The Wheel Stand Pro is a wheel mount for steering wheels.  Specificially, it’s major advantage is it’s ability to fold away when done.

The wheelstandpro is a godsend for me. Back in the day when I use to play race sims on my PC with a 14″ CRT, I would attach my wheel on my desk and get everything set up just right and then after I was done I really didn’t want to play anymore. It was a hassle to hook up the wires, clamp everything down fire up the game, etc.

In order to not go through this hassle all the time I needed my wheel mounted to something all the time. I want to be able to move the whole unit out of the living room when I’m done. I looked at lots of solutions on the net. Some very nice looking cockpits and others made hilarious contraptions. I never thought an ironing board could be used as a wheel mount lol. I didn’t want to be that ghetto so I made my own.

This was my old wheel setup. I made it out of a chair frame and a piece of wood. I worked very well but I felt it was too low and not adjustable.

I’ve always dreamed about getting my own racing cockpit like the ones from PlaySeat. But who has the room for it? Not only that, it’ll always be there in my living room. When I was young and single, it would be perfect. Now that I have a room-mate (my girlfriend), I know she’s not gonna like it. Just like how I wouldn’t want a sewing machine table in the living room.

The perfect compromise is a wheel mount that folds away. The Wheel Stand Pro is what I need. Although a bit pricey considering the fact a PlaySeat is just like $70 more. With my WSP, it disappears when I’m done and I can set it back up in a couple of minutes.

Included in package:

wheel stand
shifter mount (a $30 piece of metal lol)
2x hex keys
wrench
2x zip ties
wedges for shifter clamp
instruction sheet

The WSP is shipped directly from Poland for $199CAN. In 3 business days, I received it. Pretty fast eh? I didn’t have to pay any local Canadian taxes but I was lucky The unit itself is pretty much assembled. You just have to mount this plate that holds the shifter and bolt on your wheel. It comes with 2 wedgy type of things for your shifter cause the mount plate is too thin for the shifter’s clamps.

Upon first inspection you’d think that it’s very wobbly. Not so, the thing is very well made. There is some side-to-side movement but it’s minimal for a stand like this. It’s not as solid as a full racing cockpit but pretty stable nonetheless. I had the base on carpet and it didn’t move an inch. However, my pedals did fall off the rails one time ’cause I was heel-toe’n too hard.

To prevent the G25 pedals from falling off, I zip tied it to the rails. Find yourself some M6 screws and screw them into the 4 holes on the bottom of the pedal base. Then use zip ties to fasten them to the rails. It doesn’t move an inch after this slight modification.

I had to really lock it down the clamps so it wouldn’t tilt forward or swivel on me when I was doing some serious driving. Even when I tightened it up, it still moved if I really pushed on it. But only if I tried. The clamps are super hard to unclamp once you lock them down. You pretty much have to be superman.

After mounting the wheel I decided the tidy up the cables a bit. The WSP comes with 2 zip ties. It’s not enough I’m afraid but I had tons at home so it didn’t matter. I’m a neat freak when it comes to cable management. I bought some wire tubing from the dollar store so I can put all 3 wires in it. (see pics below)

For those with a Logitech G25 wheel. Skip getting the G25 version of the stand and buy the normal $169 Logitech model. All that extra $30 gets you is a piece of metal. You can probably find a piece of wood that does the same job for way less.

I usually use the WSP with my AK Rocker 100. However, it’s quite comfy to use on my sofa too. I just like sitting close to the TV so I usually use my rocker.

If your significant other won’t let you buy a race seat/cockpit, this is a good compromise. Until I get a bigger place where I have my own room for a full racing setup, this will have to do. Other than the minor issues I’ve come across, it’s not a bad stand to have.  It’s the perfect addition to my PS3.  Playing games like F1 Championship and GT5 is a much better experience.

