Even though you said it was a different pinout, that unpopulated circuitry at the top is clearly for a battery charger; you have the USB-C connector at the top ("TY"), and red/green LEDs in the bottom right ("G+"/"R+"). The touch sensor triggering when you touch the top anywhere is probably because that large section isn't grounded and is being capacitively coupled to the center touch pad; adding a wire tying it to ground should fix that.
Actually, my suspicion is that it is not being coupled to the touch pad, but actually to the wire and/or board trace, both of which are pressed up to or run right next to that metal chassis in places. I agree that just grounding the other top piece is probably the most straightforward way to fix it, although that may also reduce the sensitivity of the actual touch sensor piece somewhat as well.
The ‘touch lamps’ of the 90’s (of which my mother had a few), operated wherever they were touched, on the ‘metal’. Base, shade, stem, it would cycle through the intensities regardless. I think this model is supposed to ‘trigger’ regardless of where in the top you touch. I remember them being quite sensitive, and sometimes triggered when something else electrical was operated. The cordless phone also played havoc with it, at times.
I also had one in the '90's . Metal base, touch, etc. Even in the days before I knew much about electricity and electronics I knew it was only a matter of time before something went wrong. It was plugged into the *_mains_* and sat next to my night time glass of water - oh alright - unfinished beer. I threw it out.
My dad had a light switch above his pillow with plenty of bare wiring. I used to grasp for it blindly plenty of times, which is how I learned exactly what 220V AC feels like and that it's not immediately lethal... why was I in my parents bed? He also hung a small CRT TV from the ceiling by some rope!
Additional mod suggestion: the lamp still registers ghost touches from touching the top cover instead of the touch plate, which suggests the top cover isn't connected to circuit ground. If you do that, it should eliminate your ghost touching problem. The "disco" behavior may also be LED board noise getting coupled to the top cover and touch plate, grounding the top cover should stop that too.
I agree that could be the problem, assuming the cover is conductive, however, I would think it could likely be a sort of opposite problem. That touch sensor design rely on detecting the change in capacitance between the sensing wire and some "ground". With no external wiring to ground in the environment around, the rest of the circuit will act as an electrode providing capacitive coupling to ground. Thus strengthening this coupling by bringing your hand close to the top circuit board could be enough to increase the overall sensor wire to ground capacitance enough to trigger the touch sensor.
Probably fixable by simply using a wire to bond the case, plus the top, to the negative of the circuit. Should stop all the ghost sensing, as otherwise the entire case is an antenna.
@@MrXBT2000 If you connect the top cover to circuit ground, any charge and capacitance you may add by touching the cover brings the whole circuit's potential to whatever the new equilibrium is and the touch plate surrounded by the now grounded (to circuit) touch plate sees no net change in capacitance unless you actually touch it.
@@teardowndan5364 the touch sensor essentially measures the capacitance between that little wire electrode and the rest of the circuit ("ground") - bringing your hand close to the wire or close to the circuit will both have the effect of increasing that capacitance. Yes, anything that increases the overall capacitance to the environment around would reduce the relative contribution of bringing your hand close to the circuit, thus making it more specific to touch of the "button" in the center. In this case it seems to me it may simply be too sensitive, so another simple solution could actually be to reduce the length of the touch sensor wire. But it all depends on the conductivity of those parts too - not obvious for me if they are metal or plastic - and even if not metal they may still be conductive enough to "conduct touch".
I actually love that thing considering it’s intended purpose. It’s super cheap and replaceable but easy repaired in bulk as well. The crossthreading part seems like a hang that could be gotten.
I spotted these lamps in the wild at a restaurant in South Germany today, and immediately remembered having seen the model before in this video. The one at our table worked reliably though.
Old-fashioned rechargeable restaurant table light, in his 60s I remember going to restaurants that had a fairly good size rechargeable light sitting in the center of the table and you had a button on it to press and it would flash a red light indicating that you wanted service. If this device was meant for commercial setting they missed the boat.
These have become very ubiquitous in restaurants all over Asia, recently. We bought a few similar ones for our outdoor table. Even though the ones we have look similar, they seem to be from different sources, and are of different degrees of quality. There are of course many different variations on the design, but seem to have the same basic functionality. Very interesting to see you dissect one!
It might not be put together well, but at least it's battery-powered and won't kill you. My brother owns some 120VAC table lamps that are touch activated, though it's almost impossible to get them to turn back off. There's not much that frightens me more than a touch-activated, AC-powered product bought from China via Amazon's Marketplace. I tell friends and family to buy AC-powered products only from domestic retail stores, but I don't think that they listen.
