You know... to Me you're the Bob Ross of Electronics on this site. No excessive editing, no pointless additions like video effects. Just You, your tools and the stuff you show, build and/or explain. The stuff that really matters. :] Always a pleasure to watch. AND educational too.
Skipping through his videos is my standard procedure to get out the information I might find interesting. Otherwise I'd get nervous by his lengthy explanations of basic facts I already know since decades 😎 and his erratic movements of his hands...
There's always the option to bump the play speed to 1.25x - speech still understandable at that rate. Any faster it starts to look like what Charlie Chaplin would do with a soldering iron!
I post this most times Clive mentions lead based solder. When a hobbyist uses lead based solder for his projects, a couple gram per year, no one bats an eye and no one will get hurt by it. But if every industry uses tons and tons and tons of lead in their solder each year and most of those electronics end up non-recycled in landfills or recycled by people without proper protection in developing nations, that is an issue. I'm glad it is the way it is, with the moneyed interests having to spend a bit more to keep the environment clean and people more healthy and the hobbyist being able to use the leaded solder for ease of use in small quantiites. :)
Never too long, when it gets less interesting in video, it makes for it in audio, whilst I'm taking care of something else. Perfect for multitaskers, and I could listen to your voice for days without getting bored
My immediate reaction to your cluttered bench comment was that I'd feel right at home! I watched a shop tour of a machinist that must have had $50,000 of drawer storage for tools & material, all organized and labeled. I was jealous, but realized I get satisfaction from making things, not organizing them.
@@wobblysauce I usually go for 1.5... I'll watch it normal speed too... It's ok... i enjoy the content... Clive is a riot and the nice sonorous voice is pleasant.
hehe speaking of being engrossed in your work to make time go quick, I was at work one night, super into what we were working on, changing out a robotic part on a machine, suddenly the next shift came up to us and was like yo, its 45 minutes past end of shift what you guys doing? I enjoyed my job back then. I still work for the same company but the job has changed so much, they have taken away things I liked one by one to the point the paycheck is the only thing left. And they are starting to mess with that. 18 years here and never punched a time clock once, now they are installing them to nickle and dime us on a minute late here 20 seconds will probably turn to a whole minute pay dock... anyway, love your videos, so relaxing to listen to your voice.
Never to long, I could and have watched ya all day before when not feeling good or Ill. I also like the choice. Not sure I'd ever skip ahead tho I might miss something. I have 2 rolls of that exact tape. You know the anchor light on a boat it's the white light at the stern. Well I wanted to light up the boat so I put 2 stripes of the 12v led rope on the anchor light pole facing twords the bow of the boat so it would light up the walkway, on a switch of course so as not to blind anyone when not needed. My next project with the rope will be to run the led rope tucked under the storage rails on the sides of the boat. Cheers sir.
They do make fairly cheap LED dimmer switches you might want to use. That way you could dim the lights to the intensity level you want. I have them for a camper I am building as I am using all LED lights in and outside. I can blame Big Clive for this because I didn't know much about LED lighting until I found Big Clive's channel and learned how to hook them up. Thanks Big Clive.
The waterproof red 5050 strip is excellent for night-vision safe general illumination. There's so much 12v control gear out there from China that you are really spoiled for choice. Their single-channel (white) light and rgb 12v touch control panels are inexpensive, stylish and durable. Add in the wide range of led strip diffusers and lighting projects can be really good fun.
I re-watched many of your videos over the years and I still usually watch the Full-Length no matter how long. Doing projects is always a little bit of a fun trial and half the fun - for me - is enjoying the whole thing. Sometimes you get other things going in your head the second time around or more importantly, sometimes come back for a detail or two you remember a year later for clarification. Cheers and thanks again Big-Clive
"And, you know, when these things overheat or die out, they can do some marvelous things, see what that does...? These smoke patterns they....sort of...happen and really do much for you without much effort....because that's what we like....big results with little effort..." :P
Nailed it. I'd fucking love a separate account or even playlist on this one that is all about teaching, going through each component, and then through some simple circuits.
I have never understood the obsession a lot of youtube people have with short videos. I didn't come here to watch as little video as I possibly can. Ill watch pretty much as much as you post. Its great to watch over your shoulder and learn. Thanks again for all the great videos!
Definitely not too long, love these type of 'dismantling' vids, seeing this has got me thinking, a few years ago I bought two 13 watt under cabinet fluorescent fittings from Lidl, the ones with the swivelling diffuser. Although physically they are well made, extruded aluminium body with glass diffuser, the first fitting only lasted about 9 months, the second one died after only 4 months! I've taken one apart & found that a tiny (and probably underrated) surface mount resistor had burnt out. This vid has given me an idea for a modification!
Definitely not too long. It reminds me exactly how I work myself. Especially forgetting to put the sleeve, or plug top on first, before soldering or connecting wires. Keep making many more videos, thanks.
My tape measure always comes back to me. It's a Continental one, 8 metres, marked with cm and mm on _both_ edges. It stands out among any of the usual ones seen in the UK with inches at the top and proper units at the bottom, and it can be used in both directions.
Nah. They contain tiny wormholes that sometimes escape confinement and cause the tool to fall into a pocket universe. In this pocket universe there is only Tool and Space. An entire universe composed of tools, screws, cylindrical batteries, car keys and remote controls. We can deduce that no time passes in that universe, the evidence is given by the fact that when a tool falls back into our universe it looks exactly as it did before it left regardless of how much time it was on the other side. We can also deduce that universe has no limit to spatial dimensions as evident by the sheer number of tools that fall into it. Not much is known about the escape of the wormhole that connects to that universe other than it's probability of occurring is directly proportional to your need for the tool and the amount of time you will spend looking for it.
Your videos are never too long. I think the main reason for that is that you continually chatter away as well as do exactly the sort of projects that we love. Keep on being you, bigclive!
Not long at all and the 'off the cuff' dialog works.. As you stated some of us just want to chill and relax and watch projects.. It helps me ignore the ones my wife wants done, lmao! :) Always a treat Clive!
