Running your LED "neon" ornaments from USB - including a total screw-up
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- This video was a catalogue of disasters. I even said right at the beginning not to trust the red/black polarity marking in generic Chinese products. They literally use whatever colour of wire is available.
That said, this is a great way of saving the ongoing cost and inconvenience of using standard or rechargeable batteries. It lets you choose either the batteries or a USB power source.
You also have the option to change the LED strip to a colour of your choice, as it is widely available online. This strip is a 3V version. You also get direct 5V versions with a resistor per LED, and a 12V version too for handy off-grid illuminated ornaments.
The diode I used was a 1N4007, which is a very standard 1A 1000V diode. It's a component I think should be in everyone's universal component kit.
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.c...
This also keeps the channel independent of CZcams's algorithm quirks, allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
#ElectronicsCreators
My phone number ends in "-4007" … when I got it the guy at the AT&T store said "oh you want this number, because James Bond" and here I was, thinking about diodes.
😅😅😅 I thought diode first too and then CMOS dual inverter second.....Bond never even crossed my mind.
@@Blinkerd00dI thought of the IC first. I'm more familiar with the 7400 series but there are some really interesting 4000-series chips still available that can be used in analogue applications.
My phone number ends in my Date of birth.
My Phone Number ends ...2007 🤓
@@Blinkerd00dp pop I no liioilliii
I hit the “thumbs up” when Clive said “I’ve screwed up….. right…”. I love videos that show the people, no matter how brilliant, are only human and occasionally make mistakes
I normally hit the thumbs up before the video starts playing 😁
Someone admitting they made a mistake means I can trust them 😂👍
The issue was NOT that you switched the polarity, it was that you put the case together before testing. That's will ALWAYS ensure you have previously made a mistake...
I love when Big Clive work is more realistic and down to earth. Lesser channels WOULD cut out the beautiful flaws that make us human. Thank you for being human, BC!
"Just disregard my rambling."
No. That's where I learn the most. It's why I watch. Lol
Clive, I couldn't see the switch up close. But if it is a double throw switch, then the USB port could be connected to it and the switch would take the place of the diodes - it would switch between batteries and USB. Also if the diodes were 1N5817 Schottky diodes j(1 amp), they would drop half as much as the 1N4007s.
I travel with an LED pink "neon" flamingo and often put it up in my hotel room window. It's been all around the world. The battery compartment takes 3x AA batteries AND it has a USB barrel connector on the back of it as well. Surprisingly long battery life for as bright as it is.
I've got a palm tree one (I don't have the guts to go all-out with a pink flamingo), how long do the batteries last in yours? I use mine with usb but thinking of buying rechargeables for it
y tho
@@Muonium1 you haven't lived until you've woken up to a hot pink flamingo
@@TheHulksMistress If it;s anything like my palm tree one, it was pushing the LEDs pretty hard, I changed, the resistor values to closer match the brightness in the pink flamingo one I have. I can't say anything about battery life though, as I wired them all up together to a USB supply.
The fink plamingo would match the kink palculator!
I love that you leave the accidents in. Gives it a live and dangerous television flavour.
Thankfully I check polarities as a habit, it saves me from the 'accidents', whether happy or not. Speaking of knots my Granny, who passed 50 years ago, tied a knot in her electric iron flex to slow down the heat of the aforementioned iron. She was shown that the dial can turn the heat down, but she stayed with the knot, albeit we turned the dial down too. Good post, very entertaining 😂 👏
These things actually used to have a switching adapter socket (that cuts off the batteries when a plug is inserted) on them but they left it out to save costs. I have 2 of the pink flamingo versions and you can still see where it used to sit in the mold of the case. You can just cut this out and glue one in and use a USB to standard DC plug lead. The advantage is that you don't have the lead attached when using it with batteries.
Clive needs to do a baking video where he narrates himself making a cake
That just would be an atomic shrimp video
I was surprised that you got a drill out; was expecting the soldering iron to make the cable hole
That can mess up soldering iron bits.
@@BigClive Yes agree, however the fumes ahhhhhhhhh.😏
Your cactus appears to be flipping people off! Nice :-)
Strangely enough, "the shocker" hand gesture came to mind.
@Gazereths1234
Watch out for the "Mini Van"
2 in the front, 5 in the rear... 🤪
@jeffl4810 ?
