Julian's Postbag: #66 - A Load of Electronics Stuff from Alice

[@ElmerFuddGun]

7:46 - there is a difference between humidity (or temperature) "resolution" and "precision". The resolution is largely based on the resolving ability of the ADC used where as the precision is how accurate it is. A temperature readout may show 0.1°C resolution but it may show boiling water (at sea level, etc., etc.) as 98° or 102°. It has a resolution of of 0.1° but is only accurate to +/- 2°.

[@ElmerFuddGun]

Measuring humidity accurately isn't easy and you're not going to find an accurate sensor that is also cheap. Sensors with better than 1% accuracy aren't remotely cheap.

[@makomk]

Yeah, +/+3% relative humidity and +/-0.4°C is pretty accurate for a cheap sensor if it actually meets the specs.

[@ElmerFuddGun]

Yep. And increasing your temperature accuracy is far easier than humidity at least over typical weather and water boiling ranges. And of course confirming the humidity sensor's accuracy meets its specs isn't nearly as easy as a temperature sensor.

[@crankybloke]

I have used similar clear lid boxes where I work. I found it quite easy to use the edge of a credit card to seat the rubber seal strip. They remained weatherproof mounted on the side mirrors of a truck.

[@JerryEricsson]

Love those boxes, I have several. I used some smaller ones to build my portable power supplies, one boost and one buck, both use 3 18650 batteries to supply the voltage with regulators that show through the tops. I am not using them for their waterproof nature though as I have drilled holes to get at the power adjusting screws and mounted switches through the tops.

[@damoncrowfeather4655]

1:24.. When installing weatherproofing gasket on an outdoor box, always start your insulation or rubber seal at what is going to be the bottom of the enclosure. The reasoning for this, is because there will be a small gap or break in the the rubber seal.. If installed anywhere other than the bottom, it can allow water to enter.

[@nabilandadamslaboratory3422]

What's the clever method of isolating the li ion chargers?

[@mrjohhhnnnyyy5797]

You can adapt that lamp for 240V by increasing the value of resistor on DC side, or reducing the value of a film cap on AC side. 560nf should do. After you assemble the boards, power them up and measure current through LED's, piece of cake :)

[@AlanMedina314]

Watching someone unwrap cheap Chinese electronics is quite pleasing , I wish I knew why. Good work Julian.

[@webchimp]

Big Clive did a conversion on one of those lamps with two different colour sets of LEDs in and got some quite trippy effects.

[@Graham-ce2yk]

I am looking forward to seeing you doing up the LED Lamps DIY kit. I did a search on KZbin and found only one other person (Kent Diego) assembling the kit his version included the LEDs.

[@petehiggins33]

I think the voltage range of the DIY lamp kit is about right. The upper value depends on the voltage rating of the dropper capacitor and at lower voltages it simply draws less current and produces less light. They've chosen an arbitrary factor of two as an acceptable fall in intensity. The snag with the water proof box is that you've just transferred the problem of getting a watertight seal from the module to whatever electrical interface you use to get connections into the box. According to BigClive it's a lost cause trying to get a watertight container, moisture will always get in. He recommends providing a drain hole to let it get out again.

[@JerryEricsson]

I have tried purchasing 2 different kits from China that said they were 240/110 kits. Both were not 110 at all and neither worked as advertised. One was a power supply that I eventually found a 110 volt transformer to replace the 240 and got working the other was a self switching night light that I eventually converted to 12 volts and use in our camper. I no longer purchase mains products from China and restrict my toys to DC only as I can deal with voltages in DC with no problems, most are either 12 or 5 volts.

[@DavidWatts]

I have found that some of those TPS4056 modules charge to different voltages, I have one that will charge to 4.2v and the others charge to 4v. I assume that is set via a resistor on board and that lost .2 volts is not really going to losing much capacity.

[@JulianIlett]

The charge current is set by a resistor, but I'm pretty sure the max voltage is fixed and can't be changed. Data sheet says 1.5% tolerance on the 4.2V so that's 4.137 to 4.263. Of course there may be fake chips in circulation.

[@templebrown7179]

For humidity sensors and temperature sensors, you'll often see two very different figures listed. Accuracy is not equivalent to resolution, for certain. The resolution is often 0.1 or even 0.01, but the accuracy is often 3%.

[@davidbi9765]

Those see-trough plastix enclosures are great i used one in my arduino artnet to dmx node project

[@KernelPanic]

I bought one of those diy led bulbs without leds three years ago. I still haven't built it up to now.

