d'mo
Enlightened
Greetings,
I've been able to mod an OnHand PC and install a white Nichia S-rank LED.
I got the idea on one of my trips to the Philippines with my wife. It typically gets dark about 6pm and, with no indoor plumbing, a good flashlight just to find the outhouse is a necessity. Unfortunately, it was so hot, I rarely wore more than a t-shirt and gym shorts. With no belt loops or pockets, I was left keeping a Photon 2 around my neck, but this resulted in rusted batteries from sweat
(see http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=002483 for more). I ended up attaching a P2 to my watch band using elastic piping as I'm rarely without a watch. It worked, but it was ugly, cumbersome and really needed integration.
The OnHand PC works well as a Palm Pilot substitute. It's a bit bigger than the largest G-Shock watches, but it has many of the functions of a PDA, synchronizes with Outlook, and doesn't have to be carried in a pocket so it was easy to justify wearing an over-sized watch.
Adding the LED flashlight was a bit tricky because there wasn't much real estate to work with. The LED had to be cut in half horizontally just behind the die cup, leaving only the leads intact and a current limiting resistor added to keep the watch from displaying a "low battery" display every time the LED was turned on. It's about as bright as a Photon II and works off two CR2032 batteries that are also powering the watch. It's switched on and off using a miniature slide switch mounted to the left of the joystick. There is no momentary function.
What do you think? Can anyone think of any improvements?
I've been able to mod an OnHand PC and install a white Nichia S-rank LED.
I got the idea on one of my trips to the Philippines with my wife. It typically gets dark about 6pm and, with no indoor plumbing, a good flashlight just to find the outhouse is a necessity. Unfortunately, it was so hot, I rarely wore more than a t-shirt and gym shorts. With no belt loops or pockets, I was left keeping a Photon 2 around my neck, but this resulted in rusted batteries from sweat
The OnHand PC works well as a Palm Pilot substitute. It's a bit bigger than the largest G-Shock watches, but it has many of the functions of a PDA, synchronizes with Outlook, and doesn't have to be carried in a pocket so it was easy to justify wearing an over-sized watch.
Adding the LED flashlight was a bit tricky because there wasn't much real estate to work with. The LED had to be cut in half horizontally just behind the die cup, leaving only the leads intact and a current limiting resistor added to keep the watch from displaying a "low battery" display every time the LED was turned on. It's about as bright as a Photon II and works off two CR2032 batteries that are also powering the watch. It's switched on and off using a miniature slide switch mounted to the left of the joystick. There is no momentary function.
What do you think? Can anyone think of any improvements?
