bigclive

670-Volt LED lamp!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC0YPNJo6mA

This is a new twist.  A long series string of LED filaments being run at high voltage and low current.  I've never seen an LED driver quite like this before.  It's based on the common lower power LED filament lamp with a linear current regulator, but doubles the incoming supply voltage to allow the same circuit to drive more filaments for higher power.<...

Biggest LED COB yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIspnsBp3o4

Sorry for the slight dip in output recently, I was over in Glasgow picking up some technical stuff for our entertainment.

This is a huge LED COB with no less than 336 LEDs on it.  Even at a humble 20W it puts out a huge amount of light, and because of its size and the generous spacing of the LED chips it can run fairly cool when used with sensible currents....

Solar light mod.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V70QKWMu7dg

Modifying cheap solar lights is quite an enjoyable thing to do.  In this video I swap a single white LED out for two coloured ones.  It gives a very nice effect through crackle glass.

Street light cut-out unit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BioanX0RJgI

Probably one of the most functionally designed devices about.  As you may notice I really like the cable termination plate and large integrated finger guard for the chunky little fuse that can break up to 20,000A of fault current in a controlled manner.

Neat waterproof housing hack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5yv1ymYYKk

This is a clever repurposing of an existing product to make a waterproof cell holder for the common copper wire LED strings.  I completely forgot to mention that I drilled a hole in the end of the LED dome on the battery pack for the wires to go in.

Mirrorball motor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvv3ep2nIz0

Although mirrorball rotators are fun in their own right, they're also a useful source of a slow mains voltage geared motor.  Often cheaper and easier to source than a bare motor.

Fake Omron time delay relay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeMuNXZ5jLc

This one's actually quite nicely made.  It's a 12V version so it runs cooler than the higher voltage versions probably do.

French MRE test.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m_bD-xlh_M

Juan and Kevin helped me test a French Military ration.  I'd recommend kicking back with a beer or other favourite beverage for this video.

Making a prototype PCB.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrdheP3Dwyc

This is the bit I missed out of the disco light hack video.  So I made a complete new board with a revision and to do a test with diffused LEDs.

Disco light complete hack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv_Nb-EiPSI

This video is about stripping all the original circuitry out of a cheap disco light and replacing it with a new PCB with LED array and power supply combined onto one panel.  The inspiration for this project was an image of the colourful pattern of light projected by a stained glass window.

Smokin' hot relays.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8EH2GqzWNU

While a prototype circuit board is etching I'll just pop this video up.

It's about the cloned Omron relays sold on eBay and gives a hint at how much care went into manufacturing them.

Simplest solar light?

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

An explanation of the recent shitty solar panel's performance and a sudden random project build.

I've done a project similar to this one before, but not using the solar panel reverse leakage to turn on the transistor.  It seems to work.  I'm not sure how consistent reverse leakage is in these panels.

Upload issues.

There was supposed to be a video going up tonight, but I'm having ongoing upload issues with a 4G broadband account that seems to have settings issues that the telecoms company can't quite suss out.  Hopefully the fourth attempt will get a result.

Checking out a large COB array.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F-WUcJlgko

The LED COB modules are really common on eBay now, so I thought I'd get a few to check out.  This one is actually pretty nice.  I'm not sure how long it will last in continuous use, but if run at a sensible current it should be OK.

Random solder tests.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5adgI97qxQ

Lead based solder and candy.  The perfect combination.

Glad I didn't switch THIS on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3lBJMpPaOU

A while ago John Ward featured a failed RCBO (Residual Current Breaker with Overload protection) which is like a combined overcurrent circuit breaker with additional earth/ground fault detection.  His had clearly failed with a bang, and so has this one.  But mine appears to have been louder.

Restoring Centaur's true voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUZi39BYPFA

The electronic revolution happened when I was a kid and suddenly the amusement arcades full of old electromechanical machines started getting new electronic ones with all the smoke and flames that early electronics came with.  The pinball machines embraced computer technology with force and suddenly these outright scary machines started appearing that had their o...

DIY solar powerbank kit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b-8ZWy0y5c

Third time lucky.  (I'm having upload issues.)

Despite the grossly exaggerated ratings, this is actually quite an interesting power bank kit.  It's available quite cheaply from Chinese sellers and as long as you know the limitations it's quite a good source of modules and components.

Inside a REAL Snap Power plate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqBZQ23TaZg

Having already taken a fake one to bits, here's a look inside the real thing.   (Plus another random clone.)

American vs European work shorts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE7yqh9mk1g

Dickies has a completely different style of workwear associated with it in different parts of the world.

I thought I'd compare a pair of US versus EU work shorts.

Baymax LED night light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghK6-lQnYbw

Back to basics with a super simple night light that can be tweaked if desired.

12V lithium pack with no balancing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-sqmNRNbUc

Hmm, I'll let you watch the video and then decide for yourself if this is a viable way of doing things.

It's certainly simple...

The capacity test is still underway.

Longer video than expected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEczJP7UoRU

I'm not sure how I managed to make this video so long.  There was so much to explore in such a small and delightfully crappy device.

It has intriguing and yet inherently flawed circuitry.

Something I've never seen before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQNB9w9RPVM

While playing about with a glitter style lamp I randomly dropped in a few of the Poundland acrylic table scatter diamonds (wedding table decoration).  I then discovered that they had an unexpectedly low material density / specific gravity and their high optical purity also meant that they had very consistent buoyancy allowing them to be used in a glitter style la...

Dead LED headlight lamp autopsy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX_uFs5vKc0

Initially I thought this might just have been a COB style LED array with no current limiting, but it's actually really clever inside.  And fan cooled too, which still didn't save the LEDs.

USB flesh burning pen. (Yeah!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPqHs6TpNug

There's nothing quite like the cosmetics industry to dream up new ways to hurt yourself.  This appears to be one of them.

I've just finished checking the capacity of the 18650 cell and it clocks in at 2,200mAh.

Selfie light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W-8_rzJUzI

I use this little light a lot for the extreme PCB closeups.  It provides a very good all-round illumination.

1W versus 3W LED downlight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfUwCWZO0Qo

It's not quite as easy as that as you'll see from the video.  But they are quite nice little machined housings as always.

Test of Yihua 502D PSU.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz-ndgC6BJ4

It's kind of a fail, but also a hint at hackability and an understated power rating.

In hindsight I'm wondering if the coil and shunt resistance of the meter was affecting the voltage drop with increasing current.

I'm a bit surprised at an optoisolator running at 50 degrees Celsius!  Now I'm thinking it would have been interesting to increase the LED ...

500V test of British General USB socket.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW9ljFMxenE

This is one of those videos that happens unexpectedly and provides good entertainment value when made with a side serving of sparkling white wine.