Another work light with weird circuitry (with schematic)
I've looked at a few of these before and they all seem to have some weird circuitry twist. This one initially looked almost identical to the blue Aldi unit, but the circuitry has some weird bits that are actually quite clever.
What's not clever is the current the LEDs are being run at. With a freshly charged battery the current draw was:-
High (2 LEDs lit) 3.8A - 11W
Medium (1 LED lit) 3A - 9W
Low (other LED lit) 1.6A - 4.8W
When the zero-ohm links are removed and replaced with one of the 1 ohm resistors the current drops to:-
Both LEDs lit:- 1.75A - 5.25W
One LED lit:- 1A - 3W
The light output is still very useful, but the light runs much cooler and has a considerably higher run time on a charge. That makes it better suited as a rechargeable light source during these turbulent times.
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/ bigclive
#ElectronicsCreators
5:05 "parallel zero ohm links" for when zero just isn't low enough...
It can even provide additional power drawn from a nearby black hole :D
Two zero ohm links in parallel is: 1 / (1 / 0 + 1 / 0) Division by zero three times! Doesn't that open up a portal to the 17th dimension or something?
@@sootikins Ah yes, the 17th dimension.The dimension when we realize that ALWAYS there is togetherness in between us and The Oneness.😏😏
@@brucepickess8097 I just thought it was a spare dimension where the Flying Spaghetti Monster stores his crates of Parmesan cheese.
😅
Makes me think of both "The Minions" and the movie "Short Circuit" at the same time.
I thought it was a tape. Like a magnetic tape we would play music from in the 90s.
Big Clive no disassemble…
With a dash of Wall-e.
@@suzu9404 Ha Ha, I can hear Johnny 5 saying that
@@suzu9404 Johnny Five is alive.
6:25 I believe this is a character in Chinese "seal script", an archaic form of writing sometimes used to make texts look more formal, 𝔧𝔲𝔰𝔱 𝔞𝔰 𝔴𝔢 𝔲𝔰𝔢 𝔊𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔠 𝔱𝔢𝔵𝔱 𝔰𝔬𝔪𝔢𝔱𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰 𝔱𝔬 𝔪𝔞𝔨𝔢 𝔱𝔢𝔵𝔱 𝔩𝔬𝔬𝔨 𝔞𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔮𝔲𝔢. Unfortunately I can't read even regular Chinese so I don't know what it says.
I believe it roughly translates as "We love cripsy fried dog"
@@MattyEngland 😂😂😂
If I squint I see the person from the Munch painting 'The Scream'...but maybe that is just me.
Yes, seal script. The characters share the same ground line as the rest of the script on the board, so that gives the orientation. The Chinese are not above making a piece of text also an illustration. Mostly, it looks to give the impression of a "chop" mark, the equivalent of a signature, in a rough way. The text is clean, but the border of the surrounding field is quite rough. Odd. Sorry, not fluent, I can look up words, but I'm decades out of practice.
One thing I love about electronics is how many different ways you can design a circuit to get a task done. Sometimes multiple designs are even equally efficient. But then there's this thing. 🤣
I'm laying in bed and this is just perfect to watch while falling asleep (not because it's boring! Just soothing)
It's fine. Many people watch my videos to help them fall asleep.
¡Si'! 😁💤😪🔦
Big Clive, the Bob Ross of electronic circuitry.
The voice that does it for me without fail is jerryrigeverything
@@hanelyp1 nah, he's circuit Jesus!
You could get three prime ministers in between those button delays... :P
My friend in Kyiv decided to construct a makeshift home light for the periods of power outage (they take place daily, often several times a day). He's got almost no spare parts or modules on hand, but at least he can salvage something from his earlier projects, and between the blackouts he can use his soldering iron. I know a couple of cheap rechargeable lights from a dollar store could save him (especially if they take 18650 cells and allow for replacing them), but when everyone in a big city faces this situation, they certainly don't have enough on the shelves.
Old laptop battery packs are a great source of the cells, and you just need to look for those of roughly equal capacity to use.
