Philips SBC HC8545 headphones

I've been using a pair of wireless headphones for some years now and the batteries are pretty much near the end of their life span, so what's the problem?


The problem are the batteries. Philips wants you to use their recharcheable batteries. What happens if you use other batteries? You get a perfomance drop; shorter battery life and an extremely reduced charge rate when placed in the base.
What makes their batteries special? Nothing much really, the only difference is that the batteries have an area near the negative terminal that is not insulated like the rest of the battery.
This terminal simply bypasses the reversed diode (zener? I didn't check) reducing the voltage drop on one of the batteries and I'm pretty sure that on the PCB there is another diode/zener for the other battery (why not just hot glue it like the other one? I didn't bother checking).
Here you can see the "special" terminal that conects to the battery case (anode) to bypass the diode.


This is how the battery interfaces with the contact terminal. Oh, look! A warning label!


And here you can see the complicated solucion to this problem, a pair of wires to permanently bypass the extra circuitry. Of course, this could also be a protection measument if you decide to use non-rechargeable batteries, but as I never place the headphones in the base when I'm using normal batteries because... well they're not rechargeable!
Hope someone finds this usefull! Happy hacking!

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Asuka Langley

Something arrived in a box! What could it be?

Wow! I didn't expect this! It's the prize from the Otacool project! I thought it would take a while to arrive. Apparently it arrived before but no one was home...
So here is my second copy of the Otacool book and a nice letter from Kotobukiya.



Also included is the marvelous Kotobukiya Asuka Langley from Neon Genesis Evangelion 2.0. I first saw her on Danny Choo and I was amazed at how lovely she looks!



Opening the box was a challenge, due to static electricity, my arch nemesis. Once opened I battled through some more static plastic and got a good look at the base of the figure; a bust of Eva 02. It is very detailed!



Now onto some pictures!



The hair is slightly transparent and it gives a nice glow to the figure. It's a very nice detail.



Asuka has a lovely expression which is another strong point for me.



The paintwork is really nice although there are a few black lines that are very thin, as is the attention to details in the figure.






Thank you to everyone related with the Otacool project!

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Detolf Lighting

Here is a small guide to my still incomplete Detolf RGB LED lighting!


This is my nearly complete lighting setup. It consists of Ikea Dioder RGB LED lighting strips controlled by a micro controller that sets the RGB color.
So not only do I get lights off and lights on;




I can get Red, Green and Blue!



And I can also combine RGB to produce lots of other colors;


Also, the colors can be programed to follow certain patterns and effects thanks to the MoMoLight hardware/software and the BobLight software.
My version has slightly different hardware, firmware and a software color controller.
It's not pretty, but it works for what I need;

The whole setup can work as an ambient mood light, gently fading from one color to the next, or pulse violently at the rhythm of music.
Installing the Dioders into the cabinets is simple, but the wiring is a bit tricky, here are a few pictures of how I put mine together, its not permanent and is held together with tie wraps!




My goal is to get each Detolf shelf LED strip to be controllable individually as right now it only has 3 channels. Although I'm using a programable micro controller you can still have multicolored goodness with the standard Dioder controller.
If you have any questions please ask away!

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Otacool!

Woooaah!! My poor blog! I watched it fall apart! Well, not that I had many hopes of a continuous blog...
So as to liven it up I'll post the pictures I took of my room for the Otacool Magazine over at Danny's site. Hope you like 'em!



Me and Tsuruya having our pic taken! Trying out my new umbrella with my camera :)


This is from above my bed, I'm stuck in the corner!


The opposite side of the room, plus a rose!


Magical place where most of my time is spent. Don't know why... maybe it's all the anime I watch. :P


I can controll the light in the Detolf from the PC thanks to modified MoMoLight hardware. Hmm, there's just something about light. ^_^


Some different colors, set colors to seizure mode!!

Yeah... let's move on!


Hidden posters inside cupboards!! Also storage space for cosplays (Ouendan), and posters :3

Hope you liked, feel free to tell me what you think!

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SALON DEL MANGA 2008

A toda la gente que viene para ver las fotos les pido un poco de paciencia!

De momento podeis ir a mi Flickr http://flickr.com/photos/oid-w/

Gracias!

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Salon del Comic! 08

Wow, has my blog been dead! *Pulls out a defibrillator and zaps it*

Recently bought myself a Sony Alpha 350 DSLR to play with :3 I really like it. Expect some more figure shots soon!

Anyway, here is a bit of coverage of the "26º Salón del Comic" at Barcelona. Not much as it is mainly for international comic, such as european and american. But to be honest... the japanese mangas are taking over it quite a bit! Not that its bad, but it feels like a smaller version of the "Salon del Manga"


Pics in the rest of the article!

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