I used to come just for the electronics (Clive is better than I am at the electronics) but now I just hang around for that lovely accent and beautiful voice. He's like a great storybook narrator - maybe he missed his vocation?

Water in cables. I've experienced that. During a few weeks of rainy weather, my router suddenly died. I went to take it off the wall and water dripped out of it. Since I live with family, I thought one of the kids had been messing with it and somehow spilled water on it. (Don't underestimate the power of the dark si... I mean kids). They are creatively and brilliantly destructive) So I bought a new router, and forbade the kids from even thinking about it. (Again, their existence depends on the destruction of expensive things. Even their thoughts are disastrous) A few days later I check the router and I step in a wet spot. I was about to unleash some biblical apocalyptic rage and hellfire upon the miniature humanoid demons, when I came to thr realization that it was now mounted too high for them to reach. So I disconnect the router and leave the cables hang there. I take it and use air to blow the water out in hopes that it is not yet damaged. I come back to soak up the water and I see a drip hit the floor. And another,, and another. ... ... One ethernet cable was dripping water about a drop every 5 seconds or so. The cable was dry. But it was one that was routed outside of the house, up to the second floor and into a window for a computer upstairs. The rain was getting into the cable from a break in the jacket and by capillary action was flowing down and then back up into the router. New cable, routed through some unused ducting and to the room stopped the water ingress. And another new router since the previous one did die a few days later. It wasn't the kids at all, but I still don't trust them.... Those little undeveloped appendages, and their wicked schemes of the destruction of anything they encounter... Probably out there doing rain-dances and shit, anyway...

I like how the photos of the circuits look 3D on KZfaq. it's like you've somehow found giant versions of components.

9:22 Who else thought for a second Clive was going to probe the photo?

buying stuff to take apart. I belong to that Guild.

As you said - water can go along cables. I was very surprised to see water coming out of the bottom of a telephone cable during a rainstorm. At first I assumed it was getting in along the outside of the cable, but when I looked carefully it was definitely coming out of it. Not exactly like a tap, but enough to do damage to the floor boards. The engineer wouldn't believe me - but he did renew the cable and he fitted a new junction box at the top. I am sure that was where the rain got in.

In the mid 80's ,3 days after I was married I moved 1200 and got my 2 full time as a electrician apprentice and ended up working with my dad who at that time had been in the trade for over 20 years and the first time we dealt with weather proof boxes he showed me to tear a quarter inch tear in the gasket where the bottom screw is. He said they always fill up with water so always put in a drain... lol . He was right every service call I went on that had a weather proof box with a intact gasket would be full of water.

Clive: Hello Ebay seller from a far off land, I'd like to buy this! Ebay Seller: Hope you enjoy your product. Clive: Yes, I will! I'm going to torture it and open it's little case to capture its soul!

I had water come down the TV aerial coax and write off a Philips V2000 VCR many moons ago. It actually filled the lower metal tray - imagine my surprise as I lifted up the VCR! Since then, I always use a moulded patch cable in-line with the aerial which will stop water making it all the way into valued stuff.

I like low glare outdoor lighting like this, it provides light where it's needed and helps to reduce light pollution. I wonder how many of these will fill up with water when used outside. I think I'd want drain holes in the bottom of the clear cover, though that might make the live parts a bit exposed, someone might poke a paperclip in there!

Upon seeing the preview i actually thought it's a light for indoor use like the ones put under beds for floor lighting at some mid-range hotels.

Another great vid, always a treat to see cool lights to give me ideas of what I should put in the garden, definitely interested in something like this

Fitted six of these lights in the garden during the summer... had to replace every one of them under the warranty as the seals weren't doing their job. Cable entry is from the rear, inline with (and no stress on) the seal. They look great when they work :)

Was watching your channel while doing a soldering project and seen this came up. Anyways I just wanted to thank you man your channel has so much knowledge and I'm just getting into soldering more than a few caps and wires to old consoles and such. You teach in such a simple and understandable way

Interesting design. I like how the cable comes in through the back/side like that; it theoretically should help if the light was mounted either facing down or up.

You never cease to impress me.

It looks like an interesting candidate for a project box!

this channel's so flicking cool dissecting gadgets learning stuff dank

I have very similar lights but lower profile, sold by TLC as step lights. They've been in use now for 3 years with no failures, mounted on the walls of our driveway.

She's a lovely little fitting. Must admit Clive I've repaired a few led drivers where they all had to match a certain style.

