As someone fluent in Mandarin, I believe black technology is a direct translation from Chinese which is supposed to translate to something similar to "secret technology" or "special weapon" in the case of games/sports.
I built a custom dual panel ultrawide mini monitor for my workbench using a pair of those iPad LCDs. Put it on a sliding rail under my top shelf, and used a GoPro handlebar mount to get a tilt and swivel for it. It's combined 4096x1536 is a high enough resolution to show detailed schematics and diagrams, but not very tall, so it doesn't obscure the workspace below. I used a cable chain to guide the power and video cables to the PC at the side of the desk. Even if just using it to play youtube videos to pass the time while working, I could slide it to the side and rotate it to face me. It was perfect! The LCDs and drivers, the GoPro mount, the cable chain, and even the screws all came from AliExpress. The slide rail (closet door slide), aluminum U channel (for the frame), and the polycarbonate (screen protector) all came from the local hardware store. The plastic used to close up the back was taken from some salvaged Gamestop poster holders. It was a great project!
I'm glad you mentioned the potential issue with the twisted connection: heat cycling. In the U.S., this type of connection would not pass inspection. Electrical connections must be done by mechanical means (wire nut, compression, wago, screw, etc.). This, on its own, is not mechanical means. Sure, you could throw a wire nut on the end of it and be compliant, but you're still royally screwing over the next guy that has to work on it. This much twist on solid wires can weaken the copper, causing it to break in half when you try to undo it. That's fine when you have 20" of wire sticking out, but most of the time, you cannot afford to make the wire any shorter than it already is.
in all fairness the product itself can be used just fine. Have a couple and they work perfect for pretwisting. Just use a drill at slowest speed (brushless or nothing) and you can easily get a good twist on thicker 12AWG wires far faster, toss on a wirenut and call it a day. It's extremely handy. Hell, you can even use it with hand tools to make life easier
I feel for US electricians that have to deal with wire nuts. I only find them in fairly old installations over here and it's always a royal pain in the behind.
@@stoutscientist nope, the Switch needs the cable to provide power for it to even try to send a video signal. Also it’s notorious for not following USB-C spec and many hubs/dongles don’t work with it.
For this test, he used the same Samsung phone that was later shown charging wirelessly in the video, that pretty much grants it's one of the various Galaxy S phones and all of those have DisplayPort output via USB-C...
Beacons like that need to be used with multiple gateways, and you move the beacon within the system rather than move your phone around. Home assistant can be set up to do useful presence detection in rooms if you carry a beacon like this.
I've tried doing this with 5 receivers spread around a 12' x 20' (3m x 6m) area. Even with those I was only able to get accuracy of about 8 feet (2.5m). The RSSI varies based on the orientation of the antenna, obstacles, etc.
@@mikebenza that sounds about right. The best case is you can use it for sensing presence in one room vs another, but still not with a very high accuracy.
You got to mess around with the settings regarding distance and accuracy. What ESP32 chip/board you use matters. I got way better results with an m5stack ESP32-C3 than I did with a ESP32 weoom but you have to tweak some of the default settings, you can find the ID (or one of the options for tracking, night be iBeacon) in the companion app for HA if you want to track your phone. For a smartwatch or beacon like this you really need a free third party app or use Espresense built in functionality to find the right ID of the device you want to track. Works great for me up to 12 meters but I have the cut off set to 8 meters. It really depends on the number of ESP32's you have, living space, wall material, ect.. I'm unsure why the C3 worked better and is more accurate. Last time I checked it only works with the C3 or original ESP32. You can't use an S2 or above and it's not needed either. The m5stack also looks way more stylish so it doesn't need to be hidden either which probably helps.
Not gonna lie, it's fun just browsing the site to see what's available. It's even more fun to have the products reviewed by a knowledgeable maker. Thank you!
There are a lot of products that I browse and I feel somewhat urged to buy them just for curiosity, just for trying them for a few minutes. Scott's videos are perfect for satisfying that curiosity.
I Realized that Aliexpress only shows me stuff i've searched before, and not the stuff i want. When i google for stuff and enter aliexpress in the search i find sellers that i couldn't find before while searching locally on Aliexpress... Kinda annoying.
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I was also thinking about getting that mini screen. The LCD panels are sourced from older iPad replacement screens as I understood, so no wonder why they look very good. But in the end I've got a used older 4:3 TFT LCD screen. It was even cheaper and was good enough for my need.
Yeah, the aspect ratio is definitely the weakest point on there. [I think they're actually 3:2, but anything not 16:9 or 16:10 definitely feels weird these days]
It's not a great idea if you have to buy a $25 screen. I have a 1080p display from an old Acer laptop and a $17 driver board that works perfectly. The only problem is finding a way to mount/secure the board and fragile cables without breaking out my ghetto fabrication skills.
Came across that wireless charging a few months ago when I wanted one, thankfully I got myself the KPON branded one instead (a hexagon shaped one), it works perfectly here, 10W charge, comes with the wall adapter (requires a QC 2.0 12v 18w one at least), the relay coil and even an alignment tool. Pretty nice device, on my 18mm MDF desk it doesn't need the relay coil and works with just the sticker to "target" the phone. More expensive but considering it actually works, would say it was worth it. Efficiency is likely quite bad as I would expect of not only wireless charging but long distance one at that, the phone heats up a bit more through it's use than the cheapo short distance pad I use normally, but it really does it's job on my desk. Couldn't trust that "say goodbye to bondage" description but it's the best description I've read in years when searching for that type of product.
I also got the KPON charger. It charges my phone at a rate of +2100mA according to a battery app. I initially used it through my entire desk which is 28mm thick, but that charger very slowly at about 600mA. I ended up routing a slot in the underside of the desk so the distance is now about 15mm.
@@Zwamdurkel Is it slow through a thicker surface even with the relay coil? Interesting to know if so, wouldn't have imagined. On my 18mm MDF one I can get it to show it's "fast charging" so more than 5w at least, gotta get an app that actually measures it out of curiosity.
