I built a solar pendulum using the book, "JunkBots, Bugbots, and Bots on Wheels" that we used in our Electronics class in college. I modified it to use sunlight or battery. The main cap is 4700μF and the coil is a 1H "Major Henry" you used to be able to buy at "Solarbotics." It's 12 years old and still "kicking."
One of the things I love about Clive is he has become a jack of all trades by just being curious (and I am sure through professional experience and age). I have run into him on electronic podcasts and HVACR podcasts. Its something all men should strive for as I think it genuinely helps our mental health and keeps our minds healthy. I just watched something about how young men are struggling, and stuff like this can really help keep you sane. Women too, if you are into this stuff. 👍
How beautifully built, lovely & simple. When you are back home it would make a nice oscilloscope version video, showing the waveforms as light levels increase up to full operation. Thank you for sharing!
A thing worthy of note; these little solar cells are Amorphous type, like those found in garden lights... However, unlike the garden light, the solars in calculators and the like are a specific low-light or indoor type! They are only capable of handling light levels up to 100K LUX; basically putting them in direct sunlight degrades their performance; ruining the low-light performance.
Thanks for that explanation @Vilvaran. I got one about 3 months ago and put it at my south window. A few days ago I realized that it was now less sensitive at dawn.... :(
That 100nF cap across the inductor is a very interesting use of a tank circuit. If the colour code is red red yellow gold as pictured, then the coil is 220mH, which will make the resonance frequency with the 0.1uF cap, at about 1KHz. I built a Bedini pendulum decades ago. It used a single transistor but had a base winding. Then got board and converted it to a Bedini SSG motor with my son for his school science project. We both learned a lot about pulse motors and their efficiencies. It even fools people into thinking they found free energy!!!
That is wonderfully built, though that coil would've been a kicker if I had to wind it myself! Nice one Clive, and I love how that neatly that pendulum swings in. ❤
love the amount of work you do to bring thee vids to us, even cropping the printer photos with a guillotine to make it look neater, an extra step not required but appreciated!
i pulled one of these things out of a rubbish bin. it was broken. i reassembled it many times before i got it right and i'm glad i did. its much simpler in construction than the ones shown here. a wonderful office desk toy. very glad these things got the big clive treatment
I remember building a similar circuit some time as a thing that drives a small electric motor from a small solar cell that didn't have enough current to power it. Also had a big capacitor to store the energy and then two transistors for switching. I never thought it could be used in the solar pendulum toys, but I guess they are essentially a motor anyway.
Using the pendulum to send a pulse back to first transistor results in the mechanical and electrical circuits going into resonance very clever. ❤ some principles remind me of electromagnetic rail launchers
You can keep these going all night by soldering a 4.7 Farad super capacitor directly across the solar cell, a discharge protection diode is not required. It will take a few minutes to charge initially but from then on never appears to stop! I've had one going for over a year non stop.
I got mine a few months ago and I put it at the south window. Sometimes I am sleepless at night. So I defined: When the Flower thing is flapping, then it's day ;-) This would be ruined by that super cap.
Interesting circuit. Thanks. If I had to guess, the inductor and the 100n cap form a parallel LC oscillator. If you were able to measure the impedance of the inductor you would be able to calculate the frequency. The moving permanent magnet is then pushed in opposite directions in an alternate fashion.
"That's a Win" said the little plastic cat waving its forepaw rhythmically where it sat on the counter to the left of the massage parlor mama-san. "Yes, Yes indeed" she replied quietly in Cantonese, a slight smile touching her lips as she slowly sorted the banknotes into the cash drawer beneath the counter. "Perhaps I will leave the light on for you tonight."
"...are you SURE I stop beckoning if you don't though...?" the little maneki-neko added quietly - "after all, you can't see what I'm doing when it's dark..."
You can easily make thousands of winding on a coil with a normal battery drill. You spin the coil with the drill and spool the wire onto the coil. I did that for a guitar pickup some time ago, worked first try and took like 30 minutes for 1000 windings.
Standard SCR configured pnp-npn combo. for the regenerative latch effect. ( b-c of npn to c-b of pnp). Because the b-e of the npn has a dc blocking cap, It requires that trickle bias current from the 2M2+ 1M series resistance resistance divider to tickle it to flip-flap around
At first I thought "Ew, terrible white balance!" Then I thought, "Oh, wait, it's Clive. He's probably using pinkish-purplish paper." And then I thought, "Boooo, it was just a white balance problem."
Very clever circuit, always more interesting to see something done with a couple BJTs than some black box. Looks easy enough to copy, inductor is the only question, can you buy a coil like that or would it need to be hand wound?
Random lady at the office: “Anybody seen my big happy dancing flower? It has been on my desk for almost 10 years since my daughter got it for me and now gone missing.”
Thanks Clive! Using "Vintage" and "Good Construction" in same sentence; Showing 'circuitry to see how item works'; Leaves One wondering, what's left in 'next era' to *'learn' about 'Quality' .... Under a Blob?* Value question: where did _'the Older the Wiser'_ go? will 'new era' ever learn from them?
