Build a phone charge extender in 5 minutes inside Radio Shack. Robots Anywhere!

[KamatsuKyoto]

C or D batteries? It's cheaper just buy a extra battery to your cellphone.

[o0jopak0o]

Im just glad that it is an android.

[videofeedbacktv]

This is the reason why we are manufacturing in China.

[tjallard]

ummm how the hell are you holding the camera?

[Sobrien86]

Radio shack should sell finger nail clippers for this guy.

[Sinistrahd]

Be careful with new fully charged alkalines, they're generally sitting at about 1.65 volts per cell so you'd end up with 6.6 volts - just a diode might not drop enough from that, depending on what tolerance your phone's DC input has.

[Spiritplumber]

@Sinistrahd Yeah, fortunately that's open circuit. I'm not showing it in the video, but IRL I tested this with about a dozen models of phones ;)

[bayyagg]

WTF! Buy a new phone battery instead! It is cheaper!

Notice ur in the radio shack, lotsa replacement battery for ur phone!

DAMN! UR TOO STOOPiD!

HOW MUCH DiD U SPENT FOR BUiLDiNG THAT STOOPiD CHARGER AND HOW MUCH iS THE REPLACEMENT BATTERY w/ an initial charge of power!

[Spiritplumber]

@bayyagg u mad bro?

[bayyagg]

@Spiritplumber

Yeah!....your advice sucks!

[wow85]

@bayyagg It only cost him $2.50, next time have your annotations on so you can read what is going on.

[bayyagg]

@wow85

$2.50? When was that? 10 years ago? He forgot to add the price D size batteries!

uLOL!

[Spiritplumber]

@bayyagg The same parts can be gotten for that much at digikey, see the link in the description.

[bayyagg]

@Spiritplumber

I think you have the idea but it is very awkward to do it just charge a simple gadget.... lotsa things have been made better than wut u done and efficiently desinened.... try to post wut ur doi'n in this site....

instructables c0M

[wow85]

@bayyagg Sorry if your too fucken stupid to actually call up a radio shack or go to the website itself. Just b/c some information wasn't provided, dosen't mean you can't use your brain to figure out what the prices are of the stuff.

[bayyagg]

@wow85

Yeah! I figure it out and ur too damn RETARD to know MATH!

Hahahahahhaha!

[joecooper18]

its electrical tape, not duct tape. Better to get a Battery powered USB box, and use a USB charger?

and you wouldnt give your phone reverse polarity since theres a diode...

[diedikkehoerdaar]

That isn't ducttape...

[Fusion2Fresh]

uhh so ur inside a radioshack... why not BUY ... a portable charger?

[Spiritplumber]

@Fusion2Fresh

This gives you more battery life for the cost. Also, it uses alkalines so in an emergency you can get those at places that are open 24/7. (Again, this isn't designed to be sustainable, it's for emergencies)

[botdotdot]

If you listen closely you can hear Judas by Lady Gaga playing in the background, particularly at 3:43

[EBeBIG]

Couldn't you have used that five minutes explaining how to hook up 2 wires to a battery pack holder by explaining the steps to have a battery pack that can recharge?

[awilliams1701]

I noticed that my rechargeable NiMH have a voltage of 1.2 (I always thought it was 1.5). I wonder if they have a 5 battery holder since 5*1.2 is the same 6V as the 4 regular batteries.

[poggyproductions]

I'd put it in a project box and a solder the connections for a more durability...

[Spiritplumber]

@poggyproductions Me too, but they didn't let me hook u a soldering iron inside the store.

[poggyproductions]

@Spiritplumber Challenge Accepted.

[Spiritplumber]

@poggyproductions awesome do it :D

[iwantedschwim]

If you place two diodes inline instead of only using one, can you use rechargeables?

[Spiritplumber]

@iwantedschwim No, quite the other way around actually. No diodes = rechargeables OK. But then if you put alkalines in the battery holder you stand a good chance of frying the phones, so...

[iwantedschwim]

@Spiritplumber Thanks very much for the reply. If you have any ideas on a system that would be a bit more tolerant and less apt to destroy a phone hopping between the two types of batteries, I'd love to hear about it.

[Spiritplumber]

@iwantedschwim You can use an Anyvolt from Dimension Engineering. That will let you use anything from 2 AA batteries to a car battery to generate 5V from, without having to change any settings. But, it costs a bit and has to be ordered online.

[ColdPillowz]

why can't you use rechargeable batteries???

[Spiritplumber]

@ColdPillowz Rechargeables have a lower voltage

[jleon211]

its weird they said 5 minutes but it took 6 minutes

[Spiritplumber]

@jleon211 I'm also explaining stuff before & after :P those don't count lol

[awilliams1701]

@jleon211 He had to explain it. Since that circuit is incredibly simple, it wouldn't even take 5 mins to make that.

[jak2rocks]

Lol, a G1! That's fucking awesome!

[yodo223]

Vary useful during the Zombie Apocalypse!

[davidbradway]

Nice work! I have that G1 phone too, and if your battery works like mine, you need to swap or recharge a couple times a day!

[kass2112]

I'm an arab and if I try to do that everyone would think im holding a bomb.

[MrAbood900]

@kass2112 haha me too

[dbh937]

That's MY neighborhood radioshack!

[aimbotscott]

@dbh937 no its not....

[mkakati2805]

why do you need a diode for dc?

