You never know what the sea will bring. The other day, while walking the dogs on the beach, Mrs. Maker and I came across a couple of interesting bottles and an orange-colored mystery device. It looked to me like some kind of specialized flashlight, but that was only because of its general shape.
The device was completely waterlogged, with what I supposed was the lens having this hideous-looking black water sloshing around in it. This looked WRONG to me, because the device seemed obviously intended for some kind of oceanic situation or task. Water penetration is usually that last thing you want when it come to anything ocean-going. So, it seemed to me that the challenge(s) with respect to this device were twofold: 1) Get it working 2) Figure out what it was originally intended for All of the parts seemed to be there. It just appeared to me that the device hadn't been closed properly, almost like it had been put on a surface somewhere, and then it had rolled off into the ocean, unnoticed. After its time in the ocean, the device was really dirty, so I figured it would be the perfect subject for a rescue & refurb video! The lens area was especially dirty and hideous-looking:
Here's what I had to deal with: 1) Every metal part inside the device appeared to be rusty. 2) The battery (a big, old-fashioned, 1.5v "D" type) was totally shot. 3) All of the plastic parts were encrusted with sand and various types of sea life. After an afternoon of scrubbing and TLC, the device was working again...and it turned out to look pretty nice!
Here's a video of the transformation....enjoy!
Help a Maker Out?
Did you see anything in this video you want for yourself? If the answer is yes, consider using one of the link(s) below to buy it directly from amazon.com. When you do, I get a small commission that keeps me going!
Bill of Materials
GLOVEWORKS HD Industrial Black Nitrile Gloves - 6 mil, Latex Free, Powder Free, Diamond Texture, Disposable, Large, GWBN46100-BX, Box of 100 https://amzn.to/35fifrv Armor All 10160 Protectant, Original 1 pt (16 fl oz) 473 ml https://amzn.to/2RGtHsx Trident Silicone Grease Jar https://amzn.to/38GjiDg Disposable Chopsticks, pack of 40 pair
When we noticed one day that our right front daytime running light had burned out, Mrs. Maker and I decided to experiment with an LED replacement bulb. Over the last few years, we've noticed that the vehicles in Hong Kong have been sporting increasingly bright lights, and we were curious to see how hard it would be to give our 2006 AWD Mitsubishi Outlander a bit of an inexpensive LED upgrade. The first challenge was to figure out the bulb type, which we determined from taking a close-up photograph of the old bulb, which revealed that it was a 12vW5W type bulb.
Cross-referencing this information with the Mitsubishi Outlander Owners Manual (we were lucky enough to receive one from the previous owner), we determined that there were six W5W light bulbs in the vehicle: Running Lights: 1) Left front running light 2) Right front running light
Side Turn Signal: 3) Left side turn signal 4) Right side turn signal License Plate: 5) Left license plate light
6) Right license plate light
Enter Amazon
Once I knew what type of bulb to get, it was then an easy task to go to Amazon.com, select the type of LED replacement for a W5W I wanted and order them. I ended up getting a set of 10 W5W LED replacements so I could have a couple of spare units, just in case. Once the order arrived, it was a matter of less than an hour to get the new LED replacement bulbs into service, and the following video records the event. Enjoy!
Help a Maker Out? Did you see anything in this video you want for yourself? If the answer is yes, consider using one of the link(s) below to buy it directly from amazon.com. When you do, I will get a small, but very encouraging commission that keeps me going!
Bill of Materials
10PCS AutoLite Super Bright 194 T10 2825 Led Bulb, Interior Car Light Bulbs 168 W5W, Xenon White 6000K with CANBUS Error Free, Best for License Plate Light Led Dome Light Map Truck Door Courtesy Light https://amzn.to/39RvSQp Trident Silicone Grease Jar https://amzn.to/2R2japl
Having Fun Shouldn't Be Deadly, But It Easily Could Have Been...
