@@greatscottlab well you clearly not know a lot of about devices for cannabis smoking or dabbing and its okay , but the devices like this has been sold for quite a while :)
@@greatscottlab NOPE. I have used the exact same thing you showed in the state of Colorado that came from a headshop bro. It's original use is THC wax
Nah you were using it right someone decided to repurpose it for this use though. That's why it still has a mouth piece and you have to press the button 5 times to turn on so it doesn't turn on in your pocket. I honestly thought it was just a gimmick to get past China's ban on cannabis devices lol but, I think someone was puffing on their pen and came up with this idea to use it.
There are similar products called atomizer and are used to apply a thin layer of rosin on board. Then you power up the board and can detect hot spots(where rosin melts first), which can be a sign of a short circuited component.
That rosin dispenser is definitely also intended for use with rosin extracts from certain plants for inhalant use. The nozzle is clearly a mouth piece. Thought glad to see they would have another use.
@@nathanschultz1440 Exactly. my bet is some cr4ckhead wanted to smoke and found a way to repurpose those outdated "ego T" vape batteries, and later another person took it to the next level and actually made something useful with it like those rosing burner for electronics
Rosin is also another word for solventless thc concentrate that is extracted using heated plates in a press (aka rosin tech), and also is smoked/vaporized out of the same "dispenser". The dispenser was found in smoke shops in the USA probably 10 years ago when concentrates first hit the black market, and became popular around the same time nicotine vapes were just starting to be sold.
@@tommyleegraves423 Googling "rosin" alone has the second link to a guide about the thc concentrate. Farther down an article has it spelled both ways in the same article. It is a proper spelling for it.
@@tommyleegraves423 Rosin is technically a form of resin, however Rosin is a technique to extract thc without adding chemical solvents like butane, propane, and alcohol. The simplest form of this technique is smashing cannabis plants wrapped in parchment paper between the plates of a common hair straightener then collecting the concentrate on a cold surface so the oil solidifies making it less sticky.
I bought the same hot plate thingy and can confirm everything you said. First thing was also taking it apart, especially to check if the PE wire was connected to the case (which it was).
2 people confirming that the earth wiring is correct is definitely a good thing, you never know after all with that kind of stuff if the build quality will be consistent.
Did any of you try to fix the hotspot with a sheet of copper between the hotplate and PCB? Not sure if it helps, but i would guess a few millimeter thick plate might actually spread the heat more evenly. Not sure if even some thin copper sheets that they use for roofing is enough, but i'm sure if you ask at a roofing company for a 10x10cm offcut they might help you out.
According to the voice synthesis module's manual, you need to choose serial port 1 using the jumpers (which you have already done right in the video). Then refer to section 2.3 to exit the default serial passthrough mode by using any of the two methods: 2.3.1, pull-down pin PB2/ES0 for 50ms-2s; 2.3.2, send "+++" to it (the module will return "a" if it received that correctly), send "a" in under 1 second (the module will return "OK"), it will fail if you took longer than 1 sec to send the "a". You can send AT commands after that, but if you send only "at", it will go back to passthrough mode.
If I remember correctly, the baud rate in the data sheet for most Ali express products is plain wrong, usually it is just 9600. Another thing, for AT commands you usually need to do a command mode setup (specific pin pulled high as example) and some sequence of bytes to trigger that byte mode of operation.
@@mohamedtalaatharb2441 First thing I wondered about was "command mode" as this is extremely common with modems that you have to switch between "Command mode and Data mode" (See Wiki article of same title for more)
The buck boost converter really caught my attention. Based on the design and product description, something really cool is that itll operate in both buck and boost, meaning your voltage can start above the output voltage and drop below, but still work. This was really useful for me when i had to run a 3.3v Vout on 5v and 2.8v power. Its called capacitor based buck boost
Do NOT use magnetic adapters for USB! They attract ferrous debris and can short out, causing fire risks. Connections like MagSafe keep the contacts farther apart to minimize the risk. Low profile adapters cannot.
I cannot begin to explain how helpful this video series is. Although I don't use a fraction of the items you show, but I learn so much about what components are on these boards and that helps me make better decisions on my other electronics purchases.
Great video! The voltage regulator looks especially interesting! I also enjoyed seeing you use the vapor flux device. I have never seen flux used as a method for finding short circuits. Another effective way to find hot spots without a FLIR camera is to use a cotton swab (Q-Tip) to apply a bit of isopropyl alcohol to the suspect components and note how quickly the alcohol evaporates. When you have a hot component, it will evaporate very quickly.
Hey Scott love your stuff! Just a fyi, rosin is also a name for one method of extraccion of cannabis concentrate, the vape pens for this type of extractions use a ceramic bowl as the one you showed. I do think that is a weed product claiming to be another thing just to get through most customs
I cannot get enough of these videos. Entertaining and incredibly useful. I recently came across some ultra powerful lifepo4 battery chargers (29.2v 100A for like $650), and was really curious how they might actually perform. I build backup power stations with fairly large batteries (7200Wh), and charging them fully in under 5 hours requires a TON of power. Would love to see these crazy AliExpress chargers put to the test, as well as anything else lifepo4 related!
I really enjoy watching these even though I don't tinker with electronics these days. It's just fascinating to see what is out there and what can be done nowadays on a tiny board that previously would take a whole cabinet of resources.
Thank you so much for these reviews of products from aliexpress. I usually buy electronic parts and very often i miss an opinión of an electrónic expert about buck converters, led strips, developer boards and iot devices. It's really useful 👍 Greetings from Barcelona and congratulations for your channel Scott!!🎉
These type of video series are gems, they are very integretable to any projects, for example the first product AI recognizable camera. As of now, I did create my own facial recognization system, modularity would be a lot helpful :)) Thanks GS!
