Is it just me that watches for this guy, I have no idea how electrics work the lot, but for me its almost like an ASMR video watching Clive. Is it just me that feels that way? If it is I'll show myself the door.

make sure you label you emails Re: Her Majesties Revenue & Customs - tax rebate. You'll be sure Clive reads them promptly 😉

I once purchased a decent quality USB power bank from Amazon and the included power supply was the most horrific thing I have ever seen. It was nothing more than a non-isolated buck converter. The only thing between the USB micro-B output and mains was a crappy NPN transistor, and if you think it couldn't get any worse, your wrong. The output filtering capacitor was so undersized (~10uF) that the voltage ripple was close to 3V. The only explanation I could think of was that they assumed you would throw it away and use a proper charger with a cable longer than 2cm.

Yep. I can confirm. The "thin" charger started melting and blew fuses at my house while charging IPhone.

studies have shown that its actually literally physically impossible to ever catch up on a large email backlog. declare electronic bankruptcy, delete them all and start again, its the only way. btw Clive all the photos on your website have been replaced by pictures of a kitten, some hosting issue no doubt.

Pro tip: To take the base off a lamp like this, drill out all the punched-in dimples in the base. To reassemble, rotate the base slightly so new metal lines up with the holes in the body and punch in only few of them - that way you can take it apart/reassemble it at least once more.

Those Homebase LED lamps were manufactured by TCP, and have now been discontinued as Homebase have moved over to Osram. Source: Used to work in their lighting section.

The problem is that those tiny transformers are machine - produced, and whilst there's "probably" some degree of basic "does it work" testing per-unit, the batch compliance testing may not always show up defects (especially marginal defects). There's also the problem of "what" they use for interwinding insulation - looks like PVC (about 14 kv/mm), whereas "back in the day" decent Manufacturers used Kapton (22kv/mm), which gave a much greater safety margin.

Like a little kid on Christmas Eve with the LED Bulb, you couldn't resist ripping it open without us!!! ;) 😜

The voice of this guy brings dow my stress levels big time 😑

I worked in a transformer factory back in the 70's, often they would be a single bobbin, but you'll find winding in the middle of the tape, and the exit wire would be sleeved where they cross other windings, also for shielding there was sometimes a copper sheet between windings that was grounded. some transformers went up to 10KV on a single bobbin also note that these transformers were also dipped in varnish with a vacuum/pressure cycle. btw, i was the impregnation engineer :D

Hey Clive, love your work man! Any chance of seeing you take apart an expensive charger like an apple one of some kind to compare the difference? That would be awesome.

Just want to say I love your videos, I really learn alot from them. Have a good day bigclive!

Clive Thank you for the videos. I have been looking for "this" channel for a loooooong time.

I actually bought the flat one 3 times, first opened one. Then, for testing, I used one for charging up a powerbank. Something disgusting happened: A through hole pin on the secondary side touched the plastic enclosure and got damn hot and it melted in a big hole. After a hour of charging, I was not that happy about that hole. Luckily it was on the seconary side. It is scary thyt there are people actually trusting those things, charging their phones with it. Until now, I was silly enough to keep using them in combination with an USB extension cable and an USB LED torch head as a working light. After your transformy information, I am not that sure about that anymore.

Love watching you take things apart and explaining it. You actually need a TV show. Would like to see you take a proper USB power supply apart.

It's always interesting to see a full tear down like this. Thanks for the vids and enjoy the coffee! :)

Like DGW says "SUPER DODGY" 👍 thanks for the video 😁

I have never seen a full 23 minute long video before. Usually when I see 23 minutes I stay off but this is the first time I've enjoyed every single minute of such a long video

Clive it is really cool that you have no advertising on your channel. It keeps me coming back.

You plug it out and it just leaves a live circuit dangling dangerously from your socket. I love that!

I believe you plugged in your tester set at 800ma for the long unit. Probably fried at initial contact. Shouldn't have happens, but will never know what it was capable of (or not capable of).

I have no idea what he is talking about but i like these videos because they make me look like a genius for watching them..

I think when they decided to relax the one child policy, they had to come up with something new to try to stem the Chinese population explosion. USB mains adapters to the rescue!

