The Top 10 Crowd Funded Projects People Have Been Duped By?

[matseng]

TellSpec https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tellspec-what-s-in-your-food
Very suspect demos, and now they've completely change technologies
I just hope their competitor SCiO (who I've backed) is genuine - I just want to reuse their tiny spectrophotometer sensors

What happened with your SCiO?  Did you ever receive anything from them?  They are still at it it seems:

French startup DietSensor launched at the 2016 International Consumer Electronics Show a pocket-sized, Bluetooth-connected molecular sensor called SCiO. It uses near-infrared spectroscopy (the analysis of how molecules interact with light) to determine the chemical makeup of food and drink. SCiO can analyze substances based on how their molecules interact with light.

http://mashable.com/2016/01/04/dietsensor-scio-scans-food

[Kean]

Hi Mats,
I actually received it just before Christmas, so it is actually shipping, and looks well built.  I've been so busy with work for the last month that I've only played with it a little, but it does seem to actually work.  Just not sure how useful it is with the currently available data models.  Certainly doesn't seem ready for consumers in that respect.
As a "developer backer" I guess I'm meant to start building my own models, but that means having lots of samples to measure and knowing their specific attributes.  My interest is in spectrophotometers for chlorophyll and sunlight measurements, not so much for food or medicine.
Kean

[Kean]

French startup DietSensor launched at the 2016 International Consumer Electronics Show a pocket-sized, Bluetooth-connected molecular sensor called SCiO. It uses near-infrared spectroscopy (the analysis of how molecules interact with light) to determine the chemical makeup of food and drink. SCiO can analyze substances based on how their molecules interact with light.

http://mashable.com/2016/01/04/dietsensor-scio-scans-food

It looks like DietSensor are a SCiO early developer.  I wonder if they will be selling SCiO devices before ConsumerPhysics finish delivering to backers.  That would be sneaky way for ConsumerPhysics to bring in some more cash.  I doubt they'd do that as I think they'd be able to get a decent amount investment quite easily elsewhere, so it is probably DietSensor just getting in early at CES.

[Kean]

In addition to backing SCiO at the developer level, I also pledged (under a different KS account) at the Maker level.  I was starting to wonder how they were going to ship the maker devices considering they've made a big deal in their updates about how fiddly the sensors were to assembly.  Also there are interesting terms in the (software & backend web service) T&C's which are not exactly maker friendly.

Well, I just got this message from CP:

Thanks again for making the pledge for the SCiO Makers Kit!
We are happy to let you know that we will be shipping your product in the next few weeks, and would like to update you on what you can expect to get.
Due to the sensitivity of the molecular sensor and illumination source we will not be able to send you a "bare-bones" product as originally promised because we have found it is imperative to keep the delicate components within the rigid structure of the mechanical enclosure to ensure the accuracy and consistency of scan results.
So, instead we will be upgrading you, at no extra charge, to the Developer Toolkit and provide you with a developer license, along with CAD files so you can design and integrate the encased SCiO unit into your project.
You will be contacted within days to confirm your shipping information.

So it appears they're really ramping up production now, and trying to get as many developers on board as possible.
Anyway, it means I will now have an extra device that I can lend out to clients and friends, and/or do a tear down.

[matseng]

That's nice!  For once one of the "impossible" campaigns actually produced something.  Even if the units would not live up fully to the expectations of the original purpose they might be usable for other things like in your case.

[boffin]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned ZPM Espresso. 

Lots of press on the vapourware espresso machine.  I know I'm out a couple of hundy.

[sk2593]

Is this another Scam?

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/asap-dash-world-s-fastest-pocket-sized-charger#/story

They claim to be able to fully charge a 5000mAh battery in 15 mins using a 50 watts charger???
Is that even possible?  5000mAh @5 volts = 25 Wh battery.

Assuming a  100% conversion efficiency and a constant charge rate(batteries don't charge at a constant charge rate the last 20% actually takes a lot longer)  a 50 watt charger  would take 30 mins at the least to charge, right?

Newbie just trying to learn!

[rrinker]

 Charge your iPhone in just 5 minutes? Let's all say it, in Dave's voice.....that's BULLSHIT! 

I dunno about the newest ones, I'm still on a 5S, but while it does charge faster using my iPad's 2.1 amp charger, it's not twice as fast as using the stock 1 amp charger. The phone does not allow charging at a rate that could take it from dead to full charge in only 5 minutes. Not to mention, if their 3 amp output means it charges in 5 minutes, that would mean the stock 1 amp charger recharges it in 15 - NOT. Slightly misleading when they say you can charge the thing up at 10W using any USB port - sorry guys, the standard USB port does NOT provide 2 amps, though my pc motherboard does have 2 USB 3.0 ports than when used with their special driver will supply 2 amps. Stock limit is 500ma for USB 2.0, 900ma for USB 3.0.

