Coincidently, I got a LED tester from a boot fair about a week ago. It's a small back box that houses a PP3 and the lid is a PCB. On the PCB are 6 pairs of eyelets, each pair of eyelets has a different value resistor connected to it enabling you to test a LED at different current levels. Useful.
After watching this video, I went ahead and purchased a crimping tool, sort of like that, but with 3 sizes instead of the 2 as yours has. I am amazed at how often I use it, I had ordered a set of Dupont type ends for it, and ran out of the male type, had to order more of them, and have also purchased a set of the type you use in this video, while I don't use them as often as the Dupont, they are indeed very handy for many projects as well. You are correct in that it takes some time to learn exactly how to use it properly, but once you have it, it seems to come naturally thereafter. Thanks a million for the video!
No, you'll need a higher power PSU. A 9V battery can realistically supply about a single watt at maximum (and you'll wear it out quickly at that high current).
Being a bit on the cheap side when it comes to soldering irons, I looked around and found this little gem about two years ago now, and have used her daily. She has yet to fail me, and she uses the common tips that fit your soldering iron, so I have a ready supply of replacement tips, she came with 4 and I purchased a batch of assorted ones, I don't recall how many, that was a mistake, as I find I only use two, the chisel end and the fine point if I need to do something very small. I have no idea how accurate the thermostat on the side is, however I do know it works it is quite obvious when you need a bit more heat, turn her up, and she produces, need less and a bit down cools the tip right down. I had been going through several old soldering irons before getting this one, first my old one that came with my Bell and Howell correspondence course in TV Repair back in 72 but she was in bad shape, then a couple of those 3 buck ones from the cheap bin at the hardware store, what crap that takes twenty minutes to warm up. Had a Radio Shack COLD soldering iron, that does sort of work but not well enough for my liking. I have had two of the different USB irons, the first was quite good but burned out on me, the second is the one you recently reviewed, it has it's place but no good for full time work but the little blue one here : www.ebay.com/itm/Hot-Sale-60W-110V-Adjustable-Temperature-Welding-Electric-Soldering-Iron-Kit-/152470590727?hash=item237ff49507:g:8CkAAOSwXY5ZXyV5 really does the job for me and with limited space, I don' t have room for a full set with hot air gun. I do have a hot air gun that is seperate tub rarely ever dig it out as it is large and in the way all the time, much like my glue gun that is in the pile beside my recliner.
Quick non-pro tip: For my helping hands I used some E6000 to glue some neodymium magnets to the bottom of the base so I could stick it to my work surface (which is an old flat side panel a computer case with a 1/16" [1-2mm] piece silicon mat glued on top) without it tipping over or sliding around. Edit: In case anyone wants to know about the crimping tool. If you have a Paladin 1300 or 8000 series crimp frame and want the die for D-Sub pins the part number is PA2097. Paladin Tools is owned by Greenlee.
Crimps do indeed corrode outdoors!. We know that all too well here in the Midwest, or at least those of us with trailer wiring (I think they call them 'caravans' in the UK?). The road salt _eats_ exposed metal, bodywork included. Automakers here FINALLY started adding weatherproof trailer connections in their wiring harnesses, within the last decade or two.
Why a 9v batteri Clive? For simplicity? Dropping 7V over the resistor seems pretty wasteful, wouldn't some sort of 3 AA battery pack be better? Or are there many LEDs that have a forward voltage of more than 4.5V? It should be noted that I haven't thought this through very much and the answer might be obvious.
Simple source of a high enough voltage for the full range of LEDs including the colour changing ones. And as the voltage drops with use it is still high enough to pass enough useful current.
So i recently bought a couple of random lights, they're all sort of indrustrial'ish but i think mostly led. i don't know what voltage to give them as it's not written anywhere. is there a way to calculate or know how much voltage a led or other light needs?
thanks for the quick reply. I'll continue my search for the specs then. But just in case, is there a way, say i don't find them, to calculate what they need?
Of course you can, I even made it with wire cuter, but when you are doing 6 speakers in car, plus amplifiers and stuff like that, crimping tool is perfect - it save time and effort, and you can do more and better.
So i am just learning this side of eletric world and your great at teaching. But as a car guy. I use a old style Mac tool wire striper. Looks like this one you use but has a block of sides on it. So you stick wire in appropriate hole and grip handles together. And it strips for you. Do you think this would be a better way to go. Or are the small wires very easy to break.
When you have two separate wires as shown in this project what are your thoughts on combining them together and what methods would you suggest? For example twisting them and hoping they dont untwist, heat shrinking the whole thing etc.
for joining wires, holding them parallel over lapping about 1/2 inch, twist them together and solder, cover in heatshrink, is indeed the best method of joining to wires, any twist without solder is an unreliable joint. th-cam.com/video/Q9G9gaokqvM/w-d-xo.html
Sorry if my comment was unclear. I meant if you have two parallel wires such as the positive and negative in the case of this video and didn't want both of them flapping around separately.
aljowen heatshrink is the answer to that also, even if you just use a short sleeve every few inches, it keeps them together pretty well, if you cant get the heatshrink on due to the cable already assembled, try self amalgamating tape.
Take a two pieces of wire at least about three feet long. secure one end throw the other end in a drill and twist them together. You can then use it by cutting lengths off. Although that doesn't help this much with precut wire.
I don't think the iPad camera is fixed focus, but it may not be able to focus that close (and it was maybe also a bit over-exposed). If you use the camera app, you can see that you can tap the preview image to focus it. Inside is a tiny voice coil motor, which moves a lens element by a tiny amount to focus. However, with the very small sensor and very wide angle lens (equivalent to ~24mm on a full frame camera), there will never be a huge amount of difference between things that are in focus and the rest.
