Homebrew USB Charger

Homebrew USB Charger

There are plenty of examples on the net on how to build your own usb charger, but since we didn’t have any on our site I figured I’d share it with you.  I found an old wall wort in my junk drawer that I couldn’t remember what it went to, so I figured it would be great to put it to a good use as a USB device charger. Because I didn’t have a clue what the maximum current draw requirements were for a USB device, I found the requirements on USB.org’s website.

Difficulty : MEDIUM - SAFETY WARNING, Shock Hazard
Time: 1 hour

Fast Traxx Rover: Beta

Add a Tyco Fast Traxx, WRT54G router, tons of batteries, web camera, gps head, and user control via a laptop. What do you have? A wicked homemade wireless tank-like rover!

While it may not look like the mid 90’s commercial boasting the original Fast Traxx, it has taken on a whole new dimension of geek-like excitement Übermodder has to offer, (batteries sold separately).

I have to give credit where it’s due, if it wasn’t for JBProjects this rover system would be a lot harder to implement. I will be using some their code and hardware to jump start our rover in the beta stages, then later revisions of the project will upgrade with our own code and programming structure. I might go as far as minor autonomy to help the rover navigate in tough situations, stay tuned…

Inexpensive Bench Top Supply

PSU Benchtop Supply

If you haven’t built one of these yourself yet, this one here is a real forehead slapper.  Create a cheap benchtop power supply from a standard ATX computer PSU.  In my case I did it completely from stuff I just had lying around.

Difficulty : EASY - SAFETY WARNING, Shock Hazard
Time: 30-40minutes