Ultra small solar power bank with retro circuitry (with schematic)

[@AluVixapede]

I like how my tiny brain read "retro power-bank" and immediately jumped to "NiCad????"

[@amorphuc]

Wow. That's wild! Nice job working all of that out. I think of my dad going from the tube era to transistors and ICs where he'd work backward from a desired result and make it happen by drawing up a schematic and getting out the soldering iron. He was a calibration engineer for Stewart Warner many years ago and would always come home with fun stuff to play with. I wish I knew even a percent of what was in his noggin.

[@miked4377]

yeah i bet he knew a ton!

[@wtmayhew]

If this power bank is like one I have, the solar panel is handy for discharging. A little bit of light activates the circuit, but isn’t enough to charge the cell. Meanwhile, the LED indicator slowly drains the cell. 😊

[@sihamhamda47]

Yeah the solar panel at that size itself can only draws 0.05 to 0.1 watts even at full exposure to sunlight. Not enough to charge the phone battery to reasonable capacity even when it's leaving at full sunny day However that small sized solar panel is enough to charge very small devices which has small battery capacity, such as calculators and small rechargeable flashlights

[@smellyghost]

I always like seeing random cheap things like this that are seemingly over engineered for what they are. But it makes a lot more sense knowing that it's an old module since ones these days are so cost effectively designed (for better or worse depending on the module).

[@johnpossum556]

This whole circuit, in a nutshell, could be said to be "I am not a Transistor but I play one on KZbin" 💙💛

[@xxbambamxx7261]

Idk whyi find you're videos fascinating 😅 But they are, so keep them coming 👌

[@chrisjames3087]

Great job, Clive. You should do an infrared thermometer.

[@gvii]

The nice thing about having a 3D printer is you can be quite destructive with something like that and whip up a new case with in a relatively short bit of time. It's also rather nice for that occasional incident when you really didn't intend to be destructive, but you were anyway. I might have a smidge of experience in that... Just a smidge.... Really....

[@zyeborm]

You mean ad hoc educational opportunities? I'm great at those!

[@TheeShaggySniper]

I had one of these over a decade ago... back then, it could charge your phone, they didn't need as much power back then like they do now... Loved that thing. Best $20 I ever spent. It got me onto Solar powerbanks, which nothing ever really stood up to that little bugger. That little thing took maybe a couple hours in daylight to charge up - but when you don't scale proportionally, you run into issues. I've got a 15,000mAH battery with an 8" solar panel... that thing takes WEEKS to get 25% charged.

[@stevejagger8602]

Long live analogue electronics - it is a dying art - hence the sharing of a former work colleague's attitude to the overuse of microprocessors in a comment to a previous video. Thank you once again for your comprehensive analysis.

[@RS-ls7mm]

Actually where I worked analog was the most stable department. Always need power supplies and interfaces to strange devices. If anything died it was the old discrete logic design.

[@hughtube4me]

Seeing you with your IPA dispensing bottle reminds me of my younger days when we used similar bottles to top up the Honeywell paper disc chart recorders that recorded our production data ! AH the good old analogue days

[@spacejihadist4246]

I have one just like that hanging on my key chain. I've never charged it. I did use it once to charge my phone when I run out of fuel in the wilderness. My brother gave it to me this Christmas and I am really thankful.

[@kolmaxik]

My major is “optical engineering”. We’ve had four semesters of so called “electrical engineering”. This video is a very good example of me understanding every single word but struggling to understand the whole concept. I admire your fluency in reverse engineering different circuit boards.

[@kolmaxik]

I was a bad student:

[@bigclivedotcom]

You may find it a lot easier to learn naturally at your own pace instead of the usual out of context data cramming that happens in educational establishments.

[@SkigBiggler]

Interesting to see how what once was quite a circuit has been shrunk into basically a single chip. Makes it obvious why VLSI was such a game changer in cost and processing power.

[@gregorythomas333]

Interesting...haven't seen this kind of design for quite a while :)

[@thingys-rd7id]

To open this sort of case I use a knife placed on the seam then tap the knife with a small hammer, the seam usually opens with little damage to the plastic so the item can be put together again. Appreciate the hard work you put into your videos always enjoy them.

[@dragonrider4253]

What an interesting little circuit. It may be a _little_ over complicated, but it seems like it'd work quite well for an emergency power supply.