Someone get this mans' friend some 18650 cells
Be careful with which laptop battery you use. Not all of them use 18650 cells. I have a Thinkpad T420s which used a square battery. They work just like 18650s, but you will never find an off the shelf anything for them, except for universal parts that work on any cell.
I could source your friend some 18650 cells if needed...
Reckon you'll pass the million mark by the new year!
I doubt it will be that soon. To be honest, I'd rather the channel doesn't get too big so I can reply to comments like this.
The symbol seems to be the ancient family crest of the Shao family. It is a pictogram showing some kind of offering to the heaven (top) and a water drop caught in a container (bottom) - as far as I understood from my Chinese wife’s description. She works in electronic components business and will ask around in her PCB manufacturing contacts if anybody knows more about this 😂. Will update here if I get any more info.
It's a gorilla with abs and big ole gorilla chest, the family crest of Saint George Floyd and Ahrmed R'Aubery
Bernd my friends wife bought him one from there (your certainly right ) he said after about a couple of weeks he would no longer trust the battery on it ? could be in the middle of doing a five mi job it died ? when he needed it for loft's or dark place's at work he's a plumber e.g cold fill tank's in loft's with ball valve's Exocet.... he binned it didn't want to be stuff in a loft with one leg hanging out of the client's ceiling in the dark
Khoroshen sorry that was meant for Bernd one above yourself in the comments i will cut and paste it into the correct one oooops
I was thinking it looked like some sort of Chinese pictogram. Very interesting.
After some more research it turned out that this is the work of a Chinese artist from the 1980s who re-imagined a lot of family names in this ancient style. So it is made to look really old but actually isn’t. Nobody from the PCB manufacturing contacts recognized this as being a thing at a certain factory or something like that. Maybe just the designer having fun putting his name on it 🙂
The resistor divider on the USB data lines comes from the original iPod era and it uses it to detect that the device was plugged to a wall wart charger instead of a regular PC port, where it could only suck 500mA while on the charger it allowed 1A. Nowadays the current rating is set by the USB C power delivery system I believe
A pile of things now will just keep trying to draw what they want until the voltage starts to droop. I have some neat 9-36v input USB power boards with 4 USB ports on them that will happily feed 3A into each pair of sockets. (Particularly handy for driving USB powered SBCs.) Mind you, I did push one up to 5A before it finally let out the smoke. It's always handy to destructively test any hardware you intend to use. Fun, too.
@@ConstantlyDamaged Wow! 😃 🚭 😄
Please note that Apple devices didn't use to recognise non-Apple chargers without this resistor string. I haven't played much with the USB-C devices yet so not sure what they do.
The PNP transistor connected to the 5V and 4.2V rails reminds me a bit of the old 7400 series TTL input circuitry except those used NPNs.
The Aldi one that I bought is *definitely* not 4400mAh. It's less than a half of that. Charges from flat to full in less than half an hour.
Bernd my friends wife bought him one from there (your certainly right ) he said after about a couple of weeks he would no longer trust the battery on it ? could be in the middle of doing a five mi job it died ? when he needed it for loft's or dark place's at work he's a plumber e.g cold fill tank's in loft's with ball valve's Exocet.... he binned it didn't want to be stuff in a loft with one leg hanging out of the client's ceiling in the dark
I very much enjoy this channel, possibilities, solutions and critiques. keeps the wheels turning. Perfect!
I have a pair of similar lamps branded Feit Electric. Inside is room to fit additional 18650 cell. Of course I added one. Simply paralleled a self protected cell whats intended for electric hair cutter. Increased runtime another couple hours. Works great.
Cheers Clive, it’s like watching circuit design evolution. There will be winners, but mostly there will be losers. Really enjoying the content and learning process 😎👍
Based on the dates silkscreened onto the board, the two boards are 10 years apart in age at the time they were designed. Does this represent 10 years progress in design? Or 10 years of reading the previous guy's chicken-scratch notes and cobbling ?
