Interlude #17: Another False Start for Learning the Art of Electronics | In The Lab With Jay Jay

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Silly Job Title: Current Curator.

In this video we make our second false start on Learning the Art of Electronics.

I mention about Make: magazine.

The power electronics YouTuber I mention is @ElectrArc240.

We consider using the Maxitronix 300in1 Electronics Project Lab Kit to for our project but we end up settling for a smaller breadboard.

We use the UNI-T UTi260B Thermal Imager to investigate the thermal properties of our powered circuits.

We use the Fluke 17B+ Digital Multimeter to measure voltage and current.

We use the EEVblog BM2257 Digital Multimeter to measure voltage and current.

We use the EEVblog BM036 Digital Multimeter to measure current.

We use the Peak Electronic Design Atlas DCA75 Pro Semiconductor Analyzer to examine our diodes.

We use the ANENG AN-999S Bench Multimeter to measure current.

We use the Riden RD6006 Bench Power Supply to provide power for our experiments.

We use the Carpenter Mechanical Pencil for writing out notes.

We use the Hakko CHP 3C-SA Precision Tweezers for working with small components.

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Mail Call #30: Loot from AliExpress and Amazon | Learning Electronics In The Lab With Jay Jay

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Silly Job Title: Watt Wizard.

In this video we take a look at what arrived in the mail. Mostly loot from AliExpress but also some USB hubs from Amazon.

In the video I mention Goo Gone. The stuff I use is the Original Goo Gone. It’s really great stuff! I mostly use it for removing sticker goo after I’ve peeled a sticker off something.

In this video I learn about “rivet nuts”. The ones I got are these ones. There’s a video on YouTube that will give you the idea about how these things work and are used.

I also mention about the 4017 integrated circuit which is a decade counter used in this project kit.

As promised I scanned the instructions on the cover of my “multitester” which is the analog voltmeter and ammeter I got:
Instructions for multitester

This is the equipment which arrived:

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Mail Call #29: Raspberry Pi Picos, 2.5V Lamps, and a Broken Bin | In The Lab With Jay Jay

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Silly Job Title: Code Warrior.

Super big thanks to my new Patreon supporters Ali and Learning as a hobby, it’s really great to have your support, thank you!

In this video we have a look at what has arrived in the mail:

I mention about the ITL Wiki and my Learning the Art of Electronics project, the first lab should come out for that this coming Tuesday, fingers crossed!

Also I mention about the project from Willow Cunningham which is PentaPico: A Pi Pico Cluster For Image Convolution and is what I got my RPi Picos for!

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Electronics Project #12: Making an LED Heart | Learning Electronics In The Lab With Jay Jay

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

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Silly Job Title: Bit Distinguisher.

In this video we build an LED heart. It is beautiful and green.

The schematic and instructions are these:

Instructions in Chinese

Schematic in Chinese

As we discover in the video this circuit is an astable multivibrator made with two op-amps provided by an LM358.

I mention that my copy of Learning the Art of Electronics: A Hands-On Lab Course 2nd Edition has arrived. Very happy about that! I will be getting on with the notes for these very soon.

I mention about the two Logitech BRIOs that I have installed as my “maths cam”. This will enable me to record my maths videos, which I am planning to start soon. I will be working through my old high school mathematics textbooks starting with Signpost 7.

I mentioned my Spivak calculus book, and my Stewart calculus book too, but I can’t seem to find my copy of that at Amazon. If you’re interested in such things check out Calculus by Spivak from Learning as a hobby.

We use the METCAL PS-900 Soldering Station for soldering.

We use the Peak Electronic Design Atlas DCA75 Pro Semiconductor Analyzer to check our NPN transistor.

We use the Peak Electronic Design Atlas LCR45 LCR Meter to check our resistors and capacitor.

We use the Riden RD6006 Bench Power Supply to provide 5V for testing.

We use the Yizhan Digital Microscope to have a closer look at a few things.

We use the Hakko CHP 3C-SA Precision Tweezers for working with small parts.

I mention about these bins which I have purchased recently. They are cheap and a good size but my experience is that the material is very brittle and prone to breaking.

And love to Nirvana for Heart-Shaped Box. 💕

Also, here’s the full list of my ESP32 boards:

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Channel News #8: Update Regarding Upcoming Projects and Videos | In The Lab With Jay Jay

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Silly Job Title: Capacitor Captain.

In this video I make excuses for why you haven’t had a video from me for two weeks. Excuses, excuses.

It is still my ambition to release three videos per week, on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

As I mention in the video I have been working away on the Learning the Art of Electronics project and making notes for all five of the referenced books but I still have a heap more work to do. Further, I’ve been working through the first edition of Learning the Art of Electronics because my second edition hasn’t arrived yet. So today I bit the bullet and canceled my order of the second edition from Amazon AU (I’ve been waiting since January) and placed a new order with Amazon US so my second edition should now be arriving by May 24, later this week.

I have ordered some bits and pieces for my Logitech BRIO web cam including this stand, so I should be able to start making maths videos on my channel soon. But it will be very basic high school maths. If you want more serious maths I would be happy to recommend my friend who makes advanced maths videos on his channel Learning as a hobby.

Speaking of my mate on the Learning as a hobby channel he recently scored a copy of the CDROM that comes with Principles of Electronic Circuits 2ed and is making preparations to send me a copy (either as an ISO or in the snail mail), so standby for more on that. This is a super exciting development because I had concluded that finding a copy of this CDROM was going to be impossible, but here it is!

The long projects that I’m working on which are presently brewing include:

  • Silicon Chip and Jaycar Mini Project JMP003
  • Demo of EEVblog BM2257 multimeter
  • Old book teardown of Electric Circuits
  • Project #1 from Maxitronix 30in1
  • Lab #1 from Learning the Art of Electronics

I have made a start on all of the above but it’s going to take me some time to finish them all. In the mean time I am going to try to get some smaller projects done so that I can hit my target of three videos per week.

And that brings you up to date with news from the channel.

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Channel News #7: Announcing ITL Wiki and Pre-Reading for LtAoE | In The Lab With Jay Jay

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

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Silly Job Title: Connector Kingpin.

In this video I tell you about the new ITL Wiki.

The notes for Learning the Art of Electronics are there: ITL Wiki § Learning the Art of Electronics.

I am running late with Lab #1 from Learning the Art of Electronics. That video was meant to come out today, but I’ve pushed it back to next Tuesday so I have time to prepare the notes and record the lab.

See you next Tuesday? :)

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


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

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

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Silly Job Title: Lightning Tamer.

This project’s homepage is here: John’s wiki § 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! :)


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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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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.

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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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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.

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