Dodgy mains emergency light. Full build and schematic.
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- Опубликовано: 15 июл 2024
- An attempt at building the cheapest mains voltage emergency light unit possible using the least circuitry. Full concept, design, PCB, etch, populate and test. Only issue with the design was a slight problem with the chosen Zener leaking too much current. That was fixed by using a lower power Zener with a low Zener-current.
The fully charged unit runs for about 10 hours at gradually reducing intensity and can easily light a room enough for navigation.
This project is quite dodgy because it's entirely referenced to the mains and an open circuit zener could result in serious lithium cell overcharging, even with protection circuitry (it's not rated for high voltages). The whole thing would have to be mounted in an insulated case including the LED.
The final circuit just had two component changes. The Zener was replaced with a lower power one with a lower Zener current of just 5mA and the X2 capacitor was replaced with a 220nF one for a higher charge current. For 120V use you would just need to change the X2 capacitor for a 330nF or 470nF one rated for 250V.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of RUclips's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty. 
Наука
Watching Clive solder is like watching Bob Ross paint. So relaxing.
There's a simple rule: A capacitive dropper (at 230V 50Hz) gives about 1 mA per every 14 nF.
I=230/(1/(6.28*50*C))
That's a really handy rule of thumb. Thank you.
I'm going to give this a test at some point.
@@dancoulson6579 Remember to unplug protopye... If you forgot and your soldering iron is grounded rcd gonna remind you... I learned that hard way... That was evening and mom wasn't happy.
PS. I know I know I'm stating the obvious, I was trying to be rather funny than helpful.
Watching and hearing you talking about your dexterity reminds of the man who was willing to give his right arm to be AMBIDEXTROUS ...
Don’t you mean AMPU-dexterous? ;)
@@fazergazer
lol
I love the fact that you leave the mistakes in. Makes it so much easier for a complete noob like myself to try things, when one knows that even a pro like yourself, with decades of experience can make mistakes. Also I lovelovelove these longer videos! I like to unwind after a day by listening you talking about things I honestly don't know that much about.
ilaril couldn't agree more 😊
It might-however-be a very good idea NOT to start with a mains voltage project if you're a noob (like me).
Agreed, if we wanted a polished film we wouldn’t be turning to RUclips.
It's also nice to get to see Clive trouble-shooting, so you learn a bit more about what can go wrong and how to find it.
Agree, really enjoy these longer ones with all the detail and trouble shooting, great educational stuff for noobs!
I like this.
After a surreal week featuring death and destruction up close and personal, it's great to see a nice long video of Clive just making something, literally from the ground up, and describing it as he goes along in his mellifluous, calming voice.
Signal diodes are dirt cheap and can put put in series for a low voltage references and to act like a zener diode. It's really amazing what we can build with just a few components and how those same components can be rearranged in so many ways. Circuit building should be the smell test applied to people seeking power over others. That might weed out the illogical craziness (might). Best wishes Clive 👍
Solely here to applaud the use of a FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER!
A combination of my two favorite youtube channels.
Every time I watch one of your videos I learn something! I also realise how much I don't know and that is exciting knowing I can't see the end of the journey.
"I've drawn it so we're gonna use it!"
I feel like this is how most things that don't make sense happen...
Caps across rectifier diodes were common in even the cheapest mains powered AM radios - presumably to kill switching noise from the diodes
mikeselectricstuff are we going to see any new content from you any time soon Mike?
Looking with a scope at (fast) switching diodes reveals ringing which produces hf ugliness, so yeah, caps or even snubbers please.
plemli At low current and frequency it's not a big problem.
MrJohhhnnnyyy not (even a minor) a problem here with slow diodes and low currents, but there are worse offenders and bits and pieces do add up and raise the noise floor. Generally we're getting careless.
plemli I didn't notice any considerable improvement after adding caps across diodes in the 50Hz circuit.
Secondary side rectifier in the SMPS is a whole another story. Large peak currents and dv/dt. Especially in a high power flyback PS operating in DCM.
I did an Ebay search for used Xuron cutters, came up with a fellow who was selling 4 of them all in one lot. There were two sizes, each pair had one very good set and one where the wrong size wire had been cut and there were some holes. I took the ones with holes and used my knowledge in knife sharpening, stoning them back into working order, and saved the good ones for particularly difficult projects. I love them, and they are the real deal, got the lot for 12 bucks! I still have the cheap Chinese ones that I used for everyday crap when I don't want to take a chance on ruining the good tools.
"Now we just need to stick the mains in and see if it explodes in a ball of flame."
How you know it's a good Clive video.
