Old phone charger reuse ideas ?

[MuffinDealer]

I've stored my old phone chargers, because they still work (the failed part was usually connection port on the phone) and now that I got myself a fancy soldering iron I am looking for a DIY project ideas on where to repurpose them.

 

Chargers are: 4.9V at 300ma, 350ma, 450ma, 700ma (EU plug AC>DC)

 

Ideas so far:

• powering LEDs for ambient light at night
• powering small fans for soldering fume dissipation.. (got two 120mm PC fans but they use 12V 0,09A and 0.21A)
• replacing connectors with USB or some other barrel type
• powering SBC's

 

Additional ideas, experiences and suggestions are welcome!   (I'll update the list as needed)

[Boomwebsearch]

13 minutes ago, MuffinDealer said:

powering small fans for soldering fume dissipation.. (got two 120mm PC fans but they use 12V 0,09A and 0.21A)

Might be able to find an adapter online to solve this issue.

 

 

My ideas would be to sell them or give them to friends/family who may need them, here's some additional relevant resources for more ideas:

 

 

[LWM723]

Fans will work, they will just run slower.

[mariushm]

You can either adjust the voltage reference on the charger to output more than 5v, or you can make buy a step-up dc-dc converter or make your own using a basic chip like 34063 or 30063 / 3063 varieties.

 

34063 is very simple to use, not particularly efficient but can be wired on basic prototyping boards and it's available in DIP packages, and you can find software and online calculators that tell you what components you  need (inductor size, capacitor values etc)

 

Application that calculates the values for you : https://sourceforge.net/projects/mc34063uc/

Basic online tool / calculator : http://www.nomad.ee/micros/mc34063a/

 

EEVblog also made a video about it, showing calculations for a  5v to 15v boost converter with this chip, but you can easily adapt the formulas for 12v output or a narrow output range (ex 8..12v) and use a potentiometer to control fan speed by adjusting the output voltage

 

 

 

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Hobby Electronics

[akio123008]

Just throw them in a bin and keep them. When screwing around with other electronics, at some point you're going to end up needing a 5V supply. Then it's always good you have a bunch of spare phone chargers.

[MuffinDealer]

21 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

-> Moved to Hobby Electronics

Thanks! I Didn't even knew this sub topic existed .

[cachethrash]

You can buy adapters, for some barrel jack sizes, to convert the barrel plug to screw terminals so you don't have to destroy the cables. Something like this

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10288

[MuffinDealer]

3 hours ago, cachethrash said:

You can buy adapters, for some barrel jack sizes, to convert the barrel plug to screw terminals so you don't have to destroy the cables. Something like this

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10288

Adapters are so old that each of them uses some proprietary connection : Ericsson, SonnyEricsson, Motorola.. so the plan was to snip the connectors (maybe leaving 1cm of cable at the connector side) and solder on something more useful in 2021 like barrel jack (gotta check what my Gameboy Colour uses), USB or some female(or nonbinary gender neutral) fan connector .