EEVblog

[@alancordwell9759]

Ah super-regens, one of my pet subjects! They always have had this problem of radiated crap because the detector is going in and out of oscillation at some supersonic frequency- often around 50-100khz hence the broadband nature of the noise radiated. It consists mostly of sidebands of the quench frequency. You can't screen it or you will stop it working as a receiver! But you can add an RF stage, which will isolate the detector from the antenna and also increase the sensitivity a bit. But they aren't gonna do that in an article that costs just a few bucks. Some people might remember the real cheapie one-hung-lo 27MHz walkie talkies you used to be able to get, they had super-regens in them and made all kinds of strange noises if you brought them close together, due to the same phenomena. They had other problems too, like you could shout further than these things could reach, but that's another topic!

[@EEVblog]

Alan Cordwell Oh wow, yes, I remember those Tandy/Radio Shack walkie talkies doing that! 1970's that was.... Playing sword fights with the antennas making them make weird noises. Marketed for how many transistors they had!

[@adamadamhoney]

Alan Cordwell I had these as a young pup, eventually got some Realistic FM 2ways and became the coolest kids in the street. I think they were the first thing I tore down to attempt to make a wireless horror mask speaker to scare my brother. Classic.

[@mrlazda]

Alan Cordwell Statement is basically correct but not precise, all what you wrote about that is only correct for super-regenerative receiver with loop antenna in other cases is not.

[@BillAnt]

The old X10 home automation modules from the 90's and early 2000's had a similar problem. Sometimes the remote wasn't turning the modules on/off depending on their location. Now it all makes sense. wow

[@Leonelf0]

Could you do a fundamentals friday about frequency multiplication and/or division or general RF? Imho, the whole RF (and so on) stuff is pretty much voodoo for many hobbyists^^

[@DantalionNl]

***** I agree a fundamentals friday about RF components like mixers, multipliers, detectors and such would be awesome!

[@WolframHofmeister]

+1

[@RealationGames]

Lan Party Hosting Vote on that! Maybe some SDR stuff too!

[@joblessalex]

Vote

[@SONOFAZOMBIE2025]

***** voodoo is easier to understand :(

[@user-pl7og6jx1g]

This channel is like the House MD of electronics, you exclamations are so great, and the content is full of great info. 10/10

[@dismayer666]

As Wikipedia says: "This circuit was widely used in radio receivers, called regenerative receivers, between 1915 and World War II." Yup, pretty old design ;)

[@Landrew0]

dismayer666 Most radios were no longer using regenerative circuits by 1930. TRF and superheterodyne circuits were easier to use and performed much better.

[@DantalionNl]

I love how I was right about the distance thing, great video dave!

[@mprebbz]

Really interesting, Dave thanks. I have a couple of these to control some lights in the house and ran into the same problem when they were close together - I had assumed it was the due to the same phase, TIL.

[@deedubbs4412]

Amazing how it was even certified for sale...a .05 cent high pass (or even maybe a high and a low pass) filter, a .001 cent random length antenna, and the thing would work great. Companies should hire quality engineers like Dave - who know not only how to make something that works, but with the requisite expertise to test the prototypes - and the stones to tell the bean counters NO, I WILL NOT LET YOU CUT THIS CORNER. I completely agree with the other gentleman, things like this are wrecking HF, even VHF and UHF. Haha, your neighbor saves 5 dollars on his remote power relay, and you have to spend $7,500 dollars on filtering, tower, rotor, preamp, digital noise reduction hardware, and a 5 element cushcraft to be able to make a QSO. (Or just move and buy a new house!) The governments of the world need to get it together or one day they will find their satellites and public safety radios are going to be plagued with constructive and destructive interference so bad, noise levels so high - they cease to function. Then, without a doubt, someone will spend 5 billion taxpayer dollars to completely revise the satcom network. Reminds me of the P25 multi-path modulation disaster. Dont get me wrong, I love new technology - but not when it becomes incompatible with older, self sufficient infrastructure - in a natural environment where things fail - it is very dangerous to move forward without looking back and considering the opportunity cost. I remember once the whole city's power went out, the noise floor dropped out, and it was 5 watt 10,000 mile 20M QSOs all night off the old 2kw battery bank.

