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Powermac G5 Led Clock

G5 LED HackThis hack looks so cool that I am debating drilling little holes into my Powerbook’s case so I can make a mobile version.  Gizmodo has the scoop on a LED clock hack for G5 towers put together by Swedish hacker Anders Lundberg.  Unfortunately, the instructions are all in Swedish, but from what I’ve been able to figure out so far, Nästa means Next and there are pictures.  Have fun!

UPDATE:  Check the comments for a translation by Johannes.  Thanks, Johannes!



This hack looks so cool that I am debating drilling little holes into my Powerbook’s case so I can make a mobile...
 

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yoyoyo

I tried it and it exploded my mac. Thats ok. I swear my friend was over and he thought it would be funny to drop a match in the g5. KABLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMM! It singed ALL (I mean ALL) of my hair. The battery light on fire. Then the power supply for the mac...... BBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! "HOLY HELL"

March 09 2005 at 10:12 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Blargy

it would seem to me you should be Abel to convert the 12v to 9v and run that to the clock being as most of the ones i have run across have a internal 9V battery so that it dosent lose its time during the night and not wake you up if the power goes out for a bit. hay you *MAY* even be abel to run it strait off the 12 volts if your willing to risk blowing out your radio and havening to start over

March 06 2005 at 3:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Johannes, Sweden

Well, I'm the coolest. Oh, right, no. But what's the deal with the Appleblog folks being unwilling to remove the "instructions in swedish" text parts? I mean, now that I've done the work for them ;) You be good now mates...

March 05 2005 at 10:57 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Feol Burritz

Translation is most excellent, comrade! Many thanks!

March 04 2005 at 8:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
C.K. Sample, III

Holy coolest comment ever, Johannes! Thanks for the translation!

March 04 2005 at 7:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Johannes, Sweden

Well, being a swedish mac geek I felt the urge and need to translate the lot of it... so here it is: This is needed for the assemblance: - One ordinary LED watch (4 USD) - One Apple PowerMac G5 (A good many more USD) - 58 bright, clear, LEDs (3mm). - circuit board, etching fluid (used to develop the circuit board) and etching powder. - UV Lamp (or one can, according to A.L, use a solarium lamp) - solder and some wires... First we gotta find out wich cable goes to wich LED. I'm afraid this circuit uses Alternating Current, 50Hz (in Sweden, in U.S it'd be 60Hz) in order to create 2 cycles for the display. That cuts the need for cables in half, and thus the diodes are "flashing" 50 times per second. This means one has to connectfeed the watch external 50hz AC instead of internal 12V DC from the G5... anyone has an idea how to solve this - mail the creator of the project! (The positive node during cycle one is marked with black color, 2nd cycle marked grey) Remodeling the display After some measuring and fiddling, mr. Lundstrgured out this solution: Tape the black "schematic" on a 100x45mm circuit board prepared for UV treatment. Expose to UV for 8 minutes, develop and etch away the unnecessary copper. Now drill holes with an .6mm drill or a Dremel. Solder all the diods, the negative cathode of the diod to the red marking (A.L: "Yes, I know it should be the opposite"). Next paint the board black in order to prevent it from being visible through the G5 front. Finally, simply switch the power on, set up the clock and press the display into the mac. Enjoy! mr. Anders Lundberg promises to get back to you all on the subject of the power supply. Well, that was my post here... Now be sure to post any pictures of your own attempts (either your fabulous G5 now witch built-in clock or you crying cause something went terribly, terribly wrong). And, oh, anyway: Shouldn't he have bought thos cool blue LED:s isntead of the ordinary red ones? That would be way cooler...

March 04 2005 at 7:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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