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EEVBlog fake panic

Hi,

many of us here remember " David L. Jones " as regular poster.

His somewhat peculiar ideas were evident back then and far more have been r evealed since by hundreds of video blogs on U-tube, to enjoy - or not.

Having recently having an expensive, US model, amplifier on the bench damag ed by accidental connection to 240V power I stumbled across this blog:

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Dave goes positively ape trying to blame the famous Weller company for his own dumb mistake.

Somehow ( it's never explained ) he acquired a 120V version of one of there recent products and in haste plugged it into 240V power using the first IE C lead that came to hand. It was immediately damaged, the supply tranny smoked and went open circuit

- exactly as it is meant to do. In the circumstance, the current draw would have been about 50 times normal. A regular fuse if fitted would have opene d instantly.

But Weller did not fit one, as sale of that model in a 240V country is ille gal and use impossible without a step down. The unit comes with a IEC style power lead fitted with a USA 3pin plug - apparently discarded.

A replacement tranny would see it working again, but that is not good enoug h according to Dave and his army of sycophants.

The damn thing SHOULD have had a fuse in the AC to protect Dave from the co nsequences of his dumb error !!!

The Weller unit passes safety requirement for sale and use in a 120V countr y, the particular tranny is badged as being "inherently short circuit proof " - achieved by having high temp insulation and enough primary to secondary leakage inductance to limit heating under overload conditions to a tolerab le level.

So who is responsible for Dave's accident ?

FYI: If you purchase an electrical item from overseas for you own use OR re sale YOU are the importer and bear full responsibility for the safety of th e unit. Numerous folk with delusions of becoming a "grey importer" have fallen fou l of the relevant consumer safety laws and suffered the penalty too.

Attempting to publicly crucify a foreign manufacturer for NOT making every product safe to use and impossible to damage in EVERY country is absurd.

Weller have sufficient grounds to sue Dave for product defamation - but lik ely will not bother for two reasons:

  1. Doing so only makes for more bad publicity.

  1. Few people are dumb enough to adopt Dave's absurd opinions.

They could demand he publish a correction and apology in a future blog - bu t even that could backfire.

.... Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison
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I have viewed that particular video. Dave gets carried away for sure, but I don't think it is unreasonable for a product of Weller's standing to have a fuse, FWIW.

Dave also didn't like the component tester and let rip before he even tried it. He did back down after copping flack for that one and in a follow-up video gave the device a decent review.

Reply to
Clocky

"The component tester"? I detest his exaggerated drawl and whole attitude frankly so haven't watched a video of his for years but now you've got me curious...

--
Shaun. 

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy little classification  
in the DSM" 
David Melville 

This is not an email and hasn't been checked for viruses by any half-arsed self-promoting software.
Reply to
~misfit~

------------- Phil Allis>

** Much was made of the fact there was no thermal fuse, although having one in the circumstances would be pointless:
  1. The tranny would be damaged with a *2500 times* thermal overload before that fuse could open - so same outcome.
  2. The safety classification "inherently short circuit proof" would be denied.

Also, if a wire fuse were used for added portection, it would have to be fitted internally to prevent user meddling - so the unit is still unusable after 240V is applied.

Other models that have replaceable fuses have neither short proof trannies or thermal fuses. Perfectly legal, as all such soldering station are safety earthed appliances - ie not class 2.

FYI: The Hakko FX-888 has multi-voltage tranny plus 0.63AT glass fuse soldered onto a small PCB. The BIG difference is that it uses an attached power lead - not an IEC inlet.

When the dumb Yanks adopted the *EUROPEAN 240VAC* power connector for 120VAC computer products, most with 120/240 switches, they made a business decision - not safety one.

.... Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

Daves problem is that he won't use one word if he can use 50. I prefer Andreas Spiess on YouTube.

Reply to
keithr0

--------------

** Dave doesn't script anything - totally off the cuff.

The best U-tube presenters do at least some preparation - in order to avoid repetitious over explaining or tedious circumlocution.

The ones that spend ten minutes explaining what they are GOING to say later really annoy.

** Hmmm - that explains a lot...

... Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

I've watched a couple of Andreas Spiess' videos in the past and they're not really what I'm interested in. I don't 'do' Arduino / Raspberry Pi etc. (At least not yet...)

Cheers,

--
Shaun. 

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy little classification  
in the DSM" 
David Melville 

This is not an email and hasn't been checked for viruses by any half-arsed self-promoting software.
Reply to
~misfit~

Each to their own, I've got 6 RasPis, and more Arduinos, ESP8266s, ESP32s and STM32s than I can point a stick at. I started out as a hardware designer but ended my career writing software. Both are essentially the same thing, but you can write software anywhere that you can open the laptop, and there are no intermittent software errors. Of course I still have to design and build the hardware for the software to reside on.

Reply to
keithr0

---------------

** Hair bristles on back of neck, sweaty palms, heart rate goes up.

The "same" ? as in " same as chalk and cheese " ?

You *cannot* be serious.

Code scribbling is merely a sub branch of applied math known as "programming".

Electronic engineering is applied Physics, many branches thereof - plus several other physical sciences.

FYI:

I have long noted your lack of appreciation for and insight into the latter is glaring. Hence my open hostility.

..... Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

Take the pills and have a good lie down.

A typical uninformed and bigotted response, since I have done both professionally I suspect that I'm in a better position than you to comment.

Nothing much to do with maths, a lot more to do with logic. I did a lot more maths when I was designing hardware including advanced calculus such as Laplace transforms and Fourier analysis.

ROTFL, I've worked on the design of everything from RADAR, UHF comms gear, missile systems, servos, and several areas of logic circuits. A lot more than toasters and audio gear.

Reply to
keithr0

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