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Safe USB version of the Gillians Diamonds lamp. (With PCB file.)
updated
It used very early white LEDs that look a bit tame by modern standards, but were cutting edge back then. Note that NiMH cells are not like lithium cells. They can handle trickle charging for reasonable durations due to the chemistry recombining end of charge outgassing back into electrolyte.
The circuit also has a weird anomaly that looks like it was either a crackpot idea or a mistake.
But on the whole, I give the circuit an 8 out of 10 for functionality. While a bit cramped inside, a lot of shaped insulators had been inserted for good electrical separation.
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I bought this unit a while ago for a long term test of different units. Many of the other units had annoying technical issues, including one that saw its own foam and kept squirting more out, thinking a hand was there. And another that would crash and turn off every time foam was dispensed (probably an undersized lithium cell).
These units do tend to wear out over time, and a very common issue is the foam enhancer blocking. I may force some water through the foam enhancer in reverse in this unit to try and clear any debris out of the very fine moussing mesh. It does sound slower than I recall, so it could have an issue with loss of lubricant on the pumps wobble plate, or is perhaps struggling to push the liquid through a clogged mesh.
Nice logical circuitry though, and the software seems to be pretty good too. The standby battery life is exceptional given that the hand sensor remains active 24/7.
The foam pumps in these units are a dedicated unit designed for the many hand-soap or sanitiser foaming dispensers in use. The use of foam instead of liquid soap means that a refill lasts ages, but still gives you the effect of a good portion of soap.
The sensor PCB was very nicely implemented, with it's little black foam surrounds to ensure low infrared leakage between the emitter and detector. A test of the detector showed a massive change in resistance between ambient light and pointing an infrared remote at it. Literally from 10's of megohms to tens of kilohms.
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The heater has a resistance of 24,000 ohms, so at 240V it will pass 10mA and dissipate 2.4W of heat. Local variants will have a different resistance value for a similar power at your supply voltage.
Some aromas are based on oil as a carrier, and others seem to be based on glycol. It may depend on the aroma chemicals used. The packaging of this unit specifically describes it as a scented oil unit.
These units could be an interesting short-notice source of a small heater block, complete with heat resistant sleeving.
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Removing the motor was tricky. I ended up having to use a hacksaw to carefully cut a slot through the plastic casing to allow it to be parted enough with a flat-blade screwdriver to allow the motor to be extracted. If the tip is cut off it may allow the motor to be pushed out.
The eccentric weight came off the 1mm shaft very easily.
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The LEDs are wired as a long parallel string with visible intensity drop across them when bundled together. By cutting the string shorter the intensity of the remaining LEDs will increase.
Note that these are the type of sleeved LED that will inevitably wick in water and corrode. But the solar panel can be repurposed for other stuff if that happens.
As with most solar lights, there is scope to customise them by changing the inductor to set a new LED current according to how much sunshine you get. The NiMH cell can be upgraded and the LED string can be adjusted in length.
If you have a window that catches a lot of sunlight, these may be suitable for use indoors too, and should last a lot longer due to being kept dry.
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The weird choppy sinewave is definitely screwing with the test readings. I think the energy meter got the most accurate result. It suggests I may have been running the LEDs quite hard. In hindsight, that 1K resistor is probably getting quite hot too.
The LEDs sold on eBay in packs of 100 by BestHongKong and ChiWing were cheap compared to the high cost of individual LEDs locally, but had reliability issues, as many of the first gallium nitride LEDs did at the time. Having been accustomed to the indestructibility of traditional red LEDs it was a surprise to discover that the new technology was not as robust.
I learned about the unreliability the hard way when I built some of their blue and white LEDs into TV props. Fortunately the failures kinda matched the scene, so it wasn't so visible.
The 3D printed ioniser case is for the universal 100-240V modules, so it will work anywhere in the world. It should also fit the 12V modules too. Once I get back from this trip I'll play about with the design and see how it evolves. I like the conical design, since it elevates the ion emitter above the table and creates a slight upward airflow.
This ioniser is for a friend who sells paranormal research tools, and wants to see how the electrostatic charge in the air affects the charge sensing ghost detectors.
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Now that other countries outwith Europe are discovering the convenience and versatility of the Wago connectors, I thought it would be worth showing some enclosures designed specifically for them.
