Although this may look ghetto, it does the job, is cheep to make, and is a fun project for someone that wants to learn a bit about electronics. Also, if the looks bother you, there are always ways to pretty things up.

“The project name says it all. It is a device that will charge things like Ipods, PDAs, that accepts charge from a USB port. It runs off a 9-V battery, and through the simple circuit, out comes a regulated 5-V perfect for a USB port.”

Step 1: Buy Parts

LM/MC 7805 +5VDC Voltage Regulator
Type-A Female USB Port
100 UF Electrolytic Capacitor
0.1 UF Capacitor
150/160 ohm Resistor
9V Battery clip
2V 20mA LED color of your choice
Unprinted circuit board
ON/OFF switch if you want

Step 2: The Circuit Board

Do exactly as I drew in the diagram.
Use a continueity tester or multi-meter to make sure the parts separated by the black mark in the picture DO NOT conduct. Then drill holes to put the components mark in the correct order and observe polarity for the 100 uF cap.

Step 3: USB Port

Step 4: The Finishing Touch

Lastly put the 9-V battery clip onto the circuit board, and you got your self a portable USB Charger.

Courtesy of Make Magazine

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 4th, 2006 at 8:10 pm and is filed under Bucho, Hardware. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.