On my first computer, it had a wire coming from the ciruit board on the hard drive, and it had the same molex connector on the end, with an led stuck into it. Then it was placed behind a piece of see-through plastic, so that you could see if your hard drive was active.
This bring back memory. I had one such 9V tester. But the 9V was too expansive to replace. So I switch to 3 x NiCd AA batteries. It works fine and cheap but does not hold charge after several months. I guess I could solder Alkaline batteries? But I moved on with LED projects. I bought a number of LEDs on eBay. It is cheaper to buy vs. make my own.
I usually make a resistor out of myself when testing LEDs. One electrode to one terminal of the battery and the other electrode to second terminal through my finger. Amusingly simple and works well.
I would personally put a higher value resistor, since you really only need to see a slight glow to know whether a LED is working and what colour it is, etc. and also it will mean a longer battery life so you might never even have to replace the battery regardless of how many LEDs you test.
I've got a whole bunch of cheap LEDs and I have no clue if they work or not...definitely making one of these when I get home today! First time seeing the Helping Hands on the bench, lol. Currently mine is an amputee....had to borrow it's hands for something I was tinkering with. I kinda feel bad too because sometimes it looks as though it is waving it's nubs at me to remind me of what I did🤭
I would use a 470 ohm resistor to limit the current in a safer direction rather than 330 ohms, especially since a brand new battery could be as much as 10 V. Also, if you put a diode in series with the current limiting resistor you can use the tester to check LED polarity and also protect against damage if you inadvertently insert an LED backwards.
I much prefer to use a LM317LZ and a resistor. Only one additional component, and then you have proper constant current source. That means you need not concern yourself with the LED voltage drop, and no matter what the battery voltage you get the same LED brightness. The LM317LZ is only rated 100mA, but that's heaps, but it's not LDO so you need the input voltage to be 3V higher than your LED voltage (hence 6V or preferably old used 9V batteries). Circuit is simple: i.imgur.com/a8KG38W.gif - the output current (Amps) is 1.25V divided by the resistor ohms. So, 82 ohms for 15mA, 120 ohms for 10mA, etc.
This is very interesting and I'm interested in the calculation you did to determine the resistor value. It mostly made sense but how did you know the current you were after is 20mA?
20mA is a typical upper limit on standard indicator LEDs. The resistor value was chose by deducting the typical LED voltage (about 2-3V) from the 9V of the battery, and then dividing that voltage (about 6V) with the desired current (0.02A).
Clive - Any ideas on driving the 'Chanzon slow color change straw hat LEDs'? I got them on Amazon. I'd like to dim them down a bit to use as 'power-on lights'. It says 3.0v -3.2v .. but some of the color combinations are listed down to 2.0v - all at 20ma. I'm using 6+ volts, then a constant current circuit. I haven't tried to burn one at 20ma yet because 6ma seems pretty bright, and the voltage across the LED swings as high as 6v as the colors change. I'm pretty sure I'm going to burn a few, so it's good that I got the 100 pack. Just wondered if you had any ideas?
If you use a resistor you may find that because the red LED has a lower forward voltage it tends to drag the voltage across the LED down and become the dominant colour when there is red in the mix. Just experiment with resistor values until you find one that gets the best result.
Thanks .. I've got a trimmer that will help with that. After that, I'm still gonna try to make one smoke at 20ma. Then, I will turn the LM317LZ around and see what changing voltages does. If nothing else, I'm going to have a whole bunch of color changing solar lights and not-so Christmasy candles! -D (Hit the wrong 'reply' :-/ )
Interesting, I think he says 330. But that's not what's in the notes. My default value is between the two : 270. But it depends on the supply voltage and the time you leave it connected for. I've used 0 ohm connections from a microprocessor 5v output to a led (forbidden!), but only after knowing that the code will only pulse it for less than a millisecond. I think this guy's recommendations are safe and he's giving good advice.
+Remco Smit Maybe your point is that his spoken words don't exactly correspond to what is in the video description? Well, OK. My point is that for brief testing of an LED to find out whether it's rubbish or not, you can use a resistor ranging from 100 to 1000 ohms, there's no need to fuss about it. So I'm fine with Clive saying 330 and and putting 220 in the notes, cos it don't matter. What is your point?
I use one of the cheap button cell stacks to test leds at 4.2V at 20 mah and it is rechargeable so it is kind of nice, I pulled it out of a cheap windup key chain light.
I found the Yahua rework station for 99 bucks on Ebay. It's been really good and reliable heats up fast enough. Although I've never run a Hacko or Weller to see the difference after seeing the price difference. What are the best replacement tips to get? Why do you call a 9V by the name- PV3?
Walking helping hands is a typical problem. I attached my helping hands to a round base of solid steel to stabilize it and provide a small stage if necessary. no problems after that.
I made one with 2x2032 cells and heat shrunk the wires onto them. I tried soldering the wires on but no matter what I tried, it wouldn't stick to the battery. So I just soldered on a little folded up bundle of thick wire to the end of each lead then heat shrunk then either side of the battery. Then, buoyed by the success of this project, I made a USB powered one.
If I need to use a little extra flux I use the stuff I have for silver and gold soldering, " Easy Flow " I have found that to be great for all soldering.
Is it okay to flow solder onto the bits you're soldering beforehand or not? I've seen all these tutorials on soldering and they all seem to say to never do that. However I take it you're very knowledgeable about this, why do you prefer to flow solder onto it beforehand?
It's always wise to "pre-tin" the ends/tips of components so that they solder easier. But that's just "wise". I've been lucky enough that I've never been pulled-over by the solder-police.
The main reason for not doing that is that you will most likely end up with way too much solder on the joint. So pre-tinning and then soldering onto that again with additional solder is totally fine (assuming your pre-tinning doesn't end with a huge blob of solder already).