Fabulous and thank you BigClive. I actually watched this one again and got a few new tips. A lot of us say "No way, not too long" and I agree. There's something very therapeutic about taking it from start to finish. There's something about your delivery. It's calming, peaceful and informative. We feel like we are "chilling" with a friend. I'm sure there are drinking games with your videos as well. :-D I'm in my later 50s. My dad was a calibration engineer for Stewart Warner in Chicago and I remember being probably half my 2 meters, hanging out with him in the basement as he whizzed together stuff with electronics or in his dark room rocking trays of his photographic hoby. I guess this brings me back there. Transistors were "amazing" then and LEDs were dim but cool. We made a digital clock from scratch once with an IC the size of your thumb. Good times. Thanks man.
I personally prefer the long form non edited videos. I understand that shorter videos do attract more folks (as all of us lot still watch them) but there is something satisfying about seeing every step even when I know what happens in the cuts.
I too am a watcher not a skipper. I like the longer videos and watching you work with LED's is the BEST. It's amazing to watch you solder things together as your dexterity is incredible. GREAT VIDEO!!!
No, not too long. You show complete projects, end to end along with any issues, problems or mistakes which is always useful for some people to see, also the commentary is always interesting. As people have said, you can sit and watch end to end, or skip and jump around . I often have your videos running in the background just listening and looking up at the interesting points.
(edit: sorry this was meant to be a comment not a reply.) Too right! A company Doing lots of recalls just shows integrity and a willingness to follow regulations. People bag Toyota as they've had plenty of recalls but how many have you seen on Ford's? I owned a Ford that had 2 recallable issues where ( as i undersoood it) every unit from the factory had the same issues and never a recall for those issues.
You can never have too much juicy lead-based goodness. Your videos are as long as they need be, always informative and flannel-free.....so pretty much spot on. 453K subscribers can't be wrong.
Your videos are never too long, Clive! I love watching you work on these projects. I don't understand why anyone would complain about a video being too long. They can always SKIP. Is that SO difficult? It reminds me of people who complain about TV being a "brain drain". I ask them: ''Do you know where the OFF switch is? Have you heard of changing the channel?" Please keep your videos coming. I have leared a lot from you. I love playing with LED strips - have some things I have made and I power the strip with a 9-volt battery. Works well and lasts a good long time for my purposes. The waterproof LED strips are often a pain to get the plastic "diffuser" off though -- but they do tend to look better. Thanks for the video!
I think the reason people want more concise content is that you can’t really be sure when something interesting happens if it’s a longer video. Not knowing that makes it easy to skip over the bits where the action happens, which is why they might want the skipping done for them. The longer projects suit me fine on occasion, but I can appreciate why smaller videos are necessary as well.
It's actually very refreshing to see you build/modify (or bodge together) something rather than destroy poundland items (not that I mind your teardowns). This video is appropriately long, didn't skip a second.
I approve of your soldering technique at 24:20. Now take out the good lighting, make it freezing cold (iron sometimes gets stuck to the colder joint), put yourself on a noisy and vibrating aircraft that's bouncing around and you'll be doing my job.
"Modifying an old light with LED tape/How a compact fluorescent driver works" I love how interesting you can make the most simple projects seem. You ARE the Bob Ross of electronics...
This is a brilliant idea to "upcycle" older fixtures, especially since you can retain the original look and mounting of the fixtures while reaping the efficiency/longevity benefits of LED lighting. I'll be doing this "eventually" to some extremely basic 4' and 2' single tube fluorescent fixtures my father used for house lighting when he built our house in '75. Buying drivers and LED tape is significantly cheaper than 5 replacement ballasts, plus 3 x 4' tubes, plus 2 x 2' bulbs! Actually, I bought enough LED tape, remote-dimmable drivers, and power supplies to retrofit all those fixtures for ONE THIRD the cost of repairing/replacing the old fixtures, while having one extra dimmable driver and power supply on hand for backup.
Absolutely not too long. I keep watching you because I get the feeling of sitting in your workshop with a dram and shooting the shit. I've done it often enough in real life and it's so nice.
I have used those outside LEDs before, and like them, but they just didn't stay stuck. I started putting Marine GOOP on them to hold them down. Never had another one come loose.
This old man actually learned something. I like the way your left hand kinda acts as two grippers at the same time. The middle finger of the left hand acting as one side and the ring and little finger acting as the other. Leaves the forefinger and thumb to do the careful work. Genius, I probably would have used one of those chinese clamp gadgets with the magnifying glass to hold it together as I soldered with my right hand. Your way is better. Sometimes it pays to look at the long bits. I did skip a bit where you were analyzing the fluorescent's circuit, since those are becoming obsolete.
Just got to the part where you say about people just relaxing and enjoying the long video, so I checked and ive spent nearly 30 minutes just doing that! Your voice is captivating yet soulful and soothing
I find that if my workspace gets too cluttered then I stop doing projects all together because there's no space and i'm overwhelmed. Cleaning my workspaces almost always results in a project occurring.
I have done that, while digging through the great pile , you find something at the bottom that would be "just the thing" to complete lasts months project that needed this missing part!
I replaced an old tube with LED strip stuck straight to the underside of the cabinet. The 12v wiring was exposed but tidy behind the valance. The mains wiring was properly protected of course. I won't go into more details, the significant datum is that after about six months I thought it was looking dim and by 8 months it was definitely dimmer than new. The LEs had basically gone brown with heat. YOUR installation looks a lot neater, and here's hoping that using the existing mounting will be enough of a heat sink! Meantime after looking at a few options for mounting a new strip on an ally strip, I got lazy and just put in a Philips Mini-Pentura unit.
Kelly Johnson who was in charge of the development of the SR-71 and U2 once fired a man for having a clean desk. He said a clean desk is a sign of somebody who's not focused on problem solving. Google "Jim Williams desk" and "Bob Pease desk" to see the desks of two of the most highly regarded engineers in Silicon Valley history.
I suspect Mr Carlson's Lab bench is spotless. Mine alas is not, but when I get a new workshop next year, it will be much more UA-cam friendly and tidy, honest.
Cool! Did the same in the display cases we have at our thrift and consignment store which is also sort of our front counter. They had some strange, enormous plugs on them and fluorescent tubes. Just pulled everything out and ran 12 volt LED strips through in their place. But geeze working inside of that thing was a pain! It was an old display case I didn't really want to completely take apart the glass and all, afraid the screws wouldn't go back in if I removed them. The construction was rather odd. Thanks to FranLab though now I know how to carefully replace screws without stripping the holes!
