of these crappy dangerous Power bank Bombs. Now you uploaded one :D

[@Ammoniummetavanadate]

I'll have to run one of these on my battery test cabinet. It has been on my to-do list for a while. A lot of people forget how bad the efficiency is for cheap power banks and charge circuits in phones.

[@kenrawlings4184]

very interesting Big Clive. love your videos. you are the man.

[@baruta07]

Thanks for your video series. I received a USB power bar for Christmas and thanks to your videos it was tripping my "Something is wrong here" Chinese manufacturer. It turns out that there was a piece of cardboard sitting across live 110v wires. Yikes!

[@motorbiking18650]

Great Video - I tried one of these - the 18650 cells are junk, but I upgraded mine with a laptop battery very easy to replace the "1,2Ah" cell for a 2.8Ah cell. I found the cells were quire light too.

[@jayc2469]

I bought 5 of these back when you reviewed them first and 2 were faulty :D For a quid each, it isn't such a hardship. One had a badly soldered -'ve wire. was very surprised that the manufacturer *soldered* directly to the ends of the 18650's. I find it hard to see how even a bedroom manufacturer couldn't throw an improvised MOT transformer spot welder.. The second of the failures had a completely goosed battery, so without much ado I slapped a 3Ah 18650 in instead. Works great!

[@fliedaway]

Hi Big Clive ,I just bought some of these funnily enough because of seeing them on your channel! Just as you found on yours, mine were all dead on arrival, I didn't check the cell voltage I just plugged them into a usb power supply and left until the red L.E.D stopped flashing, took around 4 hours. I then dismantled and discharged directly from the cell @800 mA down to 3 volts. My charger/discharger recorded 942mAh. I'm repeating the test at 1x cell rating, charge @1.2A and a discharge @1.2A I will post the result soon. I enjoy your channel and especially like your LIVE demonstrations 240V live that is! Beer and live wires respect!

[@fliedaway]

Charged @1.2A and my charger detected high internal resistance of the cell so it dropped to 560mA then to 240mA as the cell voltage increased. It accepted 1001mAh. When discharged at 1.2A the capacity dropped to 642mAh when the discharge stopped @ 2.99volts the voltage quickly recovered to 3.65V with no load. I,m doing a third test with lower rates of 300mA charge and discharge.

[@fliedaway]

Ok 3rd charge @ 300mA, the cell took on 618mAh due to not being fully discharged when drained to 2.99V under the 1.2A load in the previous test. When discharged @ 300mA I got an indicated capacity of 1014mAh. Hope this is of interest. Ok for a quid imo. Cheap source for cells in low current situations.

[@Ddabsolve]

Love the channel like a mix of tech moan and AVE keep up the good work

[@--Zook--]

best thing about those cheap little meters is they are basically free with any purchase at harbor freight here in the usa. perfect to throw in a tool bag for a vehicle, or keep a few around as disposables.

[@90msg90]

Ahh... I see the well-known shape of 18650 cell and USB boost converter in a small casing in my subscription feed and I already know I am going to have a relaxing 10 minutes. Thanks!

[@naturalunited2943]

The exact power bank is everywhere with different brand name, i have exactly one like that here in australia and by a brand called laser and its exact same

[@G20Reviewer]

Thanks for making this!

[@JN.0_o]

Just bought a couple of these and swapped the cell out of one for a 2400mAh (tested) Sony cell from a dead laptop battery. Not a bad little power bank now. It's giving me 1341mAh on the 5v side measured with the Keweisi meter.

[@THEDRAGONBOOSTER8]

Great video Mr Big..

[@crbenne]

Hey Clive, do you ever get the chance to bring up concerns about these products with the retailers?

[@britishcadet]

Not likely in the store.

[@AchrafAlmouloudi]

There is no point in doing so, they know it's shit and they don't care, people buy it.

[@davebell4917]

They're selling them with a described capacicty of 1200mAh, and they're way below that. Start with the local Trading Standards office. Of cause, buying something like this from a Pound Store is as good as admitting that you don't care about quality.

[@ProfuzniChevap]

It's Poundland . Everything is priced at 1GBP . What do you expect ?

[@LynxBlack]

I never buy 'tech' from Pound shops, never trustworthy

[@paulsengupta971]

I bought one of these. It tests out at about 712mAh at 5V. Not bad for a quid. Haven't tried to see how long it keeps a charge.

[@richardturton6900]

You must be unlucky Clive, I picked up 6 of them this morning from my local Poundland here in Essex and all showed 5V output straight from the box. I have a couple on charge and will do a capacity test later.

