All plastic 150W eBay desk mini-heater. (With schematic.)

[@waldevv]

I've seen some 400W heaters shaped like a teddy bear for around 5 pounds, those might be worth taking a look at too, seems like a cute instrument of death

[@bigclivedotcom]

I think I may already have that here. In pink plastic.

[@SigEpBlue]

@@bigclivedotcom A pink plastic teddy bear of death?! YES! :D

[@DrakkarCalethiel]

@@SigEpBlue Double duty! xD

[@ridley68]

Of course in the old days we had the dual purpose light bulb/heating elements.

[@volkhen0]

Electro-cute you

[@strayling1]

Anyone else end up rooting for the little thing? "It'll overheat and not cut out if I put it down flat." *cuts out* "It won't start up again." *starts up again* "It can't shrink heat-shrink." *shrinks heat-shrink*

[@anononomous]

It's the little fan heater that could 🙂 Yep, I tend to root for the cheap electronics. There is something satisfying about things that confound expectations because, despite being cheap, someone somewhere down the line has put some thought and care into the design. For me it beats the "this USB charger might kill you" type results.

[@ArtemisKitty]

Just so long as he doesn't say "It's perfectly safe" we're ok.

[@ZaneDaMagicPufferDragon]

I think 🤔 it can, I think 🤔 it can, I think 🤔 it can, It Can!!!!!!!

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

it trust it tbh

[@erianaplantagenet6610]

I have one

[@chsxtian]

I was expecting a desk-on-fire-setter but it's actually got safety features.

[@teamoakwood2082]

What's safety??

[@crashk6]

Clive, as long as you keep taking interesting things to bits, I shall be pleasured... Perhaps not infinitely, but pleasured none the less.

[@millomweb]

So infinitely pleasured all the while Clive continues !

[@crashk6]

@@millomweb There in lies the the problem, none of us is infinite. Were more of a limited time offering.

[@HighestRank]

@@crashk6 the 1 problem is: 0 of us could survive an ♾ pleasuring.

[@johnd6487]

@@HighestRank but what a way to go...

[@jensgoerke3819]

The old electrician's rule: red is black and plus is minus.

[@bostedtap8399]

Jens Goerke: my favourite " Red to Black, Blue to F**k"

[@programorprogrammed]

Perfect.

[@millomweb]

Well re newish wiring colours, I do remember by thinking "Brown is nearly black so brown's live".

[@2lefThumbs]

@@millomweb I'm guessing you're Ameeican? In the UK, the old colours were black (neutral), red (live), green earth/ground :)

[@lewisgray4202]

pmailkeey we were told in school to remember that the live wire is the brown one because if you touch it that’s what colour your pants will be

[@kimvibk9242]

@3:21 - 'Oh, a slight vibration off this' - that's how it gives infinite pleasure, Clive.

[@SteelSkin667]

1:37 The way I remember it is that an axial fan is the one that moves air along its axis (ie a normal fan), whereas a radial fan moves air along its radius (ie a side blower fan).

[@Anvilshock]

That's it.

[@MrLampbus]

Yes, but I think that our favourite Clive may have been confusing the 'lean' of the fan blades (or he may not). I have encountered someone who thought that because forward facing blades would 'scoop' the air in that bulk air flow would be from outside to the centre of the fan if reversed (for this type of radial fan). air will flow centre to edge if rotated in ether direction. www.rs-online.com/designspark/fan-types-why-choose-a-forward-curved-centrifugal-fan

[@MichaelOfRohan]

That made that connection super obvious xD

[@lwilton]

When I clicked on the thumbnail I expected this to be a "150 watt" USB-powered heater.

[@caffeinepuppy]

I hallucinated the exact same thing. Makes me wonder, though, PD can allow up to 100W...

[@danielhorne6042]

if it was a 150w usb heater it would require about 30A at 5v

[@lwilton]

I'm aware of that. Look back at some of Clive's reviews of things like 10,000 KWH USB battery packs weighing about 50 grams.

[@theSam91]

I've got two of these living in an outdoor mini-greenhouse with a DIY thermostat controller to keep it above 15 degrees in winter....so far they have lived semi-outdoors for 2 straight years and are still working. Very impressed!

[@holdengurl1013]

Hi mate I was just wondering how long you run the heaters for. Do you think they could run all day and night or is that to long?

[@theSam91]

@@holdengurl1013 You could run them 24/7. I only had one fan motor die but the built-in bi-metallic thermoswitch stops them catching fire.

[@holdengurl1013]

Thanks. Dose the one the fan died still heat? Or does it cut out.

[@theSam91]

@@holdengurl1013 The heating element turns on but because theres no air flow it trips the thermal switch eventually which turns the heater off.