Never heard of Vizio? Me either ’til I started to do some research. They were the #1 LCD seller in the US in 2007. Selling mostly in Walmart and Costco chains. I was a bit skeptical about buying one but my fears were laid to rest when I saw one in person next to some Sharps and Samsungs. I was also assured by with Costco’s good warranty policy. I saw them at Circuit City. The one I was at had them properly calibrated and I can see that the Sharps and Samsungs were a bit better looking. A bit…. Sure wasn’t $700 better though.

I was planning on getting a Sharp Aquos 42″ or Samsung but the extra $700 on these models really turned me off. And forget about Sony, since their panels are made by Samsung or Sharp, why am I paying the middle man for quality? With the money I saved, I could’ve gotten a PS3 and a 360.

I like to get value from my money. I’m not a lemming that will buy things because they are a certain brand. Frankly my no-name shoes lasts just as long and are as comfortable as some of the Nikes I use to own. Companies like Vizio who make quality products with good value will eventually become brand name like LG, Samsung or Sony. No one would dare think about buying a Samsung 20 years ago. But since they didn’t produce crap, they ended up getting a good reputation. And Vizio is set to do that with their line of TV’s.

My local Costco only had the 42″ model. I did see 46″/47″/52″ models in the US Costco’s. I would’ve gotten my hands on a 47″ for sure. But 42″ is a nice size. Not too big and not too small as Goldilock’s would say.

It has a lot of features like PIP, split screen, that you would pay extra for. Although it states that you can’t have 1920×1080 via VGA, you can however connect your PC through HDMI and get the 1080p glory. I do that with my Macbook and get a massive desktop.

In order to truly appreciate a 1080p TV, you need content to match it. I got myself a PS3 and a few Bluray discs. 3D animation like Cars, Monsters Inc., Toy Story etc. on Bluray is amazing… Regular live action films on the other hand aren’t as stellar. I mean they look good but they have problems since you can see the “film grain”. Since Bluray captures so much detail they even capture the grain that is on film. And when it gets compressed, I see artifacts all over the place. Surprisingly sometimes, the director will put in film grain intentionally to either give it that “look” or to hide flaws. For example, they would put grain in so CGI objects would blend in with live action scenes.

I’ve used the Vizio my racing setup. It plays GT5: Prologue in 1080p. An amazing game that looks super realistic. If you’ve got a next gen gaming system like the PS3 or Xbox 360 and no LCD, you are missing out on a lot of detail.

Standard definition TV signals (from cable) look watchable on an LCD.  Granted your basically taking a 640×480 image and blowing it up to 1920×1080.  So it’s good enough.   I don’t spend a lot of time watching TV.  I usually use it with my PS3.

Specs from Vizio’s site:

42″ diagonal / 16:9 wide screen aspect ratio.
Full High Definition 1920 X 1080 resolution.
Compatible input formats: 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p, 480i.
Supports high definition gaming systems.
Brilliant picture quality with over 16 Million colors.
Amazing 1500:1 contrast ratio.
Backlit Remote Control
Built-in digital HDTV & standard TV combined tuner.
Wall mounting capable; less than 4″ deep without stand.
2X HDMI inputs for optimal digital connectivity.
Superior viewing from any angle.

Wall Mounting Specifications:
Hole Pattern 200mm x 600mm
Screw Size M8
Screw Length 25mm
Screw Pitch 1.25

Specification
Size: 42-in*
*Viewable: 42.02-in
Tuner: Integrated NTSC/ATSC/QAM HDTV Tuner

