bigclive

Short and simple LED lamp decapping video.

I'm not sure this really justifies being called decapping, since the LED chips are just covered by a gel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7nbHzi1T9o

Quite an interesting design with the new flip chip LEDs.

12V LED neon flex.

A look at the construction of a common LED based neon replacement material from eBay.

https://youtu.be/xEXQ9e9vKcA

The neat thing about the 12V stuff is that it doesn't flicker like the 120/240V stuff that has series strings of LEDs across rectified but unsmoothed DC.  It can also be cut every 25mm (just under an inch).

It looks good, but it's always hard to tell how long generic LED material is going ...

Data's back. Let's have a story.

This is an experiment to see what you guys think of the storytime face-format of videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPqpflkdt2o

It's all about the many decades I spent doing Christmas lighting before politics and money ruined everything.

Uploading issue.

Hi Guys, I'm just letting you know that I'm really struggling to upload videos at the moment.  The local Internet providers tend to provide bumpy upload speeds at the best of times, but I tried to upload a 1 hour video last night and 12 hours later it had only managed to upload half of the video and then failed shortly afterwards.

I think I'm going to have to keep the videos short until they solve their issues.

Stacking industrial button contact blocks.

It turns out that stacking the contact blocks on industrial push buttons is much more interesting and fun that you'd expect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njF5xK2KnZw

I wasn't expecting the actuation force to increase quite as high as it did.

(To the point I broke something in an earlier test.)

Pre-exploded 36kV fuse.

A look at a failed high voltage fuse from a substation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfVc_5M_2_c

Sorry for the peaky audio at the start.  The forehead microphone turned out to be more efficient than expected.

UV batton teardown.

I was expecting lots of dubious things with this light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkKWyuvy48Y

But it was actually a very pleasant surprise inside.

UK versus USA hot dog electrocution.

A different brand of canned hot dogs available in two styles (three if you include the jumbo ones that haven't been tested yet.)

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

Lets see how they compare in the Presto hot dogger at 240V.

Noting that the skinny ones actually started exploding forcibly at the end of their cooking cycle.

Poundland old and new nightlight circuitry.

A brief respite from exploding hot dogs (very brief) to botch hot air soldering in a manner that will bring comfort to those of you who have done or have yet to do the same thing.  I think the reason you don't see it happening in other people's videos is because they edit it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AuC5dlJB3E

Here's a look at Poundland's old style tungsten night light with its ul...

Electrocuting bananas? (not very exciting)

I'll let you guys decide if this video should even be released.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTzgWrq41LY

It's really not that exciting due to the apparent low conductivity of bananas.

Noting that the initial current was still the maximum I achieved in my recent shock demonstration video.

Inside a modern British home electrical panel.

I'm guessing this video is going to be of most interest to non British viewers who may enjoy looking at our home power distribution system.  (Consumer unit).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R3L_nvNP6Y

This video made me realise that in the house I grew up in, the distribution board was made of wood with a fuse on both live and neutral, which you couldn't really use these days.  It made a...

An Indian product for a change.

China isn't the only gadget option on eBay.  I don't think India has the benefit of China's ridiculously low shipping costs, but their base prices are so low that they can still sell some interesting products internationally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okRxI8-iuxs

This video is about plug in vapourising / vaporizing insect control units.  Mainly aimed at mosquitos, but also probably ...

USB powered PIR/radar triggered light string.

A while ago I did a project showing the hard wiring of a string of LEDs to a common PIR proximity sensor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE5JASv3XyY

This video goes a bit further with a dedicated interface PCB (file download link in description).

You can plug a micro USB power supply into the PCB and also your choice of PIR or doppler/radar module with suitable pinout (middle of three pins o...

Cliff Quicktest spares.

Somebody got in touch regarding a broken Cliff Quicktest component and I can't find the original message.

If it was here, could they drop me a message again and I'll give them an email to contact about getting a spare part.

Inside a heat detector alarm.

This alarm differs from a traditional smoke alarm by ignoring the smoke and looking for a sudden heat rise instead.  That makes it better suited to kitchens and theatre environments where haze is used.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F070CWlaM7o

But there's something weird about the circuitry.  A really odd use of a diode in a resistive divider that doesn't seem to make sense.

The d...

Generic industrial illuminated pushbutton.

I've looked at a few of the industrial panel components from eBay, but I don't think I've had a look at a combined illuminated push button.  It's quite a nice design.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m_52yN3AE0

It's probably fine for low current applications and prototyping, but not recommended for use in mission critical applications like high duty factory equipment.

