[HN Gopher] AppleWatchAmmeter
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       AppleWatchAmmeter
        
       Author : rcarmo
       Score  : 325 points
       Date   : 2024-09-11 07:01 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | kstrauser wrote:
       | That's genius in its simplicity. Wow. Well done!
        
         | 8338550bff96 wrote:
         | Simple genius is the only kind I recognize
        
       | bri3d wrote:
       | See also:
       | https://phyphox.org/wiki/index.php/Smartphones_as_ammeters - I've
       | heard of some physics instructors using this in teaching
       | settings.
       | 
       | I'm quite surprised that nobody has made an app which can do some
       | baseline calibration and produce real-time current measurements
       | yet; it would just be a few hundred lines of code at most.
        
         | _Microft wrote:
         | Phyphox is amazing: there is a wide variety of different
         | experiments available using all sorts of sensors found in
         | phones. The iPhone accelerometer seems to saturate at roughly
         | 13g, easily achievable by pulling your phone very fast in an
         | increasingly narrow arc towards yourself. What were you
         | thinking how I found out?
         | 
         | (Fun fact: this is another project that Sebastian Staacks of
         | http://there.oughta.be worked(s?) on. You might remember his
         | wooden Gameboy shell, the Gameboy interceptor to screenshare
         | the Gameboy screen to a PC or his bullettime video booth.)
        
           | londons_explore wrote:
           | > iPhone accelerometer seems to saturate at roughly 13g
           | 
           | That surprises me. As soon as a sensor saturates, you can no
           | longer use it for dead reckoning (integrating the
           | acceleration values to know position).
           | 
           | 13g is way below what you'd expect when tapping the phone
           | against a solid object for example - that could easily reach
           | 1000g briefly.
           | 
           | I was under the impression that a big part of iphone's
           | superior GPS performance was down to the clever use of dead
           | reckoning and re-calculating past datapoints in a way android
           | manufacturers rarely do.
        
             | foldr wrote:
             | Any 1000g acceleration is going to be irrelevant to the
             | position of the user of the phone (or they'd be dead!)
        
               | londons_explore wrote:
               | Tapping your fingernail on a hard surface, your fingertip
               | experiences ~1000g.
               | 
               | Big g-forces are bad if experienced for more than a few
               | hundred microseconds. But very briefly, they aren't too
               | damaging.
        
               | foldr wrote:
               | Sure, but if an entire human person is accelerated at
               | 1000g for a period of time that's long enough to lead to
               | a significant change in their location...
        
             | avianlyric wrote:
             | I don't think the iPhone does naive dead reckoning like
             | that, as the sensitivity of the needed inputs is so high
             | for it be reasonable in a consumer handheld. The cost of
             | components would be way to high, then there's the issues of
             | power consumption, because you would need to poll all your
             | sensors at a very high rate to get enough accurate data to
             | perform naive dead reckoning accurately.
             | 
             | Instead I think the iPhone cheat a bunch, and use a mixture
             | of step counting, magneto and gyro inputs to perform dead
             | reckoning. The iPhone uses periods when you GPS is in use
             | anyway to calibrate your stride length at different speeds,
             | which when mixed with magneto data to estimate a course
             | direction, would allow an iPhone semi-accurately perform
             | dead reckoning, without needing high resolution, wide
             | scale, accelerometer input.
             | 
             | In short, the iPhone cheats. It's dead reckoning systems
             | take advantage human bio-mechanics to simplify the problem
             | of dead reckoning, at the cost of building a dead reckoning
             | system that only works effectively in a handheld device
             | that semi-permanently lives on your person. A perfectly
             | reasonable assumption for a phone, but a terrible solution
             | for a more generic dead reckoning system.
        
             | nielsole wrote:
             | If my math is right, assuming an iphone deforms linearly on
             | impact with 1000g deceleration, it would only give way
             | 0,7mm when dropped from 1m height onto concrete. that seems
             | too low a deformation? I would expect it to whobble quite a
             | bit in slow-mo.
        
