Category Archives: In The Lab With Jay Jay

Interlude #16: False Start for Learning the Art of Electronics | In The Lab With Jay Jay

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This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video over here.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

Silly Job Title: Lightning Tamer.

This project’s homepage is here: John’s wiki ยง Learning the Art of Electronics.

This video is me making a false start on the Learning the Art of Electronics series which I am just about to embark on. What happened was after I got a bit more than two hours into recording the video for the first lab exercise I realized that it was taking too long with my approach. I didn’t want to make another twelve hour video! I was planning to go through the literature in painstaking detail and cover everything, but it turned out there was way too much material for that approach to be feasible.

What I am planning to do instead for the actual first video (due out next Tuesday) is do all the reading by myself in advance and then offer a brief summary and some recommended reading. I’m going to try to make the bulk of the video the actual practical experiment/circuit and leave the reading out.

But since I recorded the video for this “false start” I figured there’d be no harm in posting it by itself. Most of this video is the Appendix O material from The Art of Electronics 3ed which is a brief introduction to oscilloscopes.

In this video we mention CMOS technology, particularly MOSFETs.

We mention the Josephson effect which can cause a current to flow across superconductors in the absence of an applied voltage.

The SI size prefixes are documented on my wiki.

In this video we learn about voltage and current.

We take a close look at Appendix O in AoE which introduces the oscilloscope and mentions delay lines.

The oscilloscope appendix makes mention of Asimov’s short story from 1960, Thiotimoline and the Space Age.

We mention quantization, Planck units, and Zeno’s paradox.

I show you can illustration from Getting Started in Electronics.

If you’re planning to follow along with the series the pre-reading for the first video coming out on Tuesday is: E&M ch. 1, 2; PoEC ch. 1; AoE app. A, ch. 1; LtAoE ch. 1N, 1L.

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)

Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

ANENG A3005 Pen Type Handheld MultimeterThis is an image of the product.notes

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Electronics Project #11: TJ-56-428 4-Digit Digital DIY Clock Take 2 | In The Lab With Jay Jay

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This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video over here.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

Silly Job Title: Wattage Warlock.

In this video we build the TJ-56-428 4-Digit Digital Clock just like we did last time.

You read that right. We made one of these before and I liked it so much that we are making one again! I get better at it this time round, I don’t make any of the mistakes I did last time.

In the introduction to this video I mention about my new Blu-ray player which I got so I could watch Colossus: The Forbin Project. Both my Blu-ray disc and my Blu-ray player are for Region B.

As I mention I have been writing for Hackaday! So that’s been keeping me busy.

The instructions for this clock are over here: TJ-56-428 4-Digit Digital DIY Clock (same as last time).

I mention about the new Learning the Art of Electronics project which we’re just about to get started with.

The microcontroller in this clock is the STC15W404AS. It comes in the kit pre-programmed and I’ve not been able to find the software anywhere. Bummer. If you know where to get the software please do let me know!

The temperature controlled resistor is a 10K NTC thermistor which seems to be used for the room temperature function (which I don’t use and didn’t calibrate).

The crystal oscillator is spec’ed as 32768 which is obviously a reference to the clock frequency. See Why do we use 32.768 kHz crystals in most circuits? We check the impedance of this device in the video using the Peak Atlas LCR45.

In the video I mention my mate Joe who helped me out last time I did this project. Thanks Joe!

We use the METCAL PS-900 Soldering Station to do our soldering.

We use the Fluke 17B+ Digital Multimeter to test the voltage on our USB power adapters.

We use the EEVblog BM2257 Digital Multimeter to check our resistors.

We use the Peak Electronic Design Atlas DCA75 Pro Semiconductor Analyzer to test the crystal (we don’t get a reading, which was expected).

We use the Peak Electronic Design Atlas LCR45 LCR Meter to test our crystal. It gives us an impedance reading at 200kHz with both real and imaginary components.

We use the Hakko CHP 3C-SA Precision Tweezers to hold our solder and poke about. At one point I drop a component lead offcut into the board and it shorted two resistors, so lucky I found it and pulled it out!

And that’s everything to know about this project!

Here’s a photo of the completed project installed next to the symbol keyboard on my desk:

Here's a photo of my clock installed on my desk next to my symbol keyboard.

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)

Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Yum Cha DT830B Digital MultimeterThis is an image of the product.notes

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Mail Call #28: EEVblog BM036, Test Hook Clips, 4mm to 2mm Banana Adapter, a Book and a Movie

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In this video we see what’s come in the mail!

Also mentioned in this video:

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Interlude #15: Making a USB Power Cable for My ATtiny85 from 4x AA Battery Pack | In The Lab

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You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

In this video we make a cable to connect a 6V battery pack with a 9V adapter to a USB Type-A female socket, which we can then use to connect a USB Type-A male through Type-B micro for powering my microcontroller.

We use the METCAL PS-900 Soldering Station to solder our cables.

We use the EEVblog BM2257 Digital Multimeter to test voltage and continuity.

We use the Horusdy Soldering Station with Hot Air Gun to shrink our heat shrink.

