That symbol you’re thinking of is Yin and Yang, and it’s not so much about good and evil as it is about the duality of dark and light, separate but intertwined, each containing a bit of the other.
If you open those batteries, they are often made from a stack of button cells, just like that. Also some 9 volt batteries are a six pack of AAAA cells.
A23 battery is literally that, 8 button cells in a paper sleeve, crimped into a steel tube with a top insulator and contact, and a bottom insulator, wave washer and contact. Under 30p each when you buy the no name brand ones, and they last for a year or two in a remote fob. I tend to modify the fob and add a tantalum capacitor across the battery, any value from 10 to 47uF 16V and higher, generally removed from a board that has failed for some other reason, so the rising internal resistance does not cause it to stop running. More than doubles the battery operational life, and it will still operate till the point the led is dim.
Interesting that while the microcontroller is programmable, I bet the same program is in all models of the switch. That way they can maximize the size of the order from the chip manufacturer to get the lowest cost. Then they use the linkage bridge to control how the center button is interpreted, if at all. Great example of modular pcb and packaging design.
SAW oscillator actually uses sound, in the name Surface Acoustic Wave. The tiny little piezo ceramic in there has a metallised top layer and a full metallised bottom, with the top etched to make a small acoustic transmitter generating sound in the top layer, generally 2 tiny metal bar structures, with a large one behind to damp the sound going that way, and then there is a pattern of metal on the top to focus the wave onto the receive array, which generates a small voltage as the wave hits. Stability is in the blend of oxides used to make the bulk, as it does not have a very high temperature coefficient, so stays dimensionally stable over the 0-70C range, at least within 1%. Trimming is done at manufacture, by controlling the thickness of the deposited top layer, so you get all being within a small narrow frequency range. But enough variation that they typically will have some that have poor range in use with the receiver. Receiver uses the same SAW filter, just biased so it is barely on, the extra energy at the right frequency starts the receiver oscillating, and the extra current draw is sensed via a resistor and capacitively coupled via a low pass filter, to remove any RF present, to either a single transistor amplifier, or an opamp. Then this amplified signal is fed to the receiver, which is looking to recover a bit clock from it, and then the received data is deserialised, and compared to the code. 3 valid codes in sequence are normally required to provide an output that the button is pressed, at least for these non rolling code chipsets. Reduces the chance that noise will false trigger the output, or a non valid code with noise doing the same. Rolling code chipsets do the same, just they have to get 3 sequential codes in the rolling code to do the same, making them more secure, though you lose the ability to have multiple buttons transmit the code, each one has to have a unique code. Thus you have to teach the remote each button, and it is harder to clone remotes.
SAWs are a blast from the past, I used them a few times (mainlt 3.58MHz ones) when designing circuits for RF comms (transmission) systems - mind you the devices were 5 times the size back then
SAWs were also used to provide the IF band-shaping in analogue TV receivers, replacing a whole bunch of tuned circuits, thus considerably simplifying manufacture.
@@davidfaraday3085 yup. The 3.58Mhz ones were ntsc subcarrier filters, but common as mud so used as frequency references in a number of circuits despite being in a pal 4.43Mhz country
@@miscbits6399 I wasn't talking about colour subcarrier filters, I was talking about IF band-shaping filters. These covered a band of 33 - 41 MHz (for system I) and had the necessary band-shaping to deal with the vestigial-sideband transmission system and provide the correct degree of attenuation of the sound carrier. When NICAM came in separate IF amplifiers were used for vision and sound and new designs of SAW filters were introduced that had two outputs, one for the vision IF and the other for the sound IF.
Clive, I notice that the newer versions of this have “kinetic” switches so you don’t even need batteries in the remote. They even still quite up to 30m range!
Many thanks for the video. I have now received 2 switches and for anyone interested in home automation I can confirm that a Sonoff RF Bridge (flashed with tasmota) can receive the separate switch codes that can then be controlled by MQTT, node-red and of course Home Assistant. Very useful!
Hey haven't seen you here in a while but then again AT&T issues!💩 New place 2. until now got fiber now less AT&T issues to complain about now. yeah stay away from U-verse wherever possible. I know U-verse is being depreciated or better gotten rid of? Hopefully everything goes to fiber eventually! At least where you can! With U-verse. Still over copper cable at least in some cases coming in basically fancy DSL. Butt is affected by anything that could affect plain old telephone systems as well moisture mostly of course anything that would cause electrical issues yeah. Referring to specifically interference with the signal but of course fiber only needs to worry about equipment and power to it pretty much less to have issues with since you don't need to worry about other influences that affect electrical signals with fiber optics. But of course that comes with its own issues but overall high-reliability for the most part! Beats cable right now getting 300 magnets roughly
i was expecting them to be absolute trash inside. this is actually a good design for a multi switch setup AND it can be serviced... wait, clive found something good on ebay?!?!?
@@millomweb Isn't that the way an OLD TV remote worked. The one my father used to call "the clicker". ** EDIT** See my reply below for more information.
@@smeezekitty Well, turns out it's a little more complicated than that, and I would like to thank you for spurring me to go research some. Below is a snippet from a site I will link below. I'm not sure this is what I was talking about, but it sure is cool! "The improved "Zenith Space Command" remote control went into commercial production in 1956. This time, Zenith engineer Robert Adler (1913-2007) designed the Space Command based on ultrasonics. Ultrasonic remote controls remained the dominant design for the next 25 years, and, as the name suggests, they worked using ultrasound waves. The Space Command transmitter used no batteries. Inside the transmitter were four lightweight aluminum rods that emitted high-frequency sounds when struck at one end. Each rod was a different length to create a different sound that controlled a receiver unit built into the television. The first Space Command units were quite expensive for the consumer, because the device used six vacuum tubes in the receiver units that raised the price of a television by 30%. In the early 1960s, after the invention of the transistor, remote controls decreased in price and in size, as did all electronics. Zenith modified the Space Command remote control using the new benefits of transistor technology (and still using ultrasonics), creating small hand-held and battery-operated remote controls. Over nine million ultrasonic remote controls were sold." www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-television-remote-control-1992384
@@TechGorilla1987 I remember the old Grundig TV of early 1970s that had a 20(!) function ultrasonic remote called Telepilot 12, and while it worked okay, every time one rattled a set of keys the set would turn off, mute or switch channels. So I honestly doubt that ultrasonic remote would be a wise choice for lighting remotes.
The "86 Type" has to do with the standard shape of the UK style back-box. They can be 1 gang or more. I think they are 86mm on one side. I'm in the US, so not an expert - except that I've run across these at work and had to figure it out.
@@bigclivedotcom Internal height of a standard wall box. Same in the US. Screw holes are 82mm apart. I know this because I modify 2 gangs all the time to make my own mounting boxes for cameras. Note you only get 80mm of square space because of the corners being octagonal. This becomes very important when your install involved burying network switches in wall boxes.
Yes, SAW stands for Surface Acoustic Wave. They're kind of like old-fangled quartz resonators but can be less temperature dependent because the surface wave velocity can be nonlinear and different in different directions, so they can be played against each other for greater stability. The larger ones are a carefully-dimensioned bit of glass with input and output piezo transducers bonded to them, the SMD ones are a single piece of piezo material with input and output connectors bonded to interdigitasl "launchers" and "receivers". The arrangement of the fingers, the "stretchiness" of the material, the dimensions of the substrate all play a part in determining the frequency of operation. Lord Rayleigh predicted the effect way back when, but he didn't know about piezoelectricity so he couldn't build one. Yes, I'm a physics/tech geek so they're cool as hell to me.
Thanks for that explanation - exactly the comment I was looking for. As an older electronics/amateur radio hobbyist, I'm familiar with quartz crystals, but didn't realize that these modern-day components were actually something different.
@@allenlutins You're welcome, glad to help. I found out all of this kind of accidentally when someone gave me a dead TV for parts (I had the reputation of needing them to build stuff) and I found a 2" square plastic box with three leads labeled "SAW 1". Upon opening it I found the described small sheet of glass etc., and a few trips to the public library (this was pre-internet) educated me. I played with it for a week but never used it. Twenty years later I got a job doing SMD board rework and there staring up at me through the magnifier was a really tiny metal/ceramic box labeled "SAW 1". A few keystrokes on the confuser later and I wasn't at all surprised to find it was a new iteration of my old friend.
