International Repair Day is an annual celebration for everyone who makes repair happen in their communities around the world. Be part of the global movement calling for The Right to Repair.

People are celebrating the power of repair to bring our communities together, reduce our impact on the planet, learn new skills and so much more. Repairing things isn’t always easy – especially with electricals and electronics!

International Repair Day was established in 2017 to promote the value and importance of repairing. International Repair Day is organised by the Open Repair Alliance, an international group of repair organisations collaborating to make electronic products more durable and easier to repair.

https://openrepair.org/international-repair-day/

https://openrepair.org/international-repair-day/2024-events/

https://communityrepairnetwork.org.uk/get-involved/

https://therestartproject.org/campaigns/international-repair-day/

https://www.positive.news/society/public-enthusiasm-for-fixing-revealed-international-repair-day/

Disco LED
It is a simple tutorial on how to create disco lights.
https://www.hackster.io/MightyProjects/disco-led-b261d5
The project is about the disco lights. Just upload the code to the arduino and enjoy the lights in a dark room.

Disco Lights With Arduino
https://www.instructables.com/Disco-Lights-With-Arduino/

Disco Lights
https://mehackit.org/en/courses/electronics_projects/05-projects/04-disco_lights/
Build disco lights that flash to the beat of the music. The sound sensor in the Maker Kit can track music, and at the same time, we’ll learn how to flash five leds independently with Arduino.

I need some help making a disco ball
https://forum.arduino.cc/t/i-need-some-help-making-a-disco-ball/874123
This project is triying to recreate the melody “Take on me” using two piezos and flash some LEDs. There is the code and discussion on that.

Arduino 101 with Blinking Disco LED
https://www.ashishvishwakarma.com/arduino-101-disco-led/
This is a beginner level Arduino DIY. Tweak the Arduino blinking LED example with a Tri-color LED, and made it as Disco LED.

RGB Disco Light
https://www.instructables.com/RGB-Disco-Light/
This project will show you how to create a rainbow disco light with just some wires, code, and an RGB LED module.

Arduino LED Chaser|| Sequential LED Blinker || Chaser LED
https://www.hackster.io/helloanimesh390/arduino-led-chaser-sequential-led-blinker-chaser-led-ca266f

PROJECT 4: DISCO STROBE LIGHT
https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/arduino-project-handbook/9781457198861/xhtml/ch04.xhtml
Turning the potentiometer up or down changes the speed of the flashing lights, creating a strobe effect. You can use red and blue LEDs for a flashing police light effect.

WS2812 based circuits blog post
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2016/06/19/ws2812-addressable-leds-test/
WS2812 is a intelligent control LED light source that the control circuit and RGB chip are integrated in a package of 5050. WS2812b LED strips are very popular among the maker community because of their versatility and ease-of-use.

WS2812b LEDs
https://learn.illuminations.mit.edu/chapter/ws2812b
In order to make MIT Illuminations-style lights at home, we need to scale up from programmatically controlling one LED to a lot at once! WS2812b LED strips are very popular among the maker community because of their versatility and ease-of-use.

How To Control WS2812B Individually Addressable LEDs using Arduino
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhYu0k2woRM

ARDUINO DMX512 CONTROLLER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PjBBBQB2m4
Using the DMXSimple Arduino library, you can get to get two American DJ Micro Wash RGBW PAR can lights running, controlling them with manual commands from the serial monitor or automatic scenes from the sketch.

NEOPIXEL DMX Controller for a WS2812B LED Strip Using Arduino Uno
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ_UWYBOj8M
How to use Arduino as a DMX controller and receiver to control commercial DMX fixtures as well as your own projects. This uses the Arduino to send and receive custom hard coded data with the DMX protocol, not meant to receive other standard controller data.

How to Make DMX512 Fixture Using Arduino to Control the Stepper Motor | How to Build DMX512 Fixture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtvbEccsefk
This is a project demonstrating how to make DMX512 Fixture Using Arduino to Control the Stepper Motor. We have controlled the Stepper motor position angle using the value on the DMX512 channel. In this fixture we can change the Channel number addressing using the simple DIP switches.

Disco lights DIY
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2024/04/21/disco-lights-diy/

More videos:
https://youtu.be/bNWzbIw8Mfs?si=yLPNU8CA0xi9ZH9A
https://youtu.be/nB3DT5NU-vA?si=FZ-lMXN-SFCLwcu7
https://youtu.be/G-zCNkNp4RY?si=UwvrA9n2QXHOl7UV
https://youtu.be/2uLxyBaii70?si=X_m9g1kVHIkDSq8B
https://youtu.be/82dXy_CqCeg?si=rd8J-Vt-ohI0xGtw

I did build some disco lights in 1990′s. Nowadays you can buy many disco lights more cheaply than you could buy the components. DIY is makes often sense only as a learning experience or if you need something really special that is not available ready made (and can cost time and money to make). Here is my small light control board that consists of two 300W light dimmers.