I've had prototypes detonate forcibly when plugged in. Kinda annoying, but also hilarious.
Clive I worked with lead solder over 40 years. I worked with a guy that used to chew, yes chew solder like chewing gum. I wonder what ever happened to him. Thanks for the new tech in PCB.
Keep up the great work Clive - We watch your videos for a mix of the skills you demonstrate, but as importantly, your personality and comedy. Videos with more then one volt/multi-meter on screen is a good video :-)
This brings me back to the days where I used to paint circuit boards by hand :) I'm glad I get to see all these techniques. Good stuff!
As an avionics technician, we're taught you put solder on the iron and bring it over to the pad in order to make a bridge to heat the pad up faster, and then put solder on the joint directly
It does help to have a wetted tip to couple the heat before adding solder.
I do at the same I learn soldering from my uncle also an avionic tech working for the NATO a long time ago.
"Kind of, know what I'm doing, kind of y'know."
You make it look so casual to just roll your own board populate it, little revision and done. Another very enjoyable project video. Thanks Clive.
Everything went right with the video! Having problems and then resolving them is artistry. When we see problems that you have to fix, it allows us to see some of the art behind the science.
This is probably one of the best videos you have made Clive
You could use a 431 shunt voltage regulator (aka 'programmable zener') and a pair of resistors to get whatever voltage cap you want above 2.5V while shunting anywhere from 0.1mA to 100mA. Quite handy when the exact voltage you want isn't available as a zener diode with the exact characteristics you want.
Gosh darn it. I should have read all the comments before I posted the exact same thing.
can someone point me in the right direction for choosing the value of the resistors? I guess it is the 'shunt regulator' setup I see in the datasheet?
Datasheets usually contain the formula to calculate the resistor. If you use a shunt regulator with a 2.5V reference voltage and you want 4V, you need a 0.6 divider ratio, which would be something like 6k between the output and reference pin, then 10k from the reference pin to ground: 4V x 6k / (10k + 6k) = 2.5V at the reference pin. How large the divider resistors can be depends largely on how much bias current the shunt regulator requires on its reference pin and your tolerance for the regulation error this introduces.
Sometimes it's great to go back to these long project videos.
Around three minutes in I realized this was a language I didn't quite understand, but then it became like I was listenng to an elderly Eskimo recite Eskimo lore in his native language, oddly engrossing. And then it was like I got to see him carve a pipe from a walrus tusk which made it all worthwhile!
Always love your projects Clive, I need more!
Quite good video. From problem definition to design to build, test and trouble shoot. Excellent. Well except for snipping as opposed to desoldering.
Clive, i love your projects. Whether they work or not. Thanks man!
I love that you show the troubleshooting process, very educational.
Sometimes I re-listen to bigclive's videos to sleep (because that warm booming voice is somehow soothing) but then i'll stay awake because I get interested.
I'll have to try this PCB method, I'm quite attached to the old school tape mask and a scalpel method.
+SilentDreamcast Once you've tried a nice simple PCB layout package you'll never go back to tape and transfers. Making changes is so easy.
I liked this video a lot, you should do more designs! As an entry electronics hobbyist it's really nice hearing you think things out.
I have been practicing that multi-finger soldering techinque, and have it working fairly well; however not to long ago, whilst making a board up, I happened to get my little finger tip against the iron when it was set to 400 C. Fried her good, the heat was hot enough to seal the wound, and pretty much deaden the pain. It healed nicely and seems to not even leaving a scar
I once had to take a fellow into custody who had suffered a nervous breakdown. He had driven 100 miles to get into my jurisdiction because we were friends when we were children, having grown up together. En route he, being very nervous I guess chewed the bullets off six .357 Magnum cartridges and swallowed the lead. Once I talked him out, and transported him some 350 miles to the State Mental Hospital, the lead had probably been digested. I informed the medical staff when they took him into custody, and was told "Don't worry, that too shall pass!" And so it did, he seems to have not suffered from his lead meal, this was over 40 years ago now, and he is still living well and happily in a different State.
I love these long project videos!
Love to see more of these minimalist type of videos in the future.
So glad you're a gentle giant. Your skills and knowledge could be truly terrifying to some.
I'd be the worst possible foe if I used technology as a weapon.
.
Well Clive you've done it again. I've got a few of the professional versions of these & always wondered how I'd go about making a DIY version with my own LED's. Excellent little project my friend & I hope to see modified versions in future.
How about a version fitted inside a standard light bulb which is lit at 50% brightness while on mains & at 100% brightness for an hour if the power goes out. Would be an ideal nightlamp bulb in dark hallways then.
