Which Vlogging Camera Should You Actually Buy? (Luna Ultra vs Sony ZV1)

We took two completely different vlogging cameras out for a chaotic, rainy real-world test around London with the family: Insta360 Luna Ultra (pocket gimbal camera) directly against the Sony ZV-1 (compact point and shoot camera) to see which one is actually worth buying if you want to start a YouTube channel or upgrade from your phone video camera.

Buy Insta360 LUNA ULTRA camera HERE:  (Commissions Earned)

👉 (Amazon US/World) https://amzn.to/4piOj7Y

👉 (Amazon UK) https://amzn.to/4gv6GnK

Microphone: INSTA360 MIC AIR

👉 https://amzn.to/4gzC7NU

And SONY ZV-1, BUY ONE HERE:

👉 https://amzn.to/3icSb6O

From fighting tight lens focal lengths and sudden dead batteries to wrestling with messy wireless microphone setups and torrential London rain, we put both setups through their paces across Tate Modern, Oxford Street buses, and Camden Lock Market. Which camera handles real travel vlogging best? Watch to see the side-by-side footage and our honest breakdown.

Which Vlogging Camera Should You Actually Buy? (Luna Ultra vs Sony ZV1)



TRANSCRIPT: (CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE)

THIS IS THE TRANSCRIPT - CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE!

So, we're in London for a very special camera test. Can I get in the video? Yeah. Yeah. Subscribe. Subscribe to Neil Mossey! Thank you. So, we're here. We're here in London to do a very special camera test and I'm doing this with my family. Oh, I've lost half my family. They're over there. [laughter]

Edit them in in the background. This might not work. So, this is a strange video. I wanted to compare two cameras that you probably shouldn't even really compare. The first camera is like a... is a pocket gimbal camera like this Luna Ultra from Insta360 against this camera. If I spin my other camera around the Sony ZV1 or ZV-1 being modelled uh and operated very fantastically backwards by my son here. Thanks for your work. mind you're going to hit a food... street food stand there. But they are two wildly different cameras and if you're wanting to start a YouTube channel or maybe you want to upgrade your camera maybe from a phone it's always a difficult choice isn't it? Whether to pick something like this pocket gimbal camera like a... like a DJI Pocket 3 or Pocket 4 or P4P or the Sony ZV1... ZV-1 Mark II or maybe something like the Canon PowerShot V1. Which one do you go for? Obviously, it depends on what you want to do. Uh, so today I'm doing some vlogging here in London with my family. Maybe with your channel you're mainly indoors, or maybe you want to do something even more extreme than just out and about city travel. I'm going to show you the pros and cons of each camera, and I'm going to do it out and about in London, which might be a bit tricky. It's also a really terrible uh weather day today. So, it's going to be a good test for these two cameras. But, I'm going to try and give you as much footage as possible so you can compare the two. And I'll just I'll just point out the pros and cons of whether to go for something like this or something like this.

Time to get some food.

We've just noticed that on the on the big wheel, if I spin the camera around, my son just noticed pointing out I can zoom in. So, this is two, three, four times, eight times, 12 times, 12 times zoom there. A capsule is missing on the London Eye. Yeah. Oh, that looks dodge, doesn't it? And just to compare this on the Sony ZV1, I'll zoom in before the wheel turns round. So, this is the optical zoom up to there. And then I'll push in on digital zoom. And you can see the missing capsule there. We'll just move around a bit. Zoom out before we miss it completely. There's Royal Festival Hall. So, I've got my daughter camera operator for today or one of the camera operators for today. You've got the Luna Ultra. If you push that rocker up, it zooms in. And if you pull it back, it zooms out. I could do a comparison of the two cameras. So, this is the Sony ZV1 camera. I'm holding it arms length. I don't know how big my face is. I've got a feeling my face is a bit too big in the frame, which is one of my gripes with this camera. Anyway, so if you point it up, see if you can zoom into the uh Big Ben Houses of Parliament. I'll film you doing that.

And then if you press the the the joystick three times, it spins round to film you. So if you just go click click click.

There you go. And then you might want to zoom out. [laughter] There you go. So if you hold it at arms length, that's that's quite a good shot, isn't it? You know, we're not too big in shot and it's about arms length. Whereas if I hold the ZV1, this is the comparison between the two. So I've got this at arms length and then we'll go back to the Luna Ultra being held at arms length. And uh that's the difference in the lenses between these two particular cameras. For me, this is a much better vlogging shot than this shot. I think I'm a bit too in your face, but that's as much as I can zoom out. Enlarges your head. It... It really does enlarge my head.

So, the weather today as well as the noise, the weather today might be a bit of an issue, which is an issue for these cameras.

So, we are in Tate Modern now on the Luna Ultra. If you take a look at the art, this is the current art installation in the turbine hall. It looks quite interactive. And I'll just show you what it looks like. This is for indoors footage. I've got the wireless mics on. Hopefully you can hear me. I didn't want to have them out cuz I look like a bit of a tool walking around with a wireless microphone, but if you can still hear me, this is what low light footage looks like indoors. It's not that dark, but it's not that bright. So, we can compare the two. Let's go to the Sony ZV1. This is the... the turbine hall here. And let's see if we can zoom in on some of this interactive art. It's called Serendipity Island.

It's participatory. It's a participate... participatory artwork. So, I'm glad that we're up here. Ruining the art. They are ruining the art. You walk around the maze. Yes. Have you had enough art?

Yes. Now, what bridge is it?

Yeah. You know, they go down the river. Mary, Mary Poppins. Yeah. Now, the the good thing with this was with the the Luna Ultra, I was able to just get it out my pocket and hit on, press the the on button, and then um spin the camera around to get that crazy umbrella. That's art. Then, if I zoom in, it's so nice to be able to zoom in. I couldn't do this on my Pocket 3 or my action cameras. So, there you go. A nice bit of artistic umbrella down the Thames action. Pay me for that. Dad,

would you like to get one

with cheese?

Bagel. No, that's not bagels. The pretzels. We got... We got two bagels. Yes. Smoked salmon and cream cheese. We're going to go in. It's really crowded here. So, uh, wish me luck.

I don't think that shot will be approved. What? Which shot? I just got a No, now I got a closeup of of you tearing it apart. Oh, sorry. No, no, don't apologize. I I apologize to you for filming it. Not bad. You won't let you won't um put that on YouTube. This £7.50 bagel is... is lovely. Wait. Oh, yeah.

It's a bit difficult carrying these cameras and eating. Oh, do you got some apple slushie?

Yeah, it goes out focus if you go too close, I think. Lovely. Look at this.

Portable grater with giant hands. Yeah, I am massive haha. So, this is a good chance to show you some more lowlight stuff. This is on the Sony ZV-1. Got a tube coming in. Let's do this.

So, this is where the lens isn't is a bit too tight for this kind of situation. I have to give it to someone else to make it go further back.

I thought our one was 30. 38. That's the one that just left. So, we're waiting for a full circle. Yeah. Sit down. Wow. That number four is on a mission.

That one isn't. That's ours over there. 38.

Go, go, go, go, go. Take your ticket.

Thank you. These tickets are getting damper by the minute. So yeah, we're on the number 38 now. Oops. Uh to go to Oxford Street.

We're in London. This is uh another low light situation. Uh but it's good to get out of the rain.

We're getting off at this stop.

That is so impressive.

Thank you. Whoa. I tell you what's really interesting is that I'm on the Sony ZV1 now. I find that... As I'll say bye-bye to the the bus. Thank you. Number 38. I'll just pull this out. It's a lot easier to pull out the Luna Ultra. It's a lot easier to just whip out a pocket camera than my Sony ZV1. And maybe it's cuz I've got the the grip attached to it and the the wireless microphone on top, but I'm making a real effort to film things on the point and shoot because it's just so much easier grabbing this one. I just do this, flip it on, and it's good to go. And I'm recording that instantly. I don't find it that easy. If I spin this camera around, I don't find it that easy to pull out the Sony ZV1. Maybe it's because I've got the grip and the wireless attachment today. "YEAH, I'LL MEET YOU BY TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD ON THE CORNER. Where are we? So, I grew up in London. I... I think... I think I know my way around a bit. I have no idea what these screen things are for there. It's like some kind of PR events that they... that they use them for. But, let's try the cameras out here. I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm on the ZV1, [music] the point-and-shoot. It's a giant uh Tetris, which it looks like you can join in with. You can do it on your phone or something. And they've got screens all around this cube.

[music] So, I don't know how you're finding the loud noise with the wireless mics with the um I'll go on this camera here. We've got very challenging lighting conditions. I don't know how you you're finding it. Um say in the comments which one you prefer. If there's already a footage that you prefer. either the Luna Ultra or the point and shoot Sony ZV1.

Oh, hang on, hang on, hang on. Sorry they're coming on. Got slow pass. We're only going one stop. Thank you. So, this bus then going one stop, but um it was a bit of a problem at the door. Woah, nearly got my foot taken off by the front door there. Uh here we go. So, we're going to sanitize now cuz we're in London. Anything you touch will kill you.

