A look inside a flickery clone of the Luxa starburst pyramid
I got this a while ago, but after making a video about the real thing I thought it would be good to follow it up with one about the clone.
Right up until I made the video the clone flickered horribly as it rotated. I was expecting a very low grade slip ring assembly, but it's actually not too bad. The flickering may have been caused by the lubricant causing the contacts to ride up on a layer of oil.
I still prefer the neat PCB based slip ring assembly in the Luxa version.
The original also has a spot welded stainless steel frame to protect the prismatic film, but the cheap one has no protection, so it's easy to crease or crack the film.
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A very simple device. I've never really considered that LCDs have an accurate threshold voltage at which a segment will change state. I get the feeling this display has a higher voltage than average.
The use of printed resistors is an interesting evolution from the traditional surface mount ones. I suppose that a variation in carbon ink thickness isn't too critical as it still results in an equally scaled voltage divider.
I specifically avoid using intrusive mid-run video adverts for a more relaxing viewing experience.
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Maybe I should become the lamp-fairy and swap dead bulbs for new. This isn't the first dead LED bulb I've snaffled from a pub. The most notable one being a blue LED downlight from the toilets of a bar of ill repute.
In this instance though, I took the flickering bulb out to see if I could see an obvious LED failure, but then realised how HOT it was for not producing light - and decided it was better not to put it back in.
Totally crunchy inside, but enough evidence to trace the key chip manufacturer and deduce which of the example schematics had been used. It also explained why a dead bulb was still dissipating 2W of power as heat.
One of the key points of failure was the use of all the LED filaments in series, meaning that a single failed LED caused the whole bulb to flicker and go dim. It's also quite interesting that the reason the base was still getting hot and dissipating a surprising 2W of power was because of the triac-dimmer friendly extra load section.
It also identified a mystery component that I have come across in the past, but never worked out what it was.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDBSEj0Bp8c
The quest for cheap and particularly dubious battery chargers continues with this fairly neat three AA cell charger for NiMh or NiCd cells. But only three at once. This is another of those products that is worth getting for the case alone.
This charger has no electrical overhead for a reverse discharge diode, so if left plugged into an unplugged charger it could self-discharge or try to run other devices in reverse.
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Every year I try to catch some video of the show load-in, but fail because there's just no time to stop. But I grabbed some very quick clips from the main load in and subsequent troubleshooting on rogue lights. The lights are literally coming from one show or tour onto our show, so some of them do tend to require a bit of maintenance to get them back to 100% operation.
Video and sound quality is a bit patchy because of the less than ideal filming conditions and spontaneous nature.
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I'm pretty sure I've looked at one of these before, but there's no harm in opening another one.
This one appears to have skimped a bit on the output voltage, so it doesn't seem to work well on tiny flies, but does work on larger bugs.
The output discharge resistor is actually 22 Megohm. (red,red,blue - 2, 2, 6 zeroes.) That makes more sense than the 2.2Mohm value.
I did a thermal test on the transistor and it only clocked in at around 30C so it's not being run too hard. I didn't test the battery current as I couldn't get my DC clamp around a primary current path.
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These are an odd little thing. You stick them on the end of your car or truck door and when opened they start strobing as a warning to other traffic.
At first I wondered how they would fit in between the side of a door and the frame, but it turns out that on most cars there is a reasonable gap.
The devices use double sided pads to attach in place and use a magnet as a sensing device for when the door is closed. Each unit contains a single easily replaced CR2032 lithium cell and quiescent current is very low.
The units are available in a wide variety of colours. Here's a generic eBay search link for them. Target price is around $3.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=car+door+warning+magnetic+induction+led&_sacat=0&LH_BIN=1&_sop=15
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Many moons ago Osram introduced a rather neat little LED light called a Dot-It which was a robust little battery operated light with three LEDs that could be turned on and off by pressing the front.
It was inevitably ripped off big-time by the Chinese, helped greatly by the fact that it was originally considered a trendy designer light and carried a matching price tag.
The Chinese copies do not carry a high price tag. In fact you generally get between one and three for a pound! The internal construction is usually a small triangular PCB with an LED at each corner, resistor and a latching push-switch in the middle, But there have been versions with no PCB but just a bit of plastic with the LED and switch leads stuffed through holes and the leads bent and soldered. Sometimes the resistor is used as one of the battery connection leads, or sometimes it's on the PCB.
The construction is usually a twist-off self adhesive base that reveals the battery compartments for three AAA cells. The internal body is either screwed (rare) or glued into the outer housing. A chromed plastic reflector serves to keep the LED PCB aligned and also flexes enough (due to slots) to allow the clear cover on the front to push the whole reflector back against the push-on-off switch.
They're very hackable if you are lucky enough to find some that aren't glued together too well. You can change the resistor for a longer run time, or change the colour of the LEDs to your own choice.
As mentioned in the video I adapted some of these with different coloured LEDs for existing lights used quite effectively as part of the giant killer robot costumes (Roboidz) used on Mission 2110 (the robots also ended up being used again in a Doctor Who episode called Dinosaurs on a Spaceship.) You can also adapt them to be powered by a standard 5V supply or battery pack like low-power downlights. Again, I adapted some in this way for the same robots when they were put on display in the BBC's Pacific Quay studios in Glasgow. A common 5V supply was used to power all the push-lights and also the scanning eye PCB.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2frpxszpRaw
This self powering remote control switch was completely different to what I was expecting.
It's a very interesting circuit, especially the way it uses just two connections per rocker switch to generate the power and also tell which way it was toggled.
Given that sharp impacts can cause loss of magnetism over time, I wonder how long the switch will last.
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After my video showing the circuitry of the Lidl Parkside soldering iron, and how a physical component change could allow the default ferocious 500 Celsius tip temperature to be customised, a few viewers got in touch and described a calibration mode that you can access via the single button on the front. Here's how it seems to work:-
Allow the iron to come up to temperature so the LED lights green.
To lower the tip temperature, press and hold the button until the LED turns red.
Press the button repeatedly with roughly one press per 4 degrees Celsius.
During the pressing the LED will light solid green to show that it is registering the presses.
When finished, wait for the LED to go red again and then press and hold the button until it goes back to normal mode with the static green LED.
To increase the tip temperature, press and hold the button until the LED first turns red and then starts flashing green.
Press the button repeatedly with roughly one press per 4 degrees Celsius.
During the pressing the LED will light solid green to show that it is registering the presses.
When finished, wait for the LED to start flashing green again and then press and hold the button until it goes back to normal mode with the static green LED.
Some experimentation may be required, as I got variable results suggesting that button press timing may be critical. (fast presses seem to work best.)
I'm not sure if this adjustment is documented somewhere or if someone worked it out by using the "press and hold to see if something happens" trick. Kudos to the person who discovered this.
Using this technique can bring the tip temperature down from the default 480/500C to a more suitable tin/lead soldering temperature with about 26 presses in "red" mode. If your iron is "smoking" the solder and making it dark and crusty very quickly, then doing this will extend the life of the bits greatly, and also result in a much faster warm-up time of just 30 seconds.
If you go too far and the solder isn't melting correctly (lead free?) you can nudge it up again by entering "green flashing" mode and doing three clicks to nudge it up about 12C at a time as needed.
If you have a soldering iron temperature tester, then the unit does seem to respond in real time when in the calibration mode, allowing for the irons thermal inertia. So you can theoretically leave it in calibration mode while nudging the temperature up or down one click at a time before exiting calibration.
Let me know if this works for you, noting that later models may change the software or default temperature over time.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkvocvlF8jw