EEVblog #751 - How To Debunk A Product (The Batteriser)

[Brumby]

Dammit.

The batteries in my wireless mouse died last night - and I just swapped them out without measuring them.

I'll just see if I can find them....

[rrinker]

I'm now sufficiently curious to see what the battery reads when the mouse finally stops working and demands a fresh battery.

Well, every know knows, thanks to Batteroo's excellent expert and highly technical videos, that you can't possibly use a PSU to measure that because, you know, the ESR isn't the same as a battery. Doesn't matter that the mouse draws practically nothing, it's just WRONG AND MISLEADING AT BEST   

 Right, I'll just play their game and measure an actual battery. Not, of course, that it makes one bit of difference. And I'm just some idiot who got an EE degree some 28 years ago (yikes....) and ended up never really practicing in the field. Just a hobby for me these days, very dormant until I hit upon your YouTube channel. So thanks - for all the money I've now spent   

[Kjelt]

The 9V is interesting, they should have the clips available to connect to the host.
So they probably need a pcb with the dc/dc converter on it which has clips on both sides, one side to connect to the battery and one to connect to the host.
But that will probably not fit in most hosts, so then they need to rotate the second set of clips to the side of the board. 

[EEVblog]

The 9V is interesting

And a very very bad idea.
It's almost guaranteed that every house has one or more smoke alarms that run from a 9V battery.
Even if warnings are posted, you can't rely on Joe Average not to think it's a good idea to install a 9V batteriser, because, you know, all the BS marketing Batteroo are shoveling to make it sound like it's the universal solution to the world's problems.
The result is smoke alarms not only failing to work, but failing to warn people of low battery so they can change it. People will die as a result if a 9V Batteriser got popular enough, it's basics statistics.

[Muttley Snickers]

On that basis some countries might ban "the product" altogether, hopefully before peoples lives are put at risk, the oversight and hindsight excuse by particular departments is no longer acceptable by the general public.

[Brumby]

This may be a moot point.

They have to deliver something first....

[Muttley Snickers]

I'm not entirely sure why but I just Googled the word "moot".

Moot
1.  subject to debate, dispute or uncertainty.
2.  having little or no practical relevance.

Mooteriser is hereby submitted.

[Brumby]

Mooteriser is hereby submitted.

Right then... You get the royalties for the name, but I get included in the acknowledgements - OK?

[Kjelt]

And a very very bad idea.
The result is smoke alarms not only failing to work, but failing to warn people of low battery so they can change it. People will die as a result if a 9V Batteriser got popular enough, it's basics statistics.

Very good point but a simple statement in the manual not to use it in safety critical devices should suffice.
The same rules as other strange rules in manuals, like "do not use the plastick bag of this product with children they may suffocate" or "don't put any living beings in this microwave device" etc.

[Brumby]

Very good point but a simple statement in the manual not to use it in safety critical devices should suffice.

You must have some pretty clued up consumers!!

The same rules as other strange rules in manuals, like "do not use the plastick bag of this product with children they may suffocate" or "don't put any living beings in this microwave device" etc.

Except for the fact that the reason for those warnings is rather apparent, once they've been pointed out.  With the batteriser, it's not.  When people don't see the reasoning, they tend to forget or ignore it.

[lpickup]

Very good point but a simple statement in the manual not to use it in safety critical devices should suffice.

Oh, you know that Batteroo would tout their 9V Batterisers as a LIFESAVING device because it can extend the lifetime of batteries in smoke alarms by 800%.  There will be no such warning in the manual (that will never be released by the way).

[AlxDroidDev]

Oh, you know that Batteroo would tout their 9V Batterisers as a LIFESAVING device because it can extend the lifetime of batteries in smoke alarms by 800%.  There will be no such warning in the manual (that will never be released by the way).

Considering the customers Batteroo is bound to have, the only warning they should have on their manual is "not for anal insertion".

[FrankBuss]

On that basis some countries might ban "the product" altogether, hopefully before peoples lives are put at risk, the oversight and hindsight excuse by particular departments is no longer acceptable by the general public.

There are already smoke detectors with 1.5V AA batteries, like this random one, which uses 2 AA batteries. So even the 1.5V version should be banned then.

[timb]

Oh, you know that Batteroo would tout their 9V Batterisers as a LIFESAVING device because it can extend the lifetime of batteries in smoke alarms by 800%.  There will be no such warning in the manual (that will never be released by the way).

Considering the customers Batteroo is bound to have, the only warning they should have on their manual is "not for anal insertion".