We are being max tourists right now, which is excellent. The only way to experience London is to wander aimlessly through the traffic. I'm holding this at arms length and I know already that it's too close to my face. Big problem for the ZV1. I'm sort of remembering why I never vlog with this camera. It is not kind to your face or to the surroundings around you.

I don't know how frenetic this video is going to be. We're just jumping from location to location, but we're in um John Lewis now, and I'm very excited about this because it's one of my favourite places to come. They have a restaurant on the top floor, and it's really nice to just sit there and just get half an hour of sitting down time. And it's been closed for like 3 months and it's just been reopened. So, we're going to we're going to see if it's any good. I don't know if I could be bothered to film it because it is a department store cafe, but why not? It's more testing of the cameras.

So, we've got a situation here where that police car wants to get past that bus and that bus ain't budging.

There we go.

There we go.

They're going to arrest the bus driver.

Were is that taxi going?

So, I've already hit the first problem. In my opinion, the the Pocket Camera, the Luna Ultra, is better in these situations. Battery's dead. It's a new battery. Uh, I started filming about the same time. I think I've been filming about the same amount of material, and this is dead. I've had this on airline mode, so all the Wi-Fi is turned off, the Bluetooth's turned off, the screen isn't particularly bright, and it's dead. And it's what, 3:00 now. This is the first casualty. But it's okay cuz I can top it up with uh battery that I've got in my rucksack. But this is something the reviews go on and on and about the the battery life. I think it is kind of better on the on the Luna Ultra. Also, don't forget, I mustn't forget. I need to keep the microphones charged up as well. I think they're holding up. I've got them tucked in here. This could sound like total rubbish, but that might be clearer now. So, I don't even know if the sound that I've been filming has been uh not very good. It's time for another bus. This time on the Luna Ultra. Oh, that's helpful. Trying to push here. There we go. Up to the top deck. Indoors. Low light capabilities. We're only going two stops. Huh? Has it got stuff in

Because this is Carnaby Street. I'm now on the Luna Ultra. I don't know. I think my... I think my wireless microphones are holding out. My son and his nephew are looking for glasses here now. Uh we're going to go to the RayBan shop, which we've been to before back when the you know those RayBans, the pervert glasses came out where you could... the what? The meta glasses. The meta glasses, that's what they're called. Not pervert glasses. Um we came to try them out when they first came out, but we just want to get some regular sunglasses. We did manage to find a very specific brand of matt black new wayfarers size 52, but they don't have them in the store. So, we've ordered them, which... that happens a lot, doesn't it? I know it's not about the cameras, but this is for me to test the microphone to moan about, you know, when you go into a shop and they say, "Oh, no, we haven't... we could order it for you." And you just think, "Well, yeah, I... I thank you. I could have done that by just being sat on my ass at home." But anyways, this is good because we've ordered it. We paid for it. Uh, so I'm jumping between the Luna Ultra....

Okay, so we just seen this is the stage door of the London Paladium and it was just a giant cheer just went up. I don't know who it is. [cheering]

I'm filming the wrong person. Where where's the polka dot like she's got what? Say again. Polka dot polka dot thing. Oh, right. Yeah. Okay. Go. Okay. So, this is Kendall Jenner there. Kendall Jenner. And now an M&S food truck has just gone in the way. Superstar. Yeah. They're all holding the programs up. Oh, yeah. Who is that? I think it's Kendall Jenner. But who is it? Who is it? Who's it? Here's a big drawback with both of these cameras, and this is where they're comparable. It's raining. We've got a bit of a storm going on at the moment. I don't know if you can see it. You can see the umbrellas up. These cameras do not like rain. They do not like extreme weather. They don't like snow, dust, sand, desert, beach. All of these things will kill these cameras. So, you need an action camera for that kind of thing, like my DJI Nano. That's the one I use when it's weather like this. Oh my god, it is really bad. I don't know if you can see quite how heavy the rain is. I've got to stop filming now because this will kill my Luna Ultra. So, now we're looking for prom dresses and there's a very specific store called JJ's House. It's not for me. It's for my daughter. Oh, there it is. 

Get my measure to the sixth form. She'll have another prom dress. That's what Amber did. Wow. Look at you, queen. Oh, look at the little tiara as well. Wow. Princess. [applause] Yeah.

It's lovely, isn't it? So, the first difference between the two is really obvious when you look at it. On here, I've got Can you see that there, Joe? I've got uh Oh, I'm not This isn't turned on. Now, the first difference between the two cameras is really obvious when you look at it. I've got a wireless receiver on the top here for the Sony ZV1. I've also got this really ugly barn door of a monitor on the side. I've had to pull this out because this receiver, it is connected to my wireless microphone, that wireless microphone, and the battery has died on the receiver. It's about 4:00. I've been filming a lot, but for this camera, I've got to actually plug it in with a 3.5 mm cable. It's so cumbersome. I don't know why Canon and Sony don't enable some kind of Bluetooth thing where you could plug in any Bluetooth microphone to your point-and-shoot camera. You you're hearing me now through the onboard microphone. This is what it's like without it. And it would mean that I wouldn't have all this goubbins on the top. So, that's one huge difference between the two. The Luna Ultra, which you can see here, is just connected seamlessly to the the microphone here. It just I don't have to do anything. I just turn that thing on, make sure this is turned on, and we're good to go. With this camera, the point and shoot, it's you got to plug things in, which is really annoying. The other huge difference I can show you on the Luna Ultra, obviously, it's the way it's designed... You just and it's good to go. For today's footage that you'll see, I've attached this grip, this kind of mount grip. It just means I've got a bit of security with it. Partly for the stabilization, so there's nice steady shots on this camera with the grip, but also for security, someone doesn't snatch it out of my hand as well. So, that's one huge difference or two huge differences between the point and shoot and the pocket gimbal camera. We're now going to go north on the northern line to Camden Town, which is where I'm from originally, and we'll see if we can get mugged or robbed in Camden Lock Market. [laughter] Let's go. Maybe it'll be people on the streets, or maybe it'll be the stalls. Yeah, it's the magic of Camden.

Now, with this camera, the Insta 360 Luna Ultra, it's got the built-in legs to the bottom on the uh the clip-on handle extender. I'm just tired. I'm not... I'm not drunk. Uh let me tilt it down. So, it's a lot easier to to put down. It's not... It's not as easy as uh an action camera, but at least you've got some legs. You've got some options to stand it upright. Without that section, uh it's... it is really difficult to put down. It's the same with my Pocket 3, but you can get cages for the DJI Pocket cameras. And they've got a magnetic base, so you can stick it to lamp posts or pull out the base. Actually, I've got one on this one on the Luna Ultra here. I've got this screw on magnetic base. I could have used that instead, but this is a lot more steady. I'm not sure I want to put it in uh public place, though. I better grab it now. Okay. Look, I can I can use the screen to have this in a weird position.

Waterloo bridge.

Have you had enough footage? Is this... How's this looking? If you got to this part of the video, thank you for hitting the thumbs up or the subscribe button. It really helps me to keep this channel going. And right here are all my other videos about the Luna Ultra, the Insta 360 Luna Ultra. And I might even have a playlist for the Sony ZV1 ZV-1. [laughter] That's all down in the description. Thanks for coming on our journey out into London today.

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Yoto Player 4th Gen FIRST LOOK!

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Yoto Player 4th Gen FIRST LOOK!

*BUY ONE HERE!* (commissions earned)

👉 (Amazon US/World) https://amzn.to/46mTkDM

👉 (Amazon UK) https://link.amazon/B0chGQ96w

 

Exclusive first look at the new 4th Generation Yoto Player kids smart speaker! Filmed live at the launch event: first impressions of all the physical upgrades, improvements, and new button controls. There's the new green third button (play, pause, and chapter scrolling), USB-C charging, and 3.5mm headphone jack!

Yoto Player 4th Gen FIRST LOOK!



TRANSCRIPT: (CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE)

THIS IS THE TRANSCRIPT - CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE!

So, I don't know if you can hear me, but this is the new 4th Generation Yoto player - smart speaker made especially for kids. And the difference with this 4th Generation, we've got the two orange buttons. There is a green button on the side! A third button. Uh, it's got a reset button here. Power button is it maybe? And the green button turns up and down. And it's clickable, plays and pause, and you can scroll through your books with... with the button. Let's try... Oh, let's try a bit of Harry Potter. So, if I click play,

there it goes! So the green button means go and then the two familiar buttons... and that's the card slots that you can put your Yoto cards into. But obviously you don't need them cuz you can play it from the... you can play books from the app and also just use it as a Bluetooth speaker. I think this button is volume control.

And I don't know what the right button... Oh, the right button changes the chapters. Let's turn it up. "Were as un-Dursley as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think..."

I'll just pause it. 

By pressing the go button.

And there's a 3.5mm jack and a USB-C charger.

Yeah, looks huge. So wee and mini!

Can you give me a 360? Just turn the... turn the player off.

Green button.

This is the new Yoto 4th Generation player. Not only has it got a green button on the side, but if I launch Yoto Daily, the speakers are so good. It's... It's like Jake is in the room with you. Hello! Welcome to Yoto Daily with me, Jake! Thank you...

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Lovely IKEA Havsta Cabinet SPEED BUILD and Review... It's a bit of a beast! With a HACK!

