Simplest power bank ever?

This somewhat exaggerated power bank has one of the simplest circuit boards I've seen yet. Just 5 components and the connectors.
To keep the chip's pin count low it uses the arrangement of the charge and output USB sockets in parallel. That means that it has to dip the voltage briefly every couple of seconds to check if a charger has been connected. That results in a very short, but noticeable pulse in the output if a light is connected.
The chip also detects if the load is low and will switch off into a standby mode. Not great for low current loads like low power lights. The one plus feature it has is a very low quiescent current of 11uA when it does go into standby. The stay-on current is 40mA and above.
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.

[@bobs12andahalf2]

2600mAh is the lifetime capacity. Dies after third use.

[@j.cheeverloophole9029]

It does come with a lifetime warranty... It explodes and kills you on the 3rd charge

[@ehsnils]

@@j.cheeverloophole9029 Don't give fanatics any ideas.

[@valveman12]

@@j.cheeverloophole9029 Then you better check your laptop, Phone, Tablet, etc. because those batteries were created in the same country! Yeah, I know your comment was sarcasm. It does make you think how really safe any of these batteries actually are!

[@BoB4jjjjs]

@yehoutube If a Telsa car battery pack goes faulty, well, I will see it from here!!!

[@lillexus5589]

The exact same powebank got recalled in The Netherlands for fire hazard....

[@seanet1310]

That was very caring of your brother, checking the candy was ok while you were away

[@i.suk.6146]

He didn't do a very good job, it looks like most of them got away!

[@3dlabs99]

He kept a close eye on the condition by taking frequent samples

[@erfinderwerkstatt]

Great review! These are available as kits from Ali, and I've bought a bag full of those power bank cases. We then recycled "dead" laptop batteries, took out the working cells, and made power banks for the workshop's students :-) They are good enough to charge your phone if no other options are available, or power some small Arduino robots :-)

[@DoctorX17]

Perfect second life for old laptop batteries. I’ve got a large collection myself, and they’re definitely perfect for those sorts of applications. [Some of them don’t do well for things like charging phones because the voltage drops heavily at high current, and most 5V output boards I’ve used will cut it off and leave a fair amount of power left when the voltage rebounds]

[@DrexProjects]

Maybe it's 2600 micro amps. Which is 2.6 mili amps. In that case you got almost 3 times more than advertised. Bonus!

[@Berkeloid0]

I love these devices as they are a great way to get free power banks. You buy them off eBay (the ones that are very obviously fake), measure the true capacity, complain to the seller that they sold you a fake item, and the seller gives you a refund so you don't spoil the nice scheme they have going. I've gotten a number of free power banks this way, and because they are coming from scammers I don't feel the least bit guilty! Same applies to 18650 cells and the like. I've often wondered how far you could push the scheme before they give up and start labelling the capacity honestly...like could you build your own DIY powerwall entirely from free scam batteries? Hmm...

[@stalwartcomputers5182]

We got a good supplier who tried to push us some 1500mAh 18650s as 8000mAh we had never gotten batterys from before but good LEDs,COBs,project boards etc from, not knowing we test all cells on intake & test capacity before DIY/usage (never selling unless genuine samsungs) & they gave us 50pcs of fake marked/wrapped cells so we ended up with a few 1500mAh for torches/projects etc with a full refund (it helps if you can show fakes & they cant argue with pictures/data shown 0-100% charge capacity 🙈🙊)

[@dalehorton7748]

