I really like the teardowns, even though I don' t understand much about electronics it's extremely interesting to see how they're built and to see all the thought and engineering that was put into creating those devices!
***** I'm aware of that - but I also enjoy them during the mailbag-videos, actually I'm always interested how those things look on the inside right away :D :)
I'm afraid I'm another in the smaller group who prefers the mini teardowns, I'm not that interested in seeing what people have shipped him if we don't get to play with them. I want to see what's inside. ;) Perhaps notes OUTSIDE the packages about time critical packs would be helpful. Otherwise.. there is a LOT of content in any video, I'd be happy just sticking to the teardowns. It's a fair compromise. :)
tursilion I feel exactly the same way :D Though - as I said - I don't understand much about EE, I really enjoy taking things apart and looking on the inside. Of course it's nice to see some interesting components from the outside as well, but without a teardown it's just...well...a bit boring to be honest. :-/
I prefer mini teardown interludes in the mailbag segments. Once Dave gets his assistant, that bloke can make sure time sensitive items make it into mailbag episodes in a timely manner.
ungratefulmetalpansy Boo ho. If the western society craves cheap stuff and just want to buy a lot of crap, produce garbage and think buying helps the economy and the economy helps them - well then they're rightfully screwed. Remember - I'm not talking about individuals here, but society as a whole. I've had enough with people complaining about outsourcing while being to good to cough up a few bucks for some honest labor themselves.
A vote for 2 minute teardown. I really enjoy when you take all the juice out of the things; love learning about small details. Pending mailbag getting bigger has to be part of the show!
its the 50-60 fps interpolation. It makes things feel like they are in fast forward instead of smoother. Dave can't do anything about and its better than 30 so meh.
I dont like the new format (not the FPS thing) - Now all the "Mailbag" consists of is postcards, miss pronounced names and letters over letters. I want to see the stuff people sent in. I want Dave to tear down the junk while wandering through all subjects of electronical engeneering. I was dissapointed when he did not light up this firework bracelet...
I like it when you take your time and do a demo of something or a quick tear down. For me I really like to get a taste of different things and then go looking into something more in depth.
I don't watch every video you do, so when you do a mini teardown in the middle of a video I like it. It feeds my need to see what's in all the packages and my need to see something in pieces.
Usually on UK plugs, there's 1 piece of spung plastic that obscures live and neutral with a flat plate that there's absolutely no chance of shifting with a screwdriver into those holes, the plate extends out to the earth pin which has an angle on it so that as you push the earth pin in it pushes the plate down and uncovers the other 2 pins just before the plug goes it. If you are going to stick something in to open it you'd be sticking it into the earth pin only which I love. However it looks on this one that the angled bit is just on the N and L pins. On power-strip extension cable thingys, you can open the shutter by plugging the earth pin of an unused plug in upside down and having the L and N pins outside the power strip. The pins are also really sturdy. It's worth noting we've had the type G plug for many decades and before that we had type D/M which were also 3 pin plugs. Everything we've had has been 3-pin since at least the 1930s. I get wound up when americans brag about their state of the art electric plugs which got optional earth pins relatively recently. The bank card reader is not defunct, all the banks here use them for security in online banking. I think they were introduced around 2008. Certain transactions such as transferring money to an external account require you to put your card in, enter the pin number, enter the 8 digit code the website gives you (which is usually the value of the transation in pennies) and generates an 8 digit security code for you to type back into the website. In case its not something universal, a building society is essentially a bank where the account holders are the shareholders. The difference is irrelevant these days.
I prefer the usual mailbag format Dave. This one felt jumpy, and I feel like it's missing the good parts. Considering mailbag is your most popular segment, I find it hard to believe that those complaining about it are in the majority.
I'm hoping this fast run through mail is a one-time thing to get caught up. The older style is much more satisfying. As a viewer, I don't enjoy Dave opening packages, I enjoy seeing him tear into the contents, tell stories, and analyze design decisions. Without that, there's very little point to this segment as an observer. As a contributor, I would want Dave to spend more than 20 seconds on the item I sent in. If all I wanted was to give him something, I wouldn't care if it was filmed at all. If it's going to be "on the air," take enough time to do it justice. So that leaves us at an impasse where there's too much stuff to get through at a slower pace, and it's not as much fun going through it so quickly. I propose a moratorium instead. Fellow viewers, hold off on sending stuff in for a while. Let him get through the backlog first. Maybe a little self-imposed moderation as well. IMO, we've probably seen enough calculators for a while. (Obviously, the threshold of interesting items is left to the contributors. But just a thought anyway.)
I like a good mix of opening packages and Dave interacting with the items he receives. I will however enjoy Dave's videos regardless of the format, his knowledge and charisma is an inspiration!
Many years ago You could open the safety shutters on 3 pin sockets by pushing something into earth pin socket. The new sockets only open if you apply pressure to live and neutral at same time.
Hi Dave! All the best in 2015.! Please don't just open the mail. Your comments are pure gold, we (can) learn a bunch from them. And they are fun. If somebody don't like them, how difficult is to skip forward? Regards, Nino
FEEDBACK: I liked the short teardowns! I think they are great so you can decide (and viewers can request) if it's worth a separate video with a longer teardown/repair/test when it's worth it and interesting. Like others, I also dislike that the cammera takes too long to focus when you hold something in the front, sometimes it does not even get focussed. On TV, they always solve that using 2 cammeras. I wonder if there is a workaround, I wish there was a way to have two manual focus points and easily togle betweem them with a remote (imagine a pedal!!! that would be AWESOME) Thanks Dave! Keep the good work!
