Our Mothbox electronics are together, but now we probably need to give it a housing to protect it! image

Determine your Case

You now have two options for housing your Mothbox Pro.

Off the Shelf

It’s compatible with the old hacked Plano fishing box case. You can follow instructions for how to build an off-the-shelf case here.

3D Print

Better yet, though, you can now 3D print your own cases even cheaper and easier! Follow the instructions for making a 3D printed case here.

The following instructions will be for the 3D printed case option.

Prep Chassis

First we need to snip this tiny support piece off the chassis. This section is just there to make printing easier, and we need to remove it so it doesn’t get blocked by the case’s plugs. image

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Screw PCB to Chassis

Place the Mothbox electronics into the chassis.

image Make sure the indent in the PCB lines up with the cutout at the bottom of the chassis. image

Using #6 x 3/8in long screws (doesn’t have to be super exact, something about that size will work), attach the PCB to the inner chassis. image

There are 4 holes in the 4 corners of the board. Simply screw them snugly into place. image

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Everything should feel secure inside this little removable box now! image

Load Chassis into Shell

Slide the chassis with the electronics into the back of the case. image

Make sure the battery area is towards the bottom where the wires from the external sockets are.

Connect the External Charger

Remember that wire connected to the lever nut that wasn’t connected to anything? Now it’s time to connect it! image

Get the two wire ends from the external charger port and put them into that lever nut. Make sure the black is going to the black and red to the red. image

You can double check that your wiring is good by plugging the external charger into the bottom of the box and seeing if the light on the charger changes to red (indicating it’s charging). image

Connect the External Attractor Port (Optional)

You can hook up your external attractor port to the PCB quite easily.

Take the two ends from the external attractor port, and connect them to the socket box on the back left of the PCB labeled “external attractor” image

Make sure

  • the black wire goes to a negative “-“ port
  • the red wire goes to a positive “+” port image

Tidying Up Wires (Optional)

This is optional, but I like to add a little piece of tape to keep the camera cable from getting in the way. image

Connect Back Lid

Your Mothbox should be fully functional now!

You can close it up now by putting the back lid on. image

You can use a variety of closures to attach the lid:

  • 1/4 in bolts and nuts
  • Reusuable zip ties
  • or (my favorite) rubbery silicone ties image

Congrats on your Mothbox!

You made one! It’s beautiful! image