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Lovely IKEA Havsta Cabinet SPEED BUILD and Review... It's a bit of a beast! With a HACK!

I take on the IKEA HAVSTA glass cabinet to transform a "dead corner" of our bedroom. My son and I tackle a speed build of this solid wood beast: complete with kung-fu cardboard fighting, tricky plinth, and a battle with the spring-loaded door hinges. Once it’s upstairs, I show you my custom DIY lighting IKEA hack using 12V LED strips and a hidden switch to illuminate my wife's stuff. 

It wasn't the easiest IKEA build, but the final result is a definite Dad Delivers success!

Other Wooden Glass Cabinets HERE! (Amazon commissions earned, thanks!)

(UK) https://amzn.to/4kg5MuY (US & World) https://amzn.to/4kfcotH

12v LED Lighting strips

(UK) https://amzn.to/45SAVyP  (US & World)  https://amzn.to/3O35kEw

12v LED illuminated switch

(UK) https://amzn.to/4rttiqS  (US & World) https://amzn.to/46pCpAN

Lovely IKEA Havsta Cabinet SPEED BUILD and Review... It's a bit of a beast! With a HACK!



TRANSCRIPT: (CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE)

THIS IS THE TRANSCRIPT - CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE!

Hello. Welcome back to the channel where we try new things for your family. And welcome to to my bedroom. Uh this is where the magic happens. But in the corner is really where the magic happens because my daughter's filming this and she is absolutely cringing. This is the magic. I don't know what you're thinking. This is the magic. The magic of IKEA. You can't say here's my bedroom. This is where the magic happens. So, not only am I going to do a speed build, but keep watching to the end because afterwards I'm going to show you how I've added an extra button to do this. It lights up. And this corner was absolutely dead. It was just a pile of junk and a mirror and a little picture shelf. And my wife had the brilliant idea of filling it with furniture. And I thought it would be too much. I thought it would just, you know, fill the alcove. But actually, it looks really good. But before I tell you all about this great use of space, let's go downstairs back in time to do a speed build on this. Look at this. This is the IKEA HAVSTA cabinet. This is just another one of the IKEA dad videos. Here is me building this from scratch in time lapse. And it's it's a difficult one. So, uh, I guess we'll just get started then. This one's a really tricky one because there's lots of glass involved. Uh, so I got my son to help me. Uh, I think we get a little bit distracted and start fighting each other with the packaging and then get into some kung fu style attacks on the cardboard, but then we focus. We focus and manage to somehow put the bits on the floor on the rug like uh they show you in the pictures. Usually we don't bother with the rug, but this time we did. And oh my goodness, I'm glad that we did because this this is a bit of a beast. So, we got the frame together. You can see we have to line up the the dowels and uh push the whole thing together. Then we've got to find the the way that the back goes on. And this stumped us for a bit. And actually, a chunk of it came out. I can see right now that uh there's a little bit in the middle that missed the thread that it's supposed to go through. And it's I mean it's a bit of cardboard as well, so I didn't think it'd be that difficult, but somehow we managed to get the thing straight and slide it in. Next, it's uh kind of a screw free put together, which uh on the upside is quite good to do because you get these special plastic pins that you push into the holes and then you push another pin into that hole and it kind of expands the plug and that's what holds it into place. And you do that instead of do you remember in the old days with IKEA where you'd uh you'd hit with a hammer about 60 nails in the back. Some of them would go in straight, some of them wouldn't. But this clip system does seem to work. It seems a bit iffy, but it actually looks like this will hold. And with a few more hits and pushes, I think this is the main frame that's been put together. It took a while to orient it against the IKEA instructions. As always with all IKEA stuff, uh you're trying to match up the picture with the real life scenario. And we pretty much got it for the frame. But the plinth, oh my goodness, the plinth is is deceptively difficult. It's just four bits that you just push together, but nowhere in the instructions does it make it clear which way round the really heavy bit. There's like one bit that's got like an iron bar on the side. And you'd think they'd make it really obvious in the instructions which is the heavy bit, but no, we got to guess from this illustration. So, we wing it. And of course, the winging it doesn't go to plan. When we got to this stage, we realized we've done something wrong. And this took us a while to figure out, but we've we worked out that we put there's like a plastic feet that you push in to the holes that we put the wrong way round. So, now we've got to get the plastic thing out. And my poor son, he's uh sent me off for a spanner or some pliers. I've come back with the pliers and yeah, he's just managed to injure himself on the pliers. Really painful injury there. I'm on my own now and I'm trying to get the plints together and the plints the right way round. And now I can get the plint onto the bottom of the main frame of the cabinet. So with a bit more dowel and a few more push pins, this whole thing is held together with plastic pins. It's uh that's quite incredible, isn't it? And now I can push the the whole cabinet the right way up. I put these things on the back. These things are supposed to space it from the wall. If you're pushing it up against a skirting board, I think these big round things space the back so it it rests on the wall and then you can screw the cabinet securely to the wall. Now I'm putting in the pins that will have the shelves on them. The shelves will rest on these 12 pins. And this this bit is weird. So I've got these frames and these fra shelves basically with holes in them. So, I'm putting these holy shelves up and uh just putting those in. Three shelves you get with this one. I I've got to get this thing up the stairs as well. So, I'm demonstrating all of this for the camera, but uh I've going to have to somehow take it all down again so I can get it up the stairs. This is all for demonstration, showing off on the channel. Now, this is my nemesis. I completely mis misunderestimated I completely underestimated the difficulty that I thought I just whack the doors on. They're like, you know, all kitchen doors, all cabinet doors, they've got these spring-loaded things. But first thing to trip you up is the spring-loaded things have got to go the right way round, and they're different. They have to go in the specific holes. Oh my goodness. I am now struggling. I cannot get this door on for love nor IKEA money. I just can't do it. I don't know if it's that the holes aren't drilled properly or the the screws just aren't biting. The thread through the metal does not work. And the only way I can get this to work is to completely take it apart and put it back together again. And then just screw it in from scratch. And I'd had enough by now. I was upset my son got hurt. And I'm just fed up with the whole thing. And look, I mean, look at the time. I mean, this is like well over an hour. This is really speeded up. The final touches are these really nice knobs, the doorknobs that go on, but for some reason the thread doesn't go into the door knob. Again, it's a metal thread problem. I... I don't know what's going on. I think this might be it. So, there you have it. So, somehow we managed to lug it upstairs. Sorry, Casper's down there. He wants to be a part of this. Somehow we managed to hoist it up the stairs. It is really heavy, especially the plinth to stop it from falling over. But when it got here, it looked great, but it looked like this. Once my wife had filled it with stuff, I wanted to illuminate the stuff. So, come closer and I'll show you how we did this. If I take the camera. Thank you. So, what I wanted was a button on the side. And I managed to get this off Amazon. When you press the button, it lights up and it lights up the the cabinet. And I just wanted to show you closer how I've done this. Inside the shelves, there is a piece of glass. So, that's good. But I didn't know where to put the lights. I didn't want the lights showing. So, I managed to buy a strip of 12V lighting strip. It wasn't that expensive, and it comes fitted with a USB cable, and you can cut it up. So, what I did was I cut it to size. Don't if you can see it under there if I poke the camera under. And it's got an adhesive strip on it so you can stick it to here. So, I cut it to the right length. And then, oh my goodness, my soldering is not very good. It took me hours. It took me about 4 hours and made forge strips behind there. There is uh all kinds of spaghetti to this really dainty switch and it goes on and off. And then that cable goes down here to an old USB cable. And I just cut the end off and bured the wires and used those wires to go into the switch to control the lighting strips. But it's all done on really low voltage. It's sort of 5 V to 12 V. I've just used an IKEA USB port. It sort of came to life. Not only does it illuminate the stuff in the cabinet, but it also brings the cabinets to life and I don't know makes it kind of a a lighting source in its own right. I am calling this IKEA HAVSTA cabinet dad delivers success. If you've reached this point of the video, thank you for uh any comments or questions or just saying hi in the comments would be great. And I really appreciate you hitting the thumbs up or the subscribe button cuz it really helps me to keep this channel going. And right here is another video that YouTube knows you want to be watching next. Can you please help my daddy get 10,000 subscribers? Just click on his face. Thanks. Bye.


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I Put Two Dehumidifiers in My Wet Car (Here’s What Happened)

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I Put Two Dehumidifiers in My Wet Car (Here’s What Happened)

Can you use a dehumidifier to dry out a car? 

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Buy Meaco DD8L Desiccant Dehumidifer HERE!

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I Put Two Dehumidifiers in My Wet Car (Here’s What Happened)



TRANSCRIPT: (CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE)

THIS IS THE TRANSCRIPT - CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE!