While I don't have much of a problem with this concept *now*, this line of thinking has made things much harder for consumers. Years ago it was super easy to spot fakes, as they'd always have an absurd capacity rating of >4000mAh (eg those terrible "9900mAh" 18650s that are actually about 500mAh). While this was a problem for complete strangers to electronics, I was actually quite happy with the situation. Scammer vendors will always exist, you arent going to dispute them all into oblivion, but it meant that anyone who knew anything about the batteries used, could very easily know if a device was fake, with a simple rule (if its under 3500mAh, its probably real, if its over 3500mAh, its definitely fake). However people buying all the obvious fakes then demanding a refund due to them not meeting the physically impossible capacity rating, even though they knew full well it was fake before buying it, has led such vendors to give their units less absurd fake ratings, like these with 2600mAh. Now it's impossible to distinguish the real ones from the fakes since they'll both have a reasonable sounding capacity, and its only if you actually test them (which far fewer people will do) that you can know if you got duped. So congrats, you and people like you have helped make the market an absolute shitfest, where you can never know if powerbanks or batteries are fake or not until you receive them and test them yourself. Thanks.

[@ElfRightsActivist]

Get over yourself you fucking socialist.

[@TheActionBastard]

*stares angrily at you... mostly because he didn't think of this scam first*

[@toasty4000000]

@@dalehorton7748 This is the whiniest thing I've read in a while

[@RambozoClown]

What's a 2000mAh rounding error between friends?

[@Omnishredder]

A pack of burgers

[@ItsMrAssholeToYou]

Our hero, Big Clive, became sour On false claims of USB power He put-off his rest Until he could test Their true rate of milliamp-hour

[@MrSonny6155]

Bruh.

[@teslacoil4335]

wow.

[@freemind2pointo]

~D A N K P O E T R Y~

[@NorthernXP]

"Wanting to hear poems I came; all I heard was shit Haikus fucking suck" ~ Sly Clop, Triple X

[@bijeshshrestha2450]

Don't post poetry Where you need shit

[@Fifury161]

I bought one of these a while ago from a pound store - when I took it apart it had a spring holder and the 18650 wasn't soldered - meaning I could remove the cell and use the bank as a charger. Sadly when I went back to buy some more they all had the cell soldered in place. Yes they can be bought online, but the pound store ones where a cheaper option.

[@majbummer69]

I love hearing Bigclive read Chinglish.

[@battmarn]

Engrish

[@MMuraseofSandvich]

How hilariously bad Engrish is written at East Asian companies: Manager: "Hey, you! You said you know English (or went to conversation lessons), go write the copy for the English manual and packaging. What? Hire a native speaker? Do you have any idea how much that would cost compared to you doing it for free? Wait, did I say that out loud?" Japanese guy: OMG OMG I have no idea what I'm doing wait I'll just slap some English words together... (note: this is also how random English words end up in Japanese songs) Chinese guy: Eh, I'll run it through this translation site I found on Baidu. No one's gonna know the difference.

[@youhackforme]

@@MMuraseofSandvich from my experience living in China, Baidu translate is actually low key better than Google's for Chinese and english

[@raymondmucklow3793]

Glad you posted tonight, I got my tranfer case and Transmission pulled out of my truck today, I needed to unwind a bit.

[@raymondmucklow3793]

@Mr. Mosby it all went pretty smooth til getting trans off the dam pins were tough.

[@plodderexup]

They sell these at your favourite shop (Poundland). I've got a couple and have put a decent recycled 18650 cell in each (~2000 mAh recovered from knackered hoverboard battery). It's a handy case/PCB and will charge my phone from near zero. Also handy to slot in one of those USB torch heads you've featured previously.

[@JerryEricsson]

What a wonderful birthday gift, a video by Big Clive! I turned 68 yesterday, spent the whole day watching various videos on KZbin but I failed to check Big Clive, so this morning I see a great video to watch, even though it is a day late, still a wonderful gift for an aging man (I had a birthday call from mom, who is 93 now and living up town in the Nursing Home, she tells me that I am not to consider myself "old" until I turn 70! My good wife of 60 years turned "old" last August!)

[@williamh.mic.8712]

Happy very late birthday! Hah hah-

[@chrisa2735-h3z]

Keep away from children? It should say “keep away from Clive”😂😂

[@JUANKERR2000]

@Robert Baker How do you manage that? Their parents insist on bringing them out in public!

