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

I have a very interesting tube/valve here that will feature one day. It's an Otis touch sensor based on neon discharge kept just under strike voltage, but with a superimposed AC voltage to ground so that the capacitive coupling of a finger will cause the neon to strike and pass enough current to operate a sensitive relay.

Big Clive

Clive, for the benefit of us old fogies out here who cut their electronic teeth on those big glowwy light bulb things in radios that took a week to warm up, have you ever considered a sort of "vintage" section, maybe back to the days when transistors were the next big thing. I think it would be interesting to explore how little, in principal has changed, execpt for speed, size, price, power needs and the like. Best regards Edward Parker

Edward Parker

Traditionally in the UK a school leaver would have gone straight into an apprenticeship for their chosen profession. But that's rapidly becoming history with a new era of crash electrical certification of labour in anything from 1 day to a week. It's nonsense. The basics of understanding electrical theory and safety are being erased for profit. And the government is largely responsible because they want cheap labour and are too incompetent to realise the future consequences.

Big Clive

Clive, as a blue-collar professional working in the trade - what do you think about the apparent lack of trade schools' popularity in the modern world? I bet you will make much better living being an electrician or a carpenter than you would do with a college degree in history or arts or philosophy or you name it, but every kid out there - and, more importantly, their parents - think they NEED a college degree, they spend an absolute crapload of money on it, and then poor kids end up flippin' burgers at McDonalds (in many cases, trying to pay off their student loans). Why do you think that happens?

There are lots of things, but I'm working on that.

Big Clive

They certainly seem to have adopted me.

Big Clive

I've not, but sometimes old props get re-used or a common theme is used by other prop makers.

Big Clive

What are some things you would love to take apart and dive into but haven’t been able to?

I choose to believe that Clive has his own person LED Sommelier at Pundland.

Loscha

Are you on first name terms with the staff at your local Poundland? :)

Phil Collins

When will you admit that the stray cats in your yard are really your own?

That's what HSE/OSHA thrives on. Dumbing everything down to the lowest common denominator.

Big Clive

Is there some device you've thought of that you'd really like to have and that seems to you like it would be popular - but which has never been made for the mass market? Where do you think the line is between necessary safety regs and where it starts getting ridiculous/oppressive? I have a propane-powered catalytic tent heater that works great - but apparently enough morons didn't follow the instructions and killed themselves with carbon monoxide running such things without ventilation - so now there's a requirement for safety devices. The problem is that instead of using an actual CO sensor the industry went with an "oxygen depletion sensor" (e.g., a pilot light sort of thing) which means that the heaters don't work over about 7000 feet altitude. [Because of course if the user could tune the sensor for altitude, that would allow defeating it.] Thus, if my old unit ever fails I'm going to have to do without it, as my main yearly camping trip is to a location at 8300 feet. (I know you like it chilly, but a bit of heat while moving between bed and fully dressed is very nice.... ;) Just an example of the sort of thing I mean, where people doing something objectively stupid winds up inconveniencing everyone.

Single for life. I don't think I could have a partner.

Big Clive

I know I've already asked a question that's been answered, but I'd like to request another video: I received for Christmas a RavPower wireless charger for my iPhone 8. It came with a standard power supply with an 3.6-6.5v/3a,6.5-9v/2a,9-12v/2a max output ratings. With my USB meter, It uses ~12v during initial charge and ~5v during the trickle-charge. This made me curious of the power supply and whatever electronics is in the charging pad. If I offered to send you one, would you maybe take it apart and explain what's going on?

Hi, I know I'm not Clive :p but I am an industrial designer and they use screws as long as the people putting the screws in are cheaper then any other options (more complicated expensive molds for injection molding for example) and this is more often then expected ;)

Would you ever consider a relationship or are you a committed bachelor?

It's actually really hard to choose. I think the most prevalent ones are the phone chargers that make your phones case live at mains voltage or have your life hovering just a whisker away from 50/60Hz excitement.

Big Clive

Over the years you’ve managed to amass a wide range of (mostly) Chinese electronics with shocking lack of safety measures. Including death-dapters, killer dalek torches and various bits of quackery. What’s your top 10 dangerous tear downs? Can be ranked by lethality, most inventive bypassing of safety measures, fun or any other way.

Michael Stringer

Why do you think so many really cheap, crappy products are still put together with screws (and usually cheap crappy screws at that) instead of being glued or fused together? I had to laugh when you turned over the "Nightcore Tube" clone in that video and it had four screws holding it together. Like you'd take it in to the "Cheap Crappy Nightcore Clone" dealer for repair, and they'd say, "Well, let's put 'er up on the rack and open 'er up and see what's what" rather than just chuck it in the bin and give you another one.

Daddy Bearcat

I should do another ambient ramble video.

Big Clive

I've always been the technical back-room boy who fixes the stuff. I only tend to program desks for testing lights or for basic control of an automated show.

