I tried finding Hidden Gems on AliExpress AGAIN! (Part 16)
video description
Date: 2025-10-11
Related videos
Comments and reviews: 20
Viking8888
Oh Great Scott, I need your help, or anyone that knows electronics well to weigh in on something. I have 3D printed a 10 rack (Lab Rax, it's really cool) that I am going to put my all in one home lab into. Meaning a PC (itx or mini-pcbased) running proxmox that does almost everything. One of those things will be a NAS VM with up to six 3. 5 NAS hard drives (four now, eventually six.
If I go with a mini-pc, I will need one with at least two M. 2 ports. One for the proxmox ssd, the other for a M. 2 to SATA adapter.
Powering the PC is no big deal because of the included PSU, but powering the drives is the dilemma. I have a brand new 24v 300w meanwell PSU from a 3D printer I could use, but I am having an issue finding a dual output step down converter for the 12v and 5v the drives need. Six drives could consume up to 18 Amps on spin up so I would like to find one that is rated for 20 Amps just in case. I could go with two single in single out step down converters and dial one in to 12v and the other to 5v. Does anyone think this would be a viable option or perhaps you have a different power solution I could ponder. Thanks all!
reply
Oh Great Scott, I need your help, or anyone that knows electronics well to weigh in on something. I have 3D printed a 10 rack (Lab Rax, it's really cool) that I am going to put my all in one home lab into. Meaning a PC (itx or mini-pcbased) running proxmox that does almost everything. One of those things will be a NAS VM with up to six 3. 5 NAS hard drives (four now, eventually six.
If I go with a mini-pc, I will need one with at least two M. 2 ports. One for the proxmox ssd, the other for a M. 2 to SATA adapter.
Powering the PC is no big deal because of the included PSU, but powering the drives is the dilemma. I have a brand new 24v 300w meanwell PSU from a 3D printer I could use, but I am having an issue finding a dual output step down converter for the 12v and 5v the drives need. Six drives could consume up to 18 Amps on spin up so I would like to find one that is rated for 20 Amps just in case. I could go with two single in single out step down converters and dial one in to 12v and the other to 5v. Does anyone think this would be a viable option or perhaps you have a different power solution I could ponder. Thanks all!
reply
reinekewf7987
that SD card thing is pretty old tech already. those existed already 15 years ago or so. Normally they are completly SD carde shaped and have about 512mb to 2GB of internal storrage. they usualy send directly into a SMB 1. 0 compatible share. i have one for my camera from ez shre and Trancent and ey-fi. i guess if they are still made today they have more internal storage. But i thing they are obsolet because most cameras are either your phone or have already wifi. my Panasonic Lumix g6 has wifi and works with an app for wifi direct or if you set up a SMB share on your PC or have a portable Drive with wifi. I use my Portable drive. The camera sends every photo or video directly into the set storage location. The my camera has a fixed user and passwort for the SMB client so you simply have to create a user with this user and passwort and it works. it does use more power as the Wifi SDcard but is way easyer to setup. i prefer that methode but if you have to use a wifi SD card buy one from the known vendors they are not expensive and way less scatchy as this thing and also they fit into a normal SD slot you can close.
reply
that SD card thing is pretty old tech already. those existed already 15 years ago or so. Normally they are completly SD carde shaped and have about 512mb to 2GB of internal storrage. they usualy send directly into a SMB 1. 0 compatible share. i have one for my camera from ez shre and Trancent and ey-fi. i guess if they are still made today they have more internal storage. But i thing they are obsolet because most cameras are either your phone or have already wifi. my Panasonic Lumix g6 has wifi and works with an app for wifi direct or if you set up a SMB share on your PC or have a portable Drive with wifi. I use my Portable drive. The camera sends every photo or video directly into the set storage location. The my camera has a fixed user and passwort for the SMB client so you simply have to create a user with this user and passwort and it works. it does use more power as the Wifi SDcard but is way easyer to setup. i prefer that methode but if you have to use a wifi SD card buy one from the known vendors they are not expensive and way less scatchy as this thing and also they fit into a normal SD slot you can close.
reply
merkatorix
Might the Wifi SD card problem be a problem by FYSETC as a manufacturer and not a problem of the concept
Some years ago, there were reputable manufacturers producing Wifi SD Cards.
