Some time ago I took all the 'China Export' USB chargers from my parents house and threw them away (after doing an autopsy on them for my own amusement fcourse). They did not like that bc they 'worked fine'. People heave no clue how dangerous these things are. If you buy cheap electronics from China, THROW AWAY the included chargers and use a trusted power supply instead.
I am pretty confident these have caused many shocks and even fires due to bad thermal design and lack of protection. Components are usually also abused way above their intended specs.
I only use chargers from trusted brands these days. I am thinking of having my trusted chargers sent to diodegonewild because I am curious how safe those actually are.
Haha! The way you cut the clip _just_ as the dodgy hairdryer made a spark is priceless, whether intentional or not. :D Thank you for another great analysis video.
You've demonstrated one of the other serious problems with cheap Chinese USB adapters. You may not listen to MW or LW radio, but your neighbors may. And with such an adapter you will make it impossible for them to do so, or you will disable your neighbors' radio-controlled clocks because you will pollute the radio spectrum with interference, all without you having the slightest idea. Perhaps the saddest of these are the radio amateurs who are dealing with a huge level of interference on the HF bands consisting of the combined interference of hundreds of similar interference generators in every populated area. We all share the RF spectrum together, just like the air, for example. And to pollute it with interference and render it unusable is akin to poisoning the air and not even knowing it.
The schematic explanation #2 was super informative. Maybe because you explained the FUNCTIONS on #1 and the DIFFERENCES on #2, using the same diagram. Superb!
You could connect a Micro USB Power Supply to the upper port of the USB tester, then it won't shut off when the voltage on its USB input gets too low and we could see how the voltage breaks down.
This shows just how unpredictable these chargers are as they look identical from the outside. I found an AE seller offering standard 5V 2A chargers with US plugs where the item is actually UL listed and has decent construction with a proper transformer. It was probably manufactured to meet some retail standard, but they're now the only seller with that model and I expect them to run out of stock at any moment. I bought a few extras, but the total cost with shipping is more than many fast chargers, though I cannot know the quality of those either :|. I've told a few friends and family how dangerous these chargers are, but they only pretend to care to humor me. Until a bunch of children get electrocuted at the same time on the same day and it somehow makes the international News, no one will pay attention. I occasionally tell people to avoid *all* direct-from-China products that are AC-powered, but people would rather save a dollar and risk electrical shock than to pay for safety. If this were actually a problem, they'd be hearing about it on the 24/7 soap opera calling itself the News instead of from me; after all, I don't get paid millions of dollars to scare them all day, every day. All of the European and American safety standards are effectively *bypassed* by this process and it's rather sad even if those standards aren't perfect. What good is Civilization if it nickels and dimes itself to the degree that everyone is surrounded by unsafe and useless junk? How is that Progress? Quality should matter.
Somehow we don’t hear of accidents with these chargers and that surprises me. (Edit: search for electrocution by charger and similar and you’ll find many cases). I’ve once bought a flood light on AliExpress. It had three wires, live, neutral and earth. When I had opened it, I saw to my horror that the earth wire wasn’t connected. to the metal casing. They hadn’t even tried. I now always measure if the earth wire is connected whenever I receive anything electrical from China. They just don’t care.
@@Conservator. But if you look it up you will find tons of cases of electrocution. It's pretty accurate when DGW refers to these chargers as house-burners electrocution devices.
@@joecolchic1620 You are right. DGW reacted in another comment and suggested to search for electrocution by charger and similar. There have been quite a few tragic cases and undoubtedly many more that weren’t reported on. There also must have been many cases where people ‘only’ got burned but survived. You all have been warned!
They sell dodgy chargers at the Dollar Store. This is not direct from China. I see a lot of fake Apple chargers that came from there. There is also a discount electronics store near me that sells all kinds of cheap products. These places seem to get away with it.
1:03 You may be interested to know, that a lot of UK radio stations have been shutting down their AM (Medium Wave) transmitters! So unfortunately, there's no MW anymore, it's just FM & DAB radio now, the latter being better for choice.
These are always fun to watch. Though you guys should see some of the chargers we get in the USA. Yes we have 120v primary but I've had many chargers fail in house burning ways ...some in electrocution ways ...some in phone frying ways...some in all three. One melted the case while outputting primary voltage down the phone charger cable melting it and giving me a burn and slight shock so....ones I've taken apart because they would not even charge phone were so horrible i couldn't believe it...
speaking about chargers causing radio interference, I have a Philips radio with a very sensitive digital tuner, so it picks up interference even on FM. As a matter of fact, most switch mode power supplies actually make interference, even the ones with lots of filtering make interference to some degree. I have to unplug all my chargers and turn off my lights if I wanna listen to a station with a very weak signal. Also worth noting that switch mode power supplies in LED bulbs cause the most interference. i think we should return back to linear power supplies for devices that don't really require a switching power supply to function. You could probably use that cheap radio to find out how much interference different power supplies make
Yes, every switching power supply produces EMI. Even with a good filter, you're just reducing the interference, never completely removing it. Yes, switching power supplies are a bit overused now, but they are more efficient, smaller and most importantly - cheaper to make. Silicon chips are way cheaper than iron and copper. This is the point of no return. Consumer electronics can't go back to linear, unless China stops producing chips for us...
