Safe eBay fairy lights? (with schematic)

Given eBay's shocking reputation for facilitating the import and sale of extremely dangerous goods, it's a pleasant surprise to find an import that seems to be compliant with safety standards.
Note that due to the unregulated nature of eBay there is no guarantee that an identical looking listing would supply the same product.
The fact this unit has memory for the last setting means it might be a useful replacement for existing favourite strings of lights that also use the two wire 31V system.
Quite a tricky one to reverse engineer due to the use of an unusual switcher chip configuration on the primary side. The secondary side is very minimalist due to the use of an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) that deals with all the lighting sequences, driving the LEDs with an integrated H-bridge and also storing the current selection to non volatile memory.
This unit puts out around 30V of alternating polarity. The LED string is wired as ten parallel circuits of thirty LEDs , all wired in a series string to give a combined voltage of about 30V.
Alternate LEDs in each parallel section are wired with opposite polarity to allow simple 2-channel flashing sequences. Static mode is actually rapid switching between the two channels.
I swapped out the sense resistor to see how it affected the power.
2.67 ohms (original) total unit power 4.5W (113mA LED current)
3.3 ohms total unit power 3.8W (100mA LED current)
3.9 ohms total unit power 3.6W (96mA LED current)
4.7 ohms total unit power 3.1W (73mA LED current)
5.1 ohms total unit power 2.2W but unstable with notable intermittent shimmer.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:- www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of KZbin's algorithm quirks, allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
#ElectronicsCreators

[@SiaVids]

A friend of a friend went to China and while there asked why Chinese goods are so sketchy, the Chinese person replied that it is because people only like to buy the cheapest items and not the better quality items.

[@blackcountryme]

Im sure we're all guilty of "Filter by cheapest"

[@Sashazur]

I worked for an American consumer electronics company that had stuff manufactured for them in Asia. The Chinese could build something high-quality if you were willing to pay for it, but most companies and consumers weren’t.

[@Pugwash.]

I think the only difference between an expensive item and a cheap one is that the expensive ones went through quality control.

[@NinoJoel]

Chinese factorys are the very top end of the scale when it comes to quality and skilled production but that is overlooked by the crazy amounts of junk we I'm the West aks them to build

[@Ivorbiggin]

Any chance of link to enable us buy one Clive. ?

[@Texas1FlyBoy]

I love the reverse engineering. I'm a self-taught electronics hobbyist and I learn something new every time I watch your videos. Thanks!

[@jasonkmec1589]

Wow, my entire bag of tricks was completely ineffective on the two mystery ICs. In that case, all I can say is congrats on the 1M subs!

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yeah. I spent a lot of time trying to find the chip or the one it's based on. Even image searches with functionality descriptions and packaging turned up nothing.

[@hullinstruments]