UK plug shutter is a simple spring loaded sliding shutter. the part in front of the earth pin has a slight angle on it so when you push the earth pin in, it pushes the whole shutter down, exposing the contacts for live and neutral. When you remove the plug, the spring returns the shutter to the closed position.
No, not on MK sockets it isn't! Most brands do work as you describe, but the MK brand requires all 3 pins the earth pin in first to disengage a side catch, then the live and neutral shutters require the correct pin profile to be applied simultaneously. They have specific notches to help defeat someone levering the earth pin latch in order to insert a skinny euro 2-pin plug. Those stupid "child safety" socket covers actually make any non- MK brand UK socket LESS safe. And of course are completely irrelevant for MK sockets. No, I don't work for MK lol!
I always knew the covers were snake oil but I don't see how they could make the socket less safe unless you used the cover as a tool to defeat the shutter by snapping the plastic pins off and jamming them in (it shouldn't be possible to insert them upside down), in which case you deserve an electric shock. What's a little 240v anyway? I got a few jolts of it as a kid and while I wouldn't recommend it, I had more painful accidents simply by tripping over things than I ever did from electricity.
artifactingreality In most countries they are wwarrantedas they don't have shutters, however this website details how they make it worse in the UK... www.fatallyflawed.org.uk/
Simon Parkinson I must admit, from a north american standpoint the standard and the mk are both awesome even if overkill...Plug covers make shutters less safe, this is obvious once they break it down.
Yeah, that's true for all CEE7 family of sockets (notably: french/polish E type and german schuko). I use both types in my appartement, all with such "parallel insertion only" protection. However it's still optional for a new product to have it (you can buy plain type easily with no protection whatsoever).
I don't really understand the fuss about the british plug. It doesn't have any features that the europlug hasn't got. The europlug has minor advantages like being smaller and that it can be plugged in two ways. But those are not real features.
FFFre4k Until you use them - or the French onces I've seen / used at least. I have seen plugs / sockets / multiway adapters horribly overheated due to flaky connection - the contact area and engagement is poor compared to UK 3 pin plug, leading to overheating and burning /carbon build up. Then there's the advantage of plug top fusing with the 3 pin plug allowing the termination cable to be properly protected from overload.
FFFre4k Well except for the fact it is "British" making it automatically better than any Euro-trash! The 3 pin socket is a beautiful piece of design engineering, ergonomic, robust and safe.
The current format that you use is fine. Open package, mini-teardown and onto the next. I accept it's a lot of work but EEVBlog is, by a big margin, the best electronics youtube channel. Love it!
Hi Dave, I think I can write this in the name of every EEVBlog follower: We wish you a happy new year and all the best for your and your family. Cheers!
Dave, Don't worry about the comments complaining. I think you should open what you want, and do in-depth things on what you want. I love hearing your commentary on concepts that I otherwise wouldn't have otherwise known about if it wasn't for a spontaneous decision to review or tear down an item.
about the shutters, i saw these in dubai a lot and they were pretty annoying, i couldnt charge my phone at all and i thought it had something to do with the size of the pins, my charger didnt have a ground so at the end i found a way to plug them in, i used my car key and inserted it into the ground hole and it unlocked the shutter and then put my charger in.
Hey Dave, Please keep Mailbag as it is please - I think there is a silent majority that is happy with this format as is and a vocal minority that wants to change this and that. Yeah - some times it drags on a tab too much, but more often then not, this side questing bits are the most interesting part of the show. It depends on the person watching and the specific topic. Offcourse: Making separate tear-down video per product would be a good idea - a five minute one take teardown could benefit your channel. I do not know that statistic of your channel, but I think/believe that Mailbag is mainly viewed by subscribers in the first 24 hours after upload, but other videos like tear down are getting watch "on play list", creating a steady ad-revenue months and years after upload.
The format works, Dave. I like the accelerated pace with faster tear downs. Just make sure you don't cut it too short, as people will send less items if they think they won't get any "air time".
I personally like it when it when you do the quick tear downs of the small things. but having the mailbag in two parts with the opening in one video, and the short tear downs in another video would be good though.
My few cents on the EMAQ (endless mailbag question): People send you things, because they want you to do something with it, say something about it, present it, even critisize it. It is a matter of paying tribute to the senders how you deal the items. If you do it too fast, people feel disrespect. They will probably not complain, but will stop sending you things when they see how you handle items of other contributers. Considering this I think you handled the first items too fast. I think those people who want changes, articulate their critisism here, only a few on the other hand agree and post an according statement, but often the problem is that the majority remains quiet. Because you have a lot of viewers, I think you are doing it the right way. I'd say do not rely too much on the complainers!
The current format is great, especially since it means we get more teardowns, even if they are only short ones. it allows us to get out teardown Tuesday fix, more than once a week.
