Hand Crank USB Lego Charger

Written by Richard Blanchard on April 12th, 2007. Posted in Power for USB, USB Hacks, USB Tutorials, YouTube Video

So here is a simple project to groom your child into the geek parent you are. Over at Hacked Gadgets Alan pointed out a “how-to” on creating your own USB charger from Lego’s.

hand crank lego USB charger

The charger uses a Lego motor to generate current which passes through a voltage regulator and off to the USB port. If you don’t already have the Lego motor you can pick them up at target and the voltage regulator at Radio Shack.

When all done, rather then sending your kid to time-out, have them hand-crank and recharge your favorite MP3 player.

Here is a picture of the hand crank with electronics already installed.

electronics of USB lego charger

Use this diagram to wire together the items to make the hand-crank generator actually work.

diagram USB lego charger

Check out this video as proof-positive that you can do it.

For complete details on this project and list of items visit Instructables.

Source: Instructables via Hacked Gadgets

Tags: ,


Most Recent USB Tutorial »

    USB LED Lantern

    Instructables has a nice USB LED lantern DIY project.  I think the most important part about this project is getting a cool enough looking lantern.  Make sure it’s 50s-60s style [...]

New USB Gear

    Bootable Windows 8 Off USB

    Microsoft is looking to make their OS more portable.  With Windows8 one of the features the Redmond Washington company is featuring is a bootable OS.  True, we’ve seen both Windows [...]

Who’s Talking About Apple

USB Benchmark Software

Created for testing read / write speeds of a USB device. Free download.

Copyright ©

Copyright © 2011 by
USB Powered Gadgets and more...
All rights reserved.

Sponsor: Pocket Desktop

Pocket Desktop is a sponsored advertiser on GetUSB.info. The Pocket Desktop USB ensures your privacy while online and off. Keeping the sites you visit, the files you use and the people you chat with private and confidential, no matter what computer you use.