Poké Ball Charger

Is Pokémon Go draining your battery? Instead of a standard charger brick, use a Poké Ball to charge your device while hunting Pokémon.

Step 1: Materials

plastic ball (I got mine at Party City. It's 5.5" in diameter and the two halves screw together.)

charger brick (Make sure it will fit within your ball with extra room for the cable. See step 10 to see what I had to do to make my cable fit.)

male to female usb cable

foam (I used a dollar store kick board.)

masking tape

velcro fastener

wood burner/soldering iron

E-6000 glue

X-acto knife

scissors

zip tie

keyring

karabiner

white spray paint

pen

ruler

sticker vinyl (black and white)

Silhouette cutter (Using the cutter is not entirely necessary, but will make it easier and faster.)

Step 2: Cut Foam

Trace half your ball onto the foam and cut it out.

Cut two more circles that are about an inch smaller than the one cut before it.

Trim the edge off one side of each circle so they're tapered as shown.

Trace your brick onto the largest circle and trim off the two sides.

When stacked, these pieces should fit nicely inside one half of your ball.

Step 3: Tie Down

To keep your brick from sliding around, add a velcro fastener to the center circle.

Trace the brick onto the center circle.

Punch a hole at the center of each line with scissors and thread the fastener through the holes.

Step 4: Tape

Now, tape the three pieces of foam to each other as shown.

When done, they should fit well in one half of the ball with the brick in the center.

Step 5: Paint

Spray paint the inside of the clear half of the ball with white spray paint.

Step 6: Vinyl Stripe

Cut a strip of vinyl .5" wide and apply it to the center of the ball.

I used the Silhouette Cameo to cut my strip, but a ruler and X-acto would work just fine. The attached file can be used with the Silhouette.

Step 7: Circles

Cut a 3" black circle and a 2" white circle from sticker vinyl.

Cut the white circle in half and cut .5" from the center of the black circle.

Step 8: Apply Circles

Apply the black circle halves first.

Lay the straight side of the circle half along the center, use an X-acto knife to cut down the center, then smooth down.

Apply the white circle halves starting with the curved side and cut off any excess at the bottom edge with an X-acto knife.

Step 9: Charger Port

Measure the male end of the usb cable.

Cut a hole in the vinyl at the center of the top half of the ball to match the male end of the usb cable.

Use a wood burner/soldering iron to melt a hole in the ball along the hole in the vinyl.

Stick the male end of the usb cable in the hole.

Step 10: USB Cable

Wrap a piece of foam around the inside of the male end of the usb cable and tape it in place.

Apply E-6000 to the outside edge of the male end of the usb cable.

Stick the female end of the usb cable into your charger. My usb cable stuck up so much it didn't quite fit. To fix this, I split the cable coating so I could bend it over more. I used a zip tie to hold it in place so the wires would be stressed. Hopefully you won't have to do this, but if you do, be careful not to cut any of the inner wires.

Step 11: Carrier

To attach the Poké Ball to your backpack or belt loop, melt two holes in the top of the ball.

Run a zip tie through with a keyring.

Then, attach a karabiner.

Step 12: Enjoy

Now, you'll never have to head home because your battery is dead. Happy hunting!

Comments

[TonyF65]

cute

[legoturtle92]

I made this a little while ago when the game first came out. Instead of those party balls I used Pokeballs from old Burger King toys. If you take a portable battery apart, you can fit a bigger battery in a smaller space. Or you can even make one that runs off 9V batteries. Just a small suggestion to look into to minimize the size and weight a bit.

[Brooklyntonia]

Thanks for the tips! I know what toy you're talking about. I had one at some point. I made mine big because I wanted a hardcore charger. I'm really bad about plugging in my bricks after I use them. If you used a brick with less power, you could use a much smaller ball because the brick would be smaller. I'm likely going to make a second smaller one at some point.

[Jedi_zombie85]

very nice, deffo going to have a crack at this one

[SeamusFrederick]

you might be able to "carve out" a half dome shape from the floral foam using one of the plastic half circles as a guide and then the foam itself can be used as a mold to hold the power brick.

Just throwing out ideas here

[ronanry]

I like "throwing idea" about pokeballs ! :)

[Brooklyntonia]

That's a great idea! You'd likely want to coat or wrap the foam in something after it was carved. That stuff can be pretty messy in my experience.

[watchmeflyy]

Clever idea!

[SeamusFrederick]

Neat idea! not sure how well this would work out in practice but floral foam which is pretty light weight might work just as well?

[Brooklyntonia]

Any foam would work. I just happened to have that kickboard lying around. I've already used it and it works great. Other hunters stopped me to comment on how much they liked it.