Make a USB iPhone iPod Charger On The Cheap!

There are many designs for iPhone chargers out there and many are confusing or use parts that are hard to find.  My design uses parts that are easy to find, is tested works with all iPhones and iPods (as of this posting), and just works.  It is a fun and useful project.  I made one a few years ago and put a video on YouTube.  I weekly get many questions about making one.  So here you go and i hope you enjoy it.

Step 1: Parts List:

Parts:

• 1 - SPST Switch (I used a toggle switch)
• 1 - LED for "ON" indicator red or green (Radio Shack sells LED's with resistor "350 ohm" you can mount.  That's what I used.)
• 1 - 350 ohm Resistor
• 1 - 7805 Voltage Regulator
• 1 - 22uF Capacitor
• 1 - 10nF Capacitor (code 103)
• 2 - 33K Resistors
• 2 - 22K Resistors (Other values can be used, read step 2)
• 1 - Female USB Connector (I got mine at a dollar store)
• 1 - 9v Connector
• 1 - 9v Battery
• Electrical Tape
• Solder
• Soldering Iron
• Small piece of perfboard
• Altoids Tin
• Dremel Tool with cutting attachment or tin snips to cut the tin
• Drill for switch and LED hole
• Hot Glue
• Paint if you want

You can go here for a good tutorial on soldering. 
For most of the parts you can use techno scrap and recycle old broken electronics or just buy them.
I wanted to use parts that are easy to find and inexpensive so everything can be bought at Radio Shack or if your don't mind on-line shopping I like http://www.taydaelectronics.com/servlet/StoreFront because it's cheep!  
I hope you enjoy the project.  

Warning: Just a fair warning that there is a small chance that something can go wrong and you can end up frying your really expensive iPod.  Be careful.  

Comments

[EET1982]

My wall charger for my Galaxy S4 is 5v and 2A. How many amps does this charger put out? I would think it would take forever to charge the phone. Thank you in advance for anyone that reads and /or comments. Thank you for the cool instructable!!!

[martinw22]

What type of wires did you use
Sorry do the dumb question I just started with electronics and thought this would be a cool project to start

[mayenliu]

help! what kind of 22uf should I use? Also is it okay if the green and white data line share one strand of wire.That..they're inbetween the 33k and 22k resistors?

[mjdline]

you mean 10nF capacitor. 10 nano Farad is the same as .01micro farad. Radioshack part number 272-1051.

[donh464]

im trying to find all the parts for this project. I cant seem to find the 10nF resistor anywhere. Any help appreciated...

[rafian]

hello, I just realize one model identical to yours, I have a output voltage 5.06 02.06 data but my iphone does not load. Help me to find the problem, other brand iphone loads.

[quatzecoatl]

Sorry, but to clarify: so this circuit would work without the led and 350 ohm? Like if i just unplugged it to save battery?

[USBguy]

Where can i get a bunch of the usb connectors ???
I have looked on line and not found much..........................................

[ralicia]

can you make a video of you making it? It is hard for me to follow the steps you put .
-Thanks

[maxchu765]

will this work on the iphone 3 or 3gs?

[procrastinator........]

does anyone know if this specific design is fully compatible with the new iphone 5? if so please respond, it would be very appreciated

[OzzyManson]

i can't seem to find a 350 ohm resistor. is there some way i can use other resistors to make up for this?

[xtremeepic]

This should help:
http://goo.gl/kgftk

[OzzyManson]

thank you!!

[OzzyManson]

could this be made without the LED and Switch? im new at this stuff and would like to keep it simple...

[matt.e.jenkins]

It could. But I am unsure if the 7805 will draw current when it's not attached with output. I don't think it does. But that why i added the switch and led so I knew the current was cut. So the battery would not drain when not in use.

[Liam.great98]

I'm done this and it all works but the data lines have 1v, not 2. I'm using the resistors you said to use. My iPod says "charging not supported with this accessory". Should I try different resistor values?