Supported TV Formats
1080p, 1080i, 720p, 720i, 480p, 480i

Native Panel Resolution: 1920 x 1080

Supported PC Resolutions
1920 x 1080, 1366 x 768, 1024 x 768, 800 x 600

Specification
Panel Type: 42″ Diagonal*, 16:9 Wide Screen, Color TFT Active Matrix LCD
Panel Specifications: Anti-Static and hard coated surface
Pixel/Dot Pitch: 0.485mm (H) x 0.485mm (V)
Display Compatibility: Full HDTV (1080p)
Signal Compatibility: 480i (SDTV), 480P (EDTV), 720P (HDTV), 1080i (HDTV), 1080p (Full HDTV)
Response Time: 8 ms (typical)
Colors: 8 bit 16.77 Million colors
Brightness: 500 cd/m2 (typical)
Contrast Ratio: 1500:1 (typical)
Viewable Angle: >178 degrees (horizontal and vertical)

Inputs
RF (F Connector for internal tuner): 1
HDMI with HDCP: 2
Analog Stereo Audio for HDMI Inputs: 1
Component YPbPr plus Stereo Audio: 2
Composite Video: 2
S-Video plus Stereo Audio: 1
Computer RGB plus Stereo Audio: 1
Service Port:

Outputs
Analog Audio out (RCA): 1
5.1 SPDIF Digital Optical Audio: 1
Headphone (Stereo Mini-Jack): 0

Additional Information
Picture-in-Picture (PIP)
Picture-outside-Picture (POP)
Closed Caption (CC)
V-Chip
3D Comb Filter
Zoom
Freeze
3:2 or 2:2 Reverse Pull-down
ATSC with 8VSB & QAM demodulation
ATSC with MPEG-2 decoding
NTSC Video decoding via RF: Yes, thru Antenna, Cable, or Satellite
NTSC Video decoding via Video: Yes, thru CVBS, S-Video, or Component
Progressive Scan Video: Yes, thru Component YPbPr, VGA or HDMI
HDTV: Yes, thru HDMI or Component YPbPr
Computer: 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768 thru VGA or 640×480 thru HDMI
Sound enhancement: Yes, Virtual Surround
Color Temperature: 6500K (standard), 5400K and 9300K
Color Fine Tuning: Independent Red, Green and Blue
Audio: Built-in 10W x 2
Lamp (LCD) / Panel (PDP) Life: 50000 hours
Power: IEC Connector for direct power line connection
Voltage Range100 ~ 240 Vac at 50/60 Hz
Power Consumption: 286W average
Removable Base

Weight
Gross:60.7 lbs
Net: 48.5 lbs

Dimensions
Carton:
With Stand: 40.5″ W x 28.5″ H x 9.7″ D
Without Stand: 40.5″ W x 27.3″ H x 3.9″ D
Without Stand and Speakers:
Certifications: CSA, FCC Class B

I’m a racing fan and when I first saw this chair I said I had to have it. I didn’t know it at the time but this would be the catalyst that would start the journey for a full racing setup. Eventually I would get a PS3, LCD TV, and Logitech G25 steering wheel.

For the sweet price of $79US, one can be had at Circuit City. I drove down to Washington one Friday night just to pick up the chair. It was worth the trip. I loaded the chair onto my tiny hatchback. It fit perfectly.

There are basically 3 pieces, as I recall, to assemble. It’s super easy. You slip on the cover and you’re done. There are skins you can buy for the chair, I ordered a blue one for myself when I get bored of the red or when it’s getting washed. It’s made of molded plastic and since I’m not too heavy, I assume it should last me a while.

It’s a very comfortable chair to sit in. I can recline back or tilt forward. It compliments my racing setup at home very well. I sit in it to watch movies, play video games, or type on my macbook. Everyone who has used the chair says it’s comfortable. I’ve taken naps in it too. It’s that comfy.

This chair is coined “toe crusher” or “finger smasher” in my house since it will do just that! Don’t put your toes or fingers anywhere near the rocker, cause if you rock over them, it hurts big time. More if you weight a ton.

The AK Rocker 100 is the 21st century’s version of Grandma’s rocking chair. I would be proud to rock in this when I’m old and gray.

I usually bring my Wii over to my friends’ place and having one less wire to carry is always a plus.

