The Making of a Beast: WRT54G Mods, Part One. The WRT54G is one the most versatile routers; having a cheap price and a bunch of alternative firmware for it. One can find them at swap meets and second hand store all over the US. The can be used as access points, routers, bridges, repeaters and sometimes as all the above. This instructable will not go into the firmware aspect of the router, nor will it go into antenna desgin; the instructions I provide are a quick and dirty way to create a beast out of your WRT54G. My entire want is for my WRTs was to be used as a long range repeater.
I also wanted to make it Power-Over-Ethernet (POE) so I could put it some where electricity was hard to acquire. CAT5 cabling allows for 48v and 350mA over two of the four pairs, totaling in around 16w of power. The WRT54G use a 12v 500mA adapter, so at peak operating it is using 6w of power. This instructable is crude and full of no-nos, so take it as a lesson in how you can modify your router by voiding the warranty. Part Two is here. Power Over Ethernet Router Conversion. The idea driving this project is to turn any standard, off-the-shelf router into a Power Over Ethernet (PoE)-capable (Wikipedia Description)[] unit without buying any adapters or additional hardware.
PoE is somthing fairly common in many business/office spaces. For example, many wireless access points in office buildings and universities use the technology so they don't have to run a power receptacle to wireless access points. For this instructable though, we're going to use PoE in a residential setting. Even the big router companies are starting to sell these adaptors to consumers like this Linksys WAPPOE12. But I think it costs way too much and is kinda bulky.
Applications for this instructable are up to your imagination. In my case, I will be using a 5 year-old WIRED router that I had lying around. To begin we'll need some basic things:1. Old Dog, New Tricks: Mod a Linksys WRT54G-series Router. Take a plain, ordinary (read: boring, with limited functionality) $60 wireless router and supercharge it with cool features and lots more functionality, control, and diagnostics.
There's much more under the hood of these devices than is accessible with the vendor's default firmware versions. Even the updates from the vendor's support website unlock only a fraction of the router's capabilities. Third-party developers have made firmware upgrades available that unleash a lot more functionality. "What is this 'firmware' of which you speak? " you ask. Well, that router is really just a fancy pile of switches waiting to be told what to do; that's the hardware. The firmware consists of the start-up instructions that make those switches actually do things.
Make a Solar Panel using Diodes! A silicon diode is a two-lead semiconductor that gates current flow in one direction. The symbol below shows how a diode is lined up with the schematic symbol. The image was taken from for copyright purposes. Diodes are used in circuits that convert AC voltages to DC voltages, and also as voltage regulators, clamps, and multipliers. Current flows in the direction of the arrow. A few other terms of technical use are: Forward-biased is when the anode is more positive than the cathode, and reverse-bias is the opposite: the anode is made more negative in voltage than the cathode. There are different kinds of diodes, too. Diodes are pretty cheap. Is a junk washing machine really junk? Usefull materials for cool home builds from a dead washing machine. I recently took apart a junk washing machine to salvage the drum for my patio heater instructable.
I discovered that there where many other cool parts that could used again for other projects. most of the good bits had already been plundered from this rusting piece of junk so when i discovered that there was another washing machine in a shed i decided to junk that one too for parts for my next project and I would do an instructable about what nice goodies are to be found inside. I will not go into details much but the photos are tagged with anything i think may be useful. If anyone can think of good uses for some of the bits and pieces, please make a comment as i would be interested in your ideas. Some of the goodies include the following. Stainless steel drum, can be used as a fire pit, BBQ, incinerator and much more. Bearings and a casting the could be used for a wind turbine.
The glass door. Assorted switches and solenoid valves. all kinds of interesting gubbins. Andy. How to build a wireless hexapod robot. Here's a video of it in action. Facebook page so you can keep up to date on v2 Have you completed this instructable? Send me pictures and I'll add it on this page! When completed, you will have a walking robot that is about 2 feet wide and stands as much as a foot tall. Build time is about 3-5 hours and it is not the easiest project. Tools and supplies you will need (not listed in the bill of materials): a soldering iron large phillips screwdriver small slotted screwdriver pliers wire strippers helping hands (optional, and very helpful) windows PC (with optional bluetooth) USB cable (think the square style that usually goes in a printer) electrical tape Skills you will need (or learn as you go): wire stripping soldering TIP: Get a friend or SO to help!
Edge Lit Displays. Do you ever need a cheap, quick way to make an impressive display? Do ever want to show more than a blinking LED but want something easier to use than a LCD? Do you want to make light appear to hover in mid-air? Then give some thought to edge lighting. At the last Maker Faire I had a bunch of interactive gizmos for people to play with, but one question I was asked more than any other was "How did you make those displays? " On the Rock Paper Scissors Playing Glove one small display showed three different images and text while on the Secret Knock Detecting Gumball Machine the light just seemed to float in the clear plastic without an obvious source. Edge lighting exploits a fun property of light called internal reflection where light can get trapped inside a transparent material. Simply put we shine a light in the edge* of a clear piece of plastic and etch it where we want the light to come out. Keep reading to see how easy and quick it is to get this effect.
DIY 1000 watt wind turbine. $5 Mini USB Fridge! Dc Motor Mod (with brushes)