I dont know about other countries. But i do know that here in the U.S., Medical Grade plugs have an intrusion resistance to them. Not quite the same as the shutter system on the UK plugs (which is unlocked by the ground pin), but cleaver non the less. Essentially when something is inserted into one side of the outlet, it pushes the power contact over onto the opposite plug opening, which energizes it, but not the plug hole that the object was inserted into. In some of the more recent models, there is a plastic stopper that will slide our with the energizing mechanism, to obstruct the opposite (and now energized) opening, just in front of the contacts. If an actual plug is inserted, the left plug will energize the right plug, and vice versa. And as long as the blades of the plug are inserted in far enough, the plastic stopper wont slide into place, as the plug is already deep enough in the outlet that it cant move into position, so it just presses and rides along the plug blades edge, allowing you to insert a plug fully, and get power. If i can get my hands on one surplus, i will try to send it to you for MailBag, or maybe someone else will get to it before i do.
A few other countries also use safe plugs like us such as Malta. Its not just the socket that is safe however , open the plug and take a look at some of the safety. Internal fuse, insulation on the live and neutral pins so even if its in 1/2 way you cannot touch the live. The earth wire in the plug is longer that the live and neutral so even if they come out the earth is the last one to get pulled out. Also the colour code and the place of the wires is safe too Blue BL Bottom Left(neutral) Brown BR Bottom Right(live). Well designed plugs also have 2 plastic tabs that get tighter on the lead when you pull it so it will not pull out. Honestly if you don't use a UK plug i feel sorry for you as they are just not as safe. Until you stand on the thing in the night they always fall pins up :P. And yeah BBC is decent . P.S At least you use a decent voltage , none of this 120v single phase rubbish .
The answer to your question is simple: You got so many mailbag items that you really need to be quick in order to keep up. Rather do seperate teardowns and tinker videos with the items. Maybe a Teardown Tuesday video can consist of a few smaller teardowns, not just one big one.
Hey mate, you should make a small survey for all the fans of the show. This way you can find out what we want, and what formats we like. Just google free survey or something. :)
Happy New Year Dave, look forward to seeing what the new year brings. Great to see that you got to ALL your youtubers mail ins. I'm sure that all the youtubers that follow you such as I, enjoy there two second shout out from you. Great to see that you didn't go off on a tangent, and stuck with the mailbag. All the best to you and your family in 2015, and like I always say keep your electrons flowing, and don't get shorted.
I don't mind two minute teardowns for small stuff in the mailbag at all. The EMC probe bit was a bit long winded, and could easily have been its own video...
Great video Dave, I stuck it out to the bitter end because I enjoyed the format. Maybe collect all those two minute tear downs and do a complete show on them ? Just an idea, happy New Year to you.
The pin pad device is still current tech, at least according to my bank. It's used as an additional layer of authentication to perform certain actions on the online banking site such as adding additional payees.
Play video at 1/2 speed (0.5) in the settings and start watching at 57:50 lol watch till the end. Thumbs up so Dave can get a laugh or at least I hope he does. :)
Oh, man. I laughed so hard I got all teary-eyed. Apparently half speed Dave is a drunk five year old. (Good catch, *****. Hopefully he finds it funny as well)
Yes! My latest U.S. apartment has shutters on all the outlets and they work horribly. It's almost impossible to get anything plugged into them and usually leads to a violent struggle.
Dave, looks like you have an editing error around 4:00 You go from looking at the plug with the shutter to testing the meter with a jump cut, it doesn't appear intentional.
Dave, the nationwide chip and pin machine was a solution brought in by some banks a few years ago to do 2 step authentication for online banking. The idea was when prompted you inserted your card and entered your pin, sometimes with an additional code and it would generate a unique authentication code to be entered onto the online banking page. Was used for everything from logging in to setting up transfers etc, depending on the bank. Was a nice idea to make online banking a bit more secure but wasn't too popular as if you didn't have the machine when out and about you couldn't use online banking
I like the speedy format because that way people with time-sensitive stuff don't get wronged. It must suck to send you something important and have it expire in the meantime, so it's better to open it all and see what's worth diving into with more detail later.
I do like the speedy format. Maybe you could do a seperate video like 'Mailbag - 2 minute tear downs' that is a compilation of the items from the mailbag.
Cool, the last mailbag for 2014, *great* Dave! Thanx for that an hour of joy:) :) :) I had a MX-44 as well, but it worn out just like that you have in your hand and after that display died, it was time for the bin. No, i don´t want you to just open the bag, a quick teardown, and/or teardown, or checkout would be nice and appreciated, for sure:) Chrome is way batter today, so i can watch it in FastFames ;)
Regarding the Pico PSU: I've owned two of their modules in the past. One let the smoke out from having the +5v / Gnd leads reversed on a CF card adapter where the polarity wasn't marked. I'll take the blame for that, but I would've liked to see better fault handling. The other lasted about two years in service in a mini ITX firewall box. At this point, I'm not terribly impressed by the build quality, and I'm somewhat skeptical of its ability to provide even close to 100W for any length of time. More concerning is a posted test I saw online where someone examined the output on a scope. The 12v rail looked to be passing through directly, with little to no filtering at all. In a car environment, that doesn't bode well to the survivability of the connected load. This is a bit of anecdotal and second-hand info, so I'd love to see Dave put this thing on the electronic load, and see what's going on with that 12v rail. It would be a valuable review to anyone considering these modules for their own builds.
Hey Dave! Great video... Just letting you know, the actual format (with 2min teardowns) is perfect imho. Please continue with it! Have a great New Year! Oh, and less turn it on, more take it apart on 2015!
Exactly right Dave. As the earth pin is longer, it pushes on a piece of plastic within the plug socket which then opens the live and neutral sockets, allowing current to flow. you'll also notice that the live and neutral pins have an insulated shaft, which stops you from being electrocuted by not fully inserting the plug.
