bigclive

Excellent Meanwell surge protector

Normally it's hard to get excited about a surge protection device, but this one by Meanwell (really big player in professional power supplies) was an absolute treat to explore.

It's very well made and much more rugged than the more common units.

It might actually be worth considering the use of one for home or workshop transient protection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1Y1rzVMFq8

Ordinary product with unexpected IC history

There are a few classic chips from the 70's and 80's that have remained in common use because they were based on building blocks that made them very versatile (like a precursor to modern microcontrollers).

This product contains an IC that dates back to 1983 and seems to have established itself as a standard component in the same hall of fame as the 555 and the 741 op-amp.

I didn't realise it had such a long history until I investigated why a chip with a Motorola code was being mad...

Surprisingly well designed UVC product

Although the pandemic created masses of very shady products to "sterilise" everything, it did at least create a huge market for UVC LEDs, and in doing so helped with the development of that technology.

This is one of those products, and is now being dumped on eBay in bulk to move the excess stocks manufactured during the pandemic.

This one is very different from many of the similar products in that it has made a serious effort to be a real thing.   I'm not convinced that...

Weekend stream link

Here's the link to the weekend stream:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_7yXLk69Lc

Show controlled audience wristband

A gift from Vince the crew chief on the current show.  It's a Pixmob audience wristband that allows the lighting system to activate colours on the wrists of the audience members.

This version is infrared.  I also have a wireless version to explore too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkHmD0BZK04

Eating an expired self-heating meal at work

There's not really much else to say about this.  My colleague Vince got this self heating meal a long time ago, and we finally got around to trying it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgyhR1XyI54

Cheapest "dancoing flame" module teardown

This is the cheapest dancing flame candle effect I've seen, and more surprisingly, it was being sold in a standard shop in Glasgow.

The product it is based on is the classic and very expensive Luminara candle that apparently used licenced Disney technology.  This generic Chinese one will be using unlicensed Disney technology.  (It was apparently used in the Haunted Mansion candle effects.)

This product is worth getting for the bare internal flame module, as it has potent...

Direct ultrasonic oil atomiser

This unit appears to be in the process of being dumped on eBay UK, possibly from amazon stock that failed to sell or was having reliability issues.

It's a USB powered essential oil atomiser that pulses the oil directly into the air without the usual water mist carrier.

You basically load the oil into a tiny little glass bottle, with a wick that carries the oil to a fairly neat and ferociously driven piezo atomiser disk.

2023-08-14 14:43:02 +0000 UTC View Post

Backstage snippet

An oddity of this job is that we often have flypasts from military planes.

The first of the twp flypasts on Saturday was the Red Arrows.

The second was two jets, which were deafening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsK_vtBp3CM

Live stream link

Here's the link to this weeks live stream:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuHyz5rdNO4

Backstage snippet

A brief look inside a special effects fan that I was taking a look at.

It was suddenly losing control and going at full speed - which is quite ferocious.

The problem appeared to be originating from a rogue DMX card with slight corrosion on some components.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1eMDcJux10

Over cost-cutting to the point of risk

There's sensible cost cutting and then just going too far.

In this case they may have gone too far and compromised the safety of this bulb by removing electrical separation.   I wonder how many of these bulbs blow up at the factory, or after a short amount of use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lbGrHjqsdk

Tingly Tetris game

This Tetris type of ornament/toy sent in by Ray isn't meant to give electric shocks, but due to the poor choice of power supply it does.

With a defective power supply it could also give a fatal shock due to the exposed nature of the electrical contacts and "gripability" of the live blocks.

Fortunately it's not hard to splice on a new USB power supply to make it safer.

https://www.youtube.com/watc...

Backstage snippet

The risers back in action for the up-tempo Electro-Pipes act of the show.   This time with no video floor, but an upper RGB LED trim and RGBW downlighting.  They have an RF link to the show control system so they integrate into the show lighting under timecode control.

Much lighter with just two large SLA batteries instead of four, and no inverter/media-server.

They also have a new pneumatic wheel lowering system for easier moving.

2023-08-09 14:52:57 +0000 UTC View Post

Inside a bottle theft prevention cap

Having bought a bottle of gin, my work colleague discovered that the security cap was still on it.