@@BigClive I tried to reply to this in a non-profane manner but CZcams deleted it within an hour. Can't figure them out sometimes.
you could get rid of the diodes by using both positions of the power switch. one for each source.
Good job messing up the polarity Big Clive. I was waiting for the infamous ‘one moment please’ but this was so much more amusing. 😅
It was so funny. This was a good video.
Actually the resistor was in the positive side, not on the same side as the switch. Not a big difference, but a difference.
Now this type of video was the reason I subscribed many many years ago. There are likely thousands of channels pumping out projects and how to's but what they wont teach is how to problem solve I feel like a large percent of what i explain to young people is that messing up and then going through what you have done to solve the problem not only will burn that lesion into memory its what separates the pro from the armature. thank you for this one
Agreed. Making mistakes is often how you learn the most. Love that Big Clive shows their mistakes as well as their successes.
Great idea💡 Love the speed at which you say 1N4007, like the James Bond of electronics lol👍
Very cool Big Clive. The project itself was informative and then trouble shooting a polarity thing was cool to learn from as well.
This makes me feel better about metering everything in my projects, which I've attributed to a lack of confidence in my abilities. Knowing that it also compensates for lack of confidence in other people's craftsmanship is pretty cool.
21:35 Yes, that is what they do. And don't call me Shirley.😂
You’d make a good micro surgeon Big Clive - superb soldering skills and coordination
It's lovely seeing a "pro" like yourself making rookie mistakes like me! Thanks Clive!
On par with everyones favourite, forgetting the heat-shrink.
Re knots in cables: it might not be official anymore, but once upon a time there was something called an "underwriter's knot". It was used as a strain relief in plugs. You looped the line and neutral around each other inside the plug body so they couldn't be pulled out the back
You mention the 'flat-packing'...I'm presuming they have multiple designs/shapes for the 'neon' bit, and just use the same base/connector for all of them.
We all came here for Clive's pleasant Scottish accent. Never get disappointed when he calls for that schematic. Other Scotts could point out that besides saving the cable tie with a knot, the much cheaper 1N4002 50V 1A diode would have been much less of an overkill and provided a bit more Glenfiddich.
1N4000 is 50V, 1N4002 is even 150V. Someone told me they are all the same, but testet to different Voltages
@@juergenschimmer960 You won! If there is enough of us we all could get Scottish citizenship and help them to become independent again.
Repainting wires on the fly, I love it. Soon enough we should check some of these high value Chinese Export stuff for repainted wires, too ...
The moment you grabbed your cactus and pulled out of the base, I had to go and try it with mine...I purchased mine from Aldi about 3 or 4 years ago for about $10 and while it was quite difficult to pull the cactus off, sure enough, it popped out! Leaving spring contacts in the base and metal contacts on the cactus!
As an astute student of the Fuck Around & Find Out university of applied sciences it's heartwarming to see that even trained professionals make mistakes. This was a nice and easy project that I'll do sooner or later so the troubleshooting part will most definitely be handy as well.
17:13 "This is where lesser channels would jump cut"🤣
But then at 21:21...😂
BigClive's lesson today: 'Check polarities'
I've bought some cheap LED ornament strings that work off 3AAAs and after a bucket of cells for the recycler I am thinking.... You guessed it! USB to the rescue! Of course I've recently watched BC's video on making use of recycled lithium cells and how to charge them so... Why not combine the two! Recycled lithium cell battery pack powering or charged by a USB. Purrfect. (Nod to the cats on the roof!)
Thank you BC for all your videos. I've learned a lot.
Now you've done it! I bet Temu is watching and the triple-supply, including mains capacitive-dropper version (with 2 pin Euro plug) is imminent.
I bet someone could make serious money translating these videos into Mandarin 🤣
I have had this exact same cactus in my bedroom powered from the service port on my router for 3 years, i got it from a gas station and it actually had a USB input already
Hi Clive,
I leave my screw ups in my videos too, and viewers thank me for it.
It ads realism to the video and does not detract from the quality of the content.
The outcome of this project was very nice, thanks for sharing.
Hope you are having a good time there in Glasgow.