[@Aco747lyte]

I deduced that a 10K resistor was missing in the left-hand side of the schematic. And you did very well, Clive. Great analysis, as always. And as often as I can, after my shift ends (like an hour ago) I come and watch your vids with great interest. Many thanks for this! 😊❤

[@ZaneDaMagicPufferDragon]

Nice little battery pack for charging my Bluetooth headphones and other small Micro USB Accessories!!!

[@twocvbloke]

From 2013, it really is "vintage" when it comes to portable battery technology... :P

[@ElvenSpellmaker]

Another one for the Big Clive dictionary: Vice of Knowledge

[@demef758]

11:30 Switchers are funny things. In this boost circuit, the two types of capacitors (tantalum and ceramic) are there to attenuate the two main components of output ripple voltage. Tantalums give you fairly high capacitance in a small package volume but at the expense of large equivalent series resistance (ESR). Ceramics have virtually zero ESR. When these two capacitors are paralleled, the two types of ESR are in parallel with one another, the total ESR in the output filter capacitor is almost zero. The output current waveform of a boost is usually a trapezoidal looking thing. That current waveform times the total ESR is a voltage (I*R) and is one component of the ripple voltage, which is made almost zero due to the presence of the ceramic caps. The other component of ripple voltage is due to the boost current going into a capacitor. You know, V(t) = int(I*dt) /C. To keep this term small, you need a large C. This explains the presence of the tantalum cap: to reduce this term (1/C). Thus, you use a relatively cheap big-value tantalum in parallel with a cheap lower-value ceramic to lower the output ripple voltage on the boosted 5V output! Boost circuits are notorious for the amount of ripple voltage they produce, as well as the stress levels the output filter caps have to endure, particularly for high output current boosts.

[@TimPerfetto]

Love hearing your thought process as always; thank you

[@TopEndSpoonie]

Thanks Clive, that was well explained. Well done.

[@stephencelliers9127]

Once again another detailed breakdown. Great way to learn electronics and troubleshooting. 🎉

[@KeritechElectronics]

Interesting and nicely reverse-engineered :)

[@S7EVE_P]

I bought one of these for a project for a tiny wireless camera, but in the end the output wasn't quite enough (I ended up using a solar wall light with the led's disconnected), but the circuitry was impressive for such a small and seemingly cheap appearance - there is so much in it and it has potential to be a solar keying torch with a few mods :-)

[@Graham_Rule]

I always like seeing you 'reverse engineering' circuits and try to work out how things worked and what the original designer had in mind. Have you ever had anyone mark your homework by telling you that they were the original designer and how well you'd done?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yes. Some of the original designers have told me they enjoyed my reverse engineering. Strangely, none of the designers of the bad stuff got in touch.

[@simonhopkins3867]

They put lots of work into it. Now it seems like you have as well. Thanks buddy.

[@petersage5157]

It's great to see the Vise of Knowledge again.

[@petehiggins33]

Almost as good as the knowledge of vice.

[@petersage5157]

@@petehiggins33 Of course my favorite Big Clive tool is the X-ray Device; I keep hoping Clive will find an excuse to use the Deluxe version that AvE sent him.

[@wherami]

neat! old but still useful for some things. always good to have backups

[@papaalphaoscar5537]

I grew up with those kinds of circuits. Then came op amp comparators and 555's. Now everything is done in software using microcontroller boards. Recently I made a power on delay circuit for a compressor using an ATtiny module, a packaged Hi-Link power supply, and a relay module. It could easily have been done using a dropper cap, rectifiers, a Zener, a triac, a relay and a handful of passives. But who wants to mess with soldering on a perfboard or etching a PCB? 😁

[@davelowets]

Yep, the analog days are pretty much gone... I fought the whole microcontroller phenomenon to the bitter end, but I finally had to cave-in and learn it, or I would have been left in the dust and confused when it came to modern electronics.

[@papaalphaoscar5537]

@@davelowets Actually it is much easier. More like Lego, but you will have to learn how to write code.

[@Mike_5]

Brilliant Sherlock Holmes job here Clive - the finer details really do matter

[@LoneWolf0648]

ive seen a LOT of devices where they have a tiny solar panel to keep the battery topped up rather than as a way to charge it. that kind of makes sense with a device like this since you would only use this once in a while but you want it to stay fill even while your not using it. a good example is that hand crank emergency radio/flashlight/battery bank combo thing off amazon that has a million clones, the best selling one lists its solar panel for that reason.