The challenge with a bulb with backup is it needs to distinguish when it's wall switch is off versus a power cut. If it is a bulb that is permanently on then you're sorted! If not, then you can test the capacitance of the supplying cables, which would hint at length of those cables. Higher capacitance would probably translate to no supply.
34:19 - Definitely worth watching, just for chuckles. ;-)
Great build! Could've used this Sunday through Tuesday, when a wind/rainstorm blasted our state leaving 160,000+ without power.
I saw the title and figured he was taking something apart, but no he's making a dodgy thing.. makes sense.
CHIB = a knife used as a weapon for the non scottish people
Chiv
edit: You edited your post and did not fix your comment :P
reedit: Seems he is actually right.
Nah, we use them on Scottish people too.
hahaha i cant breathe.
figuratively yes.
ProCactus
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chib
I was thinking about making my own emergency lighting system. But a centralized one.
There would be a single, large 12v lead acid battery. Constantly maintained by the mains charging it.
When power cut, a relay closes, sending the 12v through dedicated wiring through the house.
12v is nice to use, because you can readily use car bulbs and holders in custom made fittings.
The 10w festoon lamps used in car boots, or even the 5w license plate bulbs are pretty bright.
If you wanted to be really modern and energy efficient for a longer run time, you could even use 12v camper van fluorescent lights, or LED's.
It's actually a great idea. Some years ago, as a result of ongoing power cuts, a colleague of mine resorted to doing just this:
He bought LED strips - those strips of white LEDs that you can cut to size - and fitted a strip of them into every lamp in his ceilings. Because they are a strip, they fit nicely around the existing bulb and fitting and you don't notice them behind the shade.
He wired them all in parallel using (I think) 5A rated ripcord, and connected them to a small, 12V 7Ah battery he kept on a maintenance charger (not any other kind of charger!). When power went off, he flipped a single switch and the whole house lit up, ran for several hours. It wasn't that bright, but you could see what you were doing.
However, don't forget with 12V that any voltage drops quickly become appreciable. If you're using downlighters that draw an amp or so, you will soon find on the longer wiring runs that the bulbs are getting dim. You can make up for this by using thicker cable, or, even better, more efficient LED lighting.
When you see a video right as it uploads, and it's Big Clive!
Good stuff.
I Really like these longer videos Clive.
Well done, Clive. I just finished my DSO 138 "SillyScope". It seems to be working. (I know, unrelated). It's so great to put something together with your own hands and have it work. I love LED's, Lithium Power (with protection, on or off board) and electronics in general. I am beginning to understand the principles with your help. Your BIG help. Thanks, You Big Scot! :-) (I'm in the US and I have Scot in my DNA). I hope saying "Scot" is not derogatory. Like saying the "N" word or something. Or maybe it is OK as long as we are calling each other "the word". Hey, Clive! You be my Scot! What up, Scot! ;-)
The term Scot is fine here.
Great vid as always.
I could see in a few years time the chinese nicking this plan then mass producing this then claiming they have created a marvellous masterpiece.
What a fun and simple idea. Thanks a lot.
That was fun! Looking forward to more vids like that :)!
I am 50 years old and have been soldering with lead based solder since I was 6...ain't dead yet!
Apart from it being referenced to mains, I think its actually a quite neat design. The minor flaws you had to fix can happen, its not a bad video at all.
Now this is definitely one kit I'd buy from you!
It's not something I would sell as a kit as it works directly at mains voltage.
Ahh, so that's why you have prepared versions of the circuit cooking show-style.
appreciate the longer vids, clive. thanks
You can fry (i did once or twice ;-) protection circuit in a way so it will short out and heat up and melt/destroy/ignite the battery.
But mostly it will just "weld together" the FET(s) and become permanently conducting (no protection any more).
Now on Kickstarter...
And for pre-order at Banggood.
Thorium powered solar freaking emergency lights!
That is just a STUPID comment. Everyone knows that you need plutonium to properly power an emergency light. Thorium...pffft Don't make me LAUGH
LOL
Nowadays I use the toner transfer method for PCB's but, when I used to do them with photosensitive sprays, I used pre-cut A4 tracing paper. They are much cheaper to buy compared to inkjet t-shirt transfer sheets and they work great. Of course you need to print them with a laser printer, not inkjet, but on the good side, laser printers have lower cost per print and they last longer.
I'd love to see more about PCB design. I don't know a lot about it and it'd be really interesting!
Clive doesn't like it but schematic capture software works well for PCB design. You just have to learn how to use the software. There's a few free or gratis products available. Clive mentioned Eagle, it is gratis for small boards, and KiCAD is just free. But KiCAD's work flow is a bit more complicated. There's some extra steps involved.
