Solar panel sealing experiment.

I agree with all above - previous, softer, high-CRI light was better

Gordo

Sikaflex (roofing sealant) and Silastic (car body/windscreen sealant) are both excellent for adhering stuff to really hard glazed tiles when you don't feel like spending half an hour drilling with a tile bit and a spray bottle full of water. Actually, they're both pretty good at sticking anything to anything else, and if you get the right type it goes off pretty quick so you don't have to worry about clamping or holding things in place. Wait for it to tack off, press hard, hold for a minute or so, done. I recently used Sikaflex to glue a freestanding UPS unit to the floor of a plant room, to discourage anyone with sticky fingers and a bad attitude. Worked a treat... the weight of the unit made for a very strong bond, hope I don't have to relocate it any time soon...

Chris Talbot

I prefer the warm cozy glow to this harsh sterile white light.

CasualKitty

I kind of like the COB lighting, at least in terms of lighting angle and clarity. Unfortunately the color rendition is worse, so everything looks rather bleached. Not sure if the camera can compensate in terms of white balance.

Zac

Reading that back it comes across more critical than I intended, sorry Clive. If this approach makes it much simpler to film then go for it, the difference isn't a deal breaker. But on equal footing your existing crossed lights approach is one I preferred and I'd agree with the other comment the existing approach seems to give better colour rendering, though that might just be down to not having bedded in the ideal exposure and white balance on the new light.

Charleso

The lighting is certainly flat but being on axis with the lens *anything* slight reflective like the shiny black plastic or a white label changes exposure quite a lot as you move it making it quite distractingly "flashy". Another side effect is it means those areas got over exposed when "on axis". Maybe keep this style for things that are very matt, or maybe deep enclosures?

Charleso

Fab idea, I've just recently hot glued the circuitry / solar cells within an inch of their life in an attempt to make them last longer than a season!

Regarding the difficulty of finding neutral-cure silicone -- if your local building-supply places don't have it, another possible source is places that sell (or manufacture and repair) aquariums or which do fish ponds and such. The neutral-cure silicone is safe for use with fish where the acid-cure type can be problematic. I've had good luck with aquarium places.

Charles

i found myself moving my laptop screen back and forth to try and remedy the reflections lol

mark barratt

I don't mind the reflections from above, but I did much prefer the wide spectrum lights you were using before and the angle you were shooting. You are always worried about swamping out with the other lights, which never was a bother, but this light is a bit too much for most of your videos, and has that harsh off color wash you had fixed. Maybe should be reserved for special applications. But we do enjoy you trying to improve from time to time.

I've successfully used "goop" to seal all kinds of stuff and it has several other uses other than sealing. I've got the idea after watching this video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU2jsbGNcZE" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU2jsbGNcZE</a> The goop that's rated for outdoor use is resistant to UV. I wonder if it's more or less transparent compared to silicone... About the new light: I can see it being useful for small items and I think it would do a good job when you zoom in. It leaves a bit of shadows in the corners when zoom is out; maybe you can fix that by using auxiliary lights on the sides.

Axel DominatoR

The bulk of the circuitry is under a blob. The summer/winter mode is two resistors in series. A low value one and a higher value one with a switch across it. In winter mode both resistors are in circuit for lower current and in summer mode one is bridged out by the switch for higher current. I inadvertently made it sound like it was doing something more sophisticated in the video. There are a couple of small resistors external to the blob that I think are for setting the shunt threshold for the type of battery fitted.

Big Clive

Could we just see a sketch of the circuit with the summer/winter switch and the LiFePO4 etc included?