[@MazeFrame]

7:50 that motor is an RF300, a very good (high efficency) motor. Runs in either direction, can output some torque. Forgot the exact specs, but was somewhere 0.5 to 6V.

[@qwertyasdf66]

Assuming the zener is swapped out for a 6v one, any idea what value of dropper capacitor would be good to make the fan run at full speed?

[@DiodeGoneWild]

I think that the airflow of such blower can't be reversed (it never pulls air in). With the motor running in reverse, it would still blow, but with a different efficiency.

[@YodaWhat]

Exactly correct sir! (or madam, or madman, as the case may be). When run in "reverse" by Clive's definition, less air is flung out at a given RPM, but the fan also stops having the annoying habit of pulling more power when the inlet is blocked/less when the outlet is blocked. At a higher RPM, they will still move plenty of air, and create significant pressure if necessary, to achieve that flow. I've seen them used to drive a minor hurricane of air through rather restrictive HEPA filters, for a once-through air supply to hospital operating rooms. (No recycling of germy air!)

[@yusufh741]

I watch your videos

[@pierreuntel1970]

Huh, I honesty though he would jam the thermal switch and power the PTC module alone to see where smoke would come out first

[@dimitar4y]

he's getting sloppy. Age's catching up to him already. Or he's hybernating cause its' winter, hmm

[@bsekisser]

Haha haha!

[@ZillionPrey]

@@dimitar4y Nah he enjoys a 8°C house, so there's no hibernation at that temperature :P

[@abysspegasusgaming]

I'd leave that for ElectroBOOM to try.

[@millomweb]

I suspect there wouldn't be much since it's self-regulating.

[@I967]

"Let's test that... by giving it... the finger test." Excellent content :D

[@vinzzbe]

The outcome would've been different on an Electroboom video. :-)

[@SteelSkin667]

@@vinzzbe *bang* "awwww sh*bleep* f*bleeep*"

[@mr_b_hhc]

Ah the finger test, useful in so many of life's little situations.

[@davewolf8869]

Well. It is for infinite pleasure

[@bookworm8368]

@@mr_b_hhc This hit close to home :|

[@amojak]

a common thing in the old days of hair dryers is they tapped off the heating element to power the fan, so no caps or bridge, just a diode.

[@SquishyZoran]

What kind of motor would they have? I have a heat gun that has a motor that must have come out of a toy and looks DC powered and I have no idea how that could be done.

[@1djbecker]

@@SquishyZoran The same way: they tap the heating coil to generate about 12V. A full wave bridge, usually four 1N4007 diodes mounted on a circuit board on the rear of the motor can, changes that to DC for the 12VDC fan motor. A two speed heat gun switches in an additional section of nichrome heating coil on low power, which also slows the fan.

[@Gengh13]

They couldn't use that trick in this circuit because it is PTC regulated, so it wouldn't have a very stable voltage.

[@therealjammit]

@@SquishyZoran This will explain it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hWWYmJt4Z5ibd5I

[@rdservices2617]

Love the video, I use these little heaters for small off grid applications and I ended up adding a diode in series with the element which cut the start up current down by 50% and constant output reduced by 5%.

[@charmio]

That's a pretty genius modification to a PTC heater 👍

[@varunsimons4493]

Can you do those modifications for me, if I post it to you from Australia? 😀

[@peterjameson321]

Thanks for another great tear-down video, Clive. I've got one of these heaters and you've given me a peek inside. It's good that they took the trouble to add a zener to prevent the reservoir cap from exploding if the motor goes open circuit as of course it will do in time being a tiny brush-motor. A pity though that they didn't add a current in-rush limiting resistor to protect the contacts in the switch. I've noticed a sharp crack from the switch on occasions at switch on indicating a surge if it hits the peak of the mains waveform by chance. I don't suppose the switch will survive too long before failure because of that. Perhaps thanks to your disassembly demo I'll add a limiting resistor at some stage!

[@hugostiglitz6914]

Clive, the vibration is the infinite pleasure!

[@Quick_Fix]

Always a great way to discharge capacitors: the finger test, the tool everyone has at hand. 👌

[@bertkooijmans4769]

Until they try high voltage finger test then they burn through their testers hehehe

[@thornbottle]

i have one of these. I use to use it in the office because 45 year old women wanted aircon on in winter because they were hot, so the rest of us had to suffer with freezing aircon. this helped keep my fingers warm on my desk for several years.