I have been looking for a sensor bar that was wireless and worked as well if not better than the stock wired one. After going through a handful of them I think I found it. It’s made by Nyko. It was double the price of most sensor bars but it was worth it. Works just as well as the stock Nintendo one.  The cheaper ones would work at close range only and if you walked too far from the left or right, it would not work.  On top of that it has a timer to shut off after 1hr or 2hrs.  The unit uses 4xAA batteries.

I picked up a US Mio C220 and you can’t load other maps like Canada/Austria on it.  Unless…. you get a proper license.db and the map files.  Map files for the Mio are in .FBL format.  They can be found with a little searching on Google or your favourite torrent sites.  www.gpsunderground.com is a great place to go.

Basically you replace the license.db file on the Mio C220 with one that is known to work.  And also transfer the .FBL file to the C220 or put it on the SD card in the maps folder.

Here’s how you free the C220 so that it can do other things besides just a GPS.

This zip file contains the files necessary to have the iphone theme and multiple desktops. clicking on the orange button will move you to another desktop.

The Mio C220 is one of the best gadgets I ever bought. Let’s just say I’m really bad with directions. Don’t know North from South and East from West. I read many reviews on this particular device and decided to pick one up because of it’s hackability. I can turn it into an MP3/video player and pretty much anything you want to put on it since it’s basically a WinCE 5.0 device.

My GF and I went to the US over the long weekend and decided we’d pick one up there. It was cheaper in US than Canada.

It was kinda ironic that we got lost trying to find a Best Buy that carried it. The first one we went to was sold out of them. And we missed the exit to the second BB. However, we lucked out and saw another BB further down on the highway. We took the exit and bought one.   Good thing cause we didn’t know where we were.

Right out of the box it worked. Turned it on and had it guided us to our hotel in Washington. The C220 is very easy to use. It was intuitive. I didn’t read the manual and was able to figure out how to enter in our destination. We got to our hotel just fine without missing a street. Usually, we’d be deciphering the Google Map printouts and missing the exits. Most importanly, we’d argue a lot.

With the GPS, I no longer spend time thinking about directions ’cause it tells me when to turn well in advance. “Turn left in 400 meters.” It’s also a calmer drive without the fights with the GF about directions.

When I got home from the trip I started “hacking” it to do other things. First of all, I added more maps. And “freed”the Mio from just being a GPS device. By default, upon bootup, it goes directly into MioMap. But we can make it boot up a WinCE shell instead to launch other applications.

Here’s what my device can do so far:

GPS - I’m never lost again
Video - plays divx/xvid/mp4/flv/etc without conversion! Just drop it on there and it plays. Using TCPMP
Music - plays OGG/MP3/WAV/etc with TCPMP
Picture - view JPG/BMP/etc with GQ Viewer
Calculator - to calculates tips on the road

Still working on getting things like TTS (text to speech) working. Wouldn’t it be cool if the Mio said “Turn left onto Oak Drive in 100 meters” instead of “Turn left in 100meters”? I think so!

EZBuilder is a very powerful conversion tool used to convert videos. It can convert videos for the iPod, PSP, DS and Play Yan.

The following tutorial shows how to convert to MVPD files. For those that don’t know. MVPD can only be played on 1st generation iPod Nano’s that have Linux installed. If I have time I’ll write on how to do that. But until then, read about it at ipodlinux.org.