The Wagobox capsule could be very useful for mounting outdoor electronic modules in a way that protects them from the elements. Things like WiFi or LoRa nodes come to mind.
As with the other products in the range, these units seem logical and functional. The metal bonding plates for steel wire armour cables seem to be well implemented.
As always, I'm open to the thoughts of people who have used these products, and how they have fared over time. Let me know your experiences in the comments area.
Here's a link to the connexbox website (not a sponsor).
connexbox.com
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These are visually nice buttons and have a solid feel due to the stainless steel actuator, albeit that it's pressing a fairly standard tactile switch. The 24V LED circuit restricts their use in lower voltage circuits. (Elevators and other industrial equipment tend to use 24V DC control circuit power.)
The connector and pinout is different to the Otis one, and bizarrely the three wire version versus the four wire one just has two pins shorted with a blob of solder as a common +24V.
The other oddity is the plastic retainer being a snap fit onto the stainless steel button. I wonder if those plastic parts crack much.
Here's the link I got the buttons from. Note that there are many other sellers of similar buttons.
aliexpress.com/item/1005006015123930.html
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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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As with most solar lights, if you really like this one, then it's worth spending a little bit of time waterproofing the interior. Whether that's using a lacquer on the PCB or some form of grease on the PCB and battery contacts to keep water away from them, it's worth doing. I wonder if a spray of mechanic's fluid film would work.
The inductor sets the LED intensity and affects the run time. Places with lower amounts of sunlight could use a higher value inductor like 220uH to 330uH. Places with high levels of sunlight could get a bit more intensity with a lower value like 56uH.
This could be a nice symbolic garden light for members of the furry fandom. Or it could be hacked to run on a USB cable and resistor for indoor use.
This light came from Temu (not a sponsor), but is available from other online sellers too:-
temu.com/goods.html?_bg_fs=1&goods_id=601099519077930
A search for solar paw light comes up with many similar listings. I think this one cost around £4 for one.
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The reality is that some very old "fast movement" glitter lamps contained solvents like trichlorotrifluoroethane which could break down into phosgene gas when exposed to intense flames. But the reality is that even with a building fire, the risk would be extremely low.
Trichlorotrifluoroethane is no longer used due to being a solvent that interferes with the operation of the ozone layer.
Modern glitter lamps tend to use a water based liquid with a heavy salt like calcium nitrate to make the glitter buoyant, and pose no major risk unless you drink the stuff (not recommended!)
The glitter bottle in the video was a DIY one based on perchloroethylene dry cleaning solvent, holographic glitter and mineral oil to balance the density. The solvent based glitter lamps are quite complex to make due to the unknown plastic used in most glitters. Some are soluble in the solvent and will gradually dissolve, making the glitter heavier by changing the plastic to aluminium ratio.
The 12V indicator is fine though, although it does push the single LED at around 20mA.
I'm not sure I'd recommend these indicators for anything other than home workshop use. The physical construction is nice, but the circuitry has been shaved to the edge.
The short where I blew up one of the indicators is here:-
youtube.com/shorts/79vXZENXCZY
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This project does involve mains voltage, and should only be attempted by those with good electronic assembly experience. The end result is a technical art item and not intended for use as a toy by children or non-technical adults.
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The issue is that some (not all) RCDs/GFCIs have a short duty cycle coil designed to be pulsed at high current very briefly to trigger the breaker. They can rely on the breaker tripping to kill power to the coil. If the breaker doesn't trip or the power is being supplied from the wrong side, the trip coil and its drive circuitry will potentially be energised long enough to cause damage.
There are safer units available that convert the incoming power to an isolated and current limited supply, but this one pretty much puts full mains voltage straight out.
The bizarre LED dangling through a ragged hole in the ungrounded case may actually be a crude FUSE! Because if the positive lead touches grounded metalwork there will literally be a dead short, with just the internal rectifier and the LED in series with the mains supply. LEDs do actually make surprisingly good fuses due to having a microscopic encapsulated bond wire. They do sometimes blow in half though... Sadly, the LED will not save you from electrocution. It takes much less current to kill a human than to blow an LED bond wire.
Technically speaking they could have made a marginally safer unit by putting a capacitor on each leg of the supply and limiting the current to a much lower level. Even high power resistors could have been used for that. It would still pose a shock risk, but with much less chance of being fatal. But for a proper reliability test on a faulty LED panel a higher current may be useful.