Hello. Welcome back to the channel. It's another experiment day. It's winter. I'm going to pit this against this. Our family car, the Ford Kuga versus Well, I'm going to actually use two dehumidifiers. We've already got one in the in the back there. This is the Meaco Dry desicant dehumidifier, the DD8L. And in the boot, I've got an EBAC 4850 21L dehumidifier. Now, I made a video about this. So, I needed to dehumidify our car. It absolutely stinks at the moment. It's It's taken on a lot of water from from Casper, who's watching over there, and my daughter getting drenched while playing football every Saturday and Thursday. And I think I've got footage here of of the problem. This is actual footage of our family car windscreen. We can't go anywhere. We've got to wait for 20 minutes for it to clear on Max windscreen. I've done this before. There was a video, it was in slightly warmer conditions, and on that last video, you very kindly left some uh messages. One message was, "Well, of course your car sucks because it's a Ford." And that I'm not doubting that for a second, but I don't actually think we've got a leak. I think this is all from us being wet. I knocked my drink over the other day into the upholstery. The other comment was because it's colder conditions, you need to use a desicant dehumidifier. And that's what this is. I didn't have a desicant dehumidifier, but now I do. And I'll put on screen now a little AI picture of how desicant dehumidifiers work. This has desicant in it, which apparently soaks up moisture and then you use heat to get rid of that moisture from the desicants. It's all very complicated. So, I thought I'd pit the two dehumidifiers against each other. But we're in cold conditions and these are supposed to work more efficiently in colder weather. So, let's just get let's get the experiment started and I'll explain it as we go. So, this is where the magic happens. I've got the Ebac 4850 here. I've only had it for a few weeks and already because it's so powerful, it has attracted all this dust onto it. So, I'm going to put that there. I'm going to put them in the back because I'm hoping it is fairly airtight. Oh no. So, we've got the 21L dehumidifier on this side. This is the desiccant dehumidifier, but it's only 8L. And I've got a special Let me move the camera around. I've got a special setup here to measure the power. So, I'm actually going to compare the power use as well. It's a bit of jeopardy today because I don't know if I'm going to need the car today. So, I don't even know how long this test is going to run for. So, I'm going to put the ebac onto the right hand side. I'm going to put the Meaco on the left. I'll plug the Meaco in. And this will measure how many watts, but it will also measure the cost. I've set it for 26p per kilowatt hour. We'll have a total there, but I'll measure the kilowatt hours here. And then on the right hand side, I've got the ebac 21L dehumidifier. Now, as soon as I plug it in, watch this. So, I plug it in and it just starts going and frustratingly it always turns on in smart mode whenever you plug it in. So, I'm just going to turn it off. Set it to target mode and I'm going to set the target to something low. So, it will just keep going continuously. The Ebac is ready to go. Let's switch on the Meaco. So, the Meaco powered on and then turn it on by pressing the button there. And we're going to set that to a low. And we could set it let's set it to infinity. And I'm going to set it to manual because I want as much water sucked out as possible. And then I've got the power lead going into the house. But I think if I close this, I think it's fairly sealed. It's just a little cable coming out of the the back of the car there. I've even taped up the number plate so I don't have to edit it out. Please do not let me forget to take that off if I need the car today. So, it's it is reasonably sealed. I had a really snarky comment saying it's not sealed, but look, come on. That's just a little cable going through the rubber ceiling there. I haven't turned them on, so I'm going to turn them on. This look, we're at the forefront of science here. So, we'll switch that one. Set that one going. Got it on infinity. It's on max manual. And then I'm going to turn the ebac one on. I'm going to set the fan going to high. That's on high. And the air is being drawn in from the back of the units. I would fold the seats down, but I actually want the seats to dry out. So, just going to run it in the back here. We've got both meters going. Just in case you're interested, what kind of power are we looking at? So, on the Meaco Desiccant one, this is while it's sampling though. It's currently on six. Oh, there we go. 280, 600, 700 Watts. Great. And then the Ebac is on full power. And that's looking like about 147 watt. It's just going up and up and up. So, I'll let them do their thing. I'll show you the measurements at the end whenever the end is. Let's seal it up. And I'm... I'm really looking forward to this because I'm so sick of having to wait to wipe the windscreen when we go anywhere. Um, you've said in the comments, just put the air conditioning on, which I've done. I just don't think it's strong enough to to dry out the car. The other thing you you've suggested I've done already, which is to set the heating on high, really heat it up, and then open the windows to let the moisture out. I've done all of that. Let's see what the dehumidifiers do. We're going to see how much water they collect and how much power they use and which which one the will it be the desiccant 8L or the 21L normal compressed dehumidifier that sucks more moisture out of my car. Come on boys, you've got this. So, as predicted, the car was needed to pick my daughter up from a school trip. So, this kind of wrecks the experiment. It's been running for 5 hours now and I can tell from the dehumidifiers there's a little cheeky cheeky shake. I can tell it has actually picked up some water. So, this is good. So, I'm going to get the dehumidifiers back into the car and we'll set them running again. They've been going for 5 hours. So, it's already done a good chunk of the dehumidifying I need it to do. But, let's see how many hours uh left I can uh run on this experiment. It is nearly 10:00 and we've been going well over 10 hours with the dehumidifiers in the car. Let's see how they're doing. And have to do this with one hand. And I've completely ruined the number plates with the tape, by the way. It won't come off. Let's see how we're going. Oh, they're roaring away. So, we will stop dehumidifier one. That's going to cool down. So, that's still going to use some power. and the ebac 21L or how much is inside. Before we take them inside, let's check out the power. So, the Meaco, which is the 8L model, but it's a desicant dehumidifier. We're looking at it took 37p today and it used 1.4 kW hours. This one's measured the time. It's been going for 10 1/2 hours exactly. That's handy. And this Oh, interesting. That's really surprising. So, the 21L, the Ebac dehumidifier has used 1.6 kW hours. So, this used more power. I really thought that was going to go to the desiccant uh dehumidifier. And it says that it's cost 41p. The desiccant dehumidifier used about 37p's worth of power, but I did have the ebac going full power, absolutely full tilt. So, it wasn't on auto and it wasn't on smart mode. Which dehumidifier has caught the most moisture from the car? Let's get these indoors and we'll start measuring. How much water did we remove from the car? Let's find out. So, this is the 21L EBAC dehumidifier and this is the 8L desicant dehumidifier. And there's all kinds of problems with this experiment because I picked up the eback dehumidifier and I could hear this water. This water actually in the machine still left to drain into the jug which I hadn't quite captured. So all of this is off. It's just a ballpark figure to see how much water I can collect from the car in 10ish hours. I'll tip out the 21L dehumidifier. And there's some still in the machine, but that's coming out at 400 ml. I think this might be more than last time. This is the desicant dehumidifier.

And it really does collect 8L per day at those reference levels, which makes it about a third of the power of the 21L. And it doesn't even Oh, no. It doesn't even register on my measuring device. Now, even that's too big. But that's coming out at about 100 ml. So, 100 ml, 400 ml. Now, the... the ebac... So, the ebac has lifted out so much more liquid from the car. About four times more than the desiccant dehumidifier. I think this is just down to power. This is just down to dehumidifying power. But I managed to remove half a litre of liquid from the car. I think it cost me about 70p. 70p well spent in the interest of science. Okay, it's the next morning. I've got 5 minutes to get my daughter to another school trip. I'm not going on a school trip. It's just like we have to be at school and get changed before. Oh, okay. It's the next morning and the windscreen. Look, the windscreen. It's clear. We usually have to wait five minutes to wipe this. It's completely clear and it smells much better in here. I am calling this dad delivers success. Thanks for coming along on the journey where the car didn't go anywhere today. I really appreciate it. Appreciate you. Thank you for the thumbs up or the subscribe button pressing. And if you are into dehumidifiers, I have I've got you covered. I've got so many dehumidifier videos up here if you want to find out more about our journey with the dehumidifying of our house.

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Clearing Out Dad’s Flat: The Emotional Reality of Letting Go a Lifetime of Stuff

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Clearing Out Dad’s Flat: The Emotional Reality of Letting Go a Lifetime of Stuff

Is it possible to clear out a lifetime of memories in a single afternoon? Today is a big day at my dad’s flat as the Red Cross charity shop team arrives to help me let go of the furniture and belongings he left behind. I walk you through the items that are the hardest to part with, from a commissioned round table that cost thousands to a framed movie poster that represents our family history in King's Cross.

I also find a beautiful 1920s "His Master's Voice" 78 gramophone record player and some unexpected treasures hidden in the cupboards. This is about charting the real journey of bereavement and the practical steps of what happens after a parent goes. 

Clearing Out Dad’s Flat: The Emotional Reality of Letting Go a Lifetime of Stuff



TRANSCRIPT: (CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE)

THIS IS THE TRANSCRIPT - CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE!