For everybody that likes the rosin dispenser but doesn't want their board sticky from it, you can simply use an air duster can upside down to freeze your board and reveal the faulty component the same way 😁
We did this in the early 80s at the TV repair shop where I worked except we soldered a refrigerant port to an aerosol can and filled with R12 from a 30lb jug.(back when it was cheap and legal)
I mean, yeah. I already did that successfully. But the problem is, depending on board size, this is preeeetttyy wastefull, i used about half the can of my freeze spray before finding the short. The rosin dispenser should last way longer and be cheaper in the long run.
That AI chip on the face recognition module is not just an ASIC; it's a full fledged RISC-V system. The hot plate could possibly be calibrated to eliminate its glaring temperature error. Even my Yihua 937D+ had a calibration pot right in the front of it.
Hi, when testing buck/boost stuff, it would be nice if you tried a soft start, slowly raising input from 0 Volt, and finding out if and when it starts. It is good info for using with solar cells, mimicking a dull gray sun rise.
I like how you test electronic gadgets from online with proper tests and results. You also explain very well, this is very appreciable ... Love you brother, carry on.
As part of moving to my newly built house, one of my latest favourite gadgets are serial to ethernet adapters. I built my own RFID+keypad door bell using two Arduinos, one for the RFID keypad, and one with a double relay for the bell and opener. All of that is connected to my servers where the actual access control happens. (I don't trust those all-in-one solutions) Another adapter connects my energy meter via a cheap IR read head to the network. There are many solutions using ESP32s or ESP8266s, but they also need power wires and would additionally use up some wifi bandwidth. The last adapter is a RS485 (Modbus) adapter, that let's me connect to my heat pump heating system. Very useful to control the energy usage depending on the output of my solar panels. Of course, these are a bit less electronics gadgets than "smart home" hacking thingies, but they are very usable in the right circumstances (MANY devices have RS232, RS485 or UART interfaces).
I checked out the hot plate because I have been wanting one. And the price was discounted by 50% - cut to about $26 US. Only problem - shipping to the US is $93 !! Also - it looks like they have a 215 mm x 215 mm plate size version for the same price !! Did you consider getting that version ???
think what you're measuring as a hotspot is the reflectivity of the surface for the thermal camera! the rosin smoke sounds like a health hazard without protection tho!
I also bought this hotplate but it heats up too fast for reflow soldering. Within a minute it is already at 200 degrees. I saw that with the old variant you could adjust the pwm in a hidden menu. Unfortunately, this does not work (yet) on this variant. I did find a way to get to the menu but I can't adjust pwm there to make it heat up just a little slower.
Really loving this series. Wish you'd cover some more consumer-oriented products though, there's far too little information available on consumer electronics and you seem like you'd have enough expertise to judge the overall quality of them.
Another pro for the magnetic cables. If you work in an area with a lot of dust (ie: a wood shop) the magnetic piece that plugs into the device acts as a dust cover. Downside, every little piece of magnetic dust will find it.
Yeah, and phones lately have USBOTG, that means they source current onto the USB connector, not just sinking it. Short the wrong pins on that magnetic connector, which is super easy with that dumb little magnetic clip on there, and you just might blow the phone up.
@@pontiacg445 I would think that phones probably have protection on the USB port. Waterproof phones definitely have it. A lot of devices do have over current protection on their USB ports including desktop PCs and laptops.
@@kaelwd Which is why I said "short the right pins..." What is it you need to do to the ID pin to get 5V out? Just ground it? Which pin is directly adjacent to the ID pin? Ground? Alright, then. I've fixed enough PCs that kids have stuffed stuff into the front panel USB connectors to know that, yes, they typically have overcurrent protection on the vbus. Does that mean it always works? Nope, not at all.
Back to desulfation topic a while ago, the desulfator I made based on several recent academic journals using resonant principle on sulphate seems to works. Its been running for 2 weeks. I use this desulfator on a lead acid 45a 12v battery which previously failed to desulfate using traditional method aka transformer+rectifier diode. On the 3 cell which the cells turned dark brownish rusty like color, 2 cell almost cleared of rusty like oxide. The 3 cells still bubling atm. The 3 cell with normal colored cell did not bubling at all from the begining of desulfation process. I use pwm at 700khz and 27% duty and irf540. Earlier, I got problem with this configuration as the solder joints providing 32v and ground keeps melting, even when i cooled it with 8" ac fan at around 50cm. Seems that the pulse resonating and disintegrate the solder joints. The solution is to clamp the wire using diode pin. I limit current slightly under 1A because i also often use the transformer to charge 18650 battery packs.😅 Edit: i also on 3d printer project, its a corexy based planned to run klipper. The interestings parts is that I use alternative approach to build this printer. The frame is made from welded 30x30x1.5mm hollow carbon steel. I use custom made heat treated carbon fiber brackets on x axis. The bed also made using carbon fiber. The heater element, thermostate and heat shileld will be on a single plate as carbon fiber is a good insulator material. The bed bracket will be using grade 1100 alumunium which is light and got high tensile strenght. The bed leveling will be using 6 axis gyro and servo controlled by separate mcu. The x axis use custom made bearing from ptfe aka teflon rod instead of linear bearings/rail on 3 8mm 304 stainless steel shaft. I also considering 1100 alumunium or heat treated carbon fiber shaft, but I am tight on budget atm😂.
I've seen reports in the reviews on AliExpress on *all* of those magnetic USB-C cables having the connector start melting or burning, with pictures to prove it. That makes a lot more sense now that I know 20% of the energy gets wasted as heat in that exact area. So these claim to be compatible with fast charging, but they really shouldn't be used with fast charging.