Ideally you would heat both wires while they were held parallel and then flow solder onto them, but tinning them both and reflowing them is much easier, and if a touch of flux is added produces a good connection.
I have one of those flux pens. Got it from China of course off ebay. About the third time I used it, I pressed down to get a bit of flux, whetted the connection, and when the tip popped out (it had become stuck inside the pen) it shot the end out over my shoulder. That was about a year ago and I still have yet to find that tip. I think I shall have to throw the pen away one of these days.
It's a very common Chinese Yihua soldering station. If you search my channel for soldering videos you will find various stations being opened and tested.
I need to drop from 24V (truck battery) to 19V/1.75A(for a laptop) , but the resistor that I get is 2.85ohm (5/1.75=2.8571) and I'm not sure if that would be a good idea or not
@@firepower9966 I completely forgot about this post! Found a better solution, resistors are not the way, LM78XX is the perfect thing. Some resistors, some chip, some condenser and it works just fine. Way better than one of those converters from 12V DC to 230V AC just to plug in another conerter from 230 to 19 lol
You said that flux pens are refillable, but do they come with some in when you buy them? I've just ordered one from ebay and need to know if I should buy some flux too.
I think I'll buy some liquid too. I guess any old cheapy Chinese brand will do, as long as it's for electronics, and not plumbing? Cheers for the input.
I think your 330 ohm resistor might be a bit on the low side. I have some IR LEDs, which have a forward voltage of just 1.33 volts. I've found IR LEDs to be quite delicate, so I'd be inclined to go with 390 ohms, or even a bit higher.
Here's a link to the strippers Clive has. www.crawfordtool.com/Knipex_Wire%20Strippers.html This style of stripper has lasted for 15 years though all sorts of use. I see the advantage of Clive's strippers. these have limited sizes of wire they can handle. There's a big medium and small set. www.canadasmotorcycle.ca/bikemaster-wire-strippers-173453.html?gclid=COHp1ffBzc0CFQcKaQodKL8Jvw These are also good ones to have but look at that price. www.acklandsgrainger.com/en/product/XCL1178D
What these sorts of videos really need is something that can toggle quickly between two fixed focus points, ideally with a foot control. Not sure if such a thing exists though.
I've been looking at a mini bench studio setup that has multiple cameras for close-ups that can be selected live. But it's finding decent webcams and a suitable hardware base that has been an issue.
+bigclivedotcom you could do that in software. Open Broadcaster Studio is a free, general purpose streaming/recording software where you can define multiple scenes and video sources and switch between them on demand. It is possible to use shortcuts to switch between the scenes, so I reckon it should be possible to build a hardware scene-switcher box.
This was more or less my thinking. A cheap USB HID footswitch would be fine for switching scenes. However, I do think a potentially simpler, higher quality (albeit a bit more time consuming) solution would be running two independent cameras and then editing in the close up shots.
I've been playing with OBS and considering one of the USB keypads or even a USB MAME interface for hard wiring buttons. It's just finding small camera modules that are a suitable resolution and can be built into a dedicated unit.
Hey clive sorry for the bother, but I have a small question I currently have a metal PSU to connect to wires which only have live and neutral. Even though it'll be out of people's reach, can I go with grounding it through the neutral (since it should never have to close the circuit under normal operation) and keep it safe-ish or just not ground it at all I know the RCD won't trip if things go bad, but it's still better than having it non-grounded
Ideally if the case has the facility for an earth/ground wire you should attach one. I wouldn't recommend connecting the neutral to the case as there are some wiring fault scenarios where that could pose a risk.
+bigclivedotcom recently I make 10 watt led light with 9 volt rechargeable 300 mah battery and this works fine for first hour of usage and then lights low down and this light give me approximately 5 hours of low light backup Plz guide me to make this light consistent
If you do switch to android, use OpenCamera for filming - FOSS, and has two beautiful features for filmimg like you do. Exposure lock, so brightness levels stay static and Focus lock, so you have a single zoom level. It has a plethora of other epic features too. Also, lead based solder is best!! 😁
What if you use a little 3 pin switch and mount a 330 and a 100k ohm resistor to it, and just hot glue it to the actual 9v connector? That way you have a low and high current setting :D
It's nice idea but with 2,2K resistor it lasts much longer with only small amount loss of light output. With 100K the LED lasts for ages on 9V battery.
Some red LEDs turn on at 1.2V. I'd be inclined to increase the series resistor to 390 ohms, or even as high as 1,000 ohms. LEDs tend to have much lower reverse breakdown voltage than rectifiers. If you plug the LED in backwards, the diode may go into reverse breakdown, causing it to dissipate enough power from a 9-volt source to destroy the junction. Using a higher value of resistor can reduce the chances of damaging the diode.
Dear Big Clive, how do you do? I really like your channel. You are a great contributor. May i know does LED give off blue light the same from phone screens or tablets or computers? Thanks!
Regarding cameras, get a decent camcorder, far more settings to play with to make videos look good, and manual focus for the win so you can change focus on the fly so you can bring things up close and focus on them and not have to be bothered about the Sonyism with focussing on everything but what the camera is aimed directly at... :) I remember when I was a kid I used to test LEDs with a PP3 battery, no resistors, just a quick flash to test them, most of the LEDs used to work, can't think why they didn't afterwards............. :P
Does anybody here have any advice for an electronics beginner who's colorblind? I can tell red from black and fairly obvious differences in colors (even if I cant identify the color) but the stripes on those resistors drives me up the fucken wall... Is there any way for me to learn this stuff without depending on those color codes?