[@firecrow7973]

how did he not mention the fact that the label says "warning do not follow these instructions"

[@RWBHere]

I was given a couple of those. They came from Poundland. One had about 10% of the claimed output capacity, and the other had about 12.5%. On second recharge, both cells delivered slightly less power before they shut down. The cells seem to be reclaimed at the end of life, or else factory rejects. Thanks Clive.

[@Markle2k]

Remember to translate from 5v to the 3.7/3.6 nominal for judging capacity given in mAh. They always quote what is written on the cell.

[@n-steam]

Going to assume the worst case scenarios and be generous with the assumptions. 700mA @ 5V means less than 980mA @ 3.6V Assuming 20% power loss due to conversion, would mean less than 1230mA from the battery. Assuming 20% tolerance on the capacity of the battery would mean the battery could be labelled as no more than 1540mA.

[@toasty4000000]

@@n-steam and then you double that number as the cell sees the maH going in when charging and then again going out when discharging. Boom 😁

[@blg53]

@Против Глобал Pardon my ignorance, but how do you know it is a linear charger? Presence of an inductor suggests that bucking is intended. Unless it is meant for some kind of filtering which I doubt.

[@seraphina985]

@Против Глобал Perhaps my basic physics is rusty here but if the input is at 3.6V and the output is at 5V even with a 100% efficiency in the output circuit the current of the output must be lower than the input or the power output would exceed the power input, the law of conservation of energy says no dice on this one you can't output 0.5W (100mA@5V) from a 0.36W (100mA@3.6V) input either the output current would have to lower or you need to draw more current from the battery to supply the missing joules of energy here. Though this is if one is measuring it by measuring the discharge capacity of the battery I guess are you only talking about if you measure the charge input to calculate the mAh value? So I guess it does depend if you are measuring the raw charge input or the real world usable capacity (output) though I would expect marketing to favour the former as thermodynamics guarantees the usable output capacity will always be lower due to losses in the energy conversions.

[@nigelh3253]

Thanks, Big Clive. I bought a few of the Poundland ones yonks ago. I think they were 1000mAh. Variable feast! More on power banks gratefully appreciated, esp what happens when they get old. Thanks.

[@thrice1888]

Hey Clive, not sure if you will see this but... I started watching your videos a month ago, I stumbled upon your components video when I learned about resistors after blowing all the LEDs in a 6v firework igniter box I was building. Point of the story: I’m 31 and work in kitchens, I never had any career I wanted or any hobby that could be monetized, until now. I have always liked electronics but now I am in love! I watch your videos constantly, most of it is a foreign language but I’m slowly picking up on it. If all goes well I will be going to school in the next year for an electronics technician. Thank you, sincerely!

[@echothehusky]

Amazing the 6 pin chip is almost as small as those 2 little capacitors.

[@Scrogan]

Especially since it’s sinking 1V or so when charging. I can’t see it taking more than 150mA or so.

[@pantherplatform]

How you doin that? How how you doin that?

[@Re_Kitty]

cute suit head

[@NiHaoMike64]

@@Scrogan Put a scope on the inductor. I wouldn't be surprised if it's in fact operating as a buck converter during charging.

[@echothehusky]

@@Re_Kitty Thanks!

[@bunbunson27]

I bought a few of these at a local electronic stores. They look exactly the same as these. Its rated for 2200mah...and suprisngly, they WERE :O I verified it by opening it up and removing the 18650 and externally charging it at 500ma since thats the max charge rate the pcb board can do. And it definitely does supply 2.1 amps. I use these small power banks to power my camera on my motorcycle helmet when that battery dies. I further modded mines with a battery level bar

[@organak4912]

I know I'm not the only one that finds your vidyas oddly calming. My coworker's 10 year old son is a huge fan coincidentally. She said "He's a guy with a big beard and from the U.K. who takes electronic things apart." At that point I knew it was Mr. Clive himself! Inspiring the next gen of tinkerers, and mellowing out lots of people in the process. Cheers.

