To answer Fredrik's comment about the zero ohm link, here's a look inside one.
It's made like a traditional resistor that would use two end caps on a carbon coated cylinder, but instead uses a solid copper cylinder.
2019-10-23 18:36:38 +0000 UTC View Post
Those of a certain age will remember these things. They were all the rage for a while.
It turns out that you can buy modern versions online. (UK link in the video description.)
Don't buy an old one, because it appears they have quite a lot of rubber seals in them. It's probably cheaper and safer to buy a new one.
I also tested whether wince can be carbona...
2019-10-22 22:56:55 +0000 UTC View Post
This video also uncovered an unexpected Samsung glitch. All phones stop and restart recording after about 30 minutes at 1080P due to file size requirements. In this instance the Samsung also decided to refocus to a random position without warning when it restarted.
Fortunately it was near the end of the video and while annoying, it's not wrecked it.
The absolute biggest problem I had was getting the sections joined and uploaded, since it appears that this particular ph...
2019-10-22 22:46:17 +0000 UTC View Post
The first video made by China and her kitten Hutchey, as they taste test all of Poundland's cat snacks.
There's also some information about China and Hutchey's history in the description.
(Hutchey is China's kitten and very "feral" due to a rough start in life.)
2019-10-20 23:48:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Thus is a neat lamp. Not just in its appearance, but also the circuitry.
I'm not sure if it's available in a 120V version. Theoretically they could use the same high voltage filament (265V) with a voltage multiplier to drive it from 120V. Or they could just use a different version of the filament with a different series/parallel arrangement of the LEDs to operate at a lower voltage.
I'm not sure I've actually ever seen one of these in use, but thought I'd get some for us to take a look at.
It's quite a clever design in the way it's been implemented with some existing parts.
2019-10-17 03:52:27 +0000 UTC View PostI'll soon be doing a build of the Department of Villainy PCB and since it will probably be a full build I was wondering if you guys had any questions you wanted to ask. You can ask questions about anything at all, and I'll try and answer as many as possible in amongst the normal build commentary.
2019-10-16 20:11:02 +0000 UTC View Post
This video was a full version that was thwarted by a glitch on the Samsung S6 I was testing to see if I might choose a more recent model to record with. Something went wrong resulting in a pause in the recording turning into a static frame with audio, followed by the rest of the video after the audio had finished.
This is a re-record on my old faithful MotoG.
The video sho...
2019-10-15 17:35:50 +0000 UTC View Post
Poundland (Dealz on the Isle of Man) has these interesting units for £5 at the moment. If you slip a suitable Amazon Echo device into them they allow it to be used as a portable device with power coming from a 10,000mAh rechargeable cell.
I'm trying a warmer colour temperature with the current recording device. Let me know how it looks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EBgCkwjxl0...
2019-10-13 06:21:45 +0000 UTC View Post
This is a test video for a different recording device. A few people have mentioned that recent videos have not been playing on some devices and that usually hints at a recording app update glitch or a YouTube processing glitch.
Let me know what you think of the sound and picture. Choosing a device that is suitable for recording in the way I do is always tricky as they always seem to fall flat in either the focussing or audio recording areas. In this instance I'm trying...
2019-10-12 16:04:26 +0000 UTC View Post
Yet another lamp. This time its a unit that appears to be going out of favour going by the eBay listings. Probably because it's expensive to make based on the heavy cast and machined housing.
This lamp does have one prominent feature in that it is very easy to open and could be customised or repaired quite easily.
2019-10-11 17:07:48 +0000 UTC View Post
Secretly I was hoping this was going to cost a pound, but it rang up at £2.
But that's still good for a metre of USB powered white LED tape.
It has 30 LEDs along its length and is running them at about 30mA which is quite fierce. That can be tamed if desired.
2019-10-10 03:53:42 +0000 UTC View Post
A different and simpler approach to the meteor light effect. Possibly using a dedicated chip that may scale up to larger tubes by cheating!
That said, the effect is so fast that the "lower resolution" might not be noticeable.
2019-10-09 17:20:41 +0000 UTC View Post
It had to be tried. I added some electrolyte to one of the dry capacitors to see what happened.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAQClL3bZzg
It started so promisingly.......
2019-10-07 19:26:07 +0000 UTC View Post
This light makes a more convincing effort with the circuitry than the last one.
As with most of these things there's little attempt at waterproofing, and this one is driving the LED circuitry hard for the size of solar panel.
Good components for a customised unit though.
2019-10-07 13:41:07 +0000 UTC View Post
I was hoping to do a more controlled test with one kitty at a time, but Hutchey and China tend to show up as a pair.
It turns out the rather exotic kitty snacks go down quite well.