I've been watching your videos for a long time now. You make great educational content. Much Respect
Looks like a decent portable light, and I agree that the resistor values should be altered to give better battery runtime. Even if you don't consider the heat dissipation, pulling 3.8A from a 2P Li-Ion battery pack is not going to help it in terms of battery life (just over 1 hour?) and battery longevity (will lose its capacity faster).
This is the weirdest piece of Minions merchandise I've ever seen.
Very cool. Thanks Big Clive.
Oh, and absolutely No Clue on that logo. At first I thought it was a smudge of heat sink compound but figured it's on the wrong side.
6:57 You almost made me spit out my coffee!!! LoL!!! It looks like an umbrella and a mushroom.
Free Rorschach Test with every circuit board, from your friends in China.
Always use protection... Interesting light, thanks.
I've bought a couple of these types of lights using removable 18650 batteries. I use 3400mAh 18650B in them. They are superb for ice fishing at night. I was worried about the effect of cold on the batteries, but they last so long, and I think the light heats up the cells, so it isn't as much of an issue as I had feared. They don't keep you as warm as an old Coleman fuel lantern, but you don't need to carry a heavy glass lantern, and stinky fuel.
I've had one of these for years and it uses either 4 x AA or 2 x 18650 and I love this layout because I can easily get a total of over 6600mha compared to the cheaper 2200mha cells used by these packs.
After hacking bits of the plastic case away with a Dremel, I managed to squeeze 6 x 18650s in to that type. The newer ones are a bit smaller.
@@dermotdobson2700 A bit smaller? 18650s are literally defined by their size...
@@caramelldansen2204 I'm referring to the floodlights - the modern ones, being smaller can only take 4 x 18650, the older ones with the flashlight on the end can have 6 x 18650s squeezed in.
It is a Chinese totem symbol for the surname Shào (邵). I suspect it is a bit like a family crest. These pictograms predate surnames, and modern Chinse writing (more like Oracle script), and were originally a clan tattoo.
I got one like that a few years ago on eBay but it has a single round COB LED and a flashlight at one end. First push gave you the flashlight, second was the front LED (very bright) and third gave an alternating red/blue warning on the front LED display - very nice. I put in a pair of 5000mAH 18650 cells (in parallel!) - works very well. Everything else is virtually the same except the 'test' button is not there - the battery test LEDs come on with the main LED.
We have ones like the yellow in our Dollar Store in Canada (DOllarama) they run on 3xAA batteries, almost the same plastic case.
It's worth remembering that as LEDs get hotter, their conversion efficiency of current to light decreases. So much so, that at some point they may actually output less light as the current increases. Below that point the light output is a relatively linear function of current, so reducing the current through the LEDs by substituting larger resistors is unlikely to reduce efficiency and may possibly improve it. Given the penchant for Chinese manufacturers to drive all the components as hard as they can get away with, that sort of mod makes a lot of sense.
Thats a very interesting point. my one starts off bright and then dims down. If I switch it off and back on, it comes back bright. I wonder if I should back off the current a bit and have a more stable output?
@@kenaston4220 If it's dimming over a relatively short period (a minute or less), then it's probably a thermal effect, rather than the battery voltage dropping, so there are efficiency gains to be made by reducing the current and/or putting a better heatsink on the LEDs. Perhaps test the theory by blowing cold air from a fan over it?
That USB output circuit sure was strange. I had to watch your explanation a couple of times before I completely understood it. But PNP transistors have always confused me anyway, because they're backwards from the norm. I'm continually amazed at your reverse-engineering skills. Thanks for giving us such a thorough explanation.
They aren't "backwards from the norm" because they are normal themselves. PNP and NPN transistors are both normal devices and you'll see them everywhere.
Great content .👍
I picked up one of these style of worklight on Amazon last week, similar shape/design and screw positionings, what was interesting though is that it had a battery compartment with two 18650 cells, but you could also take those out and add AA batteries instead. Seemed like a nice improvement and allows for you to keep some extra cells around. The one I got was "Trongle LED Rechargeable Work Lights, 30W" on Amazon but theres a few almost identical ones.
