Inside a flame effect humidifier (with schematic)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2022
- These seem to be pretty common on eBay, so I got one to take to bits.
The circuitry is quite evolved, with a microcontroller controlling both the ultrasonic atomiser disk and also a boost circuit for stepping the voltage up.
There are locations on the PCB for extra filtering, that have been bridged by zero ohm links. I'd guess the designer wanted to keep their options open. That's also reflected in the extra LED position, allowing the PCB to illuminate a water container directly. I'd guess this PCB may find its way into other products too.
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/ bigclive
#ElectronicsCreators - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
It emulates a burning toaster quite well, if you are looking for that kind of thing
It does look like a burning toaster.
@@bigclivedotcom Burning toaster or not - I'm pretty sure it'll produce horribly soggy toast...
@@KernelLeak It could be part of an untoaster: th-cam.com/video/hC8pLdfcR_s/w-d-xo.html
Call me a Luddite if you will but I prefer to experience a flaming toaster the old fashioned way, like my parents and grandparents before me .. now to reheat last night's pizza .. 🤣
Ah, burning toasters! I used to buy a used toaster occasionally, put two toaster pastries in each slot, tie down the lever with a bit of wire, sit the toaster on a bit of outdoor pavement and plug it into a stout extension cord… the flames were usually disappointing but somewhat amusing.
Gotta love the idea of Clive just disassembling random interesting electronics when staying over at someone's place
Was that an invite for Clive to stay at your place? Hahahaha
Clive asks if he can stay at your place: You say yes. By the time you get home, all your appliances have been dismantled and reverse engineered.
Student accommodation for work.
I like it. Definitely worth retrofitting into an old toaster.
I can this making an excellent addition to any office kitchen.
Looks like a toaster fire 🤣
A great hack for this would be to replace the LEDs with those “flickering flame” LEDs, I think it would improve the effect
Thats a great question.....hypothetical equation might be...quasi random effect×quasi random effect= xrandom effect (x the unknown)
@@rocket01astronomer Uh-huh.... Sure, sure
Imagine the panic in an office. Build into toaster, but electrically disconnect the power cord in the toaster. Set this up to run from a battery. Plug toaster in at office and set it going. Someone sees it, panics, turns off toaster, still keeps going, unplugs toaster, still keeps going, runs out screaming. 🤣😆🤓
with our current energy prices we probably gonna have to sit around one of these this winter and just imagine that it is warm inside the house, unless the water freeze in the device that is
Fill it with everclear!
@@Kineth1 might give an interesting mist affect too I suppose
Thank you for yet another well presented and informative video BC. It should be noted that all ultrasonic atomisers should be operated using pure distilled water. This is because tap water contains dissolved minerals and these will end up as a fine dust floating in the air when the water droplets evaporate. This will result in a fine dust being deposited on surfaces in the room and more importantly being inhaled. Rain water should not be used either as it invariably contains bacteria which will also end up suspended in the air and therefore can also be inhaled.
Yup, can testify that those atomizers can cause quite some "fallout" with unfiltered tap water. Our water is pretty heavy on limescale, and when we got an atomizer to improve RH during winter it caused a layer of fine white powder in a quite large radius around it. In our case it helped to add a bit of citric acid or vinegar to the water to mostly neutralize the limescale, massively reduced the fallout. Distilled water would probably be even better for long time usage (so the piezo disk and wicking stick don't clog), but IMHO it's fine for occasional use. We probably inhale more (harmful) particles thanks to the car traffic around our house than from the atomizer...
@@NiyaKouya thinking about it, the residues from the atomiser as soon as they hit the wet surfaces inside a human are going to turn into dissolved things pretty quick. Not going to be much different at that point to having a hot steamy shower. Qualitatively at least. I guess there could be some difference with duration of exposure. But yeah, if your water is that bad in the first place I'd be looking to fix that before I drank much of it anyway.
