Funnyhacks - Laptop AAs revisit

It seems to be necessary to remind you that as with all hacks, don't do this on anything you can't afford to replace.

In the video I explain very well why you need batteries when using solar panels. There are a few motivations for this.

I also cover the differences and considerations of Voltage, Amperage and power. I actually wrote this pretty well in the first post (/laptopAAs), so I won't go into it again here. If you still have questions, please ask in the comments section of the video.

Please use rechargeable batteries. Even if just for the sake of the environment.

AAs

This post references

Running a laptop off AA batteries
2009-06-02

A big thankyou to david at for featuring this episode!The basic idea So you've done all the little optimisations to make your laptop last an extra half hour. Wireless ......

AAs

Posts using the same tags

RandomKSandom begins
2022-03-07

RandomKSandom, the spiritual successor to Funnyhacks has begun....

randomKSandomBegins

rksSeries

Making a mobile chroot practical
2017-02-12

Intro Chrooting to provide a desktop environment on a mobile device is not a new concept, but it is still with it's challenges. This post is about the various successes ......

vnc

Where is FunnyHacks going?
2016-11-21

Over the last while it has been becoming increasingly apparent that I'm simply trying to do too much. So let's address that.This post covers- Where is ......

whereTo

Back lit LCD - part2
2014-08-03

Today I show you how to get some extra brightness on your LCD in the sun.This is part 2 where I repair a mistake I made in part 1 ......

backlitlcd

lcd

practical

My Sabbatical
2014-05-27

I'm nearing the end of my sabbatical, and I did stuff! Here's an ultra short summary of what I did.Polishing projects This phase was to get my open source ......

sabbatical

Jumpstarting a cellphone
2014-05-23

Today we bring another unreleased episode from the archive to show you how to charge a phone that is too flat to charge. Overview The basic idea of this is ......

Turbocharged fly swat
2014-05-16

Today I dig up another unreleased FunnyHacks episode from the archive. This one is about a fly swat that I've turbocharged with an electric drill. This episode really hits on ......

fly

flySwat

swat

Jump starting: Which lead first?
2014-05-08

Today I show you why it matters which lead is connected first when jump-starting a car, and why it's not obvious if you have an electronics background. The answer is ......

car

Prototype tablet
2014-05-02

Today I show you the semi-working prototype of the final tablet.While I made prototypes of many parts, this was the only one bringing everything together, and there was still ......

prototype

prototypeTablet

tablet

Tablet mouse
2014-04-25

Today I show you an adapter I made that converts a tablet into its own mouse. This is basically the insides of a mouse, with a drastically shortened cable and ......

mouse

tablet

tabletMouse

How secure is your lock?
2014-04-18

Today I reassemble a doorlock that was replaced after our flat was burgled. The result surprised me! Verifying the results To confirm my results, I compared this lock to a ......

Laptop AAs revisit
2014-04-11

Today I answer questions about running a laptop off AA batteries.It seems to be necessary to remind you that as with all hacks, don't do this on anything you ......

AAs

Dog eyes
2014-04-04

Today I show you how I did the dog eyes on the bike box. This is pretty much the same method that I used in the koala I don't ......

bike

box

dog

Pimped granny stroller
2014-03-28

Today I show you how I pimped up a granny stroller to help me out during a tough time in my life. I broke my collar bone, which meant I ......

Making a teddy display the computer's state
2014-03-21

Today I'm joined by my co-host Tim to discuss the risks and basics of making a teddy bear communicate what a computer is doing. This episode has serious risks. As ......

mod

ted

Tablet: More info
2014-03-14

Today I show you more details with making the tablet. - Battery dock - Gluing without making too much mess - Planning the layout ......

build

tablet

tabletBuild2

Fixing a defective head torch
2014-03-07

Here I make a defective torch useful using a simple modification to stop the straps from falling off. In the original design it's very easy for the strap to slide ......

ColouredWeb - Intro
2014-03-06

ColouredWeb generates and installs a custom stylesheet that re-colours the internet to make it easier for people who are sensitive to particular colours to use the internet. Here is an ......

achel

colouredWeb

sabbatical

DoneIt - Intro
2014-03-05

Track where your time is going on the command line....

Mass - Intro
2014-03-04

Maintain a single source of truth about your servers across different clouds, and interact with them quickly....

Achel - Introduction
2014-03-03

A language for robotics, and more....

