Sensibly designed USB rechargeable PIR cupboard/hallway light.

[@mrb692]

I’ve been watching your videos for years now now, and yesterday I channeled my inner AvE and tore down a little rechargeable screwdriver that plugged straight into the wall.
Inside was a pair of AA size Ni-Cd cells in series, connected straight to the output of a bridge rectifier made from discrete surface mount diodes, with the mains live going through a series of 0 Ohm links (presumably as “fuses”) to a 3.3uF capacitor. No smoothing or anything, just the most barebones capacitive dropper, presumably since Ni-Cds are a rather resilient battery chemistry.
Only reason I could follow what was going is because of your videos. Cheers, and keep up the great work!

[@bigclivedotcom]

I've seen that type of charger. It does rely on the ruggedness of NiCd cells to charge them directly from a capacitive limiter.

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

Oh you and big Clive
Ever seen that I think it's a Weller rechargeable iron sorry Grand ideas with the incandescent bulb in those little heater chips that plug in well those things we're in terms of charging not so bad but there's a flaw the charger is fine however after the charge contacts for the iron it goes straight to the batteries which as you know even small ones can pack a punch when are nickel cadmium because of short circuit currents I do believe that's one reason why in those irons they use them is the liver High current I don't know what they might have carne as for the tip that's a a lot of current for shur but I digress back to the charging the batteries.
As I had said that they connect directly to the battery from a charge contacts well what does that mean if there's a short between both of them well a lot because if you do this there is thin wires of an unknown alloy that act as fuses and I can get nasty when they go out with a bang.
From what I understand from two people that are fello Electronics enthusiasts and also both those people welderup converting it to USB charging by my recommendations oh and speaking of cordless screwdrivers if you get to write voltage over on it to point something or other volts 2.4 volts AKA to nicad batteries in series.
You can easily convert it 2 USB charging and charge in about a minute or so how's that build a supercapacitor battery replacement and micro-usb there is actually ways to do this online and in some books I think one of them was something by Popular Mechanics something about hiding somewhere other I have it but not with me right now where I'm staying unfortunately cannot remember title exactly if someone has info on this what the community enough by replying publicly to this and also to this post all I can remember what is thanks it's might have a blue cover it's got the fancy mail run the corners and all that I think I think Barnes Noble uses. And may still I think there might be an updated version as well which is more projects be more desirable. I think this was in there but not sure.
I. Came stop with an elegant Solution on my own that worked well that's a prototype that I want up making a few out for friends I keep one in my kitchen drawer 4 quick fixes.
I also made them for family for Christmas one year everyone love them.

[@HighestRank]

Aaron Brandenburg
You can get nasty, eh? Tape it.

[@DubiousEngineering]

Thats a lovely little design... I think I will be buying a few for around the house!! Thanks for sharing Clive!

[@SuperZylar]

Yeah, bought 2 of em, the light looks really warm

[@bigclivedotcom]

It is a nice design. And real tech specs too. I put it in a dark section of my hall and it's very bright at night. Literally 2 of them could replace the normal low level lighting in that area.

[@toysareforboys1]

Anyone find a nice upgraded battery for it? :)

[@DubiousEngineering]

@@bigclivedotcom 5 "warm colour lights" on order... I baught two that use 3 AA cells some time ago - I modified them for 18650s but they dont have battery management, so these new ones will be excellent... this could be fun designing and making a 3d printed housing for the rear panel to accomodate two 18650s in parallel... charge once a year! There are so many dark places in the house that deserve a little auto-light! Great find!

[@kwils6685]

@@bigclivedotcom Clive could you tell me if the positive or negative is switched to turn on the LEDs ?

[@GeorgeWMays]

Clive, I have to say "thank you." Lest you ever think that we, the unwashed masses of lovers of electronics, are not appreciative, banish the thought. It is always a treat to tear things apart and is doubly fun when somebody else does all the work. Thanks again for your good nature and sense of humor.

[@martinj9647]

Your work space can't be that bad! Hell, my bench has stuff strewn about from projects I finished working on months and even years ago 😂 For the most part I still know exactly where everything is though, and that's what matters!

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

Sort of look like the move with before franlab moved or with Dave Jones is Zev blog during the lab move and let the magic smoke out on the Soul Train station that time because it wasn't 220 it was only A1 120 volt AC unit not dual voltage. Oops
Another words if you have muscle types of equipment they have different power requirements but are similar or have different power requirements and the same type of power fort label the heck out of it and same with power adapters are similar. Which I did right away in my own shop to prevent such a disaster never happened once with my own equipment and I also would check on anything I was working on or using somewhere else and I wasn't sure it was the right power source I only had a happened once or twice and if I don't know polarity advice is not to new and under warranty or sealed or whatever or some white Minds that take it apart I'll do so and check for positive on a cap or negative or check for a ground just in case is tip negative or Center negative AC adapter or DC connector Orson on stair plug that I'm not sure about or grossly under light bulb plugs that just say power and there's a ton of different pens such as a DIN connector or something similar. It's just good practice over all the void the magic smoke one could say or or an expensive repair of an attempted repair or repair of a repair when you're working on something wish me even with a customer getting a new device not buy them buying it or warranty reasons if you get the point the no words instead of doing the customer for repair the customer basically bills you for their new Gadget and yes I've never had that happen that I have seen that happen to text I know up even with laptops and stuff you know ouch.

