From led bulbs to air pumps, I always seem to come back to your videos even though I search for something completely different. You explain well so thank you!
RPMs tend to destroy most rubber pumps. They sell self-priming ones for use on a drill and if you look at the directions you see it says to use like 1200rpm and if you look at the comments you'll see a bunch of people complaining how their pump died so quickly when they run it off a 2200rpm drill. The key to longevity in these things is definitely low rpms. If you want more air it'd be better to use more pumps.
I've had one of these running as the sole air pump on my aquarium since this video came out. I have it plugged into a power bank that is always charging so in the event of a power outage I get about 3 days runtime before the power bank is depleted. I was originally very sceptical of the longevity of the pump, but a year later at 24h/day run time it's still going strong.
the Same construcrion of the pump is used in my old "Fischertechnik" pneumatic compressor(it was running for more than 200h in the last years. My one Runs always at 9v (0.8 to 1bar max) and I had to clean the Rubber flaps for 2 times now, becourse it cant get the full pressure if there is dust on them (They cant realy close ) I as i had it open i Use a little Bit oil on the Motorshaft. on the Rubber flaps and the other moving Parts i used a little Bit of Silikonfat. Now i much more silent and the pressure and airflow stays the Same. Also the Powerdraw Got decresed a lot. So i like it 😉
@@vylbird8014 Well in this case if you ran it off a PC's USB port, no resistor is needed. It's just those horrible power bank circuits that cant properly figure out whether they should run or not without causing lots of problems.
@@vylbird8014 Maybe not in the earliest versions, but later USB revision certainly were. Those power banks are just not designed and sold for low power devices
Got ten of these. Not only can you use them in emergencies or when shipping fish, it is very valuable as a standard air pump because it is alot more quite than other air pumps. Air pumps are usually noisy!
Clive I absolutely love how you make yourself laugh with Innuendos. Little rubber flaps is just funny no matter what context but to add in shafts sucking, blowing, silicone covers and pinned flaps is priceless.
Thank you for the idea! I got one of these for my fishing bait bucket. Removed the resistor, attached 4 AAA batteries in a pack with a switch, and am now giving it a longevity test. Way smaller and lighter than the pump I was using that took 2 D cell batteries. I'll report back with success or failure.
It lasted 5.5 hours before I turned it off and went to bed. The batteries still test as good after. This is an ideal replacement for my old bait pump. Thanks again!
@@badmonkey0001 I am planning to buy one of these, do you recommend i remove the resistor? i am planning to use it with a power bank for keeping bait alive on saltwater...
@@thomasesr but you can hear a pump running when frothing (domestic units, which is what we're talking about). I've always thought they are just pumping water into a chamber with a hotplate. I think the pumps are probably a bit different to this one, because they are designed for (1) liquid) (2)potentially high temperatures and (3) extremely high pressures. The cheap ones only have one motor that is switched between brew and steam, so the pressure they can work at is several bar.
Huh. I'll keep that in mind next time i see someone throwing out a coffee machine. Might be worth tearing one down if there's a chance that one of these is inside it.
that is an excellent idea and should be done at the end of every video unless already failed. well done and mr big clive please take these comments on board
Thank you so much. This video answered so many questions I had about this pump. I'm building a micro fog machine for electric RC airplanes and needed a micro air pump that would meet certain specs. This video saved me from having to test a bunch of motor combos. This setup will do exactly what I need.
I’m in an electronics of automation class in college and I am learning resistors rn. That resistor is a 5 band resistor. If my colors are correct, that is a 51 Ohm resistor. The first three bands are numbers, the 4th band is a multiplier, and the 5th is for tolerance (black means it has no +/- tolerance.)
I know this is an older video (relatively speaking), but just saw this come up. Aquarium Co-Op actually sells a usb air pump. Several uses in the aquarium trade are: low power outdoor pond aeration, low power alternative for running a sponge filter, transporting live fish in a bucket (larger fish for example would be one benefit or as a breeder transporting to a local store to sell), and as mentioned, a backup way to at least keep water flow going.
I'm using the same pumps for our outdoor "water feature" that somehow got some gold fish in it. It's running off solar power battery citcuit ..... that resistor is getting chopped off tomorrow ! I should add that one of them survived for almost 12 months and only the recent -5 degree C managed to kill it :) Thanks Clive :) 3 months later... Just took another one apart and fixed the motor brushes to keep it working until a replacement arrives. Noticed it works at 30mA only when there is no load on it. If you stick the stone in water it rises to 70mA. This is without the resistor. Still a lot better than without chopping it off :)
Big Clive! Cheers mate fron Texas! You teach me alot, and I have been a commercial high voltage electrician 30+ yrs, 480/277 3 phase...Now, Im into micro-circuitry beyond PLCs! Thank You!!!
Yeah, they really do! I've been playing around with one over the past week. I even hooked it up to an audio amplifier and played music through it (the idea is to make a cheap talk-box). It does reproduce music- not very well but it is audible and recognizable and does work as a cheap talk-box effect!
I live on a narrowboat and am off mains electricity when I travel for four months in the summer. I have four fish tanks onboard and I run five of these pumps on power banks. The pumps run 24/7 and so far this summer they have run for over three months without failing. Brilliant little pumps that can easily replace mains powered units and not just be used for fish transportation etc. Added bonus is they are virtually silent.
My roommate in 1993 had a fish tank. During a multi day power outage we took turns sitting next to the tank blowing air in. This device would have been much appreciated
These are really useful. Last year most of the fish in my aquarium died as the power tripped out when we were on holiday. I have connected one of these to a solar panel I put by the window in case the same happens. Disconnecting the resistor improves the performance no end.
the holes on the back are not intakes. They are breathing wholes, they allow the under-piston space to breathe, so that it doesn't have pressurise the chamber.
Did you try cleaning it? It may not have been at the top of the comments when you wrote this but someone else pointed out that it stops working if it gets dust in the rubber flaps.
These little 3 diaphragm pumps are all over the place in various sizes. They pump the air in automatic sphygmomanometers (blood pressure meters) and in the cheap newer low voltage compressors for medication nebulizers, they are in Keurig style coffee brewers to pressurize the boiler tank with air and push the water out through the K-Cup, and they are even used to pump the fresh water in RVs/campers/travel trailers/caravans and in water pressure booster pumps for reverse osmosis water filter systems.