Kasyantv did some of what you mention some time ago. It's difficult. Sometimes there is so much missing on these devices and the pcb layout is so terrible that it's almost impossible to "add" missing components or "upgrade" cheap ones. You might as well be better off by building a proper power supply from scratch taking into consideration all the safety remarks made by DGW.
If they'd just used the appropriate capacitor across the transformer in that first supply it would have been fine, more or less. The transformer on the second one was a horrorshow, the lack of insulation, combined with how hot it was getting in use
I'm a big fan of the series. I'm pretty sure that it helped me to get to UL (former Underwriters Laboratories) few years ago;) Keep in mind that the tape inside transformer is insulation not only isolation ;)
Ones again super dodgy is back, nice video like always, you could kind of use this chargers with a insulation transformer and a small fuse in front of them
It would be interesting to see if one of those super dodgy transformers CAN be rewound in a safe way at all. There's so little space in them that it's probably impossible without reducing the wire diameters and current rating.
It is not difficult at all: put the primary and secondary on the inner layers, put the parts that come out in heat-shrink tubing to make sure they cannot make any contact with the secondary, cover them with tape before winding the secondary on top and you are done. You could also do it the other way with the secondary on the innermost layer, heat-shrink the wires coming out, wrap in tape and wind the other windings on top.
If you compare proper and doggy power supply - most of the time there is major difference in size of transformer. Not only there is more insulation needing more space but cheap transformers are overrated for given output anyway. So even if you can somehow fit winding back with proper insulation - it would be too weak for given rated output.
@@tomaskolinger The size of a transformer doesn't matter much since the transformer size for any given power depends heavily on frequency and materials used. The thing ran for hours without failure, so the size is at least ok-ish as designed, albeit not ideal for efficiency based on the thermal label's blackening. The enamel-on-enamel design though is a major concern, as is the common use of 1kV caps instead of Y1/Y2.
@@teardowndan5364 Dont underestimate the thickness of some tape and heat shrink. There is basically no room in one of these left. It's also best to keep away from the sides of the bobin, which there's definitely no room for in such a tiny transformer, especially since it's a pretty flat core too.
Would be pretty interesting if you got a cheap isolation tester. I wonder if the charger without isolation between primary and auxiliary would have failed an isolation test with 1000 V.
Good to see, including now the RFI mentions, but I miss the voltage x current curve = ‘load stability’ as some of these cheap could be tried for low drain circuits. Obviously for the ‘super dodgy’ products, load stability would become secondary - or super questionable.
Currently I can get a Koppla charger from Ikea for £4 until stocks last, makes one of those cheap Chinese chargers look somewhat expensive in comparison!
So they are. Mine failed after a few years due to dry joints on the output, having seen big clive's teardown I opened it up and resoldered it. Been back in use several years now.
@@giowawa5035 Your phone is a lot more money though, saving 3.50 then damaging even a £100 phone is false economy. Big Clive got sent in a charger that had killed a MS Surface and an external display connected to it, that's a lot of money down the drain for the relatively small price difference between a dodgy but cheap charger and an official one.
How about some dodgy phone charging cables? I recently bought a magnetic charging cable at a local Chinese store, and i discovered that both units came with a faulty micro USB connector. Both work fine with USB type C, i can't test lightning and Micro USB doesn't work, i tried on 5 different phones
I thought to drop you an email but it seems it is better to ask here cause more people are asking and will benefit from your answer. What makes a USB power supply good enough? And I know there are two types, (at least for 5 Volts with a connection modification) the one that has ground in the mains lead and the negative output is directly connected to the ground. Laptops mainly use those. And there are the others like the phone chargers, that have no ground to the mains , only the simple two pins mains plug. With those if you measure the voltage from the negative ( or the positive) output with reference to the ground in the mains supply you get a leakage that is close to 90 volts more or less. Even the electricity hand tester lights up when you touch the usb shield in the connection. For audio equipment that is powered nowdays by usb chargers somewhere through the chain of connections some equipment will have the shield of an XLR or jack connected to the ground, could then that leakage cause some damage to equipment?
@@tookitogo Thanks for the reply. But even tiny wouldnt be a problem that will cause noise? On the other hand ground can also be the source of noise by ground loops. And ofcourse with no transformer and galvanic isolation things could get nasty very fast , no? in that repsect i dont know if having ground could be of some benefit
Ja neviem ako, ale narazim na nejaké anglický hovoriace video a zistím podľa vybavenia že to je točené niekde v Česku alebo na Slovensku. Odo mňa ziskavaš like, veľmi dobre spracované video. 👍
That second one looks like it has been through a couple of rounds of extreme cost savings. I'm surprised they still put the glue down for the SMD components that weren't populated!
