Electronics
242 episodes · Page 2 of 11
#5721: What's the Red and Black Speaker Cable Actually Called?
It's called zip cord — and the gauge you need depends entirely on current, not the 300V printed on the jacket.
#5720: Active, Passive, and the Speaker That Lied to Daniel
A rented PA speaker turns out to be mislabeled, and untangling why reveals the real difference between active and passive — plus what mic and line ...
#5718: How Far Can You Run RCA, XLR, and 3.5mm Cables?
Published cable-length advice ranges from 3 meters to 200 feet. The physics explains why — and why the cable isn't the variable that matters.
#5676: DIY Cable Guide: Barrel Jacks, XLR, and What to Avoid
Soldering your own cables won't save money — it buys exact-length runs. But some connectors hide polarity traps and tooling costs.
#5665: Fiber Through the Conduit: Bends, Dust, and Pull Socks
A failed Ethernet crimp caps a link at 100 megabit. Can the same conduit carry 10GBASE-SR fiber instead?
#5655: Organizing the Electronics Repair Bench
Why phone repair benches resist order, and the trays, lights, and magnification that fix it.
#5654: Why Hand Driving Beats Power Tools on Tiny Screws
A precision screwdriver set, ESD tweezers, and a spudger — the case for the manual tool in a world that reaches for the motor.
#5637: Lux Sensors for Home Assistant: The Feedback Loop Nobody Warns You About
Lux sensors sound simple until the lights you turn on trip the sensor that turned them on. Here's the full chain, from Aqara T1 to Matter's missing...
#5611: Why Your Label Printer Quits After 10 Seconds
A label printer that charges for ten seconds then dies — and what that tiny failure reveals about building a diagnosis-first repair bench.
#5610: Magnetizing Screwdrivers: Do the Cycles Wear Out?
Can a screwdriver be magnetized forever, or does the magnetism wear out? A deep dive into magnetizer blocks, coils, and demagnetization.
#5563: Your Fiber Is Dark: What You Can Actually Test
Your ONT is dark and there's no sync light to watch. Here's what a PON power meter can actually tell you before you call the ISP.
#5525: Why Does an eSIM Adapter Need a Card Reader?
Your Android phone can already read and write an eSIM adapter card. So why does the company still sell a $15 USB reader?
#5513: Why Phone Mounts Fail (And What Doesn't)
Suction cups, vent clips, and magnets all fail at the same point. Here's what heavy-duty mounting actually looks like.
#5512: The Passenger Seat Never Got an Instrument Panel
Dedicated front-passenger screens exist across luxury cars — but they're built for TikTok, not for the co-pilot job. Here's why.
#5490: Why Screen Protectors Bubble Every Time
One dust particle becomes a permanent tent pole under your screen protector. Here's the physics behind the bubbles.
#5450: Heat, Fans, and the Limits of Air-Gapped Security
Dozens of ways to leak data from air-gapped machines exist — but every real breach still used a USB stick.
#5376: Why a Zello Pager Wearable Doesn't Exist Yet
Pagers blink until acknowledged. Zello beeps until you tap. But nobody's shipped the wearable that bridges them.
#5329: One Box of VESA Mounts, Three Wrong Assumptions
Daniel's box of orphaned VESA mounts raises three questions — and the answers all point away from welding.
#5323: When to Keep Old Tech for Parts (and When to Let Go)
An old Kindle in a drawer raises a question every collector faces: spare, parts donor, or e-waste?
#5321: From Millimeters to Atoms: The Units of Small
A millimeter is the last unit you can feel. Below it, the trades borrow microns, mils, and angstroms — and the atom is a different regime entirely.
#5286: Soldering Isn't Dead — It's a Hiring Bottleneck
Robots build the boards, but humans fix them — and the industry can't hire enough people who can hold an iron.
#5272: Soldering for Beginners: Badges, Fumes, and Real Safety
The smoke you see isn't the lead — and the cheap fume extractor most beginners buy doesn't work. Here's what actually does.
#5266: Why Cordless Rotary Tools Sag Mid-Battery
A dead USB port, a sagging battery, and the real physics behind why cordless rotary tools lose their bite mid-charge.
#5265: Repairing a $50 Dremel When the Warranty Costs More
A $50 tool, a 90-minute drive, and a warranty that costs more than the item. How macro PCB photography and public documentation make repair possible.