That's a 3 phase air compressor! I was just taking apart a similar pump used for bait - it takes 2 D batteries. Not having any I was trying to modify it to take AA. To my surprise, the batteries were wired in parallel, only 1.5v total, and the pump pumps as much as yours does with full voltage. The motor is smaller and only has one chamber though. Runs forever on a pair of 1.2v rechargeable AAs, but I didn't measure the current. I've taken several of these apart over the years and never could quite figure out where the air intake is!
@@ryanroberts1104 AA batteries are ultra cheap, not do the D size, even though the regular zinc carbon has the same capacity as the alkaline AA. I bought some battery adaptors so I could use a AA cell in my AVO, as buying a D cell every few years is not great, as I only need one, and it is likely to leak long before it is used up, but AA cells are used all over. Also replaced the 15V battery with a stack of CR1212 cells in a PTFE block , with some brass contacts screwed onto the PTFE to emulate the rectangular 15V battery. Likely to last 20 years in there, and the cells are cheap as well, unlike that AVO battery.
I use those pumps ( the internal motor + diaphragm pump) for my outdoors hydroponics tomatoes with a solar panel, 12v battery and charge controller. They are the only (cheap) ones that seem to enjoy running with a 100% duty cycle 24/7! I tried using larger pumps but they never last, so instead i just use a bunch more of these as they cost practically nothing.
the motors on these things are usually from old coffee machine frothers, so that probably explains why they last so long compared to the crappily engineered bigger ones.
Your comment it's old buy here's my 2cents: I have hydro/aero tomatoes and I bet that you'll cut your electric bill like A LOT running a diaphragm pump to irrigate the roots in the air, instead of having a water bed+ injecting air continuously so they don't suffocate. They'll grow faster too.
Colin Newman Only if you have a tiny CNC router/mill. Be cheaper to use a small CNC laser to ablate away a solder resist, which is probably more accurate and could also be used for a solder mask.
@@rpavlik1 I have one of that 50€ Neje lasers. It sounds terrible when homing (the axis just smash in the end for a few seconds), but for small surfaces its perfect.
You can use it in aquarium generally too, not just as a backup or travel unit... it’s a little less powerful than full size units but MUCH quieter and sufficient for small aquaria. Should I remove the resistor if running off a normal USB supply (no battery)?
I think it's called a swashplate pump; fairly common in hydraulic systems, though running much higher pressures. Interestingly, some hydraulic motors also use this to take compressed fluid and produce rotary motion from it. Though, the construction is slightly different, rather than an eccentric drive, they use two plates parallel but at an angle to the axis of rotation, and the pistons align the plates with ball and socket joints on the driven (load) end, and fluid intake / outlet split. Particularly handy as you also get a universal joint built into the motor.
Hi Clive, I have just pulled exactly the same pump out of an old faulty blood pressure meter (battery leakage damage). The one I pulled from the meter also came “other goodies” including a miniature 6V air solenoid valve and a pressure relief valve.
It occurs to me that, if the current draw is low enough, you could get one of those Dollar Tree (or Poundland, etc... I live in the US, plz don't judge lol) solar pathway lights and replace the LED with one of these. Obviously a little circuit trickery would be necessary to make it run continuously, since the pathway lights generally turn off in daylight... and of course a bigger battery would be in order as well. If you then completely sealed the motor and the mechanical connection from motor to pump, so water absolutely couldn't get into the motor, you'd have a submersible pond pump for an incredibly low cost overall... and with a few bits, here and there, of outdoor rated plastic (or stuff that isn't, such as polypropylene food containers, but covered in something that is, like a cheap tarpaulin or UV-resistant black plastic sheet for the garden, if you can get it in non-perforated form), along with a bit of rock and some cheap plants... hey, water garden on a "the rent is too **** high" (which it always is :-/ ) kinda budget. I may have to do that myself someday. I'm not so great with plants, to say the least (I have stories... ohhh, believe me, I have stories!) but, hey, if they water themselves... ;)
I love my koi pond. Started in 1993 with a 190gal Now Up to 7,500gal. But Now My Father took it over And they Are His Babies 😂 Good Luck in the Future with A Water garden/pond project..✌️
You would want to make sure your vapor is clean though, no nicotine or flavorings. Not sure if VG/PG alone leaves residue, but I would assume it does before going and trying without research first.
Well Clive. I have been looking for one of these to use on my scroll saw to blow the saw dust away. Scroll saw have a bellows pump that run off the arm as the blade runs, but they put out enough air to remove the dust. This one would work perfect. Just need to hook it to the main off/on switch. Thanks for the reminder.
I have an almost identical pump that's ment for water instead of air. The only difference is that it has a second intake nozzle on the front, as a result it has a slightly different valve setup but apart from that it's the same (though it's a lot more powerful and A LOT louder when pumping air). I'll check if it also has those passages that this one uses for the intake.
I'd be interested in seeing it at lower voltages with the rubber condom installed. It might reduce the air flow. When you come right down to it, at 1.5V it made plenty of air for a 1 gallon (4 liter) fish tank.
Just found your channel - as an electronic numpty I envy your knowledge - but excited by the knowledge I will gain by watching your channel - reverse engineering at its best ! Thank you !
I've got one of these air pumps disassembled on my desk right now. It's a really clever design! If you put the end of the hose in your mouth, you can make talk-box sounds! :) Also, the motor windings measure 3.6 Ω.
These are sold at Aquarium Co-op! they use them for transporting fish--say you are buying a $40 fish, you don't wanna just slap it in a bag, you wanna have a container and the air pump makes sure the water stays good and oxygenated. They're also good for live bait or for power failure if you've got a system with no plants in it. I use a little USB piezo one that's near-silent for my fish tank(because it's in an area near the living room). And since they're so cheap if you're setting up a snail tank or something else without gravel and the like, these are cheap, you can hook several up, and put in a sponge filter with these hooked up to them.
How much pressure do they operate under? I'm always wary of little pumps that put out heaps of bubbles in a glass but once the airstone is >0.5m deep in a tank slow to a trickle or even stop. Cheers.