[@rpgquestboard]

Trying to understand the series battery charging/common ground issue you mentioned. Any links or suggested reading?

[@eddiespencer1]

Can you heat-seal the ends of the gasket together or will you use a dab of silicone?

[@capriracer351]

Yep. We do it all the time where I work.

[@ekner]

About those RFID boards, I think the expensive one has NFC and talks to your phone as if it were a RFID tag. That, or there's some admin app to change settings wirelessly via NFC. Both cases would be very practical uses of NFC I think.

[@Bayzvideos]

Hi Julian, It seems that your Arduino sensor collection has grown quite large now with these postbag's, not sure if you have already heard of it but you should check out MySensors to put some of them to use. It is a home automation style software system based on Arduino and the NRF24l01+ modules, from what you were saying in this video it seems that it may work well for recording your temperature and humidity along with other sensor data such as possibly some of your solar voltages and etc, into one place.

[@roidroid]

Yes, for the next sensor he should buy a sensor-sensor, for when he needs to track down the sensor he wants.

[@Markle2k]

Resolution = number of digits on the display. More digits lights up the room brighter but has nothing to do with: Accuracy = how close the averaged readings will be to reality Precision = how much deviation there will be between different readings. If these are off in accuracy a simple correction can be applied. Display resolution being more generous than accuracy and precision seems common with consumer weather gear.

[@DjResR]

Doesn't the box bottom have a tongue to push against the seal in the channel? 680nF capacitive dropper can work on 120VAC too, but the forward current on LED's is much lower than with 230VAC. Also blue LED's are quite handy to make neon colored plastic fluorescent almost like in blacklight.

[@Madmax23419]

10pcs of 10p box pin header are 1 dollar or so, lot of ebay sellers sell those.

[@nomadic_rider42]

Hi Julian, have you considered using 3PDT type toggle switch to convert batteries from series into parallel connection and charge them?

[@JulianIlett]

They'd have to be break before make

[@KevsElectricalWorkshop]

3%Rh is ok for a cheap module, your pay a fair bit more to get even 2%Rh, The resolustion is just showing what the led will display as a minimum increment.

[@jims408]

Julian, if that LED light bulb kits winds up working correctly on 240 volts, can you indicate which components to change in order to make this capacitive dropper circuit work at 120 volts? I always learn something new watching your channel; thanks much.

[@gihanlasita]

great postbag video as always. looking forward to see how you setup 3s 18650 charging with TP4056 modules

[@aaronreniers3673]

Hi Julian Ilett A while ago I saw this video of you with this DIY LED bulb. So I bought one myself and made it. But after about two or three weeks it blew up. The transparent cap blew off and the only damage I could find is some tracks missing on the PCB close to where the mains is connected. What do you think is the cause? And should I keep using them (cause I bought ten more. I just received them yesterday and built three of them today. Did a quick test and worked fine). Love your KZbin page!

[@Electester]

Are we going to see any projects with these items that you have presented?

[@fuba44]

You could buy like 10 of them, and assume they are equally inaccurate over vs under the actual humidity, and average them out for an accurate measurement.

[@RinkyDinkElectronics]

It looks like the new RFID module is a reader/writer while the old one is read-only.

[@daniels7424]

Hi Julian! Nice videos, the second kit maybe is available to wrtite and read and not only read... so thats probably why it is more expensive

[@MrBobWareham]

washing up liquid and water on the seal it will then just push in ( don't stretch it )

[@willyhoogs]

I really really really want to see a video on charging those lithium cells. Any idea when you will be doing it. I am trying to do a 14.8v battery pack. Thanks!

[@steverodgers1112]

Regarding the 3 cell lithium battery charger. It could be done as follows: 1. Step up switching regulator to take 12-14V to around 18-20V. Choose a module with a way to set the output current to 1 amp. 2. 3 ea. Shunt regulators using a pass transistor to give 3 5 volt outputs stacked one on top of each other. This would avoid the mains powered modules, and be much safer for new users.

[@MrOpenGL]

So basically you are running all the TP4056s in series? Might actually work... let me try it (with a 5V zener diode in parallel with each one of them of course)

[@steverodgers1112]

Zener diodes by themselves will not be able to dissipate much power. Most Zener diodes are rated for 500 mW, or 1 watt. You need a pass transistor, and a zener diode hooked up as a shunt regulator. See the article, Zener Controlled Transistor Shunt Voltage Regulator: www.circuitstoday.com/voltage-regulators

[@MrOpenGL]

Steve Rodgers Series pass transistor omitted for clarity ;P But thanks anyway!

