Introduction: EMERGENCY PHONE CHARGING HACK
Hi, when you are stranded in a place where there is no electricity and your phone is running out of charge and you want to make an emergency call!,
Tadaaa!! here are the hacks for charging your phone without your charger or electricity.
I live in Chennai and I used this hack to make an emergency call when we were affected by flood previous year, There was power cut continuously for about 120 hours(5 days) during floods. This hack had worked out for me so I'm sharing with you.
Note: *Using both hacks you can charge up-to 20%(single time) on an average. You can get that much amount of charge even from used batteries for feature phones ( but mAh<1100), But for smart phones you need to put some EXTRA like using NEW long life batteries.
(*)-Values mentioned may vary depending upon the mAh of phone, Type of battery and adapter(if) that you use.
Step 1: CARRY WITH YOU
- 9V BATTERY
- CAR PHONE CHARGER
- USB CABLE
- KEY(I used wire)
Step 2: CONNECT PHONE WITH CAR ADAPTER
Step 3:
Polarity of terminals of car adapter is clearly shown in the pictures, bottom BUTTON type is +(positive) while side RING type is - (negative).
Connect one wire to the negative terminal to close circuit with battery OR USE KEY TO CONNECT NEGATIVE TERMINAL WITH BATTERY.
Step 4: IF YOU USE KEY
Step 5: CLOSE THE CIRCUIT, CHARGING!!
Connect those terminals with 9 V battery closing the circuit with either wire or with key.
VOILÀ!
IT'S CHARGING AND NOW YOU CAN MAKE YOUR EMERGENCY CALL!
Step 6: HACK #2:USING AA SIZED BATTERIES
If you don't have 9 V battery don't worry and try to get some AA sized batteries (I recommend Alkaline or heavy duty) from your other devices like cameras, mp3 player, flash light,etc. and start charging your phone using the below instructions.
Step 7: WHAT YOU NEED
- 3*AA BATTERIES
- CHARGING CABLE
- CONDUCTING METAL PIECES
INSULATION TAPE
Step 8: CONNECT THEM IN SERIES CONFIGURATION!
Step 9: ATTACH THOSE METAL PIECES ON TOP AND BOTTOM SO AS TO MAKE IT IN SERIES CONFIGURATION
Step 10:
Before connecting, cut the usb edge.
follow the pictures for instructions,
I have connected OTG and then connected it using spare usb if you want you can also follow the same to save your charging cable from cutting it. Even if you have no other option than cutting your charging cable you can Fix it using SUGRU after usage.
After cutting, Inside USB: RED is +(POSITIVE) while BLACK is -(NEGATIVE) connect them correspondingly to the battery terminals.
Step 11: CHARGING!!
VOILÀ!
This hack can give you enough amount of charge in your phone with which you can make an emergency call. Remember, I wouldn’t go around charging your phone using this method on a daily basis but in an emergency or a no other choice situation this is a great alternative way to charge your cell phone.
Thanks for reading my article. Please do support me by giving me feedbacks so that I can make it better,
Also please do hit FAVOURITE and VOTE me if you like my article

Runner Up in the
Survival Ready Contest
84 Comments
Question 3 months ago on Introduction
Hi Augusto, I just found your article here and am wondering, since it was published in 2016, if there are any updates to the hacks that you shared for emergency smart phone chargers. I'm not anywhere near working with electricity, so just wondering if there is something with the newer smart phones that would change how to use your hacks? Thanks for responding! Thanks for your hacks here- really useful!
6 years ago
This is great!
6 years ago
Could be life saving. I voted for you.
Thanks for this :)
6 years ago
I use #1 trick in my Motorcycle. Attache battery wires and add a On/Off button.
Reply 6 years ago
Great!!
6 years ago
that's a good one, I thought of that before, but didn't think about using the car charger to get to the + - leads. Question, what if the only battery was a car battery and you were stranded from a car problem (but battery is okay). Would that charge or fry the cable? Can you use a make shift resistor if the voltage is too high?
Reply 6 years ago
Its not the voltage but the amps of car battery which very high for the fuse capacity of your car charger. So you can't use car battery directly. Yes of course check this link for
charging phone from car batteryReply 6 years ago
The fuse is to protect the circuit of the charging wire. If it gets grounded some how by accident, it will pop the fuse instead of melting the wire and possibly causing a fire. Connecting directly to your car battery is totally fine. Connect it as he has done in this instructable.
Reply 6 years ago
Connecting it directly to a car battery is the same as plugging it into your cigarette lighter socket. In other words, it's totally fine to connect it directly.
Reply 6 years ago
The awesome news in this situation is that your cigarette lighter likely works if the battery works.
If you had a car battery and needed to charge a phone you could probably get away with the USB adapter, two wires, and some jumper cables. You don't want to be holding the thing that might blow up, so I'd want to be able to distance myself from the USB adapter while making the positive connection.
1 battery ground
2 usb ground
3 usb positive
4 Visual check between USB positive and ground (no touching)
5 Battery positive.
6 USB explodes or phone charges =) (Phone does not explode unless samsung for unrelated reasons)
Reply 6 years ago
this Samsung..... Note 7?
Reply 6 years ago
Nope, Its not Samsung.
Reply 6 years ago
The only difference between connecting the adapter to the battery and connecting the adapter to the cig lighter is that the cig lighter is on a (usually about) 15 amp fuse. Othewise it's directly connected to the battery through the fusebox.
Additionally, since you normally use the cig lighter adapter when the car is running, the alternator is usually pushing closer to 15V at you rather than the lower voltage of the battery at rest.
Reply 6 years ago
İf you are using a cigarette lighter Type adapter, you can connect this to a regular car battery. However, take extensive care not causing short circuit since car batteries are carrying larger power and a short circuit might burn your hands
Reply 6 years ago
Thanks for sharing, Dude you need some circuit to drop down voltage from 12 to 5 V
Reply 6 years ago
The battery just has to be between 6 and 14 volts DC. The reason this hack works is because the battery is not used to charge the phone, it is used to power the Car to USB adaptor. And the internal workings of those can take a very wide range of voltage. Some as low as 6 volts, and some as high as 30volts. But the lower the voltage the more efficient the charge, because the adaptor essentially clips the source voltage off at 5volts, and all the left over voltage is converted into heat.
Reply 6 years ago
The car charger has a switching voltage regulator that can handle a wide range from 6 to 30 Volts, so any external source of DC power 6 volts or higher can power it and charge your smartphone. And for the high voltage question, a regular car can generate only up to 16 V, so the car charger can handle that, too.
Reply 6 years ago
As long as there is still a charge in the car battery, it should energize the accessory port even if the car is not running.
You may have to turn the key to the "On" or "Accessory" position depending on how your car is wired.
6 years ago
Next instructable request: how to make DC/DC converter embedded into used 9V battery, to power your phone via microUSB cable. You need old 9V battrey, unpack it, make tiny PCB with effective impulse IC PWM controller and input/output capacitors (what PWM IC can you recommend to use ? scheme in USB chargers can be ineffective but maximally cheap), and solder contacts from old battry, and on-board microUSB connector. In result you will get DC/DC converter looks like 9V-battery on one side (snap it to charged new battery -- this contacts will give you reliable machanical and electrical contact), and tiny USB connector on other side. It is not emergency, but helpful if you carry it in your bag and make fast charging just bye 9V battery next shop.
Reply 6 years ago
Comparing to ordinary power banks -- this thing can be very small, and VERY lightweight, and supercheap in mass production (add LED and tiny switch for more usabiility)