@@KalvinjjIt did not work through my 28mm desk without the relay coil. Even with the coil the speed was only 600mA. That's why I routed out the underside of my desk
I found a similar power supply on Amzon for a similar price, but was let down when orders got mixed up and I got a heating pad and arthritis glove instead🙃. This turned into a mixed blessing as I do a lot of indoor bouldering and my finger joints get a little sore. The arthritis glove turned out to be great for that. Eliminates most of the pain almost instantly. Anyway, I do want to get the power supply as it could be useful for random projects. I'll see how AliExpress goes...Thanks👍🏽
The all seeing eye knew you were developing arthritis. This was no mixup. Now, you can just think of what you need, and it'll show up at your door in six to eight weeks.
I salvaged an ipad 4 screen a few years ago and recently ordered basically the same controller board you feature here. Hopefully it will work as good as it did for you. I think I will combine it with an SBC to make a Batocera console. Or possibly add in an SDR dongle to make a standalone SW radio. I look forward to seeing your project ideas for this device.
You can use the Bluetooth beacon with ESP32s. They can be placed in all rooms as receivers and the signal with the best signal strength then "wins" :) Perfect to track pets for example. Say if they like to hide or if you want to unlock the cat door for them if they come close.... Or be reminded to let them in if they are close to the door :)
wanted to write the same thing. I got one on my key and use it with esphome so my home assistant knows if I am home or not and adjusts automations accordingly. Works well better than WiFi and GPS tracking without privacy concerns and the batteries last forever...
The ad segment reminded me of an old adage: the different between analogue and digital electronics design is that the people designing analogue circuits know when they are making a radio transmitter.
I bought the same beacon 3 months ago. I hung it on my keychain and integrated it into my homemassistant via ESP32 (esphome bluetooth proxy). This allowed me to set up automations to turn the lights on/off and trigger my robot vacuum to clean. I think this beacon is a good solution instead of using a phone with wifi or a smart watch with bluetooth. I don't have to wait for my phone to connect to wifi for the light to turn on (which can take a few minutes). I save the watch's charge because the discoverable mode is turned off. At the same time, with my esphome and beacon settings, the maximum delay for turning on the light does not exceed two seconds, and the CR2032 charge is still more than 90%.
Those orange lever-lock connectors are the best thing ever, a little dielectric grease and its perfectly weatherproof and takes a LOT of force to separate the connection
For the wire twist tool, even before you mentioned the reliability over time, I was thinking adding some solder with a torch and plumbing solder would make that connection very reliable.
The box says "say goodbye to bondage" while talking about guests under the table and NOBODY designing the box thought to check what that may have meant?
I bought same driver board and screen, I spotted the driver board has a control input section, possible for a video on how to create our own touch button input instead of the dial? Im worried the dial for browsing the menu etc will give one day. Thanks!
As for the wire twister you can definitely twist any wires. If the goal is not making a connection at the tip, just hold it to twist the wires and yes you can definitely twist breaded wires, not for making a connection at the tip but to TWIST them. I for once see this as user error and see this tool as very useful but tbh, you could probably make one at home.
Why on earth would you want your wires in this difficult to maintain mess? How do you then insulate the remaining copper? Just bung a load of electrical tape over it I suppose? Ghastly! The tool, and the connections it makes are utter garbage at best, outright dangerous at worst. Why on earth this was given a thumbs up is beyond me.
I LOVE this series. On Scott's recommendation, I bought and included in a project, some capacitive touch fingerprint sensors. Keep them coming, and thank you!! 😍😍
Beware, those power supplies are hot garbage. I've had one blow a MOSFET, another shorted to the case due to a ridiculously long capacitor lead they didn't trim, and of course they can only supply about 60-80% of their rated power without the aluminum windings in the transformer or inductor melting their insulation. One overheated so bad it melted the isolation between primary and secondary and brought mains voltage to the output. If it plugs into mains, stick with a name brand like Meanwell. Or at least make sure it has the proper UL/CSA/ETL/GS certification.
Did you ever turn the 4-pin USB-C sockets around? Mine have pads to solder a SMD resistor on the back side. No need for those big resistors on the front or even soldering on the pins directly.
I bought the iPad screen and the driver board, thanks for the recommendation! In the video it looks like that the driver board got an internal audio amp. You connected a speaker without amp. Does this also work for the 3.5mm jack? Just connecting a small speaker...
9:46, can it be used with some kind of 3D printed part to make a twisted car jig that will let you accurate make X twist per inch cables using a low torque motor? Or a least use the logic of it to disign a 3D printed remox that would do that? It eould be useful to buy regular cable and soec it to your desired applicarions (ethernet, CAM bus, etc).
Hi, one quick question towards those USB C plug breakout boards. 5.1kOhm is for maximum means 3amp but i want to hook this plug up to a 2.1amp what different resistor values do i need then?
6:50 i've never had a type-c port break on my phones yet and i keep using them for 7 years mostly, with at least charging it once a day. All you got to do is poke the accumulated dirt out with a needle every few months and it will last long enough to not get software support anymore. wireless charging is only good for convenience and wasting energy ( yes i use it too on my pixel buds ).
At 6:59 you mentioned it being impossible to hide a wireless charger in a drawer. You can cut a recess for the device from inside the cabinet or under a desk which will let you put the device close to the surface of the desk. Cut the recess most of the way, leaving 3mm thickness of your surface. Thinner is better for charging, but thicker is better for strength. If you don’t have tools to cut the recess, you can cut all the way through then laminate a new surface (like kitchen counter material) on top.
Scott, could you please make a video about usb-c video output from phones; does the phone needs to be MHL compatible or only the DesktopMode option needs to be activated? On the other hand there are driver boards that can take video on usb-c and others can only be powered up...
You can get proper bench PSU's like the TENMA 72-10480 for the same price if you want to adjust voltages during testing.. Also comes with proper over voltage, over current etc..
About the USB-C Connectors. They have a spot for a 0402 5.1K resistor. Solder it in and boom you have a USB-C to USB-C capable socket. This place is marked as J1 or R1
I need a power supplly to power up a old US police Lightbar as a decorative object. It is filled with 6 H1 bulb (55w each) and the electroci motor that make them turn through plastic gears. Would such a power supply be sufficient ?
The beacon sounds interesting. I wonder if the accuracy is something to do with phone/app rather than the device. Also I wonder how open it is to be used without phone, say rpi or arduino. With phone alone I don't see much use for it.
