Clive, you are quite right about an early encounter with electricity leading to a career. At age 8 I tried connecting a torch bulb to the mains. Our house did not have modern wiring, instead we had 5A 2-pin sockets (no shutters). At night I placed a screw in each hole and attempted to place the small bulb between them with the expected result. My muscles spasmed and threw me away from it. Shaking, I retreated to bed and eventually slept. Later my father discovered the screws and went bonkers. Soon after our house was wired with safe sockets. A career of (so far) 55 years in electronics followed.

@1d10tcannotmakeusername

2 жыл бұрын

I touched a light bulb socket when I was around 4, it didn't hurt that much, just a slight burning, mostly a sort of oscillating, "cold" feeling almost like sticking your finger in front of a jet of water from one of those power wash adapters for a garden hose, could that have caused my interest in electronics

never laughed so much; to paraphrase "how many kids ended up going on to careers in electrical engineering after the awe of being blown across a room after poking knitting needles into a socket" yes I'm one and many more of my students were too!

@bigclivedotcom

7 жыл бұрын

This comments section is testimony that a violent electrical moment has launched many electrical careers.

@playereric7538

5 жыл бұрын

Add me to the list. Also because my grandfather was a electrician

@simonchristensen8189

5 жыл бұрын

Also sign me up on that list :-) But after my fair bit of electric shocks I moved on to the IT industry.

@llary

5 жыл бұрын

@man0z my condolonces on your electrocution.

@rogerheathcote3062

5 жыл бұрын

@@bigclivedotcom I think we may be in danger of getting our causality the wrong way round here!

We don't have enough electricians! Quick! Electrocute the children!

@ChrisMenge

7 жыл бұрын

SHOCK the children, electrocuting leaves them useless.

@dimitar4y

7 жыл бұрын

Well now, fertilizer isn't THAT useless... :'D

@OAleathaO

7 жыл бұрын

Don't you know that it's "shock the monkey", not "shock the children." At least according to Peter Gabriel. LOL

@grendelum

6 жыл бұрын

The Catholic Church is having recruitment problems lately... what childhood trauma causes one to become a priest?

@imaencuru

6 жыл бұрын

If you touch holy water and fly across the room

Nice one Clive. When I was a kid my Dad took my transformer away from my Scalextric set as a punishment, so I wired it directly into the mains blew myself across the room when I pulled the trigger, had to chisel the car remains from the track with a screwdriver, and blew the mains fuse for the whole street. My punishment was quite severe for that. I'm an area technician for a major electrical goods manufacturer now. So your theory has a point. Keep up the good work. Regards. Stray.

@rubusroo68

7 жыл бұрын

you are lucky sir, when I was 7 i was arsing about on this demolition site fiddling with the wires etc left behind & unbeknownst to me, it was still live 240v ac.. I was in hospital for 2 weeks with severe burns. We live to tell the tale though & that's what matters.

@roy027

6 жыл бұрын

63Straycat i

@davidlr97

6 жыл бұрын

I just realised I've been reading his username as "Big C Live dot com" and the thought that it was "Big Clive dot com" never occurred to me lol

@johnsalmons9222

5 жыл бұрын

@@johncoops6897 Plenty of times I have seen the street fuse (to that premises) or the service head fuse blow from a simple fault on an individual cct within the premises. Fuses wear out (see clives fuse vid) but it is unlikely to remove power to the whole street as houses are on alternate phases although it is not inconceivable that a fuse at the local transformer was taken out

@johnsalmons9222

5 жыл бұрын

​@@johncoops6897 Go back to college

When I was young - probably 7 or 8 - I had a little battery-powered electric motor. It spun nicely off of a 9V battery...so..you guessed it...into the wall outlet the two wires went. KA BOOM! Sparks and smoke...and the motor was blown into at least two pieces. And today...I'm an electro-mechanical engineer... :)

@nopparuj

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you i got it. I should blow something up so i can be an electrician.

@xluumu

5 жыл бұрын

I did the exact same thing with my friend as a child. A loud bang and a burned carpet was the end result.

@aaronbrandenburg2441

5 жыл бұрын

Interesting story here when I was a kid I was making an electromagnet doorbell wire a 6 volt battery and a nail or screw or bolt as the core been so long I can't remember. I was not stupid enough the hook this into the 110 volts AC. However one of the relatives that happened to be staying with me when are you doing this was so inclined to do so. As I remember he went into to the garage found a line cord with nothing on the end already stripped proceeded to connect them to the two wires of the electromagnet. And then proceeded to plug in to a nearby Outlet. At that time a few moments before my parents had pulled into the garage where are the electrical panel laws at that time it was all fuses as soon based glass fuses. AKA plug fuses. And they actually saw the flash from the fuse when it blew on a short circuit no real big bang when it was plugged in but that was enough excitement. I never trusted that personal for electricity again. Another time we had something to happen like that except this was worse. My dad was trusting the Christmas lights upstairs I happened to be in my shop which was also the utility room of our house. And the next thing I knew was heard somebody yell it's on fire and simultaneously hearing the breaker trip for that circuit needless to say hi Grandma fire extinguisher out of the workshop. What had happened is it was not the lights that were no good it was the outlet was improperly installed to small outlet box J box and other words and it had shorted when I plugged it in. Due to contacting the Box. Another thing that happened in the same house when I was there by myself vacuuming the vacuum start playing up almost like there's a problem with the electrical voltage however the lights were not flicker or any other signs of weird things happening obviously a I shut it off and then I happened to smell smoke. No it was not coming from the cord order plug vacuum it was coming from the Outlet itself. I yanked the cord and plug out and then grabbed the CO2 fire extinguisher I had in my shop. If I had not have CO2 it could have been really bad. And later on I did change out the outlet I did dismantle it to see where it happened somehow there's metal bridge between hot and neutral. But this day I cannot explain what exactly caused it or what that piece of metal even was It looks like it didn't belong in there in the first place.

@CatNolara

5 жыл бұрын

Lol I did the same xD Now I'm an engineer

@rikka0_059

5 жыл бұрын

I did similar things except i realized that it may blow up, so i got around 15 of them and put them in series... Powered from rectified 240v...

I still do not trust USB mains sockets. After using one at my friends house and literally having a socket get blown out of its casing in the wall when I plugged my phone in.

