EEVblog

EEVblog2 2nd KZbin Channel:
/ eevblog2
An Engineers Guide To Solving Problems Book:
amzn.to/1jNmoTz
www.prettygoodp...
/ trombonista92
A really crappy line tracer circuit patent
www.google.com...
SIDAC Datasheet: www.ic-on-line....\k2400s_6404972.pdf
Geppetto Electronics LCDuino RGB backpack
www.geppettoele...
TmpUSB temporary USB drive:
www.jmedved.com...
PIC Development Boards: www.gtronics.ne...
/ boombrush
Sony Mavica 3.5" Floppy Drive Digital Camera
www.manualslib....
X-Core 16 Core 1000MIPS Analog Slice Kit:
www.xmos.com/p...
Forum: www.eevblog.com...
EEVblog Main Web Site:
www.eevblog.com
EEVblog Amazon Store:
astore.amazon.c...
Donations:
www.eevblog.com...
Projects:
www.eevblog.com...
Electronics Info Wiki:
www.eevblog.com...

[@LynkedVideos]

Dave, the second paragraph of Scott's letter said "I'm 15 in May." Happy birthday, Scott!

[@sghost128]

"I want the knob." -Dave Jones 2014.

[@nsayer]

Just a note to say thanks so much for showing my LCDuino during the mailbag segment. I don't know how to play that Hunt the Wumpus game either, but I wanted it to at least do *something* when you plugged it in, and it was the best I could think of on short notice.

[@williamsquires3070]

Hey Dave, I believe the "transistor" in that "circuit tester" transmitter is a diac that operates like a low-voltage neon bulb (i.e. it forms a relaxation oscillator with the cap and resistor(s) on the board.) I'll bet that, if you remove the LED, and replace Q1 with a real neon bulb, it'll blink! (You may have to trace out the circuit and replace the current limiting resistor with a 100 kilohm one or the neon bulb will EOL!)

[@frollard]

15:00 My understanding of the circuit detective is it loads the circuit from the 'detector' side and listens for a harmonic response caused by the module on the other end. I had one and it worked fine. This one appears to be snake oil.

[@RentableSocks]

scott said he was 15

[@BlitzK]

Dave only reads about 2/3 of the words... hah

[@RentableSocks]

Blitz K haha so true

[@BoomBrush]

I'm glad I added that, I thought I had forgot to mention that. meh I will probably make it shorter and type it next time. :P

[@RentableSocks]

"good on you scott"

[@AureliusR]

Blitz K after years of watching Dave (and listening to the Amp Hour) I'm fairly convinced Dave has a mild language impediment. He seems to mix letters up and has a hard time finding words on the air sometimes. HOWEVER, no hate intended - I think it's a great example for anyone who is struggling with language to see! Good on ya Dave!

[@youtubasoarus]

I quite enjoy the Mailbag segments. But my favorite has to be the tear down videos, that's where I learn the most because you go through the boards and explain everything. I really enjoy that.

[@electronicsNmore]

Mailbag videos always fun to watch. :-)

[@tubical71]

For 09:24 and the "wired" german official letter, yes it is an official letter from our federal government, the one of "Mecklenburg-Vorpommern" the city is "Rostock". The letter you got is from the political education office, roughly translated....but i think you get the idea... And inside is a info about your recently made election of the european government. And don't worry!...As it is no subscription or somelike, it´s just a info, and and additional letter (offical kind of always looks like this....you know?! ;) The other letter is an invoice, typical german bureaucracy rubbish as it says: amount of items :1 item cost :zero ;) Total amount : zero ;) ;) ;) And an additional cash transfer via local german bank transfer for the cost of 0,00 ;) Have fun with it....:D

[@Jellow2202]

I really don't know why someone sent you this. The official translation for the sender is: The Federal Agency for Civic Education They offer all kinds of information material on political topics. It seems that some just orderd this indormation through their online shop directly to you and therefore you received this "invioce/acknowledgement of receipt" with a typical pre-filled german wire transfer form with an amount of 0 Euro ;-) btw. Australien is the German word for Australia and in case you are really interested in such information - i doubt so - you can also order their english publications at their website www.bpb.de/die-bpb/138889/selected-media

[@fredo514]

Hi Dave! I've made a design using XMOS chips for my final Bacc project this year. It was a USB to AVB sound card. Their core boards and open tools and designs are VERY powerful!