Software needed:

EZBuilder
AVISynth
KLite Mega Codec Pack

• Download English version of EZBuilder.
  • Download iPod Nano MVPD profile
• You need codecs, I usually use the Klite Mega codec packs from free-codecs.com
  • This has every codec under the sun, DIVX, Xvid, RM, QT, etc
• Download and install AVISynth. I’m using 2.5.7
• Unzip EZBuilder to a directory (www.7zip.org to download decompresser)
• From the iPod_nano_MVPD_profile_20070720.rar file:
  • copy “mv_encoder.exe,” “mpvd_builder.exe,” & “cygwin1.dll” to “..\ezbuilder\tool” folder.
  • copy the folder “iPod nano MVPD” to “..\ezbuilder\profile\tool” folder.
• Copy the videos you want to convert into the MediaFile folder
• For SRT subtitles, put them them in MediaFile folder with the same name as the movie. ex. shrek.srt with shrek.avi
• For SSA/ASS/IDX/SUB subtitles, put them in Subtitle folder
• Run ezbuilder.exe
• Choose [1] iPOD NANO MVPD
• Wait, encoding times varies with your CPU, I have core2duo 1.8Ghz and it converts pretty fast.
• When your file is converted, it should show up in the DoneFile directory
• Copy the WHATEVER.MVPD file in the DoneFile directory to your iPod Nano
• Launch mvplayer from Linux and watch

Hints:

1. Try not to have funky characters or spaces in your file name

2. Use the NTFS Link Shell extension

I have an iPod Nano (1st generation, silver back).  I modded it to run rockbox and linux.  I’ve also added the ability to play MVPD videos.

Sometimes I need to convert gigs and gigs of video for my DS/iPod/Play Yan. However, you have to “copy” or “move” the video into the “MediaFile” folder which takes time and lots of extra HD space. By using “Hardlinks”, you don’t have to copy/move them there at all. You just make a symbolic link to the file. Not a shortcut but a link so that programs will think it’s actually in that directory when it’s not. NTFS supports this and is very useful.

In order to make this happen, you need to download and install the NTFS Link Shell extension.

Right-click on a media file you want to link to and chose “Pick Link Source”

Go to the ../ezbuilder/MediaFile folder and “Drop HardLink”

Now you’ll see that the files show up in the folder just as if they were copied/moved in that directory. But really it’s not, it’s just a link to the source.

Run EZbuilder as usual and it will convert it without problems. After you’re done, delete the “hardlinks” in the MediaFile directory, the originals will remain.

So that is how you save time from copying/moving files to the MediaFile folder as well as space. Sometimes you don’t have enough HD space.

This package includes 2 regular stylii, 1 retractable stylus, and screen protector for the DS Lite.

$3.50 @ DealExtreme 

The stock stylus in the DS Lite is rather short. A good compromise is to carry these retractable ones that fit inside the DS.

Wowwee Flytech Dragonfly

From WowWee, the company that brought us the Robosapien, the Flytech Dragonfly takes the skies. It flaps its wings like a real dragonfly but not as fast of course. It looks more like a bird. It terrifies my little cousin but amuses me.

Included in box:

• Flytech Dragonfly
• Transmitter (27mhz or 49mhz)
• Antenna for transmitter
• Spare set of wings
• Spare propeller
• Tail ribbon
• Manual

It’s made of foam. And rightly so, this thing has to be light. One might think it is cheap and easily broken but I’ve crashed it many times and only had a nick on the paint job. The wings are thin, clear, cellophane like plastic from a bag but it is very strong. It won’t tear. There is a spare in case too.

The transmitter takes 6AA batteries to power itself and also charge the dragonfly.

My maiden flight ended up with it diving to ground. I didn’t bother to read the manual of course Then I realized that I needed to add the tail ribbon to give it some weight on the back so it wouldn’t dive so much. After that, it flew much better. I have yet to take it out side but I’m sure it would fly better in less confined spaces. It’s flapping wings reminds me more of a bird than a dragonfly.

