Author Topic: Snake oil  (Read 779212 times)

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Offline TriodeTiger

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #125 on: November 03, 2012, 07:54:04 am »
An $8 soldering iron kit for $1000 !!!

What's that about?

Wow, they sold over 700! Where do I join?

Jokes aside, I've seen this done on products that are out of stock. I have no clue the reasoning behind this (limitations on pulling it from the listing, or if they wish to change it back to the original price when in stock)

I would then discern from the amount sold (a lot) that it is just the seller telling you "You'd be absurd to buy this!" if there is no means to show stock without pulling and placing new listings constantly for the same product.

Alexander.
"Yes, I have deliberately traded off robustness for the sake of having knobs." - Dave Jones.
 

Offline peter.mitchell

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #126 on: November 03, 2012, 09:59:08 am »
An $8 soldering iron kit for $1000 !!!

What's that about?

Wow, they sold over 700! Where do I join?

Jokes aside, I've seen this done on products that are out of stock. I have no clue the reasoning behind this (limitations on pulling it from the listing, or if they wish to change it back to the original price when in stock)

I would then discern from the amount sold (a lot) that it is just the seller telling you "You'd be absurd to buy this!" if there is no means to show stock without pulling and placing new listings constantly for the same product.

Alexander.

Yes, you are correct, it's done to save listing fees, its free to edit the listing, so you just edit the listing when it goes out of stock, when it comes back in bump it up again, additionally, it keeps the item in potential buyers watch lists, where as ending then re-listing would result in the ended auction being in peoples lists.
 

Offline baljemmett

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #127 on: November 03, 2012, 04:06:25 pm »
Yes, you are correct, it's done to save listing fees, its free to edit the listing, so you just edit the listing when it goes out of stock, when it comes back in bump it up again, additionally, it keeps the item in potential buyers watch lists, where as ending then re-listing would result in the ended auction being in peoples lists.

I notice eBay has some support for items being out of stock, at least in the 'several different varieties, choose from the list' style of listing -- there's a listing for solder paste that I have in my watch list, and occasionally it shows up with a little "the specific item you are watching is out of stock at the moment" annotation underneath.  Haven't seen it on normal buy-it-now items, though, which seems like typical eBay inconsistency...
 

Offline Sionyn

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #128 on: November 13, 2012, 12:24:04 am »
A Scam Snakeoil Type of Story i Read A While Back

A Charlotte, North Carolina man, having purchased a case of rare, very expensive cigars, insured them against (get this) fire! Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of fabulous cigars, and having yet to make a single premium payment on the policy, the man filed a claim against the insurance company.

In his claim, the man stated that he had lost the cigars "in a series of small fires." The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason that the man had consumed the cigars in a normal fashion. The man sued -- and won! In delivering his ruling, the judge stated that since the man held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that the cigars would be insured against fire, without defining what it considered to be unacceptable fire, it was obligated to compensate the insured for his loss.

Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company grudgingly accepted the judge's ruling and paid the man $15,000 for the rare cigars he lost in the fires. After the man cashed his check, however, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of arson. With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used as evidence against him, the man was convicted of intentionally burning the rare cigars and sentenced to 24 consecutive one-year terms.
eecs guy
 

Offline GeoffS

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #129 on: November 13, 2012, 01:35:02 am »
The cigar story is of course false.

See here: http://www.snopes.com/crime/clever/cigarson.asp
 

Offline Sionyn

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #130 on: November 18, 2012, 11:56:52 am »
audiofools what the hell are vertical mosfet ? mounted i guess ?
http://www.chordelectronics.co.uk/products-info.asp?id=88
eecs guy
 

Offline GeoffS

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #131 on: November 18, 2012, 12:38:45 pm »
audiofools what the hell are vertical mosfet ? mounted i guess ?
http://www.chordelectronics.co.uk/products-info.asp?id=88

Nothing else in their range seems to indicate audiophoolery so they probably refer to VMOS
 

Offline SeanB

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #132 on: November 18, 2012, 01:19:06 pm »
Could be worse. They could be using power Jfets........
 

Offline ciccio

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #133 on: November 21, 2012, 07:09:27 pm »
audiofools what the hell are vertical mosfet ? mounted i guess ?
http://www.chordelectronics.co.uk/products-info.asp?id=88
Vertical Power Mosfets exist and are used in audio power amplifiers (and other devices, too).
They usual acronym is VMOS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_MOSFET
Lateral MOSFETS exists, also.
Chord Electronics is a  well renown manufacturer,  they build products, not snake oil...
Their prices are hight,  but the built quality of their products, and their performances, are top-class.
Best regards


Strenua Nos Exercet Inertia
I'm old enough, I don't repeat mistakes.
I always invent new ones
 

Offline Tube_Dude

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #134 on: November 22, 2012, 01:50:49 am »
The lateral mosfets are the ones made specially for Audio. They have been made by Hitachi, 2SK134/SJ49 in metal packages (now obsolete and very hard to find) and after presented in plastic cases , 2SK1058/SJ162 family. The last ones still being made by RENESAS, if i'm not mistaken.

The reason they have been made specially for Audio, come not from esoteric reasons, but because they have very low ON Voltage, and at around 100 mA current they have the point of inflection from positive temperature coefficient, to negative temperature coefficient. Giving them at around 100mA bias current (very common idle current for Audio amplifiers) high Bias stability. That's the reason they can be used without source resistors and without the usual VBE multiplier transistor.

A usual mistake in Audio is to use Vertical Mosfets in schematics designed for Lateral, and be presented with high thermal instability....
« Last Edit: November 22, 2012, 01:52:42 am by Tube_Dude »
Jorge
 

Offline IvoS

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #135 on: November 23, 2012, 04:28:33 pm »
I don't see anything amazing on this CHORD product. All parameters are on average side.
 

