Teardown of a "fuel saver" gimmick gizmo

[ferrix]

WAHOO! My thread became the first ever shonky product of the week! 

Of course it was mainly opossum's awesome research and the hilarious threats that made it noteworthy

[AntiProtonBoy]

Great thread!

Another dodgy product I can think of are those electronic bug repellents. You know the ones are plugged into the mains and supposed to emit ultrasonic sound and repel bugs and rodents, etc? I always found them suss.

[ciccio]

Another dodgy product I can think of are those electronic bug repellents. You know the ones are plugged into the mains and supposed to emit ultrasonic sound and repel bugs and rodents, etc? I always found them suss.

Speaking of mosquito repellents, years ago I was contacted by a friend, who was selling components to a Company that manufactured such gizmos.
The had a problem: no one of the last production run was working, and they were crying for help. 
I traced the problem to a transistor mounted upside down (collector and emitter reversed) because my friend sold them a cheaper replacement, that had a reversed pin-out.
I visited the (now defunct) Company's premised with my friend (hoping to be paid for may consultancy  ) and I discovered that:
1) they were selling those (cheap) things in tens of thousands (they told me 200.000 pieces a year)
2) they had no real idea of the operation of the device
3) the design, and the PCB, was copied from a magazine's kit, by an external consultant.
4) they had no test instruments (they were testing only a part  of the production  with an AC voltmeter with some passive input filter). They had no real technicians.
5) the device was sold so cheaply that they actually had no returns (the boss explained me that no customer will lose some time for returning such a cheap thing) even if they were boasting a lifetime warranty.
I had no idea if the device was working or not (it emitted a frequency and amplitude modulated ultrasonic signal, but I don't know if the mosquitoes will run away from it ), but they were making a lot of money.
That company is now defunct: after some time they outsourced the production to somewhere in the Far East, after some other time they went into another business.
 

[saturation]

I was enroute to an island in the Pacific that was infested with mosquitos, and passed by a Sharper Image or some nature store that was selling them.  I asked if I could return it if it didn't work, and for $10 I gave it a whirl.  I still have my cans of bug spray.  The mosquitos were so thick at night, they would try to enter and block your nostrils; if you opened your mouth then flew in.  Suffice to say, the mosquitos covered this device and luckily, 'forest grade' OFF 100% DEET is the only thing that works, regular OFF is 10-30% and they would still swarm on you.  To keep the mosquiotes away from your head we wore head screens.  On return from my trip I passed by the store and returned it.  It couldn't have had a better test and it failed.

[SgtRock]

Greetings EEVBees:

I too would like to see more bogus product smack downs. They would make an excellent feature for the Amp Hour.


"Three weeks in the lab will save you a day in the library every time" Stanley Williams, HP Labs

Best Regards
Clear Ether