IF you only have red heat shrink it looks better when you put it on the positive IF you only have clear heat shrink like Clive, it looks better than both
You can actually just take apart an old 9v battery and use the top (just gotta wire it up)! I've only seen it done on energizer ones though. The metal case ones.
Works on all of them. You either get 2 disks with serrated teeth, or a single plate with a tooth mark in it and a longer one with tooth mark and a paper sleeve. both are usable, just solder quickly as the plastic melts easily.
Personally I suggest salvaging the tops off the 9 V batteries whenever they die you can just peel off the casing Cut the two leads and you'll never run out! I have a bit of like 50 and I haven't bought any of them
Polarity... @ 9V reverse polarity will blow out the LED. 3 alkaline cells fully charged are just below 5V which is the safe reverse voltage for most LEDs
I haven't done any soldering since I was at university 25 years ago. I missed having a soldering iron this morning when I found my cat had bitten through the earphone cable on my borrowed iPod.
Static sensitive LEDs?? Ive used them for ever, well back to when the only colour was red and not too bright. I have never heard of this before or received LEDs with static protection. Well today everything is delivered in anti static packaging but that is just for convenience. Wikipedia even lists TTL chips as static sensitive?????????? WOW. So when I worked in the semi conductor supply industry handling the 74nn series devices, with no antistatic protection we were blowing them up! Bizarre.
The old skool reds, oranges, yellows and apple-greens were absolutely indestructible. The newer whites, blues and bright greens are best handled with anti-static precautions.
I work with 20nm nodes and we have anti static readers that won't let you in the fab unless the static can dissipate through your boots via grounding strap, pretty irritating really.
right after opening an envelope from china containing 5 hard-shelled 9v connectors with a red and black wire I watched this video and saw the exact same ones 😁
No current limiting other than internal resistance, so a fresh sell can pump a lot of current through an LED and make it look a lot brighter than it will in a real application.
Coincidently, I got a LED tester from a boot fair about a week ago. It's a small back box that houses a PP3 and the lid is a PCB. On the PCB are 6 pairs of eyelets, each pair of eyelets has a different value resistor connected to it enabling you to test a LED at different current levels. Useful.
Those ones are pretty good. I prefer them to the modern ones with a button you have to press to make the LEDs light.
After watching this video, I went ahead and purchased a crimping tool, sort of like that, but with 3 sizes instead of the 2 as yours has. I am amazed at how often I use it, I had ordered a set of Dupont type ends for it, and ran out of the male type, had to order more of them, and have also purchased a set of the type you use in this video, while I don't use them as often as the Dupont, they are indeed very handy for many projects as well. You are correct in that it takes some time to learn exactly how to use it properly, but once you have it, it seems to come naturally thereafter. Thanks a million for the video!
Can this be used to test 100W LEDs?
No, you'll need a higher power PSU. A 9V battery can realistically supply about a single watt at maximum (and you'll wear it out quickly at that high current).
It would possibly dimply light one, but there's no way you'll get near full brightness with the current limited to ~20mA
+Ben Adamson Lol, seriously, you've not been at Julian Illett's channel, have you? :D
WHOOOSH
Yes, but you have to slice them into little cubes with a sharp knife and then solder extension wires onto the little gold wires.
Being a bit on the cheap side when it comes to soldering irons, I looked around and found this little gem about two years ago now, and have used her daily. She has yet to fail me, and she uses the common tips that fit your soldering iron, so I have a ready supply of replacement tips, she came with 4 and I purchased a batch of assorted ones, I don't recall how many, that was a mistake, as I find I only use two, the chisel end and the fine point if I need to do something very small. I have no idea how accurate the thermostat on the side is, however I do know it works it is quite obvious when you need a bit more heat, turn her up, and she produces, need less and a bit down cools the tip right down. I had been going through several old soldering irons before getting this one, first my old one that came with my Bell and Howell correspondence course in TV Repair back in 72 but she was in bad shape, then a couple of those 3 buck ones from the cheap bin at the hardware store, what crap that takes twenty minutes to warm up. Had a Radio Shack COLD soldering iron, that does sort of work but not well enough for my liking. I have had two of the different USB irons, the first was quite good but burned out on me, the second is the one you recently reviewed, it has it's place but no good for full time work but the little blue one here : www.ebay.com/itm/Hot-Sale-60W-110V-Adjustable-Temperature-Welding-Electric-Soldering-Iron-Kit-/152470590727?hash=item237ff49507:g:8CkAAOSwXY5ZXyV5 really does the job for me and with limited space, I don' t have room for a full set with hot air gun. I do have a hot air gun that is seperate tub rarely ever dig it out as it is large and in the way all the time, much like my glue gun that is in the pile beside my recliner.
Quick non-pro tip: For my helping hands I used some E6000 to glue some neodymium magnets to the bottom of the base so I could stick it to my work surface (which is an old flat side panel a computer case with a 1/16" [1-2mm] piece silicon mat glued on top) without it tipping over or sliding around.
Edit: In case anyone wants to know about the crimping tool. If you have a Paladin 1300 or 8000 series crimp frame and want the die for D-Sub pins the part number is PA2097. Paladin Tools is owned by Greenlee.
Crimps do indeed corrode outdoors!. We know that all too well here in the Midwest, or at least those of us with trailer wiring (I think they call them 'caravans' in the UK?). The road salt _eats_ exposed metal, bodywork included. Automakers here FINALLY started adding weatherproof trailer connections in their wiring harnesses, within the last decade or two.
Why a 9v batteri Clive? For simplicity? Dropping 7V over the resistor seems pretty wasteful, wouldn't some sort of 3 AA battery pack be better? Or are there many LEDs that have a forward voltage of more than 4.5V?
It should be noted that I haven't thought this through very much and the answer might be obvious.