@paulgascoigne5343

7 жыл бұрын

A Person neither do I. it's putting all your eggs in one basket and I don't fancy trying to find a screwdriver whilst the socket sets on fire, at least a dodgy charger you can throw out the window. still, this one doesn't seem too bad.

@JohnDoe-qx3zs

7 жыл бұрын

+Techknow He used one that *someone else* had already installed in *their * home. He had no saying in what protection was in place, just like most people don't when they use electric installation. That's why there are so many rules about how safe such installations must be at all times, because they must be safe for strangers and friends to use.

@quantum5768

7 жыл бұрын

I think Clive put forward a rather good argument as to why they aren't a good idea. Paraphrasing: "It isn't a great idea to have active electronics directly wired onto mains. It stops you from removing it easily if something goes wrong." I am inclined to agree, even if it is well engineered, pcbs will eventually derate out of spec, whether it is high voltage tracking due to surface degradation, tin whiskers on joints or just general component failure. I guess I am being too pessimistic as always... Edit: Ah I made this comment before watching this video to the end, Clive mentions his objection in this video too! Silly impatient me.

@Cheordig

7 жыл бұрын

I don't know anyone who wouldn't use a friend's cable in the friend's house. I wouldn't give it a second thought.

@Cheordig

7 жыл бұрын

Previously if it had the standard UK mains sockets yeah but not the one/type in the video. I don't like the multi "standard" sockets. I also avoid anything Clive says is bad because if he won't use it, it must be truly awful. :) However after watching the video and reading the comments I will just stick to standard sockets with a decent charger and dump all my "Happy Sun Splendid Chargers." I'll keep the "Extreme Monster Power Electric Plenty Turbo" though as I like the tingle it produces when you plug it in. ;)

Laughing my head off here!!! haha!!.... Me, aged 18 months, armed with mother's metal knitting needles, sat in front of a plug socket...This 18 month old baby done 0-60mph in half a second across the living room.... ...And have now spent the last 32 years working as an electronics engineer!!! so...It wasn't a coincidence then!! hahahaha

@BenjaminEsposti

7 жыл бұрын

Hahah, same thing happened to me at around the same age, but with a screwdriver and a socket that had no cover plate. Still have a scar on the top of my thumb (by the joint). :D

@thesewerrat4895

7 жыл бұрын

Benjamin Esposti Who is that in your profile pic, she looks familiar

@crackedemerald4930

5 жыл бұрын

'Tis the shock, it induces power!

@johnmiller4750

4 жыл бұрын

Exactly what I did to lol😆

Prophetic words, Clive! Self taught motor engineer, been shocking myself with mains since I can remember. 240v from a school AC unit was the worst. It felt like levitating until I got blown back.

@JJschannel255

11 ай бұрын

Ok

I thoroughly enjoy your videos, Clive, despite having absolutely no idea what you're talking about. As a photographer though, I love your practice of using macro-photography and nice big prints to expound on your examinations, rather than employing flashy graphics. It doesn't help me understand any better - I'm just not "wired up" (pun intended) to understand electronics, but your knowledge, skill and enthusiasm shines through.

I've seen British General are selling a similar thing but it actually meets UK electrical standards. It would be interesting to rip apart one of those and compare it to this cheapy Chinese version.

@ruralaccentwoodcraft604

7 жыл бұрын

BG probably is cheap Chinese tatt behind the faceplate. It's pretty crappy gear, normally.

@alberttatlock5237

6 жыл бұрын

Gadget Addict they'll cost a lot more that's one thing you can be sure of. I'll keep my Bentley because I don't buy inferior junk, I've always said if you can't afford the best then you should do without,) But it's about supply and demand, and everyone wants everything but doesn't want to pay for quality or safety. Those squealing brakes or bald tyres will be ok... until they may be needed

@carolynmmitchell2240

6 жыл бұрын

Albert Tatlock not everyone gets paid well enough.. sometimes you gotta make due and just have insurance lol

@lancepate

6 жыл бұрын

carolyn mmitchell then do without. Insurance doesn't save your fuckin life, why spend what little money you have on cheap shit?

@mattwragg6966

6 жыл бұрын

Legrand do one also with the universal plug with the same arrangement as the one in the video, i dont know if it is compliant because it is in cyprus. This is the link for the BG www.electricpoint.com/bg-electrical-nexus-moulded-827l-1-gang-universal-socket-with-po.html

We used to use a motor bike alternator with a long lead coiled around my brother's big toe whilst he was asleep, then wind it around with a home made handle as fast as we could, resulting in him waking up with a "start"....Happy days !! ( there wasn't much entertainment in the fifties!)

@crackedemerald4930

5 жыл бұрын

Guess he played the lottery later that day

@aaronbrandenburg2441

5 жыл бұрын

There's a couple times I've been shocked when working on Hobbies not high-voltage low voltage around 18 volts or less probably. First slot car track felt like something was biting my hand. DC current by the way. Second Lionel O gauge train layout Around the Christmas Tree at a friend's house I have to put my hand down on the track and got it it was a little worse if I remember correctly years and years and all these times were over 20 years ago or more.

@Dyrck

3 жыл бұрын

Maybe a magneto rather than an alternator?

I don't know anything about electronics but I still love watching him break down the circuit setups.

I too,, stuck forks and paper clips in our outlets when I was a child,, and I have been a electrician for going on 24 years.... now.... your spot on my friend... these tamper resistant outlets must go!! Lol

That photo of the circuit board actually looks like the real thing as in 3D. Thats amazing the depth it shows. Nice video again thanks.

It's interesting to me how different the design is for these vs US plugs. It's not just the pin and voltage, but the idea of incorporating the whole assembly into the faceplate.

@Cheepchipsable

4 жыл бұрын

@Bear Foxtrot What about ease of use and convenience? You can swap the faceplate if you want a different colour.

@johndododoe1411

Жыл бұрын

Nope, the gold painted thing is the faceplate. The socket is the big thing in between with all the metal parts, springs and electronics just like in the US.

would I install it in my house? No it looks hideous lol

@acmeopinionfactory8018

7 жыл бұрын

Simon Hopkins It would look pretty good in Trump's joint.

@grndkntrl

7 жыл бұрын

+acmeopinion factory - Now if only someone can convince him to stick his tiny hands in one.....