If you do a video on the DT3 USB cable tester (as shown at the very end of this video) you should consider "hacking" it with a CR2032 power switched lilypad coin cell holder glued on the back and wiring that into the GND/VCC on the input side. Now you have made the tester purely portable without need for a USB power source. It makes the unit much more useful. Keep up the posting of cool electronic / tools from AliExpress !
I would've bought only the driver board , the LCD would've fished it from eBay scraps... I find these videos useful since I also buy stuff from AliExpress. Thanks, Scott!
its $27 for a brand new screen, and saves you the hassle of tearing the glass off an iPad. You can also buy a new touch panel for $17, and the controller board has touch input. All you have left is figuring out the drivers for touch support on your pc or RPi.
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@@frostbite1991 they are not brand new. I bought one and got a garbage reconditioned screen
You have a superpower. I just want to build a peripheral with an LED that lights up when I get a computer alert. This stuff you’re doing is black magic to me.
Theoretically yes, I've used monitors that charge my laptop via a single USB-C connection. But the power is going from the screen to the laptop. Not sure how many laptops output enough power via USB-C (and implement PD/QC for outgoing power). OTOH, I don't think most laptop screen use more than 10 Watt nowadays, so even without PD or QC, a USB device should be able to draw enough power for a screen.
On the usb c port. On the other side is a litte cc pad (or a r1 pad, dependingon the board version) where the resistor comes to enable pd! Thats the correct way. No need of the resistor vetween data pins and ground. The resistor is correct between cc pin and ground
I have never seen your videos before nor do I know anything about electronics or electricity, however, youtube told me to watch this video at 5:39 am so here I am. Video was good so I’m subbing 👍🏻
Thanks for the VNA download link. I bought a nano vna and it is sitting on my desk until I have time to callibrate it and become more familiar with its abilities. The PDF will be very helpful for all that it can do above showing me impedance relative to frequency on the extended complex plane called a Smith Chart which is primarily why I bought it. I do think it offers a good deal more.....
Those panel mounted USB-C ports have pads for a 0402 5.1k resistor to be soldered onto. In my experience, Type-C PD chargers don't use the USB data lines at all and only use the CC lines for picking the voltage. What sucks is USB-C conversions for devices that originally charged over micro USB, since they use the data lines to accept charge. If they don't receive anything on the USB lines, then they just refuse to charge, despite having voltage applied to them.
9:43 : Ok but keep in mind that this type on connection are illegal in most countries mainly because the insulation between two conductors which depends on the skills of the electrician, but also because of the cooper stress which can easily broke, and that can be very dangerous in unbalanced three phase system for example (neutral break).
I could see a use for the beacons for presence detection for smart homes. I'm currently using a Gigaset beacon with iObroker, but that doesn't have a button.
Can you explain in a video the pros and cons about stranded wire vs single conductor wire? I'm from italy and I thought stranded wire was the standard eveywhere and only in the old houses there can be single conductor wires. Then I discovered that Germany, Romania and other countries uses the latter. For me them are super annoying when I have to rewire something, or install a simple chandelier.
The wire twister tool gives me the heebie-jeebies. Because there's nothing better than joining wires together and leaving a huge uninsulated twisted mess of copper. You *might* be able to use it for earth connections, as long as you're sure it's never going to have a chance to connect to anything else.
I'm horrified by the commenters that think that thing is a good idea! I'm also shocked that GreatScott gave it a thumbs up! Sure the electrical connection may be good now... but how do you insulate the tag-nut of mangled copper you're left with. How do you disconnect and reliably reconnect one wire to test a single circuit? There's no way an electrician in the UK would get work like that signed off. I'd imagine not in Europe or the US either. I loathe wire nuts, but even they would be preferable to this bodged shite.
Awesome stuff! Thanks a bunch, dude! 😃 I would love to find a TP4056 kinda board with mounting screws, like the USB-C connector! Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊 And happy holidays!
What i'm looking for for a und hile now is a usb c smd part that has the necessary resistors build in and fits otherwise the footprint of a usb micro port. This would enable a relatively clean and easy swapping and upgrading of older devices
Clicking on the first two items for the monitor and controler board both take me to the same site which seem to be for screen and controler together for 19.58€. Am I missing something?
While chceking the LCD driver board from the link you privided I saw that there is a four pin header labelled USB OUT. Aliexpress description says that's for the touchsceeen. Can you chceck if it actually works?
if you can controll the trackers acceleratometer then you could use it to measure rotation and movement of objects, if you know rotation you could use them for VR tracking since you only need the joint rotations.
heat and cold cycles stiffing the metals loose the elasticity so the problem have the vago connectors than make the spring not properly working after a lot time. Its the other way around is more safe the twist's cable in long run that the vago.
Ive been buying cheap solar street lights from there to modify them for USB/Power bank charging, for $2+ they are quite good and exceptionally bright for the price. Decent USB C Cables with wattage displays too, though they tend to be inaccurate of 2-6W depending on the cable, but that isnt bad at all.
Any link for good ones (or name)? I see a lot of them but but also a lot of people giving 1 star reviews on some. Want to use them connected to a big solar panel and a simple dc/dc convertor with a high efficiency hooked up where the internal solar panel is. Been using it on led light strings here for years and works perfectly. The big 100 Watt panel is useless for other things during this period of year.
@@Luke-san The ones i'm referring to are probably not the ones you're thinking of, they have about 106 LEDs or below and are powered by a single 18650 and a 1-2w solar panel, they go for $1.99-$10 so are very easy to find on there. They are pretty damn bright for their size though, perfect for porches, doorways etc. I've considered giving the large solar panel street lights a try that go for $30+ but i dont need anything quite that big, and id rather not risk paying that much for something that gives off similar brightness to the small ones many of the designs have been reviewed by people on TH-cam so you could always give those a look if you need something that size.. Using a 100w panel would likely be overkill without a limiter though as even the larger lights they sell arent capable of handling that i dont think.