Hello sir, Could just help me. Am making a 24v smps using uc3843 ic ,am using 4A fuse ,5D-15ntc thermister and EMI common mode filter at input, I had made this smps before but in these days am trying to make it but whenever I plug-in it gives the output and then the mosfet is damaged immediately and does a fuse.I tried to replace IC many times but still it doesn't work.the transformer and output inductor also have some noise. There are other things that are also confusing me, sometimes I plug-in and it gives me output but when I plug-out and plug-in again it doesn't work and stops forever untill I change the IC. I don't know what's wrong with this smps.your support will be highly appreciated.Thanks!
Please make a video in which you briefly, simply and understandably explain how to recognize a safe charger. Because we often see here with you which chargers are not safe. But I lack the clear and simple explanation of how to recognize a safe charger.
I was surprised by how "good" the first transformer was, then I was surprised by how empty the second board was and don't even get me started on that dodgy transformer
Rusty terminals are incredible. These things must have been left in some warehouse by the sea for months. Also RF noise is terrible. Even if no one listens to AM radio anymore, ham radio operators like me really hate these chinese noise makers.
Not only dangerous but these chargers are such a negative economy. I have one 2a charger that I use on some items, I got it in 2006. It's a quality charger and has never let me down. I have a charger on my desk, 4 ports, 2x QC2, 1x 2a and 1x 1a. I have been using it daily for many years, quality and has never let me down. It puts out nice clean power and doesn't damage devices. Neither were expensive.
11:03 Yes, that's a fantastic transformer! It looks like the super awesome ones, the best that money can buy! What this means is that the secondary and auxiliary/primary are isolated by just the super thin lacquer on the wires, which is 0.05mm at best! So the conclusion is... *SUPER DODGY!*
I wonder if they just ran out of insulation tape when winding that second transformer and kept going, since they clearly had a layer between the aux and pri... it'd make more sense if there was no tape between aux and pri, but a layer between those and sec.
I have already seen several transformers that have insulation PRIM-SEC, but not AUX-SEC. I guess they think the aux is safe as it has only a low voltage. They don't realize there's a low voltage between its terminals, but a high voltage in reference to earth ground.
I really miss your number 2s from before about six months ago... Please don't feel that you have to adapt your pronunciation to what is considered "the only correct way". I live in northern Sweden (you kow the country with klämrisk lifts and weird food) and I have never heard anyone speak english in a way that is as clear and easy to follow. Thank you for being you! And I would love more videos of you exploring weird and dodgy things and places in the outside world!
Would the "dirty DC" that is supplied by such chargers really damage the phone? I've used in the past some chargers that barely had any components you would normally see in an average charger. Somehow my phone is still working without any noticeable damage.
Could you do an analysis of an Amazon charger? One came with my each of my 2 Fire tablets and one with a refurbished IPhone 7 my wife bought. I have been using them with no problems. I can send funds to purchase one for teardown. I am in Canada. I think this would be beneficial as many people buy Amazon products. I trust the Apple and Samsung ones, what other types are good? Nowadays these chargers are used for many things. It is hard for the average person to find a charger that is not a fire hazard, will not damage their device and not electrocute them. It is really quite easy to design a charger that meets these requirements.
The first one was THAT close to actually get a nice conclusion! If it weren’t for that stupid 1 KV capacitor… Are Y1 capacitors that hard to get…? Well at least its better than it being Dodgy or Super Dodgy
I saw a video about Chinese safety culture, and that is, in fact, more or less exactly what they believe. It’s a belief in a sort of “bad things happen as consequences for bad behavior”, so nobody thinks it’ll happen to them. And since in their mind it’s not random, there’s no need to design for safety.
@@tookitogo @Antonio Tejada I would consider designing and selling these dangerous dodgy products bad behaviour. But then they do not believe it is bad behaviour because if they harm someone it is caused by that person's bad behaviour not the product. We are in big trouble if we trust these products.
The last chargers transformer getting soo burning hot and the primary and seconday on each other without insulation that will ask for a disaster when the lacker melts 😬 no thanks the slightly dodgy charger is better just change the capacitor, keep the insulation, add a filter and it will be a good enough charger maybe
Could you please give me some link to instructions/documents about DCF77 signal decoding (and using in a clock)? I'm planning on building a DCF77 controlled nixie clock (actually I've already started and it's going to be my project work in the university in the following semester) with an atmega microcontroller. It would be quite some help... :)
And it’s a day and night difference. The Apple chargers don’t cut any corners, and are arguably “spare no expense” designs. But of course that means that the cost to manufacture one of them is more than the chinesium ones cost _including shipping._
The first one was a descent design. The designer specified a Y1 capacitor and marked it CY1. The builder cheated and replaced it with a regular 1KV cap.