[@Guybrush1816351]

Having a neighbour that plays with his ham rig also makes these things unusable :)

[@markbell9742]

The scariest thing is you have stuffed your “crawl space” with OneHungLow random/spontaneous deflagration units. Cheers, Mark ********************

[@EVguru]

HI Dave, You commented that the filter cap looked quite good, but of course it wasn't being used as a filter, it was the main component in a transformerless power supply. A lot of people seem unaware of these very cheap low current supply solutions. A good primer is Microchip's application note; AN954

[@TonyButchT]

I had a gut feeling you were going to explore into the remote issue! Glad you did, thanks for sharing it! Raise the lumens ( a bit ) over your assistants work bench as reward for making the tool for the tamper-proof screws. Might have seemed like a mundane/lowly task, but we know better! (and...when he screws up...drop the lumens back down!)

[@martinda7446]

What did they think? How can they ignore that 4 way blocks exist? The case looks like a nice bit of plastic though. For those new, or unaware of the history there is a chap largely forgotten that invented among other things ''Regeneration'' Edwin Armstrong also invented FM and the superheterodyne receiver and that, to me, ought to make him more famous than he was. He made De Forests Audion work to detect, amplify and transmit, he most likely had a better understanding than De Forest himself. RCA. just as they had done with TV shafted Armstrong over FM good and proper until he jumped from his 13th floor window. Edit..Oops Forgot to say: great stuff as usual Dave. You are now my very favourite You Tuber.

[@cnxunuo]

you should disable the internal 10dB ATT to lower the DANL by 10dB....and the signal will be much more clear

[@kakureru]

I deal with these all the time, just keep the button pressed, the xmitter away enough to replicate issue and adjust the tuner in the receiver till it works. So far, 100% success rate. (I buy things like this every year during the post xmas liquidation sale.)

[@pvc988]

I didn't get what you were talking about at first. We call them "odbiornik superreakcyjny" (superreactive receiver) in my country. But I remember having the same problems with it when I used it to control my RC airship (aka. Zeppelin) :) EDIT: Dave, you have these high speed scopes. You could just see how crappy that noisy waveform (one generated by the receiver) looks like.

[@Nekotamer]

you got me there on the super regenerative receiver

[@MichaelKathke]

Interesting to see the measurement quality and speed difference between Tektronix and Rigol.

[@zx8401ztv]

The retuning of the receivers may help for range dave, dont forget that the temprature of the room they were setup at will be slightly different to yours, even broardband has its limits. The remote has a cristal so its accuracy would be different as well at room tempratures, still crappy due to the large multiplication of the cristal.

[@Nukle0n]

Ozzie power sockets look so sad. like "oooough"

[@AntonBabiy]

American sockets look so pissed off like D=

[@firoxlion]

Nukle0n Meanwhile all French sockets are having an erection... The Danish ones are super happy though

[@yoianrhodes]

Nukle0n look at the side, it looks mad \ \ ___

[@nickguy6820]

Nukle0n It's like the mask from Scream.

[@Dazzwidd]

They look shocked to me like "Oooo!" :0

[@Gmtail]

With all the knowledge and tools you have, I'm surprised you didn't just build you own remote switching solution. Awesome video however..:-)

[@mrlazda]

Super-regenerative receiver with loop antenna (and that is what they use and antenna is in same time inductor) are notorious that they create interference for other receivers operating nearby, they even change frequency by moving hand near antenna and there is not many thing that someone can do to fix that issues (shielding is of no use here, only solution is to use RF amplifier that will "isolate" the resonant tank from the antenna but that solution will increase price and is not applicable to when you use loop antenna).

[@harmzegt8066]

Yes, they intervere each other when close together.. common knowledge, it even says so on the box (here in The Netherlands that is)

[@SkuldChan42]

I used to be really into amateur radio and your teardown explains why every time I would start tuning my stuff it would switch on/off his remote control lights.

[@MisterTalkingMachine]

Regen receivers were quite infamous back in the 1920's for interfering with other radios.

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

EEVblog Haha, that's funny: My remote (of course, with a label that conforms to European standards, telling the battery voltage, and the range to be up to 40m, but not the radio frequency) states the model to be "RC202", or "Type 10164". Also, my set had two sockets that have a dimmer circuit in them, so if you hold the on/off switch, it will dim the light up or down. And yes, that's what all the space on the PCB is for, because the one that I have had open, was one with the dimmer circuit, and it was much more packed. Still, they probably came out of the same factory as yours did (of course with a European/German "Schuko" plug), as the remote and all the design stuff is exactly the same. And I've also had the problem with the screws... Here they were sold in a discount supermarket chain (by the name of Lidl), so they were actually extra cheap, like 20-25 Euros or something.

