I had one of those. you made them?
yes 
(me and 2 partners)
1 Like
Yeah C64 rulez, I had one of those too 
1 Like
@cle Can i ask how you mounted the antenna connector on the left one? Is it directly to the board or just laying there connected with wires?
The SMA connector is soldered onto the Perma-Proto board. Connected to GND and the center pin to the RFM95 (ANT) with a short wire.
wow… bought a win 10 pro key for €3,55 on eBay
thinking it is a scam, but he, within a few minutes got a mail with the key
and instructions to download w10
called someone who knows a lot about licensing and stuff… he says its legit.
now… only problem is I don’t have a spare computer to test this key
- found one … here we go
- update
the first key didn’t work, I mailed and within the hour I received another one and …
€3,55 … should be in the bargain basement 
you can buy these adafruit protoboards here
(one of my favorite nl online shops… yes spam )
1 Like
Workbench question:
I have one of these 6V block batteries for road works laterns (don’t know the right english name 
So I wonder if it is an good idea to use this for my things uno … but what I can’t find outside is a type of battery holder for this 6V type. Because I hate to solder cabel directly to the battery - does someone of you know if such a thing exist?
Otherwise I have to construct one myself …
A lot of people have probably never have seen the battery inside of a road work lantern, why would they, so perhaps you could provide a picture, to avoid confusion ?
Done, thanks for the hint.
Often also used in longer life/higher current portable consumer appliances e.g. I have an old Roberts AM/FM/SW radio of late mothers that used two dating from late 70’s/early 80’s as well as such ‘industrial’ apps. Typically type 4R25 or aka 996 6V.
1 Like
Ah the one with springs.
I have openened up some of those, a long time ago I would say, and they were just D cells inside.
So why do you want to use the 6V lantern battery, do they have more capacity versus D cells ?
D cell battery holders are easy to find.
1 Like
I can’t belive that there are 4 D-Cells inside But maybe something that looks similar.
For me it would be nice to use them, because I have them at hand - so why only using them for the latern?
Would also be nice to know how long a thinks uno could work with one.
Besides torches, lantern & portable radios I think these are also much loved by Ducati motor bike owners - the battery typically sits on a steel or carbon fibre plate but not sure what connector is used - may be worth approaching your local Ducati owners club or motorcycle outfitter/supplies shop?
I often power higher powered LoRa kit (base stations etc.) for pop up/short term test deployments using 3000/5000mAH rechargeable USB power banks but typically such devices dont like low duty cycle low current devices and shut off about after as few tens of seconds as they think there is nothing connected! so for such devices I have used a PJ996 6V or pp3 9V type feeding a 5-24v input dual usb 5v output adapter such as those readily available on ebay and use that for nodes with usb power inputs (LoRaMOTES or RAK811 senor/tracker bds etc. if the uno takes such a feed (havent looked) then with a power adaptor you should be good to go. sorry cant help with the actual spring connectors - i just use flying leads with either pop on battery connector (for the pp3) or croc clips for the 996’s (not permanent deployments just test tests/pop ups as I say…). Have also just bought a bunch of these 18650 adaptors similar to Borroz suggestion above
…a bit more compact than the 4R25/996 and rechargeable
1 Like
Can you recall if that was reputable brand? Have seen cheap or fake C cells where there is just a single AAA inside and cheap/fake D cells with single C cell and even a single AA inside! When I dismantled old 996’s years ago they seem much more complex…maybe manufacturers cost cutting now on less frequently used form factors …or may be fake/cheap clones? When next 996 dies will make a point of dismantling rather than just throwing in recycle bucket and look for myself (couple of EveryReady Mercury-Cadmium Free units are near EOL so not too long now!)
Nice to know that such a thing is available - I have searched badly for some kind of this.
Thats because I bought by accident some of these ESP32:
And in the first round I added 1,27mm pins to it:
Which was not very wise, because I can’t find your half-sized breadboard
But I found another (better) solution on amazon:
Not my best soldering, but I really hate these small things - so in the end it looks like this:
Hopefully this will work - have not tried it yet.
Btw. whats the smallest LoRa part to make an ESP32 work with?
1 Like
Just to show you that my C64 has nearly the same color as your cartridge
and from inside:
1 Like
Too long ago to recall.
What is the capacity of those ‘lantern batteries’ compared to a D cell ?
Alkaline cells are cheap enough in the UK, Poundland, Ikea, Maplin etc.
Anyway soldering wires to the springs is very easy, they is virtually no risk of heating the battery itself.
I used them to, very long time ago, didn’t know they still exist 
… inside are 4 D cells… not complete, but only the ‘core’… so yes its equal to 4 x D in series = 6 V