@acmeopinionfactory8018

7 жыл бұрын

kyoukoku Tell him there's a pussy inside.

@alancordwell9759

7 жыл бұрын

I suspect you'd void your house insurance if you did, it's not likely to meet any approvals let alone BS1363!

@stephenarling1667

4 жыл бұрын

Looks like a Ffolkes cartoon from the 50s.

When I was 8, I found a loose cable with a plug on it somewhere. I plugged it in and touched the un-isolated end out of curiosity. I now work in software engineering and plugging in anything makes me nervous, and every unusual sound of electronics makes my heart skip a beat.

@neodonkey

7 жыл бұрын

Softy :) Once you've had a couple of dozen mains shocks you learn to roll with the punches.

@braydendaunt7070

7 жыл бұрын

Tripledonkey softy, try undoing a farm gate that is hard to undo with a shock every 3 seconds or so. Jk

@clown134

7 жыл бұрын

instead of rolling with the punches and ending up fried, try to learn to avoid getting punched

@user-or1lu3ku3m

5 жыл бұрын

Same childhood story here, I stay away from messing with mains voltage as much as I'm able to now

@aaronbrandenburg2441

5 жыл бұрын

@@braydendaunt7070 yep no insulated gate handle right. Rapid for Colville shocks anyone.

I love your theory on the origin of an interest in things electrical.

Nikola Tesla was born during a really bad lightning storm.

@nickbird7742

5 жыл бұрын

With a name like yours you should be in the electrical trade

@Sypaka

5 жыл бұрын

He was concieved in a flash.

@crackedemerald4930

5 жыл бұрын

Nikola Tesla = less athletic focused Flash?

@aaronbrandenburg2441

5 жыл бұрын

By the way Benjamin Franklin kite was not struck by lightning. See this Wikipedia link if you're interested in the whole story. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kite_experiment?wprov=sfla1 Ok. By the way Tesla Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison. And Samuel Morse and Alexander Graham Bell. Are my favorite scientists of all time at least at that time they were around there were lighters ones that are my favorites but it will get too long of list.

@aaronbrandenburg2441

5 жыл бұрын

Eneyone scene the II Goosebumps movie. Spoiler something about Nikola Tesla.

I got a huge belt when I was 7 22 years later, I'm an experienced, fully qualified electrician. Clive is 100% correct

I like how your beard slowly sneaks into the shot. Ninja beard

@bigclivedotcom

7 жыл бұрын

My beard isn't quite as self extinguishing as I would like.

@Nukle0n

7 жыл бұрын

That's how you keep it trimmed right?

@RobertSzasz

7 жыл бұрын

bigclivedotcom while on a random walk on the internets I stumbled on how to test how flammable hair products are when applied. Just apply to some glass wool and take a match to it. Apparently quite a few things stay quite flammable even when the solvents have totally evaporated.

@brainache555

7 жыл бұрын

Im a new subscriber i was just wondering why you do these things? Just out of curiosity?

@Remmes

7 жыл бұрын

I think it's curiosity, product reviews, and educating others.

Speaking of strange test equipment names: If it works, it must be a Fluke.

@aaronbrandenburg2441

5 жыл бұрын

I had just realized that myself hahaha Cherokee eevblog by the way he had a multimeter one little handheld job is with the pincers type measurement ad blow up in his face not on camera but he pursued through the manufacturer.

@nmccw3245

4 жыл бұрын

Love my Fluke.

@TimeSurfer206

3 жыл бұрын

I'll add mine: One of the leaders in the Energy Conserving Device industry is: Leviton. Could be pronounced, "Leave it on."

I remember putting the electrodes for a potato battery directly into my houses socket, and safe to say the electrodes flew out never to be seen again and i tripped the breaker. big brain time

You sir are a good electrical engineering lecturer that smiles and grins while posing all this as a question. Kudos!

"Socket & See" is a hilarious brand name! I love it

@Graham_Langley

7 жыл бұрын

Their first product many years ago was a simple three-neon plug-in socket tester, hence the name of the range. The company name is Acute Sales Ltd.

you shoud test USB sockets on IKEA kitchen lights

@JanicekTrnecka

7 жыл бұрын

JÄTTI PASKA I bet Ikea wont fuck it up. Judging after seeing the guts of koppla usb adapter. Everything inside is well engineered... look it up in Clives videos...

@blocksterz

7 жыл бұрын

some of Ikea stuff are real PASKA if you know what I mean

@JATTI_

7 жыл бұрын

tomoslav i personaly live in finland and ikea is from sweden and i think they sell the exact same stuff here but almost always the quality is still shit

@JanicekTrnecka

7 жыл бұрын

That koppla usb power supply is great - Clives teardown persuaded me to buy one - I got fed up with chinese crap (even pricier ones were shit inside). And of course IKEA can sell shit...every shop does....and you have to beg, search and dig for some good quality products therefore we have Clive to do some teardowns for us :)

@Jenny.C1978

7 жыл бұрын

Janicek

You know what, I'm not an electrician or owt, but I actually realllly enjoy these videos! You have an excellent presentation style and clearly have a lot of passion for the subject, thanks!

When I was 2 I stuck a screwdriver into an outlet. Shocked me good. After that anything electrical interested me. When I was 5 the Associated Press picked up my story about my unusual hobby and huge light bulb collection. This was back in 1980. This old couple in Massachusetts sent me a working Edison bulb along with what was left of the box. Every since I got it it’s been the pride of my collection. I also got a job offer at age 5 from the president of Silvana after I graduated college. But I discovered cars and BMWs is all I have worked on for 30 years. Back in 88 the 7 series had 2500 pages of Schematics. My specialty on them are electronics. The last multi meter set up I bought was $2900. It does everything under the sun as far as electrical testing plus has every location, pin out, and test procedure for testing any sensor on all cars from 82 up. Love your channel. It keeps me satisfied so I don’t take my stuff apart. Unless it’s to fix it. Your tear down and autopsy of doggy products is awesome. Not to mention the fact you provide education in your videos. Your great at putting things in layman’s terms. Gotta do that all the time. 90% of my customers don’t even know how to check the fuses in their car. I hate charging someone a hour labor for replacing a $0.25 fuse. But if you run any business there’s huge overhead. So my shop rule along with most are 1 hour minimum labor. #bigclyde!!!!!