Awesome job, you certainly kept the best for the actual subscribers, and we thank you! Would you have any recommendations to go along with the Buck converter for a LORA/WAN Setup? thinking about acreage and not wanting to not have cell signal on the "back 40", or populating it along roadways to help signal in those low spots where it isn't.
It is a really common technique really, to find short in cell phone by using heat. At least here in Indonesia. It's a bit brutal sometimes, lol, injecting 12v to phone. But that's kinda the way we can fix a phone sometime because the manufacturer wont give us schematic. Other than that fancy resin dispenser, you can use ethanol, IPA, or even receipt from ATM.
I loooove those rosin dispensers for finding shorts. So useful and way cheaper than a thermal cam. Also way higher resolution and easier than the original method with an iron
What I love most about those magnetic connector cables is before there is enough force applied to damage something, it disconnects. Saved my phone a couple of times.
This hidden gem series is super useful in my country where Chinese products are all we can rely. So identifying the good and the bad is very helpful. Subscriber here since the 1st led cube
there is a much better technique to find hotspots on a board which doesn't involve custom hardware and inhaling flux fumes, and that's just spraying isopropyl alcohol on your pcb
Magnet usb and tps BBB seem like the best ones for sealed projects (i even watched someone make a wireless mouse and use the magnet usb thing to charget from time to time) with ease, so for low power projects it shouldn't be an issue
Fantastic, dude! Thanks a bunch for the testing! 😃 The converter should work great for a breadboard power supply! Perhaps with a rotary encoder or something to select the voltage! Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
About those USB cables, any magnet near the USB port on my laptop shuts it down. That's where the sensor for closing the lid is located, so it thinks the lid is closed and goes to sleep. Also, I couldn't tell, did it have more than two pins? If not then it's definitely not capable of fast charging.
It depends on the definition of "fast" I believe one version of fast charging is just drawing as much current as you can until the voltage drops too much.
@@madcow3417 Much better now that it mostly is. It would sometimes drive me nuts trying to work out what I needed for my phones. Sometimes it even would be QC.
What is the pcb with the Cooler Master fan and display showing volts, amps, ohms, watt calcs, time, and temp? Is there a project file around to build one? Thanks
The resin in the vape looking thing is Pine tree resin- it's the only resin that hits thermal saturation that fast & is capable of re-crystallizing directly from a gaseous state- instead of having to turn into a liquid & slowly reforming into a crystalline state like other standard crystal formations.
I really enjoy this series! Looking forward to further episodes! What I think would be interesting though: I also use these magnetic charging cables and I am actually satisfied with them. But there's one problem I noticed: over time, the resistance somewhere in the magnetic connector seems to increase for some reason. Would you be interested in taking it apart and have a look what's inside?
With the face recognition, if it's possible to register your face at an angle, would that possibly solve the 'looking straight on' issue? It would take another space, but 2 or 3 out of 1000 is a drop in the bucket for home use.
One of the best Ali videos so far. Would love to see a working and recommended version of the speech module as i would like to build a Jarvis type device.
7:00 - My rosin atomizer, uses "interface 510", additionally I bought soldering iron for 2$ and now I have rosin atomizer + soldering iron in one tool.
Sas sind wirklich wirklich wirklich wirklich wirklich die besten Videos die du machst. "Hidden Gems" und "DIY or BUY" Videos... dein Kanal ist immer Pflicht!! Mit Chipstüte und Cola ❤
Great video thanks for making it. I am confused about your TPS Buck Booster board. You said it handles 4 different voltages and can be set using the pads on it. Then why is the board sold at different price for each voltage. They charge more for 5v yet less for 2.5 and other voltages. IF all that is needed is to close loop/pads for each voltage then why do sellers have 4 different costs?
My compliments, as a power electronics expert I recognized your good practice when measuring the DC-DC ripple with the small loop fixture. Thanks for the great video.
The TPS module is awesome. There is a serious lack of affordable high efficiency, low quiescent current converter modules, so this is certainly a gem. A pity it's so big though. Too beefy for low power uses which don't require current in ampere range.
The magnetic cables are absolutely perfect for wireless headphones, you can easily attach them without removing the headphones and if you forget they are attached and stand up they safely disconnect without stressing any component. It's worth the power loss in my opinion.
Have been using magnetic cables for a long time. Go for quality at slightly higher cost. It does have a slight power loss at higher voltage and current. The plug gets warm to touch. And the magnetic part does pick up debris. The pros Eliminates wear on the charging port almost completely. No more fumbling around trying to plug in the phone while driving. Just hover the cable close by and it latches on.
That rosin dispenser is a repurposed concentrate vaporizer, that's absolutely ingenious! You could grab better coils from OOZE, they use quartz with wire around it and their pretty efficient in vaporizing so I imagine they'd perform the same for this application. I have a fantastic use now for my old 510 batteries!
I got a 200 x 200 mm hotplate from banggood for 60usd shipped. It works great for me as I use it for making some bigger LED lights for reef aquariums and growing. Only downside is it takes up a lot of space so I'm constantly getting it out and putting it up somewhere out of the way.
glad to see the rosin dispenser only other person iv seen using one is northbridgefix, iv been using one for couple years now and cheaper then a infrared camera while still working as good.
I'm concerned about the hot plate, how long can you safely expose components to that much heat? With the small one you would only be heating a few components at a time, not the entire board. Thank you for another great video.