What about tap water that runs at 0.1dH? That's what we have here.
@@definitelynotashark1799 I'd say you're good
Are you sure? Every one of these I've ever seen has worked with tap water completely fine. As far as vapourising germs it doesn't seem like a particularly virulent source, not compared to the walking bacterial incubators and viral replication factories we call our "family" and "friends". We put up with them regardless, and I'm sure they pump more germs and moisture out, as well as being a more fertile microbial breeding ground.
I shouldn't think minerals will be much harm, they'll end up back in water again once they hit a mouth / throat / lung. It's only limescale anyway mostly. Carbonates of sodium and calcium. No harm, probably nutritious!
IF you were really worried I suppose you could put a drop of bleach in the water. Only a drop, like, you don't wanna end up vapourising that around the place as well! Maybe a nice drop of essential oil or something to cover the chlorine smell. Or some ozone! To randomly zip and unzip your DNA like the QA department in a trouser factory.
I would just like to clarify what the 5k1 resistors do. They simply say that this is a power sink and it is trying to connect. This causes the 5V to turn on. Because there is no Power Delivery protocol function included then the current that will be supplied will be either 3A, 1.5A or 'default current' which is a more vague and smaller current. This depends purely on what the Source is able to supply. If it isn't connected to a Type-C USB port, but a Type-A, then that will be switched on all the time (at 5V) and it will once again supply whatever current it can.
Using RGB LEDs would have been cool, so they could have flickering red/orange or throw some yellow/green into the blue occasionally.
I wonder if the unused LED pads are for an RBG version since the space for the SMD LED is much larger.
Would've been one of those cases where it might have been a practical use for RGBs. Still, the absence of them is refreshing! I'm sick to death of the cheap nasty bloody things. Everyone who owns one feels compelled to have ALL the colours, just to get value for money! Nasty little chintzy semiconductor rainbows everywhere. They're almost the pestilence that blue LEDs were a few years ago.
@@greenaum I like 'em.... 😁
Definitely worth retrofitting into mains distribution panels for the casual enjoyment of the installer.
Sadly in my area our humidity runs pretty much 90% and up during the summer so I really couldn't use one...but I do like the look...really neat :)
I feel your pain. It's basically a sauna in the Southern U.S. during the summer months. It's hard to explain to someone who has never experienced that particular type of moistness exactly what "swamp crotch" is. 😂
@@Unfinished80 We get mild dry winters though.
Same up here in my area of Canada, but we do need to use them in the winter. I own a humidifier and dehumidifier. 😂
I was thinking that maybe I can get one and just set the LED color to blue so it looks like it's putting out "cold" water :)
@@gregorythomas333 Ha!
There was a very fancy fireplace in a hotel I stayed in once that used this effect, I actually thought it was a real fire at first glance. The whole 'fire' was built in a fish tank essentially under the chimney presumably to keep the environment nice and still and stopping the outside getting dripping wet.
That's a lot of work for a pretend fire! I'd have just gone with the bit of flappy rag with a fan blowing and a couple of orange lights shining on it. Or even just transmit video of a fire over the TV system. I dunno, a fire is a lovely thing, a fake one doesn't have nearly the charm. Better not to bother if it's gonna be any effort. A fake fire is a disappointing thing, no need to break your back making a good job of a lacklustre disappointment.
There's a definite set of skills to making, lighting, and tending a fire, then leaving it to die safely when you do to bed. My great-grandmother had a coal fire in her little cottage. It was that much a faff though she had a Calor gas one for the mornings, if she was going out. You don't want to start a fire if you're not gonna be in to keep an eye on it.
@@greenaum I see your point, I quite like the ones that Clive did a tear down of with a rotating shaft and reflective shapes. Everyone has different taste of course, and a fake fire has many advantages over real in a small public area, as you touched on.
I hadn't seen it done like that and it was done pretty well I thought
It kind of looks like a CGI fire.
