If that's the case, then that's incredibly lazy design. Any circuit capable of even the primitive audio processing the Clapper is doing could trivially be made to ignore the microphone for half a second after being triggered
@@tomgidden No no, I only mock the switch! I *love* the fuse, I envy the sleeved pins, and would gladly switch to it were that viable. If what you plug into an outlet has its own switch, though, which almost everything does on this side of the pond, having a second switch on the receptacle - right next to the plug where your hand could also just unplug the thing! - is useful only for killing vampire loads or if you're _extremely_ paranoid about electricity.
They can be convenient, though. I have several switchless devices -- PSUs/chargers, an old-school soLdering iron, a lamp -- that I don't want left on. I do, however, keep them plugged-in for tidiness and convenience. If the sockets didn't have switches I'd unplug them, sure, but given they're there, I use them. I don't think the safety aspect holds water anymore, but in the olden days it was more relevant with the poor quality of appliances we had; I remember having a single-bar exposed element electric heater without a power switch, as a kid(!). My late mother was also honestly convinced that electricity would drip out of light fittings when changing the bulb, much to my dad's chagrin, him being a science teacher.
@@tomgiddenyeah but the point is that our devices all *do* have their own power switch. The design choice to have or not have a power switch is definitely based on whether your outlets have a switch or not. I prefer the switch on the device immensely. Why would I want to reach to the plug at the back of the counter or workbench when I could just touch the device itself which is almost certainly closer to me?
Depends on the situation, I guess. I mean, for the most part, the devices we have are the same as the devices you have. But even on devices that do have switches, I sometimes use the socket switch. Some of my lamps and other stuff are up on a shelf, while I'm sitting right next to the socket. Or, the device will have that annoying thing where you have to hold down a rubber-coated button for three seconds and then sit through a trite shutdown sound. Or it just has a soft power button and will start doing its thing if there's a momentary power cut. The socket switches are a nice-to-have. Not vital by any means, but they can be handy. To be honest, I think it's the plugs. Our plugs are so huge and weighty, you do actually have to expend (an admittedly very small amount of) effort consciously unplugging them, as opposed to the pointed glare required to unplug an American plug. And when they're unplugged, they don't just dangle lightly in the breeze like yours; they smack against the wall like a three-pronged wrecking ball, or worse yet, lie on the floor as a caltrop, pins-up, worse than stepping on Lego. Pressing a switch is less effort than unplugging.
@@EquaTechnologies Potentially your joke is going over my head and I'm a big dork for this, but just a friendly note that Patreon supporters of the channel get video access a day or two early (if that's what you meant)
We have a Bob Ross themed clapper that we use to control Xmas lights. It turns stuff on, turns on a night light, and says Bobby Ross’s catch phrases depending on how many claps. It is definitely finicky but it’s a holiday tradition at our house. It is especially hilarious because the popping of a wood fire sets it off all the time, and we do a lot of heating with wood, so the thing will just spontaneously turn on the tree and talk about happy accidents. It’s like we are hosting the ghost of Bob Ross for a couple months a year.
A healthy round of applause on a variety or game show could cause it to trigger too, especially at the volume my grandad used to watch tv at. It was even funnier when the clapper commercial would come on and turn his lights on and off 😂
My parents got a clapper in the early 90's to control the Christmas tree, every time the dog barked it would trigger the clapper. It was mildly entertaining.
A while back I bought the clapper to turn on a couple of lights aimed at my dartboard. I figured out really quick that the sound of a dart hitting the dartboard and then the echo made in my garage triggered it to switch my lights on and off. So, it became part of the game... Throw one dart in light, then the next in the dark, and the 3rd in the light again
The funny thing about the "Ove Glove" is that it is literally identical to the knit "mill gloves" used in all sorts of industrial processes where one might need to move hot parts around. I'm willing to bet that idea came from someone just taking their gloves home from work to use as oven mits, and having a eureka moment when they realized they could sell them directly to consumers who *didn't* work around rubber molds or whatever.
@@lekhakaananta5864dexterity. Oven mitts are bulky and the mitten design constrains you. I can get a much better grip and move things more precisely with the gloves. I’m a big fan.
I was 2nd tier tech support at Compaq back in the early 90's back when tech support was open 24/7 and free (and we would help with ANYTHING) and I prank called one of the new guys, making him try to help the issue I was having: I was playing "DOOM" (it had just been released) and every time I fired the pistol twice, The Clapper would activate and turn off my computer.
@@NordicDan And given _some_ tech support tales I've read and heard, it would've been an all-too-believable prank, too. 😁 Hardly the dumbest thing someone would've legitimately called tech support for!
Alec didn't mention the Garden Weasel, but it's referenced in a document shown to the screen. I have an older model that has only one of its tine wheels, but I still use it. I'm actually considering replacing it.
@@jaklumen Hmm, the Wikipedia article redirects to some company called Bon Ami that sells various cleaning products? Maybe Joseph Enterprises sold off the rights to that one.
We bought a Bob Ross talking clapper last year and returned it after a week. The clapper part worked but Bob would randomly talk without a clap. It was like the room was haunted by Bob Ross.
We used to have The Clapper! My stepdad had COPD, so he coughed all the time. The Clapper flicked the light on & off so much, it made our living room look like a rave.
I had a clapper as a teen and found that it was shockingly effective when put on the higher-threshold sensitivity, and then not clapping, but clicking my tongue. Something about the sound of clicking your tongue is very identifiable to its circuitry as a "clap" even at volumes low enough not to wake other people up, and doesn't make your hands sore.
I had a Radio Shack version that used a little squeeze-toy type noise maker to trigger it. I lost that but discovered making a sssss sound loudly triggered it. This was good because it never false-triggered.
My clapper story: bought one once at a yard sale. A while later, my mom and I were having a heated argument, and the shouting quickly turned to giggles because the light would toggle on and off every couple of words. Needless to say, that argument didn't last long.
That's actually an interesting (and extremely useful in modern times) unanticipated edge case use of this thing! Just put one of these in charge of the christmas tree lights and suddenly people will encounter a thought-jammer any time they try to be loud and boisterous (such as if they're trying to argue about something during Christmas dinner). Bonus points if it starts something loud and obnoxious which you can't talk over, like (last episode's) backup beeper gadget (which would only require an inexpensive 12v power supply to permit function of).
I've always wondered if it would make the lights go on and off if people were yelling and smacking each other. And I imagined how it would be for the neighbors to see it happen.
Now I'm wondering, if you had your TV plugged in to your Clapper, and the Clapper's commercial came on, would the claps in the commercial turn off your TV?
Just like all of the TV radio.and internet programs where they shout Hey Siri, Google, Alexa, etc.... look up __________ to get more hits on their website.
Wow, when you talked about TV's being used with it, I thought "that's a really cool idea, so you can turn your TV on with just a few claps". And then I remembered the remotes exist, and I can't honestly tell you the last time I pushed a button on my TV itself.
Reminds me of my grandparents' house. My grandfather's disability made it hard to operate light switches. So there were numerous Clappers that he could activate with his voice or tapping his cane on the floor. One very smart dog we had found that if she was not getting all the attention she wanted, two sharp barks could shift all the attention to her.
I’ve been using a clapper for my bedroom lights for years and I personally love it. Occasionally turns on during certain…bedroom activities, but people always think it’s hilarious. And really convenient for my room layout which forces me to have my light on the opposite side of the room from the bed.
Sometime in the late 70s or 80s I had gotten a “Whistle Switch“ from RadioShack (I think it was). It had a fairly large switching box that plugged into the wall, that included a switched outlet, plus a plastic squeeze bulb that included a high-pitched whistle. So to turn on and off your lights, you would squeeze the squeeze bulb thingy to produce a high-pitched whistle, and it would switch your light on or off. I loved it! My love for it became stronger when I discovered that if I turned it to a lower discrimination setting, I could hiss loudly at it (with extra energy & focus on including high frequencies in my hiss) and and it would switch the switch! So I gave up the plastic squeeze whistle and controlled it with hisses. I loved that I didn’t need a remote. It was funny that none of my friends could manage to hiss at it just right - I suspected their hisses were too low energy, and included to few high frequencies. I was so sad when it died. 😿
@@claret.8733 Dunno how reliable it was for all earthquake types or locations. Always figured it happened to be able to hear whatever infrasound animals might hear in a quake.
My girlfriend in high school bought me one of these for Christmas and it was unironically one of the best gifts someone's ever given me. I still have it and use it almost 15 years later
The Clapper first came out when I was a kid, and in our house we wondered why it was seen as some kind of new idea. That's because we had a Whistle Switch; same concept, except it responded to the sound of the included "whistle" (basically an old-school squeaky toy), so it was very unlikely you'd ever get a false activation. I kind of miss that thing.
Lego had a battery train that operated from a whistle (set 118) in 1968. To six year old me seeing that in their catalogue it seemed like the ultimate in hi-tech.
@@aceman0000099 The in-jokes, the snarks, the pacing and the general quality of scripting is what's doing the heavy lifting. In fact it does so much of the heavy lifting that I come back time and time again to watch 45 minutes on a gizmo that doesn't interest me the slightest.