[@ethanpoole3443]

Aaron Brandenburg I’m still chuckling at “let the smoke out of the Soul Train station”. Now we know why Weller has no soul left! That dastardly autocorrect does come up with some real gems.

[@martinj9647]

@@ethanpoole3443 haha I didn't even catch that 😄 looks like someone was using voice to text

[@JerryEricsson]

Got one a bit like that for our RV, it resides in the bathroom, I hang her on the wall when we are parked, in the dry sink when we are on the road. Mine is a bit of an earlier design and runs off 4 AA Batteries, works great as an instant night light in the rest room for those late night sit downs. She does go out after a bit but a wave of the hand brings her back to life.

[@_BangDroid_]

_Tight suction magnet_
Interestingly that was my nickname in high-school

[@KanalFrump]

Good old BISS0001! Nice teardown. The window on the pyrodetector is usually made from silicon. Regular glass is quite opaque to long-wave infrared light. Some (very few) pyrodetectors have 4 elements inside instead of 2.

[@gauravbhattarai75]

2:13. When you have masters in the technology. Honestly, really a big admirer of the work.

[@ahettinger525]

Remember Clive, If a cluttered bench is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is an empty bench the sign of?

[@zenhypnotic]

A Hettinger no one’s seen the rest of his workshop yet .....

[@stepheneyles2198]

@@zenhypnotic Not even the wife!! :-)) Must be the best-guarded Man Cave in the Isle of Man!!

[@stewartcaldwell5299]

Huh ?

[@mikeynjs94]

@@stepheneyles2198 thats either a v funny joke or an ignorant chide. Clive is a big gay bear

[@philipblack8694]

Would love some sort of USB rechargeable motion activated lights I could put under my kitchen cupboards as extra lighting

[@sziltner]

Already ordered 2! 👍
But in white as I prefer the bright glaring white over the subdue warm white. Tnx for this video. I only buy these products that you give a thumbs 👍 up to.

[@ecky_thump]

Great review, thanks. I’d already bought 4 of these on AliExpress for £4.56 each with free delivery 👍😉

[@Aco747lyte]

We have several of these useful PIRs throughout our home, in particularly to illuminate our bathroom to save using the expensive high wattage lightbulbs on the ceiling. We have others fixed on a floor lintel via their magnetic clamps and illuminating dark cupboards and even under our kitchen cabinets, so we can raid the kitchen at night or around home without disturbing sleepers, but also preventing us tripping head over arse! Had them for some 3 years by now, they've saved us absolute £££s on our electricity bill, and can easily be recharged. I opened some up to discover the same as yourself, have to agree they were a wonderfully cheap purchase - at the time.
Thank you so much for tearing apart so many wonderful gadgets. My girls love your videos. We follow your channel every day, always with a mug of tea on standby. Oh, and we love your voice. So easy to listen to, often with your great humour and snark. Oh, and my bench/office is a tip, but I've no untidy mind lol! Psst! Ours are called Omeril.

[@rossmckenzie1854]

Bought one from Newfrog. Detection range is more than 20 feet in a hallway compared with "datasheet's" stated 10 feet. Am more than happy.

[@jfan4reva]

"And it also comes with a typical micro USB charging lead, and instructions. We don't need those."
Lol! I think Clive just defined his audience (Instructions? We don't need those.)

[@phils4634]

Back in the day when I used to be involved in the servicing of Perkin Elmer instruments, I remember the opening pages of their Service Manuals used to have the comment "before doing it your way, try doing it OUR way!"

[@theskett]

@@phils4634 Though my suspicion is that the P-E manuals weren't in Chinese? ;-)

[@rikatomik]

I bought a version of one of these recently. The battery was bad so I ordered a new one and wired it in. The old battery was like a little pillow. Works well now with new battery. I think the original battery was salvaged from something else. Saved the light thanks to what I've learned with Big Clive.

[@HighestRank]

rikatomik
How many FULL charge cycles were made before calling it a pillow?

[@Alan_Stinchcombe]

Microwave detectors also "see" through walls and floors and are difficult to collimate, so PIR detectors still have their uses.

[@muzikman2008]

Microwave detectors are good for inside a van space, protecting the rear end from theft... They can't see through metal, I'm designing an additional alarm system now as it happens.

[@Alan_Stinchcombe]

Yes, protecting the inside of a metal box seems an ideal application for microwave detectors. :)

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

Microwave detectors are great for security you know.
Oh one more thing if it were a microwave detector when it only go off when you turn on your microwave.

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

Another for all if you if it were pyroelectric type motion detector.
When did legal off if somebody moved fireworks that work electrically ignited.

[@theskett]

@@aaronbrandenburg2441 Nah, the microwave's there even before you turn it on.

[@adamspencer95]

bought 2 of these a few months ago, about £6 each. work perfectly in my shed which doesnt have an electricity supply and last about 3 months between charges

[@1kreature]

Aww man! I was screaming "Check under the sticky tape for a number on the cell!", but you didn't hear me :(

[@maniacse]

Clive, thanks for pointing me to this light! I was looking for something like this for some time, and this help me a lot. Now I just found, that the light is too bright for my usage, so I need to investigate LED panel more and find out, how to disable maybe two rows of LEDs here (without big damage for different future use).

