tech.nocr.at » batteries

DIY: Rechargeable Battery Tester

Frank — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 13:07:00 +0000

Rechargeable batteries are a blessing, especially if you own a ton of electrical devices that use AA’s. The problem with them is that they don’t last forever. Like every other battery, NiMh or NiCd batteries loose some of their capacity with every charge/recharge. That can lead to some headaches, especially if you’re relying on some juice only to find out that you only have 5 minutes of it.

You could sit around with a multimeter and check each battery every time you use it, but then again you have a life, or could build yourself and automated battery capacity tester like Instructables user BrianH did and make your life a lot easier.

BrianH has a full write up chocked full of details on building this simple circuit that drains any AA battery, 3 at a time, and records it’s useful capacity in milliamp hours. All packaged up in a nice wooden case.

[Link to Automated Battery Capacity Tester]

DIY: Rechargeable Battery Tester originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/09/03. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Wind Up Batteries

Frank — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 05:29:18 +0000

We have seen many green projects around these parts and wind up energy products like flashlights are nothing new, but why not wind up batteries to power any gadget?

Designers Yeon Kyeong Hwang & Mieong Ho Kang have come up with this concept design for a battery that can be recharged by twisting the battery itself. By using a built-in spiral spring wrapped around a generator, friction is created which in turn is converted to energy for the built in Ni-mH battery.

While the idea of free energy is great, you would have to twist this thing a whole lot to build up enough juice, not really practical. Maybe if there was a kick-out crank for leverage, but until then I’ll stick with my solar charger.

Wind Up Batteries originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/02/22. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

DIY: Solar Battery Charger

Frank — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 07:32:56 +0000

Here is a super easy and super cheap way to build a solar battery charger. You will need nothing more than 2 solar panels, a battery holder and a blocking diode.

The project is dirt cheap, usually running you no more than 3 or 4 bucks and is a great way to experiment with solar power. The unit will trickle charge your NiMH rechargeable batteries and can usually charge 2 AA’s fully with about one full day’s worth of sunlight. With some tweaking you could add a USB port to the design so you can keep your iPhone or other gadget that uses a USB connection fully charged all the time.

Check out Instructables for a parts list and a complete project breakdown.

DIY: Solar Battery Charger originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/02/13. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

HowTo: RFID Cat Door

Frank — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 21:55:11 +0000

Sure you can go out and buy an automatic car door that opens when your cat gets near it, but that requires your cat to wear a special collar and you need to keep the batteries in the collar in check. Since most pet owners already have identification RFID chips injected into their cats, why not take advantage of them.

By using an Arduino and some inexpensive parts, Instructables user landmanr put together a cat door that reads the cat’s RFID tag within 4-inches and unlocks the door. The code can distinguish between different RFID tags and can act accordingly. It’s simple, effective and well built. All he is missing is an enclosure to protect the internals.

[Link to RFID Cat Door]

HowTo: RFID Cat Door originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/24. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

AA Battery / USB Flash Drive

Frank — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 05:48:10 +0000

Are they batteries or are they USB flash drives? OR are they both? These clever batteries also double as USB flash drives. The neat thing is that they charge the battery side of the mutant while using the flash drive.

Now, the next time you need a flash drive you can reach for your batteries or the next time you need some batteries you can reach for your flash drives. I know, it’s like a modern day Spork!

At this point these are nothing more than a concept, a good one at that, but still a concept.

[Link via Yanko Design]

AA Battery / USB Flash Drive originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/19. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Old School GPS

Frank — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:19:32 +0000

Come on, we have all experience the dreaded “Satellite Lost” syndrome when using a GPS unit. A crafty hacker has created his own low-tech steampunk navigation system.

He soldered together a couple of brass tubes to a backplate and added a crystal face. Now all he has to do is print out step by step directions from Google maps and he will never have to worry about a lack of a clear sky view or even batteries. Plus, check out the resolution of that bad boy, perfect.

[Via Hack A Day]

Old School GPS originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/08/24. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Replace Batteries With USB Power

Frank — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 23:32:24 +0000

If you can avoid using disposable batteries then you should. Landfills are full of them and we are doing nothing more than killing our environment by using them. I know that rechargeable batteries are better, but there is always the hassle of having to recharge them and then you eventually have to toss them out as well.

When Apple recently released their desktop trackpad I was surprised to see that it was using batteries as opposed to USB power. Apparently others thought the same thing and did something about it.

