Quiet mid-week Patreon stream

Bus wire and kapton tape lol

Robert Martin

I tend to use enameled wire to bridge the broken points on the PCB and you can also protect it with UV curing solder mask - alternatively you can use a silver "conductive" pen to redraw the trace, but I have never had much luck with those.

I'm not an expert on hot air soldering, but have had acceptable results with my Yihua 8786D generic Chinese hot air and soldering iron combo.

Big Clive

When a pad or track lifts I just bridge between the nearest connected pads with wire.

Big Clive

Secondly, I'm looking to buy a hot air reflowing station. Any thoughts on whether the cheaper fleabay offerings are any good?

If time permits I have a couple of questions. Firstly I'd be interested to hear any ideas regarding repairing damaged tracks on PCBs. I have a TV mainboard I was changing a couple of surface mount caps on and one of the tracks and it's pad lifted.

Clive has a video about driving fluros correctly https://youtu.be/qLaD11LITbQ

Around 5 to 10% rosin desolved in IPA, empty nail varnish bottles from ebay have a small brush built in to the cap.

Unfortunately the IOM no longer seems to have a tax agreement with the USA. I'm trying to resolve the situation. Using my UK address could cause other complications.

Big Clive

The square, cheaper, Poundland power banks don't switch off, and it is easy to swap out the 1200MAh cell for any other 18650 if you want more capacity.

AlfaGuy

TAX Watch Daves video, he explains that it works out at 5% of your stream revinue. :) Entering UK as your location should give 0%, as should entering IOM as without the arragement IOM could also demand their own share. This is probably going nowhere outside of the USA and you also have your Glasgow address to fill it in via :)

Any suggestions on good power banks for powering leds that don't go to sleep? I've converted some battery leds to usb and kept the on off switch, but the poundland power geeks powerbank rather defeats that by going to sleep if you turn the leds off. A lot of them seem to have that sleep function now days.

Denis Looby

That's almost worth a video topic by it's self rather than an additional mention on a normal taredown

Russell Couper

Having sat and watched a US kettle take twice as long to boil as a UK equivalent - I say 240v is better. Fun fact - most US homes actually have 240 delivered to their consumer distribution units. It then gets split into 2x 120 feeds. Check out Technology Connections https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMmUoZh3Hq4

AlfaGuy

Not a Q but a suggestion for the weekend toasts... Dr Dennis Klatt... the guy that made DECtalk and gave his voice to Dr Stephen Hawking... and gave is the correct term as DECtalk was based on his voice. Which Klatt lost to cancer.

Just a quick question. Can you explain where the time just vanishes to. I will be 56 about an hour after the live feed and last time I checked I was just over 30ish. 🤣 👍

DC Allan

Same, Paul Slootman’s comment above

Liz Edwards

I have a question on LEDs... Why is it that cheap LEDs on the likes of Ebay/Aliexpress, around 10% of them flicker randomly then die or recover? is it purely internal connection

One of the Jager shots tonight should toast Lou Ottens, the inventor of the audio cassette tape who has just died.

Stream question. Flux. Your DIY liquid flux in small bottle with needle tip. What is the amount of flux and 99% alcohol?

Nuts 'n' Proud

Question for the stream. Do you see any benefits to the 110v/120v system requiring double the amps compared to the UK's system with double the voltage but half of the amps? The American system seems restrictive and they have to have separate 240v systems for dryers etc. Their higher amperage would require thicker wires. Is 3 phase just better all round?

evilution

Q's if time permits or appropriate. 1- R1+R2/CPC test measurements, etc. 2-Best choices for fuses. Fusible links in conjunction with a standard fuse?? Or PTC, etc..?? (for best for overall safety) Cheers.

You’ve mentioned you used to frequent The Arches in Glasgow back in the day and I’d be interested to hear any amusing experiences or anecdotes you have; my partner used to work there during the late 90s and she’s always described it as a time of utter insanity and I was wondering if your experiences were similar!

Tim Grainger

This will be by FIRST LIVE midweek stream...Please be gentle. :::blush:::

Can you please explain the difference between dimmable and non-dimmable LED lights?

Stephen Pettitt

Does Gef the mongoose have any relatives?

CrouchingTigerHiddenAdam

You can measure inductors (and lots of other things) with an "all-in-1 component tester" just search eBay. Cheap, very useful, and accurate enough for home use. I guess they are different form factors due to the construction required to get the necessary value, and probably other characteristics.

AlfaGuy

Because it's VERY small.

Big Clive

The Saturday stream will be the lockdown stream anniversary.