2019-10-06 17:49:12 +0000 UTC View Post
The Mega Raizin is amazin' for all the wrong reasons.
This dubious car performance booster has some rather unique capacitors in it, and a digital voltage module that does actually have a useful feature.
I can honestly say that there was something in this unit that I've never seen before. You'll notice the sudden silence when I realise it....
2019-10-04 03:32:45 +0000 UTC View Post
A complete smorgasboard of "stuff", including the fixing of a dead Poundland lamp, a mysterious cork, delicious cheesy puffs and the test batch of PCBs from JLC PCB.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haaI0ht18J0
2019-10-03 00:35:46 +0000 UTC View PostA few people have asked if I've been affected by the flooding on the Isle of Man.
Fortunately I've not, although the main flood area in Laxey is on the road where my grandparents used to live, and where I spent many summer holidays. I'd guess that house may have seen a bit of flooding.
The flooding was caused by a damaged wall and blockage of an old sluice gate with fallen trees. Laxey is in a valley and sees a lot of rain water from places like Snaefell mountain. &nbs...
2019-10-02 01:50:24 +0000 UTC View Post
Another trash-kitchen recipe and this one is just a bit too good. It's a very fast and clean way to make a small batch of peanut toffee or tablet in literally a few minutes.
Better still, the clean up is very easy.
Note that this project does involve a glass bowl with molten hot sugar at around 190C so care must be taken handling the bowl and making sure it is not placed o...
2019-10-01 04:31:18 +0000 UTC View Post
I broke this thing completely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMv2KyuZEp4
But it was worth it.
2019-09-30 04:10:09 +0000 UTC View Post
There's a new kid on the block and it's using some clever techniques to reduce the manufacturing cost, size and weight of classic linear line LED "neon".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR-bepWcplc
I have to admit I was a bit cynical about the low price and size of the material, but it turns out it looks pretty good. If you under-run it at around 9V the intensity is good for home use with the...
2019-09-27 05:16:29 +0000 UTC View Post
The YouTube nanny filter has discovered another word to add to its list.
I wonder if Simone Giertz's "shitty robot" videos will be getting demonetised too?
I'm guessing the "manual" review involved looking at the title, demonetising and moving on.
2019-09-27 04:37:34 +0000 UTC View Post
I managed to record this version correctly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skwUNRp-Rrk
It's a guide to making a VERY useful pocket tester that can quickly find damaged cables on a DMX lighting control network.
(Or possibly on any similar RS485 network.)
2019-09-25 02:28:15 +0000 UTC View PostIf you were wondering why the DMX tester video went a bit weird at the end it's because I accidentally got out of sync with the pause button and recorded the bits that weren't supposed to get recorded and failed to record the other bits.
Oh well. I'll remake that video in the faster and more streamlined second-go version that doesn't discover how useless hot melt glue is for fine-detail potting.
The video did capture what goes on between sections when I ponder what I'm going...
2019-09-24 05:35:09 +0000 UTC View Post
It's a happy coincidence that I discovered what food additive E555 is at around the same time I passed 555K subscribers. Not so sure about the fact that it's mica!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjOjI56vUuE
But on the basis that it's a very fine air-float mica powder coated in oxides to give it colour I guess it doesn't pose much risk to eat and drink it.
I'm not sure that eBay bought ...
2019-09-24 05:08:55 +0000 UTC View Post
I was expecting this to be an anonymous blob on a PCB, but it turns out that it's made with commonly available components.
It has the rather unique ability of pushing and pulling the magnet while also being able to self start. All with a circuit that looks surprisingly familiar, but strangely different.
2019-09-22 01:01:41 +0000 UTC View Post
This video turned out a bit longer than expected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOAaTMXiDCY
It rambles a bit because the circuitry is nothing like I was expecting. There's a really weird bit that I think is for protecting against power up/down stability issues.
2019-09-20 04:57:06 +0000 UTC View PostYouTube have just informed me that my channel verification will be removed shortly as it will now only be used for important people and organisations like celebrities and big companies.
To me it did feel quite important as it made it harder for people to put up clones of my channel. (Which happened to me just before 100,000 subscribers.)
There are times I just get a little bit jaded about YouTube and its red tape department.
2019-09-19 23:04:14 +0000 UTC View Post
A little "thing" I cobbled together over the last couple of days. Can you guess what it's for?
This is also my first successful attempt at ordering some PCBs from JLC-PCB, so it'll be interesting to see what the quality is like. I didn't take up their open offer of free PCBs in return for publicity, since I prefer to pay and get the exact same service as you guys would get.
As it is, the cost of 5 single sided PCBs 185mm by 60mm (7.25" by 2.25") was only about $20 ship...
2019-09-18 01:46:38 +0000 UTC View Post