Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Technical Articles and DIY tools and tips => Topic started by: BDA on Monday,January 04, 2021, 08:00:43 PM
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Everybody knows about using a cell phone for GPS, speedo, streaming music, or even to make a phone call but I recently came up with some others. I was at a friend's house who had an bore scope and I thought that was pretty interesting so I bought a USB endoscope for my cell phone. The only difficulty was finding the app that produced the best resolution but I found a good free app and now I have a bore scope/endoscope that cost me about $20! Literarymadness came up with another use for the endoscope and that was to be able to read the numbers stamped on my flywheel. They are small and my eyes have a hard time reading them from even as close as I can get to it. Another use would be to inspect the inside of a frame.
I was watching some videos on using a leakdown tester on youtube and some of people used a microphone to amplify the sound of air leaking so I thought a microphone would be another good addition to my cell phone. I got the mic from Amazon for about $6 and found a free app that routes the sound to the cell speakers, provides graphical sound wave, and supposedly will record the sound (I haven't tried that yet). It is very sensitive such that I have to worry about reverb as well as how noisy it is in the garage (eg. the compressor must not be running!).
Can anybody come up with new uses for those tools or other tools you can use with a cell phone?
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Ages ago I called in to my usual cafe for coffee.
Outside was a truck with one of those platforms with a two man lift arrangement. They were kinda blocking the entrance and getting ready to start work on the electricity connection to the building. They'd apparently forgotten the instrument that sets the platform level.
I have a level app on my phone and offered that if it might help. Great, they said.
We calibrated the app, set it down on the platform and the guy pulled various hydraulic levers to get the platform level. There's probably heaps of health and safety legalities with using a passer by help do the job, but they seemed happy enough.
Nothing get's between me and my coffee.
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Idle thought.... how accurate is the angle measurement ?
It might make a cool camber gauge held against a straight edge & the rear wheels....
Brian
ps - since I've joined the 21st century with a smart phone I've got addicted to the novelty of having a pocket computer. So far I've written a couple of apps for my hobby of archery and even a prototype app for working out the results from the old string alignment method. For anyone else interested in that aspect, I'd strongly recommend B4A (Basic for Android) a free compiler which is far easier than the alternatives.
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With a wireless OBDII adapter ($15) and the Torque pro app ($5), you can make a gauge for any thing the ECU sees and data log too. I used it to set up a piggy back to pull timing under boost. It also gives codes and you can clear them but a regular scanner is faster for that.
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My iPhone 7 makes a great coaster for my tea.
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My iPhone 7 makes a great coaster for my tea.
Oh I like that one.... :)
(are they up to iphone #7 now ? )
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Wives' can use them to find out where you are....... :-\
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Wives' can use them to find out where you are....... :-\
Or let them ring till they go to voicemail when you call them, but complain if you don't answer before the second ring... :confused:
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From my experience, to really answer the question of "What can you do with a cell phone" - we need to ask your average 10 year old :FUNNY:
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From my experience, to really answer the question of "What can you do with a cell phone" - we need to ask your average 10 year old :FUNNY:
:)
oh so true. The same goes for anything with a remote control.....
Brian
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Idle thought.... how accurate is the angle measurement ?
It might make a cool camber gauge held against a straight edge & the rear wheels....
Don't know the accuracy though it's likely adequate for wheel alignment, if a tad awkward to use.
But really, those cheap digital angle gauges available these days have a magnetic base and everything.
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Yeah, that’s what I used for my camber gage I described earlier. Joe made it a sticky on the forum.
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My iPhone 7 makes a great coaster for my tea.
Oh I like that one.... :)
(are they up to iphone #7 now ? )
12 and counting!