@bigclivedotcom

6 жыл бұрын

If you're a BMW electronics wizard then you're definitely sorted.

I routinely jamb forks into recepticals and toasters. I have a limited life span

@leisergeist

7 жыл бұрын

Everyone has to live a little Even if it's literally just a little

@aaronbrandenburg2441

5 жыл бұрын

Agreed on both comments morbid though but agreed.

I can confirm that both playing with maroons and other small pyro and getting electricuted several times during my younger years had lead me here...

@ThatGuy-nv2wo

7 жыл бұрын

Are you Jesus? But...Multiple Jesus?

@spodula

7 жыл бұрын

One of my earliest memories was me defeating a UK socket with a pair of knitting needles. I assume after i had been told not to do it.. And my dads comment "Well he wont do that again".... Oh how you were wrong!

@JohnDoe-qx3zs

7 жыл бұрын

Seems to be the same in some other industries. Consider the persistent rumor that many sex workers were victims of sexual child abuse as an extreme example.

@sootikins

7 жыл бұрын

My mother swears that when I was an infant she was drying me after a bath and suddenly I started pissing right into a US socket (no shutters, no RCD in those days) on the bathroom counter. She was holding me apparently, says she felt no shock and I didn't appear to get shocked either. But I wonder... and now I am an electrical engineer and from as far back as I can remember I had no doubt I wanted to be one when I grew up.

@Landrew0

7 жыл бұрын

You weren't grounded.

You have me down to a tee, I was one of those kids that pushed knitting needles into the old 15A round pin sockets, but luckily our house had a trip of some kind, which my mother said she had to reset fairly often. I went straight from school into an electronics apprenticeship.

Love this channel. Thanks for the incredible explanation of whats going on with the pcb.

"Strong smells and wispy floaty things" one thing that made my day.

Not necessarily a kid, but when I was in my early, early twenties (20 or 21), I was an electrical apprentice and cut a live Romex cable, shorting 220v with my (thankfully insulated) pliers. The explosion was pretty cool and here I am now.

You are 100% correct, sir. As a small child, my dad was a mechanic and machinist. He had a hand-held strobe light thing to adjust the ignition timing on old cars (old now - but new back then). When the induction spark detector went bad on it, I dug it out of the trash and tried to modify it to plug into the wall. It looked like a ray gun, and I, as an enterprising 10 year old, wanted a ray gun. Twenty minutes of tinkering, and I jammed a modified plug into the wall socket. There was a deafening bang, a small fire, and lots of smoke. Thirty years later, I went to university and got a degree in electrical and computer engineering, and am looking into pyrotechnics certification.

is it just me or is his voice super lovely and relaxing? like, I just like hearing him speak

Reading thu the comments with all these electrocution childhood moments makes me think, how did Big Clive get your first "taste" into electronics ?

@bigclivedotcom

7 жыл бұрын

I started taking stuff to bits at a very early age, so my parents got paranoid I was going to electrocute myself and deliberately made me scared of mains voltage. An apprenticeship with an electrical engineering company (E J Stiell) soon sorted that though.

@russellhltn1396

7 жыл бұрын

Many a toy sacrificed itself in furthering my education. ;)

@aaronbrandenburg2441

5 жыл бұрын

@@bigclivedotcom I was somewhere not in a way that my parents are paranoid or that event deliberately exposing me to do this but I was always working on stuff repairing stuff figure out house to work building my own stuff out of junk stuff and such.

@KyrstOak

4 жыл бұрын

Wow. People get lazier and lazier with comments by the year. Not even a 'thru'. Just a 'thu'. What's next? 'T'????

@twoshirts1842

3 жыл бұрын

@@bigclivedotcom I was the same way as a child. You know those books with the buttons down the side. I would tear those down and try to rebuild them before ever reading the damn thing.

Here in Australia, we have no such devices inside our plugs to limit things being pushed into them! We need to plug in a plastic plug effectively to block the plug from children (which will be child-proof one would hope...) also, our voltage is 250-250volts here... lol We have had an improvement on our male end of devices cords which now has a kind-of fuse but that is not in the wall socket it is on every device cord! This came into place in 2007, the same time that we changed our standards for positive/negative and earth colours for wires.

@bigclivedotcom

7 жыл бұрын

What is your new colour code? The Oz system used to be based on the UK phase colours, but we have been forced to change our colour code from the vivid red, yellow, blue and black-neutral (red and black for single phase) to the bland brown, black, grey and blue-neutral (yeah, swapping phase and neutral colours) to comply with European standards. You also use radial circuits for your sockets instead of our higher current ring.

@SlothIsSleepy

7 жыл бұрын

My kitchen kettle draws 3KW.

@pshq

7 жыл бұрын

In some modern Chinese Euro-style sockets these "limiters" (or however you name them) are made in such way that if you push something into one hole, they don't move. Only when you put two pins, the lock turns by ca. 15° and reveals socket holes. I have in my home some early 90s' sockets (made in Germany or Poland) and they have already the same system as described.

@KuraIthys

7 жыл бұрын

Well, I have a single bedroom place in Australia that's quite old, and has a grand total of 10 (5 dual gang) sockets for the whole place, 6 of which are in the kitchen. Both the living room and bedroom setups are completely inadequate, since I currently need about 3-5 sockets in the living room, and due to what I have set up, the bedroom has 11 devices plugged in, not including some builtin USB charging ports in a power strip. (which typically means another two devices plugged in.) It doesn't sound too bad, since no individual device pulls all that much power, but I try to keep a close eye on this arrangement, because when you add it all up... Well, there's at least 5 devices that break 50-100 watts each, one whose theoretical maximum load is nearing 800 watts, and of course in winter an 1800 watt electric heater. Add it all up and you see that the hypothetical load on this single dual-gang wall socket pair reaches towards 2500 watts... I don't know what the limit of sockets is, and whether it's per socket, or if it's shared between the two, but it does rather worry me. But as it's a rental property, I'm stuck with it, and all I can do is keep an eye on the incredibly messy arrangement that lets me plug about 15 things into 2 wall sockets. Doesn't seem incredibly safe, but the only other thing I can do is not use any of my stuff. The computer is especially bad since there's at least 4 and often 5 or 6 devices that MUST all be plugged in at the same time just for the computer and internet to work. I'm not exactly concerned that I'm actually overloading anything, but it certainly doesn't seem like the safest of arrangements...

