StriimLight Destruction: The Mini-ing (or, Sequels Rarely Succeed)
18Alright, well I ripped apart an Awox StriimLight a while back, and folks dug it enough that I scored a pair of the Minis to similarly vivisect. So…
Let's do this!
First thing's first. These Minis are actually a useful size. These should be called the StriimLights, and the StriimLights should be called the StriimLight Maxis. These… fit in bulb spots.
So, I was able to actually test these before the destruction! And, hey, they sound about as good as you could hope for a bluetooth receiver, amplifier, and speaker all crammed inside a light bulb. The light quality is not bad either, and while the Maxi is set up more like a spotlight, with barely-diffused LEDs firing right from the front, the Mini has the LEDs near the Edison screw, with a kind of diffuse light pipe setup running up the side. Anyway, I spent too many nights this week trying to rig up a stereo configuration using this thing — 
— and it was all fails, all the time. So, believe me, despite the okay sound and the okay light, I was ready to demolish. 
While the Maxi had to be spudged apart from the beginning, this thing is actually held together with screws. Well, that's no fun. Alright, let's yank 'em out. 
Okay, so, we have a circuit board already! It's… well… very similar to the Maxi. In this picture, we see a daughterboard jutting out which is the same as the otherwise inexplicable daughterboard on the Maxi. Makes sense if they can share one BT board between the two models. Otherwise, the (single) circuit board on this one is both cramped and sparsely populated. I'll try to get a better look at the chips later. Just like the Maxi, this thing has way too much thermal grease… everywhere. Alright, let's pull out all the cables. 
Rats! That one connector is all blocked in by that other connector! A little mangling with a screwdriver frees it up, but I don't actually think there's a way to get it out without either a: kind of screwing up that receptacle, or b: desoldering something. Inside the white plastic bit there are a couple of screws that should free up the Edison screw and let us dismantle this thing. 
Double rats! Rat kings! Sure, those screws loosen up the zappy end, but the holes in the (seemingly more substantial than the Maxi's) heatsink are too small to sneak either side through. I could dismantle the Edison screw (maybe), or desolder the power leads (not a connector as on the Maxi), but… well… that all seems pointless. We've seen everything here anyway, let's just mess with the other half of the light.
It just kind of… fell apart, actually. Three screws on the top of the white bit, and then a bit of spudger action frees up the speaker assembly.
Not terribly exciting. I could remove the (1.3″ish)speaker, but… again, to what end? The PCB here exists solely to hold that IR receiver (which is located on the LED ring on the Maxi). Speaking of LED rings, that's all we have left, I guess… Let's hit the other side of the tube with a spudger, and get…
16 LEDs, of a smaller die size than the Maxi, otherwise similarly arranged. Meaning, in a circle, the back of which is covered in so much thermal grease, you could deep fry a thermal turkey in it.
That's… pretty much that! Here's a dumb ol' gallery with side-by-sides of the two speakers & LED rings, among other bonus photos. Honestly, this one wasn't as exciting to tear apart. It started so obviously, with screws; it only required one (PH1) screwdriver, and it only took about a quarter of a beer to thoroughly tear down. I look forward to meh selling some more complicated electronics in the future, so I continue to have something to do on a Friday night.
- 8 comments, 9 replies
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I don't know how you do it. I can't begin to understand what you're talking about, but you manage to make this experience fun and captivating.
Now, how do I despudgify my brain?
@MrsPavlov is all jelly over your nails.
@Pavlov There's a cashier at the grocery store I frequent who is constantly threatening my nails and reveling in every chip and nick that's come to them. She's the best.
These splamps are one of the strangest things I've purchased from meh...and I'm working on over 50 or so purchases. Some have been perfect...actually the majority...and thank heavens for Hollboll, Queen of the known universe, the dogs/doa have been dealt with in spectacular fashion.
These things are another story altogether...buyers regret story from the start. A fair LED lamp, and a fair Bluetooth speaker...together at last! I bought them for a "singing in the shower" guitar player in my band...and as we tore open the packaging and screwed them in to different places, I was impressed at how not terrible they sounded...full volume, very little distortion, not terribly loud...but pleasant. The light was...a light...a large, rather heavy 40 wattish kind of flood.