One device I used a lot was a color organ circuit to control your light colors with sound frequencies, lows, mids and highs on different colors. Microphone, pre amp, frequency filters and a switch to flash different color lights based on the music frequency. I used an older version (slightly different case) of Velleman K8017 kit that controlled a set of 230V 150W halogen floodlights with color filters. If you are building light organs nowadays, it might be a good idea to have a LED color organ circuit powered with safer low voltage.

For single channel light dimming I built aDC-OHJATTU HIMMENNIN K8064. When I needed more channels, I built Four channel dimmer rack based on Velleman K2634 Quad Triac Card Kit. I used the same Velleman K2634 Quad Triac Card Kit to build a four channel light switch box that could be controlled with 5V or 10V on/off control signals.

Here are links to some circuits I have used:

https://www.epanorama.net/index2.php?section=circuits&index=light

Archive of disco Light circuits plans from “Canada’s largest manufacturer of disco lighting controllers in the 70s.”
https://www.epanorama.net/schematicsforfree/Lights/index.php

DMX allows you to control lights further though, like a full stage system
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2019/10/20/enttec-open-dmx-diy/

DMX 512 control board DMX 192 repair
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2021/03/15/dmx-512-control-board-dmx-192-repair/

Enttec Open DMX DIY
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2019/10/20/enttec-open-dmx-diy/

Four channel DMX-512 light dimmer
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2016/06/13/four-channel-dmx-512-light-dimmer/

DMX-512 decoder for RGB LED
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2017/03/07/dmx-512-decoder-for-rgb-led/

DMX-512 led light teardown
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2019/10/16/dmx-512-led-light-teardown/

LED DMX-512 lamp teardown
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2019/10/21/led-dmx-512-lamp-teardown/

Amplifier rack
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2021/06/19/pa-amplifier-rack/

2023 Halloween Hackfest: Musical Jack-o-Lanterns Harmonize For Halloween
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/12/2023-halloween-hackfest-musical-jack-o-lanterns-harmonize-for-halloween/
Put on a show in the yard with some musical, light-up jack-o-lanterns you find build instructions at
https://hackaday.io/project/193086-musical-jack-o-lanterns

2023 Halloween Hackfest: Candy Basket Sees You Coming
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/14/2023-halloween-hackfest-candy-basket-sees-you-coming/

2023 HALLOWEEN HACKFEST: A SPOOKY MUSCLE-BRAIN INTERFACE
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/16/2023-halloween-hackfest-a-spooky-muscle-brain-interface/

BONE-SHAKING HAUNTED MIRROR USES STABLE DIFFUSION
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/16/bone-shaking-haunted-mirror-uses-stable-diffusion/
Spookifying Haunted Mirror build using Stable Diffusion
https://tim.cexx.org/?p=1628

Links for more:
https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/?s=halloween
https://hackaday.com/blog/?s=halloween

In some countries there are just wires hanging from the ceiling and have to call an electrician to do all installations.

Screw connections in old houses

In Finland the ceiling lights for a long time have been installed using sokeripala (sugar cube) connectors. The ceiling light points in the old houses were equipped with a lamp connector with insulated screw-tight connectors that connected two wires coming from ceiling to the two wires in the lamp. In the past, the connectors were insulated with porcelain ceramic material and the connector looked like a piece of sugar. It has become a term that is still sometimes used, sugar cube. Later the insulation material was replaced with plastic.

Installing this type of lamp is electrical work. An ordinary user of electricity can install a decorative lamp, provided of course that he knows what he is doing. Since an incorrectly installed lamp can cause an electric shock or fire hazard, the maintenance and installation instructions must be followed carefully.

How Do You Install a Ceiling Light Fixture?

1. Shut off the power at the breaker panel to the fixture. Put a note or lock-out lock on the breaker box so no one turns it back on while you’re working. The wall power switch controlling the light fixture does not always safely turn off the power, so it is safest to turn off the power at the main service panel.
2. Test the light to make sure it doesn’t have power running to it.
3. Take a photo of the wires to have a visual reference of how the fixture is wired.
4. Disconnect the light fixture from the circuit wires by unscrewing the wire connectors.
5. Connect the same-colored wires together, using the picture of the previous wiring as a reference if needed.
6. Make sure the wires are secure. Use wire connectors on each pair of wires.