[@WestCoastMole]

Hi Dave You have two issues to deal with there. Recovering intelligence from a signal is all one thing, Signal to Noise ratio. And noise is a cumulative quantity. Every government agency also specifies the maximum effective radiated power. For unlicensed incidental radiators which is extremely low. If its too high you wind up in trouble with the authorities. Super Regens are known cheap receivers that generate lots of junk. The manufacturer could either build a better receiver to decrease the necessary SNR or increase the transmitter power if it stays with legal limit.

[@smallenginedude71]

i have some kambrook ones. they are fantastic. two of them are right next to each other. no issues at all.

[@eformance]

dave, they are just FM modulating a counter at 32x the crystal frequency. I did this with a Parallax Propeller chip to broadcast a WAV file to a broadcast FM receiver. Lots of jitter and sideband noise though.

[@michaelnobibux2886]

Superregs should always be shielded and have an RF amp with high reverse isolation (common base) between antenna and detector.

[@iceberg789]

Hi Dave, the receiver circuitry is exactly same looking as those 433MHz RF modules currently selling hot at ebay. The 8 pin surface chip is very well a micro, and is probably detecting actual digital messages sent from the different buttons of the transmitter. Arduino hobbyists are doing these, these days, they are not signal and RF specialists, just putting different messages for different buttons. All digital, no analog. :)

[@KostadinIVKostadinov]

Nice video. I would like to see a properly designed shield so I could see the difference.

[@CalcProgrammer1]

I have a US version of these. I tore one apart and it had a discrete riser board for the receiver, looked very similar to the little receiver boards you can buy on SparkFun and the likes. I found out it was a 315MHz system using the 315MHz and 433MHz receivers I bought there and my scope. Then I traced out the protocol for each button and made a USB interface for it so I can control my lamps from my PC. Oddly enough I've had three of them on a T-shaped wall tap no more than a few inches apart and they all received just fine. No crystals and no metal shields in them. My PC based transmitter can control lights all the way across the house. I used a technique I learned in your fundamentals friday videos (charge pumping) to boost USB 5V up to 8-9V for more range.

[@AntiComposite]

No device shall create harmful interference.

[@DFredleinPortfolio]

I use these a lot! but I use the jackson brand? the dark grey coloured brand from bunnings and they work brilliantly!

[@pirobot668beta]

We used to use an old portable super-regen radio to 'squeel' other radios. Get in close, figure out what atation the other guy was listening to, then tune slightly off...big noise!

[@TheUnnamedGent]

I have very little problem with the word "regenerative". I have a lot of problems with the word "compartmentalisation".

[@EEVblog]

TheUnnamedGent I have no problems with that one!

[@TheUnnamedGent]

EEVblog I think I might be learning to say it now I've typed it out.

[@kainhall]

TheUnnamedGent thats kinda like how i cant spell short words.... but big long ones i spell just fine. side effect of dyslexia? no idea.

[@richfiles]

TheUnnamedGent Just, oh, I don't know. Split the word up into it's individual parts, and take it one one syllable at a time... You know... compartmentalization

[@nrdesign1991]

Maybe a project for David2? Building a board that receives the signal with the receiver of one unit, and then decode the signal.

[@Dazzwidd]

Needs a one transistor input amp and short antenna on the rx circuit. Then shield the super regenerative oscillator coils. Problem solved and greatly improved range. Too much bother though. More fun to short it's output then push the remote and watch the relay go BAM!

[@alfagulf]

EEVblog , how would you shield a tank circuit? Wouldn't that also block it from receiving the intended signal?

[@oldman1505]

If you were to shield it, would you also be shielding out the signal from the transmitter that you want it to receive? If it can't get out, it can't get in?

[@led-matrix-au]

I was wondering can you shield the outside plastic case with aluminum or copper tape and get away with that. Curious to know. Hmm

[@ooievaar]

I have the same problem with a well-known brand in The Netherlands, “ Klik en Klaar”. Receivers 2 meters apart but on the same mains-phase. I could not get it working. Even shielding with alufoil of one of them still failed. So I think the disturbance signal is also transmitted via the mains. I now have one of the receivers plugged in a wall socket close to the transmitter and use a mains wire to the location where i had my receiver. Crazy solution but it works.

