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The Curious Electric Company

434 orders since May 24, 2013

Ulverston, Cumbria, United Kingdom

Ships from United Kingdom.

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Overall Rating:

Review Breakdown

5
16 4
3 3
2 2
0 1
0

Average Ratings

Product: (4.71)

Documentation: (4.81)

Shipping: (4.76)

Communication: (4.76)

All Reviews

Erwin | April 9, 2024

Impressive and fun kit

For Bat Listener

The kit took like an hour to assemble, it is perfectly documented and the result is a fun little toy. Since it included printed instructions, it was a totally offline build

Steve | July 18, 2021

Works as described.

For DC Power Sensor I2C

Bought this and was able to set it up easily... initially on an Arduino Uno and then migrated to a WEMOS D1 mini (still don't understand why the original code example won't compile for ESP8266, but extracted routines and all ok). Intending to use it to monitor battery and power usage on a solar powered greenhouse watering system at a remote site. Results sent back reqularly via MQTT. At the code and test stage at present but it looks perfect for the job. Will probably buy at least one more when development finished and deployment sucessful. (There are 4 seperate greenhouse watering systems).

Chris | April 25, 2021

A well thought out project!

For Bat Listener

The build was fairly straight forward, the quality was good. Things were well documented and the listener is easy to use.
This isn't really so much a frequency shifting device, I think of it more as an alarm or detector. The facility my wife works in often has bat intrusion, this is a fun way to see if any are in the building each morning!
The kit contents were complete, shipped promptly, and packed well.

Rob | March 20, 2021

board working very well for me

For Solar Charger BQ24210

Board is working very well in a small solar-powered weather station I have built. Had some issues with shipping, but I believe these were related to the joys of shipping during COVID. The seller was very helpful.

Peter | March 4, 2021

Solar charger is just the ticket.

For Solar Charger BQ24210

It fits my need perfectly - an ability to create a one-off low power device with solar battery support without having to create it separately in my design prototyping.

Thanks - it's great.

Przemek | Feb. 11, 2021

I'm waiting for bats

For Bat Listener

I'm an amateur, sometimes I don't know how circuits work, but I love to assemble them. I just fell in love with this set. Very detailed instruction, beginner-friendly. The only thing I missed was marking the length of the bend of the microphone's legs. I bent too long and it did not fit the case. On first sight
mounting the housing is a bit frustrating, but if you do it slowly and think logically everything goes well and the housing is perfect.Bat listener gives a lot of joy while checking what is generating ultrasound in our environment. I haven't heard the bats yet, but in the summer I will definitely "hunt" them.
To sum up, Bat Listerner is a very friendly KIT and it is one of the devices that you did not know you needed them but if you already have them, you are immediately happier :)

Roger | Dec. 6, 2020

Fun build, works perfectly.

For Bat Listener

I wanted a way to demonstrate the presence of ultrasonic sounds in our everyday environment for a class I teach. Wow, did this little build pay off. I learned that the motion sensors in our classrooms use ultrasonic sounds to sense people in the room. It must also be by echo-location. The idea behind these sensors is that they will turn off the lights when nobody is around - BTW, very few of those sensors work as they should. Anyway, this build sounds off while in a room with one of these motion sensors, and goes quiet as soon as we take it out the door.

I like the sensitivity adjustment too - (in a quiet room) you can adjust it so it is quiet unless you rub your fingers together near the sensor. Then it will crackle with the rubbing of fingerprint skin over ridges of fingers. I had no idea that made ultrasonic sound either. Fun stuff!

I also tested it with my "cat repeller" that makes ultrasonic sound when a PIR motion sensor is triggered. It sounded off like a charm in sync with the sounds from the repeller.

I'm very happy with this purchase. Perhaps I will buy another some time if the classroom demonstration becomes popular with other teachers!

Additionally, the creator was very responsive to my questions about frequency range sensitivity and other things. Bravo! for the perfect customer service as well.

Jacob | Nov. 2, 2020

Good for practice

For Solder Solar

Good for a bit of soldering practice, but mostly it gives the person doing it two tools to help them move forward in this hobby—an understanding of the workings of a simple solar system, and the self confidence of having built it correctly.

Alexander | Oct. 13, 2020

Very Nice Kit

For Solar Dice Kit

I'm new and not that good with electronics so I tend to buy little useful kits to practice my soldering skills and learning what electronics do. If I manage to get them working they become useful little tools at work helping me decide how helpful I'm going to be for the day.

Build & component quality is very good and pretty easy to put together.

Allen | Sept. 25, 2020

Works well, good instructions, case is a bit fiddly

For Bat Listener

It came to me in a reasonable amount of time for UK to Canada. Kit was well organized, may be a bit advanced for a absolute beginner. Built it in a couple of hours (I check all parts as I install them). I ended up with 2 extra 16 pin DIP sockets so thanks I guess. The case presented a bit of a challenge, a little awkward to assemble and I didn't realize there were different screw lengths (10 and 12mm). Two 12mm together would come up against each other and not allow the top/bottom to tighten up properly. Double checked the instructions and the parts list said 6 and 12mm screws, that would have been easier to notice (I was anxious to finish it). My store brand 9V batteries are bit thicker than they should be so I shimmed up the cover with small flat washers so the top wouldn't distort. I found the speaker a bit on he loud side (no volume control) so I replaced it with a 3.5mm jack. I then made a new speaker with the guts from an old earbud and soldered it directly to a 3.5mm mono plug (no shell). I covered it with a piece of heat shrink as it was still to loud and that seems to be better. I may add a volume control when I can get time to come back to it (Canadian winter). Volume was an issue because I like to crack open my bedroom window and just leave it on over night to get an idea of how many bats may be around my house. It worked great I can hear them coming and going and it doesn't wake me up now. I am currently in the scheming stage of hooking it up to a Raspberry Pi to get time stamps and pulse patterns for next year and maybe remote the sensor (Canadian winter). Maybe I'll even be able to identify individuals. Overall it's a fun project that connects you to the real though un-hearable world of ultrasonics.
Tip: I use plastic ice cube trays to organize parts before assembly. Helps assembly to go faster.

