well, this one at least ha an outrageous enough title. When I was investigating and realized the leads were iron, I went "That's material for a video now!"
It never ceases to amaze me the lengths people will go to cheapen a product. When customers figure out what is what they will never buy from them again. Great video Matthias thumbs up.
I had replaced all the wire in my clip leads, you did the extra work to find the reason why they were so terrible. Good to know how common it is so we can all watch out. Great video.
I never would have expected those wires to be anything other than copper, but I just checked some that I got a few years ago and they, too, are attracted to a magnet. For many of the things I use them for, it probably won’t matter. There are times, however, where I have drawn more than an amp or two through them and this could cause significant problems. Thank you for making this video, Matthias!
I bought a bundle of leads like this off Amazon around 6-7 years ago, which for some reason was when I really started to appreciate that even the most straightforward of simple products that "should" be cheap.... well you get what you pay for. Shortly thereafter we stopped buying from Amazon altogether (not because Amazon was responsible for that product, but because the platform encourages the cheapest and fastest products) and sought out quality products (like test leads/clip jumpers) from reputable manufacturers that were still affordable. I have completely transitioned to buying new and used items that are quality, will last forever (in this case, good silicone test leads or jumpers from places like Pomona), instead of trying to pinch pennies on items that don't need to be unreliable and consumable (edited for odd phrasing)
i bought a "debugging" chip from microchip, definitely NOT cheap! (pic chips and atmega?) and whilst i never tested it with a magnet... i sure couldnt get the included patch lead to solder! so probably not even iron... because iron will tin.
I wonder if the mouse cord may be ferromagnetic due to using a braided shield or central strength member (which could be a ferrous alloy) edit: and of course it can also just be a super cheap mouse with ferrous wires, I don't mean to rule that out
Good video. This is exactly what I found when working on a project this week. I, too, tried resoldering the clips. I had thought the problem was just bad crimps. Now I see that the wire is poor too. I think I’ll toss them all and make ones myself.
I've noticed lately much of the bulk wire from Amazon vendors is copper coated steel. They are somewhat sneaky about how they list it. I've mostly switched to a known brand for anything important.
You made me paranoid so I just checked a bunch of my leads. Yep. Some cheap Chinese ones were magnetic. I use them for prototyping so I need to take that into account from now on.
@matthiasrandomstuff2221 a cabling problem I had that I feel so dumb cause it nearly drove me insane were usb-c power only cables... It never crossed my mind so when I couldn't get my pc to recognize my microcontrollers I...... *breathe* I now check all my usb cables for PO or PD
Simular tests done here. Same result, except that I also found aluminium wire with copper (coloured) cladding. Also nice to see the wirestash. Like many of us have 👍🏻🤝🏻🇳🇱
this makes soo much sense why i always think these cheap leads are junk, im going to go and test all my clipleads. Like you, i usually make my own though, when i do i use silicon coated wire as it tends to have higher current ratings and doesnt deform when bent.
This is even better then what I got! Mine were corroded away inside the plastic insulation! Like in every 5cm. Also were nearly impossible to solder. The whole batch had to be thrown out.
Thanks for the heads up! I found a couple of 9v clip ons with wire attached that reacted to a magnet & a double AAA battery holder with magnet reactive wire. Fortunately, my stash of wires were ok 👍
I've never thought about that before, that explains a lot. So thank you very much for your contribution and please keep it up! Iron wire instead of copper, scandal! In the future I will take a magnet with me when I buy something like this.
I just made custom clip leads. I buy the clips in bulk and use quality highly flexible copper wire with silicon insulation. I always have a stash of clips and banana plus to make custom wires. Some 2mm copper sheets as battery contacts come in handy as well. My leads will not survive to full 10A they are build for, but everything below is fine. I also stole AVEs idea to use magnets as a contact to charge single 18650 cells work fine.
I appreciate this video. I buy clip leads to distribute to teachers and also got a lot (though not exclusively) iron wires. Glad to know it isn't just me.
Thanks! I always suspected my cheap clip leads of having a poor contact, and I considered re-soldering them. Good to know that the wire is junk too! I knew about aluminium wires, but wasn't aware of copper-coated iron being used. Looks like the cheap leads are only good for the color-coded silicone covers, that you can't easily get if you just buy bare croc clips and proper wires.
