It's not just a passable resistance box, it's also a fun puzzle to solve!
@andreasu.3546
9 ай бұрын
If I gave this to my seven year old, told her it has a bar of chocolate inside and that it will open if she gets the numbers right...I'd have her busy for a day.
@bigclivedotcom
9 ай бұрын
That's a pretty clever construction, and as you say, a wipe of grease and upgraded resistors could improve it.
@tomkatt2321
2 ай бұрын
BAH - that's just putting lipstick on the pig.
@SubTroppo
9 ай бұрын
Do get upset (unless you own a landfill).
@alistairmackintosh9412
9 ай бұрын
Actually a rather well engineered design. Most of the problems seem to be in the actual construction.
@PhoenixRevealed
9 ай бұрын
The biggest issue is the bare copper traces for the switching. If they were plated this would be a great tool. Might be usable with DIY tin plating, but gold would be more reliable.
@digitalradiohacker
9 ай бұрын
This looks to be a simple region problem. Half of the knobs were correctly supplied to Australia and the other half were for the UK market.
@Ni5ei
9 ай бұрын
I've modded mine with 2 Watt resistors to go from 1 Ohm to 1 meg and put decent banana connectors on it. It's quite accurate. Instead of using a single resistor in the "5" position I've used 5 resistors in series. So I've used 9 resistors per switch since there's plenty of room inside.
@EngineersFear
9 ай бұрын
Nice, I also noticed 5 resistors don't exist but rather 4.99 so you improved accuracy as well within the tolerances at least
@Ni5ei
9 ай бұрын
@@EngineersFearYeah and it's much cheaper to buy a lot of same value resistors. I've just ordered 20 2W 1% resistors of each value and hand picked the ones closest to the stated value for best accuracy.
@Hyxtryx
9 ай бұрын
@@Ni5ei Did you drill holes through the contacts, or just solder them on top with a blob of solder?
@Ni5ei
9 ай бұрын
@@Hyxtryx I removed the SMD's and kept the leads of the new resistors pretty long and bent the end of the leads 90 degrees to make tiny "feet" on the leads. I soldered these flat to the board so the resistors are standing up. The resistors themselves are then about half on inch above the board. There's so much room in the case, you could even do this with larger ceramic resistors.
@Hyxtryx
9 ай бұрын
@@Ni5eiThanks. That sounds like the way to go.
@trickyrat483
9 ай бұрын
I'm sure Marco Reps would love to improve its precision and temperature stability. Send it to him. :)
@tiagoferreira086
9 ай бұрын
I'm pretty sure if he saw something like that, he would had nightmares for a week lol
@lmamakos
9 ай бұрын
I'm sure all the PPMs would fall out along the way.
@johnwest7993
9 ай бұрын
I already have a couple of lab-grade decade boxes, but for $12 I think I'll get it just for the box and the easy access, rugged contact, rotary switches for projects and experiments.
@phillyphakename1255
9 ай бұрын
I'm a big fan of having test gear which is suitable for "close enough" measurements. A lot of sanity checks and basic testing is good with a 10 percent error, I just need to know that the thing turns on. So I use the crappy but good enough gear. I don't need it traceable to NIST, I just need it good enough. This seems perfect for that, and at 12 bucks, you can't beat it.
@kentswan3230
9 ай бұрын
You can also remove the switch and resistors and then self-nickel plating the copper using the conventional DIY technique then replace the resistors with whatever wattage you want.
@RK-kn1ud
9 ай бұрын
Depending on your usage, you could probably even just slather it with Dielectric Grease.
@TheHuesSciTech
9 ай бұрын
Seems like less effort to just order a identical, properly plated board than DIY plating, but maybe that's just me!
@j.f.christ8421
9 ай бұрын
@@TheHuesSciTech Nickel plating is surprisingly simply to do. The only problem with this is you'd need to remove (or jumper) all the resistors to get the proper current flow, but if you were going to replace them anyway maybe not so bad. Or check with PCBWay etc to see what it would cost for a new board with hard gold plating, add thru hole while you're at it.
@kentswan3230
9 ай бұрын
@@TheHuesSciTech You have a good point. Hummm...