Inside a faulty Karcher window vac.

This unit was sent in by Chris and Mandy for analysis when it stopped taking a charge.

]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9WpN-Trt50

At first I wondered if it had overly aggressive cell protection circuitry that refused to let the cell get charged again if it was run flat and then left in a discharged state for a while.  But it turned out to be the usual suspect when water gets involved.

...

Zero strobing mechanics work light.

This is one of those videos that happened unexpectedly when a friend gave me a faulty mechanics work light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB6_T5Eq8uk

There are some very neat things about the circuitry in these lights.  The most notable being the linear intensity regulation using a MOSFET and very simple gate voltage control.

There's a link to an eBay search for the clones (and the rea...

Outdoor power supply long version.

A longer version of the video that explores the circuitry in greater detail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaseIHFEn0Q

The shorter version skips over the deeper stuff like the actual operation of the switchmode power supply circuitry.

Rainproof power supply (short version).

You're getting a choice of video length.  I thought I may have gone into too much circuitry detail in the original video, so I made a shorter version too.

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

This is a cheap eBay power supply designed for outdoor applications.  It's not quite what you might expect.

The only place I might use this is where it was inside a grounded box sign for...

Can I let go at 10mA hand to hand current?

One of those random scary things I try.  Not something I'll do too regularly, but quite exciting now and then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTXmYAVbCr8

This video is basically a scary test of the AC current threshold where I couldn't let go of a hand to hand contact.

Hopefully the video conveys how intense the experience was.  And yes, I did survive.

At the end the current ...

Presto hot dogger on twice its rated voltage.

Kim Sleep located and sent me this unit from Canada.  It's a hot dog cooker that basically electrocutes the hot dogs by passing mains current through them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2ZZbuOeNmw

It's designed for 120V so I thought it would be interesting to see how it performed on 240V.

Cut to length USB dog collar. (nice PCB)

A USB rechargeable dog collar that has the usual strobing/static modes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah6IUtLlDXg

There are a couple of interesting features on the PCB though, and a nice trick to allow two LEDs to be controlled from a single charging status pin.
Cell capacity tests are ongoing, but charging current is 100mA, which is good for the size of cell.

At the very least this coul...

Teardown of a Vype device.

The most interesting thing about this vaping device is that it is being sold by a large tobacco corporate in their attempt to keep their foot in the door of the nicotine addiction market.

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

The quality of the unit seems to be extremely high.  Presumably because it's the tool used to vape their disposable cartridges, noting that they have really put a l...

Porridge! (A food video.)

It's a while since I've made a food video so I'll throw this one into the mix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6ofLi_Rd2U

It's basically how I make my porridge, which is much more palatable than the traditional way.

Crepes/pancake toppings.

An odd post, but one which may make sense when we do the next MBC video.

What sort of toppings would you guys traditionally have on crepes/pancakes according to country?  Here in the UK a traditional topping could be plain white sugar and a drizzling with lemon juice. (Yeah, it's as messy as it sounds.)  Or more recently we might have Nutella and slices of banana.

I'm guessing Canada will be maple syrup?

America perhaps standard golden syrup?

Car door warning lights.

These little things are very simple, but they do actually work well with a low standby current.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY7Rc10U3Cg

I'm guessing there are some vehicles with such close fitting doors that they may not have room for these, but I found a couple of places they could be fitted on my driver side door.

I was going to include that in the video, but the rain has been hammering...

Inside the Puripod "ioniser" (it's not.)

I bought this from an eBay seller - and as an extra treat it arrived defective, making loud electrical arcing and popping noises.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ3TBUQjt_8

It's actually quite well made inside, but it isn't an ioniser as it's often described.  It's an ozone generator.

Showbiz 400A connectors.

We use this style of connector to provide power to banks of dimmers and power distribution equipment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTakz9rYIqY

It's a very easy way to install a high current supply as it breaks it down into five single core cables.  Three phases, a neutral and an earth/ground connection.

The power is taken to the first rack and then loops along with short links like a ...

Failed grow light autopsy.

By a pleasing coincidence I bought a small grow light to look at right at the same time someone unexpectedly sent me a dead one to take a look at that is a very similar model.  I primarily bought the new one because it looks quite nice with the medley of different coloured LEDs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfR9qAm9SsA

In reality it's mainly blue and red LEDs with a smattering of white ones...