From bigclivedotcom. I’m not sure exactly who these are aimed at. It’s such a ludicrous concept of an adapter that lets your phone "walk" large distances without you having to get involved. Maybe there’s a situation where people have their phones monitored for movement remotely? At least the base has other uses. It was glued…

From bigclivedotcom. This was sent a while ago by Mike for our exploration. It’s a machine start/stop button that automatically releases when the power fails. In this case the button was not latching properly. See if you can spot the really dumb mistake I made in the video. I prefer to leave the mistakes in,…

From bigclivedotcom. This circuit was actually very enjoyable to reverse engineer, as it had some unusual components with no Google hits. I had to work out what they did by their circuit location, and then verify that with a logic probe (while powering the PCB from a bench supply at just under 5V.) Once I…

From bigclivedotcom. A look inside some of the more recent LED candles with a more realistic colour and flame effect. Compared to the first LED candles that were often sodium yellow and flickered violently, these ones are much more subtle, and gently undulate the intensity of the warm white LED. The LIDL version has the…

From bigclivedotcom. This is a look at a very clever design of a float operated water valve intended to be a virtually universal fit for all types of toilet cistern. It has many unique features that make it easy to use and service. After making the video I discovered that when the rotating float assembly…

From bigclivedotcom. Compared to other similar units, this keychain flashlight/torch has much better circuitry and charges quickly. This unit has a few modes. Press and hold the button for brief flashlight mode. The main LED lights at full intensity while the button is pressed. To latch the main LED on, double click the button and…

From bigclivedotcom. For such a low component count circuit, these new era power supply ICs take a bit of time to get your head around. Aside from the fact that they can accommodate over 375V DC directly (500V MOSFET), they have the MOSFET, current sensing and lots of control circuitry crammed into a tiny transistor-sized…

From bigclivedotcom. There are lots of videos showing these things working. But they often have jump-cuts in the video to hide that fact that they didn’t work very well. The online reviews are also very mixed. Maybe there are good and bad ones. I got a set of these from eBay to try after a…

From bigclivedotcom. An unusual item I found on eBay. It’s a bare three phase 10A 240/415V industrial noise filter for use on equipment with variable frequency drives and other devices that could create high frequency electrical noise. The most notable features are the large common mode suppression choke with three separate windings on a common…

From bigclivedotcom. Not the most dangerous product I’ve taken apart, but one that is much more likely to be in common use, thanks to extreme promotion on marketing sites. Where do I even start with this? Totally non-compliant plug with no fuse. Copper coated aluminium flex. Completely metal-free earth/ground wire. Random polarity colour assignment. What…

From bigclivedotcom. This video applies to the "universal socket" power strips that seem to be flooding the market at the moment. This one was branded Chiya, but there are many similar brands. One of the perils of buying from online marketplaces is that you can get things that do not comply with any safety standards.…

From bigclivedotcom. Why use just one microcontroller when you can use two. It’s clear that this is a modular design where the panel can just control a simple light or something with more features like this one. But there’s a compromise. It means that the light defaults to on and half intensity at dusk and…

From bigclivedotcom. A look inside a vintage massager that may be in the region of 75 years old. The white plastic has gone very brittle and was easy to damage, so if you have one of these and decide to open it, take care not to tighten the screws too much in case the case…

From bigclivedotcom. These modules are very common on the usual online retail sites, but the information on using them is very vague. So here’s a guide to using them. The modules can be powered by a micro USB cable or a DC supply of 6 to 30V. In reality I recommend using between 8V and…

From bigclivedotcom. These seem very common on sites like AliExpress, and are distinctive for their use of a traditional cylindrical lithium cell. In keeping with the rest of the design, they have used a really cheap and low capacity 14500 cell that clocked in at just 200mAh, so a valid upgrade could be putting in…

From bigclivedotcom. Given how cheap these are, it’s amazing the amount of technology inside them. They have thermal overload sensing for low current faults and they have magnetic short-circuit sensing for high current faults. The trip mechanism is quite complicated due to the need to be able to trip when someone tries jamming the toggle…

From bigclivedotcom. Another video and yet another recording device. Every single one has its quirks, and apparently this one likes to do explosive bench-clutter reveals unexpectedly by zooming back out much further than it started off. Let me know what you think of the audio. I did notice a close-up focus glitch. But as with…

From bigclivedotcom. This unit is basically a small heated ladle for melting things like waxes. It’s intended for wax seal collectors, but probably has other specialist uses too. My test with the thermocouple showed a maximum temperature of 160C in the empty heater dish, but two different thermal imaging cameras showed it was topping out…

From bigclivedotcom. I’m wondering if this is surplus stock from the pandemic. It’s a contactless switch to allow you to turn the lights in a room on and off without touching the switch. You simply wave your hand in front of it to turn them on or off. The circuitry is better than expected, and…