@Zardox-The-Heretic-Slayer
9 ай бұрын
I used the box and made my own PCB (just same layout with through-hole options) and used gold plating on the boards
@andymouse
9 ай бұрын
Great Idea!!
@mrb5217
9 ай бұрын
Would you mind sharing the gerber files?
@ionstorm66
9 ай бұрын
That's what I was thinking. Box is great, and the ball detent/PCB wipe prevents the switch wiggle issues
@Zardox-The-Heretic-Slayer
9 ай бұрын
@@mrb5217 ordinarily I would love to but thanks to EAGLE being a cunt, they got corrupted
@bzcup
9 ай бұрын
Just scan the existing PCB and then you can easily draw your project and customize it as you want.
@markwebcraft
9 ай бұрын
Wow, I have never seen a design like this. Its extremely clever actually. This seems like a good arrangement for using precision resistors with to keep the cost down.
@rustandmagic
9 ай бұрын
It's not that uncommon, the Chinese that put stuff together often have no idea what they are doing, they are told to do something and they do that, if something does not fit, just finetune with a hammer, I have seen it with other Chinese things also.
@MSP_TechLab
9 ай бұрын
Don't forget that they're probably assembling hundreds of those things per shift. So, it can be just a fatigue. The problem is that they have zero to nothing output QC.
@helgew9008
9 ай бұрын
If you replace the 0.5 ohm resistors with 1 Meg ones, you can sacrifice precision in return for range. If you replace the resistors with higher power ones, be careful with the plastic case. It looks like it may have a low melting temperature. Maybe drill some vent holes?
@tommiller1315
9 ай бұрын
@ 6 minutes - AliExpress is all out of stock 🤣
@drunkenhobo8020
9 ай бұрын
I've got a few of these at work and they've proved surprisingly useful in some of the more fiddly physics experiments. The best part is one it has a sticker on the side saying "Tested for electrical safety 03/1971". Fun winding up the students with that one who treat it like it's about to explode.
@AndreasDelleske
9 ай бұрын
Oh I'd enjoy to amp that up!
@Frank_K4FMH
9 ай бұрын
I have this exact same unit. My values tracked ok. But the binding posts instead of banana plugs really “trigger” me! Thanks for the teardown!
@dagobertkrikelin1587
9 ай бұрын
I bought a simliar box on ebay from China 20 years ago. The box seems to be made of bakelite, it is heavy, which is explained by the heavy duty gold-plated rotary switches inside and resistors made from enameled wire wound on ceramic posts. It will stand a good deal of current, but the label has fallen off and I don't remember how much. It was dirt cheap, but apparently not cheap enough for China of today.
@TheRetroChannel
9 ай бұрын
Bloody bargain! Even if they got half the switches wrong, you're getting in there anyway to add some protection to that bare copper
@JAKOB1977
9 ай бұрын
dang, that some low prices you got over there downunder.. Here in northen Europe (EU) also on choice, but 13.55US for the 5dial and 22.71 for 6dial, inc.. VAT.. I dont think its the actual prices your showing, it looks like its welcome deal prices that aint that relevant, as they are often cut with 4 to 7 bucks for new AliE-accounts.
@JAKOB1977
9 ай бұрын
Yep. it's discounted prices for new accounts and why it says "welcome deal" in red lettering 0:33 and where AliEx themself eat some of the cost.. its an attempt to show platform-growth on accounts to sh. holders, it ain't the seller that is selling to that price (pls have that in mind) also why you can't purchase fx 2 or one of each to those mentioned values, it's not the actual price the seller is selling them for.
@1ytcommenter
9 ай бұрын
Would have expected a Bakelit housing. 🤣
@KeritechElectronics
9 ай бұрын
Not too shabby, but not even by a far shot close to my super heavy vintage decade box made by Ulrich (Germany, 40s/50s). Being that old and bought secondhand, it unfortunately had open contact on several 1k and 10k wirewound resistors, and I recently replaced them with 2W 1% MFRs... good luck finding wirewound resistors capable of handling a bunch of watts with tolerance and thermal coefficient tighter than Ethel Granger's laces. I really need to put that video together and publish it. Upside Down, eh? Did you get that thing from HNL? I like the wide traces - but they used SMD resistors, really? 0804 at most, the way they look... C'mon, for crying out loud! The reduced number of resistors with 5-1-1-1-1-1 arrangement is very clever and nice, I really like it. Always appreciating Spinal Tap references!