Kind regards,
Duncan
Clive, your videos are so perfect. Knowing a professional tinkerer can make mistakes makes me feel better about mine
Never thought I'd hear Human Resource - Dominator on this channel! 🤩
I remember right when MicroUSB just took off as "The New Standard(TM)" for connector, I had an absolute PILE (hundreds) of MiniUSB that were super high quality from Canon cameras. The wires in them were some of the best wire for USB I have ever seen, but the connector was "useless" so I was able to get them for very cheap. Used them for years on everything. The wires that are in cables now, are absolutely dreadful--even on expensive cables! Built to spec by the accountants, no doubt.
Brilliant. We've all messed up, some give up at that point, you continued and showed the way. Thanks 🙂
"I'm Bigger, and Bolder, and Rougher and Tougher, in other words Sucker, there is no other..." ❤
I see that this exact lamp is available here in South Africa from a local seller who takes a lot of money! 11 quid for the same thing! Without shipping...
And I am also glad to see that the Master also makes the occasional wrong assumptions regarding polarity and other such nuisences!💥
Two words Clive blue tac and marks, very entertaining! And I have just noticed the switch is two-way so battery one way power supply the other way.
The ultimate downside of DIY alteration projects...relying on someone else to have done things in a 'sensible' manner. Or the mantra of the electrician: "Why the f*** did they do it this way??" :-)
Especially doing home electricity wiring. It always feels like someone tries to kill you if the wire colors are wrong.
I rented a house that had all the wiring reversed. Black for neutral and white for hot (and no ground, of course). I discovered this when I changed out an outlet and wanted to add a ground (I pounded a ground rod in outside and ran a wire directly to my 1 grounded outlet.) Discovering a 120v potential between what I *thought* was neutral and ground was not fun.
this video made me feel better about my usual fumbling of projects
Very timely Clive. In Australia we can buy the green neon dinosaur (Brachiosaurus?) from Kmart for $3, and it has USB or battery already but in a separate box on the end of the wire. I bought 4, and pulled one to bits to see if I could copy the circuit for some other similar LED lights, but I got confused because they have both got resistors. I'll have to go hunting for the diode in the dinosaurs circuit now...
These make great AA battery flattening tools before recycling. Using my $A3 Cactus as a night light. It goes for days down below 2.5V. You can’t buy a 3 AA battery holder with USB and switch for that.
Thanks for persevering, much love 👊🏼
Thanks. Much appreciated.
This is why I always fully test before reassembly. And if you've got birds hanging out on your roof, then the cats are no mystery.
I ended up designing and 3d printing a replacement cover for the base to take a pair of 18650 and a USB charger so it's wireless and USB powered. I might be able to find the file again if some one wants
Funny as video; I was thinking no way could he screw it up, nicely recovered with that current measurement at the end.
Great project! Going to try this one. Also, keeping the batteries would give it more physical stability by lowering the centre of gravity. Had a 12" LED usb/battery Christmas tree a few years back. Bottom weight is a definite plus.
Might be worth using schottkys to save a bit of power dissipation and voltage drop for the batteries!
I like to do this with my electronics so it's nice to see that more of the experience is universal than isn't. I'll use USB C connectors I get out of street lithium devices instead depending on the project, a lot of them come with a nice built-in indicator LED's that you can give its own 5v to light up when it's plugged in/switched on/etc
Enh, not that big a screwup. It's useful to show the debugging process, anyway, or at least one example of what can go wrong.
Oh yes. You make pitfalls, you learn, you don't fuck up big time later on.
Love these simple videos even I can follow. Thanks for your humbleness man. Cheers from Sweden.
A cactus lamp could always use a little spike suppression….
Or you connect the battery to the other switch contact. (no diode drop)
Still use a diode to drop some of the voltage. The LED tape doesn't have resistors. The diode would help lower the stress on the tape and the dropper resistor and extend the lifespan.
I don't know why, but this is one of my favourite projects now!
Wonderful timing, I was just looking at "work light" that I own that functions on 3 AA batteries, and that I want to change over....in other news, I use cable ties so much in the shop for other stuff, I call them zip ties....when you called them cable ties, I needed to rewind and watch that part again to see what you were talking about about 😂
I was about to yell at my monitor screen when you corrected the schematic. THANK YOU! I don't watch electronic videos without schematics.