[@andybobandy641]

No no, Clive, 2600 mAh is the cumulative total you are gonna ever get from that before it craps out alltogether.

[@dunxy]

HAAHAA

[@robwigglezz944]

I have a bunch of VTC5A's that need a good home. These cases look like a nice place.

[@Zodliness]

Chineseum Landfillium + HONEST Amp Hour quotes.... Are you having a laugh Clive?

[@gregorythomas333]

I used to have a rule of thumb about power banks...they only have about 1/2 the stated capacity. Now that China is outputting so many knockoffs they only have 1/4 to 1/5 the rating listed. Sad state of affairs that you can't even get half of the amount anymore.

[@RWBHere]

Poundland was selling exactly the same items, in different packaging, marked as 1200 mAh, last year. Same pcb, same colour defunct cell, same moulded name, same plastic box, except mine are black. I was given two of them, because they were capable of supplying less than 500 mAh. They benefit from having a decent cell fitted to them, and then the voltage holds up a bit better under load, right up to the 1A threshold, unless the cell is nearly discharged.

[@ucitymetalhead]

I remember getting a couple of cheap power banks from the local cable company and I always wondered if they were any good.

[@degeestvanpeterrdevries3366]

Half electronic review half food review, fucking love it

[@keithking1985]

Id like one of those USB testers. The U34 Bluetooth one. Another nice video.

[@eirikmurito]

Give the seller a one star review. The reason there's so many scammers on eBay is because people doesn't give feedback if they get scammed..

[@SkyTechElectronics]

I wonder, if you plugged this into a device with OTG USB capability such as an Android phone would it be possible that the device would start charging the power bank rather than vice-versa?

[@Berkeloid0]

Yes it would. The cables are wired differently, so if you used a normal USB cable the phone would charge from the power bank, but if you used an OTG cable the power bank would charge from the phone. I had to draw little direction arrows on the cables I carry around with me so I could remember which way the power would flow for each cable.

[@franglish9265]

OTG cable?

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

Berkeloid That wiring is mostly for the data, controlling which end is the master. There is an increasing interest in having phones charge while acting as data master for headphones or speakers.

[@SoftBreadSoft]

@@franglish9265 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_On-The-Go

[@SkyTechElectronics]

My wife has a tiny electric fan which is powered via USB-C from her phone. Clearly there's 5 volts coming out of the port. It seems like this power bank with it's simple circuitry would see that and start charging itself rather than charging the phone.

[@timb7085]

I think I bought tiny "charge" boards on ebay (or amazon) that worked with a single 18650... :). As always, entertaining "review"!

[@alexatkin]

The current rating also seems be to 1/2 to 3/4 if we are following the USB specification.

[@johnmorgan1629]

Is Chinglish, going to replace Esperanto as an international language?

[@bens1343]

Jes

[@rpavlik1]

Wow that is a low component count, even lower than my all time worst power bank, which entirely lacked any charging logic but rather just stuck a diode to drop the voltage...

[@Paxmax]

Aaah, Clive you should have addressed one of the package cut-out window 🤣😂 'suggestive'

[@gordslater]

strangely, he wasn't tempted to write "wil" before the "lies"

[@TottyRops]

Hi Clive, have you seen the little Dekton digital voltage testers in Poundland? I was wondering how safe they are. I think they're like a posher version of the old screwdriver mains testers that you stick your finder on the end, except these have a digital display, can test from 12v to 240v and can test AC and DC. There's also an interesting warning to NOT touch both the DC and AC test electrodes at the same time.

[@TheNicky9905]

Wow this video is 4yrs old but anyway but I completely forgot about you bigclive, this is the first video of yours I've seen in over a year, for some reason KZbin just stopped recommending your videos and you slipped into the ethos, glad I rediscovered you!

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yeah, they unsubscribe people all the time. Not sure why.