[@davadoff]

This video needs to be added to your mailbag playlist.

[@midgetsHead]

Yeah we're all here because all of us are getting into engineering. I was in a coma after 2 weeks into med school and discovered that electronics are my way of thinking. You responded to me a year or so ago about an arduino being too simple and now I'm a manager at Microchip! Still trying to learn how our stuff works and just re-familiarizing myself with the programming language. I can read it, I just can't quite write it yet. But if not for the eevblog I would still be stuck in med school. Probably back to first semester or quarter year or whatever since I used to stay up for days buried in books about how things kill other things.

[@iknowsstuff]

Well m never going to like eev blog as much as i used to!!!!!!!!!!

[@MoesKeckeEcke]

The plug draws current, then you can sense current "inductively" lol.... Hey Dave as I am a German viewer, the paper you got is send out for free from some kind of educational part of German government to teach you democracy... I had to read them in school. It is just mind blowing that they send them to Australia for free o.O

[@douro20]

Mavica cameras- very handy and extremely reliable; they were even used by crime scene investigators. The highest-end model had 40x optical zoom, a 3MP sensor and a Memory Stick slot.

[@kirknelson156]

On your circuit breaker tracer my guess is its generating a wide band rf single, Q1 is possibly used for a nonlinear junction and maybe for its capacitance.

[@xandercraw]

opinions are like arseholes everybody has one and it's normally best to keep it to yourself, how many times do people's kids say I wish you were dead but they never mean it is not true, just because Dave suggested that a cat would be better under a tire of the car doesn't mean to say he would actively or intentionally smoosh one and turn into a pancake. and are some of you people actually that shallow that if Dave doesn't like cats but you do it means you can't watch his videos and unsubscribe Jesus Christ that is so unutterably shallow, happy days people ...... thank God it wasn't a joke about a peeled baby! You'd all be reeling !! keep up the excellent work Dave x

[@kierankay100]

loving the mailbag and dumpster dive videos Dave keep it up....hi from the uk

[@GuruBrew]

I did a usage guide on that digital circuit tester here Digital Circuit Detective Tool & Installing a Second Motion Activated Light Switch if anyone is interested. It does work but does require an understanding of how to use it.

[@hankus253]

Good video and explanation of it's operation Steve.

[@Kethlar]

Dave he said he was 15 in May.... End of 2nd Sentence of 2nd paragraph to beginning of 3rd sentence of 2nd paragraph. I just looked at the replies here I didnt see anyone else state this yet so yep there you go.

[@philbx1]

Bugger! The shipping for Bob's book on Amazon costs more than the book

[@debug_duck]

That magazine is a german information prospect for the election of the european parliament which took place about two weeks ago. It explains the tasks the parliament has to do, how many politicans of which country are being elected and explains how you can vote and what your vote has to comply with (which is in some cases not even that easy as it sounds).

[@MsHUGSaLOT]

wow nearly 2 hours of live stream edited down to 38 mins.. good work Dave!

[@josephbeasley3856]

holy shit. females actually watch this?

[@XOIIOXOIIO]

Oh man, not sure if it's the camera but that LCD looks fantastic, I was expecting white text blue backlight but that blue text, man that's nice. edit: oh holy crap it's RGB! I NEED THIS

[@aatheus]

Hi Dave! I sent in the Yahoo stuff and the circuit tracer. I shall send you a Small T-shirt when I get a chance. I forget that you're far fitter than us typical Yank engineers :) I hope that Sagan likes the piggy bank!

[@DJSolitone]

UN BELIEVABLE !! José Bové Picture on the EEVblog !! Hail to the Globalization !!

[@vasileceteras]

"Cats are kept as pets in Australia and are also one of the major invasive species that are causing detrimental effects to indigenous wildlife." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cats_in_Australia Aussies have good reasons to hate cats, especially the crazy ones, what do you expect? Go watch some cat videos, this is about electronics.

