bigclive

Vintage vapes remonetised

Thanks to some of you with Google connections, the vape video was reassessed and then full monetisation restored.

Darn!  Wish I'd held it back for a day or two now.   But there were some less selective advertisers still showing ads on it.

Spam vs 240V - Still trying to clear the smoke!

It turns out that Spam is quite conductive.  But it doesn't fare well at over 4kW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iY9hut8kPY

There's a lot of smoke.   The place still stinks of burnt m...

The Otis button interface so far....

I've spent quite a lot of time exploring this, but the network interface is odd and will take a while to reverse engineer.  The module has a multilayer PCB which doesn't help much as there are hidden tracks inside and chunky ground planes that block light too.

2021-09-28 03:28:26 +0000 UTC View Post

Weekend stream link

Approaching October already.  How time flies.

Here's a link to the weekend stream:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPvlG80uXgM

Teardown of a new MK screwless socket

For a moment I thought they'd used brass plated aluminium for the earth busbar, but it appears to be solid brass plated with a silver-like material.  I say silver-like, because silver has become very expensive due to "investors".

2021-09-27 04:23:15 +0000 UTC View Post

Mystery Microchip IC

I've been exploring what appears to be a networked node for an elevator for call buttons in the car or landing, but have been stumped by the identify of a chip that is marked with Microchip's logo and the number gaa31070aaa1

Any ideas what it might be?  Microchip didn't have a datashee...

Weekend Stream

Here's the link to this weekend's stream:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGkfqL84_fA

I might disagree with this

Apparently the reason YouTube classified my teardown and reverse engineering of the early Chinese vaping device is because my video was:-

Content showing but not focusing on physical harm or distress, including acts carried out in a non-professional, non-controlled environment.

Midweek stream reminder

Starting about 2 hours after I post this:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZh9fvj2x4c

I took the ozone fridge-lemon to bits

I wonder if these are based on a Japanese product.  They have the same style and build quality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlP4uNlrbHA

The output is quite high, so these may be better for lar...

Not a video. Poundland globe crystal fix

The Poundland "vintage solar globe" has a rubbish fake filament light guide that doesn't work.

This script will print a crystal that bayonet caps on in place of the original.

Not sure if the double line-space that Patreon puts in will mess the script up or not.

//Poun...

Patreon mail is being spam filtered

I'm not sure what's happened, but all Patreon mail in both directions is being spam filtered by Gmail right now.  (Probably including this one.)

I have my own filter set up that diverts your messages to a dedicated Patreon folder, so I do still see them all.

This was a treat for all the wrong reasons

A seemingly innocent solar rechargeable camping light with USB charging ports.

https://youtu.be/ovKcdIZdAoY

I'd say the SOS mode in particular is "unique".

Mid-week Patreon stream

Here's the link to the mid-week Patreon stream:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZh9fvj2x4c

New Poundland Halloween stuff

This is much better.  New Poundland stuff that has great hackability for making custom items.

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

The solar skull and pumpkin have better batteries than the...

Is this video OK?

This is one of those awkward videos where I try and keep things simple, but fail completely.

It's supposed to be a guide to using your first (cheap) multimeter.  But I may have gone a bit too technical.  It's quite hard making a video aimed at people new to electronics, as you hav...

As predicted - not suitable for most advertisers

I knew it was going to happen, but it was still worth doing the reverse engineering and putting the video up.  This is one of many things that makes me appreciate Patreon support so much.

Especially given that it was a small and tricky PCB to reverse engineer.

The MBC returns for whisky and dumplings

Another Manx Beard Club (not a real club) live stream involving attempts to identify mystery whiskies and partake of equally mystery dumplings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBCYGmicb-s

Please note t...

Weekend stream link

Here's the link to the weekend stream:-

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

Stealth Stream

I'll be doing a sneaky extra mid-week stream.  It'll start as Patreon only for at least the first half hour, then open up to the masses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg1y0resxPc

At this point i...

Really clever "memory" circuit in air "freshener"

This unit can actually tell if the cartridge has been unplugged - even when it's not powered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cm9AO0qD7k

And the way it does it with discrete components is VERY clever....

Will it be demonetized?

Every time I make a video about anything vaping related it seems to be demonetized automatically.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SuW3mp6sMQ

But I don't care.  It's the technology and the fun of ...

3A lithium charger module

This model seems really common on eBay.  It can be found by searching for TP4056 3A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFmB28k4Ygw

The design is very simple.  Just a cluster of four standard cha...

I've made an offer on the IOM workshop

Bit scary, but I've made an offer for buying the old industrial building for use as a workshop.

I'll keep you informed if it goes ahead.

Q&A part 3

The third and final part.

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

Q&A part 2

The second part:-

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

First of the Q&A videos

I recorded this in Glasgow, but the audio was low and there was a glitch with the video format that stopped it working with the audio processing software.

So I recorded it again, but divided it into three sections to make it more manageable.  Here's the first one:-

2021-09-13 00:32:37 +0000 UTC View Post

This weekend's stream link

Here's the link to this weekend's stream:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KCkQwNyE8E

Patreon stream in progress

Just a reminder:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk3ajoMuRNs

Questions and answers?

I'm in Glasgow this week, so there aren't any videos coming from the normal bench.

I was thinking of doing a questions and answers video.  So fire away with questions - technical and otherwise.