I came across this sticker on a no name piece of rubbish masquerading as weigh scales.

I am pretty sure that the sticker is supposed to say “Warranty void if removed”.  Not only is the English complete nonsense but there is not even a screw in the hole under the sticker!

Ok, they may not have a grasp of the English language but are the manufacturers able to produce a reliable and accurate set of scales?  There are a few issues with it.  The power adapter socket is not labelled with the required input voltage (it needs a specific voltage to charge the internal four volt lead acid battery).  The light indicating that it is connected to a power source is called “ACC” instead of AC.  The internal wiring is a bit messy.  I am unsure of the accuracy.  It has a strain gauge on a cantilevered bar.  Is that a good way of doing it given that it goes up to 25 kg?

It is a real shame that everyone buys on price (even I do so sometimes) at the expense of quality.  In the case of weigh scales the technology has not really changed significantly over the past couple of decades so we may as well keep the older, better quality ones in service rather than buying new rubbish.

I had to laugh when I came across this bit of Korean made gear:

Check out the handle.  It has got the word “handle” embossed into it!  I don’t know why they felt that they had to do that.  It is even more odd when you consider that the rest of the gear is covered in Korean language rather than English.

Now I can’t read Korean but a circuit is a circuit in any language.  After pulling it apart I could see that it was just an autotransformer with a number of switched taps coming off it.  There was also a voltage meter, front panel plug (Asian style), current overload switch, and back panel  output terminals.  It is obviously used in an application where the mains voltage needs to be varied for some reason.  The company website is at http://hanilsys.co.kr but without trying a Google translation I could not read it.

The electrical inspectors would have a field day with it.  Firstly, autotransformers are a bit dodgy because if the common connection of the winding goes open circuit the full voltage is applied to the output regardless of its control setting.  I don’t really know how the regulations pertaining to autotransformers would read for a bit of gear like this.  Secondly, the metal case was not earthed, which is a complete no-no here in New Zealand.   Also, the screw terminals on the back carrying the controlled mains voltage are not completely enclosed, and that will not pass muster.

Needless to say the thing is now in the scrap pile waiting to be recycled.