I prefer the way you wired it. Touch activated armageddon.

"Everything is a smoke machine if you operate it wrong enough"

"they want you to wire BLACK to NEUTRAL!" me, a brit: "Seems sane."

Exact same thing happened to me. And I am a licensed electrician. And I was in a customers home. Thanks for sharing, you have taken a little of the pain away.

"I'm no Big Clive" *pulls an Electroboom*

As a non-American, Black->Neutral & Red->Live makes perfect sense.

I love how most of the comments are "Yeah those wiring colours make sense to me". But yeah, good lesson for all... READ THE DIAGRAM because nothing is ever truly "standard".

Congratulations on your touch activated explosion! At least, you had enough fore thought to put poster board on your desk to protect it from the skid mark and buy a second touch control. Totally worth it!

"That trace looks to have just disappeared" Disappeared... without... A trace?

Technology Connextras ElectroBOOM Edition

You explodinated it!!! When something comes with a wiring diagram, it's probably a good idea to look at that diagram just in case, you know, they do things differently in NotNorthAmericaStan. Also, for future reference, if you're not sure about touching something that might be electrificated, use the BACK of your hand (like the fold-y bits of a knuckle) to test. That way you can't accidentally grip/grab and deadify yourself.

Such high production values! There was no earth-shattering BOOM :-( But at least we got a crater.

It has an alternative function when wired backwards, it becomes a touch off switch.

TC: "Black is hot in North America!" Package: "Made in China" Amazon Reviews: Hundreds of buyers warning about this problem on the product page. This is why I'm lucky I know less than nothing about electrical and always read everything 3 times before attempting anything.

TC: "...at least for 10 cents per kilowatt-hour prices..." me: *cries in German*

Even in America, I was used to red being "hot" (+) and black being negative, with that also usually being connected to ground. I think it was because I worked 100% in automotive and small digital electronics. It wasn't until I first helped someone with residential wiring that I ever heard of black being "hot". That seemed ridiculous to me!

Big Clive would be proud of that skid mark

“It had an explosion in it so I hope you liked it” I did indeed like it. And clicked the like button for good measure.

I love this (and your main) channel because you'll make a 17 minute video where you spend most of the time being sure you did something right, and then revealing you didn't. Most people would just start on the second trial, but it's nice to see the problems even the people who teach us can have at times

When you "Save Big Money" - the wire colors are made up and the watts don't matter

Alec : "I may have misswired it but I don''t think so." Narrator : He did misswire it.

As an electrician, I can affirm: Wire colours mean NOTHING! In Germany only the green/yellow wire for earth is a mandatory colour in the regulations (VDE Normen). The rest of the colours are suggested in the regulations, but they are not mandatory. Espacially old wiring of appliances and buildings have really funky wiring...

"Hello and welcome to this quick and dirty Connextras followup..." Well, it was dirty

So, I had forgotten that these things existed, but after watching this video last fall I bought two of them to install in the cheap gooseneck lamps we keep on our bedside tables. These are the kind of lamps where they were too cheap to put a switch on the lamp, instead installing a cord switch that always ends up behind the table when you need a light at 2:00 AM. The touch modules basically doubled the cost of the lamps. Oh well... I bought a different brand but they had the same weird color code configuration as yours. However, as you discovered at the end (realizing that your cord set didn't have a polarized plug) the polarity doesn't matter, what does matter is that when you connected everything the first time, you supplied hot to one terminal of the switch and neutral to the other. When you activated the touch sensor it was just like connecting a hot directly to neutral. Your only load was the triac...kaPow! Anyway, on my Kill-a-Watt meter, I initially read .4 watts but after I cycled the lamps on and off, it reads 0. Perhaps the circuit charges a capacitor and then no longer needs any power to read the change in capacitance when the sensor lead is touched?

Something tells me you might need to invest in a Big Clive Explosion Containment Pie Dish for future electronics endeavours.