Season 3 has a date - 03/03/2014
2014-02-24

Getting the videos done took much longer than I expected, namely because I had a lot more in my head than I realised, which lead to me recording over 6 ......

s3Update2

update

Season 3 update
2014-02-04

As mentioned here FunnyHacks is coming back. We're now days away.The last few weeks have been spent doing documentation, discovering little things that needed tidying and generally making this ......

cow

s3Update

update

FunnyHacks season 3 returning
2014-01-05

FunnyHacks season 3 is back. I'm taking a break from work to pursue my passions for a few months. As a result, FunnyHacks is going to getting love. I've got ......

s3Returns

Pin hole camera
2013-04-13

Every morning I look up at the ceiling and see a fuzzy representation of the world below. Light hits the objects and bounces off in various directions. Some of it ......

misc

pinHole

Windows 95 insanity
2013-02-17

A few days ago I started playing with the idea of trying to post to facebook from a fresh windows 95 VM using only software that I could aquire from ......

allTimeFavourite

nostalgia

win95

Mass - For when you want to look like a hacker from the movies, but actually do something useful! ;)
2012-10-21

Mass is a tool for manipulating lots of servers concurrently. Open up an SSH terminal to each server that maches your request, do the same with cluster SSH upload a ......

Tablet: Lots of photos and info
2011-12-24

This is one of my more impressive looking builds. Not the most complex by any means, but it certainly looks cool. Where ever I take it, I get lots of ......

build

tablet

tabletbuild

Building a tablet from a netbook
2011-12-12

This is a tablet that I've built from an old Asus Eee 701 I've wanted a tablet for years. My motivation for building one instead of buying one was that ......

eee

Box - Tech talk
2011-05-21

Today I talk about the technical details of making the bike box work. ......

box

Bike box
2011-05-02

Simply put, this is a box to put on the back of your bike and be seen. The response from this one has been amazing. If you were to only ......

box

3D Sync - Tech talk part 2/2
2011-04-24

One of the biggest challenges of capturing 3D footage is getting the footage syncronised. Sure, you can do it in post production. But on most cameras, you have granularity of ......

YEEEEEE HAAWWWWWwwww! - Slow mo RC car
2011-03-17

Slow mo footage of an RC car in puddles and on shingle. This is simply having fun with a radio controlled car to demonstraight the concepts discussed in 3DMount ......

3D Mount - Technical part 1/2
2011-03-06

Recording 3D footage on two 2D cameras can be quite challenging. In this episode I go through the technical details of making it happen. Adjustment I found making things loose ......

two

3DMount - Capturing 3D footage
2011-02-28

3D video is really taking off, and most of my work over the last year has been in 3D. So I thought that it was about time to show how ......

two

Home made parachute! - Further "experimentation" :D
2011-01-22

In this episode we are really starting to get somewhere! This was a lot of fun and I hope to get out there again before I leave NZ. We have ......

Tarp Parachute - Technical details
2011-01-13

Today I walk you through the technical details of building the home made parachute.This is a stupid thing to do, so if you have not yet gone over the ......

Permission to do stuff
2011-01-13

Most work on this site is licensed under the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) license which should allow you to do most of what you'd like to do. (Most ......

moreperms

Tarp parachute - Our first tries
2011-01-07

This is the first of at least a couple of compilation videos of our progress as we play with different ideas. We've taken literally hours of footage, so these compilations ......

Tarpaulin parachute
2011-01-01

The basic idea As a kid I always wanted to make a parachute. I kept jumping off hedges using a tiny sheet with the hope of sailing down. The ......

The old, old site!
2010-12-01

Woah! You've found a really old link! Here are some things that are probably what you're looking for: ......

Headphoning a phone
2009-06-02

The basic idea Modifying a phone so that it can take headphones. The hardest bit about this hack is making it all fit in the phone... So it's not ......

fh7

headphones

phone

phoneHeadphones

Running a laptop off AA batteries
2009-06-02

A big thankyou to david at for featuring this episode!The basic idea So you've done all the little optimisations to make your laptop last an extra half hour. Wireless ......

AAs

Running a cellphone and camera off AA batteries
2009-06-02

The basic idea In this episose I power a camera and phone using a 3 battery batterypack. This hack is basically the next step after in getting the contacts ......

AAs

fh8

Audio switch
2009-06-02

The basic idea Hook every audio source to every audio output in an easily switchable way. Series vs Parallel Choosing whether to hook things up in series or parallel ......

fh9

Converting an RC car to a boat
2009-05-04

You may remember the car that could drive on the ceiling. It didn't last very long. So now I've turned it into a boat.This episode was filmed out in ......

boat

car

fh6

magnetCar

Driving a car on the ceiling
2009-02-03

Someone driving you up the walls? Get some space and drive on the ceiling instead! In this episode, I show you how to drive an RC car on the ceiling. ......

allTimeFavourite

boat

car

fh4

magnetCar

magnets

Converting and RC helicopter to a plane
2008-12-19

Radio Controlled models are a ton of fun, but sooner or later they end up auditioning for the trash can. This hack comes to the rescue to salvage all those ......

helicopter

plane

Carphone
2008-11-20

The basic idea Imagine your phone is ringing and you can't find it. Probably the last thing you want is for it to be quietly driving away from you. ......

car

fh1

Running a cellphone on AAs
2005-06-02

This remains one of my favourite hacks. It didn't make it into the show simply because I blogged about it before I started the show. It's really simple: find out ......

AAs

old