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The worst piece of Sino-junk I've ever seen

On the weekend I forked out a paltry sum at a $2 shop and bought myself a 4-port USB hub.

Yes, I know what you're thinking... "Oh no, you expected something from a $2 shop to actually work?"

Well yes, I did.

I didn't expect it to be "top quality" but I expected it would at least function.

Externally, the device looked quite nice -- a crisp white injection molded plastic case with four USB connectors, a small rocker switch, jack for external power and a lead of modest length that plugs into the nearest USB port.

Quite often, when I buy cheap Chinese electronics, I'll take the back off and have a look before I risk turning it on -- but this time I figured "what the hell?". After all, these things are pretty damned simple, what could possibly go wrong?

So I plugged this device into the USB port of a PC and immediately I was told that the port had shut down due to excessive current draw.

Uh oh!

Obviously I should have had a quick tear-down before trying out this thing -- but it's never too late -- so I threw it on the bench.

I could not believe what I found when I pulled the back off this thing.

Never in my entire life have I see a worse bit of assembly.

The wires which connect the USB lead to the PC board had been stripped of their insulation for soldering -- but about 10mm of bare copper was exposed and only the last 2mm had been very poorly soldered to the board. The result was a short circuit between several of these wires.

The soldering looked as if it had been done using a rusty nail, heated on a coal-range and with second-hand solder.

But wait, it's worse...

The PCB is held in place by the two screws which also hold the top and bottom of the case together and when the unit was assembled, the worker had managed to trap the wires to the switch in such a way that the screw, when inserted, had neatly screwed through both of them -- producing yet another short circuit.

And, as if the bad soldering of the wires was not enough, the small power jack had a huge sliver of solder hanging from it, having made its way through the hole where one of the jack's tabs was inserted into the PCB.

But wait, yes, there *is* more!

The "chip on board" device which obviously contains all the semiconductors used was very badly potted, looking as if they'd either used the very last of the potting compound (and thus it was very porous) or they'd used a hot-potting compound and it had been cooked for far, far too long.

In short -- this was the single worst piece of Chinese-made crap I have ever seen -- and trust me, I've seen a lot!

Later today I'll see if I can fix this thing (not worth the petrol to drive back to the shop and claim a replacement) but I'm not optimistic.

How on earth can *any* manufacturer possibly survive when they ship crap like this?

Is it simply that, like myself, consumers figure that if something is cheap enough, they just can't be bothered claiming a warranty or complaining? Do these manufacturers simply rely on inertia or a "couldn't care less" attitude on the part of customers to ensure that they can get away with shipping stuff that was obviously *never* tested and never worked?

I like to think that, on the whole, the quality of Chinese-made products is improving -- but it seems that there are still some rogue manufacturers who simply don't give a damn about the quality of their wares.

On the up-side, I must say that it's been an eye-opening experience and I might just make a video about it -- to educate those who may be tempted to buy something similar.

Why not share your "worst nightmare" of Chinese-made crap with other readers?

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