More Bad Caps

I have been busy, so no projects right now...but I did have the opportunity to troubleshoot my main system. BSOD etc.

After ruling out virii, and memory issues...I hooked up my Frozen CPU Ultimate LCD Power Supply Tester to the just over warranty Enermax 600W power supply...and it kept shutting down.

So I pull it out, and open the PSU up...guess what, 5 capacitors that had bulged out and and were leaking out the top...(the brown spots in the out of focus picture is the leaking stuff)



So the replacement is a Corsair HX750 with modular wiring...which let me tell you, it a very nice feature. Also it has extra dedicated wires when I get around to adding a second ATI card.

...well back to the Super Bowl.

ROVIO headlight (and laser) mod

One common complaint about the ROVIO is that the built in LED 'headlight' is weak.

I used this guys mod to add a couple of giant Radio Shack LEDs and a LASER.

The wiring diagrams are on the link. I used the two brightest LEDs that RS sells (they are huge...the size of my pinkie). I also threw on a LASER that I pulled out of a flashlight (sold in a muli pack from Home Depot). I used a 100 ohm resistor to drop the voltage a bit...I could have probably used a 70 ohm resistor for the laser.

This is the result...the ROVIO took the pictures in a pitch black room.

The small image doesn't do it justice...but the right bulb is lighting up the wall about 6 feet away...and between the two is the red laser.

This is a capture...I cropped it but thats about all you get from the ROVIO software.



This image was taken with another camera...with the room lights on.


This is the flashlight I gutted.



I didn't want the bulk of putting the entire end of the flashlight on it...but now that I have done this mod, it won't be a big deal to add it if I change my mind.

Latest toy. The ROVIO.

I saw this thing (the ROVIO) in a Skymall catalogue some time ago...I thought it would be cool...I have webcams, and have always wanted to build some kind of mobile webcam...of course accessible by intertubes.



An unfortunate side effect of progress is compatibility. In the olden days we were content with our pre-wifi 1mb wireless devices...running open and naked in the wild...then we got Wifi at its 10mb speeds...still running open and naked. Then someone created WEP...then someone else created WPA...nobody used WPA...because you needed to buy more hardware to support it (or sometimes updated drivers.)

Then WEP was easily cracked...so everyone went running for WPA...and threw out anything that couldn't run WPA...(soon WPA2 will be the only thing...)

What is the point?

The ROVIO was built to support WEP. So this $300 device quickly became obsolete. Late last fall, early this year they released a WPA firmware, so we can continue to use these devices.

I got mine on ebay for less than $100. But getting it up on my Wifi WPA network took about 7 hours.

For those of you with this device...or who want one, go to this website for a lot of helpful info.

And here is my post on how I finally got WPA on it. A hint is you need password of 25 letters/numbers or less.

Oh if you still don't understand what a ROVIO is, then here is a video...