To get to our gin and tonic we first had to defeat the puzzle of removing the cap.  That's quite complex, and attempting to twist it off with force just locks it on tighter.

I ended up prying off the cap of the lock mechanism to allow it to release the ratchet system.

https://www.youtube.com/wa...

Edinburgh meet up

A provisional date and time for the Edinburgh meet up 2023.

3pm onwards on 13th August at The Caley Picture House on Lothian Road.

Note that a political party (libertarians) has also arranged a meet there for the same day, so make sure you join the correct group.  It will be the geeky one.

Don't bring large gifts as I am travelling with work and have limited luggage space.
Please don't travel long distances to the meetup as the Edinburgh Fringe is on and accommodatio...

The Maybe Stream

I can't guarantee this stream will go ahead, but if it does it will be one hour later than normal:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noO7WMzAwdc

Perplexing circuitry

On one hand, this circuit could have a glaring defect, but on the other hand the microcontroller could theoretically contain an independent simple shunt reference of about 0.6V below the lithium cell's maximum voltage.

I won't release this video until I can prove my thoughts, as it would be inappropriate to diss a product as being potentially dangerous when it just had an unusual design quirk.

https://...

Scrufdog's weekend fill-in stream

Scrufdog will be a doing a live stream at the usual weekend time:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxPGd-RnlUQ

I'll hopefully be doing a Sunday stream, but it's very hard to predict times at the moment.

Backstage snippet

The "preview" show.  The first full run of the show with an audience and the press.

This is the full cast epic song moment that represents the "Stories" theme.

Note that the white spark-fountains up in amongst the traditional fireworks are titanium spark fountains that blow a stream of titanium powder through a heater to ignite it and provide a continuous fountain on demand.

https://www.yout...

LIDL solar globe with neat PCB

The way the solar panels are potted on this main PCB inside the globe is what makes this quite an interesting light.

It's not perfect though, with a very odd colour selection method.

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

Simpler pendulum circuit

This circuit is out of a clock with a simple manual start magnetically driven pendulum.

The same circuitry can be used for many different kinetic ornaments that can potentially run for a very long time on a single battery, or almost forever with a solar charge circuit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psHVTiIoAWA

Backstage snippet

The unglamorous world of highland dancing rehearsals.  Once the lighting and loud thumping music is added the audience will love it.

This is just one section of the show amongst the international acts.  (Although many of the dancers may be from other countries too.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y1CynbcmOY

Probably no live stream at all this week

I'll be working tomorrow on standby during the show rehearsals, so I don't think I'm going to be able to do a live stream this week.

Backstage snippet

We've finished the risers today.  They had video floors in them last year, but just two independent sections of RGB lighting in them this year.  One will have an illuminated transparent drum kit on it, but I'm not sure if it's going to be just a single RGB channel or if each drum will be independently controlled over the wireless network.

There's a slight issue with the set builder making the top LED channel too deep, which means that we may have to strip it out and pack it up...

Neat solar pendulum circuit

This is the circuitry of a "vintage" solar flappy leaf ornament before they started using the dedicated blob chips.

That makes it much more interesting, and allows the circuitry to be repurposed for other magnetic pendulum experiments.

This video was filmed between two less than ideal locations, so will look and sound different.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV39Eowzy-c

Water and electricity backstage snippet

Despite extensive waterproofing of connectors we generally have one or two issues when heavy rain occurs.   It's actually good to have issues during technical setup, as it's better to solve them in advance before the shows start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtnylvgsMSI

Backstage weird snippet

I thought it was Vince the crew chief that had done this, but it was apparently Ed and Tim who did something very weird to one of our control cabins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2UNHdV5kvI

Elusive datasheet

The rare and elusive datasheet for the amazing little chips used in disposable (and rechargeable) vapes.
Quite a specification.  Particularly the low 0.1 ohm on state resistance of the MOSFET and the handy 120mA lithium charger with sub 2.7V trickle recovery mode.

One last pre-travel video

I completely forgot about this video, which I recorded just before travelling.

I've not got an optimal recording area set up yet due to the quirky nature of the furniture in my room.  The camera may end up a bit further away from the temporary bench than usual.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB5pqBZVcII