Markbog over at the MacRumors.com forums did just that. He crafted together a battery size dowel and stripped down a USB cable to make it all happen.

I’m assuming the trackpad must have a voltage regulator or voltage step up since 2 AA batteries only give off 3V and the USB power spec if 5V. Either way, it seems to be working just fine for him.

Replace Batteries With USB Power originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/08/20. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Allegro Portable Internet Radio

Frank — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:04:12 +0000

Let’s face it, terestrial radio is all but dead. Who wants to wade through all the commercials and limited avalability of the FM or AM dial? I listen to internet radio all the time, when at work at my desk and even on my iPhone when in my car and this little baby while now complete my internet radio experience.

The Grace Allegro Wi-Fi internet radio can run for about 8 hours on six AA batteries and streams over 16,000 radio stations from the likes of Pandora, Sirius and Live365. Is has built in 802.11b/g/n support and even has an iPhone remote control app so you can change stations without walking up to the unit.

You also get MP3/WMA/Real Audio/WAV/AAC/AIFF codec support, alarm functions, built-in speaker, 4-line display, standard remote control.

The unit will cost you $170 and is available right now from Grace Digital Audio

Allegro Portable Internet Radio originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/02/25. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 2010 | Permalink | One Comment | Read more in Gadgets | Explore more in: 2.1, 2010, AA, ac, alarm, arm, audio, batteries, car, codec, commercial, control, dead, display, ds, e3, ea, experience, internet radio, iphone, ir, live, live365, loa, mit, mp3, nda, os, pandora, phone, portable, radio, rc, remote, remote control, sirius, stream, tech.nocr.at, time, ui, walking | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

mPower Illuminator: A $250 Flashlight

Frank — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:59:06 +0000

You might be wondering why you would spend $250 on a flashlight, especially since you can pick up a cheap one at a dollar store for, well, a dollar. There are two reasons you would do so. One would be because you are filthy rich and really don’t care how much you spend and Two, hmmmm, well you decide for yourself.

The mPower Emergency Illuminator was designed by the Porsche Design Studio (so far not worth the $250).
It comes with what the company calls “groundbreaking battery technology”. The unit has dual battery barrel’s. One barrel holds you run-of-the-mill batteries and the other holds the “mPower Reserve Battery” that has a minimum shelf life of 20 years from activation. The user chooses when and where to active it. (still can’t see why I would pay $250)
A built in USB port for charging other gadgets (Maybe. Actually, nope. Still not worth it)

So as you can see, you’ll have to be filthy rich to justify this purchase, or just an idiot.

[Via DVICE]

mPower Illuminator: A $250 Flashlight originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/12. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

NCube: Portable Gamecube Goodness

Frank — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:46:38 +0000

I’ve seen my fair share of portable Gamecube systems, but this has got to be one of the slickest I have ever see.

Designed and hacked together by a Ben Heck apprentice, the NCube is a beautiful creation. The case is a seriously modded Datamax Kid’s Delight and the screen is an unmodded Zenith PSone display. The unit also has a 2-way switch so you can choose to run off batteries or AC, a memory card slot and a rear-mounted disc drive.

You can read up on the 90 hour journey to create this or just skip right down to the end of this article to see it in action.

[Link to NCube Design]

NCube: Portable Gamecube Goodness originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/12. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Snegenes-P

Frank — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:54:31 +0000

What the hell is the Snegenes-P you ask? Snes + Genesis + NES – Portable. If you’re the hardcore 8 or 16 bit gamer and refuse to use one of those fancy handheld emulators like the Gemei X760+, then why not build yourself one of these?

Modder Trstn18 smashed together components from all his favorite consoles into this custom see-through case so that you can see all of the messy goodness. Coming in at 8.6-inches wide, 5.4-inches tall and 1-inch thick, it’s not really portable in my opinion. Powered by 6 2600mAh batteries, this beast should get you somewhere between 5 to 7 hours of game play on a single charge. It also has composite video and stereo outputs so you can enjoy all of your 8-bit goodness on your TV.

As you can clearly see, the back of the unit is a bit of a mess. I’m not too sure how comfortable this thing will be when you hold it with a massive cartridge sticking out the back.

[Via Ben Heck Forums]

Snegenes-P originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/10. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

In Case You Missed It: Week 44 Round Up

Frank — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:22:01 +0000

Another week another bunch of stuff that we posted. In case you missed any of it we have everything from Videogame Alarm Clocks to Secret Knock Door Openers. Enjoy.