I had these magnetic cables for years now and I’m super glad for them and use them for almost everything it’s nice to have one cable for everything except for using it on iPad it’s not so good it’s getting really hot thanks for a great video keep it up🤘😎
FYI, the Arduino Flite library will let you do good text-to-speech on an ordinary ESP32 using its internal DAC. Pair that with a 50c speaker and that would work out way cheaper than 15e.
I just had to drop a quick comment to say how honored I feel that you reviewed the product I suggested. Thank you so much! 🙏 I absolutely love the AliExpress Gems series and your videos are just amazing! Keep up the fantastic work and keep those awesome videos coming!
thanks, all very instructive. my main intolerance (I have some imperfections) is steel power conductors wasting power as heat in many cheap usb cables.
Concerning that PS pin on the buck-boost converter, what does de-soldering it do to the circuit? Is there anything special that has to be wired up after the surgery lol? As a EE student I love your videos and focus on efficiency
@GreatScott! Regarding the USB cables, I can't recommend enough the thick & flexible cables. They're nearly the same price as regular premium cables but support even 120w Xiaomi ultra-charge and except the fact you limit by their length it's as if the phone as no cable.
you should test the magnetic usb cables after it went trough simulated (or real) charging duty, if it's getting hot it might result in an even bigger amount of resistance since permanent magnets loose strenght when they get hot and that weakens force connecting the pins between the cable and the swappable end connector (that will mean higher resistance if the force gets reduced enough to cause a weakened contact). High resistance cable heats up -> Perma magnet loses strenght -> Lost strenght means higher resistence for even more heat... Under the right circumstances this feedback loop could possibly cause a thermal runaway situation, but it's more likely that the wall adapter's protections (and/or the phone's charging circuit) kick in way sooner or even if it was a thermal runaway somehow the magnet might just fall off when it heats up enough to loose it's magnetic property before anything catches fire.
I made my own hotplate using a single electric hob, built in a 2KW SCR voltage reg and added a temperature controller........ Noisy, really noisy (SCR), but for like €18, it's about 20cm diameter and beats even some of the professional hotplates i've used over the years. Doesn't work any more though, as cats really love chewy high temperature mains cables............... :p
Hey Scott, if you want really good magnetic cables try the ODDADD brand. They have proper data pins and even CC1+2 for PD communication. I have them and though not as low as high quality cables (sub 0.08) the resistance is ~0.16 ohms for the 2 meter cable.
yes I got that from Aliexpress over a year ago and its been the best purchase I had in a long time, so quick to find a blown or fault SMB component, keep up the great content :)
![[TH]FFWS SEA Spring 2024 Knockout Stage - Day 13](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/K9o3IXb75T0/mqdefault.jpg)
0:00 It's for putting the magical smoke back into devices.
Such a device would sell like crazy.
@@greatscottlab well you clearly not know a lot of about devices for cannabis smoking or dabbing and its okay , but the devices like this has been sold for quite a while :)
@@memeconnect4489 foolish to asume a German does not know.
@@greatscottlabcan you diy it please
@@memeconnect4489there’s shorter ways to say you didn’t get the joke, aren’t there??
That thing you showed at the beginning of the video is in fact used to burn THC Wax to smoke it
Nonono only for electronics.....
load up that rosin brother
@@TheSelfUnemployed 🤣
@@greatscottlab NOPE. I have used the exact same thing you showed in the state of Colorado that came from a headshop bro. It's original use is THC wax
@@Chilling4Shillingshe's being...
Nvm
its funny.
i used to have one of those exact "rosin dispensers" in college almost 10 years ago, and apparently i was not using it correctly lol.
Haha
Nah you were using it right someone decided to repurpose it for this use though. That's why it still has a mouth piece and you have to press the button 5 times to turn on so it doesn't turn on in your pocket. I honestly thought it was just a gimmick to get past China's ban on cannabis devices lol but, I think someone was puffing on their pen and came up with this idea to use it.
I can assure you that you were, lol.
There are similar products called atomizer and are used to apply a thin layer of rosin on board. Then you power up the board and can detect hot spots(where rosin melts first), which can be a sign of a short circuited component.
same lmao
That rosin dispenser is definitely also intended for use with rosin extracts from certain plants for inhalant use. The nozzle is clearly a mouth piece. Thought glad to see they would have another use.
seems perfect for DMT rosin
Yeah, the hobos around here definitely ain't burning rosin, tho they don't have stuff fancier than a cut beer can or glass shards either.
it was never intended for soldering someone found a cheap way to make it work lmao
@@nathanschultz1440 Exactly. my bet is some cr4ckhead wanted to smoke and found a way to repurpose those outdated "ego T" vape batteries, and later another person took it to the next level and actually made something useful with it like those rosing burner for electronics
@@sacordovaplata i would almost bet even this one was for thc, and the electronics thing is just legal wording to keep them out of court
Rosin is also another word for solventless thc concentrate that is extracted using heated plates in a press (aka rosin tech), and also is smoked/vaporized out of the same "dispenser". The dispenser was found in smoke shops in the USA probably 10 years ago when concentrates first hit the black market, and became popular around the same time nicotine vapes were just starting to be sold.
uhm actually thats called resin... live resin dead resin etc.... but yeah....
@@tommyleegraves423 Googling "rosin" alone has the second link to a guide about the thc concentrate. Farther down an article has it spelled both ways in the same article. It is a proper spelling for it.
@@tommyleegraves423 Rosin is technically a form of resin, however Rosin is a technique to extract thc without adding chemical solvents like butane, propane, and alcohol. The simplest form of this technique is smashing cannabis plants wrapped in parchment paper between the plates of a common hair straightener then collecting the concentrate on a cold surface so the oil solidifies making it less sticky.