[@sarathai2876]

I like the part with the three capacitors something and think about

[@mrfoodarama]

Happy Birthday Clive, Hope you're having a great day 🎂🎁

[@gabotron94]

Have one of these somewhere with an ipod dock connector, from around 2007. No charge input, in addition to the tiny battery, so you could charge like 20% of your battery VERY slowly every few days. Never got it to work repeatably.

[@pault6533]

Nice little unit. Because the case is white and the solar panel is on the other side of the unit from the lithium cell, one can be confident about sitting the unit in direct sunlight without any issues other than yellowing of the plastic or increased brittleness.

[@marvintpandroid2213]

"oooh, just look at the circuitry on that" Big Clive 2023

[@marvintpandroid2213]

@@Okurka. True but published to us plebs today.

[@silver1fangs]

I love watching... I have no clue on half this stuff though. I have a power bank board that had a little spark and just quit working after a wire touched somewhere it obviously shouldn't. It's truly not worth fixing I feel but I also am not sure what to look for as far as assessing damage... it's just perma-off

[@paulbeard3238]

So you are saying I know half well you know a lot more than me so well done 👍😁🙂👍👌

[@brianmaldonado3723]

I am old school and that was godamn awesome!

[@Menjari]

Clive, we should take a bunch of your notebooks and donate them to schools. A few can be mounted and framed. Like how you did your resistor art. Spread knowledge!

[@fredflintstone1]

hmm, I love it old things that work really well at the job they were intended to do, I wish I did 🙂

[@markiangooley]

Clive had to RELEASE THE CRACKIN’

[@user-hq2fy5cs1k]

*I love everything you do*

[@brianallen9810]

"The Vice of Knowledge"🤔 I really like this, think I'll try and find it on E-Bay.

[@Mike-H_UK]

Great. I will buy two of these, so when one is flat I can recharge it with the other one.

[@andy70d35]

Clive, well done working that out.

[@wisher21uk]

Looks like a handy bit of kit thanks for the insight and explanation 😊

[@johnjones4825]

4:00 Not having a vice at hand, I once or twice replaced frayed power cords on my colleague's laptop chargers. I propped the chargers against a small concrete step and gave them a short, sharp glancing blow with a 4 pound hammer. You takes your chances and sometimes you wins. Other times you waits for the company to (eventually) send a new charger...

[@shepshep8654]

I get a weird inception vibe looking at the PCB. Your camera circuits are filming battery circuits transmitted through a bunch more circuits, resistors, and diodes to my phone you get the point. Your eyes to my eyes with a bunch of electrons in between.

[@Miata822]

You say "retro" but I'm waiting for the charge bank circuitry with tubes (valves).

[@davelowets]

You gonna haul it behind you in a trailer, with your car? 🤔 🍻

[@siypic]

"Look at the circuitry on that" .......classic line never used in any Carry on film.

[@keithking1985]

Very impressed, busy little board. I like.👍🇮🇪💚😁 I really enjoyed that video, but Lord God Clive I'm wide awake now. But worth it.

[@mforrest85]

I thought you was about to get out the x-ray for that one at first.

[@notahotshot]

Manufactured in 2013, "Old-fashioned". 😂 Way to make a fellow feel old.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Old fashioned for that type of product. Not for humans.

[@Unfinished80]

I love my Cliveypoo videos!

[@micheals1992]

The best place to put a solar panel is on a keychain in your pocket 😜

[@_BangDroid_]

I love the old always-on powerbanks. Rare as hensteeth now. Great for arduino or IoT devices that use low current. Funny, if you want always-on now, you have to pay a premium, whereas 10 years ago it was very common.

[@davelowets]

It's not hard to trick the newer ones into being always on..

[@_BangDroid_]

@@davelowets I know, it's just tanks efficiency

[@davelowets]

@@_BangDroid_ Yes, on alot of them it does. Especially the ones that have the battery level LEDs on all the time when it's running. Occasionally I still run across a new one that has the older type of circuit in it, that doesn't use much current at all when you mod it to stay on if nothing is plugged into it.