[@micheals1992]

I remember when I took apart a broken camera after I'd been testing it, I thought it wouldn't be that dangerous running on 2 AAs, I bridged the capacitor for the flash and ended up with 2 deep scorches on my finger, its probably the worst shock I've ever had and I've been shocked by a 100kv HT lead on a car. I think the biggest thing was that the capacitor felt like it passed allot of current over a longer period of time which ended up burning my finger pretty badly.

[@johnpossum556]

Clive is the only one I know who would _hotwire_ a heater.

[@ailinos]

I have no clue what you're talking about 90% of the time but yet i never miss a video!

[@UserUser-ww2nj]

you talking about the fan and it possibly fouling the housing and making a noise reminded me of something that happened some years ago . My ex used to work for a council in the U.K clearing rubbish and taking things from houses for people when they wanted something disposed of . She went to a house and collected a microwave cooker , quite an upmarket one . Instead of taking it to the tip she brought it home for me to take a look at it . Plugged it in and there was a horrendous screeching noise . Out came the screwdrivers , off came the cover and yes , the fan had moved on its shaft . Eased it out , mixed some Araldite , put back together and bingo , we had a microwave . The thing was like new inside and out , hardly used if at all . She collected it from an affluent area so chances are it was bought , plugged in and made the noise so they just bought a new one and threw this one out . Lucky us

[@dashcamandy2242]

To be honest, I was surprised by the thermal safety cutout... And then surprised again when I saw it self-resets! I imagined it would be the "unplug-allow unit to cool-plug back in" reset procedure many US heaters have. To have a fuse before the power switch is a nice safety feature that not even Weller soldering stations have.

[@twocvbloke]

I'm still waiting for my chinese automatic house ignitor to arrive that I ordered before christmas, need to get warmed up by dangerous heater products, this one is just too safe with its' thermal cutout safety feature!!! :P

[@immrnoidall]

did you order your Chinese automatic house igniter ,with or without the automatic magic smoke release option? and it must have randomly flashing colored LED lights or it's no good. it's the only way to tell real china quality.

[@station240]

@@immrnoidall Real china quality means it arrives broken, with a small boot print on the outside of the package.

[@sparkyprojects]

If you wire the fan to run in reverse, it will still blow out the front, but very much reduced, it's a centrifugal fan.

[@BensWorkshop]

I like the way the thermal fuse doesn't cut out the fan.

[@VndNvwYvvSvv]

That part may have actually been designed by an engineer. But then the bean counters and production line gets a hold of it... So they have to make the case bigger because it was melting, lol.

[@Zanthum]

The power lead appears to actually be to US plug standards. The holes in the blades are the US/North American standard whereas the straight/plain blades with no holes is the Chinese version.

[@puckcat22679]

That's what I call a hybrid plug. The blades have the holes, but the part you hold on to appears to be too small to meet standards. Also, heater plugs are supposed to be polarized (so that the switches are on the live side and not the neutral) and those are not. That thing definitely wouldn't meet UL or CSA standards, though it's not horribly dangerous, either

[@dsloop3907]

Now that Clive has had the infinite pleasure, will he continue to take things to bits?

[@bosede-nage8467]

I have used one of these to stop my hands freezing at my desk over 2 winters and it has been great - but I never leave it unattended

[@christiangeiselmann]

Why don't you simply use a 100 Watts incandescent light bulb?

[@tin2001]

@@christiangeiselmann Probably because they're too hard to find now with all the greeny laws.

[@anononomous]

@@christiangeiselmann Or because they radiate heat in all directions, rather than blow it towards your hands. And if it's on your desk you might not want to have a 100W bulb shining in your eyes all day. And a PTC heater is a neater more rugged package that won't get as hot to touch as an incandescent bulb would. ...Or, you know, it's the green police's fault.

[@ferrumignis]

@@christiangeiselmann What kind of 100W lamps blows warm air in the direction of your hands?

[@christiangeiselmann]

SkyWizardless You can hold your hands close to them. Advantage: no noise. - I prefer that, instead of having a thing humming all the time. But of course, your decision.

[@pulesjet]

I have one vary similar to this thing but 12V for automotive battery. Works quite well to get the chill out of the cab until the regular heater ever tries to warm up. Defrost the wind shield quite fast too.

[@kengamble8595]

I have one of those for my old pickup, because the heater core went to hell and it's not worth fixing! Hey, better than a sharp stick in the eye ! 😊

[@pulesjet]

@@kengamble8595 Sounds like my ride. LOL I picked mine up at the Flea Market some years back for like $1.00. It was all grubbed out but cleaned up and still Chooching along all this time.

[@pulesjet]

@@kengamble8595 Actually I wouldn't mind finding a few more. They would work good as a Dump Load on my Solar system. Better to warm up the hall way a bit then just use a resistor to burn it off. Else should be going to a water heater if I ever get around to getting one.