Weatherproof, Waterproof, = Furphies... Path lighting sounds like a great idear ... with low voltage!

Nice little fitting, I can see these being used for both indoor and outoor purposes. They'd be fine for lighting things outside, as well as corridoors inside. They also look to be of good quality. Just a shame that most LEDs nowadays are coming as disposable fittings, that are ultimately destined for e-waste at the end of their lifespan.

Already thinking this would make a useful up-light in suitable circumstances. Air dielectric coax cable is a swine for letting water in. It was common some years ago for a new aerial installation to act as a conduit for rainwater to seep down into the back of the telly, sometimes with interesting results.

👍 retro fit with RGB (slow rotation) look cool👍

Love your videos!!

Honestly something like this would benefit from having say a custom PCB made, that would convert them to low voltage. Then you can easily replace them as they burn out if need be.

A low voltage version of that thing should be easy enough to find. Garden lighting in the US is almost always 12VAC.

You should design your own pcb and build it so you have a spare and it would be interesting for us to watch you install the components on it

If they fail so often you have to invent your own quick-change system, then I wouldn't want them in the first place! It would be nice to see a version that used LED type 12v festoon bulbs for easier repair, though. But they probably don't expect (or design) the power supply to really outlast the LEDs anyway....

Hi Clive, Hack that case... it's crying out to be hacked into a battery powered light ( with your own custom board ). bolt it to a double blanking plate and place batteries ( 18650's) inside a ceramic back box. small charger board for recharging. You get the idea... best regards Simon

That warning is common for a line-powered device. I don't see that ever going away.

I'm using a similar lamp, mounted upside down close to the roof (~25 cm) for ambient lightning in my "office".

Clive you should take a few of the lights and mod with Near UV lights with filters so that only things that have optical brightness or the correct colors in them will light up on the path way during Halloween

I've got a variant of these, can't recall the brand. 6 of them in use in my house (110v), not a single failure since buying them 12 years ago. Even the one that the puppy used in teething.

New requirement for politicians, posting their browser history on the ballot. BigClive 👍🏻

To waterproof your outdoor cables: 1. Hold the conductors with vice-grip pliers. 2. Slide the jacket away a short distance. 3. Remove vice-grips. 4. Put on disposable gloves. 5. Apply CLEAR Gorilla Glue to the wires and fillers then manipulate to assure complete coverage. 6. Slide jacket back to original position.

I'd probably sand down the lens on the inside, so it's more diffused. Then I'd rip out the PCB and superglue in a lamp holder for a 12v 5w festoon bulb (often used for car license plate illumination). Then I'd power all of them with a safe 12v transformer located indoors somewhere. This way you wouldn't have to have mains cables running outside, you'd get the better quality of light, and the lamps would be replacable. If you used osram ultralife lamps, they'd probably last many years without needing a replacement anyway.

Hi Clive I’ve followed you for years, I’ve taken things apart since I was a kid to see how they work. But this last year my power brick for the Xbox computer broke and a new 1 was £90 , because of times atm and money I decided to open it and found 3 capacitors bulging... I ordered them from Amazon and bought a solder iron ( had trouble with that at first) seemed too hot and the solder ran off of it like rain water on a polished car, but I persevered ( it’s a Draper iron that glows red hot if you turn the lights out) then after that the tv started playing up , to start with was making a high pitched sound, then after a few weeks to a month the screen would be “weird “ until a video or whatever started playing, then it got to a point where the classic giving it a “tap” to work would take place after a time that wouldn’t work but if you kept trying it would turn on after about 7 pm ( presume the temperature made a difference) .. after about a week of that it gave up.. we have no money so I took it apart and found 11 capacitors bulging.. I’ve replaced them at the cost of about £6. I stood back and plugged it In and it’s all fine and has been for a couple of months now . Sorry for the long story there.. I’d like to know if there’s a way to contact you , cause I have a project for my little girl but the colour lights and things she wants I’m not sure without playing around with leds I can do .. Kind regards Carl

Looking at the schematic, you could remove 1 of the 4 resistors, raising the resistance from 50 ohms to 66.7 ohms which would decrease the light a bit but increase the longevity of the leds a bit of you could manage with a bit less light. Love your channel. Take care. Tootles... Wade

Perhaps the "top" wire position would be for mounting sideways to illuminate steps?

Clive, you often refer to the ‘Power Factor’.. please can you do a video explaining what you mean ? Ta V much.. love the channel . You got a mention on a video I watched on John AudioTech channel earlier.

