eBay radio remote controls. (220V with a 125V relay!)
Some common and fairly useful little remote control modules. The unit is let down by having a relay with 125V contacts (on a 220V unit) and no thermal fuse to protect against relay contact failure. The ability to remember quite a lot of codes from a wide range of remotes like wall switches and keyfobs is useful. Note that clearing/programming codes requires the pressing of a button on a live circuit board. To clear all codes hold the button down with an insulated tool until the LED strobes. To program a new device, press the button once and then immediately press the desired button on the new remote. All devices will have to have the same operating frequency and transmit compatible codes. If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:- http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pywKffd8qB4
Guinness is a popular dark Irish beer in the UK. It's best to drink it in Ireland as it doesn't seem to travel well. The main characteristic is the very fine bubbles that almost seem to flow downwards when it is poured, and create a distinct drinking experience with a characteristic striking contrast between the black liquid and white head of foam on top.
One way that Guinness have tried to make the drink more transportable is to ship it in cans to be served in glasses that are then "surged" on an ultrasonic mat. This causes intense micro-cavitation in the liquid giving the correct texture to the beer as opposed to the coarser effect of carbonation alone. It works well.
This also ensures the Guinness is very predictable with no storage and piping issues in bars that can't accommodate a proper dispensing system.
The surger is also available for home use with the specific cans of the beer. I'd guess it also has other uses where a burst of ultrasonic energy is required.
Note that these units do require a small amount of water in the base to couple the ultrasonic energy into the glass.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAnCpuYVYbI
Although these could be lights from any part of the world that has a 220 - 240V supply, I specifically describe these as Polish because they are part of a box of stuff sent from Poland by Michal for our technical amusement.
The construction is interesting because they are using a simple resistive dropper with a small number of resistors. To run so many LEDs in series (100 as 25 each of red, green, yellow and blue) is quite complex as they will only light when the sinewave exceeds the combined forward voltage. I'm guessing they probably experimented with resistor values to get the correct current at the highest expected voltage.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PulkOR_c11I
Healthy Papa's back with an amazing home DIY tip for ensuring your bottom is always vibrant and sterile.
This wonderfully invigorating project involves diffusing the wondrously healthful Deep Heat through a roll of standard toilet paper to energise it and turn it into SUPERHERO toilet paper for an unforgettable bottom-contact experience.
Remember to subscribe to Healthy Papa for more top tipz.
Note that the liberation of oily vapours of unknown combustibility in your oven may not be a good idea and therefore it should not actually be done.
Some people's bottoms may be sensitive to the ingredients used in Deep Heat and therefore you should test a small area of their bottom with a dab of Deep Heat on your finger first.
(This is a spoof "tutorial" video. Don't actually apply Deep Heat to your bottom as it causes a strong burning sensation.)
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7dzQFk81rU
These little stickers made by Micro-Pak are designed to keep your garments or shoes mold free during storage and shipping.
It's possible that the active component might be Sodium metabisulfite which has antimicrobial properties.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtVLnnINCY8
I'd like to thank Chris for sending this fuse. It was one of three used with a 6 ton resin potted 33kV transformer.
Sorry for the overzealous audio levels at the start. I didn't realise the forehead mic was going to pick my voice up so well.
The fuses have spring loaded pins so that if one fails either by overcurrent or thermally, it fires out a spring loaded pin that then trips an isolator. I'm not 100% sure where the auxiliary wire that allows the spring to release is connected to, since most of it had been obliterated in normal operation. I wonder if part of the triggering is done by pressure build up in the fuse when it blows.
A link to one of Rodalco's videos showing a trip mechanism:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVu1ALLxUY4
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfVc_5M_2_c
This experiment involved exposed electrical connections, and should not be copied as it poses a high risk of electric shock. Let me do the dangerous bit while you watch from a safe distance.
It turns out that the smoked sausage available at the local Shoprite is from the Netherlands, where it's known as Rookworst - which literally translates to smoked sausage.