And on the other hand, there is only a single company on Aliexpress I had bad experience with. That company was FYSETC, but not only once. I had bad experience 3 times in a row. I only bought from them, because they are recommended by the Voron guys. At first I thought, a broken heater was a fluke, then there was a broken logic pin. And I only repeated buying their stuff a 3rd time, because I hoped to get a printer board, which is pin compatible. I paid a lot extra, to get a board of a specific revision. In the end, they gave me an unwanted free upgrade to a new revision, which didn't even have an existing manual, thus it was borderline useless at that point. Had I known it, I would have tried Big Tree Tech instead. (Note: All shops had dogy names like FYSETC 2th Store, FYSETC Official Store, FYSETC 1th Store)
reply
Might the Wifi SD card problem be a problem by FYSETC as a manufacturer and not a problem of the concept
Some years ago, there were reputable manufacturers producing Wifi SD Cards.
And on the other hand, there is only a single company on Aliexpress I had bad experience with. That company was FYSETC, but not only once. I had bad experience 3 times in a row. I only bought from them, because they are recommended by the Voron guys. At first I thought, a broken heater was a fluke, then there was a broken logic pin. And I only repeated buying their stuff a 3rd time, because I hoped to get a printer board, which is pin compatible. I paid a lot extra, to get a board of a specific revision. In the end, they gave me an unwanted free upgrade to a new revision, which didn't even have an existing manual, thus it was borderline useless at that point. Had I known it, I would have tried Big Tree Tech instead. (Note: All shops had dogy names like FYSETC 2th Store, FYSETC Official Store, FYSETC 1th Store)
reply
johnoneill7947
Stay away from their health supplements. I bought SAMe at a third of the price of US retailers but it is junk. I can tell because I take it as an adjunct to antidepressants and I could tell almost straight away that it wasn’t SAMe. The scammers are counting on people buying it to treat health conditions for which it won’t be obvious whether the supplement is fake or not i. e. it is not acutely felt. I noticed that they have a range of health supplements which all have 120 translucent capsules with gold coloured filling. They are obviously using the same junk capsules with different labels. The labels are identical except for naming different supplements. The label even says sealed in blister packs for freshness and stability but they are NOT in blister packs! The labels looks like they have copied and pasted authentic product labelling to give their fake products the appearance of authenticity.
reply
Stay away from their health supplements. I bought SAMe at a third of the price of US retailers but it is junk. I can tell because I take it as an adjunct to antidepressants and I could tell almost straight away that it wasn’t SAMe. The scammers are counting on people buying it to treat health conditions for which it won’t be obvious whether the supplement is fake or not i. e. it is not acutely felt. I noticed that they have a range of health supplements which all have 120 translucent capsules with gold coloured filling. They are obviously using the same junk capsules with different labels. The labels are identical except for naming different supplements. The label even says sealed in blister packs for freshness and stability but they are NOT in blister packs! The labels looks like they have copied and pasted authentic product labelling to give their fake products the appearance of authenticity.
reply
GroupNebula563
Windows 10 and 11 are notoriously bad at generic USB devices with low transfer speeds, especially when the file transfer is implemented jankily on the device side (they're constantly reading and writing random temp files to any disk they encounter, often causing the device to become overloaded and disconnect from the machine to prevent corruption. There's a sizable chunk of China, especially more rural areas, that still use XP and 7 (there's a big if it ain't broke, don't fix it mentality over there) and so that's what a lot of generic MP3 players, for instance (and I would imagine also the WiFi SD card thing, were tested with. Windows 7 and below do a lot less unnecessary reading and writing of data from disks, so those devices tend to perform a fair bit better on those OSes. That, or it might just be awful and not work.