[@kengamble8595]

@@pulesjet I got mine at Harbor Freight a few years ago, when they were on sale of course! Don't know if they still carry them.

[@pulesjet]

@@kengamble8595 Closes one to me is some 50 miles one way. I make it there maybe once a year. I'll try to remember. LOL

[@teamoakwood2082]

That plus is a US standard 2-prong plug. A standard Chinese plug looks the same but doesn't have the holes on the prongs. Just for clarification, Team Velocity | Software at its finest

[@teamoakwood2082]

Also, I love the videos, the quality is perfect, and the amount of general sarcasm is just... Crazy. Thanks for amazing content. Best, Team Velocity | There for you, when you aren't.

[@iainhay2823]

Got one of these based on this video to help dry out my car after a big rain leak and it’s done a great job on one side but the bimetallic strip broke after 3 days of it being turned on before I could dry the other side. Neat little unit though, not too hot to damage anything just not up to constant use.

[@musicsoftarchive4328]

I've got one of these. I get cold hands frequently and this device really helps.

[@Solocat1]

Outstanding! A Big Clive tear down and I just sat down for tea.

[@awgybop1]

The best "small~ish" heater I have is my Core 2 Duo laptop with a Dedicated Nvidia GPU, that's how you get nice and toasty on the go

[@agy234]

AustinG not gonna lie I used to use a first gen i5 to warm my desk at work years ago

[@OrbitalSP2]

My mobile i5 580M with the a Nvidia gpu is also a great heater. I can't even use the thing at 100% cpu speed cos it pushes beyond 100C

[@awgybop1]

​@@OrbitalSP2 I know what you mean! I had a laptop with an i3-350M. Man those things get hot and love to throttle by themselves.

[@bluegizmo1983]

Lol I actually have one of these and know exactly what you mean! I have an Asus G50VT laptop (Core2Duo P8700 and an Nvidia 9800M GS).

[@awgybop1]

@@bluegizmo1983 nice! Mine is a P8600 and a quadro nvs 160m

[@gavincurtis]

Still infinitely better designed than Broans flagship $450 bathroom heater fan combo. I see Chinese can afford self resetting thermal cutout in their $8 items. Yet a masterpiece of $450 American ingenuity uses only a thermal fuse that forces you to replace the heater pack every year. I finally re-engineered their crappy design so now it works. Manual reset thermal breaker with small piezo buzzer in parallel WITH thermal fuse of slightly higher temp rating. Now when the thermal breaker sets, I hear it and I know it is time to disassemble and clean lint out of the heater. Simple push to reset after vacuuming out the heater assembly and good to go for another year or so until needs cleaning again. The thermal fuse is still there to protect catastrophic failure in the event the thermal breaker fails. I did it for you Broan! Engineered your product correctly for you at no additional charge.

[@RossReedstrom]

Ah, you uncovered their repeat-business generator! How dare you break their business model! :-)

[@thepope4970]

I have one of those only in black and it was marketed as a fingernail polish drier . I used it in my car to defrost the windshield while my heater fan was on the fritz. Greetings from the middle of Minnesota.

[@pauljs75]

Self regulates and makes low level heat... That might be something that could be hackable into heating for pets. Like a reptile enclosure, bird cage, or a small dog house. (At least if it doesn't outgas much after breaking in for a while.) Heater itself would need some weather and/or mess proofing (likely by mounting it high and ducting the output elsewhere), but it wouldn't be too hard to make it circulate into a bigger enclosure that it helps keep warm. And perhaps controlling it with an external thermal switch, if the enclosure that it helps heat isn't too drafty.

[@Uncle-Duncan-Shack]

Fan-heater Minor, never leave minor's unattended. Speaking of minor's, no F-sharp's were struck when a finger touched the hot surface. Good control there, good review as always.

[@jamesrodgers3132]

You left out your apostrophe: alway's

[@ZaneDaMagicPufferDragon]

I’m at the reverse engineering part right now and I’m Really Hoping That You Just Assumed The Fan Polarity Before The Video Is Over!!!! Fingers Crossed 🤞🏻 You Blew It Up 💥!!!!

[@ZaneDaMagicPufferDragon]

Bummer!!! It’s Polarity Was Wrong On Purpose For Fan Direction!!! Noooooooo! Please Still Blow It Up!!!!!!

[@PeterAndersons]

You're a legend Clive! Always some random item of interest, have a terrific new year.