433 MHz is also used for doorbells which reminds me of a wireless doorbell button used at my parents house that uses a piezo crystal to harvest energy from the button press to send the signal. Actuation force is a bit high but it's been reliable so it would be nice if it could also function as a light switch.
So now my doorbell is going to ring every time one of my neighbours turns their lights on and off aswell as every time one of their doorbells ring too !
There are models of these that do the same as the door bell button you mention. A few of the Electrician YT channels e.g Nick Bundy have featured them in installations.
The SAW is an acoustic band pass filter. The piezoelectric substrate is vibrated by the applied electrical signal. That signal propagates though the substrate at the speed of sound in that material. The vibrations in the piezoelectric material produce an electric field that is picked up by electrodes that are printed on that substrate. The spacing and pattern of the electrodes are based on the desired response and the speed of the acoustic wave in the substrate. The band pass characteristic favors a narrow range of frequencies at the collector passing them through to the base. The signal is phase delayed because of the time for the acoustic wave to propagate. This band pass characteristic plus the delay set up the conditions for the RF transistor to oscillate at the bandpass frequency of the filter.
Once very nice feature that I like about these, is that you can put the switch anywhere you like, even if that's your bedside cabinet, the table next to your chair, in your pocket or even on the back of your front door if you so wished. All without rewiring, so the switch can go wherever is best and most convenient for you.
A few years ago, I installed a few of that type of switch. Mine look more like a conventional wall switch. I used them to divide and control kitchen countertop lighting. The annoying thing about them is they take seconds to handshake when turning off or on. Congrats on getting over 7 million total views! Who would have thought reverse engineering would draw so many viewers.
The RunLessWire ZigBee switches use so little power that they use the energy of the paddle being pressed to send a signal. I don't have any but I do have Lutron smart dimmers that clip on top of a regular light switch. The tiny CR2032 battery inside lasts surprisingly long.
All jokes aside, I assume this would start showing symptoms of a low battery, the same as tv remote for example. And start taking several attempts to turn on. That would be the signal to change batteries. I have 4 different versions of this around my home. In as many years of hard use I believe I changed the battery once in each. After it took several tries to turn the light or fan on. I'm a proponent of using these in several applications for several reasons. Bad wiring come to mind. Love your stuff Clive.
Thats the most out dated comment ive seen in a while, unless if you buy cheap china crap, then the big name brands uses the energy from the button being pressed to power its self.
@@christopherf8160 Its that reliable? I bought a bunch of Merkury lights. Egads, have to be on 2.4 wifi, with geeni android app. Hmm, ive reverted most of them to manual switch. Its simpler. And I dont like the relentless blinking they do when they forget their programming
Those things are great, I have a keyfob remote in my pocket so if I need extra light when I'm working in the back yard I just turn the floodlights on, which saves me from walking indoors to switch them on. 👌 At the same time, I try to walk/run at least 10000 steps a day so my goals do contradict each other from time to time, but who can resist fun electronic gadgetry 😁
The modular design is really nice to see, and very well executed. The only criticism I would have, is the direct mechanical action on the tactile switches. A sprung engagement that protects the switches from "too energetic operation" would be a great refinement. I'm sure we all recognise that problem? Thanks Clive.
Join the club LOL... I've just been flicking through Big C"s video's...have you seen "Do cattle prods hurt" 11th March 2018...love this guy and subjects he covers!! 👉💎👈👉🇬🇧👈
Radio-controlled doorbells use them, at least mine does. I've heard them referred to as "lighter batteries" but have never come across such a lighter. Maybe those used for stoves, barbecues etc. do, or have done in the past?
0:00 I have been watching a lot of Hydraulic Press Channel videos where they simulate taking things 3km under the sea by putting them in a tank of pressurised water. That light bulb looks as if it's had a session with them before you got to use it...
Brilliant idea, and will probably become standard in new houses or rewires before long, as that would save heck of a lot of wiring and messing up of walls during rewires!
Since houses these days seem to only use LED or CF lighting, one of the things that I considered doing at one point was to rewire my entire house so that the traditional light switches were removed and only small momentary contact button-type switches were put in their place. I figured that in a electrical box that normally only held a single light switch, I could easily put 6 of the small momentary contact switches and maybe even 8 of them. Instead of the normal gauge wire, a much smaller gauge wire could be used. It would even be possible to just run a length of CAT-5 cable to the box and have 8 conductors (which would allow for up to 7 switches). Each of these switches would be connected back to a centrally located microcontroller (e.g. Arduino) which would constantly be polling the switches to determine if they had been pressed and if so, what operation to perform. I figured that it might be nice to have at least 3 of the momentary contact switches in each electrical box -- one to control the light in that room, one to control all the lights in neighboring rooms, and one to control all the lights in the entire house. As such, from any switch plate, you could press a single button to turn all the lights in the house on or off, which would be a good security feature (besides, it's always good to be able to identify your target before you shoot it). This would also allow for automation of the lights randomly so that the house would appear lived in while you are away on vacation. I wrote the Arduino code to do it and created a proof of concept test bed, but I never actually implemented it in my house because I don't like crawling around in fiberglass in the attic to run the wires. I'm a retired old fart and I just don't have the motivation to do things like that anymore... Because of the low wattage requirements of LED lights these days, you could probably run every light in the house off of a single 15A circuit. 15A circuit, 120V, gives you 1800W... 10W per bulb gives you 180 bulbs maximum... That's plenty for most houses...The Arduino code would keep track of the current state of each of the lights and use relays to provide power to the bulbs... It would also map the various buttons with the lights that the button should control or zone of lights... It would even be possible to control multiple zones with a single pair of wires go to the electrical box if you uses resistors to create a voltage ladder and read the pins in analog mode instead of digital... At some point though, you will run out of pins on the Arduino board, so it would be necessary to distribute the processing across multiple boards... My background is in distributed processing and embedded systems, so such a design just seemed natural to me... An even better idea might be wire up 12V LED lighting in the rooms so that you don't have to use the typical LED bulbs which are prone to failure from the other components in the bulbs, not the LED per se... When I've disassembled LED bulbs that I failed, it always seems that it is the other components that fail, not the LED itself...
There are at least 3 houses in our street that have door bells with the same frequency and are close enough to each other to interact, when one doorbell is pressed all three ring !
@@ian-c.01 I had to replace our doorbell as a neighbor close by had a doorbell that would ring ours. Weirdly ours didn't ring theirs! Thankfully no such problem with the new setup 🙏
The mechanical interface is highly important (planarity) when implementing user switches (buttons) via cheapish tactile switches. The angle of incidence (on cheapish) switches can greatly change the resistance of the connection.
you should really go for zigbee controllers or z-wave instead of generic rf stuffy type stuff.. they are many magnitudes more energy efficient, more flexible and more secure
Yes, me too - especially as the Quinetic switch is piezzo powered and doesn't need batteries (I was wondering if anyone had requested that already, thank you!).
Thanks for the video! I wasn't quite aware of how cheaply and readily available these kinds of switches are. I looked into it, and it seems like the protocol will be really easy to read out with a standard microcontroller. I made myself a fully DIY smart home controller already, and it might have a pin or two free for an RF signal reader. Could be a lot of fun to use these ready-made units!
That antenna is neat. Just bridge the gap for a longer run for the lower frequency. That way it's always in resonance no matter what frequency you choose making it much more efficient.
The modularity of these switches must be a dream for an assembly system design engineer, because it means you can essentially build a single production line to assemble all versions of the switch, with only minimal configuration and setup for each production run, saving space, money and time, it's extremely well designed with production in mind.
the reason that double sided tape is in a recess like that is so you first remove the protective layer on the side that goes to the wall, stick it, then the pads got stuck on it, and you stick the switch back edit: 1:57
But the odds of getting those sticky pads right back in their slots are slim to none. It’s a lot easier to stick the pads to the switch then stick the switch to the wall
Very handy, especially in the UK where walls, including interior walls, are often solid masonry instead of hollow stick-built and drywall as is the case in North America. Alterations in the UK can be a major operation, not just fishing a cable down a wall cavity.
