One of the loudest bangs ever! It literally left my ears whistling for ages, and that was just a tiny amount. Imagine what a balloon-full would be like.
These are amazing machines, partly for what they do and their completely dangerous nature. I mean - who can resist an eBay machine that uses electricity to fill its tanks with pre-mixed explosive gas?
2025-06-24 03:47:00 +0000 UTC View Post
I got one of the 100A versions of the solar charge controllers to compare the circuitry to the original 10A one. You can have a guess at what differences there might be inside.
I also took the opportunity to add notes about comments from the previous charger video.
It appears people have been trying to use them at high current and had bad experiences.
Usual time and usual place. Best viewed on Twitch, and may need a page refresh to start the stream. Local start time is shown in the Twitch schedule. (9pm UK time)
https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom
2025-06-21 17:11:34 +0000 UTC View Post
When you sneakily source what you think is methylene chloride in a "love meter" hand boiler. But when you start extracting it and put it into a bottle with a layer of water on it to reduce evaporation, it turns out to be miscible with water and is probably just a cheap alcohol that doesn't work in my intended application. (Bubble tubes).
It's hard getting methylene chloride shipped here due to it being a solvent.
2025-06-21 04:47:04 +0000 UTC View Post
At first glance these little adaptors for most brands of power tool batteries seem a great idea. A USB power supply that simply clips onto a battery for charging a tool, headtorch or phone.
But there's an issue. They do not monitor for low battery voltage, and if the battery can't shut the power off itself then these modules can potentially brick the battery by overdischarging it.
https://youtu.be/Z1EakRbt5PY 2025-06-21 04:41:21 +0000 UTC View Post
A test and teardown of a very common style of vacuum sealer found on eBay and most of the other unregulated marketplaces. This one came from AliExpress.
Very simple design for the functionality, and the pump and heater are both very basic and functional.
2025-06-19 21:40:57 +0000 UTC View Post
The video in progress is a vacuum bag sealer. Having seen what's inside I can now see why they are so cheap. It's pretty impressive.
But in the meantime, here's a chunky little military themed biting-fly deterrent that heats vapour pads. It's not actually too bad.
This neat little charger is for LIR series lithium button cells like the LIR2032 which is the same size as a CR2032, but has a higher voltage (4.2V) and is rechargeable, but has lower capacity than the non rechargeable type. Although ML2032 rechargeable cells will fit in this charger, it's not ideal for them as they tend to have a lower fully charged voltage.
Quite a nice design that is easy to use.
2025-06-18 02:39:20 +0000 UTC View Post
This is a light powered display feature that could be used to shake signs or objects to get a shoppers attention.
I haven't a clue how old this thing is. I've had it for a very long time, and ironically I brought it over for a video when it alerted me to its presence by waving.
For those who have less time to watch the longer and deeper videos.
A much shorter version recorded specifically to just mention key points.
2025-06-16 17:47:41 +0000 UTC View Post
I bought this conductive fabric thinking it was going to have a fairly high resistance or be very stiff, but it is neither. It's extremely tough and supple, and has an extraordinarily low resistance across the surface.
I'm thinking it may have uses in gas and liquid permeable electrodes for experimental use. Or just very convenient screening as intended. (But take care to avoid loose conductive threads in enclosures.
Like a short, but horizontal and with useful information.
This is a look at a common eBay one way valve. I got it to test its ability to hold a slight vacuum pressure for some experiments.
2025-06-16 02:41:14 +0000 UTC View Post
It's going to be an MBC stream on Twitch this week, so it will start about one hour earlier than the usual time so we can drink too much and make fools of ourselves.
There will be loudness, rudeness and possibly even inappropriate statements.
https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom
Best viewed on Twitch, and you may need to refresh the page to start the stream.
2025-06-14 04:15:37 +0000 UTC View Post
A test video in the new garage recording area, where I can accommodate bigger items.
It's a "classic" eBay under sink water heater, which I bought purely so we could take it to bits and see what the construction is like.