@@tommyleegraves423 bro rosin is the best concentrate you can get😭
@@tommyleegraves423 how does it feel to be so wrong but think ur right
I bought the same hot plate thingy and can confirm everything you said. First thing was also taking it apart, especially to check if the PE wire was connected to the case (which it was).
Glad you could confirm ;-)
2 people confirming that the earth wiring is correct is definitely a good thing, you never know after all with that kind of stuff if the build quality will be consistent.
Did any of you try to fix the hotspot with a sheet of copper between the hotplate and PCB? Not sure if it helps, but i would guess a few millimeter thick plate might actually spread the heat more evenly. Not sure if even some thin copper sheets that they use for roofing is enough, but i'm sure if you ask at a roofing company for a 10x10cm offcut they might help you out.
I'd be very interested if someone can do an experiment if it's possible to fix that uneven heating issue.
According to the voice synthesis module's manual, you need to choose serial port 1 using the jumpers (which you have already done right in the video). Then refer to section 2.3 to exit the default serial passthrough mode by using any of the two methods: 2.3.1, pull-down pin PB2/ES0 for 50ms-2s; 2.3.2, send "+++" to it (the module will return "a" if it received that correctly), send "a" in under 1 second (the module will return "OK"), it will fail if you took longer than 1 sec to send the "a".
You can send AT commands after that, but if you send only "at", it will go back to passthrough mode.
Yep. I read that in the manual as well. Tried it all. Did not work.
If I remember correctly, the baud rate in the data sheet for most Ali express products is plain wrong, usually it is just 9600. Another thing, for AT commands you usually need to do a command mode setup (specific pin pulled high as example) and some sequence of bytes to trigger that byte mode of operation.
@@greatscottlab did you contact the seller?
@@mohamedtalaatharb2441 First thing I wondered about was "command mode" as this is extremely common with modems that you have to switch between "Command mode and Data mode" (See Wiki article of same title for more)
What does the microphone on this thing do?
I enjoy this series so much! Thanks for all of the work that you put into these videos!❤
Glad you enjoy it! And thanks for the feedback :-)
Same
including the vape pen? lol
Yes I also love this series, keep it up! Great video.
Beautiful PFP
The buck boost converter really caught my attention. Based on the design and product description, something really cool is that itll operate in both buck and boost, meaning your voltage can start above the output voltage and drop below, but still work. This was really useful for me when i had to run a 3.3v Vout on 5v and 2.8v power. Its called capacitor based buck boost
"Charge Pump" is another word for that, if it uses capacitors instead of inductors to boost voltage
Do NOT use magnetic adapters for USB! They attract ferrous debris and can short out, causing fire risks. Connections like MagSafe keep the contacts farther apart to minimize the risk. Low profile adapters cannot.
I cannot begin to explain how helpful this video series is. Although I don't use a fraction of the items you show, but I learn so much about what components are on these boards and that helps me make better decisions on my other electronics purchases.
Great video! The voltage regulator looks especially interesting! I also enjoyed seeing you use the vapor flux device. I have never seen flux used as a method for finding short circuits. Another effective way to find hot spots without a FLIR camera is to use a cotton swab (Q-Tip) to apply a bit of isopropyl alcohol to the suspect components and note how quickly the alcohol evaporates. When you have a hot component, it will evaporate very quickly.
Hey Scott love your stuff! Just a fyi, rosin is also a name for one method of extraccion of cannabis concentrate, the vape pens for this type of extractions use a ceramic bowl as the one you showed. I do think that is a weed product claiming to be another thing just to get through most customs
I cannot get enough of these videos. Entertaining and incredibly useful. I recently came across some ultra powerful lifepo4 battery chargers (29.2v 100A for like $650), and was really curious how they might actually perform. I build backup power stations with fairly large batteries (7200Wh), and charging them fully in under 5 hours requires a TON of power. Would love to see these crazy AliExpress chargers put to the test, as well as anything else lifepo4 related!
I really enjoy watching these even though I don't tinker with electronics these days. It's just fascinating to see what is out there and what can be done nowadays on a tiny board that previously would take a whole cabinet of resources.
Thank you so much, GS. As someone who loves tinkering with all the diverse items from AliExpress etc, this series is essential viewing.
Thank you so much for these reviews of products from aliexpress. I usually buy electronic parts and very often i miss an opinión of an electrónic expert about buck converters, led strips, developer boards and iot devices. It's really useful 👍
Greetings from Barcelona and congratulations for your channel Scott!!🎉
Glad you like the show :-)
These type of video series are gems, they are very integretable to any projects, for example the first product AI recognizable camera. As of now, I did create my own facial recognization system, modularity would be a lot helpful :)) Thanks GS!
Glad you enjoyed it!
For everybody that likes the rosin dispenser but doesn't want their board sticky from it, you can simply use an air duster can upside down to freeze your board and reveal the faulty component the same way 😁
Good tip :-)
Thermal shocking board is not a good way to diagnose anything.
@@1kreature of course I wouldn't use it in very fine boards like multi layer phone PCBs, but it works for simple stuff
We did this in the early 80s at the TV repair shop where I worked except we soldered a refrigerant port to an aerosol can and filled with R12 from a 30lb jug.(back when it was cheap and legal)
I mean, yeah. I already did that successfully. But the problem is, depending on board size, this is preeeetttyy wastefull, i used about half the can of my freeze spray before finding the short. The rosin dispenser should last way longer and be cheaper in the long run.
That AI chip on the face recognition module is not just an ASIC; it's a full fledged RISC-V system.
The hot plate could possibly be calibrated to eliminate its glaring temperature error. Even my Yihua 937D+ had a calibration pot right in the front of it.
淘宝卖一百多
Love these vids, especially when you feature those very useful but sometimes questionable pcbs/modules, like power converters etc.