This reminds me of my 4 button garage door fob replacement that I got recently. It had 4 buttons as promised, but the bottom two operated the same receiver oddly enough, so it only operated 3 things. I set it to the two garage doors, and one of the lights.
I saw one on an electricians channel earlier today. The reciever was built into the replacement AC switch. And then you could pair additional kinetic switches. No need for that seperate receiver on the light side. And the kinetic switches obviously don't need any battery or wiring 👍
As a child I would take things apart (sneaky me). looking at the green circuit board and all the small water towers, roadways, tanks and buildings, this was clearly a small city. I was only trained by Godzilla on how to handle small buildings and towns, smash. So many many electronic towns got the hammer pre maturely... I always wondered and was fascinated by circuit boards, often wondered if anyone could look at one and know just where the electricity starts goes what happens to it and where it goes, step by step just by looking at it. Thanks for being that guy for me.
I was wondering, if you lived in a semi detached or terrace, if your neighbours had the same setup would you end up switching each other’s lights on and off?
Nah, the codes are effectively unique. I bought two lamps with remotes using this kind of chip, at the same time, and I have to use both remotes, to my disappointment. (I can't get to the receiver in the lamp to reprogram it) But a Sonoff RF bridge, with firmware replaced by Tasmota, could learn the codes so I can click one button on screen and switch them both.
The output resistor is likely there to dampen signal reflections and noise pickup from the antenna that would otherwise add modulation to the oscillator's output.
Video request: I wonder if you would consider doing a ‘modifying an led driver’ video to show the different configurations to extend the life of leds and save power at the same time. I’m sure many would be interested in doing this. I’ll repost this in a few upcoming videos in the hopes you’ll see it. Thank you for sharing your knowledge & expertise!
It's very likely that the component below the 47R resistor in the schematic is an inductor, there's little reason to use a capacitor there, but an inductor would help to match the short antenna to the long wavelength of 433MHz.
Note to all Radio Hams, The 70-centimeter or 440 MHz band is a portion of the UHF radio spectrum internationally allocated to amateur radio and amateur satellite use. The ITU amateur radio allocation is from 430 to 440 MHz; however, some countries, such as the United States, allocate hams 420 to 450 MHz. So if you want to have fun with your Neighbour's 433Mhz remote switches,Door bells and Garage door openers. Sit in there Street putting out 400 Watts RF on 433Mhz to disable there devices.😉😊.
@Big Clive. Saw filters come in both ceramic and quartz varieties. The ceramic ones drift a bit and have a wider bandpass (they can be used as part of a down converter). I believe the ceramic ones can work up to a few MHZ (for the output) but I have only ever seen them in 455KHz varieties. Quartz tends to be used up to about a GHz. After that I believe (but I'm not sure) that either capacitive down converters are used (which are pretty noisy) or possibly a circulator? To be honest I use ready made units for 10GHz as they are cheap as anything as they are just slightly modified satellite LNB's.
It may last a lot longer than you think: I installed a ceiling fan with light with a similar radio remote powered by a 9v battery more than 5 years ago and it’s still using the original battery. It is the main light in our kitchen and gets used several times each day.
To follow up on a comment from @Gerallt Griffiths : A quick google of Sunrom EV1527 to find the spec. It has only a super basic preamble (a H/L of fixed length), 20 bits for the main "OTP sequence" followed by 4 bits from the 4 innput pins, so total 24 bits of payload, and that's it. No device id, no vendor id, no checksum. Bits H/L are identified by their period (H is 3 clocks on, 1 clock off; L is 1 clock on, 3 clocks off). Collisions, what collisions? Even though the spec calls it that way, it's not an OTP (from a software engineering point of view) since it's a fixed 20 bit code and not any kind of rolling code at all. Which means it's not secure at all, being prone to sniffing / replay attacks using something as trivial as some random arduino. How many times do consumers need to burned by "Smart" / IoT devices with super weak security only for OEMs to act surprised when the thing is trivially abused?
Sometimes it feels like Clive will never get into hell or paradise, but rather into a different place where he would be dismantled and reverse engineered. Jokes aside, the content of this channel is extremely addictive.
wing wang? you mean Yin Yang :) and to help out the Cllive'ster... the unmarked inductor at the top (which is shown common to the 27k resistor) is there for RF isolation.. (RF choking) and 'L6' is basically the "modulator" (dirty modulator, hehe) the unmarked cap to the left of the SAW resonator is for bypass (to complete the filter circuit with the inductor mentioned above); the rest: Clive, pretty much, has spot-on. :)
This is for a very simple form of pulling it off. DrZzs has a good channel, and regularly mentions/links back to other channels really big into setting up home automation with relatively budget friendly bits. It just requires a spare pc that's always running, or a raspberry pi on the same network(it's really advised to have a separate network or vlan setup for home automation/iot stuff)
4:00 That symbol you meant is Taijitu - on west commonly named wrong as _yin and yang_ (which would represent completely opposite idea than intended). Taijitu has a little different shape.
The one real gotcha on these is that they are very easy to intercept and decode as they transmit the same code every time. They are not recommended for things that could cause injury or other risks, as a malicious actor could potentially trigger your switch, or even a poorly transmitted code that was close enough. Both probably unlikely, but something to keep in mind.
I looked at stuff like the Phillips hue and came to the conclusion that it was a solution looking for a problem I didn’t have. 😀 Also it is probably better for my health that I get up and go to the light switch.
I thought the same until I recently found a real use case. My night vision is deteriorating with age, so I need to be able to turn on a hall light and one in my living room. However the switches are not close, so would have involved relocating and my landlord wasn't keen. So now I have a couple of wireless switched adapters from TCP which I can control with an app in my phone. I chose the ones I bought because they were available from a local supplier in the UK, and they worked without needing a cloud service, although they can use one. Programming is done via bluetooth and operation is by wifi. They connect to my home network and can be operated by the app, from a Google Home or Alexa. Clives point about being able to control lighting and other circuits without lots of extra wiring is correct. Yes mood lighting might be fun, but being able to have remote control is great for anyone with mobility or visual problems.
@@sadiqmohamed681 hello Sadiq. I'm wondering if 'motion sensors' would be a better choice for your situation ? I have a very intense hate for WiFi. I too have a landlord, and this house is over 100 yrs old. I have every room and hallway lit by LED string lights, a few hundred LEDs in total. Each room has small Solar Panel (5" × 4") in the window. The LEDs are illuminated all day and night, but at low intensity. A motion sensor switches them to full intensity. My electric bill is down by 1/3rd, so the setup has payed for itself. Did I mention that I hate WiFi, and most "wireless" doohickies, including mobile phones. I am a ham radio / amateur radio guy.
@@snakezdewiggle6084 LOL SDW "I hate radio transmitters and receivers in things" Other "OK, fair enough. There are lots of radio waves about, so I don't blame you. Do you have a hobby/interest?" SDW "Well, hmmm" 😁
@@bennylloyd-willner9667 Hi Benny, my hobby/interest have always been electronics/ radio/ robotics/ computers, and have worked in these industries also. I guess I'm a bit paranoid about security while more and more things can transmit your data and information. The other hate is that all these transmitters create so much RFI and EMI.
@@snakezdewiggle6084 yeah, I know what you mean, I just couldn't help myself finding it funny to dislike wireless stuff being a radio person 📻😊 Be safe, healthy and happy, mate!
You know what, I recently saw an “iceberg” style light bulb for sale. It had amber colored glass or plastic, and it had an Edison style LED filament in it.
The wavelength is based on the speed of sound in the piezoelectric material, which is slower than the speed of light; so the wavelength is shorter than a radio wave travelling through the air.
Quite a neat design, lets be honest everything you take apart comes from eBay. I must admit I am gulty of buying stuff solely to take it apart. It is amazing how simple radio cicuits are these days.
Nice unit, I might get one or a few, would make my life a little ease I dont need to drive my wheelchair in to the wall to get near the light switch. 2x👍
I bought a set of remote controlled bulbs from Ikea, the remote unit is a small round thing you can easily carry around or keep on a table or whatever. on/off, brightness and some color temperature control is a pretty nifty thing to have. Although I can never quite get the temperature to what I want :) Brightness adjustment works really well though and the remote unit feels solid.
