Clive, please do not stop your quest until you find a mains powered one that is just a resistor :)

I noticed that there are 2 vertical slots at the "top" of the charger that look like they might accommodate 2 prongs that would allow the "charger" to be plugged into main (eek!) power.

I once made one of these with an even cheaper construction, using a thinner cable... as the resistor. Yup, USB port straight to the batteries through a thinnish cable.

It is a nice case, and I'm amused that there's a legend molded into the back reading "AC/DC adapter" and some specifications. Apparently repurposed from something else.

I like how there's the two slots at the back to add pins for a North American wall outlet

I imagine off camera is floor to ceiling Shenzhen dumpster by now. Love the tear downs though

Clive! I bought a drone from China a few months back and it's brilliant, however... The charger than came with it made my LiPo swell on the very first time using it, and a few google searches suggest it's quite a dodgy charger. How can I send you this and assist on your quest for the shittiest charger???

What? No fire, no explosion, no blood? What kind of a review is this?

SNAP! “Oh, I’ve snapped it off completely. That’s OK I didn’t like it anyway.” 😂😂😂

Love watching your charger videos. My worst case one was for a cordless drill that cost nearly £100. The charger had a transformer, a bridge rectifier and current limiting resistor that caught fire the second time I used the charger!

As with so many successful ventures, in time , pop up a myriad of imitations. Your channel is still the most accurately informative and you occasionally blow things up too. Keep up the good work BigClive.

Yes, air, makes up the vast majority of the volume in that casing. That goes some way to explaining that extraordinarily large USB plug and even then there's bugger all in that too.

Every time I see that Spludger thingy I think "one day, hes going to loose a finger!"

I'm guessing the next level below this would be a charger that has the batteries wired directly to the mains... :P

Regarding the unpopulated LED, your schematic and explanation are both incorrect. The unpopulated resistor is in parallel with the red LED and its resistor, and the unpopulated LED is in parallel with the transistor (collector and emitter). So the "green" LED would only be on when the transistor is off.

I love Big Clive - he uses the same Poundland tools as me.

Not sure if anything has changed but your lighting seems a tad more yellow than usual and it's harder to see smaller details. The inside of the charger itself was quite hard to make out for me personally.

How about this one, Clive. A few weeks back I was diagnosing an issue with a 14 kw Generac standby generator that runs off of natural gas. I removed the battery from the unit and attempted to start it, in which case the 12 volt automotive battery EXPLODED at my feet. Turns out the charger was putting out 20.7 volts and cooked most of the acid out of the battery, leaving some nice hydrogen behind that ignited when the load was placed on the battery. How I am unscathed truthfully amazes me. Generac will be replacing the battery and charger free of charge as a result but will not be replacing my shoes or pants, which were damaged by the remaining battery acid that sprayed out. For those first few seconds after detonation, I was almost sure that I was blinded. When I regained sight I was shocked. I have photos of the aftermath if you care to see...

4:40 breaks plug... 'thats ok i didnt like it anyway' LOL

I have a couple Sony NiMH chargers that are an excellent design. They can charge single cells and shut off at full charge. I scarf them up at garage sales. Batteries last ten years. They're universal voltage which is nice when I visit Big Clive country. I have a Kodak "Value Charger" that came with my camera, which consists of a 60 Hz 120V transformer, diode, and 4 resistors. I think that ties for cheapness with your USB one.

That's a very good price for 3 solts.

idk why but 5:41 gave me a little chuckle looking at what's written on the notebook

That circuit in the plug is also commonly found in the chargers for toy grade drones. Most of the lithium batteries for these toys include an integrated protection circuit, so all you need to charge them off of usb is a resistor to limit the current.

I remember years ago opening up a mains charger for a hand held amateur radio transceiver. The battery pack was NiCd and cost something ridiculous. There were several types of charger. The basic version had a 2.5mm plug, one small transformer, one diode and *nothing else*. That was the official charger too.

the lock slot is good for packaging with a plastic tab to hold the pack in place, like toy cars.

I like how they have run the listing as "USB 3 slot charger" (or however they choose to spell it) so that it picks up searches for USB 3 charger etc.

That colour printout was a great idea!

8:32 Is it just my imagination, or are the two rectangular holes / slots on the raised top-side of that case, eerily similar to what might fit into a US mains socket? They're a bit offset to one side, though...

2:32 I know it was a throwaway comment, but two things about Kingston computer locks. First, they're _very_ effective at stopping a form of theft that's common at office buildings and college campuses. A thief visits an building around lunchtime, dressed to blend in. The thief looks for an unattended laptop, picks it up, and walks out as if they own it or they work for IT. At some locations, thieves can easily take $10 k of equipment in a single lunch break-not including the lost data or downtime. Second, they're actually often quite a lot stronger than they seem, depending on the chassis design. They certainly won't stop a dedicated adversary with resources and skill, but they'll stop most common thieves, who are typically looking for easy targets. Security should always be evaluated in terms of threat profiles.