@@DigitalIP Those are exactly the lights I am looking for. Well the 100W panel is in parallel with a 150W panel. Today I measured a short current of 430mA. So not even delivering 10 Watt. That is wintertime here. Even during the summertime the led strings, garlands, are connected to it. I set the dc/dc converter to about 5.6 Volt and I can see that the current is limited somehow in the devices that I use. Some of them draw like 500mA, so in about 1 to 4 hours the cells are full. The small dc/dc converter only can handle like 2 amp tops so it would cap out at 5.6 x 2 = 11,2 Watt anyway I replaced most of them to old laptop 18650 cells that still have like 2000mAh capacity. 1 light I connected using thin wire wrap cable, is about 10 meters/yards away. I did that experiment 4 years ago and it seems that experiment is still going on ;-) Using the original solar panels (6V ones) the lights died in about 30 minutes after it went dark during wintertime, now most of them make it through the night.
@Luke-san Oh ok, well in that case try the ones i got a couple days ago, they actually have it so you can replace the batteries if you want, the cell is in an actual holder instead of having the wires attached to the battery! HIGHLY Hackable because of that! The other ones i got last month didnt have that little feature. Can only use flattops though, button tops wont fit, and the size of the cell itself is also a factor. Okay so one of them is from the Shop5370096 store and is the 616B 72COB model "solar outdoor Led Courtyard wall lamp" search term, the other is 108COB with remote or 117COB with remote from the same store apparently. Fun fact, practically All versions of these that use a remote use the same remote/code so you wont need more than one remote. - To solve the winter/not enough sun problem i just connect a TP4056 wired to a 2-4 cell pack of 18650s to the lights battery terminal or directly to the wires and recharge the cells with a USB power bank. While recharging since the voltage is higher the lights get slightly brighter so thats a nice side effect. a couple years ago i did the same thing to a 1000lumen solar light i put under an overhang by my front door which obviously wont get enough light, so i have it connected to a USB power supply on a smart outlet controlled by Alexa, i have it set so it automatically turns on to charge the battery for 2 hours every day then automatically turns off, finally changed the battery last month after 2 or 3 years of use. Works flawlessly like that, and i can have her turn the charger on or off at any time as needed (especially now with how cold its been).
a note on the "black technology" term on the wireless charging pad, "black technology" is just a direct translation of a chinese slang that means futuristic/forbidden technology, it's mostly just used as a buzzword to sound cool or attract the less technically inclined customers so i kinda hate it when i see the term used on taobao which is basically the "original" aliexpress that is only available in some parts of asia
@@steameier8590 it's possible through some third party re-shipping services like one called superbuy, but it will definitely cost more for the shipping compared to someone more local like me buying in SEA Edit: and you would still need to find the listing you want for those services to order for you and those listings would be in Chinese 95% of the time along with the Chinese only UI of the atrocious PC website or not as atrocious app
I've been using the abusemark driver for ipad screen for years now, it's really good. Nice to see china have made their own version too, I'm tempted to switch, since it has USB C.
You should also check the EMC emissions of the switching power supply units, as these are often real EMC slingshots that cause radio interference if they have not been correctly suppressed.
Was wondering about that too. If there's a way to get the touch function working that would be an incredibly cheap solution for building something like an info display with touch controls.
As someone fluent in Mandarin, I believe black technology is a direct translation from Chinese which is supposed to translate to something similar to "secret technology" or "special weapon" in the case of games/sports.
Thanks for the information :-)
So it's funny even on the native language, nice
This guy will never run out of videos thanks to aliexpress 😂
Haha kind of true ;-) But maybe viewers will get bored someday....who knows.
As long as AliExpress is such a hit or miss this series will always be useful 😅
@@greatscottlab My favorite series on your channel
it's a treasure trove of random gadgets you might want to use lmao
@@greatscottlabWe dont know. This series helps us viewers to find components that we needed or didn't think of existed. So please continue
I built a custom dual panel ultrawide mini monitor for my workbench using a pair of those iPad LCDs. Put it on a sliding rail under my top shelf, and used a GoPro handlebar mount to get a tilt and swivel for it. It's combined 4096x1536 is a high enough resolution to show detailed schematics and diagrams, but not very tall, so it doesn't obscure the workspace below. I used a cable chain to guide the power and video cables to the PC at the side of the desk. Even if just using it to play youtube videos to pass the time while working, I could slide it to the side and rotate it to face me. It was perfect! The LCDs and drivers, the GoPro mount, the cable chain, and even the screws all came from AliExpress. The slide rail (closet door slide), aluminum U channel (for the frame), and the polycarbonate (screen protector) all came from the local hardware store. The plastic used to close up the back was taken from some salvaged Gamestop poster holders. It was a great project!
How did you do the cable part? It connects with only one usb c?
@@GabrielGBjas i literally just ran two HDMI cables. The computer treats it as two 2048x1536 monitors side by side.
sorry to ping you months after, does touch with the display adapter pcb?
I'm glad you mentioned the potential issue with the twisted connection: heat cycling.
In the U.S., this type of connection would not pass inspection. Electrical connections must be done by mechanical means (wire nut, compression, wago, screw, etc.). This, on its own, is not mechanical means.
Sure, you could throw a wire nut on the end of it and be compliant, but you're still royally screwing over the next guy that has to work on it. This much twist on solid wires can weaken the copper, causing it to break in half when you try to undo it. That's fine when you have 20" of wire sticking out, but most of the time, you cannot afford to make the wire any shorter than it already is.
in all fairness the product itself can be used just fine. Have a couple and they work perfect for pretwisting. Just use a drill at slowest speed (brushless or nothing) and you can easily get a good twist on thicker 12AWG wires far faster, toss on a wirenut and call it a day. It's extremely handy. Hell, you can even use it with hand tools to make life easier
I feel for US electricians that have to deal with wire nuts. I only find them in fairly old installations over here and it's always a royal pain in the behind.
Quick note on the USB video function: It takes a DisplayPort signal, so the USB device must support USB DisplayPort
If he has a Nintendo Switch he should try that (I think that uses USB C DisplayPort although I could be wrong)
@@stoutscientist nope, the Switch needs the cable to provide power for it to even try to send a video signal. Also it’s notorious for not following USB-C spec and many hubs/dongles don’t work with it.
@@TheOfficialOriginalChad That's what I was afraid of
@@stoutscientist don’t be afraid. We will get through this together.
