Hello, this is a post bag video. Let's try opening this with my bare hands. Oh actually I don't want to break what's inside it. but yeah, let's just rip it open like that.

What's in here? Oh, lots of these things. Bt168 Pro Battery testers Yeah, eight of these things all individually wrapped. which I've got to take out of their bags. There we are.

Eight of them all unwrapped. so let's give one a little bit of a test. Okay, firstly with a a C-type power plus Oh, that's a Wilco yeah Wilco who are sadly going into Administration although I must say I Went there the other day and there was absolutely nothing I wanted. Um, okay, so that's 1.53 Let's try that now with a lithiumine phosphate.

So 3.2 volt nominal, that's 3.36 and what else have I got lithium ternary nickel, manganese Cobalt which is oh yeah, if you press hard, it's fine. So that's 3.52 That's really the selling point of the Bt168. It can do 1.2 volts to 4.8 and the slide comes out wide enough to do an 18650.. Now here's an interesting thing the Bt168d could do.

um, an 18650 because I worked out that you can measure up to eight volts, but you just simply can't fit it in there because the slide doesn't open wide enough it does on this one. Um, but I don't know whether you remember which is odd. Why does that open wide enough for an 18650? This one had a 3.9 Ohm resistor. so 4 volts, 3.9 Ohms 4 Ohms that's one amp that's four watts into that little Tiddly surface mount resistor.

Should we see if it lights four watts into that surface mount resistor? Oh, it's gonna get hot Anyway, there's certainly, uh, plenty of power in there. Now, the critical thing with these eight testers is that they all give the same voltage reading on this lithium-ion phosphate because that's ultimately what these are going to do. They're just going to measure the cell voltage is on an eight cell life Pro 4. So let's go through them: 3.35 3.34 Stroke five Well, that's not a very good start.

3.36 I Was hoping that these would all be the same. They're not bad actually. 3.35 Oh, 3.33 and I don't know whether they would be adjustable in any way. 3.35 Maybe you just have to buy such a large number of them that you can select on test all the ones that measure the same.

They're Within 30 millivolts, which isn't bad. 3.34 Yeah, so they're all within 30 millivolts. Okay, that's interesting if you're liking this video. and I know it's early days a like button so this is the one I bought.

This is uh on AliExpress The Bt168 Pro Digital Battery Tester I Got it from Giant Power Store because they had the lowest uh item price one pound 36. There is a shipping of one pound 70 which comes to a similar price to what the others are sellers sellers are doing. but when you have multiple quantities, the shipping price didn't go up as quickly as some other sellers were. That's why I bought this.

Now it says that it tests up to 4.8 volts, but where does it top out? Uh, it's that way isn't it? Is it the same as the Bt168d So 3.07 which topped out at 8 volts? or will this top out at 4.8 Like what it says there no 6.1 something? Let's go for the third one. Yeah, so this does exactly the same as the Bt168d and seems to top out at 8 volts. fine. Okay, next up is this one Now this is one of these chai now.
um, delivery service items which normally turn up with using the every service but for some reason this got lost and then entered. um, the Royal Mail system. And then they sent me a card saying you have to pay an extra three pound fifty which includes all these admin charges for us to deliver it. So I don't quite know how that happened, but this cost me so uh yeah, it better be good.

and it is super capacitor module so it's two super caps there. Samoa Green Cap 2.7 volts that's a 5.4 volt. Uh, unit 500 farad. so it's a 250 farad with the Caps being in series.

And what I liked about this one particularly was the fact that the Caps are bolted onto the PCB so you could conceivably um, undo those bolts. they seem to have some sort of Gunk on them and swap caps around on boards now. I was just looking at this working out the resistance here that is put across the capacitor when this mosfet turns on and I noticed there's nothing in the position for U1 there is on this side on there. it's sort of fallen off.

So if on the basis that U2 is a mosfet which puts these resistors across the cap, U1 I'm guessing is the little voltage trigger I see which presumably triggers at 2.7 volts and it ain't there. So I'm gonna have to go back to the seller on this one and um, moan about that. Maybe they could just send me the PCB That would be a solution, wouldn't it? And then I could take the Caps off, put them on the new PCB and that would sort it. But yeah, four.

