I got a wireless mouse not long ago as a gift. It worked very nicely, but it ate batteries like mad. And being a man of not much money I seeked to fix that issue.

...Also, I was starving for a project, and had made some money working for my fiancées dad for parts.

I thought about adding an external pack to double my amperage. Would have worked, but would also have been ugly, and uncomfortable. I thought maybe make it solar powered. Nice, and eco friendly, but wouldn't work to well unless I have it in direct sunlight.

In experimenting, I came up with a list of issues which I ultimately solved as well as no longer having to buy batteries.

One of the issues, is this mouse has a voltage detector which is over sensitive, and has no pot to adjust it. I figure this out when two new alkalines worked fine, but two freshly charged NiMH's didn't due to the .6 volt voltage drop. Pissed me off a bit, actually because I have some very nice rechargeable AA's.

Anyways. Problem solved. How? Take a look (Pictures taken by my webcam):



As you can see by the right-most image on the bottom, it still functions as a wireless mouse (And has the optional ability to power something from the mouse's batteries).

My mouse has a tail!

this seems more like a rainy day project, not really a "news" project. You do the simplest mods and then make a news thread for it, which is rather annoying..

Was unaware it was against the rules to do so (And I read the rules before posting this just to make sure, so...). Sorry.

It's not against the rules, just annoys me every time I see a project in the news that's a nerf gun or crap like that.

You're getting annoyed on the internet? Why not just let it go, it's just a thread. If you have nothing nice to post don't post at all. I personally like it, as long as the cord is getting in the way. Plus this is the only news thread in a while that I've seen this guy do. It may not be news worthy but still. The only multi function mouses I see are either wireless or $30 gaming ones, so it's a nice fix.

I saw the title and thought: "Oh good, no more Antichrist Angel."
Thank you for not giving this a dumb name.

Sorry. It's all I have money for. Such is the life of a poor man. I deal with it.

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No, the wire doesn't get in the way. HOWEVER, I would have liked a longer cord. It's not that big of a deal, though. I might make a USB power cord for it later that will just tap into the "tail" the same way my wall plug does.

I agree now that Antichrist Angel was a stupid name... I'm open for suggestions on that.

well, if you would have saved it, which is obviously hard for you, you could put it towords your n64 laptop or your snes portable

You wanna know how long to took me to save the lousy $18 I put into this? You really wanna know? Since I've been here in NY (Roughly two months). I can save. But I also had a problem that needed to be fixed. Batteries would have cost more in the long run than the parts I got here.

You don't think its News worthy, and you don't like it, fine. Then don't post. I don't need people knocking me down when it's so hard to get back up right now.

Well, I at least like it.

You scared me, HBN!
I thought AA were cancelled.
Not really.
Not particularly interesting, but at least it saves you power.

Thanks. ^_^.



Not so much power, as it does money. That's the important part for me right now.

That's what I meant.
Whoops! Sorry.

Isn't it kind of pointless to put a wire on a wireless mouse? But it would be sweet if that wire could charge some batteries!

I thought about that. Not sure if I could do it, though, without frying the mouse seeing as the charging voltage is higher than the battery voltage.