Vailaisinmarket has an article that explain with a video and in text how to successfully install a light fixture on a piece of sugar. In this instruction, the starting situation is that the lamp has a plug attached to it, which is removed first, and then the lamp is installed on a piece of sugar.

Installation on a sugar cube

Connect the wires to the sugar cube so that the same colored ones are opposite. If the lamp has 2 ground wires (yellow-green), connect both to the same hole.
Tighten the screws with a piece of sugar.
Hang the lamp with a loop on the ceiling hook
Tighten by gently pulling the cord, and lift the roof cup up. This way the suspension loop is locked in place.
Tighten the roof cup screw.
Ready!

The roof becomes a blue, brown and yellow-green spot for a sugar cube. The bulb that should be installed has a blue and brown wire. Blue is connected to blue brown to brown.

Video: Valaisimen asentaminen sokeripalaan

Ceiling light sockets

In new installations, connecting a lamp with a lamp plug is easy, because there is a socket for the lamp (=lamp socket) in the ceiling, and if the lamp plug fits into the box, it’s all right. In Finland and Sweden most apartment have light sockets in the ceiling where you can plug your lights. Just buy a lamp with a plug matching to this type socket, and you can plug it in. Plugging and unplugging can be done safely even with power on. The lamps hang lamp from the hook.

In Finnish apartments, for thirty years, lamp sockets, i.e. lamp sockets and plugs, have been used to connect lamps. Also in other Nordic countries, at one time, the lamp plug switch was generally used. However, such an old-style lamp plug switch is quite large and it can be difficult to fit it inside the ceiling cups of the lamps. Lamp sockets and plugs comply with Svensk Elstandard SS 428 08 31-3ed. T1: 1997 and Finland’s standard SFS 5799: 1995. Those connectors are rated 6A 250V.

In the past, the sockets in ordinary living rooms were not grounded, and the ceiling light points were also without a protective conductor. In new houses, all sockets are protectively grounded (sockets), and correspondingly, the lighting sockets are also protectively grounded and equipped with a protective conductor.

Lamp sockets and plugs shown below comply with Svensk Elstandard SS 428 08 31-3ed. T1: 1997 and Finland’s standard SFS 5799: 1995.

If you have an older lamp with just wires, you need to get a light plug that you screw into the lamp wires. They don’t cost a lot and can be found in any appliance store.

New DCL lamp connector

In Finnish apartments, for thirty years, lamp sockets, i.e. lamp sockets and plugs, have been used to connect lamps. Also in other Nordic countries, at one time, the lamp plug switch was generally used. However, such an old-style lamp plug switch is quite large and it can be difficult to fit it inside the ceiling cups of the lamps.

Also in other parts of Europe, a need has been found for a similar plug-in switch intended for connecting a lamp, and therefore a new model has been developed, the so-called DCL lamp plug switch.

Device for Connection of Luminaires (DCL) is a European standard for ceiling light fixtures introduced in 2005 and refined in 2009. It uses 6 ampere. DCL must carry the CE marking as per the Low Voltage Directive. DCL is only allowed to be installed with ground. DCL sockets and plugs comply with IEC 61955 standard. They are rated at 6A – 250V. Device for Connection of Luminaires (DCL) is a European standard for ceiling light fixtures introduced in 2005 and refined in 2009. DCL must carry the CE marking as per the Low Voltage Directive. DCL is only allowed to be installed with ground.

The DCL lamp socket and lamp plug are new internationally and European standardized structures for connecting lamps. DCL stands for Devices for the connection of Luminaires. This new structure will replace the previous structures in use in Finland and other Nordic countries.

The DCL type system has only one type of socket with protective earthing contacts. There are two types of plugs, those equipped with protective grounding contacts and those intended for class II lamps, where the protective grounding contact is replaced by an insulating pin.

Since it is a global standard, in the future the lamps intended to be connected by the resident themselves will be equipped with this new plug. In electrical installations, the DCL lamp socket has already been used in some locations. There will probably not be any deadline when you have to start using new sockets, but the use can be agreed upon as needed.

