I make a really ugly cable/adapter thing to test battery charge capacity using a BK Precision 5335B (the actual battery tests will be in a different video, though). All it does is interrupt the VBus current path and provide a couple of voltage monitoring lines on a pair of USB-C connectors that are otherwise in parallel.
Category Archives: Videos
Upgrading Cameras in the Studio (Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K G2)
I laboriously go through the process of unboxing and testing the new-ish Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K G2, or BMMSC G2 as it’s slightly more easily said. It’s kinda a combo of the old BMMSC G1 and the Micro Cinema Camera. Also got two Mini Converters to apply LUTs to both cameras over SDI, also from Blackmagic Design, of course.
PCIe Bifurcation Frustration with Icy Dock ToughArmor NVMe and 3 PCs

In this video I try to test out the Icy Dock ToughArmor M.2 NVMe Mobile Rack for PCIe slots. It supports 2 removable NVMe drives placed in the included sleds, and (almost) fits an x8 or x16 lane PCIe slot that supports bifurcation to get 4 juicy lanes to each of the SSDs. I test it out with Samsung 990 Pro and Western Digital SN850X 4TB drives. That being said, it turns out that not all bifurcation implementations are created equal, nor are all PCIe slots. Hence the frustrating aspect. Buy it with a generous return policy in place, if you buy it at all. Just to be 100% clear: This is not sponsored in any way. If you couldn’t … Continue reading
LeCroy WaveRunner 64Xi-A-N Oscilloscope Upgrade Attempt
I got this LeCroy WaveRunner 64Xi-A-N Oscilloscope from eBay because I needed a faster scope than my best 200Mhz Siglent model.
On eBay it looked super clean and in good cosmetic shape, and was shown and claimed to be working. When I received it, it would kinda start up, but the display was blank and overall it was unresponsive. When I went to make this video showing the investigation, it powered right up! Strange.
So I figured I’d just be replacing the RTC battery and upgrading the HDD to an SSD. Turns out it already had an SSD and a new battery. The problem was that it would reboot every time the USB ports were even slightly jostled.
After getting the motherboard out (which is standard-ish mini ITX style), it turns out that the PCB is really badly warped. That’s probably leading to cracked and/or damaged traces, possibly in internal layers. I’d wager that’s the cause of the reboots.
I posted this video more for posterity and in case anyone wanted to see an albeit slow teardown. Apologies for the rambly nature, but this really didn’t go according to plan.
Using Clonezilla to Upgrade the SSD in a New Computer

Upgrading a new computer for my sister with a 1TB WD SN850X NVMe SSD. This is also my first real foray into vertical video, and was kinda a test run for shooting, editing, and general workflow. So if it looks a bit odd, my apologies. It’s an HP Envy TE01-2275xt with an i7-11700 8-core 2.5GHz CPU and 16GB RAM. I originally purchased it during the height of the video card crunch, because it came with an RTX3060 at a reasonable price. I didn’t end up using the computer itself, and though it’s really not a “gaming” PC (that’s how they sold it), it should be well more than sufficient for home productivity use. Especially with a real snappy SSD. I … Continue reading
DATA GRAVE ⚰ Underground Backup Servers

Related video: QILIPSU Outdoor Enclosure with a Computer Inside… Because. Visit the Data Grave coffins: outdoor.s.co.tt Hi, I’m Scott and today we’re going to talk about a couple of computers I buried in my backyard to create a data graveyard. They’re Raspberry Pies, which are great for this purpose as they’re compact and consume very little power, meaning they can be supplied by power over ethernet and won’t cause rampant heat dissipation issues. But they’re also pretty good for their intended purpose: Backups. If you’ve seen a couple of my other videos, you know I tend to go on rants about backing up data. For me, and many of you, most of the content I generate is digital. Losing all … Continue reading
Ficihp / BQAA Keyboard Monitor Combo
I take an extensive look at the Ficihp / BQAA (I think they rebranded?) keyboard and monitor combo, and try it with a bunch of different devices and operating systems.
Blackmagic ATEM Studio Converter Demo and Troubleshooting
I talk about my experiences troubleshooting and testing the Blackmagic Design ATEM Studio Converter 2, and then open it up for good measure.
Gutting a TrippLite ISOBAR and Adding an Ammeter for Some Reason
I remove the insides of a dead-ish TrippLite ISOBAR power strip and it’s probably good to fall asleep to.
Mouse Repair – Razer Deathadder Left-Handed Edition Scroll Wheel
I repair the scrollwheel on a Razer Deathadder Left-Handed mouse after dropping a hard drive on it. Check the chapters to skip right to the solution.
This is after doing a hardware button swap on that same mouse: https://youtu.be/n00ioWfDE9k