reply
Windows 10 and 11 are notoriously bad at generic USB devices with low transfer speeds, especially when the file transfer is implemented jankily on the device side (they're constantly reading and writing random temp files to any disk they encounter, often causing the device to become overloaded and disconnect from the machine to prevent corruption. There's a sizable chunk of China, especially more rural areas, that still use XP and 7 (there's a big if it ain't broke, don't fix it mentality over there) and so that's what a lot of generic MP3 players, for instance (and I would imagine also the WiFi SD card thing, were tested with. Windows 7 and below do a lot less unnecessary reading and writing of data from disks, so those devices tend to perform a fair bit better on those OSes. That, or it might just be awful and not work.
reply
arekx
Chinese raspberry pi like board that use custom kernels (and need drivers that are not in upstream kernel; assuming no good upstreaming effort in progress) are PURE GARBAGE. Why Because manufacturers are very fast to drop maintaining software, kernels for these boards and instead introduce new shiny and better hardware. With custom kernels, custom drivers. You end up with nice hardware that ends up in garbage bin (unless you are ok with working with old, insecure software, kernels etc.
Avoid. Hardware can be cheaper, more powerful but later overall maintenance and software part makes it way, way more expensive.
Raspberry pi has history where they still support their v1. 0 board versions from 2012 in latest Raspberry Pi OS (released few weeks ago.
reply
Chinese raspberry pi like board that use custom kernels (and need drivers that are not in upstream kernel; assuming no good upstreaming effort in progress) are PURE GARBAGE. Why Because manufacturers are very fast to drop maintaining software, kernels for these boards and instead introduce new shiny and better hardware. With custom kernels, custom drivers. You end up with nice hardware that ends up in garbage bin (unless you are ok with working with old, insecure software, kernels etc.
Avoid. Hardware can be cheaper, more powerful but later overall maintenance and software part makes it way, way more expensive.
Raspberry pi has history where they still support their v1. 0 board versions from 2012 in latest Raspberry Pi OS (released few weeks ago.
reply
royjones1053
Yeah it certainly pays to double check before plugging in a lot of that Ali express stuff, I have had a lot of good experiences but then I see a curve ball that absolutely should not be sold anywhere, my most recent one was a contradiction between colour designations on the core of the cable and the actual designations on the circuit board, absolute contradiction, sometimes you'll get away with it other times you wont. Always double check from Ali express is my opinion I have been buying through them for about 10 years and most experiences have been good, but one bit of advice is thoroughly inspect the item before using, especially if it is proposed for mains voltage. No offence to Ali Express and thanks again Sir Scott for the great content!
reply
Yeah it certainly pays to double check before plugging in a lot of that Ali express stuff, I have had a lot of good experiences but then I see a curve ball that absolutely should not be sold anywhere, my most recent one was a contradiction between colour designations on the core of the cable and the actual designations on the circuit board, absolute contradiction, sometimes you'll get away with it other times you wont. Always double check from Ali express is my opinion I have been buying through them for about 10 years and most experiences have been good, but one bit of advice is thoroughly inspect the item before using, especially if it is proposed for mains voltage. No offence to Ali Express and thanks again Sir Scott for the great content!
reply
MultiDarkZen
If you get a usb c to usb c and have an android phone you can use usb tethering to give it wifi if your phone is connected to your Internet. It acts as an Ethernet cable it's very handy. So if it that little board has a USB c you could theoretically give it wifi with an android phone. It can usually be found in your phone's settings. You just have to enable it while it's plugged in. Surprisingly not a lot of people know about this feature. Another thing that's unrelated but if you get a usb c to HDMI and plug it into your phone and to a monitor you can use Samsung dex and have a pseudo android desktop with a mouse.
reply
If you get a usb c to usb c and have an android phone you can use usb tethering to give it wifi if your phone is connected to your Internet. It acts as an Ethernet cable it's very handy. So if it that little board has a USB c you could theoretically give it wifi with an android phone. It can usually be found in your phone's settings. You just have to enable it while it's plugged in. Surprisingly not a lot of people know about this feature. Another thing that's unrelated but if you get a usb c to HDMI and plug it into your phone and to a monitor you can use Samsung dex and have a pseudo android desktop with a mouse.