[@TheSpotify95]

Excellent stuff! I'm adding this to my favorites so that I can refer back to it when I buy one of those LED kits to test my soldering iron on :D

[@Whigu]

Blue RFID thing is just for reading and red is for reading and writing?

[@ElmerFuddGun]

8:57 - as if the insurance company needs another reason on top of the Chinese LED light to deny your claim when your house burns down it is using a home made light bulb! Not only is it not CSA, UL, CE (not sure of Europe's standard) approved it is a kit that connects straight into AC without a fuse. Ya... not for me.

[@TheChipmunk2008]

The consumer unit has a 6 amp breaker...

[@ElmerFuddGun]

The "consumer unit"? As in his house uses a 6A breaker? Any how, you don't need even close to 6A to have it melt and cause a fire.

[@magnets1000]

Wish post are a logistics company that many of the sellers in china use. From what I gather they do part of the handling then pass over to china or HK post.

[@DeeegerD]

Julian, the only component in the light schematic of interest was the component labeled BX and you completely ignored it?

[@ElmerFuddGun]

That is the European symbol for a fuse. Isn't it obvious? ;-) Yes, IEC/European symbols SUCK. They don't look or resemble what they are and almost every one uses a rectangle! And I didn't see any fuse in the package he received.

[@JulianIlett]

Ha, ha. I think the fuse is external to the PCB. It's those two pieces of white wire.

[@DeeegerD]

BX = fuse? ok lol. Had me stumped. Wire makes a great fuse so long as you stand way back ;)

[@tyttuut]

If you would like some white LEDs, I have one of those LED bulb kits that I am converting to another color. It came with the LEDs, and if you want I would be happy to send them to you. They do seem to be a mix of warm and cool white for reasons that are beyond me, but I put together another one as intended and it looks quite nice.

[@simonhopkins3867]

Big Julian's diy lamp ;-) sorry I couldn't resist it.

[@jaaasgoed]

Very interested in that isolated supply method for your LiPo chargers.

[@JulianIlett]

It's quite lossy - here's a clue: Chee

[@jaaasgoed]

That would be very lossy, yes. If you're interested in wireless power by the way, Wurth has some nice reference designs for 100+ Watt wireless power transceivers. Not quite Qi standard, but fun to play with non the less.

[@AnnaVannieuwenhuyse]

Output Current said 1000MA. Technically, that's 1000 Mega-amps. Your Energy-Saving LED bulb is very efficient at saving energy, too, I suppose.

[@TheDutyPaid]

how does the Chinese date system work? 2016.05.17.20 from the start of the video. is the first set of numbers from the right hand side the hour it was posted?

[@igotes]

Total guess here, but maybe they pre-printed a load of postage stickers which were valid between 2016-05-17 and 2016-05-20 (17th - 20th May)

[@TheDutyPaid]

igotes I was thinking the same but as they read right to left, then 17-20 or 20-17 would make more sense? I think I have now confused myself.

[@TheDutyPaid]

Ah just looked it up, it is the time. gulfmannatm.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/roc-postal-counter-postage-label_31.html?m=1

[@roidroid]

so 20 would be 8pm?

[@TheDutyPaid]

roidroid I believe so. 08 would be 8am

[@jlucasound]

Alice RULES!! I love Alice. I suppose if I was to meet "Her", "she" would be a big fat China man. Maybe not. Great Ebayer. Great stuff.

[@proyectosledar]

I want that LED lamp!!!

[@16SKB]

Very interested in the series charger for the 18650s :)

[@choupi4719]

Love discovering stuff with your videos, keep going !

[@lazaglider]

New here, sent by Clive. Enjoying so far. Thanks

[@JulianIlett]

Cheers. Welcome :)

[@sej7278]

Those boxes are no good for outside, the plastic actually seems to dissolve in the rain (acid rain lol?!) and the four corners where the screws go in have broken off - I didn't over-tighten them, they were just weakened I guess. Oh and the screws rust really quickly! Bought two and the same thing happened. They're not waterproof despite the rubber ring, still get a lot of condensation. I'd say they've given you the smaller box's rubber ring by mistake too, as my boxes were smaller and i had to cut an inch off and it went in easily by hand.

[@PopescuMarian]

Hi, can you weigh one or two UltraFire BRC18650 batteries? I have some but I think they are fake because are too light...

