DI Y

CIRCUITS

TV-B-GONE HAT

Turn off TVs by just looking at them.

By Mitch Altman

“Hey, you mind turning that thing off?” Simple enough question, but I got tired of people looking at me like I’m from Mars. When a TV is on in the room, I can’t think. I just stare at the thing and drool.

So I invented TV-B-Gone, a key chain that stealthily turns off just about any television. When the TVs turn off, people turn on, engage in conversation, read, eat, and perform all sorts of human activities. Peace happens.

Photograph by Sam Murphy

I recently teamed up with prolific kit maker Limor Fried to create a $20 kit version of the original TV-B-Gone key chain. This version works up to 40 yards away, and it’s totally hackable; the entire project is open source and documented at ladyada. net/make/tvbgone. Here’s how I built one into a baseball cap that lets me look at almost any TV, touch the top, and watch with glee as it shuts off.

MATERIALS

TV-B-Gone kit available from Limor Fried’s site or the Maker Store ( store.makezine.com)

Baseball cap or any other hat with a visor Tactile switch, SPST momentary

Jameco part #119010 ( jameco.com)

1" heat-shrink tubing, 2" long Jameco #419291

5" heat-shrink tubing, ¾" long Jameco #419127

30-gauge solid-core wire-wrap wire, about 2' matching hat color

Permanent marker or paint matching hat color AA alkaline batteries ( 2)

Needle and thread

Hot glue gun and glue

Hair dryer, heat gun, or lighter

Needlenose pliers

Make: 169