Sometimes identifying a chip is the difference between a successful repair job or an unmitigated failure. More and more of these obscure chip manufacturers and resellers are starting to use parts codes similar to companies like whirlpool and other appliance companies. Where the part number is either jumbled up or disguised.. And a lot of the modern manufactured stuff just has a QR code. And the links which that code take you are regularly changing so that the part numbers are constantly fluid. So that they are much harder to buy and sell on the second hand market. Even some of the simplest circuit boards and appliances made in the past few years..... Can have nearly two dozen very long and complex numbers etched into the boards. Jumbled up with tons of QR codes, and meaningless crap. You can buy two expensive Samsung refrigerators that were literally made on the same line one after another..... On the same day..... Only minutes apart. BUT THE PARTS AND BOARDS HAVE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AND UNIQUE NUMBERS. SHARING ABSOLUTELY NONE OF THE SAME MARKINGS!!! Making it nearly impossible for customers to quickly or easily identify them and find replacements. It's insane. It's nefarious and stupid. All types of crazy methods. Half of which I haven't even figured out yet. It goes way past internal labeling systems for use in manufacturer ect..... I understand it's common for boards and parts to have numbers and labels used by the factory and repair texts and stuff like that. But this stuff is totally arbitrary and fluid. And no matter who you call unless you're ready to buy a part directly from them...... For nearly the cost of the unit...... They made it really hard for resellers or oem's to organize and offer parts online. Sorry back to my point. But most times if you can't find a chip on google..... The part number you need is probably on the chip markings somewhere. Sometimes they'll add a few random or meaningless characters at the beginning or at the end of the part number. And I a lot of cases with the more obscure ones..... The actual part number to identify and locate replacement chips is on the bottom. Needing to be desoldered to identify. For example.... The chip might be part of a series of similar... Where the series type and some type of random date code or manufacturing code is etched on top. And the specific type of chip in that series is etched in a number on the bottom. Are the chip series type will be marked on the top..... But the exact ship from that series has to be deduced by measuring resistance of one of the legs or something weird like that. Here's a weird example I Ran into a few weeks ago.... The identification number had the information I needed..... But they had made it hard to identify by taking the date code and the actual part number and jumbling them up. Putting one after the other. I want you to realize it..... You can just look at the chips and easily read off the number. But it was baffling for a while. For example.... A 555 chip made in 2023 would have a number like this....52505-23. where the date code and part number are alternated one after the other. That's not exactly the situation I ran into but kind of gives you the gist of it. It's getting more common because of the way the markets change more and more rapidly at an exponential rate. Not just parts resellers, remarking used chips and making them look new, selling rejects or out of spec chips as new,..... All that stuff that's been going on forever. But now you've got people who will identify a chip that is needed or will be needed and is commonly used in a lot of things that will need repair in the next 5 years...... or a chip that fails in a certain laptop, or refrigerator, or washing machine, or whatever...... A chip that isn't made anymore. Or that is being passed out....And they will buy tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of them and buy all of them off of the market completely. And then pedal them one at a time on eBay and elsewhere. Also guys buy good genuine chips from digikey, but resurface and laser mark them as a more expensive chips. But that performs similarly enough that they can probably pass them off without problem most times. That some of the stuff I've seen in the past five or so years...... Along with other weird reasons things are getting harder to identify. The market changes so quickly these days and it's getting faster. What a huge pain in the ass. And the only explanation for some of the big companies to be doing this is to hide nefariously sourced or dubious parts. Or in the case of whirlpool and a lot of modern manufacturers..... So that you have no choice but to go through them. And overpay for parts. As they are constantly changing the part numbers and links to which the QR codes on the parts labels will take you when scanned.

[@davelowets]

A datasheet would NOT be a hard thing to provide with the parts, EVEN if it is a custom part, but no, they don't want you or anyone else to be able to work on the thing or copy the chip, even though they're guilty of copying someone else's hard work thousands of times... 😒

[@chuckthetekkie]

It's nice to see an item that won't potentially set your house on fire or kill you.

[@TopEndSpoonie]

The disappointment in your voice ... A reasonably safe product from eBay. Another fine job done, with, undoubtably, a lot of off camera time in the reverse engineering. Thanks Clive.

[@NivagSwerdna]

Any set of Christmas lights that remember their setting gets massive respect from me! Go 24C02!

[@Y2G]

I do not understand why they are not implemented a lot of the time considering how much they are

[@Lumibear.]

@@Y2G I think this is why most people buy the cheap eBay/amazon direct from china potential death traps, because the shop bought expensive variety are functionally identical, they really haven’t moved on in what, 30 years!? 2 channels, 8 settings, all annoying except the last one, which it forgets every time you turn it back on, oh and it won’t work in a couple of years time, that’ll be £20-30 again please. I’m super impressed that these ones bring something new to the mix for a fair price, AND safety compliant too, my my, wonders will never cease.

[@Y2G]

@@Lumibear. Yeah that's a fair point and I have seen it for years while working for Maplin! I wouldn't mind buying a separate transformer with the inbuilt memory as I have to crouch down and change the setting to keep the lights on which as you say is the last bloody one!

[@HerrNilssonOmJagFarBe]

The 0-Ohm resistor is not between the two capacitors. It connects the PROM supply pin to the 3.3V rail. Presumably, the resistor was added to bridge VDD over the GND wire on its way to the PROM. (Though I think that some rearranging of components would allow the connections to be routed without this bridge.) Btw: Dual caps probably aren't necessary here. C9 is likely intended as a decoupling cap for the PROM, but it will do a really lousy job here since it's on the wrong side of the 0-Ohm resistor. C10 will provide just as good decoupling for the PROM as C9. Sloppy designers often add caps due to recommendations in data sheets even if they're not needed.

