iPod Altoids battery pack v2
I got some new Altoids tins, borrowed a Dremel tool from Mitchell, and purchased brand new firewire connectors from NTC. Here’s my second, cleaner, tighter, much nicer attempt at a sweet external battery pack for iPod. Once, again, credit goes to Drew Perry for the design and inspiration. His is made inside a deck of cards, mine is in an Altoids can. This one is way better than the first one I tried, and my soldering is getting better - not really.
What do you think? Getting good, huh?
UPDATED 12/19/04:
There has been so much interest in this project from all over the world I can’t believe it. There have been great suggestions for improvements, and some questions about how, exactly, to build one. So, I thought I would add some information to this post and get the information out there.
First of all, let me once again thank Drew Perry for the schematic and the original battery pack idea. He did most of the heavy lifting. Let me also acknowledge unixmonkey, who actually created an Altoids Battery pack before I did, though I didn’t know about it until after this project got so much exposure. His battery layout is different, but he also used Drew’s schematic and project as inspiration.
So, let me start with the schematic. The following is pulled directly from Drew Perry’s site. It shows exactly how the batteries should be wired together. As you can see, it is a very simply circuit, a perfect beginner’s project.
As far as the firewire port, I chose the RFS-6602, the “Vertical 6 pin receptacle, through hole type” (3rd one down on this page on NTC) because is is smooth and can slide easily through a hole in the Altoids tin. The original one I built used a salvaged port from an old firewire card I had, and it sucked - it was so sloppy and awkward to install.
As far as the pins go, Pin 1 is for the power, and pin 2 is for the Ground. It’s quite easy to figure out, but it took me some time. I bought a $14 Multitester at Radio Shack to help me figure it out. If you look at the schematic here below, pulled directly from pinouts.ru you can see clearly where pins 1 and 2 are.
That should help. It is tricky to solder the wires and keep these wires apart, and I suck at soldering. unixmonkey took a great step after this, which I will do to my next model. He simply smothers this connection with hot glue, to ensure there will be no short. Good idea. Mine is sort of dangerous.
So, you follow the diagram, solder it together, and check the voltage outputs. Should be between 11 and 12 volts. That’s it. It’s really very simple. I am embarassed by all this attention.
I also saw some comments on hackaday and engadget suggesting the batteries might unevenly discharge or produce unstable voltage. These are valid concerns. One commenter suggested a power regulator circuit board. I am going to look into it and maybe add it to the design. I hope I can get one to fit.
Rechargeable batteries could totally work, but the point of this project was to have a power source when recharging was not an option. If you were going camping, theoretically you could throw a whole bunch of regular alkaline batteries in your pack and you’d be good to go for the weekend.
Some other people have expressed concern over airport security and my little experiement. I am also a little worried about airport security, but am willing to give it a go. There is a high liklihood that I will get stopped and THOROUGHLY searched. Wish me luck.
Lastly, I am working on some improvements and other projects. I love squeezing stuff into Altoids cans, so look forward to new stuff soon.
UPDATE (1/17/05): I made a new version using just a 9V battery this time, and put it into an Altoids Chewing Gum tin instead of the fullsize one. I’m very happy with the result. Have a look at the iPod Altoids Mini.
You are a big fat nerd.
I’m really impressed! One bit of advice, though. Don’t EVER bring this to an airport with you if you plan on getting to your destination any time soon.
This would totally get you dragged out of the line and questioned for a while.
This looks really cool - but how much a charge do you really get from 3 9-volt batteries?
If it’s substatial, then I think you’ve got something here, but if it’s going to give you the ability to listen to 2 more crappy songs on your awful play list - seems like a lot of work for not much of a pay off.
Diclerico - does this let you listen to TKA’s whole Greatest hits album a few times or does it only allow you to listen to “Maria” and “Give your love to me”?
According to the original creator, Drew, you get about 10 hours of play time out of these batteries. The really cool thing about that is regular alkaline batteries don;t really drain too much when you are not using them. Therefore, on battery pack like this could last you months of emergency uses. When connected to the iPod, it actually shows the icon animation of the battery charging, but I have yet to do any tests to see if that is really true. If so, it opens the door to many other flexibilities.
As far as TKA’s Greatest Hits goes, I already own it, have already put it on my iPod, and know for a fact that this battery pack can play the whole album and then a little Cynthia and Johnny O, Dream Boy/Dream Girl. Sweet.
And then Apple increased the battery life to 15 hours.
Don’t you feel a little like a nerd? Just a little?
If my dremel can help Chris relive his 80s Staten Island days for just a few hours longer, my work here is done. Ladies, extra points if you show up on saturday with an Aquanet hairdo.
Why not use rechargable batteries instead of one-offs?
Come on, no one wants to have to recharge their emergency battery pack like those awfull plug-in flashlights that are never bright enough when you really need one. Good job! I hadn’t even heard about your first one.
10 hours? Those batteries must be curiously strong…
This would have saved my life when I was travelling and had absolutely no way to charge my iPod (you try finding an internet cafe in Provence that has a firewire port!). I’d buy one!
yay! pot and chewing gum step aside, recycled altoids tins goes high-tech
seriously, great idea, alkaline or lithium batteries will last for many months, just make one of these canned cuties, keep it stored in your backpack.
thanks for the tip, should we send pornpics of our altoids?
Looks really solid. How does the firewire port mount hold up? Think you’ll pull it through?
Looks to me like you could dope or epoxy the wiring to the bottom of the tin and both clean up the mess and get them out of the way in one step. While you’re at it fasten the AA holder down too.
The tin is a great idea and a whale of an improvement over cardboard. Best thing is that most true geeks probably have a steady stream of these.
