Early Content #9: OGXbox Recapping, Thermal Paste and Pro’sKit SS-331 Demo | In The Lab With Jay Jay

This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video on this show’s homepage which is here.

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

In this video I recap an old OGXbox. I also redo the thermal paste. I use my Pro’sKit SS-331 desoldering pump in anger for the first time. I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out my new tools. In the end the Xbox is still broken!

I sold this Xbox on eBay but it was returned to me during the warranty period (one month) as it was faulty.

In this video I mention a trick you can do in your browser when you’re watching videos on YouTube. Ordinarily the YouTube user interface only allows you to set playback speed to 2x, but if you want to set it at 3x or higher you can do so by pressing F12 to bring up developer tools, then open the Console, and enter this code:

document.querySelector("video").playbackRate = 3.0;

Change the number to change the playback speed.

In this video I mention that it was in a video from Bruce from Branchus Creations that I got the recommendation to try a beveled soldering iron tip. Having given it a bit of a go and not really having great luck with it I am going back to a small chisel bit instead.

I comment in the video about how you don’t need to replace the clock capacitor on a v1.6 board, but Harcroft on the ConsoleMods.org original-xbox Discord forum reminded me that sometimes you do need to replace this capacitor.

The capacitors I use for this recapping are Chong 6.3V 3300μF Low ESR caps. Of course the board didn’t work after recapping so it’s possible these are dodgy caps.

I’m pretty sure I did damage the tip on my desoldering pump by putting the temperature all the way up to 480°C. Maybe don’t do that yourself. I believe anything over 380°C can damage iron tips (basically they melt!).

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!

ZKETECH EBD-A20H Electronic LoadThis is an image of the product.notes

Let’s go shopping!

Op amp tester

I was watching How To TEST OP AMPS Using A Multimeter vs Op-Amp Tester Project Single Dual and I learned about this Operational Amplifier OP AMP Tester For Single Dual OPAMP TL071 TL072 TL081 TL082 Single/Dual Op Amp Test Board.

I have to cool it on the spending for a little while, but I’ve made a note of this on my shopping list.

Unboxing #3: Unboxing of UNI-T UTi260B Thermal Imager with Macro Lens | In The Lab With Jay Jay

This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video on this show’s homepage which is here.

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

In this video I unbox my new UNI-T UTi260B thermal imager with macro lens and compare it with my Noyafa NF-521 thermal imager.

I made a few mistakes with the production of this video, sorry about that. I made a mess of the side branding, I will have that fixed in future. And I managed to get my toes on camera. The height of professionalism!

In this video I refer to my lab equipment documentation. Particularly I mention the Jackcat Mini Cutter electric scissors.

Note: in the video I’m not sure what “ROI” means, but it turns out it means “region of interest”. The region of interest is a box in the middle of the display, and some settings apply to this area.

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 Heavy Duty Stainless Steel Wire BrushThis is an image of the product.notes

Let’s go shopping!

Thyristor (Silicon Controlled Rectifier)

Watching Pure Electronics Repair. Learn Methodical Fault Finding Techniques / Methods To Fix Almost Anything I learned that a thyristor—which is also known as a Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)—is a type of TRIAC.

The name “silicon controlled rectifier” is General Electric’s trade name for a type of thyristor.

Number pad

I have various workspaces in my lab, and I call one of them my “booth”. It’s called the booth because I use it when I need to take photos of things which I’m selling on eBay, usually Xbox consoles or games.

Anyway the booth is also setup with two video cameras, one for a view of the booth bench and the other for a view of my face while I am working in the booth. There’s a retractable drawer bolted under the booth bench too which is full of breadboard jumper wires, so this is the place where I do some of my electronics projects, particularly my Maxitronix X in 1 projects. It’s also a convenient workspace when I’m breadboarding something, as I have ready access to my component drawers above.

Today I’ve installed a number pad in the booth so that I can control my cameras in OBS Studio while I’m working at that bench:

Studio upgrade

The computer I’m using to do the recording for In The Lab With Jay Jay is called ‘wonder‘ and it only has six USB ports. I currently have ten USB cameras, and I’m getting more, so I don’t have as many USB ports as I can use. Also ‘wonder’ only has 2TB capacity (non-RAID) for storing the videos I record, which will probably get used up fairly quickly.

So I have been planning an upgrade for ‘wonder’ known as ‘victory‘. My new studio workstation ‘victory’ will have 52TB of RAID storage for video data, 2TB of SSD RAID storage for video recording, 12x USB ports on the back panel, and 4x USB ports on the front panel.

Along with this new studio workstation I intend to get a new camera, a Canon Rebel SL3.

Now all I need to do is save up a cool eight grand!