Big Clive

What's available seems to depend on where you are in the world. It might be worth searching on eBay to see if there are any good ones being shipped from China.

Big Clive

I do still sell kits for some of my older RGB controller projects and the PCBs for other projects.

Big Clive

Steelwork high voltage power distribution including capacitor banks. Mainly because of their violent failure mode.

Big Clive

One of the best ways to learn is to watch and just gradually pick up and understand the components from the way they're used. In the past I used to recommend people started with electronics magazines, but not I recommend hunting for an electronics website that you really click with.

Big Clive

There are lots of great technical YouTubers like mikeselectricstuff, Great Scott, jimmydiresta, electroboom, defpom and so many more. I have a lot of them in my channel's recommended list (which needs updated).

Big Clive

If you search my videos for VL3000 and PRG you'll find some pro gear. But not full teardowns for confidentiality reasons.

Big Clive

Cree pioneered the silicon carbide blue LED around the same time as Nichia developed the sapphire substrate one. It's a long established western company that has a good reputation for professional grade LED products. Sadly the word Cree is used as a selling point for lots of non Cree products.

Big Clive

YouTube has changed the way I spend my time. I'm building less stuff and taking more stuff to bits. But if I get the "fever" for a project I plough right in.

Big Clive

I tried the spray on stuff and it didn't work for me. To date I prefer pre-coated boards or the new dry film material from eBay sellers.

Big Clive

It's a common illuminated magnifier from eBay. I'll have to make a video showing the tools and things I use with their keywords for eBay, as they sometimes have odd descriptions.

Big Clive

It's very random. A video may take literally 10 minutes to make if spontaneous and simple, or it may take days or weeks to prepare if there's a lot of research and reverse engineering involved. I do still read and respond to the comments on all videos, so that eats up hours every day itself. When working I work during the day and YouTube in the evening.

Big Clive

I can't discuss specific Disney tech and layout. But it was both interesting and frustrating. The definition of imagineer is not what you might think. The real imagineers are referred to as the creatives.

Big Clive

It's called nocturnal tumescence and happens to all men.

Big Clive

I come up with my random recipes myself, but then usually find they were already a thing.

Big Clive

Not an expert on Star Trek, but the one with Commander Data.

Big Clive

In moderation, yes. Particularly sprinkled in powder form into a bag of crisps (potato chips) which is then shaken to make a potent garlic snack.

Big Clive

Loudest was the defrost sequencing system in an industrial compressor pack. Fortunately it didn't suffer major damage. Most industrial PCBs are repairable unless there's flashover onto logic level circuitry and it writes off the entire control card.

Big Clive

I visit Ralf at least twice a week and more if he's got a lot of work, so I can care for our mum. He also visits here a few times a week too.

Big Clive

Doing fine. Cats are lying low in a warm place (my neighbours garage) to stay out of the stormy weather.

Big Clive

It's a huge mess of stuff piled high on shelves and the floor. I really need to get a dedicated storage room lined floor to ceiling with shelving.

Big Clive

They run a lot cooler in normal use than a tungsten lamp, so they cause less damage to lamp holders, but they are made of plastic and it is possible for destructive failure. I prefer lower wattage LED lamps with simple capacitive dropper supplies to reduce the number of components that could fail.

Big Clive

Ashens made an interesting video where he tested lots of cheap phone leads with a charger and current monitor and discovered that some of the cheaper ones performed better then others.

Big Clive

If it's not a mains frequency flicker but an actual instability type flicker then that could be interference on a DMX data network, power supply instability or even a bad electrical connection.

Big Clive

The lava lamp project was hugely messy to do and involved high gravity solvents that may be hard to ship to the Isle of Man. I'm not sure what modern lamps use. I think they either use chlorinated wax or some custom engineered wax like substance.

Big Clive

Have you ever done any props for The Grand Tour? A prop in the 3rd episode definitely looked "Big Clive'd"

Marmite

I'd like to see not only the area around your workspace but the whole pad. I think we have been shown your living room and outside patio. It would be great to do a tour video. Not too much to pinpoint location but a nice look inside where you live.

I think it would be interesting in seeing the rest of your workspace. We usually see the workbench, but it makes me curious to see the rest of your setup. Is it stuffed with all the remnants of your projects? :)

Wouter de Geus

I would like to know more about the different types of LED and what they are most suited for When installing/changing to LED lighting how safe are they compared to a normal tungsten lamp. Since LEDs have more components are they likely to fail to cause fire. Thinking in terms of leaving one running in a house.

At first I thought this was a 2001 reference, but that's "Just a moment"

Andy Brown

It's hard to think of something to ask you as you're such an open book.

Ah, not just me looking for that video then. I understand how they work in principle, but I'm missing out on the finer details - the capacitor values seem to be magically chosen with such a wide range of options.

I worked on the lighting for a few attractions at Disney Studios Paris and also supplied software and modules for the Spectromen in Spectromagic. Working with Disney is odd. It's a big corporation with that style of management.

