Mailbag Monday 185

Time to open the mail.
And even more unexpected things that has been sent by anonymous donors, in addition to some stuff I found late at night while wandering around Ebay unsupervised.
--Links--
Tire Valve Stem Cap (search link)
pileofstuff.ca...
Touch Sensor Module DIY River Table River Light LED Driver Module 5V/2A
pileofstuff.ca...
mystery motorcycle thing
????
3 in 1 Universal USB Charging Cable Multi-Function Cell Phone Charger Cord Lin *not recommended*
pileofstuff.ca...
usb night light (search link)
pileofstuff.ca...
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#ElectronicsCreators
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This isn't the only way to do it.
It's probably not the best way to do it.
But it's how I did it.

[@cmyk_fpv]

The mystery motorcycle accessory @7:14 looks to be a set of Aluminum Swingarm Spools for use with a rear stand. Thanks for all the great videos!

[@pileofstuff]

That looks like the most correct answer. Thank you.

[@HazeAnderson]

Your red green blindness just got me! 😆My grandfather had that -- he was always nervous about being the first to queue up at a traffic light! 🚥

[@pileofstuff]

Traffic lights I can manage. Green is normally on the bottom and is generally the brightest of the 3.

[@R.Daneel]

Is anyone else now thinking, "wait... isn't RED is the brightest"?

[@pileofstuff]

@@R.Daneel Maybe to *your* eyes...

[@FishingFrustrationsUK]

them green things bolt on to swing arm and you use a lifter to hook under them to lift rear of bike on a stand

[@michaeltempsch5282]

Valve caps - yes different colors - 2 red and 2 green. I'd guess for tagging the tires for left and right sides, per navigation light colours.

[@pileofstuff]

navigation aids... I like it.

[@POVwithRC]

Mm, some tires are directional. Good point on making sure they end up on the side they need to end up on

[@rodtoddconsulting6319]

Already looking forward to next monday!

[@Multi-Skill-Bill]

I like the potentiometer idea for valve caps. I gave been thinking about hot gluing them on for the same idea. Great vid!

[@GadgetReboot]

I saw one river table LED project where they looped the touch wire in a circle and could detect touch within a zone, but I haven't found a schematic of the module yet. I wonder if someone is slowly drop shipping you a complete motorcycle kit...

[@FishingFrustrationsUK]

i use shrink tube for making things fit pots

[@pileofstuff]

Good idea.

[@leighbucksey5263]

The aluminium bobbins mount on the side of the rear swing arm to be able to use a Race style stand.

[@pileofstuff]

That looks like the right answer. Thanks. No wonder I didn't recognize them - my bikes were always cruisers, not racers.

[@loveminis31]

If fit is tight enough you could turn tire stem caps into knobs by drilling and taping a hole and using small screw.

[@anenglishmaninbrazil3212]

They are cotton reels for the use of a rear stand

[@w.rustylane5650]

I love English ale and dark beer. Shock Top is a light Belgian ale and Jimmy Buffett's lager, Land Shark beer is quite good also. It's very light. I purchased a flasher unit from fleaBay to use with my crossing bucks to alternate the 2 3mm red LED's I installed in them. I've got 2 more to do and am wondering how to start them flashing when the train approaches the intersection and turn off when the last car passes the intersection. Maybe use some type of photo cell or something like that. I use a lot of 12 volt strip lighting that comes on the reel for interior illumination of my coaches; however, I ordered bright white the first go round and they were just too white for my liking. So....I took the coaches apart and painted each LED with yellow acrylic paint and that did the trick. They are soft white (kinda yellowish) now and look more period correct for the era I model. Cheers from eastern TN

[@pileofstuff]

There are several methods of train detection. I prefer to use reflective mode infrared detectors between the ties/sleepers. As shown near the end of this old video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nYaqpZ1tqryNhbM

[@pault6533]

Red USB cable just in time for ♥ day gifting! Many times these cables only do data on one of the terminals, like USBC. If you get one that does data on all cables consider yourself blessed. Is the wire magnetic? Sometimes they use copper plated steel which might explain the high resistance.

[@markfergerson2145]

Those USB cables are clearly marked “DATA”. Big Clive recently posted a video in which he shared that he had found that magnets stuck to some cheap USB cables. Under typical Big Clive “closer inspection” the wires turned out to be steel with copper flashing. This is a new low, surpassing the aluminum wires he had found in other cables. So, take a magnet to those cables. That’s probably why they have so much voltage drop. If it doesn’t stick they may be aluminum.

[@GnuReligion]

Yup yup, DATA cables, not PD cables. If one does not want to burden a PC with current loads while transferring pics and such from an arbitrary phone, camera or tablet, these will be quite useful.

[@j.f.christ8421]

Steel cables seems to be an old low we've only just noticed. Found a cable that must be 10 years old that is steel.

[@pileofstuff]

The e-bay sale page had them clearly marked as "3 in 1 Fast USB Charging Cable". Not that I expect e-bay listings to be completely accurate... I bought them because they were cheap and I wanted to test them.

[@ekenpad8482]

Those 3 wire split USB A->[Micro, C, Lightning] are dangerous. Not speaking of voltage drop due to thin wires, but rather the fact that if you plug any non-5V device into one of the plugs and it negotiates for higher than 5V, then any device you plug into the other cables will be provided the same voltage, likely destroying it if it only was a 5V standard USB device.

