Harbor Freight is always trying to sweeten the deal by throwing in a free flashlight, or a multimeter with a CAT III rating so poorly-met it might as well be a hand grenade. We usually donate the meters to our local hackerspace, but the flashlights tend to accumulate around the shop. Aside from borrowing the occasional magnet, we’ve not found a good use for them till now.
[Ben Brandt] realized that a ultra-low cost board such as the one likely to be in a free flashlight is probably going to contain a very easily hackable single-sided board. Which is exactly the case here. Once the plastic casing is removed it’s only a quick trip to the saw until you have four fresh mini LED strips.
[Ben] uses his hacked loot to build a neat little, “Thanks For Watching,” sign. We can picture lots of places these could fit in the occasional project, and the work to break these up into parts is less than making equivalent boards with any proto technique. We love his wooden battery compartment. Video after the break.
Nice clean build!
^^^ – Very clean build…
I’ve got a couple of those lights kicking around- think I’ll replicate this build as underlighting boxes for some desk collectibles.
I usually go for the hand gren^er DVM. I probably have around 10 of them.
I never bothered with this item, but maybe now I will…
P.S. very good video, and the construction shows ingenuity. (Using case to compress the battery back, altering the power switch, making “frosted” acrylic, etc.)
next step: using a few of those to create a programmable LED panel
The free DMVs are good for project meters. Cut the leads and wire them directly into the project if, for instance, you’re interested in voltage and current draw from your prototype.
Apropos the CAT III rating, I’ve checked the *accuracy* and found these meters to be very accurate – comparing favorably to my higher-end meters.
But isn’t the CAT III more about high voltage safety (for the operator), and not about accuracy?
So, I can confirm that those HF DVMs can withstand multiple, sustained 10KV potentials, though when it does break down, it’s…. exciting.
When I taught Intro to Computer Hardware at the local community college, I’d regularly sacrifice a couple of Harbor Freight meters in the “don’t do this unless you want to die” section of the course.
Show us the video, or it didn’t happen.
B^)
Their accuracy is fine, and since they are essentially free I have several attached to the pegboard in front of my bench and use them to probe circuits in various places. Just ignore the HV rating and only use them for low voltage stuff, I’ve never used mine for over 50v so far.
Oh, they’ll read a 120 volt outlet okay.
Attach to pegboard…
I like that idea!
Thanks!
I’ve often thought about how to install a charging circuit inside those lights so I can just put three high capacity NiMh cells in and never have to bother with replacing the carbon zinc or alkalines.
Maybe a lipo cell and one of those USB lipo charger boards from ebay?
I prefer LiPos much more than NiMH. The latter ones are always empty when you need them, even worse self discharge than the old NiCd’s.
Try current day Duracell NiMHs – they’re GREAT.
better if they are LiFePo, less capacity but better durability.
The auto white balance fluctuating constantly is maddening! I’m not sure what this was shot with, but watch the color of the grey background at the beginning as he takes his hands in and out of frame.
It’s a nice build though!
I agree! I shot it with my android phone. Someday a better camera, though I can’t justify the expense yet. Thanks for watching.
Do you do all your videos with your phone? What sort of shooting setup do you use? What about sound? I’d like to make this kind of video, but the entry cost always scared me off.
I typically record the work on my phone, mounted on a tripod, and capture the “shop sounds” with the phone’s built-in mic. I record the voiceover separately using a good value-priced USB microphone (Samson GoMic) with a cheap pop filter connected to my PC as I edit the video together.
Or you could shell out just a few bucks for a better camera app. I installed Cinema FV-5 on my Android phone after getting annoyed at the focus seeking of the default video app (resulting in slight blurring a few times a minute). I don’t remember the price, but I’m pretty sure it was less than $5. FV-5 locks white balance and focus at the start of the video. My only gripes with it are: to take a photo from within the app, you have to buy the FV-5 camera app too and it won’t save to my SD card for some reason.
Never tried a different camera app… thank you, I’ll look into it
Hope he was using a particle mask when he cut the PCB on the bandsaw. Even cheap paper based PCB’s are nasty on the lungs. Need I comment on the hazards of wood dust too?
You just did.
Great project but that back ground “music” with the clicking drove me batty I had to fast forward through the vid.
I just find a current capable phone charger and a small resistance to make an always on flashlight. No more batteries, leaving on, loosing, winking, and blinking. Sticks up on any steel surface. Leave on stuck in dark under bench areas.
“Aside from borrowing the occasional magnet, we’ve not found a good use for them till now.” How about as a flash light? I love these things and use them all the time. The magnet is great to have it held somewhere like my hood or trunk or other places I might use it, and it lights up quite nicely, especially for being free!
You can score another free light if you buy an electric screwdriver. It may shorten the video to 5 min.
Nice job.
How much are these free dvms?
Free
I used one of these flashlights to make a strobe light. They are decent flashlights, especially for the price.
(Here are the URL’s to the project.)
https://hackaday.io/project/1654-led-strobe
http://hackaday.com/2014/06/30/deadbugged-led-strobe/
b2ben, and for your next project, you could turn one of this flashlights into a circular videolight for your cellphone which goes around the lens, so you will have way better lighting at near distances :-)
While your comment was a criticism of his video, you idea has merit, also usable for stereo microscopes or even the magnifier lens on my workbench.