@@new-kids-on-the-blockhad a guy at work get shocked today. I noticed, but he was trying to make it subtle. About two minutes later he was shocked again. Out came the "sonuvabitch!" and "god fucking damnit!" I guess you only have the energy to attempt to hide only one shock.
I posted on another video about an electric shock I had years ago where I got locked on. As we're both in the same trade, when something life changing happens, for the rest of your days. You'll always be extra careful to make sure that it's dead! And if you can, twist all the cables together. So if someone tried to turn the breaker on, it just bangs out. I worked at sheerness steel once. A bloke was cutting a large cable with a hacksaw n some how, it got energized. He ended up loosing his hand and half an arm. Places like steel mills with ark reactors are amazing. The first time I went to see a melt, I was scared shitless! 😳 Love all of your work Clive. Your a cat & Tesla loving person, as am I 😊
Two methods of avoiding hand-to-hand electric shock: 1) Keep one hand behind your back. 2) Keep both hands behind your back and get the apprentice to do it.
Ground the wrist you are grabbing things with, or ground them both for good measure. Caution: Shocks hurt going in AND going out, but at least you keep your life.
Can confirm electric shocks going from hand to hand are bad. I was working with a circuit that had a 400uF or so capacitor array charged to around 600V and accidentally touched it while the other hand completed the circuit It didn't really hurt my hands but it felt like I was kicked in the chest and I sat down hard and nearly passed out. Good thing it wasn't attached to the power circuit, or was any larger, as I probably wouldn't be writing this.
It took me 40 years of work and shocks to finally start using a non contact voltage indicator and wear a thick rubber glove on one hand. I have come close far too often, had a couple of days in hospital once after touching a line transformer output that burnt a hole through my finger. The shock I have had the most often is the one across the mains input terminals, after repeatedly plugging in and unplugging and getting the sequence wrong.Clive is right people are mostly lucky and survive but not always, it’s like running across the road with your eyes closed.
This is why woodworkers shouldn't be screwing around with l Lichtenberg fractals using microwave transformers. Because, ya know, holding both ends of 10kv at "melt your heart" amps... with gaffer tape insulated wooden handles... isn't exactly clever. 😂 Honestly... search it on here and prepare to facepalm like never before! 😂😂
Speaking of light bulb bases -- In the early part of the 20th century the New York subway system (and many other US transit systems) specified Edison bulbs having left-hand threads. This was to prevent "bulb snatchers" from stealing light bulbs out of the cars (carriages) since the bulbs could not be screwed into normal household sockets. This specification continued until florescent lamps became standard in the subway system.
Thomas Levy I found out that there were competing standards for the light bulb base, including push-in bases. There would have been a great market for the adapters. You've also reminded me of nonstandard plugs, particularly UK plugs, which would be used in public areas of buildings to prevent theft of the electricity. There were, and may still be, a type of plug used on construction sites to designate a lower voltage to reduce electrical hazards.
In the uk the standard 3 pin 13 amp plug had a few variants. Usually the earth pin was vertical but there were some systems with horizontal earth pins and even some with t shaped earth pins. This was less for theft, more to stop people plugging things in places they shouldnt! I dont think they are made any more, and when you see them you have a double take.
@@stevecraft00 this is true with analogue lighting systems. We call them "Barrel pins" because the pins are usually completely round so people can't plugin stupid stuff into an old dimmer based lighting array and blow something up
I'm 66 years old and I enjoy your videos immensely. BTW, I was a printing press electrician for 30 years before I retired. Before that, I was a technician in a stereo store fixing old tube gear for several years. I think you're awesome Clive..
Hey clive, really enjoyed a chill evening with this video, always like listening to you when im working on electronics myself. Then i noticed its 6 years old. It honestly aged like a fine wine and was awesome.
1 week 😁training crazy , in Germany its like 3 years ... To add a little funny story : on my work we had two people working on a 10kv station in mid summer , both wearing open shoes. One man working one man looking like always, then the guy working started shaking his feet like crazy , other guy things he is getting shocked and hits him with a showel as hard as he can to get him away .... End of story no shock , 2 broken rips , caused by gravel in his shoes ...-_-
"1 week 😁training crazy , in Germany its like 3 years ..." It gets crazier than just that. I don't know the name for it in Germany, but the same qualification is recognised and awarded throughout the EU, electricians from all over have an established system for proving their qualifications on any site or to any householder. Only not quite. The UK refuses to recognise the qualification. My "handyman", who is from Hungary is a qualified electrician, he was 'apprenticed' for five years in total. But he can make much more money in the UK sticking tiles up. Of course he installed all my electrics as well. I just had to pay one of the "one weekers" a hundred quid to certify it. I had to tell him I did it myself. Clive is right of course, nobody tests the ring mains properly anyway. The whole ring main system should have been abandoned fifty years ago, it is especially redundant now with people having huge numbers of low current devices. The funny thing is this: everywhere else in the world we'd be looking for huge corporations who would be profiting from this nonsense. But in Britain it's just a bunch of old tossers in the EICCIICCC(?) who rule the roost. That, and not a single civil servant or politician who can wire a plug... apparently. Whilst in gripe mode... has nobody noticed that the way we wire lighting in our houses should be changed? The reason we can get away with multiple lights on one circuit is because of the tungsten bulb. When it blows, it fails safe, the filament breaks. So, if a bulb failure blows the fuse, it is a simple matter to repair the fuse, or reset the breaker. Illumination is restored, and the culprit candle is obvious. Not so with LEDs, they will keep blowing fuses or breakers, they should be properly fused internally. But nobody bothers. And another thing: WTF do I need an electrician to wire an oven? Clive will have used 10kW incandescent luminaires and bigger, using plugs and sockets. Why can't we have plugs on our cookers??? Sorry, it's been a bit hot lately, I'm going for a lie down now!
I worked for a big national company for 9 years and held the record for most 240v tickles for the full 9 years. I’m semi retired now so I’m down to about 2 a year. It’s really bad but it’s just part of the job. Safe isolation takes far too long 😂. Brilliant job Clive.
The safety authorities don't realise that most electrical diagnostic work requires the power to be on. I cover this in my video "The Unofficial Guide To Electrocution".
I've recently had my house rewired. I know a bit about the wiring regs - Daddy was on the committee so I heard things at home - anyway it's all common sense to do it safely. My contractor found me "good qualified" electrician - not easy in rural Yorkshire.He spent nearly a week while we lived in a hotel and my cats in a cat hotel. At the end all appeared good on the surface. But the more I dug into what he'd done the more appalled I became. What he had done wasn't unsafe, but seriously unconventional and not the kind of thing you want to have to follow up on. I wish he'd had the benefit of an apprenticeship. It's a bit like being a programmer - you do your work with half an eye on the person who will next touch the program. You can do something super-cool and convoluted, or something less efficient but obvious. Just remember that the next person to come to your program will most likely be yourself, six months hence - and you'll wonder what you'd been smoking at the time.
Then you understand why lots of technically inclined people (like me) like to do everything themselves, from home reno, to maintenance on a car. Its hard for me to find someone to trust, and when I find someone, I tend to stick with them. I try to do most of the handy stuff around the house and to get it inspected after that, if necessary. But that can drive my wife completely nuts at times!
It's a shame many people of that age group avoided (and still avoid) learning how to use computers and the Internet. But the irony is that so many young "experts" today who grew up with the technology really aren't any more knowledgeable. Sure they can post the latest meme to the latest network, but as soon as their device's bootloader crashes or something else goes wrong it quickly becomes apparent that using modern technology practically since birth doesn't actually teach you anything about how it works! My mother (in her 60s) tells me surprisingly often how she had to give someone in their 20s directions or help them work out which train to catch, and how surprised they were when she told them they could look that information up on their phone. It seems many old people don't know what the Internet is for, and many young people don't realise the Internet is more than just social media.
@@vink6163 Its the same with anything, in any age group. Most people don't know how a vehicle even works, but they've driven all their lives. Most people don't know how a fridge, or television, or ceiling fan works, but they've used them all their lives, so to try to imply younger generations are moronic because they don't know exactly what every little piece in a cell phone is for, is in fact, pretty moronic on your part.
Nope, my point was that it's inaccurate to say it's mostly older people who don't understand technology, when there are plenty of people of all ages who don't understand it. Sorry for not being clearer.
Started building it*, most everything you originally worked on is vastly different now. From the micro chips to the new versions of protocols used by the internet. Things are so different now so the odds of you keeping up with that change in literally everything is a bit shocking to most of us.