So, little update on what to do when your parent dies. I haven't updated in in quite a while. So, I'm at dad's flat again, and I think I've got some footage of what it looked like literally in the in the days after he passed away. The it looks a state because we tipped everything out. We got everything out of the drawers. And uh yeah, this is it. This is kind of what he left. And there's obviously all the stuff in the cupboard. I went through that nearly smashed my camera doing it. There's an old film camera. I I've never seen this before. I didn't know we we he had it. What? It's Oh, no. Well, that's irony, isn't it? But today is a big day because uh we've got the Red Cross coming round. Yeah, it's not that bad that the sending Red Cross team. Uh this is the the the charity shop and they're going to get rid of well for us they're going to spirit away hopefully fingers crossed as much stuff as possible. I'll show you what we've got. We've got this this table is and bench round bench. It's... I cannot tell you how this has been in his life for the last I don't know... must be about 15 years. He... he got it commissioned especially he saw it in the Sunday Times. He saw one like it and and thought that would be perfect for his place when he was living in London with uh with Mum at the time. And it costs thousands. It costs absolutely thousands. And it's always been too big for for wherever he's been. It's just too big. It doesn't look too bad on camera now, but it does. I've got a wide angled lens and it does take up most of the room, but it's really nice. and he'd just sit on the end of it and have his breakfast. I think that's probably the most painful thing to let go because I know that it was a big deal for him. And he's got the... the... the "Ladykillers" poster cuz uh we grew up in King's Cross. Uh that's where we lived and that's where he lived in a in a flat in King's Cross when uh when they moved into the social housing there on the King's Cross development. and he... he got this poster but didn't know what to do. So he got it framed um because the the... the movie The LadyKillers is is all based around King's Cross all based around the streets of Kings Cross which is very big in his life that area. Uh got this chair. There's a trouble getting rid of chairs. I mean, it completely works. But the... if you've ever tried to do this, give away a chair or furnishing, you probably know it absolutely has to have a tag on it, the... the fire safety tag. Even though I... I'... I'd say furniture has been made to that standard everywhere for the last 20 years. But, you know, I completely understand. They need the tag. And so I've got a feeling they're not going to take that, which is a shame because it is an absolute brute to get out of the room. I'm going to keep the IKEA armchairs. I actually we actually built them on the channel. Uh this is a bit of a reminisce for the the channel. Um so I'm going to keep those cuz they I like those even if I have them back at my house. I really really like them. We've got an old footstool from the leather chair that we destroyed. There was the uh the footstool which became crucial in later years for him when he sort of was falling over in the last year and a half. That would that... and that would cushion his blow as he... as he fell over and then I'd have to come around and uh uh pick him up if he managed to get a message to me. Uh so and then we've got loads of books. So, I'm hoping all the books, brand new lamp in the in that box that hasn't even been used. Um, what else have we got? Got this table. I'm hoping that will go. I'm going to put this on eBay. It's an It's an act abs It's a working I don't know what I'm trying to say. Uh, 78 record player. So, I might show you that later on. Then in here, finally stripped the bed like, you know, four months after it happened. This was how his room was still as he left it. But we've stripped everything out now. Um I'm hoping that drawers will go. I don't think that will go cuz the drawers are broken. And we've got all this gear from uh council social services. I don't know where it came from. I want to give it back to them because it's in really good condition, but I've got a feeling they don't take it back. I'm sure you'll tell me in the comments your experiences of these things. And then this wardrobe I... I do really want this wardrobe to go, but I don't think that's going to go today. That's okay. I can take that apart. Uh these two nice tables. It's like a little um yard sale I'm having on on camera. His wine rack that was always filled with wine. And that thing that was filled with books. This is from my childhood. Some family photos there. But we've got that. That's from my childhood. I remember that thing. That thing from the 1980s. I'm sure it will come back in again. It's in a bit of a state though. And this big ass table. Um I think is that it? I thought there was more than this. So that's good. So, anything that goes is going to be good because it'll free up space and it's just uh wow, it is quite a wrench emotionally though. I'm not attached to these items. Uh it would be really good to just get them out of our lives for them to move on and serve someone else hopefully. But I just I just some of them have been around since I was a kid and it's just weird saying I don't need it. I don't want it. I really do want to let it go. Especially that mirror. That mirror there. I wonder if I could find you any photos, some family photos of how that featured in our house above the really disgusting three bar fire uh in our in our house in King's Cross. This mirror it... 

...every Christmas, so many Christmases it's in all our Christmas photos. I don't even like it. But uh I don't know. It just it just it just feels odd letting it go. But it's got to go. I... I... It's an ugly old thing and it doesn't spark joy when I when I see it or touch it. I've been trying to get rid of it even while dad was here. Uh oh, there's the pictures as well. I should put on some um gallery music, shouldn't I? There's Tenacious. I don't know. He really was into ships. He went sailing before uh me and my sister were born. So I wonder if I don't know sailing was was quite a thing for him. I think um he didn't really do it while he became a family man. But all his pictures are about ships. How... what are the pictures like in your house? They tell something that you've not really noticed? And my sister made these. I'm not parting with these. I don't know what I'm going to do with them, but she turned out family life into a photo story, which is kind of cool. Um, some really bad pictures in there. Over here is the 78 record player. Let me uh flip the camera around. And inside I need to pull it away. This was always the problem. So, there's a bit of a design issue with it. I think it's from the 1920s. Uh I don't know if you can see that there. Bit of a design issue with it cuz you have to pull it forward for the cuz the lid doesn't clear, but that locks into place. And there's the arm. It's got a crank handle here. I mean, I used to play with this as a kid, so um I might have broken it a long time ago. And the crank handle goes in there and you you wind it up this way. I don't know if that still works. And then there's a speed control here. So, it's fast and slow. I love this sign here. Close lid whilst playing. And his master's voice.

There's a his master's voice. I don't know what you call it. Tone arm. Look how beautiful that is. And then it clicked in. So it's got some kind of automatic way of playing things. Got some records here. Cool water by Frankie Laine. Oh, I know that song. "All day I Face the barren Waste... Without the Taste of Water. Oh, it's cracked. What a shame. Oh, I'd love to play that. And then underneath there's some storage I guess for records. But is there anything in there? What was in here? It's a new nook and cranny. Oh, I think he was looking for this door stopper. Now we find it. You've got that door stopper instead, which is a... a load of um sort of fake 50 notes. So it looks like you got cash wedging under the door. And then there's a box here. I wonder what's in this box. Let's have a look. Oh, just candles. You always hope that, you know, it'll be like a box of money or something, don't you? Candles. Lots and lots of colourful candles. Oh, that's lovely. And a very old tennis ball.

I just thought I'd share these things with you because, you know, you might be going through this yourself. It's just things, isn't it? It really is just things. And I think that's the biggest thing that um I've learned over the last what is it 5 months. It's only 5 months since it happened. The things are meaningless. They really are. And there's going to be so much. It's going to be so nice to just have some space in here. And uh we'll figure out what we're going to do with this place. But um I just wanted to share this because I'm charting the journey of of what happened from when he died and onwards and what what actually happens from there because we don't really talk about it. I've not really seen much of it on on YouTube. Maybe no one wants to watch it. So if you reach this point of the video, thank you for hitting the thumbs up button or the subscribe button. It really means so much to me and really helps me to keep this channel going. And right here are um well, it's what YouTube thinks you want to watch next.

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Can a Solar Power Station Save My Family?

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Can a Solar Power Station Save My Family?

My FIRST off-grid battery: Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 First Impressions Review!

*BUY Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 +100W Solar panel HERE! (commissions earned)

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What happens when you try to harvest free sunshine in the dregs of a UK winter? 

I'm unboxing the Jackery Explorer 1000 portable power station alongside the SolarSaga 100W solar panels. With headlines about power cuts, I think I'm starting some "gentle prepping" to make sure my family doesn't moan at me, I mean stays powered up during a blackout.

I walk you through the simple setup of the 100W bifacial solar panels, including how to use the clever sun-target indicator for maximum efficiency. And even try out direct USB phone charging, generating my first few watts of off-grid energy. If you are looking for a portable, reliable power solution for emergencies or garden office use, is this the right place to start? 

Can a Solar Power Station Save My Family?



TRANSCRIPT: (CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE)

THIS IS THE TRANSCRIPT - CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE!