My grandparents had a clapper for a tv in their bedroom, yeah they were those type that could and did sleep with a tv making all kinds of sound and light. When I lived with them my bedroom was right next to theirs. I had to go to their room several times to tap the clapper to turn their tv off all the while they both were snoring hard asleep. thanks for bringing back those memories. looking back i miss those days
I had the original Clapper. And yeah, it was super sensitive. The first "wireless" remote was just a handheld mechanical clicker that just made a loud click when you depressed the button. There were a bunch of items in the 70's that responded to clicks. The coolest click activated thing I had was a remote control tank. The controller was just a clicker (like the Clapper clicker) that made a loud click and when the tank heard it, it would turn in one direction and if you clicked it again, it would turn in the other direction. Ahhhh the good 'ol days of technology 😂.
Garry Shandling did that on his show once. He mentioned he'd installed the Clapper and demonstrated it. At the end of the scene, the audience applauded, and the lights went on and off repeatedly.
@@Albtraum_TDDC Garry Shandling. He was a comedian who had a sitcom called "It's Garry Shandling's Show" in the late '80s, on which he regularly interacted with the audience; the show was self-referential and had no fourth wall. Sorry, I can't find a link to the Clapper scene.
@@KinkyTurtle I'm sure any version after the first wouldn't respond to applause, and I would suspect the original non-MCU one wouldn't respond either. I think it's much more likely it was a fake demonstration with somebody manning the lights.
Having the brains on a daughterboard makes a ton of sense to me. You could change the logic components without changing the rest of the design, and we definitely knew the gist of Moore's Law at the time. It seems a clever bit of future proofing.
I don't know if anyone has ever pointed this out before but you have really nailed the PBS aesthetic in your videos. You're like the Mr. Rogers of tech.
No. Think lower-budget. That guy with the wild hair and the physics stuff. Or this kids' show with the computer and the weird questions about some odd mystery that never made sense.
@@jaklumen Me neither. I felt like the kid they wanted to like it, but could never find its name ore schedule. It was very frustrating as I DID want to watch the thing and figure out what they were talking about.
As physical barriers become less and less visible over the internet and the world becomes more and more english speaking - this channel and Alec is simply the absolute most useful, educational and informative combination on the web for non-americans, for completely free! I have never heard of or seen this device in action any more than dubbed old sitcom references. I love it! Thank you so much- I am so intrigued and feel like I just got a 7 day early birthday present! 😍❤️🙏
I had a clapper in my bedroom for my entire childhood! The trick I used was tapping the wall that it was plugged into with my knuckles, you didn't have to be nearly as loud as clapping.
@@SianaGearz I don't think it was *that* loud, but I could see it bothering a next door neighbor in an apartment complex. However, I will say I didn't have to knock that hard, I'm guessing because sound travels more efficiently through solids than though the air.
What a blessing this channel is, found randomly a few days ago and now its become my go-to when im winding down from a migraine. The only channel I can watch, its just so relaxing and without crazy flashes or volume, thank you
I built a clapper in high school electronics class. A few years later I connected it to a TV in my bathroom, it was super handy.... except after Taco Tuesday, that made a few false triggers! It was nicknamed the "Crapper Clapper"
The Ove Glove is unironically a good product, especially if you use grills. Okay, we've been using knock-off gloves for a while now, but that was the first pick-up.
I really like the "no effort November" series. More frequent, but shorter, uploads open the floodgates to a whole buttload of things that you simply can't wrangle into one of your signature 45 minute show-and-tells. Which is a shame, because there are a whole host of doodads that fandangle in interesting ways that will only take 10-15 minutes to explain, skits, dad jokes and snarks included. And I'm here for all of them.
Man I love your show. Every time I have a " Hey waitaminnit but whatabout...!" moment it's usually right before you cover it. I'd definitely let my friends kids watch your channel!
The TH-cam algorithm just last month pushed your channel to my feed. And I'm so glad it did. Been watching your videos for weeks now . The effort you put in is spectacular. Love your content. Also I'm a member of the Midwest so I appreciate your Midwest humor.
I find switched outlets useful for things like Christmas lights, fans or heaters where you may need to switch through multiple possible settings before getting to off. At Christmas we regularly have several sets of lights (with their selected flashing / pattern settings) powered by an expansion block from one socket. Turning them off at the socket turns off all sets simultaneously and preserves the flashing/pattern selected for when they are tuned back on again. The same would apply to the heat/fan speed setting on a fan heater for example. Yes I could unplug the item but you only have to step on an upturned three pin UK/Ireland style plug in bare feet once to decide it's better to leave them in the socket and turn off the socket.
Absolutely! It’s easy to use the switch rather than unplugging devices. Many electronics draw a small amount in stand by and can technically be a vector for a fire. Switched outlets make it easy to avoid this
This is why they make power strips and switched outlets...the American kind, with a light switch on the wall that turns on and off an outlet somewhere else. Cheap light timers are also great for holiday lights.
The british plugs are the most dangerous plugs on the world. The risk of stepping on it if far greater than getting shocked by a chinese plug which is even smaller than the american one and often used in 240 V countries.
A family tradition of ours is to use the "Lamp Commander" for our Christmas tree lights, which uses rudimentary speech recognition. It requires you to speak an initialization phrase of "Lamp Commander" (much like modern smart devices, now that I'm thinking about it.) and listening for the response chirp, after which you can command "Lights on", "Lights off", or "Lights dim". Accidental switching is rather rare and when it does happen, it's humorous rather than frustrating because a random combination of sounds has to first initialize and then activate one of the commands.
I remember we made a clapper ourselves in high school. It only supported one outlet, and there was this potentiometer that we could adjust its sensitivity.
Love the video. Triac might be gentler on sensitive electronics. Since triacs are designed to turn on at the beginning of the sine wave and turn off at the end of the sine wave. Where as a relay will just turn on and off anywhere in the sine wave. If the relay is turning off a device that has an inductive coil you can actually cause a pretty large kickback when the contacts open during the peak of the sine wave.
I am a huge fan of switched outlets (and even more of switched light fixtures). In the process of rewiring my house, I moved the switch-controlled outlets in our living room from the ones by the CEILING?!!! down to sockets behind the end-tables that actually had lamps on them, so now, instead of only one lamp coming on, and having its cord draped down the entire wall, BOTH lamps come on, and their cords go to sensible outlets near the floor, behind them. It was a lot of work and I'm still very proud of it. :) My poor wife didn't have a living room for two or three weeks...
Speaking of X10, I had LOTS of X10 stuff in a previous house. Ganky and janky but worked.. mostly. I think an episode on X10 would be informative to lots of people... smart home before smart home was a thing.
I have had X10 since the 80s. I would love to replace it with something newer, more reliable, but most of the new stuff is either too expensive (I calculated that it would cost over $700 just to control my Xmas lights), requires a neutral, or - worst of all - requires an Internet connection. So for now, I'm staying with my X10 stuff.
Arguably better than IoT based smart home stuff too, because unlike that stuff you don't have to rely on an EXTERNAL server to do all the heavy lifting. Just a little box of logic gates hooked up to your home's power wires (calling it a computer would be a bit of a stretch, at best it would be properly a microcontroller). The advantage is that an update to the IoT services can't render your whole house's automation systems nonfunctional (such as what might happen if a new hardware revision of your existing gadgets is released, or if the company building your IoT things goes bankrupt and can't keep the servers paid for). That might not happen too often for some people, but for me once is too many times. Therefore for me the standard "dumb" light switch, placed IN THE RIGHT PLACE TO BE EASY TO USE, is superior. I don't ever need my lights to change color anyways, we're not on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.
You’re breaking into a house to steal as many valuables as you can. It’s late at night and here’s no cars in the driveway, you think maybe they’re out of town. You jiggle the handle on the back door, and to your surprise, it’s unlocked. You sneak into the living room illuminated by a single lamp in the corner of the room. You look around the room and think “damn, I just hit the jackpot!” The silence is broken by two sharp claps,you freeze, the lights go dark, you realize you’ve made a mistake. You hear two more claps, but much louder this time. The lights come back on and as your eyes dart to the burning agony in your abdomen, you see blood. Lots of it. You begin to panic and look for a place to hide, you drop to your knees and crawl as fast as you can to the space between the couch and the wall, your knees and feet slipping and sliding on all the blood with each move. You hear two more claps. Normal claps this time, the room goes completely dark. You freeze again, reflexively, listening for any clue as to what you’re up against. In the moment of silence you can hear your heart pumping more and more of your precious blood all over the wood floors. A deep, booming voice breaks the silence. “You picked the wrong damn house” you hear footsteps coming towards you, there’s nothing you can do but cower. You’re completely defenseless. The footsteps stop, he’s standing right in front of you, two claps, the lights come on. You take in the man standing over you and realize that it’s the founder of Joseph Enterprises, Joseph Pedott. He stands over you as if he’s admiring his work, a gold plated semi auto pistol is in his hand, by his side, he looks you up and down with a proud smirk on his face. Your eyes dart right and left searching for something to defend yourself, but there’s nothing. He raises the gun, level with your face and says “Clap On, Clap Off” then he shoots and you’re dead. -The End
What a classic. My parents had one of these back in the 70's I think. I was young enough to think it was totally magic. Of course, as said, with many kids in the house, it turned into a disco light machine pretty often. 🙂 For couples without kids, I wonder how many times it would produce a strobe effect from vigorous, repeated slapping sounds NOT made with the hands.
