Today I made myself a little gadget which charges USB devices (iPod, Camera, Phone etc...) from normal AA batteries.

I bought a kit from a website in the states and then today, for the first time since CDT in school (20 years ago!), I had a pop soldering some electronics!

Here's the (dauntingly) tiny circuit board:



and here are all the fragile little resistors, diodes and other such gubbins:



So.....after some reading up on technique I got to it.

It went surprisingly well and before I knew it I'd got myself a finished circuit board:



All that remained was to test it (IT WORKED!!!) and fit it into it's case.

Here's everything together:



And this is how it looks trail-ready:



This means that I'll have power to be able to charge my video camera during my TransAlp trip (and also listen to music of an evening).

Sweet!

Thanks loads to Ian for suggesting this solution - cheers buddy.

Click here if you'd like to read more about them or to buy a kit yourself.

Cheers, Gairy.

Sweet, let us know how well it works.

Yes, but ... where are you going to put your glasses?

Booooo!!!!!

My new USB charger won't charge my Kodak 'Playsport Zx3' camera.

The limit of the MintyBoost is an output of 500mA and the Kodak requires 600-1000mA which means that I can use my new (painstakingly built) gadget to charge my iPod but not my camera (which is what I wanted it for in the first place).

BUGGER!!!!!

So.....back to the drawing board.....

The latest thinking is the Portapow 'USB Battery Pack' powered by either/both the MintyBoost (using AA batteries) or a PortaPow '2W/5W Solar Panel'.

I'd charge the battery pack from either the AA batteries or the solar and then charge the camera from the battery pack.

A little convoluted but I don't see an alternative?????

Without looking back through the website and instructions, weren't there two resistors supplied only one of which you used depending on your desired output?

i asked on the support forum about any possible changes/upgrades that would enable me to get the required output and their response was:

Changing components would involve a complete redesign.

i asked more about possible fixes and it seems like there ain't a fix for this output problem (without going deeper into things than i've got the time, skills and inclination to do).

shame as i've been really enjoying the buzz of home-electronics.

looks like i'll have to stump up the cash for an inferior alternative.

[quote(without going deeper into things than i've got the time, skills and inclination to do).[/quote]

Best just stick to sharp knives then

Power monkey with solar top up, worked my cameras for weeks

been looking at these:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/hybrid-solar-ba ... ger-544679

a 4000mah battery is pretty massive, should cover most GPS's, camera's etc.

G

didnothingfatal wrote:Power monkey with solar top up, worked my cameras for weeks

That's the direction I'm heading.....

Although I was looking at the Portpow rather than the Power Monkey option as it's cheaper and stores more power (from what I can make out from the specs anyway).

As for the solar unit - the Portapow 5W seems to be the way forward and it's powerful and has little eyelets so that I can mount it on my rucksack while I'm riding for maximum sunlight and minimum bother.

Or.....

Ray Young wrote:Best just stick to sharp knives then

I get back to my Ludditte roots and wave goodbye to the idea of carrying loads of technology around with me (as it's becoming expensive and a pain the ass).

Maybe I just take a simple camera and take some simple photographs.

It would make my life a lot simpler, reduce the amount of time spent running up and down to position the camera to get good shots and mean I have less kit to carry.

We'll see.....

griffdowg wrote:been looking at these:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/hybrid-solar-ba ... ger-544679

a 4000mah battery is pretty massive, should cover most GPS's, camera's etc.

G

Griffdowg,

I just saw your new reply as I was hitting 'Submit'.

It's certainly a possibility but how much does it weigh????

More research needed.....

griffdowg wrote:been looking at these:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/hybrid-solar-ba ... ger-544679

a 4000mah battery is pretty massive, should cover most GPS's, camera's etc.

ok, after some quick research (and a nice online chat with Pam via Maplin's online help) i've discovered that this unit is 298g with between 2-3W of solar charge.

so....it's of a similar spec to the portapow solar charger but is much cheaper as it includes the battery unit too!

not a bad find sir!

Out of interest, what does a spare battery (or two) for your camera cost and weigh?

My camera doesn't have a charging facility, but I take a spare battery and provided I'm careful with not using the replay too much, I could take over 500 shots per battery.

My Minty Boost charger is used only for my GPS, where I can get about at least 2 full charges off a pair of Li-ion energizer batteries.

the problem camera is not my stills camera it's the video camera (Kodak Playsport Zx3 - a tiny little thing).

the main problem is that there's no way to film without the screen being on constantly and so the battery goes really fast.

i got two days filming (not much each day - a few minutes here and there) form two batteries and so i'd likely need 10 batteries (at a tenner a pop) to get me through the 10 day trip.

my GPS and stills camera run on AA already and there's no problem there.