Alexander | July 24, 2020

Nice little kit.

For Solar 8 Ball Soldering Kit

Nice little kit. Pretty good quality and pretty easy to build. Contrary to the instructions it took a couple of days sitting in the sun before it started working but I am in Scotland.
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Response from The Curious Electric Company | July 27, 2020
Thanks for the review!
I'll update the instructions, as the solar recharge time is a bit variable. I'm in Nottingham, UK, so not much sunnier than Scotland...

David | May 19, 2019

Good service as always

For Solder Solar

This is a good first kit. Lots of solder is encouraged in certain areas. That is good for those learning how to solder.

David | April 1, 2019

Good wee project!

For Solder Solar

I love playing with small electronic projects! I have not actually built this yet, as I'm moving house at the moment, but the quality of the kit is very good and I'm looking forward to assembling it!

Radim | Nov. 27, 2018

Great

For Solder Solar

I bought two pieces for my young relatives as a gift. Documentation is bullet proof, design is great and (the best part) it is working as described. Thank you for this great product.

Adrian | April 16, 2018

Bat listener actually detects real bats at a distance!

For Bat Listener

This bat listener kit has been carefully engineered and is - thanks to the detailed printed instructions - easy to assemble in an hour or so if you are familiar with identifying and soldering electronic components. At first I tested it with my indoor ultrasonic spider repellent. Then at dawn I adjusted its sensitivity to just below self-triggering, went outside and waited for the vampires to dive upon me. A single bat passed by several times and the listener responded as expected with a creaky noise. The maximum detection range seems to be several ten meters, may be up to fifty if the bat is screaming straight at the device and the sensitivity has been adjusted appropriately. Do not forget to switch it off after use to save battery life.

Cyril | March 4, 2018

Great

For Solar-Matic

I bought it like an application kit of the electronic component, and it is better than expected, you get a almost finished product.

Chris | Dec. 19, 2017

Cute little kit.

For Solder Solar

Bought one each as stocking fillers for my kids, plus one for me. They arrived in the antipodes in great time, well packed. Everything present and correct, and a snap to put together. Appropriately minimal instructions on the kit, because it's simple, and a handy sheet on how to solder. The only problem I had was waiting for morning for the sun to charge it up. Definitely a good buy.

Michael | July 9, 2017

Very interesting kit for exploring

For Bat Listener

The bat listener is an easy project to put together. The PCB is very well marked and the instructions are clear and easy to follow.
The sensitivity dial is very touchy in an indoor environment; it took me a few tries to figure out what the best settings for listening to CFL bulbs and power supplies are. I got the chance to try it out outdoors soon after in a place with lots of bats. I could track them chirping and flying around a security light pole. The bat listener picked them up from around 25 meters and was easy to track their flight with. It was a very neat experience to be able to put together a piece of equipment and test it out in the field.

Michael | May 19, 2017

Great Educational Kit

For EMF Detector

I bought this kit mainly because I wanted a different type of easy soldering project than the usual digital clocks and blinking LEDs. It arrived very promptly in good anti-static packaging, and with a set of printed instructions that were easy to read and included the schematic. The resistors were bundled, which is nice when you are a beginner like me, and the PCB was very well marked and made it easy to understand the assembly. The plastic case is easy to assemble and is reasonably durable and attractive for the price.
After assembly, I powered my new detector up and investigated the sources mentioned in the manual. The background noise from the environment is moderately loud, but when I ran the detector over a laptop and smartphone screen I could easily hear the difference between the less active parts of the screen and the power couplings. My TV made a different, louder noise, and the tubes of my nixie clock and its 180V DC power supply were also very loud and very distinct. The transistors in the power supply are very high pitched and screaming sounding. I listened to a 110V surge protector to compare, and it had a much deeper tone and sounded like it was operating on a different frequency, I guess?
Overall, as a beginner to electrical circuitry, this kit has been very stimulating during assembly and during my novice investigations of electronic devices.

Michael | May 14, 2017

Fun and useful

For Solder Solar

I bought this kit as a beginner at soldering because I wanted something useful to learn the basics of circuitry with. It was very easy to put together and the PCB feels like a high-quality board. Everything was well marked, so I had no trouble understanding how to assemble it even though it was only the second kit I put together.
Avatar
Response from The Curious Electric Company | May 15, 2017
Thanks for your review! Much appreciated and glad the kit worked for you!
Matt

Marcus | May 10, 2017

Works but barely

For EMF Detector

This device is useful as a proof of concept. I assembled it and then tested it and all I heard was a faint white noise that changed vaguely around an EMF but it had to be very close and even then it was not easy to tell if it was just random. I then thought maybe I put the chip in backwards, well I hadn't but when I reversed the chip it fried it and now I have a device that really doesn't work. Other than that the quality of the component seemed very good.
Avatar
Response from The Curious Electric Company | May 11, 2017
Thanks for the review.
Yes - it does need to be very close to the cable/device to detect (basically the sensors need to tocuh the cable/device).
I'll update the info to say this.
I've had pretty good volume/output from this but very variable with the source - old AC power supplies are very loud, phone backlight power supply is quite feint, but audiable when close to the front of the phone.
You can improve the sensitivity with a larger hand wound inductor. Its based on the ElektroSlutch and they ahve plans for hand wound sensors: https://lom.audio/product-category/elektrosluch/
If you'd like me to send another IC then I can put on in the post to you.
Regards,
Matt
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