Hack your spinbrush for more (battery free) power

This ible (instructable) will not show you how to hack something into a useless item that's only nice to look at, it won't show you how to make an overcomplicated gadget, it will not take you months to accomplish, and this ible will not cost you your firstborn to make.  If you are looking for any of these things in an ible you may be disappointed with this how-to.  In this quick and easy (and very low cost) Ible I'll show you how I hacked my Crest Spinbrush into a money saving power tool.  This will not only save you money, but you are likely to use and benefit from it every day (hopefully at least twice a day)!

The Crest Spinbrush as it comes out of the package is easy to use, cleans your teeth quicker than traditional toothbrushes, is effective, very cheap (I've seen them for as little as $5), and only operates on 2 AA batteries.  This is all very nice for about two weeks when you realize you will need to replace the batteries soon.  After about a year of constantly changing batteries I decided to do a little tweaking and this "hack-brush" is the result.  With the hacked spinbrush you will be able to clean your teeth even quicker than the original spinbrush, it will be more effective, and you will never need batteries again, saving you more money!

Step 1: Parts

Required Parts List

Crest Spinbrush
Used Cell Phone Charger

Recommended Tools

Dremel
Drill Bit
Soldering Iron
Solder
Wire strippers
Hot Glue Gun

Comments

[laideekim]

I'm in Australia, and do not have a GFCI outlet, and actually the power here is stronger than in the US...what can I do.. I really want to do this.

[Spaceman Spiff]

http://www.internationalconfig.com/icc6.asp?item=74335

[Spaceman Spiff]

Any phone charger should work fine, just check the back to make sure it supplies 5V output voltage. The GFCI outlet will trip a breaker in the outlet if it should short via water or if it has some other power surge effect on it. It's a pretty great safety feature. I don't know about Australia, but in the US these outlets are required near all water sources (bathrooms and kitchens etc...). If you do a search online you can find them in Australia/New Zealand flavors.

[andygreene]

Might be a good idea to tie a simple knot in the wire after you pass it through the hole in the bottom for strain relief. That way you are less likely to pull your solder connections loose if the cord gets snagged or you drop the brush but catch the cord.

Great concept and execution. I may try this when my sonicare dies...

[Spaceman Spiff]

That's a good Idea, glad you liked it.

[avtoavi]

great idea!

[ybedull]

I love that this is an every day use. Not like a lot of the other projects that have been submitted for the contest. I like that this is something I can continue to use!

[MethylPox]

SRSLY, this is NOT safe!

[Spaceman Spiff]

You'll be fine. By using a GFCI outlet you will trip the circuit before any electrocution is done. It's actually really safe. Check this article out:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question117.htm

As stated in the article I could be standing in the rain using a plugged in drill and if it is plugged into a GFCI outlet the circuit will trip before any harm is done to me.

Thanks for your comments though, I made an edit in my ible to address this as I know many will have the same concerns.

[the_burrito_master]

How so, when did 5 volts ever hurt anyone... go lick a usb hub bet u felt nothing... however don't (DO NOT) use this in a lightning storm. Then it is dangerous.

[MethylPox]

WHAT????

[Jezter Long]

y?

[the_burrito_master]

Nice one ,but using it in an electric storm wouldn't be wise imo. wire up a few surge protectors into that thing haha. Kinda reminds me of the time I was stripping wire with my teeth and I put a live wire into my mouth and to my great suprise I wasn't killed, or maimed or even zapped. Idk guess i was lucky haha.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Yeah, I've had a few nasty pokes myself in my electrical classes. Nothing like 120 V surging through your bicep. When I was a kid we used to lick the top of 9 Volt Batteries for fun. Ha Ha, good times!

[bond815]

"ible"?

[Spaceman Spiff]

Ible is short for Instructable