bigclive

Novel mosquito fume generator

I bought a few of this type of unit recently. They vary in complexity, but all have the same basic principle. They heat an oil with a tiny percentage of a synthetic pyrethrin in it, to create a vapour that is detected by mosquitos, and causes them to flee the area.

This is one of the most stylish versions, with the "night light" feature also being good for indicating the remaining fluid level.

Having tested a few of the units that arrived, they vary wildly in heating power, and ...

Handy little multi-cell lithium charger

A very simple, but useful USB powered charger for up to six lithium cells. This is designed for the cells used in things like drones, where you want your spare cells charging while you use the drone.

A couple of odd resistors in the design, mainly to provide some stability when the outputs are open circuit.

https://youtu.be/IyLSe_Ksm2c

Fizzy wine stream about to start

I'll be starting the fizzy wine Twitch stream just after posting this reminder.

https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom

Fizzy wine stream?

Twitch has various targets for streaming and I'm just one off the "streams in a month" target. As such, do you think I should do an unadvertised stream the day after the one I did today, but with a bottle of fizzy wine?

Any (technical) subject ideas if you think this is a good idea?

Streaming on Twitch in an hour from posting this

Usual weekend Twitch stream. You may need to refresh the Twitch page for the stream to start.

It should start roughly on the hour.

https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom

Random extra stream

I'll be streaming in about 20 minutes from posting this. (5 past the hour)

You may need to refresh the stream page on Twitch to see the live stream.

https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom

New LED filaments with all circuitry on board

I've come across the low power LED bulbs with a resistor in the base and a rectifier/LED filament. But this is the first time I've seen them integrate ALL the circuitry on very small filaments so they can literally be used in exactly the same machines that make the tungsten bulbs.

They've even used a sensible number of LEDs to make the efficiency high and reduce the dissipation from the current limiting circuitry.

h...

Inside a radical alternative to traditional UVC lights

Some good things came out of the pandemic. One of them was the sudden market created for UVC LEDs and the new excimer 222nm light sources.

Naomi Wu has sent me a 222nm excimer light that she has been developing in an attempt to make it more affordable than the high profile medical versions. The result is a well designed 6W unit that puts out a very narrow spike of UVC light centred around 222nm.

This wavelength is long enough to effectively deactivate airborne bacteria and virus...

RF cloning button

It's a little button you can copy an existing remote's code with, for an extra controller. (but not a code hopping remote.)

The circuitry is clever, but also a bit weird. The receiving circuitry is astonishingly minimal.

This button uses a microcontroller which appears to be a direct clone of a PIC microcontroller with a very similar instruction set with slightly different letter combinations.

...

Twitch stream

I'll be streaming at the usual time (about an hour from this message being posted).

It's probably best viewed directly on Twitch, and you may need to refresh the page for it to start.

https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom

Not complex, but still handy to know

This is a very common battery level indicator used with many cheap power tools (including from Aldi and LIDL). The one interesting twist in this module is the time delay circuit with a simple MOSFET, capacitor and resistor arrangement.

That's maybe an idea for a project. A night light that you press the button for full intensity and it then fades slowly away over several minutes.

https://youtu.be/ihGICtWplFE 2024-10-03 05:23:56 +0000 UTC View Post

Intriguing AliExpress $3 110-240V emergency light

So cheap, and yet so functional. The circuitry on this unit was clearly designed by someone who relished fitting it all on a single sided PCB amongst the grid of parallel LEDs.

The lithium charge circuitry is worthy of special mention for being so minimal.

https://youtu.be/sWA0yaXNwMY

Brake fluid tester teardown

A look at a brake fluid tester for the usual glycol based brake fluids used in vehicle hydraulic braking systems.

This took a lot longer to reverse engineer than expected, because it worked in a completely different way than I anticipated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mgFnAYlMUs

Magicians thumb gimmick - the turbo remix

A somewhat turbo-charged version of the classic magicians trick where a dot of light is transferred from one thumb to another. Used properly, this can be quite a good visual effect.

This is possibly some of the worst lithium cell abuse I've seen though.

https://youtu.be/dq5Ik4hForY

Showbiz IT department

Just a photo of the projector room from the Tattoo, showing the racks of video servers and some of the projectors in the background. There are loads more projectors above this area under suitable covers on the roof of the control complex.

This isn't where the actual media is controlled from - it's done from a room with the sound mixing department. This is just the projector management and mapping room.

Weekend stream on Twitch

Here's the Twitch link to the weekend stream.

You may need to refresh the page to get the video to start.

https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom

MBC going live on Twitch

If all goes to plan the MBC will be streaming live about 20 minutes from me posting this.