[@nor4277]

Did you do a vlog of the l.e.d. kit,if not I hope you will,I you have let me no so I can find it to help with my assembly

[@EyesOnReality]

Wow Julian, 66 post-bags with more than one item in most of them, you sure have a collection of parts going there. You'll be able to start your own mail-order business at that rate. Haahahaa. I'm looking forward to the outcome build and operation video tour of your Vocoder when you get it finished. I hope you finish it up soon.

[@LiLBitsDK]

minus the parts he broke or blew up *giggles* love these videos

[@Benjbike]

hi julian , make a roundup of all your sepic and boost buck converters please , I'm looking to build a diy cheap solar charge controller with a 30w panel ... and for the output of the batteries , I want a variable output .

[@ezekas1992]

PN532 supports both NFC and RFID while RC522 only supports RFID. Google about it and you will understand why one is so much more expensive.

[@legogo29]

The mains AC-DC converter was listed as 1000MA, that is 1.000.000.000A, not 1A

[@roidroid]

likely a typo, & ment to be mA. looking at the size of the thing, it honestly wouldn't surprise me if it were 10A. But knowing eBay if it's advertised as 1A that means it's probably around half that, you never know until you buy and try.

[@geoslay53]

I like the stuff that you got in this postbag video. But, it sucks that USA is the only country that they charge for shipping. Every other country does not have a charge. It free shipping. It's not fair for me living in the USA.

[@FennecTECH]

11:25 i hope it isnt designed for 240 volts

[@wolfgangbeginners-mind2853]

"dry slide" silicone spray lube! And all was well...

[@samwelportelli611]

Very interesting videos every time. Keep it up !

[@MrBuck295]

I would like to see a blue LED lamp bulb that is my favorite colour anyway

[@Cpt1nsano]

screen spline roller would have made short work of that gasket.

[@dalehorton7748]

These are the next grade up of sensor, but as others have mentioned, the humidity resolution of these sensors is a different thing to the absolute precision, which can be easily calibrated away. www.aliexpress.com/item/Breakout-Temperature-Humidity-Barometric-Pressure-BME280-Digital-Sensor-Module/32671446007.html

[@hd1ex]

Hasn't the RC522 protocol been hacked? :'D

[@StefanRau]

I really like your videos!

[@JulianIlett]

Thanks

[@prajaybasu]

here's the arduino library (not bye me) if you're still on the lookout : github.com/prajaybasu/SI7021

[@MikeDesertHunterHale]

it will go in!

[@JGnLAU8OAWF6]

Resolution != Accuracy.

[@JulianIlett]

But there's not much point having 0.1% resolution when the accuracy is +/- 3%

[@marcus_w0]

There is! If you have to log your humidity drift over time, it's completely irrelevant how high your overall Accuracy is - its about the resolution relative to the first set of data. So it's irrelevant if there is a humidity of 50% or 53% or 47% - the next thousands of measurements are going to log your humidity drift in relation to this.

[@JulianIlett]

Unless accuracy changes from one end of the scale to the other. For example: -3% at 20%RH and +3% at 80%RH.

[@marcus_w0]

For example: the real humidity is 50.35%, your chip reads 53.30%. At the next measurement it's 53.2% real humidity, the chip reads 56.1%. Next measurement: real humidity 50.45%, chip reading 53.3%. So its overall accuracy is within its spec of 3% and the resolution is still 0.1%

[@TheBlackAndWhiteCow]

assuming that you have an algorithm to compensate for the accuracy,high resolution might come in handy

[@At-M]

How about an BME280? :)

[@God-CDXX]

THAT LED BULB KIT WILL WORK FROM 75 -- 280 VOLT @ 50 HZ AND 65 -- 260 @ 60 HZ I TRYED IT

[@shivanshpuri3065]

yeah yeah

[@JUANKERR2000]

0.1% resolution doesn't mean 0.1% accuracy.

[@MarwillGamers]

Ever orderd stuff from Aliexpress? Cheapest thing i got there was like 0.07 USD witch is like 0.05 GBP Or 5 pence including shipping :P

[@WayneJohnsonZastil]

Wonder if alice has a shop online so can be cheaper than even ebay haha

[@maicod]

yeah 'she' has an eBay-shop 😝

[@linuxthemoon]

Awesome!

[@Hobypyrocom]

why do you buy from eBay? when i buy electronic online i always check eBay, Bangood and Aliexpress and i always find the same electronics and parts to be cheapest on Aliexpress... its the same shipping time to my country (Macedonia) from all three sources... most of the Aliexpress shops offer free shipping which is not the case on Bangood or eBay...

[@Madmax23419]

I have received that tip also for mate, you confirm that.