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It's basically a digital counter with non-volatile memory, that detects high current pulses being shunted by a surge protector and gives a running score.
This could be used to monitor for when a new surge protection module was needed, but it is only designed to detect high current pulses, so won't show the accumulated small-transient shunting that can be caused by highly inductive loads in the vicinity.
Quite novel though, with sensible design and a stunningly low standby current of just 0.1W.
Given that the input is electrically isolated (on this particular unit), I wonder if it could have other event counting uses with a simple low voltage input.
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The solar panel itself seems fairly robust, and is based on a glass panel with the silicon cells laminated onto the back with a white plastic film.
I'm in the progress of testing the LiFePO4 lithium cell, but it does appear to have the correct dimensions (32700) for a 6Ah cell. The cell test is currently in progress.
First full charge cycle on the 32700 (32mm diameter - 70mm long) lithium cell shows an impressive input of 5.5Ah. And it's notable that the FM2112 protection module (LiFePO4 equivalent to DW01) ended the charge earlier than expected, so it does look like a genuine 6Ah cell.
The circuitry is minimalist with good functionality. I like the fact that it uses coloured battery status LEDs in the main LED window. One quirk is that they are powered from the unregulated positive rail, so if the cell reaches full charge and the protection circuit kicks in, the solar panel voltage could theoretically float high enough to allow current to flow through the battery indicator LEDs and the chip protection diodes on those pins.
There does appear to be a second resistor upside down in the LED current limiting position.
With a fully charged (3.65V) cell the eight LED power settings are as follows:-
1.7A = 5.1W (calculated with LED voltage of 3V)
1.5A = 4.5W
1.3A = 3.9W
1.1A = 3.3W
0.9A = 2.7W
0.7A = 2.1W
0.5A = 1.5W
0.3A = 0.9W
0.1A = 0.3W
As the cell discharges the power will fall progressively. Roughly half the power at mid discharge, and progressively lower as the cell drops to its end of discharge voltage of 2.5V. As the cell reaches 2.5V the battery level indicators start flashing and just below that level the unit cuts out.
At that point the LED current has dropped to just 7mA at full intensity setting, so the unit could still be putting out at least a faint glow on dark winter nights with low daytime sun.
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Filmed as a short because there's unavoidable music, and that means some parasitic music rights company will claim all financial revenue from this video despite me not wanting their poxy music in it in the first place. Because music is the blight of YouTube.
Nothing much has changed, so that makes popping in a new LED (or two in series) quite an easy project. It lets you customise your lights and experiment with different colours and LED styles.
I like the idea of a planetary theme with these translucent globes, since some planets have vivid colours, like Neptune, Uranus and Mars.
If you live in a part of the world with lots of sunshine then you can swap in a lower value inductor for a brighter LED, and if desired, the NiMH cell can be upgraded too.
Conversely, if you live in a darker part of the world you can extend the run time of lights at the cost of intensity, by changing the inductor to a higher value, up to around 470uH.
As always with solar lights, placement is important. They should be a clear view of the sun directly for as much of the day as possible. The difference between direct sun exposure as opposed to just seeing a bit of the sky is massive. Sometimes it pays to shuffle the location of lights.
Waterproofing the PCB and trying to prevent water creeping down the sides of the solar panel is important. Electrolytic corrosion can destroy lights very quickly. It's sometimes useful to drill a drainage/breather hole in plastic lights too, to reduce the amount of internal condensation. That also lets bugs in, but it's a small price to pay for the increased longevity of the light.
Vaseline, silicone grease, nail varnish, spray lacquer, and other protective coatings can be used to shield the PCB and cell in your light from water.
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The promise of adjustable charge voltage threshold was dashed when it turned out you can only adjust it upwards. Especially when the block diagram hints at a more versatile option.
It's notable that it has much lower tolerance of overvoltage on the solar panel input (6V) than the classic TP4056 (8V).
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My best guess for the switched supply to the PIR sensor is for lower standby current when the processor shuts down on low cell voltage at about 3.2V
This unit uses much simpler circuitry than a previous version which used a dedicated chip with control over timing and sensitivity. Those variables are set in the software in this unit, but there's still scope to tweak the light sensor level by substituting the 1 Megohm resistor for a higher or lower value.
Standby current is OK at around 45uA, given that the unit always has an active movement detector.
