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Step 3The Simple Circuit
After gathering all of the materials, I sat down and got to work.
I cut 2 pieces of Black wire and 2 pieces of Red Wire. The lengths were around 5-6 inches. Then, I cut a little bit less than an inch off both ends of each wire.
With my black and red wires ready, I cut my USB extension cable in half and stripped the cut half of the female end to expose all of the individual wires. There are 4 wires in all USB cables- Green, White, Red, and Black. The Green and White wires are for data, so those are not needed. I snipped the Green and White wires, along with all of shielding and fiber - leaving only the Red and Black wires coming out about an inch and a half from the USB cable. I stripped a little bit less than an inch off the Red and Black wires on my USB extension.
Since the 5V regulator only has one Ground pin, I used the two black wires that I cut initially- to make the soldering a little bit easier. I took both of my black wires, along with the black wire coming from my USB extension, and twisted them all together carefully and securely. I put some solder on that connection to make sure that all of the wires stayed together. Then, to keep things safe, I covered the 3-way connection with electrical tape.
Once all of the wiring was prepped, it was time to put the 5V regulator into the equation. Soldering wires onto the tiny pins from the 5V regulator can be a task. I used a small Zip Tie to hold my wires to the 5V regulator to make things much easier. It really helped - I was able to do pretty clean solder jobs on each of the pins. Since neither of the red wires were connected to anything, it didn't matter which ones I soldered to which pins. Just make sure you know that if your 5V regulator is laying flat, the input pin is on the bottom, and the output pin is on the top!. I also bent the pins in opposite directions to keep everything separate.
The fantastic part about this charger is that we're already done with our circuit. Once I was done soldering to my 5V regulator, I connected the Red wire from the Output pin on the regulator - to the Red wire coming from my USB extension cable. Now, I only had 2 wire ends left. A Red wire connecting to the input pin on my 5V regulator, and a Black wire connecting to the regulator's Ground Pin and my USB extension cable.
I cut 2 pieces of Black wire and 2 pieces of Red Wire. The lengths were around 5-6 inches. Then, I cut a little bit less than an inch off both ends of each wire.
With my black and red wires ready, I cut my USB extension cable in half and stripped the cut half of the female end to expose all of the individual wires. There are 4 wires in all USB cables- Green, White, Red, and Black. The Green and White wires are for data, so those are not needed. I snipped the Green and White wires, along with all of shielding and fiber - leaving only the Red and Black wires coming out about an inch and a half from the USB cable. I stripped a little bit less than an inch off the Red and Black wires on my USB extension.
Since the 5V regulator only has one Ground pin, I used the two black wires that I cut initially- to make the soldering a little bit easier. I took both of my black wires, along with the black wire coming from my USB extension, and twisted them all together carefully and securely. I put some solder on that connection to make sure that all of the wires stayed together. Then, to keep things safe, I covered the 3-way connection with electrical tape.
Once all of the wiring was prepped, it was time to put the 5V regulator into the equation. Soldering wires onto the tiny pins from the 5V regulator can be a task. I used a small Zip Tie to hold my wires to the 5V regulator to make things much easier. It really helped - I was able to do pretty clean solder jobs on each of the pins. Since neither of the red wires were connected to anything, it didn't matter which ones I soldered to which pins. Just make sure you know that if your 5V regulator is laying flat, the input pin is on the bottom, and the output pin is on the top!. I also bent the pins in opposite directions to keep everything separate.
The fantastic part about this charger is that we're already done with our circuit. Once I was done soldering to my 5V regulator, I connected the Red wire from the Output pin on the regulator - to the Red wire coming from my USB extension cable. Now, I only had 2 wire ends left. A Red wire connecting to the input pin on my 5V regulator, and a Black wire connecting to the regulator's Ground Pin and my USB extension cable.
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http://www.ti.com/product/pth08080w
Like the author said (sorta), the most efficient setup (price-wise) may not be the same as the most efficient setup (electrically.)