[@wtmayhew]

It makes me feel old when a device from 2013 is considered dinosaur technology!

[@kewlztertc5386]

This is just like the mini games in Spiderman.

[@NinoJoel]

I have seen one of these around 2010 with a full size usb port

[@dcallan812]

Well I dont know how I managed to miss this on Parton, just as well I have your dingleberry pressed 🔔☺ Funny I tll dont have a power bank of any kind, I really should get ne in the current power issues we might have ib the UK. My electric has been capped for a while sadly no longer the electric people sent a letter warning me my bill on average use was going to be just over £5000 a year. 😱🤦‍♂ interesting item 2x👍

[@chrishartley1210]

I like it. The modern minimalist 3 component design is all very well but it removes the possibility to modify the circuit for another purpose. What do they call those little bottles, I've seen you use them for solvent and flux, they look very useful.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Generic metal tip dropper bottles from eBay.

[@wdavem]

I actually like this thing. Great video also!!

[@4dirt2racer0]

that really is impressive, especially since u were holdin it up to a lamp, not even the sun lol :p

[@miked4377]

nice little circutry.....ip booster..nice..

[@EpicATrain]

I'm surprised you didn't bust out your explosion containment pie dish.

[@paulbeard3238]

It's usually on the top left of his bench in arms length well it usually comes from that area 🤔

[@plainedgedsaw1694]

I think they power the chip from after the diode to protect it from reverse polarity.

[@phonotical]

Solar panel is connected? Mmm, I can't wait 18 months for that to charge!

[@lindonwatson5402]

well done old chap

[@theelmonk]

Do yiou get enough voltage from the solar cell to re-enable the dw01 or does it need USB to get started ?

[@bigclivedotcom]

If expect the solar to be able to do it in bright enough light.

[@FCWW87]

CLIVE!! I’m newer to the channel, couple months, and I’ve stumbled upon the Manx Beard Club. Hoping to see some more!?

[@bigclivedotcom]

You'll find the MBC on the BigCliveLive channel now.

[@FCWW87]

@@bigclivedotcom Thanks Big Clive! That’s probably a good move, and I will go over there and add a sub:). Can’t wait to see you get your plaque!

[@carlubambi5541]

Great as always !

[@piconano]

I was wondering what happened to the vise of knowledge! I feared the worst, and thought it died in a horrible accident!

[@johnsenchak1428]

The first page is-mostly like diode steering * using the unction of the transistors turn on or off the LED

[@MsLancer99]

Then where the days. We use to do this way now we do it that way

[@ruben_balea]

A decade ago many dumb phones came with 300mA chargers and it seems 550mA chargers are still common today.

[@joruss]

Said boost chip looks like a RT9266PE , FB reference point is at 1.25V by the datasheet, resistors pair used here (487k/150k) make it exactly 5.31V you've got on tester.

[@pointedspider]

I have a zillion little metal can transistors from the 60s

[@d.t.4523]

Good luck.👍

[@samholdsworth420]

Smol I could use this for my USB headphones. Since I have two pairs these days and no 3.5 mm Jack. The power bank I'm currently using is giant compared to that.

[@samholdsworth420]

Those "disposable" banks should be outlawed...

[@EugeneShamshurin]

it could have been a leftover from Solio chargers. Solio also used solid-encased cell, similar components, but way better solar panel and case.

[@harrowtiger]

The Nice of Voledge, 1st cousin of the Cink Palculator?

[@jmr]

I have some solar keychain lights. I've always wondered if they actually charge the battery or if they shoved a coin cell in and the panel is for show. Glued shut so I haven't taken them apart. Eventually one will fail and I'll find out.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Some are fake. Standard non rechargeable cell and no wires to the panel.

[@jmr]

@@bigclivedotcom I suspected that. No point destroying one till it stops working though. I'm not as good at putting together as I am taking apart. With my infrequent use a coin cell could last about as long as a rechargeable battery. Definitely beyond the return period.

[@zyeborm]

​@@jmr some are even better and connect the solar panel to a non rechargeable battery 😂 They don't like that much

[@davelowets]

I actually got a REAL one at my local hardware store for $1. It had a REAL solar panel, with REAL circuitry, hooked up to a REAL rechargeable 2032 cell. I guess I should consider myself lucky

[@jmr]

@@davelowets That's interesting. Rechargeable 2032 cost more then $1 all by themselves.