@TomLeg
9 ай бұрын
I guess the thing is to calculate how much current the PCB traces can handle, and upgrade the resistors to that level
@Foetusmachine
9 ай бұрын
If you were serious about it... buy two cheaper 4x knob resistance boxes, series them together with your new replaced 5w resistors. You could have 0.1, 1, 10, 100, 1k, 10k, 100k & 1M ranges. Could also completely rebox with a 3d printed case to suit the 8x dials. The print would be super easy - seems to be very little stress on the box itself.
@WhEE443
6 ай бұрын
Wow, what a clever design! I would have never thought of the 5 resistor design like that. Good engineering.
@AndyWilliams8
9 ай бұрын
I've been using my Heathkit IN-11 six gang box for at least 40 years. 1 ohm to 999,999 ohms. They're very accurate, and they're dirt cheap on Ebay.
@tonyh6309
9 ай бұрын
Doesn't look to be make before break - which could be a problem for some use cases.
@fir3w4lk3r
9 ай бұрын
Just design a new board with gold plating. How mush is it on JLCPCB etc? :D :D :D
@gleggett3817
9 ай бұрын
rather than dismantle to swap out the blinding posts, one could conjure up a "bracket" (3d print) that fitted over the factory posts and carried mutliple ( banana, screw, wago ) connection points
@JKtheSlacker
9 ай бұрын
They accidentally sent it partially configured for the northern hemisphere and partially configured for Australia, all the knobs were supposed to be upside down.
@donaldbundy3499
9 ай бұрын
😂
@herbybey7698
9 ай бұрын
This is a nice design. I would use two resistors from the next decade in parallel to get the 5 though. You get away with half the resistor values in your BOM and only need 6 more resistors for twice the current handling capability. That's a pretty good compromise.
@MoseyingFan
9 ай бұрын
Managed to rescue a bunch of decade resistors and capacitors (plus misc school lab equipment) from the e-waste bin at the city dump.
@nonsuch
9 ай бұрын
I made one similar to that one but, I also added "fine pots" in addition to the decade so I can really dial in whatever I'm doing.
@LuLeBe
9 ай бұрын
Wait fine pots? Why? You already have all those other pots for the lower values, don't you? Or did I misunderstand what you mean, and you're talking about more of a calibration thing or so?
@nonsuch
9 ай бұрын
@@LuLeBe Yes and yes. Fine pots to get the exact or close resistances. Also, I didn't start my decade box with 0.1, mine goes into the megaohms instead.
@zyeborm
9 ай бұрын
Spray of contact lube would probably make the contacts last longer against corrosion.
@lezbriddon
9 ай бұрын
30 euro now, I saw these 6 months ago and I really liked the style and was expecting them to be good old wafer switches and big 1970's old stock sausage resistors.... no lol, I would have paid for old, but I aint paying that for SMD
@sikkepossu
9 ай бұрын
11:54 Actually aren't those remainder of the resistor always parallel with the series ones?
@nathantron
9 ай бұрын
"everyone should have one." 1 Minutes later. "This is shit." lol. I love you Dave.
@bertoid
8 ай бұрын
My review of the 5 stage version of this:- kzitem.info/news/bejne/q6ac03-DcptldW0 Looks to have better plating on the PCB, but the box is crappy.
@NICK-uy3nl
9 ай бұрын
Interesting design and amazing price people should stop calling Chinese designs 'cheap junk'.
@karllangeveld6449
9 ай бұрын
I have the 5 decade version, same experience, including the switch-bending part😂 I replaced the resistors for 1 watt resistors and the binding posts. It is indeed ridiculously cheap.
@eimparas
9 ай бұрын
Daam it .4 bots beet me
@treelineresearch3387
9 ай бұрын
Pathetic hoooman response time!
@EEVblog
9 ай бұрын
Just a shot a Blab video on this, uploading now.
@docwhogr
9 ай бұрын
you should report it to the police, did you got their serial numbers? yesterday my cousin was hit by a robotaxi... this is a rise i say!!!