[@charliedobbie8916]

Do you have any buyers advice on these? Is there any way for consumers to check that their devices are safe, and check the capacity?

[@k1rk1c]

Hi Clive (Great videos by the way), I just got a couple of the Poundland Power Banks, exactly the same as yours, I assume, Model IP023. I've just discharged and recharged using my Anker A2021 USB charger. I got good results using my power monitor - 1241mAh in 2hr 20mins I'll see how they perform over time. Maybe you had a dud, maybe they've been watching as well and upped their game :-) Keep up the good work.

[@DoItAfterSmoking]

I love this guys videos and quirkiness.. And I like the format of his videos as simple as they are.. Clive you do just put your ipad on a bed table with a hole in it lol? What is your filming rig?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Shelf above the bench with two pull-out drawer slides to sit the iPad on.

[@DoItAfterSmoking]

Awesome! Its perfect, and sounds great.. I never would have thought it was an iPad filming.. Keep the wonderful videos coming..! I learn so much from you. Thanks for the reply Clive.

[@richardmcdade2696]

Hi Bigclive (like your vids) I got a few of these power banks from poundland myself the first one would not take any charge. It was a dead pcb. the battery is marked 1200Ma i ran a charge and repeated discharge test three times on my B6AcV2 Charger/ Discharger at 800Ma Charge and 1A Discharge result 1197Ma output . No heating of the battery the other units appear to be working ok. No problems as yet with them for a pound thats not bad.

[@PACKERMAN2077]

*Mr. Scott you have earned a sub!*

[@englishguy2010]

Nice to hear Gordon Brown making KZbin videos :)

[@relishgargler]

Hey Clive, would you consider tearing down an expensive power bank like an Anker, and comparing it to the cheap ones? It would be interesting to see your analysis of where the tradeoffs are.

[@SE09uk]

If pound land sold cars, guns, hookers and houses ...

[@paulsengupta971]

Christmas lights not good enough, eh?

[@Firecul]

SE09uk that would be a hell of a review

[@gavincurtis]

Give it time.

[@SE09uk]

The Dollar Guy I'd like an AK 12 and a G18 or 1911 But the hooker for £1 may come with a free STD lol

[@SE09uk]

Firecul42 Just as long as he didn't decide to take her apart

[@tristongibson1737]

I've bought many​ of those and I've seen many that look exactly alike and none of them have seemed to actually work past 5 minutes

[@teknonerdz]

Hi Bigclive! I just want to say that I do enjoy your content, and I have been a big fan for quite some time now. Can you try to make some sort of makeshift powerbank and compare it to the poundland/poundworld ones? That would seem like a cool project to do, and test out price to performance and safety. Have a good day! -TeknoNerdz

[@Hastings1066TV]

Having bought several of these, and even buying as gifts, it was quite sad to find the power banks mostly all dead and it took a while and some careful charging to get them to work. We in the UK do seem to get the shoddy end of products, not just electronics, but also clothing, white goods and pretty much anything made in China. Of course there are some premium priced products that are good, but then why produce all the crap that will go into the landfills and the energy and resources to produce them in the first place 🙄 Thanks for this vid Clive 👍

[@juanhunose1]

Hmmmm....... it actually states to "fully charge before first use" on the packaging. Also not to leave on charge overnight or whilst you are out of the house. Accidental fire waiting to happen maybe?

[@themaritimegirl]

They're selling these in Dollarama in Canada right now, for $4 CAD. Very slight cosmetic differences, but same circuit based on the same chip inside, and the same blue cell as well. Mine came out the package reading 3.9V, so I'll be interested to see what the capacity turns out to be when my USB charge analyzer arrives. The package says 1800 mAh. Odd things - the package says it's a LiPo battery, but surely it must be Li-Ion? Also, the package warns not to use a charger rated more than 1A to charge it. Why would that be? Surely it has charge regulation built-in?

[@KN100]

Hey Clive, reckon I could use the circuit in one of these to charge a 600mAh lipo type quadcopter cell without it exploding?

[@jonathanwarner1844]

A closer look at the case reveals some spaces for inserting springs, at either end, so you can easily turn this into an 18650 charger. The batteries that come with these feel a lot lighter than should be, and tend to show voltages too low to be healthy for a Li Ion battery.