               | londons_explore wrote:
               | I kinda doubt the glass screen deforms 0.7mm (in the
               | plane of the glass - it might bend 0.7 mm out of plane)
        
         | radicality wrote:
         | Thanks for that recommendation, really good app. In today's app
         | landscape it's almost unbelievable that it's so polished and
         | free and without ads / signup links / always-on location
         | sharing etc.
         | 
         | It's not even easy to find. Few months ago I wanted a simple
         | audio spectrogram app, downloaded some which wanted dubious in-
         | app purchases, or had ads. I hadn't come across it earlier, but
         | Phyfox does what I wanted better and for free.
        
           | nvalis wrote:
           | That's because Phyphox is financially backed by multiple
           | public bodys of the German governement, mostly the RWTH
           | Aachen and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as
           | pointed out on the landing page [0].
           | 
           | [0] https://phyphox.org/
        
           | maven29 wrote:
           | All you need to do is to start your search on f-droid, the
           | app quality is much better (also consider adding the
           | IzzyOnDroid repo if you don't care about verified
           | reproducible builds)
        
       | _Microft wrote:
       | > _A circular coil of wire with N turns and a diameter D will
       | generate a magnetic field of B = u0.I /D (u0 is defined to be
       | 4.p.10^-7);_
       | 
       | That _u0_ is meant to symbolize _m_0_ (mu zero, with zero being
       | subscript) the vacuum magnetic permeability [0], in case you were
       | wondering where that magic constant came from.
       | 
       | [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_permeability
        
         | lapetitejort wrote:
         | See also e_0 [0]. 1/sqrt(e_0*m_0) = c, the speed of light
         | 
         | [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_permittivity
        
       | cdchn wrote:
       | It would be cool to use this as a voltage sensor, to check for
       | live circuits, but the downside being you might not want to crane
       | your wrist towards said live circuits.
        
         | atoav wrote:
         | And: measuring current can be done with any odd hall effect
         | sensor, voltage not so much.
         | 
         | I imagine a smart warch with two 4mm banana-jacks isn't going
         | to be the next big thing.
        
           | cdchn wrote:
           | The pen size of my non-contact voltage detectors make it feel
           | like it couldn't be THAT hard.
        
         | ComputerGuru wrote:
         | As TFA mentions, detecting AC current is rather different from
         | detecting DC current (the article is about the latter).
        
       | boomskats wrote:
       | Only somewhat related, but wasn't there a DIY biohacking[0] craze
       | a few years ago, with people implanting rare earth magnets into
       | the tips of their pinky fingers, waiting for the nerve endings to
       | heal around the implant, and then supposedly gaining a 'sixth
       | sense' of being able to detect the flow of current via their
       | bionic pinky? Is that still a thing?
       | 
       | [0]: https://www.wired.com/story/diy-biohacking/
        
         | Gracana wrote:
         | I recall Zoe Quinn wrote about having that done ~10 years ago.
         | Article's still up on her site, it's a good read:
         | http://www.beesgo.biz/magnet.html
        
           | gxs wrote:
           | What am obnoxious mobile site you've linked to - unusable
           | because of a persistent floating graphic over the middle of
           | the screen.
        
         | zitterbewegung wrote:
         | Yes, there was but the magnets can break and I believe getting
         | them removed is hard.
        
         | Spivak wrote:
         | Given how well-trodden putting hardware in humans is, I'm
         | surprised this wouldn't be a <60 minute surgery to affix the
         | magnet to your bone. Then it wouldn't look so weird pulling on
         | your skin. Then again, the non-invasive version is wearing a
         | magnetic ring, $1.34 on Aliexpress.
        
           | ramses0 wrote:
           | Similarly: supposedly superglue a magnet to your fingernail.
        
