Universal USB gadget charger that runs on AA's

[Syph007]

I have lots of gadgets and games that can charge by USB, and I also have tons of eneloops that I carry in my bag.  It seemed natural to want a way to use the eneloops to charge the gadgets...

I tried making something like this before on my own, but it failed to charge my phone and some other high draw gadgets.  I guess phones need to be 'tricked' into thinking its really plugged into a proper usb source, so some fancier electronics are needed.

Then I found this open source hardware design called mintyboost that addressed all the issues.  Its at rev 3 now, and they sell a kit with all the parts if you dont feel like hunting them down on your own.  The convenience of having it all found for me was worth the 20 bucks.

I bought 2 from here and they arrived earlier today.

http://www.adafruit.com/products/14

Here are all the bits that come in the package.  The little tin was an extra 2 bucks but you can use any enclosure really.



Its just a matter of sticking the components on the prefab board and soldering away.  10 minutes later it was soldered up.



And here it is in the case, with one of my usb 10-1 charger cables.  These things are great since you can cut off the plugs you dont want and customize them for the gadgets you have.



I'm very pleased to say that it charged every single device I tried.

My main blackberry.



A Sony PSP



A Nintendo DS



Another DS



An older gameboy advance SP



And also both of the new blackberry Z10s I had here charged fine. 

Now I'll have to test to see how much of a charge 2 AA's will give to a dead phone, but I LOVE the idea of being able to charge toys and phones with AA's if the power is out, or Im at the cottage or camping.  Now I can just stock up on my eneloops since you cant really have too many! 

So Im giving this thing a big fat thumbs up and recommend it highly, with the Syph stamp of approval!   

[enki_ck]

Very cool. I'll have to try that one day. The two AAs should probably give you two full charges on your cellphone but please let us know how they actually do.

[Nhoj]

That's cool! I'm planning on making a solar usb charger in an altoids tin

[Cupboard]

Very cool. I'll have to try that one day. The two AAs should probably give you two full charges on your cellphone but please let us know how they actually do.

My phone has a 7.4Wh battery, that's 3.7V, 2000mAh.

A pair of AA eneloops at 2.4V and 2500mAh is 6Wh, not allowing for conversion losses.

[captain spaulding]

That's pretty darn cool. I might have to get me one of those. 

[enki_ck]

Very cool. I'll have to try that one day. The two AAs should probably give you two full charges on your cellphone but please let us know how they actually do.

My phone has a 7.4Wh battery, that's 3.7V, 2000mAh.

A pair of AA eneloops at 2.4V and 2500mAh is 6Wh, not allowing for conversion losses.

Syph007 has a Blackberry which have a 1450mAh battery in most models, some even 1230 mAh. But we'll have to hear what he says.

[Syph007]

Yep mines 1230.  It did one whole charge no problem.  And I suspect i could get another partial.

Of course if one has enough eneloops you can charge as much as needed.

[nuphoria]

That's very cure indeed. I remember looking at many similar ideas on Instructables but never getting round to doing one

I ended up getting a Braven Bluetooth speaker which has the ability to charge via USB, so it killed two birds for me