Teardown of a DMX controlled UV disco light.

This is one of those mass produced devices that has used some very clever tricks to get big results at very little cost. It's a 12 LED mini PAR style light with DMX control plus a variety of built in effects with a sound activation option.
The most perplexing thing about this light is the complete lack of current regulating circuitry for the LEDs. Not even a resistor, and seemingly nothing on the PCB getting hot. The power supply is putting out about 10.5V and my best guess is that the circuitry relies on circuit impedance and the increasing LED voltage in relation to the current to add a PWM prescaler to give the equivalent of about 350mA through the LEDs when at full intensity. The power supply is set at around 10.5V to nudge closer to the combined voltage of each circuit of three LEDs.
The control chip may have 16 bit resolution PWM modules in it, which would suit that approach.
I'm going to have to 'scope these units out to see what sort of waveform is across the LEDs.
Although masquerading as a UV light, this unit uses the classic near-UV LEDs that are well into the blue end of the spectrum and create a strong violet glow that stimulates fluorescent pigments. It's not true longwave UV, but has a similar effect.
RS485/DMX receiver-transmitter 75176B
Display segment driver 74HC595D shift register
Processor STM8s003f3p6 value 8-bit CPU with internal 16MHz clock.
Power supply switchmode chip DK112
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
www.bigclive.co...

[@sixstringedthing]

So we've just absolutely confirmed that any time Clive posts a video about DMX lighting, we'll get a bunch of really very clever individuals reminding us in the comments that there is also a rapper who goes by "DMX". Thanks guys. Well done.

[@seanet1310]

It is really nice to see designers fully understand their circuit impedance let alone take advantage of it. Far too many have little to no idea and just chuck a design together hoping for the best. If these people applied their skills they could make great EMC designers, especially in automotive related fields due to the price points

[@wmascolin]

DMX quit rapping to make disco lights? That guy is crazy!

[@WooferCooker]

wmascolina hah

[@grahamsutherland1106]

I'd love to see more DMX lighting teardowns, particularly cheap moving heads if you can find them within budget. I've recently set myself up with a whole set of lights and lasers (mostly Equinox, Chauvet, and Laserworld gear) for running lighting during DJ sets at events I help organise (mostly demoscene stuff in the UK) and would love to see the innards of that kind if stuff. Side note, I met a colleague of yours at one of those events - NOVA, earlier this year. We had a chat about my homebrew stage backlight system that ran behind the projector. I feel terrible that I've completely forgotten her name (I was quite drunk at the time) but say hi from me!

[@OatmealDonk]

I think he works behind the scenes at a stage in his area anyway as a repair man for the equipment, so frankly you might as well just ask him to record himself at work. :-P while I'm commenting, what kind of laserworld lasers do you have? ilda or dmx?

[@grahamsutherland1106]

James Ray On the Laserworld stuff I've got 2x ES-100G, 2x ES-600B, which are both DMX. I've also got a 520laser Club2000 which is ILDA 30kpps (driven via an FB3 QS). My older laser projector is a cheap Chinese RGB laser which is ILDA with questionable galvos (maybe 5-10kpps or so), and that's driven off a homemade ILDA controller - single 12-bit DAC multiplexed into a sample-and-hold bank with an opamp array on the frontend for differential drivers. I'm also doing lighting control from a completely custom stack I coded, which encompasses DMX lighting, custom non-DMX lighting (mostly ESP32 driven), laser cues, VJ, beat syncing, and a bunch of other live performance capabilities.

[@grahamsutherland1106]

Jay Smith I'm already married! (And I brought homebrew lights *and* homebrew beer!)

[@OatmealDonk]

so a lot of control then? :-P on the note of control, if you've used quickshow with your fb3qs, how do you find it? ive been wondering a few things about it but I don't want to ask pangolin as I fear ive already pissed them off. :-P

[@grahamsutherland1106]

James Ray I like it. Easy for live syncing and generally intuitive for designing new animations.

[@UnimportantAcc]

"DMX Controlled"... *X GON' GIVE IT TO YA*

[@phils4634]

Very OK HV/LV isolation on that PSU. The standard of inexpensive Chinese PSU construction really has improved over the past five years alone, and it would be easy to mill out a slot under the transformer.

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

Phil S And that slot is only needed for shorter distance, in dirty / wet air or in high mountains.

[@AlexLaw_Qld]

Always nice when you find a new clever way to do something. Great way to increase ones' own skillset.