Big Clive

I signed up with an extra agency for fun and then discovered that if you have a distinctive appearance (big and thuggish in my case) then you get a lot of work. I clocked up enough paid screen time in my first year to join Equity the actors union. I did a lot of work in Scottish TV series and films until real work got in the way. There were days I literally sneaked away from work, did some acting then went back to work.

Big Clive

When charging phones and such how varied does the cables come Ie Apple brand £££ wires compared to Poundland’s and can using poor power supplies and cables really damage like hi tech phones or are phone and other sophisticated devices cable of charging without harming the battery

Newcastlewatson

It all depends on which one you grew up with. I started with PICs so I prefer to use them.

Big Clive

None of them.

Big Clive

I used to have a set of those long go. Half the lamps were ballast lamps and half were the ones that have the bi-metallic strip that heats up until it shorts out that lamp. They were a very good effect. I think a close emulation these days would be the Konstsmide firefly lights.

Big Clive

I really wouldn't mind hearing some more about the general work life of electricians - how the other half lives, so to speak (ie. "Electrical" rather than "Electronic" :D ). When the units go from millivolts to kilovolts, the pub tales get more fun :D

Mark Dennehy

What should I check for when dealing with flicker across an LED installation? It could be low voltage tape, or LED track heads, or edison base lamps. Should I be looking at the line side, the load side, and what tools to use? I think I've been faced with flicker caused by RF interference a number of times, but I don't know where to even start to diagnose or establish that.

Peter Argyropoulos

Two things that I would like to see; 1) Revisit your DIY lava lamps that you did a long long time ago doing a full guide as to making them. 2) show us the workings of one of your pinbal machines maybe as a sreries where you go through each part and do your famous sharpie schematics for each of the different parts.

You mentioned working on one of the Disney shows, could you tell us any more about what you did or the technical aspects 'behind the magic'?

Can you `` test` one of the Ikea smart lights called TRÅDFRI, please ?

It's not so much a question than a general interest. Could you talk a little bit about your movie "career"? I would guess there are a few interesting stories to tell.

MrTridac

Hi Clive! What is your favorite Beer? One of my favorite is Sharp's Doombar that is impossible to get here in Sweden :/

You know how everyone has their opinion on PIC vs ATMEL and almost starts a war every time the subject is brought up? Would you give us your opinion?

So, what are the winning lottery numbers for next weeks draw?

Do you have or have you used/seen 220-240V version of the nowadays rather obscure (tungsten) twinkling fairy lights that have multiple flashers? I'd quite like a few strings of them for next christmas if there are any sources you're aware of. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, see "The Twinkling LIght Set..." video by Technology Connections on YT.

Have you thought about doing a series for introducing people to electronics? Things have changed, and finding a practical course, or someone to learn from, has become near darn impossible. There are people on YouTube already, but they don't seem to have the same down to earth teaching style that you have. It's one thing putting kits together... it's another thing learning how things work together. ... and that's the kind of knowledge that makes some of your teardown videos a loss for me, because you reach a point where my understanding completely stops. - it would be great to see you do another project... like your one arm bandit (which didn't have any arms) that people could see.... the decisions you make, and why... (yeah, I know... not so much a question, I guess.)

Always looking for educational and informative YouTube (Patreon) providers. Do you have any suggestions? (feel free to offer up suggestions all....) (BTW already have ralfydotcom; This Old Tony; EEVblog; AvE; Physics Anonymous; Essential Craftsman; and bosnianbill) Thanks!

I enjoy watching a few Pink Shitty USB Charger videos, as well as some of the odd and interesting things you take apart. Though it would be interesting to see you do a couple of videos taking apart stuff like professional stage lighting. Just so we can see how things are suppose to be done

Whats the deal with CREE LEDs , ?

Ian James

Dear Clive, In wich video did you explain the capacitive dropper circuit ? Thank you in advance

Mike Weijmans

Between travel, work, sleep and youtube, do you have much time to create and build stuff now?

Andy Brown

What's the origin of the phrase "one moment please" and the RP (?) accent you use when you say it? It's infectious, I find myself saying it all the time now.

Have you or would you try the paint-on photo resist for PCBs?

Andrew Sloniger

What is the small handheld higher power magnifier that you use?

MNH

How many days a month might be devoted to YouTube projects, as opposed to your proper job?

Watch, I think the first, questions video ;p

Kadah

Seconded. For how long did the "awkward moment" last?

Chris Talbot

Additional comment to say: would love a "build a kit while answering quezzies and ruminating on the meaning of life" video to go along with the interesting comments on this post. :)

Chris Talbot

I don't want any toast. He doesn't want any toast. In fact, no one around here wants any toast. Not now. Not ever. NO TOAST.

