bigclive

Another washing machine component.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSEKMeAv4ps

It's a while since I did one of these things, so here's a teardown of a typical drain pump used in a wide range of machines.

Once again it's optimised for easy manufacture at low cost and maximum versatility, making it easy to repair or replace yourself.  It might even have other uses.

Fixing a duff USB power supply.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkQ9HN7QNNk

I wonder if this thing had a rough shipping experience, since the case seemed a bit weak and there was possibly a vibration/impact induced issue.

The product gets an extra star for physically gluing the main electrolytic to a hot transistor.

Gasoline/petrol powered pocket warmer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE-b2LjRW5E

This thing is actually quite neat and relatively safe in a cold environment.

Inside a faulty Samsung lithium cell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYFuVbZmu5M

This is the first time I've had a lithium pack fail like this, so I just had to go deeper.  They sure do jam a lot of foil, coating and membrane inside a typical 2200mAh cell.

Cheap eBay LED power supply.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcuk8wPinkM

This video started off badly with me misplacing the tiny supply completely and taking about an hour to dig through all the stuff in the vicinity before finding I had randomly placed it on one of my pinball machines.

It's a good demonstration of why it's better to use these PSUs at half their rated current if you want a good long operational lifespan, but the cir...

Another 4K test of the Irish Sea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UcxTrNfWbk

No sound this time because it was so windy I turned the microphone off, so you'll have to make loud seaside noises while watching the video.  Also a bit of a jump at the beginning and end because I was starting and stopping it manually.

Let me know what you think of the quality, keeping in mind that YouTube will have compressed some of the detail out of the...

4K SJCAM camera test.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av3rrNZjo60

I've been playing with an SJCAM SJ7 Star camera.

What do you think of the video quality?

10400mAh power bank. (yeah right!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC--ZT418eI

This is another of the dodgy power banks being sold on eBay that have completely fake ratings.  But that said, the design of this unit is actually quite nice.

2kV test on Poundland's new USB PSU.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS1pwoVdRh4

I'll warn you in advance that this is a long video involving load, thermal, isolation and flash testing of Poundland's new £2 dual port 2.1A power supply.  (2.1A total).

Quick look inside a flash tester.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzKCAl-2xJo

This was just a quick (low volume) video I recorded earlier in the year when I received a flash tester from an eBay seller.  It will appear in the next video when I use it to test a Poundland USB power supply to 2kV.

Inside a heated powerbank.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7IvYsPYiFA

Yes indeed, a heated powerbank does seem like a bad idea.  Especially one rated at pretty much 10W when fully charged.

European candy-fest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxtxb7w8zSQ

Thanks to Ian and Attila for sending some sweets from Germany, Slovakia and the Czech republic.  The flavours are diverse and very interesting with some ultra extreme salty licorice thrown into the mix too.

Crazy Russian Sparker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5uiupJQc9M

As promised, the teardown of a very simple but also very shady device.

I have since fixed it, but I think the windings may be a bit fried due to unreasonable technical abuse.

Little bundle of dubious 240V soviet joy.

This is just a picture...   The video will come later, but this little gas lighter device from the Ukraine is very shady.  It also appears to have a very low duty cycle as demonstrated by the smoke that came out of it when I was taking this picture.  I get the feeling that it may just be a solenoid with an electrical contact on the end.  It makes a reassuring vintage electrical noise while arcing ferociously at the end and probably jamming every TV and radio in the vicin...

Inside the cheapest remote socket on eBay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdqzdMUO6QE

Shitty case and a low price, but looks can be deceiving.

This unit lacks a thermal fuse in the vicinity of the relay contacts to detect meltdown, so it shouldn't be used with a high load.  It also has a fake earth/ground connection for those in three-pin countries.

The remotes it works with are the common RC5 style infrared remotes.  It doesn't c...

Repairing a dead UV curing light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_LcwHqBm0k

Someone mentioned that they did a rechargeable version of the UV curing/exposing light, so I thought I'd take a look at one.  It arrived dead, so that's even better, since we get to fix it.

Fibre optic picture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNM6527nE30

Sorry for the gap in videos, I've been in Glasgow for a week.  While I was here I bought a rather neat framed canvas picture with integrated fibre optic lighting, and thought it would be interesting to open it and see how it's assembled.

Unexpected video material.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLhng9BI9Mw

I wasn't planning on making a video about this until I turned on a light switch for lighting that I rarely use and it arced loudly and a lamp failed.

It was the switch that was at fault and not the lamp.

On a plus note it gave me a reason to change the switch and also fix the slightly pointless two way switching.  Needless to say I did it with the pow...

Vehicle LED thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44mj4kNJ_Uk

Just a quick video showing a little positionable LED feature light for vehicle or other use.  These are a cheap source of an LED housing and lens holder, pre-fitted with a coloured LED and "current regulating circuitry".

A mechanical interlude.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mQx5QKJu08

It's not just electrical stuff I like to take apart.  This stopcock was particularly interesting for many reasons.

Smashing and fixing the LED star lamp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNaU76L296Q

This is a long and enjoyable video, so grab a drink and kick back.  It involves unreasonable force with lots of broken glass, and a super simple new power supply for the little LED panel.  There's also a mini rant about Carillion construction's health and safety aggressors.  They're a big corrupt finger-in-every-pie government-buddy type company in the ...

A nice twist on the LED "neon" effect.

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

I've already featured the mains voltage LED strip that produces a very diffused line of light to emulate neon, but this is a nice twist.

It's a low voltage version optimised for use on batteries in short runs, and mounted into a custom moulded channel to allow fast and precise manufacture.

Note the slight design quirk regarding the unintended recharging of...

Really weird design?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_3FCAbNyMM

One of these socket testers has great circuitry and one has not.  I'll let you come to your own conclusion about the lesser one.  Note that it may have been the resistors that masked the transistor and made it look as though it was getting hotter than it was.

Colour temperature selectable bar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eteXWD7_iXc

Oops!  I appear to have messed up and made this public instead of unlisted!  But not to worry, I'm about to record an interesting (but quite perplexing) video that I will actually release to you guys first this time.

I could just make this video unlisted again, but then I'll get hundreds of messages asking why it was taken down....  

Let's have a Patreon-only "Ask me anything."

Go on then, ask me anything.  I may even make one of those ambient "building something while I answer questions" videos.

12W enclosed LED module.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhlM2sPU_Z0

This looks like it's designed to replace the 2D or circular fluorescent lamps in standard bulkhead style light fittings.  It's quite neat inside.

Poundland cinema sign.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bWAx1H6JYA

I've softened the colour and added diffusion to the setup to try and hide the harsh reality of my work-optimised hands.

Once again Poundland has supplied what appears to be a very adaptable product (£2) with lots of hackability for people like us.  Power supply, LED strip or your own electronics utilising the handy 3xAA battery holder.

Socket tester with "LCD display".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xm4l13aY6I

Insider a cheap socket testing plug.

Yuji high CRI LEDs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v48gXbolFU

Having wanted to try these LEDs I was secretly delighted when Yuji offered me some.  I've fitted them into the bench lights so we can all benefit from their better colour rendering.

Inside the little UV resin curing light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZTyfYLvK14

Having featured it in use recently, it seemed like a good time to take it to bits.