Wow! Unbelievable... Now, I have to check my recent bulk-up on banana jack test leads! Video shared with all my Makers groups. Thank you for the important heads up!
I ran into the same problem about a month ago with clip leads I bought off of AliExpress. Yup, over half an ohm each. Ended up replacing the wire with some 22AWG silicone jacketed wire. Makes you wonder if all the extra work is worth it. But for less than two bucks your basically getting the clips and the boot. The wire goes into the landfill. Crazy to think there is a factory just churning those garbage cables out by the bazillions.
I need to check my wires with a magnet now. Thanks for sharing! Also, USB cables often have metal shielding. I've seen aluminium foil-like shielding but also braided iron/steel(i think). That might explain why some USB cables are attracted to the magnet and some aren't.
Thanks for this video! It’s incredibly informative. I learned a lot, and you explained everything so clearly. Always looking forward to more deep dive content like this!
Thanks for posting this video. I was guessing CCA (copper coated aluminum) wires, but copper coated steel is a new one on me. Chinese manufacturers are very clever when it comes to satisfying the market demand for really cheap goods.
Well that explains why some of mine seem much better than others, just checked and they're iron too. Thanks, I had been planning on replacing the wire with some nice silicone stuff anyway!
I bought similar clip leads. Never measured the actual resistance, but the leads looked flimsy so I replaced them with thicker wires. Looks like it was the right call
wow. this explains so much. I've got some shit leads that couldnt take more than an amp despite being 'rated' for 10A. never looked into it, just binned them. Thanks for digging in, time to bust out a magnet and go through my drawers of many wires. edit: happy to mail out my lcr meter if you want to take slightly more accurate readings, but I'm sure agilent or someone would send you something better to 'review' lol, I'm canadian so happy to mail it over if its of use, bk precision 879b, way out of cal but i'm sure good enough
I have a box full of assorted clip leads. Most of my work is with vacuum tubes so a bit of resistance is not an issue since the current is low. I have gotten into the habit of testing each clip lead before use by shorting the output of a 3 amp current limited power supply. When a lead fails, it's almost always at the crimp. Some are bad right out of the package. I would have never thought about counterfeit wire, but about half of my clip leads fail the magnet test! I have two unopened packages from a popular store that sells everything from clip leads to gasoline engines, and both are magnetic. If they pass three amps for several seconds, I'll use them anyway.....until they don't. They get loose with age and use.
I got a cheap chandelier from china back in 2017. It had silver color wire in it. I was skeptical of it being aluminum, and I was afraid it would corrode over time, so I rewired it myself with copper. I did keep the wire that came out of it just for curiosity sake. After watching this video, I pulled out that silver looking wire, and sure enough magnet sticks to it. What the heck!!
Thanks for the video. It is good to know that wire may possible be iron . . . Believe some telephone cables use aluminum but have not checked with a magnet.
I just check a bunch of cables and checked with a magnet a quite a few are magnetic, thanks for the heads up this will avoid que a bit of frustration in the future!
I'm sadly not surprised, Chinese manufacturers (at least the cheap / mass volume ones) do everything they can to save as much as possible. I've never bothered to actually investigate this problem myself but it's really cool to see the underlying reason.
Thanks for the video. I have a bunch of those I need to check out If they were an Amazon purchase I can’t say I’m surprised. Many products are not what they appear to be.
Keep in mind USB cables often have a sheet of steel sheathe inside, or a steel wire running down the middle for strength. It doesn't mean that the power and data wires aren't copper.
A few months ago I replaced all the wires of my clip leads with 1mm² lapp hookup wire. I saw the same phenomenon of high resistance, but didn't do the work to find out they'r actually made of iron.
Mouse wire being magnetic is probably the shielding jacket, not the usb data and power lines. but wild topic! I wouldnt imagine anyone would actually make iron cables but... Ill just buy clips and quality cable separately now.
the mice wire actually has a stainless braid around the outside of the conductor wires, works to help the durability of the cord since it is constantly being moved. ive also just switched to just making my own alligator leads with quality clips because i cant stand it when they wont grab a small wire because the teeth are so misaligned. i got them from mauser or digikey.
