It says "Do not open...."
Challenge accepted. Let's open the thing and see what's so dangerous about it.
2020-09-21 00:38:41 +0000 UTC View Post
bigclive posts
Saturday's stream link
Here's the link to the upcoming stream on Saturday (or whenever it happens in your timezone).
2020-09-18 16:16:17 +0000 UTC View PostIs this video good enough?
I ended up remaking and patching this video together because I was trying to include too much detail in earlier versions. It's left me feeling that it's not quite right. The second part references previous versions twice by accident.
It's an attempt at showing that you can learn to solder with cheap, basic tools.
I'll probably make videos in the future that concentra...
2020-09-17 21:22:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe crunchiest circuit breaker yet
This very toasted circuit breaker was sent by Thomas Nagy.
It's awesomely cremated. To the point where the bits were fused together with burnt plastic.
2020-09-15 02:10:13 +0000 UTC View PostExploring an RCD/GFCI for overcurrent damage.
I was sent this breaker by Chris of CJR Electrical. It had been in a situation where it may have been exposed to high load current, and he wondered if that was the cause of rogue tripping.
The internal mechanism is quite complex and has no active electronics. Just a smattering of passive components for protection and trip threshold tuning.
2020-09-14 22:10:55 +0000 UTC View PostCurse of the safety police. The neon night light.
I'm not sure what the story behind this is. It's a classic neon night light that has been around for many decades, but appears to have been made 50% less useful by the department of red tape.
I'd like to know whether they added the fuse to comply with regulations or because of an incident where a plug had shorted internally and exploded.
I was going through a period of dis...
2020-09-13 19:24:30 +0000 UTC View PostExploring an underfloor heating controller
A few years ago a "technical incident" at a friends house resulted in me being forced to learn more about underfloor heating than I'll probably ever need to know. Suffice to say that old people chopping random (live) cables is not a good thing.
On a plus note, it resulted in me getting these control modules to explore for our entertainment.
It's also worthy of note that th...
2020-09-11 09:57:11 +0000 UTC View PostSaturday's stream link.
Here's the link to Saturday's livestream.
To see the chat section it will need to be viewed directly on YouTube.
2020-09-09 22:45:57 +0000 UTC View PostInside the hazer phaser.
I really haven't a clue what the original purpose of this thing is. It's being sold as yet another repurposed pandemic related thing (a disinfecting fogger), but the heater block means it might not be suited to many disinfectants.
It makes a rather pleasing handheld fog machine though.
Inside is very interesting. The heater block is not like the usual cheap fog machi...
2020-09-09 00:54:41 +0000 UTC View PostLate night MRE testing.
I'd had a busy day with not much food, so it seemed logical to crack out one of the MRE meal rations that Kim Sleep sent a while ago.
Pretty darn tasty. Very strong onion/garlic flavouring.
Obviously I had to light the gas liberated by the chemical heater again.
2020-09-07 10:29:14 +0000 UTC View PostWiFi enabled socket teardown.
This was kinda interesting. It's quite well made with a few compromises, but demonstrates how impractical it is to mount RF communication devices into some walls.
The module can potentially be repurposed for 5V use.
2020-09-07 10:04:53 +0000 UTC View PostSaturday's stream.
Here's the link to this coming Saturday's stream:-
2020-09-03 06:30:26 +0000 UTC View PostPatreon stream.
I'm going to run a Patreon stream today.
It might be worth copying the link, as it's unlisted and Patreon may be going down for maintenance later today.
2020-09-03 06:27:11 +0000 UTC View PostAutomatic foaming soap dispenser.
The neatest thing about this unit is the pump.
I'm guessing that there must be enough demand for units like this to justify a custom modified component.
2020-09-02 02:34:03 +0000 UTC View PostJagermeister vs Sodastream
You asked, so here's the test.
I'll let you guys judge the results.
2020-09-01 04:00:35 +0000 UTC View PostElectronic halogen lamp driver.
These units have been around for a while. They have a few pros and cons.
Pros. They're cheap and lightweight and have other technical uses.
Cons. They emit a lot of RF noise and are prone to going bang - especially the early units.
2020-09-01 02:32:01 +0000 UTC View PostBack again - with an old tungsten disco light
My apologies if I sound a bit hoarse in this video. I was just getting back to normal.