Hi, when testing buck/boost stuff, it would be nice if you tried a soft start, slowly raising input from 0 Volt, and finding out if and when it starts. It is good info for using with solar cells, mimicking a dull gray sun rise.
I like how you test electronic gadgets from online with proper tests and results. You also explain very well, this is very appreciable ...
Love you brother, carry on.
As part of moving to my newly built house, one of my latest favourite gadgets are serial to ethernet adapters. I built my own RFID+keypad door bell using two Arduinos, one for the RFID keypad, and one with a double relay for the bell and opener. All of that is connected to my servers where the actual access control happens. (I don't trust those all-in-one solutions)
Another adapter connects my energy meter via a cheap IR read head to the network. There are many solutions using ESP32s or ESP8266s, but they also need power wires and would additionally use up some wifi bandwidth.
The last adapter is a RS485 (Modbus) adapter, that let's me connect to my heat pump heating system. Very useful to control the energy usage depending on the output of my solar panels.
Of course, these are a bit less electronics gadgets than "smart home" hacking thingies, but they are very usable in the right circumstances (MANY devices have RS232, RS485 or UART interfaces).
I checked out the hot plate because I have been wanting one. And the price was discounted by 50% - cut to about $26 US. Only problem - shipping to the US is $93 !! Also - it looks like they have a 215 mm x 215 mm plate size version for the same price !! Did you consider getting that version ???
think what you're measuring as a hotspot is the reflectivity of the surface for the thermal camera!
the rosin smoke sounds like a health hazard without protection tho!
I also bought this hotplate but it heats up too fast for reflow soldering. Within a minute it is already at 200 degrees. I saw that with the old variant you could adjust the pwm in a hidden menu. Unfortunately, this does not work (yet) on this variant. I did find a way to get to the menu but I can't adjust pwm there to make it heat up just a little slower.
Really loving this series. Wish you'd cover some more consumer-oriented products though, there's far too little information available on consumer electronics and you seem like you'd have enough expertise to judge the overall quality of them.
Another pro for the magnetic cables. If you work in an area with a lot of dust (ie: a wood shop) the magnetic piece that plugs into the device acts as a dust cover. Downside, every little piece of magnetic dust will find it.
Yeah, and phones lately have USBOTG, that means they source current onto the USB connector, not just sinking it. Short the wrong pins on that magnetic connector, which is super easy with that dumb little magnetic clip on there, and you just might blow the phone up.
@@pontiacg445 I would think that phones probably have protection on the USB port. Waterproof phones definitely have it. A lot of devices do have over current protection on their USB ports including desktop PCs and laptops.
@@pontiacg445 OTG doesn't just leave 5V on the port 24/7, it only sends power if the ID (micro) or CC (type C) pin is connected.
@@kaelwd Which is why I said "short the right pins..."
What is it you need to do to the ID pin to get 5V out? Just ground it? Which pin is directly adjacent to the ID pin? Ground? Alright, then.
I've fixed enough PCs that kids have stuffed stuff into the front panel USB connectors to know that, yes, they typically have overcurrent protection on the vbus. Does that mean it always works? Nope, not at all.
Wow, who'd have thought I already had a rosin dispenser?
Back to desulfation topic a while ago, the desulfator I made based on several recent academic journals using resonant principle on sulphate seems to works. Its been running for 2 weeks.
I use this desulfator on a lead acid 45a 12v battery which previously failed to desulfate using traditional method aka transformer+rectifier diode.
On the 3 cell which the cells turned dark brownish rusty like color, 2 cell almost cleared of rusty like oxide. The 3 cells still bubling atm. The 3 cell with normal colored cell did not bubling at all from the begining of desulfation process.
I use pwm at 700khz and 27% duty and irf540. Earlier, I got problem with this configuration as the solder joints providing 32v and ground keeps melting, even when i cooled it with 8" ac fan at around 50cm. Seems that the pulse resonating and disintegrate the solder joints. The solution is to clamp the wire using diode pin. I limit current slightly under 1A because i also often use the transformer to charge 18650 battery packs.😅
Edit: i also on 3d printer project, its a corexy based planned to run klipper.
The interestings parts is that I use alternative approach to build this printer. The frame is made from welded 30x30x1.5mm hollow carbon steel. I use custom made heat treated carbon fiber brackets on x axis. The bed also made using carbon fiber. The heater element, thermostate and heat shileld will be on a single plate as carbon fiber is a good insulator material. The bed bracket will be using grade 1100 alumunium which is light and got high tensile strenght.
The bed leveling will be using 6 axis gyro and servo controlled by separate mcu. The x axis use custom made bearing from ptfe aka teflon rod instead of linear bearings/rail on 3 8mm 304 stainless steel shaft. I also considering 1100 alumunium or heat treated carbon fiber shaft, but I am tight on budget atm😂.
I've seen reports in the reviews on AliExpress on *all* of those magnetic USB-C cables having the connector start melting or burning, with pictures to prove it. That makes a lot more sense now that I know 20% of the energy gets wasted as heat in that exact area. So these claim to be compatible with fast charging, but they really shouldn't be used with fast charging.
These types of videos are great if you don't have much knowledge about electronics. Keep up making videos like this.
I will see how long I can find interesting products ;-)
Please never stop trying to find hidden gems. We know it's not gonna happen, but.. just continue.
I love it how you give so much importance to efficiency and loss 💖💖 wish everybody was like this
Awesome job, you certainly kept the best for the actual subscribers, and we thank you!
Would you have any recommendations to go along with the Buck converter for a LORA/WAN Setup? thinking about acreage and not wanting to not have cell signal on the "back 40", or populating it along roadways to help signal in those low spots where it isn't.
