Strange USB powered aquarium heater with other uses.

[@AttilaAsztalos]

- "So this Z80 thing of yours runs at 4MHz...? Bah, here in the future, I'm just looking at a random PCB running at 26MHz..." - "Wow! What does it do with all that awesome computing power...?" - "...running a thermostat." - "..."

[@DrHarryT]

My first computer [IBM 286] ran at 8MHz with 640k base ram and no extended ram on a 20Mb hard drive running DOS 6.0 and DoubleSpace. It actually ran quite well with games and word processing, of course that's when programs were written quite small.

[@AttilaAsztalos]

@@DrHarryT Well, I remember the time when PC cases came standard with a "turbo" button (and the fancy ones with a display as well)... :)

[@randy7894]

A waste of a good Z80...

[@chinnyvision]

​@@DrHarryT Look at Flash Harry here with his 16 bits and hard drive!

[@rimmersbryggeri]

@@AttilaAsztalos Turbo button was for slowing it down though 8mhz to 4 for example. So that games and other programs wouldnt run to fast.

[@TechGorilla1987]

Considering the shape - I am here for the "other uses."

[@pantzOU812]

for cheating at chess ... 😅

[@MattyEngland]

Analium heater

[@Sonny_McMacsson]

Happiness is a warm bum.

[@lezbriddon]

Would that make this a device for central heating?

[@andygozzo72]

@@lezbriddon 'personal' central heating 😜

[@NinoJoel]

These are normally used in smal shrimp tanks that pose as decoration. They are 5v since the lights are usually also 5v which makes it safer and more convenient

[@Joshplv]

I was just thinking this could be nice for a small shrimp tank definitely added this to the to buy list

[@fossil98]

Sea monkey youtubers (Ive seen it all) commonly recommend these small heaters

[@zakgault4209]

​@@fossil98my lord, that's actually a thing?😂

[@Nevir202]

@@zakgault4209 Absolutely. Randomly stumbled across one, and watched a review of all the stuff I bought as a kid lol.

[@diedampfbrasse98]

have several of these running for over a year now, cant complain ... 2 in breeding artemia and more in smaller shrimp tanks. Not sure how efficient they are, but they keep a 22-26 temperature selection stable in surprisingly large tanks with rarely being on as long as the room itself is in a humane 20+ celcius temperatur ... wouldnt advise trying a tropical fish tank with 26+ or heating a fish tnak in a colder cellar, as those tanks have a rapid temperature loss due to evaporation and these little heaters would run all the time.

[@EsotericArctos]

If it is designed for aquarium use, those granules in the end will be some kind of ballast for weight to hold it down in the water and not actually thermal transfer. If it does any thermal transfer, that's just a bonus. :)

[@Nevir202]

I mean, as the resister isn't in direct contact with the glass, anything in there will HAVE to do the thermal transfer.

[@V0S1N0]

Silica carbide would be nicely inert and conduct heat without needing to be formed or anything fancy?

[@EsotericArctos]

@@Nevir202 It is chineseum - Are they meant to work lol

[@JuffoWup78]

It should also slow the heating and slow the dissipation of heat (when off) as well as what I've understood. As the glass is generally not made of borosilicate to take temperature swings kindly.

[@bromero88]

It clips into the suction cup shown in the video. No ballast needed.

[@wtmayhew]

I had tropical fish when I was a kid. The heater just had a bimetallic strip and a plastic set screw controlling the heater inside what appeared to be a stock test tube. It is hard to believe an MCU, display and components would be less expensive than a scrap of metal.

[@jaycee1980]

Those bimetallic strips like to weld.. exactly what happened in my dad's aquarium and it boiled all of the fish. The smell was terrible. I made him an electronic thermostat which used a triac to switch the heater instead

[@wtmayhew]

@ I am very sorry to hear that. Thanks for sharing. Knock on wood, I did not experience that in the years we had an aquarium. A help would be to add a second contact to open at a slightly higher temperate with an indicator lamp across the contacts to indicate trouble in the circuit.