It's ingredients are mainly mechanically separated chicken and pork, formed into a sausage paste.
Let's see if it can beat the German Bratwurst's 957 Watts.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5qDoQv_wog
A very basic unit with minimal electronics and a simple three position switch. Off, Low and High.
I was hoping this unit would contain an ioniser module, and it turns out to have a proper bipolar ioniser module in it, with both positive and negative ion emitters in a very basic configuration.
Ionisers like this emulate a natural outdoor process where environmental factors like wind, rain and sunshine cause electrostatic effects that disassociate air molecules, causing them to form into short-lived molecules that seek stability again by interacting with airborne contaminants.
The concept is that indoor air quickly loses those natural active elements, so they are replaced by units like this using electrostatic effects.
This is a very controversial area of science with some very bold profit-motivated marketing campaigns and commercially biased "research" swamping out the poorly-funded independent scientific research.
The unit has a simple two speed shaded pole fan motor and very little else other than the usual pleated paper filter with a layer of activated carbon mesh.
The simplicity and lack of fancy controls means this type of unit should be fairly reliable. It's possible that the filter is a standard size as used in some vehicles as a cabin filter. The dimensions are 20mm thick and 154mm by 180mm. A quick search on eBay at the time of making this video shows this small and basic filter being sold at a staggering cost of £35 plus shipping. That is over three times the price I was expecting, and similar to the cost of the entire unit. It's reminiscent of the printer industry and its astronomically expensive ink refills.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:- https://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
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#ElectronicsCreators
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5glH_EO_ZRQ
Such an odd twist on these vapour producing devices. This is apparently the MKII version of this product, and probably the last here due to the imminent ban of disposable versions.
I'd like to thank James for sending a picture of the circuitry in one of these. It looked interesting enough that I bought two for us to explore.
The design seems to have been optimised for machine manufacture with much less wiring and a PCB that separates the pressure sensor and the control chip. Annoyingly the chip seems to be an economy version without the internal charging circuitry, as it would have made recharging it much easier with the two pin heater connector.
The lithium cell in a capacitor style package is a bit scary to remove from the PCB, as there is a lot of ground plane metal in the vicinity of the positive connection so shorting it out would be quite easy - with the usual freaky lithium cell results. I recommend running the cell down to 3V before attempting removal, as the biggest hazard will be the potential stored energy.
A hot air gun for carefully melting both solder pads at once might be a viable option.
Although marked as being 360mAh I have run a few charge/discharge cycles and both cells took a charge of approximately 280mAh, so the capacity will be slightly less. That kinda fits the size of the package with the space taken up by the rubber plug at the lead end. It's close to half the original cell capacity, meaning the device will last half as long! The rival "crystal" version still seems to be using a 500mAh cell for much better run time.
All the prominent manufacturers of these devices have known that a ban was inevitable, and have had pod based rechargeable versions available for a while. I'm not sure why the shops continue to push the non rechargeable versions. I guess the imminent ban will fix that issue, ironically taking up LESS space on their shelves! It will also unfortunately mean the end of the glorious street-lithium era where the technical geeks would swoop on these discarded devices to harvest their lithium cells for projects.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:- https://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPm_Sd0fCrA
These lights have a really nice case and appearance. I actually had high hopes of them being a great light. They even seemed to have a dedicated all-in-one charge control and PIR monitoring chip.
Then I dug a little deeper.....
A simple diode test between the solar panel input pins and the power pins of the chip showed a single diode drop. So the unit does appear to be using the built in protection diodes of a standard microcontroller. I tested to see if the unit did anything to regulate the charge on the lithium cells by turning on the LED filament to shunt the voltage down a bit, but it didn't.
At this point it appears to be luck whether the lithium cell gets overcharged or not.
Thankfully they're fairly low capacity. The large cell measured 500mAh, the smaller one measured 300mAh.
Two improvements to these lights would be adding a small protection module to the lithium cell, and adding a resistor to limit the maximum current through the LED filament. That will also give longer operational time on a charge.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crYwt_sFNz8