             | carpdiem wrote:
             | I tried this once. There was no convincing effect for being
             | able to "detect by feel" AC currents, but you could
             | definitely notice magnetic materials.
             | 
             | Maybe the most fun, though, was just playing around and
             | "picking up" paperclips and tiny screws by flicking my
             | finger at them.
        
           | kstrauser wrote:
           | Having worked in orthopedics quite a bit, and hanging out
           | with my wife who's a foot and ankle surgeon, there aren't
           | many ways you could attach something to a bone that wouldn't
           | cause problems. Other than the (significantly large, true!)
           | hard mineral portion, bones comprise a lot of types of living
           | tissue and you don't want to make a hole in them or their
           | periosteum wrapper unless you absolutely must. The least bad
           | approach might be something like a zip tie that you could
           | carefully work around the bone, but even that would have
           | ridges to irritate tissues and semi-enclosed spaces for
           | bacteria to turn into a strip mall.
           | 
           | I highly recommend just getting that magnetic ring instead.
        
             | fudged71 wrote:
             | Based on a quick search, a small gap (less than 500 mm)
             | between the implant and bone can actually support
             | osseointegration by allowing trabeculae to form. 3D printed
             | titanium has been used a lot for osseointegration.
        
               | kstrauser wrote:
               | Quite possibly, but 1) you better be A-OK with having
               | whatever it is permanently grow into your bone such that
               | you'd have to carve it out with chisels or saws, and 2)
               | you still need to hold it there long enough for that to
               | happen, ideally without whatever mechanism you're using
               | for that also being incorporated (like, literally
               | incorporated).
        
               | sonofhans wrote:
               | > incorporated
               | 
               | This took me longer than it should have. Nicely put.
        
               | yial wrote:
               | Titanium encourages / supports due to its structure human
               | bones growing into it.
               | 
               | This does not happen as easily or frequently with
               | stainless steel.
               | 
               | (There is still a risk of spontaneous rejection however )
        
             | ASalazarMX wrote:
             | > I highly recommend just getting that magnetic ring
             | instead.
             | 
             | But wearing a ring, while convenient and safer, is not biO
             | hAcKiNg. It gives no bragging rights.
        
               | kstrauser wrote:
               | Neither does MRSA.
        
           | crumpled wrote:
           | I think the pulling on the skin part is essential to the
           | feeling things part. I don't think people will get any
           | sensation if the magnet is held stationary.
           | 
           | I'm only guessing.
        
         | cmsjustin wrote:
         | https://www.youtube.com/shorts/17l9BucbXec
        
         | fragmede wrote:
         | http://dangerousthings.com graduated to selling implantable
         | rfid u2f tokens.
        
         | Onavo wrote:
         | You can experience the same thing by supergluing a magnet to
         | your pinky.
        
         | surfingdino wrote:
         | Must me useful for emergency proctologists. Neodymium magnets
         | would probably work better for such applications.
        
         | shagie wrote:
         | > ... with people implanting rare earth magnets into the tips
         | of their pinky fingers ...
         | 
         | Imagine the joy of getting an MRI and forgetting about that bit
         | of biohacking.
        
           | markx2 wrote:
           | I had an MRI.
           | 
           | I have tragus piercings where the rings are titanium but the
           | balls were steel. It was missed that they were there.
           | 
           | I have surgical steel self-done implants in each hand.
           | 
           | I have a magnet in one of my fingertips
           | 
           | I have NFC chips in both hands.
           | 
           | I did not explode, nothing felt hot, the only sensation was
           | my tragus piercings wobbling slightly.
           | 
           | This whole MRI thing ....
        
             | parhamn wrote:
             | "Don't take in ferromagnetic metals that would get pulled
             | by a 3T magnet with 6 inches of separation" is a bit harder
             | to grok for pretty much everyone.
        
               | user_7832 wrote:
               | Where does the 6 inches come from? Is that the separation
               | between the MRI machine & the patient?
        