[@bridgendesar]

Would that kill the signal from a powerline homeplug ?

[@kodez79]

Last time I used a spectrum analyzer, we had to move the "signal" top near to the top of the screen. The internal gain circuit got adjusted by the max value of the screen, and the noise seen at the bottom was all internal input circuit noise (when using 20dB/div). Maybe you could get a better "signal" view if you lower your reference?

[@darrenjacobson7456]

So, you're saying that if you put two of these in two adjacent sockets, they'll screw each other up? Well done Arlec, well done.

[@YSTech2010]

Maybe it is also interesting to show the one-transistor Doppler motion sensor.

[@e5frog]

Would have been fun to see what you can do about it, shield the whole thing (except the antenna)?

[@38911bytefree]

Those recievers radiate as part of the reception method. Same with cheap 433.92 cheap car alarmas. The cheapo receiver at 60 cents, is super regenerative. When two of them are close, since they ouput a tone as part of the process, you have a degrade performance

[@richb313]

.I would be interested to see the IF frequency. I have found most RF interference in receivers enters at the IF section rather than the primary tank circuit.

[@MrocznyTechnik]

I think shielding would not help a lot in this case. There's single transistor circuit, so you don't have reliable antenna separation. Even if you shield the circuit like a nuclear reactor, you will still have non separated antenna, which will 'transmit'.

[@AlistairBuxton]

How would you go about designing shielding for one of these, without also blocking the incoming signal?

[@theLuigiFan0007Productions]

Alistair Buxton Sadly, you don't. You can tune them more accurately to emit less interference, but that's as far as you'l get.

[@_Piers_]

I always think those Australian mainstream sockets look sad about something...

[@spikester]

get a zwave remote and some zwave outlet switches. Can get an networked controller for remote UI based switching as well. Teardown of z-wave devices for quality/construction could be another video series. the less crap in the air the better in your case.

[@slicedpage]

and the winner of todays,"Geez that was a boring video" award goes to ...

[@kght222]

i'm sure you know this, but using a dremmel to cut metal in an electronics lab is a bad idea. doesn't matter much at first, but that can be murderous in the long run. just take it outside.

[@EEVblog]

kght222 I don't have an "outside". And that's the first time I've ever done it, two seconds work.

[@kght222]

EEVblog fair, and as i said, i'm sure you knew it wasn't the greatest idea. i also pointed out that it is an accumulative thing. i apologize if i sound like an ass.

[@frollard]

kght222 It's a fair assertion -- that metal dust gets everywhere. I like (if I have a partner to hold it) to use a small vacuum to catch the sparks directly as they fly off to reduce the amount that gets airborne.

[@darkcupid3671]

kght222 You should see where I work. People grinding carbon fiber all around sensitive electronics. I can't wait to see what happens when its all powered up.

[@elvinhaak]

I wonder if it is a big problem when you use a magnet to catch the iron-parts. Just below the dremel I use this to keep the surroundings a bit cleaner. Plastic dust is also not sooooo nice though... Did you make an extra space now in your new lab?

[@danielhorne6042]

i had a couple of the same remote sockets but of course uk version that can receive the remote signal from my garden roughly 40m away from where they are plugged in and no interference between both . i paid about £10

[@amhagele]

Thanks for that. I got a similar unit and the relay contact got stuck on after a few weeks of use. Changed relay and it did again. The load switched is not terrible inductive I thought. Just the workbench gear, like soldering iron, Some power packs, desk lights etc. Only a few hundred Watts at the best. Any good idea how to improve this?

[@mooseteets]

powerline adapters for networking over the power network cause similar problems to sw/hf radios, loads of interference.

[@OWLLwisdom]

Dave I have the Aldi brand ones and they worked find for about a year then started to have trouble with channel 2, it would turn on ok but to turn it off I have to go close to it. I have 3 side by side, channel 2,3,4 have no troubles with any other channel just 2. I will rip it apart one day and sort it out.

[@Matt_Aquila]

Did you know you can get 4-way remote powerboards from Bunnings? They cost around $50 and would've saved you this headache.