From bigclivedotcom. This product somehow manages to entirely miss the point of a doorbell. To create a short and distinctive sound that alerts you to someone being at the door (or at a retail counter). Instead the unit has just two simple chimes, a longer westminster chime and then long and annoying tunes. The 30…

From bigclivedotcom. These buttons are often supplied in packs with various receivers. This one is 433MHz, which is fairly universal. The circuitry in this unit is quite unusual and manages to give a quiescent current of zero without requiring that the miniature button passes the full circuit current. The control chip used is an EV1527…

From bigclivedotcom. Just as I was about to make this video eFIXX dropped one on the same subject. Now I’ve made mine I’m going to check out theirs and see how they compare. This kit is an extremely good value wire ferrule kit from Lidl. For less than the cost of even a basic bootlace…

From bigclivedotcom. In hindsight, using an automated insulation tester to test for capacitor failure was not ideal. Aside from the fact that it was doing an automated test as opposed to just putting out the desired voltage, it probably also auto-discharged the capacitor after the test. It would have been much better if I’d tested…

From bigclivedotcom. I got a couple of salvaged substation lights and they both had the classic strobing issue. I thought it would be interesting to see if we can fix them, and I’ll probably install one of them in my garage workshop, since they kinda suit that application. It’s also worth mentioning that these lights…

From bigclivedotcom. A close look at the construction of a demonstrator panel for displaying the colours of LED neon strip. It’s very similar to the ones used by the real neon industry to show the phosphor, glass and gas colours. But the ease of driving LEDs (just a 12V supply) makes this one a lot…

From bigclivedotcom. It’s a nice change to find that this unit doesn’t need a button press to make it start. As soon as power is applied it starts atomising water (or other compatible liquids) from its four ultrasonic disks. On 5V it passes about 600mA of current. It might be alternating the power between MOSFET…

From bigclivedotcom. This thing is a monster! It’s basically a quiet centrifugal fan that pulls air in from your attic via filters, and then blows it down into your home to create a slight positive air pressure that drives existing stale air out through any path it can find. This can solve humidity buildup issues…

From bigclivedotcom. Quite a handy little module. Its primary purpose is for use behind an etched mirror where it illuminates a suitable symbol for acting as a touch switch. This module could also be used behind a plastic or glass panel with a suitable printed graphic. The circuitry is based around what I think is…

From bigclivedotcom. It seems to be a part of japanese culture now that they stick an ioniser in every product. Each prominent brand has their own version and bold marketing claims, like Sharp with their Plasmacluster units and Panasonic with their surprisingly complex Nanoe units. This is a self contained rechargeable unit that combines both…

From bigclivedotcom. Despite all the hype surrounding Larq and their appearance on a TV show, the harsh reality is that there is nothing new about their product. The UVC water sterilising bottles have been around since at least 2009 using other more powerful sources of UVC. The use of the LED is just a simpler…

From bigclivedotcom. It’s bad enough that these lights are claiming to be germicidal when they are absolutely not. But the power rating of one was worryingly high for such a small light. These also have the most basic buck regulator module in them with no output capacitor, which is strangely intriguing. I wonder if that…

From bigclivedotcom. It’s eight years since I first made a video about the Nitecore Tube keyring light. In the original video I explored the circuitry, but didn’t fully reverse engineer it. I did this time, and it’s a bit weird – I get the feeling that it’s so successful as it is that they don’t…

From bigclivedotcom. I’m currently using a different device to record the videos, and there is an issue with microphone placement or automatic gain control causing audio pops. I’ll be trying to address that issue or will switch back to the old device if I can resolve an issue with being unable to delete old video…

From bigclivedotcom. Something different. A look at the complex construction of a Ferrero Rondnoir chocolate. The machine that makes these must be fairly complex. The bit that perplexes me is how they can coat the wafer granules so thoroughly without catching air pockets. Are they submerged completely, or is the chocolate curtain so liquid that…

From bigclivedotcom. It took a while, but I finally found a fake repeater on eBay. It looks the part and has the obligatory blue LED, but when plugged in, no network will appear as it does with real repeaters. For the technically non inclined they will probably just see the blue LED lit and assume…

From bigclivedotcom. I wasn’t expecting this tiny rechargeable light to have FOUR circuit boards. It was extremely destructive to get apart due to the way it’s manufactured. The circuit boards are :- Charging PCB. Contact and clamping PCB. LED control PCB. And the LED PCB itself. The way the charging PCB is locked in place…

From bigclivedotcom. This video got off to a really bad start with my usual recording device deciding it couldn’t delete previous videos. Then I started the video by saying that the unit runs for 15 seconds, when in fact it runs for 45 seconds. Other than that, this very suspicious device looks like a single…

From bigclivedotcom. A look inside the newest version of the classic Air Wick aroma diffuser, that has been around for many decades in various styles. These devices use a heater to diffuse a carrier oil with aroma into the air. The classic type has a fixed heating power of a few watts and uses an…

From bigclivedotcom. One of these lights will last for over 50 years. Spoilers – it’s not the electronic one. But the downside is that it is also massively less efficient. The ballast dissipates almost as much power as the tube does. A rough calculation shows that it’s mainly due to the winding resistance of the…

From bigclivedotcom. By request, after the previous 100g mystery solder video – here’s the video where I weigh the solder from the 20g and 50g reels. Place your bets now please. For those wondering about the weird wording on the video’s thumbnail image, it’s based on an old TV program called Banzai which did very…

From bigclivedotcom. On some shows we have physical lighting cues to move lights or effects equipment into position during a show. This is one of several short videos I shared on Patreon during the load in and run of the show (The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo).