[@MrThomashorst]

rotfl ... "hunt the wumpus" ... back in 1980 this was the first "game" i typed in to my VIC20 (from a magazine) and like Dave i have never fiddled out how this shit works :)

[@extremegabel]

The german magazine's from the federal agency for political education not buildings :-)

[@TheBadFred]

"He" has subscribed. So he will get the next soon. ;-)

[@SarahWattCA]

Re: That 8KB USB drive - The PIC18F26J50 is a neat part; I keep planning on using one for a data logger that is powered by a coin cell battery that can plug into a PC to download data but I keep getting sidetracked by other things. Aside from hardware USB it also has a hardware RTCC which is nice. Not my favourite part for making dedicated USB devices though since it's 3.3V and requires a regulator. The PIC18F2/4550 is nice for that since it runs directly on 5V and has a 3.3V regulator on chip for USB.

[@DaedalusYoung]

Nice, worked a lot with a Mavica back in 1998-2001. I worked at a local radio/tv station, the photos were used on the tv channel, so the 640x480 resolution was actually just perfect. Quality was pretty good as well, it just didn't perform too well with the flash, it didn't take the extra light into account, so they were always overexposed.

[@Razor2048]

were they too lazy to implement TTL flash on those cameras? Doesn't seem like it would have been too hard for a camera to do, simply takes one photo quickly with the flash, and then analyzes it to find out how over or underexposed it is an and then for the actual photo, adjust the flash power accordingly.

[@DaedalusYoung]

Razor2048 As it seemed to me, it just didn't register at all if you had flash on or not. It would just set the exposure as it would do without flash and then fire the flash on top of that. Different results at different distances too of course. But you needed several meters distance for it to come out decently, so it is also possible they just set it at a default value, and I took my photos too close :P

[@Robohac01]

Hi dave, im from germany, so i can tell you what kind of magazin that is. Its from the "Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung" Thats an organisation which provides mostly free Political and Historical info. There you can order Magazines like that for example for yourhistory class. Thats one for the european Election which was i think last Week were eveyone i think its calleed "elected" a party for the european parliament.

[@Michael_Michaels]

That cat joke was completely inappropriate Dave! Mind yourself, please!

[@NathanaelNewton]

The new microscope is amazing, here's a vote for a teardown of the floppy camera, I haven't seen one of those in probably 15 years?

[@tubical71]

Hi Dave, watching your "making-of" currently on another tab....cool to let them run side-by-side, now :)

[@KingGeorge7]

I don't know what everyone's yapping about but I love the mailbag segment! I'm sure Sagan will love the piggy bank :)

[@trombonista92]

I am the Telegram guy, its ambiguous but about hasting the HAM test I ment: You could totally haste it but obviously don't really care for it :)

[@spikester]

I know the original Mavica FDD camera was only 640x480, 0.3MP baby! The picture quality was fantastic for the time as the camera had good optics that rival todays point and shoot cameras.

[@demonxanthwataru]

Littlefuse K1200E70 sidac is my guess. It probably produces spikes on the 60Hz that the receiver can pick up.

[@JoeHeiserA]

Woot watched the livestream and now the real thing!

[@stonent]

You should plug your Pickit into the line tracer and see if you can dump the contents.

[@redtails]

5:48 a floppy drive in a camera..? you've got to be shitting me

[@MnemonicHack]

I think I'm going to selectively forget your opinion of cats.

[@goamarty]

+Corto Maltese I don't know if I can. I just love them. I like Dave's blog but this "opinion" is disgusting and in no way acceptable.

[@BTNE_Videos]

Hi Dave, please let me know what's the model of that swinging arm for your LCD. Thanks

[@Appalling68]

LOL at your cat remarks! I agree 100% with your sentiments! HAHAHA.

[@preben01]

cant wait for the vintage tear down of the camera!!

[@murlidharshenoy]

10:31 spam via snail mail! lol!

[@reallygoodtoknow]

The German brochure is information material on the elections for the European parmliament issued by the German Federal Agency for Civic Education ("Bildung" = education) on They offer various informational brochures on a wide range of topics and, if I remember correctly, you can get various maps and some books from them as well. Most of their services are free and they also have free shipping. The "official" document enclosed in the letter is an invoice (which they have to include for various reasons), but the amount due is 0,00€, so you can just ignore that. As with every "order" you place online in Germany you can rescind from your "contract" within 14 days, so it is basically just a bunch of standard German legal yadda-yadda you can safely ignore. Wonder wh someone signed you up for that though ;-) Cherrs

[@TilmanBaumann]

Well, if you always wanted to learn about the European elections and learn German at the same time... Superbly random

[@nicholai414]

i think that the circuit tracer is just chopping the 60hz sine from the mains by half wave rectifying it and the pic is just "sensing" that. but im pretty sure that no matter how much computing power you throw at it its still junk.