2025-06-14 04:12:18 +0000 UTC View Post
At first glance this looks like a fairly basic fuse box with a high current connector and lots of sub connectors being controlled individually or in groups by relays. But once the cover comes off it reveals an onboard processor and communication network.
It might even be tied to specific vehicles with their VIN code and possibly even store other data like odometer readings to help prevent mileage tampering on old vehicles.
This module came out of a retired microwave, and as I couldn't immediately determine its function, I put it aside to reverse engineer later. It turns out that it's got two sections and to demonstrate one I had to make a few modifications to the PCB to slow it down.
2025-06-10 01:51:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Let me know if I'm making too many videos about solar light repairs. It just seems a suitable thing for this time of year.
This is one I've featured before, but getting upgraded with newer LEDs and a new top too.
2025-06-08 23:45:12 +0000 UTC View Post
A look at the circuitry used in stun guns. This is quite an old one, so I'd guess that the circuitry might have been refined a bit since for easier manufacturing.
I can testify that these things are very painful.
2025-06-07 00:27:06 +0000 UTC View Post
A picture of the colourful glowing solar-orbs I mounted to a well trimmed tree in the garden.
The tops of the branches have been trimmed at a slight angle to aid with water draining and also to point the orbs closer to the trajectory of the sun.
That tree had to get trimmed down much lower as it was getting far too tall and had reached my neighbours overhead fibre optic link.
2025-06-06 22:24:54 +0000 UTC View Post
Every time I feature one of these little soap foaming pumps people ask if I can try it with milk and cream. So here it is. The creamy foam pump experiments.
It was interesting and rather messy.
2025-06-06 02:26:29 +0000 UTC View Post
I had to take a break from the reverse engineering of the solar power controller. So I made some brackets and hacked some solar lights for relaxation.
The openscad script is in the video description on YouTube.
2025-06-05 02:54:21 +0000 UTC View Post
It took a long time to fully reverse engineer this unit. At one point I was going to cheat and just give a block diagram, but I really wanted to work out how it controlled the MOSFETs in their back to back configuration.
Let me know if my attempt at describing the circuitry made sense.
This unit might be OK for low power personal solar projects.
2025-06-05 02:07:28 +0000 UTC View Post
A deviation for me, as I don't normally do this type of video. Let me know if you like it.
It's a look at several items that arrived recently, a look inside a couple and then a full teardown on one of them.
2025-06-03 23:41:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Usual time and usual place.
https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom
Best viewed on Twitch, and you may need to refresh the page to start the stream.
2025-05-31 17:49:58 +0000 UTC View Post
While primarily designed for moving concrete along chutes, through sieves and settling it in moulds/forms, I'm sure this unit has many other applications.
It was quite tricky to get apart due to the pressed bearing construction.
2025-05-31 00:34:40 +0000 UTC View Post
I showed these in a recent live stream. It's some components used in Chinese arcade games based on Whac-a-Mole.
Unlike the original Whac-a-Mole which was pneumatic, this is one of the much more common solenoid based systems.
The solenoids run on 24V at over 3A!
2025-05-30 04:55:48 +0000 UTC View Post
This appears to be addressing the increasing scarcity of tungsten bulbs for things that require their heat for operation.
The best thing about this lights is that it works very well and is actually worth getting for the glitter vial alone, as it is balanced to the point that very little heat will cause decent glitter flow.
This was bought from a high street shop. (Next to the bus stops on Union Street in Glasgow.)
I'm not sure I'd actually trust these as roadwork beacons unless there was guaranteed sunshine every day.
The construction of these is actually quite nice. They could be a good base for a project.
2025-05-27 16:06:53 +0000 UTC View Post
I'm not sure I'd recommend these for a situation requiring long term reliability, but for fun personal projects or some off-grid lighting bling they are OK.
Except the RGB one. It's not OK.
2025-05-26 23:04:47 +0000 UTC View PostI used to use openscad and cura in the linux section of my chromebook, but they have both stopped responding to mouse clicks. Is there anything obvious I should check?
I've removed and then reinstalled the Linux environment and reloaded the software with no luck.