Chris Talbot

You've previously mentioned your work at Disneyland Paris. Can you elaborate on what you specifically worked on and are there any good stories from your time there?

in an old video you called your self a bear just wondering if you that same kind of bear that i am the gay kind you dont have to answer if it to inappropriate

Trevor Fox

Apart from the meaning of life and why are we here, how about "Why do I wake up with a hard-on in the morning?"

Do you come up with your own "blue collar" recipes or get them somewhere? When was the last time you were in a fist fight and why? What was the weirdest eBay kit you found and could we get a video of you doing it? Are you still using the Yihua soldering station or have you replaced it? Would you still recommend them for hobbyists? If not yours, what power supply would you recommend? Ionisers seem like a neat idea, why do you think they aren't a common home appliance? Would you recommend them as starter kits, since they're so easy to build, but deal with high voltages? Can't think of anything else to ask, but I'd love to see another "building something while I answer" video. Hopefully you get enough interesting questions to warrant one.

Theodor Ciobanu

What Star Trek show is your favorite?

Will you ever do a house tour? I would love to see the menagerie of lights filling your house and garden.

Simon the Delusional

Do you like garlic

SD

Any question? How to break the speed of light, how to marry quantum mechanics and classical physics? Any question at all, truly anything and you will answer? Ok here is my question: would you like some toast?

What was the most expensive accident at work that you ever caused? (or most expensive, loudest, most sparks, most dangerous...) and could you fix it?

Tim Albers

Short one: how long did it take for the sharpie dick you drew on your hand in one video to disappear?

Obviously not Clive... :) But I get ya man. I'm entirely capable, socially speaking (some might even say "charming when wants/needs to be") but after a not-very-long-while I get bored by social chitchat and want to be back at home tinkering with some project, doing some gaming, or reading, or watching teardown and technical vids. I don't regard myself as a misanthrope or antisocial, I just tend to find learning about "things" more interesting than learning about people, as I already know pretty much all I need to about them. :)

Chris Talbot

I'd like to let you know that I really appreciated your review of the Q6M light thingy. I have bought many for myself and others as gifts. That's a rare gem, and I think it would be awesome of you could occasionally do a teardown of a rare gem such as that, interspersed with the amusing junk teardowns :-)

Phillip Cosgrove

Clive, how often do you and Ralphie get together? Will you do more collaborative videos with him? I enjoyed the ones you have done very much, as I enjoy all of your videos. I was just remembering the Christmas cards and decorations you have made for him. Sorry I don't have anything technical to ask. I'm just curious, how demanding is it for you to keep up with the quantity and quality of videos you give us? All the best to you from the USA.

How are you doing today? Also how are the cats?

G'day Clive, have you ever programmed/run shows as an LX op, or have you always stuck to being a gantry walker/cable monkey? Any other notable gigs besides the Tattoo where you got to muck around with a really cool rig... something that impressed you as being cutting-edge for the time? Cheers from Sydney.

Chris Talbot

As a guy with "alternative and unusual" interests (electronics, programming, etc) I tend to spend a lot of time alone and don't have a lot of interaction with other people. Does the same happen to you, or do you regularly take a break from the workshop/lab to go out and socialize? In the former case, does it feel awkward talking to random people about everyday stuff as opposed to, say, a meetup with people who are makers/hackers? Do social interactions make you tired after a bit and you get that feeling where you can't wait to be back in your lab to tinker with stuff some more?

Axel DominatoR

Seen any good battery powered Christmas candles -- the kind one might put in a window in a house? I've got some that are okay, but they don't work well with 1.25V (NiMH). They want 3V. I hate buying dozens of single-use batteries. Not sure I'm up to creating a voltage multiplier for each one.

My interest is particularly in the early history of the hardware, as many ideas were tried, discarded and forgotten.

I'd like to see a discussion of the history and "current" practice of the electric grid standards across the world, such as voltage, frequency, connector and switch types, types of grounding, etc.

Hmm, what to ask what to ask...have several possibles, if you don't mind. If you do, pick your favorite? 1. You taken a liking to computers much or tinkered with them? 2. You ever wanted to take apart one of those 15W USB C phone chargers I see going around more and more, I feel like they'd be very different to the 1A apple one that's so very compact. 3. I recently attempted to voltage-fix an addressable RGB string (2 total) since the far end doesn't get the voltage it needs to light the blue LEDs. I tried a USB cable soldered to the loose wires on the end with the correct polarity, but it killed the voltage down to nil. Do I need to wire it "backwards"?

I'd second both of those motions...

Building useless but fun devices is always quite pleasing.

Big Clive

Teleport, fap-master 2000, unlimited Internet. Music? It would be hard to pick just a few tunes.

Big Clive

The stuff that was built for the BBC series' Intergalactic Kitchen and Mission 2110 was some of the most satisfying.

Big Clive

Have you ever deliberately built a "Rube Goldberg" like device, one that has a series of seemingly unrelated actions that combine to effect a desired action? I think "Rube Goldberg" has a UK equivalent, but I forget the name. (Ahh, there it is- "W. Heath Robinson")

Last question. Desert Island Disks time. Three items and two music .