@WolfKenneth

7 жыл бұрын

In continental Europe we have to do same thing with our CEE7 standard sockets. There are special plastic plugs to baby proof them.

Interesting video. Enjoyed the exploring of the circuitry even though I don't understand it. Wish my Dad was still around because I would like to have shown him this. He used to sell and repair TVs back when they used valves.

Thank you Clive, now I know where my interest in electrical engineering came from.

Could you do a teardown of what you would consider to a good brand or text book charger, then compare it side by side with a naff one discussing the differences.

@dylc413

7 жыл бұрын

he already did in one of his videos comparing some dodgy cheapo rainbow colored chargers with the charger he has for his iPad (camera)

@dylc413

7 жыл бұрын

if I'm not mistaken

Neat! I like your UK style plugs that have the switches built into them, which this doesn't have. I too hate leaving unnecessary electronics running all the time.

@solidamber

7 жыл бұрын

PriusPilot you can buy them with or without i lke to switch things off with a switch, UK plugs are massive compared to other countrys but are very safe which is good since we use 240v

@Grobbekee

7 жыл бұрын

They aren't safe to your feet though if you happen to step on one.

@ruralaccentwoodcraft604

7 жыл бұрын

I have literally never stood or come near to standing on a UK plug by mistake. How do you do that? Do you have them lying all over the floor or something?

@solidamber

7 жыл бұрын

RuralAccent Woodcraft I've done it the pain is excruciating

@Roxor128

7 жыл бұрын

Australia has switches on the power points, too. Though our plugs have thin cheap-to-manufacture prongs unlike the chunky UK ones.

Most of the time i dont have a clue what your own about but i find your videos addictive lol

Funny you mentioned kids becoming engineers after getting a shock. When I was 2, I stuck tweezers into an outlet and became fascinated with electricity and became an electrician.

Oh god Clive. Please read up the requirements for safety testing of components.. IEC 61558 for transformers.. your test at 500 or 1 kV across a transformer is too low. 2U+1000 V for BASIC insulation, 4U+2000 V REINFORCED insulation.. as for your flame test.. To test the plastic, you'd need to do several tests to be sure.. Ball pressure test at either 125C or max temp measured + 2O Kelvin with a minimum temp of 75C.. Glow wire test at 650, 750 or 850 C as stated by the plastic manufacturer.. and/or Needle flame test with proper measurement of the flame using a copper block thermocouple.. for UL94 V-0, V-1, V-2 rating.. specific distance from a plywood board wrapped in tissue paper.. no falling particles, no ignition of tissue paper or scorching of the board.. Don't even want to comment on your suggestion that people use uncalibrated resistors to check their meggers.. a functional check yes.. but not an accuracy check, no.. zero traceability, Clive.. unfortunately some of us answer to UKAS.. lol.. but I enjoyed the rest.. be nice if you could use callipers to measure though.. by the way.. 60950.. cr and cl.. 3mm basic 5mm reinforced.. 1mm would not even pass lighting standards like 60598 or 61347.. even they want 1.5 mm for basic 3mm reinforced ;)

@bsitester4940

7 жыл бұрын

oh and that whole thing would hideously fail BS 5733 and BS 1363.. its dangerous, end of. lol

@rowifi

7 жыл бұрын

BSI Tester So any product that has a transformer has to have its trx rated at 4U + 2000v, assuming the low volts are touchable. Is U = 230v? Does this apply to relay contact to coil isolation as well?

@bsitester4940

7 жыл бұрын

Yes, U refers to the Rated voltage of the device. The 2U/4U is a broad test that covers most standards, however some are much more stringent such as 60601 medical, where separation is not enough and other means to ensure safety. For relays that's coil shorted together to all contacts shorted together withstand test.. NOT contact separation.. contact separation of relays and switches and things is a different ball game altogether, that depends if its rated as micro-interuption, micro disconnection or full disconnection.

Unfair test? Yes. Should've used a propane torch. :)

@aaronbrandenburg2441

5 жыл бұрын

Second that.

A very astute observation, Clive. That kid/pyro thing... so true! And the mains jolt(s). I'm a slow learner! Both worked on me - career in electronics, pyro hobby. Surprisingly, I'm still alive...

Some of the things you take apart like this socket I've never seen before I really enjoy your videos some are quite comical others I learn about the circuitry thanks for the videos my friend

If it's not UK approved mains electrical sockets etc, I would not touch it. I would also go no where near any of these built in USB sockets, your just asking for trouble.

How did you know Clive?. No socket went untampered with when I was wee. And aye. Now an electrician (retired).

I've got no idea why I'm watching this; it's almost midnight, I have no knowledge of electricals and I'm not sure how this appeared in my recommended videos watch list, but he has a nice voice so I'm going to watch it all.

I built my first cats-whisker radio at age 8 but that was safe as only powered by a PP3. At age 12 in 1974, I got a nasty shock when curiosity got the better of me and I took a look inside my Philips record player which was a valve model. I found my had clasped tight to the live chassis as electricity surged through me. Thankfully I managed to wrap the power cord around my foot and pull the cable from the wall. Told my dad who laughed aand regaled about the 10kV belts he'd had from the HT leads on CRT TVs. Then I got interested in electronics and electricity in earnest and as there were few apprenticeships around when I left school I got trained in the RAF, I had some advantage as my dad, mum and elder brother were all electronics engineers. I've had only a few shocks but thankfully not electrocuted.

I would also question how robust that coating on the cover plate is regarding abrasive stuff like pins sliding over it in botched plug attempts

I developed an interest in electricity when I unscrewed a socket from the wall, just to see what was behind it, of course now I've had countless mains shocks over the years, I tend to stay away from mains power, cos it bites... :P As for the flame test, I think the british standards say that it has to self-extinguish as soon as the external flame is removed, so, it would be a fail on the flame retardant material test... :S

your onto something there a few shocks from my bedroom plug as a 6 year old molded my interests into a lifelong quest to learn all that is electrical 40 years on im still fascinated by the magic of the electron lol

Living in the US and watching Clive's videos, I now have socket envy... our plugs suck 😕

When I was young I was given a toy that was actually designed to give you electric shocks. I'm now a retired electronics engineer.

never knew the UK plugs had such robust shutters as a safety feature, and i've been to the UK. wonderful!