For this test, he used the same Samsung phone that was later shown charging wirelessly in the video, that pretty much grants it's one of the various Galaxy S phones and all of those have DisplayPort output via USB-C...
Beacons like that need to be used with multiple gateways, and you move the beacon within the system rather than move your phone around. Home assistant can be set up to do useful presence detection in rooms if you carry a beacon like this.
Stuff like ESPresense?
I've tried doing this with 5 receivers spread around a 12' x 20' (3m x 6m) area. Even with those I was only able to get accuracy of about 8 feet (2.5m). The RSSI varies based on the orientation of the antenna, obstacles, etc.
@@mikebenza that sounds about right. The best case is you can use it for sensing presence in one room vs another, but still not with a very high accuracy.
@@Haldi4803 that's definitely one to try
You got to mess around with the settings regarding distance and accuracy. What ESP32 chip/board you use matters. I got way better results with an m5stack ESP32-C3 than I did with a ESP32 weoom but you have to tweak some of the default settings, you can find the ID (or one of the options for tracking, night be iBeacon) in the companion app for HA if you want to track your phone. For a smartwatch or beacon like this you really need a free third party app or use Espresense built in functionality to find the right ID of the device you want to track. Works great for me up to 12 meters but I have the cut off set to 8 meters. It really depends on the number of ESP32's you have, living space, wall material, ect.. I'm unsure why the C3 worked better and is more accurate. Last time I checked it only works with the C3 or original ESP32. You can't use an S2 or above and it's not needed either. The m5stack also looks way more stylish so it doesn't need to be hidden either which probably helps.
Not gonna lie, it's fun just browsing the site to see what's available. It's even more fun to have the products reviewed by a knowledgeable maker. Thank you!
reading the sales blurb is one of the more interesting things. 🤣🤣
There are a lot of products that I browse and I feel somewhat urged to buy them just for curiosity, just for trying them for a few minutes. Scott's videos are perfect for satisfying that curiosity.
No one's expecting you to lie, what is this trend of starting a sentence off like that??
@@dcallan812 sometimes i wonder if they let their competitors write the descriptions
I Realized that Aliexpress only shows me stuff i've searched before, and not the stuff i want. When i google for stuff and enter aliexpress in the search i find sellers that i couldn't find before while searching locally on Aliexpress... Kinda annoying.
I was also thinking about getting that mini screen. The LCD panels are sourced from older iPad replacement screens as I understood, so no wonder why they look very good.
But in the end I've got a used older 4:3 TFT LCD screen. It was even cheaper and was good enough for my need.
Yeah, the aspect ratio is definitely the weakest point on there. [I think they're actually 3:2, but anything not 16:9 or 16:10 definitely feels weird these days]
It's not a great idea if you have to buy a $25 screen. I have a 1080p display from an old Acer laptop and a $17 driver board that works perfectly. The only problem is finding a way to mount/secure the board and fragile cables without breaking out my ghetto fabrication skills.
Came across that wireless charging a few months ago when I wanted one, thankfully I got myself the KPON branded one instead (a hexagon shaped one), it works perfectly here, 10W charge, comes with the wall adapter (requires a QC 2.0 12v 18w one at least), the relay coil and even an alignment tool. Pretty nice device, on my 18mm MDF desk it doesn't need the relay coil and works with just the sticker to "target" the phone. More expensive but considering it actually works, would say it was worth it.
Efficiency is likely quite bad as I would expect of not only wireless charging but long distance one at that, the phone heats up a bit more through it's use than the cheapo short distance pad I use normally, but it really does it's job on my desk.
Couldn't trust that "say goodbye to bondage" description but it's the best description I've read in years when searching for that type of product.
I also got the KPON charger. It charges my phone at a rate of +2100mA according to a battery app. I initially used it through my entire desk which is 28mm thick, but that charger very slowly at about 600mA. I ended up routing a slot in the underside of the desk so the distance is now about 15mm.
@@Zwamdurkel Is it slow through a thicker surface even with the relay coil? Interesting to know if so, wouldn't have imagined.
On my 18mm MDF one I can get it to show it's "fast charging" so more than 5w at least, gotta get an app that actually measures it out of curiosity.
@@KalvinjjIt did not work through my 28mm desk without the relay coil. Even with the coil the speed was only 600mA. That's why I routed out the underside of my desk
I found a similar power supply on Amzon for a similar price, but was let down when orders got mixed up and I got a heating pad and arthritis glove instead🙃. This turned into a mixed blessing as I do a lot of indoor bouldering and my finger joints get a little sore. The arthritis glove turned out to be great for that. Eliminates most of the pain almost instantly. Anyway, I do want to get the power supply as it could be useful for random projects. I'll see how AliExpress goes...Thanks👍🏽
The all seeing eye knew you were developing arthritis. This was no mixup. Now, you can just think of what you need, and it'll show up at your door in six to eight weeks.
@@kenmore01 with a little help from my purchase history😂
TBH I'm wondering how this stacks up to Mean Well supplies.
I salvaged an ipad 4 screen a few years ago and recently ordered basically the same controller board you feature here. Hopefully it will work as good as it did for you. I think I will combine it with an SBC to make a Batocera console. Or possibly add in an SDR dongle to make a standalone SW radio. I look forward to seeing your project ideas for this device.
You can use the Bluetooth beacon with ESP32s. They can be placed in all rooms as receivers and the signal with the best signal strength then "wins" :)
Perfect to track pets for example. Say if they like to hide or if you want to unlock the cat door for them if they come close....
Or be reminded to let them in if they are close to the door :)
wanted to write the same thing. I got one on my key and use it with esphome so my home assistant knows if I am home or not and adjusts automations accordingly. Works well better than WiFi and GPS tracking without privacy concerns and the batteries last forever...
@@gorgorgonzales3090 I use "is my phone in my wifi" tracking. Can you explain which privacy concerns you got with this method? 🤔
Look for espresence
Works well with homeassistant or other mqtt enabled devices
The ad segment reminded me of an old adage: the different between analogue and digital electronics design is that the people designing analogue circuits know when they are making a radio transmitter.
