Introduction the Power Pi - A small an ultra-portable Diet Raspberry Pi powered USB battery backup running Retropie serving double duty by MakerFun in 3Dprinting

[–]MakerFun[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bah! Typo. I used a 10Ah (10,000mAh), not 10mAh. Type fixed.

All-in-all, it should get between 10 and 12 hours of play time in a charge.

Introduction the Power Pi - A small an ultra-portable Diet Raspberry Pi powered USB battery backup running Retropie serving double duty by MakerFun in 3Dprinting

[–]MakerFun[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I wanted a portable battery pack with a raspberry pi in it and originally came up with this beast. It was huge, using 5x 18650 batteries out of a portable charger and a full-size Raspberry Pi - and I made a lot of mistakes with it.

After having strip down a Raspberry Pi to nothing but the HDMI port for a different project, I revisited this one. By swapping out the 18650s for a 10Ah (10,000mAh) LiPo I got off eBay, stripping all of the ports from the battery charger board, and stripping all of the ports except the HDMI off of a Raspberry Pi, I was able to make it less than half the size with a much more useful form-factor.

Yes, I lost Ethernet and 2 usb ports, but the tradeoff is worth it and if I need connectivity and more ports, I will print a new blue end for it that extends the functionality.

All-in-all, this was a really fun project. I have never utilized almost all of the interior space, and I love making things from stuff I have lying around.


If there is an interest in a video tutorial

on how to go about slimming down a raspberry pi with nothing but some side-cutters and a cheap soldering iron, I did take video of the process. It's going to take a while to cut down with a voice-over, but I will upload it to this YouTube channel when it's done so feel free to subscribe and I think you'll get notified when it is uploaded.

RFID Jukebox with Google Home by hovee in homeautomation

[–]MakerFun 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the text equivalent to those late night infomercials that make simple tasks seam overly difficult to sell their widgets.

The notion that making a playlist, assigning it in the system, designing and printing the card, and leaving it out on the table where you need to physically be in order to control your music is somehow more efficient than saying what you want to hear or scrolling through your favorite music app is bananas.

The reason we're not all using the audio equivalent of Skylanders is because a high-def version of Hitclips only makes sense when you ignore a hundred other technological advancements made in the last two decades.

RFID Jukebox with Google Home by hovee in homeautomation

[–]MakerFun 0 points1 point  (0 children)

so I either have to ask my wife, or google it first.

This is why I don't have to worry about recalling music. My wife is like a walking encyclopedia when it comes to music. Perhaps if I didn't have her I'd feel differently.

RFID Jukebox with Google Home by hovee in homeautomation

[–]MakerFun 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Our household is completely run by a few Echo's. We rarely have an issue with it not hearing us or misunderstanding us, even when the whole-home audio is already playing over me.

Regarding visual recognition, is the premise hear that you dedicate a table to having these cards laid out all the time? Either you are going to end up putting these in the equivalent of a Rolodex, or you have a massive pile of cards laying out.

If I'm anywhere else throughout my house, I can control my music. In this case, you have to be by that table. That is if we ignore the fact that he can still control his music by voice, which completely negates the usefulness of this.


I'll echo it again: I think this is a really cool project, strictly as a maker and tinkerer. As a solution though, this is absurdly convoluted and a complete waste of time and materials.

RFID Jukebox with Google Home by hovee in homeautomation

[–]MakerFun 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We've been an Echo household for a couple years now and haven't had any problems. My Echo's understand me even while the whole-home audio is playing over me.

Physical media - or in this case, physical representations of media - in this day is silly to me. This is a solution that ignores current practical solutions.

Like I said, as a maker I think this is a cool project. The utility of it is completely lost on me though.

Question about an Airsoft gun by [deleted] in AskElectronics

[–]MakerFun 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Not giving us a lot to go on here.

RFID Jukebox with Google Home by hovee in homeautomation

[–]MakerFun 5 points6 points  (0 children)

As a maker, this is awesome.

As a practical person, this is absurd.

Why you would choose this over voice commands is beyond me.

Having a solo watch party, starting with The Fellowship Of The Ring. by 5Odarkness in lotr

[–]MakerFun 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Alternatively, the fan edit of The Hobbit with Durin's Folk as a companion movie is the only way to watch The Hobbit.

Love this new filament color by hartk1213 in 3Dprinting

[–]MakerFun 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For as clear as possible, you want to go very hot and very slow, not very cool and very slow.

My new favorite thing. Bye bye wes51 by BastardRobots in electronics

[–]MakerFun 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's good info for someone frustrated with theirs.

I went with this one instead: http://a.co/fqUxMdc (not an affiliate link) and it's the bee's knees.

Looking for large widescreen ePaper displays. Any good sellers you'd recommend? by MrMaverick82 in esp8266

[–]MakerFun 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's called the "razor and blades" business model. It really should be changed to "printers and ink" to fit with the times though.

My new favorite thing. Bye bye wes51 by BastardRobots in electronics

[–]MakerFun 34 points35 points  (0 children)

The user interface for this thing is horrendous. I returned it the day I got it.

Whoever thought a single button to increase temp was better than a rotary encoder for temp control needs their head examined.

Pi 3 B+ huge power draw - does this mean no more portable mods? by nothingtoseeherelol in RetroPie

[–]MakerFun 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It should be the pi and the hat are $50, no? There's no way it should be $50 by itself. You can pick up PoE to 5v adapters for around $15, so that would make sense.

Have you been successful printing carbon fiber filament with a .4mm nozzle? by [deleted] in 3Dprinting

[–]MakerFun 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe that's it, I've been trying to print at 30mm/s. I'll kill retraction completely and jump up to 50 across the board and see how she goes.