Greetings from Georgia USA. You know I love my big Clive. My curiosity kicks in and I have to ask what kind of range can the little RF unit reach to ? If I'm not mistaken the RF can penetrate wall and windows. Take care Big Clive.
R433! Yes! I know that. I have played a tiny bit with a usb software defined radio. One of the little projects I used it for was picking up R433 signals from weather and temperature stations. You can also pick up remotes like this and some times car key fobs. I want to get one of those weather stations that does like everything one day and do something with the data.
We had this type of thing at least twenty years ago fitted in a lab the receivers were large then though and I think they were made by Fitzgerald lighting. The idea was that the walls of the lab could be moved around and there was no hard wiring installed for the lighting.
Please do a video on receiver / power supply. I'm in need of a good quality 110v to 12v dc power supply. Being able to turn aforementioned power supply on and of remotely, would be great.
Etl intertek is one of the product standard certification organizations for the usa, usually required for anything that plugs in to mains power (etl or ul). Lots of these less mainstream devices don't have certifications, so your insurance may refuse to pay if a fire occurs and they decide the non-certified device may be involved.
In regards to sticking it to a wall the wall The switch module if you want to call hit that remote whatever! My suggestion would be to use 3M command Velcro. It solves a few problems one if something goes wrong or otherwise. And last chance of damage just trying to get it open and change a battery as well! you can get off the wall usually intact at least with the wall obviously not the Command Adhesive itself. Have seen sometimes wear that doesn't go according to plan. Trick is doing it slowly when you pull the tab for removal. but still better than other methods. that could get at least more destructive or you're not permitted to do in your residence if renting Etc. But one thing I've done previously especially if it's for my own personal use on my own furniture. If I wanted to mount something with velcro brought the strips are too large to fit the exact spot that it would work best. Or protrusions on the back and or curved surfaces or sloped in a way that is it practical. Used to cut it shorter and use it that way. Once installed a battery rack a piece of furniture that way. You do need to get creative with mounting things sometimes! Don't be afraid to experiment!
3:51 Yin Yang Very interesting, that they just turn the carrier frequency on and off to modulate the data. I guess it can be considered digital amplitude modulation sort of... Pretty neat. What's with the LED? As far as I can tell it's just supposed to be an indicator that lights up when a button is pressed? P.S. I think it's really awesome that you show so many devices from the inside, reverse engineer them, discuss ways to modify them etc. It's like a very in depth review. And there have been some cases where I was looking for some specific device and ended up buying something you featured, just because I like to know a little more precisely what I'm actually buying. And while I know Chinese sellers like to randomly change things up a little from time to time. For the most part the things I bought matched what you showed in your videos fairly closely (also from the inside). Anyway ... I just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge with us all.
Another great vid thanks Clive. I noticed the pcb has a place for all the angry Ant's. Have to say that I hate these type of transmitters, with their square wave and sawtooth generators. Very radioactive radio-noisy.
I was just recalling my RF training - ‘one over 2pi - root LC is the resonant frequency’ it was a verse taught to us all (just can’t find a way to show the formula on here ;-))
Can you also do a follow up video please investigating the Quinetic wireless switches that need no battery and use the (Piezo?) energy from pressing the switch to power the transmitter.
That is very well thought out light switch. 12V battery? Really, what sort of battery do you need? Anyway, I like it a lot and a timed one could be left outside under the porch so one press would give you enough time to put the key in and open the door. Very well thought out switches, one of the best I have seen. Thank you Clive for bringing it to our attention. EDIT: Waiting to see how to programme them.
One receiver I've tried does offer a timing function. If you had the two way version of this switch it could be configured as one switch being on/off and the other being a timed lighting for 5 to 20 seconds.
It would be handy to have such a setup in this house, given the kitchen and living room lights really could do with two-way switching, but lacking such wiring, but altering the wiring to include foreign-sourced devices of dubious quality could be a problem for the landlords... :P
Those little batteries are expensive but I’ve seen them last quite a long time in garage-door remote controls - though those are often used only twice a day or so.
I like the way the switches covers open up. Nice.
Almost like someone at the factory cared...
It was someone who had been at the factory but now was in the office behind a keyboard on a CAD workstation...
Not that they cared, but having it hinged meant they saved 20 seconds in assembly, doubling output volume.
@@SeanBZA and makes customers happy, selling more of that volume. Unlike british "ship the prototype" approaches
That symbol you’re thinking of is Yin and Yang, and it’s not so much about good and evil as it is about the duality of dark and light, separate but intertwined, each containing a bit of the other.
I'm looking forward to learning about the receiver, too.
yes same
2:32 “those little plastic bits will be fun to fit back into pla... oh my gods they hinge !!!” 🤯
Never thought I would hear Clive say "I particulaly like the way that this one's flaps open" 14:57
I don't think Clive likes flaps, generally...
LOL, I wouldn't expect anything else from him
😂
This stack of little 1.5V button cells amuses me a lot. Clive is so resourceful!
If you open those batteries, they are often made from a stack of button cells, just like that. Also some 9 volt batteries are a six pack of AAAA cells.
@@RambozoClown the last PP3 battery I opened was a stack of rectangular cells. Probably six. Those with LR61 inside I've never opened.
I bought a pair of floor lamps with similar remotes recently. Fortunately they included the batteries.
A23 battery is literally that, 8 button cells in a paper sleeve, crimped into a steel tube with a top insulator and contact, and a bottom insulator, wave washer and contact. Under 30p each when you buy the no name brand ones, and they last for a year or two in a remote fob. I tend to modify the fob and add a tantalum capacitor across the battery, any value from 10 to 47uF 16V and higher, generally removed from a board that has failed for some other reason, so the rising internal resistance does not cause it to stop running. More than doubles the battery operational life, and it will still operate till the point the led is dim.
Interesting that while the microcontroller is programmable, I bet the same program is in all models of the switch. That way they can maximize the size of the order from the chip manufacturer to get the lowest cost. Then they use the linkage bridge to control how the center button is interpreted, if at all.
Great example of modular pcb and packaging design.
SAW oscillator actually uses sound, in the name Surface Acoustic Wave. The tiny little piezo ceramic in there has a metallised top layer and a full metallised bottom, with the top etched to make a small acoustic transmitter generating sound in the top layer, generally 2 tiny metal bar structures, with a large one behind to damp the sound going that way, and then there is a pattern of metal on the top to focus the wave onto the receive array, which generates a small voltage as the wave hits. Stability is in the blend of oxides used to make the bulk, as it does not have a very high temperature coefficient, so stays dimensionally stable over the 0-70C range, at least within 1%. Trimming is done at manufacture, by controlling the thickness of the deposited top layer, so you get all being within a small narrow frequency range. But enough variation that they typically will have some that have poor range in use with the receiver.
Receiver uses the same SAW filter, just biased so it is barely on, the extra energy at the right frequency starts the receiver oscillating, and the extra current draw is sensed via a resistor and capacitively coupled via a low pass filter, to remove any RF present, to either a single transistor amplifier, or an opamp. Then this amplified signal is fed to the receiver, which is looking to recover a bit clock from it, and then the received data is deserialised, and compared to the code. 3 valid codes in sequence are normally required to provide an output that the button is pressed, at least for these non rolling code chipsets. Reduces the chance that noise will false trigger the output, or a non valid code with noise doing the same.
Rolling code chipsets do the same, just they have to get 3 sequential codes in the rolling code to do the same, making them more secure, though you lose the ability to have multiple buttons transmit the code, each one has to have a unique code. Thus you have to teach the remote each button, and it is harder to clone remotes.
SAWs are a blast from the past, I used them a few times (mainlt 3.58MHz ones) when designing circuits for RF comms (transmission) systems - mind you the devices were 5 times the size back then
SAWs were also used to provide the IF band-shaping in analogue TV receivers, replacing a whole bunch of tuned circuits, thus considerably simplifying manufacture.