[@frogz]

since everyone is going to make the joke about holes this can fit in im simply going to say "that's hot"

[@Zlodej5]

No, everyone will feel smart and selfimportant for not making that joke.

[@CrypidLore]

They work OUTSTANDINGLY well for Brine Shrimp tanks, really helps with algae growth for them to eat.

[@MoultrieGeek]

I was going to add just that. I have two in my brine shrimp tanks and they have run perfectly for almost 3 years at this point.

[@amorphuc]

It would be cool if you could adjust the heat even lower to say just above freezing. Keeping the bird bath liquid of what have you. Thanks for showing us this Big Clive. Super cool.

[@jefftysoutube]

Probably be on all the time in an outside environment unless the temp is adjusted to below ambient considering the output power.

[@peanutsandvich1319]

I mean I guess for non-temperature precision critical applications (like a bird bath) where power is not a constraint setting it at 18c wouldn’t hurt anything. It would just be on constantly in cold temps.

[@MrHack4never]

Could be solved with a time switch running it 15 mins per hour, or one of those heating cables that prevent outdoor pipes from freezing/busting open

[@incredibleflameboy]

I grow hydroponic plants throughout the winter and temperature control around roots is something that's always difficult. I've just bought some of these for that reason so I'm glad that they function at least.

[@vinceherried497]

When you check wires that might be crappy, check to see if they are magnetic. Some are copper coated iron.

[@threeMetreJim]

An 8 Watt heater would manage to raise the temperature of 1 litre of water by around 7 degrees in one hour. In reality, heat losses would stop that from ever happening. (1 litre of water requires 4184 Joules of energy to raise the temperature by 1 degree C, 8 x 60 x 60 = 28800 / 4184 = 6.88 degrees approx)

[@username-s9s3r]

Depends what the heat losses actually are

[@threeMetreJim]

@@username-s9s3r You can find out by starting with your water heated to where you'd like it, and room at room temperature, then time how long it takes to cool for a rough idea. I know from experience that you won't heat a substantial amount of water with only 8 watts of power unless it's in a well insulated vessel.

[@diedampfbrasse98]

@@threeMetreJim these heaters barely are on when used in small fishtanks standing in room temperatur, the temperatur losses are usually fairly small, even less so when the tank has a cover and a lamp is heating as well ... only after a waterchange fish tank heaters have to do some actual work, and much of that can be cut down by letting the water adapt to room temperature first. Ofc wouldnt I use such tiny heaters in tropical tanks with the delta between water and air being much larger. Have several of those tiny USB heaters running in a shrimp breeding rack without an issue or a noteable change in energy demand after I moved and switched from AC heaters and pumps to USB variants in order to get rid of all the large AC powerstrips and extensions. These tiny heaters aint made for large tanks, but for the 10-40l variants ... and they are perfectly fine and capable for that use.

[@jannikheidemann3805]

How about 500g of medical grade silicone, with the heater stuck inside, wrapped in a towel?

[@threeMetreJim]

@@jannikheidemann3805 Maybe you could sit on that idea for a while and come up with an answer?

[@wtmayhew]

Back in the 1980s we used Charlieplexing to drive seven segment displays. Charlieplexing takes advantage of the fact that MCU pins can have 3-state output. This allows LEDs to be cross connected. You can find the number of MCU pins needed as n=(1 + N^0.5)|max In theory, three digits plus decimal for each could be driven with as few as six MCU pins. The downside is that it takes some code gymnastics. Often there’s more code space on a PIC than pin real estate. There is a pretty good Wikipedia article outlining the concept.

[@PainterVierax]

charlieplexing can also be used with a keyboard matrix but it requires a bunch of diodes per button so it's not used very often.

[@wtmayhew]

@ Thanks for the added information.

[@justDIY]

Surprising to see such a powerful MCU being used in such a simple application... with an external clock no less.

[@wyattr7982]

Maybe the manufacturer already uses that MCU on a different project and they’re taking advantage of economies of scale

[@CanizaM]

Hidden Bluetooth feature? That's what that (Bluetrum) company's SoCs are made for.