Fail.

[Delta]

Charge your iPhone in just 5 minutes? Let's all say it, in Dave's voice.....that's BULLSHIT! 

At least read the bloody thing, that is NOT what they are claiming at all...

[rrinker]

Charge your iPhone in just 5 minutes? Let's all say it, in Dave's voice.....that's BULLSHIT! 

At least read the bloody thing, that is NOT what they are claiming at all...

 Oh? Caption of the video right at the top: "World's Fastest Pocket-sized Phone Charger. Enough power to charge your iPhone in only 5 minutes. "

And later they have one that says "charge 3 iPhone 6's in 15 minutes"

OK, well, in the first one I guess they only say it has enough power to do it, not that it does do it - but how are 99.9% of the population going to interpret that wording? Exactly as I did - it can charge your iPhone in 5 minutes.

[suicidaleggroll]

Is this another Scam?

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/asap-dash-world-s-fastest-pocket-sized-charger#/story

They claim to be able to fully charge a 5000mAh battery in 15 mins using a 50 watts charger???
Is that even possible?  5000mAh @5 volts = 25 Wh battery.

Assuming a  100% conversion efficiency and a constant charge rate(batteries don't charge at a constant charge rate the last 20% actually takes a lot longer)  a 50 watt charger  would take 30 mins at the least to charge, right?

Newbie just trying to learn!

Battery capacity is not rated at 5V, it's rated at the battery's nominal voltage.  They don't say what type of battery is being used, but assuming it's similar to a "standard" Li-ion at 3.7V, 5Ah=18.5Wh.  At 50W and 100% efficiency, that's a hair over 22 minutes.

However, they do list the charging rate in mAh/min (what a stupid unit...).  333.33 mAh/min is 20A.  At 50W, that would imply a battery voltage of 2.5 V.  Since they never actually tell you what the battery chemistry is (I certainly hope it's not standard Li-ion at that charging rate...), 2.5V could be correct.

[Delta]

Charge your iPhone in just 5 minutes? Let's all say it, in Dave's voice.....that's BULLSHIT! 

At least read the bloody thing, that is NOT what they are claiming at all...

 Oh? Caption of the video right at the top: "World's Fastest Pocket-sized Phone Charger. Enough power to charge your iPhone in only 5 minutes. "

And later they have one that says "charge 3 iPhone 6's in 15 minutes"

OK, well, in the first one I guess they only say it has enough power to do it, not that it does do it - but how are 99.9% of the population going to interpret that wording? Exactly as I did - it can charge your iPhone in 5 minutes.

In all honesty, I genuinely read it as "this device can be charged with enough energy in five minutes to charge 3 iPhone6s".  I think it is quite clear, especially as their main unit of energy on the page is "<name of mobile device> charges".

There is nothing deceptive there, I think you just misunderstood it... 

[sk2593]

Battery capacity is not rated at 5V, it's rated at the battery's nominal voltage.  They don't say what type of battery is being used, but assuming it's similar to a "standard" Li-ion at 3.7V, 5Ah=18.5Wh.  At 50W and 100% efficiency, that's a hair over 22 minutes.

OK, if it is Li-Ion than charging voltage would be ~ 4.2. and based on on 20 amps charging current that would mean a 85 watts power supply ?. It they are using a "special" battery that charges at 2.5 volts than the capacity would be 2.5v, 5 AH=12Wh. There is no way a 12Wh battery can charge a iphone5  3 times?

[suicidaleggroll]

Battery capacity is not rated at 5V, it's rated at the battery's nominal voltage.  They don't say what type of battery is being used, but assuming it's similar to a "standard" Li-ion at 3.7V, 5Ah=18.5Wh.  At 50W and 100% efficiency, that's a hair over 22 minutes.

OK, if it is Li-Ion than charging voltage would be ~ 4.2. and based on on 20 amps charging current that would mean a 85 watts power supply ?. It they are using a "special" battery that charges at 2.5 volts than the capacity would be 2.5v, 5 AH=12Wh. There is no way a 12Wh battery can charge a iphone5  3 times?

It's only 4.2 at the end of the cycle.  The majority of the cycle is constant current, where the voltage is whatever it needs to be to hit the target charge current (as long as it's < 4.2v).

[boffin]

To their defense, most of their "much faster" claims are not that they can charge your phone faster, but that they can charge *their* battery faster.  That would be nice, I know my 11000mAh battery really needs a good overnight to get it up to snuff.

However, most of the claims about being able to charge your phone/ipad faster are utter BULLSHIT ^{(tm) of eeblog}

I do wonder (and they don't mention it), if they support the 9volt charging that is fast charging on a Samsung (the charger sees D+/D- shorted and upvoltages to 9v (@ 1.8A IIRC) to charge the newer Samsung phones a lot faster than a 500mA USB jack.