Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The ghetto mod thread

Collapse
This is a sticky topic.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Re: The ghetto mod thread

    20 years ago I had the woofers from my Altec Lansing L-100 speaker rebuilt by a company in CA. They were the only people who had the OEM ceramic cone kits from Altec to do the job with. At first they did lack low end but they got better with time. I'd say that they did end up being as good as new. The sweet part of this speaker system were the silky smooth mid-range drivers. Like a fool I traded them off for some Bose things. Today I'm using the Polk Monitor 10B units. These are not so great ether.
    Last edited by Junk Parts; 12-10-2014, 09:59 AM.
    "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."
    Mark Twain

    "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way."
    John Paul Jones

    There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.
    Rod Serling

    Comment


      Re: The ghetto mod thread

      Originally posted by goontron View Post
      i've already had to resolder the main filter cap on that TV because it rattled loose.
      i used RTV silicone, i really need to get those speakers reconed though.
      For small (radio) speakers, and sometimes surround gaskets, I've been known to use this:

      http://www.homedepot.com/p/Amazing-G...0211/202533796

      Here's the stuff to use:
      http://www.simplyspeakers.com/speake...e-mi-3035.html

      Originally posted by goontron View Post
      remember Sanford and Son? heard of Mumford and Sons?


      LaWanda Page- "You really are a big dummy, aren't you? Faking those heart attacks to get something from your son."
      Redd Fox- "Oh Elizabeth! I'm coming to join ya, honey!"
      LaWanda Page- "Fred you heathen! She only died because she was married to you!"
      Redd- "Your face is your halloween mask, you gorrilla, you! Take 'five' (knuckles to the face) and leave while you're still standing!"





      Originally posted by goontron
      i bet you would like the sound of this song: https://soundcloud.com/demiansims/sa...mford-and-sons
      Maybe later, can't deal w/ "F'd-player" now...
      Attached Files
      Last edited by kaboom; 12-10-2014, 03:44 PM.
      "pokemon go... to hell!"

      EOL it...
      Originally posted by shango066
      All style and no substance.
      Originally posted by smashstuff30
      guilty,guilty,guilty,guilty!
      guilty of being cheap-made!

      Comment


        Re: The ghetto mod thread

        While we are on the topic of ghetto audio mods, I do have another "project" that I did over Thanksgiving break. Have some pictures now, but they came out blurry. Will try to re-shoot when we get some good sunny weather. It won't dissapoint you, or so I think.

        Originally posted by lti View Post
        All of the components were removed from junk boards (and they're all surface mount), so it's definitely ghetto.
        Wow! Kudos for that. Getting the right SMD parts from a dead boards is a skill in itself, especially unlabeled resistors.

        Originally posted by lti View Post
        It is now powered directly from 5V instead of being connected to the motherboard's fan header because it doesn't spin the fan until the CPU temperature reaches 80°C.
        That's how my Dell C600 runs - fan doesn't turn on until the plastic starts burning me. I really am waiting on that that laptop to die one day so that I can have a reason to use something else... but it just won't die lol .

        Originally posted by goontron
        80s yamaha receiver driving vintage console radio speakers, drawer enclosure.
        that is pretty funny. So where do you keep your socks then? In a speaker box?
        Terrific amp/receiver, by the way! Those things are built like a tank and then some more.

        Originally posted by kaboom View Post
        What can I say? It sure beats leaving them as useless junk. Or, the audio you'll get from them still beats what that lousy skype codec delivers...

        How do they sound for music? Beats me.



        Originally posted by kaboom View Post
        ( me for the very obvious joke)
        I don't know about that. I still think it's a funny joke.