[@TimelordUK]

i love your voice. very relaxing

[@BrandonMk3Fez]

I have two of those and they work perfectly I was using it today and I have had them for a few months and I have had no problems whatsoever

[@Thomas-cu5hp]

Bought one from the Poundland in Scarborough on the 30th of December. Discharged it to 3.3Vish and charged the cell directly with a IMAX B6AC battery charger. The charger says it took 956mah but I've not performed a discharge test. Near 1Ah is very good for £1.

[@Wreighn]

Clive, how accurately does the keweisi device monitor the amount of charge that goes into something? I have one of those. I'm about to receive a 1200mah power bank, and I'm curious if it will measure the charge correctly.

[@nathanlucas6465]

interestingly, I've just bought a few of these and they have different construction inside. One of them had already let the smoke out before I opened the box though

[@reluttr2]

I have a feeling that if you cut open those cells they would be one of those knockoff ones that contain a much smaller cell, like the ones used in the dollar solar sidewalk lamps, packed with sand/dirt as padding inside the larger cell.

[@lepterfirefall]

I bought one of these and it charged my galaxy s5 to 75% straight from box. Will be more wary in future though. I value my phone.

[@MrSmith336]

Clive, do you still use a Simpson 360 analog? Oh, and thanks for the video.

[@gregzarkodimos9711]

When not in use, I always put sticky tape or Kapton tape between the lead and + side of the battery on power banks.. A bit tricky and/or bothersome, but does the trick to prevent quick discharge.

[@WatchHeadsRoll]

Oooh, I'm going to look out for one.

[@TheDemoniusX]

When I get some ganja next time I am going to watch this dude as watching this while stoned (or sober) is amazing. Love the accent!

[@skilletpan5674]

Clive: You should cut the cells open and see if they are just dodgy. Do the cells hold an ok charge if you take them out and use them with out the crap circuits?

[@martindalby3941]

I bought two of these exact units yesterday. got 300mA discharge from unit one and about 500 from the second. disconnected the cell of one and dropped in a cell from an old laptop charger and discharged. it took 2000mA to charge. not bad for a 2.1 cel and discharged at 1293mAh.

[@Bleats_Sinodai]

I saw one of those golden "dalek" lamps at a local shop where I went to get some LED strips. warned the store workers about the issue you observed. almost bought one to test if it had that issue, but I prefer to not play around with my safety

[@lasersbee]

7:14 Yes there is a fuse protecting the 200mA and lower settings. Unfortunately there is no fuse when on the 10A setting using the 10A connector socket hole. These are pretty good inexpensive hobbyist "disposable" meters for use under 50 Volts.

[@Neffers_UK]

Would putting a bit of red lighting gel (maybe a couple of layers?) over the LED display of your USB meter help with the clarity?

[@davidfalconer8913]

I have a couple of these , and listening to you comments , I have fitted a ( tiny ) slide switch to the side ... this can disconnect the cell immediately after charging ... only to be reconnected when I want to draw some power ! ( the cell never goes flat in storage now ! ) ... ( tried - n - tested ) ..... DAVE™ ............

[@bodilidily]

Anyone else think Clive should do some beginners guides because some of this is way above my head!

[@fixman88]

I recently bought a blue, slightly larger version of one of those powerbanks at my local Walmart (having recognized the design from one of your earlier reviews; I'm hoping it's one of the 'better ones' the review mentioned. It had a partial charge on it when I brought it home, I plugged it in to completely charge it (a red oval light on the top came on and went out when it was done), I plugged it into my iPhone 6 and it charged it to around 83% or so. It seems to be ok so far *crosses fingers*. I may pop mine apart just to take a look, though.

[@joinedupjon]

Those cases are pretty easy to open and close again without damage - I guess there's a factory churning out the same powerbank case which several companies are buying and putting the cells and circuit board in to... so there's no way of telling if it's going to be alright just by looking at the outside... though yours is probably the same internally as the other identical looking ones bought from walmart

[@weeardguy]

Yep, I got this powerbank as well, as a relational gift at work. It was quite funny as it was an ABB-branded powerbank. Ofcourse, it's only a stamp-mark, but in my case I found it quite funny that the cell was completely dead ;) Charging did not help at all. Opened it and replaced the cell. Works fine now ;) Didn't know about the high quiescent current though ;)

[@rexapis2125]

I have one with the same case in black and white, purchased in Poland in 2015, and have only used it a few times - it is also rated at "1200mAh", yet only charges my 3630mAh phone about 18%", so that means around 650mAh capacity in reality.

[@Skyuni123]

We recently had a two day long power cut in my home town and I ended up purchasing a couple of these power banks for a tenner each so I could charge my phone. I was really disappoimted in both of them - i think i only got about forty minutes of charging out of the two in the end.