Sadly much of the Internet still runs on the original protocols from the 1970s. Heck most of it still hasn't been upgraded to IPv6 which came out in the 1990s! I was at a very technical IT conference a few years ago and this 70 year old guy gets up to give a presentation - complete with hearing aid - and proceeded to discuss the modern TCP protocol in more detail than most of the experts in the room had any idea about. It turns out the guy was Vint Cerf, one of the inventors of the protocol back in the 1970s. The fact that this old guy knew more about how the Internet worked than any of the professionals in the room who relied on it for their livelihood (myself included) was amazing to see. The kicker was that despite being in his 70s he was talking about how the existing protocols are not practical for interplanetary communication due to the time lag, and so he was busy designing a new protocol that could better cope with data transmission to Mars. He was putting a case to NASA to have it on their Mars orbiters once the missions were over, so that instead of a bunch of dead space probes, we'd gradually end up with a network of high bandwidth communication relays so that future Mars missions could send more data back to Earth. Inspiring stuff, that's for sure.
I imagine you could fill the whole test tube with glitter mixed in resin, and maybe alternative colored LED's (or slow change LED's) and then dip the whole string of LEDs into the tube to make a super fantastic test tube. Also, you should warm up resin to speed up the cure time as well as making it thinner to flow into cracks and such.
Happy times with hit-and-run dial up to collect all the latest posts on email and the newsgroups. Turnpike was actually a very slick and reliable piece of software.
Yep. Before working there I'd be regularly dialing in at 6pm on the dot and disconnecting as soon as all my newsgroups had refreshed. I used to work in the same office as the Turnpike team - what used to be Locomotive Software, responsible for things like BASIC on the Amstrad CPC computers. It was great software - except when we accidentally released a CD on Dispatches magazine that killed everyone's computers!
Me too, I remember busy tones on local POPs and dialling farther afield to get connected but it staying on long due to paying long distance rates. I probably moved on through PRESTEL, BBS, Demon.
we have very similar work history, im 55 and was an electrical fitter, did my apprenticeship with the leb/cegb great times there worked in power stations , then moved on to tv and audio repairs as a self-employed, now working in super-resolution microscopes :) so i get to play with lasers :), had some very bad shock from tv`s and valve audio but im still here , love your channel and your sence of humour
It's not that Americans have an outrageous work ethic; rather so many employers think that the way to increase productivity is to cut staffing to the absolute minimum and beyond, and actively discourage things like vacations and sick days. I went through a period of a year and a half being not just the sole system admin on 125 remote UNIX servers (which normally included things like application development and admin, system documentation, user training, liaison with all corporate departments, etc) , but also managing a project replacing/upgrading mobile workstations and consulting on two or three other major projects. 65+ hr/week and I managed to not have to go into the office about every other Sunday (though still working from home, of course). Believe me, I don't mind doing my job but if I could have worked a bit less, had help, or been able to have any time off, I would have.
Great video Clive. I am also 53 and served my apprenticeship with Radio Rentals. A great time to learn from valves through solid state to ic's and more.
Excellent video as always Clive. I have worked around electricity all my working life. I started as a panel wireman, then test and service engineer. Now I just push electrons round a screen for a living. On the subject of electric shocks; The worst one I ever had, happened at home. I was still an apprentice, the rest of the family had gone on holiday and I had been set the task of trying to repair a leaking 'twin tub' washing machine. I removed the back panel from the machine, filled it with water and couldn't see a leak. So, I plugged it in and switched on. The leak then became apparent. I emptied the water from the machine, then grabbed it with the intention of laying it on its front face. However, I had not removed the plug from the wall socket and managed to grasp the metal case with my left hand, my right hand then 'found' the mains switch terminals. I awoke, on the kitchen floor sometime later. The experience taught me a valuable lesson in caution, that has helped me to still be here today.
... getting so into listening to the story, that i repeatedly tried to blow away the fumes. 😃 finished some soldering/repairing half an hour ago. Thank you very much for this fine video 😃
I removed a lamp base of a flickering lamp i did a video on by holding it gently with grips using the bayonet pins to stop rotation, then twist the plastic while pulling. I'm 10 years older than you, i often joke that i was born inn 55BC (before computers or before colour (tv) ), so my first experience with electronics was following the waste vehicle around and dragging home old valve radio's and TV's home to get them working, that was when i was about 12. I remember the semiconductor era of the 70's, started getting into transistors (first circuit was an astable multivibraator), and very quickly IC's were being introduced. I like the ring circuit, it means that you can change a socket live without disrupting other sockets in the room, the labs where i worked would often have things running that they did not want turning off, or it would have to be a planned shutdown. Isn't the 1 week course just for 'competent person' ? In other words they are allowed to do things like wire a plug or change a socket. When i took my course it was 3 years (14th edition), with an optional 4th year for tech I was trained as 'release of trapped passengers in lifts' so i worked closely with lift engineers coming on site.
I see more and more companies using unskilled labour that has been crash-certified in electrical work. It's become more of a disclaimer thing now. I believe it's called transfer of liability.
Forgot to mention, if you want to see something similar to what you describe, i'm sure you know about Fred Dibnah, there's several videos about him climbing chimneys
0:50:00 In re "electrocuted" for "suffered an electric shock": this is a pet peeve of mine. A couple of years ago our local paper had a story about a fault in the school swimming pool whereby several pupils were "electrocuted" by the railing. If that had really happened, it would have been a story all over Europe - perhaps all over the world.
Gee Clive ,we are the same age ,i started building with electronics in 79 ,i managed to get our technical teacher to get the school to purchase electronic learning kits from Greenweld Electronics, i still have all my everyday electronics from 1980 to 87 ,great memories ,love the videos keep em coming buddy Regards John
Clive, I was wondering when you could to a video on building a 70s style color organ or sound to light converter. That would be neet to hear you talk about them. And build one. :)
I started in 1973 in electronics (apprentice) and loved the trade . So much fun getting ccts for video games and redoing the sound effects (op amps) starting with space invaders. ...and still like to dabble thanks to you Clive
Ooow you are so ancient, i was born in 1966 lol :-D People keep telling me it was a good year for football, germans and all that. I bought two of those fet based screwdrivers, why.... they were novel, and after taking one apart (i just had to), i don't use it for detecting ac in wires at all, i must be related to a magpie. I look like a caveman with a full beard and long hair, i also hold solder and a component in the left hand like you do. I like bodging.... err i mean creating solutions :) The 555 timer and 4017 decade counter are my favorites too, frightning isn't it lol.
Thank you Clive. It's amazing how many people dont know the difference between an electric shock and electrocution. The media in particular frequently get it wrong.
Best video to date. You only see it from your perspective Clive, but from ours its just as much about your voice, and the banter as the content. Really enjoyed that one. We like the rambles....
Great video Clive, and a Numan fan too, top man! Are Friends Electric blew my mind too, (it predated Marrs by 8 years!), and I've been into electronic and electronically produced music ever since, although what really got me into electronic sounds was the Dr Who theme by Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
buying ex juke box records from second hand shops back in the day and i remember buying kraftwerk autobahn . Added to Tubeway army and then donna summer - i feel love followed by my dad buying Jean Michell jarre - Oxygene/equinoxe made my childhood an electronic music orgy !
That was fun. Took most of the morning and some of the afternoon to watch. Great stuff. Still think falling asleep into a casing was a chuckle. Reminded me of falling out of my train and into the gap next to the middle rail, as my bag slipped off my shoulder as I climbed into the train in the depot. No coffee was needed to wake me up that morning.
A man talking from experience and know-how, great!! Always good to watch and learn more... To bad I did not have Internet like this in my day's as I started school in elektro/electronic and did not finish it. Im taking up the slack now... upgrading my basic knowledge. Big Clive school is open.!! :) Well recommended!!
Big Clive on the importance of living your life, and actually enjoying it. Luv’ it-thanks for reminding. Born in 1959, I can also quite lively remember the "real" Penny Arcades and Pinball Wizards. I agree that the ’70s were a great time, and I’m so happy having been part of it and see-sometimes helped-Electronics and IT evolve. Again, thanks for this one. Good to feel some of us dinosaurs aren’ŧ extinguished yet! :-)
Gotta say I've watched most of your videos probably multiple times over a few years as I got into electronics, I think what kickstarted it for me was the first arduino microcontroller projects we did in university as I started my IT engineering studies almost 4 years ago, after that I wanted more and wanted to build more complex projects and that obviously involved electronics and it became a hobby for me. Electronics and programming/IT skills in general are definitely a good combination to have. Also helps me with fixing vintage electronics as I started to collect 80s computers and game consoles and similar devices. Can't wait to get out of this small studio apartment to a place where I can actually work on stuff
I was a Firefighter and I was working a helicopter crash that had slid under a 100,000v power line. We needed to cut the line, when we do that it’s really important to cut both ends at the same time, in other words cut with authority. My buddy that was cutting the other end hesitated, and all’s I saw was a very bright POW, then nothing. Woke up a couple of days later missing some minor parts and some really bad twitches. I was taught when sticking my hand into the breaker box is to keep on hand in my pocket.