The lithium cell supplied is a bit minimal, but it's easy to swap in a new cell under the PCB. For year-on-a-charge use you could even add an external cell.
These lights are great for off-grid or power-cut prone locations. They provide a very convenient splash of light on demand at night, and with normal triggering will last a long time between recharges. They also lend themselves well to solar charging with a basic 5V panel.
The magnetic pad allows the light to be moved around as needed.
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I'm not sure if these are still available in other countries, but they weren't on the shelves long here.
The circuitry is interesting, but bizarre. In hindsight I could have emulated the sensor with a variable resistor and seen how it affected the other circuitry, but as it is probably only switched on briefly at an unknown timing it would have taken a long time to catch it in the act. It may also test in very short time bursts, so without a data logger it would have been tricky.
The design of the circuitry is surprisingly complex and makes me wonder if they just squeezed the max out of a basic function chip to keep costs low.
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A subsequent test on random brass plumbing fittings also showed a very slight attraction of the same magnet.
Brass is technically an alloy of copper and zinc, with the colour being affected by the ratio. With the cost of copper these days, it's no surprise that it looked a light golden colour, suggesting more zinc than copper. Then again, I'm sure there are probably cheap alloys being made that look like brass to cut costs.
In this application the chunkiness and very close vicinity of the coupled wires is probably a benefit for the application of acting as a single pole power distribution block.
China has a huge manufacturing industry, so it's no surprise that they have a lot of machine components at fairly low prices. This block cost £3 which compared favourably with a similar distribution block from a UK seller at £12.
I'd consider this block for personal panel projects, but not for an industrial application where the cost of machine down-time makes the use of prominent brand items more important.
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The equipment used to make neon is quite complex and very expensive. Not just the vacuum pump and manifold system, but the very high power bombarders that heat the tube by passing a lot of current through the internal vacuum to burn out all the tubes internal surface impurities.
I strongly recommend saving any old neon signs that you can, or if you're lucky and find a neon workshop, then it may be viable to get a short custom tube made for ornamental use.
Neon signs require a high voltage, current limited supply. One of the cheapest and easiest ways to get a suitable low voltage version is to buy one of the CCFL (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Tube) drivers online. These ones seem quite well rated and are used for powering vehicle CCFL angel-eye tubes used as borders around headlights.
The hacks shown here allow you to customise the output to suit your tube. I kept saying nanofarad instead of picofarad. It's rare I use picofarad values. In this case they range between about 22pF to 47pF. It's interesting to note that in the PC-case cold cathode tube era, the short length tubes just had a lower value capacitor fitted in their drivers.
These power supplies are usually good for about 2' (600mm) of 12mm neon tube or a bit longer for the argon/mercury/phosphor tubes.
Over time I expect these power supplies to get rarer and rarer. So it might be worth grabbing one now. They're not that expensive at the moment. This one came from an AliExpress seller:-
aliexpress.com/item/1005001561157745.html
A search for angel eye ccfl should find them.
Here's a UK seller who makes straight demo-tubes for collectors and educational establishments.
ebay.co.uk/itm/256366499235
Note that he can ONLY ship within the UK due to the destructive and expensive nature of international shipping.
I'll ask about and see if any of the USA neon benders are interested in putting some straight tubes (easier to ship) on eBay.
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I meant to say 18W apparent power for the module's low power factor. Not an issue until the power companies start charging for it (and they will).
The module is designed for three speed fans where the fan motor has a capacitor and tapped winding that allows three different speeds based on which of the taps is powered. It also has an output for a fan swivel motor.
The design is impressive for the very basic power supply running a microcontroller. Companies like Padauk specifically tell you to avoid using their microcontrollers with capacitive droppers for reliability reasons. It can result in a very noisy and spiky power rail due to coupling of mains borne electrical noise.
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The construction of the light is interesting because it has been optimised for fast manufacture.
The circuitry is ultra minimalist, including the USB charging circuitry that doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. Don't leave one of these on continuous charge.
Other than that, it does work, the beam focus feature works well and it doesn't have too many useless modes.
The cell capacity tests at a very ungenerous 160mAh and the charge circuit does keep trickle charging the cell after the LED has stopped flashing, and when I monitored it for a while it peaked at a slightly uncomfortable 4.27V then suddenly settled back down to 4.21V, making me wonder if it had energised the load briefly when I wasn't there as part of its charge control.