Interesting. Foe low poer applications (voltage messurement and signals) I wouldn't care but for power (charging batteries etc) this makes a big difference
Copper coated iron🤯. Seems Chinese products are optimized to increase profits whatever it takes.🙄. Was expecting a broken or thinned copper core, not exactly this. Nice 🧐 work.👌❤️👍
Note that copper covered aluminium is also a thing, and it will pass the magnet test. The (destructive) way to test for this is to hold the strands into a flame from a lighter etc, aluminium wires strands quickly melt away to nothing.
I bought the exact same set last year and yes, they are copper plated iron wires. Crazy way to save a buck. They are also using this fake wire in transformer windings - the Chinese cheating other Chinese...! If you buy these dangerous leads, get rid of them. The end clips are OK.
My mouth actually dropped when you pulled out the magnet, and it grabbed it.
Same, i was expecting copper clad aluminum (cca) but not iron/steel.
I would like to say the same, but honestly, it doesn’t surprise me.
Spiking the algorithm since these “videos don’t do well”. Keep them coming.
well, this one at least ha an outrageous enough title. When I was investigating and realized the leads were iron, I went "That's material for a video now!"
Yes please. 🙏🏼
Really enjoyed it. Thorough, informative and super interesting
@@matthiasrandomstuff2221 Awesome, and I just bought some rolls of chinesium hook up wire, OMG, as soon as it arrives I will update.
@@matthiasrandomstuff2221 needs a gaping face with your hands on your cheeks, with thumbnail text "YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT'S IN THESE WIRES".
Liked for the algorithm. I'm going to have to check my leads with a magnet now. Unbelievable.
Can you tell your results ?
@@GameBacardinot OP but all my clip leads and "Dupont" type jumpers are magnetic. However the 4mm banana plug leads aren't.
It never ceases to amaze me the lengths people will go to cheapen a product. When customers figure out what is what they will never buy from them again. Great video Matthias thumbs up.
Very interesting. Now I've got to check all my wire to see where I've been bamboozled. Thanks for the informative deep dive!
Also remember to test with your Aluminum magnet.
@@zaprodkyou can test these with a lighter. To copper it does nothing but aluminium will burn and crumble.
Another "Learn how to think" video by fantastic Matthias!!!
Oooh, so that's the reason! I was getting annoyed using these because of the higher resistance, but I never investigated the issue. Thanks matthias
Yeah, I knew they were garbage quality, but not THAT bad!
Can confirm... I just tested all my wires with alligator clips and they are all attracted to a magnet. That's disappointing.
I'm beginning to suspect Fnrsi isn't the high-quality, reputable brand I thought it was.
What was your first clue?? :)
lol
Haha!
pronounced flimsy
Lol!
keep in mind that the wire not being magnetic doesn't rule out that they are made from copper coated aluminum
True enough. But aluminium is quite conductive. Main downside is its prone to breakage and poor connections.
I test this with a lighter. Aluminium will burn and crumble.
I had replaced all the wire in my clip leads, you did the extra work to find the reason why they were so terrible. Good to know how common it is so we can all watch out. Great video.
I never would have expected those wires to be anything other than copper, but I just checked some that I got a few years ago and they, too, are attracted to a magnet. For many of the things I use them for, it probably won’t matter. There are times, however, where I have drawn more than an amp or two through them and this could cause significant problems. Thank you for making this video, Matthias!
I bought a bundle of leads like this off Amazon around 6-7 years ago, which for some reason was when I really started to appreciate that even the most straightforward of simple products that "should" be cheap.... well you get what you pay for. Shortly thereafter we stopped buying from Amazon altogether (not because Amazon was responsible for that product, but because the platform encourages the cheapest and fastest products) and sought out quality products (like test leads/clip jumpers) from reputable manufacturers that were still affordable. I have completely transitioned to buying new and used items that are quality, will last forever (in this case, good silicone test leads or jumpers from places like Pomona), instead of trying to pinch pennies on items that don't need to be unreliable and consumable
(edited for odd phrasing)
i bought a "debugging" chip from microchip, definitely NOT cheap! (pic chips and atmega?) and whilst i never tested it with a magnet... i sure couldnt get the included patch lead to solder! so probably not even iron... because iron will tin.
