Brilliant cheap survival shelter

I was perusing the shelves in my local Poundland and came across this emergency survival shelter.
I thought for a pound how can i not get one to take a look at.
I got it home and found its made of similar material to a survival blanket (Mylar). Its very strong and took about 5 minutes to get erected.
At 8 feet by 5 feet its plenty big enough to fit 2 people in without any problems. I did my test erection on a sunny day and within minutes it was roasting inside so the reflective material really works. Also good as a signal to overflying rescue vehicles should you need it.

I did a quick video review , see below

Poundland Solar Light Hack

A blogger friend James (see a post elsewhere on my blog linking to his blog) has
been pulling apart solar lights from the pound shop to see what parts he could
salvage for other projects,

I was wandering the pound store and saw something similar but not the same as
the light he had purchased. I decided to purchase a couple to take to pieces.

Before Hack:-

Whats Inside

There is a solar cell which produces between 2.0v to 2.4v in room light and 3v
in bright sunlight. 

There is also an Ni-MH AAA battery rated 1.2V at 600ma,

There is a small circuit board with a transistor like integrated circuit that
has 4 pins its labelled YX8018. After a bit of poking about I found out some
more information about this little device. It is produced by a Chinese company
called Shiningic.

Initially it confused me that the battery in the solar light was only rated at
1.2v, this would not be a high enough voltage to drive the led. After reading
up on the YX8018 I found that it is a clever little chip that acts in 2 ways,

The first way is an up-voltage converter taking the 1.2 volts of the battery
and providing enough voltage to drive the LED.

The second element is as a light activated switch. the solar cell and the LED
are wired through the chip. The positive output from the solar cell goes to the
battery positive terminal as well as to the CE (chip enable)  pin on the 8018.

when light falls onto the solar cell a voltage is places onto the negative
active CE pin which switches the chip off thereby switching the LED off. This
means that during the day the led light is switched off and voltage is only
supplied to the battery allowing it to be charged.

 Parts After Hack:

Salvaged Hardware:	Salvaged Electronics:

The salvagable parts I will use in my own projects are:

• ultrabright led
• 3v 20ma solar cell.
• AAA 1.2v 600mAh Ni-MH
• 3 small screws

Now what to make with the parts !!!!!

An Intersting new Blog

Here is a local guy to me, nice to see someone with a similar outlook on recycling and hacking to myself. You might want to check out his new blog. More good things to come i think
http://james-gy.blogspot.co.uk/

Modern Teenage Bedside Cabinet

My son has recently had his bedroom re-decorated in orange and black and wanted a bedside cabinet to match it. After looking around and not been able to find one i decided to look at what i had laying around and make one to fit. I found an old basket from a freeze and some MDF and Aluminium rods . After an hour this is what I came up with. A lick of orange paint and some matt black spray co-ordinating the colour scheme. A good use of found items I think.

Kitchen Science - Creating Fire in your Hands

Have you always wanted to hold fire in your hands like a superhero ? This video is a demonstration of how, with the use of some items from the kitchen you can hold flames in your hands, Its totally safe as long as you prescribe to the usual rules of kitchen science, Safety first, Ensure the environment is well ventilated, and that you wear your safety glasses at all time. Enjoy !!!