@@davidfaraday3085 yup. The 3.58Mhz ones were ntsc subcarrier filters, but common as mud so used as frequency references in a number of circuits despite being in a pal 4.43Mhz country
@@miscbits6399 I wasn't talking about colour subcarrier filters, I was talking about IF band-shaping filters. These covered a band of 33 - 41 MHz (for system I) and had the necessary band-shaping to deal with the vestigial-sideband transmission system and provide the correct degree of attenuation of the sound carrier.
When NICAM came in separate IF amplifiers were used for vision and sound and new designs of SAW filters were introduced that had two outputs, one for the vision IF and the other for the sound IF.
Clive, I notice that the newer versions of this have “kinetic” switches so you don’t even need batteries in the remote. They even still quite up to 30m range!
It would be nice to see one of those reverse engineered; always wondered how they work after installing a couple for a friend...
@@AAAyyyGGG aren't they piezoelectric?
Many thanks for the video. I have now received 2 switches and for anyone interested in home automation I can confirm that a Sonoff RF Bridge (flashed with tasmota) can receive the separate switch codes that can then be controlled by MQTT, node-red and of course Home Assistant. Very useful!
The close-up images of the circuit board that you printed couldn't be any better. Great video as usual!
Hey haven't seen you here in a while but then again AT&T issues!💩
New place 2.
until now got fiber now less AT&T issues to complain about now.
yeah stay away from U-verse wherever possible.
I know U-verse is being depreciated or better gotten rid of?
Hopefully everything goes to fiber eventually!
At least where you can!
With U-verse.
Still over copper cable at least in some cases coming in basically fancy DSL.
Butt is affected by anything that could affect plain old telephone systems as well moisture mostly of course anything that would cause electrical issues yeah.
Referring to specifically interference with the signal but of course fiber only needs to worry about equipment and power to it pretty much less to have issues with since you don't need to worry about other influences that affect electrical signals with fiber optics.
But of course that comes with its own issues but overall high-reliability for the most part!
Beats cable right now getting 300 magnets roughly
Its so detailed you can actually probe the values off it
I believe "yin and yang" are the terms you're looking for.
Good and evil?
pepsi 🤔
Yeah it's Ying and Yang or Pepsi from Back to the Future
i was expecting them to be absolute trash inside. this is actually a good design for a multi switch setup AND it can be serviced...
wait, clive found something good on ebay?!?!?
You should perform a teardown of the new switches which work without the battery . They work solely from the kinetic energy of us pushing the switch
Piezoelectric ?
@@millomweb Isn't that the way an OLD TV remote worked. The one my father used to call "the clicker". ** EDIT** See my reply below for more information.
@@TechGorilla1987 Those were strictly acoustic and had no electronics
@@smeezekitty Well, turns out it's a little more complicated than that, and I would like to thank you for spurring me to go research some. Below is a snippet from a site I will link below. I'm not sure this is what I was talking about, but it sure is cool!
"The improved "Zenith Space Command" remote control went into commercial production in 1956. This time, Zenith engineer Robert Adler (1913-2007) designed the Space Command based on ultrasonics. Ultrasonic remote controls remained the dominant design for the next 25 years, and, as the name suggests, they worked using ultrasound waves.
The Space Command transmitter used no batteries. Inside the transmitter were four lightweight aluminum rods that emitted high-frequency sounds when struck at one end. Each rod was a different length to create a different sound that controlled a receiver unit built into the television. The first Space Command units were quite expensive for the consumer, because the device used six vacuum tubes in the receiver units that raised the price of a television by 30%. In the early 1960s, after the invention of the transistor, remote controls decreased in price and in size, as did all electronics. Zenith modified the Space Command remote control using the new benefits of transistor technology (and still using ultrasonics), creating small hand-held and battery-operated remote controls. Over nine million ultrasonic remote controls were sold."
www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-television-remote-control-1992384
@@TechGorilla1987 I remember the old Grundig TV of early 1970s that had a 20(!) function ultrasonic remote called Telepilot 12, and while it worked okay, every time one rattled a set of keys the set would turn off, mute or switch channels. So I honestly doubt that ultrasonic remote would be a wise choice for lighting remotes.
The "86 Type" has to do with the standard shape of the UK style back-box. They can be 1 gang or more. I think they are 86mm on one side. I'm in the US, so not an expert - except that I've run across these at work and had to figure it out.
It does look like the switchplate size.
@@bigclivedotcom Internal height of a standard wall box. Same in the US. Screw holes are 82mm apart. I know this because I modify 2 gangs all the time to make my own mounting boxes for cameras. Note you only get 80mm of square space because of the corners being octagonal. This becomes very important when your install involved burying network switches in wall boxes.
Yes, SAW stands for Surface Acoustic Wave. They're kind of like old-fangled quartz resonators but can be less temperature dependent because the surface wave velocity can be nonlinear and different in different directions, so they can be played against each other for greater stability. The larger ones are a carefully-dimensioned bit of glass with input and output piezo transducers bonded to them, the SMD ones are a single piece of piezo material with input and output connectors bonded to interdigitasl "launchers" and "receivers". The arrangement of the fingers, the "stretchiness" of the material, the dimensions of the substrate all play a part in determining the frequency of operation.
Lord Rayleigh predicted the effect way back when, but he didn't know about piezoelectricity so he couldn't build one.
Yes, I'm a physics/tech geek so they're cool as hell to me.
Thanks for that explanation - exactly the comment I was looking for. As an older electronics/amateur radio hobbyist, I'm familiar with quartz crystals, but didn't realize that these modern-day components were actually something different.
@@allenlutins You're welcome, glad to help.
I found out all of this kind of accidentally when someone gave me a dead TV for parts (I had the reputation of needing them to build stuff) and I found a 2" square plastic box with three leads labeled "SAW 1". Upon opening it I found the described small sheet of glass etc., and a few trips to the public library (this was pre-internet) educated me. I played with it for a week but never used it.
Twenty years later I got a job doing SMD board rework and there staring up at me through the magnifier was a really tiny metal/ceramic box labeled "SAW 1". A few keystrokes on the confuser later and I wasn't at all surprised to find it was a new iteration of my old friend.
Nice bit of design and a good explanation, thanks Clive.
I bought a pile of the flat style 433mhz switches you reviewed some time ago. They still work a treat. Tied in to a SonOff 433 bridge very easily.
Love that clive tries to read all the comments. Hope you have a good day :)
I do. But with 7.6million views over the last month it's beginning to get a lot harder.
Maybe he's figured a way to automate it- ;)
433 MHz is also used for doorbells which reminds me of a wireless doorbell button used at my parents house that uses a piezo crystal to harvest energy from the button press to send the signal. Actuation force is a bit high but it's been reliable so it would be nice if it could also function as a light switch.
So now my doorbell is going to ring every time one of my neighbours turns their lights on and off aswell as every time one of their doorbells ring too !
There are models of these that do the same as the door bell button you mention. A few of the Electrician YT channels e.g Nick Bundy have featured them in installations.
The SAW is an acoustic band pass filter. The piezoelectric substrate is vibrated by the applied electrical signal. That signal propagates though the substrate at the speed of sound in that material. The vibrations in the piezoelectric material produce an electric field that is picked up by electrodes that are printed on that substrate. The spacing and pattern of the electrodes are based on the desired response and the speed of the acoustic wave in the substrate. The band pass characteristic favors a narrow range of frequencies at the collector passing them through to the base. The signal is phase delayed because of the time for the acoustic wave to propagate. This band pass characteristic plus the delay set up the conditions for the RF transistor to oscillate at the bandpass frequency of the filter.
So how does an audio band filter manage to tune an oscillator at 433MHz?
@@petehiggins33 Because the sound wave is at 433 Mhz. Sound is not limited to frequencies we hear.
Once very nice feature that I like about these, is that you can put the switch anywhere you like, even if that's your bedside cabinet, the table next to your chair, in your pocket or even on the back of your front door if you so wished. All without rewiring, so the switch can go wherever is best and most convenient for you.
A few years ago, I installed a few of that type of switch. Mine look more like a conventional wall switch. I used them to divide and control kitchen countertop lighting. The annoying thing about them is they take seconds to handshake when turning off or on. Congrats on getting over 7 million total views! Who would have thought reverse engineering would draw so many viewers.
