bigclive

Weekend stream

Usual time, usual place:-

https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom

Best viewed on Twitch, and you may need to refresh the page when it begins.

Aussie50 channel is back

I think his friend Julian who appeared in many of his videos must have access and is restoring the channel.

There's still some of the scammy videos there, so it may take a while for everything to get back to normal.

https://www.youtube.com/@aussie50/videos

Mojo is back - fixing an LED driver

I think I've been under the weather for the past few weeks. I've struggled to get into the mood for making videos. But now I'm feeling good and back into the swing of things.

That tends to happen once or twice a year.

https://youtu.be/bFNAivx4yFk

Close look at an LED "neon" colour sample panel

I wanted to take a look at the construction techniques of the commercial LED signs, so I bought this one, which is used by sign sellers to show the colours available.

It's visually quite nice because of all the colours. It also shows the interlinking wire system between sections.

https://youtu.be/cDy4FfxLa5o

Aussie50's channel appears to be hijacked

The channel of Aussie50 (A technical YouTuber who unexpectedly took his own life several years ago) appears to have been hijacked by scammers.
Does anyone have contacts at YouTube who can restore it?
https://www.youtube.com/user/Aussie50

Those "tariffs" on Chinese goods....

If I'd known "the orange one" was about to literally double the price of AliExpress goods being shipped to the USA I'd have put up a big list of fun things to buy in advance.
What he's doing is going to have very scary repercussions on American industry in general.

Hopefully common sense will be forced forward and things will be scaled back a bit.

I agree with the saying "America was built by people in overalls and destroyed by people in suits."

AliExpress four head atomiser module

Quite a handy module, with the bonus feature of not needing a button pressed to start it operating. The circuitry is reassuringly normal, and the inductor style transformers are very neat. I unwound one of them....

https://youtu.be/B0y-nsIwxVM

Inside a positive input ventilator

This monster of a device is basically just a quiet low powered fan that pushes air from your attic into your home. It slowly displaces humid and musty air to keep your home fresh.

This isn't a full reverse engineer, due to the very firm connections that risked damaging the PCBs if removed. I was also planning on installing the thing before the weekend live stream, so I took the images and then reassembled and fitted the unit.

2025-04-07 21:03:57 +0000 UTC View Post

Weekend stream back at "normal" time

The clocks have now gone forward in the UK, so the Twitch stream will be starting at the usual time again.

https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom

Best viewed on Twitch, and you may need to refresh the screen to get the stream to start.

Touch sensor for mirrors

This module could have many uses. It's intended for use with illuminated mirrors.

The circuitry is based on a microcontroller with touch input functionality, and the PCB layout is quite interesting because of the combination of the ground plane and touch sensor.

https://youtu.be/_0MMd-bhjr0

Heading back to the usual place today

Normality and videos will resume shortly, as I'm flying back to the usual video-bench today.

Having been forced to fit into "normal" hours for the training course, it seems odd to be up so early for an evening flight. It's much more relaxed than normal. And a nice day too, which bodes well for a smooth flight on one of the island-hopping dive bombers.

I wonder how long it'll be before I revert back to nocturnal hours.

Weekend stream link

This is the last "winter" stream before the clocks go forward in the UK.

Best viewed on Twitch and you may need to refresh the page to start the stream.

https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom

Course completed - I can relax again

That's the course done, so I can chill out in Glasgow for the next few days before heading back to the usual bench.

It did get easier once I'd adjusted my thinking to the course creators approach. The final formal exam and practical test was actually pretty straightforward.

I celebrated by buying a Lidl plasma cutter with integrated compressor, but will need to wait until my brother Ralfy is across with the van to take it back to the usual teardown zone. It's a bit bulky and hea...

Day two of the course done - just one more

Rough nights sleep last night worrying about whether I did OK in the first tests.

Today was more relaxing, but tomorrow is a much longer "City & Guilds" test and I also have to do electrical testing while being observed.

Nice enough people, but I'll be glad when it's all done.

I bought some trashy LED bulbs to take my mind off things.

Currently doing a "course"

I'm in Glasgow doing an updated BS7909 (event electricals) course, so there will be a slight gap in new video making.

The course is odd. It's being taught as a series of slideshow sections followed by 25 minute written tests. But the wording of the questions is sometimes too vague to give a proper answer or respond with the simple yes or no that is offered.