There have been credible allegations that Amazon games the review system and suppresses negative product reviews.
@@paradiselost9946Alumin(i)um is common too. A lighter does a good test - put the glame to single strand and it'll curl/crumple up.
I wonder if the mouse cord may be ferromagnetic due to using a braided shield or central strength member (which could be a ferrous alloy) edit: and of course it can also just be a super cheap mouse with ferrous wires, I don't mean to rule that out
I am glad you put it online; I would have never imagined!
Awesome detective work Mathias!
Headed to my shop to play with a magnet🥰
Thank you Matthias, really appreciate this! I already felt scammed with CCA, now I have to go magnet fishing in my cable drawers 🤔
I wouldn't have even thought to check if it's a different metal. Brilliant as always, Mattias.
Good video.
This is exactly what I found when working on a project this week. I, too, tried resoldering the clips. I had thought the problem was just bad crimps.
Now I see that the wire is poor too. I think I’ll toss them all and make ones myself.
Ugh, thanks for this Matthias. I'm about to buy a bunch more clip leads myself... I think I'll just buy the clips and make up my own leads.
I've noticed lately much of the bulk wire from Amazon vendors is copper coated steel. They are somewhat sneaky about how they list it. I've mostly switched to a known brand for anything important.
Hey, glad you published this. Going to keep an eye on all the new wire I buy.
You made me paranoid so I just checked a bunch of my leads. Yep. Some cheap Chinese ones were magnetic.
I use them for prototyping so I need to take that into account from now on.
I haven't had my coffee yet and now I gotta go check all my clip leads....
let me know how it goes. I only have a limited sample myself
@matthiasrandomstuff2221 a cabling problem I had that I feel so dumb cause it nearly drove me insane were usb-c power only cables... It never crossed my mind so when I couldn't get my pc to recognize my microcontrollers I...... *breathe* I now check all my usb cables for PO or PD
Simular tests done here. Same result, except that I also found aluminium wire with copper (coloured) cladding.
Also nice to see the wirestash. Like many of us have 👍🏻🤝🏻🇳🇱
this makes soo much sense why i always think these cheap leads are junk, im going to go and test all my clipleads. Like you, i usually make my own though, when i do i use silicon coated wire as it tends to have higher current ratings and doesnt deform when bent.
It is nicer to work with most of the time, too. Smaller PCB stuff I still like the bendable wires.
They should be sold as current limiting leads, or self fusing hookup clips ;-) Thanks for the reveal, well done.
The one pack is for my son, and I figure the resistance is a bit of a safety thing!
Oh wow, I have those leads and they too are iron. It's a good thing I learned about this early.
This is even better then what I got!
Mine were corroded away inside the plastic insulation! Like in every 5cm. Also were nearly impossible to solder. The whole batch had to be thrown out.
I had a feeling they'd do badly, but wow not that badly. Appreciate the tests. Time to swap a few wires here - never thought to test them.
This is a need to know topic. I never would have thought our wire is iron!!!
Pennies used to be made of copper. How much money can possibly be saved by switching to iron in a small test lead!
Thanks Matthias, definitely a community service.
Thanks for the heads up! I found a couple of 9v clip ons with wire attached that reacted to a magnet & a double AAA battery holder with magnet reactive wire. Fortunately, my stash of wires were ok 👍
very interesting ive scraped alot of wire and never thought some may be iron coated copper
That was very unexpected turn! I would never thought they would make steel wires. Gonna check some of mines.
I've never thought about that before, that explains a lot. So thank you very much for your contribution and please keep it up!
Iron wire instead of copper, scandal! In the future I will take a magnet with me when I buy something like this.
I just made custom clip leads. I buy the clips in bulk and use quality highly flexible copper wire with silicon insulation. I always have a stash of clips and banana plus to make custom wires. Some 2mm copper sheets as battery contacts come in handy as well. My leads will not survive to full 10A they are build for, but everything below is fine. I also stole AVEs idea to use magnets as a contact to charge single 18650 cells work fine.
I appreciate this video. I buy clip leads to distribute to teachers and also got a lot (though not exclusively) iron wires. Glad to know it isn't just me.