Gadgets

A Cell Phone For Grama
USB Boobie Warmers
Fuel Cell Charger
Batteries For The Web 2.0 Generation

Gaming

Videogame Alarm Clocks

Hacking and Security

DIY: Star Trek Bluetooth Communicator
Turn A Dead 360 Into A PC
DIY: Auto Tracking Sentry Gun
DIY: Arduino AppleTV Remote
Secret Knock Door Lock
DIY: Digital Mixtape
Build A Real Working Tricorder, Sort Of
Build An Annoying Beeping Thing

Mac

MacHeist Nano Bundle: $154 In Apps 4 Free
Hacker Hacks Jailbroken iPhone
10.6.2 Kills Off Atom CPU Support
iPhone Safari Bug Could Cost You Cash

Tech News

Google Voice Invites
Woops: 10.6.2 Doesn’t Kill Atom Support

In Case You Missed It: Week 44 Round Up originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/09. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Batteries For The Web 2.0 Generation

Frank — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:59:22 +0000

Seriously, why has no other company come up with the idea of creating sexy looking batteries? We have gradients on every web 2.0 website out there, why not some colour on our batteries too?

Well first off, most devices that use batteries keep them hidden so nobody will ever see the flashy looking skin to your powercell and secondly, does it really matter? DC power is DC power. It’s doesn’t matter if it comes from a black and copper Duracell or a Volta.

[Link to Volta Battery Packaging]

Batteries For The Web 2.0 Generation originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/03. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Phaser Boasts 300mW Laser

Frank — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:15:23 +0000

Since you can’t walk into to your favorite weapons store and pick up a phaser just yet, hacker Luke decided to build his own. He picked up a toy phaser from Amazon for about $20 ripped out the internals only choosing to reuse the trigger, top switch and battery pack.

The phaser contains two laser diodes which were pulled from a 6x BD-R burner. I sure hope that the burner was broken since purchasing a unit just for the sake of pulling the diodes out to put in a toy gun is very expensive. The two diodes are mounted on a swiveling carriage which can be turned 180 degrees to switch between the diodes. A boost driver is used to bump up the 3v that the batteries provide to 7v to drive the diodes.

Although you won’t be killing Kingons with this unit it does make one cool looking toy. Remember, don’t go firing it in peoples eyes, that will hurt. Check out the video after the break.

Phaser Boasts 300mW Laser originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/26. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Nuclear Battery In Your Pocket

Frank — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:30:16 +0000

Yep, you heard me correctly, a nuclear battery. Researchers at the University of Missouri have created super tiny nuclear power sources that can be used as batteries. Dead gadgets and XBox 360 controllers will soon be a thing of the past.

The secret to these tiny power plants is the use of new liquid semiconductors instead of solid ones. Don’t think you can run out and pick a set up at Radio Shack just yet. The current focus is on powering nano electromechanical systems not your digital camera. Which in my opinion might be a good idea. We have all heard of cell phone and laptop batteries exploding, imagine if something goes wrong with one of these. You’ll have a lot more to worry about than burn wounds.

Nuclear Battery In Your Pocket originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/08. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 2009 | Permalink | Comments | Read more in Gadgets | Explore more in: 360, ac, batteries, battery, camera, cell phone, control, controller, dead, ds, ea, hack, ical, id, laptop, loa, nano, nes, nuclear, phone, pocket, power, radio, rc, ring, secret, tech.nocr.at, tiny, tor, ui, wrong, xbox, xbox 360 | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

DIY Image Stabilizer

Frank — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:03:59 +0000

A crafty Instructables users has figured out that by using a pair of spining hard drives you can create the same gyroscopic effect that the pros use to keep their cameras nice and steady. A camera stabilizer is perfect for taking those steady shots when your conditions might be less than favorable for doing so, like driving in a car or running (think paparazzi).

Although I wouldn’t say this is a beginners project, it’s not too hard to pull off and your materials list can probably already be found around your house.

Needed: 2 discarded harddisks (HDs)
Some old discarded computer, or parts
The part in the old computer which holds floppies en HDs at a 90 degree angle…
A wooden box or plywood etc..
A hand grip
One or two strips of aluminum
A camera screw
3 or 4 car USB phone chargers
A 12 V power source (lead acid cell, a discarded NiCd cell, or (rechargeable) batteries)
Some rubber washers and a piece of inner tire
Contact glue

A little bit of soldering experience, some free time and $50 in parts you too can build yourself this image stabilizer. Just remember, if you plan a career change and decide to become a paparazzi, everyone else around you will give you some weird looks if you run around with this thing.