There are a lot of impressive things in modern consumer electronics. But one of the things that consistently surprises me the most is what can be done by a simple DC motor like this.
I took one of those air pumps, hooked it up to a Lipo battery, connected the output of the airpump to a e-cig atomizer that uses MT3 coils filled with straight vegetable glycerin. And now I have a pocket smoke/fog machine. It can fill an 8x12' room with a light haze in about a 30 seconds and a fog thick enough to see laser beams in about a minute.
I guess the motor is a typical DC brushed motor, which creates some interesting high voltage spikes as the commutator disconnects, so I wonder if the resistor is there to suppress those voltage spikes. A capacitor would have been easier and more reliable so perhaps not. Either way, I don't think I would risk it putting noise back down the USB 5V line to a PC. A remarkably efficient wee beastie though.
The capacitor that is usually across any USB supply somewhere would probably be enough to get rid of any danger. It's also only a few mA, so even worst-case the energy those high voltage spikes have wouldnt be massive. But yes, a (10uF 50V ceramic) capacitor across the motor would be a good idea.
Make 3 holes with 3mm drill on bottom stage, it will give a faint noise but doubling the bubles and make it more more efficient. Mine work with Li-Ion 2200mAh and draw 35mA before, and after make holes, it just draw 25mA with enormous amount of bubble for my Red Cherry shrimp. So I decided to drop the Li-Ion voltage with 2 silicone diodes in series (1N4007 salvaged from CFL). It dropping voltage about 1.2V and automatically lowering current consumption to 20mA and the bubble just right for my shrimps in the aquarium. For many people it just neat and bad idea, but for me efficiency is number one. Because of it I can supply the oxygen for my shrimps with single 2200mAh Li-Ion for very long time, and during day small solar panel charging the battery so it absolutely off grid for me. Greetings from Jakarta, Indonesia 🇮🇩
if i would have ever thought of that pump mechanism, i would have thought it wouldn't be power efficiant enough for any pocket size pump, but it's actually really genious in mu eyes :)
The resistor is there to reduce the EMF back feed when the motor stops. In this application, it probably isn't important, but it is a generic setup so on the blood pressure application it might be more important. But for a USB-powered application, I would hope that something in your power supply would protect it from the noise this motor will generate. Power it through an oscilloscope and see what that tri-pimple membrane will do
@@bigclivedotcom Such a large resistors for a menial task, it should only draw about a half watt but that looks like a large two watt or maybe even a three watt resistor. But one watt resistors tend to cost more than three or cheap large-body twos (in bulk), so maybe it's just a cost measure. I've got one pump very similar to that for supplying nitrogen to our wire dessicator at work, and it also has a large resistors but it runs on two NiCad AAs when it isn't plugged in (wheeling it from storage to the lab). I never thought about it before, I always assumed it was EMF protection for the battery charging circuit. And it wasn't even built in house. Strange. I'll look at the value.
@@bigclivedotcom Let's remember it's under-rating or de-rating if you're using bigger resistors, cables etc. See BS7671 Table 52.2 Derating Cables in Thermal Insulation.
I would assume the resistor is either to increase the voltage dropped across the cable and thus slow down the motor or a poorly conceived back EMF protection device. If so, not sure why they didn’t just use a diode, maybe they got a good deal on 2W resistors that day in the Shenzhen? Also not that it matters with the symmetrical design but looks to me like they're running it in reverse, red dot on the motor isn't connected to the red wire?
I just wanted to say I've been using mine as the primary air stone pump in a 5-gallon aquarium for almost a year straight. I'm honestly surprised it's still running (and quietly, too!) At this rate, even if it dies, they're cheap enough that I'll just keep buying them.
I am also using this type of USB air pump for my fish tank ( primarily). I am from India. I buy them from Amazon seller who procures them from China. They only work for 3 months or less. The DC motor gets stuck. I directly connect it to main using a USB power adapter
Are you sure that component was a resistor? I've seen several inductors in that package, size and colouring. Saying that not sure what use an inductor across a dc motor would be as the obvious choice for noise suppression would be a capacitor.
The resistor may be there to reduce any negative transients to the battery. I would bet these would work great in series of 3 with the resistor across the first two on 12v.
This pump looks like the ones used in blood pressure monitoring devices too. I've made some research today to find out how this pumps might work, without takin one apart myself. Thank you ! By the way - can't believe they put a parallel resistor in there, that seemingly does nothing then make it consuming 4 times the energy.
I left to sign for a package while watching this video. My 6 year old boy was playing the new minecraft dungeons game on the other pc while I did this for like 5 mins. When I got back he was watching the bubbles in the glass laughing his ass off. Stay safe everyone. Much love from Au.
Those little pumps are great, make nice solder suckers as well as hot air pens. Very nice plant waterers too, the one I bought it used as a water dispenser, it plonks on top of a jug, contains a battery and usb charger.
@M Harris We have one of those pistol type desoldering guns. It has a glass tube that one stuffs some balled up cotton wool into which catches the stuff. The tube then gets cleaned with alcohol to remove the resin and the cotton replaced every so often. Works well.
You could estimate the airflow rate by filling a litre bottle with water while immersed in a large bowl of water. Invert the bottle, keeping the open lid of the bottle under the surface. Then use the pump to bubble air into it and time how long a litre takes to provide 1 litre.
A bus company did build an engine like this, but didn't put it into production. It was very compact for its power. Wankel engines have a figure-of-eight shaped chamber with a triangular (with curved sides) wobbling rotor. Trochoids!
I use that sort of pump (bought without case) as a solar powered aerator with battery storage and voltage dropper for a pond. I'm running it at around 3.5v where it draws around 25mA (IIRC). One of these will run continuously for a couple of years before they start to fail with brush wear. Great little pumps outputting a high pressure. I think the 'offficial' use of these is in coffee machines and blood pressure monitors etc.
@@indopendent1718 Definitely brushed; standard sprung metal brushes. They just last a long time if you run them below their rated voltage. I was amazed at how long.
With that resistor removed it looks like a great candidate for running off a small solar cell with a couple of NiHM... Clive, cross-breed it with an LED garden lamp!