I've watched a movie that made a skit on this... about a totally miserable guy who inherited a snow globe from his mother, along with a crappy house and some other sucky things including the clapper to turn the nightstand light on and off. IIRC. But I can't remember the name of the movie.
You're one of my favorite people and I'm so glad you're you and share yourself and your expertise with all of us. Another great video. Thanks, Alec! Love you!
I appreciate this video. I'm 41, been seeing clapper commercials my entire life, but never encountered one in the wild. Glad to have my curiosity satiated :)
Thanks for the upload! Grandma had something like this but the false triggers, did trigger her. So I gave her radio outlets with a remote, which i added a necklace to so it won't get lost easily. She's happy and those around her are happy about no claps anymore!
My mom knows a blind guy who had one of these hooked up to his phone, which would sound from speakers throughout the apartment (small apartment, allowing one or two small mics to pick up speech). Whenever his dog was home alone, and the phone rang, the dog would bark and jump, often triggering the clapper. Imaging your call getting picked up by a barking dog :)
Re the little daughter board with the blob: that’s actually very common, as a first design. The blob typically wants to be on a multilayer board, but those are expensive and you’ll note that the big board is single layer. So, daughter board. You see it a lot on direct mains devices (like WiFi (or X10. I don’t judge.) controlled plug/sockets, for instance) , because they need a really robust single layer main board as well as control electronics.
@@MonkeyJedi99 Pizza is a bad example as a proper pizza oven is supposed to be much hotter than what a regular oven in a household may reach. A thin crust pizza in a pizza oven should only take 2-3 minutes to cook.
In Australia it’s quite common for, say, lamps, flood lights or non-hardwired garage lights, etc, not to have a switch on either the cable or the device. That is why the outlet has a switch. It also means you avoid any arcing when plugging in irons or any other 2000w + devices into outlet.
@@phillipbanes5484 >At the latest it sold into the 90s Okay I read it again, where you said it stopped being sold over 23 years ago. So now it's your turn to read again what I wrote. And, I don't _need_ to say _anything,_ but I _choose_ to say plenty of things, like the word 'literally' as a way to add emphasis. I don't know why boomers seem to have lost their grip on the English language.
I remember the clapper commercials and the thing they had going at the time was you did not have other remote control options. Maybe in a test lab some place but not the average consumer. The 'remote' on our first VCR was a controller with a 15 foot cable so you could still on your sofa. It was not a true remote like we think of now. So ANY remote control seemed novel at the time.
I bought a VCR like that in 1984. The only functions on the wired remote were Pause, Fast Forward, and Rewind. Fun fact. The original full function TV remotes used ultrasonics. Those were prone to misinterpreting jangling keys as commands.
I told my daughters about the clapper being a thing when I was a kid, and they wanted one. They've each had clappers in their room hooked up to their rope lights around their rooms and stuff and bedside lamps for years now. Next I want to see a Chia Pet!!! :D
At least when you asked the clapper to turn off the lights you didn't get an AI voice asking you if you are also interested in trying out a new routine to help ensure you always have fresh underwear to put on when the lights come back on.
The clapper is a device that, if it fits in your routine, is a marvel. We used to use ours constantly at an old apartment. But now in our home it just didn't fit into our lives in an effective way. I tried using it for some decor around the kitchen but man.. Any plate or glass that clicks would set it off haha. I'll find a use for it some day. Probably a work shed.
Oh Lord it's that time of year again, the annual hour long Christmas Light Conniption video is just around the corner. Maybe this year we'll get the long awaited "Painting Christmas Lights by Hand UNEDITED [ASMR] 7 HOURS"
I don't really understand why but it appears to be niche. I keep showing it to people that I think will like it, and they can't focus long enough. These are tech people who like these topics. I have no idea why I can absolutely adore this channel and my dad cannot stay awake. Granted he has had an issue previously with certain people's voices knocking him out so it might be one of those situations, but yeah I don't know it's weird I'd keep trying to get people into it and for some reason it just doesn't resonate with everyone. That said I don't think they should change a thing I think it's excellent and anybody who really wants this information whether or not they find it entertaining is going to get an incredible amount of value out of these. I just think that as an entertainment source it's only going to work with a subset of the population. I've been watching this thing since the first episode because I happened to do a search on that topic. I had to go back and look to see what it was, it was when I was on a automaton kick and was looking into the technology behind a bunch of that stuff that I hit his music recording episode. Then I lost the channel for a couple of years, then it popped up again in my feed for something like air conditioning or dishwasher after I had been looking a previous day for videos on those topics and I was like oh hey that's that guy! At which point I subscribed so I wouldn't lose it again. To be fair when I was watching him previously I was actually using Nintendo products and didn't have the ability to follow specific channels. I'm pretty sure I saw a few other videos while I was not a subscriber as well but as soon as they popped up once I was looking through a phone instead I added him.
@darcieclements4880 I find it interesting that I have also shared this channel with multiple people. I was trying to explain how complicatedly simple a rice cooker was to multiple people once. I share the video with people that are mechanically inclined or tech savvy and none seem to ever actually watch his videos or have heard of him. 2 million subs as the post above would suggest he has a decent following despite or in spite of my attempts to get his channel known 👍
When the Ove Glove started adding the silicone grippers to their gloves, the old versions went on clearance at my local Walgreens for $5 a pair. I bought ten pairs and gave eight of them as gifts to people I still use the other two pairs 20 years later, and at least three of the pairs I gave as gifts are still in use. So yes, best As Seen on TV product, hands-down. Pun intended.
You have to count X10! I used it for years. Not so much for indoor switches but for outdoor lighting and such, as a smart timer that I could control originally from a remote, and later a phone app. But it was janky, and I eventually upgraded it all to Z-wave, of which I still have a bunch of stuff in use, alongside the wifi-type smart switches.
and with the advent of switching power supplies for battery chargers, etc., that really killed the PLC that X10 used. It just got flakier and flakier due to power line noise and the filtering the power supplies used that would kill the signal level. Still was the only available home control for many years.
@@pomonabill220 Yep as we started adding things like CFL bulbs it just got unusable. For awhile I was able to put filters on some things that were particularly noisy, but it just was a losing battle.
I bought a brand new Clapper in a yard sale about a month ago. It is a lot of fun and the kids loved it. I also remember many years ago a Energizer Bunny commercial where the bunny interrupts a Clapper commercial and the lights keep turning on and off while the Clapper tune plays. Had a great laugh at that one.
Great video. Love your tongue-in-cheek humour. Your videos are always well presented and educational. Thank You. Strangely, after watching your presentation I ordered a pair of 'Ove Gloves'! Never heard of them before and have been wanting some decent oven gloves for ages.
Would love to hear your thoughts on X10. Our whole house was X10 before we went smart. We still use it in the bedroom. I also used it in a museum I used to work for.
a triac in a switch mode/application (not dimming) does not introduce noise in the circuit, It only adds a couple of volts drop which is insignificant to most devices. The later switch to relays is a cost savings for the overall assembly (heat sink assembly, etc)
Haha it's been forever since I've seen anyone bring up the clapper. I actually had one for many years and always used it for the Christmas lights. I remember that being all the rage back in the day, but it kinda faded out over the years. Those really are useful for those areas where you need a switched outlet and don't have one. Gotta say they can be handy in certain situations. Nice video.👍
I still have x10 to control a glow/salt lamp, a standing lamp, but we rarely touch any X10 human controls as I allow my computer (with the X10 RS232 device) to control them as well as the Internet modem if it detects the Internet is out for 20 minutes and do a power off ... power on. I also use the computer to control Halloween and Christmas lights/projectors/animatronics at good times of the day. I also wrote a phone app (and website) to chat to my computer enabling humans to switch things on/off - but that's mostly unnecessary. Because... Everything being all controlled by my computer, over the years I've added features like getting sunrise and sunset times to determine good times to turn things off and on, and also monitoring the wifi for our phones being in the house (or not), and to turn on the lamp if it's night time (but before midnight) when we're out (ie no phone connected to the wifi) to deter the thieves. Same logic, but inverted also turns on the Christmas tree when we get home (and turn off when we're out) - and turns it off overnight. While X10 is limited, but fun to play with cheap automation that controls outlets.
@BryTee I even had X10 dimming wall switches. Very helpful when the kids were little and had trouble sleeping at night. Set them to slowly dim over a 30 minute period and then stay at the lowest setting as a night light. Kid wakes up and scared to get out of bed for the bathroom? Sound activated to brighten to level 3 so they can fearlessly hit the can and go back to bed. And yup, Christmas tree, outdoor displays, etc. So handy. Even being able to hit the lights in the detached garage.