John Carr

Hi Clive, I worked on Waterloo Road for a bit, I had one of my 'behind the scenes' props shown on screen because the DoP was so impressed by it. Was there any of your work you got an unexpected buzz out of (and I don't mean AC buzz!)

The Tinkering Shed

Two items that I think would be neat to see taken to bits would be a wireless smartphone charger base and an electric skateboard (the hub motors are amazingly powerful - 22 MPH cruise speed and can run for 7 miles on a charge)... amazing motor / battery technology

Chris Blair

My biggest worry in life is how the world is being deskilled and proper training is being sacrificed for flippant crash courses. Britain is heading back to the Victorian era in terms of exploitation of workers. I'd like to do joint videos with a number of other YouTubers.

Big Clive

I've already got too much stuff to do that. I don't think I'd have space for everything.

Big Clive

There are many vintage electromechanical arcade games like Streets wheel 'em' in that I'd love to take to bits. Favourite teardown? Any teardown that reveals a clever design trick.

Big Clive

One of the most frustrating things was an automated barrier gate that had fantastic mechanical engineering but was let down by a badly designed microcontroller unit that crashed continually and would routinely burn out motors when it did. Likewise there was a high profile brand refrigeration controller that was plagued by continuous crashes at the slightest sniff of a glitch on the power supply. It used to crash itself in loop whenever it tried turning a solenoid on.

Big Clive

How odd. I've worked as a guest lecturer at the Glasgow School of Art. There seems to be a strong connection between the art colleges and special effects.

Big Clive

I think the evolution of the electric bikes has been amazing. The only thing they are missing for the full Tron experience is some LED lighting to turn them into the lightcycles they sound like.

Big Clive

I don't have a PO box because I'm not sure I could handle the amount of stuff people would send. You can send me a private message though and tell me what you have.

Big Clive

At 50K subscribers I had to turn off the email notifications for comments and start using the YouTube creator studio facility to view them all together. At 100K it was significant because it was the threshold where YouTube actually rewards you with a symbolic play button. The growth of the channel has been so gradual that it's never really felt like something big happened. But I now realise that channels I used to think were huge are smaller than mine and that feels weird. Revenue initially crept up to a point that I thought it was an income, but whether it's an algorithm or the adpocalypse against "dangerous" channels the income has not increased in tandem with the subscribers. It seems like I earn as much adsense revenue now as I did at 100K subscribers.

Big Clive

Based on the ones I've seen him do so far, IKEA is surprisingly well made.

Dustin

I'm actually fairly open, so there's nothing that hasn't really been asked.

Big Clive

I have two questions if that's ok? 1. What is your biggest worry/fear in life. 2. What YouTuber would you really love to do a joint video with?

John Carr

I enjoy just watching the variety of things you Take to Bits. These are usually common things that we see and never know how thy work. One of my biggest gripes is the poor quality of USB Wall Warts. Can you take one ( Or Several) apart and suggest what we should look for in a Good Product.

Have you thought of put out a call for items and just publishing a post office box address? Have people randomly send you things? You’d probably get enough stuff that you would not have to buy anything for quite a while.

Rav

What's something you have always wanted to take to pieces but haven't gotten the chance to? What was your favorite teardown?

blakethepatton

Great work with your channel, it's always a good day when you upload something. What was the most facepalm thing you have ever seen installed commercially?

Holy crap Clive, you mentioned Rex Garrod in a post and I thought the name was familiar. He gave a guest lecture when I was in art college around '85. I started visiting him at his house/workshop because I wanted to be a special effects modelmaker. I ended up doing just that primarily because of him and his enthusiasm. I left the UK to live in Australia soon after that and never heard of him 'till now. I'm not surprised he ended up on TV. I'm gonna binge watch 'The Secret Life of Machines' now.

You mention the Isle of Man TT whenever it isn’t on and inconveniencing you in videos. I’m part of a university team that enters an electric bike into the TT Zero class. Do you have any interest in amateur-ish built electric vehicles with IoM pedigree? It’s a bit off your normal video topics but I guess electric vehicles aren’t everyday eBay purchases!

I would really like to learn to program a pic are there any videos you recommend or any programming software

Big Clive, if I want to send you something to take to bits what's the address? I assume you have a post box.

Last one from me (thanks for answering these). Was there a point when making your YouTube videos in the early days with lower viewer numbers that it hit you how many people were now watching your videos and that it was generating a reasonable revenue? I guess in summary I’m asking was there a point you felt “wow”.

What part of your life, your career, or your interests, are you surprised that no one ever asks about, but would actually like to share.

Joelle Seguin

How about a quick and dirty project where you walk through writing the code and programing the pic? I have a pic-kit 3 (real one) and a few pics but only have done one project using pic-basic to generate the hex code.