But that has a valid use case: Anal Vibrator (Now with 800% More Prostate Stimulation!)

[AlxDroidDev]

Oh, you know that Batteroo would tout their 9V Batterisers as a LIFESAVING device because it can extend the lifetime of batteries in smoke alarms by 800%.  There will be no such warning in the manual (that will never be released by the way).

Considering the customers Batteroo is bound to have, the only warning they should have on their manual is "not for anal insertion".

But that has a valid use case: Anal Vibrator (Now with 800% More Prostate Stimulation!)

  I spilled my coffee! You owe me a new keyboard! 

[Kalvin]

Oh, you know that Batteroo would tout their 9V Batterisers as a LIFESAVING device because it can extend the lifetime of batteries in smoke alarms by 800%.  There will be no such warning in the manual (that will never be released by the way).

Considering the customers Batteroo is bound to have, the only warning they should have on their manual is "not for anal insertion".

But that has a valid use case: Anal Vibrator (Now with 800% More Prostate Stimulation!)

That might explain why Batteroo haven't shipped anything. They have been too busy testing the device ...

[jippie]

With 120.000/4=30.000 batterieser packs and 6.000.000.000 people in the world, I don't think this will be much of a problem any time soon. We as EEVblog-visitors are seeing these huge problems because we forget to look around to see how large the rest of the world is.

[timb]

Oh, you know that Batteroo would tout their 9V Batterisers as a LIFESAVING device because it can extend the lifetime of batteries in smoke alarms by 800%.  There will be no such warning in the manual (that will never be released by the way).

Considering the customers Batteroo is bound to have, the only warning they should have on their manual is "not for anal insertion".

But that has a valid use case: Anal Vibrator (Now with 800% More Prostate Stimulation!)

  I spilled my coffee! You owe me a new keyboard! 

I'll send you a wireless one so you can benefit from a Batteriser.

 Tip of the Day: If you use rechargeable batteries with your anal spelunking devices, be sure to mark as such them with a Magic Marker, so you don't accidentally reuse them in your toothbrush.

(I asked a friend why "ANAL" was written on a pair of batteries in the charger at his house. That was the reason. I also learned some mysteries are better left unsolved. True story.)

[WN1X]

Considering the customers Batteroo is bound to have, the only warning they should have on their manual is "not for anal insertion".

You owe me a new keyboard

[SL4P]

Considering the force needed to remove some 9V battery clips, I hope they are using some serious PCB substrate, or the Butteriser will only last a couple of battery changes anyway.

Also if they are 'giving' the 9V devices away to backer as 'thanks', perhaps they have less liability for performance of the product?

[Jay_Diddy_B]

Hi,

Let us do a little financial analysis for a change.

The IGG campaign raised $394,544.

I am not sure if that includes the amounts collected for shipping or if that is the total raised from sales of the 'product'.

Let's round that up to $400,000. At 2.50 each that is 160,000 Batterisers.

The CM will probably make around 10% profit.

So they are looking at making less than $40,000 for assembling 160,000 pieces. That is a lot work for a relatively small reward.

You see why they are having difficulty getting the CM's attention.

Regards,

Jay_Diddy_B

[Jay_Diddy_B]

Hi,

On a technical note, how do you attach the stainless sleeve to the PCB circuit board?

I did a quick Google search and the general advice was:

1) Degrease and roughen the surface.

2) Use an acid flux

3) Use a tin/silver soldering alloy.

These don't sound compatible with a pcb loaded with parts.

Any ideas?

Regards,

Jay_Diddy_B

[EEVblog]

Hi,
Let us do a little financial analysis for a change.
The IGG campaign raised $394,544.
I am not sure if that includes the amounts collected for shipping or if that is the total raised from sales of the 'product'.

No it doesn't. AFAIL they have not stated the shipping cost yet.

[EEVblog]

Let's round that up to $400,000.

You need to take off about 8% for IGG + credit card fees.
That only leaves them with $365k in the bank.
But they have "up to $1M" in venture capital funding as well.

So they are looking at making less than $40,000 for assembling 160,000 pieces. That is a lot work for a relatively small reward.

They will likely be making a loss if they ship. But that's not the point for them, they are looking to flip the company for a big profit.
Too bad that's not going to happen now that they have almost certainly lost their patent and their trademark, no one will touch them.

[Kjelt]

They make them in China and probably let the chinese ship them as well to the end clients.
We all know from Ebay how cheap the chinese mail is.
So i bet on less than $1,50 production plus shipping.