@HPD1171
9 ай бұрын
you could certainly make a new PCB with ENIG and big through holes for larger resistors. that would be a nice simple project.
@JohnSmith-lb3ge
9 ай бұрын
You should do a vid on modding the box
@hansurmann
9 ай бұрын
If you want to enjoy electronics, then immediately buy a normal “Resistance Standard Box Resistor P33” made in the USSR (produced approximately 1960-1980). You can also buy a cooler P4831. You will immediately understand the difference in the quality of products produced by different socialist countries: USSR vs China
@TheRetroChannel
9 ай бұрын
Mine just arrived today. Ordered it from an Ali seller called seablue as the one Dave linked to was out of stock. Mine doesn't suffer from the backwards top row issue. Internally it looks the same but I added some contact cleaner/lubricant to the bare copper to help prolong the life of it
@mattrenaud7573
7 ай бұрын
Actually might like to take the 5 position box and upgrade it to a kΩ resistance box. I do a lot of work with vacuum tube amplifiers and that would make this particularly useful.
@ravenbarsrepairs5594
8 ай бұрын
Just received one from AliExpress. Opened it up to check the quality of the resistors, figuring it was using through hole resistors, so I could upgrade them as possible with precision resistors. Was disappointed to find tiny surface mount resistors, as well as finding out the binding posts weren't banana jacks. I've got plenty of banana jacks I could install. One other disappointment, once I discovered the internal circuitry is confusion over why they used the depth of case they chose, as they could make the case 1" deep, and still have plenty of free space inside.
@ventusprime
9 ай бұрын
I always wanted to crete digital version of this , but I did not hade time for it.
@sfdntk
8 ай бұрын
Amazing how much thought went into getting the cost down, just to save the expense of a handful of SMD resistors that cost a fraction of a cent each at scale.
@arcrad
9 ай бұрын
Would slathering the whole bottom of the board in dielectric grease (silicone) prevent the oxidization of the bare copper?
@jaro6985
9 ай бұрын
yes
@jonathanreedpike
9 ай бұрын
If nothing else it makes a great prop, or a "fidget clicker" if you will.
@TrickyNekro
9 ай бұрын
It´s a multimeter in reverse!
@redsquirrelftw
9 ай бұрын
At that price you can't even buy the parts to build one, kind of crazy how they can make stuff so cheap in China.
@jasen963
9 ай бұрын
Can you please make a video on upgrading it?
@PhillipRhodes
9 ай бұрын
Is it wrong that I now find myself wanting to order one of these things, swap out the binding posts, add 5W resistors, and maybe even add a fan and a temperature sensor, etc. etc? #OverEngineering FTW!
@EEVblog
9 ай бұрын
Do it.
@internetvideoenjoyer
9 ай бұрын
A few years ago I bought one of these but I suspect it was an earlier version. Mine did have grease inside but the switch operation was so unreliable that I returned it. Good to see the design has apparently improved.
@ThePetaaaaa
9 ай бұрын
I got rid of mine, too. Just wasn’t worth the hassle with contact issues. If I remember correctly mine however was a 5 decade one.
@nasko8605
9 ай бұрын
Sorry for the stupid question, but what is this thing used for?
@AntonMadness
9 ай бұрын
Where's the imperial version?
@AntonMadness
9 ай бұрын
@@helmut3356 Nah man, those weird 10x increments I don't understaaaand
@AntonMadness
9 ай бұрын
@@helmut3356 You mean feet...
@eliotcougar
9 ай бұрын
I have that exact type of box at work… Built if Soviet times…
@simplemechanics246
4 ай бұрын
Repair? kick out and let it be education....
@brianclimbs1509
9 ай бұрын
I really like the cleverness of this design. It does however make me wonder what it would be like to live in a world where all that effort went into making products of higher quality and durability instead of saving the cost of 5 SMD resistors...
@xxportalxx.
9 ай бұрын
Eh, I work in an industry where cost is no object, however the result is often just as chintzy, but 100 to 1000x the price you'd expect. Quality doesn't really track linearly with price unfortunately, it basically just let's them cut more corners while arriving at the same result, instead of cleverly designing the switches in like that they'd use equivalent 300$ Japanese modules. At least that's been my experience in my field.