@The Tired Horizon Do you know what make and model that is? I've searched but can only find two or four cell models. I'd be quite interested in getting one of the six cell models as an emergency backup light. Thanks 👍
@The Tired Horizon Thanks
Monkey spanking is better than 'baiting the master'...
Alright, spot on big Clive ! I was just using one right now and wound up soldering directly to my 12 volt outlet on my controller inside my micro house!
12V? How did you connect one of these to 12V?
@@bigclivedotcom I just figured by the number of battery's of 1.75 added to close to 12 plus output charger was 12 so I wired some large alligators with a coil of good copper heavy gauge red and black to the spots inside where the input was drilled a whole tied it in a knot replaced the cover extracted the lithiums added them to my ebike battery build clipped the alligators on my power bank and vola!
@@robertallen5890 Thanks for clearing things up, I understand perfectly now. 🤣🤣
@@robertallen5890 I get you, sounds like my approach to these sort of things. How often do you need to feed the alligators :)
@@Toca_waffle843 thanks to our fearless leader into this great opportunity for the many years I never threw away my good led lights gadgets and boxes of coiled wires and packages of various sizes of alligators I keep all around me always. Lol
I also think it evokes a Minion at first glance. That character (or perhaps it's two, one on top of another) looks like oracle bone script or one of the seal scripts. I'll leave finding out what its modern character is as an exercise for those more knowledgeable in Chinese linguistics... I did try a brief radical lookup of seal script but failed to find anything resembling a match.
This is why we respect you Big C! DVD:)
I saw a boat in the symbolism, which I thought- export then you turned it over and I saw an umbrella - keep dry.
I have a pair of lights similar to your yellow one here, except that they use a single LED/lens assembly and run off 4 alkaline AAs - classic rechargeable chemistries don't work, sadly. I rather like them because, contrary to many cheap lights, they throw a very broad pattern. Quite handy in a low crawlspace, where focused beams become blinding in reflection.
I bought one similar to the yellow one in a local chinese shop in Italy (no branding on mine and back was more similar to the blue one) and they had 3 models of the same one. Two big led arrays, one long strip and one with only one big led array but RGB. All of them were the same on the back and front except the LED itself
I had another look into mine and remembered that mine has another COB LED on the left of the unit but has only full power/dim for the two big arrays, other than that mine came with a pop-able back and slot for 2x18650 or 4xAA
I like it good idea Clive worth investing in a couple
I will buy a thousand of them specifically because they have no SOS mode.
I concur!
Please leave plenty in stock for the people in Ukraine that got their power grid blown up since you posted that comment.
@@jkobain me to, ... ---- ...😏
They could at least put the SOS on a different switch So that It can be super glued and never pressed again
The variants of this i got have a battery compartment that supports 2x18650 of 4x AA batteries. Pretty decent lights i've had them for 2 years
The mosfets are typically in the milli ohms range when turned on so dissipate very little power. I'd more worry about the leds, though at some point the battery will drop voltage so that may be straining as well.
the high power mode rely on the total circuit resistance like some direct-drive flashlights. if you swap the battery with unprotected high current ones, the led would be screaming for help within minutes for sure
I hacked earlier versions (the ones with twin square COB LEDs on front and a flashlight on the side) of these with a Dremel, so I could squeeze 6 x 18650 cells inside. This runs for 16 hours on full power and 25 hours on low. Got bored waiting for the tiny flashlight to run it flat, but it was at least 3 days.
Awesome Video big clive
I like firefly mode. I wish more lanterns and lights had a good glow-worm mode.
In the past I've used series strings of resistors (2K2/3K3 and 3K3/2K2) on the USB data lines to get a USB charger to work with Apple devices. It works OK for me but I'll give those values a try next time I butcher a supply.
I have a strong love for cheap led flood lights, my wife tends to give me at least one for Christmas/Fathersday/Birthday every year, so they tend to be floating around everywhere except wherever I need them.
While I don't get them as presents I also have the same thing with Stanley knives and tape measures, literally I have several of each (for some reason) and when I need one you won't find the buggers!