Offline Tube_Dude

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #136 on: November 23, 2012, 04:53:25 pm »
I don't see anything amazing on this CHORD product.

The price!!  8)
Jorge
 

Offline TerraHertz

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #137 on: December 04, 2012, 05:13:59 am »
http://soul2soultreasures.com/mayan_cloak/
Mystic Mayan Power Cloak™

Fortunately, that snake has her tongue firmly in her cheek.
No, not _those_ cheeks.

Collecting old scopes, logic analyzers, and unfinished projects. http://everist.org
 

Offline jh15

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #138 on: December 14, 2012, 04:25:01 am »
Be fun to try snake oil on those cheeks...
Tek 575 curve trcr top shape, Tek 535, Tek 465. Tek 545 Hickok clone, Tesla Model S,  Ohio Scientific c24P SBC, c-64's from club days, Giant electric bicycle, Rigol stuff, Heathkit AR-15's. Heathkit ET- 3400a trainer&interface. Starlink pizza.
 

Offline dr_p

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #139 on: December 18, 2012, 11:48:05 am »
He certainly doesn't seem to choose his words too carefully, and that causes some confusion as to what he actually wants to say. 

A single 9V battery is capable of 500mA, so at first glance some 80 batteries in series are capable of delivering 720V*0.5A=360W and that's plenty of power even for a makeshift water pump.

There are hundreds of ways you can "photoshop" this, but IF all those professors  and engineers really exist AND were truly convinced, then... :scared:
 

Offline G7PSK

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #140 on: December 18, 2012, 04:15:44 pm »
Watch the meter it's reading negative, he says. Of course it's reading negative switch the leads around and its reading positive. The only miracle here is the gullibility of his audience.
 

Offline jerry507

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #141 on: December 18, 2012, 06:14:53 pm »
This thread has the amusing side effect of sometimes presenting how little the posters know as they race to call everything snake oil.
 

Offline Kremmen

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #142 on: December 19, 2012, 11:52:36 am »
Brrhhh... The problem is that different kind of investigator is needed to properly debunk this kind of crap. All such overunity schemes have invariably fallen into 2 categories - outright scam or incompetent measuring. Now if they have frogmarched a bunch of MIT engineers and the like to see the miracle, the latter may not be the case - necessarily. But i say bring in James Randi and the truth is quickly found out.
The pros (electrical and physics, that is) often suffer from a certain kind of naivete - they tend to take claims at face value and verify them as they are stated. This is natural, because this is how science and tech are done. There is no purposeful misdirection - usually. So, once the "inventor" or whatever has the minds of the audience set the way he wants, one needs to take some distance to be able to see beyond the facade of the claims. A pro in a different field, i.e. magic/misdirection will easily see through smoke&mirrors that baffle "honest" men. Does anyone honestly still believe U. Geller had the power to bend metal with his mind after Randi handily repeated his best efforts?
Nothing sings like a kilovolt.
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Offline Kremmen

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #143 on: December 19, 2012, 05:25:48 pm »
To be sure  ;D. But in the end it was his sweaty fingers doing the deed, not a mysterious "mind over matter" voodoo.
Nothing sings like a kilovolt.
Dr W. Bishop
 

Offline G7PSK

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #144 on: December 30, 2012, 02:14:35 pm »
I have just checked my resistance, it's 1.7 Meg ohms from my tongue to my left hand and 4 meg from hand to hand using a UniT 61E I have checked it with an AVO 8 that uses 9 Volts on the ohms range and that gives about 3.5 meg ohm I dont fancy trying my insulation tester which runs 250 -500 and 100 volts I don,t like electric shocks having had many over the years I try to avoid them if at all possible. I wonder if this high resistance explains why they could not get any results when I had carpal tunnel tests some years ago.
 

Offline G7PSK

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #145 on: December 30, 2012, 02:45:37 pm »
I have just checked my resistance, it's 1.7 Meg ohms from my tongue to my left hand and 4 meg from hand to hand using a UniT 61E I have checked it with an AVO 8 that uses 9 Volts on the ohms range and that gives about 3.5 meg ohm I dont fancy trying my insulation tester which runs 250 -500 and 100 volts I don,t like electric shocks having had many over the years I try to avoid them if at all possible. I wonder if this high resistance explains why they could not get any results when I had carpal tunnel tests some years ago.

I know the feeling. The worst I've had is a high voltage capacitor still charged to about 180V in a switched-mode PSU I was fixing. It went from my left to right hand through my chest. Heart was a bit iffy for a couple of seconds. Never again.
The worst I ever had was when adjusting a 26 CRT colour TV threw me right across the room had a few 415 belts of power plant as well and on one occasion set up an electric fence and after finishing was talking to someone and walked right into the fence where the energizer was connected, that put me on my back for 30 seconds or so. 
 

Offline cb22

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #146 on: January 05, 2013, 03:51:30 pm »
Oh look, a giant motor that runs from a 9V battery. *cough* I mean 80x 9V batteries, or 720V DC supply. But... apparently 80x 9V batteries in series still has the exact same current capability as one of the 1.5V cells inside a 9V battery. Who would like to explain Ohm's law to him?



According to that video, his pump is moving 900GPH. Sounds impressive, except when you consider that you can get 350GPH pumps from SparkFun for $15, that draw about 18W.

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10455
 

Offline Kibi

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #147 on: January 12, 2013, 08:42:59 pm »
 

Offline TMM

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #148 on: January 14, 2013, 05:48:51 am »
 

Offline GeoffS

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Re: The snake oil thread...
« Reply #149 on: January 14, 2013, 06:52:49 am »
not sure if chinglish or just crazy person talk.

Just a poor translation from crazy to English.
 


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