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In reality I know this short is going to press a few American buttons, as it seems an oddity that we buy our hot dogs like this in the UK.
After the video I was able to reprogram the driver to run the LEDs at just 10W. It's handy being able to read the driver settings of one light and then clone them to another. Ideal for where you are replacing a failed driver, since the faulty one will often still be readable due to its NFC circuitry being powered by your phone's coil.
The Tridonic app seems to work better than the others I've tried for different brands of driver. It still has some quirks, but was very usable.
The mode option was for extra sensor functionality to detect people or vehicles, and dim the light up and down as needed with duration and dimming speeds fully programmable.
The built in logging of run time and electrical anomalies is quite interesting. It has advantages for the manufacturer for detecting false warranty claims where the light has been exposed to unusually high voltage due to miswiring or a lost neutral.
If you work on one of these lights, be aware that the latching system is not released from the top as it may initially appear. It is released from the underside at the pole entrance point. Don't jam a screwdriver under the top and try to lever it open with force.
Note that the wires on the LED panel are a one-way trip. They cannot be removed without cutting them. Trying to release them may actually damage the panel. In normal use the panel would only be changed if it had failed anyway.
I mostly managed to avoid having a rant about the deskilling of labour in the street lighting and traffic signal industry. There's a bizarre UK culture of falsifying electrical skills using one-day slideshow "training" in one of the worst electrical working environments possible - wet and well grounded.
One day I'll probably take a deeper dive into one of the electronic drivers. But they are massively complicated, with microcontrollers and network functionality.
The choice of LEDs is interesting. Quite well engineered and tested under real-life conditions during manufacture.
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Contrary to the instructions in the listing, the unit should not be left plugged in constantly, as that will just be a heater, and not a dehumidifier. Although, that could be useful in some applications.
The insides were slightly underwhelming in the construction and lack of desiccant, but that has now been corrected and is currently under test.
Test results so far:- The original 16 gram bag has adsorbed a pathetic 1g (1ml) of moisture.
The new fill has adsorbed 17g (17ml) so far. I've still to test its self-drying ability when plugged into a USB power supply.
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So I thought I'd relive the moment for your pleasure.
The universal 110-220V voltage is really just fixed value resistors that get hotter when used with higher voltages. No problem, since we can stick a couple of sleeved quarter watt 18K resistors in series to help spread the dissipation when using above 200V.
The output voltage of these units is actually quite zesty compared to a classic ioniser, meaning they will potentially generate more charge in the air.
The principle of operation of an ioniser is that when a high DC voltage is applied to a sharp point it causes the air to take on a charge with respect to ground. That causes charged particles in the air to precipitate to surfaces in the room or makes them stick to filters in air cleaners.
A very slight electrical plasma (corona) discharge is also created at the ionisation tips, which results in creation of short-lived active air molecules as found in outdoor air, that have a deodorising and sterilising effect on the air as they revert back to stable molecules.
The use of carbon fibres is because they are very sharp and work well as ionisation emitters. Traditionally steel needles were used.
Here's a typical AliExpress listing for what looks like the same module:-
aliexpress.com/item/4000227970754.html
And one of the big spicy-mama ones, which appears to be universal voltage too:-
aliexpress.com/item/1005006643204352.html
Here's a video about the big one, with a schematic:-
youtu.be/rt6DEjCuKFU
A video showing the construction of the voltage multiplier unit for 220 - 240V countries:-
youtu.be/ZLB2UUQ35J0
And the Russian Nuclear Corporation Molecular Disruptor:-
youtu.be/IoN_EYtSuio
If buying the modules from eBay the keywords anion module should work.
Be careful about buying 12V modules. Because they create a high electrostatic charge with respect to ground they can stress the insulation or cause flashovers inside standard power supplies. Not a problem on vehicles or off-grid accommodation with 12V and grounded chassis, but if using with isolated supplies the negative on the low voltage side will need grounded.
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I recommend disconnecting the battery holder.
This product is quite interesting just for the frame and the LED diffuser. It could be used on its own with your choice of LED tape as a custom mood light.
This one was faulty when it arrived, with one section of LED tape not showing the warm white. Easy fix though. The wire was very thin, so I'm surprised the others didn't pop off too.
The diffuser material is a bit too long, so it could be trimmed a bit. I noticed that both sides hadn't been seated properly all round, so there's a bit of finishing to do if you get one.