[@luisdanielmesa]

Is the antenna position the reason the one on the right works more often than the one on the left? Can you shield the left wall of the enclosure? Will it blend? :D

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

EEVblog However, there seems to be a difference between the thingys I have and yours: When I plug mine in, it flashes the LED and states to be ready to accept channel programming. I then have to press on or off on the transmitter to set it to the channel I want it. Changing channels between the two modules that are so close to each other didn't do anything though. Still, I wondered that your plugs didn't do that when you first plugged them in, so they are hard wired to a channel? That's a difference then (but only a small one). Still, I don't have nearly the electronics knowledge that you have, so I won't be able to test anything with them (I don't even have a scope, nor would I know how to use one if I had one, LOL).

[@gblargg]

I was hoping he'd put the analyzer antenna next to an unplugged unit and press a button on the remote from across the room, then plug the unit in and do the same and show how the apparent signal from the remote appeared amplified when the unit was plugged in (because of its regeneration).

[@nathantrigg5399]

Dave l fitted a tunned antenna to transmitter & receiver, dosent look good but improved performance. Catch Ya Triggy

[@jusaca01]

If you used a 200Mhz Scope, maybe the sinus-form is just due to the Lowpass in the input and in reallity there was a square?

[@zwz.zdenek]

I thought these would emit some kind of intermediate frequency; that would obviously require a more costly circuit though.

[@BillAnt]

It's baffling that we still don't have a worldwide power plug standard yet. Got pretty much all computer and charging ports standardized except power plugs. smh

[@lasersbee]

What if you added a small length of antenna around the inside of the Rcvr case?? Would that help ?? I use X10 modules for switching but I'm on 60Hz 120VAC. Not sure if they work on 50Hz 220VAC. 16:12 BTW you can't wake up the fish by tapping on the screen... ;)

[@StellaFoxxie]

Does wraping them in aluminim foil change anything ?

[@benedictnothing]

Bought some of these recently from ASDA (in the UK) and they're crap! 3 of the 4 just about worked (but even less reliably when used at the same time, as you've discovered) and the other just arc'd and fizzled. Looked inside and the leads hadn't been trimmed! Don't feel happy leaving them plugged in.

[@heydmytro]

"Drift like there is no tomorrow" :D :D :D totally lost on this one :D

[@AzaTht]

I assume Australia doesn't have anything similar to CE mark or FCC mark?

[@Murphistic]

Carl Fürstenberg Currently, I'm pissed of a USB charger, that emits so much noise, that the touchscreen of attached tablet has awfully lot ghost touches. I can't even unlock the screen. And yes, it has the CE mark :( . It's from a quite large retail store, but it's one of the cheepo rebranded ones. Now, I want to add ferrite bead to the cable, hoping it helps. My point is, that even CE mark and purchase from a quite large store don't protect you from crap devices.

[@ForViewingOnly]

Does the CE mark really mean anything anymore? The Chinese are quite happy to print fake CE marks on their electronic items.

[@3lohssvrm]

acma ctick

[@maximilianmustermann8172]

ForViewingOnly aren't there any controls?

[@ForViewingOnly]

Maximilian Mustermann There are controls, but the UK/European markets are flooded with fake electrical/electronic goods. I don't think the controlling bodies can keep up with it. All you can do is buy from a large reputable retailer, hoping that they've done their work in checking the source of these goods. But even Amazon are storing and shipping fakes on behalf of other sellers with their "Fulfilled by Amazon" system. Amazon say they will destroy a seller's stock of items if they are found to be fakes, but it still goes on... I've seen a number of batteries and chargers 'Fulfilled by Amazon' that have been removed from Amazon pending investigation... but probably after thousands have already been sold.

[@faultylee]

Since this could potentially interfere with near by devices, I wonder how it got past the FCC equivalent of OZ

[@rish2891993]

Could we somehow extend the antenna and put a piece of foil over the oscillator? can that solve the problem?

[@EgoShredder]

I had some sockets like this and later got rid of them, because they would switch on and off by themselves at random.

[@KB1UIF]

Dave, correct me if I'm wrong but how can you shield a receiver and it still work? You would still have to unshielded the antenna which is where the signal is being emitted from. So how can you shield it?

[@kd1s]

And in the U.S. the 70cm band goes from 420MHz to 450Mhz. So this little device falls right in the band.