George Cohn

Clive, I looked at your website and I didn’t really know you were doing on it. Are you selling kits?

You can always program and use other Atmel parts - they can use most of the existing Arduino libraries, and can be programmed with an AVR programmer or using an Arduino itself as an AVR programmer. Or you could just use something like an Arduino Duemilaneuve/Uno with the swappable DIP chip, program it, then remove it. So what I'm saying is, just because you don't want to use "Arduino" doesn't mean that you have to swap to something else altogether.

Zachary Faragher

What's the scariest power system you've ever worked on?

Adam Robinson

Big Clive, would you maybe think about making a video about those micro controllers that you use and how to program them because I am wanting to move away from arduinos and move on to more things like PICs

Two things. The old Glasgow Xmas lights (now gone) because they were so unique and characterful, and the really expensive and well designed PRG lights.

Big Clive

I really like the Adafruit Huzzah boards, with the built in wifi, although I did burn out one of the power regulators the other month when I wired up a 3xAA battery pack backwards.. So much smoke from such a tiny regulator :/

Martin Donnelly

My neighbours are fine. I'm not sure what they make of me.

Big Clive

You love lighting, as do I - what's your favorite bit of lighting you've worked with, or just plain seen? :)

Adam Robinson

I've got some Arduinos here, but haven't really clicked with them yet. I still tend to make simple projects with bare microcontrollers.

Big Clive

Welp, back to the pirated movie with the misses. Keep up the cool videos Clive and thanks for the content. Definitely learning from it. Cheers!

Working on big industrial projects.

Big Clive

Yeah those studios are about 10 minutes away.

Martin Donnelly

Yes, I think there will be random videos from time to time.

Big Clive

I used to do my acting at the Dumbarton studios.

Big Clive

I think you might be better going the route of using multiple 5V supplies and a parallel run of LEDs with a resistor per LED. Much safer.

Big Clive

My dad hated technology. We tried introducing him to the Internet and failed.

Big Clive

Clive would you consider messing with Arduinos or any other type of micro controller

FWIW they do in Australasia/Anglonesia

Moz in Oz

I am curious, what do the mains meters look like where you are from? Would you mind doing a video explaining the differences between US and UK mains house circuit wiring. I am interested in the differences between the UK panels and US panels. UK panels seem to be more compact. I also had a pipe burst in my house due to the cold and I am quite inebriated while I have a dozen fans and dehumidifiers going.

Hard to say. I'm quite proud of the fairground lighting control systems. But likewise some of the industrial projects I worked on were pretty cool because of their scale.

Big Clive

What in your career (or hobby side of electronics) gave you the biggest sense of achievement/satisfaction?

Yes, mainly cats which I grew up with from a young age and treated like brothers.

Big Clive

Nothing could improve the taste of haggis.

Big Clive

Will you and Ralphie be doing any more videos? That Russian MRE video was quite nice, even if you did ruin the tablecloth.

Michael Thompson

In the past I used to recommend electronics magazines, but the Internet has taken over that area. I think the best approach now is to find favourite sites and channels that you click with and just absorb data from them.

Big Clive

I always find it a hard subject to embrace because of the false stereotypes associated with it. I believe that there is a specific type of human that is designed to design, build and maintain society and our breeding function is literally turned off. That results in random sexuality tangents occurring.

Big Clive

They film a lot of River City in my town

Martin Donnelly

I'd pay good money to watch Clive and AvE drink LTT under a table

It was for River City. So much sleazier script.

Big Clive

Use whatever you can afford. I only recommend Fluke meters for safety critical industrial applications.

Big Clive

unrelated to the videos question: Do typical homes in the EU have 110V shaver plugs in the washrooms?

On the subject of capacitive droppers, I'm looking for a way to power about 500 color changing LEDs in a public installation. I was playing with a simple capacitive dropper. But I need a way to limit the voltage that builds when there is no load, just in case I have to replace a few LEDs live. A zener diode is a simple solution, but it gets very hot in practice. I was thinking of some kind of feedback arrangement like switch mode supplies use. A transistor could briefly switch off the input source until the charge in the smoothing capacitor dropped below a threshold. Do you think that would work? If so, could you point me at any existing designs that implement this?

Guardian Lion

It just happened. I didn't even realise I did it until people started pointing it out.

Big Clive

We have 110 volt mains here in California. Why?

It was actually a photo shoot for an episode where one of the soap opera characters in River City gets outed when a photo gets published in an event guide.

Big Clive

What commonwealth country outside of Britain would you most like to live in, or try living in for a while,... and why?

Last one: You think your father would have been proud to see you two channels? Which channel would be more disturbing? Electrics or whiskey?

L3P3

I just fell into the theatre industry accidentally as most people do. My background is industrial electrical work.

Big Clive

Please... try that logic in Canada mate. we went from 10C to -20C in the span of a day. Forced air heating isn't a "nice to have" hehehehe

34 minutes. 106 comments. I am SOO late to this party. Is there any beer left?