@MarkSpohr

5 жыл бұрын

New US code requires shutters on our sockets.

@okaro6595

4 жыл бұрын

In Finland shutters have been used in children's rooms since 1950s. Modern type shutters that require no special operation have been available since late 70s. I do not know i f they are mandatory but there is at east enough social pressure for them. Same applies to power strips. I recall people some 15 years ago contacting stores that sold power strips without shutters.

I did actually 'probe' a 15 Amp socket with one of my Mum's 'kirby-grips' aged about 4 and shocked myself and did indeed go on to pursue electrical engineering.

I have some of your screwdriver sets for years now, and shocked to find in Poundland that Tommy Walsh now makes them LOL, next thing will be spades! Keep up the good work.

Many things are unknown when it comes to the safery of the power supply. Is the capacitor bridging primary and secondary a high-voltage safety capacitor? Is the transformer isolation good enough? Ideally you put the isolation tester between the mains (Line and neutral together on one lead of the instrument) and output (Vcc, GND, Data +, Data -, USB shield ground all together on the other lead) and run the isolation test at 5KV (for devices that are supposed to operate at 230V mains). Also, lots of input filtering is missing, and I thought the EU standard for creepage distances is 6mm, not 3mm. Lastly, with such a low output voltage (realistically 4.3-4.4V at 1.5A at the end of the cable), most "smart" devices (mobile phones etc) will assume a weak power supply and limit current, so you won't get fast charging.

@dylc413

7 жыл бұрын

yeah, I noticed I have a 2A at 5V charger (should be 10W right?) but my phone doesn't fast charge from it, just charges normally, faster than a regular charger but still much slower than fast charging because my phone doesn't count it as a fast charger

@ferongr

7 жыл бұрын

"Fast charging" is many things. Most of the times, "fast charging" displayed on a smartphone's display means connection to a QuickCharge/USB-PD compliant power supply, that increases voltage to carry more power with less cable/connector losses. Limiting current depending on voltage is different. Smartphones during charge don't act like constant power or constant current loads, that would make weaker adapters either overload and destroy themselves or shut down from their protection. Smartphones when first connected to a power source actually quickly ramp up input current and stop drawing more when the voltage starts dropping, indicating a weak power supply reaching its limits. The power supply in the "wall plate" would make most devices charge very slowly as they would assume it's operating at its limits due to the low voltage.

@3of12

7 жыл бұрын

ferongr it basically means, the vast majority of chargers lie about the power they would send to a device. Smart charging chips are going to be de facto for decades to come

Hi, self extinguish plastic should at least only burn if you keep the flame on it, as soon as you remove the flame it should not burn anymore... if I'm not mistaken.

@lionkor98

6 жыл бұрын

Well I guess this is the bad china version of that... "at least it doesn't burn for more than 20 seconds"-rated

I actually thought about buying one of those sockets to build into my test bench when I will rebuild it in 2017, in combination with a emergency off switch, a dual 230V/115V output isolation transformer (+ switch to choose output voltage) and a nice indicator that this thing is active. I guess I will still do that, since I have quite often Items with non european plugs at my lab, so I don't have to fiddle around with the common death daptors.

You're so right about dangerous kiddie electricity experiments leading to a career in electrical engineering. One of miy early investigations at the age of about 8 was was finding that if I pulled the volume knob off a mains valve radio (incidentally exposing potentially live chassis) the shaft was a perfect fit for the older kettle connector plug. I decided to demonstrate to some (adult) visitors how I thought I could make the radio much louder by plugging the live kettle connector onto the shaft. It was an impressive bang and a flash that obviously made an impression on someone who is now a Chartered Engineer in his sixties! (Of course, the real career clincher was a Philips Electronic Engineer's kit a couple of years later.)

Yeah, how the hell to technical people survive their childhoods, I won't comment on how many stupid things I have done or will do, will we ever really get past that knitting needle phase?? Remember plug it in and see what happens is still like poking some thing into an outlet that doesn't belong there...

@bashkillswitch

7 жыл бұрын

And yet we still keep going. Had several run ins with electricity and pyrotechnics in my youth, went into computers, then got into welding and automotive lol. Whether it's turning the key after working on an engine, hitting a power button on a computer I've just put back together, plugging in a piece of electronics I repaired or striking an arc there's that slight "Hope this is gonna save me" flinch there, usually followed by a big smile when it wasn't needed lol.

You couldn't pay me to put that in my house.

@foty8679

3 жыл бұрын

German power plug 4 ever

@McFingal

3 жыл бұрын

@@foty8679 yeah hitler thought the third reich would last for ever and it ended in fire as well.

Clive, you have a great style. I love your videos.

1:18 I could have sworn you said "arse pin" for the earth ground. I love watching you make these videos. Keep it going!

I was that persistent child with a knitting needle.

@RadioJonophone

7 жыл бұрын

Exactly! That's what I did.

@hassanburrows8535

7 жыл бұрын

As a four year old I managed to remove the cap from a 15 amp plugtop on a washing machine. Circuit protection 15 amp rewirable fuse element. Result, completely blistered palm of hand when plugtop reinserted into live socket. Father said that would cure me. Not in the least. Eternally fascinated. It's in the genes, but apparently not his

@poiiihy

7 жыл бұрын

your body usually isn't able to conduct that much current so whether it's protected by a 5, 15, or 5000 amp breaker means nothing.

@e1woqf

6 жыл бұрын

Me too!

@aaronbrandenburg2441

5 жыл бұрын

@@hassanburrows8535 actually in my family there are a lot of Industry workers in the electrical field I may pursue it if I can. Because of my interest in what I've done in the past.

Judging by the comments, I should have been a porn star.. I feel I missed my employment opportunity.

@TheLaptopLagger

6 жыл бұрын

Anon mouse my reaction while reading this was simple "oh holy shi-"

@elephystry

6 жыл бұрын

**hugs**

@dickJohnsonpeter

5 жыл бұрын

There's no comments on this video about you, porn, or you needing to be a porn star. Your comment made no sense. This is a video about electrical sockets.

@vaelophisnyx9873

5 жыл бұрын

*hug*

@capnskiddies

5 жыл бұрын

@@dickJohnsonpeter chief, I believe the op is hinting that they had early sexual experiences that may or may not have been pleasant, or wanted, or legal.