Great stuff man… But I think it can be easily done by other people if they have the tools, so no use trying to sell them though… Unless selling to very lazy people! Haha!
Looks kool trick someone thinking
is candy not a device.
A special surpise hiiden betteen sheets of metal.
i made mine a long time ago based on these instructions: http://www.unixmonkey.net/articles/altoids/
it is pretty cool but i haven’t had a use for it yet.
Oh shit! I never saw those instructions! It’s almost exactly the same, except I really like how unixmonkey layed out the batteries. Mine are pretty cramped but his has plenty of room. His wiring and soldering looks better than mine too. Sweet.
Hey, don’t forget the OTHER important Altoids tin.
A CMOY headphone amplifier.
ok concept, bad implementation… the interface and the container are pretty neat, however as mentioned on hackaday the power implementation are pretty unstable and could end up damaging an expensive piece of hardware for the sake of being cheap. It would be better to get an extra ipod battery but instead of swapping it out to put it in the altoids case.
Israel Torres
Nice idea - but where do you put the mints?
Isreal, chill - i don’t know if anyone else has looked at hackaday’s comments. Really, don’t you chaps have jobs? This is a fantastic idea, being jobless i intend to build three, mixing batteries, using them in the rain etc. etc. Keep the ideas rolling, I want one for my… oh 12 hours i see.
Nice…. a freind of mine has a pentax optio s5i camera and the altoids tin is the perfect fit as a case…
I also have the optio S in an Altoids can. I will post pictures soon.
I’m lazy, and my soldering skills bite ass!
I’ll buy one off of you!
Waiting for you to start selling these on eBay…
This is cool, ignore all those posers who bag on it but haven’t done anything themselves; they probably all have Dell’s…
Why not use rechargeable alkalines and be ‘green’ as well as cool? Help stop geeks from polluting the planet with one-off batteries.
Any suggestions for which firewire connectors to use? NTC has a whole page full.
can anyone tell me which one of these firewire connectors I need for this project? u.u i’m clueless when it comes to this stuff.
http://www.ntcdistributing.com/products/fwcon.htm
oh and one more thing.. dont’ mind my newbyness. but i was wondering why u need to have teh 2 9Vs in parralel? couldn’t you just have the 9 and 3V in series? wouldn’t that equal 12? don’t mind my newbynesss here.. ._.
Nice Idea! I don’t agree about the airport security though. I travel with a mobile networking lab, and three routers.
I too have the TKA greatest hits album and would love to have a couple of extra hours to pretend it’s the eighties once again.
What is the pinout to NTC for power?
Yeah, why not use rechargeables? Possible?
Maybe I’m missing something, but if you don’t have a second or first generation iPod, why not just use a belkin battery pack? Maybe the cost is the aversion for some of you, but for the lazy ones with a bit of money, the belkin Battery Pack works great.
http://www.google.com/search?q=belkin+Battery+Pack&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Ummm…rechargeable alkalines hold their charge for years–that’s the point. They don’t discharge in a few weeks on the shelf like NiCad, MetalHydride, Lion, and others. So you could charge up some and take them all camping and still not pollute the planet with garbage. They sell them at Fry’s. I stopped buying disposable batteries two years ago. They’ll charge over 1,000 times before wearing out.
Chris = Genius
awesome project!
also thanks for the link someone to that altoid tin audio amp, thats bad ass.
here’s another link i thoguth was cool:
http://www.readymademag.com/feature_12_macgyver.php
readymade mag is a super cool magazine!
In reply to Tony–
The 9V batteries are wired in parallel so that an overall voltage of 12V can be achieved. (This is the voltage of the Apple power adaptor.)
oh, but why do we need 2 9V batteries, rather than 1? wouldn’t a 9V + a 3V give us a 12V overal charge?
Dear Sir/Ms:
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Surely you will find a ready market all over the world.
Also we have a series of Li-polymer battery pack , such for PDA , notebook , MP3 , and other digital
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You should insulate that tin box so you don’t short out the batteries. If they short you will see how much power a 9v battery contains! Seriously you could get a horrible burn and/or fire.
OH MY GOD you really have to have no life whatsoever. Amazing.
OH MY GOD you really have to have no life whatsoever. Amazing.
OH MY GOD you really have no life whatsoever to post the same stupid thing twice
nice job on the bat pack. ingenious.
Could you not use one end of a Firewire extention cable , and save all that soldering.
Cut the end off FW ext. cable.
you want to leave enough wire to connect to a small wire connector which also connects to the batteries wires.
Had a google and there are verious end shapes, on the connectors, some small some not. So I guess you would have to make sure you get a FW end that is small
I suspect that the 9V batteries are wired in parallel to increase the current. Also, as long as all of the batteries are the same age - straight out of the package into the tin - they should have similar discharge rate. What matters i that the voltage of both 9Vs remains close so that you get the same current draw from both.
Great idea!
cool
I wouldn’t use this while wet. There’s a reason that most electronics case are made out of plastic, and it’s not just because it’s cheap. You could snag a serious shock if you aren’t careful, and getting a ground to earth through a metal case is easy to do. However, this thing is cool! Bravo!!
THIS IS STUPID… A million people have though of this already. Anyone who supports this ‘tin can’ idea is about as worthless as a hard shit.
nahh, i am just being a dick - sorry.
I think the metal case idea is okay if you line the inside with a non-conductive material, like duct or electrical tape. It’s a good idea but it has it’s flaws.
I was at Mars 2112 on Sat. Oct 30th.
Nice podCharger();
Werd son.
Forget these unimaginative dipshits… this is wicked cool. Might try and make one, the idea of insulating the inside with duct tape could be good. Do post anything you find on a voltage regulator as well, maybe i’ll hop over to radioshack later and see. Meantime, where am i gonna stash my dope?