The best you can do is dissolve the "blob" and use high powered microscopy to inspect the individual junctions on the silicone die. It's a nasty process to remove the epoxy and once done, you're left with a tracing task so onerous I'd only attempt it if I was getting payed handsomely for my time.
Love simple circuits like these, very refreshing compared to some of the more complicated PCB designs you have reverse engineered in the past (flashback from the Ferrex drill!).
Fantastic. Defiantly going to have a go at making something with this circuit. It's just finding the right coil, don't fancy winding my own. Hard part is what phrase to use in the search engine ha-ha.
@@keithking1985ha-ha It just so happens I have just replaced one of those cheap quarts mechanisms in my wife's kitchen wall clock she got free with Tetley teabags decades ago. Haven't thrown the old one out yet.
I suspect value is not terribly critical, I'd try some small solenoid/relay coils with the core removed. I think jumble/solenoid winding will do here, so the only winding difficulty would be working with such fine wire, probably #30 or thinner.
Wow a flappy solar thingy without a blob chip?!! This surprised me! I like when mfrs dont hide the circuitry or put everything in one chip, now i can also reproduce the circuit without decapping the chip and reverse engineer silicon
These are kind of neat but the wires on the newer ones are so small and fragile they break and because they're coated soldering them back on is difficult. The older one is much better, wish they still made them like that.
How does it turn off the transistor? I guess when the magnetic field decrease the induced voltage goes negative and the base current is decreased. It means the transistor is on when the magnet is getting closer and off when it is moving away. Very clever.
I had the hula girl and I saw the Mr bean at the weekend 🤣 The first time I came across them was wirh a hideous bright purple, chromed, dolphin, also from the pound shop in maybe the very late 90s,and three guesses as to whether it ever worked 🤣
I would like to know how you produce such good printed scans of PCBs. What gear are you using to take the pictures and what printer and paper stock are you using?
We can ALWAYS rely on you, Big Clive, for in-depth analysis, and fascinating reverse-engineering of World-changing 🌍 green 🌱 technologies! 👍 ... It's just a pity said technology is Made in China ... from plastic! 👎🤣
On my family pics I don't like borders. On your technical images, I think the border looks more professional and helps seperate the image from the the bench.
The best thing I learned from this video is the word "gazumph" exists! Interesting that your camera went magenta when overexposed during the reverse engineering segment. I wonder how that happened.
Could you look at the cheep ebay solar panels for cars? Mine was about £13, it came with a cigarette 12v, battery terminal clamps and also a connector to the obd2 port. I have mine plugged into the obd2 port as it was the longest wire. It also has 2 usb ports and 1 usb c port. If I charge my phone through it while it's still plugged into the car, it knocks the radio off. I was hoping you could do a teardown of one to see if it can be "fixed" with a resistor or something
Are you gonna delve into "Neko Waving Lucky Cat" items that have a similar mode of operation? Similarly amusing to watch. I assume the lil cap across the inductor is some sort of filter, so as the device runs out of power it doesn't "buzz" when low on power, due to not having enough current to propel the magnet beyond center.
Some of your videos are "Potato Vision" because RU-vid has chosen to paywall full bandwidth for 1080p. If you can record in 50/60fps and/or at a higher resolution like 1440p or 2160p it seems to still circumvent that mode. Edit: Add 50 for those in 50Hz/PAL countries.
Great to see one of these flip flaps with discrete circuitry! Now I know how to build the silly kinetic sculpture thingy that was on Pepper's desk in _Iron Man 2._ (I was obsessed with it for a while, but now...meh.) Anyway, thank you for another great reverse engineer of tacky tat. I always look forward to your next video, and am never disappointed.
awwww so close to the answer I seek :) I want to make a device to gentle keep my hammock swinging gently while I sleep/fall asleep, like a pendulum, but lack the knowledge to make one. Have to watch this again a few times, can it be scaled??.. love the video's, I find them very relaxing too
Since the young village girls who migrate to the cities for jobs making this type of tat are only paid pennies for long shifts before going home to pretty rough accommodations, you might be able to import a couple to take turns swinging your hammock Punkha Wallah-style for a very economical rate? 🤔😉😁
The IC needs to be more complex to get around the fact it's impossible to put a 2.2µF capacitor on a chip. It might use a tiny capacitor and an op-amp based capacitance multiplier circuit, or something completely different.
Awesome, do all these pendulum, coil devices have circuits or are some just coil and magnet? I have a "Lucky Cat" but don't want to disassemble, it was rather expensive being painted ceramic. Thanks Clive, very interesting.
If one were to make one of these, what sort of off the shelf coil would work? Or if winding one, how critical is the wire, diameter and number of turns?
love seeing 1st gen products before they cheapen them, always so over-engineered why use brass bushings when you can use a chunk of potato? i wonder if this is the same circuit as those perpetual motion machines that have the balls that uses a magnet at the bottom of the ramp to keep it going(or the cheapest versions... a motor haha)