I have clearly been watching too many of your videos--I have begun remote problem solving!!! As soon as you started to consider measuring the current I mentally determined 'right, de-solder the +12V lead and reach for the cheap automotive meter with the crocodile clips...'
Clive, the Fluke meters still are made in the USA... I have two of the Fluke 87-V and one Fluke 789, on the rear of them all is "made in USA"... I believe Fluke is in Seattle, WA. Regarding forgetting a part during assemble of a connector... how about a 61 pin Cannon plug with 20 and 22 AWG wires (all white) assembled in the confines of a fighter jet cockpit, which was completed over two work shifts, only to realize the Cannon plug backshell was forgotten before the wires were installed! I was on the third shift and had to dismantle, so it could be started again from the beginning, with the wires passing through the backshell. Mistakes happen!!
If all Fluke meters were still made in the US, it would be plastered all over the website. On some Flukes it says Designed in US but on the box it says Manufactured in China.
They mention in the features/specs for the 87-V being made in USA on their website, but no mention for the 789 being made in the USA, even though it is. The Fluke meters: ua-cam.com/video/Jdy3PxiNud0/v-deo.html
I like your longer videos. I often listen to them to calm down before I go to sleep. Sometimes I just put the phone away and listen to your voice and try to imagine what you are doing :). Very calming and soothing and nice and interesting. Thank you Clive!
A good step by step . A true short armed deep pocketed Scotsman love the comment about the scrap bits of wire. The audio connector is so true. Regards.
I don't understand the things you talk about or care too much about what you're doing but watching these videos seems almost like a podcast and it amazes me hearing all these fancy words and knowing you have so much knowledge and to top it all off you strangly have a beautiful calming voice. I have no idea what happens in any of your videos but I love them.
brilliant long form video, good to see you 'making up as you go along' and its obvious that you have done an awfa lot of that. Im the same but tend to just look at things for ages thinking 'shit what now?' the sometimes inspiration strike, and watching videos like this add to your 'fix it' library of tweaks. Bravo Clive. What you need to do now the dark nights approach is to do 'the ultimate super stupid bright hand torch' and blow the minnows out of the pond. Or not, its your show :)
Keep them long, Clive. If people want to rush through, they can. But I personally like watching you do your thing at your own speed. It reminds me of being a wee lad and following my dad all over the shop asking no end of questions of him.
Never too long! Only discovered you the other day (although remember Fanny Flambeau from a few years back!) and it's relaxing, entertaining and informative, loving the length of the videos. People can always skip but I do love the stories and explanations and no jump-cuts.
I must say I do this all the time. Usually, I modify the lamps to work off 12v batteries. Just fitted a 12v LED modified square lamp in a stable so my daughter can see her horse this winter. Keep up the great videos. P.S. my bench is a total mess, I have about a dozen projects ongoing...
Isn't it heating at the end when it is continuously in "starting mode" with current through the emitter on both sides (closed starter) as opposed to "normal mode" with a voltage difference only between the ends of the lamp, current flowing from one emitter to the other, not heating the emitter (open starter)?
@@SharkoonBln although in this light fitting, it doesnt have the normal type of 'starter', the ptc thermistor acts as the starter, maybe its a bit too low resistance at operating temperature?
This is the first video from you that I have seen, I will have to look for others because both my wife & I enjoyed this immensely. Thank you for making it and for your running commentary, it added so much!
Okay! I like the longer videos without cutting. We get the mistakes, comments, and parts I am sure you would like left out! Really these modification and repair videos are the best. Good job Clive!
I like the long uncut videos Clive. I also like listening to the stories that you tell while soldering. Best way to fall asleep and than watch the missed part again next day.
I like the uncut format! As somebody who works with electronics himself, it's great to see your process. It teaches me all the other ways that an electronics project can be completed. Thank you!
I'm with the others. Your videos are never too long. Besides, with my luck, the first time I skip ahead would be the time something real cool would happen and I would miss it all.
You could be making all these words up, I know nothing about electrical things but your voice is so relaxing and soothing I nod off to sleep. Thank you from an insomniac. X
I have about 20 of those style fixtures in 6in, 12in, and 24in sizes (they were being trashed from a Walgreens store retrofit back in 2013)and I can't find the T4 bulbs for them anywhere, so I have been planning on doing this exact thing. Now I can see how to actually to it.
I still regret not forgetting to take the little color dual trace Tektronix o-scope back to work on my last project before I quit. I had tired of the conference calls to India and decided to leave tech. Six months later Honeywell closed our campus and I'm sure my lab books full of doodles of airplanes would have paid them for the scope...
Little tip i like to do when using tape LED strip - run the heat gun over the tape side for a few seconds to get the tape soft and hot. Makes for much stronger contact.
Good conversion job Clive! I used some LED strips to make under cabinet lights. I had been looking at the ones that are sold at home improvement stores but they want around $25 each for them. I didn't want to just stick the strips on the underside of the cabinets so I used the cover plate from 24" fluorescent fixtures that were non functional anyway. Stuck 2 strips on and ran the wires into a tiny plastic project box from china with a pushbutton switch from those cheap LED flashlights and a barrel jack. They are powered by a 12V 2A wall wart. The fixtures cost about $2 each to make and the wall warts can be bought for under $5 each.
@@johnfrancisdoe1563 That is why I initially suggested to use NiMh for their ease of charging and low chance of going up in flames. Personally I would not use anything else as weight or how many charge sycluses the battery can take are less important in this type of application. There are probably reasons why one would want to use Lithium Ion, but LiPo would be unnecessarily volatile and expensive for an emergency light.