Annual subscription option

By request, I've enabled the annual subscription option. That means you can get a discount, and it also avoids the payment processors charging each month.

Weekend stream

Weekend stream - usual time and place, noting that UK clocks still haven't gone forward yet.

https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom

The stream is best viewed on Twitch, and you may need to refresh the page for it to start.

Complex little Plasmacluster unit

Quite a complex little combined rechargeable water/aroma mister and bipolar plasmacluster unit. No schematic though, as the circuitry was quite dense and used lots of very tiny components with vague markings.

https://youtu.be/Pq9N7SAACLo

UVC water sterilising bottle teardown

Although they recently became fashionable with the Larq version, these styles of sterilising bottles have been around for a very long time in their previous quartz tube versions.

They're basically water bottles with a built in UVC source that means you can sterilise water from streams and rivers while hiking, camping or after an apocalypse.

I started this video in the normal way and then decided it suited a "face-video start", so it may seem a bit double-started.

2025-03-20 04:28:17 +0000 UTC View Post

Nitecore 8 year revisit - still weird - still good

It's hard to believe that it's 8 years since I first looked at this light. But this time I did a full reverse engineer on it, and the circuitry has a couple of weird bits. Notably the two transistors that most modern designs wouldn't have.

Is this to reduce self discharge leakage back through the charging chip? Or is it because it is such an old design they didn't know they could do things differently?

https://you...

More fake germicidal lights

Normally the fake germicidal lights are that lovely ice-blue colour or maybe even near-UV, but these ones are just plain blue. That's fine if you just want a blue light though. However, the power ratings are a bit wild for such a small light.

https://youtu.be/pTQqdfFE1VI

Weekend stream (UK time not gone forward yet)

The weekend stream will be at the usual place, but be aware that UK clocks have not gone forward by an hour yet, so the stream may seem an hour later if yours have.

UK clocks go forward in a couple of weeks at the end of the month.

https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom

Stream is best viewed on Twitch, and you may need to refresh the page to start the stream.

Random chocolate video

I was hoping to find some Ferrero factory footage on YouTube, but all I could find were fake videos showing stock chocolate factory footage clips, including some random machines that were clearly trying to clone the originals. The videos also had very fake commentary pretending to explain the process.

https://youtu.be/QvM6eDh0_iw

I found a fake WiFi repeater

Another delightful bit of scammery from eBay and their rogue sellers. It's a unit that looks like a classic USB WiFi repeater, and it even costs the same. But it's completely fake.

https://youtu.be/BiZZP4YXw9U

Unexpectedly complex mini flashlight

I was expecting the circuitry in this little rechargeable LED torch to be very simple. Just charge control and some resistors for the LED. But in reality it is much more complex, with a mystery component that has no obvious purpose.

https://youtu.be/t7KkVt_oYI0

Wine powered video and another test

Another test of the different recording device. I've noticed a few audio pops which are either breath pops or auto gain pops. I'll experiment further. I've changed the audio to mono to better suit the recording area.

This is a useful video if you want to use these LED drivers, since they are programmable.

In the video's description I've provided links to three of the main driver configuration apps for Philips, Osram and Tridonic.

2025-03-09 19:07:58 +0000 UTC View Post

Weekend stream

Weekend stream at the usual time on Twitch. 9pm Saturday UK time, but that will vary by location. Twitch should show the local time in the schedule.

https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom

The stream is best viewed on Twitch, and you may need to refresh the page to start the stream.

Suspicious nail fungus laser unit

A fairly common product on various online retail outlets. It's a unit that claims to cure many nail problems just by sticking a toe or finger in and zapping it with super laser technology.

Spoilers - there's no laser. But there are some very neat UVA LEDs ruined slightly with a dusting of phosphor to make them more visible. Exactly the same LEDs used for curing nail polish.

https://youtu.be/fB-LZyoThdE

The latest "advanced" Air Wick unit

A new version of the classic Air Wick aroma plug, but now with a system that releases the aroma as bursts instead of just having a continuously powered heater. It also has a touch sensor to activate a boost mode.

The circuitry is fairly sensible looking.

https://youtu.be/wMbDzHXSfMM

Weekend stream

I'll be live on Twitch at the usual time and place (local time shown on Twitch schedule):-

https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom

Best viewed on Twitch - you may need to refresh the page to start the stream.