I ponder this seeing some of thoe fancy led acrylic twisty type pendants etc , no way you could repair those easily if they pack up, and as for the price !!

The LEDs look like mischievous cats

Honestly, waterproof or not, the water should leak out the back where the gland is. Seems actually pretty nice! If it were available in 120V, I'd buy them.

Regarding the "Don't touch PCB after connecting power" warning - CPC are the consumer / retail arm of Farnell. Jokes about qualifications aside, they have to assume they are selling products to random people in the street who are unqualified and unskilled. Given the likelihood of condensation, I wouldn't want one of these outside without some sort of guard earth. Good luck getting a replacement circuit board.

Heck, if permitted, I'd probably put it on a junction box with blank plate even outdoors, or you'll have an awkward shaped shadow on your siding when they go out of production.

Water ingress... Figure: Industrial presssure transmitter with atex housing (the big ones with display), mounted on an area with generous roof, with a propperly crimp atex cable glans, the cable also had it's "drip loop" in place. And when it failed it was full of water, we were kinda puzzled until we found a smallish 2~3cm rip on the wire's external jacket, arround 25~30m on an exterior cable tray connecting to the "pcl room"...

And thanks for the subtitles for those of who (can barely) speak American English (but I do speak cat and dog).

Love the dissection of products, have learned a lot - I think... Have you ever done / considered doing the same to outdoor Christmas decoration lights , snowflake effect etc...?

I think it is worth it for the enclosure. I would take out that LED board and replace with a piece of LED strip and run it at 24V DC

CBB22 cap. is rated for DC voltage. A higher rated voltage, e.g. 630V or more, should be used in an 220VAC circuit.

The case looks great...I would like to use just the case to make some low voltage (12VDC) path lights out of them :)

Another interesting item from China via Pro-elec via CPC:-)

I wonder if these could be integrated with the dusk sensor you reviewed a couple weeks ago and maybe a dimmer slide? That way you could have them come on automatically but also trim the brightness to make them comfortable as night lights in the hall or stairwell?

well this ought to clear out that inventory :-) ...I'd go for 120V iterations!

One of these days, Clive is going to measure the resistance of something on the picture of the circuit board, rather than on the actual circuit board. 🤔 Just because it’s so tempting (and photo-realistic)!

most of my old DJ Equipment came from CPC lol

Do they do a low voltage version ?

In the schematic varistor has neutral side leg at the wrong side of a dropper capacitor._

I am only a DIY guy myself, however have done a fair few fixes, from my experience with out door electric one of the problems can be condensation, the bigger the unit and hotter it gets the worse it will be, i always look at ducks necks on a job and it scares me when its people like SKY or BT who have run a lead from the gutter to 2 feet above the ground and not bothered.

maybe ill make my own pcbs for this

You'd be surprised how much you have to tell electricians. I used to work in the oil field and among other things provided technical support for our instrumentation and sensors on oil tanks and oil pumps. I quite often had to talk the field electricians(Actual journeymen electricians) how to use multi-meters to test for continuity and current sensing through 4-20 mA sensors.

Can't see these things lasting that long in Australian weather, the heat will kill it. When installing an antenna, I put a loop in the coax of around 100mm (the tightest loop the coax would allow). I've had no problems with water ingress. Another solution is to put a drip ring on the cable by using a cable tie.

Bearing in mind what it was like removing the cover when its not on the wall, once it has been mounted and the cover snapped back on, what are the chances of actually removing it again without damage?

The case is very nice, could you use it for another project or build a better light in it that is more durable or serviceable?

Have larger version on the patio.... Badly installed and leak a load...replaced about 1/2 of them within 1 year...

" 50 OHM's "...A small housing estate.

I sometimes wonder why the 'breathing' problem of moisture ingress isn't avoided by the incorporation of a small membrane in the housing to allow for expansion and contraction of the eclosed air. Simple and cheap to implement surely?

perhaps it is water proof but not moisture proof so as humidity enters it condenses with temperature drop to water over and over till the thing is about filled. then the waterproofing holds the water inside.

There are two other versions, slightly larger and with higher output.

Was wondering, for a path outside would it be better to run full mains voltage out through the garden and drop voltage at every liight branch or just run a low voltage feeder circuit that connected to mains inside the house?

Just watched an ElectroBoom video (for the first time i think). You were mentioned in it, i can't believe the amount of times he just got an electric shock in one video. Lol. It was hilarious funny. oops. It was funny. He was visiting the UK and testing out the UK plugs and sockets. (As you do)

Yes but they need one of Daves (EEV Blog) "Solar roadways" to power them lol.