Clive, love your teardowns keep up the good work. I don't understand anything but it's still entertaining :)

I don't know much at all about circuitry and the electrical components found on circuit boards but I really enjoyed watching this- and it was quite educational. Thanks a lot! I think I'm gonna go watch more of your vids- eventually I'll have a somewhat better understanding of it all :)

You should make DIY USB load where you can set constant volatage mode, so you can set 4,90V and it pulls current which reaches these 4,90V, this mode would immedaitely tell what is maximum usable current. Very often they say on auctions 5V and 1A but these 5V are on 0,5A and 1A is on 4,5V... If somone is looking for good quality 5V supply in good price its best to choose them from manufacturers like blitzwolf, nillkin and xiaomi.

We learn a lot more when you disassemble a dodgy product than a well designed one.

Photonicinduction tried running a selection of these mini transformers through his big Variac - only he decided to put the HV input through the LV winding "to see what happened". They certainly popped - but not quite as spectacularly as the audience would have expected!

Good to know that you're not just ignoring us and our plethora of crappy electronics ;)

Nice to know that Future Clive will have obtained bulk quantities of lamp bases and the crimp tool for installing lamp guts in them, and will routinely 3D print lamp bulbs in custom shapes and colors. He will also be able to 3D print custom enclosures for those shock hazard USB testers but sadly will fail to do so.

I bought a rectangle one for .99US and it works great at charging a tablet. And bought 2 of the hexagon shaped ones for .67 US each and they didn't work really. Now I know why! Your great! Thanks.

I just bought a handful of the small cube supplies in Quiapo (shopping district of Manila) for p50 each ($1). I use them for powering my various prototype projects (charging my LED cane, powering a 60 LED clock, powering a 25x5 LED banner, etc.). Never had any trouble with them, but I'll keep an eye on them from now on. Thanks for dissecting these so I didn't need to!

I had one of those oval/octagonal supplies that came with a fake Beats Bluetooth speaker. I kept on getting a nice shock from it. Certainly much more than a standard iPad supply.

Regarding the failed LED lamp: I christen that method "destructive repair"! 😂😂

I had the long hexagonal one, took it to a trip to Italy, and it went up in smoke! Never had a power supply fail on me before.

sup clive I got that current tester u have in this video I love it my inner nerd is testing everything.....much love from minnesota!!

I've seen very similar 120v to USB adapters with the same shell design (but in several decorator colors) being sold at CVS drugstores here in the USA.

love watching you in the morning with my coffee

I enjoy this channel despite my ignorance.

love the way you short the cap with an all metal screwdriver very informative video. cheers, Clive.

Subscribed. This was great. Thanks for the lesson, going to learn a lot form you.

I have two of those diamond shaped USB adapters that I bought off ebay to replace the charger of my previous phone that totally disappeared about 4 years ago. They are great little mains chargers.

I have a set of three of the octagonal chargers (US, Eu, and Oz) - been using them for travelling for a few years now. Have worked fine.

amazing series

I've bought that exact charger in Turkey before - and yeah it came apart in my hand

Clive would you be interested in doing a teardown/analysis of a property regulated ecig?

i litterally just got into circuitry and stuff(today) i dont know why but this all looks soo enjoyable.

Here in Canada if you go to convenience stores and some gas station stores which are basically convenience stores as well, they sell mini USB chargers (some of which are clearly copies of Apple chargers), USB cables and lightning cables for Apple devices. It seems like every store sells the same ones and they are just sold loose in containers without any packaging. I’ve always wondered what they are like internally and how they compare to authentic chargers.

I have that white flat charger. Had the same issue of voltage dropping when I connected a high load and powered it on. Though when I attached an USB LED to the thing first through the power meter first and then attached the high load it worked.

i dont know anything about electricity but when i watch these videos somehow i know what you talking about :) love know what the inside of things look like and if safe lol

Yeah, I have a little orange one much like that white cube you've got there which is essentially the same construction. The only difference being that it's a little smaller due to the fact that it was made for US 120v mains instead of UK 240v. Now I've written "Unsafe for charging" right on the thing in sharpie and coated over that with clear nail varnish to keep it there. I mainly use things like this to drive USB powered LED strings which is as you have before mentioned, relatively safe. As I do have this thing though I decided to play along at home so to speak and was quite shocked to find just how similar they were so I thought I'd share that bit...

playing with the f stop can adjust the actual depth of the depth of field, making it so you can keep the desk and your hands in focus

So I’ve been looking at those Chinese clamp meters, and a couple Japanese models, you helped me by explaining the DC clamp meter basics recently. Anyway was just thinking it would make a cool video to show what a cheap meter is made of & how the design differs from a fluke etc. and what the consequences are, longevity, accuracy etc. and why.

