1. EdY's Avatar
    Hey folks,

    I always loved my old Blackberries and use them for lots of other things. You can see my older posts on Crackberry about WiFi music streaming, media players, stand-alone GPS tracking and so on using my old Blackberries without any SIMs at all. Anyways, thought I'd share my latest Blackberry HACK! This is post 1 of 3... got lots of images to share!

    Background: I have a small camera and needed a ring-light to shoot dark areas or close-up macro. I decided to make my own, but wanted a way to power it up that could be re-usable and environmentally conscious. I had a ring-light and some old Blackberry batteries laying around and though maybe I could use them to power the light! And I could recharge these batteries in the phone itself!

    Here is my camera. I attached small but very strong magnets with hot-glue to various points around the lens and the side of the camera which are going to magnetically stick to the LED ring light and the battery.



    Here is the LED ring light which I took apart. You can find them
    on Google by searching for "USB flexible LED ring light laptop" or
    something similar. They can be found in many electronics shops,
    dollar stores, online shops and cost only a few bucks.
    They will fit most small cameras.





    The LED ring light can be modified to remove the middle flexible
    part so all you have is the ring and you can salvage the USB plug.
    These lights already have an on/off switch built in, so you have
    everything you need here. All you have to do is stick magnets on it
    so it will stick to your camera.






    Here is the LED ring light stuck on to the front of my camera with
    magnets. It comes on and off whenever I need it. The magnets are
    also stuck to the back of the ring light with hot-glue.




    ... continued in next post....
    Stewartj1 and otacon like this.
    10-12-12 08:08 PM
  2. EdY's Avatar
    .....continued....

    Now for the Blackberry battery!

    So here is where it gets more interesting. As you can see, here are some
    of my old D-X1 batteries. I have a bunch for my old Storm and Curve 8900
    because I've used these for years and you can pick up D-X1 online for
    ridiculously cheap prices (pack of 3 for $10). I modified one by adding
    a USB port to it (hot-glued on the back). Noticed that I soldered the
    connection to the battery in such as way that I can still charge it in
    the phone. You'll see in the photos below.







    Here is a close-up of the soldered on USB port. You can see that I use
    the outer-most pins and the solder is flat so I can still slide this
    battery into my phone and charge it. I can also use it in my phone but
    the USB port glued to the back doesn't allow me to close the battery
    compartment.







    You can see the back of my Storm where I can insert my D-X1 batteries.
    The phone is fully operational and can use both of these batteries. When
    I want to be able to close the battery compartment I just use my D-X1 without
    the USB port attached.







    See, here is the battery stuck into the back of the Storm. It runs
    perfectly fine. In fact, I can even plug my light into the battery and
    have my Storm working *AND* the light working at the same time! There is
    just not enough current drawn by the LED ring light to cause any problems
    to the phone.






    Here is a close-up showing how the battery fits fine into the phone.
    Just make sure you glue the USB plug on the proper side! Also notice
    the small magnets glued onto the battery. These will be used to stick
    the battery to the side of my camera.


    Last edited by edyb; 10-12-12 at 08:47 PM. Reason: typo
    10-12-12 08:09 PM
  3. EdY's Avatar
    .... continued....

    Finally, here are some pictures showing the camera with ring light and battery next to it (but not stuck on yet with magnets).



    Here is with the battery stuck on the side by magnets, and with
    the LED ring light USB connected up to the battery's USB port.





    The magic begins! Flip the switch on the LED ring light and light turned on!
    You can shake the camera and the LED ring and battery do not fall off. They
    are light weight and the little magnets are very strong. They do not interfere
    or damage anything, and there is no danger it will erase you SD card or something.
    It is also easy to hold the camera still, even with one hand.



    Here are some sample photos using the Macro settings.



    You can see this would be very difficult without a bright ring light. The more
    light, the better your camera can focus because the iris closes down more
    and that increases your depth of field. Also, the more light makes the camera
    have a faster shutter speed so you don't get blurring. The ring makes the
    light even so you have no shadows either. It's awesome!!!!