Very interesting to see. A bit weird, but interesting 👍
Adding petrol instead of water _really_ gives a nice touch.
That white resist takes a lot of the fun out of the reverse-engineering process! 😖
I feel your pain! 😊
I used to travel from hotel to hotel doing my job and I ALWAYS traveled with a humidifier. Without one, I would get bloody noses and headaches. We always control our humidity no matter the time of year. It's a quality of life issue.
Hey Clive,
It would be really nice to see some waveforms of this interesting circuits.
Can you get a scope on it and show to us.
I love your explanations of the circuits and it would be a benefit to watch at the voltages and currents.
This would be a great prank device! Having losing my house to a fire about a decade ago, I still find the humor of life. Kind of have to nowadays.
"You've seen this working. Now, let's not see it not working. One moment please."
You should get a commission on these. I'm sure I am not the only person to order one after watching this video. I love it. Relaxing, soothing, mesmerizing. I like it so much I'll wait till it quits before I take it to bits. Cheers!
Great video thanks Clive
Watching Clive's videos is like watching a car race. You don't want the driver to get hurt, but somewhere deep inside in a dark place you hope a crash occurs giving you excitement.
We can only hope that one of these days one of these Chinese plastic devices will actual burst into flames.
I mean... You're not alone
Also he pretty much knows about this, he it said on some powerbank video
Clive has ~2000 videos and I've seen around ten things in flames, albeit mostly on purpose lol. So in my opinion, at best you have a 1 in 200 chance of seeing unintended flames 😅
@@lethalz9 Aw, the crushing truth of reality. I'll keep praying tho
For flames , try You Tube videos [ photoinduction ) ..... OMG .....
I don't think I would use the USB ports on my laptop. 2 amps with some noise feedback ( some to the sense lines) from the piezoelectric load switching. Filter caps need a resistance to filter effectively. A cheap mains powered USB supply would be OK. I am wary of things powered from USB as they can be sold without any safety testing or meeting any code requirements.
This reminds me of the essential oil diffuser that my grandma bought a few years ago.
Not very good at raising the room's moisture though.
It's the same principle as your "fireplace humidifier", a small fan and a ultrasonic atomizer.
The water capacity is about 130 mililiters and it runs off a 24V 500 mA power adapter.
Using it during this hot and this time dry summer showed me that it can run for approximately 6 to 8 hours on a full water tank.
And of course it has LEDs as well, only white ones though.
It's called Dome and is sold under the brand Pranarom.
What an excellent device for making your house even more damp than it already is!
In summer we have humidity between 1 and 5%. A little moisture in the air would be welcome.
@@ConstantlyDamaged Well we've established you don't live on the Isle of Man then .
@@marklatimer7333 Hrmm, how best to explain it...
Oh, right. "G'day mate, chuck another shrimp on the barbie?"
@@ConstantlyDamaged Are there no laws in Australia prohibiting the bbqing of diminutive people ??????😏😏
@@ConstantlyDamaged Strewth! you are one of them - you come from a land down under where women glow and men are Paul Hogan.
Actually I should have guessed from your user name, the band not your mental state.
This one looks nice Clive love one
Thanks Clive
Awesome Video big clive
It's professional video about the flame humidifier in TH-cam which I have spent much time to see,it can effect flame and add essential oils to make room good smell,nice gifts for Christmas and New year!😘😘
I appreciate clives hands. random scrapes and cuts. Stained fingers, and short nails. Looks like my hands on any given day. And they are always different in every video.
Great video! Looks so simple at first glance but turns out to be really interesting! Whenever Clive says "One moment. please" I feel an urge to pause and go make a cup of coffee to not rush him in hope he can figure out as much as possible of it. XD
I really like that one. Very Weird! Invite a guest over, put that thing in the dining room (not the kitchen, but maybe near some curtains) and then suddenly shout and point at it.