Most are counterfeit Chinese shit! The original design is Japanese called Ambientec TURN, its 600$ 😂 Customs in EU and US should really stop Chinese deliveries and Alibaba altogether. Eveything from there hurts real businesses and their IPO.
@@dagg497 @dagg497 wow, yeah, didn't think of the original artist's design, but... I mean hey, those who can only afford five dollar ones, aren't gonna rush out there and buy $600 ones anyway... To each his own... So congrats to Ambientec for such a cool design...
I'm sure anybody who has played the game Cyberpunk 2077 has noted the creative use of lighting in furniture and architecture and how LED can now let us do stuff like that today! I'm a fan of traditional light sources like HID and fluorescent but LED opens up a whole new level of opportunities.
Restaurants all over Scotland are now adding to their menu's that Table and Wall lights are Not Included in the meal price! But also this does open your mind to what can be done with such a simple device
I like how this lamp is modular and easy to maintain/upgrade etc. If it wasn;t for its quirks, I'd gladly buy one. But then again, I have bought other products with quirks...
Nice video Clive. I've bought a couple of these type of 'cafe' portable lights and they all suffer from the same poorly designed touch sensor issues. One thing that would be nice is if you could get a calibrated colour chart that you put on the bench when demonstrating the light output. It would be useful to see how good or bad the colour rendering is from these LEDS? I know the camera is not calibrated, but it would give an indication, particularly the red part of the spectrum. You would only need to shine a known high CRI light onto the chart first, then swap over to the light on test for us to determine how well the tested item performs. Thanks
Bought something very similar from Bunnings (Aus.) a decade ago. Sub-mini USB B charging, internal 18650, but cold white only, with three intensity settings. Makes for an excellent camping / outdoor dining / emergency table light, and still works really well indeed, on the original "no Name" Li cell!
I have a magnetic disk light that is extremely similar to this. However, it is not touch sensitive. Instead, it has a push button near the USB port that has the same options as the touch sensor in your light. The plate with the LEDs will cycle through cool white, warm white, and both when you push the button. Each of the three can be dimmed by long-pressing the button and that option will be remembered. At full bright, the light runs for a few hours.
I went to a Mexican restaurant in town here in North Carolina and they put one of these on my table. It was quite nice, giving light to the food and not in your face.
Well you fecked the unscrewing of the base 🤣🤣 I needed a laugh Thank you. Its not a bad idea, but the touch control is a bit wonky. I can imagine 20 -30 of these flashing away randomly as a waiter walks past with a metal tray. 👀🤣 Great video 2x👍
Interesting design, it would make for a good TV light for movies with snacks when you don’t want any screen reflections, I may look into that, thanks Clive.
The one thing i saw missing from the design was the option to tune the mixed color between 50/50 to continuously vary the color temperature. These are about 26 US$ on Temu, and they have a wide variety of designs, probably accounting for the flexible circuit boards allowing for united or split designs, starting around 11 US$. Great review. Im tempted
Sir Clive, at 1:54 you said it is an excellent product, then why is the clickbait "crappy" in the header? You have to appreciate someone who conceived and manufactured this product that is affordable to everyone. If I am the creator of this product, a bit of appreciation would be just.
The stupid thing is that you really dont want these to be customisable, a restaurant wants all its lamps to be the same colour, so a switch on the bottom would be perfect. Good ones i've seen of these charge into their own docks, as you have maybe 50 in a restaurant to charge. Having said that this type of light is a godsend for restaunts who want a light you can use to read a menu but keep the lighting levels atmospheric.
I was about to joke that I'm missing the strobe and SOS feature, but on second thought, having a blink mode in a restaurant light might be a way to discreetly get a waiter's attention, at least in a low ambient light setting where the blinking is easily spotted.
Nice touch using fender washers to hold that 18650 cell! Not a fan of holding a PCB with nuts and washers over the central slot either. Very easy to crack the PCB by overtightening the nuts. Can't wait for the cost down version where they use the cheaper grade of those big fender washers - you know, the ones with the high and sharp burrs all around the OD, cause the die has made 180 million pieces! Never seen that happen....er..... What a junker. Cheers!
It is quite satisfying how the USBC port slots in so perfectly. Whenever I'm making a device, I always notch out the hole for the connector so it slots in nicely like that, but figuring out how to mount the PCB board is sometimes a little tricky. I usually just end up making the holes wider to account for misalignment, but slotted holes might work better. As for the rest of the thing, it's a shame they went for such a fake looking gold. Brass would look better than the ugly gold anodisation, but obviously that would be much more expensive. Black or white powder coating might look better, and probably not cost much more than anodisation.