This concern is why I use the IKEA remote outlet thingy It works by some kind of radio so I never have to worry about it dying (except when I need to swap the coin cell in the remote)
Does anyone use those though? Most of those use a service that can linked to your phones assistant, or home assistant device. I don't think I've ever used my phone to activate them manually. Biggest benefit is being able to be triggered by any phone event. For example my car port lights turn on when i drive up to them, because my phone is connected to the cars Bluetooth, connects to the wifi of the house, and it's during a certain time frame. They also turn off all house lights if my phone disconnects from my homes wifi, while connected to the car, and my partner isn't connected to wifi.
No, not in my experience tbh. If you never make any noise in your house ever then sure, otherwise it just turns on and off ad nauseum from any and all household noises. A smart plug is more steps but at least it only switches when you tell it to. Smart bulbs are even better because they still work with the existing light switch.
The module in its own PCB is so they can use a better process for that pcb, something with higher precision and multiple layers to handle that CoB it was not an uncommon way to handle that back in the day
I figured your shirt was an artistic nod to the percolator’s place in the lore of the channel but a light bulb (clap clap) went off around the 10 minute mark when I realized “there was a fish IN the percolator”.
For some reason I only partially read your comment and was expecting to see his actual percolator on the bookcase behind him with a fish swimming in it 😂
Actually, the clapper might be super useful for me. I've never considered it for this (because the clapper's always just been a funny novelty to me), but my Christmas lights always have the plug or on switch in a really annoying place. Being able to turn them on and off by just clapping would be great (especially since I only do it twice a day, normally).
You know that this is one of the ways that having a switched outlet (like in Australia and the other countries mentioned) is actually beneficial. I don't need to buy anything because I have the functionality built in to the wall plug.
I just use a switched power strip (use a good surge protector for sure if they are on anything flammable, like a real tree or curtains, but for LED ones not near flammable things a cheap one that looks safe will do), use the cord for that to bring it closer and tap the switch with my toe if it is on the floor, or with my hand if i put it on a chair (non-upholsteted) or table. Same thing for Christmas villages (but use a surge protector as those bulbs are often not LED). If you haven't daisychained them to the safe limit on the packaging already, you can use a string of LED lights as your extension cord from the window or whatever, and know that it has a tiny fuse in it, and if you get the cheap kind where they don't stay lit if a bulb burns out, they have a bunch of little unintentional fuses as well (since a small short that causes one to burn out will kill the whole strand until you replace it) or I just use a heavy duty outdoor extension cord... indoors, or an ordinary one with a fuse in it. I don't have a real tree, but the wire on Christmas lights is so flimsy that I want as much certainty as possible that if the wire is damaged and I don't notice, that nothing will be electrified or set on fire.
I wish one day to see a video with you working with James May on some sort of gadget or doohickey and the two of you absolutely geeking out on the engineering.
Relays make big clicky sound, that's maybe why they used triacs. To prevent the clapper to systematically trigger itself.
It knows when it's triggering the relay though so can easily mute the mic for that fraction of a second.
If that's the case, then that's incredibly lazy design. Any circuit capable of even the primitive audio processing the Clapper is doing could trivially be made to ignore the microphone for half a second after being triggered
@@bosstowndynamics5488 And it is.
it was made in a garage by amateur technicians, not by engineers lol @@bosstowndynamics5488
@@bosstowndynamics5488 Nowadays, yes. When the OG released, not so much
I’ve been pestering Alec to make a video about this for ages! So happy to see it!
And yet he still mocks our superior electrical plug and socket design. Go on, fight him, Steve!
@@tomgidden No no, I only mock the switch! I *love* the fuse, I envy the sleeved pins, and would gladly switch to it were that viable.
If what you plug into an outlet has its own switch, though, which almost everything does on this side of the pond, having a second switch on the receptacle - right next to the plug where your hand could also just unplug the thing! - is useful only for killing vampire loads or if you're _extremely_ paranoid about electricity.
They can be convenient, though. I have several switchless devices -- PSUs/chargers, an old-school soLdering iron, a lamp -- that I don't want left on. I do, however, keep them plugged-in for tidiness and convenience. If the sockets didn't have switches I'd unplug them, sure, but given they're there, I use them.
I don't think the safety aspect holds water anymore, but in the olden days it was more relevant with the poor quality of appliances we had; I remember having a single-bar exposed element electric heater without a power switch, as a kid(!). My late mother was also honestly convinced that electricity would drip out of light fittings when changing the bulb, much to my dad's chagrin, him being a science teacher.
@@tomgiddenyeah but the point is that our devices all *do* have their own power switch. The design choice to have or not have a power switch is definitely based on whether your outlets have a switch or not.
I prefer the switch on the device immensely. Why would I want to reach to the plug at the back of the counter or workbench when I could just touch the device itself which is almost certainly closer to me?
Depends on the situation, I guess. I mean, for the most part, the devices we have are the same as the devices you have. But even on devices that do have switches, I sometimes use the socket switch.
Some of my lamps and other stuff are up on a shelf, while I'm sitting right next to the socket.
Or, the device will have that annoying thing where you have to hold down a rubber-coated button for three seconds and then sit through a trite shutdown sound.
Or it just has a soft power button and will start doing its thing if there's a momentary power cut.
The socket switches are a nice-to-have. Not vital by any means, but they can be handy.
To be honest, I think it's the plugs. Our plugs are so huge and weighty, you do actually have to expend (an admittedly very small amount of) effort consciously unplugging them, as opposed to the pointed glare required to unplug an American plug. And when they're unplugged, they don't just dangle lightly in the breeze like yours; they smack against the wall like a three-pronged wrecking ball, or worse yet, lie on the floor as a caltrop, pins-up, worse than stepping on Lego. Pressing a switch is less effort than unplugging.
I'll never forget the Clapper! My grandma's Yorkshire terrier would sit and bark at it, turning it on and off, for hours at a time. He was a wizard!
Awesome.
It's the Clapper, not the Barker! X'D
the box falling over and literally resetting you in your mental script was comedy gold, literally laughed out loud.
Npc comment
@@danielmorris5470 Press B to jump
‘Moment’
I love how he always does stuff like this it’s always kinda getting me off guard, funny npc stuff
Good thing he's not The Clapper, or he might have gotten stuck in an infinite loop
"Discerning what isn't a clap" is the most top tier B-roll I've ever seen.
Came here to make this comment. Those noises are glorious
bro got the new time travelling feature by youtube
@@EquaTechnologies patreon supporters can see the video before everyone else
EeeEEeehhhheeeehhh....
@@EquaTechnologies Potentially your joke is going over my head and I'm a big dork for this, but just a friendly note that Patreon supporters of the channel get video access a day or two early (if that's what you meant)
We have a Bob Ross themed clapper that we use to control Xmas lights. It turns stuff on, turns on a night light, and says Bobby Ross’s catch phrases depending on how many claps. It is definitely finicky but it’s a holiday tradition at our house. It is especially hilarious because the popping of a wood fire sets it off all the time, and we do a lot of heating with wood, so the thing will just spontaneously turn on the tree and talk about happy accidents. It’s like we are hosting the ghost of Bob Ross for a couple months a year.
You're my kind of people.
The accidental triggers are happy little accidents, though, so it's fine.
Omg this is amazing 😂
It now makes perfect sense that this is the same company that makes chia pets.
bob ross probably would have loved this
A healthy round of applause on a variety or game show could cause it to trigger too, especially at the volume my grandad used to watch tv at. It was even funnier when the clapper commercial would come on and turn his lights on and off 😂
Honestly, considering you're using the same product that's being advertised, I'd see that as an "easter egg" or whatever.
My parents got a clapper in the early 90's to control the Christmas tree, every time the dog barked it would trigger the clapper. It was mildly entertaining.
Entertainment in the last millennium was much simpler.
bark on! 🦮 Woof! Woof! ... bark off! 🦮Woof! Woof!
People who didn’t know about the clapper might’ve thought you had a demon dog😂
The dog was barking at the right tree for once
@@GothGuy885 The Barker
A while back I bought the clapper to turn on a couple of lights aimed at my dartboard. I figured out really quick that the sound of a dart hitting the dartboard and then the echo made in my garage triggered it to switch my lights on and off. So, it became part of the game... Throw one dart in light, then the next in the dark, and the 3rd in the light again
It would barely impact my game but I like the idea.
@@jerbear7952 You're that bad?
You're silly - I approve! :-)
Noice
Throwing a dart in the dark. Now that sounds like a fun thing to do.
The funny thing about the "Ove Glove" is that it is literally identical to the knit "mill gloves" used in all sorts of industrial processes where one might need to move hot parts around. I'm willing to bet that idea came from someone just taking their gloves home from work to use as oven mits, and having a eureka moment when they realized they could sell them directly to consumers who *didn't* work around rubber molds or whatever.
So how is it better than oven mitts? That's what I was wondering. Just higher heat tolerance or what?
@@lekhakaananta5864Same reason Gloves are better than Mittens. Having access to all your fingers instead of a crab claw makes a big difference.
Genius
@@lekhakaananta5864
Mine hasn't got a hole like the oven mitts developed.
@@lekhakaananta5864dexterity. Oven mitts are bulky and the mitten design constrains you. I can get a much better grip and move things more precisely with the gloves. I’m a big fan.
