Questions for the Saturday Clive-stream?

Not a 5V ring main, but a 48V point-to-point would be good. Good news: it’s all existing tech. It’s called Power-over-Ethernet. I’m sure folks will be selling PoE USB chargers, but even if they don’t you get a PoE 12V supply that “extracts” the energy and provides regulated 12V, and then hook up any decent car USB charger and done. You get network connection for free, too :)

Kuba Sunderland-Ober

Problem would be voltage drops, running a heavy enough cable so that your 5v at the supply is 5v at the USB plug 10m away requires quite a heafty and expensive cable. Better option might be to run a 48v DC ring main, and use cheap DC DC Buck USB supplies at each outlet, would allow for 48v Lithium backup etc and be quite handy.

Stuart Goggin

Would there be a benefit to building new houses with an additional 5V ring-main rather than using separate power supplies for everything USB?

Simon Pain

Pot Noodles.

Big Clive

That's why sinks often have all the taps and adjacent metalwork bonded to each other to prevent voltage differential.

Big Clive

I hope I’m not the only one who lost someone who wishes for you... drink bleach and remove yourself from the surplus population ❤️

Cerity

There hasn’t been a problem with content. 🎁The problem is the algorithm sells ads, ☣️not nuanced content. Not education. Not sane viewing limits. Not reasoned discussion. Pandering to the lowest common denominator which gets millions of followers water cooler talking about it every day...

Cerity

‘Good’ definition based on lumen output? CRI❓degradation ⁉️ If you have any rope lights they’re gonna dim maybe 10% per year on 90 nights a year more or less. Depending on the length you can get those ten or twenty bulb strings that run on 3 1.5 V or a single li-ion

Cerity

Just on the motorised valve theme...Recently my wife and eldest son had been noticing they would ocassionally get a dig/electric shock in the shower (non electric shower). I eventually traced the problem to the pump and the boiler out in the garage, neither were earthed. I was surprised that such a dig could be received! It didnt happen other taps in the house in any other bathroom or sink. I suspect the run to the shower is fully copper and the others had some plastic in between, and were earthed near the tap.

Mark Chapman

It would be tricky to find a good replacement transformer, as they are often wound specifically for each product.

Big Clive

It's probably to allow for tolerance. Japan has 100V as standard. The 230V European unified voltage has a wide tolerance to accommodate older standards like our 240V with its existing tolerance.

Big Clive

You can get modules that plug in and negotiate the desired voltage. Another option for low current at higher voltage is USB boost cables with a converter in the plug and a standard 9V/12V jack plug.

Big Clive

Freelance. I went out on my own in the mid 90's and have only had a brief spell on a company's books since. I prefer the freedom and variety of working between companies.

Big Clive

I'm not spotting an obvious difference between the power supplies. One specification sheet shows extra overvoltage protection and a high altitude rating. There's also a small difference between standby current (tiny). The most efficient way to use your battery power is to avoid stepping up to 230V and then back down again. Electronic power supplies shouldn't be too bothered about pure sinewave versus modified, which is a bit rougher. Some capacitive dropper powered loads may not like the coarser waveform though.

Big Clive

Some of those ultra low pin count switching chips work in weird ways to minimise pin count. They can be quite perplexing to get your head round. A USB power supply might be a handy stand-in for some faults.

Big Clive

Is that hydronic or electric heat ?

Bit late with a question but how cold is it there? Your bundled up solid, here in Ontario, Canada its about -2 .. quite mild for winter

Peter Stevens

What is a good set of Fairy Lights to use indoors year-round? Prefer low voltage. USA power.

Hyperballad Eyes

Should I avoid modified sine wave inverters? I have a big ongoing oversized lithium battery pack (At least 1kWh of energy) with either 1kW or 1.5kW output at 230V through an inverter. The prices for that kind of rating are in reaching towards £2000 for a pure sine wave but modified sine wave inverters are considerably cheaper. I'd like to be able to power in particular computers and electronics, I don't think I'd be using it for loads like heaters. I've taken on your recommendation for using Mean Well branded Power supplies, but I do have a question. Is there a difference between the LRS and RS ranges? I've found the suitable supply, same voltage and current rating in each range but there's a £20 difference, could there be some other difference I've not seen?