[@johndododoe1411]

Excess decoupling is because better safe than sorry . It's not sloppy .

[@chatrkat]

Perfect! A new video from Big Clive. In spite of the glue used here, nothing stops us from seeing the inside circuitry. Thanks Clive.

[@amorphuc]

Very cool and thank you Big Clive. Sometimes it's nice when you get stuff that's compliant and decent so as to offer a contrast to the spicy dangerous stuff.

[@Threegress]

Congrats on 1 Million! I wasn't paying attention to when it happened but it's well deserved

[@thepagan5432]

Some Chinese manufacturers have recognised the value of at least attempting to comply with UK/US/EU standards. However, some Western companies want cheap quality to boost their profits, so the Chinese give them what they want. Obviously there are still the shady companies that have been around for 70+ years. Must say that these lights are really a step in the right direction. Thank you Clive for this positive review. Take care 👍

[@d614gakadoug9]

Unless goods meet safety agency and other regulations they are illegal to sell from within many countries, so they are of no interest to brick and mortar retailers for domestic sales. There is plenty of good stuff from China but I do not believe any safety agency approval markings unless I buy the goods from a reputable retailer.

[@PainterVierax]

I don't think it's Western companies wanting cheap quality, as those sketchy designs are mainly available from direct purchase from PRC. The problem lies at the source and when a Western company orders to a chinese factory, they specify they want a CE/FCC compliant product to import, not the basic hazardous junk that even lacks the mandatory manual.

[@matthewgriffin4761]

Thank you Clive for another fantastic educational video. Keep up the good work.

[@vincei4252]

Oh, I didn't notice! Congrats on 1M subs!!! Well deserved.

[@Slikx666]

I've just looked outside and the world looks the same as yesterday, even the weather is the same. So I can think that hearing Clive say that it wasn't crap is real. 😳👍

[@wisher21uk]

Nice set looks very well made thanks Clive😊

[@mrwoodandmrtin]

AAAAANNND...If you carefully cut along the edge with a small hacksaw to open it, you can reglue it and use it at a later date. Plus you get a good case for other projects. It's also quicker if you hold it in a vice to do it. You can get some very small thin hacksaw blades, and work around the faces almost holding the blade flat. works for me.

[@RODALCO2007]

Good to see the improvement in the design of the power supply. I put my X-mas lights up yesterday, and some of these supplies failed, I had some of the original 24 Vac transformers, to which I added a bridge rectifier, series R and Capacitor to drive the 31 Vdc lights.

[@davelowets]

It's surprising to see the C-L-C filter on the mains input on such an inexpensive product. Way to go!

[@CTCTraining1]

I love a company name with “Bang!” in it. Thx for covering better quality stuff. Happy and safe Christmas 😀👍

[@d614gakadoug9]

How about all the lithium cells with "fire" in their name?

[@juza64]

You sound so much like Snake Jailbird. I love it!

[@greendragonmakerspace]

I got 2 sets of these from a charity shop for 4 quid (new). The lady said they had been donated as old stock by a company. The LEDs are different but the power supply is the same. I ended up dremelling the end off one power supply as it was noisy on the brightest setting. I've schmood it up around the transformer but it's still noisy. I was impressed by the circuitry!

[@GeorgeStyles]

Am I nerdy to admit that this warmed my heart in the same way as a news story about a dog rescuing a child, or a tradesperson giving free lifetime service for people nearing the end of their life. Yes, yes I am.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Great video, Clive...👍

[@holsen78]

Getting the thumbs up from Clive regarding quality, might be even better than living up to the UK code 🙂

[@christophergummer]

I was putting a set up the other day, they were dimly lit whilst on the reel I was spooling them off without being connected to a power source. Thought it might be an interesting phenomenon you might be interested in Clive. Great videos by the way. Been a subscriber for years.

[@tncorgi92]

Probably indicative of 5G death beams nearby.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Did they only glow while being spooled? LEDs are so sensitive that they might have been glowing from an electrostatic effect.

[@tactileslut]

Perhaps their phosphors were responding to blue or UV light from elsewhere? If the effect persisted it's another option.

[@JohnnyMotel99]

I bought some lights that have insulated three wires and the leds are like encapsulated beads. Very impressive, six colours and Bluetooth app on the phone.