I was 2nd tier tech support at Compaq back in the early 90's back when tech support was open 24/7 and free (and we would help with ANYTHING) and I prank called one of the new guys, making him try to help the issue I was having: I was playing "DOOM" (it had just been released) and every time I fired the pistol twice, The Clapper would activate and turn off my computer.
😂 That's hilarious!
If you try to tell people what tech support was like then, for hardware and software, they look at you like you are crazy, lying, or crazy lying.
Now THAT is a perfect prank 😂
At least Samsung still helps with all their products 24/7 somewhat. Very helpful with their smart tutor.
@@NordicDan And given _some_ tech support tales I've read and heard, it would've been an all-too-believable prank, too. 😁 Hardly the dumbest thing someone would've legitimately called tech support for!
For a company with 4 products, they've got a high level of nostalgia.
The power of marketing!
Alec didn't mention the Garden Weasel, but it's referenced in a document shown to the screen. I have an older model that has only one of its tine wheels, but I still use it. I'm actually considering replacing it.
@@jaklumenAww, a weasel!
@@jaklumen Hmm, the Wikipedia article redirects to some company called Bon Ami that sells various cleaning products? Maybe Joseph Enterprises sold off the rights to that one.
@@stevethepocket hasn’t scratched yet!
TC: “no effort November”
Also TC: *”no effort” content still more consistent and of higher quality than 99.9% of YT*
Naw you a cap
Is it a blessing or a curse?
Future generations will have to decide.
SOP for Alec :D
Our hapless host could do a whole no-effort channel. He'd make so much content.
He could explain how water boils and I'd listen
When my grandmother got arthritis in her hands, we got her a dog click trainer so she could still use her clapper. Worked quite well!
That's so cute!
Oh that's a good idea 💡 I have rheumatoid arthritis in my hands too, thanks for the tip! Happy Holidays 👍
The triple clap followed by "ooh, a different thing!" got me good 😅
Your "not clapping" noises absolutely sent me. Good video, as always.
They would be perfect for 'Technology Connections Out Of Context' compilations.
I agree😂
Very Tim Allen Home Improvement energy.
The captions are also surprisingly accurate lol.
5:00
MAAAAAAH
MUUUUUUH
UH EHHHH
EHH EHHHH
We bought a Bob Ross talking clapper last year and returned it after a week. The clapper part worked but Bob would randomly talk without a clap. It was like the room was haunted by Bob Ross.
Could have kept it for a very chill Halloween prank maybe?
Hopefully it stopped after you returned it.
A very happy little haunting indeed
I want that. It would be great for pranking my kids.
... Haunted by Bob Ross? AND YOU RETURNED IT?!?
We used to have The Clapper! My stepdad had COPD, so he coughed all the time. The Clapper flicked the light on & off so much, it made our living room look like a rave.
I had a clapper as a teen and found that it was shockingly effective when put on the higher-threshold sensitivity, and then not clapping, but clicking my tongue. Something about the sound of clicking your tongue is very identifiable to its circuitry as a "clap" even at volumes low enough not to wake other people up, and doesn't make your hands sore.
Hopefully he can test that
Two rapid sneezes does the trick as well.
@@andersjjensen I've never met anyone who could sneeze on command, though...
Thats what I thought! I had one as a kid, i dont remember clapping because it’s annoying. Until i took it apart that is. And it didn’t have triacs.
I had a Radio Shack version that used a little squeeze-toy type noise maker to trigger it. I lost that but discovered making a sssss sound loudly triggered it. This was good because it never false-triggered.
My clapper story: bought one once at a yard sale. A while later, my mom and I were having a heated argument, and the shouting quickly turned to giggles because the light would toggle on and off every couple of words. Needless to say, that argument didn't last long.
That's actually an interesting (and extremely useful in modern times) unanticipated edge case use of this thing!
Just put one of these in charge of the christmas tree lights and suddenly people will encounter a thought-jammer any time they try to be loud and boisterous (such as if they're trying to argue about something during Christmas dinner).
Bonus points if it starts something loud and obnoxious which you can't talk over, like (last episode's) backup beeper gadget (which would only require an inexpensive 12v power supply to permit function of).
-😆-
I've always wondered if it would make the lights go on and off if people were yelling and smacking each other. And I imagined how it would be for the neighbors to see it happen.
Would make for a good ad. "The Clapper saved our family!"
"Argument Diffuser" was not in the original marketing materials... 😅
“Oooh, a different thing!” made me choke. We must protect this man at all costs.
It's really funny too because a longtime friend of mine has his same mannerism of saying such silly things 😆
Alec: I've recorded and repurposed your "non-clappy" noises into a series of alerts for my various devices.
oh no
@@TechnologyConnections oh yes
you should upload them to a sound site :)
@@cstyledYES
Now I'm wondering, if you had your TV plugged in to your Clapper, and the Clapper's commercial came on, would the claps in the commercial turn off your TV?
Hah, that's a great question! Perhaps if the volume were turned up loudly enough.
Sounds like the xbox commercials for the kinnect.
@@lsorense XBOX OFF
Absolutely yes, especially if you have any substantial sound system connected to your TV.
Just like all of the TV radio.and internet programs where they shout Hey Siri, Google, Alexa, etc.... look up __________ to get more hits on their website.
Wow, when you talked about TV's being used with it, I thought "that's a really cool idea, so you can turn your TV on with just a few claps". And then I remembered the remotes exist, and I can't honestly tell you the last time I pushed a button on my TV itself.
But you can remove the vampire load of the TV... but replace it with The Clapper's vampire load.
When the Clapper first came out, TVs with remotes were still relatively rare and expensive.
@@MrBirdnose right! The one in the commercial which had knobs for changing the channel almost certainly didn't have a remote.
If you've got a modern TV, that's probably partly because the buttons are hidden on the back instead of on the front bezel.
Reminds me of my grandparents' house. My grandfather's disability made it hard to operate light switches. So there were numerous Clappers that he could activate with his voice or tapping his cane on the floor. One very smart dog we had found that if she was not getting all the attention she wanted, two sharp barks could shift all the attention to her.
I’ve been using a clapper for my bedroom lights for years and I personally love it. Occasionally turns on during certain…bedroom activities, but people always think it’s hilarious. And really convenient for my room layout which forces me to have my light on the opposite side of the room from the bed.
LOL
Clapping cheeks and the room is suddenly a rave.
🤨📸
Great if you want to role play the conception of the antichrist
👀
Sometime in the late 70s or 80s I had gotten a “Whistle Switch“ from RadioShack (I think it was). It had a fairly large switching box that plugged into the wall, that included a switched outlet, plus a plastic squeeze bulb that included a high-pitched whistle. So to turn on and off your lights, you would squeeze the squeeze bulb thingy to produce a high-pitched whistle, and it would switch your light on or off. I loved it!
My love for it became stronger when I discovered that if I turned it to a lower discrimination setting, I could hiss loudly at it (with extra energy & focus on including high frequencies in my hiss) and and it would switch the switch! So I gave up the plastic squeeze whistle and controlled it with hisses. I loved that I didn’t need a remote. It was funny that none of my friends could manage to hiss at it just right - I suspected their hisses were too low energy, and included to few high frequencies.
I was so sad when it died. 😿
The whistle switch could hear the early waves ahead of (mild) earthquakes too! Genius little device that
@@Rishnai Wow! I missed out on that extra feature.
@@claret.8733 Dunno how reliable it was for all earthquake types or locations. Always figured it happened to be able to hear whatever infrasound animals might hear in a quake.
My girlfriend in high school bought me one of these for Christmas and it was unironically one of the best gifts someone's ever given me. I still have it and use it almost 15 years later
I got the clap from my high school girlfriend too
I loved the chia pet catch phrase altered to “sa-sa-sa-selling” so casually inserted like it was nothing 😂
The Clapper first came out when I was a kid, and in our house we wondered why it was seen as some kind of new idea. That's because we had a Whistle Switch; same concept, except it responded to the sound of the included "whistle" (basically an old-school squeaky toy), so it was very unlikely you'd ever get a false activation. I kind of miss that thing.
LoL I like the idea, but it'd all be fun-and-games until my dog got a hold of it. She loves her some squeaky-toys.
Lego had a battery train that operated from a whistle (set 118) in 1968. To six year old me seeing that in their catalogue it seemed like the ultimate in hi-tech.
Your "no effort" is still way better than a lot of other's people "I really tried.". Great video.
This!
That's just his background doing most of the heavy lifting there
@@aceman0000099 The in-jokes, the snarks, the pacing and the general quality of scripting is what's doing the heavy lifting. In fact it does so much of the heavy lifting that I come back time and time again to watch 45 minutes on a gizmo that doesn't interest me the slightest.
The noises you were making while testing the microphones capability was absolutely hilarious!
I read this right after the crapper clapper comment and read comparability as “crapability”, that was fun.
Mehurgh?
@@tamarockstar45 Meghhh, _meyyy_ uh.
5:00 😂
Totally unexpected. Had me rolling.
Even your "Low Effort" videos are captivating and entertaining. Please keep it up. Thanks for all the great videos!
