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Reuse of old cases from obsolete electonics for Pi

X-post to uk.d-i-y because this is also a DIY question :-)

I have spent some time helping clear out a bungalow as it is refurbished after the old lady who occupied it passed on to a warmer place.

There were quite a few bits of obsolete kit which went to the dump for recycling from old Sky modem/routers to old VHS recorders and old DVD players with only SCART connections.

As I am about to become a Pi owner I have been looking at different solutions for powering and protecting the board and I had a sudden thought.

All these old scrap electronics have a case and a PSU (a DVD player also has a DVD drive, of course).

So what are the prospects of throwing away the 'mother board' for one of these pieces of kit and using perhaps the PSU and the DVD drive to power and connect to a Pi?

Or lodge a Pi in any other case - interesting 'stealth' possibilities.

I freely admit that I have no knowledge of the internals, but I did wonder if a DVD drive in a player was very similar (or identical to) the drive in a normal PC.

I also assume that the PSU converts from AC to DC to power the internal gubbins so the main challenge would be to match the DC voltage to the Pi's requirements.

Feasible, or a waste of time?

Could be an interesting upgrade of an old DVD player if the Pi with an HDMI connection could be used to replace the old SCART and also scale up to full HD.

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David.WE.Roberts
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In a DVD recorder: often yes. In a DVD player: usually no.

I have a DVD recorder that consists of a standard IDE DVD drive, a reasonably standard smps that outputs 5 and 12v, and a special board that does all the digital magic.

Not as convenient as you would like, a USB DVD drive would be better. You can find that in laptops. Of couse you can use a USB->IDE gadget.

DVD players are often built completely around dedicated stuff.

Reply to
Rob

I have a friend who used a bubble bath container that was in the form of a Dalek to house his Pi. The ear like protusions on the head are LEDs which light up to indicate something or other.

mark

Reply to
mark

One of the nice things about the RPi is its diminutive stature - why would you want to put it in a case that's big enough for an ITX PC? Stealth cases can be fun projects, but for RPi a VHS cassette is a bit on the large side.

Reply to
Rob Morley

He might have a point. If his project is saleable a 1U 19in rack mount form-factor will provide more profit than an Adafruit box dangling from the customers switch by a patch lead.

--
Graham. 

%Profound_observation%
Reply to
Graham.

Not if the product is domestic or mobile.

Reply to
Rob Morley

But ripping the guts out of a dvd player you could use the box for a pi + psu + hub. I'm assuming its one of the small ones and not something like my old Philips which is the size of a VHS recorder.

But an old set top box might be better. It will already have a PSU that should be suitable

Reply to
AlanG

Nothing is impossible but whatever you do it will probably look home made! I notice that many dvd players actually look like normal drives and so you could be onto something, but of course dvds do not do hd currently only blue ray do. HDDVD is now a dead format and few if any common machines used it.

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Ooh! I've got one of those (my son's you understand). I don;t think the bubble bath came with LEDs though.

--
It's a money /life balance.
Reply to
Stanley Daniel de Liver

Newer DVD players with HDMI connections tend to upscale the video to HD quite well (which I think is one reason BluRay has not completely dominated the market).

So upgrading would be from SCART to HDMI.

Plus a fully functioning networked computer a well :-)

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David.WE.Roberts

I think the idea is that they are installed by the pi user.

mark

Reply to
mark

As long as it doesn't start yelling EXTERMINATE, that sounds cool.

"What happened to the Dalek?" "It died."

--
Consulting Minister for Consultants, DNRC 
I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow 
isn't looking good, either. 
I am BOFH. Resistance is futile. Your network will be assimilated.
Reply to
I R A Darth Aggie

OLD electronics such as modems were best for that: sturdy metal cases and standard voltages on hefty power supplies (often internal: no wall cubes).

Reply to
Jeff Jonas

Doesn't the Pi come with a PSU? I seem to recollect getting one with the device, I also got one with the USB hub which backpowers the Pi!

Anyway at £4-00 or so, a dedicated box isn,t going to break the bank. I just wish I had gone for one before I dropped a monitor on my board.

AB

Reply to
Archibald

Only as an extra - it doesn't even come with a micro-USB cable as standard.

Reply to
Rob Morley

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