[@OriginalUsername9000]

It's worth noting that 1200 mAh capacity refers to the cell which gets boosted to 5V at the output. In that specific case and a generous 85% conversion efficiency you'd get about 800 mAh at the output at 5V. I might be completely wrong though, I'm sure someone will correct me.

[@thefostersgamesreviews]

great review very informative

[@Penguins247]

I still remember the Poundland solar LED keychain torch I bought a couple of years ago... It contained, wonder of wonders, a standard button cell, non-rechargeable.

[@dorbellbuster2011]

I have a couple of Juice power Banks. A 11,000 mah one and a little one I take out with me a 5,400 mah one. Be intresting to see a video on these one day. Can get them in Tesco although they are pretty pricey. 25 pounds and 30 pounds respectively. Keep up the great intresting videos 👍🏻

[@robhj9933]

I picked a couple of these up recently. One has broken inductor, top snapped off, so understandably doesn't work too well (can these be fixed with e.g. conductive glue ????). The second took 752mAh on charge and gave 450mAh output with a test load. Not too good, but what do we expect for a quid..........

[@shlomsi2000]

I would consider 100uA quiescent current as excellent in proportion to an average 18650 cell @ 2600mAh - that's about 3 years of standby. Also some protection chips miss under voltage cutoff at very low discharge currents and can drain the battery slowly to 0v.

[@vatril]

Could you switch to OLED charger-doctors? Those 7 segment ones are kinda hard to read sometimes.

[@normanparker2103]

I've bought 10 of them farther than work completely dead fully charged and they are perfectly fine now not losing any voltage at all

[@dos541]

Is the ac volts and the amps range on that multimeter next to each other so one click of the range switch could cause a problem

[@kokodin5895]

for the chapnes of construction, they may used rebranded used laptop cels , that would explain one cel failure and the strangly big charge in another

[@geoserenity]

i've always said getting a power bank from a pound store was a bad idea, nice to be somewhat confirmed. better to just save up and buy a higher capacity one from somewhere you can trust

[@arsingtonfek]

Works fine now I have replaced cell with LG 2500mah. 35% charge from flat on UMI Super phone with 4000mah internal battery

[@Chalky.]

I've used a few of the circuits from pound shop powerbanks to convert devices like RC transmitters to Li-Ion, but if some are bad maybe it's time to swap them out for something better.

[@webchimp]

I must have got lucky with mine, it has a 930mAh battery. I've done a few charge/discharge cycles and it seems to be working fine. It's been sat untouched a few days and the battery is still at 3.8 volts.

[@251191366]

these power banks are around 5-10 cny each in china. usually they are given to the customers for free by most of the mobile phone merchants. I got three of these and none of them work, two of them have faulty capacitors, the last one has a broken inductor. the mp3401 are all alright.

[@1973Washu]

Can you recommend a good power bank? because I quite like the idea of having a rechargeable power bank but I have only seen negative reviews for them.

[@Zadster]

For reference: I just measured the quiescent current on my Pound World equivalent power bank at 21.5uA. The chip on those is an FM9833E.

[@jort93z]

is that keweisi worth it for occasional testing? its only like 4-6$. sounds like a good deal on paper.

[@philipcross1586]

i would love to compare the poundland specials against the ones they sell at the factory outlet stores as well as some of the other bargain shops.

[@JamieMale]

I have a 500mah battery from a old drone I'm thinking maybe I could solder battery to the other battery terminals and make a bigger power bank??

[@HandyFox333]

Do you have a video on potentiometers? Like the different types from dials to the ones used in analog/analogue sticks?

[@GadgetReviewVideos]

I have the same one bought from Microcenter for $4, mine came with a 2600mAh Samsung cell. It looks the same, well the case does anyway and seems to work from the start. Looks like they are selling the lower capacity ones for cheaper. Does the FLIR E4 feature mod still work? This was first discovered in 2013 I think. Or did you buy yours a few years ago? I have the FLIR one and it's nice for videos and multipoint temp pictures. But mine cuts out above 285F and I saw thenE4 can go twice as high for temp readings. If this mod still works I might think about getting the E4 next.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I got my E4 not long after Mike of Mike's electric stuff did his original review. The subsequent hacking was the icing on the cake.

[@spidspider]

Clive, Have you thought about putting a red filter over the USB voltage/current meter display to improve the contrast on camera?.

[@juncusbufonius]

Yes I charged a couple and left them on the side for a month or so. Now 0v. The same sort of time as the one I used to power led's on a PIR.