Next project, take the iPod apart and build it inside an altoids can.too damn cool.
Wow. That’s phenonmenal. What did you put the batteries in? Does it look cool? 8 AA’s seems like it might be kind of big, but it’s worth a try. Maybe I’ll make one too. Thanks for the tip.
Can you explain to me how Belkin has a battery pack that uses only 4AA’s. It doesn’t make any sense.
Just a bit of advice on your circuit design. There should be a diode in there somewhere to prevent the ipod from trying to charge the alkaline batteries. Electricity, like water, flows down hill… ah so to speak…
Your idea is cool, however, you are a homax. Shame.
This is not a good idea, it is if you had a proper brain though. Number one as already mentioned, you need a diode. Number 2 you need a capacitor to regulate the flow. Number 3 you need a couple transistors and a 1381 voltage detector to shut off the power after it gets below 10 volts or so. Hope you like a toasty apples.
OK so umm what works best ? 8 AA battrys or 2 9v with 2 AA does anybody know? and oh anyluck with the power regulator circuit board thing? oh and BTW water does not conduct electricity ions inside of it do =)
Is there any place where we can get quite detailed instructions on this? What are the risks to my precious music box?
Altoids also makes some of their tins/cans out of plastic. There is some really neat stuff called Great-Stuff. it’s an insulation foam from your favorite Hardware store. spray it in, then cover with plastic wrap. Push your batteries in, trim the edges and there you go. It’s sealed. the batteries are removable and if you put some silicone rubber around the inside edge, water “Resistant”. don’t go diving with it. There are 1000’s of uses for you altoids cans, wireless antennae is my favorite.
how often do you have to replace the batteries?
THE ENTIRE IDEA SUCKS MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!You could damnage yourself or the ipod. There’s not f***ing saftey crap on this thing, goin either way. Only poor dudes would make this. Poor and geeky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Merry Geekmas!!!!!!!!
take that back man. i love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is awesome, I’m going to make it and add some insulation, and made an LED, so that when the batteries reach low power it’ll tell me. Im also making all the other cool Altoid stuff. Anyone got a website for Altoid inventions?
How do you know which firewire port to buy? I’m very confused! Please help me!!!!!!!11
Heres my one issue, if you made it exactly as you or unixmonkey did without the diode, capacitor, or regulator circut, it cant damage the ipod battery, once the voltage got too low on the charger the ipod would just try to charge the batteries and you’d notice your ipod battery emptying im sure, so youd know to replace the batteries in the charger, but no damage can be done right? I know nothing of electricity but im almost done building mine and want to know it isnt in vain. Someone lemme know if im right or not, i dont wanna damage my ipod either, Mines a 20g 4G btw if it matters. Thanks
Anyone using one of these had any trouble? Dead iPods or anything?
Whats the Firewire connector is used in that picture?
Yea it caused me problems, my ipod battery is dead haha, i guess the 4G clickwheel ipod just doesnt like the voltage output from the battery pack
Anyone else have trouble with their 4G ipod?
How long did it take for you to kill your battery?
daime
Hey sammy, are you fur real? because that is insane in the membrane.
Hey.
That battery is just plain old incredible. I would get so much use out of a battery pack like that. I saw that now apple is making one for the shuffle but still not one for an ipod or ipod mini. I would be willing to order one from you and pay money. If you are interested please let me know. You can email me at squibbles1987a@hotmail.com
Nice work.
hello, can i buy one from you
If you used rechargable NiMH AA’s and 9V’s, would it be a problem if the iPod attempted to charge them?
so there is a lot of misinformation on here. Let me try to clear some of it up. I don’t know the specifics of the iPod circuit, but you can rest assured that the LiIon charging circuitry prevents the internal battery from back feeding the external battery pack - so the diode is not needed (i just probed for voltage at the USB and firewire connector coming off my mini - nothing there). Secondly, the LiIon battery is probably only 4.2V nominal, which again means tht EVEN IF THERE WAS A PATH FROM THE INTERNAL BATTERY OUT TO THE EXTERNAL BATTERY, the internal battery would never charge the external. The charging circuitry probably works down even below 4.2V so that is how the Belkin adapter can work on 4 AAs. The LI charger is usually some sort of switch-mode power supply chip because lithiums like a constant current charge, so the charger would be able to buck or boost the input voltage to the correct output voltage (and current). NiMH batteries are typically 1.2V and drain to about 1V when dead, so start at 4.8V and end at 4V with 4 AAs. Chris, it would be interesting to replace your batteries with 4 AAs and see if it still worked. I’m guessing it would. Lastly, the battery configuration (2 9 volts in || with 2 AAs in series) is potentially dangerous. the problem is the ampacity rating of the batteries. I know AA alkalines are about 1850mAH. I don’t remember the mAH rating of 9Vs but i do remember they were much lower than AAs. I suspect the two 9V in || are to try to match the mAH ratings of the AA batteries. The problem is when you reach the end of useful life of the battery, but you are still pushing current through it. the internal resistance rises and the battery heats up. Most of these are sealed cans and when you heat them, they outgas and pressure starts to build in the battery. they could explode. But I suspect that the iPod will not run off just the 2 AAs - so the chance of a problem is low. if you have any questions, feel free to email me (assuming you log the email that i just entered above). CJ
has anyone tried it with just AAs.
I saw this on G4TechTV, and I am definately going to build me one of these!!! I am not too bad at soldering, and hopefully, the firewire connectors aren’t too expensive! Good job!
This is Uber amazing, does it work on other devieces that aren’t I pods? I hope. You are my hero!!!!
what was the total cost for parts? not including the batteries, but everything else.
