I thought I was the only one with this problem. $4.00 of PVC electrical conduit, a chipfan off an old Pentium, and a wall wart from a dead phone... Even terminally wet booties are dry in under 24 hours.
Pretty easy to make. I can elaborate if anyone is interested.
-- in reply to http://stokereport.com/rant/do-you-have-stinky-bootie
ok, i'm thinking this is pretty f-in brilliant. i currently stick my booties next to a blazing hot heating vent in my closet, but i (and my wife) would like all the neoprene somewhere else. do share the specs on this baby...
I second the vote of brilliance. And I actually have a dead laptop that might have a fan that could be scavenged ....
why's everyone using the word "brilliant"? that's what i wanted to say. now i just feel like a follower.
simple, elegant and effective. 5 stars. LOOOVE IT!!!
sorry, can't help myself. it's already perfect, but. . . what about drilling a bunch of small holes in the booty-part to increase air-flow?
also, @madpie, you can pick up those little fans at radio shack for a few bucks. just make sure you match the voltage to whatever wall-wart you intend to use.
I am humbled and REALLY impressed by this! You should call it the foot funk fighter and market this baby.
So in the past I have been trying to make a wetsuit dryer/prototype out of an old computer fan two 9v batteries and a wide plastic hanger. It worked for about two hours before the batteries died. My ineptitude with electronics has become blatantly apparent...
Anyway I have a few questions if you would be willing to enlighten.
1. Do I have to match the wattage requirement as well as the voltage requirement for the fan? The fan I salvaged from an old tower says "DC12v & 3.36W".
2. Can I just connect the wires outright or is there some kind of regulator needed?
2. Any water proofing around the electrical?
Maybe version 2 could have a small solar panel support the power instead of a wall adaptor. I looked online though and they look expensive, but maybe I'm looking at the wrong thing. Just a thought.
Great work & thanks for sharing
footfunkfighter, great name.
1. 3W is so small that any wall wart you get will drive it no problem. Just worry about the voltage. There IS a catch though: most DC power adapters are unregulated (just means they don't try very hard to keep to their rated output voltage). I used a 9V wart and, since the 12V fan draws so little current, everything ends up operating at about 13V. Most 12V warts hover around 18V unloaded. I say hook it up and, if you see 10V-14V across the fan, you're good.
2. Just connect the wires but make sure to get the polarity correct.
3. Use heat shrink tubing. If you use electrical tape make sure to pull it REALLY tight while wrapping otherwise the tape will loosen up in a few months and water will become an issue.
Why spend the money, as in the case of the $60 to $80 dollar heating unit, when like I have done, is to purchase another pair of boots as a dry back up pair. I have 2 pair of 3 mils, and 2 pair of 5 mils. And 2 pair of gloves too.
I'd have to get at least 8 pairs of booties. Mine will stay wet for a week, even turned inside out (which is not very good for them I can't imagine). I kinda feel like this option would be WAY cheaper than 8 pairs of ~$20-45 booties.
@sb, I am also very impressed, and really do not understand what you are doing. for example what is a wall wart? can you do another post and go through the procedure in simple terms for a mechanically impaired person?
here is my solution. works pretty well. this is a baby bottle dryer, so the booties get a fair amount of air, and can drain.
OK, no perverted baby jokes now....OK, go ahead, i can take it.
@maria a wall wart is one of those things you plug into the wall, for (generally) low power digital electronics....say a linksys router, or something. It converts (rectifies) the 120V AC to like 5/10/12V DC.
http://www.horrorseek.com/home/halloween/wolfstone/Power/powwal_WallWart... is an example
Everybody was foot funk fighting........... HA!
Those booties dried fast as lightning............HA!
NICE sb.