[@DatBlueHusky]

wow its funny how i found one of these recently brand new at a thrift store for $5, its awesome to see hes taking one apart now lol saves me time

[@_BangDroid_]

Those little motors are very common indeed. I replaced the disc drive motor in an XBox 360 with one of these I sourced from the vibration motor in a PS2 controller. You can't replace the optical drives in a 360 because Microsoft decided to match the serial #'s to the console. But nothing to stop you from replacing the motor hehe I got the 360 for free because the owner though it was junk - that was 7 years ago and it's still working.

[@WineScrounger]

Nice 👍

[@SharkoonBln]

I bought this thing just two weeks ago. Very useful when you tend to get cold feet. Also, my heater got a completely different thermal cutoff. It´s like the manufacturer actually watched this video. Now the bimetallic cutoff trips just slightly above working temperature. You block the air intake? *click*, the bimetallic cutoff switches the PTC off within 10 seconds. Even more bizarre, you switch the heater off, you can hear the bimetallic cutoff go "click" because the heater has no airflow anymore, but has residual heat. What else can I say? It´s *tiny*. Size is like four iPhones stacked on top of each other. Weight is like a single iPhone. It is really silent, there is just a faint "whirr" it emits. I could sleep with that. Actually I was falling asleep with the heater within 1 ft next to my head twice. It´s not dead-silent, but it emits the kind of "white noise" some people ( like me ) find immensely useful whilst getting to sleep.

[@chatrkat]

Cute little device, but I certainly would not take my eyes off it when it’s powered up. Thank you for showing it.

[@psylentdeath]

I love your videos. I watch all of them. I would love if you did a more in depth tutorial about switch model and capacitor dropper power supplies. I personally would like to grasp a better concept of these.

[@mandog2142]

At the 5C inside Clive's apartment he could use that heater to keep his porridge warm while he eats it.

[@billbucktube]

I like your way of walking us through various "automatic house fire" contraptions, small armpit heaters like this one and hackable led lights. Have you put together a video of your bench tools, safety measures (like your fire tin), what is the connector you use to hook up mains voltage with? I've looked on your channel for one but I wasn't comprehensive. I really liked your video about your mom. Thanks for sharing.

[@AcornElectron]

You take the infinite pleasure heater apart, I’ll have a beer and smoke. Keep up the good work fella

[@kengamble8595]

Doesn't the beer and smoke come AFTER the pleasure ! 😊

[@thebuckster101]

Ken Gamble beer and smoke is the pleasure

[@mgancarzjr]

I use a pair to keep the inside of my resin 3d printer warm. A simple temperature controller for a terrarium and some insulation work wonders.

[@millomweb]

Yes, I agree it likely has far more better uses than just heating desks.

[@jasonbrindamour903]

I have a bathroom fan that has the same shaft style (tight plastic, no clamp). Of course, twice now I have had to open it and re-melt the plastic tight and now I have a clamp...but it still sits and stalls from softening over time from the heat generated along the motor shaft.

[@Gossamer2]

I'll order one of these too to add to my "But, Big Clive said so!" collection. :)

[@sexyredtablet6599]

You too, glad I'm not the only one!

[@erianaplantagenet6610]

I had one before the video and I still have it

[@dennis8196]

I accidentally did the finger test on a faulty 4K monitor last week that had been switched off and unplugged for a month. I had 2 tiny marks on the surface of my skin and a dark line between them about 5-7mm deep under the skin. I learned some new words that day.

[@nadapenny8592]

I believe these are typically used more for drying your nails. Cold Hands Club where you at

[@BrooklynAvenue]

I use one of these for camping where electricity is available. If you have a small separate sleeping area (like a Japanese sleeping compartment) it will prove useful!

[@johnmorgan1629]

If you had blown that capacitor, you might have been able to do the OG finger test, off Taofledermaus.

[@gordonfreeman9641]

i brought one of these on amazon, it arrived today and works fine actually

[@Silor]

That heater casing looks like it's made of glass reinforced thermoplastic. A soldering iron should find the melting temperature pretty quick. I bet it's around 280°C if it's even a thermoplastic at all

[@YodaWhat]

@bigclivedotcom - At 14:55, when run in "reverse" by your apparent definition, less air is flung out at a given RPM, but the fan also stops having the annoying habit of pulling more power when the inlet is blocked/less when the outlet is blocked. In the case of this little heater, a polarity-reversing switch on the fan power will give the unit 2 different heat outputs, because at low airflow, the PTC resistance element will run at lower power. By the way... At a higher RPM, those centrifugal/radial fans still move plenty of air when run "backwards", and create significant pressure if necessary to achieve that flow. I've seen them used to drive a minor hurricane of air through rather restrictive HEPA filters, for a once-through air supply to hospital operating rooms. (No recycling of germy air!) The same principles apply to centrifugal pumps for various liquids, and vanes all pointed straight out radially from the shaft also work, with characteristics somewhere in between those of forward-swept and reverse-swept blades.