I do enjoy the teardowns being their own dedicated videos. The reason being that I absolutely LOVE the teardown and troubleshooting videos so I like the time you can spend when they're their own videos. Matter of fact it would be great to see more teardown and especially troubleshooting videos. Mailbag is fun too though. Just my opinion. I love your channel! Keep up the great work and thank you for the time and expertise you give us!
I say open the mail and the ones that just want to see the mail will be happy, and if there are items you want to take apart, do that after the mail is opened, but in the same video.....that should please everyone :)
Here in Germany we have safety-shutters on modern extension-cords and power strips but not on our regular outlets. But in most households we have earth leakage circuit breakers, so if you touch the live side, it cuts off the power within 30 ms.
Hey Dave, 40:28 so on. Glucose Test strips are mostly just traces attached to a pad. The pad has an enzyme on it, and a medium. The medium is a chemical agent that keeps the enzyme active. The strips are UV Sensitive. The enzyme reacts to the glucose in the blood sample and pulls a few electrons from it. The meter measures the change and determines what amount of sugars are in your blood. Normal range for a person is 150 to 70. The strips are pretty much a plastic backing, then the traces then a spacer then the a cover. On the end there is a window and a gap in the spacer to act as a well to hold the blood. The strips were originally so expensive because the traces were gold. I don't know that they use gold anymore.
***** Interestingly, Americans use mg/dL which is pure metric system, while the international system uses the molar concentration, which you can argue is non-metric. The ratio between the two is exactly 18, since it only depends on the molecular weight of glucose. And the upper limit on normal for fasting blood glucose is 110 mg/dL. 150 would be considered somewhat high probably even if non-fasting, but doctors usually only consider the fasting level since non-fasting is so variable. By the way, the strips are still very expensive, even without gold, usually $1.00 to $2.00 each in the US. The meter is usually free, following the old razor vs. razor blades marketing approach. They also have calibration information encoded into them by various methods, including an optical bar code type method.
One possible solution, do occasional teardown Tuesdays with 5 or 6 quick ones. Record them on Monday when your interest is peaked and have the intern cobble them together.
The Vicor bricks might be for battery based UPS, so they provide uninterrupted power to the device in case of mains failure. This would also explain gate in pin.
European sockets are also available with a similar safety system. I think you have to plug in both pins at the same time to open them. If it was something with earth, you couldn't use earthless plugs.
I really enjoy the short teardowns and they're the main reason I watch the mailbag videos.
I really like the teardowns, even though I don' t understand much about electronics it's extremely interesting to see how they're built and to see all the thought and engineering that was put into creating those devices!
***** I'm aware of that - but I also enjoy them during the mailbag-videos, actually I'm always interested how those things look on the inside right away :D :)
I'm afraid I'm another in the smaller group who prefers the mini teardowns, I'm not that interested in seeing what people have shipped him if we don't get to play with them. I want to see what's inside. ;) Perhaps notes OUTSIDE the packages about time critical packs would be helpful. Otherwise.. there is a LOT of content in any video, I'd be happy just sticking to the teardowns. It's a fair compromise. :)
tursilion I feel exactly the same way :D Though - as I said - I don't understand much about EE, I really enjoy taking things apart and looking on the inside. Of course it's nice to see some interesting components from the outside as well, but without a teardown it's just...well...a bit boring to be honest. :-/
I prefer mini teardown interludes in the mailbag segments. Once Dave gets his assistant, that bloke can make sure time sensitive items make it into mailbag episodes in a timely manner.
ungratefulmetalpansy Boo ho. If the western society craves cheap stuff and just want to buy a lot of crap, produce garbage and think buying helps the economy and the economy helps them - well then they're rightfully screwed.
Remember - I'm not talking about individuals here, but society as a whole. I've had enough with people complaining about outsourcing while being to good to cough up a few bucks for some honest labor themselves.
I like the two minute teardowns, it's interesting to see your quick reaction of smaller items such as multimeters etc
A vote for 2 minute teardown. I really enjoy when you take all the juice out of the things; love learning about small details. Pending mailbag getting bigger has to be part of the show!
love the new speedy format
its the 50-60 fps interpolation. It makes things feel like they are in fast forward instead of smoother. Dave can't do anything about and its better than 30 so meh.
I wasnt talking about his camera's fps settings I was talking about his new presentation format for mailbag (open mail faster, read note, cut to next)
Richard Smith It's faster because there are more frames.
I dont like the new format (not the FPS thing) - Now all the "Mailbag" consists of is postcards, miss pronounced names and letters over letters. I want to see the stuff people sent in. I want Dave to tear down the junk while wandering through all subjects of electronical engeneering. I was dissapointed when he did not light up this firework bracelet...
Steve Wardon He didn't light it up because it ran out of battery, he said in the video.
This is the first mailbag I've sat through in a while. I much prefer this format, and a separate video for each item you think deserves it.
Another epic year for teardowns & mailbags Dave. Thanks for all the effort. Hope you & your family have a great 2015.
I like it when you take your time and do a demo of something or a quick tear down. For me I really like to get a taste of different things and then go looking into something more in depth.
I like the little teardowns on the mail bag. It's like teasing us not showing them!
I don't watch every video you do, so when you do a mini teardown in the middle of a video I like it. It feeds my need to see what's in all the packages and my need to see something in pieces.