@brianclimbs1509
9 ай бұрын
Newer products are cutting corners more and more, but when it comes to test equipment quality matters. Are you saying you can't tell the difference between a Tektronix and an Owon oscilloscope, or the ripple and protection circuits on a quality linear power supply vs a cheap switching supply? @@xxportalxx.
@antoineroquentin2297
9 ай бұрын
So that's what happens when the electrons have fallen out
@Graeme_Lastname
9 ай бұрын
Looks like a failure waiting to happen. 🤣
@norbert.kiszka
9 ай бұрын
Random magic smoke generator. Just put the correct combination.
@Graeme_Lastname
9 ай бұрын
@@norbert.kiszka 🤣
@johncoops6897
9 ай бұрын
I recently smoked a resistor in my round resistance wheel (Like BigClive's) so I am considering to buy this one and add a resistor upgrade.
@Graeme_Lastname
9 ай бұрын
@@johncoops6897 Might need some cooling, ventilation, holes? 🙂
@johncoops6897
9 ай бұрын
@@Graeme_Lastname - heat pipes and/or water cooling for better over-clocking! 😃 That reminds me of my latest unfinished project that uses 4 x 0.2 ohm 100w resistors in Series/Parallel to pull 20A from a single lithium cell. The idea is to test 18650s in old tool packs. However I am needing a far larger heatsink and fans than I anticipated, even for quite short duration test runs 😃
@brianlink391
8 ай бұрын
8:06 thanks for your fingerprint information
@AxelWerner
9 ай бұрын
stop mangeling with chinesium crap
@georgegonzalez2476
9 ай бұрын
Such a silly device. If you instead go to your local university's surplus store you may find decade boxes made by reputable companies, for like $7 each on a good day. Those have wirewound resistors good for a Watt or two. And rotary switches with silver contacts. From reputable companies like Leeds and Northrup, Yokogawa, ESI, General Radio, even Heathkit.
@jaycee1980
9 ай бұрын
AS you say it's worth it for the box and knobs alone. You could easily design a PCB to be made by JLCPCB or whoever with ENIG coating that would just drop in place
Was anyone else staring at the fingerprints on the copper or just me ?
@j.f.christ8421
9 ай бұрын
Fingerprint are common. It's when you see boot prints you worry (and yes I've see a few).
@Jonathan_Doe_
9 ай бұрын
I’m fortunate, in the U.K. you can pick up old decade resistance boxes very cheap. They’re usually either ex military, or ex polytechnic/university lab stock.
@SidneyCritic
9 ай бұрын
I was looking at DIY home plating just last week, I wonder if they have something hard because that copper ain't going to last.
@gjebertsystem2388
9 ай бұрын
Well, you get what you pay for. I built my 6-decade box with 100-watt power resistors, and instead of using switches I opted for banana jacks. It probably cost me 100 USD to make the beast, but it's built like a tank.
@dosgos
9 ай бұрын
Awesome cheapo design!
@gamesmithoz
9 ай бұрын
I bought a 5 Switch version about a year ago for about $A24.00 from Amazon because I couldn't believe it would work but was surprised. And first thing I did was replace the binding posts with decent ones. Works well, but I would expect the switches to eventually fail if you used it a constantly.
@FirstLast-jl6fr
9 ай бұрын
An even better mod.... Change it to a Capacitance Decade Box using SMD caps instead.... much cheaper than buying a cap decade box!
@Gunbudder
8 ай бұрын
My grandpa was a Test Engineer, and i have the underside of one of the knobs from his hand made resistor box! I'm not sure why he disassembled the box, but he took it all apart and all he could guess was that he was being a cheap skate and wanted to use the resistors to repair a clock or a radio haha. After he left his Engineering job, he was allowed to take essentially his whole lab's stock with him and he left me a massive supply of jelly bean parts from the 50's (mostly resistors, caps, diodes and a million fuses). My grandpa also had a little bundle of resistors soldered together that would provide different values based on where you clipped into it. From what i can gather, he would use it to load test circuits. It was basically a grid of resistors that looked like a waffle lol.