[@tinncan]

Thank you for taking this apart so I don't have to destroy the one my wife got and then hide it...

[@GlennHamblin]

Nice little heater. Thanks for the year down. Could actually be useful for something, can't beat the price if it is!

[@28YorkshireRose12]

On thermal cut-outs - beware of the possum switch! - I have a heater which has a thermal cut-out that stays "out" once it has been tripped (can make you believe it's a single shot fuse), however, disconnect the power and let it stand for 10~15 minutes, and it will reset itself - It plays possum! - These possum switches have a normal thermal cut-out appearance and operation, but also incorporate a small heating element connected across the contacts such that when the contacts are opened it now sees the current available at the contacts. The heating element now heats up and maintains the heat local to the bi-metal spring, thus keeping it in the "cut out" condition, and will maintain that status indefinitely (until the power is removed). Disconnect the power and let the cut-out cool down, then all is well again. Now then, that fan - It looks like a 'Sirocco' type radial fan, and counter intuitively, they rotate with the concave side of the blades "leading" the way. If you run one backwards (convex side leading) it will still blow air, but is nowhere near as efficient. - Air enters the fan at its hub and is accelerated radially under centrifugal force. This leaves a partial vacuum at the centre of the hub, which draws in more air. As this air is accelerated radially, it forces the air in front of it further out along the blade. Because the blade is curved (concave) the air is forced forward along the curve and is further accelerated as it exits the fan at a massively greater rate (in a sling-shot fashion) than would be possible with a straight bladed fan. All-in-all, this one looks like a halfway decent effort, but even then, I would never leave one unattended. One possible use that comes to my mind would be for heating (baking) old recording tapes to restore their playability.

[@SimonBissell]

If it accelerates air outward in a circular motion, it is a centrifugal fan. If the acceleration is relatively linear, i.e. Perpendicular to the rotation, it's an axial fan.

[@wimwiddershins]

I reckon the case needs a little bit more design work to remove the ability to bottom out on the fan and output surfaces.

[@Anvilshock]

It would not pull the air in. It would still throw it out, but it would have different flow/pressure/speed characteristics. There are in fact radial pumps and blowers that have forward-curved blades. They are typically preferred for low-flow, high-pressure systems whereas backward-curved blowers are favoured in medium-flow, medium-pressure applications. Low, medium, and high here being used in relative terms.

[@funkyzero]

In hillbilly country, we call those "squirrel cage" blower fans

[@Scrogan]

B-but “squirrel cage” refers to induction motors though

[@dissadeth]

@@Scrogan nope. Just any cylindrical cage type fan. The HVAC blower in a car for instance.

[@meercreate]

@@Scrogan That's a squirrel cage motor. Not a squirrel cage fan.

[@longrunner258]

The term is used for both items, even though they aren't otherwise related.

[@lwilton]

@@longrunner258 Except that one often drives the other. :-)

[@darknature79]

Looks like a 110/230 version of the 12v car heaters that plug into the cig lighter. I have one of the small 110 heaters that you plug directly into the outlet and it works good in a bathroom and would keep you from freezing in a 12x10 room.

[@darknature79]

The ones like this in the car during winter I'd let the air blow into the arm of my coat and warm the inside of my jacket.

[@seldom_seen_kid]

All hail the HOPI. Good idea for a t shirt that.

[@johnmorgan1629]

Or, " Hopilite Army."

[@dsloop3907]

Ed O'Brien, will it shimmer?

[@DerCrawlerVomUrAnus]

flickery t-shirt

[@Phred_Phlintstoner]

@@dsloop3907 it could. A little electronics and it could...

[@tin2001]

@@Phred_Phlintstoner Electronics? Why not just see some sequins on like a real man?

[@Bob_Lob_Law]

If I remember correctly, Centrifugal pumps are a bit confusing, they actually operate in the opposite manner of what might be intuitive. The direction in which they "throw the air inwards" is actually the proper orientation.

[@BenQuigley]

Btw that is a radial fan, Axial fans have airflow in the same direction as the axis of rotation, radial fans have airflow radially outward from the axis of rotation.

[@KRiley129]

Looking at that plug, it would easily fit into a north American outlet, curious what the power draw would be on 110V.

[@amojak]

as it flew over 1000W at the start then it would probably work ok on 110V, the fan will be slower though, so perhaps up the 1UF to 2UF.. 60Hz will help a bit compared to 50 Hz too.