When the battery fails, you'll be in the dark searching for a replacement battery so you can turn on the lights.
Nah. "Alexa turn on bedroom light."
The RunLessWire ZigBee switches use so little power that they use the energy of the paddle being pressed to send a signal. I don't have any but I do have Lutron smart dimmers that clip on top of a regular light switch. The tiny CR2032 battery inside lasts surprisingly long.
All jokes aside, I assume this would start showing symptoms of a low battery, the same as tv remote for example. And start taking several attempts to turn on. That would be the signal to change batteries. I have 4 different versions of this around my home. In as many years of hard use I believe I changed the battery once in each. After it took several tries to turn the light or fan on. I'm a proponent of using these in several applications for several reasons. Bad wiring come to mind. Love your stuff Clive.
Thats the most out dated comment ive seen in a while, unless if you buy cheap china crap, then the big name brands uses the energy from the button being pressed to power its self.
@@christopherf8160 Its that reliable? I bought a bunch of Merkury lights. Egads, have to be on 2.4 wifi, with geeni android app. Hmm, ive reverted most of them to manual switch. Its simpler. And I dont like the relentless blinking they do when they forget their programming
Those things are great, I have a keyfob remote in my pocket so if I need extra light when I'm working in the back yard I just turn the floodlights on, which saves me from walking indoors to switch them on. 👌
At the same time, I try to walk/run at least 10000 steps a day so my goals do contradict each other from time to time, but who can resist fun electronic gadgetry 😁
The modular design is really nice to see, and very well executed. The only criticism I would have, is the direct mechanical action on the tactile switches. A sprung engagement that protects the switches from "too energetic operation" would be a great refinement. I'm sure we all recognise that problem? Thanks Clive.
9:28 I was fully unprepared for this. What a brilliant long chuckle that was. Excellent recovery, too, tbh.
Pulling off your PNP.
Lord help me.
I don't know anything about what you're even talking about mostly. But I love your videos, thanks for making them.
Just post your questions, we are mostly friendly here and someone will chime in to help, in the spirit of Clive's channel.
Join the club LOL... I've just been flicking through Big C"s video's...have you seen "Do cattle prods hurt" 11th March 2018...love this guy and subjects he covers!! 👉💎👈👉🇬🇧👈
Love that you use ferrules on your AC wires. Not many people do.
Didn't know anyone still used those little 12v batteries.
Have you looked at the batteryless transmitter switches that use a neat magnetic generator ?
I've not looked at one of those yet.
Some car keys and garage door openers use them.
Magnetic or piezo?
It'd be interesting to look at some of the battery-less ones, like the Quinetic stuff that I see sparkys like Nick Bundy installing!
Radio-controlled doorbells use them, at least mine does. I've heard them referred to as "lighter batteries" but have never come across such a lighter. Maybe those used for stoves, barbecues etc. do, or have done in the past?
What a nice design. Glad you got to the bottom of those 433MHz resonators (SAWs).
0:00 I have been watching a lot of Hydraulic Press Channel videos where they simulate taking things 3km under the sea by putting them in a tank of pressurised water. That light bulb looks as if it's had a session with them before you got to use it...
He crushed it in a Live stream on Saturday night. :-D
@@BoB4jjjjs guess that's what I missed.. hard to catch them.
Same, now I know which watch to wear when I kill myself by trying to dive that far down 😋
wouldnt mind seing what "the signal path" has to say about the RF circuit but it may be waaaaay below his pay grade lol
Brilliant idea, and will probably become standard in new houses or rewires before long, as that would save heck of a lot of wiring and messing up of walls during rewires!
Since houses these days seem to only use LED or CF lighting, one of the things that I considered doing at one point was to rewire my entire house so that the traditional light switches were removed and only small momentary contact button-type switches were put in their place. I figured that in a electrical box that normally only held a single light switch, I could easily put 6 of the small momentary contact switches and maybe even 8 of them. Instead of the normal gauge wire, a much smaller gauge wire could be used. It would even be possible to just run a length of CAT-5 cable to the box and have 8 conductors (which would allow for up to 7 switches). Each of these switches would be connected back to a centrally located microcontroller (e.g. Arduino) which would constantly be polling the switches to determine if they had been pressed and if so, what operation to perform. I figured that it might be nice to have at least 3 of the momentary contact switches in each electrical box -- one to control the light in that room, one to control all the lights in neighboring rooms, and one to control all the lights in the entire house. As such, from any switch plate, you could press a single button to turn all the lights in the house on or off, which would be a good security feature (besides, it's always good to be able to identify your target before you shoot it). This would also allow for automation of the lights randomly so that the house would appear lived in while you are away on vacation. I wrote the Arduino code to do it and created a proof of concept test bed, but I never actually implemented it in my house because I don't like crawling around in fiberglass in the attic to run the wires. I'm a retired old fart and I just don't have the motivation to do things like that anymore...
Because of the low wattage requirements of LED lights these days, you could probably run every light in the house off of a single 15A circuit. 15A circuit, 120V, gives you 1800W... 10W per bulb gives you 180 bulbs maximum... That's plenty for most houses...The Arduino code would keep track of the current state of each of the lights and use relays to provide power to the bulbs... It would also map the various buttons with the lights that the button should control or zone of lights... It would even be possible to control multiple zones with a single pair of wires go to the electrical box if you uses resistors to create a voltage ladder and read the pins in analog mode instead of digital... At some point though, you will run out of pins on the Arduino board, so it would be necessary to distribute the processing across multiple boards... My background is in distributed processing and embedded systems, so such a design just seemed natural to me...
An even better idea might be wire up 12V LED lighting in the rooms so that you don't have to use the typical LED bulbs which are prone to failure from the other components in the bulbs, not the LED per se... When I've disassembled LED bulbs that I failed, it always seems that it is the other components that fail, not the LED itself...
And the neighbor is wondering what the hell is going on with the garage door opener.
There are at least 3 houses in our street that have door bells with the same frequency and are close enough to each other to interact, when one doorbell is pressed all three ring !
@@ian-c.01 I had to replace our doorbell as a neighbor close by had a doorbell that would ring ours. Weirdly ours didn't ring theirs! Thankfully no such problem with the new setup 🙏
Cool devices. I like the design of the four way switch.
The mechanical interface is highly important (planarity) when implementing user switches (buttons) via cheapish tactile switches. The angle of incidence (on cheapish) switches can greatly change the resistance of the connection.
Brilliant piece of simple engineering! My local hardware store doesn't stock anything so well-thought-out.
Nice. These come over as very sensibly designed
you should really go for zigbee controllers or z-wave instead of generic rf stuffy type stuff..
they are many magnitudes more energy efficient, more flexible and more secure
As someone who installed them for years, they can also be many magnitudes more headache to configure and maintain. It's a trade-off I suppose.
I'd love to see a Quinetic brand or equivalent transmitter also, having seen them used on Nick Bundy, Artisan, CJR etc channels.
Yes, me too - especially as the Quinetic switch is piezzo powered and doesn't need batteries (I was wondering if anyone had requested that already, thank you!).
I came here to request the same. The self-powered switches seem really practical.
Thanks for the video!
I wasn't quite aware of how cheaply and readily available these kinds of switches are. I looked into it, and it seems like the protocol will be really easy to read out with a standard microcontroller. I made myself a fully DIY smart home controller already, and it might have a pin or two free for an RF signal reader. Could be a lot of fun to use these ready-made units!
That antenna is neat. Just bridge the gap for a longer run for the lower frequency.
That way it's always in resonance no matter what frequency you choose making it much more efficient.
The modularity of these switches must be a dream for an assembly system design engineer, because it means you can essentially build a single production line to assemble all versions of the switch, with only minimal configuration and setup for each production run, saving space, money and time, it's extremely well designed with production in mind.
the reason that double sided tape is in a recess like that is so you first remove the protective layer on the side that goes to the wall, stick it, then the pads got stuck on it, and you stick the switch back
edit: 1:57
The pads don't have to be stuck in those recesses either.
But the odds of getting those sticky pads right back in their slots are slim to none. It’s a lot easier to stick the pads to the switch then stick the switch to the wall
@@mrb692 That's clearly the obvious way to do it.