What happens when I buy my very first portable power station and 100W, yes, 100 WATTS of solar panel? What's it like to unbox? Can I just plug it in for the first time? And more crucially, will this be the solution to put solar panels up on the Happy Hut in the background? Hello. Welcome back to Dad Delivers vlog. This is a a big day for me and my family. It's, how can I put this? It's very gentle prepping. There have been lots of really iffy headlines uh recently, especially here in the UK, of vital infrastructure just not working, just things just stopping very suddenly. And it's being presented to us as if it's completely normal. But if it were to happen uh on a bigger scale, I know the first problem for me as a dad would be the family would be moaning at me about I can't plug my phone in. Even though your phone probably doesn't work in a in a big infrastructure shutdown, but I've got to keep my back covered with this. It's the Jackery Explorer 1000. Okay, let's look at the specs, but keep it simple. Under the hood, we've got a 1,070W hour battery. In dad speak, that's enough juice for a portable fridge all day or charging your phone about 90 times, which for my knackered phone is about a day. It pumps out 1,500W of AC power, so could handle coffee makers and even some power tools. Though, I'm not sure I'll be doing that much DIY during a national catastrophe, but it's nice to have that option. I've even tested it by plugging in my Meaco DD8L desiccant dehumidifier in the hut and it seems to work just fine. It's got all the ports we actually use, including a 100W USB-C for the laptop. So, I could do some editing for when the internet comes back on. And when it's empty, it'll charge from zero to full from a wall outlet in under 2 hours. Plus, with this 100W solar panel, we're basically running on free sunshine. Up yours, power company, I'm going to bill my own family! All from a unit that's light enough to carry. Now, I can hold this with with one hand, which is amazing. I mean, it's really heavy. But what I really like about this is its size. And I like it kind of jolly shape and jolly colours as well. I'll be able to find it in the event of emergency in the darkness. So, I might be able to, you know, not trip up on it. But I've also bought these. Let me tilt the camera. The SolarSaga 100. These are 100W solar panels that are bifacial and which open up. So, they're easy to store, but more importantly, they're even easier to put up because they're very light. Let me tell you some more about the solar panels. They are shock resistant. They are waterproof to a rating of IP68 and dust resistant. Jackery explained they are made with the leading IBC technology bi-facial energy generation. I think that means that it can generate power from the sunlight and from reflected light. And they have two really handy carry handles as well. So, uh, that's nice. Makes them really portable. Now, I couldn't quite work out from the videos on YouTube how the solar panels work. of the solar saga 100W solar panels work. So basically this is what the 100W panel looks like and it's magnetic so it folds up really easy and snaps shut. And then on the back they have these two Velcro straps that act as stands. So, if I show you behind here, obviously it' be a lot easier to do this on the ground, but helpfully they're labelled "top" so you know that uh it's this way up and they prop up the panels on the ground. There are I don't know what you call this, cleated holes, so I could use rope, I guess, to hold that in place. Let me know in the comments if I'm uh wrong about any of this, but this is my first impressions having opened a solar panel for the very first time. And there's also this curious device here. It looks like a target with a spot on it. Now, I'm thinking that is some way of targeting the sun. So, the sun at the moment, I'm going to point the camera straight into the sun. Uh it's over there. So, the sun is that way. And I can see from the circle there's like a shadow. So, if I tilt it this way, I'm hoping, can you see there's a shadow cast by that dot? And then you can turn the panels to target the the sun. But I'm thinking if I turn the panels to face the sun. So, I'm assuming this is a clever way. There you go. That's that's bang centre there. That is getting maximum sun if the other half hadn't folded over. It's a lot easier to do this on soft ground. The panels themselves are are really light. It's kind of like if you can imagine this size in heavy cardboard. They really are light. So I think I really would have to chalk them down. If I were to put them up on the on the happy heart, I think I'd really have to kind of lash it to the roof so they wouldn't blow away in the stormy weather we're having at the moment. Now I think the solar panels are called bi-facial that they capture light as well as from the front. the light can pass through and I believe this means that it can pick up reflected light as well. So, it's supposed to pick up more solar to uh generate inter power. It also comes with this lead and I'm going to plug it in for the first time. I've never done this before. So, this really is a test to see how straightforward it is for someone who's new to solar. If I pull this rubber top off, it reveals this socket. On first glance, it has this box on it with two USB connections, USB-A, USB-C, and a light. So, I'm wondering if I could just plug that straight into my phone uh without the need for the power box. So, just to experiment, I've just got the uh the panels out loosely. So, we're going to see if this uh USB output works just by itself. offices panels. There's the output. You're about to plug it into your iPhone. Oh, yeah. Charging. Is it saying how much? And what's the what the number of watts? One watt. It is 3:00. It is an hour before sunset, late November. But we But look, I'm getting a free one watt. So, that works. The only plug that fits this socket is this one here. So, I'm just going to push it straight in. And it looks as if it has a particular way that it goes round. So, it's almost like a figure of eight cable, but there's this notch here. So, I'll make sure that the plug is that way round. I should push it in all the way. Bit difficult to check one handed. That's all the way in. Great. And then I'm assuming I plug this into the power station. And it looks as if there's some kind of adapter. I'll try this one. Right. That seems to look like it works. and so does that one. So, hmm, I don't know why there are two connections. Now, it doesn't actually say in the instruction manual which plug you're supposed to use. What I have found out is that one of these plugs is an 8.0mm plug and the other is an 8.1mm plug. And I can see on the side here it says DC8020. On the cable that goes to the solar panel, there's etched a DC number there, 8020. So, that is the plug that's meant to go into the power port. It would be really nice if that was explained a bit more clearly given the price of this thing. I do not want to wreck it. So, I push it in like that. It goes in okay. Let's see what happens if I stand out of the way of the solar panel so that the solar can reach it. And you can see because it's new out of the box - falling down one of Casper's holes. It likes to bend. So, I'm hoping over time that will open out a bit more so that both panels will face the sun. Only that panel is really super on target with the setting sun here in the UK. So, what I'm going to do now is see if anything is happening on the box. And oh my goodness, the the display has come to life, but it says input 5W. So, am I getting 5 watts from the uh last dregs of the sun? Now, the display's gone off. And I think that's to uh to save power. Let's try press the power button again. See if anything comes to life. Right. So, the the display has come to life. I'm going to try and open up the solar panels a bit further right next to the stinging nettles. Let's pull these back. I've got uh a tree in the distance kind of putting dappled sunlight onto the solar panels. If I just angle it a bit more aggressively towards the sun. Let's see if that improves things. It's gone down. Oh no, it's 6 Watts. I've increased my solar power generation to 6 Watts. This is pretty much the last week of November in the UK where traditionally the sun is probably nearing its weakest. Since I've been filming, the sun is setting behind these trees. There are no leaves on it, but it's enough to probably zap the power. I've got a bit of a shadow from my chair here. Let's move the chair. I got a clump of grass here that's probably not helping. Tread that down. All I need now is for Casper to run up and uh use it as a toilet. And then I think we've got the full set. Let me show you the the dot indicator. Almost bullseye. I won't move it anymore because it is really difficult to manhandle at the moment. It's a bit stiff. So I think that's the best I'm going to do. And I've managed to bring up if I press the power button, I've brought up the input to 7 Watts. This is my very first 5, 6, 7 watts that I've generated in my life. It feels like a a moment. This feels like a bit of a milestone for me. By the way, to charge this up like a regular power pack, you can get the the very nice power cord that comes with it. And I'll just plug the power cord in to the side here. And then let's see what happens. Wrong way. It's lit up. Now, this is completely empty, but you can see that the input is 347 Watts. I was going to put a power meter on. I didn't realize it would actually show it on the display. You can see a percentage and obviously the output's zero but it it looks as if it's giving a uh a rough time for charging. So it says 3.4 hours. There is even a symbol in the corner to show that the power cord is attached. And now we can see it has jumped to 1%. So I've got a while before this charges up. I... I... as I might have mentioned I've really... I'm really obsessed with solar power. Um, and it it just felt like such a expensive thing to to buy. But now that I've... I've got an ability to charge up a phone in an emergency, a phone that almost certainly wouldn't work if we've lost power. Um, I don't know if we'd still have mobile networks, but maybe we could charge up a... a tablet or a laptop to do some local work for local people. Even if the internet has gone down, it does feel good that I've finally provided power for my family and that in... in the unlikely event of a catastrophic uh scenario where infrastructure goes down, at least I won't have the family moaning at me, I'll be able to say, "No, I've got... I've got you 7 watts of power. Enjoy it. This is more than other people have. I feel like I'm providing. I feel like I'm uh creating here. I'm calling this a dad delivers success. Thank you for hitting the thumbs up or the subscribe button if this is helping. I'm now blocking the sun, just losing some vital watts, but at the end of the day, but what I did want to say was all my other videos are right here and this is what YouTube knows you want to be watching next.

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The reality of using a Jerry Can...

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The reality of using a Jerry Can...

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Is a jerry can the ultimate tool for "gentle prepping" or just a massive mess? 

I try to level up my family's resilience by using a 20L metal jerry can for the very first time. After a frustrating experience (thanks South East Water), I am focusing on storing backup water and fuel to get us ready for any minor infrastructure issues.

I walk you through the "idiot proof" classic jerry can design and show the exact moment where it goes wrong. 

The reality of using a Jerry Can...



TRANSCRIPT: (CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE)

THIS IS THE TRANSCRIPT - CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE!

It turns out I really didn't want to make this video. I bought this jerry can over a year ago. I've got it wrapped up for a reason. And this is the first time Oh, I thought there was a nozzle. This is the first time that I've bought and used a jerry can in my life. It feels like I've uh levelled up somehow. But I didn't want to make this video because it just feels so negative. It It doesn't feel good. And to me, it actually feels like you're actually inviting badness into your world. But anyway, I got it now and it's full of fuel. And I really want to walk you through uh what it's like buying and using this for the first time. I originally got this for water. It was to to just have some backup water storage. I've been in a situation where we've had our water cut off. Uh well, it wasn't cut off. It was actually turned disgusting by it turns out South East Water, our water supplier, it was coming out of the taps like this. And when I contacted South East Water, their reply was, "Oh, it's mild discoloration." And it wasn't.

Thanks, guys. Guess we just keep on paying for it then. It turns out, so I called the council, you know, the the the public health guy, and I said, "Look, I've got this problem with my water. this this isn't right, is it? And he said, "No, it's not." And I said, "Well, you know, can we get it tested independently?" And he said, "Well, no, because the water companies do the independent testing."