[Link to Gyro Image Stabilizer]

DIY Image Stabilizer originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/07. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 2009 | Permalink | Comments | Read more in Hacking And Security | Explore more in: ac, air, batteries, camera, car, charger, computer, diy, drive, ds, ea, eff, experience, hard drive, hd, house, id, images, instructable, ir, loa, os, phone, power, rc, ring, rip, stablizer, tech.nocr.at, time, ui, usb, weird | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

The Retro Mini

Frank — Thu, 14 May 2009 04:56:54 +0000

Got $49.99 burning a hole in your pocket? If so then you can spend it on the Retro Mini. Running off 4 AA batteries, the Retro Mini gives you an outstanding 8 hours of NES goodness. You can pick up old NES cartridges for pennies a pop these days so why not relive your childhood with this portable unit.

NES gaming on the go, the cartridge is bigger than the unit, but at the very least you can have some fun on the bus play Punch Out.

If you have your heart set on 8 bit gaming goodness, you can stop by ThinkGeek and pick yourself up one.

The Retro Mini originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/05/14. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Thrustmaster’s Lightsaber Wimote Add-On

Frank — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:10:27 +0000

There have been quite a few lightsaber add-ons for your wimote’s before, but this one from Thrustmaster actually looks quite cool. The units are powered by three AAA batteries and have 17 blue or red LED’s for some glow in the dark fun. I’m not sure how much they will add to gameplay, but they will cause some fun when you swing it around and smash the light on the end table in your living room.

[Link to Thrustmaster]

Thrustmaster’s Lightsaber Wimote Add-On originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/09/28. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Portable N64

Frank — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:15:36 +0000

It’s truly amazing that the hacking community in the benheck forums continues to provide quality hacks like this portable N64. Darth 64 is a portable N64 that uses parts from a N64, PSx, GameCube, and a Lazer Doodle (that’s the case).

List of features:

Psone screen with original backlight.
Flush mounted headphone jack.
5000maH Li-Poly batteries with quick charger and protection circuit.
Gamecube style joystick and d-pad.
Rear shoulder buttons and twin z buttons.
Cart slot relocation.

You can read up on the whole process here.

Portable N64 originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/09/18. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Xbox 360 Wireless Interface

Frank — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:04:11 +0000

A crafty hacker on the benheck forums decided that building a portable Xbox had been done so instead he decided to build a wireless video interface for his Xbox 360. The device acts more like a “thin client” and streams whatever his Xbox is playing. The unit has a 1.2GHz A/V receiver and the guts of a wireless controller. It’s powered by two 2600mAh batteries running at 7.5V and even has it’s own built in charging circuit.

It’s a crafty build and great for playing Xbox games while wondering around the house. Plus, it will keep your girl friend/wife off your back for hogging up the TV.

Xbox 360 Wireless Interface originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/09/15. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Water Powered Calculator

Frank — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:38:19 +0000

This is one of the craftiest gadgets I have seen in a long time, a calculator that is power by a few drops of water, 3 drops for 3 months of power to be exact.

Just think of the 10′s of millions of calculators sold or given away each year. Now imagine the batteries that are lying in landfills from those 10′s of millions of calculators, if everyone had an H2O powered calculator you could easily wipe that environmental impact out.

So what are you waiting for? You can pick up your very own H2O calculator for only $24.95 from solutions.com

Water Powered Calculator originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Portable Packman

Frank — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:02:18 +0000

Pacman, the video game of my youth. I spent many an hours (and money) at the local coffee shop when I was a kid trying to master this game (I don’t think I ever did). sam_thornley over on the benheck forums came up with this great little project. It uses the guts of a JAKKS Namco TV arcade stick and the composite video signal is hooked up to a 2.5-inch screen with a CCFL backlight.

Four AA batteries are in a regular project box gives this portable gaming adventure 2.5 hours of play. There currently is no sound, but he says that the TV games’ sound pales to the original anyway.

Portable Packman originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Charge Your Batteries While You Walk

Frank — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:21:21 +0000

Everyone has seen solar gadgets that provide juice to electronics or charge batteries up, but these units require you to be in a good source of sunlight for hours on end just to get a bit of juice. While some people might be outdoors most of the day, the majority of people aren’t in the woods for hours on end.

