Hacking a Swing

The newest member of my family has become quite attached to swinging. The problem was that the swing was battery powered. I was reasonably surprised at how long the batteries lasted–nearly a month of every day use. Still, when they finally expired, I was reluctant to make another purchase. So instead, I embarked on a project.

Swing - Batteries

Batteries = Bad!

Jumping right in, I calculated that four C batteries equals 6V. I happened to have a 6V power adapter from an old cell phone in my junk drawer. Since I didn’t have a matching barrel jack, I ended up splicing a JST plug onto both the power cord and the swing.

JST Plugs

JST Plugs

For safety, I ran the wires down the inside of the leg. I had to drill a hole at the bottom, but this worked out well since I could easily conceal the connectors in the foot.

Wall Powered Swing

Look Ma! No Batteries!

Start to finish the project took less than an hour, so I guess I should start thinking about how to add some LEDs to that crossbar that the little owls are hanging from.

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