@kevincozens6837
9 ай бұрын
A clever design except for the wattage limitation. I looked up the information for an IET decade resistance box. You have to request a quote for one. They won't tell you how much up front. As Dave has said, "If you have to ask the price, ...".
@paulkocyla1343
9 ай бұрын
I´d worry about the wetting current on those boards. You can never trust the resistance when the contacts don´t conduct. But fair enough, you can measure it before using - for that price no one would f%/ care. Besides that: the vintage looking knobs are already worth the buy :)
@thomasmroz
9 ай бұрын
Nice video as always. I'm just finishing up a small side project for a USB controlled programmable decade box using an Arduino, a lot of 1% 5W resistors and relays.
@garypoplin4599
9 ай бұрын
14:56 - It’ll last longer if you keep your screwdriver out from under the knobs! Nice review.
@Bigrignohio
9 ай бұрын
Hm. Besides oxidation eventually that wiper would scratch through the copper track.
@Peter-Groenink
9 ай бұрын
This would be fun to mod in to a puzzle geocache
@KallePihlajasaari
9 ай бұрын
A small gear-motor to retract 4 bolts when you have dialled in TWO sets of correct values within a certain time, Reduce the risk of someone trying to crack it.
@KillerSpud
9 ай бұрын
Obviously it was build by an unhappily married, clean shaven, guy with six kids, on a Friday afternoon.
@somedutchguy7582
9 ай бұрын
Yeah, I don't think I'll be swapping my ESI DB877 for one of these.
@AndreyAkTis
9 ай бұрын
The resistance shop on the video is complete it sucks. The best one is the USSR resistance store P33, and it costs $ 16 and can be bought in new condition.
@Zetex2000
9 ай бұрын
This decade box is what engineering is all about. The chiense or whoever designed it actually had some thought into this and didn't wack resistors in series like most of them do. A very nice and clever solution involving your own switches, saving cost and manufacturing hassle. A good engineer might design something like IET decade box. A thinking engineer will design something like this.
@ivolol
9 ай бұрын
How does Dave manage to find these things when they're 33% lower cost than normal!? Ofc as soon as the video goes out, the price goes up >_
@listerdave1240
9 ай бұрын
An easy way to improve the contacts would be to pen-plate the PCB with gold just in the areas where the wipers make contact, you won't even need to dismantle it. If you already have some gold solution it will cost only a few cents as very little gold is needed. I have fixed some cheap multimeters in that way changing them from a not very good paperweight into actual multimeters that can measure voltage and stuff.
@carlubambi5541
9 ай бұрын
Great device for the money .I remember in electronics lab in high school we had a very expensive unit that used independent switches and a circuit board for the resistors and proper binding posts .Great diagnosing device
@JaenEngineering
9 ай бұрын
It's worth it just for the enclosure and knobs, even if you then completely discard the guts and spin your own internals.
@hackleberrym
9 ай бұрын
What's the actual use of a decade resistor? I remember using them in a lab at the university but can't really come up with a use for it in my workshop.
@microknigh7
9 ай бұрын
Ye I got one about a year ago for £5 and it's total garbage LOL. The rotary switch contacts are very hit and miss.
@simonhopkins3867
9 ай бұрын
I'm thinking a trim pot. And something like a cheap LCR tester put in circuit with a switch taking the input out of circuit. 🤔 Edit LCR tester
@L4b3n
9 ай бұрын
bought one years ago ... as I remember, it was working correctly out of the box. The biggest mess are indeed, the bad connectors 😑
@edgar9651
9 ай бұрын
I just received my order. I ordered two of them with the 6 dials. They work and the labels are correct.
@baconsledge
9 ай бұрын
Hoi, Bob’s yir uncle. Buy ‘merican. Duh, it’s a cipher.
@daveys
9 ай бұрын
I have one of these, but I can’t remember what I originally bought it for. I may have a look and see if the switches are backward on mine too.
@RESISTAGE
9 ай бұрын
it's more of a "SURPRISE Box" than lab tool.
@hermannschaefer4777
9 ай бұрын
You could also just gold-plate it with cheap electroplating stuff.
@robegatt
9 ай бұрын
You can put 5 x 1 ohm in series instead of a 5 ohm... just to solve the power problem...
Пікірлер: 245