I'm not a firefighter, but I am a first responder, trained in confined space, SCBA, hazmat, etc, so I have a bit of knowledge on the subject, I'm no expert, but I'm also not just some asshole on the internet. But dude, scene safety is stuff you learn day one. Chopping a live power line "hopefully before the electricity notices the other guy didn't go at the same time" does not fall into being safe. I get you are a firefighter, and it's kind of your job/calling/whatever to put yourself in harm's way, but you probably should have died. That would not have helped those burning folks, or the next set of burning folks.
Play by play...... Me telling my partner (Who also loves clive) Me: Oh my god Big Clive is 53!!! Partner: Noooo Me: Yeah Partner: Nooooo Me: I know!! (FYI You dont look a day over 30 clive!)
born 1968. got a radio shack 160 experimental set... with youtube. I've revived my interest... made a few things that said. love your humor about the subject...
oh yeah > th-cam.com/video/B2qI6UDD2uQ/w-d-xo.html i first heard that on a MW radio in an old morris van and it was captivating. Added effect of it fading/phasing in/out too.
Or Soft Machine, Terry Riley & Can in the late 60's. Karaftwork came a little later in 1970. I think Limited Edition by Can had many tracks called EFSnn [nn=number] which was short for something like Electronic Funken Sound.
Awesome video Clive, absolutely loved it. Every part of it, every facet, every subject. You kept it supremely interesting all the way through, so much so almost wish it didn't end so seemingly soon. Thanks for making the content that you do, it revived my love for electronics and I got my first soldering station less than a week ago and I'm having a blast. Thanks again. - Rick
bigclivedotcom I live in Lincoln Nebraska. Heartland USA. Warms my heart to hear somebody even say that, let alone from the UK. I lost a job once for voicing an opinion of that nature. Nowadays I just try to keep my mouth shut (unless I'm online) as much as possible. Thanks for the video✌️
35 hours a week is more then enough. And if it isn't it's time they hire more people until it is enough again. There are loads of people without jobs that want one too.
@ No no it doesn't help that in America, unless you work for someone constantly, you don't work for them at all. There's no such thing as "freelance" in the skilled trades unless you run your own shop.
I'm watching this while plugging a PIC into an ICSP jig I soldered up after watching a video where you had done the same. Helped me bridge a gap between the compatibility issues I've had between software and the ZIF-socketed Chinese programmer I have. I also have a PICKit3. Ironically, I have actually successfully built some PIC-based circuits where the ICSP is designed into the circuit, but it never occurred to me how simple it would be to wire up a DIP socket to get the job done.
I have to agree on some of your remarks with the usb-killer...but then again I would love to see you take one of them out of existence disassembled with unreasonable force.
thank you for your history, very interesting I was an “ in be tweener “ when I started college we used apples, commodore 64, and ti994a . or main frame computers, but the big computers were only for the majors. so I never had the opportunity to learn how to program, just like circuits, thought interesting, but never really had the opportunity to learn. not with only 2 years before I retire, I might take it up as a hobby. great videos, always learn something from you! thanks.
Let me guess - I bet like me you used to have the Maplin (RIP) catalogues and loved the pages & pages of pinout diagrams. Many a good hour spent playing with CMOS, LEDs and the like ordered from them.
I'm gutted about Maplin's demise :( Working in the Film & TV industry, they've saved a shoot many times when we needed some electrical or electronic thingymebob to keep us working away from home. Miss them a lot.
I had a temp job producing the Maplin catalogue one summer in late '80s... it was well paid, lots of overtime due to tight deadlines, but sweaty - the computers chucked out heat and the Linotronic imagesetter nicked our cooling fans (keeping it running was more important than human comfort!), one chap was let go due to falling asleep at his keyboard and we ended up on caffeine tablets to survive... it was the first time I'd seen remote control car central locking gadgets being used when the owners and other engineers arrived. Fascinating, but I didn't think they'd catch on! Lol
Well, I didn't notice just how long it was. Your early experiences reminded me of my own apprenticeship in the UK steel industry. We were fortunate to have a dedicated training school in which we spent the first 2 years. During that time it was decided where our strengths lay and we were then steered into a final trade. Day-release at the local technical college, plus a evening class during that time. I was lucky enough to be selected for moving on to a degree course and paid a salary - this no longer happens to any degree now, if at all ! The training was amazing - each time I make an electrical connection at home now, the words "insulation up to the connection, my son" runs through my head. Our electrical instructor had a device which would illustrate how AC contracts your muscles and you can't let go. Fascinating character, he truly had the shape of Yogi Bear and wore a white lab coat and flat cap... Thanks BigClive, I've subscribed now and will be watching the back catalogue.
2:20 the name Fairy Lights apparently dates way back to 1882 at the Savoy Theatre London when Joseph Swan designed minature lights for the fairies to wear on stage -for Gilbert & sullivans Iolanthe , they wore battery packs and the bulbs were stiched into their costumes ...then later in the 1950's Pifco christmas light sets - A popular mass produced set were the ‘Fairy coaches’ - a set of 12 cinderella Fairy coaches with 20 volt bulbs - later modified to the 20 light Cinderella set ( 12 volt bulb) , a mixture of fairy coaches and lanterns . They are sometimes sold on eBay - even broken sets will fetch around £200 - so it might be worth checking the attic .
Luke Lovatt- NO WAY Man!!!! I just watched that Dude climb all the way to the top without even a safety harness or line hooked to him my stomach was flip flopping the whole time!!!!! yep Not me brother you couldn't pay me enough to climb those ladders Lol Thanks for the link Luke!
I am 50 now & have been doing electrical/electronics since 6 years old being taught by my grandpa for the 1st year or so. Worst electric shock was 240VAC @ 60A (US-AC)...it stung quite a bit but I have a low resistance to electricity. Never been electrically shocked working on a circuit that only I had access to previously. My first "internet" experience was on a 300 baud modem & dial-up to a local BBS (Bulletin Board Service)
American circuits/breakers are almost always rated for just 15A 120v So a single small space heater can use 100% of the power that an entire circuit has. Its terrible.
Not quite true, as 20A circuits/breakers are roughly equally as popular in my experience (but usually residential 20A circuits still use 15A receptacles). Still, it's a small difference and your point about easily exhausting a circuit with power-hungry devices remains. We have to have special dedicated circuits for things like pumps, electric cookers, clothes dryers, etc.
Hi Clive, great vid. I agree, the 1980s was a revolutionary time to be involved with a technical occupation. I was a mechanical engineering apprentice. The world went from mechanical to microprocessor control in 5-6 years. From then on things have advanced but only by variations.
I Love the PIC microcontrollers. Minimum support parts and easy to program. I haven't done anything with them for a few years though. My funnest project with one was a persistence of vision display for a bicycle. 5 LEDs/drop resistors, 8 pin PIC, capacitor, and 2 AA batteries. I think I had 5 or 6 messages programmed in. Change message by shorting a lead to ground.
Wow I love that slot machine in the end - had one myself, but unfortunately I had to sell it when I moved to a smaller accommodation. It was a Jennings Sun Chief from the forties (maybe even earlier) bought in states by the previous owners father, back in the early fifties, then rebuild/modded by a professional to fit our coins (Danish) and 220 voltage. He had it in his pub for over 30 years, and I bought it from him when he went out of business. I still miss that machine.
Clive, our US circuits are largely 15 amp with 20 amp being fairly common in most kitchens. Larger ones for hot tubs and such but most of those don't have plugs. 14 gauge wire for the 15 amp service and 12 gauge for 20 - so each circuit's wire has enough current capability on its own to blow the CB/fuse before it starts a fire. That's the theory, anyhow.
I love your descriptions, reminds of night school when I started my career in radio communications, 50 years ago. Got to shake the hand of the Principle for a distinction in my exam.
I recognised the name on your snips. Had a quick look in the kitchen draw, mine only arrived last week, same name though. £1.48 from China. Nice to see they work well, haven't used mine yet. Great episode again. Your circuit tester screwdriver, used to be exclusive to Draper with the metal end, then plastic has got me out of the s**t so many times in the field ovver the years. Very useful and much appreciated by myself.
Great video! The OCD part of me has to mention when joining the resistors or LED leads they should be mechanically joined (twisted or crimped in a ferrule) prior to electrically joining (solder).
An interesting conversational piece whilst making something, so I found it to be an interesting mix. I became interested in electronics in the late sixties and 74N logic made things possible for me, then gravitated to software later. I find the mix to be extremely useful. Many thanks for all your videos.
I went through a 4 year electrical apprenticeship here in the states. During those 4 years I worked 40 hours a week along side a Journeyman Wireman and went to classes 8 hours on Saturday, then after the 4 years I passed a final 3 hour exam to become a Journeyman Wireman. And you had to keep your nose clean, no missing time, no being late, you had monthly work reports which your Journeyman filled out on you and a bad report could get you kicked out. Been doing it for 33 years now and plan on retiring in 2 years at age 55, I started soon after graduating high school.