R7 Let's call it five ohms, Two of those in parallel. That's two and a half Ohms. It's a bit less than that, isn't it? 2.7 volts. Let's call it two and a half volts, two and a half volts, two and a half.

Ohms. So this is a one amp discharge circuit which is quite good. I'm now screwing this big uh oh I don't know. six mil something like that screw into these holes.

These are the two holes which are positive and negative. Um, across the outsides here for the 5.4 volts and the reason I'm doing that. In fact, it's a bit pointless really, because uh, if I'm going to get this PCB changed, that's not going to work. But um, yeah, my thinking is I like everything to be sort of standardized on uh, four millimeter banana plugs and I quite like Xt60s as well.

So I'm sort of making up interconnections for all that stuff. but this is a four millimeter banana plug and I think it has that thread so I should be able to screw that into there. The only problem is, how do I grip this circle I have to use plus I guess but then that tends to chew them up to screw that hard into there so that this then becomes banana plug compatible. So this is super capacitor 5.4 volts, 250 farads.
Um, automobile. I Don't know why it's automobile because this is a five volt one. So this was eight pounds and four. Pence Oh, that's odd.

This product can't be shipped to your address now. normally when that happens, this flag up here has changed to Afghanistan and they obviously don't ship much stuff to Afghanistan So, but it's not that in on this occasion, they seem to have decided that they're not shipping to the UK anymore. I don't know why so I can't really remember what the postage was on this thing. Also, you've got to bear in mind that on AliExpress these prices are Vat exclusive, so by the time you go to pay, it's all.

It's always a surprising amount more than you thought it was going to be. Next up, These All right? Let's rip this one to shreds and inside is that and then the other one is similarly wrapped. Let's take a look. Yeah, so these are active balancers, but they're quite different to the ones I've previously previously purchased, so that's an A test.

Active balancer. Um, on a very small board and it's got are these mosfets or are they specific active balancer chips? That's interesting? There's nothing. yeah. 8s active balancer.

Let's get in a bit closer. Um, and I don't know there must be a control chip somewhere. Is it that thing offset there? But this uses all Mlcc capacitors, which is interesting. Mlc I suppose capacitors multi-layer Ceramics Um, okay, the second one, let's put the camera back up is this and again, it's an active balancer, but again, it's different to the type that I've bought before.

Oh That's very optimistic. High current wiring isn't it? and so this one is. Oh, all the little feet have fallen out. I'll have to pick those up.

Yeah, this one just uses electrolytics. sort of lying down on the board. It's a very curious design once again. Um, these chips.

are they mosfets or are they something else? We'll have a look at that. those are three of the legs, so they're different to the ones I've used before. I'll go and get that one. So this is the type that I've used up to.

Now this is a 4S um I Also have an 8s one of these which doesn't have the touch switch. The touch switch is completely useless because I found that um, you touch it, the circuit comes on and then just randomly it switches back off again. you can link that out on this one. you put a link across these two pins and that just shorts the output of the touch switch chip.

It's very crude, but it means that this is running all the time which I think you want. But now this says up to five amps. Realistically, you can't get five amps. I've seen an amp, but that only occurred when one of myself was really discharged and the other one was really charged.

But I did wonder whether you could get something perhaps that worked at a slightly lower current. So I want to try this Mlcc one. This is a test I think this one is 4S but Mlcc seems like a very good idea because I think they're low ESR aren't they? and they're certainly very tiny. so it'd be interesting to give that one a go.
and I can't remember what the current specs of these two are. So let's go to AliExpress and take a look at that. So this is the one with the electrolytics sort of lying down on the board and you can see that they've got three types that you can order uh, from these boxes down here: a 4S a 6S and an 8s And they talk of these as being three amps. You're very likely to get three amps, but they still might shift a reasonable amount of current.

certainly more than the the tens of milliamps that Bms's tend to uh balance at which I found are nearly useless. Um, so yeah. I bought the I bought the 4S didn't I but there is a 6S and there is an A test. Okay, the one I bought four pound 64 shipping three pounds 37.