[@frankowalker4662]

The touch module is odd. Shame about the USB cables. You could make a PSU and use the tire caps on the binding posts ? (lol)

[@pileofstuff]

I don't know If I'm super comfortable with electrically conductive knobs on binding posts.

[@frankowalker4662]

@@pileofstuff You don't worry about a little thing like that. Ha ha.

[@RoStepMusic]

Without your mailbag videos i'm afraid I would buy the whole chinese market 😂

[@pileofstuff]

I had the same concerns when I started as well. But I haven't been burned very often. About the same amount as I have with Amazon sending untested returns or counterfeit things.

[@Bob_Burton]

The 5 pin LED connector has pins labelled R, G and B My guess would be that it can drive an RGB LED strip

[@frankowalker4662]

But there are unpopulated pads for driver transistors. So I don't think they are connected, unfortunately.

[@pileofstuff]

That was the conclusion I came to as well.

[@rickoneill4343]

What unique ways do you use to determine wire colour and other electronics? Love your channel!

[@pileofstuff]

When I'm expecting something to be differentiated by colour, I use one of several apps on my phone. If it's wiring, I will normally try to meter them out to be certain.

[@rickoneill4343]

@pileofstuff that's a great trade tip. Thank you!

[@tinygriffy]

I kind of like the apple connectors.. I don't use apple, but I have the feeling they are sturdier and easier to clean.. compared to usb-c

[@nomo69ss25]

I respect a man with priorities! The fridge inventory! 🫡🤣✌️

[@EnriqueLUrcia]

Hello I do have a question... I have been trying to find it I your videos but had no success. Tis little white power supply you always use, there is a video about it? how it works and how you build it? I found a video where you make a box for the bigger one... but for this small you used in this video. I would really appreciate. thank you :) really enjoy your videos.

[@pileofstuff]

It was a really early video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6fZaJeppLuCb9E

[@EnriqueLUrcia]

Thank you so much! @@pileofstuff

[@Qwerty.Asdfgh-Diode]

One LED and circuit board is missing a chunk so some electrons got away there

[@cashgarman]

At a glance, my guess for the cool looking anodized things could be adjuster knobs for the front shock absorbers for a motorcycle? Could be totally wrong though :S

[@pileofstuff]

Maybe.

[@samjones1954]

AC valve caps green for low press and red for high press

[@Multi-Skill-Bill]

Those would be different sizes 😉

[@pileofstuff]

lol

[@pvisit]

3 in 1 Universal USB Charging Cable : Have 2 of them from BaseUS. They work very well and in the end this type of cable is for charging only so I use them in my bedroom for charging during the night.

[@pileofstuff]

I hope yours are better quality than the ones I got.

[@bwselectronic]

2 each red and green. I just remembered, I think you said you're color blind

[@pileofstuff]

I wasn't expecting 2 different colours to be in the same package, so I didn't even check with my app.

[@fredflintstone1]

Monday again Yea!!!!!

[@magnusE7]

There are apps for your phone so you can know the colors.

[@pileofstuff]

I have several of them. They're not perfect, but they do help in several situations. IN this case, I wasn't expecting 2 different colours in the same package, so I didn't bother to pull up the app.

[@singlesteve2011]

the green and black nboobs for car bumppers

[@Taliesen.]

Gotta wonder if those random motorcycle parts are a brushing scam. Your address was just handy for them to use. Or it may be just a way to get exposure on KZbin.

[@pileofstuff]

Pretty crappy way to get exposure if I can't tell what they actually are.

[@Taliesen.]

@@pileofstuff Maybe so, but their logos all were quite clear if I remember right. A form of product placement. Branding that you keep seeing helps with sales. Hard to understand why else somebody would send you parts that you'd have no use for. Gotta be something in it for them.

[@onecircuit-as]

Eclectic electric! 👍😀

[@btasler]

So does the fact that it took two full minutes to figure out that they were different colors mean you are colorblind or you just had too many of those beers?

[@pileofstuff]

Very much colourblind. If I'm expecting something to be differentiated by colour, I'll open up an app to check, but in this case it surprised me.

[@btasler]

@@pileofstuff I was just being cheeky. Must suck when you can't tell if a resistor is 1 meg or 10.

[@pileofstuff]

@@btasler That's what meters are for.

[@SidneyCritic]

Apple were complaining to the EU when they banned their connector that it would stifle innovation, that connector is USB2 - lol -. iPhone repairs hate it in data recovery because it's so slow.

[@AB-zw5xx]

Love your videos, but I'm curious why you're so bewildered by what the items you bought are supposed to do. Don't you know what you bought and why? It wastes a lot of time to watch you trying to figure out what it is you've bought.

[@Multi-Skill-Bill]

That's part of the fun! I buy a ton of stuff from overseas. It take so long for some of it to get here (months) it is easy to forget what and why you got it when you have so many ideas and projects. Currently I have a drawer full of envelopes to open with no idea what's in most of them.

[@pileofstuff]

In a lot of cases, the things I bought were ordered 2-3 months before I do the video. And since then I've looked at a lot of other things. And, of course, the things people gift to me are complete mysteries, so part of my fun is figuring them out. Plus, I'm getting old and my memory ain't want i it used to be...

[@matambale]

@@Multi-Skill-Bill Sounds like it might be time for you to post a mailbag video, Bill!

[@Multi-Skill-Bill]

@@matambale sooner or later. Still trying to set up my hobby bench. But it is in the works. :D

[@hybrid511]

@@Multi-Skill-Bill It'll always be in the works!