Normally it's hard to get excited about a surge protection device, but this one by Meanwell (really big player in professional power supplies) was an absolute treat to explore.
It's very well...
2023-08-24 13:13:05 +0000 UTC View Post
There are a few classic chips from the 70's and 80's that have remained in common use because they were based on building blocks that made them very versatile (like a precursor to modern microcontr...
2023-08-23 04:11:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Although the pandemic created masses of very shady products to "sterilise" everything, it did at least create a huge market for UVC LEDs, and in doing so helped with the development of that technol...
2023-08-23 02:41:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's the link to the weekend stream:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_7yXLk69Lc
A gift from Vince the crew chief on the current show. It's a Pixmob audience wristband that allows the lighting system to activate colours on the wrists of the audience members.
This ve...
2023-08-20 05:21:23 +0000 UTC View Post
There's not really much else to say about this. My colleague Vince got this self heating meal a long time ago, and we finally got around to trying it out.
This is the cheapest dancing flame candle effect I've seen, and more surprisingly, it was being sold in a standard shop in Glasgow.
The product it is based on is the classic and very expensiv...
2023-08-16 14:43:43 +0000 UTC View Post
This unit appears to be in the process of being dumped on eBay UK, possibly from amazon stock that failed to sell or was having reliability issues.
It's a USB powered essential oil atomiser t...
2023-08-14 14:43:02 +0000 UTC View Post
An oddity of this job is that we often have flypasts from military planes.
The first of the twp flypasts on Saturday was the Red Arrows.
The second was two jets, which were deafening. 2023-08-14 02:10:51 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's the link to this weeks live stream:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuHyz5rdNO4
2023-08-13 12:20:44 +0000 UTC View Post
A brief look inside a special effects fan that I was taking a look at.
It was suddenly losing control and going at full speed - which is quite ferocious.
The problem appeared to be orig...
2023-08-12 13:28:37 +0000 UTC View Post
There's sensible cost cutting and then just going too far.
In this case they may have gone too far and compromised the safety of this bulb by removing electrical separation. I won...
2023-08-12 12:59:22 +0000 UTC View Post
This Tetris type of ornament/toy sent in by Ray isn't meant to give electric shocks, but due to the poor choice of power supply it does.
With a defective power supply it could also give a fat...
2023-08-11 14:53:23 +0000 UTC View Post
The risers back in action for the up-tempo Electro-Pipes act of the show. This time with no video floor, but an upper RGB LED trim and RGBW downlighting. They have an RF link to t...
2023-08-09 14:52:57 +0000 UTC View Post
Having bought a bottle of gin, my work colleague discovered that the security cap was still on it.
To get to our gin and tonic we first had to defeat the puzzle of removing the cap. Tha...
2023-08-09 02:28:54 +0000 UTC View Post
A provisional date and time for the Edinburgh meet up 2023.
3pm onwards on 13th August at The Caley Picture House on Lothian Road.
Note that a political party (libertarians) has also ar...
2023-08-08 15:31:35 +0000 UTC View Post
I can't guarantee this stream will go ahead, but if it does it will be one hour later than normal:-
2023-08-06 13:11:32 +0000 UTC View Post
On one hand, this circuit could have a glaring defect, but on the other hand the microcontroller could theoretically contain an independent simple shunt reference of about 0.6V below the lithium ce...
2023-08-05 13:59:23 +0000 UTC View Post
Scrufdog will be a doing a live stream at the usual weekend time:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxPGd-RnlUQ<...
2023-08-04 03:05:28 +0000 UTC View Post
The "preview" show. The first full run of the show with an audience and the press.
This is the full cast epic song moment that represents the "Stories" theme.
Note that the white ...
2023-08-04 02:20:10 +0000 UTC View Post
The way the solar panels are potted on this main PCB inside the globe is what makes this quite an interesting light.
It's not perfect though, with a very odd colour selection method.
This circuit is out of a clock with a simple manual start magnetically driven pendulum.
The same circuitry can be used for many different kinetic ornaments that can potentially run for a very...
2023-08-02 02:24:35 +0000 UTC View Post
The unglamorous world of highland dancing rehearsals. Once the lighting and loud thumping music is added the audience will love it.
This is just one section of the show amongst the int...
I'll be working tomorrow on standby during the show rehearsals, so I don't think I'm going to be able to do a live stream this week.
2023-07-30 02:34:48 +0000 UTC View Post
We've finished the risers today. They had video floors in them last year, but just two independent sections of RGB lighting in them this year. One will have an illuminated transparent d...
2023-07-29 00:36:30 +0000 UTC View Post
This is the circuitry of a "vintage" solar flappy leaf ornament before they started using the dedicated blob chips.
That makes it much more interesting, and allows the circuitry to be repurpo...
2023-07-28 14:56:45 +0000 UTC View Post
Despite extensive waterproofing of connectors we generally have one or two issues when heavy rain occurs. It's actually good to have issues during technical setup, as it's better to sol...
2023-07-28 02:12:03 +0000 UTC View Post
I thought it was Vince the crew chief that had done this, but it was apparently Ed and Tim who did something very weird to one of our control cabins.
The rare and elusive datasheet for the amazing little chips used in disposable (and rechargeable) vapes.
Quite a specification. Particularly the low 0.1 ohm on state resistance of the MOSF...
I completely forgot about this video, which I recorded just before travelling.
I've not got an optimal recording area set up yet due to the quirky nature of the furniture in my room. Th...
2023-07-27 13:57:42 +0000 UTC View Post