Certified electrician in one week ?? I better not tell this to my son. He studied almost 2 years here in Canada to become one :/ One year to get is maintenance electrician licence (what he wanted at first), then he decided to continue studying part time to get his certified electrician licence. Very proud of him. He loves his job.
I'm mostly watching your videos for the purposes of relaxation. They work really well for that. Learning from you to build stuff is a welcome added value of course. I also enjoy your reverse engineering videos, though the pace of explanation is a little too fast for me. Basically you are my favorite TH-cam channel. Will definitely donate when I get some money to spare.
Also watched the dawn of video games...born in 68 and I did the same, was fascinated by the electro mechanical machines but video games were my calling. 1978...Space Invaders...so much money spent in that machine, then scramble & Lunar Lander at same local cafe, then came Defender 😁...I bought my first machine n 1985 and in 2010, had 27 Love your vids Clive, between yourself & Rich from learn Electronics repair, no need for any others...been watching for a long time
Very nice indeed, great video, wonderful conversation, and, although you are rather young compared to me, I too recall the wonder of the electronic age. My beginning interest in electronics came watching my father replace tubes in the old battery pack radio that served as out only multimedia device. When, at last we moved to the town, and had electricity in our house, dad worked at a salvage yard, the owner took a liking to me, and gave me old car radios and broken televisions to tear down. It was a shocking experience but I quickly learned what to avoid in the old TVs. My first project was an old radio set I found at the local dump grounds, I mounted it in a small bookcase, built a front for it, and attached all the speakers I could find I think there were 10 or more. I tried running them through variable resistors, but they simply acted as a switch to turn that particular speaker on or off. The radio had an input and I finally found a small 45 RPM record deck and mounted it all out in a shack behind the house that once served as a grairy I believe. I had finished the walls with old sheet rock, and found an old bed that I sat up in one room. I wired the place using aluminum wire that somebody had found, for lighting in the bedroom to go with my home build sound system, I used my old transformer from the electric train set hooked to a 6 volt sealed beam, my girlfriend painted it red, and it made for some really nice light. That shack served me well, I also made a second room with couch and an old TV hooked to a bed-spring on the roof for an antenna. Man the parties we had, well that is a different story completely.
I get you Big Clive, born in '62, joined Navy at 16 and became an Electronic Weapons Systems Technician. First fault for me in the fleet was a failed triode in a 1943 radar receiver (293 radar), last fault was a on a "modern" 64 track tape recorder.
Nice way to start a Saturday in Oz. Shed Coffees and a lengthy Clive ramble :) Standard Australian circuits are 10A for lighting and 16A for power but each state has there own tweaks to a set of rules (headbang) and no fuses in plugs.
Ever have one of those moments when suddenly the cause of an old problem becomes clear? Happened just now when you were explaining that Japan has 100 volts. I know I had heard that before but this time it explains why my little pride and joy, a tiny 4 inch black and white television that was AC/DC with built in AM/FM radio blew a resistor when I was using it here in the USA! The damn thing was a unit I purchased. in Japan on my way home from Vietnam in 1971. According to the TV guy I took it to on base, he could not fix it because the unit was never imported into the USA so no schematics were available. I took it home and cut a piece of commo wire, removed one steel strand and wrapped it around the leads to a blown resistor and the little TV worked just fine for several years before I sold it! It came with an AC adapter that screwed on in place of a tray that held a dozen C cells for dc operation and worked off a cigar lighter socket in cars.
The 80s was a fantastic time, to begin with. I was born in 82 but like you, I started out tinkering and taking things apart from a young age, fascinated from the age of 3 by anything with lights and buttons. I dutifully received my first wall socket shock age 6. In primary school I excelled at anything to do with science and maths. Had a little trouble in other subjects to begin with but never those two which was noted by my teachers. I got to secondary school and on the first lesson of craft design technology (CDT) I noted all the patch bays and circuits and parts in drawers at the back and a stack of oscilloscopes in the storage cupboard. I waited eagerly to learn more. - And I waited, and waited. At the end of the second year without even broaching so much as a wire I asked my teacher when we will cover electronics and get to use all the equipment, he said "never I'm afraid son" I asked him why with utter disappointment in my heart, and he told me it was cut from the curriculum the year I started secondary school, he also said too many adults voted for the wrong people and that's why we don't make anything anymore and why it is no longer being taught. I was too young to understand what he was referring to but as an adult obviously he was referring to Thatcher and Major. - Too many boomers robbed me and hundreds of thousands of others of many opportunities while we were still babies via their political choices, and they are still doing so today to the young of today. I can only imagine what my life and the life of the bottom 50% now poorer than their equivalents were in 1980, may have been like had we not have been ruled by donkeys.
im here in 2021 and i just wish he had a story time podcast i could sleep to this i could eat to this ....i spent the day trading the market while watching his videos back to back soo relaxing and enjoyable
That pinball sound effect you mimicked at 17:00 I actually remember that, the laundromat we used to frequent back in the late 90's had a pinball machine and a few arcade games. My mom was amazing at them. I remember them having Mrs PacMan and two others. But that sound took me back. Thank you for that.
"..remember, it's really important when you get an electric shock to look around and make sure nobody saw you get it.."
So wrong, but so true
Hard thing on 240😂 aa a bit of a shock is good fore the hard 🤣
@@new-kids-on-the-blockhad a guy at work get shocked today. I noticed, but he was trying to make it subtle. About two minutes later he was shocked again. Out came the "sonuvabitch!" and "god fucking damnit!"
I guess you only have the energy to attempt to hide only one shock.
I posted on another video about an electric shock I had years ago where I got locked on. As we're both in the same trade, when something life changing happens, for the rest of your days. You'll always be extra careful to make sure that it's dead! And if you can, twist all the cables together. So if someone tried to turn the breaker on, it just bangs out.
I worked at sheerness steel once. A bloke was cutting a large cable with a hacksaw n some how, it got energized. He ended up loosing his hand and half an arm.
Places like steel mills with ark reactors are amazing. The first time I went to see a melt, I was scared shitless! 😳
Love all of your work Clive. Your a cat & Tesla loving person, as am I 😊
I loved the arc welders. Such a powerful ripping electrical lightning sound.
Two methods of avoiding hand-to-hand electric shock:
1) Keep one hand behind your back.
2) Keep both hands behind your back and get the apprentice to do it.
Ground the wrist you are grabbing things with, or ground them both for good measure.
Caution: Shocks hurt going in AND going out, but at least you keep your life.
I don't see as many apprentices around these days. I wonder why.
Can confirm electric shocks going from hand to hand are bad. I was working with a circuit that had a 400uF or so capacitor array charged to around 600V and accidentally touched it while the other hand completed the circuit It didn't really hurt my hands but it felt like I was kicked in the chest and I sat down hard and nearly passed out. Good thing it wasn't attached to the power circuit, or was any larger, as I probably wouldn't be writing this.
It took me 40 years of work and shocks to finally start using a non contact voltage indicator and wear a thick rubber glove on one hand. I have come close far too often, had a couple of days in hospital once after touching a line transformer output that burnt a hole through my finger. The shock I have had the most often is the one across the mains input terminals, after repeatedly plugging in and unplugging and getting the sequence wrong.Clive is right people are mostly lucky and survive but not always, it’s like running across the road with your eyes closed.
This is why woodworkers shouldn't be screwing around with l
Lichtenberg fractals using microwave transformers. Because, ya know, holding both ends of 10kv at "melt your heart" amps... with gaffer tape insulated wooden handles... isn't exactly clever. 😂 Honestly... search it on here and prepare to facepalm like never before! 😂😂
Speaking of light bulb bases -- In the early part of the 20th century the New York subway system (and many other US transit systems) specified Edison bulbs having left-hand threads. This was to prevent "bulb snatchers" from stealing light bulbs out of the cars (carriages) since the bulbs could not be screwed into normal household sockets. This specification continued until florescent lamps became standard in the subway system.
Thomas Levy I found out that there were competing standards for the light bulb base, including push-in bases. There would have been a great market for the adapters. You've also reminded me of nonstandard plugs, particularly UK plugs, which would be used in public areas of buildings to prevent theft of the electricity. There were, and may still be, a type of plug used on construction sites to designate a lower voltage to reduce electrical hazards.
That's brilliant!
In the uk the standard 3 pin 13 amp plug had a few variants. Usually the earth pin was vertical but there were some systems with horizontal earth pins and even some with t shaped earth pins. This was less for theft, more to stop people plugging things in places they shouldnt! I dont think they are made any more, and when you see them you have a double take.
This is true - UK worksite tools are 120v tools running on a centre-tapped isolation transformer using yellow IEC 60309 plugs.