Hey, a little more utilitarian and less zaney, but how’s about making this little recharger unit into a flashlight case so that the fire wire port is on the bottom and an operational flashlight bulb is on the top and the batteries could be used for either purpose. Would attract a lot less attention at the airport and would be much more multifunctional on that camping trip.
kudos on great ideas.
hey nice project. I really want to make one and i have been calling around to find the fire wire connection that goes in the altoid do u know the exact name and were i could get it
Very nice. Thanks to Kevin Rose for getting me here. Even after everyone’s good advice it’s still scary to mess with something that took so long to get. (another thanks to kr ..http://www.freeipods.com/?r=10209091) But looks good and not too hard to make. Good idea. Anyone try 4AA yet?
Great idea. i made one. actually charges it. One promblem some how it also discharges yhe ipod which alco can lead to a shorted out ipod.
freeakin awesome idea. CHRIS YOU ARE GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!!
Which firewire connector r u supposed to use?
Could you make me one? THEY ARE REALLY COOL!!!!!!!!!!
nice, but i dont c any instrutionz…watz up wit dat?
Thats awesome i saw it on g4techtv
thats cool
First off I would like to aplaud the creativity. That said a Plastic box of about the same size and shape can be had from any decent electonics supply store and it would be wise to have someone confirm the correct voltage and battery configuration before using the setup descibed.
awsome idea!!! but how many times can you chargean ipod without changing the batteries?
Dude you guys should totaly make a bunch of these and sell them on the website
this is so cool. i cant wait to try it. im so glad that i found this site
where do u get the connector from and how much is it.
that is cool but is there any way you could get that to charge up a cell phone???
i was wondering? could you do this for a dell dj i was teying to figuar this out please email me back on what to use for a fire wire
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5745568860
I’ll make one of these for anyone for $20 that includes shipping. slongage@hotmail.com
one more question for now, how do you know what generation your i-pod is?
thnx again
bye
I wanted to know if i can buy one staight from you?
What kind of salder should I buy from radioshack
I just bought all the parts from my local Frys. Firewire connecter, cables, batter holders. I didnt buy a solder because my dad already has one, but you can buy that at Frys too. It only cost my $21 so its pretty cheap. Me and my dad are going to make it whenever he gets a day off and is feeling up to it, since I don’t know how to solder.
You guys know you can recharge Alkaline batterieson a standard NiMH battery charger right? The 9v’s don’t even get warm while charging. Best part is that alkaline batteries don’t have a memmory effect, so I just charge ‘em up when they drop to ~7v, which is when my CMOY starts to sound crappy.
I am going to try this with USB rather than Firewire.
I don’t know much but wouldn’t you need a resistor in there to get correct amps? What should the current be going in to the i-pod?
Hey guys, I just found a great site from where to get the firewire sockets. The website is: http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?handler=displayproduct&lstdispproductid=256194&e_categoryid=621&e_pcodeid=53820
and the socket # that you would need is 538-53462-0611 . Plus, shipping is pretty cheap…
nuts
absolutly nuts
awesome
and nuts
hey u should sell them for a low price u would make a lot of money I know I would buy one.
Hey would it be possible that i could make one of those with a usb female port instead of a firewire port because i got a Zen micro
HEY…does anyone know how to make a pack for a DELL DJ20?
sell the dell and get an iPod
If i use rechargeable batteries how can it be charged? via the firewire port on my mac w/ a 6 pin to 6 pin? or is there something else i have to do?
In an attempt to get by with a less-expensive battery system, I tTried, using 2CR5 lithium batteries in series, but the solar charger set the pack on fire. That was NOt too easy to put out. I had seen some plan to build a LIthium Battery Charger from the electronic kit catalog which advertised “negative pluse” charging but that rechager didn’t work and super-heated the lithium batteries that I tried it on. the pack tempterature soared to 155 degree Farenheit and I was somewhat intimidated by the softening plastic on the pack. Luckily I did my experimentation in a meat smoker in my garage, otherwise, the mess/fire would’ve been serious.
Ipod speakers:
Can anyone help me? My young son is trying to build the simpler altoid speaker, (the MacGver winner) before trying the battery pack. We cannot seem to make it work. When he reconnects the wire to the speaker, no sound comes out. What is the purpose of burning off the pastic coating (instead of stripping)after reconnecting the wires together? This didn’t seem to resestablish the connection. We have tried stripping the wire as well. The speakers on the headphones worked before being taken apart and rejoined. Any ideas? Thank you
Oops, I didn’t post the link from the ReadyMade site where we got the how-to info.
http://www.readymademag.com/feature_12_macgyver.php
Thanks again for any help.
yo can somebody make a detailed site on how to make the battery pack like this one
http://tangentsoft.net/audio/cmoy-tutorial/
i need help on the wiring
yo can somebody make a detailed site on how to make the battery pack like this one
LINK/
i need help on the wiring
FREE IPODS
http://www.freeiPods.com/?r=14877514
AND LOOK PROOF AT THIS SITE http://www.freeipodguide.com/
can you get this to worck with the dell dj
To stabilize the circuit could you use a dc/dc power supply?
y not just 3 9volt batteries, (please excuse if this is a dumb question)
could you replace the firewire with a usb 2.0 port? if so, does t matter if it’s usb 2.0, or just a powered usb port?
Does anyone have a diagram for this? An electronics guy I know suggested a diode, a resistor, and a couple other things that I don’t remember to make sure the current is regulated and there’s no backflow. I don’t want to hurt my ‘pod.
which wires go where?
i find this is a very very creative and handy piece of electronics, i want to try to make one, you are a fucking genius. keep up the good work. i have made an ipod mini case, it’s pretty good. just saw of the top of a tin and put in some foam padding et voila.
ciao
now fuck off
.