[@KRiley129]

yeah, i was playing with the math, capacitive dropper aside, at the ~240V 1kW numbers seen in the video it would give it a cold resistance of ~57 Ohms. 57 Ohms across 120V would be about 250W. Now I'm curious if PTCs have a voltage dependency, Is it still going to reach the same temp/150W draw and just take longer to get there or is there a voltage dependence and we're looking at ~70W heater if you put it on 120V, off to the google i go...

[@amojak]

@@KRiley129 nah they have a wide dynamic range so lower voltage they would draw more current as the resistance would be lower to produce the same heat.

[@tin2001]

Wouldn't the PTC just end up balancing based on the heat, and therefore run at about the same power consumption (but double the current). 1KW also happens to be about 10A at 110v... I bet that input socket and some of the circuitry is built with parts rated for 10A. And the output was designed around a 10A limit at 110v.

[@killdeer]

I believe these type of heaters are actually for finger nail polish

[@eraldorh]

Finger nail polish curing is sped up by UV not heat.

[@Torbjorn.Lindgren]

@@eraldorh Regular nail polish doesn't react at all to UV but heat (and moving air) does reduce the curing time. Specialized UV nail polish/gel exist, these require UV light to cure but shouldn't be confused with regular nail polish.

[@whatsonchannelB]

You all all wrong, nail polish is actually cured by gamma radiation so its best to keep a small supernova in your closet

[@olsmokey]

@@whatsonchannelB I use a black hole, but I have to keep some curry handy.

[@paulvale2985]

Far too much knowledge of a non-engineering topic; are you here for the 'pink' side of Clives' videos I wonder ;)

[@raymondmucklow3793]

That's FAN-tastic, at least it has the thermal cut out. I didnt realise the ptc would get that hot.

[@ZaneDaMagicPufferDragon]

500W With Flaming Sales Information 🔥!!!! I can’t wait 😊 to see what the 2-3 stacked PTC Elements is gonna be like!!!! I’m looking forward to seeing that video!!!!!

[@hmarc417]

Replacement incubator heater/fan unit. Possibly .You mention thermally controlled but Could you adapt it somehow to manually regulate the heat? If you could you could re-brand and sell it again. Incubator heaters are spendy. Especially in a pinch.

[@johnsiders7819]

I have one of the ones that plugs into a outlet with no cord it sits on the outlet it self rated at 400 watts @120 volts us warms a small room that is 8X8 foot with my radio station in it works nice to keep your feet warm under the console desk .

[@emmanuelr6698]

Thanks for sharing, expertise and British humour, we want more !

[@remutus]

opposite polarity for fan would not cause it to suck air, it just makes air to move faster with lower static pressure. i suppose heating element makes enough blockade for air so they needed to "more pressure" mode

[@horrovac]

You're mistaken if you think that the fan would suck air if it ran in the other direction. Rewire it and see for yourself. That the vanes are pointing in the "wrong" direction and seem to scoop air up is only the case if you don't consider the centrifugal effect. In fact if it turned that way it would be MUCH more efficient. Test it. Interestingly, I do think that they DID wire it wrong on purpose. As a hack. They must have noticed that the fan is too powerful for the PTC element, so that when it rotates properly, only lukewarm air comes out. So somebody thought that instead of modifying the circuit, they'd just wire the motor wrong so the fan rotates the wrong way. Regulating the airflow by inefficiency. As the PTC is self-regulating, you might in fact be able to eke out far more power out of it by wiring the motor correctly. Of course, one should never attribute to malice what could be attributed to stupidity. So I don't exclude the possibility that they tasked someone unskilled with soldering the wires without bothering to explain which one goes where. So you possibly have about 50:50 chance of getting a motor wired correctly.

[@rayoflight62]

Hello Big Clive, I were doing the "finger test" to drop capacitors with the understanding they were 10,000 to 100,000 pF! A 1 uF polyester capacitor - charged a 1.41x240 V, would have gave you an helluva of a shock between thumb and index finger; genuinely painful. Thank you for the video...

[@bigclivedotcom]

It is indeed quite a stab when you touch a live one.

[@GarretClaridgeMeerkat]

Hey I have one of these, it was branded as something to put finger nail stickers on, but i just used it as a heater :P

[@eagerestwolf]

That particular plug is probably a North American non-polarized plug. I say that because of the holes in the blades. The Chinese plug tends to have solid blades, and we do have non-polarized plugs in North America.

[@markg735]

This might be nice for pre-heating things with a high thermal mass before desoldering/soldering.

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

I use a cloths iron as a pcb preheater personally. Really handy.