             | actionfromafar wrote:
             | Are you real-life Wolverine?
        
             | willis936 wrote:
             | Magnetic force drops off with the 4th power of distance.
             | What is a slight wobble is centimeters away from being a
             | bullet. This is pretty easy to experiment with fridge
             | magnets to build intuition. I would exercise caution if you
             | have embedded magnets though.
        
             | mensetmanusman wrote:
             | Was the MRI needed to hard reset the NFC chips?
        
             | taneq wrote:
             | Are you trying to tell me that the anal rail gun story
             | isn't true? I'm shocked.
        
             | varenc wrote:
             | What's it like having magnet in a fingertip?
        
               | markx2 wrote:
               | It can lift a paperclip, buckyballs stick to it, and
               | moving the fingertip across devices - spinning HD's,
               | laptops gives a sensation when the magnetic field
               | changes. No real practical use but I knew that.
        
           | edm0nd wrote:
           | I have an implant and MRIs or Xrays cause zero issues.
        
             | shagie wrote:
             | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4848040/
             | 
             | > The static magnetic field B_0 of an MRI machine attracts
             | ferromagnetic objects and accelerates them toward the
             | center of the bore of the MRI scanner. Ferromagnetic
             | objects such as coins, hairpins, steel oxygen tanks or
             | scissors can be accelerated or torqued by B_0 [4,10] and
             | become dangerous projectiles [51]. The MRI safety program
             | of the facility needs to warn about the misconception that
             | larger objects will resist attraction to the field and need
             | to emphasize the relationship between object size, material
             | components, and projectile risk. Insufficient MRI safety
             | training of ancillary medical personnel has led to fatal
             | accidents when medical and other equipment was accelerated
             | into the bore of the magnet [50,51].
             | 
             | X-rays would be no problem. Having something that is
             | attracted by a magnet (such as another magnet) may cause an
             | issue.
             | 
             | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38128958/ has more on the
             | "stuff flying into an MRI with concerning force."
             | 
             | Things like a 10p coin imbedding itself 0.5cm into
             | ballistic gel. A spoon going in 3.5 cm is a bit more
             | concerning.
        
               | edm0nd wrote:
               | I don't have the biomagnet implants, I have the NExT RFID
               | + NFC chip by DangerousThings in my right hand so its not
               | as much of a concern.
               | 
               | Just go read straight from the source instead of linking
               | research papers.
               | 
               | It has the warning of:
               | 
               | >MRI COMPATIBILITY WARNING The xG3 and all magnetic
               | implant products should be removed before any MRI or
               | magnetic imaging procedure. While our x-series
               | transponders have tested as compatible with MRI machines
               | up to 7T field strength, all magnetic products are
               | incompatible with MRI machines and procedures.
               | 
               | https://dangerousthings.com/product/titan/
        
               | shagie wrote:
               | The comment that I originally responded to was:
               | 
               | > with people implanting rare earth magnets into the tips
               | of their pinky fingers
               | 
               | And I was specifically referring to those rare earth
               | magnets.
               | 
               | Your comment then:
               | 
               | > I have an implant and MRIs or Xrays cause zero issues.
               | 
               | You gave no indication about what type of implant you
               | hand or its manufacturer, and replying to my comment I
               | took it in context that it was a rare earth magnet.
               | 
               | Failing any information about the manufacturer, the
               | information that I am able to provide to say "this can be
               | dangerous" is research papers.
               | 
               | You have further clarified that you only have a RFID and
               | NFC chip implanted and not any magnets ... and provided a
               | link to another product (rare earth magnet implant) from
               | the same manufacturer that indicates that it is indeed
               | dangerous when near an MRI machine which agrees with the
               | original comment.
        
               | newaccount74 wrote:
               | MRIs don't accelerate objects instantaneously. If you
               | look at the experimental setup, you'll see that they
               | placed objects inside a pipe that allows them to
               | accelerate with very low friction.
               | 
               | Implants inside the body cannot accelerate freely. They
               | are held in place by the surrounding tissue. A force will
               | act on them, and this force can cause complications, but
               | implants will not suddenly turn into projectiles.
        
