I was looking for some interesting ideas for using lithium polymer cells and stumbled across this diy flashlight. (It’s on geocities, so hit the cache.) Flashlights aren’t usually that interesting, but this one uses a pair of li-poly cells and a PWM signal generated by a pic controller to regulate the power to the lamp using a IRL1404 MOSFET. It still requires an external li-poly charger, but looks like a nice project to get into li-poly and PWM applications.
Author: Will O'Brien805 Articles
I2c For The Fonera
La Fonera’s are getting pretty popular lately. [Lefinnois] hacked his to get i2c working. He used a 75LS05 to adapt the io levels, and some bit banging in the software to pull it off. Now the Fonera can be used for inexpensive remote monitoring via inexpensive i2c devices. Not to mention that this could provide a cheap network interface for various micro-controller projects. (I’m thinking networked thermostat for my new house.)
Case Mod: The Dark Blade – Finally Finished
Case mods aren’t usually enough to make Hack-A-Day, but we all drooled a bit when the Dark Blade started back in 2004. Now, it’s finally finished. Everything on the case was custom machined just for this project. I cropped the base for the shot – check out the full pics in this thread. Thanks to [Jake] for the tip.
Interactive Laser Drawing (graffiti)
This hack was linked a bit back in February, but it just didn’t get a decent write up. They used this 5000 lumen projector, a zoom lens video camera and a 60mw green laser pointer to generate interactive graffiti on nearby buildings. Most of the link love focused on the show-off video. I’m surprised that nobody mentioned the most obvious use: a laser pointer reactive white board. I could have loads of fun with this and my laptop during presentations. Thanks to [Brishen] for reminding me of this one.
DIY Powered Respirator
If you like to freak out your neighbors, you’ll love this one. [jake] had a run-in with allergies in his wood shop, so he built his own positive air pressure respirator. He used a surplus gas mask, scsi squirrel cage fan, and an automotive air filter. My old TDI VW Beetle used an activated charcoal filter for the cabin – I’d suggest one of those for more effective air filtration.
Laser Power Meter Sensor
I signed the papers on my first house today! In celebration, I started looking for some home hardware hacks, but stumbled across this old (2003) laser power meter sensor. If you like to scare off the power guys, this is the way to go. [jake] used a laser pointer, probably a PIC and some sort of photo sensor to count the revolutions of his meter.
MB-6582 – DIY C64 Based Midi Synth
![MB-6582 by [wilba]](http://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/mb4685-had.jpg)
It’s been a while since we’ve seen one of these. [vscd] sent in the flikr stream showing off the gorgeous MB-6582, built by [wilba]. It’s a diy midi synth that’s based on the midibox platform. It uses … synth chips to do the dirty work, and some PICs, a little CMOS hardware and a C64 PSU. He even anticipated some future versions of the midibox project to complete the design. This is one of the nicest DIY builds I’ve seen in a while – just beautiful work. Check out the build notes on the wiki page.
