dynamo

Dynamo Rover

Dynamo Rover Rolls Along, Sans Batteries

This human-powered bot was created by Instructables user masynmachien. One of the two servo motors acts as a dynamo, converting muscle power into electricity, which runs along a wire to the other servo and makes the bot move.

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Hand-cranked Toy Piano Hack Keeps the Tunes Coming Forevermore

Hand-cranked Toy Piano Hack Keeps the Tunes Coming Forevermore

When a battery operated device runs out of juice, most of us reach for a fresh pair of AA’s. But when his daughter’s electronic toy piano had drained its batteries, Dominik instead installed a hand-cranked dynamo to power the instrument ad infinitum. He hacked apart an Ikea flashlight to co-opt its cranked generator and installed it inside his daughter’s plaything. Now a little bit of elbow grease keeps the tunes coming while saving the environment and a little bit of money to boot.

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Hand powered smartphone charger

Hackmeister Benjamin J. Heckendorn discovers that a cheapo hand powered light will crank out just enough juice to charge his HTC EVO. With Sprint bringing 4G to more cities recently, the usefulness of this hack will only increase.

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Dynamo-powered handset charging kit

Dynamo-powered handset charging kit

Bicycle dynamos have been around forever. With all the DIY smartphone bike mounts I’ve come across lately, I’m surprised I haven’t seen someone attempt combining the two until now. This is perfect for areas with sparse charging options.

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