For more information go to my DCL light socket article at https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2023/08/10/new-dcl-light-socket/

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Device_for_Connection_of_Luminaires

https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-replace-ceiling-light-fixture-1824657

https://www.reddit.com/r/Finland/comments/ptvogr/how_do_i_connect_a_light_bulb_to_these/?rdt=38561

https://www.homeserve.com/en-us/blog/how-to/install-ceiling-light/

https://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/LampSockets1.html

https://stek.fi/sahkoturvallisuus/sallitut-sahkotyot/valaisimien-asennus/

https://stek.fi/sahkoturvallisuus/sallitut-sahkotyot/valaisinliitinpistorasian-asentaminen/

https://www.sttinfo.fi/tiedote/uudet-valaisinpistorasiat-voivat-vaatia-muutoksia-vanhat-valaisimet-silti-kayttokelpoisia?publisherId=3612&releaseId=69849960

The history of the common ceiling light plug goes longer. In Finnish apartments, for over thirty years, same type of lamp sockets as used in Sweden have been used to connect lamps. This “Swedish type lamp socket” served the needs quite well, however, the used lamp plug is quite large that can be difficult to fit it nicely inside the ceiling cups of the lamps.

Also in other parts of Europe, a need has been found for a similar plug-in switch intended for connecting a lamp, and therefore a new model has been developed, the so-called DCL lamp plug.

The use of these devices in new and renovated homes in France became mandatory in 2001 (Norme Française NF C 15-100). Identical DCL lamp sockets and plugs are used in Norway; compulsory in 2019 (images 11 and 12). From 2019 also Finland allows the use of DCL types, additional to the Swedish type of lamp plugs. This DCL socket is now also approved to use in many other European countries.

The DCL type system has only one type of socket with protective earthing contacts. There are two types of plugs, those equipped with protective grounding contacts and those intended for class II lamps, where the protective grounding contact is replaced by an insulating pin.

Since it is a global standard, in the future the lamps intended to be connected by the resident themselves will be equipped with this new plug. DCL sockets and plugs comply with IEC 61955 standard (SS-EN61995). DCL type lamp sockets are designed for ceiling mounting. They are rated at 6A – 250V. Pin contacts are deeply recessed (24.5 mm). Pins have a length of 7 mm (L and N) or 8 mm (earth) and are 2.8 mm wide and 0.8 mm thick. Plug fixation in the recessed outlet is ensured by a clip.

All lamp sockets have a lamp symbol and carry the CE marking as per the Low Voltage Directive. DCL socket is only allowed to be installed with ground.

The new DCL lamp socket is usually flush-mounted, so that the plug goes completely inside the recessed socket. The end result takes up little space and looks neat.

On the other hand, a recessed socket takes up space in the installation box and limits its use if the box above the lamp is full of wires. For this reason there are also sockets that are only partially recessed or flush mount versions.

Plug pinout:
Pin 1 Load L
Pin 2 Protective earth PE
Pin 3 Neutral N

The DCL outlet has always ground connection connected to ground wire.
The DCL plug is normally with a ground pin, but also using a DCL plug without ground connection is allowed with lights that are safe without ground connection (class 2). New lamps can come with the DCL plug. For lamps that do not come with DCL plug, you can screw in a DCL plug to lamp wires or use a DCL plug with short cable that connects to lamp.

Finland allows nopw the use of DCL types, additional to the Swedish type of lamp plugs. The light circuits that have those sockets for ceiling lights are typically protected with 10A breaker (1.5–2.5 mm2 group cable).

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Device_for_Connection_of_Luminaires
https://stek.fi/sahkoturvallisuus/sallitut-sahkotyot/valaisintulpan-asentaminen/
https://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/LampSockets1.html

Cordless Drill Battery Pack Rebuild for $20 or Repair for $0: Nicd Battery Pack Rebuild

Total cost at time of rebuild was $22.54 to rebuild the entire 14.4V Pack with better than original batteries.

How To Rebuild Your Old Rechargeable Battery Packs with new ones. CHEAP!

Repacking Makita 18v Lithium battery with New Cells (Save $$$’s)

Warning: Trying to fix battery without knowledge to do it right can lead to more damaged battery pack, damaged device being powered and possibly start a fire

This tester will turn on LED when microphone wiring is OK and phantom power is turned on.

If there is any common problem, LED will stay off. This circuit will detect ground connected to wrong pin, broken wires that make no contact and short circuit between wires. It is powered with normal 48V microphone phantom power supplies by audio mixer.

The project is continuation of my earlier project. After I posted my plans for XLR cable tester to Facebook audio DIY group, there was discussion on similar circuits other people has made.

Steve Smith wrote (put here with his permission):

Steve Smith wrote:
Tomi Engdahl
I designed mine, unaware of the Dave Rat version. I had a few email conversations with Dave, who said he designed his at random, just connecting things together until it worked. I think mine is more logical. His circuit can be found on his (expired) patent.
I made a simpler version using one LED and an opto transistor. The LED only lights if all is ok. It goes off with any fault. That’s all you really need in a live situation.

Tomi Engdahl
Just a standard CNY-17 type. Yes. Use the diagram, or redraw it a bit neater!