@@gabrielphilips6980because capacitors can fail. When they do, many fail as a short circuit which would directly connect the output to one of the mains input pins giving a risk of shock. Y-class capacitors are designed to fail open circuit do you do not have that risk then.
I really hate cheap chargers, especially ones that don’t deliver the rated current without OVERHEATING. I use old school Nokia charger with Micro USB to charge my smartphone. Slow like turtle, but still works. And good for my battery
There is nothing to worry about. After designing this abomination, the designer and the seller sat down to a nice meal of an endangered species animal for good luck. We are safe.
These idiots often wind the auxiliary winding over the secondary without insulation. They treat it as a secondary even though it connects to the primary side.
You can use these super dodgy chargers only if your house has a differential circuit breaker. You would eventually get a small shock but that would be it. Whatever the case, if your house still doesn´t have one, get it installed asap. It would save you from a life-threatening nasty kick.
@@KofolaDealer A differential circuit breaker does not care if neutral is connected to ground. It is also an essential safety device on installations with no ground wire. And it is not as expensive as your life is.
GFCI is only supplementray protection. Even if you have it installed dont risk your life and property with cheap chargers. If you have a Type AC RCD it may not trip with half-wave rectified ripples. You need at least a type A RCD for electronics.
@@mernokimuvek The problem with chargers is that you really never know how hazardous they might be. Even those that have a very known brand name on them might be fake. Besides, any appliance may eventually put you at risk, even a bedside lamp, so better invest in the best central protection possible, especially on 220-240V mains systems.
This kind of product is a example of dangerous, low quality and extreme agressive to planet enviroment. Just the buyer discover that it´s a garbage and throw out. How much power and pollution coming to the coal, oil heavy metals etc.. were used to produce this? Even considering recycle processes the contamination produced is irreversible. It´s time to produce high quality products, with long life, with safety and easy maintenance, instead empty speeches from politicians. The planet thanks.
❤ Yes! I’ve been saying the same thing for years. The additional effort and materials needed to make it a good product aren’t that big. Instead, all that material gets used to make trash. :(
Some time ago I took all the 'China Export' USB chargers from my parents house and threw them away (after doing an autopsy on them for my own amusement fcourse). They did not like that bc they 'worked fine'. People heave no clue how dangerous these things are. If you buy cheap electronics from China, THROW AWAY the included chargers and use a trusted power supply instead.
I’m surprised that we (or at least I) haven’t heard of any accidents with these dodgy chargers.
Just try to google something like "electrocuted by phone" or "phone charger electric shock". There are dozens of cases.
I am pretty confident these have caused many shocks and even fires due to bad thermal design and lack of protection. Components are usually also abused way above their intended specs.
I only use chargers from trusted brands these days.
I am thinking of having my trusted chargers sent to diodegonewild because I am curious how safe those actually are.
@@NaoPb Disclaimer: he will melt the transformers with that 'hairdryer' so they will loose their 'trusted' status 😅
Thanks.
Ever exited about continue the Charger Series 😀
Thank you ;). More chargers are coming ;)
Haha! The way you cut the clip _just_ as the dodgy hairdryer made a spark is priceless, whether intentional or not. :D
Thank you for another great analysis video.
You've demonstrated one of the other serious problems with cheap Chinese USB adapters.
You may not listen to MW or LW radio, but your neighbors may. And with such an adapter you will make it impossible for them to do so, or you will disable your neighbors' radio-controlled clocks because you will pollute the radio spectrum with interference, all without you having the slightest idea.
Perhaps the saddest of these are the radio amateurs who are dealing with a huge level of interference on the HF bands consisting of the combined interference of hundreds of similar interference generators in every populated area.
We all share the RF spectrum together, just like the air, for example. And to pollute it with interference and render it unusable is akin to poisoning the air and not even knowing it.
The schematic explanation #2 was super informative. Maybe because you explained the FUNCTIONS on #1 and the DIFFERENCES on #2, using the same diagram. Superb!
You could connect a Micro USB Power Supply to the upper port of the USB tester, then it won't shut off when the voltage on its USB input gets too low and we could see how the voltage breaks down.
agreed
It will drain current from micro usb too i think
This shows just how unpredictable these chargers are as they look identical from the outside. I found an AE seller offering standard 5V 2A chargers with US plugs where the item is actually UL listed and has decent construction with a proper transformer. It was probably manufactured to meet some retail standard, but they're now the only seller with that model and I expect them to run out of stock at any moment. I bought a few extras, but the total cost with shipping is more than many fast chargers, though I cannot know the quality of those either :|.
I've told a few friends and family how dangerous these chargers are, but they only pretend to care to humor me. Until a bunch of children get electrocuted at the same time on the same day and it somehow makes the international News, no one will pay attention. I occasionally tell people to avoid *all* direct-from-China products that are AC-powered, but people would rather save a dollar and risk electrical shock than to pay for safety. If this were actually a problem, they'd be hearing about it on the 24/7 soap opera calling itself the News instead of from me; after all, I don't get paid millions of dollars to scare them all day, every day.
