altoids PSP recharger

This is my first instructable so don't judge too harshly. This project came to be when I thought "Hey, Sony is evil, they don't have any inexpensive alternatives to their battery packs" I find out now that other companies have made external battery packs (but what's the fun in buying one anyway!). So I set out on an epic journey to create an external battery pack for my PSP. Enjoy!

Step 1 Procure components

first you'll need to get all of the parts and pieces.

1- altiods tin (flavor of your choice)
2- a +5 volt regulatora +5 volt regulator (what this whole project revolves around)
3- a dpdt switch or your choice (it should be pretty small)
4- a four AA battery holdera four AA battery holder
5- a LED for indicatora LED for indicator
6- a DC power connectora DC power connector (plugs into PSP)
7- mono phone plugmono phone plug
8- mono phone jackmono phone jack
9- 2 conducter speaker wire
10- various wires for connections

once you have that you're ready to go!

Comments

[huntudown4]

Thank you for the guide, but I found a much simplier solution to MY problem. I let my psp get completly out of juice, and I couldn't find the charger. So, I go online to find some re-charge solutions, and I foung this. I then dug through my old "spare parts" bin. And I found a 5v cell phone charger. So I took the Mono cord, and just soddered the two together. But I think you for your guide anyway.

[Taktar]

Interesting, but unrelated little fact, that may already be well known: The fumes are more or less adhering to the oil in your fingerprints, so that cloudiness is palm/fingerprints, I think members of law enforcement use similar methods to get fingerprints off of 'strange' surfaces

[shanky887614]

would it be possible to buy this or one off you?

here is my email

[e-mail]

[TitanTechRobotics]

I know this is an old 'ible, but I thought that I would say that the reason that it is around "4.7 volts" is because with voltage regulators need about a 2 volt extra overhead.

AI

[bigt4616]

i followed all the directions and everything but i am geting no charge out of the jack

[foxtrot4697]

if the orange light isn't lighting up on the PSP it probably is charging, but like he said, it is a bit under power.

[11richie21]

yea i agree because i heard green leds take less power to light than other colors like orange wjite and blue

[11richie21]

*white

[bigt4616]

that really does not make any sense cause it probably has a circuit that lights a orange led when charging the battery. you need a certain voltage or it wont go. i learned this with a little thing i made up for this. it was a salvaged 4 battery pack. i just snipped a usb charger cord and soldered the wires on the pack. when the batteries started to die, they where putting out less voltage(what happends typically when aa's "die" ) they got below the 5V minimum and it stopped charging. i checked it with a multimeter too. btw, you really dont need to put any kind of resistor on the batteries because 6V isnt really going to hurt it that bad, if you need a longer charge, just go with c or d batteries(both 1.5 volts, just more power)

[466267]

Yo same here but i used usb instaed of jack

[polo99a9]

me either...

[amakerguy]

Dude its not charging in the picture (the red indicator light on the PSP is not on).

[Cartuner55]

if you read, he said it doesnt always register because it is a little below power. but also, if you look at the altoids tin its led is not on either.

[CalcProgrammer1]

I would really highly recommend a diode to be included. Although it isn't essential, inserting the batteries backwards CAN AND WILL destroy the 5 volt regulator. This design marks the battery connections pretty well, but I used a battery pack connected with 9v terminals on my PDA/PSP/USB charger and my friend hooked the connector up backwards and fried the whole device. My new version with a diode eliminates this problem. Putting the diode between the batteries and the regulator means that power only flows one direction, preventing backwards flow that could destroy it.

[466267]

I just want to be safe when i finish mine up even tho this instructable doesnt work... the part w/o led and switch works... so what diode u reccomend .. plz post a link if u can ty

[466267]

what diode do u recommend?

[466267]

OKay. I made the charger diagram from the battery to the 5v reg to the usb ... that's the only parts that are recieving voltage from the batteries. idk what's wrong i have DPDT switch has 3 prongs and a led in a holder..... any ideas what im doing wrong plz reply

[LanceUppercut]

is there a way i can make sure my wires for the dc connector from the phone jack have juice to them?

[LanceUppercut]

could you get a closeup of the circuit i am having a hard time knowing what to do i did it the way the diagram shows i think but i don't get a charging light at all.

[polo99a9]

no charge in the psp. is it because the regulator that you posted gives out 5V and only 1000mA? didn;t it need 2000mA? just asking.

[awang8]

Umm... Actually it needs 500mA (max) so the reason it didn't charge is because your battery's toast.

[polo99a9]

I don't think that my battery wore bad, because they wore brand new, and i even recharged them. the reason that i said that it needs 2000mA is because of the original psp charger, witch puts out exactly 5v and 200mA.

[awang8]

I was talking about your PSP battery... Anyway i'm more used to MintyBoost style things now...

[TheLobb]

hmmm workin now. in the altoids. but it only pumps out 2.5 volts....mabye i could use a nine volt and some resistors.

[awang8]

9v batteries are horrible for charging USB-powered devices (or 5v at 500ma) because the internal resistance is so high. Therefore DON'T USE A RESISTOR!! (I'm not shouting, I'm typing in capitals.)

[Notn4]

why do i need a 5v regulator? i got a store bought battery-charger and all it contains is a AAAx4 holder and some wires but no components or stuff !

[awang8]

Because 6v will fry the device. I bought a Belkin 6xAAA charger and it has a chip, regulator and resistor inside it... (and 2 wires and a female USB plug.)

[466267]

Also... Why is the "positive" end of the battery pack going to the input on the regulator?

[awang8]

Because negative is ground?

[xonsniper4]

Why do you need to have a DPDT switch

[awang8]

A toggle switch/rocket switch would be fine I guess...

[466267]

Hey My soldering iron sucks because the tip is broken so how can i solder small metal such as on the switch button etc.?

[DELETED_evilfrogie]

(removed by author or community request)

[awang8]

Get a new tip?

[piepieburger]

I am currently building this project. All I have done so far is hook up the positive and the negative wires from the battery case to the regulator. I left the batteries in the case overnight and the regulator got really hot! Will this happen when I'm done and is it a fire hazard?

[466267]

Im confused about this part The output plug and the LED are wired in parallel (if they are in series, the LED will suck up too much voltage, I learned that the hard way) through the switch and the regulator,

[466267]

Hi Instead of using a phone jack ... Can i attach a female usb port ??? Would the wire from the switch go to the positive end of the usb port or negative end ...? Or the neg. wire to the switch with the positive end connecting to the other 3 wires...?

[LemonyPotatoes]

1. How long do the batteries last?
2. How many charges can it do, before having to replace them?
3. Can you get all the wiring and switches from Radioshack?

[loggerhead]

what happens if you leave it on overnight won't it overload the psp?

[Derin]

no it wont we charged a psp for a whole week in a rv no sign of overcharge ps that time is not exactly a weekend i was unplugging the rv from mains everyoften so they go out and play instead of playing call of duty on psp