Would provide air at night, just right because then the plants have stopped making oxygen as well, so the fish would be happy. Might need one of the bigger solar cells and a bigger battery (or 3 in parallel) to run all night, but will work, and you can run a LED in parallel as well to get a little light out as well.
These things are extremely good, superior to much larger and more expensive aquarium pumps on the market! I use these as my main pumps due to just how much quieter and more efficient they are.
I have a couple of usb power backups that don't do mains passthrough, though they do allow solar passthrough. This would be perfect for those because as soon as the mains went down it would power the pump. Since they are also solar you could set it in the window and it would give you a little more time.
Huh. I have four of these on my 40gal aquarium. Used exactly as stated. If mains fail, UPS keeps the heater going, and I have a homemade arduino setup detecting regular filter failure and switching these on from a 20,000 mah pack integrated with the arduino so no annoying auto power off. That little resistor removal will let the four of them run about five times longer. Great little discovery. It's just cheap eBay insurance that I can stay at work, or whatever, and not worry about the tank. It's worth noting I also have a little water circulator (little propeller in a cage) on the same circuit as these to keep the water moving while being aerated. Maybe there's a resistor in that too. I may have to do some exploratory surgery.
I use one of these for a little hydroponics setup in a noodle pot. I grow a chilli plant, it's small but nearly 2 years old. I can't wait to see inside. I almost forgot to add I run it from a solar panel when I can.
6:22 I hate to correct you but that was an eccentric shaft. Not concentric.
Hate to correct you but that was an eccentric comment.
*@Frank Jackson* I don’t mind correcting you at all: he’s a pedant, not an eccentric. :)
So all these years I should have been thinking of Clive as being a bit concentric?
Such an excentric comment
you guys talk in circles
Was hoping you would wind it up to the full 12v
My thought, the motor is rated 3-12V
Missed opportunity
@@thomasesr Its strange to see people that you recognise from MaTn live streams on other videos :-) Hi
I was like TURN IT UP!!!
Please, crank it up to 12 volts and then pop it at whatever voltage...
From led bulbs to air pumps, I always seem to come back to your videos even though I search for something completely different. You explain well so thank you!
Rubber flaps? I barely know 'er!
Most of my dates are like an illicit gambling bar:
liquor in the front, poker in the rear!
Rubher flaps?
Who have you been talking to?
@@zachbruner481 I should have been so lucky.
Pinned flaps?
I hear alot of girls are doing that these days....
Why didn't you go up to 12V? I wanted to see bubbles! :)
Hey how
Io
RPMs tend to destroy most rubber pumps. They sell self-priming ones for use on a drill and if you look at the directions you see it says to use like 1200rpm and if you look at the comments you'll see a bunch of people complaining how their pump died so quickly when they run it off a 2200rpm drill. The key to longevity in these things is definitely low rpms. If you want more air it'd be better to use more pumps.
@Michael Bishop I think the "not" is superfluous. (Mr A pedant of Harlow)
I think you may prefer photonicinduction to bigclive.com
I've had one of these running as the sole air pump on my aquarium since this video came out. I have it plugged into a power bank that is always charging so in the event of a power outage I get about 3 days runtime before the power bank is depleted. I was originally very sceptical of the longevity of the pump, but a year later at 24h/day run time it's still going strong.
the Same construcrion of the pump is used in my old "Fischertechnik" pneumatic compressor(it was running for more than 200h in the last years. My one Runs always at 9v (0.8 to 1bar max) and I had to clean the Rubber flaps for 2 times now, becourse it cant get the full pressure if there is dust on them (They cant realy close ) I as i had it open i Use a little Bit oil on the Motorshaft. on the Rubber flaps and the other moving Parts i used a little Bit of Silikonfat. Now i much more silent and the pressure and airflow stays the Same. Also the Powerdraw Got decresed a lot. So i like it 😉
Welcome to 2020, where appliances have resistors specifically to waste energy _when on battery power_
Because the most common means of supplying power now is via an interface that was never designed to supply more than the most trivial amount of power.
@@vylbird8014 Well in this case if you ran it off a PC's USB port, no resistor is needed. It's just those horrible power bank circuits that cant properly figure out whether they should run or not without causing lots of problems.
Same with lightbulbs, so they don’t glow when the lightswitch is off.
Or nightlights that actually use more power when “off”
@@vylbird8014 Maybe not in the earliest versions, but later USB revision certainly were. Those power banks are just not designed and sold for low power devices
Yeah, really stupid design.
Got ten of these. Not only can you use them in emergencies or when shipping fish, it is very valuable as a standard air pump because it is alot more quite than other air pumps. Air pumps are usually noisy!
My Tetra Whisper 60g is practically soundless
Clive I absolutely love how you make yourself laugh with Innuendos.
Little rubber flaps is just funny no matter what context but to add in shafts sucking, blowing, silicone covers and pinned flaps is priceless.
I'm just waiting for a cow joke.
Thank you for the idea! I got one of these for my fishing bait bucket. Removed the resistor, attached 4 AAA batteries in a pack with a switch, and am now giving it a longevity test. Way smaller and lighter than the pump I was using that took 2 D cell batteries. I'll report back with success or failure.
It lasted 5.5 hours before I turned it off and went to bed. The batteries still test as good after. This is an ideal replacement for my old bait pump. Thanks again!
@@badmonkey0001 I am planning to buy one of these, do you recommend i remove the resistor? i am planning to use it with a power bank for keeping bait alive on saltwater...
@@Bpreppye Definitely remove the resistor. First thing I do.
I've bought a few of these. Some are sold as "used" and seem to have been recovered from coffee machines where they're used as frothers.
@DARK
So, link to the video?
A espresso machine uses pure vapour from a presure vessel to heat up and froth milk.
@@thomasesr but you can hear a pump running when frothing (domestic units, which is what we're talking about). I've always thought they are just pumping water into a chamber with a hotplate. I think the pumps are probably a bit different to this one, because they are designed for (1) liquid) (2)potentially high temperatures and (3) extremely high pressures. The cheap ones only have one motor that is switched between brew and steam, so the pressure they can work at is several bar.
Huh. I'll keep that in mind next time i see someone throwing out a coffee machine. Might be worth tearing one down if there's a chance that one of these is inside it.