Reminds me of when Barry Lewis ran a US-sourced 120v "Grilled cheese" toaster on 240v, it looked about the same effect too, only with actual flames and smoke... :P
As much as I love my bathtub toaster for those extra bad days, this sure improves the ascetic.
Interesting. It does actually look like a flame, but not a natural one. More like one of those decorative gas jets you sometimes see in the outside dinning area of a fancy restaurant.
What a cool effect.
Thank Clive
I thought we were looking at magic smoke at 1st then a toaster.
The effect of this is pretty cool looking. I have absolutely zero need for a humidifier in the Pacific Northwest, but it looks cool lol
I've recently seen an artificial fireplace with a similar effect and wondered if you could explain the magic behind it. I think with this video, you just did so. Thank you!
Neat unit, been looking for a humidifier as the the AC has dried the house out!
I've just ordered one...
The 2K resistor is there to load the output down.
Without it, the output's open circuit voltage will rise until clamped by the 24V zener.
I can just imagine Clive staying at a hotel pulling all the devices apart to see how they work 😅
Is that not exactly what he's doing?!?
So a tamer version of ElectroBOOM?
@@ebnertra0004 As bad as each other 😂
As I sit here in Tennessee with nearly 100% humidity I don’t think I need one. Thank goodness for air conditioning. ⚡️⚡️⚡️Have a great day.
Thats a very strong shaped circuit board 👌
Really enjoyed your stream. Can you tell me the make/manufacture, where I can get one. Many thanks.
Oh. A humidifier that doesn't look like UFO.
I'd say neat solution but fact that exit port is not symmetrical kills my enthusiasm for it.
All in all it was pleasure to understand what is going on inside :)
That looks cool. It appears to be missing the "empty tank" switch and circuit. Good luck. 👍
I really like your videos keep it up, I’d like you to recommend a battery or capacitor or something to watch arcs with and If I touch it I won’t die
Lol from the thumbnail I thought, "Oh dear Big Clive has set fire to his toaster" xD
Pretty sure the cap on the low side of the FET is there to help stabilise the startup process. At power on the cap is not charged, so the ESR of the cap will effectively be in parallel with the 0.33ohm resistor, which causes the apparent current sense resistance to drop, so the MCU detects a lower current than is actually being drawn. As the capacitor charges it will approach the voltage at the MOSFET source pin, so less and less current will flow through the cap, raising the apparent current sense resistance back up to near 0.33ohm. Without the capacitor I suspect that the circuit would tend to lock up or oscillate at startup, e.g. due to inrush current on the other caps and resonances in the piezo circuit.
They are a nice effect. Also some really good molud making design. Ust shove the screwdiver in harder, that always works well 🤷♂🤣grea video 2x👍
I concur. It does look like a burning toaster (my Dad preferred toast that set off the smoke alarm. Occasionally, flames ensued!😳)
By the way, it looks like Clive's been working pretty hard. I hope he gets a chance to let his hands heal before the next outdoor job (Christmas lights, I assume).
I don't do public Xmas lights any more.
@@bigclivedotcom I imagine it's both a relief and a bit of a disappointment. Judging by how you described the job in the past, as frustrating as it was to get the bloody things working properly, the results were spectacular.
Honestly, if I saw that on someone's kitchen bench in that flame orange colour, I would probably have thrown it in the sink and unplugged it. And possibly in that order 😬
@0:07 "Long time no see great aunt Gertrude! Before we catch up I noticed the most fascinating device in your kitchen. Mind if I pop it open and reverse engineer the PCB real quick?"
looks like the inductor and (capacitive) piezo form resonant circuit that oscillates around the 20 volt rail. The switching threshold of the MCU (Vcc/2 ??) probably determines the current in the inductor and thereby the voltage on the capacitor and amplitude of the waveform. The resonant frequency of the LC must be stable enough that the RC based clock in the MCU can set it.
Thanks, quick question, what's the magnification factor of that little loupe you use?