Very handy, especially in the UK where walls, including interior walls, are often solid masonry instead of hollow stick-built and drywall as is the case in North America. Alterations in the UK can be a major operation, not just fishing a cable down a wall cavity.
4:00 Ying/Yang
Yin.
@@SonofTheMorningStar666 LOL must of been the rum I was drinking as I did not mean to say Ying as I knew it was Yin lol
knowing my family the actual switches themselves wouldn't live long
It does look like something that kids would love to play with.
Hope Clive gets to 1 million subs, that would be awesome
This reminds me of my 4 button garage door fob replacement that I got recently. It had 4 buttons as promised, but the bottom two operated the same receiver oddly enough, so it only operated 3 things. I set it to the two garage doors, and one of the lights.
I saw one on an electricians channel earlier today.
The reciever was built into the replacement AC switch. And then you could pair additional kinetic switches.
No need for that seperate receiver on the light side.
And the kinetic switches obviously don't need any battery or wiring 👍
As a child I would take things apart (sneaky me). looking at the green circuit board and all the small water towers, roadways, tanks and buildings, this was clearly a small city. I was only trained by Godzilla on how to handle small buildings and towns, smash. So many many electronic towns got the hammer pre maturely... I always wondered and was fascinated by circuit boards, often wondered if anyone could look at one and know just where the electricity starts goes what happens to it and where it goes, step by step just by looking at it. Thanks for being that guy for me.
Apply high voltage at the start move leads apply again watch the city burn and blow up not a great way to repair but it is fascinating. Lol
I was wondering, if you lived in a semi detached or terrace, if your neighbours had the same setup would you end up switching each other’s lights on and off?
Only if you had the same code. As Clive mentioned something like a million options, so a 1 in a million chance.
@@RambozoClown Clyde ! Hahahahh
@@RambozoClown but you have to factor in Murphy's Law.
@@andymouse Too much Pac Man, I guess.
Nah, the codes are effectively unique. I bought two lamps with remotes using this kind of chip, at the same time, and I have to use both remotes, to my disappointment. (I can't get to the receiver in the lamp to reprogram it) But a Sonoff RF bridge, with firmware replaced by Tasmota, could learn the codes so I can click one button on screen and switch them both.
The output resistor is likely there to dampen signal reflections and noise pickup from the antenna that would otherwise add modulation to the oscillator's output.
Video request: I wonder if you would consider doing a ‘modifying an led driver’ video to show the different configurations to extend the life of leds and save power at the same time. I’m sure many would be interested in doing this.
I’ll repost this in a few upcoming videos in the hopes you’ll see it.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge & expertise!
3-way version looks like a zoom in on the atari logo
It's very likely that the component below the 47R resistor in the schematic is an inductor, there's little reason to use a capacitor there, but an inductor would help to match the short antenna to the long wavelength of 433MHz.
A 1/4-wave antenna would only be ~9 cm...
Note to all Radio Hams, The 70-centimeter or 440 MHz band is a portion of the UHF radio spectrum internationally allocated to amateur radio and amateur satellite use. The ITU amateur radio allocation is from 430 to 440 MHz; however, some countries, such as the United States, allocate hams 420 to 450 MHz.
So if you want to have fun with your Neighbour's 433Mhz remote switches,Door bells and Garage door openers. Sit in there Street putting out 400 Watts RF on 433Mhz to disable there devices.😉😊.
@Big Clive. Saw filters come in both ceramic and quartz varieties. The ceramic ones drift a bit and have a wider bandpass (they can be used as part of a down converter). I believe the ceramic ones can work up to a few MHZ (for the output) but I have only ever seen them in 455KHz varieties. Quartz tends to be used up to about a GHz. After that I believe (but I'm not sure) that either capacitive down converters are used (which are pretty noisy) or possibly a circulator? To be honest I use ready made units for 10GHz as they are cheap as anything as they are just slightly modified satellite LNB's.
Always wanted to replace batteries in my light switches.
It may last a lot longer than you think: I installed a ceiling fan with light with a similar radio remote powered by a 9v battery more than 5 years ago and it’s still using the original battery. It is the main light in our kitchen and gets used several times each day.
Given they only basically only have power when you press the button, those batteries will last a very long time.
@@TheGrumpypotter they should last at least as long as the battery in your car keyfob - 5 years+
To follow up on a comment from @Gerallt Griffiths : A quick google of Sunrom EV1527 to find the spec. It has only a super basic preamble (a H/L of fixed length), 20 bits for the main "OTP sequence" followed by 4 bits from the 4 innput pins, so total 24 bits of payload, and that's it. No device id, no vendor id, no checksum. Bits H/L are identified by their period (H is 3 clocks on, 1 clock off; L is 1 clock on, 3 clocks off). Collisions, what collisions?
Even though the spec calls it that way, it's not an OTP (from a software engineering point of view) since it's a fixed 20 bit code and not any kind of rolling code at all. Which means it's not secure at all, being prone to sniffing / replay attacks using something as trivial as some random arduino. How many times do consumers need to burned by "Smart" / IoT devices with super weak security only for OEMs to act surprised when the thing is trivially abused?
can confirm, have 'hacked' my own hardware using an arduino and a
Don't you know the saying: "IoT: the S is for security!"
Sometimes it feels like Clive will never get into hell or paradise, but
rather into a different place where he would be dismantled and reverse
engineered. Jokes aside, the content of this channel is extremely addictive.
the RF transistor is a 2SC3357 ... pretty standard and often used for these OOK transmitters
wing wang? you mean Yin Yang :)
and to help out the Cllive'ster...
the unmarked inductor at the top (which is shown common to the 27k resistor) is there for RF isolation.. (RF choking) and 'L6' is basically the "modulator" (dirty modulator, hehe) the unmarked cap to the left of the SAW resonator is for bypass (to complete the filter circuit with the inductor mentioned above); the rest: Clive, pretty much, has spot-on. :)
This is for a very simple form of pulling it off. DrZzs has a good channel, and regularly mentions/links back to other channels really big into setting up home automation with relatively budget friendly bits. It just requires a spare pc that's always running, or a raspberry pi on the same network(it's really advised to have a separate network or vlan setup for home automation/iot stuff)
4:00 That symbol you meant is Taijitu - on west commonly named wrong as _yin and yang_ (which would represent completely opposite idea than intended).
Taijitu has a little different shape.
i love that wrinkled light. every time i see it i cant stop laughing at how silly that is ahahah.
Yin/yang is what you were thinking of, Mr. Clive.
The one real gotcha on these is that they are very easy to intercept and decode as they transmit the same code every time. They are not recommended for things that could cause injury or other risks, as a malicious actor could potentially trigger your switch, or even a poorly transmitted code that was close enough. Both probably unlikely, but something to keep in mind.
I'd never recommend using these for a safety or security critical task. Just convenient control of things like lights.
@@bigclivedotcom Of course that same feature also makes it hackable for reasons that could be helpful for certain types of projects.
I looked at stuff like the Phillips hue and came to the conclusion that it was a solution looking for a problem I didn’t have. 😀
Also it is probably better for my health that I get up and go to the light switch.
I thought the same until I recently found a real use case. My night vision is deteriorating with age, so I need to be able to turn on a hall light and one in my living room. However the switches are not close, so would have involved relocating and my landlord wasn't keen. So now I have a couple of wireless switched adapters from TCP which I can control with an app in my phone. I chose the ones I bought because they were available from a local supplier in the UK, and they worked without needing a cloud service, although they can use one. Programming is done via bluetooth and operation is by wifi. They connect to my home network and can be operated by the app, from a Google Home or Alexa. Clives point about being able to control lighting and other circuits without lots of extra wiring is correct. Yes mood lighting might be fun, but being able to have remote control is great for anyone with mobility or visual problems.
@@sadiqmohamed681 hello Sadiq. I'm wondering if 'motion sensors' would be a better choice for your situation ? I have a very intense hate for WiFi. I too have a landlord, and this house is over 100 yrs old. I have every room and hallway lit by LED string lights, a few hundred LEDs in total. Each room has small Solar Panel (5" × 4") in the window. The LEDs are illuminated all day and night, but at low intensity. A motion sensor switches them to full intensity. My electric bill is down by 1/3rd, so the setup has payed for itself. Did I mention that I hate WiFi, and most "wireless" doohickies, including mobile phones. I am a ham radio / amateur radio guy.