I'd guess the left out circuit in the top part is an option for the circuitry from the bottom board (the battery charging). There's a battery connector, too. I think both boards were designed to have the option of standalone use.
The construction doesn't look bad in this one (metal and threads is better than plastic and glue), except that I really don't like the LEDs being on a single sided board without any proper thermal connection to the outside. That said considering how often I have seen touch lamps not working properly (I repair a lot of stuff so people come to me when things don't work), I can only guess how many of them land in the trash. Trash created by something that everyone could live perfectly fine without with.
Nice lamp. Maybe the options are that you can turn on a separate LED (on top) when you wish service. (So you don't need to try to catch attention from a waiter/waitress when you want to order something extra or to pay the bill).
Looking on LCSC, the touch controller appears to share a pinout with the Sam&wing brand 6010S chip. Interestingly enough, the picture seems to show the chip is unmarked on the top surface, but has some markings on the bottom. Only problem is that the datasheet says that the brightness increases as you hold the touch button, but perhaps there is a non-S variety of the chip out there that has the opposite behavior.
Does it remember the brightness settings if the battery is disconnected? I'm wondering the setting is non-volatile. Also "still reacts to the rim being touched" *fnar*
I have three of these lights. They are all significantly better, in that they have a physical tactile button. Two of them are basic cheap yard-sale obtains that offer High and Low power in Warm White. One white, one orange. The third I paid Covid prices for, and is significantly more advanced (and awesome), with a sharper appearance. It has the three color temp settings, and will cycle between Neutral White Bright, Dim, Warm White (bright/dim), and Cool White (bright/dim). It'll turn off when you click it after having left it on for a little while, and has an elegant dimming transition between settings. The base has a Bluetooth speaker. All three are USB-C, with the correct sensor resistors in them. I actually have a mini-lantern with that same quirk as yours of storing the color temperature brightnesses separately.
I'm surprised an enterprising Chinese factory hasn't started making USB-C sockets with the resistors integrated to make them "charging only" connectors.
There are times when I get a little weird about selling my hacked together electronic products, then I come here and see some of the wildest shit like LiIon cells being barely held in place with a weighty metal washer.
A while ago now there was a fabulous, unstoppable giant of a rugby player called Jonah Lomu. He would run with the ball handing off opposition players to the left and right like swatting flies and he would even run straight over anyone who got in his way. Nothing would stop him from achieving his goal…..well watching Clive disassemble that lamp was just like that, astonishing brutality and one minded determination! The second part I felt slightly deflated but only due to a lack of description as to how you got the lamp working so well. I feel that I should now move heaven and earth to find one myself that’s a bit poorly and attempt a full resurrection on it! Wish me luck! Rob
I believe it was the 3D printed extender for the touch plate that improved it. You could get away with a disc(s) of some other non-conducting material as well.
It's nice looking and performing if you don't count the touchy touch sensor. I've never seen an 18650 cell with a pigtail soldered to it. One thing I would consider is adding more cell capacity to it to make it last longer between charges. Do you think this is a good idea - putting cordless lights in a public place? I think there is a big chance of them being stolen. Stuff happens! 🤷
Come on, that isn't half bad, compared to a lot of other stuff you featured on this channel in the past. Actually, if a restaurant weren't TOO hoy paloy, it might even be a nice asset, say in the middle of some flowers?
I would guess something like this is a really nice DIY project .. little 3d printing .. little pillaging in the hardware store.. charging module , battery , an arduino, a little ws2812 strip ..
That's probably because most chargers introduce a lot of electrical noise. So the software would be confused by what appeared to the user touching the sensor repeatedly at very high speed.
I'd have to do math i haven't done in 40 years to prove it, but i imagine there's a couple pF of capacitance between the hub of the lamp and the shade. Not as much as a Leyden jar, but same order of magnitude.
I have these and use them as you describe. They are great, and run forever on their own. Forever and a day if you use even a modest usb battery pack, or a tiny solar 5v panel. Best of all, they light where you need to see and don't shine in your eyes like every other 'camping' lantern. Its not 'glamping' to use modern technology when it is a superior solution. I wish we had these back in Scout's days.
@@Schmootle GMTA! Exactly the biggest problem with LED lanterns. Finally found a Coleman that is sufficiently diffuse and the light comes from the top of the lantern, much like the old white gas ones.
Never underestimate the power of percussive maintenance! BC, my brother from another mother, you need a deadblow hammer. Hear me now, believe me later. ...i'm sure you already have one. i like the one with the rubber and plastic head, non-marring. thing is, the lamp with that thin metal with large circ., you're basically dealing with a mistrhreaded crappy pinspot. I know you know the ones i'm talking about. when you're halfway through unscrewing it and the lamp ring binds? i bang 'em on the nearest hard object. that usually pops things back into place... Cheers! An thanks!