[@nerys71]

I just ordered four of these These are going to become one of my future 3D printing projects I plan to put two of them in a single housing paired together off of single 18 650 battery cell so it will use a standardized replaceable cell and I can get more light and fit it all in a nice neat package very cool :-)

[@jameswyatt1304]

If your print used the existing lenses and was on Thingiverse, I'll bet they'd sell a lot of these.

[@JayH7745]

Very nice idea Nerys! Leave a comment here and link to your RUclips video if you make a video on it. Many of us "Big Clive" fans re-watch his videos over and over, as I do, and would love to see your finished project. Good luck! :)

[@clintfisher]

Those charging/charge-complete LED's are *so* bright! They make the light sensor think it's light out. I removed the (shared) 330 ohm resistor and replaced it with a 5.1k, but they were still too bright, triggering the light sensor. Easiest solution I could come up with was just an opaque cover for the charge-LED's. Fun-Tak putty did the trick. Now the unit can stay plugged in and still function as a motion-sensing night-light, all with a battery-backup. Not bad. Thanks for the product reference Big Clive!

[@clintfisher]

www.thingiverse.com/thing:3586797
The fix works with the stock-brightness LED's. No resistors required. Woot woot!

[@jusb1066]

found the perfect use for these! if you own a citroen c1, toyota aygo, peugeot 107/108, then you have no boot light, but buy one of these, comes with a sticky backed bit of metal and a magnet and you can put it in the boot, it will only go off when it detects body heat, not in the boot by itself, and you can just recharge once/twice a year from the cars usb port

[@clintfisher]

Oh excellent! I made a little "cone" of fun-tak putty around the charge-status lights (already lowered in brightness with a 5.1k resistor ), replaced the cover, and I can still see the charge status!

[@bborkzilla]

Clive is reviewing something that's sensibly designed? What is the world coming to?

[@zorgatron8998]

I really like when he comes across hidden little chinese gems such as this. Another nice find is the Q6M light which he reviewed, and I bought at least a half dozen of them, they are super useful. His review of that is here: ruclips.net/video/Plo9d7pqILc/видео.html

[@HighestRank]

Phillip C
I don’t recall BC mentioning any errata concerning similar designs, apart from the resistors and constant current requirements of microwave detectors!

[@phatkatracing]

I think it's moreso that he finds them by accident. I think he historically buys cheap shit, and most of it ends up being just that, cheap shit. 🙂

[@thomasdebeerdebeer6674]

He's smart

[@thomasdebeerdebeer6674]

@@phatkatracing it works

[@alexatkin]

Read the title, instantly ordered a couple before even watching the video. As I had previously been using a single LED unit that takes 4xAA in the bathroom and its far from ideal. That said, the one I'm using would have about four times the battery capacity, so it will be interesting to compare.

[@heyarno]

That SMD photo resistor is interesting. I didn't know they make those.
Also the driving current would be 10mA per LED, so that is nice too for longevity.

[@extrastuff9463]

Seems like a really decent product, I'm tempted to pick one or more up. The dark closet where I put away my vacuum cleaner could use an upgrade from the manual battery powered light that hangs from a screw. Don't even have to put in a new screw by the looks of that hole size in the plastic case.
I suspect if I was to upgrade the battery capacity on this one I'd be lazy and reuse one of my protected 18650 batteries that used to live in torches (moved on to a fancy one that takes unprotected 18650 cells only and has low voltage cutoff built in), the 18650 wouldn't fit but a hole for the leads and a battery taped to the side will do in a rarely opened closet (unless I've come across more spare lipo batteries by then that don't get consumed by projects that need to be small). Could even attach a holder to the side so I can have a swappable battery or USB rechargeable as the situation requires.
But with infrequent opening of that closet door only for brief periods I doubt I'll ever need to replace the battery, just charge it very rarely.

[@rpavlik1]

Picked up 2 (warm white, of course), and they showed up today. Look nearly identical to yours on the inside, same PCB design for sure. They seem to work pretty nice so far, here's hoping they hold up!

[@rud]

It’s nice when you get something once in a while that doesn’t suck. Would have been nice with a larger battery, but I suppose one could just replace it.

[@milksheihk]

Could still be glass on that IR chip, it's mostly window class that blocks infra red because they add iron oxide for exactly that purpose, IR fades furnature & carpets.

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

Sir the only reason I think you got thumbs down by someone is it's not IR Aki infrared AKA Heat. Such as a heat lamp.
That's just what warms your house not fade your furniture.
Which it does Mark that but.
As to what you think is fitting furniture that is UV light such a standing lamps in the Sun and also Mercury Ark one sources it's also what makes fluorescent lamps work with the phosphor. It's also using germicidal lamps Etc and also black white and also UV makes certain items glow in the dark.

[@BloodAsp]

Your soothing voice and wonderful electronic topics always puts me in a trance, and fall asleep if I am not careful at night. Dangerous, I am glad you are using your powers for good!

[@getyerspn]

Would make for a good shed light ..maybe using one of the solar chargers to keep it topped up

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

I was actually thinking about that too.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

Excellent, I should fit it at my door so I can see to put a key in the lock. It might survive as it is under cover, if not it would be worth the experiment.