[@MrWildbill]

Actually that build quality is pretty top of the line for gadgets, wire routing as you pointed out, tab on the lid to hold the mains socket steady, thermal disconnect, everything screwed in, and minimal parts to reduce failure. The only issue with cheap Chinese stuff is you never really know unless you take it apart as you did but they did a nice job on that I think.

[@rogerhargreaves2272]

I’ve got one after seeing this being taken apart. It’s got a uk plug and rated 200watts. Output temp is 129°c. Simple & effective for a small room.

[@Gameboygenius]

21:12 That sounded and looked like the bimetallic breaker tripped. Not only did I hear a click, but I also saw a small piece of debris fly out.

[@millomweb]

I noticed the speck appear on it and the fan stopping. But the bi-metallic doesn't control the fan. 12.41 and I can hardly keep awake.

[@UpLateGeek]

Something like this would've been useful for me at our old office. My desk was under the first vent after the air handler, resulting in a freezing cold stream of air blowing on my neck all day. On one of my early morning starts, I grabbed a ladder and shut the vent, the next day someone from building services came and opened it again. I asked why and he said the ladies were complaining about too much cold air. I was basically forced to sit at my desk with the hood of my hoodie up all the time, even in the middle of a hot Australian summer. It might not have kept the back of my neck warm, but at least something like this would've helped to keep my hands from freezing! Anyway, a while later I was speaking to the building services manager, and he was boasting that they'd got the efficiency of the A/C so high that the air coming out of the chiller unit was basically 0°C. So I asked him why our server room was over 25°C in summer, and his response was basically mumbling something about it being on a different system, and how IT continually adds more servers and never retires any old ones.

[@sadiqmohamed681]

When did capacitor droppers become a thing? I don't remember coming across them "back in my day". I do remember the trick with hair dryers of using taps on the heater element to run the motor. Once in the 70s a girlfriend brought me her hair dryer which had stopped working. On opening it I found that a wire to a tap on the heater had come unsoldered! I remade the connection with crimped terminals and all was well again. I was horrified though that it had no isolation or proper safety features. No thermal cut-out, just relied on the fuse in the plug.

[@danielhorne6042]

iv got one of those heaters in blue . and i swapped the fig 8 cord with a uk compliant one

[@railgap]

I just bought one of these and since I had to take it apart to bring the heating element wires out separately (I'm hacking a little temperature control system for the tent of my 3D printer) I was looking at the power supply and thought, "Big Clive should have a look at one of these... if he hasn't already". Went looking and here it was. :)

[@BRUXXUS]

Hmm... neat little heater. I wonder if something like this would work as a 3D printer chamber heater. I suppose it depends on what temperature the PTC self regulates down to in a hot ambient environment. 🤔

[@TechGorilla1987]

A cardboard box over my ender 3 was plenty to let me print ABS. The heated bed warmed the box fine.

[@Gengh13]

Some guy in the comment section said that he uses 2 of them to do exactly that.

[@SarahC2]

I use one of them for my Flashforge Finder unheated pad. In the winter it gets too cold and curls everything. A blast of hot air for the first few layers flattens it all out. Cheaper than a hot-bed too!

[@stuartmcconnachie]

5:33 “we’re screwed”. Well you said you wanted to enjoy the infinite pleasure....

[@phayzic4039]

i wish clive here was a tutor. His voice is so relaxing i can listen to it for hours and hours. Do you charge for tuition? . Considering how small some HK properties are, aka the size of a box this is a perfect heater for those. Could it be converted to USB?

[@geniusarun666]

Thank you Sir, I would definitely buy that for my industrial use

[@AureliusR]

That power lead has the standard North American prongs on it -- note the holes. The Chinese ones are solid blades (afaik). Here we have the holes, and you'll notice the plugs (should) be polarized: one blade should be taller than the other.

[@station240]

5:54 "I should get rid of our powerphernalia here" ah if only that is what he really said.

[@markmiller2131]

Centrifugal blower. Axial means the air flows in the same direction as the axis of rotation.

[@seannot-telling9806]

Clive you made me think of a request. Can you do a project for us? 4 power supplies the first just a regulated 12 volt. The next a variable voltage one and the last a high current modification of the variable voltage and last a variable voltage and current supply. If you could base all of it on the fixed one and just make small changed to create each of the other supplies.I think that would be a cool project and a good teaching tool. Thanks and stay safe. P.S. I thought some thing pink was going to explode. Maybe a later item I guess.

[@HL4EHalfLife]

Actually that fan you have was designed to spin clockwise, it would blow far more air going clockwise than it would counterclockwise, I'm guessing they have it wired to go the wrong way so the motor has less work to do and that they could cheap out and use a smaller less powerful motor.

[@jasepoag8930]

I find the finger test usually brings infinite pleasure.