               | leptons wrote:
               | Not going to trust "newaccount74" with that info. It
               | seems that the experts say that if the metal in the body
               | is attached to bone (a screw or a plate), that is okay,
               | but not if the metal is not permanently fastened to bone,
               | so "surrounding tissue" is not going to stop the metal
               | from causing problems.
               | 
               | >MRIs don't accelerate objects instantaneously.
               | 
               | See some of the videos below for evidence to the
               | contrary. Large metal objects inside the room can
               | definitely accelerate very rapidly and suddenly, and
               | unexpectedly and has killed people.
               | 
               | https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2NNJrOsw8vs "Metal objects
               | not attached to bone may not be safe"
               | 
               | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naAZVCxhEcI
               | 
               | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDfwxoigZZk
               | 
               | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KuzTyn45og
               | 
               | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn6sDYOrOC8
               | 
               | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxcrt1-gmLQ
        
             | dylan604 wrote:
             | I would love to see how TSA reacts to your scans
        
               | markx2 wrote:
               | They don't see them.
               | 
               | On the two occasions I failed to remove the large
               | steel/titanium item in a piercing that set off the
               | scatter machine so I was taken to a room and searched.
               | 
               | But the steel in my hands, the LED, chip and magnet in my
               | left hand, the Vivokey and chip in my right hand -
               | nothing. Even the handheld scanner doesn't pick them up.
               | 
               | One of the NFC chips was useful on my last trip to the
               | US. I was constantly pulled over by the TSA and they
               | might have wanted to inspect my laptop. So I made a
               | backup, saved the minimum I needed, encrypted it on
               | another device and uploaded to a domain. Clean installed
               | the OS. The NFC chip carried a long string which to me
               | gave the directory structure (very nested, no / in the
               | string) and the encryption key. It wasn't needed, but it
               | was amusing.
        
             | yial wrote:
             | I don't have an implant, but I have purchased at times
             | copper and metal shirt collar stays.
             | 
             | Once after falling on ice, I had a chest x ray where my
             | shirt was unbuttoned but didn't need to be removed.
             | 
             | A very anxious tech came to me a few minutes later asking
             | if I had been wounded when I fell, if there was something
             | embedded in me, etc.
             | 
             | Very quickly figured it out when shown the images.
             | 
             | Incredibly comical, and obviously not an issue. (Nor
             | related to implants)
        
       | brcmthrowaway wrote:
       | I wish Nokia was still around, this would be turned into a
       | feature. Think N95 was a smorgasboard of random features.
        
         | dcreater wrote:
         | N95 is one of the GOAT phones. I hope for a day in the future
         | when phones can once again be as diverse and fun
        
       | dang wrote:
       | We changed the URL from https://hackaday.com/2024/09/10/the-
       | apple-watch-as-an-ammete..., which points to this.
       | 
       | Submitters: " _Please submit the original source. If a post
       | reports on something found on another site, submit the latter._ "
       | - https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
       | deisteve wrote:
       | htis is a great hack! I've been looking for a way to measure DC
       | currents without breaking the bank. Has anyone tried using a
       | similar setup with a Raspberry Pi or an Arduino to create a more
       | robust and accurate measurement system?
        
       | C60H92O6 wrote:
       | I advise you to add a disclaimer at the bottom that says "this is
       | for educational purposes only, try it at your own risk and don't
       | rely on it for serious/dangerous measurements". And also change
       | the name to "Ammeter for Apple Watch", as some "special" people
       | might think that this was made by Apple.
       | 
       | (My learnings from almost getting sued for a simple hobby project
       | like this)
        
         | ActionHank wrote:
         | Give it a week and these will be for sale on etsy, ali, and
         | amazon.
        
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