All of the European and American safety standards are effectively *bypassed* by this process and it's rather sad even if those standards aren't perfect. What good is Civilization if it nickels and dimes itself to the degree that everyone is surrounded by unsafe and useless junk? How is that Progress? Quality should matter.
Somehow we don’t hear of accidents with these chargers and that surprises me.
(Edit: search for electrocution by charger and similar and you’ll find many cases).
I’ve once bought a flood light on AliExpress. It had three wires, live, neutral and earth. When I had opened it, I saw to my horror that the earth wire wasn’t connected. to the metal casing. They hadn’t even tried.
I now always measure if the earth wire is connected whenever I receive anything electrical from China.
They just don’t care.
@@Conservator. But if you look it up you will find tons of cases of electrocution. It's pretty accurate when DGW refers to these chargers as house-burners electrocution devices.
@@joecolchic1620 You are right. DGW reacted in another comment and suggested to search for electrocution by charger and similar.
There have been quite a few tragic cases and undoubtedly many more that weren’t reported on. There also must have been many cases where people ‘only’ got burned but survived.
You all have been warned!
People are stupid, they think such a small device can't be dangerous.
They sell dodgy chargers at the Dollar Store.
This is not direct from China. I see a lot of fake Apple chargers that came from there.
There is also a discount electronics store near me that sells all kinds of cheap products.
These places seem to get away with it.
Thanks for your videos.
Thank you for your support! ;)
1:03 You may be interested to know, that a lot of UK radio stations have been shutting down their AM (Medium Wave) transmitters! So unfortunately, there's no MW anymore, it's just FM & DAB radio now, the latter being better for choice.
Kiitos!
Ahh my favorite series of all time!
These are always fun to watch. Though you guys should see some of the chargers we get in the USA. Yes we have 120v primary but I've had many chargers fail in house burning ways ...some in electrocution ways ...some in phone frying ways...some in all three. One melted the case while outputting primary voltage down the phone charger cable melting it and giving me a burn and slight shock so....ones I've taken apart because they would not even charge phone were so horrible i couldn't believe it...
Dziękuję!
Thank you for your support ;)
speaking about chargers causing radio interference, I have a Philips radio with a very sensitive digital tuner, so it picks up interference even on FM. As a matter of fact, most switch mode power supplies actually make interference, even the ones with lots of filtering make interference to some degree. I have to unplug all my chargers and turn off my lights if I wanna listen to a station with a very weak signal. Also worth noting that switch mode power supplies in LED bulbs cause the most interference. i think we should return back to linear power supplies for devices that don't really require a switching power supply to function. You could probably use that cheap radio to find out how much interference different power supplies make
Yes, every switching power supply produces EMI. Even with a good filter, you're just reducing the interference, never completely removing it. Yes, switching power supplies are a bit overused now, but they are more efficient, smaller and most importantly - cheaper to make. Silicon chips are way cheaper than iron and copper. This is the point of no return. Consumer electronics can't go back to linear, unless China stops producing chips for us...
Very nice, thanks for making my evening more dodgy 😊
You should have a video where you improve on the USB adapters by adding missing components, upgrading cheap components, or improving their output.
Kasyantv did some of what you mention some time ago. It's difficult. Sometimes there is so much missing on these devices and the pcb layout is so terrible that it's almost impossible to "add" missing components or "upgrade" cheap ones. You might as well be better off by building a proper power supply from scratch taking into consideration all the safety remarks made by DGW.
I love these charger videos
Did the hair dryer spark there at 3:53 when you were heating the 1st transformer?
that was "super dodgy"
One of my favorite series!
3:40 hairdryer exploded in the last frame XD
It didn't explode ;). But the melted switch is replaced by two crossed wires and they accidentally separated :D.
i find it really nice when you put the components on top of the schematic, illustrate it much better
I've had problems with switching power supplies and DCF-77 receivers before. Can you design or modify a 5V switching power supply to power the clock?
If they'd just used the appropriate capacitor across the transformer in that first supply it would have been fine, more or less. The transformer on the second one was a horrorshow, the lack of insulation, combined with how hot it was getting in use
I love those transformers that have absolutely no isolation except the lacquer on the wires. They're super dodgy! :)
Thanks for putting in the extra work for the schematics, its insane
I'm a big fan of the series. I'm pretty sure that it helped me to get to UL (former Underwriters Laboratories) few years ago;)
Keep in mind that the tape inside transformer is insulation not only isolation ;)
Isolation is for direct contact and insulation is for creeping and air arcing ?
@@weistonaski6924 isolation as circuit separation is carried out by an insulator
Ones again super dodgy is back, nice video like always, you could kind of use this chargers with a insulation transformer and a small fuse in front of them
It would be interesting to see if one of those super dodgy transformers CAN be rewound in a safe way at all. There's so little space in them that it's probably impossible without reducing the wire diameters and current rating.
