This was a 5A current test on an excruciatingly thin copper coated steel cable supplied with a dangerous product purchased from eBay. The product was notable for putting out full mains voltage on a USB phone charging port, and using non rechargeable batteries with a very basic charging circuit that could make them explode.
Here's the video of the horrific product this was from:-
https://youtu.be/2EpIxtVVXcE
If you really must buy cheap products from eBay and other equally safety-complacent platforms, then I recommend at the very least disposing of the supplied cables in a safe manner, and replacing them with cables purchased from reputable suppliers that comply with local safety regulations.
On a typical power circuit this cable would have been a huge hazard due to its high resistance and ultra-thin wire. It could literally have set fire to furnishings in the event of a product fault, or even just using it with a higher power appliance. Sadly there are many equally bad cables with some using extra thick plastic to give the impression of having bigger conductors.
The fire extinguisher I used is a Firestop aerosol unit that is a convenient size for little bench incidents.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:- https://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's algorithm quirks, allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
#ElectronicsCreators
Here's the video of the horrific product this was from:-
https://youtu.be/2EpIxtVVXcE
If you really must buy cheap products from eBay and other equally safety-complacent platforms, then I recommend at the very least disposing of the supplied cables in a safe manner, and replacing them with cables purchased from reputable suppliers that comply with local safety regulations.
On a typical power circuit this cable would have been a huge hazard due to its high resistance and ultra-thin wire. It could literally have set fire to furnishings in the event of a product fault, or even just using it with a higher power appliance. Sadly there are many equally bad cables with some using extra thick plastic to give the impression of having bigger conductors.
The fire extinguisher I used is a Firestop aerosol unit that is a convenient size for little bench incidents.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:- https://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's algorithm quirks, allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
#ElectronicsCreators
Let's do an experiment which may result in lots of stinky plastic smoke. This is a cable from a very, very dangerous EB product and even the cable that came with it was dangerous. Let me just show you why. It's copper coated steel.
A magnet sticks to it which is a fairly High Resistance It has been made down to the lowest cost possible. I'm going to apply five amps through it I've put a shorting link over the end I'm going to pass 5 amps through it and measure the voltage across it and we'll see what happens to the cable if it withstands that 5 amps well. So let's do that experiment now. So there's no 5 amps flowing across it.
It's a surprisingly high voltage drop of 6 volts across it and that is increasing. it's going up. uh, as the cable heats up. I'm not seeing smoke yet.
but I am seeing the cable move slightly. so at 9 Vols well it's actually heading for 10 volts. That'll be about yeah. 5 amps? That's a lot.
That's about 50 wats that is being dissipated by that cable. Is it? Oh yes, it's very hot and stinky. Oh, it is getting very very stinky. and I can see smoke.
It's all blistering. Uh, perhaps I shouldn't have done this on the bench. Uh, the current is going down cuz the voltage is going up. the whole thing is literally just.
is it going to burst into flame? Should I have a fire extinguisher handy for this? 16 volts at that and just going to grab my fire exone? Sure. I'm regretting doing this in the bench. Uh Fire Stop Lots of smoke. The the current's going down because the voltage is capped.
Uh, it's glowing red hot there. Uh I Surprised it's not bursting into flames, but you know that could have happened. Maybe it is flame resisting cable, but um, is it just going to burn itself out? It's currently at 3.6 amps. Uh, I can't go any higher with this because it's literally the voltage has risen right up to the point that it's capping out on the power supply at that 6 amp.
the 5 amp setting. Uh, but I think that more. Oh, there we go, right? Hold on. Uh, let's just, uh, extinguish that and uh, basically turn the the power off now because well, it's going to make a complete mess.
the bench. So that was just 5 amps through one of these cables. if you use that cable in another product that took it and ran it a slightly higher current. or if there was a fault, you saw the voltage across it, that would, uh, not end well.
That would be quite a dramatic far starter. That's what happens with some of these cheap products being shipped through gray market import sources.
Hmmmm anybody else lean away from the monitor when the smoke started? LOL I swear I could smell it (as I almost died in a fire inhaling hydrochloric acid as a smoke from burning plastic BINS in an adjacent factory – I fell asleep but woke coughing hard.) How's your lungs Clive??? Already suffering I heard
It just amazes me how much utter crap is out there on the market these days. I try to counter that by buying quality tools and avoiding ordering anything from china, whenever possiblle.
Just throw this out and the Live USB lamp with it.. can't believe I had one of these and gave 2 as presents
Gracias.
I can't believe I missed this video! A very exciting result, but now I'm going to have to go check my power cables with a magnet just to make sure none of them have iron conductors instead of copper.
Actually, this reminds me of a discussion relating to the National Broadband Network we've got here in Australia, when the conservative "Liberal" government wanted to change it from a 93% fibre network to mostly reusing the old copper networks (which incidentally they did and the cost went from $46B to at least $56B Aussie dollary doos). There's a record of a federal parliament debate from 1910 where a politician gave a speech about being against upgrading the telegraph network from the old iron wire to copper wire.
This is an excellent demonstration of why copper is much more suitable than iron for electrical wire!
Just watching this video made me cough.. all the cheap toxic fumes!
I was coughing watching this! Lol
That's not a cable. That's a heating element wrapped in plastic
''should i have a fire extinguisher handy for this?''
honestly though thats supposed to be a mains cable. and 3 let alone 5amp at 230vac is several kilowatts…
so nothing that you should do with such a cable anyways
I hope you have a good fume extractor by your bench, sir. I think we would all be happy to deal with the noise if it kept you from breathing in dioxin from burning plastics.
I hope you turned off your smoke detector!
Typical China.