These videos are brilliant!

very cool with the shiny electronics quest. shiny..

With shorted batteries, it might let the magic smoke out of the transistor - or THE USB PORT

Hey clive, could you do a video explaining the charging requirements for the different types of batteries?

I thought the same thing about those Kensington lock slots I had an old laptop and a lock at work and I tried as hard as I could to get it off without tools... kicking it hanging from it, I totally destroyed the laptop and even made a few marks on the desk but the thing never did come free... They are a lot stronger than they look.

The slot on the back is for an outlet plug. I've seen battery charger that plug directly into the wall and hang flush. I think that is a double duty case. Not 100% it just looks that way.

The cable used on yours is normally found in cheap products and they all have different end connectors. I have a cheap rc car and it has the exact same cable but it has a connector at the end to charge the battery. They normally have red leds in it to indicate the charge. Usb and cable are always the same on all different types of that cable.

Does that 1.5 volts max value on the batteries change as they corrode inside? If the permanent logic on that power circuit design has no way of checking the new max voltage of the cell(s), then it seems overcharging is pretty much guaranteed by this device on all but the newest of cells.

Never heard of a Nickel Cyrdride battery before! Maybe you can take one apart someday.

I can see that casing was designed to accept a circuit board in between the cable stay and the cell holders.

opening cheap Chinese electronics is like Christmas morning, you don't know what color socks your going to get

This is a LOT better than that white ZhongJun charger.

We once got a led torch from ebay- came with a sort of ok mains charger, but the 12v car charger literaly just used a resistor to "limit the current" to the 4.2v max li -ion cell I discovered it becuse when i used it i could smell the resistor burning and melting the plastic housing!!

First time I've ever seen him put something back together again.

On the plus side yours comes with 4 real screws. I got one (bundled in with other stuff) that takes all the round lithium ion single cells and they used 2 screws and molded the other 2 screws and holes for them into the plastic. I suppose it saves a penny every ten chargers.

The hole is for a turnbuckle hold down fir holding it into packaging you see them on toys instead of screws or twisted wire

4:01 at this point I really hoped, they placed the charging circuits in the plug.

Its going to be hard to beat that one.

What would happen if you put them in the wrong polarity and charge them?

I like your optimism. Shitty charger but a fairly good case! :-)

I've got a problem, could you answer the simple question please: Right, you've got an RCD protected consumer unit and the MCB is Off, now you cut through the supply cable with side cutters, shorting all 3 conductors and the RCD trips even though the mcb is off, I know it's a TNC system so earth and neutral are joined near the consumer unit and the RCD is basically a differential amplifier, I just can't figure it, got any idea's please

I think the slot you were commenting on is just to mount the thing to the wall if you want.

Hi clive, a quiestion. Could the slit be one of those to attach it to a wall with a screw or nail?

A family members borrowed my tablet charger and cable and lost it. They replaced it with one from EBAY and when I got it I measured the output and it was live voltage imposed over a 5 volt DC difference of potential. It didn't even have any useful parts for other projects. When I looked inside there was what looked like a Chinese coin taped to the circuit board. I thought "at least I got a coin..". No such luck it was steel slug KO from an electrical box. I think they were using it to prevent rattling, shim?

If I can find it, I might have a present for you. The shittiest battery charger I've ever come across, for 18650 cells. I used it only once, because it charged my battery to something like 4.7 volts. It was _extremely_ hot when I unplugged it, though the battery wasn't bulging yet. Probably would have exploded if I let it go any longer. Came free with a $8 LED flashlight from eBay. I should have known better.

Awesome videos

The green led does turn off when the red is on. It's shunted by the transistor :) That connection is missing in the schematic.

that T slot is for mounting it on a wall or board or something else.

Could it just be one of those red/green LEDs that change between the two when you reverse the current?

I found one that pretty good, aside form the fact that it requires 2 in order to charge either. cant just charge one at a time. But its good cuz it takes any size

I have one from an old 4 battery charger with no name from China, it charges CR123s. I used them in my old DIY laser. But once while sleepy I stuck one in the charger backward and the thing caught fire. I put unplugged it after put it out and it still works. I mean a battery charger with no reverse polarity safety. Why? It cost very little to add that. :P I still have it. Though the batteries and laser are long gone now.

well now you have to do a video on how you modify that case.

The green LED is connected to the transistor and should turn off when the red LED is on.

How long until you find one that's just wires connected to the USB and battrie contacts

Those holes on the back look as if one version had the board in the battery case and plugged into a wall outlet and hung from the outlet. I could be wrong.

from the description I'd assume you could use this as a power bank?

That would be great to power a small string on fairy lights... Not that you haven't already considered that application for it...