Ordered an ATX Breakout board for PC Power supplies that has 6 USB Ports that'll be delivered today from Ali, cant waitttt to get itttt!! They have a USB powered desk light with 2 Lights and a Time/Date display that ive been thinking about getting, but with the amount of USB powered lights i have i dont know if i should get it or not lmao.
the *"pocket parts" at the end. lol. *(If you put something back together and it works, but you still have parts--- you put them in your pocket and forget about them.)
I really wish you would NOT pause the video while you do the soldering and such...love the longer project ones...I rewatch them often. Looked these up...they want an average of about $27USD for one lamp...and they expect restaurants to but dozens of these...and to charge them all at the same time?
It looked like the touch sensor and the top plate moved slightly relative to each other when touched, and that relative movement was triggering the switch. Now that might have been down to your big bear paws, but I suspect that it's just a crap switch. If you do decide to become a shill, don't forget to mention how the base is "security sealed for safety"
Random idea, instead of saying "watch your eyes, the light is coming back" then doing a cut, try doing a fade or a similar effect to smoothly go from dark to bright. Might look quite good. If your editor supports it...
I'm not exactly sure, but I think the capacitance of the small touch knob change would weakly couple with the larger top metal ring and thus change when you touch it. a double removed capacitance to the touch circuitry?
0:34 You use this table top for so long that is soak up with You spirit, therefore there is no surprise this lighting gadget is turned on when touched :) ahahaha Have a nice day mate !
I looked at a birthday cake sparkler today which says it plays the happy birthday song (badly) and that's capacitive touch, but the chips have had their numbers lasered off, which seemed like a long way to go for something that only cost £3 and will be used once...
The next version will be even cheaper, made of plastic parts with no metal in sight. They usually make new products out of sand-casted Zinc. If the product sells well, they'll pay thousands and make a tooling and molds for plastic part injection.
I actually like this lamp it's not too often you see a product that is fully serviceable like that
Even though you said it was a different pinout, that unpopulated circuitry at the top is clearly for a battery charger; you have the USB-C connector at the top ("TY"), and red/green LEDs in the bottom right ("G+"/"R+"). The touch sensor triggering when you touch the top anywhere is probably because that large section isn't grounded and is being capacitively coupled to the center touch pad; adding a wire tying it to ground should fix that.
Actually, my suspicion is that it is not being coupled to the touch pad, but actually to the wire and/or board trace, both of which are pressed up to or run right next to that metal chassis in places. I agree that just grounding the other top piece is probably the most straightforward way to fix it, although that may also reduce the sensitivity of the actual touch sensor piece somewhat as well.
If Clive were so inclined, he could marvellously narrate audiobooks. His pronunciation of "restaurant" is delightful.
The ‘touch lamps’ of the 90’s (of which my mother had a few), operated wherever they were touched, on the ‘metal’. Base, shade, stem, it would cycle through the intensities regardless.
I think this model is supposed to ‘trigger’ regardless of where in the top you touch.
I remember them being quite sensitive, and sometimes triggered when something else electrical was operated. The cordless phone also played havoc with it, at times.
Touch lamps have been around since the 50s, the original ones ran on tubes and they were also all metal base.
I also had one in the '90's . Metal base, touch, etc. Even in the days before I knew much about electricity and electronics I knew it was only a matter of time before something went wrong. It was plugged into the *_mains_* and sat next to my night time glass of water - oh alright - unfinished beer. I threw it out.
Yep, stale beer in the morning is not nice.
My dad had a light switch above his pillow with plenty of bare wiring. I used to grasp for it blindly plenty of times, which is how I learned exactly what 220V AC feels like and that it's not immediately lethal... why was I in my parents bed? He also hung a small CRT TV from the ceiling by some rope!
When my plasma globe was turned on it always made mine cycle through brightness levels like crazy
I really like certain aspects of it. Makes me want to find something at a second hand shop and make my own.
Additional mod suggestion: the lamp still registers ghost touches from touching the top cover instead of the touch plate, which suggests the top cover isn't connected to circuit ground. If you do that, it should eliminate your ghost touching problem. The "disco" behavior may also be LED board noise getting coupled to the top cover and touch plate, grounding the top cover should stop that too.
I agree that could be the problem, assuming the cover is conductive, however, I would think it could likely be a sort of opposite problem. That touch sensor design rely on detecting the change in capacitance between the sensing wire and some "ground". With no external wiring to ground in the environment around, the rest of the circuit will act as an electrode providing capacitive coupling to ground. Thus strengthening this coupling by bringing your hand close to the top circuit board could be enough to increase the overall sensor wire to ground capacitance enough to trigger the touch sensor.
