9 Volt Multi-Cache

[+TwistedCube]

I am planning on creating a multi cache in which the theme revolves around a 9 Volt battery. At each stage, the cacher must use the battery in some form or fashion to get the coordinates for the final. The final will be a small box containing a motor which lowers the cache. 

 

I am having a bit of trouble coming up with the other few stages. What are some other unique and interesting ways I can use a 9 Volt battery to power a motor or some other apparatus? Coding is not something I am particularly proficient in. 

[+kunarion]

45 minutes ago, TwistedCube said:

What are some other unique and interesting ways I can use a 9 Volt battery to power a motor or some other apparatus?

 

Many toys, lights, and audio gadgets run on 9-volt batteries.  Even the recordable voice modules for stuffed animals.  If each device is housed in a secured box and protected from moisture, you have a lot of possibilities.  There may be a switch or two on the outside of a box, and something as simple as two nails for the battery connection.  But a more familiar 9-volt battery connector might be better.

 

I have two kinds of magnetic switches that I've always wanted to make a puzzle box out of.  Power it in some way (sure, by a battery supplied by the cacher), and place magnets in just the right spots on a wooden box, to turn on a light (maybe light up coords or a clue).

[+Joe_L]

14 hours ago, TwistedCube said:

What are some other unique and interesting ways I can use a 9 Volt battery

 

This might not be in the same category as your original question which I truncated, but: Have something based on a physical measurement of the battery, like the distance between the terminals.  (Or some other battery dimension, if you can determine if all 9V batteries [that is, regular; alkaline; rechargeable] have identical dimensions.) You’ll probably need to attach a ruler or scale to the stage since I suspect that many cachers do not carry a ruler with them.

[+MartyBartfast]

If you can get something fixed in place, mount a compass  on it, then have a copper coil hidden somewhere such that connecting up the battery will create an electro magnet to displace the compass needle to a known position, then have instructions to follow the arrow for xxx metres.

 

Mount a laser pointer somewhere in a tree, with wires coming down to the ground such that when the battery is connected the laser points across the field to a tree where the cache is hidden. Of course this would be a night cache!

 

Get yourself a wireless doorbell, which is hidden in the cache. Provide co-ords of a container holding the wireles push button, insert the battery and wonder round pressing the button and listening for the chime to zero in on the cache.

 

Edited August 5, 2019 by MartyBartfast

[+fizzymagic]

I have some truly evil ideas, but I am not about to give them away!  The idea of having the cacher take the battery around from stage to stage is a good one.

[+Wacka]

A local cacher has  what looks like a sort of ATM in his yard.  You hook up a 9-voly to it to power it  and access the cache.  He states in the description to bring one along.

[+OwenfromKC]

Found one in Colorado where you had to push a button to light up a bank of ultraviolet LED lights. You could not see the lights with the naked eye day or night.  Many logs were that the cache was broken or dead.  Trick was that you had to take a picture with your phone while pressing the button.  The ultraviolet spectrum would show up in the picture giving you the needed sequence to move on. One of the most genius caches I have found.

[+South_Stander]

I saw one recently (somewhere on the interweb) that had a combination pad lock and a yellow opaque perspex screen. When you added power a bulb lit up inside and revealed the code for the padlock behind the perspex.

[+kunarion]

1 hour ago, South_Stander said:

I saw one recently (somewhere on the interweb) that had a combination pad lock and a yellow opaque perspex screen. When you added power a bulb lit up inside and revealed the code for the padlock behind the perspex.

 

My “Stranger Finds” cache has a similar thing with a code inside a birdhouse.  You see the code through a peephole (the kind you find in a house door) when it’s illuminated.  But the light is provided by the cacher.  Many smart phones have a flashlight mode.

 

I initially wanted to have some code or clue or misleading text or something while it’s lit, and then other text glows once the light is shut off.  But I couldn’t get that part set up as I liked. 

[+funkymunkyzone]

You can get solenoid operated door latches (google that or electronic door lock) which will simply pull open when voltage applied across it - you could use that to release for example a door on the bottom of a birdhouse and display coords on that or a container that falls out.

Edited August 12, 2019 by funkymunkyzone

[+The Jester]

Locally we have a hider - Bounce,bounce - that does quite a bit of gadget caches using electronics.  Some with the power built in, but some with power applied from outside.  Often using LED's whose colors give a code to access farther into the cache (sometimes multiple layers of codes and locks).  You could chat with him about ideas.

 

 

[+niraD]

2 hours ago, The Jester said:

Often using LED's whose colors give a code to access farther into the cache (sometimes multiple layers of codes and locks).

Ooh, I like that idea. If you could get LEDs in multiple colors, all with physically identical clear lenses, then the only way to see the pattern would be to apply the voltage necessary to light them up.

[+Tungstène]

21 hours ago, niraD said:

Ooh, I like that idea. If you could get LEDs in multiple colors, all with physically identical clear lenses, then the only way to see the pattern would be to apply the voltage necessary to light them up.

 

RVB leds is what you're looking for if I didn't misunderstand.