—-WIRING INSTRUCTIONS–
Sup guys just experimenting here. I’m trying it with a USB as well. The wiring is pretty simple I’ll explain. So here’s the idea. Ther is one thing to remember about closed circuits. The positive spits the energy out and the negative sucks it in. So when you do the battery’s as explained farther in this article remember to go negative to positive and likewise. Whn working with a USB por that has a power input and a power output you just have to seperate thopse wires and strip the plastic coating to be able to splice the wires when ready. Now i’m going to tell u how to do it with 2, 9vt. batteries then three. So once you have the USB cables stripped you should purchase a few 9vt. battery caps. The ones that just snap on to the top of the batter are the best because they take up so much less space. You should also buy some butt splices to make the cuts where u need them. Alright so take the first battery cap and connect it to the 9vt. battery. U should now see two wires sticking our of the cap marked positive(+) or negative(-). Take the butt splice and butt splice the wire that reads negative to the positive side of the USB cable. Then connect the 9vt.’s possitive side to the negative side of the second 9vt. with a butt splice as well. Dont forget to wrap every butt splice in electrical tape to prevent shorting out during use. The tke the second 9vt’s positive side and again splice it to the negative side of The USB you have just created a single circuit from which your iPod can charge. For the three 9vt’s you can just keep wiring positive to nagative and then positivve to negative agin to add an extra batter. This project will not require any soddering if you use the splices instead of metal plates. HAve fun!! For all you parnts that need to know how to do this for your sons just tell then that a 12 year-old figured this out by himself as well as the Sour Altoids peakers with retractible cord!! Enjoy.
Question about how to connect the batteries together and the batteries to the plug. How do I do this? Which prong do I attach the wires too. Please, help. Thanks so much.
Ross
i wuz wondering if you could use this for other things like a gameboy or a rio?
Hey, is it possible to do this for a Creative Labs Nomad Zen Xtra? I’m definitely a newb at these things.
Hey guys, i made my own little version of this. first off, i scrapped the altoids tin and use a slightly larger box, (ended up with the same net weight though). mine is longer lasting and is also more dourable (chris you are still a genius and i admire your creativity) if you want more details and pix, you can e mail me, (click on my name) chris i would really apreciate if you would e mail me too, id like to hear your thoughts on my changes to your design.
DIY iPod thingy’s are sooooo cool!
But where do you get altoids in Europe (Belgium).
I cant find them anywhere, I’m missing out on a great deal of the better hacks here!
Please mail me (click on the name)
on where to get them.
hey i made one of these and was wondering something is the ipod supposed to get hot while charging
Where do you get the firewire port RFS-6602. Radio shack does not have them.
How do you cut the hole in the side of the Altoids tin that allows you to slide the connector in to it? Also, did you just solder the connector to the inside? Lastly, what size solder do you recomend?
#1, you can get the ports from mouser.com, get there toll free # and call them
#2, you can use a nibbler to cut a hole in tha side of the tin. (ahh.. a nibbler, the project makers best friend), pick 1 up fer real cheap at ure local hardware store
ever try modifying a tin to fit an ipod mini… no dice… my last resort was a small hammer i recently found in the hall closet
is anybody smart enough 2 make a bloody step-by-step site on how 2 make this (including wiring and list of items)
or email step-by-step instructions 2 me
e mail me jack tatum and ill give u tha step by step
I got the nibbler from Radio Shack, but I gots a small problem. You cant just nibble throught the side, you have to have an edge, and I cant get it. How did you figure it out. Email me… iM playing Halo.
should i add a capacitor and stuff to protect my i-pod
no that is unnesecary, the ipod itself contains a regulating cercuit that controlls the voltage
The airport warning is very valid, first hand experience. I built a wired shutter remote for a Canon Digital Rebel from a mini Altoids tin. It has 3 switches and a wire leading from it. The gate gaurds actually tried to dissassemble it then finally settled on just giving it an explosives swab test. Almost missid my flight because of that stupid thing so it flew home in checked bagage not carry on.
thank you, buddy, for writing this article.
i am from China, the biggest country in Asia.
i’d like to translate your work into Chinese, my language, and post it on my MSN Space (http://spaces.m$n.com/members/fishtheblue/) to share this experience with iPodders in China.
please tell me if you think my action is offensive to you.
thank you again.
dan u never sent me the step-by-step instructions
Jack,
You never e mailed me..
looks like a bomb
I am working on the same type of battery pack, but where I live its is hard to find nine volt batteries, so i am making my emergency iPod battery pack thing from 2 car battries (stolen from AutoZOne) and one deep cycle marine battery, but I was having trouble getting them damn things to fit in the hemroids can, so I decided to put them into my fishing cooler. Cooler has wheels, so it aint no trouble to drag around in case my ipod runs low on juice. There also some extre space left over for my PBR and beef jerky. But definitely dont try to take this on the airplane as the people at security frown upon PBR. I will be making these for resale on ebay too. I will be posting a link soon.
wow…
the stupidity of that project impresses me…
I’ll make one of these for anyone for $20 that includes shipping. slongage@hotmail.com
ill make a version thats more durable, longer lasting, safer on ure ipod, and is also the same weight..
all for the same price of tha one “E” is offering, 20$
shipping included
THE_GODD_FATHER@comcast.net
email me if your interested
Here’s something that might work even better (plastic Case)
http://www.plasticpromotions.com/page.asp?ID=SS808771A&Page=Info&Number=H24TF&Category=Pill%20Boxes&LowPrice=&HighPrice=
http://www.plasticpromotions.com/page.asp?ID=SS808771A&Page=Info&Number=H24&Category=Pill%20Boxes&LowPrice=&HighPrice=
i use a plastic case in my version skip
Bravo lad! Our physics teacher made us do this experiment so that we could understand electricity! Thanks a ton -DylooT
dtsdyloot@yahoo.com!!