[@JustinVodden]

I'm a humble audio human, but when I impersonate a Lampie, I love to use as many options isolators as possible. It gives me that warm feeling of protection for the instruments and makes trouble shooting data issues so much easier

[@grendelum]

That mains to DMX plugability sounds like an Agatha Christie method of killing someone, like the oleander stick used to cook a hotdog over a campfire or the frozen turkey leg... devious indeed !!!

[@DoctorMangler]

Yeah, you could conveniently leave some nice thin barely capable wires with little nipple clamps for terminations at the other end.

[@BKHD605]

Thank you, Clive! Commented a couple videos back for a video about cheap DMX led lights (par32 LED if I remember). Never had more love for a youtuber! Hope you enjoy what you're doing still!

[@richardboyce4921]

enjoyed the teardown Clive, would like to see more DMX teardowns especially the cheap charlie ones. cheers

[@AttilaAsztalos]

Well now we obviously need a similarly cheap DMX controller teardown too, and a test involving both...

[@toxeia]

Small criticism. You called it slave mode, but clearly it said "slav." Were you wearing Adidas while working with this device?

[@MickeyD2012]

No, that was a rare mistake on Big Clive's part. These are low-latency lights specifically designed for hardbass music, when you put them in Slav mode it increases the amplitude because it only expects short, rapid signals.

[@scwfan08]

toxeia Cheeky breeky!

[@erikjohansson1814]

Someone will be triggered by the word "slave". We all know how sensitive some humans are nowadays....

[@web1bastler]

Hmmm. Everyone squat!

[@cal28kim]

toxeia A BIT AN£L BUTT FUN 😇 I LOVE A FULL BRIDGE RECTOM FRYER THE LACK OF A FUSE WELL NUTHING WERCE THAN IT BLOWING BEFORE YOU CALL ME DOUGLAS SEA CAT MEOOOW 😀

[@jotaemebee]

7:57 It has a FULL BRIDGE REKTIFIYARRRR!!

[@amateurtech736]

Jotaemebé u got the wrong channel this isn't electroboom

[@VideoDotCam]

Jotaemebé I think what you meant to say is a Fool Bridged Rectumfryer!!! Right?

[@jonjohnson102]

Its eructumfrier dumb bo

[@idontknowyou1019]

The reason why I read the comments... FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER!!!

[@jonjohnson102]

+idont knowyou *eructumfrier

[@giwipod]

i own this LED Spots too, if you hold the Menu button on start up for 2-5 sec. you come in to "service mode" where you can set the max brightness (current Limit)

[@revolvingwonder3777]

arr, i measured mine, it uses 470ma at 10.7V its got a fan too to cool the led board a bit more

[@yagoa]

I also got us a high voltage tester in our new makerspace thanks to you Clive 👍🏼

[@phiwatec2576]

Introducing: Power-over-DMX. Great! You only need one cable!

[@amateurtech736]

Phiwatec 5v data... nah have 240

[@amateurtech736]

Phiwatec just like ghost power mic's lol

[@FraserGlynn]

'You can connect the main's directly to the DMX out. That's Exiting.' The words of a mad man.

[@LakeNipissing]

Amazing... just about every aspect of the device is being controlled by something smaller than a kernel of corn!

[@musashigundoh]

But I thought DMX was a big black dude

[@recurveninja]

I'm pretty sure DMX is the delivery guy, considering X gon' give it to ya.

[@HanSolo]

Delivery Man X?

[@colonelsanders1349]

Cavebob Spongeman p

[@ottoreuter6279]

He gon' give it to ya.

[@TheSpotify95]

Yay, being able to put 240V onto the DMX output? Isn't that just awesome! :D

[@peoplethesedaysberetarded]

Another great video! Thanks, Clive! Your videos are always interesting to watch, even when the content itself is something I've never considered before (e.g. DMX lighting). Keep up the good work!

[@huski2371]

I love it when Clive is excited by cheap Chinese electronics.

[@irandom419]

For connectors, even if they aren't interchangeable, I usually take a colored permanent marker and put a stripe across it.

[@kaxis26]

I have 8 of these and I love that they can be used as colour wash lights as well as strobes. Channel 1 has a number of patterns for colour change which is great for transitions in between effects

[@DeathIngloria]

What's the make and model of the light please? If you know it

[@DeathIngloria]

Or where could I get two

[@Coolkeys2009]

Good to see you giving consideration of the software on something like that, as it probably took longer to write and debug than the hardware design, off course the hardware needs to be designed properly for it to work well and reliably.