[@tubical71]

kd1s therefore in your country the ISM is based within 902Mhz up to 928Mhz (region 2) while many other countries (including europe and australia;) have the ISM band within 433.05Mhz up to 434.79Mhz but they now switching over to 863Mhz up to 870MHz (SRD-Band Europa) due to problems with the 70cm radio CB stuff;)

[@kd1s]

TubiCal Yeah I know. A lot of the little RF stuff sold here in the U.S. is right smack in the 70cm band. I also have a TI MSP430 watch and I had to give them a copy of my amateur radio license to get it.

[@PlasmaHH]

Would it be any better if you rotate them 90° by X or Y axis? I have always been told that SupReGen receivers interfere because when one receives the LC circuit "locks" onto some frequency, causing it to also transmit at roughly that frequency, causing the other receiver nearby to also receive that, going into the same cycle, and now you have three frequencies that compete for the "lock" on two LC circuits. Never thought about how much truth is in there, and even more unsure how you could measure something like that.

[@awesomusmaximus3766]

Arlec quality at it's finest

[@xyanide1986]

8:29 A 3 dB increase of noise floor at least mate!

[@joshcryer]

Did you try putting in your own shielding? Maybe some tin foil or whatever? Not sure if it would work, just curious.

[@svenhoek]

joshcryer That would be interesting to see a DIY shielding video on these

[@EEVblog]

joshcryer That's a slippery slope I didn't really want to go down. As was further details and measurements etc.

[@airwood99]

joshcryer shielding would not work on this design as the noise is on the receiving antenna (coil) ?

[@joshcryer]

airwood99 Plopped some aluminum foil on my NES which was showing bad banding in the video, something around the video output was putting off some nasty interference. Sometimes it "just works." :) No idea in this case.

[@RealationGames]

joshcryer But your NES doesn't need to receive RF signals. If you foiled that coil, you'd foil the antenna. No interference, but that would also prohibit receiving. If you had separate antenna, then you could have it outside the shield.

[@hinz1]

Don't know, but is it really a good idea to plug a big metal antenna directly into the SA input? ESD or unintentional contact with a live wire and the first mixer goes byebye. Near field probes and antennas used with SAs are usually isolated for that reason. IMO, an isolated wire is a much better thing to plug into SA if no real probes are available. AFAIK, your SAs are AC coupled, which gives some protection, but I think it's a bad idea nevertheless

[@chitlitlah]

So your talk of different mains phases has got me curious. Is the Australian system like our system (but with double the voltage) in that you have two hot wires in opposite phases and a neutral? If so, do you use 480v for high-power appliances like clothes dryers?

[@marcinsosinski766]

***** No , basicaly it is like in europe. Nowadays you have 5 wire system recomendation for new instalations. You,ve got 3 phases circa 230V (+- 10%) neutral wire and protective wire. Phase shift is 120 degrees. Protective wire is conected to the ground in your premises. Other four goes to the transformer somwhere in neighbourhood. (negative wire is grounded there i presume). And thats it. You've got 1 Phase 230 (L1 or L2 or L3 - N) and 400 V between any given two phases.

[@chitlitlah]

That's interesting. We only have three-phase in industrial and large commercial buildings here and it's usually 480V (at least in Texas). So I'm guessing the larger motors in your house like in your drier and AC compressor take advantage of the three-phase.

[@adamadamhoney]

***** We also have 3 phase 400V @ 50Hz in Australia but not in residential premises as a rule of thumb. Workshops, production facilities, commercial buildings etc. will have it to run high power equipment, compressors, welders, machinery etc. They use a different industrial rugged and screw retainable 3/4 pin plug and socket. Sorry don't know any more specs off the top of my head. Also 240V 15A rated outlets are available with a backwards compatible pin out, usually also in commercial / industrial buildings. They have a physically larger ground pin to prevent 15A devices being plugged into 10A rated outlets (10A being the defacto household standard on most appliances) but a 10A male connector will work in a 15A outlet.

[@EEVblog]

***** Not many people in Oz have 3 phase power in their house. IIRC it's now not even legal to have a power hog 3 phase airconditioner in a new residential house. We have optional 15A outlets (3450W) that are single phase for higher power residential stuff. Same as the standard 10A plug but it has a larger earth pin.

[@chitlitlah]

Okay, so in most residences, everything is 240V single phase. Your two outlets were just on different phases because you're in a large office building with three-phase. So what about your clothes driers? There's no way it can work on 15A unless your driers are smaller than ours. Mine says it requires 240V 30A which I'm sure is an overestimate, but there's no way it would work with a 15A outlet/breaker. I know I'm asking a lot of ridiculous questions but I'm curious about the differences in power distribution in different parts of the world and some of it is too specific to easily find online.