[@khaitomretro]

All the ones ive had with that style of power supply have been pretty good.

[@dcallan812]

Very interesting power supply the big cut out area looks very good. Also a nice big gap between the high and low voltage sides too. I bought some fairy lights from ebay that looked really bad, BUT they were fine 🤷‍♂ Just nothing shocking at all. Interesting 2x👍

[@d.t.4523]

Thank you. Keep working, good luck to you.

[@Imakeelectronicchaos]

Nice lights and it’s good there are some safe ones!

[@bairdvermey1117]

to open units like this I use large multi grips to flex the seam in the case, joints cracks the glue or weld with little damage.

[@cambridgemart2075]

The power supply is very similar to the ones I have for non-flashing LED lights; they have similar unidentifiable chips. I have had one fail due to a lost neutral (we receive a 3ph supply here), it shorted out something on the primary side and smoked the fusible resistor.

[@HeIsTheHighlander]

I'm from Russia, and we have a tree with same fairy lights as in this video. Me and my GF were laugh when hear about "Russian person". Thanks for another good video, Clive.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Whenever I try to find a mystery chip I always find that a Russian has been hunting for it before me. I get the feeling that Russia is full of really technical people.

[@hullinstruments]

With glued or ultrasonically welded plastic... I found the quickest solution is to score deep grooves near the seam. Not trying to cut deep into the plastic.... Because that's harder and usually unsuccessful. but by scraping little shavings which creates a groove. Just takes a few quick passes. use a tip of one pointy razor blade turned backwards and scrape the joint over and over for a few seconds. Also easy with those strange hook-shaped blades meant for scoring linoleum and hard plastic flooring. Holding a hacksaw blade in hand and using the tip of it to score a line also works well. Takes 30 seconds maybe a bit more to score deep grooves around all sides of the enclosure, stick a little flathead or pry tool in the crack...... And pop it goes. Quick clean and easy. With a clean joint that can be sealed together with silicone or other adhesive if needed. And will be virtually invisible and water tight. I know most times you're doing a tearsown and wouldn't need those methods. But if you're ever repairing something important and need it to go back together like new...... It comes in handy.

[@hrnekbezucha]

Congratulations for 1M subs

[@water_alias]

Clive, please compare the inteference of that power supply especially on medium or long wave, when the lights are completely stretched out with the coiled up wires. The long wires act as an antenna. At least I have seen this many times.

[@threeMetreJim]

I managed to get some OLLNY brand lights cheap during the summer. They have similar, but less integrated circuitry (more conventional power supply and a discrete transistor H bridge output plus an IR remote receiver), the power supply also features the large gap and the multi insulated transformer secondary winding. The supply and controller is in a plug adaptor (wall wart) shape though. Shame that the price goes sky high once Christmas comes around.

[@richardbriansmith8562]

Awesome Video Big Clive 🙂

[@renxula]

Cool! Actually, it would've been a nice opportunity to try and dip our toes into scoping and analyzing the memory chip's data traffic 🤔 It probably only reads it on startup, and writes to it every time the mode is changed, so it could be quite human-readable. I wonder how big the memory is. The functionality would only need one byte! But I suspect it could be doing wear leveling, for example by writing each time to the next free byte, and using only the last nonzero value when reading it. And when the memory is full, then erase the entire block and start over.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I have investigated this in the past and only one byte was used.

[@HerrNilssonOmJagFarBe]

24C02 is 2kbits. It typically wears out only after hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of write cycles, so wear levelling shouldn't be necessary in this application.

[@BM-jy6cb]

​@@HerrNilssonOmJagFarBeEvidently you don't have kids 😁

[@Zombi-uw9ml]

I had the same thing in mind, would be interested what happens when the memory Chip actually wears out or the data gets corrupted.

[@Popeyes66]

Congrats on your 1M Subs Clive, One moment please

[@hattix6713]

Well, the horsemen are riding. The final sign is upon us. Cheap ebay lighting which Big Clive is impressed with!

[@Bill_the_Red_Lichtie]

I first the time I was confronted with the term "schottky diode" was back in 1983, glad to see that is still alive, even if not involved in this particular device.