[@theskett]

Good suggestion (thank you :-) -- but now I'm wondering how I prevent the neighborhood kids from pinching it (I wouldn't really blame them...) but still be able to remove it to recharge it. Any good ideas?
Otherwise, I could put a microwave equivalent (so it could 'see' through the glass), behind a window that's at right-angles to the door -- and that way the light could run off mains power, so I'd be spared the recharging duties ;-)

[@BoB4jjjjs]

@@theskett I would screw it to the door by drilling a screw hole from inside the back cover, buy a 2mtr usb cable from the pound shop (yes you do get 2ntr ones) cut it in half, pop it through the door frame, join the cable back up again inside the door and take to to the nearest socket to plug your usb into. If need be you cn extend the cable a bit but voltage will drop if to long.

[@theskett]

@@BoB4jjjjs A little brutal (I hadn't considered drilling through the door frame and chopping up the cable :-) but effective; also, good to keep the light powered, to avoid any "Should I recharge it yet?" angst. Though if the power's always-on, I could get by with just an always-on LED :-)

[@BoB4jjjjs]

@@theskett You could do that, but I would just charge it now and again, I wouldn't leave a charger power supply running all the time. Besides, I would need my one to charge my phone. lol

[@KarlHamilton]

Been watching AvE for years, but been bingeing out on Big Clive's videos for the last 6 months or so. Went to watch an AvE video today, and couldn't enjoy it. I have been spoiled rotten with the intricate electronics. Skookum indeed.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Try to think of AvE and me as being in the same maintenance workshop. Mechanical stuff at one bench and electrical stuff at another.

[@KarlHamilton]

@@bigclivedotcom He's lost the plot a bit since he got that CNC machine.

[@philchadwick9470]

I like that you mention things that might not be obvious to dolts such as myself. That the act of measuring the current of a thing will influence how that thing behaves. A bit like the presence of reporters influences the behaviour of the people they are observing. You get a much higher standard of riot if you add some reporters.

[@quibster]

my fridge light stopped working a long time ago, this will do just fine
thanks clive

[@bigclivedotcom]

Is it an LED panel or changeable lamp it takes? If it's a changeable lamp a good upgrade is to screw in an LED one.

[@HighestRank]

Probably the moisture killed it with corrosion, and neither do these look hermetic.

[@quibster]

@@bigclivedotcom Sorry I didn't get a prompt in my notifications from your reply for some reason.
It's a cheap Candy fridge, behind the opaque plastic diffuser/reflector that is held on with one screw, is an exposed single LED poking through a small hole.
Can't see any board it is attatched to, and there is no way of getting 'further in' from the inside. I imagine I'd have to start disassembling my fridge from the back to actually get to it.
And on that, I'm not sure if it's the LED that has died, or the supporting circuitry, or the switch in the door.

[@jaylittleton1]

Clive approved without being pink!

[@jburdman7]

I just got 2 of these. The circuitry has been changed. Gone is the BISS0001. In its place are 2x 8 pin devices. One is a TP406, the other has never been printed. The new design is FAR simpler, requiring only about 10 support components total. The light panel is unchanged, retaining a resister per LED. The battery appears to still have protection. I think I see a circuit board on it but I did not take it to bits.

[@peterg.8245]

“Instructions, we don’t need those” -Clive, 2019
...T-Shirt!

[@Mark1024MAK]

Clive, I got one of those little meters free with an order, mine is labelled “VANN DRAPER ELECTRONICS LTD DT830B”

[@MrGoatflakes]

12:23 lol the charged blue LED is so bright it causes the phosphor in the white LEDs to fluoresce orange.

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

I bet you're right because as you know why LEDs are used with blue LEDs to excite the phosphorus is how white LEDs work.

[@PCr4zy]

~a month ago my headphone battery (800mAh BL-5B) inflate so I buy a new one (3500mAh) on ali. My points:
1) You could extend the life to way more than 1Ah
2) It would be nice to disintegrate some, check for life AND/OR overcharge protections.

[@00011theman]

This would be super useful for integrating with an ESP8266 as a motion detector for cheap. Tap into the PIR sensor and use the lithium battery for power and disconnect the LEDs and you have a cheap WiFi motion detector with builtin battery and charging circuit.

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

I don't know why I didn't think about that. Good idea

[@maicod]

Dear Clive please don't feel ashamed for cluttered workspaces :)

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

Agreed but I think most people the comments of said would even I'm headed to that you know.

[@stepheneyles2198]

17:16 "The Dark Test" must be quite a powerful moment as even the switch on the multimeter jumps a notch! :-)

[@brakzz7145]

he has such a calming voice. this is like a asmr for me. mm tell me about the positive and negative direct currents and amplifers, resistors, flacuations , triggers and time modoules

[@raymondmucklow3793]

"Is this gonna fit down in the hole"
"Moisten"
Another fine video. Ya know AvE is looking for some led's that he can use on his cnc machine so he can film slow mo. Not sure if communicate with him or not.

[@bigclivedotcom]

He could bang a load of older style LED floodlights in it. Or hack some 12V ones to get a guaranteed steady light.

[@BPantherPink]

HA HA... you beat me to the fit in the hole thing... by a day‼️😂

[@gelisob]

Nice lamp, good to see one with warm led option, thanks. Will measure if rectangular salvaged laptop cells fit in there

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

Might work?

[@KiJiHoon]

This is perfect for what I need. Thanks Clive!