My grandparents had a clapper for a tv in their bedroom, yeah they were those type that could and did sleep with a tv making all kinds of sound and light. When I lived with them my bedroom was right next to theirs. I had to go to their room several times to tap the clapper to turn their tv off all the while they both were snoring hard asleep. thanks for bringing back those memories. looking back i miss those days
Introducing: The Snorer!
Nostalgia right in the feels.
I made my own version of a clapper as a kid using a noise-sensitive plasma globe next to a touch-sensitive lamp. It was weird but it worked well.
megamind ass doohickey, I love it
I swear I had a remote control TV as a kid that would indefinitely repeat some commands from the remote if the little plasma globe I had was on.
that’s awesome lol, I love it
Also hi bagel, it makes sense you’d like technology connections too :D
You’ve unlocked a deep memory of mine
@@svool_gsviv9885 hi svool
I had the original Clapper. And yeah, it was super sensitive. The first "wireless" remote was just a handheld mechanical clicker that just made a loud click when you depressed the button. There were a bunch of items in the 70's that responded to clicks. The coolest click activated thing I had was a remote control tank. The controller was just a clicker (like the Clapper clicker) that made a loud click and when the tank heard it, it would turn in one direction and if you clicked it again, it would turn in the other direction. Ahhhh the good 'ol days of technology 😂.
6:25 This extra bit of animation for the arrows and text are the antithesis of "no effort" and, as always, I am totally here for it.
That was my favourite bit of the video
I always wanted to put a bunch of Clappers in an auditorium and see if hilarity ensued.
Garry Shandling did that on his show once. He mentioned he'd installed the Clapper and demonstrated it. At the end of the scene, the audience applauded, and the lights went on and off repeatedly.
@@KinkyTurtle Garry who?
Any link of the clapper incident?
@@Albtraum_TDDC Garry Shandling. He was a comedian who had a sitcom called "It's Garry Shandling's Show" in the late '80s, on which he regularly interacted with the audience; the show was self-referential and had no fourth wall.
Sorry, I can't find a link to the Clapper scene.
@@KinkyTurtle OK Boomer.
Just kidding, I was a kid in the 80s, but I don't remember this show. Maybe I'll search for it. Is it worth it?
@@KinkyTurtle I'm sure any version after the first wouldn't respond to applause, and I would suspect the original non-MCU one wouldn't respond either. I think it's much more likely it was a fake demonstration with somebody manning the lights.
Having the brains on a daughterboard makes a ton of sense to me. You could change the logic components without changing the rest of the design, and we definitely knew the gist of Moore's Law at the time. It seems a clever bit of future proofing.
Alec's writing is underrated. Even bs'ing around with minimal effort, the talent spreads like oobleck and gets into everything.
Oobleck! Learned that one from Blippi!
He does, he has a good sense of humor, love his videos even tho I'm not that much into old tech, but the dude is a showman.
"the talent spreads like oobleck" made my night
I don't know if anyone has ever pointed this out before but you have really nailed the PBS aesthetic in your videos. You're like the Mr. Rogers of tech.
No. Think lower-budget. That guy with the wild hair and the physics stuff. Or this kids' show with the computer and the weird questions about some odd mystery that never made sense.
@@frankharr9466Beaker's World? I can't place the name of the other show.
@@jaklumen
Me neither. I felt like the kid they wanted to like it, but could never find its name ore schedule. It was very frustrating as I DID want to watch the thing and figure out what they were talking about.
@@frankharr9466Cyberchase?
@@frankharr9466 Are you talking about Beakman's World? If so this is noting like Beakman's World.
Thanks!
As physical barriers become less and less visible over the internet and the world becomes more and more english speaking - this channel and Alec is simply the absolute most useful, educational and informative combination on the web for non-americans, for completely free! I have never heard of or seen this device in action any more than dubbed old sitcom references. I love it! Thank you so much- I am so intrigued and feel like I just got a 7 day early birthday present! 😍❤️🙏
Your comment is awesome and I love your enthusiasm for learning. Thank you for brightening my day! 😊
Happy birthday!
I had a clapper in my bedroom for my entire childhood! The trick I used was tapping the wall that it was plugged into with my knuckles, you didn't have to be nearly as loud as clapping.
That honestly sounds like a better use case altogether; like a touch control that extends to an entire wall.
But i wonder whether it was more audible than clapping to people directly up- and downstairs adjacent that wall.
@@SianaGearz I don't think it was *that* loud, but I could see it bothering a next door neighbor in an apartment complex. However, I will say I didn't have to knock that hard, I'm guessing because sound travels more efficiently through solids than though the air.
What a blessing this channel is, found randomly a few days ago and now its become my go-to when im winding down from a migraine. The only channel I can watch, its just so relaxing and without crazy flashes or volume, thank you
Agreed, the "Ove" Glove is brilliant. The rare steam-resistant version even more so!
I built a clapper in high school electronics class. A few years later I connected it to a TV in my bathroom, it was super handy.... except after Taco Tuesday, that made a few false triggers! It was nicknamed the "Crapper Clapper"
😂
Wh... Why would you... want a TV in your bathroom?
I am oddly enraged at even the suggestion of putting a TV in the bathroom.
@@andersjjensenidk that would've made a little sense to me in the pre-smartphone era
@@Connie_cpuit was in the pre smartphone era, 2004-ish if i remember right. The TV was a late 1970s vintage CRT TV
I'm so glad you mentioned the Ove' Glove! It's one of my all-time favorite kitchen tools, now verified by Technology Connections!
The Ove Glove is unironically a good product, especially if you use grills. Okay, we've been using knock-off gloves for a while now, but that was the first pick-up.
I really like the "no effort November" series. More frequent, but shorter, uploads open the floodgates to a whole buttload of things that you simply can't wrangle into one of your signature 45 minute show-and-tells. Which is a shame, because there are a whole host of doodads that fandangle in interesting ways that will only take 10-15 minutes to explain, skits, dad jokes and snarks included. And I'm here for all of them.
Although it doesn't really seem like "no effort" based on his bloopers at the end!
@@FastSS02 he tried to roll with one!
Man I love your show. Every time I have a " Hey waitaminnit but whatabout...!" moment it's usually right before you cover it. I'd definitely let my friends kids watch your channel!
The TH-cam algorithm just last month pushed your channel to my feed. And I'm so glad it did. Been watching your videos for weeks now . The effort you put in is spectacular. Love your content. Also I'm a member of the Midwest so I appreciate your Midwest humor.
I find switched outlets useful for things like Christmas lights, fans or heaters where you may need to switch through multiple possible settings before getting to off. At Christmas we regularly have several sets of lights (with their selected flashing / pattern settings) powered by an expansion block from one socket. Turning them off at the socket turns off all sets simultaneously and preserves the flashing/pattern selected for when they are tuned back on again. The same would apply to the heat/fan speed setting on a fan heater for example. Yes I could unplug the item but you only have to step on an upturned three pin UK/Ireland style plug in bare feet once to decide it's better to leave them in the socket and turn off the socket.
Absolutely! It’s easy to use the switch rather than unplugging devices.
Many electronics draw a small amount in stand by and can technically be a vector for a fire. Switched outlets make it easy to avoid this
This is why they make power strips and switched outlets...the American kind, with a light switch on the wall that turns on and off an outlet somewhere else. Cheap light timers are also great for holiday lights.
They’re also handy for things that really do draw some current when “off” when I don’t want it to!
The british plugs are the most dangerous plugs on the world. The risk of stepping on it if far greater than getting shocked by a chinese plug which is even smaller than the american one and often used in 240 V countries.
This is the only channel where I'll rush to turn on CC before the end of the video, just so I can see what kind of jazz we're listening to today
A family tradition of ours is to use the "Lamp Commander" for our Christmas tree lights, which uses rudimentary speech recognition. It requires you to speak an initialization phrase of "Lamp Commander" (much like modern smart devices, now that I'm thinking about it.) and listening for the response chirp, after which you can command "Lights on", "Lights off", or "Lights dim".
Accidental switching is rather rare and when it does happen, it's humorous rather than frustrating because a random combination of sounds has to first initialize and then activate one of the commands.
I remember we made a clapper ourselves in high school. It only supported one outlet, and there was this potentiometer that we could adjust its sensitivity.
Same here! In electronics class! Parts from Radio Shack 😃😃
Love the video. Triac might be gentler on sensitive electronics. Since triacs are designed to turn on at the beginning of the sine wave and turn off at the end of the sine wave. Where as a relay will just turn on and off anywhere in the sine wave. If the relay is turning off a device that has an inductive coil you can actually cause a pretty large kickback when the contacts open during the peak of the sine wave.
they could also easily contact weld. I've had this happen with a daylight/studio CFL bulb, pretty much the pathological case for arcs
I am a huge fan of switched outlets (and even more of switched light fixtures). In the process of rewiring my house, I moved the switch-controlled outlets in our living room from the ones by the CEILING?!!! down to sockets behind the end-tables that actually had lamps on them, so now, instead of only one lamp coming on, and having its cord draped down the entire wall, BOTH lamps come on, and their cords go to sensible outlets near the floor, behind them. It was a lot of work and I'm still very proud of it. :) My poor wife didn't have a living room for two or three weeks...