@@stevecraft00 this is true with analogue lighting systems. We call them "Barrel pins" because the pins are usually completely round so people can't plugin stupid stuff into an old dimmer based lighting array and blow something up
Always enjoy the longer duration videos. Looking forward to listening to your mind wander.
it is really very calming right very calming it is kind of like really having a friend in real life ...... well at least for me
Came in handy; I had to take a long dump! :D
+Madness832 you might want to add more fiber in your diet
Late night at Taco Bell.
I'm 66 years old and I enjoy your videos immensely. BTW, I was a printing press electrician for 30 years before I retired. Before that, I was a technician in a stereo store fixing old tube gear for several years. I think you're awesome Clive..
I just sat for an hour twenty watching a Scottish bloke solder diodes together, and somehow I have no regrets.
happy 100
Those arent all diodes idiot, in fact there are only 4. At least fucking learn something dumbass.
@@ATLTraveler toxic
Quintin K are you really surprised
Look at that name
@@reedy_9619 It's the internet, I'm not surprised.
Hey clive, really enjoyed a chill evening with this video, always like listening to you when im working on electronics myself. Then i noticed its 6 years old. It honestly aged like a fine wine and was awesome.
1hr and 20 mins of Big Clive - that is all sorts of awesome
Clive, you always do a great job of both showing and explaining the electronics. That's amazingly helpful for us that are learning. :D
Clive is a national treasure. No one is allowed to criticize him.
He's an international treasure!
1 week 😁training crazy , in Germany its like 3 years ...
To add a little funny story : on my work we had two people working on a 10kv station in mid summer , both wearing open shoes.
One man working one man looking like always, then the guy working started shaking his feet like crazy , other guy things he is getting shocked and hits him with a showel as hard as he can to get him away ....
End of story no shock , 2 broken rips , caused by gravel in his shoes ...-_-
Hahahahahha that's awesome. I'd hate to be either one of them though.
"1 week 😁training crazy , in Germany its like 3 years ..."
It gets crazier than just that. I don't know the name for it in Germany, but the same qualification is recognised and awarded throughout the EU, electricians from all over have an established system for proving their qualifications on any site or to any householder. Only not quite. The UK refuses to recognise the qualification.
My "handyman", who is from Hungary is a qualified electrician, he was 'apprenticed' for five years in total. But he can make much more money in the UK sticking tiles up. Of course he installed all my electrics as well. I just had to pay one of the "one weekers" a hundred quid to certify it. I had to tell him I did it myself. Clive is right of course, nobody tests the ring mains properly anyway. The whole ring main system should have been abandoned fifty years ago, it is especially redundant now with people having huge numbers of low current devices.
The funny thing is this: everywhere else in the world we'd be looking for huge corporations who would be profiting from this nonsense. But in Britain it's just a bunch of old tossers in the EICCIICCC(?) who rule the roost. That, and not a single civil servant or politician who can wire a plug... apparently.
Whilst in gripe mode... has nobody noticed that the way we wire lighting in our houses should be changed? The reason we can get away with multiple lights on one circuit is because of the tungsten bulb. When it blows, it fails safe, the filament breaks. So, if a bulb failure blows the fuse, it is a simple matter to repair the fuse, or reset the breaker. Illumination is restored, and the culprit candle is obvious. Not so with LEDs, they will keep blowing fuses or breakers, they should be properly fused internally. But nobody bothers.
And another thing: WTF do I need an electrician to wire an oven? Clive will have used 10kW incandescent luminaires and bigger, using plugs and sockets. Why can't we have plugs on our cookers???
Sorry, it's been a bit hot lately, I'm going for a lie down now!
nicktecky55 😂 wiring an oven is 50€ here ...so i do it myself all the time😂
nicktecky55 we can , just don't tell anyone.
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen ovens wired in on Commando sockets before just as you would find in a commercial kitchen 🤔
Aww- milk and cookies and story time with Uncle Clive...
Против Глобал
HAHAHAHAHA
I worked for a big national company for 9 years and held the record for most 240v tickles for the full 9 years. I’m semi retired now so I’m down to about 2 a year. It’s really bad but it’s just part of the job. Safe isolation takes far too long 😂. Brilliant job Clive.
The safety authorities don't realise that most electrical diagnostic work requires the power to be on. I cover this in my video "The Unofficial Guide To Electrocution".
1 hour 20 minute Big Clive video? Hell yes! That's my Friday night sorted.
It's automatically required viewing once Clive mentions the ECPD (Explosion Containment Pie Dish). And the X-Ray machine (that's hammer to us). GREAT!
What a super video! Thanks, Clive for an informative, entertaining hour.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes I Like your Last name.
I've recently had my house rewired. I know a bit about the wiring regs - Daddy was on the committee so I heard things at home - anyway it's all common sense to do it safely. My contractor found me "good qualified" electrician - not easy in rural Yorkshire.He spent nearly a week while we lived in a hotel and my cats in a cat hotel. At the end all appeared good on the surface. But the more I dug into what he'd done the more appalled I became. What he had done wasn't unsafe, but seriously unconventional and not the kind of thing you want to have to follow up on. I wish he'd had the benefit of an apprenticeship.
It's a bit like being a programmer - you do your work with half an eye on the person who will next touch the program. You can do something super-cool and convoluted, or something less efficient but obvious. Just remember that the next person to come to your program will most likely be yourself, six months hence - and you'll wonder what you'd been smoking at the time.
Then you understand why lots of technically inclined people (like me) like to do everything themselves, from home reno, to maintenance on a car.
Its hard for me to find someone to trust, and when I find someone, I tend to stick with them. I try to do most of the handy stuff around the house and to get it inspected after that, if necessary. But that can drive my wife completely nuts at times!
I've gotten the "wow, you're 51 years old and you know this internet stuff". I have to remind them we were the ones who created it.
It's a shame many people of that age group avoided (and still avoid) learning how to use computers and the Internet. But the irony is that so many young "experts" today who grew up with the technology really aren't any more knowledgeable. Sure they can post the latest meme to the latest network, but as soon as their device's bootloader crashes or something else goes wrong it quickly becomes apparent that using modern technology practically since birth doesn't actually teach you anything about how it works!
My mother (in her 60s) tells me surprisingly often how she had to give someone in their 20s directions or help them work out which train to catch, and how surprised they were when she told them they could look that information up on their phone. It seems many old people don't know what the Internet is for, and many young people don't realise the Internet is more than just social media.
@@vink6163
Its the same with anything, in any age group.
Most people don't know how a vehicle even works, but they've driven all their lives.
Most people don't know how a fridge, or television, or ceiling fan works, but they've used them all their lives, so to try to imply younger generations are moronic because they don't know exactly what every little piece in a cell phone is for, is in fact, pretty moronic on your part.
Nope, my point was that it's inaccurate to say it's mostly older people who don't understand technology, when there are plenty of people of all ages who don't understand it. Sorry for not being clearer.
Started building it*, most everything you originally worked on is vastly different now. From the micro chips to the new versions of protocols used by the internet. Things are so different now so the odds of you keeping up with that change in literally everything is a bit shocking to most of us.
Sadly much of the Internet still runs on the original protocols from the 1970s. Heck most of it still hasn't been upgraded to IPv6 which came out in the 1990s!
I was at a very technical IT conference a few years ago and this 70 year old guy gets up to give a presentation - complete with hearing aid - and proceeded to discuss the modern TCP protocol in more detail than most of the experts in the room had any idea about. It turns out the guy was Vint Cerf, one of the inventors of the protocol back in the 1970s. The fact that this old guy knew more about how the Internet worked than any of the professionals in the room who relied on it for their livelihood (myself included) was amazing to see.
The kicker was that despite being in his 70s he was talking about how the existing protocols are not practical for interplanetary communication due to the time lag, and so he was busy designing a new protocol that could better cope with data transmission to Mars. He was putting a case to NASA to have it on their Mars orbiters once the missions were over, so that instead of a bunch of dead space probes, we'd gradually end up with a network of high bandwidth communication relays so that future Mars missions could send more data back to Earth. Inspiring stuff, that's for sure.
I imagine you could fill the whole test tube with glitter mixed in resin, and maybe alternative colored LED's (or slow change LED's) and then dip the whole string of LEDs into the tube to make a super fantastic test tube.
Also, you should warm up resin to speed up the cure time as well as making it thinner to flow into cracks and such.
You make soldering look so easy, I have so much more to learn. Really like your videos.
The trick to learning how to solder is to just do it. The techniques fall into place naturally.
Didn't realise you were one of our dial-up customers at Demon in the 90s. Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett were also part of that club... fun times!
Happy times with hit-and-run dial up to collect all the latest posts on email and the newsgroups. Turnpike was actually a very slick and reliable piece of software.
Yep. Before working there I'd be regularly dialing in at 6pm on the dot and disconnecting as soon as all my newsgroups had refreshed. I used to work in the same office as the Turnpike team - what used to be Locomotive Software, responsible for things like BASIC on the Amstrad CPC computers. It was great software - except when we accidentally released a CD on Dispatches magazine that killed everyone's computers!