A search on eBay for "sandscape" will find these effects. Shop around, as there is a wide price difference for the same units. Some listings call them quicksand art.
If using a syringe to adjust the water or air ratio, it's important to use a thin pointed hypodermic needle, as it has to push through the silicon sealant between the glass. Adjustments are a delicate juggle of removing air or water and then topping up again with the opposite. Over pressurising risks damaging the glass or seal. The instructions with the unit suggest using sterile water, but I'm inclined to use a touch of disinfectant to avoid "stuff" growing between the glass layers.
Shaking the frame will break larger bubbles into smaller ones, but sometimes bigger bubbles work better.
It's possible this effect was discovered as a happy accident, with someone putting sand between two layers of glass and then adding water to slow its movement down, then seeing the effect of the bubbles. It appears the inventor may be William Tabar who patented the idea in 1985. The first ones were made in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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Update - it's NOT using phase angle control. It's pulse width modulating the LEDs on unsmoothed DC and when I shook the lights violently back and forth I was able to see around six distinct dots of light where it was visibly lit in each half wave. Based on the DC humps being at 100Hz and some of the PWM not being illuminated near the zero crossing point, it suggests a possible PWM frequency approaching 1kHz, but modulated at 100Hz. What I thought was a zero crossing point detector for timing is actually just sensing when power is cycled briefly to change mode.
With a longer string of LEDs they will be lit for less time on the unsmoothed DC and shimmer may be more visible.
When I first saw these in huge ornamental lights in the UK I was really surprised to see what appeared to be a long series string of LEDs, clearly running at a fairly high voltage. But literally just stuffed in amongst a mass of coiled aluminium wire forming a plant-like sculpture. It looked good, and it was nice that someone technically inclined could potentially swap in a new LED if desired. But it also meant there were exposed (but slightly recessed) live contacts on each LED's socket.
If an LED was nudged out a bit (easy to do) then there was also the risk of the live leads coming into contact with the metal frame. I'm guessing there may have been some incidents, as they later switched to a low voltage version with the classic heatshrink sleeved LED strings.
The circuitry is very neat though. The tying of pin four of the microcontroller to the positive rail has strong PIC12 vibes to it, as that is the master clear pin when pulled low, and it also doubles as the programming voltage pin, which means it usually needs tied to a supply rail.
The H-bridge for polarity reversal is also a classic design, with the NPN transistor also turning the opposite rails PNP transistor on. In this application the capacitive dropper limits the fault current if things do go wrong.
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So perhaps methylene chloride in a partial vacuum is still the best way to make a bubble tube.
For reference, butane has a relatively low liquid pressure at room temperature. Something like 40PSI, which is why they can have plastic cased lighters.
A search on AliExpress for the keyword br27c will find similar buttons, but they may have different connections than this one. Usually 24V because that's a standard control voltage in industrial applications. I've just ordered a couple to look at.
The electrical configuration of this button is odd, because it has a four pin connector, but only three pins are used. A different style of button has the LEDs and switch on four separate connections.
It does make sense to use 3 wires though, as the switch signal is also 24V in some applications.
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This video was demonetised instantly as soon as it was uploaded. That's why I can't make full length videos on the technology in these devices. It's a whole load of work for nothing, despite not promoting the use of them. I'll maybe still make shorts featuring them.
If you enjoy the shorts and want more long-form technical content then you may wish to consider subscribing. But do NOT enable notifications, as I put out a video every two days.
The foam it produces is surprisingly wet and drinkable. Quite a pleasant drinking experience.
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The way they've achieved the key-switch function with standard electrical components is very impressive. But can it be picked?
The part number for this MK socket is K2949BSS if you have a use for one. They're quite expensive due to being a specialist component.
For reference, the key is marked 92304.
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I'm wondering if this is a pin compatible drop-in replacement for another brand that offers other schematic options.
The most obvious electrical weakness of the design is the unfortunate extra winding tap on the primary, that violates electrical clearance on the PCB. The extra screening track used between the MOSFET and sense circuitry is also routed directly under a sense resistor.
The chip is an MT7938 if you want to look at the datasheet. It's in English, but has some oddities to the wording. But it does convey most of the useful information.
The slight shimmer from the LED is low level ripple being picked up by the camera due to the intensity of the light output.