Very disturbing that products like these are available in shops ! How about recommendations for good quality and safe chargers ?

Clive, I'd really love you to take a look at a modern desktop computer motherboard. maybe the power delivery circuitry. like an Asus z97 or something.

I have some Philips 5W GU10s that are almost identical in design to that first LED light you showed.

I've got similarly looking slim charger that was supplied with my Cubot cell phone about four years ago. It can go up to about 1,14A at 5V. Although, it's output must have substantial ripple - when I was charging my Cubot phone with it, touch screen was behaving erratically.

I have these all over my home charging and powering toothbrush, beard trimmer, my modem and a lot of tiny accessories.

I love how the worst one had CE markings.

"I have already opened it I couldn't resist sorry" the only problem with being a big clive fan

I have the square charger and it actually supplies a solid 1 amp. it does get very hot but I got it from auchan in Italy so I'm guessing it would be more regulated than that one in the video

Clive could you PLEASE post links to the Keweisi analyser and the Load tester you use in this video? Thanks Mr Bear :)

I keep old lamp caps to replace ones that have to be cut off. Another way is to use a PCB drill to drill-out the crimp points.

Remember how in the early days of cell phones there was a choice of switch mode or iron core for quite a few years and I used to hunt down the iron core ones because those early switch mode ones which were oem had an inclination to disappear in a cloud of smoke and bright light as though the wrong spell of witchcraft had been cast on that day.

Did you get your hands yet on the IKEA powerbank? I did not even knew we carried until we got one in the returns.

in most countries that's the normal size of chargers. we don't have an epidemic of people touching the prongs while plugging in, and it's way more convenient

very interesting your video!!

these are great bro cherrs from Australia

The cubical one does ape Apple's USB power supply in a couple of ways, at least the North American version. The overall size and shape seems the same, except for the difference in the mains pins. It also has the green dot on the back, which later Apple units had to distinguish them from some very early faulty ones. EDIT: I looked to see what the mainland europe (CEE?) style adapter looked like, wondering if it was just like the North American one but with round pins like that, and instead discovered that's the hexagonal sort of one is apeing.

good review

would be nice to know the efficiency of the dropper power supply in the lamp, how much power is getting to the LED?

The little square one started to melt here. Luckily I got it out before it started a fire. Bought in Chania, Creete for about €3.

Clive: Here in the 120V world, those little cube-shaped chargers are quite common. Is there less trouble due to a short distance between the high and low-voltage sections of the board due to the lower mains voltage? Is there any case in which you'd say that the isolation was borderline for 120V but unacceptable for 240?

13:52 Yay, that's an absolutely fantastic transformer! There's absolutely no isolation between the secondary and the auxiliary (feedback) windings, and as such the only thing separating you from electrocution is the thin layer of lacquer (ca 0.01mm or less) on the wires! That's super dodgy!

Have you decided which camera you're going to get? If not, take a look at the Canon G7XII. I'm using that for M$my channel, it is also a top-down view channel mostly.

I am going to disassemble the transformer on one of my usb chargers, which are all Samsung brand, and I've checked the separation on them previously and it's quite good, but now this video has me wanting to know what's in the transformer.

Clive, for the LED lamp you could drill a hole through the bottom of the plastic base (where there is no metal), take the cable out through it and solder it to the top of the thread :-).

Can you please do a video on how you have been doing video with the iPad once you get your new camera? Thanks!

Makes me wonder what the USB supply I got with my Cubot is like (one of them slim europlug types rather than the cube type), electrically speaking of course, I have had it apart, but never looked at it as in-depth as this... :P

My local chinese shop had one of those chargers. They were claiming to be 2A, but they were as small as those and very light.