Everybody knows fairies are afraid of iron, and you don't want pixies out of the confusor.
Thanks! I always suspected my cheap clip leads of having a poor contact, and I considered re-soldering them. Good to know that the wire is junk too! I knew about aluminium wires, but wasn't aware of copper-coated iron being used. Looks like the cheap leads are only good for the color-coded silicone covers, that you can't easily get if you just buy bare croc clips and proper wires.
Wow! Unbelievable...
Now, I have to check my recent bulk-up on banana jack test leads!
Video shared with all my Makers groups.
Thank you for the important heads up!
This is so interesting. I guess they try to cut cost any way they can. That's incredible, you've unlocked a new concern haha
Good info. I am going to check my cables.
Excellent, got me purchasing a magnet to test all of my leads, thanks for sharing.
With out you, AVE and EEVBlog we would never have the truth. Love the Randoms can actually learn a little bit.
I ran into the same problem about a month ago with clip leads I bought off of AliExpress. Yup, over half an ohm each. Ended up replacing the wire with some 22AWG silicone jacketed wire. Makes you wonder if all the extra work is worth it. But for less than two bucks your basically getting the clips and the boot. The wire goes into the landfill. Crazy to think there is a factory just churning those garbage cables out by the bazillions.
I always message the seller to tell them to stop shipping land fill junk and that while it may be legal, only a sub par human would think it is moral.
This is very informative. Thanks for the heads-up.
Everything you post is interesting even if I don't completely understand it. Thanks for the videos.
Very useful video - I’m speaking to you, algorithm!
Wow, that's amazing. I'm going to be double checking my wires.
Making your own has always been better; now it appears to be the only reliable approach
Great info. Appreciate the video. I have some work tomorrow, testing wires.
Excellent observation. I have the same bundle, I've been using them with 5 volt logic stuff so I didn't notice.
That's amazing! Thanks for pointing it out, now I'm off to test everything of mine!
I need to check my wires with a magnet now. Thanks for sharing!
Also, USB cables often have metal shielding. I've seen aluminium foil-like shielding but also braided iron/steel(i think). That might explain why some USB cables are attracted to the magnet and some aren't.
Oh no.... those look too familiar for comfort!
Thanks Matthias!
Thanks for this video! It’s incredibly informative. I learned a lot, and you explained everything so clearly. Always looking forward to more deep dive content like this!
Thanks for posting! Take care & stay safe.
Thanks for posting this video. I was guessing CCA (copper coated aluminum) wires, but copper coated steel is a new one on me. Chinese manufacturers are very clever when it comes to satisfying the market demand for really cheap goods.
Well that explains why some of mine seem much better than others, just checked and they're iron too. Thanks, I had been planning on replacing the wire with some nice silicone stuff anyway!
I bought similar clip leads. Never measured the actual resistance, but the leads looked flimsy so I replaced them with thicker wires. Looks like it was the right call
wow. this explains so much. I've got some shit leads that couldnt take more than an amp despite being 'rated' for 10A. never looked into it, just binned them. Thanks for digging in, time to bust out a magnet and go through my drawers of many wires.
edit: happy to mail out my lcr meter if you want to take slightly more accurate readings, but I'm sure agilent or someone would send you something better to 'review' lol, I'm canadian so happy to mail it over if its of use, bk precision 879b, way out of cal but i'm sure good enough
what sort of LCR meter? Love the little fnirsi LCR tweezers for that. Kind of limited, but very handy.
Fascinating - didn't know some wires came as iron.
I have a box full of assorted clip leads. Most of my work is with vacuum tubes so a bit of resistance is not an issue since the current is low. I have gotten into the habit of testing each clip lead before use by shorting the output of a 3 amp current limited power supply. When a lead fails, it's almost always at the crimp. Some are bad right out of the package. I would have never thought about counterfeit wire, but about half of my clip leads fail the magnet test! I have two unopened packages from a popular store that sells everything from clip leads to gasoline engines, and both are magnetic. If they pass three amps for several seconds, I'll use them anyway.....until they don't. They get loose with age and use.
Wow, surely didnt expect that. Thanks for documenting it.
