This time of year, everyones kitchen seems to be buzzing with tiny fruit flies. If you were taking part in a hackathon to build a fly trap, this one would probably win….. and there’s not an Arduino or a line of code in sight. But what is the mystery mixture in the glass? We hear rumours of beer and vinegar. Drop in to our kitchen to have look.
Swollen Lithium Batteries
Lithium batteries are in the news for all the wrong reasons at the moment, and not for the first time.
We noticed that one of our batteries was a little swollen compared to the others. It seemed to be working OK though. We decided to open up the outer wrap to see if it was one cell or all of them, and to see if anything was obviously wrong. The battery was an 11.1V 1300mAHr LIPO. Check out some pics of us cutting off the outer black covering, to reveal that all three cells were swollen. There appeared to be no external sign of damage however. The cells feel as if they are swollen with gas.
We hooked it up to the IMAX charger to see what kind of capacity our battery had. This battery is about five years old. Its nominal capacity is 1300mAHr. We fully charged it and then discharged it. We were pleasantly surprised to find it at 1095mAHr. That was discharging it at 200mA which is about C/6. By the time the charge and discharge was complete, the pack had swelled even more.
The question now is what to do with this battery. The Internet is full of videos of people doing all sorts of crazy things to lithium batteries too. We won’t be doing any of that here. We won’t be keeping this battery indoors, thats for sure. It could still be useful for some completely remote outdoor application, away from any kind of combustible material. We should probably dispose of it safely though. Note that all of the disassembly, charging and discharging was done outdoors and with lots of PPE.
Wooden Bicycle Pump
Well not quite, but a wooden handle anyway. We don’t just do bits and bytes at TOG! The bicycle pump handle broke and it seemed a shame to dump an otherwise perfectly good pump. So with a bit of nice round wood cut from an old roller blind pole, we made a new handle. Drilled a hole in the handle and a couple of small holes in the metal shaft of the piston to give the glue a bit of grip.
We wanted to use some glue with a little bit of flexibility or “give” in it, instead of something that set rock hard. That seemed to be the way the old handle was fitted. So our old reliable hot glue gun was fired up. It sets hard, but not rock hard. Pump is back in action, good as new, and it even looks a bit rustic with its new wooden handle. We have lots of members interested in bicycle things at TOG. Drop in and see what we get up to. Pics here.
August Open Social
Our August Open Social takes place on Saturday 20th August at 7pm. If you fancy doing something different on a Saturday evening, why not drop in and see us.
If you’ve never been in before, we’ll give you the grand tour. You can chat to members and fellow visitors, and see whats going on.
The space stays open until the last member is left……usually the small hours of Sunday morning. The evening is free to attend for members and visitors alike. Our doors will be open from 7pm. No booking is required…. just turn up. You can drop in for 10 minutes, or stay the whole night. We have parking available. Bring beer, food, gadgets! Hope to see you there.
Ebike Charger Lead
Nothing much to see here! A quick weekend afternoon hack. The ebike power supply died, so time to knock up a cable to charge the battery from a variable power supply.
A 3-pin XLR socket, a fuse holder with a 5A fuse and a diode for reverse current protection. A bit of soldering and heatshrink and we’re up and running. Checked it out. Set the power supply to 60v (same as the old charger) with 3A current limit, and we’re charging ok.
July Open Social
This months Open Social takes place on Saturday 16th July at 7pm. That date will see us just one week away from Dublin Maker. You’ll find TOG members in a state of terror, that their projects and things are not ready. You’ll find them hunched over laptops and soldering irons. Drop in, pat them on the head, and tell them that everything will be ok.
Our Open Social makes a great alternative Saturday evening in town. If you’ve never been in before, we’ll give you the grand tour. The space stays open until the last member is left……usually the small hours of Sunday morning. The evening is free to attend for members and visitors alike. Our doors will be open from 7pm. No booking is required…. just turn up. You can drop in for 10 minutes, or stay the whole night. We have parking available. Bring beer, food, gadgets! Hope to see you there.