It is not difficult at all: put the primary and secondary on the inner layers, put the parts that come out in heat-shrink tubing to make sure they cannot make any contact with the secondary, cover them with tape before winding the secondary on top and you are done. You could also do it the other way with the secondary on the innermost layer, heat-shrink the wires coming out, wrap in tape and wind the other windings on top.
If you compare proper and doggy power supply - most of the time there is major difference in size of transformer. Not only there is more insulation needing more space but cheap transformers are overrated for given output anyway. So even if you can somehow fit winding back with proper insulation - it would be too weak for given rated output.
@@tomaskolinger The size of a transformer doesn't matter much since the transformer size for any given power depends heavily on frequency and materials used. The thing ran for hours without failure, so the size is at least ok-ish as designed, albeit not ideal for efficiency based on the thermal label's blackening. The enamel-on-enamel design though is a major concern, as is the common use of 1kV caps instead of Y1/Y2.
@@teardowndan5364 Dont underestimate the thickness of some tape and heat shrink. There is basically no room in one of these left. It's also best to keep away from the sides of the bobin, which there's definitely no room for in such a tiny transformer, especially since it's a pretty flat core too.
@UCMaIzszB_NR9Lwb4Ak5AM8g A "much bigger core" made of the same material operating at the same frequency would also have much higher core losses.
I can't listen to radio at all in a reinforced concrete building. Lots of stuff like this radiate interference through the walls.
Would be pretty interesting if you got a cheap isolation tester. I wonder if the charger without isolation between primary and auxiliary would have failed an isolation test with 1000 V.
Definitely, I'd love to have seen that transformer being Megger tested. I'd eat my hat if it had survived a proper test!
Good to see, including now the RFI mentions, but I miss the voltage x current curve = ‘load stability’ as some of these cheap could be tried for low drain circuits.
Obviously for the ‘super dodgy’ products, load stability would become secondary - or super questionable.
very good example of EMC issue. Thanks!
What is the issue?
3:41 your hair dryer made some sparks
Love your videos!!! Should do more repairs..
Currently I can get a Koppla charger from Ikea for £4 until stocks last, makes one of those cheap Chinese chargers look somewhat expensive in comparison!
So they are. Mine failed after a few years due to dry joints on the output, having seen big clive's teardown I opened it up and resoldered it. Been back in use several years now.
Chinese chargers are like 0.5 £
@@giowawa5035 Your phone is a lot more money though, saving 3.50 then damaging even a £100 phone is false economy.
Big Clive got sent in a charger that had killed a MS Surface and an external display connected to it, that's a lot of money down the drain for the relatively small price difference between a dodgy but cheap charger and an official one.
More capacitive current tingles :D
3:35 🤭 Your little bit strange hairdryer is definitely safer yes! Thank you Dany. Another great video!☺
diodegone wild why u never turn your tester fan on?i think i never seen you turning it on while doing testing.
The fan turns on automatically when the heatsink gets hot. It takes a while.
Why is board isolation distance important? What happens if the distance is small?
What did happen to your hairdryer?
I remember it wasn't molten some time ago :)
He probably removed the thermal switch to get more heat...
I think it would be a good idea to test the current capability at 120 volts also.
How about some dodgy phone charging cables? I recently bought a magnetic charging cable at a local Chinese store, and i discovered that both units came with a faulty micro USB connector. Both work fine with USB type C, i can't test lightning and Micro USB doesn't work, i tried on 5 different phones
I thought to drop you an email but it seems it is better to ask here cause more people are asking and will benefit from your answer.
What makes a USB power supply good enough?
And I know there are two types, (at least for 5 Volts with a connection modification) the one that has ground in the mains lead and the negative output is directly connected to the ground. Laptops mainly use those.
And there are the others like the phone chargers, that have no ground to the mains , only the simple two pins mains plug. With those if you measure the voltage from the negative ( or the positive) output with reference to the ground in the mains supply you get a leakage that is close to 90 volts more or less. Even the electricity hand tester lights up when you touch the usb shield in the connection.
For audio equipment that is powered nowdays by usb chargers somewhere through the chain of connections some equipment will have the shield of an XLR or jack connected to the ground, could then that leakage cause some damage to equipment?
No real risk, because the current flow is absolutely tiny.
@@tookitogo Thanks for the reply.
But even tiny wouldnt be a problem that will cause noise? On the other hand ground can also be the source of noise by ground loops.
And ofcourse with no transformer and galvanic isolation things could get nasty very fast , no? in that repsect i dont know if having ground could be of some benefit
Glad I didn't skip the transformer unwinding sections!!!
By the way the D+ and D- connected in the second one is signalling a "0.5A charger"...
1:00 What is the model number and brand of this cheap radio?