That film is what i used at Mho Track Printed Circuit Manufactures in the later 80s. Use a blade to trim edges.
Very good video! I specially liked watching how you troubleshooted the different issues. What a pity we didn't enjoy a capacitor bang ;-p
Ahh! I thought the picture you put on patreon was an emergency light design.
I could seea bridge rectifier, capacitive dropper, battery pack, and a COB led attached via wires.
I remember being able to use a PNP transistor as the switching mechanism.
A great video clive! Do more of these. Love your design of the PCB, which follows the circuit diagram in form. I would've done it on veroboard for quickness. I need to get back into doing more of this stuff myself like I did 25 years ago. Still have a roll of 60/40 solder which i use - the lead-free stuff is crap. Used to make PCBs with transfer tape and ferric chloride - horrible messy corrosive stuff!
I still use ferric chloride. It's messy, but still a really good and stable etchant. If you look at my other PCB making videos you'll see the Seno GS bag system I use that makes it clean and easy.
I was a machinist. We used lead hammers, because they were sod and heavy, to tap stuff around. Big shops had to use crappy “shot mallets”, but I never had to deal with them… dunno how I could have done it without.
The big problem with lead, is mining it… Easy to end up with it in water…
Lead solder is fairly safe. In my workplace we're required to use lead solder because lead free has issues called tin whiskers. A problem when life literally depends on it working a decade after it was built.
You can't absorb lead simply by holding it, and solder temps are not high enough to vaporize lead (as stated in this video the fumes are actually the flux). However, it is important to not have food or drink nearby and to wash your hands before eating or drinking as accidental ingestion is the most likely hazard with lead soldering. We also have wipes to clean the ESD workbenches at the end of each shift.
That said, the consumer industry going lead free is a good thing because the majority of e-waste ends up in landfills and that lead will leach over time into the groundwater.
An excellent video Clive. This seems an easier technique than your iron chloride circuit board development technique.
+Colin Overton It still uses ferric chloride for etching.
bigclivedotcom Ah, I imagined that this used the washing soda as a mild alkali etch. Thanks for the reply.
Bloody hell Clive. I was waiting for the battery pack to catch on fire, a power cut, electric shock or one of many other things.
I've learned so much from this video!
Every time you say "Thats better!" it reminds me of the priest in Mrs. Browns Boys, when she thinks the picture of Jesus is talking to her. Gotta chuckle, God how I love Mrs. Browns Boys, I wonder if they will ever release her shows from down under, that's the last I heard of where it went.
That was an awesome video !
Awesome as always - tempted to copy this one!! :-D
This was as pleasure to watch.
Words from a Buddhist monk to live by.
"Fail, fail more, fail better!"
Washing soda in the US - cheap powdered dishwasher soap from DOllar General or Family Dollar.
Sweet project, Big UP!
Actually, the best way to learn handheld soldering is by watching a Scottish bear do it in some RUclips videos. I do it this way now and it's _sooooooo much faster_ - thank you Clive!
Zener diode voltage is usually given at 10-20 mA so if you have smaller current it starts to conduct at a lower voltage.
THAT... IS AN AWESOME CIRCUIT DEVELOPMENT EQUIPMENT =O
It's Zener effect below about 5V and avalanche breakdown about about 5V. Around 5V it's often a mix of both.
It's like a cooking show! Here's a circuit board I've prepared earlier.
Because I watch so many of your videos, and copy many of the circuits, I broke down and ordered a mess of BR547 transistors. Now I don't have to worry that I have screwed up the pins.
While it was not solder that the fellow ate, years ago, one of my childhood friends who was a suddenly rich fellow because of an oilfield outfit he had built up went off the deep end. You see North Dakota put a high barrel tax on oil and all the companies pulled out, leaving him high and dry. He was, like myself, a gun nut and owned dozens of guns, many purchased from me over the years. At the time I was the Chief of Police in a neighboring town, and received a call from the local town cop/street sweeper/meter reader who had very little training, that the fellow had pulled into his little village and barricaded himself in a friends home. Well I went over there, red lights a flashing, accompanied by the County Sheriff so I had some authority there. After several hours, I finally talked him out. We had to transport him to the State Mental Hospital, some 350 miles away, I went along as I could keep him relatively calm. He told me he had eaten the lead off six .357 magnum lead bullets. When we had arrested him, we did in fact find those bullets with the lead chewed off. As far as I know he had no adverse effects, except, perhaps some rather splashy shits. He is still alive and doing well some 35 years later now..
I lost it when Clive plugged the Hopi into itself. Rofl
I love how every time I re-watch a Big Clive video I pick up minutia that I'd missed before.