Re the video length, I'd watch the full length of everything, especially your vids and those like them, if there were enough hours in the day. As it is, I'm often forced to use higher speed playback or experimentally skip trhrough... though I've found with things like this as much time gets lost scrubbing back to catch something that I came in on the end of, so it's better to just let it play through. I mean, it kinda feels like I'm learning stuff as well as being treated to a continual mild level of amusement, plus the general relaxing experience of seeing something like this come together in concert with your soothing narration, so it's hardly time wasted. It's also a nice encouragement to try something like this for myself again (at least, once I've finished fixing the bike, which may itself require some amateur electronic/electrical work if the hotgrip cable is as ruined as it looks), as you make it look deceptively easy and accessible. And getting crafty is a good idea all round after all. Oh, and the heatshrink, and particularly those damned DIN plug sheathes. Every damn time. Well, OK, maybe only about every _other_ time, but every time that I _do_ forget, I kick myself and swear that I'll never do it again. The kicker was realising I'd done it after completing the waking nightmare of soldering up a 13-pin DIN (yes, really - a 4x3 matrix plus an index pin) Atari ST monitor cable,... god knows why they used that, even though most of the other ports were much more sensible (a gaggle of D-shells plus the famous MIDIs and a rather _less_ crazy concentric 14-pin DIN for the floppies), I can only presume someone at the company got a really good deal on someone else's surplus. In any case, I can't remember if I wrapped insulating tape around it or just left the bloody thing as a mess of bare wires, but there was no way i was going to undo all that work to get the proper sheath on. It'd have essentially meant scrapping the job anyway, as there was already little left of the plastic (!) block that the pins went through thanks to it progressively melting en route (it only went in the socket thanks to a bit of judicious pin-bending), so I'd have been as well chucking the whole lot in the bin and starting from scratch. These days, I've learned my lesson and don't attempt anything more ambitious than a DIN-8 or a DE-9, plus the occasional HD--15 (the middle row is rather more accessible than the ST one, and if you start with that set and work outwards it's not too bad, plus the blocks seem to be a bit sturdier) or SCART. Everything else, I'm more than happy to pay someone else to make instead. It's just not worth the aggro. And FWIW, my limited experience with the super flexible type of LED tape (most relevantly, sticking 50ft of the stuff to the ceiling of a youth centre games room converted from a cheap extension tacked onto a victorian summer house, which offered a surprising variety of surface textures) is that it seems to stick better to smooth, particularly gloss painted surfaces, and it really hates rough stuff. But it's the flexibility that's the big problem, especially if you're trying to stick it on the underside of something - say, a ceiling. Unless you really, really stretch it and essentially swedish-massage it into place, it just relaxes and sags. Said stretch also making a complete laughing stock of any initial attempt you might have made to measure out the runs it was to go along and try to route it to fit nicely within the available space... ...and after you've finally, near-literally ironed out all those bugs, you find you've put one of the sodding things in backwards, so the terminals that have to connect to the power supply's flyleads are on the opposite side of the room. When you're first taking it off the reel, it just looks like they have bare ends, like the stuff you're using here... and you assume somewhere in the pack there's some simple passive bridge connectors to mate everything together. That is, until you've unravelled the full reel, and on the very end of it there's a moulded-in-place plastic socket designed so the bare end of an adjoining strip, or the similarly shaped plug on the flylead, will clip in to it. Arrrrrgh. If I find the arsehole who decided that the reels should be wound with the "start" of the run on the INSIDE rather than the outside, they'll have to use DNA sequencing to identify the remains.
You know... to Me you're the Bob Ross of Electronics on this site. No excessive editing, no pointless additions like video effects. Just You, your tools and the stuff you show, build and/or explain. The stuff that really matters. :] Always a pleasure to watch. AND educational too.
35 minutes of relaxation and enjoyment.
Great after a long day at work.
I would never dream of skipping through your videos.
Skipping through his videos is my standard procedure to get out the information I might find interesting. Otherwise I'd get nervous by his lengthy explanations of basic facts I already know since decades 😎 and his erratic movements of his hands...
+e1woqf Good for you - clever boy.
There's always the option to bump the play speed to 1.25x - speech still understandable at that rate. Any faster it starts to look like what Charlie Chaplin would do with a soldering iron!
@@Soruk42
Yep, that's how I do it too... And in Clive's case, since his speech pattern is rather relaxed anyway, he still sounds fine at 1.25x
i skipped it all watched 2 mins total
I like the "watch it or skip if you don't want to" approach. :) Definitely not too long!
You can always cut things shorter, but cutting them longer is a formidable challenge.
I post this most times Clive mentions lead based solder. When a hobbyist uses lead based solder for his projects, a couple gram per year, no one bats an eye and no one will get hurt by it. But if every industry uses tons and tons and tons of lead in their solder each year and most of those electronics end up non-recycled in landfills or recycled by people without proper protection in developing nations, that is an issue. I'm glad it is the way it is, with the moneyed interests having to spend a bit more to keep the environment clean and people more healthy and the hobbyist being able to use the leaded solder for ease of use in small quantiites. :)
Never too long, when it gets less interesting in video, it makes for it in audio, whilst I'm taking care of something else. Perfect for multitaskers, and I could listen to your voice for days without getting bored
My immediate reaction to your cluttered bench comment was that I'd feel right at home!
I watched a shop tour of a machinist that must have had $50,000 of drawer storage for tools & material, all organized and labeled. I was jealous, but realized I get satisfaction from making things, not organizing them.
I’m a watcher, not a skipper!
So, you're a little buddy?
Gilligan!
I watch all at x2 speed, so it turns into a normal length video.
@@wobblysauce I usually go for 1.5... I'll watch it normal speed too... It's ok... i enjoy the content... Clive is a riot and the nice sonorous voice is pleasant.
@@PghFlip Indeed, if learning something with hard concepts maybe slow it down/repeat or music.
hehe speaking of being engrossed in your work to make time go quick, I was at work one night, super into what we were working on, changing out a robotic part on a machine, suddenly the next shift came up to us and was like yo, its 45 minutes past end of shift what you guys doing? I enjoyed my job back then. I still work for the same company but the job has changed so much, they have taken away things I liked one by one to the point the paycheck is the only thing left. And they are starting to mess with that. 18 years here and never punched a time clock once, now they are installing them to nickle and dime us on a minute late here 20 seconds will probably turn to a whole minute pay dock... anyway, love your videos, so relaxing to listen to your voice.
