What a refreshing change from the Trump thread.

Because of these quakes and having a 11 hour power cut, I decided that I need more USB power banks. The batteries where recycled out of an old laptop. Can't actually see anything as it wrapped in eletrical tape.

The good thing about the home made power bank is that it can charge and power at the same time. However it does get a bit hot when you do that.

Can't seem to upload a good size image.

Ebay parts: 

This works with iPhone 6s

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5V-Micro-USB-1A-18650-Lithium-Battery-Charging-Board-Charger-Module-New-HC-/262201993574?hash=item3d0c74e966:g:IMEAAOSwubRXG2LI

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3V-to-5V-1A-USB-Charger-for-MP3-MP4-Phone-DC-DC-Converter-Step-Up-Boost-Module-/301920991999?hash=item464be4baff:g:0zYAAOSwZ8ZXBNia

It's kitten season. I recently made this climbing frame for the kittens at the Manawatu SPCA. Here's three of the little guys checking it out for the first time.

How cute.

jimbob79:

 

Because of these quakes and having a 11 hour power cut, I decided that I need more USB power banks. The batteries where recycled out of an old laptop. Can't actually see anything as it wrapped in eletrical tape.

 

The good thing about the home made power bank is that it can charge and power at the same time. However it does get a bit hot when you do that.

 

Ebay parts:....

 

Looked up the specs, quote: Full charge voltage- 4.2V. FYI 18650 you take out of laptop could be Li-Ion and not Li-Po hence max charging voltage should not exceed 4.1V 18650 is a form factor - read the Chemistry and Voltages from the donor pack you are getting cells from.

Charging current of that pcb is 1A - too little.

I use multiple cells in XPXS configuration when making custom made power banks and change them with balancing charger at higher currents.

FYI: For charging many smartphones you need 2A output 5V DC.

I've reached new levels of rinky-dink home-brewedness:

You are looking at a car reversing camera (as yet uninstalled on the car) masking taped to a coat hanger, powered by a cordless phone wall wart, and plugged in to an old decrepit TV (not shown).

However it worked a treat trying to find the source of a leak behind a wall!

I bet I can beat you. Unfortunately I have no photos. When I wanted to add a satellite to my current collection, I had no way of knowing where to place the lnb. I knew the dish should work in its current position, but that was all. I took the satellite STB and set it up outside next to the dish on the roof. Then I used a videotape digitiser (Easycap) to send a picture from the STB to my laptop. Then I tuned it to a satellite I already knew worked to check it. Then I changed the frequency to the satellite I wanted and started moving the lnb around in my hand. To my amazement, the satellite popped up almost immediately. I tied the lnb down with some duct tape and have been watching it ever since. After many years it still works fine.

mdf:

 

....... You are looking at a car reversing camera ....... it worked a treat trying to find the source of a leak behind a wall!

 

Cool. The other easy solution is to tear apart WEB cam. I used Microsoft one. It is very small without enclosure and even has bright LED on the pcb serving as a light. And you do not need power supply as it is USB powered. Used to look under the car and behing the GIB.

Rikkitic:

 

I bet I can beat you. Unfortunately I have no photos. When I wanted to add a satellite to my current collection, I had no way of knowing where to place the lnb. I knew the dish should work in its current position, but that was all. I took the satellite STB and set it up outside next to the dish on the roof. Then I used a videotape digitiser (Easycap) to send a picture from the STB to my laptop. Then I tuned it to a satellite I already knew worked to check it. Then I changed the frequency to the satellite I wanted and started moving the lnb around in my hand. To my amazement, the satellite popped up almost immediately. I tied the lnb down with some duct tape and have been watching it ever since. After many years it still works fine.

 

Old Camcoders with the LCD, build in speaker and analogue input are good for that - so you can check the video and audio.

What you were adjusting is called "Skew" and is a calculated number. It can be set up initially by using protractor. Cheap LNB and C-band LNB may have internal antennas (inside LNB) bended by the "crooked hands" of "cheap manufacturers" (saw on a few occasions) - and internal antennas need to be adjusted manually and then the skew adjusted by observing the best BER (bit error rate)

Some receivers show BER in the engineering menu - suggest to use BER as a gauge when adjusting Elevation; Skew and Azimuth for the Sat dish.

P.S. Have leftover dishes (Ku-band) and lnbs for grabs (Greenlane, Auckland)

richms: Both those probably work much better than the cheap "endoscope" camera I got off AliExpress. Focus is a foreign word to it and it really needs way more light than its little LEDs can provide.

Rats.  Just ordered one of these on the 11/11 sale.

Dynamic:

 

richms: Both those probably work much better than the cheap "endoscope" camera I got off AliExpress. Focus is a foreign word to it and it really needs way more light than its little LEDs can provide.

 

Rats.  Just ordered one of these on the 11/11 sale.

 

If that did not work - you could borrow mine (made from WEB cam). But I guess "endoscope" one is waterproof and aimed at checking water pipe blockage which is hard to do with unprotected web cam. Web cam has manual focus, by the way.

jimbob79:

Because of these quakes and having a 11 hour power cut, I decided that I need more USB power banks. The batteries where recycled out of an old laptop. Can't actually see anything as it wrapped in eletrical tape.

I have assembled about 30 powerbanks from old laptop cells and none of the cheap chinese enclosures have had any problems so far. Rock solid 4.20 - 4.21v on my meter when they are fully charged, cutoff at the other end varies a little between them, and I have found that a couple of the cheap single cell types just stop boosting at low voltage, they still pass the cell voltage out to the USB socket so you find that when they are flat you have 3ish volts coming out, which is still enough to trigger some things into trying to take power and then depleting the cell even more, potentially ruining it.