        Originally posted by kaboom View Post
        I've got ya tied for bad jokes. I once put a 6x9 car speaker in a cardboard gift box when I was much younger. What can I say- it sounded better than when it was free air... The bad-joke of bad-jokes was when I added a Radio Shack piezo tweeter to it. You can't say I didn't have fun with it!
        I imagine that would have been worthy to see in action . A few years back, my lab partner and I were messing about in one of our electronics labs (after the lab was done). Found a forgotten speaker in the lab and decided to hook it up to the frequency generator and make some beats (oh noes, that joke of yours again! ). Good thing no one was around .

        Originally posted by kaboom View Post
        For small (radio) speakers, and sometimes surround gaskets, I've been known to use this:

        http://www.homedepot.com/p/Amazing-G...0211/202533796

        Here's the stuff to use:
        http://www.simplyspeakers.com/speake...e-mi-3035.html
        What's wrong with plain ol' paper 'n' wood glue? .
        Hey, at least my Nova-18's are still working . Matter of fact, I've been playing them almost every day for the last 5 months now (and sometimes pushing them a bit too). Even shot a video. Need to edit it a bit, though (potato webcam's fault).

        Will keep the above stuff in mind, though. Re-cone kits are overrated anyways .
        Last edited by momaka; 12-13-2014, 10:05 PM.

        Comment


          Re: The ghetto mod thread

          Originally posted by kaboom View Post
          What can I say? It sure beats leaving them as useless junk. Or, the audio you'll get from them still beats what that lousy skype codec delivers...

          How do they sound for music? Beats me.
          Hehehe. Ba-dom Tishhhhh
          I love putting bad caps and flat batteries in fire and watching them explode!!

          No wonder it doesn't work! You installed the jumper wires backwards

          Main PC: Core i7 3770K 3.5GHz, Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H-MVP, 8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600, 240GB Intel 335 Series SSD, 750GB WD HDD, Sony Optiarc DVD RW, Palit nVidia GTX660 Ti, CoolerMaster N200 Case, Delta DPS-600MB 600W PSU, Hauppauge TV Tuner, Windows 7 Home Premium

          Office PC: HP ProLiant ML150 G3, 2x Xeon E5335 2GHz, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB Intel 530 SSD, 2x 250GB HDD, 2x 450GB 15K SAS HDD in RAID 1, 1x 2TB HDD, nVidia 8400GS, Delta DPS-650BB 650W PSU, Windows 7 Pro

          Comment


            Re: The ghetto mod thread

            I couldn't afford a space heater with a thermostat, so I found a 12V power brick and a thermostat that wasn't currently being used, and bought a PowerSwitch Tail II. A bit of wiring later, and now I have a space heater with a thermostat.
            Attached Files

            Comment


              Re: The ghetto mod thread

              ^ That's a great idea! I have a spare thermostat as well. If my college apt. is really cold for the spring semester, I might just do something like that for the bedroom I sleep.
              -------------------------------

              Now here is the "project" I was talking about in my last post above:
              https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1418712856
              Looks like a plain ol' boring PSU board, doesn't it? Indeed it is a PSU board out of a Sony KV-36FV310 TV. But what you don't really see (and know) is how broken this board was when I got it.

              The TV was a dumpster special and had sat at the bottom of a big dumpster probably for quite a long time. I guess the copper scrappers must have noticed it, because the back case of the TV was busted, and the Yoke and rest of focus/deflection coils were all gone. So when I got to it, that PSU board was broken in half (and the main board was mashed even worse). Moreover, whoever opened it wasn't gentle with it at all. Aside from the PSU board being broken in half, it also had over 5 spots where the PCB was cracked and the trackes were ripped. So if you look at the underside pictures,
              https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1418712856
              https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1418712856
              you will see how many solder "jumpers" I had to put to mend the board togheter. Some traces were too small, so I had to use thin wire. And here I used whatever I grabbed from my "salvage" wire bag (including that thin copper enameled wire again ).

              So why did I fix this board? Simple. That big black heatsink on one side has a TFA9844J amplifier attached to it. Although I can't seem to find a datasheet for it, pin-wise it seems identical to the TDA8947J amps in my Xbox 360 amplifier, and those are quite good for mini amp projects (can do up to 13W in BTL with fairly low distortion, and up to 40W with 10% THD).