It would be amazing to see you engineer something like this from the ground up and build it.
Any thought about what frequency that transducer is being pulsed with?
Wow! Such effect! Very flame. So mist. ^_^
Could do with some of your flame-flickering LEDs. Might want to steer away from the blue flame though... I hear natural gas is causing aneurysms among energy officials. 👍
Isn't it a bit psychologically counter-productive to make an humidifier looks like it produces flames ?
Hey, Clive! What is "oodles of current" in SI units, please? 😆
Is that a legitimate supply mode of the USB-C PD specification?
This is the Firetoaster!
Just became a patron, after you hearted my comment I just had to.
Enjoy the bonus backstage footage I've been releasing.
@@bigclivedotcom I am :)
I saw these advertised on tiktok and on internet. I always wondered what was inside of these and what circuitry they used
I prefer the humidifier that looks like a giant capacitor, letting out smoke.
I want one of those! It definitely looked diy.
i like how people comented on this video 7 days before it was even published.
We are just not patient enough to wait for you to publish a video
Patreon pre-release.
@@bigclivedotcom oh well that makes sense, i tought it was a youtube bug
Nice, a while ago I turned one of these into a holographic o screen
Sweet, do you do english videos, will check it out next
Watched your video; complicated but understandable and cool outcome. Did notice the humidifier you used had a cental vent whereas Clive's is offset.
A few variations on these humidifiers; ones with remote controls too!
I got 2 of these cos I love the effect, & the possibility of putting some nice cinnamon scent through it for Christmas but, mine are purely orange/warm flame effect...
Fingers crossed I can hack the LEDs to change the colour...
Mix orange, blue @ red
This channel is the definition of "SHOW ME THE SChEMATICS !"
The 5.1k pull down resistors are needed if the device is to operate with a USB-C to USB-C cable. Without those, it will only work with a USB-A to USB-C cable. But it is a bit lazy to do it without proper current sensing, as that is the responsibility of the sink device to check what the host can provide, but if the thing never exceeds 4.5W, it's a reasonable decision to make in skipping it, since even a charger with a 56k pull up will provide 5V/900mA, but it's still not to USB spec.
Hi clive , fall city wa says you are so loved. Love ya big boy. G
A very good Monday morning to you all from Wellington Somerset
“possibly for feng shui?”
lmfao 🤣
Sneak in late at night and put one in the kitchen, where the toaster sits, then ask if anyone smells burning.
As always, interesting. Question though. The chamber that contains the circuit board is filled with the water-vapor mist? I take it that won't harm the electronics? And how watertight is the atomizer attachment? What's the risk of the water leaking down into that lower chamber?
No, the water vapor is pushed out by the fan, it should not reach the circuit board.
The circuitry stays dry.
I wonder if the 12N10 circuit is acting in current-mode? Could use the MCU’s analogue comparator for an interrupt.
Biggest TH-camr in the Isle of Man
I have just fitted some solar panels on my garage roof with solar chargers, batteries and an off grid inverter in the garage feeding the house via a changeover switch at the incoming supply to the house.
I just wanted to pass on my experience in this era of very high cost electricity regarding a few "small loads" I hadn't even included in my calculations for my battery sizing. I have five 10W microwave security lights and was horrified to find they were taking 10W in their off mode whilst simply detecting so these were on 24hrs/365 days a year costing me around 440kWh per year or around £200 a year when we get to a cost of 50p a unit later this year. Ihave disconnected these lights and will now only use them when absolutely required. I also discovered my house alarm was taking 40W constantly so coming to another £160 a year or so. I have removed the batteries from the alarm unit and have added a switch so that I only power it up on leaving the house, it makes a brief racket when I switch it back on until I add the code but that is a small price to pay for saving nearly £160 a year. My streaming devices that are rarely used were adding another 20W or so again for 24hrs a day socosting me another £80 or so. I have now disconnected all of these until they are actually being used. I was wondering if these sorts of hidden aspects to people's bills would be a good subject for one or two of your videos when you get back to base as many people aren't aware of these things due to electricity being relatively cheap until now, I know I wasn't until I wondered where these extra Watt loads were coming from and went hunting them down by switching things on around the house one by one. You could get onto the Scottish news and make people aware that it is no use controlling the big loads when these 24hr loads are being ignored.
