It turns out that the sets of battery operated fairy lights at Poundland have an extra feature not mentioned on the packaging. The way it's been implemented is "economic" but still seems OK.
I also used a couple of 10 ohm quarter watt resistors to convert a 120 LED string for USB use. The current is about 100mA which is quite bright and high enough to keep most "intelligent" USB powerbanks awake. This USB mod will work for most parallel LED strings that don't have the two-wire multi-channel effects (two channels relying on polarity reversal).
For higher intensity you could use a single 10 ohm resistor, but it would need to be rated at about 1W to keep cool. Likewise you could get longer run time at lower intensity by using higher resistor values noting that if the current is too low some powerbanks will switch themselves off. Not a problem with a cheap simple powerbank or a mains USB adapter.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
I also used a couple of 10 ohm quarter watt resistors to convert a 120 LED string for USB use. The current is about 100mA which is quite bright and high enough to keep most "intelligent" USB powerbanks awake. This USB mod will work for most parallel LED strings that don't have the two-wire multi-channel effects (two channels relying on polarity reversal).
For higher intensity you could use a single 10 ohm resistor, but it would need to be rated at about 1W to keep cool. Likewise you could get longer run time at lower intensity by using higher resistor values noting that if the current is too low some powerbanks will switch themselves off. Not a problem with a cheap simple powerbank or a mains USB adapter.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
Oh, Clive, the PICs I've worked with often have compensation registers for the internal oscillator. You can hook the A/D to the battery (using something like a 1.5V reference generator) and as the voltage goes down relative to the 1.5V reference, you can increase the oscillator trim. I know this exists on the PIC32MX because I've used it quite a bit. And the lowest-end PIC32MX110F016B is under $3 in single quantity. I pretty rarely use the lower-end PICs anymore because the 32MX line has so many awesome features and great peripherals, and it comes in a huge range of sizes and speeds. Anyway, back to watching the video 😀
Hi Clive!!!! Love the channel! What temp do you typically run your soldering iron at? Thank you…
Nice video very informative. I have a question though, I have a few of these lighted Christmas pieces that I have gotten from different stores Amazon ,Wal-mart where they have lights built in that flash all the time, have you ever made a video on how to fix these, or in my case, stop the lights from flashing to where they are steady on?
i can't find where to buy in the U.S.? can you provide a link please?
A few questions if don't mind. Can you point me towards where to get the soldiering kit, heat gun and who does usb Christmas decs. Is it just pound land? Thank you
USB
Amazing how many products for sale in the U.S. have Black as Positive and White as Negative. Makes one wonder.
The resistor is probably series with led- and 2 top left-most pins are probably shorted
Anyone ID'd the IC in one of these? Mines stopped turning off but everything tests good.
Stay with the shiny photos, the matte ones just lack something. Looks like a manual pic, the glossies have more detail.
Huh I’ve got the exact same power bank but it always heats up on the usb plug-in and started burning the table under it . Still in a drawer somewhere battery flat
I have a question about a pool table light. It has 5 glass bulbs with leds in them the leds are burnt. I can get them out of the bulbs. I would like to change them to RGB lighting and I was wondering if your mini rgb kit would do for that project. I can send you pictures of the light if it helps.
Easy log trick; 32768 = 2^15, if you calculate log(32768)/log(2) you get 15. Handy trick!
These last 2 videos have focus problems at the start, hoping you know of this so you can take corrective action (like at least yelling at the camera LOL)
I like the timer and some of the other functions supplied on some of these strings. And I want them to run from Thanksgiving to New Years or 12th night (Jan. 6th). I tend to simply add a standard diode between the USB supply and the circuit. 5.1v less 0.6v is perfect. The good news is – since the voltage stays constant, the timer drift is reduced and the LEDs stay bright. The bad news is – some power banks shut off if you don't draw enough current. My latest single cell banks shut off at around 30ma.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! May Each day be worse than the Next. (It's a good thing.)
I did this but by stringing three of the 50 multicolour sets together, and keeping the microcontroller. Unfortunately, whilst the greens and blues were bright, the reds and yellows/oranges were dim. Removing the resistors didn't help. On the plus side, the flash functionality still works wonderfully, and it's still somewhat beautiful, especially as I took the to ensure that the order of the colours was maintained.
For anyone trying this, use three sets of warm white (It'd work better). Remove the end lead and first LED to form a string of soldered and shrink-wrapped LEDs, with a single battery box at the end. Remove the metal terminals from the box, and drill a hole at the bottom (or melt your way through with a nail heated on top of the stove). Remove the battery separators either with a Dremel, or by cutting them out with snips and cleaning them up with a chisel. Feed through a stripped USB cable and solder it to the microcontroller (black to where the metal negative was, red to where the positive wire was. Add strain relief with hot glue, and screw the box back together.
Voila!