SUNSHINE S-918E LCD Blue Screen Splitter Heating Stage Separator Pad
Sold by Pro Cellphone Repair Store
I've bought a few items from Aliexpress over the years so back in February I bought a heat mat for helping with fixing the odd mobile phone/tablet that might come my way. It arrived pretty quickly and like a lot of things I set it aside until I needed it as I had a few jobs lined up for it, but nothing urgent. BIG, BIG MISTAKE
Then 4-5 months later I got around to using it. Shortly after I switched it on the display went funny and segment LEDs began to flash on/off randomly. In the end the only way to get it to supply constant heat to the mat was to keep one of the operating buttons held down. At this point I'd lost any control over the temperature. So straight back to Aliexpress to message the seller who suggested I repair it and they would send me the part as they wouldn't replace it. Great so I have to become an expert on a circuit I don't have a schematic on or understand. When I looked closer at the Aliexpress T&Cs I was shocked to find out customer protection ends
15 days after delivery. On top of that you can only leave feedback for a seller up to 30 days after.
I've opened the heat mat to find out what it looked like inside, see attached photo. One of the 2 circuit boards inside the metal box wasn't attached to anything and was loose and close to the 240v input at the top of the photo. This 240v input also had unshielded solder joints! What also seemed weird was this loose board also had two USB A ports so obviously this board at some point in the design was meant to be attached securely to the chassis or case. In this instance they'd used another dual USB socket mounted inside the metal box and connected by cables to the loose board?!
So as a customer you are screwed on Aliexpress if things go wrong and you may be buying unsafe electrical equipment that is subject to little or no safety standards!!
Incidentally I tried to attach a second photo but I was allowed only one even though it says
add files by dragging & dropping