Man, I fucking love watching this guy. He’ll talk about the most niche things and I love learning about it. He inspired a presentation I gave on how rice cookers work
this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2025
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This morning, I told my brother I was watching YouTube. He said "what are you watching and, if it's not Technology Connections, why not?"
lmao. I have a brother who's a lot like me and loves to tinker (not too young that this is irresponsible though), so when i need to throw something on to keep him occupied while i work, i know Technology Connections is a safe bet.
That's awesome. With what does he tinker? Some sort of screenshot technology?
I'm the youngest in my family, so I've never really had the chance to guide someone's growth until relatively recently. I take a great amount of pride in directing my kid toward things that will expand their creativity and curiosity. Hopefully you enjoy doing the same for your younger brother!
I try to encourage him since all my tinkering was self taught. I know I’d appreciate having a guide or even just a friend to talk to about those ideas. And he definitely comes up with some ideas that help my own tinkering.
Right now he’s really into engineering and has this box that comes monthly that I paid for him that teaches him Engineering principles. I think it’s done by Mark Rober? Not really tinkering but He also likes making models for 3D printing and he’s been trying to get into Programming, unfortunately I think that curiosity keeps distracting him though.
Right now he’s really into engineering and has this box that comes monthly that I paid for him that teaches him Engineering principles. I think it’s done by Mark Rober
That's awesome and a great gift.
I know I’d appreciate having a guide or even just a friend to talk to about those ideas
What are the ideas?
He has a ton of ideas. Right now he’s gotten really into Robotics and specifically joined his local FIRST team. This gave him the idea to build a robot of his own. I’ve tried to support him but damn can those things get expensive fast
It's awesome that he has so much creativity and motivation! My wife was in FIRST way back again and I think my SIL met her husband through it. I was homeschooled, but probably would have loved it if I had gone to public school. Hopefully it's beneficial (if expensive) to you guys as well.
Didn't its founder invent the Segway or something? Then go on to drive one off a cliff ...
I could have sworn I remember hearing the founder died of Covid back when I was in FIRST myself, it’s possible I’m confusing him for someone else though.
Luckily the robotics team covers all the parts for their robot so he’s getting a bit of the experience
Well, the owner - not inventor - of Segway apparently did die riding one off of a cliff:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Heselden
However, I don't see a reference to FIRST in his wiki page, so I must have been mixing things up. It looks like the inventor of the Segway (and founder of FIRST) is still alive:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Kamen
It would seem Woodie Flowers is who i'm thinking of. I'm glad the other two are alive though. It's a shame about the owner, but i also i feel like that death was easily avoidable
Thanks for following up!
And how do they work?
Short answer — the internal “switch” is held in the on position by a magnet. Magnets become much less effective when they get hot, and while there is still water in the cooker the maximum temperature will be 100C. Once all the water boils off the temperature quickly rises — but the magnets stop being able to attract the switch when they hit around 102 - 103C or so and release the switch, turning the machine off.
So all has is a switch connected to a magnet next to the bottom of the pot. That’s it. Physics does the rest.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curie_temperature I doubt they're using magnets, especially considering how hot they have to get to lose their magnetism as you suggest.
Most thermostats in electronics such as kettles and cookers use a bi-metallic strip inside, where the two metal layers expand at different rates. The contacts in the switch are physically pulled apart by the strip bending when the desired temperature is reached. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bimetallic_strip
responding to someone going "i researced and did an entire presentation on this thing" with "well wikipedia says you're wrong" is peak internet.
the answer was from a different person who made the presentation
accusing the wrong person is also peak internet
Not sure where they said they "did an entire presentation on this thing" or where they got their information from. I'm only adding some context to what I know of how thermostats work. I would gladly admit I'm wrong if provided with some evidence.
If you want a visual demonstration of a thermostat working here's a video.
(For context I don't mean to come across as one of those "well ackshually" asshats, I just like watching people take apart electronics (was also slightly obsessed with magnets as a kid. MANY hard drives were sacrificed to my curiosity lol).)
yeah we went over that in another sub-thread.
regarding the actual info, fittingly alec of technology connections has also made a video on rice cookers! it's a short one by his standards, but in case you're not able to watch:
rice cookers depend on the curie temperature of magnets rather than bimetallic strips because the way you want them to work is to pump full power into the pot until all water has boiled off, at which point they should instantly switch off to stop the rice from burning. a bimetallic strip bends over a range of temperatures, but the magnetic switch in the rice cooker snaps open the instant the target temperature is exceeded and doesn't automatically reset. that's the big one.
Oh nice one, that's kinda cool
See I thought the curie temperature was a 'one and done' sort of deal where you have to go through the process of remagnetizing the magnet after it had gone beyond that point.
it is, for permanent magnets. but for things attracted to permanent magnets, it's not. so the permanent magnet is shielded from the heat while the metal alloy piece in contact with the bowl is allowed to heat up.