I bought the same beacon 3 months ago. I hung it on my keychain and integrated it into my homemassistant via ESP32 (esphome bluetooth proxy). This allowed me to set up automations to turn the lights on/off and trigger my robot vacuum to clean.
I think this beacon is a good solution instead of using a phone with wifi or a smart watch with bluetooth. I don't have to wait for my phone to connect to wifi for the light to turn on (which can take a few minutes). I save the watch's charge because the discoverable mode is turned off. At the same time, with my esphome and beacon settings, the maximum delay for turning on the light does not exceed two seconds, and the CR2032 charge is still more than 90%.
Just beware that you are not the only one who can track it.
Those orange lever-lock connectors are the best thing ever, a little dielectric grease and its perfectly weatherproof and takes a LOT of force to separate the connection
For the wire twist tool, even before you mentioned the reliability over time, I was thinking adding some solder with a torch and plumbing solder would make that connection very reliable.
Electrical codes for mains power in most countries don't allow wires to be twisted in that way, nor can they be soldered.
The box says "say goodbye to bondage" while talking about guests under the table and NOBODY designing the box thought to check what that may have meant?
Is the lcd driver also supporting the touch control?
I was wondering the same thing
No, not to my knowledge after buying and using it
I bought same driver board and screen, I spotted the driver board has a control input section, possible for a video on how to create our own touch button input instead of the dial? Im worried the dial for browsing the menu etc will give one day. Thanks!
As for the wire twister you can definitely twist any wires. If the goal is not making a connection at the tip, just hold it to twist the wires and yes you can definitely twist breaded wires, not for making a connection at the tip but to TWIST them. I for once see this as user error and see this tool as very useful but tbh, you could probably make one at home.
Why on earth would you want your wires in this difficult to maintain mess? How do you then insulate the remaining copper? Just bung a load of electrical tape over it I suppose? Ghastly!
The tool, and the connections it makes are utter garbage at best, outright dangerous at worst.
Why on earth this was given a thumbs up is beyond me.
I LOVE this series. On Scott's recommendation, I bought and included in a project, some capacitive touch fingerprint sensors. Keep them coming, and thank you!! 😍😍
Beware, those power supplies are hot garbage. I've had one blow a MOSFET, another shorted to the case due to a ridiculously long capacitor lead they didn't trim, and of course they can only supply about 60-80% of their rated power without the aluminum windings in the transformer or inductor melting their insulation. One overheated so bad it melted the isolation between primary and secondary and brought mains voltage to the output. If it plugs into mains, stick with a name brand like Meanwell. Or at least make sure it has the proper UL/CSA/ETL/GS certification.
Did you ever turn the 4-pin USB-C sockets around? Mine have pads to solder a SMD resistor on the back side. No need for those big resistors on the front or even soldering on the pins directly.
9:50 - "Smart sexy vibrator"? One of these things is not like the other. LOL
When using these sorts of screens in projects, do you add any sort of glass protection in front?
6:21 "Say goodbye to bondage" Awwww... 😞 😆
Haha
Always a great insight Scott thank you for sharing your knowledge and findings!
My pleasure!
Always a joy to watch your Hidden Gems series 😊
6:19 "Say Goodbye to bondage" lmao 😂😂
I bought the iPad screen and the driver board, thanks for the recommendation! In the video it looks like that the driver board got an internal audio amp. You connected a speaker without amp. Does this also work for the 3.5mm jack? Just connecting a small speaker...
9:46, can it be used with some kind of 3D printed part to make a twisted car jig that will let you accurate make X twist per inch cables using a low torque motor? Or a least use the logic of it to disign a 3D printed remox that would do that? It eould be useful to buy regular cable and soec it to your desired applicarions (ethernet, CAM bus, etc).
I love this series! Please keep making them!
Hi, one quick question towards those USB C plug breakout boards. 5.1kOhm is for maximum means 3amp but i want to hook this plug up to a 2.1amp what different resistor values do i need then?
6:50 i've never had a type-c port break on my phones yet and i keep using them for 7 years mostly, with at least charging it once a day. All you got to do is poke the accumulated dirt out with a needle every few months and it will last long enough to not get software support anymore.
wireless charging is only good for convenience and wasting energy ( yes i use it too on my pixel buds ).
At 6:59 you mentioned it being impossible to hide a wireless charger in a drawer. You can cut a recess for the device from inside the cabinet or under a desk which will let you put the device close to the surface of the desk. Cut the recess most of the way, leaving 3mm thickness of your surface. Thinner is better for charging, but thicker is better for strength.
If you don’t have tools to cut the recess, you can cut all the way through then laminate a new surface (like kitchen counter material) on top.
Scott, could you please make a video about usb-c video output from phones; does the phone needs to be MHL compatible or only the DesktopMode option needs to be activated? On the other hand there are driver boards that can take video on usb-c and others can only be powered up...
4:04 is that phone even capable of usb-c video out? It's not a common thing for phones and even laptops often don't have usb-c video out either
You can get proper bench PSU's like the TENMA 72-10480 for the same price if you want to adjust voltages during testing.. Also comes with proper over voltage, over current etc..
About the USB-C Connectors. They have a spot for a 0402 5.1K resistor. Solder it in and boom you have a USB-C to USB-C capable socket. This place is marked as J1 or R1
Damn it's pretty impressive that the sponsor is putting out a guide with a lot of knowledge out for free, you don't see that often
I need a power supplly to power up a old US police Lightbar as a decorative object. It is filled with 6 H1 bulb (55w each) and the electroci motor that make them turn through plastic gears. Would such a power supply be sufficient ?
Do you have a link to the LCD screen and the usb board that you used ??? This would work great for my raspberry pi in an old Macintosh SE 30 case !!
no one noticing "smart sexy vibrator" at 9:50? lmao
The beacon sounds interesting. I wonder if the accuracy is something to do with phone/app rather than the device. Also I wonder how open it is to be used without phone, say rpi or arduino. With phone alone I don't see much use for it.
"Say goodbye to bondage"... oh China, you so funny!
If you do a video on the DT3 USB cable tester (as shown at the very end of this video) you should consider "hacking" it with a CR2032 power switched lilypad coin cell holder glued on the back and wiring that into the GND/VCC on the input side. Now you have made the tester purely portable without need for a USB power source. It makes the unit much more useful. Keep up the posting of cool electronic / tools from AliExpress !