    10-12-12 08:13 PM
  4. EdY's Avatar
    Here are the attachments in case the embedded images don't show up. Images 1 to 7....
    Attached Thumbnails Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-07.jpg   Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-06.jpg   Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-05.jpg   Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-04.jpg   Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-03.jpg  

    Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-02.jpg   Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-01.jpg  
    10-12-12 08:17 PM
  5. EdY's Avatar
    Here are the final images.... attachments 8-14.

    Thanks for your attention!!! Have fun hacking!
    Attached Thumbnails Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-13.jpg   Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-14.jpg   Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-12.jpg   Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-11.jpg   Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-10.jpg  

    Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-09.jpg   Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-08.jpg  
    kbz1960 and Frosty_Power like this.
    10-12-12 08:19 PM
  6. Stewartj1's Avatar
    Very resourceful, I'm impressed.
    10-12-12 08:41 PM
  7. otacon's Avatar
    Thumbs up. Way to 'recycle' old BB's...
    10-13-12 11:59 AM
  8. cfx_will's Avatar
    Can you post a picture that you took with it?
    10-13-12 01:42 PM
  9. kbz1960's Avatar
    Pretty cool and inventive.
    10-13-12 03:11 PM
  10. EdY's Avatar
    Yes, if you look above... The pictures of the "blue circuit board" are actually close-up macro photos which I took using the ring light. Here it is again:

    Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-13.jpg
    Last edited by edyb; 10-13-12 at 03:26 PM.
    10-13-12 03:15 PM
  11. EdY's Avatar
    Here is another ring-light hack but I used conventional 3 AAA batteries. It is precisely the reason that I wanted to use the Blackberry battery, because as you can see they take up too much space and harder to replace them all. The Blackberry battery is smaller and easier to use and charge up.

    Here is the camera with just the ring-light but this time no magnets, just use a bare circuit board hot-glued onto the frame.




    This is the battery pack which I modified with a USB port and a switch I had laying around, with 3 AAA batteries inside (yellow).




    Here is a photo showing the battery pack and the camera about to be connected.... Noticed the USB plug on top of the camera and also on the battery pack... they line up and when you plug them together it holds on just by the USB plug.




    Ok, so here they are "mated" together. The battery pack just hangs nicely along the side of the camera just by being plugged in.




    Turn on the lights and there you go, nice illumination! But the camera is not on yet...




    Ok, now we turn on the camera. Notice how the lens just barely clears the entire ring light assembly in this case.



    And here is the view from the back. The camera is still easy to hold with one hand.



    I've also attached the pictures in case the links get broken.
    Attached Thumbnails Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-001.jpg   Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-002.jpg   Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-003.jpg   Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-004.jpg   Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-005.jpg  

    Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-006.jpg   Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-007.jpg  
    10-13-12 03:25 PM
  12. Mr_Comet's Avatar
    thats a pretty wicked mod!
    10-16-12 02:24 AM
  13. Superfly_FR's Avatar
    Cool stuff
    Now I wonder what if I could get some power out of PlayBook's micro USB (when/if USBhost is here).
    10-16-12 02:45 AM
  14. EdY's Avatar
    Hi folks,

    I made another Blackberry Battery-powered LED ring-light hack for a Canon Powershot A3400IS. Here is a YouTube video I made about it:



    Same technique as the red camera in the pictures above, with the LED hot-glued directly onto the front of the camera, but this time using a Blackberry D-X1 battery. This time the battery is also hot-glued onto the camera, but it is attached in such a way that I can slip the entire camera/battery assembly into the back of my old Blackberry Storm for charging (sort of a strange "mating" between a Canon and Blackberry). The battery is "tapped" with wires to power the LED in such a way that it still allows it to slip in and out of the Storm for charging. I usually get several months on a single charge because the LED are so efficient! Here are some photos of the camera and phone joined together in their brief charging interlude:

    Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-hack0008.jpg

    Blackberry Battery LED Ring Light Camera Hack!-hack0006.jpg
    01-18-13 11:23 PM
  15. jamiegilroy's Avatar
    Hi,
    I'd like a LED Ring Light made for my tablet, happy to pay.
    Preferably powered by USB and that clips onto tablet rather than glued.
    Please get in contact if you are interested.
    [email protected]
    04-08-13 10:34 PM
  16. djdragon's Avatar
    Best.thread.evar.

    Posted via CB10
    04-09-13 02:14 AM

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