[@LoPhatKao]

"sensibly designed" on a bigclive video?!?
damn, 2019 gonna be a doozy

[@briandeschene8424]

Little could you (or any of us) have known with that comment about the kind of year 2019 would be what awaited the world during 2020 & 2021. Paraphrasing, one could say: 2019 “was a very good year” in comparison. Cheers and Take Care all!

[@waderyun.war00034]

I have some of those that come in a skinny aluminium frame. Great video.

[@theR6969]

"I got to be careful not to short the battery, it's fully charged" while using metal snips.

[@FordPrefect23]

My problem with those cheapy meters isn't the meter itself but, the leads. They are beyond rubbish and usually fail long before the meter.

[@waldevv]

Yeah my first meter when I really started getting into electronics was some shitty meter that was like 5 bucks unopened from a thrift store
I think it worked fine for a few days and after that the leads were so damn loose that you had to press the leads down with your thumb every time you accidentally shifted them once because they no longer made contact, really problematic when trying to do some continuity testing
Also i'm not sure if it was supposed to have a clicky rotary bit but I remember turning it and it clicked once and after that it spun freely, worked fine but it was a bit dodgy if you accidentally spun it around while using it, not sure if it was supposed to be that way or if it broke immediately but I got a new meter a few days later and threw that away

[@benbaselet2026]

Just solder them on permanently and get rid of contact resistance :)

[@alexatkin]

@@benbaselet2026 How would you then switch into current sensing mode? You'd need another lead and I'm not sure if that lead would be live when using the other two.

[@benbaselet2026]

@@alexatkin Well the meters are like 5 bucks a piece so it's not really an issue to dedicate one without the high current range and get another for the amps if you need one.

[@bgray1009]

the leads are less than £1 so to replace them isnt an issue,

[@Chuckiele]

Yep, thats the best part about the shitty meters, almost all of them have the high voltage AC setting right next to the current setting and dont require to change the position of the leads. Its literally one click to short means voltage through a 200mA glass fuse if it even has one. Either way it ends up blowing up the meter, which may happen by casual measuring of mains voltage without making a mistake aswell. But for low voltage stuff, they are actually acceptable.

[@JUANKERR2000]

Never mind you bench; I can't see my own bench for all the clutter! :-)

[@SlyPearTree]

My bench is so bad that I used my computer desk yesterday.

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

Been there done that.
Allso. Hue hasn't occasionally show of comments and likes. Anyone anyone

[@vader0ne]

A cluttered bench is a happy bench.

[@BenMitro]

There is a simple solution, fit a pair of windscreen wipers on the bench.

[@markwatson9816]

If a cluttered bench is a sign of a cluttered mind, what is an empty bench a sign of?

[@clonetek]

Show us your bench Clive! I'll show you mine if you show me yours! :O

[@noobpro9759]

"Maitre USB port and i got this Okanagan eBay" thank you auto captions.

[@jawjuk]

Load power: 600 megawatts?? That's nearly half of one point twenty-one gigawatts!!

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

See my comment some things with Back to the Future in it if you would look for it.

[@chrismueller8861]

600 MW, yeah, that would most likely inflate my electricity bill a bit

[@phonotical]

There now needs to be big Clive seal of approval stickers!

[@maicod]

I'm sure they are coloured pink

[@Zanthum]

Clive, you misunderstand why we want to see your bench. We want validation that we are not horrible people for our own benches being horrendously cluttered. Also as someone who is trying to setup a better bench (better than pushing my keyboard out of the way) I want to see what the organization plan was before it inevitably failed as they are always doomed to do.

[@stewartcaldwell5299]

He waved a camera around one time and I saw his shop for a ms (millisecond, not Ms).
There's one there. And then there's the time the camera fell off the shelf,
but I got dizzy and saw very little.

[@mozwell69]

Clive please blow up one of those cheap meters I want to see it happen and why it happens. in the name of science. Cheers bud

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

Did you see my comment about how I did that on purpose to wisecracker why is a growing Freckle jokester that wasn't very practical jokester Lawson Torrance to him. I warmed up hooking up the multimeter at the end that wasn't working with alligator clips is it okay I don't know what's going on went back to the panel kicked on the breaker thing he never did anything that again that time of multimeter connection equals service person with a joking yeah to to the point that it has to stop with soiled underwear.

[@whitehoose]

I got a couple of this sort of light, got builders in and it seemed sensible. One from Lidl 1 from eBay. Both were about £5 - 10 LED, pir, crappy batteries included not rechargeable. Different - but very similar to each other. Both have been on constantly for 42 days and battery checker says batteries are down by less than 2%.
I've recently installed an isolated 6v feed into the bathroom to run a radio, amplified speaker and help alert pull switch so was thinking of adapting one of the PIRs to take power from the circuit to light the way for my nightly prostate governed widdle walkabouts.

[@theskett]

Gotta think you can just feed the 6V into the USB jack; what's a volt, between friends? :-)
Though I find myself wondering whether it'd be possible to run a heated toilet seat from 6V, these winter nights can get chilly...

[@whitehoose]

@@theskett that would certainly work ... if it had a USB jack. Mine aren't rechargeable so no USB.. The radio is an old Robert's - that uses 4 x AA batts. The jacks are from my boxes of bits. I have a box of assorted wall warts ranging from 3v to 14v ... and the first 6v I found was a voltage dropper complete with the best part of 240v to earth. I thought it would be safer to fence off the pixies with a transformer ... just in case.
I like the sound of the heated bog seat - some of that heated carbon cable Clive showed a wile ago might work. I suppose adding 240v would cure constipation ... and deter from pissing on the seat - a bit of AC just might liven up the winter nights.

