We are all trying to save some money these days when jobs are scarce and gas prices are high. 9w2bsr has built a custom PWM system to control the Hydrogen Generator, it attempts to maintain a constant current to the system. The Gas Hydroxyl system has been installed into a 3 year old Perodua MyVi and should increase its gas millage. I look forward to seeing what the results are.

"Some of you already heard about the hydrogen supplemented fuel where tiny amount of hydrogen is being feed to the petrol/diesel engines. The hydrogen is typically generated using a simple electrolysis process where current is passed through water to split it into hydrogen and oxygen gas. Some call this gas hydroxyl rather than hydrogen because it also contains oxygen."

Thanks to CellPhones.org for sponsoring the contest this week. They offer a large selection of cell phones from a variety of providers, including AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel, Verizon, Alltel, U.S. Cellular and other providers. There will be a $30 gift certificate to Spark Fun as the prize so that you can get some new hardware for your next project. This contest will run for one week (May 9 – 14, 2009) . Ending time is based on central standard time. To enter, identify the item pictured above and give an example of what can be done with it.

Please do not give the answer in the comments. 

Send an email to contest @ hackedgadgets.com with "Name the Thing Contest" as the subject, and the message body consisting of:

• The name of the item in the above picture
• An example of what the item pictured above can be used for

The winner will be chosen at random from all of the correct entries.

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Added June 1, 2009

The item to guess was an Reed Relay

The winner is Diego S. (There were 204 entries)

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Below is a picture of the the prize product.

I remember growing up with a flip clock on the bed side table. It was similar to the one pictured above except that it was encased in a stylish simulated wood-grained plastic box. Jeri from Fat Man and Circuit Girl took the flip mechanism and hacked it into a wrist watch. Now that is a time piece that any true geek can love!

Via: Adafruit

The Halluc II looks like a kids toy on steroids! It not only rolls around on its wheels but it can also use the wheels like feet and walk. When it comes up to an obstacle that is too tall for the wheels it can lift the wheels to match the raised surface elevation.

This R2D2 robot is a work in progress but in the end the creator will have it working 100% with his iPhone. The first steps video shows the robot under control of a standard remote but that is just a temporary control method. Have a look here for some of the iPhone interface information. We will have to keep our eye on the progress and report back when it is near completion.

"I am also working on controlling a vmusic2 module in order to produce the sounds R2D2 makes. I am also planning on controlling other parts of R2 with this setup as well including:

• Dome motor
• Feet motors
• Holo servo
• door panel servos
• JEDI system control (lights)
• Periscope (eventually)
• Lifeform scanner (eventually)
• and more

Another nice aspect of this setup is that I can add microcontrollers and remotes (iPhones or iPod touch) to extend the system."

Via: Apple Phone Hacks

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The original intent of this project was to make a MIDI device that would scan in low resolution images on paper and play them as music. Turns out that even though it is only using a handful of LDRs (photo resistors) is makes for a pretty good image scanner also.

"It uses LDRs to measure the gray-scale of specific point of a image, and triggers midi notes from a selected threshold. When the threshold is reached the velocity will be set by the darkness at that point. the darker point the higher the velocity will be."

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Daniel Eindhoven sent in his latest creation, this is one killer looking coil gun! The laser effects are fantastic. If you love coil guns make sure you have a look at our top 5 coil gun list.

"Fully semi-automatic, up to 14 shots.
Capable of delivering over 18J kinetic energy, and speeds up to 110km/h! (42 gram projectiles).
It’s a single stage gun, using a 8800uF(4×2200) capacitor bank with max 400v (704J).
Max shot efficiency is 2.8% but reaches almost 4% at lower voltages.

Charge time for 300v (12J kinetic energy 396J capacitor bank) is 8 seconds for the mains connection,
and when using the internal batteries about 90 seconds. It also has a Digital voltage display.

Coil overheat after 14 shots at 300v.
Total weight: 5 kilogram.
Total spend: ~~ 100 Euro
Construction time: ~~40 Hrs"

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