Prefer mailbag with more detail. Anyone can open packages, I like your insight on how they work, how they could be improved, etc.
Usually on UK plugs, there's 1 piece of spung plastic that obscures live and neutral with a flat plate that there's absolutely no chance of shifting with a screwdriver into those holes, the plate extends out to the earth pin which has an angle on it so that as you push the earth pin in it pushes the plate down and uncovers the other 2 pins just before the plug goes it. If you are going to stick something in to open it you'd be sticking it into the earth pin only which I love. However it looks on this one that the angled bit is just on the N and L pins. On power-strip extension cable thingys, you can open the shutter by plugging the earth pin of an unused plug in upside down and having the L and N pins outside the power strip. The pins are also really sturdy.
It's worth noting we've had the type G plug for many decades and before that we had type D/M which were also 3 pin plugs. Everything we've had has been 3-pin since at least the 1930s. I get wound up when americans brag about their state of the art electric plugs which got optional earth pins relatively recently.
The bank card reader is not defunct, all the banks here use them for security in online banking. I think they were introduced around 2008. Certain transactions such as transferring money to an external account require you to put your card in, enter the pin number, enter the 8 digit code the website gives you (which is usually the value of the transation in pennies) and generates an 8 digit security code for you to type back into the website. In case its not something universal, a building society is essentially a bank where the account holders are the shareholders. The difference is irrelevant these days.
I prefer the usual mailbag format Dave. This one felt jumpy, and I feel like it's missing the good parts. Considering mailbag is your most popular segment, I find it hard to believe that those complaining about it are in the majority.
On another note, watch that I dream of wires documentary. If you have any interest on analogue or modular synthesisers, you'll love it.
***** which one? From my point of view, mine is the top comment, and I know that can't be right.
***** That only has odd 60 votes, not that many out of tens of thousands of views.
Agree on both the mailbag and IDOW.
I'm hoping this fast run through mail is a one-time thing to get caught up. The older style is much more satisfying. As a viewer, I don't enjoy Dave opening packages, I enjoy seeing him tear into the contents, tell stories, and analyze design decisions. Without that, there's very little point to this segment as an observer.
As a contributor, I would want Dave to spend more than 20 seconds on the item I sent in. If all I wanted was to give him something, I wouldn't care if it was filmed at all. If it's going to be "on the air," take enough time to do it justice.
So that leaves us at an impasse where there's too much stuff to get through at a slower pace, and it's not as much fun going through it so quickly.
I propose a moratorium instead. Fellow viewers, hold off on sending stuff in for a while. Let him get through the backlog first. Maybe a little self-imposed moderation as well. IMO, we've probably seen enough calculators for a while. (Obviously, the threshold of interesting items is left to the contributors. But just a thought anyway.)
I like a good mix of opening packages and Dave interacting with the items he receives. I will however enjoy Dave's videos regardless of the format, his knowledge and charisma is an inspiration!
Hello Dave, I really like those 2 minute tear downs! Makes stuff more interesting.
Many years ago You could open the safety shutters on 3 pin sockets by pushing something into earth pin socket. The new sockets only open if you apply pressure to live and neutral at same time.
Hi Dave!
All the best in 2015.!
Please don't just open the mail. Your comments are pure gold, we (can) learn a bunch from them. And they are fun. If somebody don't like them, how difficult is to skip forward?
Regards, Nino
FEEDBACK: I liked the short teardowns! I think they are great so you can decide (and viewers can request) if it's worth a separate video with a longer teardown/repair/test when it's worth it and interesting.
Like others, I also dislike that the cammera takes too long to focus when you hold something in the front, sometimes it does not even get focussed. On TV, they always solve that using 2 cammeras. I wonder if there is a workaround, I wish there was a way to have two manual focus points and easily togle betweem them with a remote (imagine a pedal!!! that would be AWESOME)
Thanks Dave! Keep the good work!
UK plug shutter is a simple spring loaded sliding shutter. the part in front of the earth pin has a slight angle on it so when you push the earth pin in, it pushes the whole shutter down, exposing the contacts for live and neutral. When you remove the plug, the spring returns the shutter to the closed position.
No, not on MK sockets it isn't!
Most brands do work as you describe, but the MK brand requires all 3 pins the earth pin in first to disengage a side catch, then the live and neutral shutters require the correct pin profile to be applied simultaneously. They have specific notches to help defeat someone levering the earth pin latch in order to insert a skinny euro 2-pin plug.
Those stupid "child safety" socket covers actually make any non- MK brand UK socket LESS safe. And of course are completely irrelevant for MK sockets.
No, I don't work for MK lol!
I always knew the covers were snake oil but I don't see how they could make the socket less safe unless you used the cover as a tool to defeat the shutter by snapping the plastic pins off and jamming them in (it shouldn't be possible to insert them upside down), in which case you deserve an electric shock. What's a little 240v anyway? I got a few jolts of it as a kid and while I wouldn't recommend it, I had more painful accidents simply by tripping over things than I ever did from electricity.
artifactingreality In most countries they are wwarrantedas they don't have shutters, however this website details how they make it worse in the UK...
www.fatallyflawed.org.uk/
Simon Parkinson
I must admit, from a north american standpoint the standard and the mk are both awesome even if overkill...Plug covers make shutters less safe, this is obvious once they break it down.
frollard indeed, I think the other big issue is that 240V is a lot more dangerous than 110V
I like the 2 minute teardowns. Quick look inside of stuff that would never make it to a regular teardown.