Probably fixable by simply using a wire to bond the case, plus the top, to the negative of the circuit. Should stop all the ghost sensing, as otherwise the entire case is an antenna.
@@MrXBT2000 If you connect the top cover to circuit ground, any charge and capacitance you may add by touching the cover brings the whole circuit's potential to whatever the new equilibrium is and the touch plate surrounded by the now grounded (to circuit) touch plate sees no net change in capacitance unless you actually touch it.
@@teardowndan5364 the touch sensor essentially measures the capacitance between that little wire electrode and the rest of the circuit ("ground") - bringing your hand close to the wire or close to the circuit will both have the effect of increasing that capacitance. Yes, anything that increases the overall capacitance to the environment around would reduce the relative contribution of bringing your hand close to the circuit, thus making it more specific to touch of the "button" in the center. In this case it seems to me it may simply be too sensitive, so another simple solution could actually be to reduce the length of the touch sensor wire. But it all depends on the conductivity of those parts too - not obvious for me if they are metal or plastic - and even if not metal they may still be conductive enough to "conduct touch".
@@MrXBT2000⁰⁰⁰⁰⁰0
I actually love that thing considering it’s intended purpose. It’s super cheap and replaceable but easy repaired in bulk as well. The crossthreading part seems like a hang that could be gotten.
Especially in a location with rolling blackouts.
How have you deduced it's super cheap?
Nice detail having a childproof base. A special built in safety feature 😉
I spotted these lamps in the wild at a restaurant in South Germany today, and immediately remembered having seen the model before in this video. The one at our table worked reliably though.
Old-fashioned rechargeable restaurant table light, in his 60s I remember going to restaurants that had a fairly good size rechargeable light sitting in the center of the table and you had a button on it to press and it would flash a red light indicating that you wanted service. If this device was meant for commercial setting they missed the boat.
These have become very ubiquitous in restaurants all over Asia, recently. We bought a few similar ones for our outdoor table. Even though the ones we have look similar, they seem to be from different sources, and are of different degrees of quality. There are of course many different variations on the design, but seem to have the same basic functionality. Very interesting to see you dissect one!
It might not be put together well, but at least it's battery-powered and won't kill you. My brother owns some 120VAC table lamps that are touch activated, though it's almost impossible to get them to turn back off. There's not much that frightens me more than a touch-activated, AC-powered product bought from China via Amazon's Marketplace. I tell friends and family to buy AC-powered products only from domestic retail stores, but I don't think that they listen.
The lights that use cheap grey-import touch sensors are definitely not as safe as the ones that use locally compliant ones.
Wow, that's a nifty looking lamp! Surprisingly simple, yet looks so sophisticated. Think I'm gonna go see what they cost... 👍
Most are counterfeit Chinese shit! The original design is Japanese called Ambientec TURN, its 600$ 😂
Customs in EU and US should really stop Chinese deliveries and Alibaba altogether. Eveything from there hurts real businesses and their IPO.
@@dagg497 @dagg497 wow, yeah, didn't think of the original artist's design, but... I mean hey, those who can only afford five dollar ones, aren't gonna rush out there and buy $600 ones anyway... To each his own...
So congrats to Ambientec for such a cool design...
I really like the remote controllable touch-sensitive lamps, where throwing books at them makes them turn off.
I'm sure anybody who has played the game Cyberpunk 2077 has noted the creative use of lighting in furniture and architecture and how LED can now let us do stuff like that today! I'm a fan of traditional light sources like HID and fluorescent but LED opens up a whole new level of opportunities.
Restaurants all over Scotland are now adding to their menu's that Table and Wall lights are Not Included in the meal price! But also this does open your mind to what can be done with such a simple device
It's got more metal in it than I thought. I was expecting a lot of "simulated gold" plated plastic. Still quite crappy.
What a great idea, it would save a large restaurant a fortune in candles.
I like how this lamp is modular and easy to maintain/upgrade etc. If it wasn;t for its quirks, I'd gladly buy one.
But then again, I have bought other products with quirks...
Nice video Clive. I've bought a couple of these type of 'cafe' portable lights and they all suffer from the same poorly designed touch sensor issues. One thing that would be nice is if you could get a calibrated colour chart that you put on the bench when demonstrating the light output. It would be useful to see how good or bad the colour rendering is from these LEDS? I know the camera is not calibrated, but it would give an indication, particularly the red part of the spectrum. You would only need to shine a known high CRI light onto the chart first, then swap over to the light on test for us to determine how well the tested item performs. Thanks
Bought something very similar from Bunnings (Aus.) a decade ago. Sub-mini USB B charging, internal 18650, but cold white only, with three intensity settings. Makes for an excellent camping / outdoor dining / emergency table light, and still works really well indeed, on the original "no Name" Li cell!