[@PhredMacmurray]

Nice job Clive, no Band-Aids after disassembly

[@jannikheidemann3805]

He puts his body and soul into these videos.

[@IonVladutu]

Fascinating breakdown, I appreciate you Clive

[@Incognitus-Umbra]

Once again thanks BC for making this content - I could totally see that being used to keep things from freezing

[@rimmersbryggeri]

Beaver defroster?

[@amorphuc]

Very interesting. Thanks Big Clive.

[@robbytheatomicengineer5749]

"could have other aplications" Me: Bum heater

[@ralfvandeven3155]

I'd suggest a mortuary, if you need heating to 34 degrees, because you might actually be deceased.

[@davidkaye821]

"Could have 'other' applications, 'but...' " within the first five seconds! LMAO (pun FULLY intended) ;)

[@DANGERTIM112]

just reminded me of those "baby bath" heaters you looked at some years ago.

[@markiangooley]

I think that when I was a lad with 10 and 20-gallon fish tanks, 50 watts was a typical power rating for a cheap aquarium heater running at 110 volts here in the USA. Running that off 5 volts? No way.

[@starks.187]

Keep up the good work keeping us happy Clive 👍

[@Damien.D]

You know you're old when a suspiciously looking heater uses a simple thermostat with a microcontroller that runs way faster than your first x86 PC. ...

[@PeetHobby]

That glass tube with sand and heating element construction has been used for decades, and many companies have copied the design. Not sure who originally came up with it.

[@dcallan812]

I guess with it running at 5v you could take you tropical fish for a walk round the park or to the shops. 🤣 Odd that the PCB is so damaged, but it still works. I like the glittery sand, very nice 2x👍

[@chrishartley1210]

I suspect the additional outputs (+ve and ground) are actually inputs when it is used in a different module, and the heater signal could possibly be used to switch a relay. As you say, the only problem would be the 10V capacitor if the input voltage was above about 9V.

[@PainterVierax]

even at 9V it's not suitable to put a 10V cap. A good rule of thumb is to keep around 25% safety margin to avoid overaging the cap so this design is not meant to be run above 7.5V … which is approximately the lower voltage where the 7805 will be useful. This circuit is a complete mess.

[@nodataavailable]

I looked at the shape of the heating and assumed Clive would think of another use which is not KZbin friendly.

[@brabhamfreaman166]

Me too, except I thought Clive would think of a *very* friendly use. Though not, admittedly, YT-friendly

[@CookingWithCows]

Donut hole warmer

[@jaytalbot1146]

There appear to be heaters operating at 110V using the same housing for the control, both on Amazon and on the box @ 0:10. It would be interesting to know how they do that, probably a triac for the heating element and some sort of voltage dropper for the control, but do they add a second PCB or use a completely different one? I'm not sure I'm curious enough to spend $20 to find out, that is twice as much as the USB version so they could afford to add quite bit of stuff.

[@terrym1065]

Amazing it worked at all with the damage to the PCB. Looked like some direct shorts but maybe not. It might work on a single Beta tank, 1qt or so. Thanks Clive👍

[@antonioadkins5104]

You should get a 150-watt USB C charger, then connect the heater straight to the output, and then see how fast it can heat a glass of water.

[@Melinmingle]

Perfect for heating my homemade beef pocketpssy

[@sokrates297]

I'm not Christian, but please go find Jesus Fucking Christ 😆

[@instazx2]

that's legitimately what these are primarily intended for. they just give them more marketable names

[@Melinmingle]

@@instazx2 Good stuff man i`ve been going in at room temperature but this will be a fine addition to my beef pocketpssy crafting table.

[@Eric-or1qj]

damn im getting hungry does anyone have a copy of the recipie?

[@misterhat5823]

My dad was in the military with a guy who used calf liver in a mason jar...

[@VisDeux]

Interesting microcontroller choice, as you said they probably grabbed the cheaper with enough pins for the display. The logo make me thinks it is from Bluetrum / Zhongke Lanxun. They specialize in bluetooth headsets SOCs. This might even be a RISC-V micro ?! But I can't find that exact reference after a short search.

