bigclive

Quiet Patreon stream link

Here's the link to the quiet stream:-

https://youtube.com/live/VuzNN1TzuvQ

Old tungsten flashing roadwork beacon

Apart from being visually appealing, this unit has one of the most minimalist transistorised lamp flashers I've come across.  Literally two transistors, two resistors and a capacitor.

https://www.youtube.co...

Inside a vintage canned earthquake

This canned earthquake originally came from a UK chain called The Gadget Shop, and is old enough to contain what appears to be a proper mercury tilt switch.

https://youtu.be/DP5H_Tv2mmc

A Temu delight I won't be buying

While getting some more gadgets from Temu for our exploration they decided we might also be interested in this.   While I'm sure many of you would like a demo of this in use, I'm not sure YouTube would approve.

Total teardown of a folding solar panel

These things are all over eBay with very misleading specifications.   This one was sold as a 10W unit, but struggled to muster 2.5W when pointed directly at the sun at noon on a scorching summer day.

The bits could be useful though.

2024-03-04 22:58:45 +0000 UTC View Post

Temu plastic welding gun

This rather intriguing unit passes high current through staples to allow them to be melted into plastic to repair cracked or broken sections.

Probably aimed at repairing the explode-on-impact plastic bumpers used on most modern cars.

2024-03-04 22:29:33 +0000 UTC View Post

Weekend stream link

Here's the link to the weekend stream:-

https://youtube.com/live/s8oHSGsePE0

No circuit board or anything!

Just another laid back video to make things easier while I've been in Glasgow.  I was hoping to make a video or two here, but time has shot by and I'm packing stuff up to send it to the proper filming zone instead.

https:...

Hey Mister - that's a nice light ya got there.

It would be a shame if somebody put DURACELL's in it!

To be fair - they were very much past their expiry date.  But it took a LOT to get them out.

Basically drilling out the entire interior and then trying to get a long flat driver down the sides of the shells to crinkle them in ...

Place your bets. (Flicker alert)

This video is shameless filler to make my life easier while travelling.  But still a worthy video to see the similarities between these lights.  There's clearly some factory in China really banging these out as disposable floodlights.  Possibly even for the hydroponics industry. 2024-02-27 01:28:41 +0000 UTC View Post

Inside the Wago 221 inline connector

Just a quick look inside the Wago 221 inline connector.  Very hard to open due to the way it's made and pressed together, but worth seeing inside.

https://youtu.be/qKNLX3A23hE

Quiet Patreon Stream

Here's the link to the quiet Patreon stream:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onY4EavrMHg

Mini rant removed.

I removed my rant about deskilling from the street light panel video description.  It didn't really fit.

Silica gel vs crystal cat litter desiccant test

This video is the result of a test I did where I measured the humidity absorbing ability of traditional silica gel beads versus a bulk supermarket crystal cat litter.

Quite interesting results.

https://www...

First time I've seen this

It's hard to say whether this fault happened in use or if it was a result of the bad storage of the light after removal.   I've not come across this failure mode before, and it's quite puzzling how it happened.

https...

Weekend stream link

Here's the link to the weekend stream:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ0Xy0Rttv8

Take two. The SmarTap remix with PCBs

The first version of the video didn't go deep enough.  So here's the luxury version with images of the main PCBs for exploration, a look at the (rusty) motors and encoders, and the user interface.

https://youtu.be/1zZzIOk...

Adding a remote control to a fan

Just an ambient thing that I was doing, so I thought I'd make a video while doing it.

It's simple, but it worked out quite well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9CVhAwtIms

The Internet of "dead" things

Such a frustrating thing.  Lots of design work for a product of dubious worth, and the inevitable shut-down of the required remote server to literally have a shower.

I wonder how many people have these in their homes, and how long they will physically last.

2024-02-16 04:23:05 +0000 UTC View Post

Inside a Zoll defibrillator

This is one of the scariest capacitors I've ever removed from a circuit.  Even though the unit had not been used for a long time, I still treated it as potentially holding a charge and applied suitable handling precautions, including applying a 1M resistor across it one lead at a time.

Shady eBay CCTV power supply with "issues"

The single most interesting thing about this power supply, other than the obligatory bad separation and random wire colours, was the switchmode power supply itself.  It's strangely complex - with strong "ballast" type vibes.

2024-02-13 03:36:18 +0000 UTC View Post

Interesting connector with significant flaws

At first I was quite excited by the versatility offered by this connector.  But then I realised it had a few flaws, one of which is quite serious.

The design is pleasing, but has other weaknesses that mean it's not really recommended at all.  The quoted current rating on the conne...

The quiet Patreon weekend stream link

Here's the link to the quiet Patreon stream in its first weekend slot:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL3QlLmIiP4

Chinese street light revisit

I'm not sure if these are actually used as street lights in China, although it's very possible they are.

Having looked at one of these about 6 years ago I thought I'd revisit it and see how things have changed.

I've also go another one here that is bigger, rated 50W and has very good ...

Inside a Zebra hand held barcode scanner

Special thanks to Frost Giant who pointed me in the direction of these being sold on eBay UK.

I'd guess these would be bought for their novelty value, and perhaps the challenge of getting a clean Android install onto them for fun.

They're locked down to the custom application as suppl...

New style LED flicker flame bulb

I was wondering how long it would be before the LED candle flame PCBs would end up inside a glass bulb.  The result is very good.  Lower power, better colour and brighter than the classic neon version.

https://youtu....

Weekend stream link

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

eBay's cheapest wire connectors

These push button wire connectors are about as simple as it is possible to get.  Just three parts - the housing, metal contact and locking plate.

The downside is that they do not use a copper busbar and rely entirely on a springy steel contact against the copper wire.

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Quiet Patreon Stream Link

Here's the link for the quiet Patreon stream.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqPOmmcNk60

Strange solar light with flame effect

This is very typical of these extremely trashy solar lights, where they inflate the power rating and add pointless gimmick features to sell them.  In this case the gimmick is a bit odd and also uses quite a lot of current for a standby effect!

Uh-oh.  Looks like Patreon...