New PCBs: Visual Current Limiter - from JLCPCB

New User Get $30 User Coupons jlcpcb.com/CYT
Other Users Get SMT Coupons via Contacting JLCPCB Facebook
See how much current is coming from the solar panel.
Subscribed to my 2nd channel? Watch all my 3 minute videos on Julian's Shorts: / @juliansshorts
Interested in my new garden workshop? Follow the entire build on Julian's Shednanigans:
/ @juliansshednanigans
Join me on Odysee/LBRY: lbry.tv/$/invi...
Octopus Energy referral link: share.octopus.energy/aqua-birch-918
(We each get £50)
#ElectronicsCreators

[@johnnodge4327]

I have soldered H7 car lamps. The surface needs to be abraded first, with wet n dry, and use plenty of flux, preferably of the acid type.

[@EsotericArctos]

This is a quite interesting solution. The heat from the bulbs shouldn't be too much if the bulbs are not lit at full intensity. It may have been better to put a H7 socket on the board rather than soldering the bulbs directly to the board. Easier to replace board or bulbs if one fails. Push fit is not a good idea when heat is involved. You will likely get arcing If you want to solder to the H7's, you may need to sand the coating off the contact to and apply a fair bit of heat to get the solder to take

[@rimmersbryggeri]

Why solder the wires when spade terminals fit?

[@Stoneman06660]

You need a brute force iron, mate! Always handy to have something that looks like it's got a large screwdriver sticking out of the end of it.

[@brianharper9798]

Whatever happened to the vocoder? And was the mini moog panel at the end of the last vocoder video for you. Just been rewatching some of the old vids....

[@lucasc5622]

the vocoder project was so interesting! very few of julians videos capture my attention for long now

[@binky_bun]

Those banana plugs appear to be still made in the UK. Deltron still exist and seem to be based in Scunthorpe. Would be nice to see a strange parts style factory tour if if's anything more than an office

[@piconano]

pfff... hell with efficiency. Glory to doing shit cuz it feels good.

[@Trent-tr2nx]

There was a recent Hackaday article about a trick someone discovered for soldering aluminum components: rough them up with a scouring pad and mineral oil and then solder them. The mineral oil blocks the aluminum from forming an oxide layer in the time it takes to form the solder joint.

[@ottoodell_dell]

How about using 2 PCB s in parallel , with a kapton or some other heat resiten spacer between them ( if needed ) + soldering the terminal points accordingly..equals deviding the dissipation à little..

[@RottnRobbie]

Re: Having to make your own H7 PCB footprint... So did you share it somewhere to save the next guy the same frustration and effort?

[@David_11111]

yay .. not sure I love it or hate it... but a nice thought :) thinking out side the box is Brilliant :)

[@2Sorts]

Those lamps are never going to be at full brightness so heat shouldn’t be an issue.

[@NiHaoMike64]

How about add a relay to bypass the bulbs when the miner is running?

[@FireballXL55]

Lamps were at one time commonly used as a crude constant current device.

[@Godzilla941]

I have some Deltron 4mm (banana) plugs I ordered from Mouser in the US several years ago and the red ones (579-0500) have a CoO code of IN and the black ones (579-0100) have a CoO code of GB, although sometimes the outer bag is wrong. So India? Great Britain? Who knows. But they will take VERY large wire and the insulator shell screws on from the front...you don't have to remember to put it over the wire first. I love these things. :) For a more solid connection you could try some PCB-mount .250 'faston' sockets (which WILL take solder) and plug the bulbs into those...

[@jaro6985]

Farnell says GB for 579-0500, maybe they've recently started outsourcing.

[@SJs-h5s]

get your self 100 watt solder iron trust me life would be easier

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

I never seem to have a problem soldering to a groundplane but trying to unsolder is a very different problem.

[@fredflintstone1]

Meow:-)

[@alexstone691]

Im suprised you didn't user spade terminals

[@romancharak3675]

Very neat idea, Julian.