Simple source of a high enough voltage for the full range of LEDs including the colour changing ones. And as the voltage drops with use it is still high enough to pass enough useful current.
So i recently bought a couple of random lights, they're all sort of indrustrial'ish but i think mostly led. i don't know what voltage to give them as it's not written anywhere. is there a way to calculate or know how much voltage a led or other light needs?
It should either be printed or embossed on the housing, or on the lamp itself if it is removable.
thanks for the quick reply. I'll continue my search for the specs then. But just in case, is there a way, say i don't find them, to calculate what they need?
You can crimp that style of connector manually using needle nose pliers, it's a bit fiddly but you can do it.
Of course you can, I even made it with wire cuter, but when you are doing 6 speakers in car, plus amplifiers and stuff like that, crimping tool is perfect - it save time and effort, and you can do more and better.
So i am just learning this side of eletric world and your great at teaching. But as a car guy. I use a old style Mac tool wire striper. Looks like this one you use but has a block of sides on it. So you stick wire in appropriate hole and grip handles together. And it strips for you. Do you think this would be a better way to go. Or are the small wires very easy to break.
Each wire stripper has its own uses. Your multi hole version is a good choice. I have a similar one here.
When you have two separate wires as shown in this project what are your thoughts on combining them together and what methods would you suggest?
For example twisting them and hoping they dont untwist, heat shrinking the whole thing etc.
for joining wires, holding them parallel over lapping about 1/2 inch, twist them together and solder, cover in heatshrink, is indeed the best method of joining to wires, any twist without solder is an unreliable joint. th-cam.com/video/Q9G9gaokqvM/w-d-xo.html
Sorry if my comment was unclear. I meant if you have two parallel wires such as the positive and negative in the case of this video and didn't want both of them flapping around separately.
aljowen
heatshrink is the answer to that also, even if you just use a short sleeve every few inches, it keeps them together pretty well, if you cant get the heatshrink on due to the cable already assembled, try self amalgamating tape.
Take a two pieces of wire at least about three feet long. secure one end throw the other end in a drill and twist them together. You can then use it by cutting lengths off. Although that doesn't help this much with precut wire.
I don't think the iPad camera is fixed focus, but it may not be able to focus that close (and it was maybe also a bit over-exposed). If you use the camera app, you can see that you can tap the preview image to focus it. Inside is a tiny voice coil motor, which moves a lens element by a tiny amount to focus. However, with the very small sensor and very wide angle lens (equivalent to ~24mm on a full frame camera), there will never be a huge amount of difference between things that are in focus and the rest.
iPad2 is fixed focus unfortunately.
On my first computer, it had a wire coming from the ciruit board on the hard drive, and it had the same molex connector on the end, with an led stuck into it. Then it was placed behind a piece of see-through plastic, so that you could see if your hard drive was active.
This bring back memory. I had one such 9V tester. But the 9V was too expansive to replace. So I switch to 3 x NiCd AA batteries. It works fine and cheap but does not hold charge after several months. I guess I could solder Alkaline batteries? But I moved on with LED projects. I bought a number of LEDs on eBay. It is cheaper to buy vs. make my own.
Speaking of emergency power, could you make a phone line ( Rj11) to LED or ni-mh battery charger?
or can he do a bit of how to connect to a street light or the neighbours electric without them knowing! lol
The legality of that is dubious, I think
Javid Bunyadzade so is pulling power from the phone connector for anything but phones :)
+jusb1066 yeah, that's what I meant, I was replying to the original comment :)
Javid Bunyadzade
hehe sorry :)
I usually make a resistor out of myself when testing LEDs. One electrode to one terminal of the battery and the other electrode to second terminal through my finger. Amusingly simple and works well.
I would personally put a higher value resistor, since you really only need to see a slight glow to know whether a LED is working and what colour it is, etc. and also it will mean a longer battery life so you might never even have to replace the battery regardless of how many LEDs you test.
Clive, can you do a short bit on self amalgamating tape and its wide uses? i think people are not aware of such a great thing to have around.
I've got a whole bunch of cheap LEDs and I have no clue if they work or not...definitely making one of these when I get home today!
First time seeing the Helping Hands on the bench, lol. Currently mine is an amputee....had to borrow it's hands for something I was tinkering with. I kinda feel bad too because sometimes it looks as though it is waving it's nubs at me to remind me of what I did🤭
I would use a 470 ohm resistor to limit the current in a safer direction rather than 330 ohms, especially since a brand new battery could be as much as 10 V.
Also, if you put a diode in series with the current limiting resistor you can use the tester to check LED polarity and also protect against damage if you inadvertently insert an LED backwards.
I much prefer to use a LM317LZ and a resistor. Only one additional component, and then you have proper constant current source. That means you need not concern yourself with the LED voltage drop, and no matter what the battery voltage you get the same LED brightness. The LM317LZ is only rated 100mA, but that's heaps, but it's not LDO so you need the input voltage to be 3V higher than your LED voltage (hence 6V or preferably old used 9V batteries). Circuit is simple: i.imgur.com/a8KG38W.gif - the output current (Amps) is 1.25V divided by the resistor ohms. So, 82 ohms for 15mA, 120 ohms for 10mA, etc.
That's a really nice idea there. Thanks, Tom.
This is very interesting and I'm interested in the calculation you did to determine the resistor value. It mostly made sense but how did you know the current you were after is 20mA?
20mA is a typical upper limit on standard indicator LEDs. The resistor value was chose by deducting the typical LED voltage (about 2-3V) from the 9V of the battery, and then dividing that voltage (about 6V) with the desired current (0.02A).
@@bigclivedotcom Ah that completes the picture! Thanks for that!