i think this case would b better than those tiny pill boxes
http://www.plasticpromotions.com/Page.asp?ID=SS808771A&Page=info&Number=H87&Category=Bandage%20Boxes&LowPrice=&HighPrice=
To answer all of your questions. First off, I have made many things run off of batteries. My Atari 2600, NES, SNES, PSOne, PSTwo, Genesis, Master System, my pong units, you name it. Power slips will not damage any equipment. What happens when the power goes out? Your iPod doesn’t die… its battery regulates the voltage. Don’t forget, you’re charging the battery, not running the iPod. Second off, this is a pretty easy mod, I plan on taking a firewire extender, cutting it, tracing pins 1 and 2, solder to a 9V connector, and hook that up to my 8 AA battery pack. 12V, lots of charge. The iPod can charge on anything 8V and higher. There is no concern about hurting any electronics at all, just make sure you have hot and ground soldered right or else you will have a dead iPod. Nice work dude, keep it up. Oh, and a little thing too, anyone who says you need a life is just too dumb to do this, so they think that comments like that will actually affect us. Keep it up, and I hope to see more mods from you!
dan i emailed u
Does this work with 4th gen. iPods?
I know this will work on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation ipods but will it short circut the 4th generation?
Heylo,
Brilliant idea, im thinking about doing a couple of them up as gifts for my friends who have ipods, but im not quite sure about some of the things and concerns that some people have about it. Seeing as im making them for other ppl, it would not be very good if my gift ended up ruining their ipod, so is there any need to be concerned about the backflow issue or the ipod being messed up in any way, ive read the posts above but there are some convincing arguements and answer, and i dont really know who to listen to. so if someone could respond to this on wether or not this will mess up your ipod, prefferably somone who is using one on theirs. that would be greatly appreciated. thanx
which fire wire connector to use there are many on the site NTC
forgot to ask this in my first post. Does onyone know for sure if this works with fourth generation ipods?
ok, well, for anyone who wants to know, the specifications for charging an ipod via dc output is 12V at a 1 amp maximum. those sepcs are off the apple website. now the next question would be: what amperage does this nifty little battery pack put out?
ok, last post for today, since apple is being difficult, does anyone know if these specs are the same for the mini or are they different?
I’m trying to make the altoids battery pack, but what do you mean by soldering and hot glueing and how do i make the hole in the side of the cantainer for the firewire socket?
$65
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Section_Id=201526&pcount=&Product_Id=148969#
Or your Mint case $17ish
But Belkin does it with 4 AA batts. I get over 25-30 hours with the belkin/ipod setup “full batt”
Nice job. I think you should use 3, 9vdc batts in series and use a regulator to bring it down to 12vdc
That way the 9vdc batts can be used even when they are getting weak.
use a LM317T and tweek it to 12vdc.
Nerds RULE……
NUT—
I did my circuit and everything, and when I tested the circuit with the Voltage Meter, I got 13.5V. Is that OK? Will my Mini iPod take it? It does work on iPod Mini, right? Right?
Thanks
it should work with your ipod but you might want to put something in there to bring the voltage down to 12V. and as long as its at 12V with a 1 amp max it should work on your mini, seeing as those are the specs for the wall charger for the mini.
sorry, those are the dc specs for charging an ipod, theyre the same for the mini and the regular ipods
What if you take the guts out of an iPod and stuff it full of Altoids??!!
I am thinking about adding a $2 led from radioshack to light up when your ipod is plugged in to show off or a voltage meter. i was wondering how would you connect the led to go on when it is pugged in
Typically you will get a reading of greater than 12 for fresh batteries. You’ll see this with most batteries reading higher when fresh (even if you test them individually; 9v many times reads as 10v or 10.5v).
I made my first one last night and wanted to share a couple of things I found:
* Getting the solder to stick to the Altoids case is a real pain. Anyone else having this issue?
* Take your time cutting the hole. Even with a nibbler it’s a delicate task. The first one I cut it slightly too big and the jack wobbled. To fix, I used some silicon duct sealer with a Q-Tip to fill in the gap. It dries clear so it doesn’t effect the look and since this isn’t meant for stability (that’s what the solder is for) I didn’t notice any problems.
* The FW jacks I ordered had some plastic “cap” on it around the pins and the first couple melted when I soldered around the jack/case. Many of the sites I visited didn’t have zoomed in pictures of the jacks, but in the future, I’d be very careful on what type of jack to order. I also tried to super glue (to avoid melting the plastic) and I couldn’t get the glue to bond with the case/plastic. It eventually dried but the seal was brittle and fell off easily.
* Getting the two wires properly soldered so as to solder them to the pin was a huge hassle (not to mention a mess getting it all correct so as to not touch another pin); so I used a wire splicer to connect the two wires further back on one wire. Then, it was a simple matter to connect the single wire to the pin. Using the splicer versus the direct solder didn’t seem to change the power output what-so-ever. Don’t try to splice by hand, spend the extra couple of cents and get a splicer. You’ll end up ruining 9v caps by cutting through the small wires…
* I must have ordered a different female FW jack than shown here. Mine has to stick out some from the case otherwise the batteries won’t fit. Apparently there are different style of 9v connectors; mine are pretty “fat” and take up quite a bit of room in the case. Check around to find different styles so you can inset the FW jack.