These were on sale at my local The Source (in Canada, Radio Shack is known as this). I picked the GTR along with the AWD kit and drift tires. Was it worth the $50? Sort of. They’re not as fast I thought they would be but they are kinda fun to bash around in the house. They’re like the affordable version of the Kyosho Mini-Z’s. The Xmods are highly upgradable. You can buy lots of different parts to customize it. When taking it apart I notice how similar it was to my Tamiya TT-01 NSX. The parts were just smaller. The car runs on 4 AAA’s, so it is highly recommended to get rechargable Ni-MH’s. The reciever runs on a standard 9V battery. They’re a bit too low because there are bumps in my carpet and sometimes it gets caught. With the AWD and drift tires (basically hard plastic) it drifts on carpet very well. They are fun to play with in the house but I wouldn’t put too much money into them. Once you start spending more than $100 on it, you might as well get something bigger and faster. Here are photos. I was bashing it around the house and it collected a lot of dust. My camera is rather good at picking up details since you can see how much dust is on it. To the naked eye, I see none.

Here are some photos of the hovercraft dissected.

I was always fascinated with hovercrafts as a kid. I wanted one of those Tyco Typhoons bad back then. I picked one of these guys up for around $75. Out of the box it seemed slow but it was fun to play with. It worked great on my kitchen floor. It was a bit slower on my carpet but still fun. I plan on doing modifications on this craft. I want a better motor for the centrifugal lift fan and ducted fans for the thrusters. I hope this will put some more zip into this sucker.

This hovercraft looks pretty cool and is made by Zhi Lun. It’s ready to run. Just need to charge the battery. Included in the kit is a 6V 800mah battery, 27mhz transmitter, 9V battery, antenna and of course the hovercraft. It’s different from the Megastorm in that it uses a single thruster with rudders to steer. It’s a bit under powered working at 6V but because it’s smaller it is about the same speed. It does not work on carpet. The skirt is not slippery and grips too much. It works fine on the kitchen floor. The centrifugal lift fan seems puny and needs to be upgraded. The rudder control is either full left or full right. It’s not proportional. For around $30US (including shipping) on eBay, it’s not a bad HC to hack. I’ll see what I can do to it. From what I see so far, it needs a better thruster motor/propeller, lift moter/fan, and skirt.

This was the first charger I got. It’s not a fancy peak charger but I use it to charge my cheap 7.2V ni-cd packs. It’s got a 15min timer that will go into trickle mode once the timer stops. It accepts power from the AC outlet as well as DC so you can hook it up to your car battery. You have to be very careful about charging batteries with this thing since it doesn’t have any smarts, it will keep charging no matter how full the battery is. You can hook up a voltmeter to monitor the voltage. There is slight drop in voltage once a battery pack is full. This charger will charge at 4.0Ah (4000mah) when you set the timer. Once the timer stops it goes into trickle mode and charges at 100mah. Knowing this, this charger does a good job at “form charging” batteries. When I got a new battery that was 1500mah, I plugged it up and had it trickle for 15-20 hours. Instructions:

It is a computerized peak charger. I was totally in love with it when I saw it. It was a super hi-tech charger that charges pretty much ever type of battery there is. Lithium-Polymer, Ni-Cad, Ni-MH, Lithium-Ion, and Lead Acid.

I use an old PC power supply to power it since it only accepts DC input (from car battery). I cut off the battery clamps and soldered some banana plugs in its place.

All this info about converting a PC PSU for DC chargers can be found at <a href=”http://www.rcbatteryclinic.com”>rcbatteryclinic.om</a>. More information can also be found in my “PC PSU Solderless Conversion Guide”.

I had this car battery booster (sort of like a car battery) that was able to power the Triton but I was just not comfortable having something that big, heavy and explosive in my bedroom.

I had to make all the connectors for the various batteries. I’m sure you can buy them from Electrifly. Basically I bought all the stuff from a local electronics store, the banana plugs, 9V clips, battery boxes for AA/AAA’s.

For $150CDN, it’s a bit pricey but it will be last charger you buy since it can charge your RC batteries, AA’s, AAA’s, 9V’s, etc without any fear of overcharging. It also discharges the battery for you.