Oh come on, Clive. Just admit that you snipped off the pre-tinned wire because it was probably lead free solder.
also, have you considered using a 3 pin plug and put both high and low current resistors to have both tests in 1 unit?
Clive - Any ideas on driving the 'Chanzon slow color change straw hat LEDs'? I got them on Amazon. I'd like to dim them down a bit to use as 'power-on lights'. It says 3.0v -3.2v .. but some of the color combinations are listed down to 2.0v - all at 20ma. I'm using 6+ volts, then a constant current circuit. I haven't tried to burn one at 20ma yet because 6ma seems pretty bright, and the voltage across the LED swings as high as 6v as the colors change. I'm pretty sure I'm going to burn a few, so it's good that I got the 100 pack. Just wondered if you had any ideas?
If you use a resistor you may find that because the red LED has a lower forward voltage it tends to drag the voltage across the LED down and become the dominant colour when there is red in the mix. Just experiment with resistor values until you find one that gets the best result.
Thanks .. I've got a trimmer that will help with that. After that, I'm still gonna try to make one smoke at 20ma. Then, I will turn the LM317LZ around and see what changing voltages does. If nothing else, I'm going to have a whole bunch of color changing solar lights and not-so Christmasy candles! -D (Hit the wrong 'reply' :-/ )
Would it work with a single AA cell and a joule-thief, if I wanted a more compact design?
You could, but the Joule Thief should not be run open circuit to avoid excess voltage across the transistor.
Description says " A 220 ohm resistor" but isn't it 330?
Interesting, I think he says 330. But that's not what's in the notes. My default value is between the two : 270. But it depends on the supply voltage and the time you leave it connected for. I've used 0 ohm connections from a microprocessor 5v output to a led (forbidden!), but only after knowing that the code will only pulse it for less than a millisecond. I think this guy's recommendations are safe and he's giving good advice.
Ray Kent he calculates 350, says 330 is the closest, and mentions 2 orange rings. (orange being 3)
+Remco Smit Maybe your point is that his spoken words don't exactly correspond to what is in the video description? Well, OK. My point is that for brief testing of an LED to find out whether it's rubbish or not, you can use a resistor ranging from 100 to 1000 ohms, there's no need to fuss about it. So I'm fine with Clive saying 330 and and putting 220 in the notes, cos it don't matter. What is your point?
i screwed up. It's corrected now, thanks.
How about a slick way to use rc lipos and reel leds for room lighting during power outages.
I use one of the cheap button cell stacks to test leds at 4.2V at 20 mah and it is rechargeable so it is kind of nice, I pulled it out of a cheap windup key chain light.
I found the Yahua rework station for 99 bucks on Ebay. It's been really good and reliable heats up fast enough. Although I've never run a Hacko or Weller to see the difference after seeing the price difference. What are the best replacement tips to get?
Why do you call a 9V by the name- PV3?
PP3. It is the standard name for this type of battery in this country.
I made a current regulated version of this for testing laser diodes. Proves very useful :)
Walking helping hands is a typical problem.
I attached my helping hands to a round base of solid steel to stabilize it and provide a small stage if necessary.
no problems after that.
Great Little Project There Clive. Keep up the great work. Nick.
I made one with 2x2032 cells and heat shrunk the wires onto them. I tried soldering the wires on but no matter what I tried, it wouldn't stick to the battery. So I just soldered on a little folded up bundle of thick wire to the end of each lead then heat shrunk then either side of the battery. Then, buoyed by the success of this project, I made a USB powered one.
If I need to use a little extra flux I use the stuff I have for silver and gold soldering, " Easy Flow " I have found that to be great for all soldering.
Is it okay to flow solder onto the bits you're soldering beforehand or not? I've seen all these tutorials on soldering and they all seem to say to never do that. However I take it you're very knowledgeable about this, why do you prefer to flow solder onto it beforehand?
The surface of the solder oxidizes over time. So, if you're going to reflow it, the sooner the better.
It's always wise to "pre-tin" the ends/tips of components so that they solder easier. But that's just "wise". I've been lucky enough that I've never been pulled-over by the solder-police.
The main reason for not doing that is that you will most likely end up with way too much solder on the joint. So pre-tinning and then soldering onto that again with additional solder is totally fine (assuming your pre-tinning doesn't end with a huge blob of solder already).
Ideally you would heat both wires while they were held parallel and then flow solder onto them, but tinning them both and reflowing them is much easier, and if a touch of flux is added produces a good connection.
I have one of those flux pens. Got it from China of course off ebay. About the third time I used it, I pressed down to get a bit of flux, whetted the connection, and when the tip popped out (it had become stuck inside the pen) it shot the end out over my shoulder. That was about a year ago and I still have yet to find that tip. I think I shall have to throw the pen away one of these days.
If you accidentally plug the LED in backwards, won't the nine volts blow it up?
I prefer 470 ohm because the colors are far nicer.
What make is the soldering iron you used? It looks interesting.
It's a very common Chinese Yihua soldering station. If you search my channel for soldering videos you will find various stations being opened and tested.
I need to drop from 24V (truck battery) to 19V/1.75A(for a laptop) , but the resistor that I get is 2.85ohm (5/1.75=2.8571) and I'm not sure if that would be a good idea or not
Just power from 24V laptops will have internal voltage regulators. It be fine. Just make sure you get the polarity correct.
@@firepower9966 I completely forgot about this post! Found a better solution, resistors are not the way, LM78XX is the perfect thing. Some resistors, some chip, some condenser and it works just fine.
Way better than one of those converters from 12V DC to 230V AC just to plug in another conerter from 230 to 19 lol
You said that flux pens are refillable, but do they come with some in when you buy them? I've just ordered one from ebay and need to know if I should buy some flux too.
