EEVBlog #425 - Mailbag

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[Rowdyeh]

Hi David, here's a quick excerpt from Wikipedia about the "Jet d'Eau" The fountain on Lake Geneva in Switzerland.
"Five hundred litres (132 gallons) of water per second are jetted to an altitude of 140 metres (459 feet) by two 500 kW pumps, operating at 2, 400 V, consuming over one megawatt of electricity. The water leaves the nozzle at a speed of 200 km/h (124 mph). When it is in operation, at any given moment there are about 7, 000 litres (1849 gallons) of water in the air."

[DarkInsanePyro]

That timer tear-down brought back some good memories from many years ago. We had this timer that was actually well designed. Instead of pins for when it should be on the pins represented events, one pin to turn the the switch on (mechanical latching switch) and another 'event' to turn the switch off. This allowed an override of both on and off. I thought it was quite well designed! Nothing like remembering some tear-downs from childhood. =)

[kfishy]

Dave raging about the proprietary connector made my day. :D

[dcelctrl]

I think its time for the "Mailbag Marathon"
All Dave, All Mailbag, All Day! With the ubiquitous mini-teardowns throughout!

Thanks for the blog Dave.

More Mailbag! More Mailbag! More Mailbag! More Mailbag! More Mailbag! More Mailbag! More Mailbag! More Mailbag! More Mailbag!

[camerongray]

Yeah, All modern UK sockets use that shutter, they are really good - feel very safe and solid to use!

[jemmrich]

The live light project is really cool, I think I might take a stab at building this, really love the viewing experience presented in the videos. +1 to Henri

[WooShell]

Those "welded" braided wires in the timer plug send a cold shiver down my spine. I've seen those welds fail in so many desastrous ways, I wouldn't touch anything like that without putting a glob of solder over it.

[snipersquad]

Me also from Swansea in Wales can confirm that all plug sockets in the UK have that red sliding safety thing inside them to stop kids putting their fingers into the live terminals.

[bdm]

In response to the "Amir the Great" letter, the stamp is for the Chinese New Year. It is the year of the snake.

Great show by the way. I know very little about electronics but find your show completely fascinating! Thank you!

[Minifig]

That shutter on the socket is part of a requirement on all UK sockets. We're about the only country in the world with decent, safe, and standardized household sockets! :D

[OvhanDevos]

Im envious of that calendar =) those images are beautiful.

[Monkeh]

The fuses are only required due to our unusual supply circuits. The rectangular pins may be large, but the contact area is actually very small. A good quality, brand new socket and plug combination can handle 13A. Now, give it five years of usage, and 10A is pushing your luck.

[StabilizeStudios]

That longer ground pin mechanism is the standard here in the UK. I have never seen a socket without it.

[demoniack]

Italian plugs are half-insulated as well, and we have a double 10/16A standard fro them.

I consider it a good thing they unplug if pulled.
If you trip on the cable, you don't risk destroying the appliance, it just unplugs.
UK schuko plugs also are twice as bulky.

I like the fact UK plugs have a fixed pin design though, in ours neutral and live can be swapped just by rotating the plug 180 degrees.

[dumbo]

Livelightproject is down. The domain is available for purchase. Anybody know if there is anywhere to get a kit?

[Monkeh]

Lack of pain does not equate to lack of danger. And our plugs are designed the way they are for a very good reason. You might research them a bit.

[gamershadow]

EEVblog What happened to the tear-down of the pacemakers? I'm very interested in it and didn't see it anywhere. 

[chronicleone]

6:10 - 9:45 the LED live light is better then three quarters of the stuff I saw in CES this year.

[Doompro]

I also hate proprietary DC connectors, because when they fail, getting a replacement is unlikely and the device often dies with the connector.

[Nordic_Mechanic]

our 120V plugs have such short pins it's impossible to accidently put your fingers on the contact before it's disconnected. You really need to try hard. Plus they are small so it makes hooking things up easier :)
But the smallness of the 120 plugs are compensated by the bulk of the 240 plugs. (granted 240 is 30 amp min here)