I believe they are also used in the powder fed coffee machines to blow air threw the powder tanks to keep things flowing.
would have liked to see it run at its maximum rated voltage. i think 12 volts it said on the label
I would like to see at what factor of the maximum rated voltage the magic smoke gets pumped out. These are data-driven times.
that is an excellent idea and should be done at the end of every video unless already failed. well done and mr big clive please take these comments on board
Thank you so much. This video answered so many questions I had about this pump. I'm building a micro fog machine for electric RC airplanes and needed a micro air pump that would meet certain specs. This video saved me from having to test a bunch of motor combos. This setup will do exactly what I need.
Looks an excellent pump - little to go wrong and a great little motor that even starts at 1V.
I’m in an electronics of automation class in college and I am learning resistors rn. That resistor is a 5 band resistor. If my colors are correct, that is a 51 Ohm resistor. The first three bands are numbers, the 4th band is a multiplier, and the 5th is for tolerance (black means it has no +/- tolerance.)
Fishy Fun Fact: It's not the bubbles coming up through the water that adds air, it's the movement in the surface of the water they cause that does it.
this can be verified very easily. To make it so that the bubbles do not shake the surface. Has anyone tried this?
I know this is an older video (relatively speaking), but just saw this come up. Aquarium Co-Op actually sells a usb air pump. Several uses in the aquarium trade are: low power outdoor pond aeration, low power alternative for running a sponge filter, transporting live fish in a bucket (larger fish for example would be one benefit or as a breeder transporting to a local store to sell), and as mentioned, a backup way to at least keep water flow going.
That was a really cool stroboscopic effect! Almost like you had a high speed camera.
Now this was a good recommendation from TH-cam.
I am about to buy some of these.
So I am glad you made this video.
Nice to see how it works
I love my pinned flaps with air holes, also the vibrating is a nice option too.
Don't vibrate on your flaps though
@@CrazeUK Lol made that mistake once... Still studder sometimes.
I'm using the same pumps for our outdoor "water feature" that somehow got some gold fish in it. It's running off solar power battery citcuit ..... that resistor is getting chopped off tomorrow !
I should add that one of them survived for almost 12 months and only the recent -5 degree C managed to kill it :)
Thanks Clive :)
3 months later... Just took another one apart and fixed the motor brushes to keep it working until a replacement arrives. Noticed it works at 30mA only when there is no load on it. If you stick the stone in water it rises to 70mA. This is without the resistor. Still a lot better than without chopping it off :)
Ooh, hey, an "X" rated Big Clive video! - Steady laddie, you'll be getting censored!
Big Clive! Cheers mate fron Texas! You teach me alot, and I have been a commercial high voltage electrician 30+ yrs, 480/277 3 phase...Now, Im into micro-circuitry beyond PLCs! Thank You!!!
Shove 12 volts into it. I bet that will pump some air then
Yeah, they really do! I've been playing around with one over the past week. I even hooked it up to an audio amplifier and played music through it (the idea is to make a cheap talk-box). It does reproduce music- not very well but it is audible and recognizable and does work as a cheap talk-box effect!
@@LiLi-or2gm Cool.
I live on a narrowboat and am off mains electricity when I travel for four months in the summer. I have four fish tanks onboard and I run five of these pumps on power banks.
The pumps run 24/7 and so far this summer they have run for over three months without failing.
Brilliant little pumps that can easily replace mains powered units and not just be used for fish transportation etc. Added bonus is they are virtually silent.
My roommate in 1993 had a fish tank. During a multi day power outage we took turns sitting next to the tank blowing air in. This device would have been much appreciated
all you're doing is blowing more co2 into the tank lol
Works like an RV water pump, just much smaller and pumps air. Thanks for explaining the need for that resistor. Love your channel.
That is an excentric shaft and no 12 V test?
My thoughts exactly, I was hoping for a ramp up to 12V
*eccentric
@@iainmason9034 You are correct, it is not a plant.
These are really useful. Last year most of the fish in my aquarium died as the power tripped out when we were on holiday. I have connected one of these to a solar panel I put by the window in case the same happens. Disconnecting the resistor improves the performance no end.
Everyone wants to see 12V. I myself want 20V
I want 240 lol
240. Let the smoke out.
Start at 3 and go until it welds itself 😂
Let's do a miniature Photonicinduction video lol!
Basement Science yes yes and yes
the holes on the back are not intakes.
They are breathing wholes, they allow the under-piston space to breathe, so that it doesn't have pressurise the chamber.
Amazed it actually started up on just over a volt! Wow. Great video.
I’ve gone through 3 of these in 6 month. Really quiet but don’t last long. I don’t think the motors are designed for constant running.
Did the motors die, or did they stop pumping? I can see that eccentric shaft wallering out pretty quickly.
I'd like to run at a lower voltage like 4.1v 24/7
I have one running in a small aquarium for almost a year, guess I got lucky!
More than a year on first and everything is lasting fine
Did you try cleaning it? It may not have been at the top of the comments when you wrote this but someone else pointed out that it stops working if it gets dust in the rubber flaps.
These little 3 diaphragm pumps are all over the place in various sizes. They pump the air in automatic sphygmomanometers (blood pressure meters) and in the cheap newer low voltage compressors for medication nebulizers, they are in Keurig style coffee brewers to pressurize the boiler tank with air and push the water out through the K-Cup, and they are even used to pump the fresh water in RVs/campers/travel trailers/caravans and in water pressure booster pumps for reverse osmosis water filter systems.
That's a 3 phase air compressor!
I was just taking apart a similar pump used for bait - it takes 2 D batteries. Not having any I was trying to modify it to take AA. To my surprise, the batteries were wired in parallel, only 1.5v total, and the pump pumps as much as yours does with full voltage. The motor is smaller and only has one chamber though. Runs forever on a pair of 1.2v rechargeable AAs, but I didn't measure the current.
I've taken several of these apart over the years and never could quite figure out where the air intake is!
The problem with 2D batteries is that they're always flat.
@@westinthewest That's why I changed them to 2x AA. Works the same with one battery as two, but obviously lasts longer...
@@ryanroberts1104 woosh!