Oh yeah, absoluteky the best and My Fav. Project channel ever!❤
The resistor limits the current to a safe level for the LEDs.
These styles of LED strips must be popular in Europe. I have never seen this tape in the US before, even though I have seen Clive’s videos about them for several years.
1:55 Ah yes, classic Chinese noodle wires
6:27 a little trick i'v been using data lines for if im not going to plug it into a computer is to use the data lines for battery voltage bus, so i can read the battery voltage , this can be useful for me if im putting in a stamp-size dc boosters, those for boosting household batteries to 5V,3V or 3.3V. i doubt external battery reading would be interesting for a cactus lamp , but for other things its handy.
There are other ideas what i would use the data lines for, like cut away the usb plug as well, put on a new one and use 2 pairs of wires instead of a single wire for each polarity.
Another idea could be to install a little Qualcoom trigger board , so you can get 9V and adjust the resistor , so you get a more brighter led light, maybe install a little trim potentiometer.
From my trade schooling, 54yrs ago, ohms law uses E = volts,I = amps and R = ohms. And these days every one seems to use variations and I have to remind myself when some one uses the "wrong" symbol 😀 Also making mistakes is the better way to learn whereas teaching is the best way to learn!
The best 12minute video that ended up taking 28 minutes 🤣 dont you just love it when things go wrong 🙂
Clive, seriously I have never laughed so hard during one of your video's mate 🤣🤣
The oh so recognizable (but sometimes 'product fatal') mistake of blindly trusting the Chinese with their wire colors 🤣, then thinking that you your self twisted the enclosure so "fixing" that, and in the end turning up with reversing everything again (pun intended) 🤣🤣
And then to hit the nail on the head: "Lesser channels would have......" I seriously lost it during this video man, love it!👍
Alternatively you could've used a switching 5.5x2.5mm jack that does all the switching for you, as long as you don't mind having to unplug it to use the batteries, which may or may not be a positive. and then ofc you'd be using a USB to barrel jack cable, but it would also make the cable removable
From time to time, ALDI and Lidl sell boxes of assorted heat shrink tubing.
I bought a box at the weekend, that contains 127 lengths.
Originally £2-99, it was reduced to £2-09.
This was great I always wanted to try that😃
Fun little journey too 🙃
You could use a simple female USB c port smt typ ! All your videos are very very useful and helpful! Thank you for your efforts and work!
Best regards,
7:50 "…but the only way too find out is to start the project and see what goes on" That right there is the story of my life
We are taught during soldering class to make a mechanical joint FIRST and then solder that joint.
If you made a mechanical joint with the diodes you would have less problems.
Oh, "you got lucky".
From the video on chemical weapon glitter lamps. Interestingly trichloroethylene is also found in brake cleaners, fine when you're using it to clean breaks, much much less fine if you use it to clean something you're about to weld and it hasn't dried properly.
“Making you feel good about your own screw ups”
Clive I was thinking the same thing
Could you hear me screaming "sticky tape" as Clive did the three point solder joint?
5:53 How have I lived my entire life without realising that I could just snip through those annoying metal twist ties rather than untangling them?!
And with the cheap little USB-C PD "trigger" boards, you can power things that need 9v, 12v, 15v (sometimes - depends on PD source), and 20v.
Love this kind of stuff ... thanks for the ideas👍
Great job Clive 😀👍
Just wondering if you have done a video to show how to override the auto-shutoff features which seem to be very common in power banks these days?
There are wake circuits that pulse a high load briefly on a regular basis.
I think the guy who installed the wires is colour blind. Thanks Clive.
I'm going to do the exact same thing with some of my kids toys. The "Red isn't positive. Because China." probably saved me a good but of head scratching!
Lovely video as always!!
I usually replace the batteries with a power bank, from the dollar shop, it has a USB connector, charger circuit with LED and a LED charge indicator. I recon 5 v is close enough to the 4.5v from fresh dry cell batteries. Capacity is usually more than enough for the use case.
My first thought might have been to use a Schottky diode on the battery side for the lower forward voltage. Or if I was feeling extra fancy, replace the 5.1 ohm resistor with two NPN transistors and two resistors as a constant-current sink so that it drew the same amount of current no matter the voltage.