That TPS board was interesting but you didn’t say why they had bridged the power-save pads in the first place.
It is a really common technique really, to find short in cell phone by using heat. At least here in Indonesia. It's a bit brutal sometimes, lol, injecting 12v to phone. But that's kinda the way we can fix a phone sometime because the manufacturer wont give us schematic.
Other than that fancy resin dispenser, you can use ethanol, IPA, or even receipt from ATM.
Oh, thermal paper? That's actually a great idea! How well does that work?
Wow, I loved that TPS board, just tinking about some devices that last like forever, is awesome!
Love this series. Suggestion for catchier yes/no naming - Must Buy or Let It Fry
I loooove those rosin dispensers for finding shorts. So useful and way cheaper than a thermal cam. Also way higher resolution and easier than the original method with an iron
I'd just use my finger and then when I burn myself take a puff of my rosin pen to ease the pain lol.
This method reminds me of Louis Rossmann's method of soaking the area in isopropyl alcohol, the shorts will evaporate way quicker than the rest.
@@Kalvinjj No the Louis Rossmann method is burning yourself
Imagine someone smoking the rosin.
What I love most about those magnetic connector cables is before there is enough force applied to damage something, it disconnects. Saved my phone a couple of times.
I'm really enjoying this series. Please keep making them!
Makes me feel good knowing even you struggle sometimes with these random dev boards.
I am enjoying these new product episodes.
Posted 6mn ago, comments from 4 days ago ?
@@mousbleu Patreon supporters get to see the video earlier.
@@steveroberts1861 Ohhhh. Cheers !
This hidden gem series is super useful in my country where Chinese products are all we can rely. So identifying the good and the bad is very helpful.
Subscriber here since the 1st led cube
You wouldn't believe how long I've been waiting for a new video of this series. Love the video
this is the closest thing to an effective form of advertising I've ever seen
there is a much better technique to find hotspots on a board which doesn't involve custom hardware and inhaling flux fumes, and that's just spraying isopropyl alcohol on your pcb
Hmmmm maybe I should do a competition between all these methods in a future video in order to properly compare them. Are there other ways as well??
@@greatscottlab a calibrated fingertip or upper lip can work on some things too
@@greatscottlab yes, you can replace isopropyl by petrol, way easier to find
@@greatscottlabisopropyl, flux and thermal camera seem to be the most common
@@greatscottlab You can also use an air duster can upside down to freeze your board
Problem with AliExpress is they have been slowly increasing prices and the deals are not as good as they used to be.
Well, I think still lots of good stuff for a cheap price.
@@greatscottlab I still like it too.
Magnet usb and tps BBB seem like the best ones for sealed projects (i even watched someone make a wireless mouse and use the magnet usb thing to charget from time to time) with ease, so for low power projects it shouldn't be an issue
Fantastic, dude! Thanks a bunch for the testing! 😃
The converter should work great for a breadboard power supply! Perhaps with a rotary encoder or something to select the voltage!
Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
About those USB cables, any magnet near the USB port on my laptop shuts it down. That's where the sensor for closing the lid is located, so it thinks the lid is closed and goes to sleep. Also, I couldn't tell, did it have more than two pins? If not then it's definitely not capable of fast charging.
It depends on the definition of "fast" I believe one version of fast charging is just drawing as much current as you can until the voltage drops too much.
@@chaos.corner That's fair. I was defining it as Quick Charge or Power Delivery.
@@madcow3417 Much better now that it mostly is. It would sometimes drive me nuts trying to work out what I needed for my phones. Sometimes it even would be QC.
hi scott can you make a chicken egg incubator (DIY or BUY)
Well, a very specific idea. I can surely put it on my to do list.
@@greatscottlab Thank you! brother.
Great video, nice to see that im not the only weirdo that enjoys browsing aliexpress for new products ❤
What is the pcb with the Cooler Master fan and display showing volts, amps, ohms, watt calcs, time, and temp? Is there a project file around to build one? Thanks
, welp that was a good video like always 😂❤
Thanks :-)
It's a crack pipe! Oh...
That was my response too, like "Wow Scott got dark fast."
Not quite
I really really really really really really really like this "hidden gems" series... I really really really really like them ❤❤
The resin in the vape looking thing is Pine tree resin- it's the only resin that hits thermal saturation that fast & is capable of re-crystallizing directly from a gaseous state- instead of having to turn into a liquid & slowly reforming into a crystalline state like other standard crystal formations.
I really enjoy this series! Looking forward to further episodes!
What I think would be interesting though:
I also use these magnetic charging cables and I am actually satisfied with them. But there's one problem I noticed: over time, the resistance somewhere in the magnetic connector seems to increase for some reason. Would you be interested in taking it apart and have a look what's inside?
It's probably just because the contacts (between the conector and the cable) wear with time, so it's harder for electricity to flow through
Thank you so much for these reviews of products from aliexpress.
With the face recognition, if it's possible to register your face at an angle, would that possibly solve the 'looking straight on' issue? It would take another space, but 2 or 3 out of 1000 is a drop in the bucket for home use.
One of the best Ali videos so far. Would love to see a working and recommended version of the speech module as i would like to build a Jarvis type device.
7:00 - My rosin atomizer, uses "interface 510", additionally I bought soldering iron for 2$ and now I have rosin atomizer + soldering iron in one tool.
Sharing these videos with my local makerspace group . Interesting stuff.. thanks Scott!!
Sas sind wirklich wirklich wirklich wirklich wirklich die besten Videos die du machst. "Hidden Gems" und "DIY or BUY" Videos... dein Kanal ist immer Pflicht!! Mit Chipstüte und Cola ❤
Always looking forward to new episode of this series. Keep it up !