Love 2 minutes teardowns! Keep them in Dave!
The european plug also has that shutter thing, and you have to put something inside the two holes at the same time to open it.
Yeah, that's true for all CEE7 family of sockets (notably: french/polish E type and german schuko). I use both types in my appartement, all with such "parallel insertion only" protection. However it's still optional for a new product to have it (you can buy plain type easily with no protection whatsoever).
I don't really understand the fuss about the british plug. It doesn't have any features that the europlug hasn't got. The europlug has minor advantages like being smaller and that it can be plugged in two ways. But those are not real features.
FFFre4k
Until you use them - or the French onces I've seen / used at least. I have seen plugs / sockets / multiway adapters horribly overheated due to flaky connection - the contact area and engagement is poor compared to UK 3 pin plug, leading to overheating and burning /carbon build up. Then there's the advantage of plug top fusing with the 3 pin plug allowing the termination cable to be properly protected from overload.
FFFre4k Well except for the fact it is "British" making it automatically better than any Euro-trash! The 3 pin socket is a beautiful piece of design engineering, ergonomic, robust and safe.
***** No you are wrong: imgur.com/rns2QA1
In Norway every new outlet have the shutters.
The new format is absolutely brill!
Save the teardowns for Tuesday:)
The current format that you use is fine. Open package, mini-teardown and onto the next. I accept it's a lot of work but EEVBlog is, by a big margin, the best electronics youtube channel. Love it!
I love the new 'quick' format too, just enough partial tear down to keep it really interesting.
thank you for always being here, I love your videos
I like the tear downs Dave. I always learn a lot!
I like the two min tear down - just rushing though mail does not make sense -
Perhaps do two mailbag days?
Hi Dave,
I think I can write this in the name of every EEVBlog follower:
We wish you a happy new year and all the best for your and your family.
Cheers!
The mail is a fun side bit. We are here for the in depth nitty gritty tear downs!
Please continue doing the short teardowns, that's the actually interesting part of these videos...
I really like the 2 minute teardowns personally
I enjoy the 2min teardowns. Please continue. Thanks.
Dave,
Don't worry about the comments complaining. I think you should open what you want, and do in-depth things on what you want. I love hearing your commentary on concepts that I otherwise wouldn't have otherwise known about if it wasn't for a spontaneous decision to review or tear down an item.
about the shutters, i saw these in dubai a lot and they were pretty annoying, i couldnt charge my phone at all and i thought it had something to do with the size of the pins, my charger didnt have a ground so at the end i found a way to plug them in, i used my car key and inserted it into the ground hole and it unlocked the shutter and then put my charger in.
My dad and I love the 2 minute teardowns!
Hey Dave, Please keep Mailbag as it is please - I think there is a silent majority that is happy with this format as is and a vocal minority that wants to change this and that. Yeah - some times it drags on a tab too much, but more often then not, this side questing bits are the most interesting part of the show. It depends on the person watching and the specific topic.
Offcourse: Making separate tear-down video per product would be a good idea - a five minute one take teardown could benefit your channel. I do not know that statistic of your channel, but I think/believe that Mailbag is mainly viewed by subscribers in the first 24 hours after upload, but other videos like tear down are getting watch "on play list", creating a steady ad-revenue months and years after upload.
The format works, Dave. I like the accelerated pace with faster tear downs. Just make sure you don't cut it too short, as people will send less items if they think they won't get any "air time".
Like the breakouts into smaller videos. Love the channel!
I personally like it when it when you do the quick tear downs of the small things. but having the mailbag in two parts with the opening in one video, and the short tear downs in another video would be good though.
I love the tear downs and the info! That's whole reason I watch mail bag!
I have no complaints about the channel or the mailbag and love the teardowns so there!!!!
In France we have automatic safety shutters plugs , you have to put something in the 2 holes at the same time to have access to the contacts
No Dave, just do the mailbag like you usually did, seeing your hooking up/testing things people send in and do some mini teardown is more fun...
My few cents on the EMAQ (endless mailbag question): People send you things, because they want you to do something with it, say something about it, present it, even critisize it. It is a matter of paying tribute to the senders how you deal the items. If you do it too fast, people feel disrespect. They will probably not complain, but will stop sending you things when they see how you handle items of other contributers. Considering this I think you handled the first items too fast.
I think those people who want changes, articulate their critisism here, only a few on the other hand agree and post an according statement, but often the problem is that the majority remains quiet. Because you have a lot of viewers, I think you are doing it the right way. I'd say do not rely too much on the complainers!
All the best for a fantastic New Year Dave, I'll be seeing you in 2015! On TH-cam of course!
Dave, clipsal sell aus power points with similar protection clips on them. And yes, it requires the earth pin to disable the protection.
I do love the little 2 minute teardowns.
The current format is great, especially since it means we get more teardowns, even if they are only short ones. it allows us to get out teardown Tuesday fix, more than once a week.
EEVblog is the only channel on youtube where I leave the annotations on
Thanks for the videos so far. Looking forward to the Hoverboard teardown next year.
I dont know about other countries. But i do know that here in the U.S., Medical Grade plugs have an intrusion resistance to them. Not quite the same as the shutter system on the UK plugs (which is unlocked by the ground pin), but cleaver non the less.