They sell those here in Thailand often in packages of 2 for the equivalent of $.60 or 60 cents. (0.3 USD each). They do put out 5 volts but no fuse or any other type of protection. Frequent to read stories of people being electrocuted by their cell phones here.

I have one that looks just like that oblong, hexagonal charger. I pluged a short 1m long string of usb powered led Christmas lights into it last season and left it running for a few hours. When I went to unplug the lights before going to bed, the darn thing had gotten so hot that the the usb plug on the Xmas lights was a bit melty. I've not used the usb charger since. Maybe I'll pull it apart tonight and see if it's the same as yours on the inside.

i had a charger with the plug problem so when i took it out of the socket i touched the 220v live contacts that were inside i must say i never used one of those again and it was really painful

Had a flat one that came with a phone battery, the phone battery was original to my surprising, the charger made a bang and my room was suddenly dark in the middle of the night... and i did not save my game.. sad story.

I really enjoy your videos. You should update your website

I have that smallest one,, black, bought 4 years ago. Still working perfectly providing nice 1A at about 4.90-5v Bought it for about 2euro. I also have similar, slightly longer that say it have 2A but it barely get 1.5, but work nice and never had problem with it. I actually found out that there is more problems with bigger power supplies that smaller ones. Especially those with two-three USB slots, they always stop working after few months... :/

Clive, those LEDs won't be dissipating nearly 1W each. That would be true if they were resistors ... but these are LEDs. They also output some energy as light. So there will be less heat ... still though, I bet those LEDs do get quite hot. Also, because it has a capacitive dropper, the LEDs might be getting only about 3 to 4W of power. The capacitive dropper effectively acts like a resistor, but without the heat dissipation! (it still can cause incorrect power readings though)

I wonder why they even bother with the Y capacitor when they're not building these to real standards anyway. Maybe the interference affecting the operation of touchscreens is prevented somewhat.

Show us Your LED lamp.. Place.. Im so curious how much you have!

You should consider getting one of those small digital microscope setups. Then you could take pictures during the disassembling, to be edited in to the video during post. You could bring the image up full screen for a moment, then reduce it to the corner while you continue talking about it. Just a thought.

Haha the postoffice could probably save money by moving next door to Clive.

Instead of those adaptors you can jam a pair of scissors in the earth of the British plug to get the Europe ones in. They also sell little plastic thingamabobs here that plug in the socket and open the shutters with a dummy earth pin but leave the business holes exposed through two openings in the thingamabob.

What's the Insulation resistance of these transformer? Maybe check it for leakage. I served my time rewinding motors and transformers and that yellow tape is common practice, you put on as Much as you can. you'll find there is a breakdown voltage rating per layer. I'd guess at 500V but I can't remember the specifications now.

Love your videos! But no beer..? I hope you are alright! Please keep 'em coming! :)

Best community on KZfaq😆

I bought one of those flat chargers in Paris back in July! I wish I'd seen this video first. I left it plugged in for an hour or so, and although it did charge the phone (so it presumably wasn't defective in exactly the same way as the one you tore down) it suddenly went pop and stopped working! It was warm to the touch and smelt of burning plastic, but thankfully it did not break the phone (very lucky, because it had my boarding passes on it). I did wonder if I just got unlucky or if it was a dodgy stall selling dodgy non-certified electronics. I think I have my answer now. I'm a bit disappointed in the French authorities though, given that the dodgy stall was in a shopping centre on the bloody Champs-Élysées.

I have a pack of 10 of the fake cube chargers and taking apart 6 of them it's interesting because none are exactly the same inside. Some we're exactly like the one in the video, some we're similar to the other one in the video, and some we're totally different than both. It seems like they just create these with spare parts or excess and mix and match to make them and get them out to sale. The separation on all of them however was below 1mm, and 2 of them its quite scary close like hair thin style. I will never use a cheap charger or let my kids ever use one thanks to videos like this showing how close to failure and electrocution these things are made. It doesn't even make sense because it wouldn't cost more to simply lengthen the gap in the few spots to at least make it "safe" to use even though the output DC is incredibly noisy and unstable at "rated" amperage.

Good luck finding something in Greece that is not dodgy

bigclivedotcom That quicktest box is amazing !!! Did you do it yourself ? Never seen something like that