Do you want to go in the brown water? Yeah. Do you want to go in the brown water? Yeah. So, the water company, South East Water, in this case, would be judging whether or not it water was safe to drink and use or mild discoloration. So, it's been in the back of my mind for a few years, and I I think I really love this as an object, this jerry can. If you don't know about jerry cans, let me give you a quick tour. They're actually a thing of beauty where they're designed to be rigid but light. And they have this carry handle on the top, so two people could carry this or pass them along a row of people. They're stackable. And the lid here, if you pull out this pin, and this turns out, this is really crucial. I didn't appreciate how crucial it was until I was at the petrol station. And you'll see the aftermath of me not appreciating this, but it the pin comes out and it stays it stays attached, which is brilliant. And then when you open the the top, wa there's a bit of pressurization there. You can lift it off, but you don't lose the lid. and it has a pouring spout. And this jerry can comes with an even bigger pouring spout and another spout on top of that to help uh get it into your vehicle. And this spout latches on as well. It also has a rubber kind of grommets. Is that what you call it? Some kind of uh widget in there so that it will stay sealed up. And the same with this lid as well. It's got a protective rubber seal on so that when you do lock it, I know how to do this now because it went horribly wrong at the petrol station. I will show you. And that locks into place. And then I can push the pin in. And this is the bit I found really difficult when I had a big queue of traffic behind me because it it doesn't line up. So I need to line that up first and then that should all lock into place. See, even that that doesn't feel right now. I won't give it a shake. Should I give it a shake? But this is basically what won the Second World War. And it's called a jerry can because the Germans invented it. And uh we just stole the design, which I guess was another win for the Allies. It absolutely stinks. So I got it for some water storage, but it just didn't spark joy. The idea of putting water into this. It absolutely stank of a jerry can factory. And I... I think I probably could have cleaned it with boiling water or filling it with sterilizing fluid or something, but I still just didn't it just didn't feel right to use this for drinking water. So, I got these other bottles here. And by the way, I've got both of these items, the jerry can and the water bottles. I'll put links to them in the description, but I've got this water this pathetic water supply stored under the sofa just in case we need water in an emergency. though. I... I've got five of these plastic bottles and it's not nearly enough. That would that would last us about 20 minutes, I think. But it does feel good that we've got at least some kind of fluid resilience, some resilience for our drinking water. But if you're like me and you want to do just some kind of mild preparation so that you've got some little bit of fall back if something goes wrong in the world for a few days. I think that was the thinking behind it. The other trouble with with prepping, apart from feeling like you're inviting a problem to come to you, is that it's really expensive as well. It's not cheap. Buying all of these these items and then storing them somewhere. I wanted to start with this because just having uh a bit of fuel or access to a bit of fuel might be sensible in the unlikely event that we can't get some fuel or that we're caught short at any time. Then I decided to use this for fuel. And that's where my problems began. And you'll see it on this video now. I think I didn't want to be one of those idiots filling up with fuel at a petrol station at the time where it feels slightly heightened at the moment. And that is the exact time that I decided to to make this video. Uh, at time of recording, the world's oil supplies aren't in the they're not in the greatest place right now, but I really wanted to make this video. And also, I did want to get get some fuel. So, we went to Costco where the price of fuel is is really good. We're members. So, I pay enough per year for that. I might as well uh get the benefits of it. I got my son to to video this just to demonstrate filling up a jerry can for the very first time with fuel. This can is 20L and I'm saving about 20p per litre. This isn't why I did it, but it did mean that I'm actually saving about 4 quid by using uh using the jerry can. And then when it was full up, I thought, well, that's that's great. So, what I need to do now is seal it up properly. And I got a bit flustered because I've got you can't see it, but I've got this massive queue of traffic behind me, waiting to panic by at the petrol station. So, I'm trying to fill it up. I'm tearing the glove, my natty glove, to shreds on the pin, and I couldn't get this pin in. This pin was an absolute whatsit to get in. Um, even now I it it doesn't work. And I I think the problem is you have to you have to run it really dead straight, but when you close the lid, you can't actually run the pin straight. You have to sort of lift the lid up a bit so the pin locks and then you can latch the lid of the jerry can into place. I thought I'd done that. Uh but I hadn't. I was panicking. So I thought the lid's on. I'll get it into the back of the car. And I didn't I didn't check it. And I didn't think that you were able to close the lid with the pin not in place. Turns out you can. And you can actually see the moment where I load it into the car. Uh you can see this big splash there. It goes all over my moma... my moma oat milk is now covered in diesel. And I don't know why, but I know something bad's happened. Let's see an action replay. Uh I don't think you can see there's an actual moment where it splashes all over the car and all over my oat milk. Uh, let's do it again. Go even closer. Splash. There you go. I... I thought the whole point of a jerry can was that it locked and it didn't allow the fuel or the liquid to leak. This this idiot proof design that got us through the Second World War was too difficult even for me at the petrol station. My granddad literally fought in this war where these jerry cans did their thing. And I can't even cope with a bit of mild disapproval in the queues at Costco. So my son stopped the camera at this point. Just at the end of that video clip, you can hear someone from the next queue. So it wasn't someone behind me. She shouted at me quite helpfully. I think she just wanted me to know that the lid isn't on properly. And I said, "Isn't it?" And she said, "No, no, I... I definitely saw fuel coming out of it." And looking at the video, that's what she saw. So again, I was flustered because I just wanted I didn't want to hold up the line any more than I had to. So I thought, well, I'll just check. I couldn't see anything wrong with it. It looked like the lid was on. So I gave it a big shake. Big mistake. The diesel went all over me, the floor, the back of the car. And in this video clip, you can see me mopping up the aftermath. You can see it. Nice big splash on the floor that I've paid for. Lovely. Um, and I'm just I'm still trying to get this blooming lid locked and latched and I just can't do it. It's the pin. It's really great that you've got this inbuilt safety device, but for me it just absolutely flummox me. And the more I'm panicking, the more uh the longer it's taking. I think I've got it into place now and now I've got to deal with this diesel in the back of my car. I'm mopping it up with the the tissues that they kindly provide. I ended up tearing off the cardboard from the boxes because they were they were so soden with premium diesel. Um, and I've also got it all down the can as well. Uh, so I give that a wipe. And I think I've just about got it uh cleaned up. But my first time use with the jerry can was a lot harder than I thought it would be, even though it's designed to be the most simple liquid storage device ever, ever designed. So, here it is in place with the with the pin locked in. And I'm just having to clean it up just that little bit more. I could still see uh diesel glinting around. I thought I'd get into trouble. I think my biggest fear was the traffic getting angry at me, which maybe it did, but I was too busy trying to get this fixed. Or I thought that the people running the petrol station would tell me off. But I think it's okay. I think you're okay filling up these kind of metal containers. So, we went on to IKEA. Even though the boot was full of uh diesel and bits from Costco. So, I... I did think ahead though because I did future proof myself. I did know that there might be a small spillage or liquid on the outside. So, I did bring a bin liner with me. Funny enough, a Costco bin liner. So, I've got it all neatly wrapped up in the car, which sort of brought down the smell a bit, which was helpful. That bag sort of kept things under control, but I don't think it was leaking after that. And this is it. This is my very first I wasn't panic. I was panic buying, but I was only panicked because I was making a big pig's ear, not because we're especially in a uh emergency situation. Although it was difficult, it does feel really good that I've got 20 litres worth of fuel if we need it. Now the lid is on properly and secured that it is properly secure. We store it in the garage and this is where the negative stuff comes in because our nearest hospital is a 25 minute drive from here. And you know how it is sometimes you need assistance or you need to get somewhere but it isn't quite a situation where you'd have to call the emergency services. just having the ability to know that we've got a backup plan if we do run low at any time. The other thing we're doing at the moment is also we're making sure that we don't go under half a tank in the car. I mean, I've got ADHD brain, so I forget these things anyway. So, just making sure that we've got the the car full at all times. It is... it is a bit of a reassurance. There is a school of thought which is that you get what you devote your mind to. So if you focus on the thing that you don't want, more often than not, you will actually make that happen. You know, it's a bit like a motorcyclist turning a bend. If you concentrate on the lamp post, you're going to hit the lamp post. If you concentrate into the bend, which is where you want to go, then you'll take the turn safely. And I think I need to just hide this, keep it out of my eyeline, and know that it's there if it's if it's needed. But I don't like this this focus. So, I'm going to just try and take this in the spirit that I've got a bit of backup if I forget to fill the car up and I've got a bit of water if South East Water acts like classic South East Water. So, what do you think? Have you got anything like this in your home? Have you made any kind of backup plan? Or is there anything that you think you should be getting ready for? Or should we just look at the fact that we do have clean water? We've got electricity. We've got unlimited access to entertainment. We've got a family that loves us. We're in a country or an area that is generally really safe. We've got things pretty good. I'm calling this a Dad Delivers success. And if you've made it to this point in the video, thank you for hitting the thumbs up or the subscribe button. It really helps me to keep this channel going. And right here is what YouTube thinks you want to be watching next. Can you please help my daddy get 10,000 subscribers? Just click on his face. Thanks. Bye. All right. This is going to be the proper one.

