Provide Power With an Old USB Cord

Difficulty:easy..Wire cutting and splicing

If you have any old USB cords lying around, why not do something useful with them? I needed a way to provide power to my Arduino board without using the provided USB cable because it was too long, so I created this Instructable to show you how I solved my problem.

Step 1: Supplies and Tools

Things you will need:

• Wire cutters (or scissors)
• USB cord you are willing to sacrifice
• Jumper cables for a breadboard (or just normal wire if you do not need to use with a breadboard)
• *Not pictured* Electrical tape

Step 2: Prepare the Cord

1. Cut the USB cord about 6" from the base
2. Strip the outer casing, taking care not to harm the wires inside (if you do that's okay, just cut off your mistake and try again closer to the base)
3. Carefully sort the inside wires and you should see 4 colored wires, some string, and insulating wire.
4. Keep the red and black wires and cut everything else away

Step 3: Splice Wires Together

1. Strip the outer coating of the red and black wires from the USB cable and the two wires you will be attaching.
2. Twist the red wires together along with both blacks.
3. Fold down one of the wires along the USB cable and tape it down.
4. Repeat step 3 with the other wire.
5. Reinforce the entire thing with tape to ensure it does not come apart.

Step 4: Plug and Test

Plug your creation into a power bank and test it out! I plugged mine into a power bank and the Vin and GND pins of my Arduino. A quick look at the indicator light showed that it powered on and my creation worked!