With Just $0.50 Components I turned Garbage Products into GOLD!

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0:00 The Problem of my AliExpress Products
1:16 Intro
2:04 Why is Noise/Ripple Bad?
3:39 How to Measure Noise Correctly
4:32 5V UPS Noise Problem
5:46 Solution 1: Post Regulation
7:51 Solution 2: Component Improvement
8:39 Capacitor Replacement
9:55 Other Component Problems
10:49 Mini Boost Converter Fix

[Ryuseigan]

Mad props for clearing up the mistake you made in the other video.

[evanmayer]

In my opinion, videos like this are some of the most powerful for all the DIY hobbyists. Like me, most of us have no formal training in electronics, but this video gives us very relevant reasons to try and wrap our heads around complex and somewhat arbitrary concepts. Having a broad understanding of what might cause noise or ripple on a power supply / buck-boost converter is in every DIY hobbyist's best interest. Please make more content like this!

[xXYannuschXx]

It REALLY grinds my gears when a product gets ruined by bean counter measures. "Oh we saved a few cents on this device!" "But its complete crap now?" "Who cares? We get money!"

[ramjetross]

I was hoping you would do a video like this. Taking cheap aliexpress or ebay electronics that are ALMOST good enough and then cheaply modifying them to fix or improve their performance. You should make more of these.

[OneBiOzZ]

You typically do not put large MLCCs on the output of a power supply because when they fail, they fail with a burn
so you use small ceramic caps paired with low ESR caps

[matthewmaxwell-burton]

Ah the classic current loop antenna, that’s why you were picking up all that noise. Any loop will act as a current antenna. And any length of copper, will act as a monopole if adjacent to a ground plane or bipole if connect to a center point. Good luck.

[lookwhatidonemade.]

1. To save money
2. The only people that are going to care/notice are people like us.
3. The people like us know how to fix the problem.

My guess.

Keep up the good work bud.

[Stealth]

Man, it's crazy how much you can accomplish pretty cost-effectively if you understand electronics. It's something I'm trying to learn, but it's not easy for me to understand electricity and how everything relates to each other. Thanks for the videos, they're helpful in slowly getting more understanding of things.

[CrispyCircuits]

I never knew to check temperature to check out components in a design to see if good or bad. Only to look for a broken component(s) when fixing. Maybe they stole an incomplete design from someone else? Lazy? Possibly just stupid? 🎉
I am still learning. I bought an old radio/cassette player and a radio clock alarm that both work to study on. I will use your temperature trick to maybe improve them. Thank you for giving us a great channel with interesting projects.

[evertchin]

i love people who owned up their mistakes and correct them!

[danriches]

That ringing on the switch node of the inductor can be suppressed with a snubber network and is easily missed, this I know from first hand experience! Also sometimes adding a beefy cap can make things worse, Mach1Designs did an EMC video on the caps and is very helpful in locating noise and killing it.

[joet]

The tip at 9:56 about measuring temperatures to determine if reactive components have appropriate parameters was really helpful. That point alone made this video valuable.

[HeisenbergFam]

This man is getting so powerful he will eventually turn a nail clipper into a gun

[HerbaMachina]

9:47 your forgetting that at the volume they're producing these at the increase in BOM cost is even less at under 0.19 EUR / piece on orders of 1000. Probably also a slight price decrease at 10k and 25k as well. Therefore at volume this is likely no more than 0.15 - 0.17 EUR in parts, and the lower quality parts they're using probably cost 0.08-0.11 EUR, so we're talking about them pinching literal pennies to not have a better product.

[andersu]

The electronic load might also introduce some noise, would be better to measure with a pure resistive load.

[ChristieNel]

That's a wonderful example of what a difference good capacitors make. I'm amazed that the short probe ground wire makes such a difference. Have you tried measuring at 20MHz with the ground wire?

[MAGA_Patriot]

My guess for why they didn't go the slightly more expensive route is sourcing. This is all guesswork mind you, but if they produce in house, it's only costing them pennies per. One thing I've noticed about Ali is many vendors offer the same product at different prices, so that would explain why they want to keep the price low...sort of a lowest bidder thing. Lastly, the 50 cent price you quoted is the retail price, so it would slightly increase their profit margin as they'd be paying wholesale. 😊

[DirtyPlumbus]

Great Scott makes a mistake: false noise signals
I make a mistake: *MAGIC SMOKE ESCAPES*
😂

[pault]

For the UPS I simply replaced the 2x220 uF capacitors with a 22 uF tantalum low ESR and a 470uF electrolytic as recommended by the chip data sheet. That cleaned up the noise. I used 1x probe and attenuation.

[pejvaaksalimi]

You are the example of someone who not only passes his exams but also completely understands what he has studied. Good work 👏👏👏