Me too, I remember busy tones on local POPs and dialling farther afield to get connected but it staying on long due to paying long distance rates. I probably moved on through PRESTEL, BBS, Demon.
Brings back a memory....."your telling me I can have 1200 baud & BBS access for only $9.95 a month!"
I was on there. My account name still shows up from time to time in other things.
we have very similar work history, im 55 and was an electrical fitter, did my apprenticeship with the leb/cegb great times there worked in power stations , then moved on to tv and audio repairs as a self-employed, now working in super-resolution microscopes :) so i get to play with lasers :), had some very bad shock from tv`s and valve audio but im still here , love your channel and your sence of humour
It's not that Americans have an outrageous work ethic; rather so many employers think that the way to increase productivity is to cut staffing to the absolute minimum and beyond, and actively discourage things like vacations and sick days. I went through a period of a year and a half being not just the sole system admin on 125 remote UNIX servers (which normally included things like application development and admin, system documentation, user training, liaison with all corporate departments, etc) , but also managing a project replacing/upgrading mobile workstations and consulting on two or three other major projects. 65+ hr/week and I managed to not have to go into the office about every other Sunday (though still working from home, of course). Believe me, I don't mind doing my job but if I could have worked a bit less, had help, or been able to have any time off, I would have.
Unions solve that problem...
Great video Clive. I am also 53 and served my apprenticeship with Radio Rentals. A great time to learn from valves through solid state to ic's and more.
Non stressed resistors... that’s what the weekend deserves!! Loving big Clive!!!
Excellent video as always Clive.
I have worked around electricity all my working life. I started as a panel wireman, then test and service engineer. Now I just push electrons round a screen for a living.
On the subject of electric shocks; The worst one I ever had, happened at home.
I was still an apprentice, the rest of the family had gone on holiday and I had been set the task of trying to repair a leaking 'twin tub' washing machine.
I removed the back panel from the machine, filled it with water and couldn't see a leak.
So, I plugged it in and switched on. The leak then became apparent. I emptied the water from the machine, then grabbed it with the intention of laying it on its front face. However, I had not removed the plug from the wall socket and managed to grasp the metal case with my left hand, my right hand then 'found' the mains switch terminals.
I awoke, on the kitchen floor sometime later.
The experience taught me a valuable lesson in caution, that has helped me to still be here today.
LOL best comment ever!!! “If you get an electric shock, the first thing to do is look around and make sure no-one saw you got it!” 🤣🤣🤣
... getting so into listening to the story, that i repeatedly tried to blow away the fumes. 😃
finished some soldering/repairing half an hour ago.
Thank you very much for this fine video 😃
Absolutely excellent video, Clive. Thanks for taking the time.
"We won!"
I wish you could make a series on learning electronic from the basics. Love your work, you honestly do make electronics fascinating.
I removed a lamp base of a flickering lamp i did a video on by holding it gently with grips using the bayonet pins to stop rotation, then twist the plastic while pulling.
I'm 10 years older than you, i often joke that i was born inn 55BC (before computers or before colour (tv) ), so my first experience with electronics was following the waste vehicle around and dragging home old valve radio's and TV's home to get them working, that was when i was about 12.
I remember the semiconductor era of the 70's, started getting into transistors (first circuit was an astable multivibraator), and very quickly IC's were being introduced.
I like the ring circuit, it means that you can change a socket live without disrupting other sockets in the room, the labs where i worked would often have things running that they did not want turning off, or it would have to be a planned shutdown.
Isn't the 1 week course just for 'competent person' ? In other words they are allowed to do things like wire a plug or change a socket.
When i took my course it was 3 years (14th edition), with an optional 4th year for tech
I was trained as 'release of trapped passengers in lifts' so i worked closely with lift engineers coming on site.
I remember the semiconductor era of the 60's. I bought my first "red spot" transistor around 1962. By 1966 I was repairing vacuum tube/valve TV sets.
I see more and more companies using unskilled labour that has been crash-certified in electrical work. It's become more of a disclaimer thing now. I believe it's called transfer of liability.
Aka, blame the new guy
Forgot to mention, if you want to see something similar to what you describe, i'm sure you know about Fred Dibnah, there's several videos about him climbing chimneys
0:50:00 In re "electrocuted" for "suffered an electric shock": this is a pet peeve of mine. A couple of years ago our local paper had a story about a fault in the school swimming pool whereby several pupils were "electrocuted" by the railing. If that had really happened, it would have been a story all over Europe - perhaps all over the world.
I actually asked that question ^^ Got my lingo wrong
zh84 yeah, people forget that “electrocution” is a makeshift word created from “electricity” and “execution.”
a portmanteau word.
Mine too. It bugs me no end when the media get this wrong.
There is a difference between the general UK and US usage of the word. In the UK it is not necessarily fatal.
Thanks for the vid! It was nice to spend Sunday night watching you build a lamp and having a bit of a chinwag. Have a great week.
Gee Clive ,we are the same age ,i started building with electronics in 79 ,i managed to get our technical teacher to get the school to purchase electronic learning kits from Greenweld Electronics, i still have all my everyday electronics from 1980 to 87 ,great memories ,love the videos keep em coming buddy Regards John
Clive, I was wondering when you could to a video on building a 70s style color organ or sound to light converter. That would be neet to hear you talk about them. And build one. :)
I started in 1973 in electronics (apprentice) and loved the trade . So much fun getting ccts for video games and redoing the sound effects (op amps) starting with space invaders. ...and still like to dabble thanks to you Clive
Ooow you are so ancient, i was born in 1966 lol :-D
People keep telling me it was a good year for football, germans and all that.
I bought two of those fet based screwdrivers, why.... they were novel, and after taking one apart (i just had to), i don't use it for detecting ac in wires at all, i must be related to a magpie.
I look like a caveman with a full beard and long hair, i also hold solder and a component in the left hand like you do.
I like bodging.... err i mean creating solutions :)
The 555 timer and 4017 decade counter are my favorites too, frightning isn't it lol.
The 555 and 4017 combo had instant satisfaction of chasing LEDs at a time that it was a really special thing.
Thank you Clive. It's amazing how many people dont know the difference between an electric shock and electrocution. The media in particular frequently get it wrong.
Best video to date. You only see it from your perspective Clive, but from ours its just as much about your voice, and the banter as the content. Really enjoyed that one. We like the rambles....
Thank you for the extended entertainment Clive - a most excellent long video... keep them coming, when you can.
Great video Clive, and a Numan fan too, top man! Are Friends Electric blew my mind too, (it predated Marrs by 8 years!), and I've been into electronic and electronically produced music ever since, although what really got me into electronic sounds was the Dr Who theme by Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
I couldn't even have guessed it predated Marrs by that much. It's all just a blur of electronic music in that era.
buying ex juke box records from second hand shops back in the day and i remember buying kraftwerk autobahn . Added to Tubeway army and then donna summer - i feel love followed by my dad buying Jean Michell jarre - Oxygene/equinoxe made my childhood an electronic music orgy !
That was fun. Took most of the morning and some of the afternoon to watch. Great stuff. Still think falling asleep into a casing was a chuckle. Reminded me of falling out of my train and into the gap next to the middle rail, as my bag slipped off my shoulder as I climbed into the train in the depot. No coffee was needed to wake me up that morning.
I'm waiting to see an "indiscreet" bridge rectifier...
As long as it is a "FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER!" we will be ok, I guess.
Culturedropout indescreet the will be when the smoke comes out
you mean one built into its own package? I dont get it they look like any ic.
AvE generally pronounces “rectifier” as “rectum-fryer”
I think Clive reviewed one of those some time ago... XD
th-cam.com/video/ClSch3zLC0k/w-d-xo.html
A man talking from experience and know-how, great!! Always good to watch and learn more... To bad I did not have Internet like this in my day's as I started school in elektro/electronic and did not finish it. Im taking up the slack now... upgrading my basic knowledge. Big Clive school is open.!! :) Well recommended!!
Story time with bigclivedotcom. Perfect. Thanks!
Thanks Clive! It is always fun to spend time you.
Clive is awesome. He sits there telling us how dangerous John Noakes' cleaning of Nelson's column was while making a homemade light bulb.
Big Clive on the importance of living your life, and actually enjoying it. Luv’ it-thanks for reminding. Born in 1959, I can also quite lively remember the "real" Penny Arcades and Pinball Wizards. I agree that the ’70s were a great time, and I’m so happy having been part of it and see-sometimes helped-Electronics and IT evolve.
Again, thanks for this one. Good to feel some of us dinosaurs aren’ŧ extinguished yet! :-)
You first have to have your skills elevated before you become a lift engineer.
Alan Reader the usual storey...
Gotta say I've watched most of your videos probably multiple times over a few years as I got into electronics, I think what kickstarted it for me was the first arduino microcontroller projects we did in university as I started my IT engineering studies almost 4 years ago, after that I wanted more and wanted to build more complex projects and that obviously involved electronics and it became a hobby for me.