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)

Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Tungfull TH-161 Rotary Tool Accessory SetThis is an image of the product.notes

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Channel News #6: I Have a New Gig! Also I’m Planning Some Things | In The Lab With Jay Jay

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This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video over here.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

In this video I report in about what’s going on around here.

My big news is that recently I got a gig working for Hackaday. You can find my articles over here: https://hackaday.com/author/JohnElliot

I mention that I am reading AVR Programming: Get Under the Hood of the AVR Microcontroller Family which is written by Elliot Williams who is Editor in Chief over at Hackaday. The big thing I am hoping to learn from this book is how to generate tones, but I haven’t read that part of it yet!

The new book teardown which I am going to need to re-record is for Electricity and Magnetism 3ed.

The old book teardown which I have been working on is for Electric Circuits.

I have done the introduction for the Maxitronix 30in1: Introducing Maxitronix 30in1 | Maxitronix 30in1 | Learning Electronics In The Lab With Jay Jay but I haven’t done the first project yet. The thing that is tripping me up is making a decision about whether I am going to start doing the LTSpice simulations in the 30in1 videos or if I’m going to put that off until we start our next Maxitronix kit… I will have to make a decision about that soon.

I am working on Jaycar and Silicon Chip Mini Project number JMP003. But I’m stuck debugging it. I hope to catch up with that soon. I have heaps of Mini Projects to do, I am embarrassingly far behind.

I have recorded the introduction for the Learning the Art of Electronics project that we’re just about to kick off: Introducing Learning the Art of Electronics | Learning Electronics In The Lab With Jay Jay but I’m still waiting for the 2nd edition of the book to turn up. Fingers crossed it gets here in the next couple of days otherwise I will need to start on this project using the 1st edition of the book.

There’s a bunch of stuff here that has arrived in the mail so you can expect to see a mail call video covering that stuff soon as well.

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)

Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Yum Cha Knife BladesThis is an image of the product.

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Introducing Learning the Art of Electronics | Learning Electronics In The Lab With Jay Jay

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This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video over here.

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This project’s homepage is here: John’s wiki ยง Learning the Art of Electronics.

In this video we introduce a new feature of the show. In these segments we will be working through Learning the Art of Electronics.

We will be doing a total of 27 videos for this feature. 25 labs, this introduction, and a conclusion. Videos will come out on the first Tuesday of every month (hopefully!).

We did a new book teardown for this book last year: New Book Teardown #3: Learning The Art of Electronics: A Hands-On Lab Course (2016) | In The Lab. You can see in the comments a number of people encouraged me to make videos for this book, so that’s what we’re doing now.

Also a shout out to my mate over on Learning as a hobby for encouraging me to undertake this project.

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)

Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

JST XH2.54 6pin Pre-crimped ConnectorThis is an image of the product.

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Introducing Maxitronix 30in1 | Maxitronix 30in1 | Learning Electronics In The Lab With Jay Jay

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In this video we introduce the Maxitronix 30in1.




Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)

Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

JST XH2.54 6pin Pre-crimped ConnectorThis is an image of the product.

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Mail Call #27: Calibration Circuits, Battery Holders, Analog Meters and More from AliExpress

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In this video we open the following in the mail from AliExpress.

As I mention in the video I learned about the AD584LH and Resistor Board over here: Brymen BM789 Unboxing and Review.

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Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Yum Cha 100pc Titanium Plated Drill BitsThis is an image of the product.notes

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Demo #8: Unboxing and Product Review of Rown Fusny R03U Wireless Mono Headset | In The Lab

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In this video we unbox and demo the R03U Wireless Mono Headset sent to me for review by Rown Fusny. This headset supports wireless connectivity for both USB and Bluetooth. I really enjoyed using this product and their customer support was first class.

It’s a mono device which means it only has a speaker for one ear, which is really good for your situational awareness because you can hear what’s going on in your environment through your other ear. Both the headphone and the microphone worked properly in both USB and Bluetooth mode.

I wasn’t able to get the USB mode to work on my Windows 10 machine, but I don’t know if that was related to the USB hardware on that computer or if it had to do with Windows 10 support for the device. I was able to get USB mode working on a Windows 11 Pro computer and one of my Debian 12 (bookworm) computers. I tested the Bluetooth mode on both iPhone 6s and iPhone 8.

One thing that I needed explained to me was that after you pair your Bluetooth device you may need to double click the power button on the headset in order to toggle from USB mode over to Bluetooth mode in order to activate the device. That’s why I had to contact customer support, because I was confused by this.

The device gives you status updates via audio. So if you toggle to USB mode it says “USB mode” and if you toggle to Bluetooth mode it says “Bluetooth mode”. If you disconnect the USB dongle or unpair the Bluetooth connection it says “disconnected”.

There is a microphone mute button on the headset and there are volume control buttons too. I tested the volume control buttons via Bluetooth but forgot to test via USB… hmm. Gimme a tick. Yep, the volume controls work on USB too!

Overall I was very pleased with this device and I would happily recommend this product!

In preparing this video I made some notes about my headphones which are still available on my wiki.

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)

Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Yum Cha 16MP USB CameraThis is an image of the product.

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