Did it say it came pre-filled with flux? If not there's no harm in getting some liquid flux too. Or another pen that is pre-filled with flux.
I think I'll buy some liquid too. I guess any old cheapy Chinese brand will do, as long as it's for electronics, and not plumbing?
Cheers for the input.
where can I get one of those crimpers from? the ones I buy always seems rubbish and don't crimp properly.
I've not tried specific eBay ones, so it really depends where you are. In the UK I bought mine from Rapid Electronics.
I think your 330 ohm resistor might be a bit on the low side.
I have some IR LEDs, which have a forward voltage of just 1.33 volts.
I've found IR LEDs to be quite delicate, so I'd be inclined to go with 390 ohms, or even a bit higher.
Are you still using flux cored solder? If not is there an advantage to using separate flux?
Flux cored solder applies the flux automatically on demand as it melts. A much better option for standard through hole soldering.
That's an interesting looking wire stripper. Where did you get it?
Here's a link to the strippers Clive has.
www.crawfordtool.com/Knipex_Wire%20Strippers.html
This style of stripper has lasted for 15 years though all sorts of use. I see the advantage of Clive's strippers. these have limited sizes of wire they can handle. There's a big medium and small set.
www.canadasmotorcycle.ca/bikemaster-wire-strippers-173453.html?gclid=COHp1ffBzc0CFQcKaQodKL8Jvw
These are also good ones to have but look at that price.
www.acklandsgrainger.com/en/product/XCL1178D
It's not even a stripper, it's a small cutter you can get elsewhere for 15 bucks
Nice useful tool - Does that crimp do the DuPont connectors too? Is there a model number on it at all?
I've only ever used it with the Molex style connectors. You can find a range of crimping tools like this on eBay.
I'll take a look - Cheers Clive
Regarding the camera, you want one which has a fixed-focus option.
What these sorts of videos really need is something that can toggle quickly between two fixed focus points, ideally with a foot control. Not sure if such a thing exists though.
I've been looking at a mini bench studio setup that has multiple cameras for close-ups that can be selected live. But it's finding decent webcams and a suitable hardware base that has been an issue.
+bigclivedotcom you could do that in software. Open Broadcaster Studio is a free, general purpose streaming/recording software where you can define multiple scenes and video sources and switch between them on demand. It is possible to use shortcuts to switch between the scenes, so I reckon it should be possible to build a hardware scene-switcher box.
This was more or less my thinking. A cheap USB HID footswitch would be fine for switching scenes.
However, I do think a potentially simpler, higher quality (albeit a bit more time consuming) solution would be running two independent cameras and then editing in the close up shots.
I've been playing with OBS and considering one of the USB keypads or even a USB MAME interface for hard wiring buttons. It's just finding small camera modules that are a suitable resolution and can be built into a dedicated unit.
Also life hack for you soldering nuts in the kitchen
Acid based flux makes an excellent substitute for lemon juice taste-wise.
Hey clive sorry for the bother, but I have a small question
I currently have a metal PSU to connect to wires which only have live and neutral. Even though it'll be out of people's reach, can I go with grounding it through the neutral (since it should never have to close the circuit under normal operation) and keep it safe-ish or just not ground it at all
I know the RCD won't trip if things go bad, but it's still better than having it non-grounded
Ideally if the case has the facility for an earth/ground wire you should attach one. I wouldn't recommend connecting the neutral to the case as there are some wiring fault scenarios where that could pose a risk.
How do you work out what the amps should be?
why can't I stop watching your channel? I don't even have a soldering iron or understand half of the stuff you say
What do you do about the flux fumes?
Can anyone suggest anywhere in the UK to get components in bulk?
China.
I always use Digi-Key for quality parts and eBay for cheap things.
Try and give the UK branch of RS Online a shot. A great source of components and quick delivery as well. Their prices do bite though.
EBAY is a great source. Seriously.
RS Components used to be good.
what are you calling that battery? I have always just seen it called "9V" or "snap connector"...
is 10 watt led run on 9 volt battery and led is 12 volt.
is it practicle for long turm use
The little PP3 9V batteries don't have a lot of energy in them. It would be better to make a battery pack from AA cells or bigger.
+bigclivedotcom recently I make 10 watt led light with 9 volt rechargeable 300 mah battery and this works fine for first hour of usage and then lights low down and this light give me approximately 5 hours of low light backup
Plz guide me to make this light consistent
If you do switch to android, use OpenCamera for filming - FOSS, and has two beautiful features for filmimg like you do.
Exposure lock, so brightness levels stay static and Focus lock, so you have a single zoom level.
It has a plethora of other epic features too.
Also, lead based solder is best!! 😁
I notice you're always using these £land Kodak batteries. How do they perform?
They're fine. They are just vanilla alkaline batteries that have good capacity.
What if you use a little 3 pin switch and mount a 330 and a 100k ohm resistor to it, and just hot glue it to the actual 9v connector?
That way you have a low and high current setting :D
th-cam.com/video/l24weXIYOAw/w-d-xo.html
bigclivedotcom Nice one! Could easily be condensed though :)
Great video man as per usual! Can I ask what heat gun you use as I couldn't make out what you called it? Many thanks
It's part of a cheap soldering station called a Yihua 8786D. Quite a few of the Chinese soldering stations have the hot air pens on them.
Big Clive would 60% tin 40% lead be lead based?
Yes.
Thank you.
How do you choose the right heat shrink size?
Buy a selection and choose the one that just fits loosely before being shrunk.
hey Clive, what's the crimp tool your using?
A general purpose crimp tool for the Molex style terminals. It came from Rapid Electronics in the UK.
Save the tops from dead PP3 batteries. These can be used as PP3 battery clips.
lostsignalreception great suggestion! We used to use them all the time for that at Walt Disney World / EPCOT Center back in the eighties.
