What should I do with my latest haul?

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 5:32 pm

Well, I went to hepl clean out the Solar Car Team's office at McMaster today, and I got myself a decent haul, considering it's all free.

- Many fully-charged-for-five-years Lithium Polymer Batteries (About 15-20). These are maybe 5Ah each, I'm not exactly sure. They're the main batteries for the old Solar Car, so I'm sure they're plenty strong. The catch is they're about five years old, and have been fully charged ever since. I'm thinking they'd make a nice little battery powered transportation device, or an insane laptop backup battery.

- Two old oscilloscopes. I'm not exactly sure if either of these are working, or working very well. I think one is a piece of crap and the other one is maybe a little glitchy but in good working condition. I need probes for these first. (If I get these working, anyone want the cheap old one?).

- Five smaller, 3.7V, 1700mAh batteries. These look like they would be extremely useful for some sort of portable. They're not as protected as other ones you might find (bare cell, the outside is metal and grounded I think; no protection circuit either.), but they're still really good batteries for their size! (Maybe 2 x 3 inches). I'd like to keep some of these, but if you make me an offer I may just sell them to you, as it's unlikely I'll do anything with them any time soon.

- A bunch of old IDE cable.

- A really old PDA.

- A soundcard with digital out.

- A really tiny PSU for a pentium one (Destined to become a desktop power supply).

- The fan cooling system for the University's old server. Measures about 1.5 x 1.5 feet.

- An old mouse, and an old keyboard (minus the buttons and other excess junk, just the circuit and cable).

So, what could I do with some of these things that wouldn't require a lot of time? (as I don't have much!)

These are all destined to become something very cool, especially the batteries from the solar car (assuming they still hold a charge and have a steady discharge curve).

blackbox_dev · Post by **blackbox_dev** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 7:06 pm

Cut a hole in the side of computer case and install the fan. I've always wanted to do something like that just for the coolness factor (no pun intended

).

Dark-Aries · Post by **Dark-Aries** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 7:18 pm

What's the specs on the PSU? You could create a super small 360 lappy with the PSU built in instead of a huge power brick cable...(HONESTLY...THAT THING IS FRIGGIN HUGE!)

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 8:30 pm

The PSU is from a pentium 1, I don't think it has much oomph to it.

And as for the fan, I'd need a pretty big case. Server-sized, to be exact.

I was thinking more along the lines of something cool with the BATTERIES FROM A SOLAR CAR! They're pretty big, four of them stacked look like the size of a wheelchair battery (12V 12Ah Lead-Acid).

Also the little ones would be great in a portable. But I don't have time for that. Pictures maybe, I don't think I'll have time. Two of the little guys and a protection circuit would make for a good portable's battery. 7.2V 1700mAh. Maybe nothing INSANE, but anything OAC could run for a while. Maybe one day I'll make another SNESp, and KEEP it. (Unfortunately, if I had to spend $500 on something, I would spend it on a fully-functional motorized screen/amplifier/radio/dvd player for my car, or file for a patent)

HotDog-Cart · Post by **HotDog-Cart** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 9:59 pm

What kind of PDA is it?

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 10:03 pm

Make an electric vehicle using the big batteries.

SonyPortableizer · Post by **SonyPortableizer** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 10:20 pm

Be wants to make himself his own car...
You could make a deal with him

Or build a real 360 laptop, that runs off batteries

Post by **Triton** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 12:44 am

if one of them is a dual trace 20+ mhz tectronix scope i am interested