This little gadget put a spin on the idea of alternate energy. The M2E Power charges up a set of batteries by using kinetic energy. Strap this little unit to your belt while your walking or running and it will collect energy from your movements.

There still is no news on availability or pricing, but this is a great idea on harnessing some of that kinetic energy you produce every day.

[Link to M2E Power]

Charge Your Batteries While You Walk originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/22. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

USB Drive Watch

Frank — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:18:47 +0000

What better way to make sure you take that USB drive with you than have it also be your watch, unless you also forget you watch all the time, then your screwed. The Timeless Watch, which was designed by Ondrej Vaclavik, seamlessly integrates a hidden USB drive that also serves as the watch’s clasp. Perfect for getting your data across the border and through the TSA.

The watch is lightweight and requires no batteries as it charges up via USB. It’s not available for sale just yet and we have no word on how big the drive will be, but I guess you could always build your own from some spare parts.

You can see more pictures of the unit over at Ondrej Vaclavik’s site.

USB Drive Watch originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/08. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

iShoes

Frank — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 14:44:17 +0000

This is for the extremely lazy. The iShoes go up to 13.5 mph, weigh about 12 lbs and have a range of around 3 miles. As weird as it sounds, I want a pair, and some spare batteries to go with them.

iShoes originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/02/06. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Build An Emergency Lamp For $1

Frank — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:10:11 +0000

I remember when we had the massive blackout on the East coast a few years back how hard it was for most people to have something as basic as a light source at home. Dead batteries in their flash lights, no candles, or even basic survival supplies like water and canned foods.

I think that experience had opened a few eyes to the importance of building an emergency kit for such incidents, but on the other hand, if you are jammed in a situation this neat video will show you how to build an emergency lamp for about $1. Some vegetable oil and an empty glass bottle is all youâ€™ll need. Plus, it will last for 10 hours ensuring you have plenty of light.

Remember, this shouldnâ€™t be your basic light source in an emergency. You should have some fresh batteries in a flashlight. This should be used in emergency situations only.

Build An Emergency Lamp For $1 originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/22. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Improve Your Cell Phone’s Battery Life

Frank — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 19:09:05 +0000

Cell phone batteries generally fail on you when you need them most. You know, when your on the road traveling and can only charge your phone at night when you get back to your hotel room.

Wikihow has a great article on how to make your cell phone battery last longer. You can increase time between charges by turning the phone off at night when you go to bed, not using the vibrate function on your phone, and not searching for a signal when there obviously isn’t one to be found. You can prolong the life of your battery by fully charging a new battery before you use it, keeping the battery cool by not leaving your phone sit out in your purse in an overheated car, and by cleaning the battery contacts on both the battery and on the phone itself.

Most new batteries donâ€™t suffer from the same pitfalls that their predecessors did like charging memory, or burn out when overcharged, but most of the tricks in the article can help you squeeze the most juice out of that battery.

[Via DIYLIFE]

Improve Your Cell Phone’s Battery Life originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/21. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Cordless Drill Battery Charger

Frank — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:23:12 +0000

Here’s a great video showing you how you can use your cordless drill as a hand crank charger for batteries. You just never know when your stuck in the woods and need to charge up your batteries for your flashlight. Looks like I will be putting my cordless drill in the truck of my car just in case something like this is needed, lol.

[metacafe]http://www.metacafe.com/watch/967302/crank_charge_your_batteries/[/metacafe]

Cordless Drill Battery Charger originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/09. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Build your own Camera light

Frank — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 18:23:26 +0000

With more and more point and shoot cameras having video functionality lighting can quickly become and issue. Now you could spend $60-$80 purchasing a light unit that slips into the hot-shoe or one that screws on the bottom, but why do that when you can build one for about $2. The guys over at ProdMod have a posted a very detailed how-to on building your very own camera light for cheap.

This baby houses 3 led’s and runs off a couple AA batteries and will last for 16 straight hours plus it provides a hell of a lot of light.