Top tip - if you're not using batteries it could end up being top heavy. So snip the battery wires but leave something in there as a ballast weight, like old nuts/bolts or a ziplock bag of sand, or even some old dead primary batteries.
To save the diodes it is possible to connect the positive usb to the 3rd pin of the switch, this way the switch selects usb or battery
Was the switch 3-pole? I couldn't make it out..
@@snafu2350 yes. quite common in chinese stuff.
@@shaiseg TVM
Screw-up or not it is COOL!!! 😎🤟
Very easy hack!
I would have gone for a more "advanced" hack by using one of those simple pcbs with which you can charge a lithium cell with and use an 14500 cell.
This way you only need to use one slot in the bottom and you have 5 volts.
Which is nice to use to make the LEDs brighter.
Another thing is, you have a removable cable connection, be it Micro of C USB.
😊
Cactus.!
Yep.! Cos Life Happens...
Cheers Clive.
With that diode arrangement, would it not be more convenient (and maybe slightly more efficient) to use one of those dual diode components? The type which superficially looks a bit like a mosfet but is actually a pair of diodes with the central pin being the common anode. I think you can also get versions which are arranged the other way round, with the central pin as a common cathode instead. One or the other would work in this application.
What I sometimes do is use one of each type connected back to back to make a schottky diode type bridge rectifier, with the two central pins being the DC output. This is also slightly more efficient than a conventional bridge rectifier since it has much less voltage drop over the diodes.
“More convenient” really depends on what’s available in the parts cabinet.
You know you made it as a CZcamsr when you break out the Eneloops
You can actually get little usb breakout boards for type C etc. So you wouldn't of had to hard wire it in. I made a battery bank out of a few li-ion cells I salvaged from a laptop battery. I used a usb c one and bridged the data pins so it'd take 1A and wired it to a tp4056 module. Then I wired it to the same boost/charge board you have in that diy power bank thing. I got a couple of those but the 18650 cells I had where garbage. Like not even 250mAh. tp4056 is a little bit more gentle than it so I just used that boards boost functionality and not charge.
Tying a knot in a cord for strain relief is perfectly acceptable, /provided it's the correct knot/!
A simple overhand knot has a tendency to 'walk' along minimum-friction cord such as plastic-coated/sheathed wires, hence it's frowned upon for strain-relief. Add a twist to the loop of an overhand knot & you have a 'figure-eight' knot, which won't walk & is thus perfectly OK (or it unravels & you have a straight cord, in which case twist the knot's loop in the other direction)
Not exactly the same, but I’ve converted a flickering LED candle that used to take 3x AA batteries to take a single 3.7v lithium cell from a “Vapor producing device”. This cell is charged by a simple TP4056 module that’s constantly hooked up to a 1A USB power supply. Been running nonstop for over 3 years now.
Who walks into a shop and goes "Oh! I really need a cheap plastic light up cactus"? The world is so depressing these days.
I would move the resistor over between the USB positive and the LED strip positive since you use NiMh Eneloops or LADDA batteries (which are cheaper and better Eneloops by the way), the single Diode drop should be fine.
I saw the thumbnail and Billy Joel's "Captain Jack" got stuck in my head, through with different lyrics:
"'Cause Cactus Hack will get you light tonight, And take you to Clive's famous workbench...
Cactus Hack will get you by tonight, Just a little solder and you'll be smilin'..."
It's a great idea, leaving your mistake in. Not only does it prove your integrity, you're also showing how anybody could troubleshoot/repair the mistake if they did the same themselves. As you said, this is not the first device where Red is (-) and Black is (+), and it definitely won't be the last! 😆
For me, the biggest surprise was actual copper wires in the USB cable!
27:30 - Cat on a hot tin roof?
I don't have your electrical cleverness Clive so I have to buy a 5v to 4.5v stepdown adapter, solder it to the battery connector and plug a switch into it. Done that with several 1.5v, 3v, 4.5v, 9v. I use that system to power your excellent 8 Crystal LED light.👍 Makes a great nightlight with pretty changing colours.😁
You could also cut a 2 pieces of steel bar roughly the same diameter and length as an AA battery and put them in the battery compartment to add weight when you don't have the 3x AA cells in the unit.
I was surprised by the USB lead..
All four leads and copper..
Enjoyed this video 😂👍🏻