@@skylined5534 ..and what makes it worse is that when you didn't need them you couldn't move without tripping over 'em ! Been there, always.
The white blob looks like a roach got squashed there during manufacturing.. 😅
I'm guessing it's the designer's personal mark, similar to Dave's platypus.
Are they allowed to smoke a J while working?
WHAAAAT??? No SOS mode? 😱 Then it can't have been made in China then. What a relief, something worth buying. *Thank You* for this video Clive. Much appreciated. 👍
i have seen some aldi products in the USA but i never owned any of them however but thanks for making great content Big Clive
@@johndododoe1411 Yes, Trader Joe's is a US subsidiary of Aldi Nord. However Aldi in the US is a subsidiary of Aldi Süd. The two Aldis are independent corporations. They split in 1966 when the founding brothers differed over cigarette sales. From Wikipedia: "Internationally, Aldi Nord operates in Denmark, France, the Benelux countries, Portugal, Spain and Poland, while Aldi Süd operates in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Switzerland, Australia, China, Italy, Austria and Slovenia. Both Aldi Nord (as Trader Joe's) and Aldi Süd (as Aldi) also operate in the United States"
I could just be a crazy person but your monkey does look like a character from The Oracle bones this would be very early Chinese writing.
It's a picture of a hoodie hanging their head. Maybe! What a busy circuit board.
My Aldi Bue one is very good, use it a lot.
That larger switch looks like the one that has a rotating contact inside, which may explain the delay. The processor has to come online before it turns on one or both mosfets for the lights.
It's just a single contact for the microcontroller.
Another great teardown video Clive. Our corner shop by us is selling a smaller work light like this for £10, planning on picking one up on Friday, (payday lol), to have a look and see if it can be hacked, will send you some info and pics if you would like, keep up the good work and see you Saturday night
Check if it's rechargeable. There's a cheaper one that uses AA cells.
Many thanks Clive for showing and explanation..
The resistor network is not to "stop Apple phones trying to suck as much current as possible". It is actually to _allow_ them to charge using higher current than they would otherwise. If you plug a USB-compliant device (including an Apple device) into a port whose data lines are not connected to anything, it is not allowed to draw more than 0.5A according to the spec. These resistors are configured to tell Apple devices that this charger is capable of supplying 1A of current, so it's OK for them to pull that much. However, I'm not sure why they didn't just go with the more standard "dedicated charging port" indicator of just shorting the data lines together, though, as that also works even with non-Apple devices, and AFAIK Apple devices understand it just fine too (since it's part of the USB BCP spec)..
If you ever make merch I would definitely take a "One moment please..." shirt lol
There are merch files on www.bigclive.com that you can download and make customised garments.
I have a variation of this case type too, but with a single white LED board on the middle, surrounded by a ring of red LED`s (which can stay on or flash). I had to repair it recently (CX-ST02 board), as the charge socket (which is mounted directly against the USB power out on mine) had parted company with its little board, despite being rarely used. That's when I discovered that the charging ports power isn't actually soldered to the board its on, they`re just contacting pins with "receiver pads" on the board, & the only thing soldered is the outer port surround clasps to the edges of the board, on mine at least.. When you connect it to a computer USB to charge, it actually comes up as something on the PC, which got me all para (I don't want those crafty Chinese chaps hacking my computer after all!), so I charge it from a USB plug now instead.. Maybe those chips are to communicate/signal when connected to a computer?
I've not heard of one that presents itself as a device when plugged into the computer. I'd expect that to require the data lines of the connector to be connected to a processor.
im surprised they only got such small heatspreader with 11W power. i did a DIY emergency lamp, at 12W they're quite warm after 30 minutes of use.
Relying on the protection board in a battery pack to limit the charging voltage is a very bad thing to do. Protection circuits are generally designed to allow the maximum voltage that won't actually result in rapid destruction (fire!) of the cells. It is expected that they will allow the main charge controller to reach its maximum setpoint without cutting off charging. That means that the protection circuit probably won't do any good in this case and the battery will be overcharged. It takes surprisingly few overcharge cycles of surprisingly little excessive voltage to significantly shorten the lifetime of the battery. Undercharging will result in greater life, both in terms of number of cycles and total energy deliverable over the lifetime of the battery.