[tramont]

Okay so everything is solderded correctly with the right amount of voltage on the data lines. When i check the voltage it says 6.54 but when i plug my usb up to my phone it drops to 2.89 why is this?

[matt.e.jenkins]

Hmm. It sounds like something is installed wrong. Perhaps the 7805 is in backwards. If your v out is not giving 5v then don't connect you device for it might fry it. You could study some other diagrams online of 7805s and part of my circuit if it would help. Just do some searches. I know it can be frustrating. I can tell you many similar stories. But I hope this helps.
Matt

[Malicah]

So I made one of these using 6 "AAA" batteries instead of the 9V. It seems to work fine so far but the 7805 Voltage Regulator gets EXTREMELY hot. Granted I do not currently have a heatsink on it (I will get one soon). I'm wondering if this is normal though, I am Charging a Galaxy S2 phone with it, that from my research pulls 0.7A while charging. So should a small heatsink like the one you have be good enough to fix the problem, or do you think it's something else causing it to get so hot?

[Liam.great98]

Does it make a difference if I put the 350ohm resistor on the + or - side of the LED? Mine is on the + but yours is on the - side. The only thing I can imagine is that it might affect the 22uf capacitor. Hope you can help!

[tramont]

Are the capacitors neccessary? Can you put a better pic of your circuit board?

[Liam.great98]

Sayal Electronics has everything (as usual) including female USBs with the 4 pins. They only have 360ohm resistors though, but that's not a big deal.

[Liam.great98]

Does the regulator need a heat sink or at least be attached to the side of the tin?

[matt.e.jenkins]

The heatsink is not necessary. I pulled the 7805 out of some techno scrap and it had the heatsink on already.

[Liam.great98]

Alright. It gets pretty hot though. Do you think my 360ohm resistor (instead of 350) is affecting that, or anything else?

[matt.e.jenkins]

Are you getting 5v out? If you get a short +to- it gets very hot. Otherwise you should be fine. It could get a little hot though.

[tramont]

I have 4.98v output and 1.98 on the data lines but it won't charge my iPhone 4. Also it won't charge my Sony Xperia ion the charge light will come on but it won't charge. Any help?

[matt.e.jenkins]

That is strange. It seems like it should work. All I can say is triple check all your connections and give it another try.

[tramont]

Now its showing 4.98 on one data line and 1.96 on the other but its charging my phone correctly though

[xcountrysean]

Please email the answer at [e-mail]

[xcountrysean]

Does it make a difference if I use a 680 ohm LED?

[wendal85]

hi i was wondering i have built two of these and the output is 4.9v but the data lines are only 1.96 & 1.97. i was wondering if anyone had any ideas on what could cause this.

i made on not on a board and without the switch or the led the output came out to 5v but the data lines were still 1.97 & 1.96. so i know all the connections are good. the 33k is on the + and the 22k is on the negative i even tried making a third one with different capacitors and got the same outcome.

has anyone had this happen because i would really like to figure out why this is happening, also do you think just trying the 75k and 50k would solve it

some people say they had the problem but the polarity of the usb was reveresed. i tried switching the + and - lead on the 1 and 4 slot but that did not work either

[starwarsportal]

does it matter if i use a 10uF rather than a 10 nF?

[Selmerman]

Yes, it does matter. 10nf is drastically different than 10uf. I would suggest sticking to the layout and measurements exactly or you might run the risk of destroying whatever item you are trying to charge.

[tschweitz]

How much do all of the components cost?

[Selmerman]

I have 2 voltage regulators, a 7805A-2 and a L7805CV. Which one, if any, should I use?

[aali34]

I hate to sound like an idiot... But why do you need the capacitors?

[tacticalninja]

You can do it without the capacitors, but are recommended as they smooth out fluctuations. Since this takes power from a DC source (battery) fluctuations are not that of an issue, but the switch is, everytime you turn the switch on and/or off it makes noise or tiny sparks or whatever that might damage the device you are charging.

[idkawesome456]

Do i have to have a switch and LED or could i leave one or both of those components? if i removed the switch/LED would that change he charger's functions?