Officiousness and red tape has stripped a lot of the pleasure out of technical work
Never to long, I could and have watched ya all day before when not feeling good or Ill. I also like the choice. Not sure I'd ever skip ahead tho I might miss something. I have 2 rolls of that exact tape. You know the anchor light on a boat it's the white light at the stern. Well I wanted to light up the boat so I put 2 stripes of the 12v led rope on the anchor light pole facing twords the bow of the boat so it would light up the walkway, on a switch of course so as not to blind anyone when not needed. My next project with the rope will be to run the led rope tucked under the storage rails on the sides of the boat. Cheers sir.
They do make fairly cheap LED dimmer switches you might want to use. That way you could dim the lights to the intensity level you want. I have them for a camper I am building as I am using all LED lights in and outside. I can blame Big Clive for this because I didn't know much about LED lighting until I found Big Clive's channel and learned how to hook them up. Thanks Big Clive.
It's a gifted person who can work through the design and build a working prototype on camera.
The waterproof red 5050 strip is excellent for night-vision safe general illumination. There's so much 12v control gear out there from China that you are really spoiled for choice. Their single-channel (white) light and rgb 12v touch control panels are inexpensive, stylish and durable. Add in the wide range of led strip diffusers and lighting projects can be really good fun.
I re-watched many of your videos over the years and I still usually watch the Full-Length no matter how long.
Doing projects is always a little bit of a fun trial and half the fun - for me - is enjoying the whole thing. Sometimes you get other things going in your head the second time around or more importantly, sometimes come back for a detail or two you remember a year later for clarification.
Cheers and thanks again Big-Clive
Clive, If someone asks me to describe you as short as possible, I will just call you the Bob Ross of electronics.
Brilliant! I'll be using that in future!
"And we'll put a happy little capacitor right here, and that will be our little secret."
"And, you know, when these things overheat or die out, they can do some marvelous things, see what that does...? These smoke patterns they....sort of...happen and really do much for you without much effort....because that's what we like....big results with little effort..." :P
That would be an honour I would think.
Nailed it. I'd fucking love a separate account or even playlist on this one that is all about teaching, going through each component, and then through some simple circuits.
“This wasn’t actually planned, it’s just what’s gonna happen.” You’ve got many gems, Clive, but this is my new favorite.
'If your bench is cluttered, it's fine... it means you're being productive'
*This* is the positivity I needed today, thankyou so much 😊❤
I have never understood the obsession a lot of youtube people have with short videos. I didn't come here to watch as little video as I possibly can. Ill watch pretty much as much as you post. Its great to watch over your shoulder and learn.
Thanks again for all the great videos!
Definitely not too long, love these type of 'dismantling' vids, seeing this has got me thinking, a few years ago I bought two 13 watt under cabinet fluorescent fittings from Lidl, the ones with the swivelling diffuser.
Although physically they are well made, extruded aluminium body with glass diffuser, the first fitting only lasted about 9 months, the second one died after only 4 months!
I've taken one apart & found that a tiny (and probably underrated) surface mount resistor had burnt out.
This vid has given me an idea for a modification!
Definitely not too long.
It reminds me exactly how I work myself.
Especially forgetting to put the sleeve, or plug top on first, before soldering or connecting wires.
Keep making many more videos, thanks.
Expensive tools are the fastest evolving of things on the Earth, as they develop legs as soon as you put them down.
john morgan that happened to several pairs of knippex side cutters over the years strange that
They mutate too, often about 2 weeks after you take yours home one with an extra tail or a go faster stripe.
My tape measure always comes back to me. It's a Continental one, 8 metres, marked with cm and mm on _both_ edges. It stands out among any of the usual ones seen in the UK with inches at the top and proper units at the bottom, and it can be used in both directions.
@@bluerizlagirl - Proper units? You have one that has cubits and ells?
Nah. They contain tiny wormholes that sometimes escape confinement and cause the tool to fall into a pocket universe. In this pocket universe there is only Tool and Space. An entire universe composed of tools, screws, cylindrical batteries, car keys and remote controls. We can deduce that no time passes in that universe, the evidence is given by the fact that when a tool falls back into our universe it looks exactly as it did before it left regardless of how much time it was on the other side. We can also deduce that universe has no limit to spatial dimensions as evident by the sheer number of tools that fall into it. Not much is known about the escape of the wormhole that connects to that universe other than it's probability of occurring is directly proportional to your need for the tool and the amount of time you will spend looking for it.
Your videos are never too long. I think the main reason for that is that you continually chatter away as well as do exactly the sort of projects that we love. Keep on being you, bigclive!
Not long at all and the 'off the cuff' dialog works.. As you stated some of us just want to chill and relax and watch projects.. It helps me ignore the ones my wife wants done, lmao! :) Always a treat Clive!
Fabulous and thank you BigClive. I actually watched this one again and got a few new tips. A lot of us say "No way, not too long" and I agree. There's something very therapeutic about taking it from start to finish. There's something about your delivery. It's calming, peaceful and informative. We feel like we are "chilling" with a friend. I'm sure there are drinking games with your videos as well. :-D
I'm in my later 50s. My dad was a calibration engineer for Stewart Warner in Chicago and I remember being probably half my 2 meters, hanging out with him in the basement as he whizzed together stuff with electronics or in his dark room rocking trays of his photographic hoby. I guess this brings me back there. Transistors were "amazing" then and LEDs were dim but cool. We made a digital clock from scratch once with an IC the size of your thumb. Good times.
Thanks man.
Don't ever change Clive. You're great!
I personally prefer the long form non edited videos. I understand that shorter videos do attract more folks (as all of us lot still watch them) but there is something satisfying about seeing every step even when I know what happens in the cuts.
I too am a watcher not a skipper. I like the longer videos and watching you work with LED's is the BEST. It's amazing to watch you solder things together as your dexterity is incredible. GREAT VIDEO!!!
No, not too long. You show complete projects, end to end along with any issues, problems or mistakes which is always useful for some people to see, also the commentary is always interesting. As people have said, you can sit and watch end to end, or skip and jump around . I often have your videos running in the background just listening and looking up at the interesting points.
Cool practical mod. And no your videos are not too long. I'd rather see you do the entire job then skip forward over bits. More learnin' that way.
One of the (many) great things about your videos is the lack of skipping/editing and only necessary minor cuts. Great format, great content. Thanks.
Hey man. You post it, I'll watch it. Don't care what the subject or length.