Alec when he looks at the wiring diagram : "ah that's hot"

The confusion is that this device actually switches the neutral. That is backwards compared to what we (Americans) would normally do. And yes, the ribbed lamp cord is the neutral wire, with the smooth wire being the hot wire. All lamp cords are wired this way. You are also forgetting that it is the USA we have a neutral and where this was made they have both L1 and L2, both being hot. Being they are A.C. alternating currant, plugging that in backwards theoretically won't make a difference.

I love the package says "caution unplug lamp from the wall before installation" lol thanks for the tip.

"Generally, you don't see that kind of behaviour in a major appliance." -- Dr. Peter Venkman:

In the US and probably elsewhere there's a dangerous transition when students go from working on digital labs with red 5VDC power and black ground leads to home wiring with that big black wire with all those pent-up angry pixies. At the start of energy conversion classes (with lots of 120 & 208VAC motors) in college, kids were pulling power leads out willy-nilly and letting them drop wherever. There were some fireworks and serious burn marks on the workbenches. It's a wonder no one died or was seriously injured.

That should be a SAB 0529 Triac driven by a TT061 IC, which does touch control and has a zero-crossing detector for reduced interference. The circuit still need an inductor which I don't see on the little PCB, so it could be somewhat unstable (i.e. Triggered randomly by any spurious interference). The Triac needs an heatsink for any load above 30 W, which I don't see, either. Thanks for the video, always a pleasure to watch!

A little Vaseline, or simple lip balm will quiet those porcelain socket threads

1:57 So, ElectroBoom with no curse word? 🤔

in australia, red or brown is hot, black or blue is neutral. the colours make sense to me.

"It might not have exploded if I plugged it in the other way" Alec forgetting that alternating current is in fact alternating. For that matter, as long as the yellow wire has decent isolation, you could swap all the lives and neutrals so it can actually have a common neutral.

this was a great video. you are a champ, your candor is impressive. thanks!

"You're getting such behind the scenes content, you're looking at the floor!" More like Under The Scenes content

Untill the EU wiring regulations came into effect in the UK, Black was Neutral and Red was Live/Hot. Black is now a live when dealing with a 3 phase cable which used to be Red, Yellow and Blue, the colours are now Brown, Black and Grey. Without a seeing the diagram, or looking over the traces on the PCB, I would have wired it red to live and black to neutral and white as the lamp output.

9:12 - "I'm going to go over the wiring again one more time with y'all" smart man

When the light didn't light up when first plugged in I thought "ah, the game is afoot!" I wasn't disappointed. Thanks!

Maybe a tad pedantical, but fuses "blow", breakers "trip."

America: "Black is Hot" Rest of the world: "Black is Neutral" KZfaqr: 💣

"What could he possibly mean by slightly explosive? Is it some kind of metaphor? A joke? A - oh. It actually exploded."

that was your best video so far. explosions, rage, fear, all the emotions and most important no flat jokes :p

Usually the hot is switched, not the neutral. If I'm understanding the wiring diagram correctly, the bulb socket will always have power running to it, even if it appears to be off. This is why polarized plugs are a thing in the first place.

L1 & L2 ... L stands for Lamp of course. I'll omit AvE references. P1 & P2 are for Plumbing from your beaker box. S1-S4 stand for Short, for the shorting device.

Yes, definitely always read the wiring instructions! I have seen numerous times that they wire black or red to neutral. Also, I didn't realize the standby power consumption! I recently bought 2 of them and should see how much they consume.

This is what happens when you get your electrical training from Mehdi...

Here in the UK, the red was always live and the black was neutral, until we changed to brown and blue.

*Hears:* "Welcome to this quick.." *Sees:* 17:52 on the timeline At least he's consistent... :-)

I will add that this is one of your better videos. Loved it much.

10:20 when you're touching a pan to see if it's still hot.

TC: "This is MUCH more exciting than I thought it was going to be!"

"Does it actually work?" **electroboom lurking in the background**

I wonder if these colours were chosen to reflect older wiring colours in some other countries, such as the UK. These used to be red and black for line/neutral for single phase. Australia/New Zealand also use red for line, white for switched line and black for neutral, in some cases.