Ahh that makes a lot more sense
Cheers for the clarification
They do the thing until the thingymajogger flips, obvs.
I remember seeing him (or someone claiming to be him) here on lemmy after the big migration from the-place-we-don't-talk-about. Someone was not impressed by him and told that to his face, politely. Never noticed him around since.
He was on Mastodon for a bit but I think he didn't like the culture
I watched this. It was of interest to me because I must run two dehumidifiers in my house and they use a ton of energy. Unfortunately, this desiccant dehumidifier would use even more energy. Hoping someday someone figures out how to build a more efficient one.
In the meantime, I think manufacturers need to build all dehumidifiers with a repeat cycle timer built in. I find it far more energy efficient to run for some period like 30 minutes till the humidity drops low — like 45%, then shut off for 60-120 minutes while the humidity slowly creeps back up until the cycle repeats. Most dehumidifiers work based on a humidity threshold and will constantly click on and off as the threshold gets crossed. In my experience, this uses a lot more energy. Being in a high cost state it is completely unaffordable.
If you are running an AC, you might be able modify it to reduce the humidity.
AC units naturally dehumidify (as TC points out, they are essentially the same thing as traditional dehumidifiers). However, the amount of moisture they pull out is mostly related to how long they are running, not how cold they can get. This means that if you have an overpowered AC, you get less dehumidifying effect because the AC is on less.
Some ACs let you reduce their power, which will increase their duty cycle and increase the amount of water they pull out of the air. It also helps improve their lifespan as they need to cycle less.
You should be able to pick up an old style timer plug for under 10 euro / USD in your hardware store.
They're a tiny bit fiddly to set up but given how power hungry those things are you'll be saving money in no time.
We have one around here somewhere. I'll see if I can dig you out a picture.
Internet was faster....
These timers have no concept of understanding if the air is too humid.
They want a cooldown period so the unit isn't cycling constantly.
eg. turning on and off 30 times in an hour because the sensor triggers the moment it see's 46% when it's set to 45.
They want it so that it triggers on pull humidity down to 45%, wait an hour no matter what then trigger the next time it sees 46% or greater, which could be immediately... or in 5 more hours.
A pure timer wouldn't get the same effect at all.
Best answer I can think of off hand would be Home Assistant related. Get a humidity sensor and a z-wave switch/outlet. Use a dumb dehumifier that turns on as long as it has power...
On humidity sensor change check if above 45%. If it is, turn on power. wait until below 45% again... turn power off then wait 60 minutes. Make sure automation is set to not run concurrently, that way the currently running automation script must complete it's 60 minutes cooldown before it can run again
I had the same torment when buying mine, for an office-shed that's just a swamp of English dampness.
I opted for the desiccant one as while it used more energy it does heat the space, and actually works better at cooler temperatures. Very specific to my needs as I'd imagine that's counter to most other use cases
Yeah - the video does clarify that the UK is one of the few places the desiccant one makes sense.
Sounds like something that could be automated via home assistant and an esp32.
Even a simple tuya wifi plug
Hoping someday someone figures out how to build a more efficient one
Some material, that catches water atoms via static charge, until it drips down, making room for more, maybe? Can't think of a more efficient catch & release cycle.
As someone who lives in a desert climate where many people have humidifiers, this seems like a completely useless device. 🙂
Put this on your desk with a spigot on the side, and the humidifier on the other side of the room. Congratulations: pipeless pipe.
Utility companies hate him!
Yeah I am in the same boat. I operate a swamp cooler inside my house, even!
But I used to live on a hill in San Francisco, the first hill the fog would hit as it rolled in from the Pacific Ocean, and I distinctly remember the feeling of getting up in the morning and reaching between the hangers in the closet to take a shirt out, and feeling how they were all damp. Super gross!
Like a humidifier is for me, I'd be so happy to have 40% for a week but it rarely goes under 60
I wonder why there are no humidistats.
You know, a combined humidifier/dehumidifier that keeps a constant humidity.
Maybe it's uncommon to have a climate where you need both.
My furnace has a humidistat so in the winter we can adjust how much water gets sent into the hot air stream. But it's always maxed out because it's really dry every winter here.
In the summer, the AC takes care of dehumidifying. Running a dedicated dehumidifier would be a waste of electricity, at that point just turn on the AC and any extra cold is a buffer against running the AC later on.
Growing up in Oklahoma, my grandfather ran a humidifier in the winter, and a dehumidifier in the summer. Even with a HVAC system, he'd have to dump out the dehumidifier every other day.
Mine would need dumping twice a day. I eventually got one with a pump.
Humidifiers are simple and cheap. Maybe the cost of a 2 in 1 wouldn't make commercial sense.
Also, it would probably need two water tanks, as I imagine you wouldn't want to use the drain tank as a clean water source.
Just guessing here.
Complexity? You either need a drain, or a supply of water, that can't be easy to work with, and unlike with a refrigerant loop, you can't just reverse it to dry/wet things.
Anyone else see an angry face?