Whee cheap plastic toys!!! :D

Today, we dissasembled battery-powered plastic toy swords.  We observed the internal circuits, and noted the components.  Inside, there were two batteries, a circuit board, a speaker, a LED, and a button/switch.  We did a bit of circuit bending by attaching a potentiometer to the LED, and adujsting resistance.  By increasing resistance, we could dim the LED and lower volume.  Others, through experimentation, discovered that they could perform a variety of functions, such as separately modifying volume and light. 

 On a side note, my row has apparently discovered that their battery is self-charging.  They have published a post on this.  

 Link: [ https://www.fablabsd.org/2011/07/18/zombie-battery/ ]