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HOW TO SEARCH YOUTUBE COMMENTS and activity log history

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Do Viral Hotel Door Locks Actually Work? (Door Security Test on chains Premier Inn and Travelodge)

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You've seen the viral safety videos... but do those portable security products actually work on a real hotel door? I test two different hotel door locks/jammers on a chunky Premier Inn door. I demonstrate the correct way to install the tough metal door lock that provides a successful, jammed seal, and reveal why the other popular plastic portable lock is a complete fail for hotel rooms! I also test the famous towel trick for securing the handle. Which travel security lock is worth buying on Amazon for your next stay in chains like Travelodge or Premier Inn?

Do Viral Hotel Door Locks Actually Work? (Security Test on Premier Inn Door)



TRANSCRIPT: (CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE)

THIS IS THE TRANSCRIPT - CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE!

You can tell all the other people on this floor who've seen the same warning videos that I've seen. So, I'm going to put a do not disturb sign on the door. I've been busy on Amazon and I bought a couple of things to secure my hotel room. So, the first thing I've got is this hotel door lock and you jam this in the the hole that the [music] lock mechanism goes in and then you jam it up with this. I'm going to try this one first. I've already had a go and it's it's really difficult. So, I'll just let me bring you closer and I'll just show you how to do this on a Premier Inn door. The idea with this portable door lock or hotel door jammer is that you put that bit into the door frame. And it's tricky because look at this door mechanism. It's really chunky. It kind of fills the bit where I'm supposed to put the jammer. And also, there isn't that much room on the frame. I'm going to line it up with here like this. But there's [music] all of that is filled up with lock business. The way I'm going to line it up is to use the bottom of this catch. There's a [music] gap between that catch and that catch that's just wide enough for this. So I'm just going to line it up like that. But then I've got to get it into the door frame like that. So it is possible. It's tricky, but it but it is possible. [music] So it did take a bit of uh jiggling to work that out. It's almost as if that gap is the exact right gap as well. So, I think this has been designed with hotel door mechanisms in mind. There's this catch that goes into this catch here. And then I'm going to put this metal rod into this hole and lock it at the bottom here. So, I'll just slide it in the big area and push it down. And now that's it. [music] That is jammed. If you try to even kick the door, that jam is going to hold. So now I am [music] completely locked into the room. The other advice you're supposed to take is also to put on a do not disturb. So that the other advice I've been given from all the YouTube videos is to put a do not disturb sign on the door. So I've I've failed. I I need to unlock it all to do that. Let's take this one off so that I could try this. This is a Life Venture portable door lock. It's another hotel door jammer. But the difference with this is that it is plastic. It's made of nylon. And there's even like a stretchy instead of a chain that's difficult to clip, there's a nice stretchy kind of bungee [music] thing that that keeps the two parts together. So, if I take off this door lock and completely insecure my room, go. So, take that one off, throw it on the floor. With this one, I think it's much more simple. All I've got to do is find somewhere to jam that in the door frame. Now, obviously, my biggest [music] fear is that this will actually stop the lock happening, but let's let's give it a try.

Now, the problem with this one is that it's actually stopped the door from locking. So, this this one is completely useless. That does not work at all. And there's no way for it to work because the full hole in the door is filled with door lock. So, you can't actually put this catch in anywhere. This would be more useful for a planer door. I don't think [music] this is any use for a hotel room door. Oh, no. I thought I thought I'd lock myself [music] in there for a moment. It is necessary because you can see in the past, [music] maybe it's just a a scheduled refit, but I think that has seen some action in the past. God knows what's happened in this room. There is, of [music] course, this lock as well, but I'm assuming there's a master key that can open that. That's all part [music] of the mechanism. So, we've got to stop someone being able to just override that while I'm in here to the bathroom for the final tip. Well, first tip is this didn't really work. So, but worth taking because it's cheap and light. I'm going to try the tip with the towel. And the tip with the towel is really simple. It's just to roll it up and to jam [music] it under the the door handle like this. And this is to stop someone putting a wire underneath [music] the door and reaching up and pulling the door handle down from the inside. Now, if I had the portable travel door lock put in, that [music] would stop the door from from opening, but having someone reach in and pull that handle down is [music] absolutely terrifying. So, I love the idea of putting the towel in the door handle. Also, putting a belt or another towel. I won't do it now, but jamming that up as well will stop the door from opening in the night. Of course, all of that gets in the way of an evacuation if there's a fire. So, what are you supposed to do? What are you supposed to do? By the way, if you are interested in either of those products, I've got a link down in the description. Well, I've got a few links down in the description and you can see how much they cost wherever you are on Amazon. Amazon. Amazon. And thank you for hitting the thumbs up or the subscribe button. It really, really does help me to keep this channel going. So, I really [music] appreciate it. Thank you. And right here is what YouTube knows you want to be watching next.

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How to STOP avoiding your next YouTube video

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How to STOP avoiding your next YouTube video

Do you feel like your next YouTube video idea is a complete waste of time? 

I'm currently fighting "The Resistance," a creative block that makes every project feel either too "stupid" to make or too important to mess up. In this video, I explain why these conflicting thoughts are the exact sign that you are onto something worth filming.

I break down the psychological hurdles that stops you from hitting record, including the fear of negative comments and the trap of overthinking. Using ideas from Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art and Jerry Seinfeld, I show you why "wasting time" on a video is actually the best form of productivity for a creator. If you are struggling with creative procrastination or wondering if your video is "worth it," this might help you make your next video.

How to STOP avoiding your next YouTube video



TRANSCRIPT: (CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE)

THIS IS THE TRANSCRIPT - CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE!

I am just about to make a a new video on my other YouTube channel, My Dad Delivers Vlog channel, and I really don't want to make this video. It's because I have two thoughts in my head, and I thought that this might be the reason why you're not making your next video. So, I thought, let's let's go through those two thoughts and see if you if if this happens to you, too. So, it works like this. I don't want to make this video because it feels like a complete waste of time. The video I'm making is is capricious nonsense and the amount of time that I'm about to spend on making this video isn't worth it because nobody's going to watch it and it doesn't really need to be made. And at the same time, I have this other thought which says I might get this wrong and actually this video is so important because I don't want to make it badly. Bad things will happen. People will think poorly of me because they care so much about what's in this video. And that's why I shouldn't make the video. And these two thoughts are happening at the same time. They are complete opposites. Both of these thoughts cannot be true. So why are we having these thoughts? And if they are equally working against each other, why would either of them be correct? There's a book called I'll put it on screen now. I'll put it in the description as well. There's a book called The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, and he calls this the resistance. And it's a lovely book. It's really short and it explains exactly what artists go through in these situations where you have these these thoughts, those two thoughts that work in complete opposites to each other. And he says that the resistance itself is the sign that you're on to something and that you're about to make something that is worth making. And the reason the resistance will fight you on this is that because you will be a completely different person as a result of going through with making this art. In this case, a video about how to set a poll on WhatsApp. There's also a really nice video. I'll put this down in the in the description as well. It's with Jerry Seinfeld and it it's just talking him talking about how he writes a joke, but there's this throwaway comment just towards the end of the video. He says something like, "It's a long time to spend on something that means absolutely nothing. But that's what I do. That's what people want me to do is spend a lot of time uh wastefully. You know, in my world, the wronger something feels, the righter it is. So to waste this much time on something this stupid is that's that felt good to me." The process, the thought process and the effort that goes into making the joke isn't worth the time that's devoted to it. It's a complete waste of time. That's why it's beautiful. That's why you're doing it. It's because it's a complete waste of time. It's because the resistance will cause people to start mowing their lawns when you're in the middle of a video. That... that in the background there, that's the resistance. That's something stopping me from making this video. I'm sure your brain will come up because you're creative. You will come up with all kinds of reasons to not make the next video and to put it off. And I just wanted to be that voice to remind you that that's a brilliant thing. That's good because that resistance is the sign for why you should be making this video. So, I hope this helps you to waste some time, deliberately kill some time, and devote too much time to something that clearly does not deserve it. That's that's why we watch YouTube videos. Someone has spent the time in a way that it doesn't deserve. It just does not deserve that amount of time. And that's why we enjoy watching it. And investing that time in the thing, the video that you want to make... That puts you ahead of all of those people who haven't wasted their time on that video you're about to make. And the same goes for for negative comments as well. I... I was talking to someone recently and they were saying they're a bit worried about the reaction that they would get online to putting out videos. That's probably the biggest reason why they weren't making videos. You have wasted the time. They haven't. You outrank them already. The fact that they are commenting on your work means that you've created something worth commenting on. You know that. You know it. You know it in your bones. But we we're wired by biology, by evolution to avoid these threats. But we know the prize that wasting our time on this will change us and make us better YouTubers, better artists. Does this help? Uh, making this video has helped me at least get to the point where I might actually record this video today cuz the sun's out. It's nice. I've just got to wait now for this moment to stop. If if these videos are helpful, thank you for hitting the thumbs up or the subscribe button. If you do either of those things, it really helps me to keep this channel going. But say hi in the comments as well because uh it really helped for me to see where everyone else is at with their journey. And right here on screen now, I'll put the playlist to all my tips for creators on YouTube. And here's what YouTube thinks you want to be watching next. Do it. Just do it. Waste some time.

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How to make a vote in WhatsApp Group Chats

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