Speaking of X10, I had LOTS of X10 stuff in a previous house. Ganky and janky but worked.. mostly. I think an episode on X10 would be informative to lots of people... smart home before smart home was a thing.
Clint from LGR did a couple of X10 videos a few years back although Alex covering it would rule.
I have had X10 since the 80s. I would love to replace it with something newer, more reliable, but most of the new stuff is either too expensive (I calculated that it would cost over $700 just to control my Xmas lights), requires a neutral, or - worst of all - requires an Internet connection. So for now, I'm staying with my X10 stuff.
Arguably better than IoT based smart home stuff too, because unlike that stuff you don't have to rely on an EXTERNAL server to do all the heavy lifting.
Just a little box of logic gates hooked up to your home's power wires (calling it a computer would be a bit of a stretch, at best it would be properly a microcontroller).
The advantage is that an update to the IoT services can't render your whole house's automation systems nonfunctional (such as what might happen if a new hardware revision of your existing gadgets is released, or if the company building your IoT things goes bankrupt and can't keep the servers paid for).
That might not happen too often for some people, but for me once is too many times.
Therefore for me the standard "dumb" light switch, placed IN THE RIGHT PLACE TO BE EASY TO USE, is superior.
I don't ever need my lights to change color anyways, we're not on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.
Maybe more like an automated home?... which I still much prefer 🙂
Ditto.
You’re breaking into a house to steal as many valuables as you can. It’s late at night and here’s no cars in the driveway, you think maybe they’re out of town. You jiggle the handle on the back door, and to your surprise, it’s unlocked. You sneak into the living room illuminated by a single lamp in the corner of the room. You look around the room and think “damn, I just hit the jackpot!” The silence is broken by two sharp claps,you freeze, the lights go dark, you realize you’ve made a mistake. You hear two more claps, but much louder this time. The lights come back on and as your eyes dart to the burning agony in your abdomen, you see blood. Lots of it. You begin to panic and look for a place to hide, you drop to your knees and crawl as fast as you can to the space between the couch and the wall, your knees and feet slipping and sliding on all the blood with each move. You hear two more claps. Normal claps this time, the room goes completely dark. You freeze again, reflexively, listening for any clue as to what you’re up against. In the moment of silence you can hear your heart pumping more and more of your precious blood all over the wood floors. A deep, booming voice breaks the silence. “You picked the wrong damn house” you hear footsteps coming towards you, there’s nothing you can do but cower. You’re completely defenseless. The footsteps stop, he’s standing right in front of you, two claps, the lights come on. You take in the man standing over you and realize that it’s the founder of Joseph Enterprises, Joseph Pedott. He stands over you as if he’s admiring his work, a gold plated semi auto pistol is in his hand, by his side, he looks you up and down with a proud smirk on his face. Your eyes dart right and left searching for something to defend yourself, but there’s nothing. He raises the gun, level with your face and says “Clap On, Clap Off” then he shoots and you’re dead.
-The End
This was a masterpiece
Did homeslice just write a horror piece centered around the clapper ?
Damn 10/10.
What a classic. My parents had one of these back in the 70's I think. I was young enough to think it was totally magic.
Of course, as said, with many kids in the house, it turned into a disco light machine pretty often. 🙂
For couples without kids, I wonder how many times it would produce a strobe effect from vigorous, repeated slapping sounds NOT made with the hands.
Passionate hugging
Filth 😂
I've watched a movie that made a skit on this... about a totally miserable guy who inherited a snow globe from his mother, along with a crappy house and some other sucky things including the clapper to turn the nightstand light on and off. IIRC. But I can't remember the name of the movie.
First version of The Clapper was 1984 that I heard of.
It doesn't say what kind of clapping it listens for. Clapping hands, clapping cheeks...
You're one of my favorite people and I'm so glad you're you and share yourself and your expertise with all of us.
Another great video.
Thanks, Alec! Love you!
I appreciate this video. I'm 41, been seeing clapper commercials my entire life, but never encountered one in the wild. Glad to have my curiosity satiated :)
Thanks for the upload! Grandma had something like this but the false triggers, did trigger her. So I gave her radio outlets with a remote, which i added a necklace to so it won't get lost easily. She's happy and those around her are happy about no claps anymore!
My mom knows a blind guy who had one of these hooked up to his phone, which would sound from speakers throughout the apartment (small apartment, allowing one or two small mics to pick up speech). Whenever his dog was home alone, and the phone rang, the dog would bark and jump, often triggering the clapper. Imaging your call getting picked up by a barking dog :)
"Hello, Mr. Jackson? You seem to be 20 minutes late."
"(Aggresive BARKS BARKS)"
"... what"
Oh damn, I forgot to turn on subtitles.
Got to watch it again now ^.^
You're so right about the new Patreon logo.
Re the little daughter board with the blob: that’s actually very common, as a first design. The blob typically wants to be on a multilayer board, but those are expensive and you’ll note that the big board is single layer. So, daughter board. You see it a lot on direct mains devices (like WiFi (or X10. I don’t judge.) controlled plug/sockets, for instance) , because they need a really robust single layer main board as well as control electronics.
The Ove Glove is one of my favorite products, had no idea it was made by the same company as The Clapper and the Chia Pet.
I'd never heard of the Ove Glove, but then, I don't own an oven mitt. I use welding gloves.
@@jeffdege4786 How hot is your oven!? Can you cook a pizza in 75 seconds?
@@MonkeyJedi99
Pizza is a bad example as a proper pizza oven is supposed to be much hotter than what a regular oven in a household may reach. A thin crust pizza in a pizza oven should only take 2-3 minutes to cook.
@@MonkeyJedi99 My oven isn't as hot as my Mig Welder...
@@capitalinventor4823so it’s actually a good example? He’s asking if his oven is hotter than a normal household oven
In Australia it’s quite common for, say, lamps, flood lights or non-hardwired garage lights, etc, not to have a switch on either the cable or the device. That is why the outlet has a switch. It also means you avoid any arcing when plugging in irons or any other 2000w + devices into outlet.
Hey! You said "no effort!" That text with the triac looked very much like effort to me!
And that new logo switch at the end! :D
So many of us Gen Xers have this commercial jingle burned into our memories... I can recall specifically when they added the new "three clap" feature.
My mom is gen X and would sing the jingle all the time lol. Also hi deviant! Love your content
@@GardenBoat 👋😁👍 hiya!
I remember this jingle from tv so it was also played to gen z
@@phillipbanes5484Alec literally said (and showed!) in the video that they are still being made and sold today, with an updated design.
@@phillipbanes5484
>At the latest it sold into the 90s
Okay I read it again, where you said it stopped being sold over 23 years ago. So now it's your turn to read again what I wrote.
And, I don't _need_ to say _anything,_ but I _choose_ to say plenty of things, like the word 'literally' as a way to add emphasis. I don't know why boomers seem to have lost their grip on the English language.
I remember the clapper commercials and the thing they had going at the time was you did not have other remote control options. Maybe in a test lab some place but not the average consumer. The 'remote' on our first VCR was a controller with a 15 foot cable so you could still on your sofa. It was not a true remote like we think of now. So ANY remote control seemed novel at the time.
I bought a VCR like that in 1984. The only functions on the wired remote were Pause, Fast Forward, and Rewind.
Fun fact. The original full function TV remotes used ultrasonics. Those were prone to misinterpreting jangling keys as commands.
And 3 cuts from getting suck in the vacuum cleaner
I told my daughters about the clapper being a thing when I was a kid, and they wanted one. They've each had clappers in their room hooked up to their rope lights around their rooms and stuff and bedside lamps for years now. Next I want to see a Chia Pet!!! :D
At least when you asked the clapper to turn off the lights you didn't get an AI voice asking you if you are also interested in trying out a new routine to help ensure you always have fresh underwear to put on when the lights come back on.
The clapper is a device that, if it fits in your routine, is a marvel. We used to use ours constantly at an old apartment. But now in our home it just didn't fit into our lives in an effective way. I tried using it for some decor around the kitchen but man.. Any plate or glass that clicks would set it off haha. I'll find a use for it some day. Probably a work shed.
Love the dips into "retro" products from my youth. And the snark is ALWAYS on point, FIGHT ME!
Oh Lord it's that time of year again, the annual hour long Christmas Light Conniption video is just around the corner. Maybe this year we'll get the long awaited "Painting Christmas Lights by Hand UNEDITED [ASMR] 7 HOURS"
I would 100% watch that I'm not even joking.
5:03 LMAOOOOOO wtf
I burst out laughing at that
I found a clapper at Goodwill a few months ago and have been using it ever since.