@@ryanroberts1104 AA batteries are ultra cheap, not do the D size, even though the regular zinc carbon has the same capacity as the alkaline AA. I bought some battery adaptors so I could use a AA cell in my AVO, as buying a D cell every few years is not great, as I only need one, and it is likely to leak long before it is used up, but AA cells are used all over. Also replaced the 15V battery with a stack of CR1212 cells in a PTFE block , with some brass contacts screwed onto the PTFE to emulate the rectangular 15V battery. Likely to last 20 years in there, and the cells are cheap as well, unlike that AVO battery.
I use those pumps ( the internal motor + diaphragm pump) for my outdoors hydroponics tomatoes with a solar panel, 12v battery and charge controller. They are the only (cheap) ones that seem to enjoy running with a 100% duty cycle 24/7! I tried using larger pumps but they never last, so instead i just use a bunch more of these as they cost practically nothing.
the motors on these things are usually from old coffee machine frothers, so that probably explains why they last so long compared to the crappily engineered bigger ones.
Your comment it's old buy here's my 2cents: I have hydro/aero tomatoes and I bet that you'll cut your electric bill like A LOT running a diaphragm pump to irrigate the roots in the air, instead of having a water bed+ injecting air continuously so they don't suffocate. They'll grow faster too.
That pump would be perfect for agitating PCB etchant.
It's so much easier to use a tiny CNC to machine the PCB now.
Colin Newman
Only if you have a tiny CNC router/mill. Be cheaper to use a small CNC laser to ablate away a solder resist, which is probably more accurate and could also be used for a solder mask.
That's exactly what I thought. I might go looking for one.
i just set my tiny cnc up to go back and forth a few hundred times, no need of a fancy air pump to agitate the ferric chloride
@@rpavlik1 I have one of that 50€ Neje lasers. It sounds terrible when homing (the axis just smash in the end for a few seconds), but for small surfaces its perfect.
You can use it in aquarium generally too, not just as a backup or travel unit... it’s a little less powerful than full size units but MUCH quieter and sufficient for small aquaria. Should I remove the resistor if running off a normal USB supply (no battery)?
I think it's called a swashplate pump; fairly common in hydraulic systems, though running much higher pressures. Interestingly, some hydraulic motors also use this to take compressed fluid and produce rotary motion from it.
Though, the construction is slightly different, rather than an eccentric drive, they use two plates parallel but at an angle to the axis of rotation, and the pistons align the plates with ball and socket joints on the driven (load) end, and fluid intake / outlet split. Particularly handy as you also get a universal joint built into the motor.
Cool i had a look at Google images. 👍🏻
I think you mean pressurised fluid, compressed fluid is a physical impossibility!
@@cambridgemart2075 compressed fluid is totally possible, however, compressed liquid is not; so I'll give you partial credit :)
@@carneeki But it wouldn't be a hydraulic system if the fluid was gaseous!
@@cambridgemart2075 that's why I gave you partial credit.
Hi Clive, I have just pulled exactly the same pump out of an old faulty blood pressure meter (battery leakage damage). The one I pulled from the meter also came “other goodies” including a miniature 6V air solenoid valve and a pressure relief valve.
I took mine too from a blood pressure machine, mine was a professional
It occurs to me that, if the current draw is low enough, you could get one of those Dollar Tree (or Poundland, etc... I live in the US, plz don't judge lol) solar pathway lights and replace the LED with one of these. Obviously a little circuit trickery would be necessary to make it run continuously, since the pathway lights generally turn off in daylight... and of course a bigger battery would be in order as well.
If you then completely sealed the motor and the mechanical connection from motor to pump, so water absolutely couldn't get into the motor, you'd have a submersible pond pump for an incredibly low cost overall... and with a few bits, here and there, of outdoor rated plastic (or stuff that isn't, such as polypropylene food containers, but covered in something that is, like a cheap tarpaulin or UV-resistant black plastic sheet for the garden, if you can get it in non-perforated form), along with a bit of rock and some cheap plants... hey, water garden on a "the rent is too **** high" (which it always is :-/ ) kinda budget.
I may have to do that myself someday. I'm not so great with plants, to say the least (I have stories... ohhh, believe me, I have stories!) but, hey, if they water themselves... ;)
I love my koi pond. Started in 1993 with a 190gal Now Up to 7,500gal. But Now My Father took it over And they Are His Babies 😂 Good Luck in the Future with A Water garden/pond project..✌️
Just add soap, and you can have your very own foaming garden lights!
I was thinking similar but for an off grid deep water culture hydro set up.
3:20 Notice the current draw increase when blocking the output.
mmm, this with a vape pen and I could finally have a slow-smoke generator to visualize airflow over heatsinks & such 😳
Definitely I use them in rc boat an trains
You would want to make sure your vapor is clean though, no nicotine or flavorings. Not sure if VG/PG alone leaves residue, but I would assume it does before going and trying without research first.
@@progenitor_amborella wd 40 works well 😂 smells lovely as well
use an ultrasonic mist maker instead of the vape
I'm glad you looked at these I've been trying to come up with a economical air pump for my fish tanks the comments are inspiring AC pump etc
Aquarium co-op sells these pumps but I think they may be upgraded for durability
What is the load with it at the bottom of the aquarium?
4:41 Definitely almost gave my laptop a good beer based baptism!
I want to hear BigClive say "Rubber Flaps" more.
Well Clive. I have been looking for one of these to use on my scroll saw to blow the saw dust away. Scroll saw have a bellows pump that run off the arm as the blade runs, but they put out enough air to remove the dust. This one would work perfect. Just need to hook it to the main off/on switch.
Thanks for the reminder.
Ditto on the 12v, but I would also love to see it with as well as without the silicon wrap to see how affects its ability to move air.
I have an almost identical pump that's ment for water instead of air. The only difference is that it has a second intake nozzle on the front, as a result it has a slightly different valve setup but apart from that it's the same (though it's a lot more powerful and A LOT louder when pumping air). I'll check if it also has those passages that this one uses for the intake.
I'd be interested in seeing it at lower voltages with the rubber condom installed. It might reduce the air flow.
When you come right down to it, at 1.5V it made plenty of air for a 1 gallon (4 liter) fish tank.