[@d614gakadoug9]

Not only are schottky diodes "still alive" the market for them expanded dramatically because of their use of switchmode power supplies. There are even silicon carbide schottky diodes available with a peak reverse voltage rating of 1200 (maybe even more, I haven't looked). Their forward voltage is quite high but they are extremely fast. (When I was designing schottky rectifiers into SMPSs 100 V PIV was a push. There were a very few rated for 150 PIV.) The power types are often called schottky barrier rectifiers (SBRs). In the circuit in the video a schottky diode wouldn't bring a lot of improvement. Reverse recovery time is a bit less important in flyback converters than other toplogies and low forward voltage isn't a big deal with such high output voltage. It is a BIG loss factor if you are producing something like 3 volts.

[@tactileslut]

Reengineering results that will allow it to last longer are right at the top of the description. Yay, a pretty good thing made even better.

[@monicabillingsley5478]

👋 We have enjoyed your videos for a long time, thank you for sharing your knowledge and helping us with your videos. ❤ My son loves electronics and inventing. I am going to use your videos to help teach him. If you ever create something like a course for kids (12 year old level) I would love to purchase. Blessings 🙏

[@stoptheirlies]

Hey Clive, nice one mate. the o ohm resistor is not where you show it between the caps, it connects the + for the memory to the 3v3 on the controller.

[@PDWSailing]

I've opened one of these with no damage by sitting it between the jaws of a vice resting on the back of the plug bit, and then striking the lip of the end cap with a suitable implement (socket extension) and hammer.

[@christopherwilliamdodd236]

Just got a set of 240 turquoise lights from Argos, similar control box, so popped it open to see what the power supply chip is. Not quite the same circuit and the chip is LN1F32. Will update if I open up any more.

[@shanepearce1629]

that chip may be a bypassed multifunction controller have seen that some of the light sets are wired with + and - change around to flash the lights and if you use a different transformer only half the lights light up Many larger stores (Bunnings, Kmart, Big W, and possible others) have changed their Christmas light manufacturing process for 2-channel twinkling/flashing lights, thereby reducing the amount of wires out of a multifunction-controller from 3 down to 2. The method for making these lights flash means every second LED is wired in reverse. When connected to a DC power source with a bypassed multifunction controller, only every second LED will turn on.

[@arsalanjaveed8918]

Hi Clive, Thanks for the nice and informative video. I want to ask about the enlarged circuitboard printouts which you typically use in the videos. I am curious to know which printer and type of paper you use to printout such images?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Epson ecotank and generic glossy photo paper.

[@marcse7en]

Tis the season 🎄 NOT to be electrocuted ⚡ or have one's house burn 🔥 down! When I was a kid in the 70's, we had a tall spindly silver artificial Christmas Tree, with multicoloured "Sputnik" lights. They had round spiked lamp covers, and looked like they'd been dipped in sugar. They had a bimetallic flasher lamp. They were lovely. Aldi had some retro low voltage LED Fairy Lights, with bell-shaped shades. Very pretty.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I got some of the ALDI ones last year.

[@s8wc3]

I just bought an outdoor fairy light set from a local hardware store that has a very similar power supply - identical except for the pattern in the plastic and the factory name. Interestingly it says on the box that the power supply isn't suitable for outdoor use, which is a bit ridiculous considering it's an outdoor light set. I pried the end cap a little but it didn't budge, so I'm confident it's similarly glued and actually fine to use outdoors. (Well, it was, i've probably cracked the seal a bit doing that.)

[@bigclivedotcom]

It's common for the power supplies to be intended for indoor or covered use.

[@harrischalk]

Nice circuitry, quite complex (well for me anyway).

[@CezarySiw]

See DK906S or DK935 from DONGKE Semiconductor. The application note looks very similar

[@Graham_Langley]

On the subject of LED controllers, a heads up that if one has the selectable 8 hours on, 16 off timer function they may have decided it doesn't need to remember the last setting. Means it can't be used with an external timer unless you can tolerate or want to inflict on your neighbours the default cycle-through-all-patterns demo mode.

[@moddaudio]

That mystery chip generates the ac signal for the transformer to work. Its more efficient to run a xformer at higher than 50/60Hz.