Remember to add vat and this is the one with the Mlcc's um 3s4 S5 S6s, 8s, 14s, 17s and 21s and you can do lithium ion life Pro 4 Lto that's lithium titanate isn't it? And balancer. Now this one says 0.8 amps or 1.5 amps I Don't know what the conditions are for getting those currents, you probably can't Um I Just thought, actually it's probably this little six pin chip down here that's the controller for this. and then these eight pin chips are probably just mosfets. So yeah, here are all the types: uh 4S I Went for a test that's 7s, so I went for that one.

Not sure why there's this offset chip here that's a bit strange if that is this. If this six pin chip is the controller interesting. And what's this pad here for something that's not been fitted? It's all interesting stuff and we'll have to come back to all this at a later date. But again, Um, so the a test was three pounds 83, shipping 193 and remember to add on vat and so yeah, these are today's post bag items now.

Big thanks to my Patreon patrons. What? I generally do is I release videos pretty much on the day I Shoot them. um to my patreon patrons which they can watch before I switch on the Google ads and then generally if the following day I release it to everybody. So if you'd like to become a patreon patron, you can click down there more videos up here and subscribe to the channel down here.

Cheerio!.

By Julian

Youtuber, shed dweller, solar charge controller aficionado

14 thoughts on “Julian’s electronics postbag – pb160”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Seeker says:

    Some people said sodium battery don't have SEI film so it can discharge to 0v safely. Can you try that next time?

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars alan mon says:

    Royal Mail -not the most reliable of services. I ordered three items from Amazon, furniture, car mats and clip on sunshades midday Friday. The first two came Saturday noon, the clipons were promised for Monday via Royal Mail. They came a week later by which time I'd ordered from one else and got them next day. RoyalMail have a tracking service which says "We'll tell you when we've delivered it"; which it still says several weeks later after they finally delivered a week late.

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars M C says:

    Re the super cap, I would not have paid the extra for delivery and claim a refund as not delivered. Aliexpress seem to be quite good, and quick, for issuing refunds for non delivery and delivered damaged, these days.

  4. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Hola! budel1990 says:

    The pictures show that both U1 slots are populated.

    Strange things are happening in China. ;.)

  5. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars pileofstuff says:

    I do like a good postbag video.

  6. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars jlucasound says:

    Hi, Julian! Love the Battery "Stuff"! 🔋🔋🔋😃🤩

  7. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars TRANSMITTER GUY says:

    Those caps say on the order form that they can't be shipped to my address here in the USA either. They got something a mess.

  8. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Rory Witham says:

    I would not have bothered buying something like that, when I can build and calibrate one and have it wireless or bt for a few £.

    I've noticed quite a few things are now not shipping to the UK , I bought a single BMS which underwent testing (works well) went to order a few of them and now they don't ship…..

    Seems AliExpress selection on what shipped and how or where rather than the sellers.

  9. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars TheLOD2010 says:

    Well, I can't effort to become a Patreon. But I use YouTube Premium to make sure, that all my loved Youtubers are getting their money.

    I am always watching your content, because often it is a good idea input for my own projects. Thanks a lot for that. Regards from Germany

  10. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Jason Lee says:

    Can’t believe you’re worrying about a 10mv level discrepancy on a device that probably isn’t even calibrated to tenths of a volt 😂

  11. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Edward Fletcher says:

    Those LCD battery testers are great, but the thin wire going to the slide tends to break.

  12. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Chris Clarke says:

    Items ending up in Royal Mail with money to pay has happened to me and (we deduced) the original courier must have delivered it to the wrong address and the recipient, rather than keeping it, just dropped it into a letterbox.

  13. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Sylvan dB says:

    Maybe just use an ISDT BattGo BG-8S. It would be nice if little LCD meters were as ubiquitous as the little LED meters…

  14. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Master Ivo says:

    Is the vocoder finished?

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