Thanks, will do!
Great video thanks for making it.
I am confused about your TPS Buck Booster board.
You said it handles 4 different voltages and can be set using the pads on it.
Then why is the board sold at different price for each voltage.
They charge more for 5v yet less for 2.5 and other voltages.
IF all that is needed is to close loop/pads for each voltage then why do sellers have 4 different costs?
My compliments, as a power electronics expert I recognized your good practice when measuring the DC-DC ripple with the small loop fixture. Thanks for the great video.
I was waiting for this after seeing you had purchased the converter in your discord. Pleased, for sure
The heat plate hot spots might be due to thermal imaging and not due to product itself. The surface of the heat plate is reflective.
The TPS module is awesome. There is a serious lack of affordable high efficiency, low quiescent current converter modules, so this is certainly a gem. A pity it's so big though. Too beefy for low power uses which don't require current in ampere range.
That's a lovely voltage converter, I'll have to keep that in mind when ordering next :D
The magnetic cables are absolutely perfect for wireless headphones, you can easily attach them without removing the headphones and if you forget they are attached and stand up they safely disconnect without stressing any component. It's worth the power loss in my opinion.
I love this series, thank you so much sir.
Have been using magnetic cables for a long time. Go for quality at slightly higher cost. It does have a slight power loss at higher voltage and current. The plug gets warm to touch. And the magnetic part does pick up debris.
The pros
Eliminates wear on the charging port almost completely.
No more fumbling around trying to plug in the phone while driving. Just hover the cable close by and it latches on.
Thanks for doing these types of vids, along with other informative vids. I have bought some of these things after seeing you demonstrate them.
That rosin dispenser is a repurposed concentrate vaporizer, that's absolutely ingenious!
You could grab better coils from OOZE, they use quartz with wire around it and their pretty efficient in vaporizing so I imagine they'd perform the same for this application.
I have a fantastic use now for my old 510 batteries!
it's definitely just a normal THC vape being labeled as something else lmao. It has a damn mouthpiece ffs xD
LOVE these AliExpress videos. Keep them coming!
I got a 200 x 200 mm hotplate from banggood for 60usd shipped. It works great for me as I use it for making some bigger LED lights for reef aquariums and growing. Only downside is it takes up a lot of space so I'm constantly getting it out and putting it up somewhere out of the way.
glad to see the rosin dispenser only other person iv seen using one is northbridgefix, iv been using one for couple years now and cheaper then a infrared camera while still working as good.
You should definitely try out the eta9640 IC for battery powered projects
I'm concerned about the hot plate, how long can you safely expose components to that much heat? With the small one you would only be heating a few components at a time, not the entire board. Thank you for another great video.
I had these magnetic cables for years now and I’m super glad for them and use them for almost everything it’s nice to have one cable for everything except for using it on iPad it’s not so good it’s getting really hot thanks for a great video keep it up🤘😎
FYI, the Arduino Flite library will let you do good text-to-speech on an ordinary ESP32 using its internal DAC. Pair that with a 50c speaker and that would work out way cheaper than 15e.
I just had to drop a quick comment to say how honored I feel that you reviewed the product I suggested. Thank you so much! 🙏 I absolutely love the AliExpress Gems series and your videos are just amazing!
Keep up the fantastic work and keep those awesome videos coming!
No problem 😊
thanks, all very instructive. my main intolerance (I have some imperfections) is steel power conductors wasting power as heat in many cheap usb cables.
Concerning that PS pin on the buck-boost converter, what does de-soldering it do to the circuit? Is there anything special that has to be wired up after the surgery lol? As a EE student I love your videos and focus on efficiency
@GreatScott! Regarding the USB cables, I can't recommend enough the thick & flexible cables.
They're nearly the same price as regular premium cables but support even 120w Xiaomi ultra-charge and except the fact you limit by their length it's as if the phone as no cable.
Really love this series
as a noob in electronics i love this series. gives me alot to try with low risk
worth watching, as always!
Love this series, keep it coming!
you should test the magnetic usb cables after it went trough simulated (or real) charging duty, if it's getting hot it might result in an even bigger amount of resistance since permanent magnets loose strenght when they get hot and that weakens force connecting the pins between the cable and the swappable end connector (that will mean higher resistance if the force gets reduced enough to cause a weakened contact). High resistance cable heats up -> Perma magnet loses strenght -> Lost strenght means higher resistence for even more heat... Under the right circumstances this feedback loop could possibly cause a thermal runaway situation, but it's more likely that the wall adapter's protections (and/or the phone's charging circuit) kick in way sooner or even if it was a thermal runaway somehow the magnet might just fall off when it heats up enough to loose it's magnetic property before anything catches fire.
I made my own hotplate using a single electric hob, built in a 2KW SCR voltage reg and added a temperature controller........ Noisy, really noisy (SCR), but for like €18, it's about 20cm diameter and beats even some of the professional hotplates i've used over the years.
Doesn't work any more though, as cats really love chewy high temperature mains cables............... :p
Hey Scott, if you want really good magnetic cables try the ODDADD brand. They have proper data pins and even CC1+2 for PD communication.
I have them and though not as low as high quality cables (sub 0.08) the resistance is ~0.16 ohms for the 2 meter cable.
Do you happen to still have a link to those cables? Cheers
Thank you for the tip about the buck-boost module, it looks absolutely great for lithium batteries. Been looking for something like it for a while.
yes I got that from Aliexpress over a year ago and its been the best purchase I had in a long time, so quick to find a blown or fault SMB component, keep up the great content :)
So cool to see your face. Your humor is Awesome.