ARTICLE – Long time reader technojeff sent me an email a few days ago with a suggestion/idea for the site that I thought was fantastic. He said

Maybe you should add an ITS (Interesting Tip Section) to the Gadgeteer? Not a place for Windows or Other OS tech tips, but more like gadget related tips.

And then he gave us the first tip for this new section/category.

Reusing older battery packs

I have many “retired” battery packs that I don’t want to carry around due to their weight or connection types. Phone chargers are a lot lighter these days, and I don’t want to carry around one that charges off of Micro USB or Mini USB. Or on ones that only have USB A connections and no USB-C.

But even though these battery packs are old and have old connections,  they are still usable. In my area, we don’t get too many power outages, but for those times when the power is out, I bought some of these USB lamps from Amazon. There are many variations of USB lamps.

When you connect one (or even two if it’s a dual version) to a battery pack, you have a very long-lasting lamp/candle that you can move from room to room without much effort.

Since this particular lamp is on a goose-neck, it can double as positional light to illuminate the inside of a PC, the back of a closet, and so on.

Now I can reuse my old battery packs that won’t charge my phone and not throw them away. -technojeff

Ok, now it’s your turn. If you have some fun and useful tips for repurposing old tech or even new uses for your newer tech, send them to me (Julie), and if they are worthy, I’ll feature them in one of our next IGTs (interesting gadget tips) articles.