@@snakezdewiggle6084 LOL
SDW "I hate radio transmitters and receivers in things"
Other "OK, fair enough. There are lots of radio waves about, so I don't blame you. Do you have a hobby/interest?"
SDW "Well, hmmm" 😁
@@bennylloyd-willner9667 Hi Benny, my hobby/interest have always been electronics/ radio/ robotics/ computers, and have worked in these industries also. I guess I'm a bit paranoid about security while more and more things can transmit your data and information. The other hate is that all these transmitters create so much RFI and EMI.
@@snakezdewiggle6084 yeah, I know what you mean, I just couldn't help myself finding it funny to dislike wireless stuff being a radio person 📻😊
Be safe, healthy and happy, mate!
I had a fascination with these things as a kid. As an adult I have a fascination with these things. =P Love your videos.
I just love the squished light bulb xD
The yin-yang circle? It usually has one dark, one light, with an opposing dot on each side though. But it does have that S shape down the middle.
You know what, I recently saw an “iceberg” style light bulb for sale. It had amber colored glass or plastic, and it had an Edison style LED filament in it.
The wavelength is based on the speed of sound in the piezoelectric material, which is slower than the speed of light; so the wavelength is shorter than a radio wave travelling through the air.
Quite a neat design, lets be honest everything you take apart comes from eBay. I must admit I am gulty of buying stuff solely to take it apart.
It is amazing how simple radio cicuits are these days.
Nice unit, I might get one or a few, would make my life a little ease I dont need to drive my wheelchair in to the wall to get near the light switch. 2x👍
I bought a set of remote controlled bulbs from Ikea, the remote unit is a small round thing you can easily carry around or keep on a table or whatever. on/off, brightness and some color temperature control is a pretty nifty thing to have. Although I can never quite get the temperature to what I want :) Brightness adjustment works really well though and the remote unit feels solid.
@@benbaselet2026 Thank you that sounds ideal.I have just looked on the website and bought a couple.👍
Use PIR switches.
Try voice controlled WiFi smart switches and plugs controlled by Alexa or Google Home etc. It makes life far easier!
Greetings from Georgia USA. You know I love my big Clive.
My curiosity kicks in and I have to ask what kind of range can the little RF unit reach to ? If I'm not mistaken the RF can penetrate wall and windows. Take care Big Clive.
I'm guessing with 10mW limit and a fixed PCB antenna about 20-25ft, but with a better tuned antenna probably get it up to a 100ft
@@imranahmad2733 I am greatfull there are those that possess knowledge beyond my own. thank you for your information
@@SilverTopFlyer no worries knowledge is our friend, we can all learn from each other
I've not tested the range, but there are specifically long range ones available.
R433! Yes! I know that. I have played a tiny bit with a usb software defined radio. One of the little projects I used it for was picking up R433 signals from weather and temperature stations. You can also pick up remotes like this and some times car key fobs. I want to get one of those weather stations that does like everything one day and do something with the data.
We had this type of thing at least twenty years ago fitted in a lab the receivers were large then though and I think they were made by Fitzgerald lighting. The idea was that the walls of the lab could be moved around and there was no hard wiring installed for the lighting.
I like that blue-ringed button especially :D
It is very neat.
the ones that get their own power from the push action of the button are really nice.
Wallmount switches which also have an receiver are also useful as they could control the attached wired lamp like before
Please do a video on receiver / power supply. I'm in need of a good quality 110v to 12v dc power supply. Being able to turn aforementioned power supply on and of remotely, would be great.
Just add a smart switch or socket for remote control.
Greetings. I work for Lowe's. the smart socket would be affordable and very easy to install. hope you are well
Smart socket, or a Sonoff module, are likely a good bet. Heck, the Sonoff stuff is even etl certified now.
@@rpavlik1 greetings from Georgia. Hope you are well may I ask what is etl. thank you for the info
Etl intertek is one of the product standard certification organizations for the usa, usually required for anything that plugs in to mains power (etl or ul). Lots of these less mainstream devices don't have certifications, so your insurance may refuse to pay if a fire occurs and they decide the non-certified device may be involved.
In regards to sticking it to a wall the wall
The switch module if you want to call hit that remote whatever!
My suggestion would be to use 3M command Velcro.
It solves a few problems one if something goes wrong or otherwise.
And last chance of damage just trying to get it open and change a battery as well!
you can get off the wall usually intact at least with the wall obviously not the Command Adhesive itself.
Have seen sometimes wear that doesn't go according to plan.
Trick is doing it slowly when you pull the tab for removal.
but still better than other methods.
that could get at least more destructive or you're not permitted to do in your residence if renting Etc.
But one thing I've done previously especially if it's for my own personal use on my own furniture.
If I wanted to mount something with velcro brought the strips are too large to fit the exact spot that it would work best.
Or protrusions on the back and or curved surfaces or sloped in a way that is it practical.
Used to cut it shorter and use it that way.
Once installed a battery rack a piece of furniture that way.
You do need to get creative with mounting things sometimes!
Don't be afraid to experiment!
3:51 Yin Yang
Very interesting, that they just turn the carrier frequency on and off to modulate the data. I guess it can be considered digital amplitude modulation sort of... Pretty neat. What's with the LED? As far as I can tell it's just supposed to be an indicator that lights up when a button is pressed?
P.S. I think it's really awesome that you show so many devices from the inside, reverse engineer them, discuss ways to modify them etc. It's like a very in depth review. And there have been some cases where I was looking for some specific device and ended up buying something you featured, just because I like to know a little more precisely what I'm actually buying. And while I know Chinese sellers like to randomly change things up a little from time to time. For the most part the things I bought matched what you showed in your videos fairly closely (also from the inside).
Anyway ... I just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge with us all.
When I press this button a sign lights up saying "Please do not press this button".
They should have sponsored you for this lol one of the better reviews :)
Great as they are, don't you think they look a bit tacky? Fab video as always Clive. Thanks for never failing to entertain :)
They are available in a a traditional square switch style too.
Another great vid thanks Clive. I noticed the pcb has a place for all the angry Ant's. Have to say that I hate these type of transmitters, with their square wave and sawtooth generators. Very radioactive radio-noisy.
I was just recalling my RF training - ‘one over 2pi - root LC is the resonant frequency’ it was a verse taught to us all (just can’t find a way to show the formula on here ;-))
I literally JUST looked up the ZigBee equivalent switches, then saw your video shortly after lol.
Just found this channel, loving the style of videos!
Can you also do a follow up video please investigating the Quinetic wireless switches that need no battery and use the (Piezo?) energy from pressing the switch to power the transmitter.
That is very well thought out light switch. 12V battery? Really, what sort of battery do you need? Anyway, I like it a lot and a timed one could be left outside under the porch so one press would give you enough time to put the key in and open the door.
Very well thought out switches, one of the best I have seen. Thank you Clive for bringing it to our attention.
EDIT: Waiting to see how to programme them.
The battery is a A24 lithium 12 volt
One receiver I've tried does offer a timing function. If you had the two way version of this switch it could be configured as one switch being on/off and the other being a timed lighting for 5 to 20 seconds.
@@bigclivedotcom 20 seconds is all you need to get the key in a door. :-))
@@dri50 Thanks.
Thanks for the good video Clive 😁 have a good night everyone 👍
It would be handy to have such a setup in this house, given the kitchen and living room lights really could do with two-way switching, but lacking such wiring, but altering the wiring to include foreign-sourced devices of dubious quality could be a problem for the landlords... :P
Try smart lightbulbs instead, IKEA or Hue are cheap enough. I used them in a rented house that didn’t have a light switch by the back door
RF 84, likely similar to a 2SC3356 to amplify the SAW. Seems to me the SAW had about 0dbm power and the amp brought it up to about +10dbm...
Saws are filters. The transistor is the oscillator which implies an amplifier.
Those little batteries are expensive but I’ve seen them last quite a long time in garage-door remote controls - though those are often used only twice a day or so.
Love the bulb.