Thanks for the tip. Will do :-)
I would've bought only the driver board , the LCD would've fished it from eBay scraps... I find these videos useful since I also buy stuff from AliExpress. Thanks, Scott!
its $27 for a brand new screen, and saves you the hassle of tearing the glass off an iPad. You can also buy a new touch panel for $17, and the controller board has touch input. All you have left is figuring out the drivers for touch support on your pc or RPi.
@@frostbite1991 they are not brand new. I bought one and got a garbage reconditioned screen
@@frostbite1991 Do you know which touch panel would work on these controller board? The iPad touch have too many pins.
You have a superpower. I just want to build a peripheral with an LED that lights up when I get a computer alert. This stuff you’re doing is black magic to me.
Could you run the "Monitor" from a Laptop only over USB C (data and Power)?
Theoretically yes, I've used monitors that charge my laptop via a single USB-C connection. But the power is going from the screen to the laptop. Not sure how many laptops output enough power via USB-C (and implement PD/QC for outgoing power). OTOH, I don't think most laptop screen use more than 10 Watt nowadays, so even without PD or QC, a USB device should be able to draw enough power for a screen.
On the usb c port. On the other side is a litte cc pad (or a r1 pad, dependingon the board version) where the resistor comes to enable pd! Thats the correct way. No need of the resistor vetween data pins and ground. The resistor is correct between cc pin and ground
What powerbank was that during the ipad screen section? I like that it had the power output displayed.
I have never seen your videos before nor do I know anything about electronics or electricity, however, youtube told me to watch this video at 5:39 am so here I am. Video was good so I’m subbing 👍🏻
Thanks for the VNA download link.
I bought a nano vna and it is sitting on my desk until I have time to callibrate it and become more familiar with its abilities. The PDF will be very helpful for all that it can do above showing me impedance relative to frequency on the extended complex plane called a Smith Chart which is primarily why I bought it. I do think it offers a good deal more.....
Do you have a link of where I can buy the storage tray's that you have mounted on the wall that holds all you components?
Those panel mounted USB-C ports have pads for a 0402 5.1k resistor to be soldered onto. In my experience, Type-C PD chargers don't use the USB data lines at all and only use the CC lines for picking the voltage. What sucks is USB-C conversions for devices that originally charged over micro USB, since they use the data lines to accept charge. If they don't receive anything on the USB lines, then they just refuse to charge, despite having voltage applied to them.
Oh no, really? I was already planning on upgrading several older gadgets from Micro-USB to USB-C with those boards
You can however find true USB C PD boards there that let you select the required output voltage.
If you only want 5V then all you need is two 5.1k resistors, one on each CC line (don't connect the data lines)
@@tim0steele I think you missed the point about this not working for USB C power supplies.
@@stevetodd7383 it does, just 5V
A buck regulator power supply would be cheaper than the PSU mentioned in 11:30 which has limited range.
How do you even use that usb-c connection? Does it have to be sunk into a case or do you try to make it flush with the case?
Usb c port get damage yh.
But your battery get hot with wireless charging so i keep me cable and sometimes wireless with me powerbank
9:43 : Ok but keep in mind that this type on connection are illegal in most countries mainly because the insulation between two conductors which depends on the skills of the electrician, but also because of the cooper stress which can easily broke, and that can be very dangerous in unbalanced three phase system for example (neutral break).
I could see a use for the beacons for presence detection for smart homes. I'm currently using a Gigaset beacon with iObroker, but that doesn't have a button.
I could watch a video like this every day and not get bored :D nice finds this time!
Can you keep the touch part with the screen ? Thinking maby usikg it as a smart home screen?
Does the screen have the option to correct the aspect ratio? Noticed with the PS5 it's filling the screen and everything looks vertically stretched.
Can you explain in a video the pros and cons about stranded wire vs single conductor wire? I'm from italy and I thought stranded wire was the standard eveywhere and only in the old houses there can be single conductor wires. Then I discovered that Germany, Romania and other countries uses the latter. For me them are super annoying when I have to rewire something, or install a simple chandelier.
Hi, I was curious if you would want to test the JBC compatible soldering stations from brands such as "Aifen"?
Can you use as a touch screen or does the display not come with the digitiser?
The wire twister tool gives me the heebie-jeebies. Because there's nothing better than joining wires together and leaving a huge uninsulated twisted mess of copper. You *might* be able to use it for earth connections, as long as you're sure it's never going to have a chance to connect to anything else.
I'm horrified by the commenters that think that thing is a good idea! I'm also shocked that GreatScott gave it a thumbs up!
Sure the electrical connection may be good now... but how do you insulate the tag-nut of mangled copper you're left with. How do you disconnect and reliably reconnect one wire to test a single circuit?
There's no way an electrician in the UK would get work like that signed off. I'd imagine not in Europe or the US either. I loathe wire nuts, but even they would be preferable to this bodged shite.
@@kal9001 in the US they do it like this and they put plastic caps on it i know its stupid But they do it like this
These lcd driver boards are great if you need second or third screen for cheap and you have some lcd panels laying around.
True
Do you have any text compilation of items you reviewed in this series?
Awesome stuff! Thanks a bunch, dude! 😃
I would love to find a TP4056 kinda board with mounting screws, like the USB-C connector!
Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
And happy holidays!
what is the model of your power bank shown for powering up the ipad screen ?
Love your Videos. These Videos real help people choosing the right products.
What app did you use for locating the beacons? I'd love to try it
Wondering if you have olayed wirh the screen drivers and see what other screen can be use with it?
Thank You for doing the "Leg Work" for us, Scott!! 😍🤩🙂
What about the SL92B02 DC 3-20V bistable self-locking switch module LED controller relay board, is it a gem?
Would you mind posting the URL to the gigantic power bank you used in the beginning of this video as well?
Will touch work on the ipad screen with that driver board?
Might be a nice klipper screen in that case 🙂
What i'm looking for for a und hile now is a usb c smd part that has the necessary resistors build in and fits otherwise the footprint of a usb micro port. This would enable a relatively clean and easy swapping and upgrading of older devices
Clicking on the first two items for the monitor and controler board both take me to the same site which seem to be for screen and controler together for 19.58€. Am I missing something?