[@theskett]

@@whitehoose Ah, thanks... I'd seen "this sort of light", and then overlooked that they weren't USB. But if 42 days is 2%, you have six years worth of light from 4xAA, you might decide that's fully acceptable (especially if the alternative might be angry pixies on yo' ass :-)
The carbon fiber is available in sheets, too -- we got some to heat my girlfriend's feets. Her ass remains kinda frigid, unfortunately :-)

[@whitehoose]

@@theskett I did start with "that sort of light" but found "this one" was better. I hadn't done the sums - At my age I suppose I average 2 trips a night each generating about 2 mins of activity ... and what ... 200ml of pee - so 6 years ... not bad. although pissing 400l makes you think!
I doubt that the chitty included chineseium cells will survive 6 years. The radio is essential, and loud enough to hear in the shower makes it heavy on batteries that's why I went for the mains powered 6v feed.
Wifeys feet are always cold too and her ass is definitely frigid.

[@americanrebel413]

I love your channel, I am so intrested in electronics, how you show and explain things on your channel really makes things clear for me So I can understand, I appreciate you and your explanations of things, Thank you my friend! God bless.

[@Ottonic6]

5000 views on a $10.00 light. You're amazing!

[@MatSmithLondon]

Try 43,000, only 24 hours later :)

[@twotone3070]

@@MatSmithLondon 50,000 after 2 days

[@dylanangel2870]

i have a new of some similar ones from simplecom, theyre pretty good, handy to have a magnetic light

[@TankR]

This is the earliest ive ever caught a video. Only 3,306 views so far! Even if Ive seen them a thousand times, Ill still put BC videos on as background while I tinker and 'take stuff to bits'

[@gateway8833]

Are you saying that Multimeters have a nondestructive method of testing Mains Power? So I don’t need boxes of these? What a modern world we live in. Great video. Sir.

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

Actually Moore of all destructive means of testing memes or a way to scare somebody real good in the industry when you're doing a little troubleshooting???
You know hook up clip leads AKA Croc Clips or alligator clips go to electrical service panel turn said breaker to on equals technician with soiled underwear PS did this to an electrician I was working with at home.
He deserved it a real Wise Acre and a jokester and prankster never really hurting one mostly but so the stuff he did was unprofessional and could have hurt someone he swore to never do it again I beaten all his and anyone else I pulled something back on him taught him a lesson.

[@AntonioClaudioMichael]

Great video Big Clive

[@h0lx]

You know what grinds my gears? When people use a capital M for milli.

[@ethanpoole3443]

Mr Mürk But surely the really meant 600 Megawatts? Bright ideas deserve magnificent magnitude.

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

@@ethanpoole3443 I think it may have been the mega Watts joke.

[@paranoiia8]

I love those sensor lights... I have them all over the house. Also I weirdly have lots of those batteries... All of them are rated 480-500 and they have protection. Really useful for small projects. I used one to convert my mouse to USB rechargeable because I was annoyed by those AAA batteries even if I change them once per 4-5 months...

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

Actually that's a great idea about the mouse never thought about someone that although I've done some things with that and one thing I was thinking about was if either a there's a product that could do this if not modify some Led like area light for closet light either with or without a motion detector and add a little extra electronic circuitry lithium ion battery charger microcontroller switching circuitry tie in somehow the USB power in to an input pin on a microcontroller as a power present indication and then switches or whatever to indicate off on auto emergency that's right rechargeable light that can serve as an emergency light when on charge. I've been thinking about building one myself.

[@paranoiia8]

@@aaronbrandenburg2441 I normally buy those night lights with dust sensors and modify them to use brighter led(depending on model you can modify it to even 5w so they can be used to lit medium size room) They cost 2-3 euro and even after modding them you can put them in light bulp case and use them as normal bulbs in places where you want to have light after dark but you don't have there constant(just bulb screw)
As for modding things to usb/battery power i buy those cheap power banks because whole charging circuit is very small and its easy to remove usb port and move it to different place to fit project you working on.

[@HighestRank]

Akinaro
All hail the light bulp.

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

@@paranoiia8 Oh you mean those night lights that detect when your house is Dusty and dirty and only come on let you know you know like their kids know to clean their room.

[@brendafantastic2259]

Suction magnate, like James Dyson?

[@TheAkashicTraveller]

These are sold on amazon by omeril for £14 with advertised 500mAh.

[@thehappylittlefoxakabenji8154]

you'll have to get some bigclive logo stickers along with a thumbs up to stick on all things that meet with your approval !

[@NilsNormann]

600 Mega Watts...

[@benbaselet2026]

That's the Peak Ohm Ozone Power reading only.

[@AndyCallaway]

You beat me to it. ;-)

[@Mark1024MAK]

Nils Normann - that’s the peak vocal output when Clive shorts out a fully charged cell...!

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

Okay one more time for the record the comment from someone 600 megawatts should be more life 1.21 gigawatts 1.21 gigawatts the only thing that can produce that is a bolt of lightning they carry of a Back to the Future fan of the entire series oh by the way is anyone seeing someone's Back to the Future 4 trailer here on RUclips that was edited from it deleted scenes and bonus footage and other movies into such a trailer that people actually got in touch with the studios BECAUSE that it was so convincing that people thought that it was a real one for sure and the studio hand to confirm that there was never going to be a Back to the Future 4 and there was never any plans to can you believe that also please comment on this if you seen it thanks where we're going we don't need to have a Back to the Future 4.