[@michaelhawthorne8696]

I have 4 of these working in my flat (similar ones anyway) I love them and wouldn't mind seeing a video of the signal breakdown and just what the coding looks like. I only have a Vellerman 60MHz PC scope so I can't really do it myself. The thing that bugs me is that sometimes the relay sticks either open or closed, the circuit responds correctly but power either fails to go off or fails to come on. Going from on to off to on a couple of times has always been the cure, I'll need to replace the relay soon. My tx uses an A12 mini 12 volt battery. It's great to wake up and click the Computer system has power along with various other things attached. Click, the Fan comes on if it's hot enough Really lazy life huh?

[@hannonm]

I would install some RF chokes along the circuit

[@GaRbAllZ]

Is this the same as a superheterodyne circuit?

[@jope7137]

Dennis Hill No.

[@Mystickneon]

That MDO3104 is one expensive piece of equipment!

[@BavarianM]

did you try changing the baterys ?

[@Tuttomenui]

Need a single transmit and receiver solution with 10 channels then it would work better. Cost more but you could make your own system using R/C Hobby parts I bet.

[@John-gm8ty]

Does Arlec actually make anything decent at all?

[@RyanVasquez6089]

I don't think these would ever pass FCC certification

[@RealationGames]

Hmm... These don't have to comply with FCC or such standard to be sale-worthy?

[@caffeinepizza]

RealationGames he's in australia.

[@RealationGames]

CaffeinePizza Thus the "such standard" remark.

[@aleksastipanovic6723]

dave, is the calculator at 4.17 any good? i have the same one in perfect condition.

[@AndyPhu]

12:14 KSP - Kerbal Space Program transistor

[@marshaul]

"Super Regenerative Receiver" Not such a tongue twister in "General American". :p

[@punker4Real]

accent does it

[@marshaul]

Yup. Interesting that tongue twisters can exist or not depending solely on accent/dialect; I had never considered that before I saw this vid.

[@currentphonograph1734]

I would like to know how public utility companies can know & read which electric appliance brands you have plugged in the wall, & if they feed your private household information to the pigs

[@alexpr0gressive]

Hey Dave, could you do a followup how one should design such a smart plug device and remote, now that we know how not to do it. I thought about that too some time ago when you teared down a fake Apple USB charger. I would love to have Dave approved devices in my home :)

[@peterhansen8216]

Resonant tank circuit. One is acting as an antenna trap

[@tzisorey]

Just purely from curiosity, how hard would it be to mod the receiver unit(s) to have an antenna and/or shielding?

[@EEVblog]

Tzisorey Tigerwuf That's a slippery slope of experimentation I didn't want to go down.

[@tzisorey]

I'll take that to mean "Very"

[@HotEndRanch]

This cheap hung low shit is what's destroying ham radio :(

[@maximilianmustermann8172]

***** whait... seriously?!? (I'm not that into RF so I have no clue).

[@HotEndRanch]

We use super expensive sensitive radio gear to pick up a signal in some cases a few watts across the globe.. Hung low splatter crap smashes the bands

[@maximilianmustermann8172]

***** sounds frustrating and it doesn't seem like it's going to get better any time soon.

[@HotEndRanch]

Plasma TV's are bad & cheap ass unfiltered power supplies

[@satibel]

+Maximilian Mustermann (“Interprete”) crappy mobile phone signal boosters can actually cause interference spikes and the more powerful ones can actually block cellphones in a whole part of the town.

[@aaroNiGHTS]

I wonder if you could reverse engineer Dave's fingerprints from these videos and make a mold to work on a phone!

[@maximilianmustermann8172]

aaroNiGHTS probably, yet: what for?

[@theLuigiFan0007Productions]

Maximilian Mustermann I believe that would be obvious. Fingerprint protection on some newer phones like the iPhone.

[@maximilianmustermann8172]

theLuigiFan0007 I am aware of the possible usecases...

[@hellterminator]

theLuigiFan0007 The thing is you'd need access to Dave's iPhone and if you've got someone's iPhone you kinda automatically get a crap ton of their finger prints as well.

[@theLuigiFan0007Productions]

LOL what has a simple question turned into. Theoretically stealing something? XD