0:10 You don't know Young Huey? lol neither do I

I would like to see a resistor in series with the base lead of the transistor. Otherwise, if a high current USB charger is used, the base-emitter junction of the transistor could be blown.

I have that same small black screwdriver.

I wonder why they felt the need to put the circuitry in the plug? It seems like it would be easier to just put it in the case.

I bought a really expensive charger when I lived in Norway. It had charging indicator lights. The only thing it does is to shine green when a battery is connected. In a way that is a indicator of nothing.

will we ever come across the fables - resistor and diode trickle charger soldered directly to the mains - charger?

Im blown away they can even turn a profit sellimg at that price, i cant imagine many people buy this workshop rejects perhaps even still after postage how do they do it?

I think the circuit would need a resistor in series with the base of the transistor. Otherwise, when the batteries are completely discharged, on the base there are 5 Volts and a very high current would flow into the base of the transistor.

6:30 At first glance it seemed to me that there is a smiley with a mustaches next to the LED.

+bigclivedotcom, I'm not sure where I ever read it and can also not verify if it's true, but the Kensington lock (or whatever it's called) was said to be designed in a way that it causes a lot of damage if you actually try to steal a device locked to one of those kind of cables, by either ripping the chassis open at a "tactical" place to render the product completely useless, or make it appear so badly damaged (though maybe still working) that you are unable to sell the stolen goods.

I'm guessing that slot is for a mounting screw. Although having just one of them makes me wonder if the person that designed the case knows how mounting screws work...

You could possibly go even lower than that. No electronics, just an LED in series to lose about .5V and get 1.5-ish V across each cell.

Does bigclive do requests? I read some place that if you put AC through a neon sign transformer and directly electrify water all the high voltage turns to heat. Do you think this is correct and are you willing to try it just for laughs? Unfortunately my budget does not stretch to afford a neon sign transformer and it's much more sensible to get someone else to put their life on the line :)

I bought one recently for $1.25 Australian minus 50% because the place was going out of business and I think it might give even this one a run for its money

i bought a pack of those cheap usb lights, three LED chips and no on/off switch. (uxwbill used one in his "looking for fake solar cells" video recently) i was planning to use it with these small power banks but it's not working with one power bank. it will just dimly flash every half second, and if i charge the power bank just a minute it'll work again, and the lights work fine with my other power banks or in the computer usb port so i'm thinking it's a faulty powerbank. it's brand new so i'm looking for any thoughts?

Uh WOW!!!! That has to be the winner for certain since there is nothing inside to help a battery out. Or maybe I'm wrong & it's been inside of the USB ports all of this time & we just didn't know it, a shame on us, LOL.

I wouldn't put any guarantees on the transistor surviving if the batteries are really flat or short circuit. All the current will go through the B-E junction up to the current limit of the USB power source less than about 150ma for the resistor.

Those slots on the back of it remind me of what you'd see on the back of an old landline telephone to hang it on the wall. But those look too small to be used for mounting. And they're not really in the best position for it.

you have an error i think, the green looks to be connected to the switched transistor too so the green would go out when the red was on.

I've bought some 5v usb to 12V DC boost converters...built in the cable on a board like that off eBay...they work pretty well for a dollar....one gives me 12.05 and the other 11.86 consistently....I like them for using a usb battery pack to power my evil mad scientist electrical projects that need 12v to kick off ....only thing that sucks is they are low current so a 12v 1W laser isn't happening even with a control board or TTL

Your LED symbols look so happy. =3

I'd imagine the 500ma limit from the usb port prevents the transistor from going pop

Are you aware of wago 215-311 clamps for plugging in loose wires into ordinary multi meters and other 4mm sockets?

I have BASEN BS4 I think it is not bad charger (I hope so)

Why do you keep discovering working LEDs within completely opaque casings? Or was there a hole in this casing allowing you to see this one this time? *edit - oh at 5:43 you mention that, sorry, ignore me.

I notice the extra holes in the USB plug. Is this somehow a USB 3.0 connector?

Maybe add a dob of white paint on your multimeter's dial so it's fractionally easier to see where it's set?

Would it have been better to have the 1K resistor on the other side of the transistor then?

I bought a torch that came with a charger for its lithium battery, all it had inside was an LED in series with the battery

Not gonna lie, the title made me click super fast xD

I can't help but think Clive's symbol (maybe the universal symbol?) for LED's on schematics looks like a :3 face with longer eyes (=3). Kinda cute IMO.

looks like u couldve done with HDR video recording on to show up the blacks better and the shadows

I once got an USB single 18650 Liion cell charger which was really just directly connected to the USB port, no resistors, nothing.

Aaawwww I wanted to see the green LED put in. But most likely would not fit for the traditional ones since the red is a surface mounted LED. Could always poke a hole in the case though. xD