[@CanizaM]

Maybe it has an unadvertised BT feature. Hold down button to go into pairing mode...?

[@zybch]

I've been using a similar heater (10W fixed temp) and a while in a nano-aquarium for some time. Other than making sure you use a USB power supply that greatly exceeds the 1amp the heater requires, its been great.

[@forgingluck]

Not me putting it in the toilets this winter to keep them from freezing 😭💀

[@jimmyrustler8983]

Hey, whatever you need it for, I'd consider that a very good use for it 😂

[@albanana683]

I have a moderate sized (85L) aquarium and it uses a 200w mains AC heater. I don't think this item would be much use for any aquarium, even at +20V. Maybe controlling some chemical reaction in a teacup, or doing a cool wash of a single sock at 30C? I guess it could be repurposed to have the mosfet trigger a relay, controlling a real world heating circuit, but there are better ways of doing that. Interesting that that the package shows a F(oreign) temp reading, while yours is C(onvincing) - is there a track jumper for that? Or can you switch it by doing something like holding down the set button?

[@bigclivedotcom]

I should have tested that.

[@NinoJoel]

These are for micro tanks that contain miniature shrimps and they do their job

[@kaydog890]

Gosh darn, what's your ambient temp and set temp in tank? I can keep a 150L tank at 24deg C with 50w, even in winter.

[@diedampfbrasse98]

have a number of those USB heaters running. 2 in artemia breeders and the rest run very well in 20-30 l shrimp tanks ... these heaters do a good job as long as they only have to top up the usual room temperature of 20-22 to a desired 22-26. They barely have to actually heat in order to keep the temperature stable and they dont seem to struggle with a larger waterchange as well. Ofc I wouldnt try heating tropical tanks with them and a larger tank without cover would impact efficiency of this heater as well given the additional evaporation. But they seem pretty good for the common 20-40l shrimp/nanofish tank with a cover, even more so when there is also a lamp heating as well. And they give a very good temperature readout/control. No need for a larger AC heater there and with that tiny size they even can disappear in a small filterbox itself depending on setup. In a shrimp breeder rack with a lot of small tanks such USB heaters and USB filterpumps have become my favorites .. the AC stuff was always a hassle due to the required large powerstrips, extensions and rigid cables.

[@jsmith498]

I used to have something similar, though longer, for keeping my bucket of homebrew beer at the right temperature.

[@KingOfAllJackals]

I’ve got one of these in BIG planted bowl/shallow aquarium. It’s 3.9 gal total volume but that’s a lot of soil/grave and a lot of surface area to volume vs typical aquariums. I only want it 1F higher than normal daytime ambient and to not cool down too fast or get too cold when my thermostat kicks down overnight/when I’m not here. It’s worked quite well for over a year. The measured temp is within a few tenths F of other calibrated thermometers. The other upside of being underpowered is it can’t spike the temp too fast if it needs to recover. I’ve had an oversized heater fail on in an aquarium and the rate of change was disastrous even though I caught it before it got really high in an absolute sense.

[@kneel1]

LOL "other uses" got me to click into it. you're the best :D "Plug this in" yeah i bet you did plug it in

[@BillDunlop-b1u]

I think the resistors around the thermistor are for linearising. Suggesting the ADC reads directly to the accumulator and doesn't use a look-up table.

[@twocvbloke]

For fishy uses I could see it being useful for keeping your aquatic friends comfortable when transporting over a long distance (thus away from their regular warm home), other uses, well, I'm thinking back to those "male hole warmers" from some years back with the carbon fibre heater pads rolled up inside designed to warm up certain rubbery toys... :P

[@MARKE911]

Mr. Clive. I think it's time to make some stuff go pop. It's been a little bit . I haven't seen the explosion proof pie containment dish in awhile. 😂

[@tncorgi92]

Knowing KZbin they would be immediately de-monetized. You probably can't even talk about explosions or fire anymore.

[@DrathVader]

Gotta be careful with that seeing as it doesn't have flared base

[@bigclivedotcom]

It's OK. There's a cable attached for extraction.