This video is probably not going to be popular. It will only appeal to a tiny percentage of YouTube viewers, but it still needed to be made to cater for those who appreciate the data. That's the curse of technical channels. The more technical they are, the less views they get.
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In reality the fault was with component tolerances - possibly off-tolerance transistors. But having tested the transistors on a tester which identified then correctly and gave a plausible gain, I had a wild goose chase of component swapping.
Once I got it going I then found it did kinda work, but not as well as it should have due to the weird choice of output circuitry.
I get the feeling this is a clone of a clone with the factory not quite understanding the operation.
On a plus note, it's not one of the completely fake ones with a blue LED and fake circuitry. And we did get to do a very deep dive into the circuitry of this novel device.
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The foam it produces is a fetching shade of pink, and quite nice to drink as a thick foam.
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youtu.be/bnt1rRn7u0A
Usually I try to take things apart in a controlled manner, and then reassemble them after the video has been made. But not this time!
Keywords for finding industrial switches like this are - 22mm 380V panel
The phase to phase voltage in China is 380V and the standard panel cutout size is often 22mm.
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The simplicity of the design is stellar, with one main motor for drum rotation and the hot and cold air-path fans. The fans are the centrifugal type, so even when the machine changes drum direction briefly, the fans still push air around.
The water extracted from the clothing is pumped up to a pull-out reservoir which can then be poured into a sink. Alternatively, some of these machines can be plumbed directly to a drain.
By recycling the hot air in a loop, these machines have high efficiency, and also contribute to heating your home in winter. Unfortunately they also heat your home in summer, which isn't so good.
They also do leak a small amount of fine lint which adds to the usual dust issue in homes, but most of the lint is caught in a small lint trap that is cleaned before each cycle.
Because we have very high power available at all sockets in a UK home (32A 240V power circuits) we can plug these machines into any socket in the home. It's common to have the laundry equipment in the kitchen, but the dryer could be put in any spare room in the house.
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But will it carbonate?
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The most exciting thing about this unit is what appears to be a microcontroller with integrated lithium charging functionality, and a high current driver for things like LEDs or motors.
It does have a quirk though, possibly related to the voltage divider being used for charge sensing.
The choice of a jack plug for charging was probably driven by the desire to have a connector that could be pushed through a small rubber orifice to limit liquid ingress.
If anyone wishes to juice their fruit, here's a link to the item. Guide price £12 in case they jack the price up, so shop around if they do.
ebay.co.uk/itm/375000302164
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This is basically a plastic shell filled with various beads, that claims to be an alternative to normal detergents, with a life of 50 or 70 washes. (70-wash as supplied and then smaller 50-wash refills.)
The white pellets are supposedly a concentrated surfactant (molecule that bonds with both water and oil), and the dark tourmaline pellets are supposed to ionise the water and make it more alkaline.
If the ball does liberate surfactants then keep in mind that it will also do so during the rinse cycles that are normally used to wash residual dirt and detergent out of your clothing.
The laundry industry is full of theatre with optical whiteners (ultraviolet fluorescing dye) that gives the impression of white clothing being brighter, and really pungent aromas that have been marketed to the point that people think that "fresh linen" is actually what fabric is supposed to smell like. Then there are the "softeners" that basically coat your clothing (and laundry equipment) in fragranced wax to give it a softer feel in the same way that oil and grease soaked overalls feel "soft" too.
You can wash most clothing in just plain water with no detergent, and it will rise out the natural bodily salts and dust, but it can leave a slight stale aroma after a while as plain water will not remove natural oils well. That's where it's useful to use a SMALL amount of detergent to help wash the oils out. I tend to use standard dish washing liquid, but be aware that some machines will foam excessively with dish soap and that can result in water spraying out the detergent drawer when the machine fills for a rinse. A small quantity of fabric conditioner washed down into the drum will get rid of foam virtually instantly.
While the laundry detergent manufacturers want you to pour huge quantities of their detergent into your machine, it only takes a small amount to clean normal clothing. Try using half the amount you normally use. The same goes for conditioner. If you want to use it to mask aromas then try using much less than normal.
The Ecoegg did impart a faint and fairly pleasant aroma onto clothing. And for non manual workers it may be enough to get satisfactory results. But for those of us who have physically active jobs a more traditional detergent may be a better option.
This may actually work for you if you alternate between conventional detergent and the use of the laundry ball to help cut down on chemical use.
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