Well, that’s all I can remember for now…
So, has anyone actually made and used one of these successfully and repeatably?
this is the easiest usb charger i’ve seen yet and it can work for the shuffle ipod. I’ve got a 3d gen iPod and a shuffle so im gonna make them both. Thanks!
http://www.minidisct.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25715&highlight=usb+battery
Here is a link to some photos of my project:
Click Here
Just in case anyone wanted to save a few bucks on the FW female connector. Your ipod comes with a 6 pin to 4 pin adaptor. Apple already gave us everything we need, sins the Altoids.
mine did not come with an adaptor
Chris,
I love this idea, but I’m terrified of hurting my beloved iPod. Will it work on the 4th gen? Does anyone know? I can’t seem to find anything that says if it does or not.
P.S. For a bunch of allegedly intelligent compugeeks, your spelling sucks ass. Thanks.
I just completed my Altoids Ipod charger. Works like a charm. Cost me a total of $9.
I Really Need Help!
I just put everything together, and I got to the wiring to the ubs socket, I’m really confused, I don’t know which pins to connect the black and red wire to.
Please help me!
OH, and I’m using a mini ipod. Will it show if it’s actually charging, will the battery at the top right of the ipod screen do that wierd charging thing, or will it just look normal?
What If the voltage is too high what can you use to bring it down
Alex,
I don’t think so. At least not at 12 volts.
The v4 iPod,mini,Photo, and shuffle are 5volt USB2 chargable. I have the newest USB Charger and it is rated at output DC 5v @ 1AMP. This is the same as a USB2 port on any MAC/PC.
Thats why the Belkin Pack uses 4AA rechargable lithioms..
wonderful work. i enjoyed read your site a lot.
online casinos
I ordered 2 fw ports and my luck ups lost them they were supposed to be here on the 18 but they have to now find them i cant wait to see if mine works
How many volts does the brand name ipod battery pack give to recharge the mini cause i think 12 is too mucn
hey can you by any chance send me more detailed instructions?
you are my idol!! i wasnt about to buy one of the like 65 buck ones and i realli need one for when i goto camp <3 Thank Yah!!!!
V2 BATTERY PACK WORKS WITH MINI!
–
I just finished this project for my mini. If you didnt no if it worked for the mini or not it does, but what happens is you should leave it alone or just listen to music and put the “hold” on. What happens, or at least for me, is the screen eventually goes black, it might flicker and go back to normal (as long as you dont use the touch pad). If it stays black then thats okay, it’s still charging. You might have some difficulties, but overall, it should work, i eventually got mine to, if you need any help with the MINI e-mail me. Once or twice it showed the battery sign with an exclamation point (!) next to it, but I just reboted the mini and tried again.
error:
“If you didnt no if it worked for the mini or no it does”
my bad, sry
Alex, what did you mean by this?
2 led from radioshack to light up when your ipod is plugged in to show off or a voltage meter
What is a voltage meter or w/e ur talkin bout
I meant the leds for looks or to tell u when the voltage is getting low or a voltage meter i was going to look for but I have no more room left in the case for it
Okay, I looked it up, I no where I could put one of those lights, only it would just tell me when it’s on.
GREAT NEWS!!!
I just tried 2 9v and it WORKED, if you cared
I just tried 4 AAs, it DOES NOT WORK, i repeat, IT DOES NOT WORK, there is not enough charge, but like I said before, two 9Vs works perfectly for minis, doesn’t do ANYTHING!!!
I have tried adding a LED light, it works FLAWLESSLY! I’m going to add one to my next battery pack i made, ill take pictures and post them, showing how to add one of these!
Hey steve can u tell me instrucions were to solder the led light on the connector i have no clue
I’m working on one using three 9volt batteries and an LM7812 voltage regulator. my order from mouser with the FW jacks should be here tomorrow, and i should have some results tomorrow night sometime. stay tuned.
for the record, doing it this way doesn’t fit into an altoids tin, so i’m building a custom case to match the ipod for it. i’m gonna do a test setup though with all the wiring in place though to see how it works.
Alex:
Al you need to do is, connect one wire to one of the pins, and other to another pin. Be sure you solder it to a pin the has a wire from the clip otherwise it won’t detect electricity. That’s pretty much it.
Tony:
Sounds cool, but what exactly does a regulator do? Ill stay tuned.
Alex (or anyone else):
Here are some pics of how I added the LED light, note, as long as the batteries are hooked up the light it ON!!
http://www.geo cities .com/steel cube12/LED light.html?1111706597066
When I posted this I had to add some spaces, when you go to the address, dont include ANY SPACES
Thanks steve very helpful i will install mine soon i will show pics and report how it cam out
Steve (or anyone else) i am going to put a switch so i can turn the light off and on but do you think that will stop the current and if so how can i make it so that the current will go without the light on
dude do you think you could rig one up for the sony psp cause the battery is supper week it only last two to five hours email me if you ever make one your a freaken smart i envi you magnifecent basterd !
Alex:
I think you probably could, Just connect it to the pins along w/the wire from the batteries, ill look into that tho. Where where you planning to get one, do they have one on radioshack.com?
OH SHOOT!For some reason my light doesnt work anymore! Try hooking it up to two wires, 1 red, 1 black! Try this before you glue anything or put it in the container!
I tried it also after about 6 hours it didnt work anymore i think it burnt out mine got very hot and burnt out
if anyone wants to im me and ask me questions my instant message is fartman091
Steve:
THe voltage regulator will limit the outgoing juice to exactly 12v at 1 amp, the specs for charging a 4th gen iPod. it will disipate a little juice as heat, byt whatever. the regulator will shut down and cut off output if it starts to fry from heat or a short.
it’s just a little bit safer way to do this, considering the high cost of ipods.