Essentially when something is inserted into one side of the outlet, it pushes the power contact over onto the opposite plug opening, which energizes it, but not the plug hole that the object was inserted into. In some of the more recent models, there is a plastic stopper that will slide our with the energizing mechanism, to obstruct the opposite (and now energized) opening, just in front of the contacts.
If an actual plug is inserted, the left plug will energize the right plug, and vice versa. And as long as the blades of the plug are inserted in far enough, the plastic stopper wont slide into place, as the plug is already deep enough in the outlet that it cant move into position, so it just presses and rides along the plug blades edge, allowing you to insert a plug fully, and get power.
If i can get my hands on one surplus, i will try to send it to you for MailBag, or maybe someone else will get to it before i do.
A few other countries also use safe plugs like us such as Malta. Its not just the socket that is safe however , open the plug and take a look at some of the safety.
Internal fuse, insulation on the live and neutral pins so even if its in 1/2 way you cannot touch the live. The earth wire in the plug is longer that the live and neutral so even if they come out the earth is the last one to get pulled out. Also the colour code and the place of the wires is safe too Blue BL Bottom Left(neutral) Brown BR Bottom Right(live).
Well designed plugs also have 2 plastic tabs that get tighter on the lead when you pull it so it will not pull out.
Honestly if you don't use a UK plug i feel sorry for you as they are just not as safe.
Until you stand on the thing in the night they always fall pins up :P.
And yeah BBC is decent .
P.S At least you use a decent voltage , none of this 120v single phase rubbish .
The answer to your question is simple: You got so many mailbag items that you really need to be quick in order to keep up. Rather do seperate teardowns and tinker videos with the items. Maybe a Teardown Tuesday video can consist of a few smaller teardowns, not just one big one.
Keep doing the tear downs because some of the small items you forget about and we never see them torn apart like the banking calculator.
Hey mate, you should make a small survey for all the fans of the show. This way you can find out what we want, and what formats we like.
Just google free survey or something. :)
I love the two minute tear down. Keep that in !!!
Happy New Year Dave, look forward to seeing what the new year brings. Great to see that you got to ALL your youtubers mail ins. I'm sure that all the youtubers that follow you such as I, enjoy there two second shout out from you. Great to see that you didn't go off on a tangent, and stuck with the mailbag. All the best to you and your family in 2015, and like I always say keep your electrons flowing, and don't get shorted.
I don't mind two minute teardowns for small stuff in the mailbag at all. The EMC probe bit was a bit long winded, and could easily have been its own video...
Great video Dave, I stuck it out to the bitter end because I enjoyed the format. Maybe collect all those two minute tear downs and do a complete show on them ? Just an idea, happy New Year to you.
Happy New Year to you also Dave, its been 3 yrs now watching you videos. :-)
I like seeing brief teardown in this segment. :)
For me teardowns are the most interesting part of mailbag and I think 2-minute teardowns should stay part of it.
The UK plugs are definitely superior, the ground pin unlocks the shutters and the other pins are partially insulated.
The pin pad device is still current tech, at least according to my bank. It's used as an additional layer of authentication to perform certain actions on the online banking site such as adding additional payees.
The Chip & Pin device is our half of online banking two-factor authentication - we also have online banking ;-)
I'm a big fan of the tear downs though. I learn a lot from going over the electrical inter workings.
I quite like the 2 minute tear downs , find it interesting to see whats inside especially if its "vintage" equipment
I don't mind a small teardown at all. Just be spontaneous, your curiosity makes for great videos.
Play video at 1/2 speed (0.5) in the settings and start watching at 57:50 lol watch till the end.
Thumbs up so Dave can get a laugh or at least I hope he does. :)
oh christ! that was awesome!
Oh, man. I laughed so hard I got all teary-eyed.
Apparently half speed Dave is a drunk five year old.
(Good catch, *****. Hopefully he finds it funny as well)
Fantastic. I had to download the vid to change speed, well worth the effort.
Yes! My latest U.S. apartment has shutters on all the outlets and they work horribly. It's almost impossible to get anything plugged into them and usually leads to a violent struggle.
Dave, looks like you have an editing error around 4:00 You go from looking at the plug with the shutter to testing the meter with a jump cut, it doesn't appear intentional.
Dave, the nationwide chip and pin machine was a solution brought in by some banks a few years ago to do 2 step authentication for online banking. The idea was when prompted you inserted your card and entered your pin, sometimes with an additional code and it would generate a unique authentication code to be entered onto the online banking page. Was used for everything from logging in to setting up transfers etc, depending on the bank. Was a nice idea to make online banking a bit more secure but wasn't too popular as if you didn't have the machine when out and about you couldn't use online banking
love it just opening gifts feels like christmas all over again
I like the speedy format because that way people with time-sensitive stuff don't get wronged. It must suck to send you something important and have it expire in the meantime, so it's better to open it all and see what's worth diving into with more detail later.
I do like the speedy format. Maybe you could do a seperate video like 'Mailbag - 2 minute tear downs' that is a compilation of the items from the mailbag.
You got the pronounciation of Lymington spot on! Just down the road from me.
Did you grow up making runs to Greenweld in Millbrook? I remember you could buy Veroboard off-cuts/seconds there as the Vero factory was in Eastleigh.