(edit: sorry this was meant to be a comment not a reply.) Too right! A company
Doing lots of recalls just shows integrity and a willingness to follow regulations. People bag Toyota as they've had plenty of recalls but how many have you seen on Ford's? I owned a Ford that had 2 recallable issues where ( as i undersoood it) every unit from the factory had the same issues and never a recall for those issues.
Only channel where i want more ads
Moo
You can never have too much juicy lead-based goodness.
Your videos are as long as they need be, always informative and flannel-free.....so pretty much spot on.
453K subscribers can't be wrong.
Your videos are never too long, Clive! I love watching you work on these projects.
I don't understand why anyone would complain about a video being too long. They can always SKIP. Is that SO difficult?
It reminds me of people who complain about TV being a "brain drain". I ask them: ''Do you know where the OFF switch is? Have you heard of changing the channel?"
Please keep your videos coming. I have leared a lot from you.
I love playing with LED strips - have some things I have made and I power the strip with a 9-volt battery. Works well and lasts a good long time for my purposes.
The waterproof LED strips are often a pain to get the plastic "diffuser" off though -- but they do tend to look better.
Thanks for the video!
I think the reason people want more concise content is that you can’t really be sure when something interesting happens if it’s a longer video. Not knowing that makes it easy to skip over the bits where the action happens, which is why they might want the skipping done for them. The longer projects suit me fine on occasion, but I can appreciate why smaller videos are necessary as well.
It's actually very refreshing to see you build/modify (or bodge together) something rather than destroy poundland items (not that I mind your teardowns). This video is appropriately long, didn't skip a second.
I approve of your soldering technique at 24:20. Now take out the good lighting, make it freezing cold (iron sometimes gets stuck to the colder joint), put yourself on a noisy and vibrating aircraft that's bouncing around and you'll be doing my job.
I don't mind the longer videos Clive. I find your videos very relaxing to watch and learn from.
"Modifying an old light with LED tape/How a compact fluorescent driver works" I love how interesting you can make the most simple projects seem. You ARE the Bob Ross of electronics...
Videos arent too long Clive. If anyone is like me we watch while working on our projects. You keep us company.
Clive, your videos are NEVER too long! They're always relaxing, interesting and amusing.
This is a brilliant idea to "upcycle" older fixtures, especially since you can retain the original look and mounting of the fixtures while reaping the efficiency/longevity benefits of LED lighting.
I'll be doing this "eventually" to some extremely basic 4' and 2' single tube fluorescent fixtures my father used for house lighting when he built our house in '75. Buying drivers and LED tape is significantly cheaper than 5 replacement ballasts, plus 3 x 4' tubes, plus 2 x 2' bulbs! Actually, I bought enough LED tape, remote-dimmable drivers, and power supplies to retrofit all those fixtures for ONE THIRD the cost of repairing/replacing the old fixtures, while having one extra dimmable driver and power supply on hand for backup.
Love watching your project videos, sometimes I wish they were a little longer, they are so relaxing, fun to watch and informative.
Absolutely not too long. I keep watching you because I get the feeling of sitting in your workshop with a dram and shooting the shit. I've done it often enough in real life and it's so nice.
I have used those outside LEDs before, and like them, but they just didn't stay stuck. I started putting Marine GOOP on them to hold them down.
Never had another one come loose.
I have a pair of Fluke ET73 meters that I bought back in the late 80s, they are very good meters and have served me well for decades.
Your videos are always the perfect length! I recommend watching from 0:00 to 35:31.
This old man actually learned something. I like the way your left hand kinda acts as two grippers at the same time. The middle finger of the left hand acting as one side and the ring and little finger acting as the other. Leaves the forefinger and thumb to do the careful work. Genius, I probably would have used one of those chinese clamp gadgets with the magnifying glass to hold it together as I soldered with my right hand. Your way is better. Sometimes it pays to look at the long bits. I did skip a bit where you were analyzing the fluorescent's circuit, since those are becoming obsolete.
Effin great Clive. Make em as long as you like!
Just got to the part where you say about people just relaxing and enjoying the long video, so I checked and ive spent nearly 30 minutes just doing that! Your voice is captivating yet soulful and soothing
I find that if my workspace gets too cluttered then I stop doing projects all together because there's no space and i'm overwhelmed. Cleaning my workspaces almost always results in a project occurring.
I have done that, while digging through the great pile , you find something at the bottom that would be "just the thing" to complete lasts months project that needed this missing part!
I replaced an old tube with LED strip stuck straight to the underside of the cabinet. The 12v wiring was exposed but tidy behind the valance. The mains wiring was properly protected of course. I won't go into more details, the significant datum is that after about six months I thought it was looking dim and by 8 months it was definitely dimmer than new. The LEs had basically gone brown with heat. YOUR installation looks a lot neater, and here's hoping that using the existing mounting will be enough of a heat sink! Meantime after looking at a few options for mounting a new strip on an ally strip, I got lazy and just put in a Philips Mini-Pentura unit.
*A tidy bench is the sign of a sociopath, avoid them at all costs.*
Analogous to never trusting a skinny chef.
Kelly Johnson who was in charge of the development of the SR-71 and U2 once fired a man for having a clean desk.
He said a clean desk is a sign of somebody who's not focused on problem solving.
Google "Jim Williams desk" and "Bob Pease desk" to see the desks of two of the most highly regarded engineers in Silicon Valley history.
If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind then what's a empty desk a sign of?
I suspect Mr Carlson's Lab bench is spotless. Mine alas is not, but when I get a new workshop next year, it will be much more UA-cam friendly and tidy, honest.
As he said that, I was in the process of cleaning off my worktop so I could start some more projects.
I've learned MORE IN 2 1/2 HOURS from YOU than I've EVER LEARNED in 2 years of High School Electronics !!! YOU ROCK!!!
26:40 "Looks a bit wrinkly but that's alright it's fine".. i've heard that before
Just rub it a bit harder :D
What about 17:59 "There's no harm in having a bit of extra length"?
User name checks out.
Cool! Did the same in the display cases we have at our thrift and consignment store which is also sort of our front counter. They had some strange, enormous plugs on them and fluorescent tubes. Just pulled everything out and ran 12 volt LED strips through in their place. But geeze working inside of that thing was a pain! It was an old display case I didn't really want to completely take apart the glass and all, afraid the screws wouldn't go back in if I removed them. The construction was rather odd. Thanks to FranLab though now I know how to carefully replace screws without stripping the holes!