[@cheetahkid]

hi, I have been given a dead powerbank, under inspection, I think the battery died after just a few charges. I replace with my one of the laptop battery. I also found the battery discharge quite bad drain through the circuit board (not like yours) I replaced with another board I bought from ebay (2 boards for 99p). So only good thing is just the case. Mine all work with 3,000mah battery and very low drain, it can discharge about 1Ah. Cost me I guess 80p and I am happy with it.

[@archgirl]

What concerns me more than inflated capacity is inflated amp rating. Running an 18650 at ~21 amps because it says it's rated for "25-35" amps when it's actually only 10 amps is just plain scary. Some battery rewrappers are taking the manufacturers pulse rating (which means pretty much nothing) and claiming it's the CDR.

[@william_2610]

Efest is pretty bad at that. Their Samsung 30Q wrapper says 35A when the cell is only rated 15A continuous. You can definitely get away with quite a few extra amps on the rating, but advertising it as such is wreckless and misleading. Especially considering how little a lot of people know about li-ion safety.

[@archgirl]

@@william_2610 Ampking too. 20 amp cells with "35 - 45 amps" written on the wrap. It's insane because those are sold in vape stores. Most people with regulated devices never bother to learn any ohms law or battery safety/maintenance. With massively inflated ratings, they're gonna do themselves some damage one day.

[@alexb.1320]

@@archgirl They are already doing themselves damage, the fda (for Americans) has a page devoted to vape battery explosions. The following site has a compiled list of reported explosions; ecigone.com/featured/e-cigarette-explosions-comprehensive-list/

[@archgirl]

@@alexb.1320 It's just a shame that the explosions get attributed to vaping instead of human error with regards to li-ion batteries. These batteries will vent and go into thermal runaway in any device when misused, but the reports always blame vaping instead of the person incorrectly maintaining battery safety.

[@throttlebottle5906]

natural selection boosting devices ;) what's a missing hand, teeth and half your face......

[@DemonShadow999849]

A lot of these were being sold in Big W, 5 dollars for those smaller ones, and about 10 for ones double the size claiming to be 5200MaH, always seemed like they had less than advertised.

[@movax20h]

The board is actually quite impressive, in terms of number of components.

[@TheSkogemann]

I picked up a couple of these for £3 each. Mostly for smaller electronics projects. Mine are all the same package but a bit more complicated circuit, and the battery is not soldered but in a socket. Therefor I can use them as chergers for 18650's

[@just_noXi]

Greetings from Halle, Germany. Nice to see Halloren on your Channel! If you need more, ask me!

[@JunkTardis]

I bought a number of these cheapy charge packs from Poundlands before. I just rip out the cells, and I have a number of 3000 mAh LG HG2 18650's in them instead and they work a treat. I can actually get a full charge off it, and the charge output holds at a steady 1.2amps with 5.2v according to my USB load meter. Not bad at all, I've taken them camping and they've done just what I needed for minimal spend.

[@NapoleChan]

When I see cheepy electronics it always reminds me of that Fleetwood Mac song. "Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies..."

[@jjcoolaus]

That's a handy little usb torch where'd that yellow one come from?

[@elkapitan75]

Very honest of the shop to write "Lies" 😂😂😂

[@_Piers_]

If definitely buy one if I saw that the shop had written that on it :)

[@coopa9822]

Lmao your intros always make me laugh cause I forget to turn off the bass boost half the time

[@technetium4761]

Simple, elegant, and functional. Well, two out of three isn't bad.

[@TelstarFirst]

I've got one of these, except that it came from Poundland and it's branded Signalex. The only difference being the white backplate which forms a rating plate. As follows - DC input: 5V 0.8A, DC output:5V 1.0A, Cap 1200mAh, Model No:170327

[@sigmaxi7822]

I got this exact same power bank as a welcome gift for opening a bank account. I wonder how much they care about their customers. Haven't really used it anyway.

[@bearicade5582]

I was eating Chocolate Rocks when Big Clive said "rocks of Chocolate"!