[@xjet]

Man, I remember reviewing the Mavica camera way back in 1998. The review is still online: aardvark.co.nz/rv98001.htm

[@martinda7446]

Fantastic!!

[@cornflake1998]

Hi bruce, would you recommend buying one? I want to start my own tv show!

[@faxezu]

9:29 the sender made me laugh so hard The "Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung" is a department in the german government. They send you tons of stuff (legislations, information and historical things) if you wish. Very useful for pupils and teacher. But I dont know that they ship worldwide. :D A old classmate of mine ones sign in our whole class, one week later everyone got a constitution for free.

[@winstonsmith478]

From reading Amazon reviews of the Hi-Tech HTP-6 Circuit Detective, it seems that many may be using it incorrectly due to very poor manufacturer instructions that don't describe the best procedure to use it. That poor guidance, even in the manufacturer's video, may be due to the possibility that this is just a rip-off of another, more expensive and better reviewed circuit tracer that looks nearly identical, the Klein Tools ET300 Digital Circuit Breaker Finder. Or, perhaps, the ET300 is just a better implementation of the patent's concept. The warning from a 5-star review of the ET300 - "Works perfectly, but you MUST use it properly!" I see the same sort of comments in the HTP-6 reviews. One defect for certain I see from one review is that the HTP-6's TX apparently trips ground fault interrupt protected outlets.

[@TecrasTrash]

You got a politics magazine from the German agency for politic education in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Pomerania. lol. That thing is just about how the european parlament works. And "Hannes" is pronounced with the "british" a and the es is pronounced like the letter "s". So Hann-S. ----------------- IDK why I watch so many videos of your's. I dont know much about electronic engineering but I like the video style. :D

[@aerohk]

Not sure about everyone else, but mailbag is not exactly my favourite segment lol

[@hla27b]

I was very critical at the beginning but later I started to like it. If I developed some nifty gizmo I'd be definitely sending it to Dave.

[@ian-c.01]

It really depends on what's in the package, if it's something that I find interesting like clunky antique electronics or something I can see a use for then I love it but if it just rubbish then I don't enjoy it so much. I saw this being made in Dave's live feed so skipped to the bits I wanted to see up close. I would love to know what happens to all these things and how he keeps track of them all, surely he doesn't just pile everything into a big box. I know his workshop is usually a mess so how he keeps track of stuff baffles me.

[@dumbo800]

hla27b I've liked it since the video shooting quality has become better due to equipment and skill augmentation.

[@tubical71]

I like these "soap" very much, just because Dave shows us what he´s getting from his viewers, in detail. It´s a little "return-on-invest" for all of us, in my opinion....and the best Dave can do, with all the things he´s getting from his viewers!

[@Razor2048]

For me, it is the teardowns, mailbag, and the purely educational videos such as the ones detailing how microphones work. shows like that seriously put cable TV to shame.

[@martinda7446]

To people complaining about the cat comment...I just despair! Dave...do not bother making any reply to these people...And yes I do love cats.

[@steve1978ger]

Lol, Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung. Federal agency for political education. I had to go through a lot of their stuff in high school. To be fair, most of their stuff is pretty well made and informative, explaining all aspects of the political systems on a levels from cities up to the EU, how parties work, different ideologies like liberalism, socialism, and so on... a bit biased there, I used to think. But overall I think they do a reasonable job. Beats having a country of people who have absolutely no clue how things are run.

[@JordyValentine]

I like the purple pcb's ob the arduino stuff, nice one gepetto

[@MyCrazyGarage]

17:34 ...do you remember last time when you did that? Did you ever fixed the Time Circuits?