I have clearly been watching too many of your videos--I have begun remote problem solving!!! As soon as you started to consider measuring the current I mentally determined 'right, de-solder the +12V lead and reach for the cheap automotive meter with the crocodile clips...'
I was hoping to see the little Hall Effect clamp meter again.
It's the 'train of thought' kind of thing that makes this kind of video golden.
Longer videos=Better videos.
Clive, the Fluke meters still are made in the USA... I have two of the Fluke 87-V and one Fluke 789, on the rear of them all is "made in USA"... I believe Fluke is in Seattle, WA.
Regarding forgetting a part during assemble of a connector... how about a 61 pin Cannon plug with 20 and 22 AWG wires (all white) assembled in the confines of a fighter jet cockpit, which was completed over two work shifts, only to realize the Cannon plug backshell was forgotten before the wires were installed! I was on the third shift and had to dismantle, so it could be started again from the beginning, with the wires passing through the backshell. Mistakes happen!!
If all Fluke meters were still made in the US, it would be plastered all over the website.
On some Flukes it says Designed in US but on the box it says Manufactured in China.
They mention in the features/specs for the 87-V being made in USA on their website, but no mention for the 789 being made in the USA, even though it is. The Fluke meters: ua-cam.com/video/Jdy3PxiNud0/v-deo.html
@@evilutionltd The 18B and 18B+ are made in China for the Asian market.
My 179 says Made In USA on the back. Not sure how old it is - I got it second hand about 3 or 4 years ago.
I bet for a minute you were asking yourself if you could somehow split the plug's backshell and rebuild it around the wires! LOL
Any length you like Clive. It's always a treat to watch and hear your electronic ruminations.
I love the longer videos!
Love the patter as you're working. Sometimes you're pattering at the viewers and sometimes at the project... priceless. I'm subscribing.
Not too long. I love when you show us everything!
I like your longer videos. I often listen to them to calm down before I go to sleep. Sometimes I just put the phone away and listen to your voice and try to imagine what you are doing :). Very calming and soothing and nice and interesting. Thank you Clive!
Nice conversion Clive. Enjoyed watching the video.
A good step by step . A true short armed deep pocketed Scotsman love the comment about the scrap bits of wire. The audio connector is so true. Regards.
I vote for long videos, even when you make a mistake we learn something!
I don't understand the things you talk about or care too much about what you're doing but watching these videos seems almost like a podcast and it amazes me hearing all these fancy words and knowing you have so much knowledge and to top it all off you strangly have a beautiful calming voice. I have no idea what happens in any of your videos but I love them.
13:27 . . . When screwdriver discharge fails, finger test succeeds!!
it always does :)
Much better t take a zap when you expect it, than later unexpectedly.
brilliant long form video, good to see you 'making up as you go along' and its obvious that you have done an awfa lot of that. Im the same but tend to just look at things for ages thinking 'shit what now?' the sometimes inspiration strike, and watching videos like this add to your 'fix it' library of tweaks. Bravo Clive. What you need to do now the dark nights approach is to do 'the ultimate super stupid bright hand torch' and blow the minnows out of the pond. Or not, its your show :)
I like to go for a balanced approach with torches. Lower light level with huge battery life.
'Reflector' looks more like a diffuser.
I thought that too, but then I attributed what I (thought) I heard to his accent. lol
Rottidog It was a slip of the tongue. He said it correctly near the end of the video.
Keep them long, Clive. If people want to rush through, they can. But I personally like watching you do your thing at your own speed. It reminds me of being a wee lad and following my dad all over the shop asking no end of questions of him.
Woke up to the upload, quite a relaxing way to have breakfast.
Never too long! Only discovered you the other day (although remember Fanny Flambeau from a few years back!) and it's relaxing, entertaining and informative, loving the length of the videos. People can always skip but I do love the stories and explanations and no jump-cuts.
This was a nice project. I'd like to see more stuff like this.
Longer the better, can always add a story or two, I like hearing about things you have fixed in the past.
Clive, bigger, wafflier and un-cut, is certainly my preference.
@shlibber Belgian or regular?
I must say I do this all the time. Usually, I modify the lamps to work off 12v batteries. Just fitted a 12v LED modified square lamp in a stable so my daughter can see her horse this winter. Keep up the great videos. P.S. my bench is a total mess, I have about a dozen projects ongoing...
Isn't it heating at the end when it is continuously in "starting mode" with current through the emitter on both sides (closed starter) as opposed to "normal mode" with a voltage difference only between the ends of the lamp, current flowing from one emitter to the other, not heating the emitter (open starter)?
Exactly my thoughts. Darkened ends are a hint that the starter is defective.
@@SharkoonBln although in this light fitting, it doesnt have the normal type of 'starter', the ptc thermistor acts as the starter, maybe its a bit too low resistance at operating temperature?
This is the first video from you that I have seen, I will have to look for others because both my wife & I enjoyed this immensely. Thank you for making it and for your running commentary, it added so much!
great video Clive, these are my favourite types of your videos, and id rather your videos be longer lol
Okay! I like the longer videos without cutting. We get the mistakes, comments, and parts I am sure you would like left out! Really these modification and repair videos are the best. Good job Clive!
If it ain't broke, fix it til it is!
I like the long uncut videos Clive. I also like listening to the stories that you tell while soldering. Best way to fall asleep and than watch the missed part again next day.
I like the longer format, personally.
I like the uncut format! As somebody who works with electronics himself, it's great to see your process. It teaches me all the other ways that an electronics project can be completed. Thank you!
"Amply Rated" that is a current joke.
I prefer the longer videos when you build/mod stuff. It's interesting to see your way of 'solving problems'.
Clive, I love it. More of the same, please!
I'm with the others. Your videos are never too long. Besides, with my luck, the first time I skip ahead would be the time something real cool would happen and I would miss it all.
Friday night comfort viewing with a beer. Never too long.