reply
igiveupfine
let me know if you find any of those usb c drill battery things that
- has 2 usb c ports
- can do 100w in and out of both ports
i have 1 for ryobi, but it can only do 45w out of the 2nd port. i wish it could charge 100w to the battery, AND then also output 100w from the 2nd port. but it cannot. its a big shame.
and it seems like it's going to be a huge pain in the ass to build my own. because i just don't quite know what all of the chips/ports/things i will need.
maybe i will just need an ip2366 with 2 usbc ports, i dont know.
reply
let me know if you find any of those usb c drill battery things that
- has 2 usb c ports
- can do 100w in and out of both ports
i have 1 for ryobi, but it can only do 45w out of the 2nd port. i wish it could charge 100w to the battery, AND then also output 100w from the 2nd port. but it cannot. its a big shame.
and it seems like it's going to be a huge pain in the ass to build my own. because i just don't quite know what all of the chips/ports/things i will need.
maybe i will just need an ip2366 with 2 usbc ports, i dont know.
reply
Robbedoes2
10: 30 before reviewing a tool battery product again, please take a Makita battery apart and find out how the BMS works. The newest Makita battery has a seperate discharge and charge port, so you can only charge safely using the charge pin. The discharge is common if I'm right. But I don't see you checking if it actually uses the proper pins for it to be safe. Only a few people know this but messing with tool batteries can be surprisingly dangerous due to these characteristics.
reply
10: 30 before reviewing a tool battery product again, please take a Makita battery apart and find out how the BMS works. The newest Makita battery has a seperate discharge and charge port, so you can only charge safely using the charge pin. The discharge is common if I'm right. But I don't see you checking if it actually uses the proper pins for it to be safe. Only a few people know this but messing with tool batteries can be surprisingly dangerous due to these characteristics.
reply
Blumf7
I've had a look at that wifi SD card adapter before. It directly connects the SD card to the printer and tries to override that when doing the the wifi read/writes by directly tapping the lines. Maybe it could work if the firmware was better, using interrupts perhaps. But if the printer is trying to access at the same time, you're probably going to get a mess.
Looked through the firmware sources (and SD card specs) briefly, before using OctoPrint and a long USB cable instead.
reply
I've had a look at that wifi SD card adapter before. It directly connects the SD card to the printer and tries to override that when doing the the wifi read/writes by directly tapping the lines. Maybe it could work if the firmware was better, using interrupts perhaps. But if the printer is trying to access at the same time, you're probably going to get a mess.
Looked through the firmware sources (and SD card specs) briefly, before using OctoPrint and a long USB cable instead.
reply
heatherryan9820
I love this series that you've been doing. About this episode in particular, 1: it's too bad about the Wi-Fi SD card, I was really hoping that would work cause I've got a couple problems that a device like that would solve; 2: the battery pack charger that you showed is really cool, I like how you can also use it as a USB charger also, and about the PTC plate, when it comes to things like that, don't go cheap, get quality parts and never go cheap on safety.
reply
I love this series that you've been doing. About this episode in particular, 1: it's too bad about the Wi-Fi SD card, I was really hoping that would work cause I've got a couple problems that a device like that would solve; 2: the battery pack charger that you showed is really cool, I like how you can also use it as a USB charger also, and about the PTC plate, when it comes to things like that, don't go cheap, get quality parts and never go cheap on safety.
reply
metzenw86
I bought one of those Power Banks a few months ago, as I was trying to build the exact same thing. Sadly I'm terrible at micro electronics, so my attempts failed. I have 3 of those and I have put them through there paces. Amazing little adapter, I use it for everything. Mostly I use it for powering my T Mobile Home Internet box, get over 12 hours of run time. They even run my 100 watt Type C soldering iron beautifully. I can't recommend those adapter enough.
reply
I bought one of those Power Banks a few months ago, as I was trying to build the exact same thing. Sadly I'm terrible at micro electronics, so my attempts failed. I have 3 of those and I have put them through there paces. Amazing little adapter, I use it for everything. Mostly I use it for powering my T Mobile Home Internet box, get over 12 hours of run time. They even run my 100 watt Type C soldering iron beautifully. I can't recommend those adapter enough.
reply
lordRW
lets make things clear:
the original charger charges at 9A with a loud fan 6. 3A with a quiet fan that does or does not cool the battery.