Joking around I love your channel and dig your tear downs of cheap dollar store stuff. I do the same (though less proficiently) and make cooler things for my daughter as a result

I've always felt that it's important to contribute back to the 'net. The YouTube channel is my contribution back for other electronics channels like EEVblog and the other workshop channels. I never expected it to be quite as popular as it is.

Big Clive

Funny!

lol

Adam Robinson

Have you ever added electronics to those pets?

Have you ever had any pets?

Adam Robinson

I juggle both. I enjoy working and real physical work offers greater security than YouTube.

Big Clive

What do you think was the coolest think you have ever built Clive?

I don't really regard YouTube as a career. It's basically what happens for real on my bench. I still work freelance with various event and industrial companies.

Big Clive

Is there anything you can think of that you can buy from ebay that runs on 5V or less that could improve the taste of Haggis for a Canadian?

The life of a contractor

Martin Donnelly

In the past I often spent months away. Latterly it was typically three weeks to a month at a time.

Big Clive

Canada looks good in terms of cold climate and technical stuff.

Big Clive

The whole house is a workshop. But the bench is in what might have been used as a sun-room built onto the side of the house. Probably because it had a convenient wall for the bench and shelving.

Big Clive

I have a complete set of quarter watt resistor values and several styles of capacitor in a range of values.,

Big Clive

I've thought of that, but it's a hugely complex subject to program processors in their native language.

Big Clive

Have any favourite electronics resources (similar to The Art of Electronics) that you'd recommend to new folks?

In the last live video, you implied that you'd talk about gay (homosexual) vs gay (happy), and what gay means to you. Now, I'm fine with you saying that you've now chosen, not to go into it, as I'm sure everyone would be! However, I'm interested, because it sounded like a very intellectual discussion, and we'd feel closer, by knowing more about the person/you. So, I'm just wondering if you still intend to go into it? Thanks!

Not a huge amount. It's all cheap stuff that provides the most entertainment.

Big Clive

I'm trying to remember the time Mrs Mack went to the nightclub in Take the High Road.

Martin Donnelly

Is expensive test gear worth the cost? i.e. can I get away with a solid chinese multimeter, or should I be aiming for a Fluke?

Adam Robinson

I can't remember if you've addressed this before (still working through your archives). I'm envious of your ability to hold and manipulate so many things at once in your left hand while soldering. It seems eminently practical and useful. I've tried to emulate what you do and have only ended up dropping things and burning myself. Where & when did you learn that skill? And do you have any pointers?

Guardian Lion

Big Clive the Dancer; haven’t heard that story yet. Will it make an appearance in an upcoming vid?

Please some one tell us they have a link to the gyrating video on youtube :)

Martin Donnelly

Hi Clive we have spoken before. I am a priest with a Gothic/Pugin RC church in Greenwich. I wanted to send you a variety of LED 4w candle bulbs that I use in chandeliers all over my church. Must be 200 Don't know where to send or how to private message you. These bulbs have modifeid styles so much over last few years but the old flourecesnt bulbs last for ever but not so attractice and use more power. I have used much of your advice especially the LED flame bulbs very good at high level in coloured glass fittings The cheap Ebay 4w candle bulbs look pretty but barely lasts 6 months. Are the more expensive UK suppliers any better. I even had one bulb explode and knock out the lighting circuit it shorted in the base. The main lighting are 8 heavy glass fluted enclosures. They are unventialted and house transformers the size of house bricks and sodium lamps that burn yellow and are horrible Two are no longer working and I cannot get the parts. I had experimented with using 100w leds inside the enclosures such as the hangng lamps without the alloy surrounds. They burn quite hot and I realise that in a public building such modified units would invalidate public liability. I need somebody to create fitted brass chandeliers that can be strapped around the octagonal pillars. Was working with Gothic Metals in Wales but they seem to have gone tits up. Any ideas? Kevin R (Rev)

I can't speak for them but I'm in Belfast and it's just hard to keep a consistent temperature in our home. The upstairs you're sweating and the kitchen is bone chilling all the time.

Not as much as the first one they offered that I declined.

Big Clive

Ironically my brother has just dropped off his stovetop fan to be fitted with a new peltier panel. That'll probably be a video.

Big Clive

I like working on the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo because the regular crew are both experts in their field and also very weird. I'm not sure what counts as a weird work experience. It could be being blown flat on my back in front of a crowd of people in a supermarket when the metal case of a controller I was fitting became live at 240V or it could be when I was inadvertently set on fire when a special effect went wrong in a film I was acting in. Or it could be when I played the role of a dancer in a gay nightclub for a Scottish soap opera and had to gyrate to absolute silence in a club that was open and serving lunch at the time. (Hey! It was a 2 hour job that paid a full BBC shift.)

