Road construction warning light (curiosity teardown)

[@shagreobe]

I always wanted to appropriate one when I was a kid, just to tear it apart, plus, it would be cool in my room

[@frankowalker4662]

Very similar aproach to the one Clive has. Cool.

[@petertryndoch8857]

We had similar ones to this in Australia, but I don't see them anymore. Now its just reflective cones and big LED signs flashing warnings if required. The early ones had the 2 transistor flip flops but on a copper tracked pcb and the CDS cell was in the stalk. Later ones just had a blob chip and CDS cell all epoxied in together.

[@onecircuit-as]

Sometimes at my university college in the early 80s many of these lights would gather in someone’s room to provide a disco effect for a party. Fond memories! 💃🏼🪩🕺

[@AnotherMaker]

That thing is pretty cool. It's nice to see simple tech that just works and lasts for years.

[@fuzzybobbles]

These things used to follow me home all the time. A few of them lived in my cupboard.

[@snakezdewiggle6084]

@fuzzybobbles I know, right. I alledgedly, borrowed a couple, well, a few, ok so it was about 11 or 12, allegedly. I may, or may not, have needed them to run my CB radio.

[@TheRainHarvester]

They flashed "guilty guilty" all theway home!😅

[@markfergerson2145]

Way back in the early 1970s I bought a much earlier version at a second hand store. It contained nothing but a switch and a weird bimetallic switch thingy which were both in series with the lamp. When turned on, the lamp lit until the bimetal strip warmed up and opened its contacts. When it cooled it closed them turning the lamp back on. This was in Phoenix Arizona so I figured they quit using them there since ambient temperatures were so high which would affect the switch rate if not force them to stay off.

[@johndii2194]

Had one from the early 70s. The case was metal. It went click click. No fancy transistors or light sensor.

[@AD-hr4is]

I had one on the roof of my plow truck in the 80's. It had a photo cell for automatic turn on at night. Never used that feature becaused it was used in the daytime mainly. I hook it to the cigarette lighter socket. It worked flawlessly.

[@matambale]

You missed the opportunity to say, "One Moment Please" :^) enjoyed this teardown more than you might think. Or, exactly as you might think. Great nostalgia.

[@pileofstuff]

It was hard to avoid the temptation to do that.

[@Multi-Skill-Bill]

And there it is! The lollipop warning light! Nice.

[@snakezdewiggle6084]

I thought it was Lollypop. But according to 'predicted text', its "Lolly Pollution"....

[@Multi-Skill-Bill]

@@snakezdewiggle6084 LMAO

[@lezbriddon]

I remember 'dorman-smith "traffiLamps" 70's yorkshire uk area, very very similar construction

[@g0hjq]

At 2:23 you show the 1895 package, with a rating of 14v (presumably for a 13.8v vehicle system). It's going to be really inefficent at 6 volts, although of course it will last much much longer. Funilly enough, when I was in my late teens, I woke up with one almost exactly the same after a night in the pub!

[@pileofstuff]

inefficient, sure, but will also last forever. Which is, no doubt, the design intent. I doubt these things get a lot of maintenance. They live a hard life. (I found this one melting out of a pile of snow one spring many decades ago)

[@jordanwaeles]

There is a charm to these tungsten road works lights. "Found" a lot in my childhood, took all of them apart. Mine had a one-transistor flasher circuit, i wish i still had one to reverse engineer it, it's built to be the absolute lowest price possible, probably because stupid kids keep "finding" them.

[@jerril42]

Thanks for the teardown. These hazard lights always bored me. I was fascinated by the kerosene road flares that preceded these. Those ones always reminded me of the bomb in Mad magazine's "Spy VS Spy" comic; and stirred my imagination. Take care.

[@Ernzt8]

In ancient times, when I was still a juvenile terrorist I threw one of these in the water. After a few weeks it was still blinking. Very water tight

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

Used to have a few of them flashing in my bedroom. Did we all do strange things as kids😂😅

[@erikburman530]

Don't know why I regularly watch your videos. I don't even like Canadians. But here I am.

[@pileofstuff]

It's probably just the beer.

[@biggrey54]

bit off topic do you have a video on your power supply that you use many thanks great channel

[@pileofstuff]

This video is probably what you're looking for: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6fZaJeppLuCb9E there is a link to the module I used in the description of that video

[@biggrey54]

@@pileofstuff thank you keep up the great work

[@jyvben1520]

was that a recent light bulb package or just a picture, still made after 35 years, wow

[@pileofstuff]

It is/was a very common automotive bulb for decades.

[@dhultgren1]

Wouldn't it be possible to put one of those direct replacement automotive LED bulbs into this?

[@pileofstuff]

I'm not sure. It would need to provide a low resistance path for the capacitor to charge through. Maybe if there was a diode added in inverse-parallel with the replacement LED.

[@Elnufo]

one has not lived if he didnt "borrow" such a light as a kid 😊

[@snakezdewiggle6084]

Ah yes, many a stoty to be sure...

[@geekrulz1]

looks like an astable multivibrator ish i guess?

[@pileofstuff]

Approximately, yes.