[@memriloc]

So glad you did one on these. Was wondering how they were.

[@learnelectronics]

So Clive, do you have an in-house disco with all your Chinese lights, a little Blondie, or BeeGees going on in the background?

[@qwertyTRiG]

learnelectronics With Fannie Flambaux in pride of place?

[@EngineeringVignettes]

Hi Clive. I think the drive transistors are running as a multi element current mirror. More specifically they are 'slaved' off of one other transistor that generates the reference current. Each transistor mirrors the reference current. These can be built with low component count and are a good design for driving LEDs (like the 7 segment display). They work best for series chained LEDs though and this design may have the LEDs in parallel... - Eddy

[@dashcamandy2242]

Funny, one of these popped up as a suggested sale during an Amazon search yesterday. I was really tempted because it was purple... Build quality seems fairly reasonable for China.

[@WR3slo]

I think this LED board doesn't have one common wire but all colours are wired in series. Each colour can then be shut down with a short over tranzistor. It is a very simple way of doing dimming of multiple colours, the only problem are capacitors on the output of the power supply, because when you short an LED ther will be a lower voltage drop and capacitors will discharge with a very high current! If larger caps are used like in this case there should be a resistor in series with LEDs to reduce current spikes.

[@thehappylittlefoxakabenji8154]

ooh only 20 grand ! I made a little wiring error at work once only 50v at about 100A and a £50,000 board went bang !

[@andrewgrindley6773]

The section control will be useful for eye candy effects.

[@simontay4851]

I look forward to the video where you connect your 'scope to this light.

[@parody4042]

Awesome UV lighting :)

[@raymondmucklow3793]

mark James is it the same as real UV tho he said almost UV. I sent him a question, he does a pretty good job of responding. Unless you know?

[@SabMovies]

Raymond Mucklow it should still provide the fluorescent look on shirts or things, but it also gives a purple light too. True UV lights give the fluorescent look, but the light itself (the purple) isn't really visible and is usually called a black light

[@raymondmucklow3793]

Sam ok thank you.

[@chriscollins9073]

i have 24 rgbw of these type of lights and run and test them every week on my software and dmx dongle had them over 2yrs without any problems what so ever very bright and responsive. i would plug them into my Jands 250 desk no problem.

[@lwilton]

In the 1930s and 1940s it was not too uncommon to see products that used insulated resistance wire to hook up things like light bulbs that needed a voltage drop. As soon as I saw no resistors on that LED board I thought that the clever way to do that cable would have been with resistance wire. I doubt that it is resistance wire cable, but that would have been a way to do it.

[@JuanAndresLanza]

You should re do this video in your workshop and find out more about this.....

[@norwichreptileshed]

What do you make of the rgbw lights? I was thinking if getting a few to use simply as background uplighters on stages at our wedding gigs

[@rimmersbryggeri]

In sweden the standard fuse in the distribution board is usually 10A. Some new ones are 13A on DIN boards but I have never seen any fused plug outside the british one.

[@1973retrorabbit]

rimmersbryggeri Our standard supply in the UK to a socket circuit (ring main) is 32A at 240v RMS, so that's why we have fuses in our plugs, mainly protecting the cable. We also sometimes use 20A radial circuits. Tech power in my work is 240V 16A radials to commando sockets.

[@Stevie-m]

I got a set of 4 uv led cannons two failed within 2 hours. And they were not the really cheap ones. 🤔 should sent it to Clive for a teardown while he's in Edinburgh.

[@twocvbloke]

It'd have been interesting to open up the BBC news website and the frontpage headline reading "KZbinr brings down Edinburgh Tattoo" from your testing these lights... :P

[@mcgamingproyt]

I have a slightly larger rgb version that has burned all its blue and green leds. I now use it as a rgb led dmx driver thing and it works pretty well

[@mcgamingproyt]

Also have a moving head light from eBay

[@BSDKllr]

Clive! you need to build your own little usb dmx controller. its super easy in fact i made a little one out of a usb rs232 with a rs485 adapter on it. I forget what brand it is but the usb rs232 has to have a certain chip in it for the software to detect it as an opendmx controller.