[@mysock351C]

I think for people who have that issue in the first place gravity will work just fine even if the cable separates. Edit: It does have a soft rubber base that’s removable so suitable accommodations could be made.

[@jannikheidemann3805]

It's probably only safe to use it to preheat toys that accept bullet vibes, as well as lubricants, though there might be a risk that it leeches tiny ammounts of chemicals into the lubricants.

[@rares3968]

The AB on the MCU is actually Bluetrum's logo. They specialize in Bluetooth microcontrollers, most of them audio-oriented. Some of the cheap bluetooth speakers use these chips. I wonder if this heater could have a Bluetooth functionality in another version of it (an app for controlling it maybe?)

[@dashcamandy2242]

Well, I guess it could work for Sea Monkeys (brine shrimp), smaller goldfish, or bettas, since those are typically kept in smaller tanks. In no way could it handle your smaller 5.5 gallon (21 liter) tank, or the more common 10 gallon (38 liter) tank. Birdbath, perhaps?

[@pingumcping]

"USB" can now provide 5V, 9V, 15V and 20V... It's less common to see voltages above 5V with anything but a C type connector these days, but the USB spec does allow for voltage negotiation over an A type connector and there was a brief period where this was common on phone chargers.

[@aaronmdjones]

> "but the USB spec does allow for voltage negotiation over an A type connector" The current USB Power Delivery specification voltage negotiation is done over the CC1 or CC2 pins (depending on the connector orientation), which are only present in a type C connector. The original, now-deprecated and unsupported, version 1 specification did permit voltage negotiation via frequency modulation on the power (VBUS) line, but this is no longer done and was very short-lived. Also, implementing the version 1 specification was required for devices using type C connectors, but was not required for devices using type A connectors, which further limited its adoption. You will be hard-pressed to find a charger currently on the market that supports it on a type A port.

[@HolarMusic]

AFAIK, it's against the spec to provide anything other than 5v over the A connector. The other voltages were common with "alternative" specs like QC.

[@MrHack4never]

>20V from USB C They are actually working on a revision going up to 48V, at 5 Amps, which IMHO seems overkill for anything but gaming laptops and similar extra high performance devices

[@stevebollinger3463]

The spec doesn’t support negotiating higher voltages over a USB-A connector. That was Qualcomm’s QC system that does that and it is outside the spec.

[@echpea]

​@@MrHack4neversupervooc chargers do 10 Amps already at 15v there 150w of charging

[@JoseSilveira-newhandleforYT]

Highly complicated little heater! The granules look like silicon carbide (the kind used as abrasive).

[@mikedjames]

26MHz crystals are cheap as they are a standard mobile phone clock frequency

[@PainterVierax]

pretty they could use some 8 MHz internal resonator just fine.

[@volodumurkalunyak4651]

Whole device has 9V QC or PD (requires USB Type-C, not USB - A as power input) trigger missing. At 9V heater should take ~25W

[@robinc.5077]

I've used 5 watt 230v heaters for 30L aquariums before. This would be useful for moving fish longer distances, you could use multiple and combine them with a usb air pump and a few power banks.

[@ralfvandeven3155]

Since the decimal point is on a fixed position, I'll assume they used a common cathode led display and routed the 2 unused decimal point to the red and green led.

[@dustinsmith8341]

I also like my insulated container to be at fermentation temperatures.

[@Pippy626]

It almost looks like it’s built for an upgrade version for usb C and the ability to adjust to higher voltages.

[@ralfvandeven3155]

That would require the mcu to do power negotiation and that appears not to be an option here.

[@Pippy626]

Correct but I was saying it looks like they could easily do that. It would require a something like a HUSB238 that is only 2.6mm x .46mm

[@raygale4198]

Amazon have a 'heated massager' it's heated to a controlled 37 deg C is about 30cm long, a soft feel silicon cylindrical shape with various surface textural features and is bright pink in colour. Just what I need for that unruly trigger finger.