Just found your channel - as an electronic numpty I envy your knowledge - but excited by the knowledge I will gain by watching your channel - reverse engineering at its best ! Thank you !
I've got one of these air pumps disassembled on my desk right now. It's a really clever design! If you put the end of the hose in your mouth, you can make talk-box sounds! :) Also, the motor windings measure 3.6 Ω.
That's DC resistance, but 0.036A at 5V indicates it has an actual running impedance more like 140 ohms.
Running under load of 12-14" of water will change load current quite a bit
That motor is incredible!!
Hey, that's the electric supercharger for my Kia Rio.
lol
I actually wanna buy this, this video make me more confident
"3-12V" I'm unfulfilled!
These are sold at Aquarium Co-op! they use them for transporting fish--say you are buying a $40 fish, you don't wanna just slap it in a bag, you wanna have a container and the air pump makes sure the water stays good and oxygenated. They're also good for live bait or for power failure if you've got a system with no plants in it. I use a little USB piezo one that's near-silent for my fish tank(because it's in an area near the living room). And since they're so cheap if you're setting up a snail tank or something else without gravel and the like, these are cheap, you can hook several up, and put in a sponge filter with these hooked up to them.
How much pressure do they operate under? I'm always wary of little pumps that put out heaps of bubbles in a glass but once the airstone is >0.5m deep in a tank slow to a trickle or even stop. Cheers.
I was expecting 12v and some dish soap in the water. What a disappointment.
A powered Foamy Whoofler™!
There are a lot of impressive things in modern consumer electronics. But one of the things that consistently surprises me the most is what can be done by a simple DC motor like this.
Interesting, looks like a miniature car ac compressor.
It is similar in a way
I think car compressors mostly use "G" compressor type -> th-cam.com/video/IiYfMGssd9I/w-d-xo.html
Looks similar indeed. th-cam.com/video/SxqyfB83tSo/w-d-xo.html
I took one of those air pumps, hooked it up to a Lipo battery, connected the output of the airpump to a e-cig atomizer that uses MT3 coils filled with straight vegetable glycerin. And now I have a pocket smoke/fog machine. It can fill an 8x12' room with a light haze in about a 30 seconds and a fog thick enough to see laser beams in about a minute.
I guess the motor is a typical DC brushed motor, which creates some interesting high voltage spikes as the commutator disconnects, so I wonder if the resistor is there to suppress those voltage spikes. A capacitor would have been easier and more reliable so perhaps not. Either way, I don't think I would risk it putting noise back down the USB 5V line to a PC. A remarkably efficient wee beastie though.
The capacitor that is usually across any USB supply somewhere would probably be enough to get rid of any danger. It's also only a few mA, so even worst-case the energy those high voltage spikes have wouldnt be massive. But yes, a (10uF 50V ceramic) capacitor across the motor would be a good idea.
Make 3 holes with 3mm drill on bottom stage, it will give a faint noise but doubling the bubles and make it more more efficient.
Mine work with Li-Ion 2200mAh and draw 35mA before, and after make holes, it just draw 25mA with enormous amount of bubble for my Red Cherry shrimp.
So I decided to drop the Li-Ion voltage with 2 silicone diodes in series (1N4007 salvaged from CFL).
It dropping voltage about 1.2V and automatically lowering current consumption to 20mA and the bubble just right for my shrimps in the aquarium.
For many people it just neat and bad idea, but for me efficiency is number one. Because of it I can supply the oxygen for my shrimps with single 2200mAh Li-Ion for very long time, and during day small solar panel charging the battery so it absolutely off grid for me.
Greetings from Jakarta, Indonesia 🇮🇩
Great idea! but I don't know where to put the holes? do you have a photo?
No water splashing everywhere at 12v? =(
:(
:(
:(
it's MDF for his bench, so it would take up the water really quickly and swell.
Even moooore vooooolts.
if i would have ever thought of that pump mechanism, i would have thought it wouldn't be power efficiant enough for any pocket size pump, but it's actually really genious in mu eyes :)
By the way: The pump current consumption will be reliant on the backpressure so deeper water means more current.
Yep, he blocked the output with his finger at some point and the current more than doubled. Still not bad.
The resistor is there to reduce the EMF back feed when the motor stops. In this application, it probably isn't important, but it is a generic setup so on the blood pressure application it might be more important. But for a USB-powered application, I would hope that something in your power supply would protect it from the noise this motor will generate. Power it through an oscilloscope and see what that tri-pimple membrane will do
It's normally a diode for back-EMF clamping. Why did they use a large resistor here?
The resistor is to keep the output of some power banks on, as many switch off if the current is less than 100mA.
@@bigclivedotcom Such a large resistors for a menial task, it should only draw about a half watt but that looks like a large two watt or maybe even a three watt resistor. But one watt resistors tend to cost more than three or cheap large-body twos (in bulk), so maybe it's just a cost measure.
I've got one pump very similar to that for supplying nitrogen to our wire dessicator at work, and it also has a large resistors but it runs on two NiCad AAs when it isn't plugged in (wheeling it from storage to the lab). I never thought about it before, I always assumed it was EMF protection for the battery charging circuit. And it wasn't even built in house. Strange. I'll look at the value.
@@MattThompsonOnGoogle I always like to over-rate resistors. That way the surface area is larger and therefore cooler.
@@bigclivedotcom Let's remember it's under-rating or de-rating if you're using bigger resistors, cables etc. See BS7671 Table 52.2 Derating Cables in Thermal Insulation.
I would assume the resistor is either to increase the voltage dropped across the cable and thus slow down the motor or a poorly conceived back EMF protection device. If so, not sure why they didn’t just use a diode, maybe they got a good deal on 2W resistors that day in the Shenzhen?
Also not that it matters with the symmetrical design but looks to me like they're running it in reverse, red dot on the motor isn't connected to the red wire?
@WizardTim, no it's there to keep 'intelligent' power banks turned on.
I just wanted to say I've been using mine as the primary air stone pump in a 5-gallon aquarium for almost a year straight. I'm honestly surprised it's still running (and quietly, too!) At this rate, even if it dies, they're cheap enough that I'll just keep buying them.
