Teardown – Page 6

Voltlog #165 – USAMS 3 Port USB Charger With Display Review & Teardown

In this video I am taking a look at the USAMS 3 Port USB Charger With Display. Turns out the same charger is sold under many different names, and I suspect inside there is the same circuit labeled USB320G.

Like I mentioned in the past China is improving the designs of these charger each year so the situation is much better now than it was a few years back. There would still be the $2 death traps disguised as apple chargers but in the $10 range you can get some pretty decent chargers with adequate protection. This charger has the required protection features to make it safe to use however its not special in any way, the noise level is higher than I would like and the output current of just 3A is not enough for charging 3 devices. Not even 2 at the same time if they both require more current.

Here are links to where you can find this charger: Banggood, Aliexpress, Amazon.

Voltlog #164 – Pirl USB Charger Review & Teardown

This is a review of the Pirl charger which has 4 independent USB ports each capable of up to 2.7A continuous output. The product will launch on kickstarter soon.

You get 4 ports each capable of 2.7A and we’ll put that to a test later. The 4 ports are independent so a fault on one of the ports is only gonna shut down that port. It has input reverse polarity protection, thermal protection and ESD protection. It can also detect and optimize the charging current based on the connected device so I expect to see one of those tiny chips which handles the usb data lines on each port.

Another interesting feature they mention on their website is voltage compensation such that each channel adjusts the output voltage according to the current drawn, if the current increases the voltage will increase slightly to compensate for the voltage drop that might occur in the cable up to your device.

They also have a wattmeter on the front of the device showing you how much power your device is pulling from the charger.

Voltlog #152 – Fake Aneng AN101?

So back when I was preparing for that video, I ordered an Aneng AN101 from aliexpress, I think I took the cheapest seller out of the ones that were available and when I got the meter I realised it doesn’t have the Aneng branding right here on the upper side of the LCD.

Here are links to where you can buy this pocket multimeter:

Aneng AN101: Aliexpress, Amazon, Banggood, Ebay.

Voltlog #146 – Is My NEO M8N GPS Module Fake?

Welcome to a new voltlog, today we are taking a closer look at the NEO M8N GPS Module that I showed getting in a recent video. A few people mentioned in the comments that there are a lot of fakes being sold on ebay so I should check mine to see if I got a fake or not.

NEO M8N GPS Module Links (probably fakes):

Voltlog #143 – NSA Style USB Cable GSM Bug/Locator Device

In this video we take a close look at what appears to be a plain simple usb data & charging cable. This is ofcourse not your typical cable but instead a full featured tracking spy device which works over the GSM network. The size, shape and purpose of the device is very similar to what the NSA has in their toolbox and calls it COTTONMOUTH.

Get the GSM Data Line Locator from:

Reverse engineering of the cable [external link].

Voltlog #139 – Aneng AN8009 Multimeter Review

In Voltlog #114 I reviewed the Aneng 8008 and I said it’s probably the best $25 multimeter that you can buy. Today we are taking a look at the Aneng AN8009 which is a newer model from Aneng.

In the end I would say this new AN8009 model is just as good as the AN8008 and they are both great beginner multimeters but they can also be good for the more advanced user who better understands their limitations.

My recommendation is to take a look at the differences between the two and choose based on your needs: ask yourself, do I need temperature measurements? Do I need the extra resistance range? Or do I need the square wave output. Better yet, and this is what I would do, I would get both models to have all of those functions when needed. Also it’s good to have two multimeters because you can measure both voltage and current at the same time.

Here are some links where you can get the Aneng 8009:

VolLog #129 – Ebay Bussmann Fuse vs Genuine Bussmann Fuses DMM-B-44/100-R

If you remember Voltlog #117 in that video we analysed some ebay Bussmann fuses to try and figure out if they are fake or real fuses. The ebay fuses we’re way cheaper than anywhere else so that made me suspect they are not genuine.

It’s good to know if the ebay fuses are real or not because they are selling allot of them and people might be relying on these to perform as required when in fact they might be out of spec. For the average bench user which only occasionally goes up to 240VAC it might not be an issue if the fuse is slightly outside the specs but if you are probing some high energy circuit and relying on the ebay fuse to perform according to the datasheet at it is not then something serious might happen, like the multimeter could explode because of a high energy discharge or it could simply damage the meter which is to be avoided.

Links for the products and test equipment shown in this video:

Voltlog #122 – C5W LED vs Incandescent Bulb Temperature

Welcome to a new voltlog, in a previous video I showed these C5W LED bulbs that I got from ebay they were very cheap so I put them to a test and discovered they reached very high temperature in just 15 mins of running in free air which got me concerned, the fixture of this bulb could melt.

C5W LED Bulb on Ebay

C5W LED Bulb on Aliexpress

C5W LED Bulb on Banggood

Thermometer used in this video

Voltlog #120 – Mini DC Power Supply Review

So I guess a gadget like this is worth 10$ because you could replace that linear breadboard power supply with a more efficient one, which will give you voltage and current display as well as adjustable output.