DIY Power Adapter PSP, GPS, SonyEricsson Phone and MiniUSB Stuff

Ok here's the thing. If you have lots of gadgets you also have lots of those ugly black boxes - power adapters. Every freaking power brick has its own voltage and connector, right? So you need 3-5 power adapters every time you go to traveling? Wrong! If you have brains and solder iron - you can make yourself an universal power adapter. Here's how I made one for myself.

There are three things that I usually carry around: psp, phone and ipod. But sometimes also a gps module for my phone. They all need 5V power for charging but they have different connectors. So this project is really simple - I just need different connectors and then I solder them to one power adapter (I haven't succeed with ipod adapter but I will explain it later). For the power adapter I used the USB charger as it was cheap and compact.

Step 1: Connectors

For getting connectors I had to buy:
1. USB power adapter VIVANCO (price with discount 10 EUR)
2. SE car charger (10 EUR)
3. ipod USB chord (15 EUR)
4. universal USB to USB mini chord with PSP power connector (10 EUR)

The universal USB chord for PSP was the most universal chord that was available. So I decided to use it. The output of power adapter is 1000mA 5V and it's enough for the phone, ipod and gps but not for psp (original power adapter is 2000mA and 5V). Anyway it will charge but more slowly. Luckily gps is using the same connector as psp.

Step 2: Soldering

So I cut the connectors and prepared them for soldering. Bad surprise with ipod cable: GND and +5 wires are not solderable and I don't know why. They just don't take the lead on them - with or without resin. So no ipod adapter this time (I will update this after I buy new ipod connector). Other wires are ok and after soldering I cover the connection with hot glue.

Step 3: Universal Power Adapter Is Ready

Yep, that's it. It will take ca 1,5 hours (half of this time was dedicated to ipod cable) and ca 45 EUR (60 USD) to make it. Now it's ready and working! And for a bonus - I can use the USB cable for connecting my psp and camera with the computer on the go. These are also these devices that I can charge with this universal power adapter.

You can do it with much cheaper if you already have the connectors (3/4 of the budget). I didn't. You can also mod this project and add several connectors or LED-s (I hate LED-s but that's me) or bells and whistles. Do it and let me know.