Wow that Triac went pop mate, i love electronics and the science behind them, and all the details you go into, amazing insights into some of the most basic things! Love it. I also love TEA im from across the pond, watched lots of your videos, Drip filter for coffee is a must too lol!

So happy to see people are plugged into so many of the same channels! Electroboom, bigclive, techmoan, Ave

I misread the O/OFF circuit breaker marks as "oof" and I'm like "Yes circuit breaker, that would be an oof"

Such behind scenes content you're looking at the floor. This may be my favourite video of yours that I've seen. It's not what I expected, but it was a wonderful journey :)

Ein sehr unterhaltsames Bonusvideo! Vielen Dank :)

When Technology Connections meets ElectroBOOM. Just need a *FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER*

Damn didn’t know this was a collab with ElectroBoom

Chinese wiring is usually random. They like when their customers release the magic smoke

This is almost better than the show. Need more please!

Old wiring standards in the UK is Red - Hot, Black - Neutral. Would've worked for me. 🤣

Dude it worked fine. You just wired it for the secret function: touch to turn off the breaker. XD

Thankfully through the magic of buying two, you were able to test again!

So, let me get this straight: Hot is tied to the lamp, so the contact in the socket is always hot, and the NEUTRAL is switched? I would imagine if you used a polarized plug and reversed it so hot was on black (and therefore switched), it should still work, and it should be safer as well. (Lamp sockets are still a major gap in making electrical appliances safe for people with curious fingers!)

As you had it when it exploded, the electronics were being powered in series with the bulb and the triac would short the two mains wires together. Remember, it isn't that he flipped the hot and neutral, because being an AC circuit which wire is hot and which is neutral Does Not Matter. You can flip your mains cord and the bulb cord around all you like, the circuit will work the same. What mattered was getting the electronics wired across the mains (neutral be damned) and the bulb in series with the triac (lamp fixture be damned), nothing more...which you did not do the first time around ;-) So, to break it down with the board, the white wire runs to the triac, the red wire runs to the electronics, and the black wire runs to both the triac and the electronics. If you want the black wire to mean HOT, then so be it: run Black to HOT, Red to Mains Neutral and the Neutral of the Bulb, then White to the Hot of the Bulb. It will work just fine.

"Two is one and one is none." strikes again.

Wiring colors follow regional/nation guidelines, unless of course it's a "harmonized" color code. Which uses brown for line (hot, come on, let's get with the lingo) blue for neutral and a green wire with a yellow stripe for ground. In the USA black, red, and blue are all LINE wires for 120/208V. But when you step up to the magic 277/408V it goes festive with brown, orange, and yellow for LINE and grey for neutral. But great video! As an electrical engineer I do a fair amount of work in the lab at work. And every so often someone lets the smoke out, which is always exciting! Especially if it's a new hire :-)

Your video was both funny and interesting.. even better, I spent an hour reading the comments here. Very interesting. Since the switch was chinese made I'd have guessed that red was live and black was neutral (as other posters' have said, similar to DC wiring colours for +ve and -ve) just because they most likely market those switches worldwide. However I'd still have looked at the details on the package - be thankful you got those. Most of the time in Australia we dont get the wiring section since you're not supposed to tinker with electrics (supposed to call a licensed electrican or appliance repairer). However some of us tinker lol.

I legit jumped when that triac exploded.

As an Australian where Red = Hot and Black = Neutral 'Whats ya issue mate?'

After being distracted and frustrated by needing to find a working bulb, you forgot your nervousness and just tap tapped away. This can be great for irrational fears, but deadly for well founded ones.

The colour code makes perfect sense for Australia as we use red for active, black for neutral and white as an alternate phase or switched active.

1:54 the exact moment when he was invaded by the soul of ElectroBOOM

This is hilarious as every time I hear "this color scheme is so stupid", I hear my own when realizing the colors code used in USA make no sense at all. Who in their right mind would use black for their hot lead? It's USA-vs-the-world again... (we can discuss separately the fact that a product sold in a specific country should adhere to that country's color code, no matter how nonsensical it is).

