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Padesatka #1 31/12/2008 - 07h36

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Posts : 21
Registered on : 26/12/2008

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If I could find a camera I'd take a picture (All my Wiimote gives is 3 dots).

At Wal-Mart, I grabbed this $5 "Sylvania DOT-it Battery Powered Linear Swivel LED Tap Light":

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They come in several colors, I picked sophisticated black. In hindsight, I should have gotten white, and written "NoIntendo - Whee!" on it, to match what it peeps at. Also grabbed a ladies' hair-hoop thingamabobber- the ones long-haired gals wear vertical just behind the ears.  They're light, springy, comfy, and secure.  I figure I'm gonna look weird with this contraption anyway, so... well, at least I didn't wear it to Radio Shack, where I got the IR LEDs.

Got the light on my desk, and attacked it with my multitool:   Everything can be disassembled with a little care (it's not glued together). Once inside, I gently CRUSHED the 3 white LEDs with the pliers, and crunched carefully some more (like chewing little ice cubes with sore teeth) until I could pick the plastic bits from the diodes carefully.  This was to avoid soldering on the cheap circuit board (I hate it when solder points lift up).

The center plastic-less LED got an IR one soldered right to it.  Kinda hard to get the polarity wrong, when you're looking at the old innards as you solder.

The outer 2 got 105mm-length red / black wires soldered onto their remains.  The width from center LED to outer is 55mm, I canted the stalks outward slightly to get a little more width at the LED end.

The next part was cool- I didn't expect it to work out so neatly:  The CB board mounts took 2 carbon-fiber rods nicely (any sticks would do, or wire- I just had these around).

I whittled holes through the lens for the stalks & wires, taped the apparatus to my hair-hoop et voila!  It's the same geometry as a cap-style, but very light weight. I ditched the reflector and outer metal case, although neither weigh much of anything.  Outer finish is deluxe electical-tape wrap.  One could mask the LEDs and paint it for what could be a factory-made appearance. The power switch has no moving parts- you can just make out the two chromed electrodes in the photo- Touch on, touch off.  Nothing to set up, break, or wear out. It uses 3 AAA batteries.

It's not a very macho item... even a little Tele-Tubby.  But I can hardly feel that I have it on, and I've done the classic double-take (where the heck did I leave my... oh yeah)  On my head.  One of these days, I'm sure I'll go walking out of the house with it on...
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:wacko:

For those in a hurry (or just lazy like me) modding a tap-light or bike-light (I stole the idea from someone here who made a nice clip-style from a Cateye bike light) is a way to avoid some of the fiddling-around of building completely from scratch.

I made a little Wiimote birdhouse from the box it came in, and fixed it to the wall (I'll get around to something more attractive later).  That way I can just grab it for the pairing and battery-changing rituals and tuck it right back there.  Works good, once I told setup that the sensor is looking down 33 degrees.  With the Wimote half way up the wall, my headset can lay along the top of my head, stalks horizontal.  Comfy, stable, effective, and cheap.  All together I spent about $10.

Thanks mtjoeng, for the inspiration.
Edited by Padesatka on 31/12/2008 at 08h19.
didja #2 01/01/2009 - 21h31

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Thanks for your contribution Padesatka, I guess it'll help some people looking for ideas.

If you have some time, maybe you could add some pics of your finished model ? ;)

Happy new year !

Rémy
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