DIY 3-Watt LED Mood Lamp
Toon Beerten, a guy with some LED experience, has put together an amazing
3 watt LED mood light pretty much from scratch. The device actually plugs into a wall socket, while his previous lamps have run off batteries. Using batteries actually significantly reduces the overall efficiency of any electronic device, so I like this one for that.
I also like it because it's really well done. He's programmed the LEDs to fade between colors, or go through a variety of transitions that he can control with an input. If I went over to his house, I'd probably assume he bought it from Target for fifty bucks.
Definitely a worthwhile project.
I am Stuck on Fuel Cells
Make: makes our hearts warm. And Make: writer Gavin Harper can make
a fuel cell out of a couple of bandaids . So, listen up, all you need is two bandaids (the kind you would put on a nice big knee scrape,) some steel screen (the kind you would put around your pool in Florida,) some methanol (which, alas, you probably shouldn't have lying around the house) and an MEA (Membrane Electrode Assembly, which you should probably buy, rather than Make.)
Follow the simple instructions and, voila, a fuel cell. Just plop a couple drops of methanol on your creation and, voila, .25 volts. Enough to power, well, not much. But still, your very own fuel cell.
Build Your Own 1000 Watt Wind Turbine
Live in a windy place? Need an extra 1000 watts? It's certainly enough to power your laptop, and probably also a microwave oven at the same time. What else could a guy want?
The folks at instructables are creating a step by step guide to creating your own 1000 watt wind turbine – from scratch. Sadly, the tutorial isn't finished yet, so, if you start now, you might be spending a lot of time staring at your wire coil disk waiting for them to write the chapter on creating the turbine blades. Nonetheless, the complex stuff (DIY power generator) is all finished, so it's worth a look.
