Solar Power Search Results

How To: SETI Needs Your Help Renaming Pluto's Newly Found P4 and P5 Moons

In 2006, everything that revolved around my world shattered into tiny pieces as I learned that scientists had decided to rescind Pluto's planetary status. Given the ol' Jeff Probst treatment, Pluto was officially voted off our solar system in the blink of an eye, leaving us with only eight planets and a whole load of useless textbooks. The primary reason that Pluto was demoted down to a "dwarf planet" was due to Pluto's largest moon, Charon, being about half the size of Pluto; all the other p...

News: This DIY Passion Fruit Battery Can Power Lasers!

It's been proven over and over that you can make batteries out of fruits and vegetables such as lemons, potatoes, and even apples. Turns out, passion fruit is also acidic enough to power a battery, but Maui Makers member Ryan K decided to take it a step further by adding a laser. Passion fruit, or Lilikoi as it's called in Hawaii, is usually over-abundant in Maui, so Ryan decided to put it to good use. Using anodized bolts, copper pipe, wire, switches, and some LEDs, he built a battery that c...

News: Little Boxes Turns Your iPad into an Old-Fashioned Music Box

Technology is awesome. You can use your iPad to record music or even turn your tunes into a solar system, but sometimes being plugged in all of the time can leave you nostalgic for simpler times. This new concept by Joelle Aeschlimann brings together the best of both worlds by turning your iPad into an old-fashioned, hand-cranked music box. The artist created three different music boxes, each one with its own unique song and visualization. The music boxes were made using wooden cylinders with...

News: This Real-Life, Working WALL-E Robot Is Absolutely Perfect (And Built Entirely from Scratch)

Want to build your own life-sized, working replica of WALL-E? Be prepared to take on a second job! Mike Senna spent two years perfecting his own version, working 25 hours a week and totaling somewhere around 3,800 hours for the whole project. He had no blueprints to go by, so he spent a lot of time watching the movie over and over to get everything just right. The video below shows some of the construction; skip to about the one minute mark to see WALL-E in action.

News: New Computer Simulation Reveals How Our Milky Way Really Formed After the Big Bang

For years, astronomers have been trying to figure out how our galaxy came to be. Even with the help of high-performance computers, no model of a spiral galaxy has ever been able to recreate the Milky Way, until now. An international team of researchers has created the first successful simulation of what happened 14 billion years ago to give our galaxy its unique shape. Turns out, all they needed was a bigger bang. Photo by IntelFreePress

How To: Brew Your Own Sun Tea

Assuming that you are living north of the equator, ‘tis the summer season for brewing your own sun tea. Unlike the conventional method of dunking tea bags in boiling hot water for several minutes, sun tea is brewed over the course of several hours through the natural heat of direct sunlight.

How To: Use a power drill to unlock a lock

Some locks are easier to drill through than to try and pick, especially if you need to get through them in a hurry! You will need one large power drill and an assortment of drill bits to be able to use this method. First, drill a 1/8 inch pilot hole just above the keyhole. Then follow through with a 1/4 inch or larger drill. After just a minute or so of drilling, you should be able to get through the lock!

How To: Make a digital color organ with high-powered LEDs

Collin of MAKE is back with another inspiring project. You may remember his analog light organ. Well, he's decided to upgrade and make his light organ a digital one. One thing to watch out for is the amount of heat emitted by high-powered LEDs, but as long as you find a way to dissipate the heat, this will work out just fine. Watch, and don't forget to read the thorough instructions before building this!

How To: Earn Equal Skill & Power in Soul Calibur IV

In this video, Geoff shows us how to earn equal skill and power in Soul Calibur IV. To do this, you must use all skill points to set up four skill. Use Mitsurugi and modify his gear to get the right skill points. First, add the pirate hat, round glasses, executioner's spaulder, loin cloth, and caretaker's breastplate. Add the Guardian's gauntlets and the Guardian's britches as well. For your weapon you will use the default weapon which is the shishi-oh. Once you have this enabled and saved, t...

How To: Navigate the home screen on Android phones (1.5/1.6)

Google's Android platform is one of the best things to hit cellular phones since Apple developed their first iPhone. Now everyone can enjoy an awesome operating system on their mobile devices, not just Apple addicts. If you've just gotten your first Android-powered cell phone, you may need a little help getting started. This video from Google shows you how to take advantage of the home screen's features on your Android-powered phone.

How To: Upgrade the hard drive on your XBox 360

Microsoft has behaved pretty douchily as far as managing the hard disc drive (HDD) sizes it made available for the XBox 360. The 20GB drive included in most models of the system is woefully inadequate, and many have been convinced to give Microsoft even more money to get a larger one. That's not necessary. This video will teach you how to upgrade the XBox 360's hard drive yourself, putting in any large-capacity SATA drive you wish and massively increasing the storage capacity of your XBox 360...

How To: Do Power Drift achievement in Sonic & Sega All-Stars

Achievement Hunter presents how to do power drift in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Cart Racing Part 1. To pick up the drifting achievement, all you have to do is drift for 15 seconds continuously. In order to drift, you hold down the left trigger. The narrator informs us that you can switch from drifting to the left to drifting to the right if you bounce off the wall, so it does not have to be all one direction. He said that the first time he did it, he drifted on the last few turns of the race. Tha...