[@siebenhens]

With regards to the non-wetting surface - are they copper or aluminum tabs? An aluminum-compatible flux might be helpful to bite into whatever's there. Else, as other comments mention, abrading and cleaning the parts will help.

[@hi-tech-guy-1823]

You may need A "Wood" Nail file or Sand paper to Remove Any coating from the Lamp terminals And Dip them into a Flow Solder bath Running on a Hob Cooker (or bigger 800W Mains soldering iron) The coating must be a Anti Rusting Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) That is not soldering compatible

[@ChrisFredriksson]

Awesome Julian! Never thought of connecting those kind of lamps to a PCB.. love your ideas, always fun to watch 😃

[@ChrisFredriksson]

Really cool, after seeing the whole video, it reminds me - not directly, but sort of - like old radio tubes.. a bit brighter of course, but still 😂😃 Hope that you'll update in a month or so, if you had any damage to the boards, but doesn't seem very likely due to the low temps. Cool!

[@fredflintstone1]

A nice idea the lights, I didn't know it was Christmas are they for the Jubilee though?? :-)

[@electrojessy4270]

Lol i was thinking yesterday i need to build and try a load tester whit 55w h7 bolbs

[@Evgen-Evgen-Evgen]

How long does it take to payback for solar system?

[@websitesthatneedanem]

Why is that not wasting charge current Julian?

[@zaprodk]

They are wasting a lot of power, ofc :)

[@deslomeslager]

I tested it out. To have 2 Amps trough 1 bulb I had to go up to 3.6 Volt. It did look brighter than on his video, but suppose they are the same. 8 Amps times 3.6 Volt makes almost 29 Watt. I would definitely not want to waste that much power, but Julian has a way of throwing power away. Just because it is 'free' energy. And mark my words: electricity IS going to get more expensive after the summer. I told you first!

[@muh1h1]

@@deslomeslager This is not a Power production facility but just a small unit to mess around and experiment. Jilian obviously playing electron god, moving them around charging and discharging different batteries, capacitors and such from different sources. If seing his lamps glow when the sun comes out brings him happiness i totally get that and it is worth it. Saying it is inefficient is a bit like complaining that your campfire is a waste of wood because there are far more efficient ways to toast a marshmallow. The point is not to achieve a toasted marshmallow but to enjoy the fire, the flames, the smoke, the crackeling sound and the nice shadows it generates around the firepit.

[@JulianIlett]

@deslomeslager My calculation is similar - about 10% is lost in the bulbs in full sun (much less when the sun is behind clouds or off-axis). But all energy systems are lossy. Vehicles only use around 25% of the energy in liquid fuel to turn the wheels - the rest is lost in heat. Generating, converting, moving and storing energy are all lossy. Any circuit that uses resistors is converting electrical energy to heat.

[@deslomeslager]

@@JulianIlett Exactly, that!

[@andymouse]

Neat...cheers.

[@putteslaintxtbks5166]

If you get a bit of heat problem, could get a bar of alumium and drill out four holes the diameter of the metal right below the glass of the bulbs and drop on. Would also act as a reflecter too.

[@BeetleJuice1980]

Unbelievable! Last week I was working on the same project cause I was tired connecting wires to these bulbs. Why not breaking the board to 10cm max to keep the cost low? Any idea what are the measurements of these bulbs for a spade female connector?

[@frankowalker4662]

Great design and a lot neater than the old version. Brilliant.

[@RottnRobbie]

How did you decide on 4 bulbs in parallel, and why H7 bulbs instead of something less expensive?

[@flagpoleeip]

maybe the lack of heat on the spade terminals is because it's all being dissipated into copper plane of the pcb 😄

[@desertdave]

Hi Julian, where can we download the PCB design files for this and your other fantastic project PCB's ?, Thanks, Dave from BasicMicroUK

[@DumahBrazorf]

Wouldn't be safer to leave a bit more space around the contacts in the opposite plane?