Triton Charger

I glue my tires to the wheels/rims with super glue. No need to pay for CA glue when the same stuff you find at the dollar store can do the job. I usually get the small 1g tubes which are 4 for a dollar. Each tube should glue 2 sets of tires. Don’t get the big tubes of super glue, they dry out before you can use it all up. Get small tubes. Here’s the stuff I get:

I carry my RC car in a Black & Decker toolbox. It’s 22″ long and can fit a lot of stuff. It’s got removable compartments for batteries, and various other tools I like to bring with me. I got this particular box at Walmart for around $18.

Here’s what you’ll need to make some drift tires:

ABS 2″ tubing
hacksaw
mitre box
ruler
angle bracket
C-clamp
Hand clamp

You don’t need all this stuff, all you really need is the ABS tubes and hacksaw. The other stuff just makes your job easier.

Most of this stuff can be bought at your local hardware store. The ABS tubing can be found at Home Depot, Rona, Lowes etc. I got a 3′ segment for $3CDN. I also made about 20 wheels, that’s 5 sets of tires for $3!!

A ruler is necessary of course but you can also use your wheels to measure out the segments.

I got the mitre box at Canadian Tire for like $6. Basically, it makes it easier to make straight clean cuts. Hacksaw was $1 at the dollar store. The other stuff I had lying around the house. You’d probably spend, at most, like $10 on all the materials.

Measure 1″ from the saw line and clamp the L-bracket to the mitre box with the C-clamp. The L-bracket will be used as a stopper guide. Put the ABS tube up to the L-bracket, clamp it tight so it won’t move with the hand clamp. Then start sawing.

After they’re cut, you can use sand paper to clean up the edges. My HPI rims fit nice and snug on them. It requires a little bit of effort to make them fit.

The rims do look decent, but in the photos below I didn’t sand them yet.

In a perfect world, I’d have a table saw and in a even more perfect world I’d be rich enough to afford real drift tires!

Pictures just in case my English is bad:

I converted this PC power supply to power my Triton. It’s really solidly built and has a lot of weight to it. It’s not like your typical cheapy PSU. It has 2 fans, one that blows in and another the exhausts so it stays cool.

I assume you know how to solder and have some knowledge of electronics. If you don’t, please stop right here and run to Radio Shack and pay $100 for one.

Here are some the items you need to convert your PSU (power supply unit) to power a DC battery charger for RC stuff. You don’t need a lot of stuff to do the conversion. All I bought was the binding posts. I have one that is red (for +12V) and the other is black (for ground/negative)

1. Find a PC power supply that can output at least 10A on the 12V. This is the one that is the most crucial. The side of the PSU should tell you the ratings. As you can see for mine, the 12V outputs 16A, which is plenty.

2. Cut off all the connectors on the power supply. Bundle all the wires of the same colour together.

3. The colours that matter are yellow (+12V), black (ground/negative), Green (Power-ON/PS-ON), Red (+5V), and Grey (PG/Power Good).

There should be lots of black/yellow/red/orange wires. There will probably be only 1 grey and 1 green wire. Your colour code might be slightly different, however, on my PSU circuit board it tells you what they are anyway.

4. Solder 3 black (ground) wires to the black binding post.

5. Solder 3 yellow (+12V) wires to the red binding post.

6. Solder the PG/Power Good wire (usually grey) to a +5V wire (usually red).

7. Solder the PS-ON/Power On wire (usually green) to a ground/negative wire (black).

That should do it. Using this method, I never had to put a load on the +5V lines with either a resistor or light bulb.

How to convert a PSU for your DC charger without soldering

PSU (Power Supply Unit)

PC PSU and Great Planes Triton DC Charger. I cut off the clamps and attached some banana plugs that connect to the binding posts of the PC PSU.

You don’t really need a solder iron to convert an old ATX PC power supply for your DC charger. All you need are couple of items found at your local electronics/auto shop.

** Please be careful with power supplies! Even when they are unplugged they can hold power for a few minutes. I am not responsible for any damage to you or your equipment.