[@UpLateGeek]

Some multimeters have a frequency mode, so if you've got access to one of those meters, perhaps you could probe the output transistors to see the frequency they're PWMing them at?

[@RWBHere]

Could this be the beginning of a new era for Big Clice's Garden Lighting Wonderland™? Thanks, Clive; even more impressive if it passes the megger/ PAT tests.

[@GrumpyFrogProduction]

Just bought 4 of these great timing - can you do a tear down on coloured one as well please as have over 20 of them suckers

[@FaustFotographyLLC]

In the USA that fuse would be a max of like 3A. But looking at those LEDs 1.5A would be fine as well.

[@gudenau]

Could you do a video where you test a bunch of different power cords with shorted loads? It might be an interesting video given your particular flair.

[@vaiojoe]

Once again more great content 👍🏻

[@SteveOlmstead]

I have 4 of those but they all started to flash and burnout after a while ! I dont have the exact same version : mine dont have sensitivity settings and master/slave (even if it was advertised on the box) BTW : If I hold button (D) for a while I can set PWM max output for each channel !

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

If my questions and comments under this video are all bogus and I've got it all wrong, please do tell me! :-)

[@overkillsnake]

DMX controlled you say?.....X GUNNA GIVE IT TO YA! *lights flash*

[@maicod]

when back home you could make a DMX controller from an Arduino and a Max485 transceiver (I googled that) to connect these lights to

[@AmauryJacquot]

U2 could be a 74*1G139 allowing to select one digit out of 4 with only 2 pins

[@jamiegibsonlx]

I brought 8 rgbw and 1 uv about 6 months ago and there still working well

[@crapcbm]

thats a really great thing to have the fuses in the plug, the EU plug system is in my opinion the best in the world, but this feature could make it much much better.

[@erikjohansson1814]

crapcbm would make it rubbish like the British standard with giant plugs that fit back in the 1970's. Either Euro plug or the new standard S. Africa has came up with which in my opinion is superior to any other standard named type N.

[@_Piers_]

crapcbm Plainly the Danish sockets are the best...just look how happy his little face is :D

[@debbie62140]

Ring mains are banned in most mainland European countries. With the potentially dangerous UK ring main system it's essential to have fused plugs.

[@DerMarkus1982]

3:20 It is RGB*U*. I once had to configure a similar group of DMX daisy-chainable disco light heads (which were in fact daisy-chained) which had all 4 channels' LEDs (Red, Green, Blue *and ultra-violet*) in *each* of those light clusters. One could set red, green, blue and UV percentages (not really %; it was scaled 0...255 each channel) separately.

[@cspower7259]

Great little lights in mass. Only any good for small work. First thing to do is change the flex and plug. Yea don't trust the dmx on them. I had some with reversed polarity and dmxing issues. Always seem to end up running them standalone mode. Lots of light for little money.

[@jeremyp7293]

Hi Clive, i have a pir lamp for outdoor with two 6w led lamp on it. One have a flashing problem when i bought it and died few week later... I open it and the led driver contain a little bit more components than the one on your video,but it's very similar because of the coupler (optocoupler). I have tested the majority of components, the only thing i have found is the optocoupler (coupler) installed in wrong polarity from the factory. I have remplaced the coupler with the other one i have but the led driver still not work, the optocoupler is fine because i have tested it in the other led driver. The driver have two 8 pins chips. the one before the transformer is VIPer22A, the one after the transformer is the same brand but i did not find any informations about it (358 ST EF935 ). My have two zener diode after the exit of the coupler. This mistake from the factory have caused another trouble, But I did not find it. Do you have an idea what can be the problem now ? If somebody can give my some informations, your welcome

[@Bready_Player_Bun]

KNOCK KNOCK, OPEN UP THE DOOR, IT'S REAL WITH THE NON-STOP, POP POP OF STAINLESS STEEL

[@durrutino]

Could you somehow improve the sensitivity of the microphone for the music mode by taking the mic out of the casing, etc? Is there any mod? mine is pretty bad.

[@crocellian2972]

Genius. Again.

[@Petertronic]

Very informative teardown! But isn't UV bad for your eyes?

[@mikecowen6507]

ForestCat_Peter Yes, hence the correction to "near UV". Close enough to give "blacklight" effects without frying your eyes.

[@raymondmucklow3793]

O, and another great video.

[@thedoctor907]

Hog 4's are fully optically isolated up to 1.5kv so I don't see how you could damage one. Then again I kind of agree that chineesium fixtures should be checked on a Theatre Light console first since they are bulletproof.