From bigclivedotcom. We got loads of new lights on the show last year. So new that we had to update the firmware a few times as we reported bugs. During the load-in and run of the show I was posting various short videos on Patreon.

From bigclivedotcom.

From bigclivedotcom. These used to be very common in places like Chinese restaurants, and were sold for home use until concerns were raised about their quality of construction and combustibility.

From bigclivedotcom. A look inside a generic repeater. There is no guarantee of security with these devices.

From bigclivedotcom.

From bigclivedotcom. This material is a thin plastic strip that projects light out from its edge as a sharp line. It’s very reminiscent of the simpler electroluminescent or side emitting fibre products, but this version isn’t just RGB, but fully addressable along its length. The construction is very simple, and it uses the slimmest side…

From bigclivedotcom. Although this unit has been cost cut to the edge in terms of its controller, it would be the ideal base for a custom RGB control project. It has a spiral with 36 WS2812B style LEDs in it. If using with a different controller, make sure you double check the wire colours. In…

From bigclivedotcom. When I bought this I was expecting a simple vibration switch and an LED that flickered when movement was sensed. What I was NOT expecting was a microcontroller and a multi-axis accelerometer chip. But here we have it. A fishing float that costs 1 or 2 pounds/dollars, and yet has solid-state motion sensing.…

From bigclivedotcom. Not just a dollar for the light – but including shipping too. I guess that it has pretty much the same materials as a bulb, but in an easier to ship package. This is one of those new era lights where you can’t actually change the bulb. So when it fails (probably within…

From bigclivedotcom. The evolution of LED floodlights has been fast. The new era of very cheap and flickery DOB (Driver On Board) based LED panels has meant that this original style with separate LED and driver has become almost obsolete. I can understand why the manufacturers moved to the cheaper integrated LEDs and why they…

From bigclivedotcom. These lights are intended for use in models, costumes and other applications where button actuation isn’t easy. Instead they use a hall-effect sensor to allow switching by holding a magnet near the module. The single-LED one has super low standby current, but the bigger multi-channel one is not putting the microcontroller into a…

From bigclivedotcom. As massage devices go, this one is quite vigorous. Instead of eccentric weights on a motor shaft it is actually using a cam and piston for a more percussive effect. In the video I weirdly referred to the batteries as AA, but they are a pair of 18650 cells. Not sure of the…

From bigclivedotcom. I saw these Ramadan countdown calendars in ASDA, and thought it would be interesting to see what shapes and symbols they used for the chocolate pieces. Ramadan is a Muslim religious celebration, a bit like Christmas, but not associated with the christian God or religion. It involves fasting during the day, with food…

From bigclivedotcom. This PIR (Passive InfraRed) detector is designed to replace a switch where there is no neutral. That makes it much more complicated to derive power, since it has to be able to power itself while the load in series with it is on. The circuitry is quite clever. While the load is off…

From bigclivedotcom. After releasing the video of my first look at this recalled socket, my Patreon supporters suggested doing a flame test on it. So here it is. Still no obvious issue though. It’s possible that the issue may affect some specific batches or that the arcing may only occur after some time and with…

From bigclivedotcom. Initially I thought these sockets had double pole switches, and the issue was arc flash between the live and neutral switch metalwork, but it appears to be a different issue. (If there actually IS an issue.) You can find the recall information at this link:- https://www.gov.uk/product-safety-alerts-reports-recalls/product-safety-report-mk-electric-mk-essentials-electrical-three-pin-sockets-with-switches-2411-0130 Other bodies are implying that it poses…

From bigclivedotcom. In the past we used to take it as standard that LEDs were super-robust and rarely ever failed. They might have reduced slightly in intensity over time, but they still lit. Then we got the new era gallium nitride thin-film LEDs and the salesmen promised the same 100,000 hours lifespan, but it turned…

From bigclivedotcom. It’s amazing how cheap a mass produced device like this can be. This is a very basic WiFi repeater that will extend the range of an existing WiFi router by receiving and then retransmitting the data in both directions. It uses a dedicated router chip with a 16 Mbit flash memory for storing…

From bigclivedotcom. The first versions of these I looked at were very hand-made looking, with standard rippled diffuser plastic panels glued into a cube on a wooden base. But this unit is a very evolved version with a custom moulded case and wood-coloured base with all the required mountings for ease of manufacture. The effect…