What happened at your workbench today?

Paul M said:
Unusual for wires to break, unless at joints, perhaps they're not copper
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I had a string of solar lights, and after about three years (stopped working long before that) I can to take them down and the wires just snapped all flexibility in them had gone. Plastics go brittle, but not sure what the metal component was, but most strands just broke as well.
 
JimmyB said:
I had a string of solar lights, and after about three years (stopped working long before that) I can to take them down and the wires just snapped all flexibility in them had gone. Plastics go brittle, but not sure what the metal component was, but most strands just broke as well.
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An awful lot of Chinese cheepo carp solar lighting tend to have a high content of steel in the wire and the components, this of course rusts outside making the components brittle but also noney working any more. That is why I now reluctantly have given up on solar garden lighting even though it is nice. Mains powered lighting is not on my agenda either being a Yorkshireman.
 
dunnyrail said:
An awful lot of Chinese cheepo carp solar lighting tend to have a high content of steel in the wire and the components, this of course rusts outside making the components brittle but also noney working any more. That is why I now reluctantly have given up on solar garden lighting even though it is nice. Mains powered lighting is not on my agenda either being a Yorkshireman.
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Before dissing Chinese products I think we should remember why people buy cheap Chinese products, they're cheap, if you want quality Chinese products they cost a bit more, still nowhere near the british manufactured product price, but a bit more than the cheap items.

If buying products from China I always buy items in the mid price range and I have never had any problems with Chinese products.
When I moved to Scotland from Hong Kong (home for most of my life) I brought my Chinese made rice cooker with me, 18 years later it's still one of the most important cooking tools in the kitchen.
 
DafyddElvy said:
Before dissing Chinese products I think we should remember why people buy cheap Chinese products, they're cheap, if you want quality Chinese products they cost a bit more, still nowhere near the british manufactured product price, but a bit more than the cheap items.
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indeed so, we all buy Chinese products, pretty well all that is available these days and most of mainstream big name model trains in other gauges appear to be made in China. Plus many other acceptable products.

But we were referring to solar lights and they are pretty carp specially the pound shop ones plus other more expensive ones, yes I have bought them in the past and will not again. Additionally I have environmental concerns about the many millions of poor quality battery lighting being purchased and quite quickly being binned.
 
I have had various solar lights in the garden (including three lighthouses), and some not so cheap, and they do not last, it seems its the electronic that do not make it. Batteries removed and charged over winter, but a second season (assuming they last the first) is normally the last one.
 
Many electronic components have 'steel' connecting leads..
In our climate, these corrode very quickly, and fail..
These devices have the minimum thickness of copper-track on their boards. Slight dampness, combined with them being 'always on' (as far as small currents are always present) means the copper tracks migrate, leaving bare substrate.

Better weather proofing, and a spray of circuit board lacquer, can extend the life of the unit..
For the battery itself: These are not of particularly good quality, to start with. If you get more than 18 months (around 500 charge-cycles) you are doing well.

I had a railway hut with a solar light on the window ledge (inside) at Tamworth, which was 4+ years old, and still worked fine. - An old solar light, which had failed. Re-wired, and a new (old) cell.

PhilP
 
Oh yes forgot my lock down building project, has nasty Chinese solar lighting that has been working happily for near 3 years now, but it is indoors by a window so no damp to screw the wiring up. Proof indeed of the carp drinnen und draußen abilities of Chinese so called external lighting.
 
An update on the Camel Bsck from a Bachmann big hauler.
The chassis has been reduced to its basics through the use of an angle grinder and power file. The loco superstructure is beginning to look the part. The tender body is from a friend in the Kent group and has been mounted on a reduced width big hauler chassis.
Here’s a couple of images:-
66B6931C-885F-4151-8FD7-627A631FDF53.jpeg087E75E0-FE91-4F47-BD5E-C663FC4DCE38.jpeg
 
I have a plan...
IMG_20230609_134219.jpg
Not that Twitch is any help..
IMG_20230609_114046.jpg
Probably for the best?
:nerd::giggle::nod:

PhilP
 
It is so warm, and the components so tiny and light, they are 'sticking' to the sheen of perspiration on my skin, and moving about as I try to solder to them.
IMG_20230613_171356.jpg
:worried:
Twelve connections, per pair of boards.. Luckily no LEDs or sound-triggers required by this customer.

PhilP
 
PhilP said:
It is so warm, and the components so tiny and light, they are 'sticking' to the sheen of perspiration on my skin, and moving about as I try to solder to them.
View attachment 314594
:worried:
Twelve connections, per pair of boards.. Luckily no LEDs or sound-triggers required by this customer.

PhilP
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One of these may help, insulated with heat shrink. Amazon purchase.
image.jpg
 
DafyddElvy said:
Before dissing Chinese products I think we should remember why people buy cheap Chinese products, they're cheap, if you want quality Chinese products they cost a bit more, still nowhere near the british manufactured product price, but a bit more than the cheap items.

If buying products from China I always buy items in the mid price range and I have never had any problems with Chinese products.
When I moved to Scotland from Hong Kong (home for most of my life) I brought my Chinese made rice cooker with me, 18 years later it's still one of the most important cooking tools in the kitchen.
Click to expand...

As a young lad I heard many times about British quality. That was when the pound was worth about three or four times the dollar. Correct me if I'm wrong. My father had an especially admiral opinion of the English. He had served during the war ( WWII ), along side of a British battalion, in India. My father, who had a good sense of humor, would always speak very highly about the Brit's humor.

In the early '60s he was looking to buy his first new car. If memory serves it might have been an English Ford. Turns out he just couldn't justify spending the amount it cost. As I sit here typing some of those memories are very slowly trickling back into my head. There's more to this story but my brain needs to reboot.
 
Finally, after a hot day, the long-awaited Morella Junction sub-panel in the shed is complete and working. There is a long siding out of sight behind the shed and not picked up on either CCTV camera, representing the 'rest of the world' and so I wanted a visual indicator to show how the route is currently set (left side, white LEDs), plus display the appropriate aspect on the exit signal outside, but the heat got to my logic cells and it took hours to put the wires in the right order and make it work via a LGB12070 supplementary switch.

The panel can be switched in, taking over the loop controls from the main panel, plus it manages the shed's own sidings. Just in case I want to have a nostalgic return to track power, this is also set up, consistent with the rest of the railway.
Morella_sub_panel.jpg
 
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Well the first cunning plan worked:
IMG_20230615_134038.jpg
So a second version was made..
Some drilling and filing :
IMG_20230615_113009.jpg
Then we end up with:
IMG_20230615_145835.jpg
Though it is VERY tight for the batteries:
IMG_20230615_145907.jpg
Has taken a bit of ji, ji, ji, jiggling...
But I have got it back together (almost). - Had to stop for food.

PhilP
 
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