[@seannot-telling9806]

Clive, Did you ever get round to taking the color one apart to see what in side?

[@8bitMicroFan]

I wonder if they spent the time calibrating the internal RC oscillator.

[@russellhltn1396]

Do they sell DMX surge protectors to protect your systems? I'd think that would be desirable, especially since you may have systems connected to different power transformers and circuits connected together. I once worked with a school that ran RS-232 lines between buildings. They regularly blew things up when there were lighting storms or electrical problems.

[@JustinVodden]

There are DMX splitters/amplifiers that offer pretty good isolation through optocouplers

[@1mymm]

clive will you do a tour of the room you are in currently? I'm curious as to the decor of it

[@BoboButYouCanCallMeTom]

You should buy a chamsys magic dmx basic they are really cheap dmx interfaces that seem to work really well

[@CAESARbonds]

That is a little neat device. Love this dmx stuff.Man those Chinese are getting better and better. Maybe I get some and run a little ap on a pi it ardurino

[@stanpatterson5033]

UV Light.... Is that not just the fancy way to say how we used to say "Black Light"? ... back when black light was only available in fluorescent and incandescent....

[@agarceran]

Correct, this is the shitty/modern version of that. (Depending of who you ask and the quality of the leds)

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

Clive, is there a difference between impedance and (electrical) resistance? Because as far as I can remember, both are given in Ohms, but as soon as there's some pulse width modulation involved, I think they are two different things? I think this may even lead back to the "explaining electronics" video that you've mentioned you wanted to do but didn't get around to yet, and also are a bit fearful of making (if I remember correctly)? I understand basic DC electronics on a basic level, like resistors, transistors, capacitors and so on, but as soon as it goes into pulses or even AC and/or high frequency stuff, that's when I would really need this video from you! :-) (Like what is a blind load, how does a wire induct into itself and what does that mean, and all this funny stuff). I'd really love to understand this though, because I find it fascinating. I think one could do marvellous things with electricity, once one has understood these things perfectly.

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

I guess I am really looking for the oscilloscope video on these lights.

[@TheTruthRocks]

Yes, they are both measured in Ohms. However, there is a difference. Resistance applies to direct current (DC) circuits; it is the opposition to flow of current. Impedance applies to alternating current (AC) circuits: it is the product of resistance AND reactance (reactance = capacitance + inductance, which generally do not occur in DC circuits).

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

Seegal Galguntijak Here's some of the AC basics: If you feed a pure smooth sine waves (like from an electromechanical generator of any size) into a simple "linear" circuit containing only resistors, capacitors and inductors, then instead of plotting out the waveforms one by one, you can use a mathematical trick. Under the limitations just stated, all the waveforms will be pure sinewaves, all at the same frequency you started with. Only difference will be the amplitude and a delay ("phase") in when they start. Those delays are measured as if it was degrees of rotation on a "one turn per wave" generator. Next, instead of using normal one-dimensional "real" numbers, you use two-dimensional "complex" numbers, where every value has an "X" component and a "Y" component. The distance from (0,0) is the amplitude and the angle away from just (+v,0) is the phase. With those notational conventions, all the old DC formulas still work. Furthermore, a capacitor can be treated as if it was a resistor but with a resistance in ohms that is also at an angle away from normal, in fact 90 degrees off. The value in ohms is actually 1 divided by (2 x π x Frequency X capacity). The same is true for a coil, but 90 degrees the other way and ohms=2 x π x Hz x Henry. This 2-dimensional complex resistance is called the impedance. If you have something other than a pure single frequency sine wave, it can be treated as a sum of many sine waves at different frequencies and phase angles (the conversion formula is the Fourier transform), and you can then do the simplified calculation for each frequency on it's own, then convert the results back into actual waveforms at the end by doing the Fourier in reverse. Our ears and eyes are actually doing Fourier like stuff to the sound and light that hits our heads, so sometimes converting back from sinewaves to actual waveforms isn't even needed.

[@isoguy.]

Hey Clive, another great video. Thank you. Any chance you could cover simple battery led sequencing circuits e.g. knight rider car grill (but with pink/ uv leds)? Would be a nice project video now christmas is on its way.