The Shocking Story of the FX LAB Disco Light
The other day a friend told me he had a light that shocked him when he touched it. Intensely curious, I asked him if I could take a look at it. He was more than happy to pass it to me, and I spent a little time with it this afternoon figuring out why it was unsafe. The short answer is that the light was badly designed - and cheaply manufactured. This combination resulted in a device that leaked 230VAC to its external enclosure, at up to 10VA. This is more than enough power to be lethal.
Here's a shot of the rear of the unit, showing its brand name, working voltage and so forth:
Ocular Inspection
An external inspection of the unit revealed very little. The power cord and plug were undamaged. There were no obvious cracks, splits or other signs of damage to the body of the unit.
"Cold" Power Check
I next performed a "cold" power check on the device, which means I checked it out while it was unplugged. Using my belovedFluke 12B Multimeter, I checked for continuity between the body of the device (which had been the shock vector) and the pins of the power plug. Plugs in Hong Kong look like this:
There was zero resistance between the body of the device and ground (#3)
There was infinite resistance between the body of the device and line (#4, #5)
There was infinite resistance between the body of the device and neutral (#2)
These results are consistent with a normally functioning device.
"Hot" Power Check
My next move was to take the disco light apart. In terms of the powered components of the unit, I discovered that it was composed of two modules connected by a wiring harness:
A POWER module
A LIGHTING module
Securing the unit safely on a level, non-conductive surface, I very carefully plugged it into a switched power bar outlet (with the outlet turned OFF). I made sure that the unit was not in contact with me or anything conductive, and turned it on.
Here's what I saw:
Once again, the unit appeared to be functioning normally. I tested various points around the unit for voltage leaks by placing the black lead of my multimeter on the grounding bolt and probing around the unit with the red lead. While doing so, I detected 0V at the steel base of the POWER module, 3V at the steel base of the LIGHTING module, and 12V at the back of the motor, which is responsible for an "extra" disco effect. While detecting any leaking voltage is undesirable, what I found was insufficient to cause the kind of shock my friend described.
Mechanical Inspection
Increasingly puzzled by this situation, I took a closer look at how the unit was mechanically constructed.
The first thing I noticed was that the LIGHTING module fit into the body of the device by friction alone; it slid under two flanges. It could therefore be accidentally displaced within the device by a physical blow or by being oriented at too steep an angle.
The second thing I noticed that the front plate of the lighting module was supposed to be spot welded to a front plate that held a glass lens. At some point, the welds had failed.
Mechanical Failure + Design Flaw = Death?
This led me to an interesting conclusion. The hypothesis I came to was that my friend had been shocked because the LIGHTING module had slid too far back into the device, coming into contact with the transformer mounted on the POWER module. This would have conducted 230VAC through the back of the motor (which was metal) through to the external shell of the device (which was metal).
The Solution
Once I knew what was wrong, I knew what I needed to do to make this unit safe again. I took a plastic lid (which I don't need) from one of the containers I use to organize my work bench and started cutting it up:
I hot glued a circular piece of plastic to the back of the motor, isolating it electrically.
Then, I traced out a larger circle on the plastic lid...
...and hot glued it to the POWER module, leaving a notch for the wires that connectit to the LIGHTING module:
At this point, the unit was very well isolated electrically, but I still wanted to do something about the mechanical failure.
So what I did was put the unit together in such a way that the connecting flange was on the outside of the unit rather than in its normal position, which is inside.
I then drilled a hole through both the flange and the face plate:
I then I took the unit apart once more. I colored the flange black with a marker, partly to prevent rust, partly to integrate the flange (which was now somewhat exposed) visually with the color of the rest of the unit. It wasn't really necessary, but why not?
Finally, I re-assembled the unit with everything in the correct order, meaning the flange was now inside. I re-united the the LIGHTING module flange with the face plate using a nut and bolt - that type of mechanical connection will not fail any time soon!
Final Testing
I tested the unit once again for voltage leaks. There were none. It seemed safe.I also took the disco light to my balcony and shined it on a large tree about 30 feet away. To my delight and satisfaction, the disco light seemed to work just fine:
Party On!
Based on my testing, the FX LAB disco light appeared to be both safe and 100% fully functional.
It was ready to be put back into service once again.