This light is a classic moonflower. A very simple but punchy effect that created lots of sharp light beams from a single tungsten halogen lamp.
It's incredibly inefficient compared to a modern LED version due to most of the light from the lamp being used to heat the case.
The...
2020-08-30 04:00:55 +0000 UTC View PostOne good thing about the flu (not covid)
Now it's pretty much passed I feel EPIC. I've spent the evening taking stuff to bits and also singed the hair on the back of my hands with a little fire experiment that turned out to be unexpectedly forceful.
It lasted three days, most of which was spent lying on my bed because I simply couldn't do anything. It reminds me of the time I deliberately got stoned to see what it felt like and then couldn't wait for it to wear off so I could do stuff again.
If you guys are g...
2020-08-28 01:29:26 +0000 UTC View PostSaturday's stream link
I should be OK by Saturday, so here's a link to a stream that will go on for as long as I last.
If you have any questions for during the stream add them below.
2020-08-27 22:37:11 +0000 UTC View PostThe NEW hypnagogia poll
Here's a new poll that adds the very important of "None of the above" For those of you who experience sleep without exciting incidents.
I can't edit the original poll, so it has to be a new one. If you've already voted, please vote again.
You can tick as many as you wish.
2020-08-27 16:14:50 +0000 UTC View PostLet's use this time to do a bit or research.
Day two and it feels like it's been MUCH longer. However, one interesting factor has been many incidents of hypnagogia as I drift in and and out of sleep.
For those who don't know what that is, it's a point where our brains blur the line between being awake and sleeping. It has many effects such as complex morphing geometric shapes in the dark, portals that stream bright light as if they lead to another dimension.
It also results in loud noises that never actually happ...
2020-08-27 13:48:58 +0000 UTC View PostRecovering from flu.
I'm about to have a bath (no I'm not live streaming it).
Been through the fever, chills, terrible dreams (mainly involving making utterly pointless videos - like how to attach a connector to a random lump of steel), the sweats and now just waiting for the nausea to pass.
2020-08-26 20:42:18 +0000 UTC View PostI've got flu. But not Covid.
There's going to be a slight lull in videos for a few days until I'm over this.
For those wondering the difference between plain flu and covid, the plain flu happens fast, gives you chills and fever and makes all your muscles ache like you had a huge gym workout.
My head is very muzzy right now.
2020-08-25 21:09:01 +0000 UTC View PostI got the "real" machine and it's.... cheap.
I felt the need to order a full set of the disinfecting fluids with a machine, purely so we could see inside the official machine. (If it actually IS the official machine.)
I was secretly hoping there would be custom mods like a different heater thermostat.
2020-08-23 22:11:25 +0000 UTC View PostMini USB air pump teardown.
The case of this is cleverly minimalistic.
The pump inside is neat too, and there's a little hack you can do that cuts its power down by about 75%.
2020-08-22 14:48:30 +0000 UTC View PostUnexpected HVAC Overtime stream.
I'll be joining the guys at HVAC overtime again this week to cover for Chris who's probably working huge hours as usual.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M53YsKRU6w
At the point of this post it's about 1 hour to the stream.
Saturdays live stream link.
If you've got any questions for the stream, leave them down below.
The stream will only have chat visible if viewed from YouTube with the direct link.
2020-08-21 16:28:11 +0000 UTC View PostI zapped a dutch sausage.
The latest instalment of the fork-o-cutor series.
I won't do too many in case the novelty wears off.
2020-08-21 02:38:46 +0000 UTC View PostFlame MKII.
I've replaced the pure random data flowing up the LEDs with a controlled alternation between bright and dim with minimum number of steps adjustable and a random element then added.
I've also added a "drama" variable to vary the difference between the sprites and the core of the flame. You can set it as a percentage value of intensity of the sprites, so that 5% would be very subt...
2020-08-21 02:35:13 +0000 UTC View PostTest of LED flame software.
I've written the base PIC assembly code to run the LEDs on the original flame PCB with wire jumpers to the original microcontrollers pads.
Initially I just had a simple shift register chasing random data up the LEDs, but it was too harsh. So I've rewritten the code to pulse width modulate two separate output patterns against each other with a 50/50 intensity share.
The effect shown is random data being chased up against a solid glow, but I'm thinking of writing the software ...
2020-08-20 04:17:19 +0000 UTC View Post