Boffin I grew up Oop North :-D I didn't know Vero was in Eastleigh though, I certainly delaminated lots of that as a kid ;-)
Simon Crabb Looks like the guy that submitted the pommy plug is from Boldre which is silly close to where I lived in Pilley; but that was 30+ yrs ago.
Cool, the last mailbag for 2014, *great* Dave! Thanx for that an hour of joy:) :) :)
I had a MX-44 as well, but it worn out just like that you have in your hand and after that display died, it was time for the bin.
No, i don´t want you to just open the bag, a quick teardown, and/or teardown, or checkout would be nice and appreciated, for sure:)
Chrome is way batter today, so i can watch it in FastFames ;)
Regarding the Pico PSU:
I've owned two of their modules in the past. One let the smoke out from having the +5v / Gnd leads reversed on a CF card adapter where the polarity wasn't marked. I'll take the blame for that, but I would've liked to see better fault handling. The other lasted about two years in service in a mini ITX firewall box.
At this point, I'm not terribly impressed by the build quality, and I'm somewhat skeptical of its ability to provide even close to 100W for any length of time.
More concerning is a posted test I saw online where someone examined the output on a scope. The 12v rail looked to be passing through directly, with little to no filtering at all. In a car environment, that doesn't bode well to the survivability of the connected load.
This is a bit of anecdotal and second-hand info, so I'd love to see Dave put this thing on the electronic load, and see what's going on with that 12v rail. It would be a valuable review to anyone considering these modules for their own builds.
Hey Dave! Great video...
Just letting you know, the actual format (with 2min teardowns) is perfect imho. Please continue with it!
Have a great New Year! Oh, and less turn it on, more take it apart on 2015!
Exactly right Dave. As the earth pin is longer, it pushes on a piece of plastic within the plug socket which then opens the live and neutral sockets, allowing current to flow. you'll also notice that the live and neutral pins have an insulated shaft, which stops you from being electrocuted by not fully inserting the plug.
I do enjoy the teardowns being their own dedicated videos. The reason being that I absolutely LOVE the teardown and troubleshooting videos so I like the time you can spend when they're their own videos. Matter of fact it would be great to see more teardown and especially troubleshooting videos. Mailbag is fun too though. Just my opinion. I love your channel! Keep up the great work and thank you for the time and expertise you give us!
I say open the mail and the ones that just want to see the mail will be happy, and if there are items you want to take apart, do that after the mail is opened, but in the same video.....that should please everyone :)
Here in Germany we have safety-shutters on modern extension-cords and power strips but not on our regular outlets.
But in most households we have earth leakage circuit breakers, so if you touch the live side, it cuts off the power within 30 ms.
Hey Dave, 40:28 so on. Glucose Test strips are mostly just traces attached to a pad. The pad has an enzyme on it, and a medium. The medium is a chemical agent that keeps the enzyme active. The strips are UV Sensitive. The enzyme reacts to the glucose in the blood sample and pulls a few electrons from it. The meter measures the change and determines what amount of sugars are in your blood. Normal range for a person is 150 to 70. The strips are pretty much a plastic backing, then the traces then a spacer then the a cover. On the end there is a window and a gap in the spacer to act as a well to hold the blood. The strips were originally so expensive because the traces were gold. I don't know that they use gold anymore.
*****
The other unit is mg/dL. So by mass/volume instead of by amount/volume.
***** Interestingly, Americans use mg/dL which is pure metric system, while the international system uses the molar concentration, which you can argue is non-metric. The ratio between the two is exactly 18, since it only depends on the molecular weight of glucose. And the upper limit on normal for fasting blood glucose is 110 mg/dL. 150 would be considered somewhat high probably even if non-fasting, but doctors usually only consider the fasting level since non-fasting is so variable.
By the way, the strips are still very expensive, even without gold, usually $1.00 to $2.00 each in the US. The meter is usually free, following the old razor vs. razor blades marketing approach. They also have calibration information encoded into them by various methods, including an optical bar code type method.
Larry Russell
The mole is an SI unit. Both forms of measuring concentration are purely SI (metric).
Really like the new rapid fire mailbag format!
One possible solution, do occasional teardown Tuesdays with 5 or 6 quick ones. Record them on Monday when your interest is peaked and have the intern cobble them together.
According to the electrical code in Canada, all receptacles in a residence have to be tamper resistant.
Opening mail is fun but I come for the electronics content!
Don't listen to the complainers. I love the 2 minute teardowns in your mailbag.
I liked the way you were doing it, thought the 2-min teardown was a nice compromise.
I dream of wires is a GREAT movie if you like synthesizers. Really fun stuff with some real legends in it.
The Vicor bricks might be for battery based UPS, so they provide uninterrupted power to the device in case of mains failure. This would also explain gate in pin.
European sockets are also available with a similar safety system. I think you have to plug in both pins at the same time to open them. If it was something with earth, you couldn't use earthless plugs.
I forget when B64 went down, but it set a record for the longest trip for an instrumented amateur HAB.
Some glucose meters like many Accuchek ones use disposable test strips (such as one I own).
I like when you actually go into detail however it might be an idea to do occasional only the mail ones to clear out massive backlogs?
That's a BS 1363 standard electical plug and socket. They are used in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, UK and Ireland.
6:23 - Jimmy the Earth Ground slot with the screwdriver and measure the continuity of the Hot or Cold terminals!
In Czech Republic we have those "Euro sockets" or whatever are they called. And yes, Some models have those safety things inside.