Here’s what you need:

1. (1) ATX power supply (preferably 300W or more) at least 10A for the 12V line. There should be a switch on the back of the PSU.
2. (2) binding posts (red/black) can be found at Radioshack.
3. (2) ring terminals
4. (2) butt connectors aka wire splices

Here is an old ATX PSU I had lying around. It can output 25A on 12V. That’s more than enough. Cut off all the connectors (ATX power, HD power connectors, etc.) since you won’t be using them. If your ATX PSU goes by standard colour codes you should have tons of yellow +12V wires and black ground wires. There will be tons of red and orange wires too. Group all the same coloured wires together to tidy things up.

Ring terminals and butt connectors/wire splices. Most of the wires inside a PSU will be 18 gauge (18AWG). That’s how thick the wire is. So look for connectors and ring terminals designed for 18AWG.

Drill 2 holes for the binding posts.

Mount the binding posts. Most binding posts will have plastic that will shield it from touching the case. Don’t let any metal from the binding post contact the metal case or you’ll short something.

Get 2 yellow wires (these will be the +12V lines) and twist them together. You use 2 yellow wires so more current can flow through. The more the better. Then put on one of the ring terminals and crimp them together with pliers. Don’t have any of the wires exposed by crimping the ring terminal as close as possible. (In the photo I was lazy hehe)

Connect it to the red (positive binding post) and bolt it in.

Do the same with the negative terminal. (take 2 black wires)

Look for the PG/Power Good wire. In my case, it’s grey.

Look for the PS-ON/Power Supply On wire. In my case, it’s green.

Strip a black wire (negative) as well as the PS-ON wire (green). We’re going to crimp them together. This will make the PSU turn on. Since we have an on/off switch on the back of the PSU, we can just have a permanent connection.

Strip the PG wire (grey) and a +5V wire (usually red) and crimp them together with a wire splice.

Gather up all the remaining wires and cover them up with tape or heat-shrink so they don’t short anything when you close up the power supply.

Put the cover back on and use a multimeter to test out the voltage. It should read 12V or more.

I’ve converted 2 power supplies using this method and both of them power my Triton DC charger very well.

Cordless Solder Iron

When I first saw this thing, it looked like a light saber. It’s kind of like one too. When you have it in blow torch mode, it’s got a steady blue flame. A nice little accessory for Star Wars conventions.

I have a corded solder iron that was a hassle to pull out and set up when I had to solder a couple of joints or tin some wires. My desk area has enough wires already and I could only solder where there’s an outlet. I was on a hunt to find a cordless iron.

I looked into the ColdHeat solder iron that was “as seen on tv”. From the reviews I read, it sucked so I stayed away.

Next was battery powered ones like the Hakko FX-901. It looked like it would do the job and the reviews were good. However the 6W rating might limit what I can do.

So I’m left with just butane (lighter fluid) powered ones. They ranged in price from $25-$100. My requirements was that it had heat blower to heat-shrink some of my connections and a built-in push button starter.

I was at the local electronics set on buying a $80 one but this cheaper $50 version caught my eye. It looked like Yoda’s light saber. It was basically a cheaper clone of the more expensive Weller/Vulkan. I decided to get it instead and save myself $30.

It is really easy to use. First thing is you turn on the gas, then you hit the ON button to ignite the fuel and that’s it. It uses a piezoelectric ignition system so it takes one hand to start it up. This is much better than using a flint sparker or lighter. The piezo setup is much more “hi-tech”. It takes about 20-30 seconds to heat up.

My first mistake was having the flow setting too high. I was soldering a wire to a battery box and it melted the plastic around the connection. I figured out you need to have the gas release on medium to start it up and once it’s hot, turn it down to low.

I’ve only used it a couple of times but it seems that this iron was money well spent.

Other uses for this solder iron:

heat-shrink
blow torch
plastic cutting knife
cigarette lighter
accessory for your Luke Skywalker costume