              Miraculously, after mending everything together and plugging the PSU board in, nothing blew up (granted I did use a dim bulb tester). I then found that I had to tie the "Relay" pin to the "7.5V" standby pin to turn the "main" PS ON. After that, I played an audio signal into the L/R inputs and the amp actually worked!

              So it looks like I have another amplifier "project" board now. I can't find a datasheet on the TFA9844 amp IC at all, though. Perhpahs I shall email Philips/NXP semi to find out. If it turns out to be indeed similar to the TDA8947, that would be sweet. Might just become my next amplifier project (but maybe after fixing the PCB a little better - right now, the only thing holding it together is the solder and nothing else).

              My other concern is that the PSU voltage for the audio is only 14V and drops to 12.5V when the amp is cranked to a medium volume. Not sure how much power I would be able to push out. I am guesstimating 10W RMS tops since the amp does appear to be in BTL mode right now. That should be enough, though. I tried using my Sony SS-MB215 8 Ohm floor standing speakers with it, and the sound output was decent at medium level.

              Anyways, it sure was fun to repair that PSU/amp board.
              By the way, I am at post count 4567 - cool numbers! .
              Attached Files
              Last edited by momaka; 12-16-2014, 01:02 AM.

              Comment


                Re: The ghetto mod thread

                Here is one of my latest GPU cooler ghetto mods:


                Full details here:
                https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showth...915#post511915

                Comment


                  Re: The ghetto mod thread

                  No pics,but just finished transferring my rig into a new "BMW" style Delux MG760 case.

                  What's ghetto at it is rewiring the front lights. So far power leds (white) work but the HDD ones work partially (three leds connected together - the one on the top of the case,and the 2 blue ones on the front).

                  BTW it's a nice case after all,and much larger than what I used to have. The system that resides in it is in the signature. It also came with these freebies:

                  -SD Card/MMC reader
                  -2x DVD drives - a white Lite-on and a LG without the front plastic.
                  Last edited by Dan81; 12-18-2014, 01:41 PM.
                  Main rig:
                  Gigabyte B75M-D3H
                  Core i5-3470 3.60GHz
                  Gigabyte Geforce GTX650 1GB GDDR5
                  16GB DDR3-1600
                  Samsung SH-224AB DVD-RW
                  FSP Bluestorm II 500W (recapped)
                  120GB ADATA + 2x Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST31000340NS 1TB
                  Delux MG760 case

                  Comment


                    Re: The ghetto mod thread

                    Working at figuring out a cooling solution for the modded Little Bear P1 amp I got. This particular one had the MOSFETs and OP Amps replaced but the cooling remained the same as stock, getting hot enough to discolour two heatsinks.

                    This here's just a mockup of what I'm thinking should do it. I'm aware that running a fan off the internal power will introduce noise into the circuit (which matters for an amp) but it's not hard to run a second 12V lead with an inline pot along with the 24V input for a fan.

                    Attached Files

                    Comment


                      Re: The ghetto mod thread

                      Not really a mod, more like a quick test, but anyway. Back when I didn't have a psu for the phat (old revision) xbox 360s, I got a console with a dvd drive problem. To do a quick test, to check if it's working at all, before opening it I took some cables I had, plugged one end into the molex (or maybe it was the 20/24 pin cable) and the other into the into the voltage input plug of the xbox. No soldering just thin cables (the molex cables probably had double the thickness) plugged into a molex (or 24 pin cable) plug, giving 12V and about 13-14A to an xbox 360! And if you know what the power plug on a 360 looks like, you should know that the +5V isn't really pins in a hole, but just an exposed pin, imagine getting all of that to work while it's sitting on my lap.
                      Keyboard not detected, press F1 to continue...