I built my prototype of the circuit to test it:


On my testing the circuit worked well. It detected wiring mistakes well. It also detected short circuit between pins 2 and 3.
This looks like a quite nice design for a mic tester.
Potential cons that come to my mind is that if the wiring is completely wrong (ground and other pin changed place), it looks that it is possible that optocoupler and LED could have more than their rated reverse maximum voltage. This is a potential problem, but I am not sure if that is a real problem that needs really to be solved. But better to be safe than sorry when you can do it easily: with two diodes from XLR pins 2 and 3 to circuit it is protected agains reverse voltage without causing problems.

Here is some project pictures for building the circuit inside XLR connector.

The LED will light up if microphone wiring is correct and phantom power is turned on in mixer. If the LED does not give out any light, there is no phantom power or a wiring problem.

Steve Smith wrote (put here with his permission):
“If you’re into making your own stuff, this will show up any fault with a mic cable when connected to phantom power. Three green LEDs shows a good cable, other combinations show faults.”

This looks like a quite nice and simple to build circuit if you have suitable dual color LEDs on your hands. The circuit is powered with 48V phantom power from audio mixer. The zener diode in this circuit is here to detect the situation that pins 2 and 3 have been shorted to each other. The resistor is here to limit the current through the LEDs.

This circuit looks to be in functions pretty similar to Sound Tools XLR Sniffer/Sender at https://www.ratsoundsales.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=soundtools-xlr-snifsend

I finally got all the components to test the circuit. This circuit design worked well on my initial tests with my circuit test prototype.

For comparison here is my circuit where I used three single color LEDs, three diodes and two resistors:

Karl Klomp‘s Dirty Video Mixer is one of the best known and wide used simple circuits for generating video gritch visuals.

Karl Klomp’s Dirty Video Mixer certainly gets about. It really is the easiest and most useful diy video project to get started with. here are some projects I found online…

This very simple circuit simply does analogue mixing of two composite video signals. If the video signals are synced together, it will mix them together quite OK. When the 1 kohm potentiometer is at one end, one video signal gets through as it is. When it is turned towards center, the video signal gets attenuated and some part of other video signal gets mixed in. There are also switches that allow to control which side of the potentiometer is connected to which video input.

This kind of simple video mixing can work as video fader from one source to another if the video signal is black&white composite video and the video sources are synced together. In case of color composite video this can work but is usually messy with the video color information handling.

In most cases the normal consumer video sources are not synced together, so we get a mix where the video signals are mixed together at “random” timing. This creates a sum of them, which is somewhat mess on the sync signals and color information. Typical CRT TV can somewhat decode something useful out of this mess, and you get the video glitch effects at certain settings and or useful video at all at some other settings. The colors in the video become messy because the color information coding of those two video signal is not in sync.

Please note that the mixing method used here is not in any way correct way to mix not synced video sources. It generates usually signal that does not usually match the official video standard (levels, sync timing and impedance) but in many cases get thing “close enough” that normal TV can show it.

Dirty Mixer example video:

If you want to see the result of mixing video sources out of sync, the “Dirty Video Mixer” is your new toy, and it will look like trying to watch the scrambled channels.

Karl Klomp Dirty Video Mixer Test 1

Karl Klomp Dirty Video Mixer demo

Hare is one video example of effects made with dirty video mixer and some other equipment. The source material was a VHS of video feedback (camera + monitor) through a circuit bent processor (dirty mixer) and a DVD of animated loops of diagonal lines created in Flash.

When I tested with my own Dirty video mixer circuit protype, I found one quite expected limitation of dirty video mixer: works usually work acceptably only with analog TVs.

If you have digital video equipment (flat TV, video projector, video processor deices) the results can be different looking glitches or missing video sync. Usually the results are somewhat different looking than with analog CRT display (not that nice). Not having anymore any large color CRT TV around limited the usability of this dirty video mixer.

More video links:

How to use the dirty VHS glitch video mixer

“Dirty Video Mixer” DIY Project

DIY dirty video mixer – crossfade test w/ audio input source

Dirty Mixer

Karl Klomp Dirty Video Mixer Test 1

How To Make A Dirty Video Mixer-Karl Klomp inspired schematic-Easy Beginner DIY A/V Circuit bending

Project pages:

Dirty Mixer based on design by Karl Klomp

https://www.reddit.com/r/electronics/comments/9asdb1/i_made_a_karl_klomp_dirty_video_mixer_with_audio/

Somewhat related projects:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CircuitBending/comments/92dtmt/dirty_video_colorizing_mixer/

http://www.waveguide.se/?article=bitmapped-video-interface