28:08 I remember lively debates on guitar amp forums regarding a capacitor across every diode vs. a single 100 nanofart after the rectifier to snub ringing. Turns out both work equally well, but the risk of ringing from most 1N4007/UF4007 diodes is negligible, so expect the amp designer who swears by capacitors across each diode to be a cork sniffer as well.
Oooo quite nice 😬 Smells like a nice JLCPCB project
I only use lead solder. The lead-free solder is absolute shyte, and tends to break down when current is applied to it. It was designed for jewelry and plumbing, not electrical and electronic use, and it's the main reason that modern components develop broken solder joints in months, rather than ovr the course of decades of wear.
awesome! hate to be a beggar but now all we need is one for the 12 volt and power LEDs
What if you replace the zener diode with a precision shunt regulator, something like LT431? It has maximum current of 0.2A and it can regulate anywhere between 2.5V and 36V based on the resistors that you use to set up the output. This however will result in more components but it will also allow you to get the cell voltage a bit higher, thus getting a bit more capacity out of it.
Fun video thanks for posting.
Hai, with such a simple board I mark the holes and then I draw the lines with a scharpy (I'm Dutch). This is a lot smpler and quicker. With small lines I sometimes have to scratch something with a razorblade. Greetings, Rob
As to "is it avalanching", from what I understand with zener diodes, when you forward bias them, the depletion region shrinks, resulting in conduction. When you reverse bias them (or any diode really), the depletion region grows, but when the depletion region actually grows to the physical width of the semiconductor, you end up with direct carrier injection from the metal its connected to into the depletion region and from that, conduction.
Again if I remember right, avalanche current in a semiconductor device happens the voltage gradient is high enough in the material to knock electrons into the conduction band where they then (sustained by the voltage gradient) can successively knock more electrons into the conduction band when they eventually hit something.
Hopefully at least some of what I just said was correct.
With today's market, I find that I have better luck following your videos by just ordering in the proper transistor the 547 is readily available on Ebay for a very reasonable price.
If you have not done it yet could you please do a video showing the entire process of making pcb’s including equipment and materials?
Ah, finally got to watch the rest of this vid, nice little circuit, if it was a smidge more compact with the PCB you could probably fit it in a Poundland LED bulb shell (speaking of which, they seem to have some nice 6 Watt 3000k 510 Lumen ones in now, got a couple, and I approve of the colour temperature! Different design inside too) and use a Y-splitter with one bulb being the mains one, and the other being the Emergency light... :)
Very nice video! I, as as in the case with most humans, have only two hands. So, for decades, I used my teeth to hold 60/40 solder while working. Some of the people who know me might claim that caused brain damage, but I can assure you that I'm as normal as you are. 😀
Who are the 3 dislikes, find the heathens. Another great Big Clive video.
Clive you can use the YT SW to turn vertically recorded phone footage into full screen.
It was two sections of a four section video that had to be combined locally on the phone.
For that clamp meter I have had good results zeroing it adjacent to the wire I want to measure and then clip it over the wire ensuring the meter stays the same orientation and direction. It will read both positive and negative - I've messed with that seeing how much power my car is recharging its battery with and then how much it's drawing when I disconnect the charging circuit. When I have tested this on the same circuit as an inline meter I get extremely close numbers.
nice. leaning by example. good to see its not just me that falls foul of component specs. the heffalump traps of circuit design.
Instead of using tape to hold the components for soldering, a piece of hard plastic or thin plywood with a thin foam rubber sheet on one side, held on with 2 elastic bands makes the job simple.
Shame you didn't scle it up slightly to power a big LED that could light a room to a level that would let an OAP see to move around and have one in the fuse box room. It is almost there, and it does not need to charge that fast these days. Scale up the batteries as well, would make a great project ,especially if someone was to pre-make the PCBs and, or even supply it as a kit. It could all be housed in a nice box and mains powered. Then China could copy it and we could get it at half the cost with unsafe components in it. Hello China!
I would love to see à list of materials for making you own PCB, watching many of your videos to learn as much as possible.
I chewed on solder a few times when I was a kid. I still hold it in my mouth when my hands are busy. And I normally bite sections off the reel rather than melting it off or bothering to use side cutters. Aaaaand I'm not dead (yet).
Small amounts of lead doesn't kill you. It makes you stupid.
Nice circuit. I was thinking wouldn't it be alot easier to use a 240v solid state relay and keep it open until power is lost and then
connect the battery to the LED. but then you would need a seperate charger for the battery. Still very nice
great ish vid sir
43 mins long and a project. liked before i even started watching
Mains and lipo this is perfect for beginners ;)