I would like to point out that Bunnings is a Hardware Shop in Australia
Chef Excellence says:
"An excellent product!"
I have a magnetic disk light that is extremely similar to this. However, it is not touch sensitive. Instead, it has a push button near the USB port that has the same options as the touch sensor in your light. The plate with the LEDs will cycle through cool white, warm white, and both when you push the button. Each of the three can be dimmed by long-pressing the button and that option will be remembered. At full bright, the light runs for a few hours.
This would make a nice little camping light.
I went to a Mexican restaurant in town here in North Carolina and they put one of these on my table. It was quite nice, giving light to the food and not in your face.
That looks like a cool lamp, handy for reading etc thanks Clive looks well designed too thank you 😊
I like the idea of the dimming memory.
Years of drink will do that to you 🤪
Well you fecked the unscrewing of the base 🤣🤣 I needed a laugh Thank you.
Its not a bad idea, but the touch control is a bit wonky. I can imagine 20 -30 of these flashing away randomly as a waiter walks past with a metal tray. 👀🤣
Great video 2x👍
Interesting design, it would make for a good TV light for movies with snacks when you don’t want any screen reflections, I may look into that, thanks Clive.
The one thing i saw missing from the design was the option to tune the mixed color between 50/50 to continuously vary the color temperature.
These are about 26 US$ on Temu, and they have a wide variety of designs, probably accounting for the flexible circuit boards allowing for united or split designs, starting around 11 US$.
Great review. Im tempted
Sir Clive, at 1:54 you said it is an excellent product, then why is the clickbait "crappy" in the header? You have to appreciate someone who conceived and manufactured this product that is affordable to everyone. If I am the creator of this product, a bit of appreciation would be just.
The stupid thing is that you really dont want these to be customisable, a restaurant wants all its lamps to be the same colour, so a switch on the bottom would be perfect. Good ones i've seen of these charge into their own docks, as you have maybe 50 in a restaurant to charge. Having said that this type of light is a godsend for restaunts who want a light you can use to read a menu but keep the lighting levels atmospheric.
I was about to joke that I'm missing the strobe and SOS feature, but on second thought, having a blink mode in a restaurant light might be a way to discreetly get a waiter's attention, at least in a low ambient light setting where the blinking is easily spotted.
I was half expecting this to have a strobe and an SOS mode.
Nice touch using fender washers to hold that 18650 cell! Not a fan of holding a PCB with nuts and washers over the central slot either. Very easy to crack the PCB by overtightening the nuts. Can't wait for the cost down version where they use the cheaper grade of those big fender washers - you know, the ones with the high and sharp burrs all around the OD, cause the die has made 180 million pieces! Never seen that happen....er..... What a junker. Cheers!
It is quite satisfying how the USBC port slots in so perfectly. Whenever I'm making a device, I always notch out the hole for the connector so it slots in nicely like that, but figuring out how to mount the PCB board is sometimes a little tricky. I usually just end up making the holes wider to account for misalignment, but slotted holes might work better.
As for the rest of the thing, it's a shame they went for such a fake looking gold. Brass would look better than the ugly gold anodisation, but obviously that would be much more expensive. Black or white powder coating might look better, and probably not cost much more than anodisation.
I think a nice pink would have been a must buy.
12:20 "The device is now reassembled".
With half of the metal bits still out on the table. 🤣😂
Clive, you need to do a LED hack series & get us all modding light bulbs that last forever. (until it dies)
I'd guess the left out circuit in the top part is an option for the circuitry from the bottom board (the battery charging). There's a battery connector, too. I think both boards were designed to have the option of standalone use.
The construction doesn't look bad in this one (metal and threads is better than plastic and glue), except that I really don't like the LEDs being on a single sided board without any proper thermal connection to the outside.
That said considering how often I have seen touch lamps not working properly (I repair a lot of stuff so people come to me when things don't work), I can only guess how many of them land in the trash. Trash created by something that everyone could live perfectly fine without with.
Years ago my HF ham rig would make my tungsten touch lamp cycle brightness levels.
Large washers are the saviour of shoddy engineers everywhere !
Seems like this one would be nice to use as a ring light, assuming the LEDs are decent
I wish he had the tools to measure the CRI of lighting.
Interesting.
With little to no effort this could have been a good product
What a nice little light
Nice lamp. Maybe the options are that you can turn on a separate LED (on top) when you wish service. (So you don't need to try to catch attention from a waiter/waitress when you want to order something extra or to pay the bill).