I am also using this type of USB air pump for my fish tank ( primarily). I am from India. I buy them from Amazon seller who procures them from China. They only work for 3 months or less. The DC motor gets stuck. I directly connect it to main using a USB power adapter
You could use it to bubble your drink on this nights stream...maybe exchange air by something different :)
But type of rubber disqualified this device even for 🐟 because black rubber mean lowered quality, no suitable for saturated drinking water
@@MichaelZP1 It's only pumping the air, not water, so not sure it would be much of a problem.
This is exactly what I was searching for. Thank you.
A continuous Foamy whoofler!
This comment needs more likes.
Only if fed with combustible gas or oil based whoofler foam liquid.
@@bigclivedotcom There are near-identical pumps being sold with an intake port. So that would be an option I guess.
Swash plate pump principle. Offers great flow rate and power control options.
Are you sure that component was a resistor? I've seen several inductors in that package, size and colouring. Saying that not sure what use an inductor across a dc motor would be as the obvious choice for noise suppression would be a capacitor.
Yes, it was definitely a resistor. He measured it at 51 ohms.
Definitely a resistor. And purely to increase the load to hold on smart power banks.
The resistor may be there to reduce any negative transients to the battery. I would bet these would work great in series of 3 with the resistor across the first two on 12v.
I beat Clive to working out the pump resistor value! The gold multiplier on the resistor is 0.1 so 510 x 0.1 = 51 Ohms. Do I get a gold star?
No gold star for you
But a gold ring!
I was surprised Clive did not know that gold ÷10 silver ÷100
As did I, quite surprised he hadn't encountered gold and silver multiplier bands.
Green brown black is 5,1, no multiplier ie 51 ohms, gold band is 5% tolerance
@@FarleyHillBilly YOU win.
This pump looks like the ones used in blood pressure monitoring devices too.
I've made some research today to find out how this pumps might work, without takin one apart myself. Thank you !
By the way - can't believe they put a parallel resistor in there, that seemingly does nothing then make it consuming 4 times the energy.
In case I want to take my goldfish backpacking.
Also suitable for taking goldfish skydiving.
I left to sign for a package while watching this video. My 6 year old boy was playing the new minecraft dungeons game on the other pc while I did this for like 5 mins. When I got back he was watching the bubbles in the glass laughing his ass off.
Stay safe everyone.
Much love from Au.
1:45 circumcision on screen man you gotta censor that kind of thing these days
That's not circumcision, it's normal uncircumcised movement at that timestamp.
Those little pumps are great, make nice solder suckers as well as hot air pens.
Very nice plant waterers too, the one I bought it used as a water dispenser, it plonks on top of a jug, contains a battery and usb charger.
@M Harris We have one of those pistol type desoldering guns. It has a glass tube that one stuffs some balled up cotton wool into which catches the stuff. The tube then gets cleaned with alcohol to remove the resin and the cotton replaced every so often. Works well.
5-1-0 is 51ohms
Gold band is the tolerance... Am I correct?
@@cvr007 yes
You could estimate the airflow rate by filling a litre bottle with water while immersed in a large bowl of water. Invert the bottle, keeping the open lid of the bottle under the surface. Then use the pump to bubble air into it and time how long a litre takes to provide 1 litre.
When the pump was running open, those looked like the pistons in a tiny Wenkel Rotary engines like the one in the Mazda RX cars!
For fuck sakes man. Wankel engines have rotors.
A bus company did build an engine like this, but didn't put it into production. It was very compact for its power.
Wankel engines have a figure-of-eight shaped chamber with a triangular (with curved sides) wobbling rotor. Trochoids!
I use that sort of pump (bought without case) as a solar powered aerator with battery storage and voltage dropper for a pond. I'm running it at around 3.5v where it draws around 25mA (IIRC). One of these will run continuously for a couple of years before they start to fail with brush wear. Great little pumps outputting a high pressure.
I think the 'offficial' use of these is in coffee machines and blood pressure monitors etc.
So..what do you think this motor is BLDC? brushless or brushed?
@@indopendent1718 Definitely brushed; standard sprung metal brushes. They just last a long time if you run them below their rated voltage. I was amazed at how long.
With that resistor removed it looks like a great candidate for running off a small solar cell with a couple of NiHM...
Clive, cross-breed it with an LED garden lamp!
Would provide air at night, just right because then the plants have stopped making oxygen as well, so the fish would be happy. Might need one of the bigger solar cells and a bigger battery (or 3 in parallel) to run all night, but will work, and you can run a LED in parallel as well to get a little light out as well.
Would that even be ethical?
Effective and efficient designers are cool and skilled
WAT NO 12v?!
These things are extremely good, superior to much larger and more expensive aquarium pumps on the market! I use these as my main pumps due to just how much quieter and more efficient they are.
Note that they do have a shorter lifespan than the simpler vibrating diaphragm ones.
@@bigclivedotcom Noted! I've kept the other ones back just in case of a failure anyway.
I have a couple of usb power backups that don't do mains passthrough, though they do allow solar passthrough. This would be perfect for those because as soon as the mains went down it would power the pump. Since they are also solar you could set it in the window and it would give you a little more time.
Huh. I have four of these on my 40gal aquarium. Used exactly as stated. If mains fail, UPS keeps the heater going, and I have a homemade arduino setup detecting regular filter failure and switching these on from a 20,000 mah pack integrated with the arduino so no annoying auto power off. That little resistor removal will let the four of them run about five times longer. Great little discovery.
It's just cheap eBay insurance that I can stay at work, or whatever, and not worry about the tank. It's worth noting I also have a little water circulator (little propeller in a cage) on the same circuit as these to keep the water moving while being aerated. Maybe there's a resistor in that too. I may have to do some exploratory surgery.
the intake air is through the motor via the 3mm hole in the back of the rubber cover. this keeps the motor cool.
thanks! i really need to know what inside of those air pump ! great useful video
Awesome tear down, i have this running my nano shallow tank, connected to a 27000 mah powerbank with pass through charging.
I use one of these for a little hydroponics setup in a noodle pot. I grow a chilli plant, it's small but nearly 2 years old. I can't wait to see inside.
I almost forgot to add I run it from a solar panel when I can.
That is a neat little pump. Good review.
Thank you!
What is that resisor actually for?
It's an extra load to keep "intelligent" power banks awake.