[vicofour]

@mkakati2805

My guess is that the diode eats around 1V so it lowers the voltage from 6V to around 5V for the regular USB voltage

[Milleniumlance]

@mkakati2805 1.5v x 4 is 6 volts that would fry the circuits of your phone, the diode absorbs .7 to 1volt of that to give you the standard 5volts

[ABetterBusinessman]

Livestreaming from my phone? Haha, my blackberry doesn't even have a camera. My company doesn't trust me enough, too many important documents I could potentially leak to the outside world.

[iuliandita]

Why the long nails? You play classical guitar?

[Spiritplumber]

@iuliandita I wish! Actually it's because for small parts I find it beats using tweezers. I can't play any instruments :(

[hdzsound]

great I hav attached it to my phone with duck tape.

It work so great

[lpemcee21]

Really awesome video. Really awesome explanation. Basic electrical engineering for everyone! Love it!

[kniven3]

what was the cost of this? great video

[Spiritplumber]

@kniven3 Around $15 at a radio shack... and around $2.50 online. See the wiki link in description.

[illuminarias]

ohhh that's a really mint G1 !

[chaosman90]

Nicely done!

[iwantedschwim]

Is there anything that can easily be done to this design to allow for rechargeables? I would really like to build this, but I'd much rather recharge than buy them, if possible.

[gck86]

Great idea.

[punktux]

since u are already at radioshack, why would you want to waste time and money to assemble a charger? radioshack sells all types of chargers for almost all phones.

[Spiritplumber]

@punktux Because they are of much lower capacity for the same price.

[punktux]

@Spiritplumber lower capacity? what do u mean? i'd rather pay a bit more to avoid the hassle in case of emergency. it's true a commercial charger is more expensive but it's compact and ready to use. it's just retarded to do that at radioshacks while you have hundred of OEM or nonOEM chargers in front of u.

[Spiritplumber]

@punktux that's OK, I never claimed to be particularly clever.

[romulusnr]

@punktux What's retarded IMO is to spend 2x or 3x as much because you're too lazy to DIY... and *defend* it!

Heck, the iGo charger set they sell at RadHack is $30 for the kit, $10 for each adapter, and another $20 for the battery pack. Barf!

[Spiritplumber]

@romulusnr No argument there -- I know getting parts at Radio Shack is super expensive compared to getting them online (this stuff is around $2 at digikey, see the links on the wiki page), the idea here is "I need a long lasting charge booster NOW".

[punktux]

@romulusnr i dont know which radioshack u go to but i got my htc evo charger kit including car and wall chargers for only 15 dollars. definitely more expensive than ebay but i needed it for emergency so it worked out. it'd have been disaster if i tried to DIY at the store. i aint lazy to DIY but for something i need to carry it daily on me. i never seen anyone carried a battery rack, AA or AAA batteries and diode around and called the whole thing a cell phone charger.

[batlin]

@punktux How is he wasting time and money? You could do this in 2 minutes, and the parts are almost certainly cheaper than an off-the-shelf charger. Plus it's fun to build even a simple thing yourself. But then maybe you would rather eat McDonalds every day than "waste time and money" buying fresh food and cooking it yourself.

[TheVindictiveVendeta]

McGyver like a boss! Now if only there were radio shack in canada!

[Spiritplumber]

@TheVindictiveVendeta The Source should have the same parts (Do they still have those?)

[Milleniumlance]

is it not possible to mix (3) 1.2v rechargables and 1 1.5 alkaline to get 5.1 volts?

[Spiritplumber]

@Milleniumlance Yes, but the diode will bring it down. You can just do that & not have a diode, but then if you happen to use the pack with 4 alkalines, you get 6V out which may damage the phone. I'd rather risk it not running on some batteries than risk it destroying phones :)

[stewartwi]

When did you make this video? You still rocking that G1? Mind you it was an amazing phone but it's getting up there in age don't you think? :-p

[Spiritplumber]

@stewartwi I made this video yesterday and if it works why throw it away? Besides, I recycle older Android phones into robot brains -- see my other videos. ;)

[stewartwi]

@Spiritplumber Oh I was just curious I recycle all my phones usually to family members that can't afford smart phones. That's cool that you still use it. Are you rooted and running a ROM or all stock? And I'll have to check your other videos when I get a chance.



[Spiritplumber]

@stewartwi That one in particular is android stock 1.1 because it's the one I use to test backward compatibility :)

[improprietary1]

will this video not be available in my country due to royalties since lady gaga's singing in the background?

[InvisibleAvenger]

I've never heard about not mixing batteries of different types. I have seen warnings about not mixing alkalines and rechargeables. Why does battery type matter for this power extender? Is it because Alkalines output 1.5V whereas NiCads and NIMH output 1.25V?

Also that shouldn't that be electrical tape engineering rather than duct tape engineering.

All in all, and a rather interesting video -- nice to see Radio Shacks still stocks some components and parts.

[Spiritplumber]

@InvisibleAvenger Yes, thats exactly it (voltages, alkaline = 1.5v, rechargeables = 1.2v usually).

[AronFigaro]

Good bodge! Wire wrapping sucks, but if you have nowhere to plug in a soldering iron, it's often the best you have! That said, gas irons aren't that expensive, do consider having one in your field kit!

[Spiritplumber]

@AronFigaro A lot of places do not allow flame or even heat (even a hot glue gun). that's why :)