[@williamhayden7711]

Dave, you hate cats? What happened in your childhood that you would hate cats! Meow! Purrrrrrr

[@Fugitive0Z]

I've watched a perhaps a hundred, two hundred, more, Dunno really of DAVE'S videos, this is the first (and is the only?) 'LIVE-TO-YOU-TUBE" that I've seen. I really think when he does a live show (once a week/once a month?) he should have another Engineering type or anyone else there help there to throw questions and suggestions back and forth while broadcasting, perhaps the other bloke could operate the camera to make life easier for Dave to work more fluid, due it to being live it can't be edited later (but of course an edited version - such of this one could be post-uploaded). I was thinking he could even have a friend on the phone Hands-Free (though there would be the problem of time lag), so we can hear s/he ask questions or make suggestions, I just thinking that it might inject 'something' more into the program, I believe it's always better to have a 'Straight Guy' (The Help) and The 'Crazy Guy' (Dave) to bounce off each other. So if anyone has more direct contact to Dave than these You-Tube Comments, which I'd say he'd only have time to read about 0.01%, please contact him and suggest he have a Friend in there with him once a week/month to bounce off each other. I think it's at least worth a try, until his son is few years older to help out. - Regards B!LL!

[@theonlyari]

Oh no! Dave! You upset the thought police! No cat jokes! They dont like those!

[@GregorOttmann]

The sender of that circuit detector reminds me of a simple Oscillator I've seen once that used the "reverse avalanche effect". There's a video from my friend Paul online that describes such a thing, but I'm afraid it's German: HD | Oscillator mit 4 Bauteilen / Reverse Avalanche Transistor The video is based on this artcle which, luckily, is in English: www.kerrywong.com/2014/03/19/bjt-in-reverse-avalanche-mode/

[@obiwanjacobi]

That xMos stuff looks amazing!

[@williamhayden7711]

Does the circuit tester create some sort of feedback loop with the dongle? That's my guess.

[@PaulJosephdeWerk]

LOL Scott sent you his sister's phone, and then you said he didn't say his age. He said in the letter he'd be 15 in May.

[@Oshbotscom]

I looked up the datasheet for that k1200e7 part, and it's a sidac which seems to take the AC voltage and send a pulse when the peak of the sine wave goes above a certain voltage. So it looks like that's the component that generates the 50-60Hz high pulse. www.ic-on-line.cn/view_online.php?id=1916348&file=0459\k2400s_6404972.pdf Love the channel, Dave, and I got the 190th position on the EEVBLOG2 subscription. \o/

[@URM4Z]

Best Streaming Software is OBS Open Brodcaster Software... give it a try

[@power-max]

7:02 Ha, I guessed 0.3MP, and surely enough, VGA is exactly 0.3072!!!

[@dafl00]

i see you're keeping up on the workspace cleaning ;)

[@MikeAustin2012]

$24.75 for a small package from CA, USA? I am sure that you single handedly support your local post office / air mail system! Nice job on collecting all the US tourist dollars without any of the pesky "Tourists". He he! Your government should have an official Dave Day!

[@heatexchangeskittles]

People of youtube world....if Dave or anyone on here has reading/speech or anything like that problem....why make it an issue? Dave puts time and alot of effort making these great vids for us...so have a coffee sit back and watch a funny auzzie at work . like if you agree! Thanks Dave :-)

[@JuggernautJD47]

Dave that might be a unijunction transistor in that tracer circuit.

[@MrPeterkonde]

haha i can read the bpp letter, its an information sheet for politic around germany. It is sent for free to anyone who wants it. But i think you havent ordered it xD

[@TTKMKaizen]

Bildung means education or formation. In this case it is informational education in european politics. Basically, its a politics newsletter on european parliament elections.

[@yaghiyahbrenner8902]

That Xcore MCU is used in Tractor DJ Mixer.

[@gertnutterts988]

That European "building" thing you received seems to have something to do with the European elections of late. I'm Dutch, not German tho. But I can read it. Live near the border. "Building" means that it's a glossy magazine. Yeah, doesn't make sense translating it into dutch either. :) Or else something education related. Still kinda strange to me. Love to read it. It also seems to contain details on how to stop your subscription... in german. So... good luck with that. Btw, it seems you got a German accept-giro like thing for a zero euro invoice. Congratulations, welcome experiencing European financial logic. Anyhow :p if you can send me scans I can tell you what the deal is. :) More then happy to do it.

[@seepoowoop]

Woah lots of hate down here....

[@sc0tte1-416]

If that circuit detector thing is anything like a line tracer used in telecom then it will always trace every circuit unless each leg is disconnected.