[@PE1MR]

Hi Clive, don't forget the mentioned capacity is often measured at 3.7V and not 5V, including DC-DC conversion loss, this could mess up numbers.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I always refer to the capacity of the cell inside which is often the stated capacity on the packaging of real units.

[@whollymindless]

It's good to have standards, even if they are low.

[@LiLi-or2gm]

Searching on the number on the circuit board, I came up with a Russian unit that looks exactly like this one- it's rated at 3.7v.

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

Laura Harris Lithium cells are 3.7V nominally.

[@rpavlik1]

He's got a video about how he tests power banks that explains all this. He is testing them right. Kinda wonder if he should link that in every one of these videos to avoid a third of the comments being "you tested wrong, etc"

[@elmariachi5133]

I got a power bank in the same case for some years now. It's working fine for an emergency backup that I rarealy use. But mine also got a second LED in blue that lights up when the power bank is being charged.

[@PuchMaxi]

How nice of Ralfy to check up on your candies well-being!

[@jkobain]

I believe the LED is in the correct position, while the board doesn't have a spring loaded contact other products have: you can notice it has grooves for it in the case. The case is designed to hold such a board and allow for replacing the battery. They just soldered wires to the battery in this one instead of using spring loaded contacts, that's why the LED is misplaced against that light guide.

[@GeorgeJFW]

I don't think I have ever wanting to have a drink with anyone else more. Love ya BC!!!

[@chriholt]

I’d be curious to find out the minimum current required to keep it on, and also to actually see on a scope the test pulses it generates. Still an amazingly simple circuit!

[@bigclivedotcom]

40mA to keep it awake.

[@maverickmadison7392]

I have one of this powerbank, as far as i know, there are a wide variety of different quality of these powerbank, although the appearance might look the same from the outside, the internal circuit might be different due to different manufacturer. Mine comes with one of the best quality circuit, its very reliable and efficient and the 18650 li-ion inside there can be easily swappable non-soldered. My circuit board looks a lot more complex than yours, and the LED indicator light goes directly into that little hole.

[@Tiger800xr]

Hello Clive, Thanks for letting me know how much knowledge I have lost. OVER the past 30years. What camera and 🖨️ do U USE for the close up photos? Thanks Chris NYC

[@bigclivedotcom]

I use a Moto G phone for the close up pictures.

[@valveman12]

@Bigclivedotcom I hope you would consider making a video on how you are taking and making your photos. They are so clear and the lighting is great. Clear photos in lieu of a service manual is a great tool for troubleshooting as you've illustrated in many of your videos.

[@powerofthemind21]

My mom bought us 3 of these in the local Chinese shop. They all worked :D Ofc the capacity was not high but 1/3 phone charge is useful.

[@databanks]

Handy for a backup battery topper on USB charged bike lights, maybe? I much prefer my Mobi brand pack - manages 2+ full recharges on my iphone and can even charge it faster than Messenger on a video call can drain it (older phone, video calls can drain a full charge in half an hour on 4G)

[@Aslyuriel]

Those jelly candies bring forward a strange nostalgia, almost as if I've enjoyed them before, but as far as I know, Until now, I've never seen them before in my life.

[@DCFusor]

A whole lot of makers would love to know the cutout threshold draw, as we've had issues with this when running light loads on various power banks. Lots of use would like to run something power-efficient for a few days vs not quite a raspberry pi for a few minutes. Yes, you can always design your own battery circuits, but expense and pain and danger of wrecking a cell....

[@bigclivedotcom]

40mA. Technical details in description.

[@DCFusor]

@@bigclivedotcom Doh! Thanks!

[@fallingwater]

I have one of these. The body isn't actually meant to work like that - they're supposed to have terminals that slot in those mounting points, and you can swap the cell out as you want. Mine is like that - I bought it from the "Muy Mucho" chain in Madrid (paid all of, like, €2 for it) and while the cell is moderately shitty it still holds close to 2Ah. I was quite surprised when I opened it up and the 18650 just fell out, allowing me to insert a NCR18650B 3.4Ah in its place and have a surprisingly capable tiny powerbank.