Link to detailed how-to

Build your own Camera light originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/02. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Best of the week – Sept 10 – 16

Frank — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

iTunes Movie Rentals? (Frank)
iPhone: User racks a $4,800 bill (Frank)
How To: Add RAW support to low end Canon camera (Frank)
Mouse Danger in Vista (Frank)
Hacking an Alarm Clock (Frank)
Un-Portable Nintendo DS (Frank)
Urine Powered Batteries (Frank)
DS gets VOIP (Frank)
iPhone firmware 1.1.1 may break soft unlocks (Frank)

Best of the week – Sept 10 – 16 originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/09/16. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 2007 | Permalink | Comments | Read more in Tech News | Explore more in: ac, alarm, alarm clock, arm, batteries, camera, clock, ds, ea, firmware, Gaming, hack, hacking, images, iphone, ir, itunes, lock, Mac, mouse, movie, nes, nintendo, nintendo ds, phone, portable, power, rc, rental, security, unlock, vista, voip | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

Sugar powered batteries

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Last week we saw the urine powered batteries now from one of the worlds largest battery manufactures, Sony, we see a battery that generates electricity from sugar. The device works off the same principles found in living organisms. Test batteries show the ability to produce 50 milliwatts – currently the world’s highest level of power for a passive-type bio battery. You’d need 4 of these to power you mp3 player or cell phone, but this could be a great advancement for people who have pace makers, convert carbohydrates directly from the body to power up your ticker!

Sugar powered batteries originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Urine Powered Batteries

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I’m all for finding better ways to protect our environment. I recycle, I proper dispose of dangerous chemicals, and I make sure that all of my used batteries are properly disposed, but this one has to take the cake. The NoPoPo batteries are actually powered by urine. Apparently a single urine powered AA battery can power a flashlight for about 20 hours. The battery comes with a plastic pipette that allows you to inject urine into the battery chamber.

I guess drinking all that beer might just have good effects on our environment, the more you drink the more you can power. My fear with that line of thinking is that the more you drink the harder it also becomes to use the pipette properly, nevertheless you can’t win them all. The urine powered battery from NoPoPo is available only in Japan.

Urine Powered Batteries originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Inflight USB: Power for you gadgets from an audio jack

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

The Inflight USB Power Unit connects directly to the headphone jack found in most commercial airlines. The unit passes power to your gadgets via a USB connection. It would be better if every seat had a power jack (Air Canada’s A320 does!), but instead we are stuck with audio jacks. It uses and ingenious trickle charge system to charge it’s own internal batteries before passing on the power to your device, and it works best if the audio jack is playing some loud music.

Now this little unit won’t power your laptop or anything that is big, but it’s perfect for your iPod, cell phone, or PSP. The basic unit will draw you for about $35, and you can purchase iPod and mini B connectors.

Inflight USB: Power for you gadgets from an audio jack originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

How To: Portable Cell Phone Jammer

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Have you ever wanted to shut those people up who ride on the bus or subway with you? You know, the people who decide that everyone around them should be annoyed by their conversations. Here’s an awesome project that let’s you build your very own personal cell phone jammer. This project is recommended for advance hobbyist only. There is quite a bit of tiny soldering involved.

An internal lithium-ion battery provides up to 2 hours of jamming (two bands, such as cell) or 4 hours (single band, such as cordless phone, GPS, WiFi, bluetooth, etc). The battery is rechargeable via a mini-USB connector or 4mm DC jack (a common size). Alternately, 3 AAA batteries may also be used.

Please remember that this is for educational purposes only, FCC and CRTC regulation make this type of device highly illegal.

Link to article

How To: Portable Cell Phone Jammer originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

NESTari – NES Atari portable mashup

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Benjamin Heckendorn (aka “Ben Heck”) is the master of console mode. Ben has created a portable unit that combines an NES system and an Atari 2600 console and he crammed them together into one compact and slick package.

This little bad boy dubbed the NESTari can play cartridge games from either system. In order to keep the footprint small, Ben’s latest mod uses the guts of an Atari Flashback 2 console and a NOAC (NES on a chip). This keeps the system nice and small and very power-efficient.

It’s got a 3.5-inch LCD, runs on rechargeable batteries, and has all the controls that you need to rock the good old Pitfall game.

Ben’s got a complete walkthrough of the process on his site.

NESTari – NES Atari portable mashup originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

6V Battery hack

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I go through AA batteries like it’s going out of style. With all the audio equipment we need to power when we shoot Digital Underground, AA batteries are bought by the box. The problem is that it gets very expensive. This little hack will net you 32 AA batteries from a 6V battery. Why spend $20+ for a box of AA’s when you can get 32 of them for about $5.

6V Battery hack originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.