[@primateinterfacetechnologi6220]

Oh man, I just had to tell somebody... I just completed the building of a wire feed welder, and much to my surprise the thing works perfectly. In fact, it's the smoothest welder I've ever used. I started with an $89 piece of crap Harbor Freight AC wire feed welder, I rewound the transformer for more power options, then added a giant rectifier using 14 big diodes that look like bolts, then eight 15,000 microfarad capacitors, and a pair of massive chokes that must weigh 20 lb... Plus numerous other added features and improvements... Now if I could just learn to weld better... Anyway, I just tested the thing, and like I said... I had to tell somebody. Seems to me you would be the perfect somebody. cheers.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Good job. It's nice to customise your own workshop gear.

[@primateinterfacetechnologi6220]

why thank you. i've been having to build all sorts of things due to a situation best described as- everything burnt up in a giant fire thanks to our local power company (the evil "Pacific Gas and Electric"). literally nine out of 10 of these big forest fires are started by their shoddy equipment and practices. "we couldn't inspect the tower because it was too rickety to climb" they said... EH? what the hell? i don't even use their crappy electricity as I've been making my own for decades. but I digress... As it happens I live a few minutes away from a giant scrap yard that has huge bins of anything you could want for extremely cheap. for what they would have got for it as scrap basically- giant capacitors, transformers, motorcycles, kitchen sinks, all manner of machines and materials... you name it. there is even a big dumpster full of neon sign transformers (joy!). the other day there was a literal mountain of restaurant grade stainless steel cookware of all kinds... most of it looked brand new. It was all there as scrap metal... I fear we are doomed. peace and love.@@bigclivedotcom

[@brianallen9810]

Wow, RoHS compliant, at least the box says that. Seems to be well made.

[@waynesharp1690]

Safe! They've finally worked things out 😲

[@snakezdewiggle6084]

Oh, just great ! Now the zombie apocalypse will be powered by safe reliable psu's. Those lights and power supplies can be purchased from the Australia Post retail outlets. Got my first set about 9yrs ago. I like the RGB slow changing leds. 31volts and the screw-on plug/socket are the key to sourcing elsewhere.

[@thedeegee1601]

I think the button will be it's weak part. Press it too hard multiple times and you could bend in backwards on the PCB.

[@sandy1653]

From the thumbnail without my glasses on, it looked like one of those intoxilyzer ignition interlocks.

[@luxmonday]

I'm kind of amazed there's a 24C02 chip on there, which is 2k bits... that means the mystery xmas light chip must have the ability to do I2C communications... that means it has a microprocessor core of at least some intelligence... It's also interesting that the I2C Data and Clock lines have no pullups... they must be using the weak pull ups on a port pin and clocking the I2C relatively slowly.

[@309electronics5]

I highly beleive those christmas light asics are just cheap oem asic microcontrollers with some functions added/removed to fit in the cost

[@andymouse]

Great point :)@@309electronics5

[@bigclivedotcom]

The chips often just use a single byte of data.

[@Time-Trvlr]

I bought a similar set of these light and surmised that the output alternates polarity. on each string of two conductor wires every other lamp anode is on the other conductor so they lights up in opposite sequence. I didn’t put a scope on it to confirm my hypothesis but it makes since to me.

[@d614gakadoug9]

I'd be very surprised if your assesment were wrong! I have some strings of tiny LEDs that run from 3 volts from AA cells. Each little bump on the wire has two LEDs - a colored one and a warm white on. They can be lit independently. There are only two conductors. There must be a wee full bridge driver in the box to reverse the polarity. A low-current full bridge with two CMOS gates or outputs from a CMOS controller is simple.

[@bikkiikun]

FYI, "GongSi" means company, as in PLC or Co. Ltd.

[@tncorgi92]

I would love to see a Big Clive advent calendar, 24 days of electrical goodness, accompanied by some eggnog from the SodaStream. Day 25 the Explosion Containment Pie Dish gets a workout.

[@6b6d]

Great timely video! I've recently purchased some Christmas lights from China. I wasn't expecting a 3 pin low voltage connector, with a questionable power supply. Your videos have given me confidence to at least have a go at reverse engineering. Hopefully, I can replicate the power supply. 🤞 Thank you!