Electronics and programming/IT skills in general are definitely a good combination to have. Also helps me with fixing vintage electronics as I started to collect 80s computers and game consoles and similar devices. Can't wait to get out of this small studio apartment to a place where I can actually work on stuff
I was a Firefighter and I was working a helicopter crash that had slid under a 100,000v power line. We needed to cut the line, when we do that it’s really important to cut both ends at the same time, in other words cut with authority. My buddy that was cutting the other end hesitated, and all’s I saw was a very bright POW, then nothing. Woke up a couple of days later missing some minor parts and some really bad twitches. I was taught when sticking my hand into the breaker box is to keep on hand in my pocket.
I bet that tickled a bit.
Mark Howards I don’t know, but the guys I work with were impressed.
What? Why the hell would you not have sent someone to the substation and trip the recloser??
Chad Michels Because Folks burning to death want help a little faster than that would allow.
I'm not a firefighter, but I am a first responder, trained in confined space, SCBA, hazmat, etc, so I have a bit of knowledge on the subject, I'm no expert, but I'm also not just some asshole on the internet. But dude, scene safety is stuff you learn day one. Chopping a live power line "hopefully before the electricity notices the other guy didn't go at the same time" does not fall into being safe. I get you are a firefighter, and it's kind of your job/calling/whatever to put yourself in harm's way, but you probably should have died. That would not have helped those burning folks, or the next set of burning folks.
Didn't pay a second of actually realizing what the LED project is since I was so blown away by the arcade / early electronics story. Respect, man.
Play by play...... Me telling my partner (Who also loves clive)
Me: Oh my god Big Clive is 53!!!
Partner: Noooo
Me: Yeah
Partner: Nooooo
Me: I know!!
(FYI You dont look a day over 30 clive!)
Crimsonknight3 You obviously need glasses.
born 1968. got a radio shack 160 experimental set... with youtube. I've revived my interest... made a few things
that said. love your humor about the subject...
Are Friends Electric pre-dates MARRS by nearly a decade. Donna Summer - I Feel Love was a seminal early use of synths. Kraftwerk too.
oh yeah > th-cam.com/video/B2qI6UDD2uQ/w-d-xo.html i first heard that on a MW radio in an old morris van and it was captivating. Added effect of it fading/phasing in/out too.
Or Soft Machine, Terry Riley & Can in the late 60's. Karaftwork came a little later in 1970. I think Limited Edition by Can had many tracks called EFSnn [nn=number] which was short for something like Electronic Funken Sound.
Juncus Bufonius don't forget silver apples.
Awesome video Clive, absolutely loved it. Every part of it, every facet, every subject. You kept it supremely interesting all the way through, so much so almost wish it didn't end so seemingly soon.
Thanks for making the content that you do, it revived my love for electronics and I got my first soldering station less than a week ago and I'm having a blast.
Thanks again.
- Rick
Younger Americans (whose work ethic seems fine to me, btw) simply won't understand how it's *possible* to not work constantly.
I admire the American work ethic, but there's more to life than work and I think American workers should get more free time.
bigclivedotcom I live in Lincoln Nebraska. Heartland USA. Warms my heart to hear somebody even say that, let alone from the UK. I lost a job once for voicing an opinion of that nature. Nowadays I just try to keep my mouth shut (unless I'm online) as much as possible. Thanks for the video✌️
I completely agree. However, I believe there is a difference between my “work” and my “job”
35 hours a week is more then enough. And if it isn't it's time they hire more people until it is enough again.
There are loads of people without jobs that want one too.
@ No no it doesn't help that in America, unless you work for someone constantly, you don't work for them at all. There's no such thing as "freelance" in the skilled trades unless you run your own shop.
I'm watching this while plugging a PIC into an ICSP jig I soldered up after watching a video where you had done the same. Helped me bridge a gap between the compatibility issues I've had between software and the ZIF-socketed Chinese programmer I have. I also have a PICKit3. Ironically, I have actually successfully built some PIC-based circuits where the ICSP is designed into the circuit, but it never occurred to me how simple it would be to wire up a DIP socket to get the job done.
I have to agree on some of your remarks with the usb-killer...but then again I would love to see you take one of them out of existence disassembled with unreasonable force.
thank you for your history, very interesting I was an “ in be tweener “ when I started college we used
apples, commodore 64, and ti994a . or main frame computers, but the big computers were only for
the majors. so I never had the opportunity to learn how to program, just like circuits, thought interesting,
but never really had the opportunity to learn. not with only 2 years before I retire, I might take it up as a hobby.
great videos, always learn something from you! thanks.
“The electricity is going somewhere it shouldn’t and you might find it… through you.”
Yes! Let the force flow through you.
That made me laugh, too.
This is a wonderful bit of love and sharing. Thank you so very much.
Let me guess - I bet like me you used to have the Maplin (RIP) catalogues and loved the pages & pages of pinout diagrams. Many a good hour spent playing with CMOS, LEDs and the like ordered from them.
The early Maplin catalogues were incredible.
I'm gutted about Maplin's demise :(
Working in the Film & TV industry, they've saved a shoot many times when we needed some electrical or electronic thingymebob to keep us working away from home. Miss them a lot.
I had a temp job producing the Maplin catalogue one summer in late '80s... it was well paid, lots of overtime due to tight deadlines, but sweaty - the computers chucked out heat and the Linotronic imagesetter nicked our cooling fans (keeping it running was more important than human comfort!), one chap was let go due to falling asleep at his keyboard and we ended up on caffeine tablets to survive... it was the first time I'd seen remote control car central locking gadgets being used when the owners and other engineers arrived. Fascinating, but I didn't think they'd catch on! Lol
Well, I didn't notice just how long it was. Your early experiences reminded me of my own apprenticeship in the UK steel industry. We were fortunate to have a dedicated training school in which we spent the first 2 years. During that time it was decided where our strengths lay and we were then steered into a final trade. Day-release at the local technical college, plus a evening class during that time. I was lucky enough to be selected for moving on to a degree course and paid a salary - this no longer happens to any degree now, if at all ! The training was amazing - each time I make an electrical connection at home now, the words "insulation up to the connection, my son" runs through my head. Our electrical instructor had a device which would illustrate how AC contracts your muscles and you can't let go. Fascinating character, he truly had the shape of Yogi Bear and wore a white lab coat and flat cap... Thanks BigClive, I've subscribed now and will be watching the back catalogue.
You must remember Fred Dibnah!
Thank you, finally someone who can describe a full bridge rectifier in a way almost anyone can get. I’ve always been confused about it.
Sausage roll? Nice and hot.
Beer? Open.
Comfy Chair? Lovely.
Phone off? Sure is.
Ready! Let storytime begin.
PetergdWard watching this on phone, but th sentiment is agreed with.
2:20 the name Fairy Lights apparently dates way back to 1882 at the Savoy Theatre London when Joseph Swan designed minature lights for the fairies to wear on stage -for Gilbert & sullivans Iolanthe , they wore battery packs and the bulbs were stiched into their costumes ...then later in the 1950's Pifco christmas light sets - A popular mass produced set were the ‘Fairy coaches’ - a set of 12 cinderella Fairy coaches with 20 volt bulbs - later modified to the 20 light Cinderella set ( 12 volt bulb) , a mixture of fairy coaches and lanterns . They are sometimes sold on eBay - even broken sets will fetch around £200 - so it might be worth checking the attic .
If you want to see some extreme ladder work look for some of Fred Dibnah's old videos on youtube
I was going to say the same thing! Have a look here Clive!
th-cam.com/video/3R3-YwDZrzg/w-d-xo.html
Luke Lovatt- NO WAY Man!!!! I just watched that Dude climb all the way to the top without even a safety harness or line hooked to him my stomach was flip flopping the whole time!!!!! yep Not me brother you couldn't pay me enough to climb those ladders Lol Thanks for the link Luke!
BTW - He was awesome to climb that but then I thought about who the hell put UP the ladders in the first PLACE! !!!! lol
I am 50 now & have been doing electrical/electronics since 6 years old being taught by my grandpa for the 1st year or so.
Worst electric shock was 240VAC @ 60A (US-AC)...it stung quite a bit but I have a low resistance to electricity.
Never been electrically shocked working on a circuit that only I had access to previously.
My first "internet" experience was on a 300 baud modem & dial-up to a local BBS (Bulletin Board Service)
American circuits/breakers are almost always rated for just 15A 120v
So a single small space heater can use 100% of the power that an entire circuit has. Its terrible.
Not quite true, as 20A circuits/breakers are roughly equally as popular in my experience (but usually residential 20A circuits still use 15A receptacles).
Still, it's a small difference and your point about easily exhausting a circuit with power-hungry devices remains. We have to have special dedicated circuits for things like pumps, electric cookers, clothes dryers, etc.