[@igotes]

eBay is my go-to source for cheap electronic tat. It's not the best or the cheapest but it's still very very cheap and generally does the job. In my experience, AliExpress and Banggood tend to be better for high volume, and the vendors often actually know what they're selling. Most of the suppliers on ebay, however, have decent customer service, so if it's rubbish, they'll either refund you or send another one. This is one of the things I enjoy about Julian's channel; he demonstrates a lot of very cheap ebay modules and in many cases actually uses them instead of a fancy £300 professional equivalent.

[@_Piers_]

The prices on Aliexpress are almost always lower, but the shipping time to the UK is generally quite a lot longer than eBay.You'd think it would be the same as everything is just coming from China anyway, but I've made +200 orders from Aliexpress and it's just slower.Sometimes that doesn't matter though :)

[@lizardofoz5329]

After placing multiple orders with Chinese vendors I find Alice to be the worst. Items missing from shipment when it eventually arrives or in another case never arrives. No tracking or estimate and frustrating communications. I know it's cheap and cheap shipping but the other vendors can do it. At least I found out what the old phrase "slow boat from China" means.

[@JulianIlett]

Alice may be a victim of her own success. I've had a few wrong items supplied recently. I try to use different vendors when I make my purchases, but often Alice has the items I want at the best price. I can only imagine the mayhem of having to ship thousands of items every day. eBay normally refunds incorrect items without too much drama :)

[@techy4198]

Hi Julian, you can get those 10-pin IDC connectors at 25p each on Hobbytronics. www.hobbytronics.co.uk/cables-connectors/idc-connectors-cables/shrouded-box-head-2x5 Just curious, have you heart of this website and do you use it? If not, I have a feeling you might like it a little bit. PS: as others have mentioned below, you can probably get the connectors cheaper on eBay if you find them, but I thought I'd point you to this website for future reference in case you want a decent trustworthy UK-based store.

[@jpalm32]

use liquid gasket

[@AlistairBuxton]

Why do you buy from ebay.com not ebay.co.uk?

[@RobTheSquire]

i think he needs a desk tidy

[@mdesm2005]

How can anyone make money selling an LED light bulb kit for $1.5 w/ shipping?

[@mrbwa1]

Check out this site for tests on Temp and Humidity sensors: www.kandrsmith.org/RJS/Misc/Hygrometers/calib_many.html It covers all of the major sensors.

[@JulianIlett]

Extraordinarily detailed tests - interesting results. Thanks for the link.

[@hhoowwaarrdd]

get those ultrafires out of your house asap :P

[@spikeydapikey1483]

Wet the seal, then insert it ;)

[@azyfloof]

Everybody's favourite segment! Maaaailbag! :D Damn, Alice, you a cheapskate :P (Who the fuck IS Alice?)

[@CAZinAustralia]

And why is alice only in the UK. Searched for AUS ebay and bunch of different sellers. Never came across allice before. do they use different names for different regions for the same warehouse.

[@Madmax23419]

Alice is his favorite ebay seller, all regular watchers knows that. :D

[@MrOpenGL]

Also despite having 100% positive feedback on my account, I can't buy from her (this seller has disallowed certain users message). WTF?

[@donjindra]

I stopped buying from Alice except for their few "free shipping" items. Their shipping charges became outrageous.

[@nor4277]

I did you one better I bought the 60 and the 38 l.e.d light bulb kits with no l.e.d.,s and I found these bulbs at ali expenses for much less and the l.e.d.,s included for just over a dollar.,,and I found out the l.e.d.,s that are made for the bulbs aren't your standard l.e.d.,s they look different,there a yellow piece you can see at,the top of the l.e.d.,s, where regular ones ,don't look like that,they may work,but not the same

[@kyoudaiken]

I still don't understand why low tech like this project box is so outrageous expensive... It's just cheap plastic...

[@JulianIlett]

Probably the postage cost - it's quite big.

[@kyoudaiken]

Julian Ilett That could be but I always thought china does not pay for postage because they squeeze the orders from eBay somewhere between the giant exporting container on ships to europe. :D

[@ElmerFuddGun]

It looks similar to a couple I have and the quality isn't too bad. You can find similar at your local home improvement store. Shipping costs are likely part of it from China because of the size. Note that the seal that is pushed in does NOT need to "bulk" out as the base actually pushes into that groove mid way to form a good seal.

[@toysareforboys1]

Don't ever use any batteries with fire in their name. Please get some real batteries.

[@cypeman8037]

Transparent not translucent. 🤣

[@djtechsane]

Alice? Alice who the fuck is Alice ;)