[@FindLiberty]

1.21 gigawatts = 1,121,000 MW ??? MW > mW lol good catch *(edit 1,121,000,000 W)*

[@Furiends]

I'm trying to decide if these are better or if USB strip lights are better with a battery and inline PIR sensor. I mean it'd cost more but this things battery is trash and I'd like it to be quite a bit brighter which makes using 18650s or a phone battery necessary.

[@ralfoide]

Got a couple of these. The only downside to them is that the AUTO mode does not work on mine when charging.
I've tried to trace the board, and miserably failed to adequately follow the white traces on the white board.
But then rewatching this, it occurred to me the reason is simple: the blue / red LEDs that indicate charging / charged are so bright that they over-power the ambient light sensor. Masking the red / blue LEDs is enough to let the AUTO mode triggers appropriately.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yeah, I noticed that the charge LEDs triggered the daylight sensor.

[@avejst]

Nice, thanks for sharing👍😀

[@MrGoatflakes]

Hey Clive don't suppose you'd consider doing a video where you take these and modify them so you can run a bunch from a suitable and properly isolated wall wart, retaining the battery as a backup?

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

I guess you didn't see my comment may have been another video I don't remember but do the sensor the same thing but a bit different.

[@bobriemersma]

I used to have a sort of "PIR night light" but I found it wasn't versatile enough.
Just replaced it with an IoT plug in night light/outlet since I have Echo Dots within earshot. I schedule it for off during the day and dim light level during night hours... then tell Alexa to raise it to max as needed, plus I get a voice-switched outlet to boot.
But the subject of this video has the bonus of rechargeable use where there is no outlet. Might be useful in a closet, etc?

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

Oh speaking of closets LED lights I just did a little something the other day where I stay I found this small LED strip not flexible but in a plastic shoe with some brackets and stuff that one of my techie friends that sent me is a care package with some other stuff he said might be useful for the closet issue and he said take a look at the specs I need the after and the LED and no tea in one switch standard Barrel plug voltage and current before reading the back of this so I did and also in there was a barrel photofit a chopped off defective USB cable with mail and still on it and another bad USB extension cable is damaged in about the middle and also he said you did say that you use speaker wiring all the time right for low-voltage use is a substitute for low voltage hook up wire to save money. All right I realized and he had even in clothes when he drink and he said Oh I thought you could use some more solder since you said that you're almost out. And also he had a nice extra iron stand he said he'd run across the thrift store. And also another phone charger type charging station he said all it needs it's just a little TLC just needs to be be soldered in a few places of us is fine and also one Ford the socket was useful socket was broken on the board you said that could be used in extended with the other USB extension is damage deposit box strictly power to closet light.
Low and behold bedroom closet light of you split Loom tubing to protect the cable that made up with the speaker cable that used to being inside the closet in case it gets head crushed by something and also split Loom and spiral wrap elsewhere. To protect the cables. And he said also since he that we had frequent power outages and I had multiple power Banks that that way if you ring it be easily roof from the shelving rock bottom you could do something for an emergency light with a power Bank.

[@bren106]

I have a similar type of light, branded Osram, which I picked up from a similar to Poundland type place recently. It was £2.99 and runs from four AA cells. It's on my list of 'to do' things to see if I can put a suitable lithium cell in and give it a (possibly solar) recharging capability. Interestingly it doesn't have an on/off switch on it, just pull the little tab that breaks the battery connection and it's happily detecting until battery death. If they still have any next time I go in you may see Postman Pat bringing you one some day soon.

[@HighestRank]

bren106 they’re probably NiCd cells, no VR nor charge controller, or worse just a whetstone and capacitor running straight to the mains. Not suited for Li packs.

[@bren106]

@@HighestRank No, they're not NiCd. It's using standard zinc carbon batteries. Of course it will need the necessary components to convert to Lithium and/or adding solar. I just sort of assumed that everyone on an electronics channel would realise that I would realise this. I, of course, failed to consider that -you- someone would be trolling me because I shot -you- them down in flames on a different comment.

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

@@bren106 if you really want to be put down in flames just use the charger that is not acceptable for lithium use and charge it with the main power then you'll really go down in flames.
or either or be someone like photonicinduction I want flames.

[@XFolf]

The screw driver is never too big....

[@Balsamancnc]

Clive, I bought one of those cheap soldering stations you use on ebay. They no longer contain a transformer. Just a circuit board. Just thought you might be interested to know.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Is it the same size of case? I bought another recently that is very light because I wanted to see if it has a switchmode power supply in it.

[@Balsamancnc]

@@bigclivedotcom I never had the transformer one, so I am not sure. It looks roughly the same though.

[@murunbuchstanzangur]

Clive! Is the ruideng a particularly good usb meter or do you just enjoy saying ruideng?
I don’t blame you if it’s the latter. It does have a certain lilt to it...

[@crawfish069]

It is a usb color screen meter with many functions. I think he did a review of it months ago. It has graphing features over time too.

[@murunbuchstanzangur]

CW Roberts Tablet thanks. I’ll look for the review.

