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Mike Senese

@mikesenese.com
176 followers 44 following 100 posts

Tinkerer of all sorts. You may have seen my work in Wired (senior editor), Make: magazine (executive editor), on Discovery (show host).

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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 24/05/2026
I looked it up online. The information was pretty alarming. Its label, 臭氧发生器, translates to "ozone generator." So this unit was generating ozone as part of its air “purification,” which is actually controversial and considered harmful by the EPA at the levels some of these devices produce.
Rectangular electronic component with Chinese writing on itTop side of mysterious black electronic component
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 24/05/2026
One of the transistors, probably a MOSFET, looked like it had been dissolved in acid. This wasn’t going to be an easy capacitor-replacement repair after all.
Closeup of the blue powder on the transistor, showing considerable damage
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 24/05/2026
At this point I was still disassembling the unit to try to find the control board, hoping for that easy capacitor fix. This thing was built many layers deep. Finally, I pulled off an internal plastic shroud and found the control board. The problem was immediately clear and it was not a capacitor.
PCB with blue powder on one of the transistors
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 24/05/2026
The power supply looked fine, which makes sense because it was powering on, just not blowing air.
PCB and components assembled to provide power to an air purifier unit.
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 23/10/2025
Amazing that the “barn boogie” rules for my son’s sleepover camp just happen to be the EXACT SAME rules as those I have followed for my own entire personal life.
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 22/10/2025
Newark United Terminal, 2017. See if it's still around.
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 30/07/2025
Just watched the water drain out of one of Maui beach, then returned to normal about two minutes later. No flooding wave, thankfully.
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 30/07/2025
I’ve never seen Waikiki beach empty like this. The other cameras show similar scenes. And those two surfers finally paddled in, with just 17 minutes to go.
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 30/07/2025
Those two surfers are still out there catching waves. Boats are still steaming out of the marina. About half an hour until this tsunami may make landfall in Oahu. #hawaii #tsunamiwarning
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 27/12/2024
I love this
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 21/12/2024
Not a lot of luck with this one. Looks like water got inside the circuitry. Not worth it to me to try to get microscopic, but it is worth it to scavenge parts from it. Big toroidal transformer!
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 16/12/2024
Back to the outdoor speakers: Internals cleaned and tidied up. Rattle and buzzing all gone. Bumping thick bass. Sunday win.
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 10/12/2024
Another audio project to unwind with, trying to diagnose and rectify a powering-up-but-only-blinking Sonos amp. My guess is the network card. Let’s see if a little cleaning can help.
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 08/12/2024
Saturday night fun: cleaning up some “weatherproof” speakers that seem to not be as water resistant as advertised. (Thankfully they came cheap)
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 02/12/2024
Couldn't be more excited to see my son get his first drop-in at the skatepark. He's been working on this with my help for years! Also a bit tough to realize that he's going to need dad's support less and less as he continues to grow, not just for skating, but for everything.
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 21/11/2024
Stumbled across the best "secret basketball court" last summer after peering through a portal in some ancient city walls. I haven't been able to figure out where to post this video since then, but I love it so much I figure I'd share with you all here.
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 14/11/2024
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 11/11/2024
Saturn peeking out from behind the moon. Glorious in full-screen mode. Credit: www.reddit.com/r/spaceporn/...
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 11/11/2023
Today's repair: Replaced a dead MBA keyboard with a "new" unit I got off eBay (turns out, they're pretty cheap) and brought our old laptop back to life. Full component swap, a first for me. It works!
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 05/06/2023
Favorite "bonus" project my son and I worked on this school year: tiny Arduino keyboard. His first Arduino build, and I'm happy to say that it performed perfectly on the first try. Seeing his little fingers figure out how to work the jumper wires and breadboard, best thing ever.
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 31/05/2023
Testing out the new Photoshop "generative fill" feature to turn this landscape image into portrait. Before and after, interesting results...
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 31/05/2023
Finally fixed the dead battery on my Zojirushi rice (and oatmeal!) cooker. Not just a fix, but upgrade too — replaced the soldered-in-place battery with a holder, so next time it dies it’s a more straightforward swap. Now the timer stays set and my oatmeal is ready in the AM.
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Mike Senese @mikesenese.com · 30/05/2023
My newest fascination is watching this “smart” charger recondition all my old batteries, some ancient even, and some that have been sitting outdoors for years. Takes hours/days for each one but the mAh increase is astounding.
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