[@Polite_Cat]

its interesting if you notice that the "2600 mAh" label seems to be put on by someone else besides the original package manufacturer. i wouldn't be surprised if the owner of the shop or someone slightly above him in the supply chain just used a label maker and slapped a bunch of those labels on them. the original manufacturer leaves it blank for you to label (or lie about it) it yourself, i guess.

[@_waymin]

"Keep away from children" Well, you've failed that job- Clive's got ahold of it and is already ripping it to bits.

[@luisgonzalez5482]

At least we won’t have to worry about him sticking a fork into an outlet- wait...

[@AttilaAsztalos]

Wait, what?!? "Do not disassemble"?!? Holy shit, Number Five confirmed...! Hang in there, little buddy...!

[@philno]

This is my guess before watching the vid, 800mah

[@Fifury161]

It looks like they have updated this board a few times - the "original" ones had 2 LEDs, they also came with a battery holder - the plastic case still have the retaining points in the moulding....

[@Poorgeniu5]

I have one of these power banks given from a relative but the internal design is slightly different from this video: The purple li-ion battery is not soldered/weld to the board but instead tension fit like a AA battery socket, there is two LED for each color and the Hotchip HT4928S occupies the U1 section.

[@Acamperfull]

Another very entertaining video. I wonder if this could be used to make a 5V UPS when it is connected in between a 5V PSU and and 5V load.

[@SuperMrScience]

Where else would you find serious but down to earth electronics mixed with candy review !? XD

[@Rybagz]

As it happens I've actually got one of these, a black one - at least the outer case is identical - and I don't think I paid very much at all for it. I've had it probably over a year, just use it mainly to charge my phone while asleep if I've forgotten to do so earlier. But now having seen this, I'm tempted to open it up to see if the innards are the same.

[@braeburnhilliard8340]

That was funny. The bird looks like it had an eye when you set it down on the picture!

[@dashcamandy2242]

I was snacking on an individually-wrapped chocolate biscotti I received as a Christmas tip as the same time you started eating. I guess KZbin should demonetize both of our channels due to "mutual mastication." LOL That purple power bank is a rather pleasing shade of purple...

[@parishna4882]

The king of innuendo.. the master of the double entendre.. You're mad.. haha :)

[@MXSLICK]

they sell these at the Canadian dollar store called dollar tree. I take them apart for the cells and use them in my flashlights. I should mention that I've had more than one of them grow up and smoke... it was the circuit board that burned up immediately after plugging into a charger.

[@stevedaenginerd]

I wonder if by changing the value of those two capacitors you could manipulate the low and high current thresholds. Would be an interesting experiment! I'm going to have to look around and see if I can't find one of those to try it.

[@kc5402]

The structure of the candy was more complex than the power bank! :-D

[@MattAtHazmat]

A SOT-23 6 pin boost converter is not unusual- parts like Microchip's MCP16251 or MCP1623 have been around for years (2010, I think). The big difference is this part needs 2 fewer components than the components I mentioned - 2 resistors to set the output voltage. The part used here must be a similar but fixed output voltage. I'm curious to see the converter's switching frequency and just how hot it is getting at its maximum output current- by the circuit, all the current must be going through the chip. By the picture at 6:30, D+ and D- are shorted on the USB A connector, so according to the USB-IF battery charging spec (USB IF BC1.2), this is telling the device it is connected to that the charger is a dedicated charging port (DCP) and can provide up to 1.5A, though it can start to do a "constant current" type of charge. The BC 1.2 spec ain't simple!

[@doormattde]

I have one of those powebanks, the package was the same and the cell is a similar colour, can't remember the capacity, mine is green though and the cell is removable (basically your typical battery holder with a springy contact), the board seems a little better as well, it has a larger 8-pin chip on it Oh and my LEDs lign up, yes plural, it has a blue power LED and a red one for charging (it alternates red and blue when it's charging)

[@mevk1]

Unknowingly purchased this exact used model at a thrift store. Fully charged I measured capacity at a shockingly low 100 mAh so put in a discarded 1500 mAh laptop battery and now have a decent el cheapo emergency phone charger that gives a 50% charge.