This channel needs way more exposure. Quality content, humour, education. Really A+ content Alec
2 million subs…
I don't really understand why but it appears to be niche. I keep showing it to people that I think will like it, and they can't focus long enough. These are tech people who like these topics. I have no idea why I can absolutely adore this channel and my dad cannot stay awake. Granted he has had an issue previously with certain people's voices knocking him out so it might be one of those situations, but yeah I don't know it's weird I'd keep trying to get people into it and for some reason it just doesn't resonate with everyone. That said I don't think they should change a thing I think it's excellent and anybody who really wants this information whether or not they find it entertaining is going to get an incredible amount of value out of these. I just think that as an entertainment source it's only going to work with a subset of the population. I've been watching this thing since the first episode because I happened to do a search on that topic. I had to go back and look to see what it was, it was when I was on a automaton kick and was looking into the technology behind a bunch of that stuff that I hit his music recording episode. Then I lost the channel for a couple of years, then it popped up again in my feed for something like air conditioning or dishwasher after I had been looking a previous day for videos on those topics and I was like oh hey that's that guy! At which point I subscribed so I wouldn't lose it again. To be fair when I was watching him previously I was actually using Nintendo products and didn't have the ability to follow specific channels. I'm pretty sure I saw a few other videos while I was not a subscriber as well but as soon as they popped up once I was looking through a phone instead I added him.
@darcieclements4880 I find it interesting that I have also shared this channel with multiple people. I was trying to explain how complicatedly simple a rice cooker was to multiple people once. I share the video with people that are mechanically inclined or tech savvy and none seem to ever actually watch his videos or have heard of him. 2 million subs as the post above would suggest he has a decent following despite or in spite of my attempts to get his channel known 👍
1:05 I loved the Ove Glove. I wish I still had a pair. My mom bought two for my g’ma and they were amazing
I had an Ove-Glove and it was honestly amazing. Lasted over 10 years.
Makes a great holiday gift!
When the Ove Glove started adding the silicone grippers to their gloves, the old versions went on clearance at my local Walgreens for $5 a pair. I bought ten pairs and gave eight of them as gifts to people I still use the other two pairs 20 years later, and at least three of the pairs I gave as gifts are still in use.
So yes, best As Seen on TV product, hands-down. Pun intended.
We have two of them and use them constantly.
You have to count X10! I used it for years. Not so much for indoor switches but for outdoor lighting and such, as a smart timer that I could control originally from a remote, and later a phone app. But it was janky, and I eventually upgraded it all to Z-wave, of which I still have a bunch of stuff in use, alongside the wifi-type smart switches.
and with the advent of switching power supplies for battery chargers, etc., that really killed the PLC that X10 used.
It just got flakier and flakier due to power line noise and the filtering the power supplies used that would kill the signal level.
Still was the only available home control for many years.
@@pomonabill220 Yep as we started adding things like CFL bulbs it just got unusable. For awhile I was able to put filters on some things that were particularly noisy, but it just was a losing battle.
I bought a brand new Clapper in a yard sale about a month ago. It is a lot of fun and the kids loved it.
I also remember many years ago a Energizer Bunny commercial where the bunny interrupts a Clapper commercial and the lights keep turning on and off while the Clapper tune plays. Had a great laugh at that one.
Great video. Love your tongue-in-cheek humour. Your videos are always well presented and educational. Thank You. Strangely, after watching your presentation I ordered a pair of 'Ove Gloves'! Never heard of them before and have been wanting some decent oven gloves for ages.
Would love to hear your thoughts on X10. Our whole house was X10 before we went smart. We still use it in the bedroom. I also used it in a museum I used to work for.
how can you comment 23 hours ago when it was posted 14 minutes ago. I was hacked and you might h ave been the hacker
@@nickfromm5315 Could be a Patreon viewer seeing it early.
a triac in a switch mode/application (not dimming) does not introduce noise in the circuit, It only adds a couple of volts drop which is insignificant to most devices. The later switch to relays is a cost savings for the overall assembly (heat sink assembly, etc)
Haha it's been forever since I've seen anyone bring up the clapper. I actually had one for many years and always used it for the Christmas lights. I remember that being all the rage back in the day, but it kinda faded out over the years. Those really are useful for those areas where you need a switched outlet and don't have one. Gotta say they can be handy in certain situations. Nice video.👍
It still makes my day to see a new video of yours pop up in the suggested list. I really like your style my friend.
1:48 talk about the ove glove
I had my whole house wired up with X10 back in the 90’s. Loved it. It was extremely helpful when the kids were little.
I still have x10 to control a glow/salt lamp, a standing lamp, but we rarely touch any X10 human controls as I allow my computer (with the X10 RS232 device) to control them as well as the Internet modem if it detects the Internet is out for 20 minutes and do a power off ... power on.
I also use the computer to control Halloween and Christmas lights/projectors/animatronics at good times of the day.
I also wrote a phone app (and website) to chat to my computer enabling humans to switch things on/off - but that's mostly unnecessary.
Because...
Everything being all controlled by my computer, over the years I've added features like getting sunrise and sunset times to determine good times to turn things off and on, and also monitoring the wifi for our phones being in the house (or not), and to turn on the lamp if it's night time (but before midnight) when we're out (ie no phone connected to the wifi) to deter the thieves. Same logic, but inverted also turns on the Christmas tree when we get home (and turn off when we're out) - and turns it off overnight.
While X10 is limited, but fun to play with cheap automation that controls outlets.
@BryTee I even had X10 dimming wall switches. Very helpful when the kids were little and had trouble sleeping at night. Set them to slowly dim over a 30 minute period and then stay at the lowest setting as a night light. Kid wakes up and scared to get out of bed for the bathroom? Sound activated to brighten to level 3 so they can fearlessly hit the can and go back to bed.
And yup, Christmas tree, outdoor displays, etc. So handy. Even being able to hit the lights in the detached garage.
Honestly, it’s waaaaaaay more practical than connecting your lights to a smart plug that you can only operate if you can find your cell phone.
This concern is why I use the IKEA remote outlet thingy
It works by some kind of radio so I never have to worry about it dying (except when I need to swap the coin cell in the remote)
I mean LAN of things is a thing with zigbee/zwave gear or pretty much anything connected to homeassistant, its cool stuff
And then randomly the smart device disconnects from the wifi and then starts rapidly flashing and takes 30 minutes to reconnect
Does anyone use those though? Most of those use a service that can linked to your phones assistant, or home assistant device.
I don't think I've ever used my phone to activate them manually. Biggest benefit is being able to be triggered by any phone event. For example my car port lights turn on when i drive up to them, because my phone is connected to the cars Bluetooth, connects to the wifi of the house, and it's during a certain time frame.
They also turn off all house lights if my phone disconnects from my homes wifi, while connected to the car, and my partner isn't connected to wifi.
No, not in my experience tbh. If you never make any noise in your house ever then sure, otherwise it just turns on and off ad nauseum from any and all household noises. A smart plug is more steps but at least it only switches when you tell it to. Smart bulbs are even better because they still work with the existing light switch.
I'm so glad I discovered your channel. Cheers to another great video, amigo 🍻
LOVED this episode. But then again, I love them all.
The module in its own PCB is so they can use a better process for that pcb, something with higher precision and multiple layers to handle that CoB
it was not an uncommon way to handle that back in the day
I figured your shirt was an artistic nod to the percolator’s place in the lore of the channel but a light bulb (clap clap) went off around the 10 minute mark when I realized “there was a fish IN the percolator”.
I thought I was the only one.
For some reason I only partially read your comment and was expecting to see his actual percolator on the bookcase behind him with a fish swimming in it 😂
Actually, the clapper might be super useful for me.
I've never considered it for this (because the clapper's always just been a funny novelty to me), but my Christmas lights always have the plug or on switch in a really annoying place.
Being able to turn them on and off by just clapping would be great (especially since I only do it twice a day, normally).
You know that this is one of the ways that having a switched outlet (like in Australia and the other countries mentioned) is actually beneficial. I don't need to buy anything because I have the functionality built in to the wall plug.
@@the_real_superstickman Until that switched outlet is right behind a piece of furniture. Then it's not useful at all.
@@the_real_superstickman But in my case, the wall plug is the thing's that's hard to get to, as well as whatever is plugged in.
@@the_real_superstickmanI find that that's generally true: When I've already bought a thing, I don't need to buy it. 🤔
I just use a switched power strip (use a good surge protector for sure if they are on anything flammable, like a real tree or curtains, but for LED ones not near flammable things a cheap one that looks safe will do), use the cord for that to bring it closer and tap the switch with my toe if it is on the floor, or with my hand if i put it on a chair (non-upholsteted) or table. Same thing for Christmas villages (but use a surge protector as those bulbs are often not LED).
If you haven't daisychained them to the safe limit on the packaging already, you can use a string of LED lights as your extension cord from the window or whatever, and know that it has a tiny fuse in it, and if you get the cheap kind where they don't stay lit if a bulb burns out, they have a bunch of little unintentional fuses as well (since a small short that causes one to burn out will kill the whole strand until you replace it) or I just use a heavy duty outdoor extension cord... indoors, or an ordinary one with a fuse in it. I don't have a real tree, but the wire on Christmas lights is so flimsy that I want as much certainty as possible that if the wire is damaged and I don't notice, that nothing will be electrified or set on fire.
I wish one day to see a video with you working with James May on some sort of gadget or doohickey and the two of you absolutely geeking out on the engineering.
HOW AM I NOT ALREADY SUBSCRIBED TO THIS CHANNEL.
You are such a precious bean!
The clapper "ringing a bell" is an extremely underrated pun.
underdetected, too, this went right past me and i'm grateful for this comment, that's quality punnage