Good point. I wonder how much an "Alexa" and associated smart sockets would cost to continuously run all year....?
@@TimHollingworth Echo 1st gen uses about 3W. I started poking around with a kill-a-watt when they installed a a smart meter and I found I had 150W base load 24/7. 75W of it was 2 older APC UPSes and a 90s powered subwoofer. The rest of it are loads I can't really eliminate like the oven controls and security cameras. Most of the newer wall warts and chargers aren't really worth the hassle to unplug. The smart bulbs draw 1-2 watts when off but it's less than the old digital timers. Router draws 15W but I desire always on internet access.
Watching this brought me out of being groggy from last night's sleep :p
That 10 Ohm might protect your uC, but it will run your FET extra hot. I assume adding a 3 cent buffer transistor was not needed because the FET is oversized for its job?
I have one of these and really liked it. It only took about 5 days for the water to leak past the seal and fill up the bottom compartment which flooded the circuit board. Can it be saved?
If there's not excessive corrosion it may work again when fully dried out.
The big question here is how can I put into one of my top hats for Steampunk fests? I think I'll buy one and give it a go.
It may be less messy to use a cluster of the wick style ultrasonic atomisers.
I like how it's easy to disassemble and reassemble without breaking everything in the process.
on the board near the USB input are missing devices could these be for a recitfier and some caps ??
Filtering.
It looks like a toaster in which the bread has caught fire.
I'm holding out for the desktop fire breathing dehumidifier.
Great if you want mould and damp. Black lung fungus will love this.
Trust me, one winter in Alberta and you'll forget the existence of mould...or humidity in general.
Reminds me of Barry Lewis using the grilled cheese toaster.
Don't know if you ever frequented the PLASA show, but some years ago there was a company that did a similar thing of creating a "sheet" of haze then used it as a near invisible projection screen. Find yourself a pico projector and you could do something similar, maybe create a hologram effect.
LeMaitre did a long version.
The things you come up with, Clive ....
well my fisrt thoughts were, ol BC.C has burnt the toast!
Please what is the name of the microcontroller used
Lidl had a atomiser alarm clock takes 24v mains adapter no fan tho just light underneath and small hole for the smoke 💨💨😁
How does the transducter works **under** water level? The ones I know need to be at water level to work.
Looks like Barry Lewis' American Toastie Maker when he gave it a 240v baptism.
That is quite an interesting device. The thing you see that you didn't even knew it existed, haha.
1:32 I looked up at just the right moment and briefly thought you might have accidentally left something naughty in the shot on the right there lol. The carpet underneath played perfectly into the illusion of dermally expressed circulatory systems if you know what i mean ;)
This thing has a weird design lol, it looks like it's smoking
Also it's worth noting that my (Well it was my grandma's but now she's gone unfortunately) essential oil diffuser does have low water level detection although it doesn't have any dedicated electrode let alone a float switch to actually tell the water tank is almost empty.
When it runs out of water the ultrasonic atomizer and the fan both shut down and the decorative white LEDs switch from steady to flashing for a few seconds to warn you that you have to add water. Then they turn off as well.
So how can it do that and does your fireplace humidifier have low water level detection ?
It claims it does. But I'm not convinced.
@@bigclivedotcom Mine does definitely have low water detection. And it does the job perfectly.
But do you have any idea about how it works ?
I thought you were fooling us again. Its basically a red hot anxiety machine. If I saw that on my grandma's counter under the cabinets I'd jump to the rescue and save the place from burning down before I'd realised I've only splashed water on myself instead.