[@draketungsten74]

Clive, you get whatever color you please!

[@4cc3ss43]

What was the actual battery mAh capacity which is printed on it.

[@salvagemagician1644]

Who says men can’t multitask! Big Clive can masticate and reverse engineer simultaneously 👊🏼

[@emolatur]

The IC is a HotChip HT4927U. Official limit is 0.7A which coincides with the point at which your test drops below the rated 5V output. Datasheet is on their site, google finds it.

[@MindVortex23]

5:22 Are you kidding me I had no breakfast yet, and that is possibly one of the favourite things in the universe

[@Krozmar]

Would be interesting if you swaped out the orginal 18650 battery cell with a proper 18650 cell that actually has a capacity of like 3400mah.. Would you kill the circut at max load?

[@mibnsharpals]

no , it so problem, but the loadingtime will be longer

[@ICountFrom0]

I'd like to see how well that simple chip works if you give it a much nicer battery to work with.

[@martinberanek460]

one problem with measuring in mAh... the battery is 3,6V and in powerbank you want 5V. So you need to boost it.... but when boosting on the input you need more current than you get on the output... hence you get less current but in reality battery gave it away. In math terms it would be proper to measure it in watts. 5V times 654mAh(measured in video) = 3270mW then when you divide it by battery voltage you get actual battery mAh. 3270mW / 3.6V = 908mAh... still less than advertised but this is the proper method for powerbanks.

[@CrownJewelzMusicGroup]

I bought a few of these an soldered 5 or 6 batterys together an soldered em all to 1 of the boards.. works ok think i get 5000mah

[@100roberthenry]

Yep ive done that too...much better now. :)

[@CrownJewelzMusicGroup]

@@100roberthenry charges slow but works only bought em to try it out

[@100roberthenry]

@@CrownJewelzMusicGroup yeah it is slow. But more useful when charged..

[@CrownJewelzMusicGroup]

@@100roberthenry i use it on my bike it charges off my dynamo wheel...every mile i pedal i get 1% charge lol

[@100roberthenry]

@@CrownJewelzMusicGroup excellent....ive been charging mine indoors with a solar panel in my window....i charge up all kinds of stuff....i never buy batts now...cool stuff.

[@thomasherzog86]

my rule of thumb would be volume of aa (mignon) lithium battery equals about 750 to 1000 (depending on brand) mAh minus 30% of charging loss.

[@melodeonman]

Could you do a video (maybe you have and I missed if so, sorry) about how to keep power banks from cutting off so as to be able to use them with with low power devices like pyboards and arduinos? Cheers.

[@6p1p]

I believe the 2600mAh is 18650 capacity not at 5V output capacity and also they might use cheap under rating 18650 which it wont give you a full 2600mAH capacity. the circuit board will be the same, the only is the 18650 they using different capacity. The problem is the inductor can be too small when load with high current the boost converter efficiency drop.

[@stanburton6224]

So if I'm following correctly you can charge it from either port, and you could put the power bank in line between a charger and a load and use it as a standby charging system if power is lost.

[@justflum]

Hey man love your vids but it’d be nice if you could upgrade your lighting a little bit :)

[@americanrebel413]

Very interesting, thank you Big Clive!

[@marcus_w0]

Wow. Impressive circuitry... I wonder if this could be used for a different kind of LiPo? I 'm searching for cheap & tiny board what could charge those bch7 batteries. I use these in my wireless applications a lot, but i still have to remove them to charge. The integrated 5V boost converter makes it an ideal solution.

[@aamiddel8646]

Always interesting your videos. But i hope one day you are going to buy an oscilloscope. So you can test the output voltage on spikes and so when you put a load on. But keep on the good work.