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

Sir John Francis Doe - Wow, that is some really complex mathematics you were trying to teach me there. I'm already struggeling at imagining the additional dimension of "degrees of rotation" for the frequency, and using angles of rotation for further calculations. And then, this is only for sine waves, while there are so many other waveforms, like rectangular, sawtooth and more, which probably all account for different formulas to calculate? Also, there is pulsed DC, which was the initial reason for posting this question, and now that's a totally different setting alltogether. I think I should look into understanding the Fourier transformation first, before aspiring to understand the electronic basics...

[@julianpearce218]

I agree that this is not the worst design, however, I doubt the validity of the CE marking on the rear of the unit. Particularly since the CE marking is not present on the circuit boards and given the dodgy non BS compliant 13A fuse. Unfortunately manufacturers can self-assess CE compliance, so unless someone writes to the company and asks to see the documentation the CE is as useful as the QC passed sticker (i.e. for items manufactured OUTSIDE the EU it often it means nothing at all). Given the huge volume of good imported as a result of marketplaces like e-bay, typically, the only occasion that a CE marking is challenged is if someone is injured and a lawyer is engaged to seek damages. The chances of someone taking successful action against a manufacturer outside the EU is slim (aside from limiting further imports to EU counties). Consequently any injured party will go after the person operating the unit (i.e. YOU the owner). Designing and manufacturing to CE standards is the thing that costs the money folks. Avoiding the process entirely is often the way manufacturers from outside the EU under-cut European manufacturers. Once again, many thanks to Clive and his channel to expose these products.

[@Kamikazepinguin]

I'm running some of those on a Avolites Pearl 2004; it still works. so there should be no problem with a hog ;)

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

If the software on that STMicro is so clever, could you do a binary dump of it and then decompile it in order to know how it's done?

[@thesoosbois3303]

Hey Clive, I've got a question. I'm tempted in making a stand to hold a coca cola bottle filled with tonic water. Under the stand there would be a UV LED shining into the bottle (tonic water glows under UV light). Thing is, I'm not sure what the precautions on having a UV LED being on for long periods of time are. I'm a bit concerned that it'll mess my (already deteriorating) sight or damage any electronics I have nearby. Should I be concerned at all?

[@_Piers_]

I think the main issue would be that it doesn't glow very brightly, so you would be in the dark starring at a UV source. I've no idea if that actually any more dangerous than being outside on a sunny day though. Unhelpful! :)

[@-yeme-]

Its all about the wavelength, I think the longer UV wavelengths are pretty harmless at low intensity (ie from a 1 or 2W LED). iirc the ones they use in nightclubs etc are 380-420nm and its the shorter wavelengths that are harmful

[@anthonywitham2305]

Hi Clive, That is a BS fuse as in Bull shit :-)

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yes it is.

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

LOL, I also had the thought "If BS were to stand for bullshit, it would be a properly BS rated fuse" ;-)

[@simontay4851]

Just replace the fuse with a proper 3A UK BS1362 fuse.

[@joinedupjon]

Paul, why did you have to put a fuse in your washer? if the OEM fuse blew that's a sign that there's fault in the washer.

[@russellhltn1396]

And how can a bad fuse trip the main fuse box? (Except by not blowing when it should.) Something else is going on.

[@PongoXBongo]

Is there no voltage regulation on the DMX channel? Like spikes get clipped by some sort of surge protection or breaker/fuse?

[@sixstringedthing]

DMX512 standard operates at the same ELV levels as RS-485 and is similarly transmitted over differential pairs, so there's op amp buffering and that's about it. As you can imagine, putting 240V across those signal lines will certainly fry the first light on the DMX bus and depending on the failure mode, every other light that's connected too.

[@Mark1024MAK]

PongoXBongo With no earth connection, it's not possible to limit the level of the mains leakage voltage :-(

[@davidmouse4486]

Have you considered purchasing a DMX-USB interface to test with? Use an old laptop or something like a Raspberry Pi to control so you're only replacing a $35 USD computer as opposed to a full DMX control board and equipment if a badly constructed fixture suddenly puts mains voltage to something designed to receive 5V.

[@RenThraysk]

Cheapest tablet with 2 USB ports. Micro for power, A for controlling. www.microcenter.com/product/439773/tw70ca17_tablet_-_black I don't understand how they have any stock at that price.

[@davidmouse4486]

RenThraysk Can that run Win32 apps though? I don't know of any programs in the Windows Store that can control DMX, and that device is probably locked down to Windows RT. Correct me if I'm wrong though - I'd love to see a solution that easy and cheap!