[@phonotical]

For the battery type and the circuit board, it says to me, copied from an old phone without really knowing how to eliminate parts ... That diode has my postcode...

[@bikkiikun]

Interesting, I wonder why they would use a 2k resistor, instead of the 1k on the DW01 datasheet?

[@davelowets]

They had extra 2k's....

[@rootpotato]

Neat design, but it looks like someone did a 'Spinal Tap' and sketched all the dimensions in inches instead of feet!

[@ericfrazer4736]

Squirting flammable liquids on questionable lithium batteries you're prying on. Love it

[@CanizaM]

2013 design... almost 10 years ago!

[@derwqdwfpx3701]

4:19 use the cutters to cut into the piece were both halfs join, it'll pop off.

[@gregalss]

Could you use it on usb led strip lights outside and keep it charged GREAT VIDEO

[@bigclivedotcom]

I doubt they would run for very long with such a tiny panel and cell.

[@gregalss]

@@bigclivedotcom same thaught as me

[@primech-128bit]

That tiny panel doesn't charge that fast._

[@uggima1]

Yup charge ic pinout matches ltc4054 (or its clones)

[@vladthe_cat]

Funny how most of that circuitry is now put into a tiny chip-now that I think about it, I kind of want to compare the chip's size to the size of the circuit featured in this video 🤔 Anyone know where I can find some pictures? Also; 10:23 when I first saw the way you drew the boost converter, I was wondering why the pin numbers are drawn out of order, but then I quickly realized the chip pins probably don't look like that and it's just more convenient to draw them that way. 👍 Also-also, until now, I had thought you were using the same notebook and that it either had an endless number of pages, or that it was almost full. Turns out this guy probably has a whole crate of notebooks 😆 Imagine having a notebook with infinitely many pages. 🤔 When you open it up, it always appears to open in the middle; neither side is thicker or thinner than the other... Such a notebook would have to be bigger on the inside.. I think I might like to have a notebook that's bigger on the inside, although I think I would rather have a few million pages, maybe a billion max. That would be neat.

[@jcudejko]

I seem to remember such a notebook. I can't remember if it was D&D, Pathfinder, or Terry Pratchett.

[@curtishoffmann6956]

Can I use a solar bank to make time deposits?

[@abs_nobody]

I'm wondering how well the cell and circuit actually hold up to heat when you expose it to direct sunlight for prolonged period of time

[@bigclivedotcom]

In this pack they did have some separation from the front.

[@aszi77]

I have a solar powered tire pressure monitor and when I left it under the windshield in sunlight the lithium cell in it puffed up. It needs sunlight to recharge but the sunlight destroys it. So I have to protect it from the sun.

[@davelowets]

@@aszi77 Probably did not have an overcharge protection circuit for the lithium cell, and it got overcharged. Many of these cheap products skimp on the circuit, and dont expect that people are going to actually leave them out in the sun to recharge.

[@levitemple5982]

Hey Clive, As a newbie electronics enthusiast, I always feel as though it takes me an unreasonably long time to reverse engineer. Roughly how long did this take you?

[@Broken_Yugo]

Practice makes perfect, gets easier when you start memorizing some of the common little circuits that make up the full schematic.

[@davelowets]

It'll get easier as you start to recognize all the little common circuits that are piled into one large one, such as snubber networks, switch de-bouncers, decoupling caps, pull-up resistors, R/C constants, and so on. It took me a LONG time at first also, never fear, you'll get there. 👍

[@davelowets]

@@Broken_Yugo Oops, I didnt even read your comment before I posted mine... Great minds think alike, I guess... 🍻

[@bigclivedotcom]

This one took longer than normal due to the odd circuitry.

[@Eduardo_Espinoza]

I screamed when you said how cute it was!!!! :DDDDD then i screamed again because of how complex it was!LOL ^꒳^💧

[@dherrendoerfer]

Still very nice, most of the solar power banks I have don't have the DW01 in line with the solar charger - they just put the solar cell across the li-po cell - what could go wrong ?

[@davelowets]

The Lipo in those most certainly had a built-in protection board right into the battery.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Some have the battery protection, but some don't.

[@jouniko]

Let me guess. That red LED is wasting half of the power from the solar cell?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Only at low light levels.