How To: Wire a car amplifier and subwoofer inside your house

This easy to follow silent and accurate video will guide you quickly and easily through what you'll need, (like a Power Supply, a sound system that has a Subwoofer Pre-output and a High Input adapter, which may already come with your amp.) First learn what colored wires should be connected to simulate your PC starting. Then connect the amp to the power supply to simulate the car Head-Unit starting. Once the power issues are handled, the video assists you with connecting your audio input. It i...

How To: Do a hard reset on a G1 T-Mobile HTC phone

This video is made specifically for G1 T-Mobile users. The author explains to us that there are no instructions in the manual on how to do a hard reset so this video will explain how. The first step to reset the phone is to power down the phone by pressing the end key and then Power Off. Then the next step is to hold the End key and the Home key at the same time when powering the phone on. Once that is done the reset graphic will show up. Once you see the reset graphic show up press the home ...

Walkthrough Assassin's Creed 2: Mission 52

Knowledge Is Power: But can power be knowledge, too? Pay a visit to Leonardo and he'll cook up a new weapon for you based on a mystery codex. After the cut scene, move out to the yellow map marker and you'll get some directions on how to use your new pistol. Lock onto the three dummies across the river and shoot 'em. Holding down the fire button builds up your accuracy, making it possible to hit the distant targets. When all three targets are shot, return to Leonardo to complete the mission. ...

How To: Install a Basement Watchdog AC-powered sump pump system

A sump pump is a necessity for most homeowners with basements, and if you've just gotten yourself a Basement Watchdog AC sump pump, this video will show you how to install it. This is a full sump pump, AC-powered, that you can install in your basement, either as a first time sump pump or a replacement sump pump. Find out how to remove the old sump pump, prevent air locks, insert the AC pump and connect it to the discharge pipe correctly.

How To: Replace the brushes in a cordless DeWalt power drill

Cordless drills may seem complicated, but only if you've never take one apart before. They have a really simple design, compared to other power tools, and this means easy fixing! When it comes to brush replacements for your DeWalt cordless drill, it's super easy and super fast to replace yourself. This step-by-step guide will show you just how to remove and install drill brushes.

How To: Simplify algebraic expressions with negative exponents

This video explains the process of simplifying an algebraic expression with negative exponents. The video starts with an example of such an algebraic expression; the expression contains negative powers in both the numerator and denominator. The location of the negative exponents is first pointed out visually. Next, it is observed that there are like based or variables in both the numerator and denominator; however, it is explained that the numerator must first be expanded before the expressio...

How To: Simplify square roots easily

robichaudd teaches you how to simplify square roots. When you're dealing with variables, even powers and you want to find out the square root of it, you follow the process. Divide the power by the root, which is two, because it's a square root, that gives you what comes out. If we have square root of x squared, the result would be x. So the square root of x to the 6 is x cubed. You simply divide the power by two, since we are dealing with square root. Then square root of 36 times x square is ...

How To: Troubleshoot a heater blower motor

Basic instructions on how to troubleshoot the heater blower motor of a Saturn S-series. The heater blower motor is located behind the glove compartment of your vehicle. Disconnect the negative and positive power supply. (The black wire is usually the negative.) Using a multimeter set on the Ohm scale, use the positive lead and test the black wire. To check the purple wire for current, use your ignition key and turn it to the run setting, turn the heater power to full power and set the multime...

How To: Install motion detector lights

Looking to take some safety precautions for the exterior of your home? Motion detector lights are a good way to ward off unwanted intruders. Installation of motion detector lights isn’t as difficult as it sounds, since most are pre-wired and preassembled.

How To: Repair broken gearboxes in Power Wheels toy vehicles

So, your children have the same old boring Fisher-Price Power Wheels that all the other kids on the block have. Do you really want your child to be like all of the rest? No, I didn't think so. Turn those miniature Power Wheels, Dumar or Peg Perego vehicles into a little bit of realism, if you can handle it. All it takes is a little modification and you'll be wishing you were five again. With a few simple hacks, your son and daughter will be burning rubber, jumping curbs and burying those othe...

How To: Add headlights and a horn to a Power Wheels vehicle

So, your children have the same old boring Fisher-Price Power Wheels that all the other kids on the block have. Do you really want your child to be like all of the rest? No, I didn't think so. Turn those miniature Power Wheels, Dumar or Peg Perego vehicles into a little bit of realism, if you can handle it. All it takes is a little modification and you'll be wishing you were five again. With a few simple hacks, your son and daughter will be burning rubber, jumping curbs and burying those othe...

How To: Connect the y-axis motor wires for a CNC router

A CNC router machine is probably the most useful tool a hobbyist can own, but the price for a CNC machine on the market is way more than the average hobbyist is willing to spend. You can build your own CNC with very basic tools, little knowledge of machinery, mechanics, or electronics, but be warned, these machines are inherently dangerous, so wear the proper protection and use common sense. At the very least, read the instructions and precautions on every tool you use.