It's nice idea but with 2,2K resistor it lasts much longer with only small amount loss of light output. With 100K the LED lasts for ages on 9V battery.
Some red LEDs turn on at 1.2V. I'd be inclined to increase the series resistor to 390 ohms, or even as high as 1,000 ohms. LEDs tend to have much lower reverse breakdown voltage than rectifiers. If you plug the LED in backwards, the diode may go into reverse breakdown, causing it to dissipate enough power from a 9-volt source to destroy the junction. Using a higher value of resistor can reduce the chances of damaging the diode.
Dear Big Clive, how do you do? I really like your channel. You are a great contributor.
May i know does LED give off blue light the same from phone screens or tablets or computers? Thanks!
I notice that you calculated the resistor value in the video of 330 ohms yet in the comments you state that a 220 ohm resistor is required.
Thanks, I've corrected that. For some reason I kept mixing up 220 and 330 ohm resistors.
Great tutorial, and handy little device
3'46" the other end of the LED? :)
in multiple Clive vids you can see these 'LEDs' light up fine albeit for a short time
Regarding cameras, get a decent camcorder, far more settings to play with to make videos look good, and manual focus for the win so you can change focus on the fly so you can bring things up close and focus on them and not have to be bothered about the Sonyism with focussing on everything but what the camera is aimed directly at... :)
I remember when I was a kid I used to test LEDs with a PP3 battery, no resistors, just a quick flash to test them, most of the LEDs used to work, can't think why they didn't afterwards............. :P
Does anybody here have any advice for an electronics beginner who's colorblind? I can tell red from black and fairly obvious differences in colors (even if I cant identify the color) but the stripes on those resistors drives me up the fucken wall... Is there any way for me to learn this stuff without depending on those color codes?
The colour codes are quite important, but you can use a meter to test and sort resistors.
IF you only have black heat shrink it looks better when you put it on the negative
IF you only have red heat shrink it looks better when you put it on the positive
IF you only have clear heat shrink like Clive, it looks better than both
If you don't fancy crimping, you can buy pre-wired connectors.
Clear heat shrink. Great for failed component inspection. :)
I half expected you to pick up the vise along with the wire and solder in your left hand.
He has the ability to solder everything on the bench together, simultaneously, using just his left hand.
TaterzMcBiscuit He needs his right hand to work the camera.
Do You have the link to buy the battery clips?
You can actually just take apart an old 9v battery and use the top (just gotta wire it up)! I've only seen it done on energizer ones though. The metal case ones.
Works on all of them. You either get 2 disks with serrated teeth, or a single plate with a tooth mark in it and a longer one with tooth mark and a paper sleeve. both are usable, just solder quickly as the plastic melts easily.
www.ebay.nl/itm/252252918981?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2648&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Thanks for the tips and the link!
You could make a variable current tester with a 3 pin lm317 wired for current mode and a wirewound pot, maybe :-)
Clive - How come you didn't use a mechanical connection between the resistor and lead?
Personally I suggest salvaging the tops off the 9 V batteries whenever they die you can just peel off the casing Cut the two leads and you'll never run out! I have a bit of like 50 and I haven't bought any of them
PC's are loaded with terminals and such ripe for harvest for applications such as this... It's all good though, Thanks for the video
Ahh.. Ashens: "Focus you damn thing!"
Or AvE: "Focus you FACK!"
+Bryan Moore Lol! :D
Clive is just so much more refined.
Polarity... @ 9V reverse polarity will blow out the LED.
3 alkaline cells fully charged are just below 5V which is the safe reverse voltage for most LEDs
"...or in my case it just splurges explosively out the end and makes a big mess"
At my age it doesn't!
I haven't done any soldering since I was at university 25 years ago. I missed having a soldering iron this morning when I found my cat had bitten through the earphone cable on my borrowed iPod.
Thanks 👍
Static sensitive LEDs?? Ive used them for ever, well back to when the only colour was red and not too bright. I have never heard of this before or received LEDs with static protection. Well today everything is delivered in anti static packaging but that is just for convenience. Wikipedia even lists TTL chips as static sensitive?????????? WOW. So when I worked in the semi conductor supply industry handling the 74nn series devices, with no antistatic protection we were blowing them up! Bizarre.
The old skool reds, oranges, yellows and apple-greens were absolutely indestructible. The newer whites, blues and bright greens are best handled with anti-static precautions.
I work with 20nm nodes and we have anti static readers that won't let you in the fab unless the static can dissipate through your boots via grounding strap, pretty irritating really.
Very useful tutorial, thanks!
"One day I'm going to use a better camera - I promise" LoL sure sure ;)
sly twist at 10:08
finally a helping hand cameo. you should consider putting heat shrink on the alligator clips for minimal holding damage and maximum grip factor
360 ohms is also a standard value, in the E24 (+/-5%) sequence of values.
I
5:04 - Remember kids: Just the tip..
Lovely!
right after opening an envelope from china containing 5 hard-shelled 9v connectors with a red and black wire I watched this video and saw the exact same ones 😁
heres a much cheaper and easier tester
3v cr2032
No current limiting other than internal resistance, so a fresh sell can pump a lot of current through an LED and make it look a lot brighter than it will in a real application.
neato
Why not use a single coin cell battery by itself, pressing the legs of the LED on that?
It works, but it's a very random current. I like to see what intensity I'm going to get at around 20mA.
360 ohms is actually the closest standard resistor value
i need to do this with an AA battery.
It won't work with an AA cell. The voltage of the cell is 1.5v.
Unless you use a joule thief, but that's a whole other ball game ;)
i need to play that ball game, i think.
Clive has a Joule Thief video...because he's the one that came up with the name :)