We’ve already covered two of Ken Pillonel’s viral tweaks here on the site. In November, Pillonel successfully modified and iPhone X with a fully functional USB-C port. Then, in April, Pillonel equipped a Samsung Galaxy A51 with a lighting port. Projects show that products can actually use universal connectors even if the company that made them doesn’t want to.
Pillonel’s latest venture is the AirPods case. The video begins with a phone call to Apple in which an Apple representative tells Pillonel “it’s cheaper to replace the case” in case the charging port or battery is damaged.
AirPods batteries aren’t hard to find and are relatively inexpensive. The proprietary Lightning connector, however, isn’t something you can simply buy from a website, so if you want to replace the charging port on an AirPods case, you should find a donor case. In the case of Pillonel, a USB-C port solution would have to be developed from scratch.
Pillonel designs are available to anyone who wants to make them
Next was to get into the case of the AirPods, which is impossible to do without destroying the housing. For this, Ken has designed a replacement AirPods housing that can be easily reassembled for future battery or connector work.
Pillonel has made his projects open source so that anyone who wants to undertake this project can do so. He hopes that by making these solutions available to anyone, more AirPods cases can be refurbished and given a new life rather than ending up in a landfill.
If you are interested in purchasing a kit, you can submit your email address at the bottom of the project website: AirPodsDirtySecret.com although kits can only sell if there is enough interest.
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