[@CrazyOregonBeaver]

I wonder if it could be used to keep my hummingbird feeders from freezing. 👍

[@mysock351C]

“Yellow for problems.” That sounds ominous for people in the ‘other uses’ column, esp. if overclocking is involved. Start off with warm and cozy, end up on the news after an urgent call for an ambulance. Think maybe unpowered items are a better choice.

[@MrPeach71]

A lot of aquarium heaters on the Chinese sites. They all seem to only go to 34°c. That maybe best for fish, but if they stretched to 38/40°, they would be useful in a colour darkroom. Also useful for brewing beer in the colder months.

[@Corkoth55]

Or for bum warming

[@gordonlawrence1448]

Given the specific heat capacity of water that thing would take forever to warm up an aquarium by jut 1C. If we assume a miniscule 20L aquarium and zero losses, then it would take the best part of three hours.

[@PrabhakarSharma-qg4ov]

Very nice information Great wark intereting इंटरेस्टिंग बहुत बहुत धन्यवाद Thanks Big Clive.❤

[@tuvaaq]

Wonder how it would fare as a heater for a resin 3d printer VAT?

[@flickr4jazz]

Love the channel. Have you ever used the technical term, "Things could possibly get violent while I'm tearing this apart?"

[@jimmyrustler8983]

Mutually assured disassembly.

[@wisher21uk]

A supper warmer 😂 thanks Clive 😊

[@doifhg]

I thought usb heaters always seemed pretty sketchy honestly

[@ottopartz1]

Hmm might work well for keeping a small pf tech style mushroom blooming really self contained and not easily spotted.

[@ddmayne1]

The OnePlus devices feature fast charging up to 100W over a special USB cable and special wall adapter. Perhaps, this heater device's circuitry is anticipating use with upcoming advanced charging standards.

[@JendaLinda]

I would expect the display to be made of bright blue LEDs.

[@CanizaM]

That's a Bluetrum SoC, same as used in Bluetooth speakers and TWS. Maybe a bit too late for that now, but does it happen to have a Bluetooth feature where you may be able to pair with it and see the temperature and/or adjust it remotely? There's no way they would've used something like that if they didn't need it.

[@bigclivedotcom]

No obvious antenna.

[@Jimmyfisher121]

If I was still into tropical fish Clive, I would be wondering how large a tank it can heat and how stable it can keep the water temp. Jim from Scotland

[@andyreact]

Interesting little unit. You should have tested this running from your bench power supply, would the initial test you did have been limited by the power brick you used? Do a "short" follow up, with the cap swapped and higher voltage too! 👍

[@Tims_Projects]

Looks like just the thing to keep my Tea warm.🙂

[@mauanderuk]

Apparently Clive is in the running for the new Jame Bond.

[@DooMMasteR]

That MCU is from Bluetrum but they currently do not list a C series and all silicon they currently officially promote seems to have some form of RF (bluetooth mostly) or audio interface. I wonder if this board was meant to do more, or if these chips are parts that have been repurposed because manufacturing defects rendered the RF/analogue part unusable. Probably a 26 to 120 MHz RISC-V

[@johnsenchak]

All those resistors could be a internal comparator circuit inside the MCU

[@sangeeth_619]

I honestly expected the "xray vision"... @ 02:45 😁

[@gregorythomas333]

Kind of small for an aquarium larger than a fishbowl

[@NiyaKouya]

At first glance that heater almost looked like a heating cartridge used in 3D printers, but those are fully encapsulated in metal and have higher wattage ratings. And I find it a bit sketchy that the pads for the incoming power are labeled L and N. Sure, you could use it with higher voltages, but probably not THAT high 😉

[@loolollol]

There are also 10W and 20W versions, but those have a regular power plug. The 5W version is the smallest and is the only version with an usb plug.

[@jannikheidemann3805]

They will add an capacitor to reduce amperage. IT'S GOUNG TO BE FINE! ;-)

[@HA05GER]

I use a similar heater for a sea monkeys tank and it works very well and pulls about 10w.