You could be making all these words up, I know nothing about electrical things but your voice is so relaxing and soothing I nod off to sleep. Thank you from an insomniac. X
No video of yours is too long, Clive. In fact, the longer the better! Haha. :P
"That's what" -she
Sorry but you kinda walked into it lol
I have about 20 of those style fixtures in 6in, 12in, and 24in sizes (they were being trashed from a Walgreens store retrofit back in 2013)and I can't find the T4 bulbs for them anywhere, so I have been planning on doing this exact thing. Now I can see how to actually to it.
Big Clive for the next dr who👍 if only Poundland did a sonic screwdriver🤣
Dude, you are the Bob Ross of this genre. Never too long. Come home from work and just relax to your videos.
I like your not-pausing and the videos are not too long
Big Clive is the Bob Ross of electronics. Please continue to make your happy circuits.
I kind of borrowed my fluke when I got made redundant !
Good call.
the only thing you can do to let those b*st*rds bleed for their cruelness
Quack Quark, as in the film Interstellar ;)
I still regret not forgetting to take the little color dual trace Tektronix o-scope back to work on my last project before I quit. I had tired of the conference calls to India and decided to leave tech. Six months later Honeywell closed our campus and I'm sure my lab books full of doodles of airplanes would have paid them for the scope...
Little tip i like to do when using tape LED strip - run the heat gun over the tape side for a few seconds to get the tape soft and hot. Makes for much stronger contact.
Very nice video and for sure not too long!
Good conversion job Clive!
I used some LED strips to make under cabinet lights. I had been looking at the ones that are sold at home improvement stores but they want around $25 each for them. I didn't want to just stick the strips on the underside of the cabinets so I used the cover plate from 24" fluorescent fixtures that were non functional anyway. Stuck 2 strips on and ran the wires into a tiny plastic project box from china with a pushbutton switch from those cheap LED flashlights and a barrel jack. They are powered by a 12V 2A wall wart. The fixtures cost about $2 each to make and the wall warts can be bought for under $5 each.
I wondered if the case could fit a 18650? That would be good for making emergency lamp
3x AA NiMh's would also work quite well whilst also allowing a very simple charging cirquitry
@@63ch31 or 3x 14500 for something lithium ion while still being the AA form factor.
@@FnordOok indeed
ted clubber lang But LiPo charging requires complex circuits not needed for NiMH .
@@johnfrancisdoe1563 That is why I initially suggested to use NiMh for their ease of charging and low chance of going up in flames. Personally I would not use anything else as weight or how many charge sycluses the battery can take are less important in this type of application. There are probably reasons why one would want to use Lithium Ion, but LiPo would be unnecessarily volatile and expensive for an emergency light.
Not sure how others find it but I have no problem with the video length, I quite enjoy the talking and soldering.
Thanks for the videos.
Haha the _finger test_ always has me laughing 😆
SOUNDS LIKE : The Last boy scout. With Bruce Willis. His partner has the finger rating.
Re the video length, I'd watch the full length of everything, especially your vids and those like them, if there were enough hours in the day. As it is, I'm often forced to use higher speed playback or experimentally skip trhrough... though I've found with things like this as much time gets lost scrubbing back to catch something that I came in on the end of, so it's better to just let it play through. I mean, it kinda feels like I'm learning stuff as well as being treated to a continual mild level of amusement, plus the general relaxing experience of seeing something like this come together in concert with your soothing narration, so it's hardly time wasted. It's also a nice encouragement to try something like this for myself again (at least, once I've finished fixing the bike, which may itself require some amateur electronic/electrical work if the hotgrip cable is as ruined as it looks), as you make it look deceptively easy and accessible. And getting crafty is a good idea all round after all.
Oh, and the heatshrink, and particularly those damned DIN plug sheathes. Every damn time. Well, OK, maybe only about every _other_ time, but every time that I _do_ forget, I kick myself and swear that I'll never do it again.
The kicker was realising I'd done it after completing the waking nightmare of soldering up a 13-pin DIN (yes, really - a 4x3 matrix plus an index pin) Atari ST monitor cable,... god knows why they used that, even though most of the other ports were much more sensible (a gaggle of D-shells plus the famous MIDIs and a rather _less_ crazy concentric 14-pin DIN for the floppies), I can only presume someone at the company got a really good deal on someone else's surplus. In any case, I can't remember if I wrapped insulating tape around it or just left the bloody thing as a mess of bare wires, but there was no way i was going to undo all that work to get the proper sheath on. It'd have essentially meant scrapping the job anyway, as there was already little left of the plastic (!) block that the pins went through thanks to it progressively melting en route (it only went in the socket thanks to a bit of judicious pin-bending), so I'd have been as well chucking the whole lot in the bin and starting from scratch.
These days, I've learned my lesson and don't attempt anything more ambitious than a DIN-8 or a DE-9, plus the occasional HD--15 (the middle row is rather more accessible than the ST one, and if you start with that set and work outwards it's not too bad, plus the blocks seem to be a bit sturdier) or SCART. Everything else, I'm more than happy to pay someone else to make instead. It's just not worth the aggro.
And FWIW, my limited experience with the super flexible type of LED tape (most relevantly, sticking 50ft of the stuff to the ceiling of a youth centre games room converted from a cheap extension tacked onto a victorian summer house, which offered a surprising variety of surface textures) is that it seems to stick better to smooth, particularly gloss painted surfaces, and it really hates rough stuff. But it's the flexibility that's the big problem, especially if you're trying to stick it on the underside of something - say, a ceiling. Unless you really, really stretch it and essentially swedish-massage it into place, it just relaxes and sags. Said stretch also making a complete laughing stock of any initial attempt you might have made to measure out the runs it was to go along and try to route it to fit nicely within the available space...
...and after you've finally, near-literally ironed out all those bugs, you find you've put one of the sodding things in backwards, so the terminals that have to connect to the power supply's flyleads are on the opposite side of the room. When you're first taking it off the reel, it just looks like they have bare ends, like the stuff you're using here... and you assume somewhere in the pack there's some simple passive bridge connectors to mate everything together. That is, until you've unravelled the full reel, and on the very end of it there's a moulded-in-place plastic socket designed so the bare end of an adjoining strip, or the similarly shaped plug on the flylead, will clip in to it.
Arrrrrgh.
If I find the arsehole who decided that the reels should be wound with the "start" of the run on the INSIDE rather than the outside, they'll have to use DNA sequencing to identify the remains.