Ja neviem ako, ale narazim na nejaké anglický hovoriace video a zistím podľa vybavenia že to je točené niekde v Česku alebo na Slovensku. Odo mňa ziskavaš like, veľmi dobre spracované video. 👍
That second one looks like it has been through a couple of rounds of extreme cost savings. I'm surprised they still put the glue down for the SMD components that weren't populated!
Hello sir,
Could just help me. Am making a 24v smps using uc3843 ic ,am using 4A fuse ,5D-15ntc thermister and EMI common mode filter at input, I had made this smps before but in these days am trying to make it but whenever I plug-in it gives the output and then the mosfet is damaged immediately and does a fuse.I tried to replace IC many times but still it doesn't work.the transformer and output inductor also have some noise. There are other things that are also confusing me, sometimes I plug-in and it gives me output but when I plug-out and plug-in again it doesn't work and stops forever untill I change the IC. I don't know what's wrong with this smps.your support will be highly appreciated.Thanks!
@3:40 A sparky hair dryer... NICE
Please make a video in which you briefly, simply and understandably explain how to recognize a safe charger. Because we often see here with you which chargers are not safe. But I lack the clear and simple explanation of how to recognize a safe charger.
I was surprised by how "good" the first transformer was, then I was surprised by how empty the second board was and don't even get me started on that dodgy transformer
Rusty terminals are incredible. These things must have been left in some warehouse by the sea for months. Also RF noise is terrible. Even if no one listens to AM radio anymore, ham radio operators like me really hate these chinese noise makers.
Where is your 100VA soldering gun?
‘The main comes in here through the RUSTED terminals’ 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Not only dangerous but these chargers are such a negative economy.
I have one 2a charger that I use on some items, I got it in 2006. It's a quality charger and has never let me down.
I have a charger on my desk, 4 ports, 2x QC2, 1x 2a and 1x 1a. I have been using it daily for many years, quality and has never let me down. It puts out nice clean power and doesn't damage devices. Neither were expensive.
Poznal jsem tě, podle Čechoangličtiny a melodie přednesu! Jsem si hned řekl, "Tohohle týpka znám!" 🤔 ☝ 😎 😅
The IKEA cat is so cute :)
Always remember that "quite nice" and "very good" are opposite of each other.
11:03 Yes, that's a fantastic transformer! It looks like the super awesome ones, the best that money can buy!
What this means is that the secondary and auxiliary/primary are isolated by just the super thin lacquer on the wires, which is 0.05mm at best!
So the conclusion is... *SUPER DODGY!*
one of my quick quality test for LEDs and anything smps is using a pocket AM radio. I'm still an AM lover and I like the tone of it.
The trouble is, AM radio in many parts of the world is being switched off...
@@TheSpotify95 sad but true
Can you link ti that tester which shows the voltage ripple aswell. I have a basic one but that one with the graph is awesome! Thanks in advance!
Thank you for another great video
I wonder if they just ran out of insulation tape when winding that second transformer and kept going, since they clearly had a layer between the aux and pri... it'd make more sense if there was no tape between aux and pri, but a layer between those and sec.
I have already seen several transformers that have insulation PRIM-SEC, but not AUX-SEC. I guess they think the aux is safe as it has only a low voltage. They don't realize there's a low voltage between its terminals, but a high voltage in reference to earth ground.
Why is this insulation important?
Dangerooous chaaaaargerrsss
feat. the super dodgy hairdryer
@@RealEpikCartfrenYT
Contest to the DOGIEST
I really miss your number 2s from before about six months ago... Please don't feel that you have to adapt your pronunciation to what is considered "the only correct way".
I live in northern Sweden (you kow the country with klämrisk lifts and weird food) and I have never heard anyone speak english in a way that is as clear and easy to follow.
Thank you for being you!
And I would love more videos of you exploring weird and dodgy things and places in the outside world!
Would the "dirty DC" that is supplied by such chargers really damage the phone? I've used in the past some chargers that barely had any components you would normally see in an average charger. Somehow my phone is still working without any noticeable damage.
It won’t damage the phone, but some dirty DC can cause problems with the touchscreen.
I have had problems with the touchscreen on tablets.
Could you do an analysis of an Amazon charger?
One came with my each of my 2 Fire tablets and one with a refurbished IPhone 7 my wife bought.
I have been using them with no problems.
I can send funds to purchase one for teardown. I am in Canada.
I think this would be beneficial as many people buy Amazon products.
I trust the Apple and Samsung ones, what other types are good?
Nowadays these chargers are used for many things.
It is hard for the average person to find a charger that is not a fire hazard, will not damage their device and not electrocute them.
It is really quite easy to design a charger that meets these requirements.
thank you sir ...
That second charger looks like its shipping container fell into the ocean and they had to fish it out.
SUPER DODGY!!! ☠️
I want "SUPER DODGY!!! ☠" T-shirt.
at last, properly rusted charger!)
The first one was THAT close to actually get a nice conclusion! If it weren’t for that stupid 1 KV capacitor…
Are Y1 capacitors that hard to get…? Well at least its better than it being Dodgy or Super Dodgy
check the high-temperature resistance of the transformer winding tape izolation
They do not believe in safety, they believe in luck.