Thank you for yet another interesting video! Instead of replacing resistors on the pcd isn't it is easier to put one in the ground wire to the LEDs? Btw I hope you can make a video on the (nicer) dimmable 12/24v AC/DC G4 halogen replacing led bulbs, these are moulded in clear silicone to resemble a glass bulb i think. It has an efficient switching CC regulator that should be hackable :)
You could definitely add one in series.
A very good Wednesday morning to you all from Wellington Somerset
It would be neat to have a short video of your favorite hackable devices.
We don't get cool stuff like this at Aldi's in the United States.
Sure we do. I paid $12 for a nearly identical light and it came with an AA powered head lamp.
Clive, Am I correct in assuming that all one needs to do is ground the VSel pin (pin 7) and the lamp will protect any lipo cell you put into it protecting it from overcharge and over discharge? Thanks for another great video! K.
Theoretically yes.
I thought the thumbnail was a tape. Like a magnetic tape you would play music from in the 90s.
Yes I can see the similarity, mine though never had "hackable" printed on them.😏😏
haha lets brighten this up ghehe pun intended thx for the nice vids :) take care
Sure wish we had these in the USA
You do, but under random brands, and with random functionality.
I'm going to start saying, "One moment, please," and disappear for 10 minutes, then come back and act like I've only been gone for 1 second.
Sometimes it's several hours with the tricky reverse engineering ones.
Given the layout similarities, if it's not by the same manufacturer, it's from someone who cloned it.
I wonder if it's possible to flip the LEDs heatsink to the other side? at least the larger portion of that plate won't sit above the batteries (the large part will be on the left instead of being on the right).
1k and 100k likely the standard reel on the PNP machine, though I will bet they also will drop any value from 560R to 2k2 in the one position, and 82k to 220k in the other, depending on what is on the shelf when the reel ran out, and what was on sale that day in the market when they went looking. Yes putting in higher value resistors for the LED will help, probably best done using actual 2W wire ended resistors on short leads, tucked up in the spare space in the unit. Making them 2R2 and 3R3 would probably not drop light output much, as the lower current will drop the LED into a more efficient part of the curve, so 50% longer battery life and likely only a 20% drop in light output
Looks like a creepy snow angel. I am guessing that they had trouble in making the boost circuit shut down on no load or to get rid of the loading from the resistors setting the data line values, when boost is off.
I recall Space ship XL 5, but can't recall the year; '65 or '68? Good handle Richard KB.
@@kevinbean3679 it 1st aired 62, it only ran for about 37 episodes. I used to have all of them on a hard drive. Nostalgia is better than reality though.
@@FireballXL55 Thank you, so many years ago.
Now I get it! The company that makes these lights had two monkeys. One was in one lab and one in another lab. "Here. Take this enclosure and build a light. All you get are these chips, 1K Ohm resistors and Kiko, you get two lensed LED lights and ChiChi, you get this rectangular LED array. And you each get a Banana. Have at it, boys!"
I have a much better version of this light. I bought 3 of them and they are very powerful, use 18650s or AA Batteries !!!! From Amazon, not Lidl though !!!!
@@acmefixer1 Probably but also consider JLC and PCBWay manufacturing and assembling all our designs.... Your think they don't keep the designs for their own use or to sell back to us in other stuff
They are bats. There is actually a stylized character in the middle, meaning "Fortune". The character for "bat" sounds the same as that one. It's probably the logo for the company.
If you change the batteries, make sure you use protection.
So, you need to protect yourself when changing the battery ????????🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔. Yes you should always handle lithium batteries safely. 😏
"power outages around the world" are you perhaps mentioning South Africa as well. Wr currently have scheduled power outages. Wr even have different stages. If our power capacity is good then it's stage 0 . And we can get up to stage 8. Basically the higher the stage the longer and more power outages wr get in a day at a scheduled time. Right now we are at stage 4 and in the town I'm in at the moment (each towns or city's scheduled time is different) that means we have three scheduled power outages that last for two hours each . We call this loaf shedding because we're shedding the load of different towns at different times. But as it is our power infrastructure is pretty fucked.