                      Comment


                        Re: The ghetto mod thread

                        homebrew ghetto 18650 charger
                        Attached Files

                        Comment


                          Re: The ghetto mod thread

                          Nice but what's inside the box?....
                          "Tantalum for the brave, Solid Aluminium for the wise, Wet Electrolytic for the adventurous"
                          -David VanHorn

                          Comment


                            Re: The ghetto mod thread

                            a tp4056 and 3 wire voltmeter
                            Attached Files

                            Comment


                              Re: The ghetto mod thread

                              Is it really ghetto though? It looks too good!
                              "Tantalum for the brave, Solid Aluminium for the wise, Wet Electrolytic for the adventurous"
                              -David VanHorn

                              Comment


                                Re: The ghetto mod thread

                                I agree, it looks quite well made. I am guessing you made the case too? (or perhaps a friend who does metal work?)
                                I got rid of almost all of my laptop lithium batteries in my house last year. Should have probably sent them to you - they had good Japanese cells.
                                Last edited by momaka; 02-26-2015, 11:47 PM.

                                Comment


                                  Re: The ghetto mod thread

                                  Looks like a fairly standard aluminum project box to me.

                                  Comment


                                    Re: The ghetto mod thread

                                    Yah. That doesn't qualify for this thread unless there is duct tape, jagged edges and/or wire ties involved
                                    I love putting bad caps and flat batteries in fire and watching them explode!!

                                    No wonder it doesn't work! You installed the jumper wires backwards

                                    Main PC: Core i7 3770K 3.5GHz, Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H-MVP, 8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600, 240GB Intel 335 Series SSD, 750GB WD HDD, Sony Optiarc DVD RW, Palit nVidia GTX660 Ti, CoolerMaster N200 Case, Delta DPS-600MB 600W PSU, Hauppauge TV Tuner, Windows 7 Home Premium

                                    Office PC: HP ProLiant ML150 G3, 2x Xeon E5335 2GHz, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB Intel 530 SSD, 2x 250GB HDD, 2x 450GB 15K SAS HDD in RAID 1, 1x 2TB HDD, nVidia 8400GS, Delta DPS-650BB 650W PSU, Windows 7 Pro

                                    Comment


                                      Re: The ghetto mod thread

                                      compared to the box mods we make it is.
                                      Originally posted by Agent24 View Post
                                      Is it really ghetto though? It looks too good!

                                      Comment


                                        Re: The ghetto mod thread

                                        My "ATX" case for an ATX dev board for the Geode GX1.
                                        - Old aluminum card cage from something rather. No clue.
                                        - sound card with no bracket to make it fit, and zip tied speakers to the top of the cage for "sound" (which I no longer use)
                                        - Drilled holes and threaded holes into the rails to attach standoffs.
                                        - When I noticed there were not enough standoffs I stuck some coaster CD-R's as insulation.
                                        - PSU is not even an ATX PSU, it's some custom PSU that doesn't fit regular ATX cases, I just shoved it in where it fits. Fan is useless (but this board is a low power board and the CPU does not even need a heatsink.
                                        - Not visible, but I had a bit of a PCB that was useless that I retrofitted into a power up one-shot that would turn this board on whenever power comes back. It's shoved into the card cage slots into the back for mechanical stability else it's just floating.
                                        - And of course I need space so my Sencore LC meter and Monsanto (yes I think that company...) timer/counter are on top...

                                        I normally run this headless but it's on a KVM switch now.
                                        Attached Files

                                        Comment


                                          Re: The ghetto mod thread

                                          Upgraded a Monorail Computer many years ago and upgraded the CPU from 166 to 333mhz. Needless to say there wasn't room for the heatsink and fan, but the chipset heatsink assembly from a G5 worked well with a little...persuasion.
                                          Attached Files
                                          Last edited by c_hegge; 03-23-2015, 12:55 AM. Reason: Attached image locally
                                          Find Nedry!


                                          Check the Vending machines!!

                                          <----Computer says I need more beer.

                                          Comment

                                          Working...
                                          X