I saw a video about Chinese safety culture, and that is, in fact, more or less exactly what they believe. It’s a belief in a sort of “bad things happen as consequences for bad behavior”, so nobody thinks it’ll happen to them. And since in their mind it’s not random, there’s no need to design for safety.
@@tookitogo @Antonio Tejada I would consider designing and selling these dangerous dodgy products bad behaviour.
But then they do not believe it is bad behaviour because if they harm someone it is caused by that person's bad behaviour not the product.
We are in big trouble if we trust these products.
@@gordonwelcher9598 Yep, that’s exactly right!
the rectification dioodeee
The last chargers transformer getting soo burning hot and the primary and seconday on each other without insulation that will ask for a disaster when the lacker melts 😬 no thanks the slightly dodgy charger is better just change the capacitor, keep the insulation, add a filter and it will be a good enough charger maybe
Awesome videos!!!
why your hairdryer just sparked 3:40
I just noticed that lmao
Could you please give me some link to instructions/documents about DCF77 signal decoding (and using in a clock)?
I'm planning on building a DCF77 controlled nixie clock (actually I've already started and it's going to be my project work in the university in the following semester) with an atmega microcontroller.
It would be quite some help... :)
Something is on my website:
danyk.cz/avr_vfd_en.html
More info all over the internet, including wikipedia.
Thank you!
Have you ever opened a real Apple one? Would be a nice comparison
Yeah, he actually took one apart in one of his older videos
And it’s a day and night difference. The Apple chargers don’t cut any corners, and are arguably “spare no expense” designs. But of course that means that the cost to manufacture one of them is more than the chinesium ones cost _including shipping._
"Slightly dodgy", I think that's a new rating we haven't seen yet
I think I've already used it once or twice
The first one was a descent design.
The designer specified a Y1 capacitor and marked it CY1.
The builder cheated and replaced it with a regular 1KV cap.
Why is he saying it is dangerous? I don't understand
@@gabrielphilips6980because capacitors can fail. When they do, many fail as a short circuit which would directly connect the output to one of the mains input pins giving a risk of shock. Y-class capacitors are designed to fail open circuit do you do not have that risk then.
I really hate cheap chargers, especially ones that don’t deliver the rated current without OVERHEATING. I use old school Nokia charger with Micro USB to charge my smartphone. Slow like turtle, but still works. And good for my battery
every one switching power supply produce EMI in HF band.
Electrocution house burner. Haha good one lol
Are you taking precautions against electric shock when doing these tests!?
Well I’m not from Korçë (I'm from Shkodra), but it’s still nice to see some good ol’ Albanian calipers still in use 💪💪
No batteries to discharge and leak ;)
I think the first one was more like 'almost good'
great!!!
There is nothing to worry about.
After designing this abomination, the designer and the seller sat down to a nice meal of an endangered species animal for good luck.
We are safe.
These idiots often wind the auxiliary winding over the secondary without insulation.
They treat it as a secondary even though it connects to the primary side.
And why is this not good?
Ta angličtina je úžasná :)
You can use these super dodgy chargers only if your house has a differential circuit breaker. You would eventually get a small shock but that would be it. Whatever the case, if your house still doesn´t have one, get it installed asap. It would save you from a life-threatening nasty kick.
It's expensive and I'm pretty sure they're unusable in installations that only have live and neutral with ground connected to neutral
@@KofolaDealer A differential circuit breaker does not care if neutral is connected to ground. It is also an essential safety device on installations with no ground wire. And it is not as expensive as your life is.
GFCI is only supplementray protection. Even if you have it installed dont risk your life and property with cheap chargers. If you have a Type AC RCD it may not trip with half-wave rectified ripples. You need at least a type A RCD for electronics.
@@mernokimuvek The problem with chargers is that you really never know how hazardous they might be. Even those that have a very known brand name on them might be fake. Besides, any appliance may eventually put you at risk, even a bedside lamp, so better invest in the best central protection possible, especially on 220-240V mains systems.
3:41 did it blow up?
The melted switch is replaced by just twisting the two wires. They just separated creating a spark :).
It makes me bananas When the display rotated
This kind of product is a
example of dangerous, low quality and extreme agressive to planet enviroment. Just the buyer discover that it´s a garbage and throw out. How much power and pollution coming to the coal, oil heavy metals etc.. were used to produce this? Even considering recycle processes the contamination produced is irreversible. It´s time to produce high quality products, with long life, with safety and easy maintenance, instead empty speeches from politicians. The planet thanks.
❤ Yes! I’ve been saying the same thing for years. The additional effort and materials needed to make it a good product aren’t that big. Instead, all that material gets used to make trash. :(
Why is this charger not good?
write it as a charger, read it as a bomb..
"Hell, that's hot!" 😅😅😅
Nice