Curiously Strong Mints
July 22, 2007 | By Jared Howard | 403 Views
“The Original Celebrated Curiously Strong (insert flavor here) Mints” (Altoids) have been around forever (since the 1800’s). What makes them so curiously strong, who knows? But I bet you never thought they’d be strong enough to power your iPod.
Well not exactly, but with the Electroids kit you can recycle those old Altoids tins and repurpose them into full fledged portable USB power stations.
The Electroids kit comes with everything you need, including instructions, to create your very own Altoids charging unit. All you need is a free weekend, a soldering iron and tough skin for all the times you’ll probably burn yourself in the process. Using regular old 9 volt batteries for power and a standard USB port for connectivity, this little guy should be able to power/charge every gadget in your collection, so long as it has a USB port.
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July 22nd, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Well, that’s really different, very unique. I suppose you could do the same with nearly any tin. That’s what I call recycling!
July 23rd, 2007 at 10:43 am
I saw some designs on line for a pocket amp, to boost the sound of any mp3 player using a Altoids tin. Looks like someone has expanded the idea.
July 24th, 2007 at 10:11 am
One way to recycle and maybe you can sell your creations.
July 24th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
I love the new dark chocolate covered Altoids. I ‘m curious as to how long a 9 volt battery would last.
July 26th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
If you have a little bit of knoweledge, this looks like a good idea. I searched the idea, and come up with it also using AA batteries. So my question would be, could you use recharable AA batteries, or 9 volts as well. Kinda’ Nifty.
August 4th, 2007 at 3:16 am
A perfect rainy day project for a geek like me!