If the display is an IPad display does the touchscreen work as well? Is the driver supporting it?
These videos are mini Christmas present opening sessions each time. Keep them coming
While chceking the LCD driver board from the link you privided I saw that there is a four pin header labelled USB OUT. Aliexpress description says that's for the touchsceeen. Can you chceck if it actually works?
According to another poster in the comments it requires an additional touchscreen overlay
is it normal the links for the LCD and the driver board are the same?
or is there some typo going on?
if you can controll the trackers acceleratometer then you could use it to measure rotation and movement of objects, if you know rotation you could use them for VR tracking since you only need the joint rotations.
Your affiliate link for the ipad screen just redirects to the controller board. Is the link broken?
is it possible to get the digitizer touchscreen for the ipad and make it work for pi?
What are the opinions on the solar panels from the site?
Great Video... By the way witch Powerbank did you use? The runtime Feature is great
heat and cold cycles stiffing the metals loose the elasticity so the problem have the vago connectors than make the spring not properly working after a lot time. Its the other way around is more safe the twist's cable in long run that the vago.
Ive been buying cheap solar street lights from there to modify them for USB/Power bank charging, for $2+ they are quite good and exceptionally bright for the price. Decent USB C Cables with wattage displays too, though they tend to be inaccurate of 2-6W depending on the cable, but that isnt bad at all.
Any link for good ones (or name)? I see a lot of them but but also a lot of people giving 1 star reviews on some. Want to use them connected to a big solar panel and a simple dc/dc convertor with a high efficiency hooked up where the internal solar panel is. Been using it on led light strings here for years and works perfectly. The big 100 Watt panel is useless for other things during this period of year.
@@Luke-san The ones i'm referring to are probably not the ones you're thinking of, they have about 106 LEDs or below and are powered by a single 18650 and a 1-2w solar panel, they go for $1.99-$10 so are very easy to find on there. They are pretty damn bright for their size though, perfect for porches, doorways etc.
I've considered giving the large solar panel street lights a try that go for $30+ but i dont need anything quite that big, and id rather not risk paying that much for something that gives off similar brightness to the small ones
many of the designs have been reviewed by people on TH-cam so you could always give those a look if you need something that size.. Using a 100w panel would likely be overkill without a limiter though as even the larger lights they sell arent capable of handling that i dont think.
@@DigitalIP Those are exactly the lights I am looking for. Well the 100W panel is in parallel with a 150W panel. Today I measured a short current of 430mA. So not even delivering 10 Watt. That is wintertime here. Even during the summertime the led strings, garlands, are connected to it. I set the dc/dc converter to about 5.6 Volt and I can see that the current is limited somehow in the devices that I use. Some of them draw like 500mA, so in about 1 to 4 hours the cells are full. The small dc/dc converter only can handle like 2 amp tops so it would cap out at 5.6 x 2 = 11,2 Watt anyway
I replaced most of them to old laptop 18650 cells that still have like 2000mAh capacity. 1 light I connected using thin wire wrap cable, is about 10 meters/yards away. I did that experiment 4 years ago and it seems that experiment is still going on ;-)
Using the original solar panels (6V ones) the lights died in about 30 minutes after it went dark during wintertime, now most of them make it through the night.
@Luke-san Oh ok, well in that case try the ones i got a couple days ago, they actually have it so you can replace the batteries if you want, the cell is in an actual holder instead of having the wires attached to the battery! HIGHLY Hackable because of that! The other ones i got last month didnt have that little feature. Can only use flattops though, button tops wont fit, and the size of the cell itself is also a factor.
Okay so one of them is from the Shop5370096 store and is the 616B 72COB model "solar outdoor Led Courtyard wall lamp" search term, the other is 108COB with remote or 117COB with remote from the same store apparently. Fun fact, practically All versions of these that use a remote use the same remote/code so you wont need more than one remote.
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To solve the winter/not enough sun problem i just connect a TP4056 wired to a 2-4 cell pack of 18650s to the lights battery terminal or directly to the wires and recharge the cells with a USB power bank. While recharging since the voltage is higher the lights get slightly brighter so thats a nice side effect.
a couple years ago i did the same thing to a 1000lumen solar light i put under an overhang by my front door which obviously wont get enough light, so i have it connected to a USB power supply on a smart outlet controlled by Alexa, i have it set so it automatically turns on to charge the battery for 2 hours every day then automatically turns off, finally changed the battery last month after 2 or 3 years of use. Works flawlessly like that, and i can have her turn the charger on or off at any time as needed (especially now with how cold its been).
@@Luke-san Any updates?
Does the touch work on the ipad screen? I am looking for a in wall touch display for home assistant
a note on the "black technology" term on the wireless charging pad, "black technology" is just a direct translation of a chinese slang that means futuristic/forbidden technology, it's mostly just used as a buzzword to sound cool or attract the less technically inclined customers so i kinda hate it when i see the term used on taobao which is basically the "original" aliexpress that is only available in some parts of asia
Thanks for the feedback. Good info :-)
Is it possible to order from Taobao as an European?
@@steameier8590 it's possible through some third party re-shipping services like one called superbuy, but it will definitely cost more for the shipping compared to someone more local like me buying in SEA
Edit: and you would still need to find the listing you want for those services to order for you and those listings would be in Chinese 95% of the time along with the Chinese only UI of the atrocious PC website or not as atrocious app
I've been using the abusemark driver for ipad screen for years now, it's really good. Nice to see china have made their own version too, I'm tempted to switch, since it has USB C.
Is it possible to turn a USB A- female breakout board into a 5V supply?
You should also check the EMC emissions of the switching power supply units, as these are often real EMC slingshots that cause radio interference if they have not been correctly suppressed.
Did the touch functionality on the screen work? That looked fantastic for the price
Was wondering about that too. If there's a way to get the touch function working that would be an incredibly cheap solution for building something like an info display with touch controls.
I love these series!!
Me too ;-)
Is there a board wich charges 1s lipos with usb c and a 5v output combined?
are you allowed to use twisted cable connections in your country ??
somehow i don't think so ;-)