*looks at 3kw kettle* bwahahahahaaaa :)
Yeah, I guess that's part of the reason they don't often have kettles in the US....you'd be there all day.
"you'd be there all day" and it still wouldn't boil. That's where the myth of "water won't boil if you look at it" came from
It is pretty common to have multiple 20A circuits for the kitchen counters.
Frinde Big Clive, once again we've enjoyed your creating and monologue. Youre a fine man to be sure.
Hi Clive, great vid. I agree, the 1980s was a revolutionary time to be involved with a technical occupation. I was a mechanical engineering apprentice. The world went from mechanical to microprocessor control in 5-6 years. From then on things have advanced but only by variations.
I Love the PIC microcontrollers. Minimum support parts and easy to program. I haven't done anything with them for a few years though.
My funnest project with one was a persistence of vision display for a bicycle. 5 LEDs/drop resistors, 8 pin PIC, capacitor, and 2 AA batteries. I think I had 5 or 6 messages programmed in. Change message by shorting a lead to ground.
Wow I love that slot machine in the end - had one myself, but unfortunately I had to sell it when I moved to a smaller accommodation.
It was a Jennings Sun Chief from the forties (maybe even earlier) bought in states by the previous owners father, back in the early fifties, then rebuild/modded by a professional to fit our coins (Danish) and 220 voltage. He had it in his pub for over 30 years, and I bought it from him when he went out of business. I still miss that machine.
Ah, John Peel! I remember listening to his last show and how devastated everyone was when he died unexpectedly the next day. Damn I miss that show!
Clive, our US circuits are largely 15 amp with 20 amp being fairly common in most kitchens. Larger ones for hot tubs and such but most of those don't have plugs. 14 gauge wire for the 15 amp service and 12 gauge for 20 - so each circuit's wire has enough current capability on its own to blow the CB/fuse before it starts a fire. That's the theory, anyhow.
I love your descriptions, reminds of night school when I started my career in radio communications, 50 years ago. Got to shake the hand of the Principle for a distinction in my exam.
I recognised the name on your snips. Had a quick look in the kitchen draw, mine only arrived last week, same name though. £1.48 from China. Nice to see they work well, haven't used mine yet. Great episode again. Your circuit tester screwdriver, used to be exclusive to Draper with the metal end, then plastic has got me out of the s**t so many times in the field ovver the years. Very useful and much appreciated by myself.
Great video! The OCD part of me has to mention when joining the resistors or LED leads they should be mechanically joined (twisted or crimped in a ferrule) prior to electrically joining (solder).
An interesting conversational piece whilst making something, so I found it to be an interesting mix. I became interested in electronics in the late sixties and 74N logic made things possible for me, then gravitated to software later. I find the mix to be extremely useful. Many thanks for all your videos.
I have no idea how I came to watch this but I could listen to you talk all day 😊
This is awesome, honestly it makes me wish I found enough videos to make a favorites - story time playlist. Might work on that if I find the time
I went through a 4 year electrical apprenticeship here in the states. During those 4 years I worked 40 hours a week along side a Journeyman Wireman and went to classes 8 hours on Saturday, then after the 4 years I passed a final 3 hour exam to become a Journeyman Wireman. And you had to keep your nose clean, no missing time, no being late, you had monthly work reports which your Journeyman filled out on you and a bad report could get you kicked out. Been doing it for 33 years now and plan on retiring in 2 years at age 55, I started soon after graduating high school.
Certified electrician in one week ?? I better not tell this to my son. He studied almost 2 years here in Canada to become one :/ One year to get is maintenance electrician licence (what he wanted at first), then he decided to continue studying part time to get his certified electrician licence. Very proud of him. He loves his job.
Always enjoyable Clive, and I see myself making yet another one of bigclives projects. Very educational.
I'm mostly watching your videos for the purposes of relaxation. They work really well for that. Learning from you to build stuff is a welcome added value of course. I also enjoy your reverse engineering videos, though the pace of explanation is a little too fast for me. Basically you are my favorite TH-cam channel. Will definitely donate when I get some money to spare.
Also watched the dawn of video games...born in 68 and I did the same, was fascinated by the electro mechanical machines but video games were my calling. 1978...Space Invaders...so much money spent in that machine, then scramble & Lunar Lander at same local cafe, then came Defender 😁...I bought my first machine n 1985 and in 2010, had 27
Love your vids Clive, between yourself & Rich from learn Electronics repair, no need for any others...been watching for a long time
and in the end it all comes down to three small words Clive i love you
Very nice indeed, great video, wonderful conversation, and, although you are rather young compared to me, I too recall the wonder of the electronic age. My beginning interest in electronics came watching my father replace tubes in the old battery pack radio that served as out only multimedia device. When, at last we moved to the town, and had electricity in our house, dad worked at a salvage yard, the owner took a liking to me, and gave me old car radios and broken televisions to tear down. It was a shocking experience but I quickly learned what to avoid in the old TVs. My first project was an old radio set I found at the local dump grounds, I mounted it in a small bookcase, built a front for it, and attached all the speakers I could find I think there were 10 or more. I tried running them through variable resistors, but they simply acted as a switch to turn that particular speaker on or off. The radio had an input and I finally found a small 45 RPM record deck and mounted it all out in a shack behind the house that once served as a grairy I believe. I had finished the walls with old sheet rock, and found an old bed that I sat up in one room. I wired the place using aluminum wire that somebody had found, for lighting in the bedroom to go with my home build sound system, I used my old transformer from the electric train set hooked to a 6 volt sealed beam, my girlfriend painted it red, and it made for some really nice light. That shack served me well, I also made a second room with couch and an old TV hooked to a bed-spring on the roof for an antenna. Man the parties we had, well that is a different story completely.
I get you Big Clive, born in '62, joined Navy at 16 and became an Electronic Weapons Systems Technician.
First fault for me in the fleet was a failed triode in a 1943 radar receiver (293 radar), last fault was a on a "modern" 64 track tape recorder.
Nice way to start a Saturday in Oz. Shed Coffees and a lengthy Clive ramble :) Standard Australian circuits are 10A for lighting and 16A for power but each state has there own tweaks to a set of rules (headbang) and no fuses in plugs.
Ever have one of those moments when suddenly the cause of an old problem becomes clear? Happened just now when you were explaining that Japan has 100 volts. I know I had heard that before but this time it explains why my little pride and joy, a tiny 4 inch black and white television that was AC/DC with built in AM/FM radio blew a resistor when I was using it here in the USA! The damn thing was a unit I purchased. in Japan on my way home from Vietnam in 1971. According to the TV guy I took it to on base, he could not fix it because the unit was never imported into the USA so no schematics were available. I took it home and cut a piece of commo wire, removed one steel strand and wrapped it around the leads to a blown resistor and the little TV worked just fine for several years before I sold it! It came with an AC adapter that screwed on in place of a tray that held a dozen C cells for dc operation and worked off a cigar lighter socket in cars.
I love your long videos, Clive. I'll like to have them on in the background when I'm doing stuff. Real cozy like.
The 80s was a fantastic time, to begin with. I was born in 82 but like you, I started out tinkering and taking things apart from a young age, fascinated from the age of 3 by anything with lights and buttons. I dutifully received my first wall socket shock age 6.
In primary school I excelled at anything to do with science and maths. Had a little trouble in other subjects to begin with but never those two which was noted by my teachers. I got to secondary school and on the first lesson of craft design technology (CDT) I noted all the patch bays and circuits and parts in drawers at the back and a stack of oscilloscopes in the storage cupboard. I waited eagerly to learn more.
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And I waited, and waited. At the end of the second year without even broaching so much as a wire I asked my teacher when we will cover electronics and get to use all the equipment, he said "never I'm afraid son" I asked him why with utter disappointment in my heart, and he told me it was cut from the curriculum the year I started secondary school, he also said too many adults voted for the wrong people and that's why we don't make anything anymore and why it is no longer being taught. I was too young to understand what he was referring to but as an adult obviously he was referring to Thatcher and Major.
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Too many boomers robbed me and hundreds of thousands of others of many opportunities while we were still babies via their political choices, and they are still doing so today to the young of today. I can only imagine what my life and the life of the bottom 50% now poorer than their equivalents were in 1980, may have been like had we not have been ruled by donkeys.
im here in 2021 and i just wish he had a story time podcast i could sleep to this i could eat to this ....i spent the day trading the market while watching his videos back to back soo relaxing and enjoyable
Love the storytime chats like this, fun listening to.
That pinball sound effect you mimicked at 17:00 I actually remember that, the laundromat we used to frequent back in the late 90's had a pinball machine and a few arcade games. My mom was amazing at them. I remember them having Mrs PacMan and two others. But that sound took me back. Thank you for that.
Thank you for pointing me on to Blue Peter. What a sweet show, it is what should be made today.
Wonderful! I always enjoy your videos - wonderfully relaxing and I usually learn something to boot.