[@RenThraysk]

Windows 8.1. Shouldn't be any problem. Bought a cheap Windows 10 tablet (Viglen Connect 7") few years ago on a whim in a Tesco sale (was ~£50), and it's full Windows 10 Home. No limitations. Just only has 1 micro USB, so less convenient in this application.

[@davidmouse4486]

RenThraysk I haven't used Windows in tablet form at all yet, so I wasn't sure. Good to hear. The older Windows 8 ARM tablets ran on Windows RT, which was locked to Store apps similar to the new Windows 10 S they're talking up. It failed miserably though. And great idea with a tablet; I wasn't thinking about it, but that'd be an easy and portable way to set it up for the style of video he does here. 👍

[@Audio_Simon]

Isn't it quite an easy task to use a digital output from the micro processor to pwm drive the base of the driver transistors?

[@russellhltn1396]

I think for some microprocessors, it's built into the firmware. Just set the registers and let the hardware do the PWM.

[@raymondmucklow3793]

I got a question, when you say ultraviolet or "almost ultraviolet" does it have the same effect say on florescent dye or white t-shirts. I have an a/c test kit for leaks would they "almost ultraviolet" light up the dye like a regular, UV light

[@grahamsutherland1106]

Raymond Mucklow Yes. It's called "near UV" because the output wavelengths straddle the boundary between visible violet and ultraviolet. Far ultraviolet lamps, by comparison, appear unlit (or have a very low purple glow due to some visible emissions) when viewed directly, but still produce the fluorescent effect on materials like white fabric.

[@raymondmucklow3793]

Graham Sutherland thank you.

[@memriloc]

How did you find the angle beam, I'm thinking it's not great?

[@dj59y]

Clive, PM me, lets get you a Chamsys Magic DMX to play with.. 1 Univ and full console software.. then you can test more China fixtures.

[@locouk]

Have you checked out The Bluetooth speaker bulbs yet?

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

So would such a strong "ultra violet" LED be able to give you sunburn as well, or not?

[@sixstringedthing]

Seegal Galguntijak No. As Clive mentioned, the wavelength output from these LEDs is "near UV". The damaging UV-A/B/C from the Sun is much higher in frequency and arrives on earth with much higher energy.

[@tonybrock5288]

That black spot marked on the desk of "the rented student accommodation" is suspiciously in the dead centre of the video viewing area. sssshh.. don't tell the landlord ... Or am I wrong :-))

[@peterg.8245]

"Beee-zzar" another for the album

[@mostlymessingabout]

I'm surprised there's no heatsink behind that MCPCB

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

Thanh Tran What for. It's cool already (he checked with a thermal camera).

[@KarlBaron]

If you wanted to test the DMX control couldn't you test them with each other in master/slave mode?

[@mcgamingproyt]

Considering buying 10 of these for my school’s Glow Party, will these make clothes and special paint glow or are they just purple?

[@bigclivedotcom]

+MCgamingPro They do work for normal UV type effects. But the traditional 4' UV tube will probably have a brighter effect.

[@mcgamingproyt]

Ok thank you, as the event will be outside with no easy way of mounting tube lights somewhere, around 10 of these on T stands will probably work

[@markevans2294]

I'm curious as to how the Master/slave feature works. Have they used the obvious of setting the slaves to DMX addresses 1-4?

[@carlyonbay45]

thats nice, I like that

[@SlyPearTree]

Did you say 13 amp fuse? At 220V (which I think is about what you have in the U.K.) that could service over 2.5 KW, it's like they did not think to switch the fuse rating when they switch to LEDs. Now I want to know if someone make 2.5 KW LEDs.

[@Orodreth888]

2.5 kw UV-LEDs? Instant cancer haha

[@Mark1024MAK]

Ulfgar-Septimus von Stahlenberg Only if it actually emits UV light. But Clive says it emits visible light "near UV".

[@davidferguson8478]

Don't those types of leds require a constant current power supply ?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yes. It's relying on circuit impedance and PWM prescaling to fake that.

[@tstodgell]

DMX control? The light responds to barking.

[@gazzaka]

Expense is always an illusion

[@thecakemeister5766]

Clive, did you ever do the isolation test on either of these fixtures? I'd be interested to hear the results

[@JL0ndon]

I just realized that your name is Clive and I have been subscribed forever. I thought your name on here was Big C Live dot Com lol

[@mostlymessingabout]

How much does these UV and RGB units cost Clive? These would cost a small fortune from the likes of UK companies

[@bobgolding6419]

15 quid or so he says in the video quid is shorthand for uk pound when the pound sign doesn't work.