I got a cheap chandelier from china back in 2017. It had silver color wire in it. I was skeptical of it being aluminum, and I was afraid it would corrode over time, so I rewired it myself with copper. I did keep the wire that came out of it just for curiosity sake. After watching this video, I pulled out that silver looking wire, and sure enough magnet sticks to it. What the heck!!
Thanks for the video. It is good to know that wire may possible be iron . . .
Believe some telephone cables use aluminum but have not checked with a magnet.
Magnet test is smart. I'm gonna have a field day resoldering my leads!
These leads with the slippery boots and 100awg wire drive me nuts!
The magnet check is a great tip! I checked the wire on my mouse immediately. No attraction. It's a Logitech G502 Hero
wow, never thought it would make sense to make your own test leads
I just check a bunch of cables and checked with a magnet a quite a few are magnetic, thanks for the heads up this will avoid que a bit of frustration in the future!
very interesting information. Thanks for doing this for us.
It's getting really bad. We went from getting not ideal cables that were CCA now going to IRON.
Checked some I just got the other day from Aliexpress and they are also magnetic. :/ Thank you for the video!!
That's a safety issue - don't stop making these videos!
I'm sadly not surprised, Chinese manufacturers (at least the cheap / mass volume ones) do everything they can to save as much as possible. I've never bothered to actually investigate this problem myself but it's really cool to see the underlying reason.
Thanks for the video. I have a bunch of those I need to check out If they were an Amazon purchase I can’t say I’m surprised. Many products are not what they appear to be.
Shout-out to one of my fav tools: the humble needle nose pliers 💪
We used to call them 'fuses', and then somebody mentioned that they were more like filaments for old cheap incandescent chinesium bulbs.
I just run to Home Hardware now for wire and soldering stuff...they only have a basic selection but so far not been ripped off.
I found a usb charger cable that had magnetic wire. I'll keep eye out for these from now on.
Keep in mind USB cables often have a sheet of steel sheathe inside, or a steel wire running down the middle for strength. It doesn't mean that the power and data wires aren't copper.
@@Choochinc Interesting. the connector is too small to get multimeter in there so i wasnt able to actually measure resistance
A few months ago I replaced all the wires of my clip leads with 1mm² lapp hookup wire. I saw the same phenomenon of high resistance, but didn't do the work to find out they'r actually made of iron.
Mouse wire being magnetic is probably the shielding jacket, not the usb data and power lines.
but wild topic! I wouldnt imagine anyone would actually make iron cables but... Ill just buy clips and quality cable separately now.
I just checked my Chinese clip leads and yup, they are all magnetic. Luckily I only use them for the clips and always solder my own cables onto them.
Thank you, Matthias !
And after watching this video I’ll be checking mine I bought recently and possibly making my own
Wow that's good to know. I'll be doing a "magnet test" on new wires I buy from now on
WOW, i assumed it was aluminium ive had that, but iron! going to be checking everything now in case of fire
the mice wire actually has a stainless braid around the outside of the conductor wires, works to help the durability of the cord since it is constantly being moved. ive also just switched to just making my own alligator leads with quality clips because i cant stand it when they wont grab a small wire because the teeth are so misaligned. i got them from mauser or digikey.
Wow, that is a fascinating bit of detective work. (Also hoping to spike the algorithm a bit with some engagement)
Thanks for sharing this! I should check mine, but I think I know what I'll find.
Interesting. Foe low poer applications (voltage messurement and signals) I wouldn't care but for power (charging batteries etc) this makes a big difference
Very interesting. I wonder if the Chinese use iron in the wires they use in their space program..
Reminds me of the “China fakes everything” series
Who did that series?
Copper coated iron🤯. Seems Chinese products are optimized to increase profits whatever it takes.🙄. Was expecting a broken or thinned copper core, not exactly this. Nice 🧐 work.👌❤️👍
Note that copper covered aluminium is also a thing, and it will pass the magnet test. The (destructive) way to test for this is to hold the strands into a flame from a lighter etc, aluminium wires strands quickly melt away to nothing.
I bought the exact same set last year and yes, they are copper plated iron wires. Crazy way to save a buck. They are also using this fake wire in transformer windings - the Chinese cheating other Chinese...! If you buy these dangerous leads, get rid of them. The end clips are OK.
Thanks Matthias, helps a lot!
Thanks for the heads up.