[@TradieTrev]

Was trying to work out that detector too, on the patent it says you don't have to disconnect anything. www.google.com/patents/US6222358 "Unlike most existing circuit identifiers currently on the market, the automatic circuit locator of the present invention does not require input from the end user to identify the correct circuit interrupting device. The automatic circuit locator performs the calibration process, thereby eliminating the need for the end user to do so. According to a first aspect of the present invention, an identification signal is transmitted from an outlet to produce a magnetic field around a plurality of power lines. A receiver senses the strength of the magnetic fields around the power lines, and stores the largest value. The user is alerted when the receiver senses the stored value."

[@ElectricGears]

I have one of those detectors and it works great. You do have to scan it over the side of the breaker that is closest to it's screw terminal. Because of the internal construction of the breaker there is a load carrying wire very near the front surface in that area. The only downside it that the circuit needs to be on for it to work. They should have used a regular on/off switch that doesn't stick out and constantly get turned on (with an annoying beep) when it's in a tool box. And I wish the two pieces would clip together when not in use.

[@Mraleksi-i5i]

Woo time to start signing Dave up to junk mail!

[@Razor2048]

Dave, what are your thoughts on bobcats e.g., i.imgur.com/vAH9fwU.jpg the cuteness is so intense that if focused into a beam, it can literally slice diamonds in half. You may also like cheetahs, tigers, and leopards. If you put all of them in close proximity, the cuteness in the area will be so intense that the laws of physics actually changes as the universe tries to compensate for all of that cuteness being present in one area.

[@TheChipmunk2008]

I think in the original case the dog barked INSTEAD of the phone ringing due to it being a CBS1 phone system and the dog was tied to the broken earth lead, thus causing the ringing current to go through it LOL

[@goamarty]

+TheChipmunk2008 was this setup working reliably? :-)

[@TheChipmunk2008]

+goamarty The story is (probably apocryphal) that yes, the dog quite reliably barked when the phone rang. LMAO

[@timbarton9362]

many a day has passed since a man was proud to own a 3.5" floppy...

[@Mrgehteuchnichtsan]

10:30 It seems to be an information letter (in german) about the EU voting from the german goverment. Everyone in germany can order this to get informations about the EU they are also available for other purposes e.g. Jobs.

[@chopcooey]

plz do another video review about XMOS products that would be great!

[@owatson67]

Not being very nice to cats.😄

[@MikeBMW]

Dave, I, generally, really like your vids but the comment you made about cats and your disdain thereof, whilst recommending people run over them has given me pause to reconsider what you post. With a mind and an attitude about any living animal, and the way you stated such, I'll have to reconsider my subscription to any of your vids, as well. Cats are cool. They won't kill you and they love unconditionally. Perhaps an edit is in order? Or, at least, a change of heart? What you said about cats was disturbing and inappropriate. It belies your very intelligent mind, Dave.

[@tubical71]

At the moment, Dave is doin´ something in the lab;)

[@power-max]

27:54 yes he did, on the note he says he will be turning 15!

[@chris746568462]

33:30 Was that a "Hello world blinky LED"? Must be like the one in the crappy circuit tester.

[@thecooldude9999]

Wumpus is a classic UNIX game.

[@sprybug]

And a classic DOS game, and a game that can be found on other 80's computers! I recognized the game right when it came up.

[@KWatson1984]

Carmel IN, my hometown!

[@dwarf365]

This is weird! Watched this live and felt like I was spying!

[@murlidharshenoy]

5:55 I think sony still uses the stamina label! or used to until recently!

[@CallumPRobertson]

Is the "transmitter" (13 minute mark) relying on the breakdown on the transistor to make it oscillate? Yuck... xD

[@DjAudioDog]

Him talking about cats like that made me sad... ;-;

[@dumass00072]

*This girl is fast!* High Speed Telegraphy Transmission

[@TimFeleppa]

Maybe the transmitter just has really bad power factor and just spews out RFI down the line, lol.

[@Makoto778]

Dat mail from Langley... I live like an hour from there...

[@PaulJosephdeWerk]

Dang! I haven't played Hunt the Wumpus in ages! It was originally written in '72/'73 in BASIC. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunt_the_Wumpus