That design logo on the print looks like an ancient Aztec or Mayan artwork.
This is good light , could even replace the cells to 3500mah to make it lat even longer. Great vid thank you 🤘🏻😁🤘🏻
To make it last longer, increase the resistor values so that the LEDs aren't being grilled and that the battery pack (as is) isn't having to deal with high current levels it wasn't designed for. 1A per LED (2A total) is plenty, you don't need 3.8A.
@@TheSpotify95 that's what we all come to Clive for..... Can it be hacked so we don't fry leds..? Yes.. Buy one (or two for a friend) take it apart have fun hack anyway as you desire... No..... Leave it alone.... 🤘🏻😜🤘🏻
@@TheSpotify95 They come with a 4400mAh pack as standard! 🤪 So I was being a moron anyways ! 😂 Putting 3500mAh cells in would be a downgrade on battery life 🤣🤣🤣. Adding larger or smaller mAh cells wouldn't grill the LEDS anyway, it would make no difference to current draw, LED lifespan or anything else except for battery life 🤘🏻
I wonder if the floating VSel line was some small effort at charging the batteries faster? Bad form to rely on the protection circuit that way, but a clever hack otherwise.
This is wild... My mega "humbled lessons with Lithium-Ion" comment within the last couple days had this light as the basis.... _almost_ lol Although mine is twin eyes like yours (and red trimmed), mine doesn't run the individual cobs. Mine is doing PWM to change to low mode -and I think it might also in high- and then a strobe mode (it's like 4yrs old now). I might have to see just how different the components are... 😁
PWM make much more sense as it's much more efficient and you don't waste power in those big resistors and you don't toast the battery.
@@jamesharmer9293 I certainly can't disagree! My eyeballs are just sensitive enough to detect it, is all. Not in any sense that it impacts me negatively, it's just annoying to "see" 🥴 Would be interesting to (somehow) have a toggleable internal ""battery typology"" / chemistry which could self regulate to limit current draw, and (further-somehow) do so in a no-additional-components, non-resistive _(no waste heat)_ kind of way. In a way, _kind of like_ a multi-tap coil, or a battery bank, but wouldn't be "dial a voltage" as the voltage would have its usual output based on charge state.
@@DUKE_of_RAMBLE I have built circuits that use PWM in the past and the trick is to up the frequency to a point where it wasn't either visible or audible, depending on application. A few KHz usually works, though with LEDs you might have to pick a frequency that wouldn't strobe with common camera shutter speeds.
@@jamesharmer9293 Believe it or not, it's actually my *_eyeballs_* lol I run mine on Low when I take the dogs out at night, since I've had instances where using it on High would run the 2x18650s out quicker than expected. So the strobing is easy to notice, at least for me, while walking them and passing by objects. (although, I think that was due to the one cell being crappy, as the pair I'm using now have lasted a couple weeks of ~15min/night on Low w/o the light cutting out! 🤘) 🤔 Maybe I should wire a switch into mine, inbetween the two cobs, so that the switch gives me independent control and then I can just run _one_ cob @ High... I'll have to pull it apart and see if my single-"PCB" Dual Cob will be modifiable this way... 😏
Wow, that is bizarre. Also, how the heck are you supposed to mount the thing other than setting it on a table where it can be knocked over?
I have a very similar light that is a nebo tango light. It has the two different leds that can operate independently. Or together on turbo mode. But it is dimmable for both legs independently. With small light on its lowest setting which is 25 lumens it says it will last 35hours. Battery doesn't last real long in turbo mode with a 1000lumens for only 2minutes. It several other settings that last a lot longer. Anyhow when your light is on hold the power button and maybe it will be dimmable. Pretty neat feature. This one says HL18B. I have had this one for two or three years and it has been pretty handy and reliable.