I like the construction and it's fairly stylish. Not sure about the gold though. 🤔
They do other colours.
Looking on LCSC, the touch controller appears to share a pinout with the Sam&wing brand 6010S chip. Interestingly enough, the picture seems to show the chip is unmarked on the top surface, but has some markings on the bottom. Only problem is that the datasheet says that the brightness increases as you hold the touch button, but perhaps there is a non-S variety of the chip out there that has the opposite behavior.
It does look like it may be that chip. I've updated the video's description.
Does it remember the brightness settings if the battery is disconnected? I'm wondering the setting is non-volatile.
Also "still reacts to the rim being touched" *fnar*
The battery is permanently connected in normal use. I've not tested running it completely flat though.
I have three of these lights. They are all significantly better, in that they have a physical tactile button.
Two of them are basic cheap yard-sale obtains that offer High and Low power in Warm White. One white, one orange.
The third I paid Covid prices for, and is significantly more advanced (and awesome), with a sharper appearance.
It has the three color temp settings, and will cycle between Neutral White Bright, Dim, Warm White (bright/dim), and Cool White (bright/dim). It'll turn off when you click it after having left it on for a little while, and has an elegant dimming transition between settings. The base has a Bluetooth speaker.
All three are USB-C, with the correct sensor resistors in them.
I actually have a mini-lantern with that same quirk as yours of storing the color temperature brightnesses separately.
Quite the labour intensive assembly.
I'm surprised an enterprising Chinese factory hasn't started making USB-C sockets with the resistors integrated to make them "charging only" connectors.
They have breakout boards with the 5.1kOhm resistors with USB connector.
@@akhurash Those are fine for prototyping, but when making a _product_ you need it to be a homogeneous component.
There are times when I get a little weird about selling my hacked together electronic products, then I come here and see some of the wildest shit like LiIon cells being barely held in place with a weighty metal washer.
Yeah, that's a bit squirmy. I think I'd have preferred a rubber pad or foam between the cell and where it's clamped.
That was an enlightening video!😊
A while ago now there was a fabulous, unstoppable giant of a rugby player called Jonah Lomu. He would run with the ball handing off opposition players to the left and right like swatting flies and he would even run straight over anyone who got in his way. Nothing would stop him from achieving his goal…..well watching Clive disassemble that lamp was just like that, astonishing brutality and one minded determination! The second part I felt slightly deflated but only due to a lack of description as to how you got the lamp working so well. I feel that I should now move heaven and earth to find one myself that’s a bit poorly and attempt a full resurrection on it! Wish me luck! Rob
I believe it was the 3D printed extender for the touch plate that improved it. You could get away with a disc(s) of some other non-conducting material as well.
Ah, so the three settings are warm to make the food look appetising, cold for scrutinising the bill and dim for when the film is starting 🙂
It's nice looking and performing if you don't count the touchy touch sensor. I've never seen an 18650 cell with a pigtail soldered to it. One thing I would consider is adding more cell capacity to it to make it last longer between charges.
Do you think this is a good idea - putting cordless lights in a public place? I think there is a big chance of them being stolen. Stuff happens! 🤷
If I went to a restaurant which had those lights on the tables I think I'd take them apart while waiting for the meal!! 😆
Come on, that isn't half bad, compared to a lot of other stuff you featured on this channel in the past. Actually, if a restaurant weren't TOO hoy paloy, it might even be a nice asset, say in the middle of some flowers?
That's a nice light actually. Odd that after you made the new spacer that you can still use the outer ring to control it.
Did you have some spare washers left over after reassembly 😂
Yes. I rearranged some of the hardware.
@@bigclivedotcom I'll have to remember that phrase next time I have some parts left over!
They always put a few extra screws and washers inside these things for us to collect in case we need them somewhere else!
I need a Big Clive for my zombie apocalypse team.
I would guess something like this is a really nice DIY project .. little 3d printing .. little pillaging in the hardware store.. charging module , battery , an arduino, a little ws2812 strip ..
I got one like this a few weeks ago. The funny thing is that the switching function works when it's charging, but the hold to fade function stops.
That's probably because most chargers introduce a lot of electrical noise. So the software would be confused by what appeared to the user touching the sensor repeatedly at very high speed.
It is funny how the light starts panicking: "I am being UNscrewed!"
I'd have to do math i haven't done in 40 years to prove it, but i imagine there's a couple pF of capacitance between the hub of the lamp and the shade. Not as much as a Leyden jar, but same order of magnitude.
One hopes that VHB tape or Araldite is included so the lamp doesn't topple over or could be used as a projectile (in less salubrious restaurants).