I'm sure you've already covered it at some point in one of your streams, but are you independent or do you work for a company? do you like it or would you prefer the other?

Is it possible to make something to control the output of a USB highspeed charger or powerbank? Say you wanted 9V do you need a signal over the data pins or a resistance, how does the device control the output?

Devices like in your latest video support AC 85-265 V input. Why 85? Why 265? I tried searching for which country has 85 V AC but couldn't find the tree for the forest.

Nani Isobel

Might be worth giving Deoxit Fader a try. It'll work better than isopropanol and will have a much longer-lasting effect, if it does solve the problem.

Charles

I recently watched your early 2018 teardown of a "shady lithium button cell charger". IIRC you said it was not too bad in general but let down by a circuit design fault and a substandard transformer. As I watched I thought the case itself looked quite useful, esp if anyone wanted a button cell charger. So would it be an idea in future, for you to specify a replacement transformer so we could make the thing work reasonably well? You already showed us the resistor-flicking trick, and could easily cover yourself by telling us we do it at our own risk. Maybe you could have a sideline in putting right products based on good ideas but poorly made.

Ymir the Frost Giant

I was wondering what your take on the changes to YT are, and the challenges to providing content on it, having just watched some rants recorded by Fran about 2 yrs and 1 yr ago, and a reply by eevblog2. Is the decline still continuing as you see it?

Ymir the Frost Giant

Seems to be a true fact for sure as to Clive. As to Enders game, my wife and I have been rampant fans since it came out(yeah we are not young anymore), and could not tell you how many times my wife and I have read and listened to it. The movie while nice to watch was a definite disappointment. Have you read the other books by Orson Scott Card?

Did you ever analyze a wireless doorbell circuit (TX and RX)? For a Byron Wireless doorbell kit, I have tried to do this, but I struggle with the power supply part: https://gitlab.com/dev-hp/byron-doorbell/-/blob/master/doorbell-rx.md#power-supply-part

Hagen

I got an old bench power supply in and it needs a replacement of the tune knob potentiometer. It's a stacked 470ohm / 4k7 ohm and i can't seem to find a replacement part. Is there anything to replace that with? I could get it working with some isopropanol but i don't think, that that's a lasting fix.

Snake oil question. Kinda. Noise on the mains (anything other than the 50hz sine wave)... How to remove for higher current but still sensitive loads? Yes I mean meaty power amplifiers. So sue me!

Whippet Gas

I've just had the car alarm go off, and it seems it's the door actuator/sensor (frameless windows - it needs to know when to drop/rise as the door opens/closes). A few hard slams send to have fixed it. If it happens again should I just set fire to the car and dance around it naked, screaming and singing ?

Steven Raith

'Single Person Heating' Reminds me that about 20 years ago I made a heated shirt when riding my motorbike in the colder months that I still regularly use. About 35m of flexible copper wire connected to the 12V system of the bike with a PWM to tame the ~100W. Never really considered wearing it in the house to save on heating but might now.

Russell Couper

The circuit by Mr Carlson is very good. Not much can be improved on that one. The standby current of the SMD 555 is extremely low.

Frank

I've seen Mr Carlson has created a small circuit board to maintain power out of his intelligent USB powerbanks. Do you know of any circuits that could improve on this and reduce the small amount of power loss?

What was your most memorable functioning (without having to wait a month for corrections) electronics magazine project? Mine was Elektor Morse Code Decoder.

Andrew Donaldson

just to state a fact, you are well above average intelligence. Do you ever run into difficulties dealing with people or feel isolated because of this? Have you read Ender's Game?

Let us not forget the eternal trubadour, Tiny Tim

Mark Chapman

I recall you mentioning you started off making (FM oscillator?) kits etc and selling them, is that right? Wasn't in the 'exchange and mart' by any chance? As a kid I used to buy basically all of the different kits off there with saved up pocket money. In NI we didn't even have a Maplins to source components, so it was the likes of those kits and old telephones, hifis. keybaords and the like where we had to scavenge our componentry. We were the electronic savages of the UK! There's a chance some of your components ended up in a modified flash gun-come-taser that I used to shock school friends with when they weren't so friendly.