Just out of curiosity... In the IoM are you considered UK, or somewhat EU affiliated for Customs purposes? Just wondering as to your future One Hung Lo acquisitions...? Luxembourg is watching!

I wonder if somebody at CPC watches this channel?

The case looks like some manky 1970s hotel room light Its just missing a wood effect sticker around the edge 😂

Ah, I have a 3 LED bike light and one of the LEDs is always lit, albeit very dimly. It draws so little current that the two CR2032s powering the light will last the winter. From this video I think I can assume the LED is fed by a faulty resistor, or it's shorted. I'll take look now I know what to look for

i bet these lights slow those kids down running from the swimming pool. Lol

Can you get one of does wallplates with leds to check it? I seen a lot of people complaining of burning and fire hazard but i can't find any reference to the circuit the device is using

Something that confuses me about this lamp is the fact they had so much space in that box to allow for squeezing in some LED tape of one's own supply with a certain, standardized width. With the fact they could had just made it so the strip was press-fitted using push-pad contacts, it would had allowed for a smaller board and cheaper construction if it were sold without the light, since people have to open it for poking around inside anyway and this seems aimed at "Prosumer" use.

Talking of cables and water... It worse than just rain water getting in at the top of a cable run. If you leave a rubber cable outside long enough, eventually the rubber will start to absorb moisture. Capillary acton will cause the water to run along the length of the cable. If it does not find an exit (say the ends are sealed) when you cut into it, the water will come out under pressure like a little hose pipe! And yes, you have to try to use every trick in the book to try to keep water out, or at least, arrange for it to drip/flow down away from the electrical/electronics to the bottom of the case and then out a drain hole. This includes rain/water traps, bringing cables into the bottom of enclosures and making sure the outer sheath is cut off just above the bottom of the box, but not too far up. And where possible having air vent holes to reduce the likelihood of the day/night heat/cold cycle causing condensation to build up. Co-ax is definitely a contender (after conduit) for being an effective hose pipe, but telecoms cables, network cables and any other where there is an air gap can also cause problems. The best laugh is when you come across waterproof/weatherproof light fittings mounted in such a way that they become baths, and fill up with water until eventually either the RCD trips out or the conductors corrode away causing a failure.

large Clive, the warning isn't for electricians, it's for insurance companies (they know about amateurs).

Could you drill a tiny hole in that clear plastic cover& mount it so it drains if water does get in. I've done that in the past & used a snippet of candle wick to stop spiders getting in but allowing water to drip out. Sounds counterintuitive to drill a hole but if water does trickle in down the cable it helps to let it out before it gets deep enough to short anything important.

Now you have to buy spare light fittings, not just bulbs.

6:00 images of the sucker board

You can waterproof anything with enough silicone RTV.

Is it possible to underdrive those leds to prolong the life of them?

Who spotted the mistake in the circuit diagram? VR1 Metal Oxide Resistor went to neutral before the capacitor and resistor, not after them. :-)

Tbh I’d lower the big cap value a bit to be more forgiving to the leds

Could be modified to use a 5v COB by the looks of it, not a bad looking enclosure.

The warning is probably due to the "sue for everything" that is popular in the US. And for people without understanding electricity - "Just an LED that can't harm one, cn it?"

I wonder how easy it is to get the cover off once it is screwed to the wall??

If you install this commercially, you would be well advised to buy 2 of each as a spare, and sell them for 30 bucks per light instead of 4, so that you'll have some earnings left when you have had to replace most of them during that first year ;-)

Hmm ... this is not a aluminium PCB. Normally the 1,3W have to spread over the whole surface. This FR4 PCB have only some cooper tracks on the surface. 0,1W per little LED ... I think the got pretty hot. :-/

Why in the schematic is the bridge rectifier always so big?

R3 and R4 are the opposite orientation of R5 and R6, how do you suppose that happened? Obviously it's not handmade, maybe there is a reel of those 200 ohm on each side of the pick and place and this board is from the center of the panel so it's taking half from each side. Any ideas?

0:07 I thought you said I want to take it to bed.

10:49, do you know mehdi from electroboom?

👍

To push service forward: you know that the designer wants to get most out of these LED's, so they push the current. Why don't you measure the current, and lower it by (e.g.) taking away one of the four 200Ω resistors, making its total 66.6Ω. Gets you a few years more use out of it. In the old filament days that was not done, but one of the good things about LED is the colour doesn't change with changing power, only the intensity.