DIY

WORKSHOP

ELECTRONIC ROADKILL

Scrounging useful components on your two-wheeled travels. By Thomas J. Arey

My articles for this magazine about scrounging and repurposing found items are not limited to describing how to dig through trash bins and dumpsters for maker gold.

I’m an avid bicyclist and, on my training rides, I’ve discovered that all too many people take the notion of living in a throwaway society to its worst conclusion. The roadsides are littered with many things.

Photography by Thomas J. Arey

I must remain aware of such effluvia as a matter of self-preservation when cycling. While keeping my eyes on the road for things that might pierce my tires or send me over the handlebars, I am discovering an increasing amount of what I have come to call “electronic roadkill.”

On a recent 30-mile loop I found no less than 3 castoff electronic devices that were worth stopping for: a cellphone, a partial electronic calculator, and a slightly damaged portable CD player.

Let’s see what a maker can do with these recovered gadgets.

Roadkill Cellphone

The found cellphone was a discount/convenience store “pay as you go” model, banged up and inoperable, but intact. Apparently, when the owner ran out of minutes they just pulled the SIM card and tossed the unit out the car window. The battery is a nice compact 3.7-volt 920mAh lithium-ion unit that can be put to work in many electronics projects.

I also pulled a few other pieces off the phone to add to my parts piles. The eccentric motor used to vibrate the phone when it rings has potential, as does the ultra-mini speaker.

The majority of the phone circuit was proprietary surface-mount devices with little hope of easy recovery but I was happy to come up with the free

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