[@davelowets]

Hmm, i was expecting the unidentifiable chip to be on the output side of the supply to control the light modes. Not on the input side to control the transformer. Odd... Edit: Perhaps they are trying to hide the "cleverness" they used to be able to get away with not having a seperate feedback winding in the transformer, and being able to sense directly off the primary instead, OR they didnt want to reveal their direct rip-off of another manufacturers design that they copied from.... who knows, it would be hard to tell without a datasheet.. 🤷🏻

[@jyvben1520]

now printing a new case i expect

[@bigclivedotcom]

Or heatshrink sleeve and in a different enclosure.

[@phonotical]

I like the pattern effect on the plug, but the colour of the lights verges on nasty, how about replacing them with colours of your own choosing? Actually I'm amazed I've never seen rgb slow fade lights in a string much in the way of your display light, going out of sync in time Re 2163s, all I found in this was an audio mixer, the ssm2163s, 8 by 2 mixer

[@Chris_Grossman]

It would make more sense if the part had a PMOS device as a switch. The node you have marked D is the source, the node you have marked CS is the drain.

[@keithcarpenter5254]

Quality, for cn. They even looked like genuine rubicon caps!

[@d614gakadoug9]

I'm amazed that Rubicon actually makes decent caps. Years ago their entire line was at the bottom end of the crapacitor scale. I guess someone caught on to the fact that the market for junk was contacting and that for good caps was expanding. Siemens electrolytic caps were also generally garbage.

[@jeffdayman8183]

Nice to see a well made safe light controller. Did anyone check to see if the Manchester St address on the label is truly the UK safety regulator or a public loo? 8^) Cheers!

[@bigclivedotcom]

I pondered if it was just someone operating from home.

[@Denis7947.]

Leds in pararel = more wattage required leds in series more voltage required

[@KeritechElectronics]

That's some decent PCB design. None of that dodgy Chinesium rubbish.

[@Cenentury0941]

Manufacturer : Mao Ming Shi Xin *BANG* Tou Zi You Gong Si It's nice when the manufacturer's name comes with a warning.

[@Silverstoneaddict]

Wonder why the LED chip didn’t have a few bytes of integrated EEPROM to store settings

[@bigclivedotcom]

Probably an extra layer of manufacturing complexity they wanted to avoid. The memory chips they use are extremely common and cheap.

[@fredfred2363]

I suspect that LED chip is a micro, with an output FET. An ASIC.

[@gregorythomas333]

I usually find that "Made In China" is synonymous to dangerous as hell...this is very different...surprising...but in a good way.

[@theeclecticengineer]

To be fair, it's often that all the cheap, crap and dangerous stuff heads to the west, as part of hitting cost targets. The stuff sold in China is actually very different (though granted you can get crap everywhere).

[@zh84]

I was particularly interested by the way the fusible resistor was mounted over a big gap so that if it blows up its guts won't short anything out. This is a good idea that I've never actually seen before!

[@gregorythomas333]

@@theeclecticengineer They probably sent the good stuff to Clive that they were supposed to keep for their own people :)

[@farmersteve129]

"Made in China" isn't the problem given how much stuff is actually made there these days, it's "Designed in China", "Ripped off in China" and "QC to China Standards" that's the issue

[@dannygraves4997]

Eh... it does rather depend on what kind of Industry we're talking about. When it comes to HiFi audio/Audiophile gear, ChiFi is pretty much the place to be right now, with the Chinese actually innovating in places the West hasn't, especially when it comes to In Ear Monitors and Headphones.

[@dant5464]

Was that the "one moment please" which straddled a recent Saturday stream?

[@bigclivedotcom]

I'm not sure. It was recorded about a week ago.

[@Wike1991]

I think I just bought the same lights for my Christmas tree

[@MaXx0r_]

Does anyone know the name of the 2 pin connector which is connected to the cable?

[@muzikman2008]

Nice! :-)

[@worroSfOretsevraH]

Would have been that hard to integrate the EEprom into that IC...

[@brucepickess8097]

Hmmm, yes it looks good and better than most, but to be compliant it needs proper certification and testing to recognised standards. For instance it has a plastic enclosure, what about the material used ?, what is its fire retardent rating ? That also applies to the pcb material.🤔

[@d614gakadoug9]

The PCB bears the US Underwriter's Labs marking. I'm guessing it is not fraudulent on this product. That marking would apply only to the laminate used, not to the circuitry.