This reminds me of the time I was around 9 years old and found an old record player with no plug on it. I bypassed the earth slot with a screwdriver just like in this video. As soon as I put the second wire in I was thrown across the room. No injuries but I did get one hell of a shock and didn't do it again!

I got multiple mains shocks over the years, starting at young age with opening up a model railway transformer. I also got a shock to the ear, because I dropped something and while bowing down touched a live wire hanging over the table's edge. It didn't hurt, but may vision went bright white for a second. Don't know if it's related, but I sometimes "see" flashes with my eyes closed when something makes a clicking noise. I also had my fare share of fires and explosions. I built "bombs" (electrically triggered) that blasted cantaloupe sized holes in the ground while just lying on the ground. And I put explosive payloads on small rockets (like bottle rockets), some were even multistage rockets. Did I become a pyrotechnic or electrician? No, but I guess only because I sat in front of the computer even more so I became a programmer. ;) But I definitely do a lot of electronic/electric stuff.

Alright Clive, we get it, you don't heat your house. But is that arctic grade flex really necessary indoors? ;-)

@Graham_Langley

7 жыл бұрын

My thought too.

@joshuarosen6242

7 жыл бұрын

simontay1984 And that's in the summer.

The US plugs should have those shutters. I jammed RCA cables into an outlet when I was young, trying to be like my handyman dad with his meter leads. I was scared of that outlet for a while afterward.

@jfenly

7 жыл бұрын

The US National Electric Code does require tamper resistant outlets for any new residential construction.

@tralt135

7 жыл бұрын

GemCat How did you fit an RCA cable in one? I just tried, and they can only fit in the ground socket.

@JamesPotts

7 жыл бұрын

GemCat, the NEC is starting to require them in certain areas. Of course, which version (if any) of the code in effect is dependent on the municipality.

@Skyhawk1998

7 жыл бұрын

tralt135 This was before I was ten and it is according to my parents. It might have been an old plug design, maybe different cables. I dunno.

@Mostlyharmless1985

6 жыл бұрын

There are NEMA plugs with shutters. I think it’s pointless.

Diodes in parallel (I remember reading once upon a time) is a recipe for blown diodes because (my understanding is) the forward biases don't match exactly, one would take all the current because it's forward bias is marginally lower than the other(s) (so each diode either needs its own resistor or you string as many diodes in series as will fit within your supply voltage, which improves efficiency as the braking resistance needed is smaller) (of course a cluster of diodes is more likely to be desired if you're illuminating a space with LEDs, for anything else you just use a higher current rated diode, or I do anyway).

thats a beautiful gold plated light switch fixture...good video!! clive

Won't the 1000V test damage any components?

@JohnDoe-qx3zs

7 жыл бұрын

It will if done too often. With equipment designed to pass the test, it is not a destructive test, but not a non-destructive test either, as the device should survive being tested a few times for safety checks, but not being tested every day for years.

@superdau

7 жыл бұрын

He tested from primary to secondary. If the isolation/insulation is good, nothing should happen. If anything failed in that test, you wouldn't want to use it anyway.

@bertedwin9360

7 жыл бұрын

superdau

Aw I wanted to see a fire with magic smoke, not black plasticy smoke

The pyro thing is very true... I almost got killed by a failure in a big fireworks cake as a kid, and I've built my own aerial shells from scratch and have loved fireworks ever since that incident... x)

I feel like I learned so much about you in this video

I was going to order one of these

@ProfuzniChevap

7 жыл бұрын

Adam Ori was :D

@xvzw

7 жыл бұрын

me too lol

@amnaj8210

7 жыл бұрын

MindBLowEd yes was. but not anymore :P

@ProfuzniChevap

7 жыл бұрын

I buy all my mini-tech from ebay except chargers and batteries. Had some bad experience with those

@thealmosthdchannel

7 жыл бұрын

your dog looks so fluffy

On a recent trip to Vietnam, all the hotels had these adaptor plates and we had no end of trouble with them, the euro style 2 pin plugs just fall out and the larger type bend the contacts. One was so bad that every time the rooms fridge kicked in you'd get buzzing noises and sparks coming out of it. I think anyone going abroad without proper travel adaptors is a fecking idiot who deserves what they get, but it this case we got screwed because we'd planned ahead. Some of our stuff has those 2 pin euro plugs with the fused UK plug adaptors that wrap around them, we normally remove these adaptor when going anywhere without UK sockets (it's just added weight), but this time we ended up wishing we hadn't removed them as half our stuff wouldn't work unless we could find a normal 2 pin socket.

@bonzaihb3432

7 жыл бұрын

Speaking of Vietnam: while I was in Hanoi for some IT work at basically still a construction site a couple of years ago, the guys there used a high pressure cleaner for some random work outside. The thing was plugged into mains with a very flimsy looking, very long power cord (basically just two wires twisted together and possibly 20m long). Without a plug, just the plain wires. I was pretty much shocked when I saw that... xD

@UberAlphaSirus

7 жыл бұрын

Strider9655 i always pack 3x travel adaptors and 3 x 4-6 way powerstrip that take my uk plugs.

@Strider9655

7 жыл бұрын

Sirus Yeah, we just have a few essential items which have euro plugs fitted with wrap around UK adaptors, we just take the UK adaptor off before we go, but this time these sockets screwed us over.

@OldLordSpeedy

7 жыл бұрын

Same I do on all my travels - world wide with adapter of course. I never haved see problems in that. Here in Thailand I have some of my 3 way sockets with thai femal socket on the cable too. Funny was a power box on a camping place in italy. CEE 220V 16A 6h one phase sockets only. Adaptor CEE to three CEE / One I use, Adaptor CEE to swiss / Swiss 3 way sockets / Adaptor swiss to Italian / Italy 3 way sockets / Adaptor Italian to german socket / German 100 m cable / Adaptor german to CEE for my Caravan. Sure, the swiss and italy tourists do not know CEE adaptors to local power systems - they use only the local power connectors. But this italian camping place have only CEE power connectors. ;-))

@OldLordSpeedy

7 жыл бұрын

This do you see in many countries in asia. The most standard female sokets can use only for 2/6/10 Ampere. But the wall mounted socket plate and the fuse before accept 16 Ampere of course. So the female side not burn into the male side holes or all go on in flames.