"black is hot in north america" Because red-hot and white-hot wasnt obvious enough?

"Click... that thing that's only visible on some people's screens" *madly clicks the random light bulb he pointed at*

Welcome to the UK’s historic wiring colours :) - glad you are okay.

What's the philips hue WIFI standby power consumption vs the touch lamp standby current consumption?

I had a similar experience when I was replacing a missing molex power connector on a hard drive. I bought an extension cable from Radio Shack, with male connector on one side and female on the other, with the intention of cutting it and discarding the male half. I examined the controller schematic and soldered the red wire to 5V and the yellow wire to 12V and the two black wires to ground. Connected to the power supply and POP with blue smoke! Turns out because it was an extension, the manufacturer didn’t bother aligning the colors to the pins in the conventional way and I sent 12V down the 5V channel and lost the most expensive and highest capacity drive I’d ever bought.

AC Color codes are not the same as DC color codes, and individual manufacturers can use whatever colors they choose internally. It is ALWAYS up to the technician, to do the research prior to making electrical connections. I'm really glad you weren't injured in your discovery. It was quite entertaining. 👍😃👍

*POP* and then immediately followed by laughter. Yeah, that's about how I would feel if that happened with me. Glad to know you're just the same.

"I have no idea what's going on with the audio here" Definitely ghosts

I love the magic of buying two of everything.

Would love to see more DIY down and dirty content from you. You have such a great way of explaining things and I have always enjoyed your channel. But if there was a bit more DIY involved that would just be the icing on the cake!

1:56 Ah yes, the welcoming sound of someone to the world of electronics.

TC: "The magic of buying two." HE'S A WITCH!

As an (apprentice) electrician, it makes a lot of sense; it is normal practice of most electricians to reverse the black and white when a wire is running from a single-pole switch to a non-polarized (ie. won't blow up if you have the black on a different screw) light fixture (such as the very light fixture shown in this video). If I'm not mistaken, this is so that electricians can see at a glance what is a switch leg (ie. ONLY goes to the light and back) and what is the feed (or whatever other connections that may be hot). If this device is meant to replace an actual light switch (ie. install a white blank plate, and wire it so that the blank plate becomes the light switch), then I can see why they did it. WITH THAT SAID... I have NEVER seen this kind of wiring in any lamp I've ever seen; it is either black/white, gold/white (in the case of lamp cord), black/black with white stripes, or no color at all (ie. ye ol' simple light fixture that doesn't care what way the plug goes in). In THAT respect, I completely agree with you. I'm just saying that I think I understand the *why*. Not that it makes any sense as a lamp retrofit. Also one of the reasons why I quadruple-check ANY electronic light/fan installation instructions (particularly those ceiling fans with remote controls).

US 120/208/240 standard is Black for phase 1, red for phase 2, blue for phase 3, white for neutral, and green/bare for ground. It is always important to consult wiring diagrams and verify the pre-existing installation however. Gotta love having an old house where somewhere in the walls the black and white wires got switched and you have a whole wall of reverse polarity plugs that like to fry some electronics, all because someone hooked the sockets up correct to color without checking what was actually hot and neutral.

With respect to the polarized plug, there isn't' any ground reference, so it would have behaved the same with reversed polarity.

Red = live, black = neutral sounds normal to me ;) Of course NOW the unified European wire colours changed Live 1/2/3 from RED/Yellow/Blue to Brown/Grey/BLACK, and neutral from BLACK to BLUE.

As a guy who routinely wires up italian espresso machine to American electrical motors, I felt that "pop" in my stomach, also diagnosed the issue immediately.

😲 as a newbie to RC cars and trucks electrics, one of the first lessons I learnt about chinese electrics is to NEVER assume you know what your doing! I always approach such things as a newbie. 😃

RFLMAO I've seen TRIACs blow up before, but separating like that, awesome sight :)

At least you just broke something and didn’t shock yourself.

Man, I was just watching ElectroBoom's traffic light video, but you just gave a real boom!

I love your videos, always a touch of anarchy; always make me laugh.