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Linux Duracell CPU Load Monitor
Nixon8Pie writes "Know those little self-testing batteries? How would you like to monitor your computers load with them? Well, now ya can. 'These throwaway testers are quite clever: they use a layer of conductive ink that heats up when an electrical current runs through it, in combination with a layer of thermally-activated dye that turns transparent when heated up, revealing a third layer of colored ink underneath. Because the layers are printed with varying thickness from "0%" to "100%", parts of them become yellow before others, creating a bargraph effect that varies with the current applied, the battery's body itself sinking the heat produced by the conductive ink.' Pretty cool stuff."
A pity that Duracell seems to not be interested in putting these testers on their batteries or in their packaging anymore. Saw a whole rack expiring March 2010 with not a single tester.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
So that's how they does it. I personally use my mouth. I'm sure I'll regret it someday.
clifgriffin > blog
less than 5 posts and the French webserver has already surrendered.
that's hosting that website, or this could be the first slashdotting to start a small fire.
Are you happy now? Y'all have slashdotted a battery.
When those little battery testers first came out, I thought it was pure marketing genius. Not for the convenience, but for the self-depleting consumable. It ranks right up there with Caller ID.
"Here's a battery which you can wear out, even before you put it in your flashlight! You don't have to worry about shelf-life or temperature anymore, just squeeze the ends and you have a dead battery. No muss, no fuss, just two minutes from package to trashcan."
The Caller ID, in its original implementation, though... sheer brilliance. "Let's make them pay to see the information that's already sent to the the switchbox! And if they don't like that, make them pay to HIDE the information on the switchbox. But that doesn't really hide it, it just flags it, so make them pay to see the HIDDEN information, or make them pay to REALLY hide it. We can go on like this forever."
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... to keep our French friend's bandwidth down... ;)
http://home.cfl.rr.com/fnords/duracell_cpumon/
I hope my ISP doesn't kill me...
The only battery affordable meter we had was for 9 volt batteries. And it was your tongue! And we liked the small spark it gave you to tell you it was working!
"His design is utterly revolting!"
"Shocking!"
"If I add more power, can I overclock it?"
"An electrifying hack!"
"More power to him."
If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
I find this to be amusing and all, however pretty pointless. These strips take almost a full two seconds to register a full change. Spikes in usage (good to know sometimes) will be completely missed. Plus I am willing to bet you need to recalibrate it often if your room temp changes by more than a few degrees.
I would have RTFA, however it seemed to be down at the moment.
Sigs? We don't need no stinking sigs!
OK, this is neat, but WHY?
This same circuit could be adapted to:
Vary the brightness of a small light bulb.
Vary the speed of a small motor.
Drive an old-style swing needle meter.
(Variant of above) Drive a tachometer.
Heck, why not interface to a slot-car and have it go faster the higher your load average is?
www.eFax.com are spammers
"Here's a battery which you can wear out, even before you put it in your flashlight! You don't have to worry about shelf-life or temperature anymore, just squeeze the ends and you have a dead battery. No muss, no fuss, just two minutes from package to trashcan."
what are you talking about?
You can't drain the whole battery with a voltage tester in two minutes. It would take half an hour if you just shorted it out to drain it.
OBVIOUSLY, the tester is there to check to see if those batteries you threw in the drawer months ago are still good.
DUH
The activiation temperature of battery testers is a pleasantly toasty 100-120 F.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
one day I noticed the icemaker in our freezer made the sound it does before it drops the cubes into the bucket. So, I looked in to see if I could watch it work... then I noticed that an extra metal tube went under the ice cube mold. I thought, wow, that's kinda neat - they must circulate a little extra freon through there to make sure the cubes are super-cold*. So, I decided to touch it to see how cold it was. It turns out that it wasn't a cooler, but a heating element that was used to slightly melt the edge of the cubes to release them from the mold. And it was very hot.
That's how I burned my finger in a freezer.
(* I was thinking that didn't make too much sense because I knew icemakers were often add-on features, and replumbing the freon would be too complicated to do for an accessory)
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
Cost for running system monitor: $0.0
Time for setting it up: 00:00:30
Cost for Duracell load monitor: $9.95
Time for setting up: 04:21:23
Slashdotting the French: Priceless.
You put a wet finger on the negative end and touch the postive end with your tongue. For 1.5 volt batteries only. Don't try this on 90 volt batteries.
mirror with the pictures...
here
How many computers are too many?