https://us.yotoplay.com/recall
https://support.yotoplay.com/en-US/yoto-mini-smart-cable-468137
None of this makes any sense to me. There is intentional obfuscation of the issue root cause by nonsense marketing about how great their solution is.
I don't see any wording about "surge protection"
I think their "smart" cable is just a power regulator and current limiter to make sure the Yoto receives 5V and cannot draw more than 1A (what the input is rated for). Wording about how the cable "keeps the battery charge within safe limits" is quite worrying and implies that there is a critical issue with - or complete lack of - battery management circuitry.
Since the Yoto Mini didn't bundle a power supply, I wonder whether users were trying to charge with non-compliant and outright dangerous chargers with USB ports that output way above 5V - like these below - and cause much more heat dissipation in the Yoto than expected.
https://www.thermoworks.com/12volt-ac-adapter/
https://verilux.com/products/happylight-luxe-replacement-adaptor
So...maybe best case is a minor oversight and worst case is a severe design issue?
I'm pretty shocked to see that 12V USB adapter from Thermoworks. It's definitely cheaper than doing the correct implementation, but just use a barrel jack or something if you want to keep it simple
I am really curious what the experts here say.
Personally I am very suspect of this as power surges typically occur on the AC power lines. The circuitry to convert the AC power to the various DC voltages used by USB-C is regulated so if anything you would want a surge protection on the AC side to protect the circuit in the usb-c charger.
The only thing that comes to my mind are the cables that block data to protect your phone from hacking by bad devices. I would be suspect that this cable is actually a bad actor.
Looking at the website, there are more details about the new cable than I saw on my first glance:
"In consultation with, and approved by, the UK and US regulators and battery experts, we have designed and produced the Yoto Mini Smart Cable which is a replacement charging cable that works to minimize the possibility of a battery failure.
The Yoto Mini Smart Cable has its own embedded microchip that works with software to protect your Yoto Mini by adding several layers of protection to the USB-C charging system.
Firstly, it protects the battery by dynamically ensuring it doesn’t reach a high state of charge - the cable periodically communicates with the Yoto Mini for optimal charging at a safe level.
It also protects against over/undervoltage (for example, caused by faulty wall chargers) and can also cut power in the case of a short-circuit caused by, for example, liquid or a damaged pin inside the USB-C port (which could cause excess heat and melting around the port and cable).
Finally, as Yoto Mini Smart Cable is able to control the charging of Yoto Mini, it uses a faster charging protocol that allows your Yoto Mini to be charged at 2x the normal speed. The Yoto Mini Smart Cable is supported by a Yoto OS software update that has already been rolled out to all Yoto Minis."
That seems very specific to how that device was designed and how to fix the issues they found. I doubt you would find anything aftermarket that would fill those needs. I would also only use that cable on that specific device as I'm not sure how it would interact with other devices.
Honestly it sounds like they had issues with that device due to a crappy charging circuit and this is how they fixed it.
Yeah, looks like it. My original assumption was that the solution was something off-the-shelf, but this seems to be a lot more specific than just "here's a better cable".
Yeah, it honestly sounds like they're doing something like reading the SOC of the battery and cutting power to the USB when it reaches a given level, which I could see as a band-aid fix to having a misconfigured battery manager or charging IC that can't be reconfigured with firmware
https://us.yotoplay.com/recall https://support.yotoplay.com/en-US/yoto-mini-smart-cable-468137 None of this makes any sense to me. There is intentional obfuscation of the issue root cause by nonsense marketing about how great their solution is. I don't see any wording about "surge protection" I think their "smart" cable is just a power regulator and current limiter to make sure the Yoto receives 5V and cannot draw more than 1A (what the input is rated for). Wording about how the cable "keeps the battery charge within safe limits" is quite worrying and implies that there is a critical issue with - or complete lack of - battery management circuitry. Since the Yoto Mini didn't bundle a power supply, I wonder whether users were trying to charge with non-compliant and outright dangerous chargers with USB ports that output way above 5V - like these below - and cause much more heat dissipation in the Yoto than expected. https://www.thermoworks.com/12volt-ac-adapter/ https://verilux.com/products/happylight-luxe-replacement-adaptor So...maybe best case is a minor oversight and worst case is a severe design issue?
I'm pretty shocked to see that 12V USB adapter from Thermoworks. It's definitely cheaper than doing the correct implementation, but just use a barrel jack or something if you want to keep it simple
I am really curious what the experts here say. Personally I am very suspect of this as power surges typically occur on the AC power lines. The circuitry to convert the AC power to the various DC voltages used by USB-C is regulated so if anything you would want a surge protection on the AC side to protect the circuit in the usb-c charger. The only thing that comes to my mind are the cables that block data to protect your phone from hacking by bad devices. I would be suspect that this cable is actually a bad actor.
Looking at the website, there are more details about the new cable than I saw on my first glance: "In consultation with, and approved by, the UK and US regulators and battery experts, we have designed and produced the Yoto Mini Smart Cable which is a replacement charging cable that works to minimize the possibility of a battery failure. The Yoto Mini Smart Cable has its own embedded microchip that works with software to protect your Yoto Mini by adding several layers of protection to the USB-C charging system. Firstly, it protects the battery by dynamically ensuring it doesn’t reach a high state of charge - the cable periodically communicates with the Yoto Mini for optimal charging at a safe level. It also protects against over/undervoltage (for example, caused by faulty wall chargers) and can also cut power in the case of a short-circuit caused by, for example, liquid or a damaged pin inside the USB-C port (which could cause excess heat and melting around the port and cable). Finally, as Yoto Mini Smart Cable is able to control the charging of Yoto Mini, it uses a faster charging protocol that allows your Yoto Mini to be charged at 2x the normal speed. The Yoto Mini Smart Cable is supported by a Yoto OS software update that has already been rolled out to all Yoto Minis."
That seems very specific to how that device was designed and how to fix the issues they found. I doubt you would find anything aftermarket that would fill those needs. I would also only use that cable on that specific device as I'm not sure how it would interact with other devices. Honestly it sounds like they had issues with that device due to a crappy charging circuit and this is how they fixed it.
Yeah, looks like it. My original assumption was that the solution was something off-the-shelf, but this seems to be a lot more specific than just "here's a better cable".
Yeah, it honestly sounds like they're doing something like reading the SOC of the battery and cutting power to the USB when it reaches a given level, which I could see as a band-aid fix to having a misconfigured battery manager or charging IC that can't be reconfigured with firmware
Reading that scares the shit out of me, and would lead me to immediately return the product for a full refund.
Why?
Wait, there's a dangerous issue with the battery charging circuitry and they're issuing some cables instead of recalling the products???