Top Secret: Control a Hidden Usb Port With a Magnet!

Here's a Great 30 minute project for you nerds who secretly turn out to be budding spies or probably already are one.

Use this device instead of that lame old "invisible folder" trick that people can easily find. Use it to hide and store your plans on..... Worldwide infestation of a new breed of virus of yours, Information of bacteria you cultured, very important documents and yeah...Those kinds of stuff.

This project inspired me when i bumped into this Instructable, Hey thanks stonehenge360 For showing us that damn sneaky usb port, you really got me thinking man!

So yeah. Since spies are known to be really smart, wouldn't it sound better if you knew how this project worked? Well then, its your lucky day. Here's some information!

Reed switches are basically two prongs connected really close to each other, these contacts aren't your usual copper contacts though, these ones are magnetic! That's why we use magnets to control them.

Once a magnet is hovered over the switch, the terminals get attracted to each other thus, closing the circuit. here's more information about reeds if i got you hooked......or not.

Lastly, i need you to remember the pinouts on a female usb port, see picture 5. don't get it wrong, it might CORRUPT your storage devices, study, understand and remember it!

To my fellow nerds, please do vote for my project, i guarantee to serve you with more new and fresh ideas!

Update: After i'm done with all my schoolwork, i promise to show you guys an updated version of this hidden port.

It's design is still undergoing so stay tuned!

Bottom line, I suggest you guys read the comments below to see what i meant by using one reed switch instead of using all 4. I learned a handful of other things too like: there's actually a female port inside the cpu (still to be confirmed) and knowing that using 1 reed switch connected to either vcc or ground of the usb port would work just as well. This is why i love hearing from you guys! keep it coming and i promise to do so as well, stay tuned! :)

Scroll down if you choose to accept.

Step 1: Gathering the Ingredients

First off, here's a list of what we'll be needing this for the components:

• 4 Reed switches
• A wire stranded into 4 more wires, i used a salvaged mouse cord
• 3mm diffused green LED
• 1k ohm resistor
• female usb port
• usb storage device (ex. hard drive, flash drive, etc)
• A magnet (Not shown in the picture)
• Optional: a Male usb plug (removes the whole point of stealth) but needed if you wanna test it

Oh, we'll be needing these tools as well:

• A soldering iron
• A hot glue gun
• A pair of precision pliers
• optional: Super glue or any cyanoacrylate adhesive

Step 2: Installing the Reeds

Yeah, so take your female usb port and add tape to the holes seen underneath, just like on the first picture

Then solder your reed switch to each pin. Yo be REALLY careful, these reed switches are made of very very thin glass that i hate so much. they break off so easily plus they're pretty expensive so yeah be careful.

Enough ranting, add hot glue to cover all the reeds, we do this so we can add an extra layer of protection,

by the way...don't let your hot glue gun heat up like the glue is already liquid. you wouldn't want this because first off:

• the glue will spread to the sides and seep into the holes.
• The reeds will CRACK, trust me i wasted 4 of them already.
• You wouldn't be able to mould the glue to shape

Step 3: The Status LED

This part was pretty fun for me, just clip off the resistor and the negative leg of the led just like the one on the second picture, solder it afterwards. see the third picture

Then hot glue it to the positve side of the usb port see pic 5 if you forgot -_- (the vcc side)

Okay now that's stable, bend and solder the resistor Directly to the negative of the port (the gnd side) and then bend and solder the positive led pin to the reed switch which is connected to the positive (vcc) side of the port. see the 4th picture to see what i mean

Step 4: Installing the Wires to the Port

Clip off the ps/2 connector and reveal the wires,

simply solder these wires to the following pins:

• Orange wire to Vcc
• Green wire to D-
• White wire to D+
• Blue wire to Gnd

you can refer to the 3rd and 4th picture for this.

then hotglue the wires for protection.

Step 5: Testing...testing...

Yeah... so i just realized i couldn't open my cpu due to the special screws it had :(((

so instead, i soldered the corresponding wires to a male usb, see the fifth picture for reference. hover a magnet over to see if it works. see the first picture, it does work.

BUT if you actually do have a cpu that can be opened, lucky you. just solder the corresponding wires to any usb port you want, i prefer the back since nobody really uses it. then with double sided tape, stick the side where the reed switches are to the wall of the cpu, and that's for you to decide where to hide it. just stick a magnet over the part where the hidden usb port is then you're good to go.

shoot me a comment for your thoughts and suggestions!

Happy hiding!

-poch