[@americanrebel413]

15:20 Minutes I Paused the video, Just to say I have a multi meter Exactly like that one. Back to the video I go.

[@MarcWeavers]

damned good timing, need some of these :)

[@qutube100]

How about reviewing some of the Budgety multimeters on the market how does an ANENG Q1 etc stackup against a Fluke X on a budget, is a 30£ meter worth it for the hobbyist and is there a meter that really does it all without costing a Fluke?

[@FrankPerkins]

Somewhat related question to charging Lithium Ion lights. Most say "Dont leave charging for more than 6 hours" because they don't have overcharge protection. I get that, but how do I realistically manage that as some of these items are just left on the desk or garage. Would something like an Amazon Basics USB wall charger provide the overcharge protection or do I need something more sophisticated? Ideally I would just like to plug it in and the "smart charger" just stops the charging when it's full. Love your channel. Thanks!

[@bigclivedotcom]

It's just a classic cop-out. If the unit has proper cell protection it should not allow overcharging.

[@agvulpine]

I'd buy 20 of these if somebody found a good reasonable quality replacement battery for minimal recharging demand.

[@matty1234a1]

Clive have you looked into hall effecf current sensing?

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

I thought about that before either videos but never posted it.

[@DjResR]

That is a nice little light.

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

Technically if a light is a night light when did Black Light technically be a light that turns daytime dark?

[@Andreas---]

You should always cycle the battery 2-3 times to get a better capacity reading :-)

[@bigclivedotcom]

I usually do, but didn't have time to do more than one discharge and recharge cycle with this light. When set to continuous mode it runs for a long time.

[@HighestRank]

Only haptic charge controllers (with temperature feedback) are less likely to initially charge single a battery setup to the exact same capacity each time. The (mentioned) constant-current draw alludes to the more draconian circuit type with invariant charge cycles.

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

Hey big Clive big fan here love the videos keep it up.
As to this video the one with the cupboard hallway light LED rechargeable few comments and questions and possible explanations.
First of all you didn't know. About the lithium cell and Heat.
Have you ever this man told his cell phone and noticed that the processor and all the heat for singaporeans are often thermally attached to the battery.
And some people said when they've seen that in their videos why on Earth is a good idea to do that or is it even safe.
And yes it is a good idea and it is safe.
The reason that is a good idea is because as you probably know with lithium batteries of that type do you have performed well in cold conditions.
AKA Outdoors when you're using your cell phone in the winter.
The idea is that it will it will keep the battery warm enough to perform better in the cold and also because of the and alack of an Eric way too easily heatsink a phone to act as the heat sink.
Onto about the LED panel you did say that it was well design copper heat spreader and such right my theory is that like a lot of your videos as well as other similar to your Channel AKA teardowns that led panel may not have been designed for that product right. Possibly it was meant for somebody else entirely off the shelf part.
Please comment if you or anyone has ideas or comments on this stuff.
Note I am not a technician or even in the field at all nor any formal Electronics training I am self taught from a young age and just about every mechanical electrical electronic subject matter by the way I am on the autism spectrum.

[@roycejulian1517]

Take a breath mate.

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

Yeah yeah hard to do all this when you're in a hurry and I have so many ideas we are not in the situation to post videos and stuff otherwise I would be just sticking out videos and doing it myself. If I ever get the opportunity and such in a facilities that be doing something somewhere two big Clive Maybe.

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

@@roycejulian1517 also by any chance are you. In Australia or have a family from there. Or background.

[@AThreeDogNight]

@@roycejulian1517 I know, took some speed huh?

[@Gigator]

"alack of an Eric" truer words have never been spoken.

[@ronniepirtlejr2606]

I thought when they label a lithium cell, you automatically subtract 20%. 80% is the actual usable part.
If that's the case it would be 480 ml left over

[@punkstoper]

How difficult would it be to build this? E.g. How much would the boards cost...?

[@rjc0234]

5:00 - ooh matron

[@UserUser-ww2nj]

You could probably ''hack '' a reasonable size mobile phone battery into that.
Edit. I must learn to watch the entire video before commenting )))
Just finished watching, 2 ordered from Ebay, now to find suitable batteries. It will be useful here because all of the street lights are turned off at midnight.
Carry it and use it as a torch , perfect 🙂🙂 🇺🇦

[@c4pt1n54no]

This has given me an idea for a bit of a project. An array of those PIR chips going into a raspberry PI or whatever other development board for a cheap ass thermal imaging camera. I'd have no idea where to start with a lense though..

[@bigclivedotcom]

Real thermal imaging cameras have crashed in price due to Flir's Lepton array. It would be worth getting the real thing as a camera accessory.

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

When I saw that last thing that climate just said it as a response to yours I yeah probably be easier to get the real sensor and easier to engineer and possibly less costly roll and definitely less complicated. In terms of building a thermal imaging camera with a Raspberry Pi and PIR sensors.

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

Aaron Brandenburg Yeah, you would need one sense element per pixel, the one in this lamp is a two-pixel sensor. Even basic VGA resolution would need 150000 of those, and a pretty large lens.

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

@@johnfrancisdoe1563 you got my point that's what I was getting at obviously and it does match exactly what I said doesn't it that's why you got that thumbs up the first one it was me by the way

[@HighestRank]

Aaron Brandenburg
What thumbs up? I see 0.

[@josjong5522]

600 megawatt? (600MW), wow :-)