You may need to refresh the Twitch page to get the stream when it starts.

https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom

A neat little LED panel

This is a little LED panel I added to an AliExpress order for an extra $1. It turns out that it's actually quite a useful little module. If you need a bit of extra light in a rack with a spare USB port or a socket to plug a charger into, then this could provide enough light to work by.

https://youtu.be/SC3dzrb7hMQ

eBay USB rechargeable aroma atomising unit

When I recently made a video about the surprisingly sophisticated Air Wick Mist ultrasonic aroma atomising unit, I mentioned that the Chinese design would be very minimal in comparison.

Well here it is, and despite being extraordinarily minimal, it still manages to add a built in rechargeable lithium cell. (Which Air Wick probably avoided for cost and liability reasons.)

The one Air Wick feature it doesn't have is the daily timed operation of 8 hours on and 16 hours off.

2024-09-25 15:00:30 +0000 UTC View Post

3D printing pen

A look inside a 3D printing pen. I'm not sure how much fun you could have with this. It's certainly novel being able to form things out of molten plastic. But not neat things.

The internal construction is very neat though, and it does work well. They've cheated on the temperature sensing a bit, and used heinous multiplexing of an LCD display, LEDs and buttons.

I didn't draw the schematic for this one, as the multiplexing was cramped and hard to probe.

2024-09-24 23:23:22 +0000 UTC View Post

Starburst lamp revisit 11 years later

It's been a very long time since I first looked at one of these bulbs. They have a stack of PCBs inside with LEDs splayed out from them to give a lot of sharp points of light in a globe. Very sparkly looking.

This is a newer version with different circuitry that is optimised for a wider voltage range and different sized bulbs that may use more or less of the cluster PCBs.

https://youtu.be/mcEEstw62pU

Live stream on Twitch

I will be live on Twitch in about an hour from posting this link.

You may need to refresh the screen on twitch to get the stream when it starts.

https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom

A look inside my favourite trackball

This is my main input device. I prefer it over a mouse as it stays put in one position and is perfect for using with CAD like PCB design packages.

This unit is relatively old. I'd guess modern versions have a one-chip mouse solution.

https://youtu.be/aA0e2Rnjy8g

I'm glad this video's finished

It's a good video about a very interesting product, but the circuitry was so complex and weird that it took me much longer than usual to reverse engineer it.

That said, it had lots of very novel surprises and also two hidden features I didn't know about until I found their circuitry and went hunting for them.

https://youtu.be/dbjZs6QVwso

Glowing inflatable orb

This video was one I made as a welcome break from another video that has a really arduous bit of reverse engineering. Very weird circuitry that gradually releases clues to the products operation as you get deeper into the schematic.

This one on the other hand was very easy to reverse engineer, but has some oddities.

https://youtu.be/f2rkcEpkuSY

LIDL UV bug zapper

This unit does actually use a small fluorescent UVA tube to lure bugs to its zapping wires. One of the most interesting things about this unit was the strange choice of a ballast for the fluorescent tube. I thought it was going to be a high frequency electronic ballast, but it's somewhat cheaper than that.

The unit also states that the tube can't be changed, but that does not apply to technical people like us.

http...

Another bulb - but an interesting one

I added this to an aliexpress order just for the novelty value, but it's actually quite neat.

The housing is made from two parts that clip and glue together around a flexible filament with 200 LEDs. The power supply uses a different chip I haven't come across before.

https://youtu.be/jatvD1yo9Ho

The most menacing light on AliExpress

I'm wondering how this ended up translated the way it did. It's quite funny.

The circuitry in one of these lights has been super-optimised for cost, with one downfall.

Initially it makes sense to turn a PIR light "off" by putting it in a cardboard box. But it didn't work out quite as planned, and the unit arrived with the lithium cell grossly overdischarged.

If you read the video description you'll see the things I tried to fix it - with the last ditch attempt working.

Inside a Poundland bubble bear

These bubble toys contain very clever mechanisms. The one inside this one is very similar to the Disney bubble wand I looked at before, but with a slightly different arrangement to operate horizontally.

https://youtu.be/dYe6WxCgEDw

Just in case you wondered...

Here's the show I was working on. The link may take you to the start of Highland Rave with the DJ faking it on the decks. Some of the instruments are being genuinely played, and some are for visual effect. The other instrumental components may be coming from our hidden live band in the moat of the castle.

If you look at the Indian section of the show you can see the illuminated costume items.

2024-09-10 20:48:03 +0000 UTC View Post