bigclive

Inside the world's smallest smoke detector.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kO7BYyqvPo

This is quite a neat little thing.  It's a very compact smoke detector based on a stack of the sounder, smoke detecting cavity, PCB and battery.

Why I never mention my power supply.

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

I like this power supply.  Shame about the bug that affects these units sold under various brands.

An early unlisted video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwaQU5vN4z0

This is probably the first video I got a death threat for.  Ironically from someone who's channel showed lots of videos of them at a beach blasting about amongst children on a jet ski.  It's back from when I was young and pretty.

Heat sensitive nail varnish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4C3Lh71yFQ

There are a few different nail lacquers/polishes/varnishes that have technical uses.  Here's a demo.

Revisiting dancing flame LED candles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpK9beBN98s

It's a while since I had a look at a dancing flame style candle.  These effects use a pulsed magnetic field to deflect a plastic flame in front of a focused LED to create a surprisingly realistic flame effect.

This is a recently purchased Premier one, and for the cost (about £3) it's a very good unit.  One notable feature is that it draws about 20mA w...

Destructive flying disco ball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgZ0uCuZhDU

This thing's great.  If you want one then I'd suggest buying it now (about $4) in case the video causes a surge of sales and momentary price rise when I release it.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_saca...

Early new year/MRE Ralfy Colab.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oikrxdQnYv8

My brother and I decided to do a collaboration video on Boxing day.  So here it is (a bit early) with a Russian Military MRE.

LED space-gun thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn5Ol4o9_iU

I won't lie...   I bought this light because it looks like a space-gun.

Try and guess what the circuitry inside is before I open it.

Xmas 2017 Barbie abomination.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx-Ty4u-tjk

The full description of this lighting frame is in the video description on YouTube.

I tend to put up a minimalist display with just one feature frame that is different every year, and this year I added a simple swagged set of lights for seasonal path illumination.

Deadliest Kitsch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cNKGrvD1ro

My pick of what I consider one of the most dangerous Xmas gifts around.

Let me know if you can think of a worse item on eBay.

Xmas lighting picks for 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fERl8n-ac8

Every year I look for new and interesting lights and effects, so here's my choice from what I've seen this year.

Repairing copper wire LED strings.

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

I get asked if it's possible to repair this style of LED string quite often, so I thought I'd make a video about it.

Mains LED tree topper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9Asjh7R0wA

This LED tree top star is actually quite interesting inside.  Quite hard to find on eBay, but maybe that's a good thing as it flashes and strobes quite a lot.

Norwegian MRE taste test.

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

These MREs (Meal Ready to Eat) were sent to me by a chap called Christian in Norway.  I'm not planning on doing too many MRE videos, but it's nice to do one from time to time as the MREs are fun to eat are a really interesting taste of different cultures culinary styles.

Neat halogen desoldering technique.

This is a neat technique for desoldering using a focused beam of IR from a common car halogen lamp.  How long before it's sold as a commercial product.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGSFZ2eadaA

Something festive (and slightly rude).

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

This is quite a fun project to do and it seems to make people really appreciate your cards.  They tend to put them at the front of the shelf and hang onto them after Xmas when all the others go in the bin.

Inside a newer flame effect LED lamp.

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

It's a year since I looked at the first of these that appeared on the market, so it seems a good idea to make an update with a new version now that the circuitry and effect has evolved.  It's pretty good.

Glove re-video in focus this time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7L_sqXuSAc

One of the perils of having a small screen when recording is that when there's a pre-filming focus blip you don't always see it.  That's super-annoying if it's a long and complex one-way destructive teardown.  But for a short video like this a re-record is viable and often allows extra bits.

So here's the slightly longer re-record with extras bits.

Poundland vs ebay cheapo lights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7povdS90Hyg

A comparison between a Poundland £5 string of LED lights and an eBay £3.50 string.  One of them is very good.

USB heated gloves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8-3XQpBEY0

These things do seem to have an effect.  But they're also a very good source of components.

PROPER rechargeable LED work light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lIzQFA-JCg

Unlike the multitude of crappy work lights on eBay, this one is a decent unit with a beefy battery and consistent regulated light output.  It was given to me by the local electrical utility company because it wasn't taking a charge, but it appears to be the charger at fault.

So let's open it and take a look inside.

Patreon charge changes.

When you make a pledge to one or more creators the transaction incurs a standard credit/debit card processing fee.  Normally this is transparent to you, but is effectively charged to the creator you are supporting.  If you pledge a single dollar to a single creator this eats up quite a chunk of the pledge.  But if you support several creators then the credit card companies processing fee is split between all the creators you support and they get more of the pledge.

Patreon only ...

Early DIY slot machine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4aQiIXASuI

I've been digging through some old stuff and came across this early attempt at building a coin operated slot machine with payout using CMOS logic chips.

Vintage disco kaleidoscope projector.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf9Z2duf50A

The multi-layer oil filled dichroic glass effect wheel in this unit is very nice in its own right as it has a very deep and colourful 3D appearance.

The unit is basically a projector with the rotating dichroic disk and a kaleidoscope tube that creates a very complex projected pattern.

Fixing a crappy COB LED light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsK-YFPH4fE

I'm not even sure this thing is worth fixing.  It seems to have some design issues.

A clusterf*ck of power saving plugs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD7M_tJ-SwM

I've looked at these things before, but thought it would be interesting to compare units from different sources and with different "ratings".

Simple lighting timer circuit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn3uYJrXhhw

This unit appears to be using a small microcontroller to implement a 6 hour on - 18 hour off timer.  It makes an intriguing puzzle to work out how it could be done with standard logic.

Yet another trashy bachelor recipe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOy7oO2DToc

This is probably the fastest way to make a hot sticky pudding without mixing ingredients.  It literally takes about three minutes from start to finish and can be made in various flavours.

You've probably got the two ingredients in your house right now.  You could probably have this pudding within three minutes.....

Autopsy of a dead OSRAM LED module.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y86Cbj9tGA

This is pretty neat.  It's a failed module from a high profile manufacturer.

The weight of disposable alloy and circuitry sometimes makes me wonder if LED lamps are really as ecologically sound as they try to be.

Nicely machined LED lamp housings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUCeklsu5dM

This channel used to have a lot of LED lamp videos, so I thought it was time to look at some current units that seem nicely machined.