Big Clive

Why did you choose the theater industry for electronics vs say a job as an electrician?

btSchmieds

Why do you and your brother, and I am assuming everyone else on the Isle, keep their homes so cold? Your last video you said it was 10 C inside?!?! My wife would kill me.

Chris Muncy

When he, after some bottles of vodka, demonstrated the robustness of keysight oscilloscopes.

L3P3

I'm curious about your bench camera set up, what you have and how it's all mounted.

Martin Donnelly

What inspired you to start doing videos for YouTube/the Internet.

Zet The Legendary Hero

If you could do anything besides YouTube, what would it be?

It was a conservatory at the opposite end of Ralfy's house from the solid fuel stove. Old houses with solid walls are hard to heat.

Big Clive

A bench psu is not required. Never had one.

L3P3

How much time do you spend away from home? I've never had to travel much for work.

Adam Robinson

Yes. RAM corruption is always an issue.

Big Clive

If you didn't live on The Isle of Man, where would you like to live?

The Griffiths Family

Ummm. Isn't that kinda the definition of a workshop. Pretty sure you aren't supposed to be able to walk in one. It's not called a walkshop, or storeroom. ;-)

I'm really unfussy. I like Subway sandwiches.

Big Clive

If you could have a complete set of any component what would it be. ie resistors capacitors or inductors.

Do you have a dedicated room for your workbench? Or just a random corner?

You’ve done a few videos where you build stuff on pic Microcontrollers, can you show some of the programming side of it in a video a bit like Julian does in his Arduino ones?

Was answered in a previous video.

L3P3

IPA my own choice and long mixers like rum and gingerbeer.

Big Clive

How much do you spend at ebay every week?

Anything trashy. Speed is more important than nutritional balance.

Big Clive

What's been your best "ooh shit, I think I just damaged/blew up something important/expensive" moment?

Dan Craggs

What are essential tools for setting up an electronics workspace. Bench power supply, snips, meters, bread/prototype boards, essential components (resistors, caps, transistors, diodes, etc), etc..

How did you get started in electronics and why?

Gadgetman

I've got a 4G data connection here now. I should try a test stream to see if it works.

Big Clive

Mild, like an IPA.

Big Clive

Was the Keysight an overkill?

L3P3

Have you worked with Peltier junctions to generate electricity? We have a huge hotspring here in rural Nevada, USA, and would like to experiment with Peltiers.

Racks of component drawers and a huge mound of stuff on the floor awaiting a proper shelving system.

Big Clive

Out of all the productions you have worked on what was your favorite. And what was the weirdest work experience.

Charles Bruckner

The Russian MRE video, my husband is still talking about how cold the room looked. How cold was it?

It's a fairly big island. The tax thing is blown out of proportion, it's still really governed by the UK government. It has a lot of electrical companies who mainly do domestic work.

Big Clive

My wife wanted to know if you have problems with your RAM as they often do on the “IT Croud”? She’s a bit of a novice.

They just stare at me with a perplexed expression.

Big Clive

I've not, but one day I will. I think I'd feel right at home in a Chinese industrial city.

Big Clive

I'll skip away from the electronics entirely - what's your favourite food?

Adam Robinson

I'd love to install a complete elevator. (I bet you weren't expecting that answer.)

Big Clive

Very simple. A shelf, a ledge and my phone. I record and upload from the same device.

Big Clive

Maybe I should have asked favorite beer or spirit? Drinking a local IPA myself at the moment...

Benjamin Hall

Favorite "trashy" food/drink recipe?

I'm too ashamed to show my workshop. It's basically a mound of "stuff".

Big Clive

You repeated yourself. Why?

L3P3

Can you make live stream? Last one was awesome!

Not right at the moment, but looking around for work because I enjoy it. I'm freelance so work with random companies throughout the year.

Big Clive

Favorite beer?

Benjamin Hall

Clive how do you store random electronic parts.

Not that many. Things just tend to be a bit ambient right now. Nothing really full-on project wise.

Big Clive

The island you are known to live on has negative popularity for being a tax-escape island. Is there any economical motor beside it on IoM? Are there many electicians on there?

L3P3

Do they know you by name at poundland?

Have you been to the electronics districts of any Chinese cities? Interested in such a trip?

I'm playing with lights and seriously considering making a video right now with quite a neat one.

Big Clive

I don't.

Big Clive

What's a project you'd love to do but probably can't (for whatever reason)?

Phil Moyer

What's your camera setup look like?

Would you consider making a “workshop” tour and a behind the scenes of making a video post for Patreon subscribers?

Alright. I have a few questions. First, what type of oscilloscope do you have. Second, can we have a bench Tour. And last but not least, how do you store your random parts?

Are you working a day job right now?

Workshop tour.

A decent one. As a gift, I think.

L3P3

How many projects do you have going on right now?

Are building something right now, or are you doing a Q & A video right now 😜😺

Vaughn B.

How do you organize your videos?

How many times does food fall into your beard?

EpicLPer