This is wicked cool! My girlfriend is going to love this thing.
Tony:
WOW! That sounds safer! What model would you get? Say, you get one from radioshack, could you find the exact one you might be thinkin of on radioshack
tried adding led lights but the result was 13 bad led lights at the end i think the voltage is too high for them how can you hook them up then
can anyone write and show wit pics detailed instructions
the wiring instructions are pretty vague
Get the 12V LED lights
I’ve been havin alot of trouble with the LED light. I’ve just about given up on it, I think I might
just stop tryin to add the lights unless someone figures out how to use em, without messin them up
i am trying a new task i have a fairly large tin case from this gay protractor and i am going to put a computer fan in it with grills on top and bottom with a seperate battery for it
Hey, this looks like a sweet idea. Can you send me some instructions that are simplified, I could probably use the ones posted here, but i am only a kid and don’t really understand. o yeah, i saw your design in Mac World Mag.
o yeah, my emal is ivanpowerkronick@yahoo.com
the voltage regulator is model number lm7812, from Radio Shack. most red/organge/yellow/green LEDs you get from radioshack are made for 2volts. if you attach that right onto even just one 9volts battery, the LED will burn out in just a few seconds. you need to use the proper resistors for that to work. refer to the links below, in order, for choosing resistors and hooking them up correctly.
http://www.lsdiodes.com/tutorial/
http://metku.net/index.html?sect=view&n=1&path=mods/ledcalc/index_eng
i’ll also post details on my implementation when i’m done, including part numbers and such.
anyone confused on the instructions can go to unix monkey:
HERE
it is clearly layed out
i dont like the layout for the batteries and the positioning of the firewire so ill probably design it like chris did
I was kind of hoping to make these or the gum container ones for ppl, but how would I receive the money and they receive the pack w/o any cheating, not like I’d mess around.
How about a single AA battery in a chapstick tube…? I think the chapstick tube would be too small, but you probably could beat it up to somehow make it fit.
I just made the oneusing the Altoids Gum can and a 9V battery, but decided to use a USB port instead of a FWire one, since I’m on a Mac, my USB cable is pretty much useless and it was a hassles to unplug my FWire everytime I wanted to use the cable.
Anyway, made it, and it started charging my Mini 4GB. I did it for like 20 min. and it was charging. The next day I did it for like 1hr, it said it was charging, but at the end the Mini’s battery became discharged. Mini still works fine, but not sure why it didn’t get charged. Anyone?
Oh, and I made the FirwWire verison using UnixMonkey diagram, and went all the way and sanded my Altoids canister so it’s all smooth silver metal, and put an Apple logo from the back of an old keyboard on it. It’s freakin’ beatiful, and it works.
I’ll make one for $20. (I’ll sand it for $5 more) juan.cano@cox.net
I don’t know what the iPod mini is rated at, but USB is only 5 volts! Hooking up a 9 volt directly to the USB port is a mistake. You need to use a 5 volt voltage regulator if attempting anything USB. If the mini is rated at 5 volts to anything greater than 9 volts, you should be OK. BE VERY CAREFUL.
Read this article by this guy who made a small USB charger - all the instructions are there:
http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000270029372/
Anyone else havinng issue getting the solder to stick to the FW port and the Altoid tin?
My just seemms to roll off…
The voltage from AC adapter for 4th generation IPOD is not 12 volt, but it is 5 volt. Therefore giviving 12 volt from external sourse may kill the ipod
Makkar
On the back of my 4th generation 20 gig iPod it says the ipod is rated at 5-30 volts DC at 1.0 amp max. So theoretically any voltage between 5-30 volts at 1.0 Amp max should work.. am I wrong? am I missing something?
I tried to make one but it didn’t seem to work. I followed the diagram, but when I tried to get a voltage reading the AA batteries started to get hot. I am not sure what I did wrong. I might to to make another since I have all the parts. Does anybody know of a site that has better pics?
DO NOT USE WITH MINI. Good thing I still have the warranty, but it RUINS IT! oh well, ill just use the warranty.
Jonis,
It sounds like a short circuit. Make sure all your connections clean and the positive terminals are not touching the negative terminals. Same with the wires.
Jonis, Where do u get all the stuff for this?
not to be noobish, but wouldnt you want to put a swtich on it so that you dont watse the batts while not in use??? my friend made a usb one with the 5v regulator for is mini and it worked great…except in 1 week that batt was dead nd he didnt use it once, except testing. he just remade it with a switch. would one be needed for a 4th gen ipod?? (i am going to be using a firewire, number 538-53462-0611 at mouser…i just need the port i got it all wired nd it is putting out 12.11vdc…… thanks
Tim
anyone?????
Hey, if anyone is selling a working one of these e-mail me for the info, click my name for the info
Good!
Best part of this website:
Cynthia and Johnny O, TKA references! Freestyle lives!
Does anyone know…
Wouldn’t it make sense to put a 1N4004 diode between each battery eliminating the tendency to recharge each other?
What about a capacitor to smooth out irregularities in the current, along with a regulator; or is this getting too complicated?
Is there any need to protect the regulator, with a diode, from reverse current coming from the iPod when the pod is connected but turned off?
lem’me kno
Has anyone dismantled the Belkin charger.
If so, can you tell how it can power an iPod off of just four AA batteries?
Could the design be replicated? Could it fit into an Altoids tin?
I WOUL LIKE TO KNOW IF U FOUND a website for altoids inventions. did u?
I’ve been reading some of the other posts here. If the iPod is rated at 5-30 volts, couldn’t you just use 4 AA batteries? That would be 6 volts. Does anyone think I would need voltage regulation or diodes if I were to use 4 AA batteries?