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

Clive, why do you thing is it that out of all the countries with proper 230V/240V high voltage only the UK plugs have mandatory fuses in them? I mean, is electricity safer in other countries (as in are the house installations more to code, so the plug and cable doesn't have to account for anything that could be wrong before the socket), or what would be the reason for that?

[@twocvbloke]

The wiring in our walls are ring mains and can supply up to about 30-32 amps (depending on the age of the installation of the fusing/circuit breakers), and 32 Amps at 240 Volts through a 0.75mm flex in a short circuit fault, yeah, bad things happen, hence the use of fuses in our plugs... :) It was all part of post-war copper-saving measures, as radial wiring uses more copper than ring main wiring, it's silly to have it today in my opinion, but, it's the standard we use, though some modern electricians have been using radials more often than rings... :)

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

twocvbloke - first, let me say Hi and nice to see you here :) - and then about the subject: OK, that explains it somewhat, since over here in Germany, we do have 230/240V, but every room or circuit has its own 16A circuit breaker (they are standardized), so I guess it's safer that way. Our circuits are rings on one wall or in one room (like, if you have a set of 2 sockets on each end of the wall, they are on the same breaker, sometimes even the whole room, if it doesn't have many sockets), but the whole apartment or house is wired radially, and normally, at least the ceiling lights (that are controlled by a switch in the wall) are sitting on a different breaker than the rest of the room, or sometimes, if the room has 2 breakers (one for one wall, one for the other - with the 3rd wall being on one of the 2 breakers, and the 4th just having no electrical installations whatsoever), the ceiling light is on the same breaker as one of the walls. But usually, the sockets and ceiling lights are separated. For which it doesn't make sense to put in a 16A breaker each anyways, but that's how it's done. I have an older installation from around 2002 in my appartment, and it required to have an RCA only for the bathroom, so that's what it controls, while nowadays, it's mandatory to have an RCA on the whole apartment (but since an RCA is a different thing than a normal 16A circuit breaker, that's also a whole different subject alltogether, LOL).

[@twocvbloke]

Yeah, been watching Clive's vids for a few years now, he's like me, likes to take stuff to bits... :) But as for the wiring, most of the world uses radial wiring as you describe there, it's just us brits that are somewhat unique and stuck to the ring main standard, prior to WWII we did use radial wiring and had appropriate plugs & sockets for the job (namely the BS546 standard, with 2Amp, 5Amp and 15Amp round-pin plugs, the first two had both earthed and unearthed versions, the 5A version being similar to the current 2-pin Europlug), but due to war efforts, copper was in dire shortage and we needed to economise when it came to electrical wiring in new builds and re-wires. It's usually quite simple though, the cable is run around the house and back to the consumer unit forming the ring, and all the sockets or light fittings are fitted in parallel with each other, so can operate independently of each other, if the ring is broken somewhere, it'll continue to work (though not ideal), and most houses usually have 4 rings, sockets for downstairs & upstairs, and lighting downstairs & upstairs (flats and bungalows may have two or three, usually one or two socket rings and one lighting), the only radial stuff fitted is usually electric cookers and electric showers where only one device is required so therefore is wired in radially. Protection varies though depending on the age of the wiring, some houses are still using wire fuses, some have early MCBs, some have MCBs with a lone RCD, some have an RCD per level of the house, and some with more up-to-date wiring have RCBOs for each circuit (which are an MCB and RCD combined into one). If you haven't already, check out John Ward's video here on youtube, he is quite good at explaining our wiring in-depth, and has teardowns of old fusing & protection equipment showing what used to be used aswell as what is used now... :)

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

Wow, that's very different to our wiring. I've just taken a photo of my breaker panel - that's inside a 1-room apartment of about 43m², and there you can see the amount of different breakers I've got (including the description of what they're for in German): drive.google.com/open?id=0BxzFLD4J-MahZ0xUSFlsNGFDdVk

[@twocvbloke]

Looks very much like what we have here for more modern installations, except our consumer units tend to just have the one row rather than two (but use the same DIN-rail type MCBs/RCDs/RCBOs), as we don't need as many switches in the units based on the wiring standards... :)