[@309electronics5]

Wow a bluetrum chip! I wonder if it has some other hidden features cause just like JieLi bluetrum is also big in the bluetooth chip bussiness and their cheap microcontroller chips often have bluetooth as well. Actually that 26mhz crystal is the normal frequency those chips operate at and every product with bluetrum seemed to run some 26mhz crystal. Just no antenna but maybe it actually is a bluetooth soc just with bluetooth disabled

[@StephenByersJ]

I just ran across these last night looking for an outdoor project box heater / dew heater for an All Sky Camera to keep condensation off the acrylic dome.

[@basketballperson1350]

Niha what other applications are there 👀👀👀

[@rancillinmontgomery2480]

Add a PD control circuit and a PD charger and max out the wattage then drop it in your tea or coffee.

[@samuelclubb9529]

18’C is the warmest I have ever known your house Clive. Normally you’re sitting in a hat coat and gloves making videos 😂.

[@bigclivedotcom]

It's heading back to pleasantly chilled.

[@wmars4655]

Heck yea, i kindly ask for more aquarium products.

[@mandog2142]

Yes, but does it do stir-fry?

[@ConfidentialMeerkat]

Clive, you just found me a perfect ehhm. 'Fl(e)ash' lit warmer slash butt warmer. That can be powered by a battery bank! I forgot to add its also one for your snatch 🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭

[@channelsixtysix066]

Clive, you understand, this is just my observation of your past purchases, and there seems to be a propensity to go after long devices with domed ends, all of around 30 to 40 mm in diameter. This one happens to heat, but(t) there have been vibrating ones and ones that light up. Is this just a coincidence or are you curating a collection of similar-shaped devices, to be use "off-label" at some point?

[@bigclivedotcom]

I would expect these small devices to be most unsatisfying. I'd really have to buy one of the many full size purpose made devices for that, and I already know that YT doesn't like it when I take THOSE apart in videos.

[@cmuller1441]

Change the input cap and then use a PD or QC3 triggering board to send 12v or 20v 😅 More power !!!! BTW, why is there a 5v regulator if you use 5v from USB??? The regulator can't do its job without extra voltage...

[@phils4634]

This wouldn't ever keep up with heat loss from even a smaller tank. Might be OK for keeping fish warm during their trip home from the pet shop, but not much else. The same supplier does a far more effective 300w heater (and these simple bi-metal thermostat ones are durable).

[@LanceThumping]

Knowing Aliexpress, I wonder what the odds are that the "sand" in the bottom is lead.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Or nuclear waste.

[@graham9642]

So across the top in a large font it says 18-34 c

[@alansmith4734]

I have a USB Heater/Cooler Drink Coaster. It is supposed to keep soda cans cool, or cups of tea hot.

[@BoraHorzaGobuchul]

They should add vibration to it and they're golden

[@RedFathom]

lol, maybe we should use UK style resistors for SMD and American style for thru-hole.

[@Jonathan_Corwin]

Is that thermostat accurate? As warm as 18.5C in BigClives workshop in November?!

[@the_tux]

3:20 They spin the wire round baby right round

[@markpunt9638]

Would this help to keep my mug of coffee warm in the office? As soon as I make one, either the telephone rings or people decide they have to have immediate face-to-face talks

[@misterhat5823]

That 5V rail is more like 2.5V thanks to the 78L05 with a 5V input. Also, why use a crystal? The internal RC clock that most micros have is more than good enough. Heck. Why not use the cheapest PIC made? This just looks like someone didn't really know what they were doing.

[@flogrown4333]

Silly question about the heater...... How hot did it get?

[@bigclivedotcom]

It would depend on if it was in air or water.

[@BarryRowlingsonBaz]

Its a lovely shade of purple, that board. Is that so it doesn't show through the translucent case or did they just like the colour?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Probably just a random colour choice.

[@yclept9]

It used to be that you powered aquarium heaters with the landline phone system's 48v.

[@bigclivedotcom]

That would be a high load on the phone system.

[@wimwiddershins]

That black sand looks like industrial waste, iron slag?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Not sure what it is.

[@jannikheidemann3805]

If china put it's nuclear waste in those and other products with ballasts and weights, would we notice?