[@avada0]

I hope all with similar looking adapters are safe. I ordered a couple from aliexpress. BTW is there an economic way of making the mains voltage ones safe? Or at least less likely to be lethal. I assume the wiring of the LEDs is different, since they're supposed to be lower voltage.

[@bigclivedotcom]

The mains ones are inherently higher risk and only suitable for indoor use.

[@BQQTS]

It could be a NCP1271A Clive

[@bigclivedotcom]

The schematics I see for that look like they are using a third bootstrap winding.

[@jdlech]

The problem with those kind of LED strings is that they are not for outdoor use. Moisture gets into the hole where the wires enter, and corrodes the wire right at the LED. In 2 or 3 years time, the whole string is worthless. The only solution would be to pack each LED with waterproofing grease - a messy affair no matter how you do it.

[@bigclivedotcom]

The municipal grade lights have very rugged rubber cable and each LED potted into a small tubular cup with resin.

[@a-k-jun-1]

I always watch "Big Clive" videos on my phone even though I live off grid without electricity 😂

[@Poebbelmann]

So, what is powering your phone?

[@a-k-jun-1]

@@Poebbelmann handheld solar panel just for phone

[@Lumibear.]

Nice plug design, looks 3D printed, and a set of cheap generic fairy lights that aren’t a trashy death trap!? Unheard of! Shame it still has those 8 standard settings of horrible flashing epilepsy with the one good one, but at least it remembers. Cheers Clive!

[@djsarahjones]

Does anyone know the name of the 2 pin low voltage connection is called. I need to replace the plug on string of 24v lights I have. As the wires have snapped where they go into the plastic back of it.

[@bigclivedotcom]

It seems to be a specific connector to Christmas lighting stuff. It might be possible to find it on AlieXpress.

[@LordPhobos6502]

Test that power block long term... Had one of those, ran fine for a couple months, then the cat started screaming at us one day... she smelt the power block smouldering. Externally it looked identical to your one, but with an australian plug on it.

[@bluewhaleadventures152]

Great, but will it carbonate?

[@ilgiusto6885]

So, out of curiosity, have you measured the resistance between the primary and secondary circuits? (for short, galvanic isolation)

[@bigclivedotcom]

I didn't do a high voltage isolation test.

[@ilgiusto6885]

​@@bigclivedotcomok, grazie !

[@LabArlyn]

What will actually happen if the Y1 capacitor is removed ? I have 2 adapters that I have removed the capacitor from the board to get rid of the little uncomfortable shock caused by the capacitor.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I think it's mainly to reduce RF noise being transmitted by cables.

[@309electronics5]

What a nicely built one! Finally a non dodgy firehazzard/shock hazzard device FROM CHINA!

[@davidfalconer8913]

A thought ( ? ) .... these LED sets used outdoors very quickly get rusty LED legs , resulting in failure ... I have tried dipping EACH ! LED in thin Silicone oil ( messy + tedious ! ) and this wicks up the heat shrink / hot melt glue assembly ... this seems to give many months of fault free use outdoors ( wear gloves when fitting to tree etc ) .... DAVE™ 🛑

[@bigclivedotcom]

I tried ordinary 3 in 1 oil and had limited success. I also tried hot melt glue and heatshrink and even that didn't fully work.

[@graboid116]

I'm trying to figure out how i can make the 90s function controllers work with the new design. I did a video on tiktok about this and wish i could share in the comments

[@bigclivedotcom]

The older controllers are not compatible with the strings that require polarity switching.

[@callmecheese4696]

I wonder if u press the button to a specific mode, turn off the main switch and turn it back on, will the lights stay the same mode?

[@bigclivedotcom]

It does store the setting.

[@kevrosbane]

hi clive would you happen to know if infrared heaters can damage damage eyes? as i seen a couple of ur videos on light tubes.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I'm not aware of sensible levels of longwave infrared heat causing eye issues.

[@kevrosbane]

@@bigclivedotcom thanks for the replay was not sure, as that is what they were saying at the store if u were to spend longer hours near it, felt like they wouldn't sell it if that was the case.

[@johnmathias9892]

No one has mentioned Switched Mode Power Supply (SMPS) so I thought I’d be the first one and I am assuming this example you describe is. Correct me if I am wrong please.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yes it is a switch mode supply.