Mark Chapman

Are you happy with your current lifestyle? And what would you change if logic/money was no object if not.

Pot Noodles or Super Noodles?

Mike Hanley

Clive, mate - could you give a few hints for the electronically disadvantaged me me me as to how to get a level light output from different LEDs, with an idea of resistor values ... ? Would greatly appreciate.

So, all the projections were wrong because all the assumptions were wrong, but we still can't go outside because the people who were wrong have said so. Is that right?

Andrew Donaldson

The under floor heating in my rented Norwegian apartment appears to have stopped heating even though the thermostat shows it as being on. Is there anything I can do to diagnose the issue?

Stephen Pettitt

You did a tear down of a retro futuristic 3 led flashlight, result was basically "lovely construction, shame about the electronics’. What sort of circuit would you recommend to drive all 3 x 3w leds? (I am currently rebuilding one of these)

Tim Pearson

What year did you start doing the tattoo ?

Have you ever heard about Coral Castle. It was all created by a single man called Ed Leedskalnin. No one knows how he created the place but they think he used reverse magnetism. I have a link here for further info. http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/10/mystery-coral-castle/

Did you get stung for any customs dues for the hammer? (not that it matters - it is priceless)

Paul Kemp

How are things on the IOM? Still locked down?

Witold Witkowski

How's that hammer working out for you? How does it feel to be gifted such a rare and prestigious, artistic tool? It could be a museum piece!

Rocco Rizzo

Have you ever worked on a high frequency induction (metal working) furnace?

Wim

Further thoughts on ionizer as have one in fridge and teenagers bedroom to keep smells down which seem to work well. Also one in bread cupboard keeping mildew off bread 🍞 which seems to work well with bread now going hard not mouldy. All sized for area covered.

N. Shaun Tremayne

Yes, the hammer must be named. We must participate in a hammer-naming.

Michael Thompson

Just converted a lamp to a touch lamp by fitting a readily available "capacitive switching" module for that purpose from ebay . The G9 COB LED bulb kinda worked for a couple of touches then flickered and went out. Fitted Halogens in and the whole thing's dead, looks like I fried the touch lamp circuitry. What's the issue with the incompatible electronics here? (I'm going to order and fit another capacitive touch module and try it just with the halogen bulb this time).

What are your opinions on small personal heaters that are designed to heat enough for a single person instead of trying to heat an entire room? I'm especially asking about the compliant versions of the ones you have done teardowns on.

John McFerren

Demonstration of the craftsman hammer 🔨 which I guess AvE sent you.

N. Shaun Tremayne

How about a toast to the biggest man ever to play the tiny gay guitar: The ukulele - The late, great Israel Kamakawiwo'ole? Mostly because I want to hear you pronounce his surname :D

Steve Brace

Using piezo pick up for ausitic instraments . preamp or no?

Quality of pluggable remote controlled outlets

Jonas

Crappy vs not so crappy IoT devices out there

Jonas

Who would you listen to. A fresh from university engineer, or a time served on the job one.

Neil Tonks

You mentioned it on a recent live stream, when will you be doing another project?

Neil Tonks

Did you ever think you would be still doing regular live streams after all this time

Neil Tonks

What gadgets did you get for your birthday?

Andrew Donaldson

What's the buzziest equipment you've worked on? And have you had a stupidly simple issue that makes the issue look complex?

NightshadeLenar

What is your technique for cleaning flux off PCBs after assembly? What chemicals do you use, do you scrub, rinse, and any sensitive components to watch out for while doing that? I just made my first PCB with fine pitch ICs and it was very hard to get clear of flux

Do you have any projects you completed in the past that you still think about or mull over? Possibly unrelated second question: Any regrettable projects, either personal or professional?

Miranda Kwee

That's a good question

Basti Elektronik

What are the largest and smallest lighting instruments used at the tattoo?

Berg Polarbear

Not a question, but how about a jagermunion toast to the inventor of the Lava Lamp, Edward Craven Walker.

John Carr

Have you ever intentionally set your beard on fire? Was it fun?

kn0tsin