Basically the same design that home depot husky light.can run on 3 or 6 AA batteries .Needs a set a magnets so they can be stuck on metal surfaces .Would be nice if Husky made it with rechargeable lithium cells like the model you are showing .Will eat you out of house and home on batteries .Those models seam well made
The similarities, could they be from two different EEs using the same chassis design shop who adapted previous work? ... Edited to add: probably in-house at the same Chinese manufacturer. On second thought, the two-source version is obviously a revision of the earlier.
that's auspicious, I was ''Like'' number 422. m' burfdey. I always come away from these head lamp and work light videos a little less dim. knowing how all my light toys work is good knowledge other than 'it needs a new battery' btw the circuit board placemat is a neat idea, to go with the circuit board dishes
What was that movie with the gremlin in the circuitry it would show up on all the electronics? That's what the image kind of reminds me of lol.
I'd common the LEDs together, bypass the smd resistors and put proper resistors spliced into the wiring
They can not make them last too long as once every one has one the factory would have to close, built in obsolescence fry the chips of boil the battery.
delay? probably a micro controller say like an arduino or attiny and software. using pwm there is no need for a resistor for current limiting or maybe the reason for leaving the chip floating is to use lihv cells
I bought 3 of the Yellow lights from Amazon about a year ago !!!! I think they are brilliant !!! There is No delay on mine !!!! It has bright mode, dim and flashing with both lights all the time !!! My light has a battery compartment for 4 AA Batteries or 2 18650 lithium Batteries, (or 100 CR 2032 Button Cells !!!! Not really !!! that was a Joke !!!!). They are really good for finding Electrical Components and screws that are always attracted to the floor, and the become invisible as soon as they touch the Ground !!! My light is a Power Bank as well. So it's a different Model !!!! My lights are Very Bright, and the 18650 batteries last for months !!!! My lights have a stand so you could make a Flat topped Wooden Hat with the light screwed into it so you can see where you are going in the Dark !!!!
Thanks Ted!!!!
You say you you bought the yellow one from Amazon some time ago, however it was clearly not the Same Model as Clive's because it had different functions. So no real comparison.🤔🤔
@@brucepickess8097 Gosh Bruce, you don't stand for any BS do you?
@@brucepickess8097 It looks the same so they make different models with 2 led lights. Maybe mine are original and the Lidl one is a cheap copy
@@kevinwingfield2007 If you put mine next to Clive`s anyone would say they are exactly the same, of course for bruce pickess the atoms will be arranged differently !!!!!
I wanted to like it when you teased it on stream but I'll pass. Too bad too since I could use something that charges or can be powered off USB as my only rechargable lights I currently have are a couple of those mini halogen style work lights you featured a couple years back. They still work great but charge off an 8.4v supply. We don't lose power often here (and usually it's from a tree rat playing on the pole pig out back when we do) but with winter coming I wouldn't mind being a little better prepared this year.
If there is a delay. You can try double click.
@ 15:45, the battery might fit to the right, avoiding contact with the heatsink?
I also have something very similar its got red bumpers and a single circular light. I cannot remember where i got it from unfortunately
It is a neat little package, though the circuitry is a bit odd. I wouldn't mind having one to fart around with. I also like the fact it doesn't have the stupid golram frickin flash crap. Almost makes me want to buy a few purely for that reason alone. Drives me absolutely batshit when I'm forced to cycle through it every 3rd time I try to use a damn flashlight. I wouldn't mind so much if there was a dedicated button or sequence to get to the flash mode. I haven't a clue as to what the heck that thing was printed on there. Usually I pick up on that kind of thing fairly quick. That one has me thoroughly baffled.
If the logo is meant to be viewed the same way as the text, it looks like some sort of bird to me. The chicken of light?
C, is the LED CREE square with acrylic lens separate? The LED assy is interesting to me also
These LED COBS use flip chips.
I really should pick one of these up. My old LED worklight eats AA batteries like mad, and I feel it's been around long enough to deserve retirement. Or I could toss an 18650 with a protection/charge control board on it in.... eh, maybe I'll consider both, since one can never have enough portable lighting!
i really miss sos mode its favorite next to flashing