Also you dont know how well it handles errors during charging (eks. using it causing it to overheat and then you charge it at max amprage) So No dont recomend 3rd party charges, there is a reason why people dont recomend any unkown 3rd party chargers that hasnt been released by a recognized brand.
reply
lets make things clear:
the original charger charges at 9A with a loud fan 6. 3A with a quiet fan that does or does not cool the battery.
Also you dont know how well it handles errors during charging (eks. using it causing it to overheat and then you charge it at max amprage) So No dont recomend 3rd party charges, there is a reason why people dont recomend any unkown 3rd party chargers that hasnt been released by a recognized brand.
reply
salvadorGC338
2: 00 - Im not saying do this, but as a C# dev, a cheap device like that can run the full dotnet 8 stack is actually very usefull to make small devices while still using the very easy to use C# and not having to go to an arduino, esp32 or something like that. But you will need internet connection. good thing it has host usb so it can at least use some cheap usb wifi adapter.
reply
2: 00 - Im not saying do this, but as a C# dev, a cheap device like that can run the full dotnet 8 stack is actually very usefull to make small devices while still using the very easy to use C# and not having to go to an arduino, esp32 or something like that. But you will need internet connection. good thing it has host usb so it can at least use some cheap usb wifi adapter.
reply
tin2001
The can cooling had a lot of can exposed above the top. I wonder if it would be more efficient with a stubby holder (the foam, wetsuit-like material can/bottle holders often given away as promotional items) wrapped around it. Maybe cut the bottom out of one so it becomes just a sleeve, or even put it on upside down over the top and see if that makes a difference.
reply
The can cooling had a lot of can exposed above the top. I wonder if it would be more efficient with a stubby holder (the foam, wetsuit-like material can/bottle holders often given away as promotional items) wrapped around it. Maybe cut the bottom out of one so it becomes just a sleeve, or even put it on upside down over the top and see if that makes a difference.
reply
duncyy7471
Small headsup regarding The Makita charger/powerbank. Leaving it connected to a 0% battery will drain it more and break the battery!
Also the soc is a guestimate. it stopt at 0%, even if the battery isn't empty.
Apart from that, its an awesome bit of kit. I use one to make my Rigol oscilloscope battery powered (and isolated)
reply
Small headsup regarding The Makita charger/powerbank. Leaving it connected to a 0% battery will drain it more and break the battery!
Also the soc is a guestimate. it stopt at 0%, even if the battery isn't empty.
Apart from that, its an awesome bit of kit. I use one to make my Rigol oscilloscope battery powered (and isolated)
reply
Haldi4803
Would love to have hat Linux/rockchip PCB with PoE Ethernet.
Might make a good Wireguard server if you need to remote access another location.
Btw, Wireless SDcards have been around for Years. Even in proper SD card size for something like 50 bucks. The problem has always been the proprietary software.
reply
Would love to have hat Linux/rockchip PCB with PoE Ethernet.
Might make a good Wireguard server if you need to remote access another location.
Btw, Wireless SDcards have been around for Years. Even in proper SD card size for something like 50 bucks. The problem has always been the proprietary software.
reply
camie1o-y9f
Quick question, what is the safety like on that makita powerbank/charger I have been wanting someting like that for a long time but wonder if I should be concerned hat it does not use the yellow comunications pins on the battery. Love the idea of a compact pd charger but dont want a house fire
reply
Quick question, what is the safety like on that makita powerbank/charger I have been wanting someting like that for a long time but wonder if I should be concerned hat it does not use the yellow comunications pins on the battery. Love the idea of a compact pd charger but dont want a house fire
reply
XanCraft21
I can never understand the reason why the small linux development boards exist, they really just seem like terrible microcontrollers with limited hardware and software access. Something like that should never require an operating system, since the size of the board screams microcontroller.
reply
I can never understand the reason why the small linux development boards exist, they really just seem like terrible microcontrollers with limited hardware and software access. Something like that should never require an operating system, since the size of the board screams microcontroller.
reply
Add a review, comment
Other channel videos