Then I tried to use the remote...nothing. Downloaded software from Android...the most obtuse I've come across...which did nothing, as it was for WiFi, not Bluetooth. Sooooo...can't turn off the light except for killing the power, which kills the sound.
Soooo...the next day I start my email to hollboll, biatching about the problem...still banging away at the remote...and suddenly the light goes off when I hit the "off" button. Many bangs later, the light goes on...and do forth...and it starts behaving...wooowah (twilight zone sounds). Even the volume control works!
The other one's a DOA...but if you've bought one of these and the remote doesn't work...just kind of keep it on and hitting the buttons...I've no idea of the causality of why it will finally work, but the longer it worked it the more it worked consistently.
Final words...it's very "French" in a Peugeot/Renault sort of way (if you've owned one, you'll understand the comparison),..kind of charming when it's working, but a source of invective-producing frustration when it doesn't.
brhfl...you are a person after my own heart...the sheer joy of tearing something apart that you have no compunction or need to put together again...you understand!!!! Thank you for the great post...do you have a "tear things apart" site? You have at least one geekette in your fand club :-)
@margot Thanks so much for the kind words! I have considered tearing things apart elsewhere on the web, just because it's almost therapeutic to me, and exercises the brain a bit. Sorry yours were so flaky — I didn't even try the remotes on mine yet, they could be equally terrible. I do love that the remotes were clearly made for something with more features — there are two holes toward the bottom where buttons should be, just covered over with a strip of rubber! Brilliant!
Mitutoyo calipers! That image brings back memories of happy days of designing and building.
Thanks for the teardown.
@sligett Those calipers were my father's (or, maybe technically they still are… hmm…), and I believe his father's before him. Aside from a few logo changes over the years, they look pretty much spot-on to the Mitutoyos sold today and have held up well enough that one wouldn't think they're more than a few years old. I'll take a good vernier over dial or digital any day.
@brhfl
Please continue to entertain us with your Friday evening projects.
+1zillion
@f00l My big one right now is that my espresso machine is a big mound of parts. The unfortunate thing there is that I have to figure out how to put it back together…
The thermal grease is also a vibration damper. All of the parts are near the speaker. A heavy layer of grease prevents parts from dancing to the music, singing along (badly), or acting as an extra percussion section.
Do you save any of the parts for some possible future yet-to-be-determined project?
@hallmike In my high-school-ish years, I used to tear apart all the audio equipment I had that wasn't working anymore, and I'd unsolder every component I could, binning them away, building up the ultimate collection of 'free' resistors, capacitors, transistors so I'd be prepared for my next great project. My girlfriend at the time thought I was a crazy hoarder, and she was right… that stuff never got used.
I might keep the rings of LEDs off of these. But that's it. And it's a hard might. Need some inspiration for a project, really…
@brhfl I have a hard time tossing stuff like that. I always think I might need it someday but it never gets used. Are the LEDs bright enough to make a flashlight? Or maybe a motion activated night light?
@hallmike
Yeah i keep stuff till i gets too annoying. Then freecycle or goodwill.
@brhfl For close up photography, mount a ring of lights around your camera lens. With a good ring light, you can see many fine details on the face of a coin. Do not use a ring light for portraits of humans, you can see every pore and blemish.
You can do the same thing with binoculars and telescopes. You will be able to see every sign, license plate, some animal eyes, and everything with a retro-reflective coating. In some High School robotics competitions, the goals were marked with retro-reflective tape. Looking through a lit ring light would provide about two minutes of entertainment for every one who tried it.
@hamjudo Not a bad idea! I already own more ring flashes/lights than I probably should, but I didn't make any of them. Assuming these LEDs have some considerable spectral gaps to them, but… meh… fun is fun!
@hallmike That could work too. They were plenty bright in the actual (oddly diffused) bulb, and since I find I have more of a use for flashlights that aren't completely blinding… it's a possibility.
@brhfl Have you considered posting content here? https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown