Junk Mail LED

I received some junk mail the other day and it had a little plastic box sticky gummed to a large postcard-like piece of mail. Supposedly I could pull the plastic strip from the box and it would display my winning number to get a discount on buying a car. I don't own a car (by design) so I wasn't interested in the promotion. But the little plastic box I found to be very interesting. Before I did anything with it I found on the back the manufacturers name and a patent number. At their website they have a mockup that allows you to click on the tab for an animation of the action of activating the Combination Box. In the picture I have pulled the plastic strip. It just lays between the batteries and the cobar-connector. I had to use some pliers to pull it.

Step 1: Open Device

I ran a razor knife blade into the seam between the front and the back in the upper right hand corner and twisted. It popped the plastic post weld on that side and I repeated on the upper left side. You can see in the picture the two posts are all that hold it together. You can also see that the cobar-connector is held in place by those posts.

Step 2: Disassemble

This metal connector just lifts out. In fact once the halves are separated nothing is glued in place. Now you have two free alkaline batteries: Specifications: Model Number L1131 Voltage: 1.5 Chemistry: Alkaline Capacity: 80 mAh Brand : AGW Size: Button Cell Height : 3.05mm (0.12") Diameter : 11.6mm (0.46") Weight: 0.0938 lbs.

You also have a neat little LED with the long lead being the positive lead. Unfortunately the 5 digit readout is fake. It's neat how the LED fits into the little plastic box though.

So now enjoy your free stuff!