"Wall plate death-dapter tests including fire and 1kV" I read that out on my subscription feed and laughed hard.

Any youthful informality with electricity became permanently embedded fear, when I started working on 500kW (yes: 1/2 megawatt) HF transmitters! You definitely don't want to get a bite from one of those, and the grounding stick/earthing wand is your best friend!

I dont remember unsubscribing from you but for some reason, I had? Does KZread automatically do these things?

@bigclivedotcom

7 жыл бұрын

KZread does occasionally do random things like that.

@3of12

7 жыл бұрын

Matthew Cassinelli its been particularly bad in the last few days

@goose300183

7 жыл бұрын

Now that you mention it, I got unsubbed from hydraulic press channel and nurdrage. I can't work out why.

I see you left travelled away from Pikey's Peak and bought yourself a color laser printer... The picture quality looks much better than those renaissance mud beggar inkjet printouts.

The twin earth terminals on many sockets is only for High Integrity Earthing, not for a flylead to connect to a metal pattress. Flyleads aren't required on pattresses with a fixed lug anyway.

I must have been about 3 when I had my first experience with 240Vac. We still had 5A round pin plugs and sockets. I've had more shocks over the years, most, but not all, accidental. Unsurprisingly, I followed a mostly technical career path until I stopped working due to ill health.

Thanks for the video, as always. But my thoughts on the subject - well, here in Eastern Europe (and for that matter further east in Russia) for 80+ years we didn't had ANY protection shutters in electricity sockets - basically everybody just told their children not to be idiots and not to stick metal pins in wall sockets. And the power plug pins are even larger and round, so it's really easy to put something in socket, but guess what - as a matter of fact, there was VERY little number of cases of somebody being electrocuted in all those years, in comparison to UK/US. I don't know - are these overprotective safety measures having their roots in America, where kids are so retarded, that they don't understand what "DEATH" means, if parents tell them, and as a result you must have like hundred expensive safety devices even in something as simple as a wall socket?... Go figure..

@randomguy7503

7 жыл бұрын

In Europe all Kids want to try "exciting" stuff and want to learn what death means...

@pulykamell

7 жыл бұрын

Artūrs Savickis No shutters in US sockets, either. I found out a few times as a kid. :)

@zusurs

7 жыл бұрын

pulykamell So is shutters invention by UK? I know that these days there are some types of wall sockets and extension cords with shutters in market here in Eastern Europe as well, but not everywhere like I've seen while visiting UK.

@pulykamell

7 жыл бұрын

+Artūrs Savickis I wouldn't know for certain. I've only really seen them in the UK. Here in the US, to protect kids from poking wall outlets, you usually just buy a cheap little plastic plug that you stick in the outlet (look up "outlet plugs" to see what I mean.) I'm sure there must be outlets you could buy with shutters in them, but I've never seen one yet.

@joshuarosen6242

7 жыл бұрын

Artūrs Savickis It is to stop someone killing themselves poking something into the socket. It is one of several safety features of UK plugs not found on lesser plugs.

Tenth!!! Oh wait, nobody cares.

When I first moved into my home (and I had an inspector "give the ok", I paid $500 to have him tell me "everything was fine") 3 or so electrical wall outlets were burned black inside, small welds holding the contact points to a large plate had actually severed, the internals of the sockets RATTLED. I replaced them all with fairly decent wall sockets. I don't know how these sockets were abused but... must've had a nasty life, or else like this it just wasn't made to really handle daily use. NOTE: The house was built in 1978, the sockets were most likely that old as well, and they were in fact Made in the USA, so they're not say mid 2000s chinese sockets or anything.

Whenever the title suggests fire... 1) I'm instantly interested. 2) I'm watching anything and everything to see if something sparks or does something unexpectedly. Clive seems to be the kind of guy who doesn't just "Whoops! I left the mains on while cleaning this socket lol!", so I'm not expecting clown shoes. But it's always fun to see where the fire comes in.

It looks like it came out of Donald Trump's bathroom.

@aaronbrandenburg2441

5 жыл бұрын

Yes except for his would probably have a solid gold faceplate if he lived in Europe. hopefully electrician wired the ground to the hot and placed it right next 2 something grounded AKA bathtub or sink and was not on a ground fault or rcd device and breaker was not in the circuit. Just kidding of course not serious one bit it just goes to show how dangerous is this could be that is. I've actually seen this and worse and I a do-it-yourselfer that knows to trade and does everything the code. and has corrected situations like this.

I’ll add to the early introduction to electricity. When I was about 6 I found a brand new LED with nice long leads. Long story short I jammed the little LED into a 240v socket and now I’m an industrial electrician

I am a journeyman electrician.. This being said that started when me and my best friend decided to put a brake cable from a bicycle and blew the breaker for the apartment complex.. Yeah his dad was the military type we ended up having to run till we were sick and then do push ups and crunches till we threw up.. But definitely why i tried electrical things.. We were like 7-8 years old.

I was one of those kids with a knitting needle lol Hurt like hell! It was 40 years ago and it is still one of my earliest memories hehe

Part of my family lore is the time when I was about 9 and I disassembled a 13A plug, plugged the pins in separately, then shorted the neutral and live with an all-metal stainless steel knife. I was blown clean across the room and the house was plunged into darkness, followed by shouts of "Peter! What are you doing up there?!" We kept the partially melted knife for years. I was indeed planning to do EE at Uni, but luckily the microcomputer revolution happened around the time of my 'O'-levels and I got detoured into software instead!

Could be worse. Here in the US our plates screw on in the center and what happens if you have a steel plate sometimes is the screw falls out and over time when the cord jiggles the plate slips off and shorts out the hot and neutral. When it does it sure makes a night light show!!!! Never understood why it was done this way. Crazy!. I always thought the UK plates look much safer.

Aged 8 I thought my dad would be pleased if I put the new plug socket in for him. He was watching Grandstand so I got the screwdriver from the garage and took on the job myself. The resulting shock made me sit there thinking how I was lucky to be alive. Put me off mains work for a couple of years.

When I was a kid I put both ends of a 3.5mm jack cable into the wall socket (euro socket, pretty easy to do). Cable instantly blew and the room was filled with smoke. Not an electrician, more into computers, but still interested in electronics.