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While working on the power stage for my new electronic load, I thought about using proper transistors to dissipate the “extra” energy, and the IXTK90N25L2 from IXYS caught my eye. But new ones from a reputable source cost a serious amount of money, so when putting together another Taobao order, I decided to buy some. More details after the jump.

I recently received another little package from Taobao, and I’m slowly starting to publish reviews of the items it contained. I’ll start with some small converter boards, especially since people have been asking me about them. This review covers boards with an input voltage of 36–75 V and a power rating of up to 50 W.

Following up on my review of buying ceiling lights, I decided to write an article about modifying their drivers—or, more precisely, about some interesting capacitors from Samwha, different types of electrical cable, and the details of working when you have a lot of boards to modify. I hope you find it interesting and useful.

Today I have a short review of a Samsung SSD. I probably won't have anything new to say, but maybe it will come in handy for someone.

As I was developing my new electronic load, I needed some low-resistance resistors. There was no rush, so I decided to order them from AliExpress. Find out how that turned out in this mini-review.

TV boxes based on the relatively new—or, more precisely, updated—Amlogic S905X2 processor started appearing for sale not long ago, and I ordered one of them almost immediately. I bought it on pre-order, and at the time it cost around $50. This TV box is interesting in its own right, although unfortunately it has a few drawbacks and some “teething problems.” More on all that in the review.

Following up on the discussion about counterfeit VTC6 batteries from AliExpress, I decided to show you another set from the same mold, but from a different seller. A look-over, a few tests, and some conclusions.

I often see comments along the lines of “brands don’t need advertising.” So today I’m taking a quick look at a branded camera from a very well-known company. In this case, I received the product for review. Inspection, tests, conclusions—all after the jump.

Almost five years ago, I published a review of some lights and described the problems I ran into back then. Now I needed similar lights again, but since I already had a bad experience with this kind of product, I went about choosing them a little differently this time.

I can't say I work with batteries very often, but I do occasionally have to test whether they're up to the job. Since I'm mostly dealing with high-current batteries, it was time to get a proper holder for them. As always, the inspection, description, comparison of the different connection methods, and conclusions are below the fold.

A brief review of protected Liitokala 3400 mAh batteries.

I once wrote that somehow every memory card I review ends up being twice the capacity of the previous one. I reviewed 32, 64, and 128 GB versions, and now it’s time for a 256 GB card. So, here’s a brief review of a tiny memory card from Alfawise.

While developing a device for testing and balancing multi-cell battery packs, I needed a multifunction meter. Since I planned to use it together with an electronic load, though, the meter had to be a little unusual. A look at the device, its description and tests, plus a short cautionary tale, after the jump.

A friend spotted some Sony VTC6 batteries on AliExpress, so we decided to give them a try. Some were for my friend, and I ordered four for myself to test. The short version: it’s all pretty grim. More details in the review.

I’ve already reviewed quite a few different boards that can be used to build an adjustable power supply, often called a “laboratory” power supply, so I simply couldn’t pass up a newcomer to this market: the DPXxxxx series of boards. A few of my readers had also asked me to review it. Well, the board has arrived and it works—but am I happy about that? Read on for my review of the board and my conclusions.

I've already reviewed quite a few different TV boxes, but today I'm taking a look at a somewhat unusual model. In addition to its TV box functions, it also has a tuner for digital terrestrial and satellite TV. As usual, I'll take a look, take it apart, run some tests, share my conclusions, and finish with a summary table.

As promised, here's a review of the second part of the package with battery holders. This time I'll show you enclosed holders that might come in handy for various DIY projects. This time, I'll not only take a look at them, but also do some measurements.

Another mini-review of 18650 battery holders, this time for four cells.