Seems like this would be a neat little night for the picnic table while camping. USB battery pack would keep it going a while.
I have these and use them as you describe. They are great, and run forever on their own. Forever and a day if you use even a modest usb battery pack, or a tiny solar 5v panel. Best of all, they light where you need to see and don't shine in your eyes like every other 'camping' lantern. Its not 'glamping' to use modern technology when it is a superior solution. I wish we had these back in Scout's days.
@@Schmootle GMTA! Exactly the biggest problem with LED lanterns. Finally found a Coleman that is sufficiently diffuse and the light comes from the top of the lantern, much like the old white gas ones.
Never underestimate the power of percussive maintenance!
BC, my brother from another mother, you need a deadblow hammer. Hear me now, believe me later.
...i'm sure you already have one. i like the one with the rubber and plastic head, non-marring. thing is, the lamp with that thin metal with large circ., you're basically dealing with a mistrhreaded crappy pinspot. I know you know the ones i'm talking about. when you're halfway through unscrewing it and the lamp ring binds? i bang 'em on the nearest hard object. that usually pops things back into place...
Cheers! An thanks!
mediocre circuity aside, the lamp itself seems to have a really nice build to it
Subbed (honesty I thought I was), here's to 1 mill in 2024😁✌👍👌
Ordered an ATX Breakout board for PC Power supplies that has 6 USB Ports that'll be delivered today from Ali, cant waitttt to get itttt!! They have a USB powered desk light with 2 Lights and a Time/Date display that ive been thinking about getting, but with the amount of USB powered lights i have i dont know if i should get it or not lmao.
If I ran a restaurant, I don't think I would want the customers to be able to adjust the lighting.
This is probably the bells-and-whistles rip-off of something proper, and they believe they have improved it.
Or take the lighting home!
kinda retro futuristic design.
Bits left over, just like what happens when I take things apart :)
My point was; I don’t think the fact the touch sensor bled to the entire metal top was a fault.
Auto oil filter wrench might get that out without smacking it on a table
Im watching on my phone… might be a little stoned… I was moving my phone, like that would help me see inside the base…🥴
the *"pocket parts" at the end. lol.
*(If you put something back together and it works, but you still have parts--- you put them in your pocket and forget about them.)
ooh big clive video
I have one of these, bigger model, that became a permanent bed light after the bulb in the old one had it's final day...
Would connecting the other parts to the circuit ground not stop them acting as a touch sensor?
I'm not sure. I might try that.
nice enough !
No restaurant ever used these lights. The Chinese made these specifically for Clive to tinker with.
I Quite Like it!
It's a tad more classy than an LED tealight, that's for sure.
I really wish you would NOT pause the video while you do the soldering and such...love the longer project ones...I rewatch them often.
Looked these up...they want an average of about $27USD for one lamp...and they expect restaurants to but dozens of these...and to charge them all at the same time?
Making them wirelessly charge with a charging coil built into the table would be a nice idea. Easy to wipe the table clean as well...
It looked like the touch sensor and the top plate moved slightly relative to each other when touched, and that relative movement was triggering the switch. Now that might have been down to your big bear paws, but I suspect that it's just a crap switch.
If you do decide to become a shill, don't forget to mention how the base is "security sealed for safety"
Random idea, instead of saying "watch your eyes, the light is coming back" then doing a cut, try doing a fade or a similar effect to smoothly go from dark to bright. Might look quite good. If your editor supports it...
I'm not exactly sure, but I think the capacitance of the small touch knob change would weakly couple with the larger top metal ring and thus change when you touch it. a double removed capacitance to the touch circuitry?
Thanks
Thanks. Much appreciated.
I'm shocked it's not just plastic painted with effect paint.
I wonder how many guys have or will get one of these lamps to convince there "higher class" partners that camping is for everyone lol
while circuitry is crappy, design and metalwork is very neat.
0:34 You use this table top for so long that is soak up with You spirit, therefore there is no surprise this lighting gadget is turned on when touched :) ahahaha Have a nice day mate !
mmm... that's almost nice!
"Rest Rons."
I looked at a birthday cake sparkler today which says it plays the happy birthday song (badly) and that's capacitive touch, but the chips have had their numbers lasered off, which seemed like a long way to go for something that only cost £3 and will be used once...
The next version will be even cheaper, made of plastic parts with no metal in sight.
They usually make new products out of sand-casted Zinc. If the product sells well, they'll pay thousands and make a tooling and molds for plastic part injection.
I'm sure there will be completely plastic versions.
Strap spanner would have gotten the base off easy, heavy shit is convenient though :)
You had extra parts left over after reassembling it, that happens to me all the time.