Big Clive

Dedication for the Jägermunion: Lou Ottens, who died this week aged 94. Inventor of the compact cassette, and co-inventor of the compact disc. https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Ottens (Dutch, but google translate should be able to make some sense of it)

Paul Slootman

I'd like to see your bench in all it's glory. I only ever get to see MDF.

Whippet Gas

It's drinking time somewhere in the world

Simon Deards VK3FSPD

I bought a bottle of jaeger, but the stream starts at 1pm my time, and I'll be at work? What do?

Liam Besaw

You have started using 3D printed parts in some of your projects - have you measured the dielectric nature of the components you have created? Are there differences in the insulation properties of the filament types you are aware of?

AlfaGuy

No silicon heaven ! Where would all the calculators go ?

Do you think the world would be better off if we banned religion?

Mark Trombley

I've seen articles on the Perseverance Mars lander and how it is using the Zigbee protocol for communications with what I assume would be the small drone that it carries. It seems that they would have wanted to use something with a longer range, but not knowing their intended use, I don't know. Do you know anything about Zigbee and why they might have chosen it?

Dave East (boctok55)

When you take things apart (and not necessarily put them together again), do you keep the screws, or do you throw them away together with the remainder of the thing? I have a big container with all sorts of screws obtained this way, and sometimes they come in useful; although I do need a way of sorting them out to make finding the correct one easier.

Paul Slootman

United Kingdom. Good evening Clive, How do you measure the value of Inductors and why do they come in different forms. Thank you. Tony.

Hi Clive, and fellow supporters of the electronic tat arts, This week our pandemic odometer clicks over one year. Since it's been such a seismic change for me and my family, I'm very curious what has changed for you, and other patrons. Here's a short list from me: - I'm very aware of people near me in public. It's odd because it's never bothered me. - We went hyper local with our shopping habits. - As a counterpoint, if we can't buy it at our local mom and pop shops, we go primarily online shop. - My family is in many countries across the globe, and we used to travel a lot. I don't know when I'll see them again. - Related to the above. I lost close family members this year, and it wouldn't have been conceivable before 2020 for me not to be around for their last days. It's been hard to cope. - I haven't gotten a cold, or the sniffles for a year now. I plan to wear a mask in public from now on during cold and flu seasons. - My car's battery and alternator died because it was so under driven. I've resorted to a trickle charger now. What changes to the world will stick? What will come back? Will this hasten the car electrification? Will cities shrink as people learn work from home works for them? What trades have gone away, and what will flourish? No right answer, just some just some meandering musings. Have a great week everyone, as we embark on year 2 of C-19.

Witold Witkowski

What is the crappiest China gizmo you have ever taken apart What do you wish you had bought but didn't for what ever reason Which film or TV prop did you have the most fun with

Private Private

Is the construction of mains LED lights any different for wide angle and spot light?

Andrew Donaldson

Why is this ionizer called "Minion"?

Basti Elektronik

Recycled for the 3rd time (cut/paste): Looking for questions for this week? I have 2. 1st: This is one you might want to pose to the chat. Are there any lossleader electronics floating around on the market at the moment? It seems most have dried up due to Covid. Pre-Covid there was the "smart" speaker boom, where a number of the major players were handing out speakers at low or no cost to get people suckered into their systems. A good number always end up being sold as "new" secondhand on ebay/other marketplace, for a while they were a good way of getting speakers/enclosure/batteries + usb charging components for a lot cheaper than the parts individually. Can you ask chat if there are any good hack it to bits targets in the wild at the moment, thanks. 2nd: Trams (Trolleys in the US/Canada) typically are around 600 - 800 volts DC depending on the system (example the Manx Electric Railway is 550 V DC), and it wasn't uncommon for railways to use 1500 V DC. Up until the 1970's lighting was typically a number of incandescent bulbs in series, which were perfectly fine with this arrangement being simple resistivity loads (although if one went out, they all went out). From the 70's refits and new builds commonly had fluorescent interior lighting, what trickery did they use to get fluros working on DC? For everyone who doesn't know (Clive and many others would know this already) fluros with the correct DC voltage and drive circuitry will work but have a limited life as the mercury will all migrate to the negative end and stay there. How did they get around this? Was it as simple as using a rotary switch that swapped the polarity each time they were turned on? Something, mechanical such as a small rotary converter (motor-alternator) to make AC? Or something like a astable multivibrator (two transistors) switching a transformer to make AC (were they doing this in the '70? it would have cost $$$)? Thanks

Could you show you're streaming setup from a different angle? I cant get my head around the forced perspective view

That'd be cool!

Basti Elektronik

Any chance of a review of several of your favourite / rarest overalls from your collection?