Home Brew USB Charger / Power Supply
Over the years I think we’ve all gathered some extra power supplies and wall adapters. Here is a quick guide to a home brew USB charger or USB power supply. This USB tutorial is from the Hacked Gadgets website and Alan runs a good site – check’em out.
This unit is great for charging your iPod, PSP or any USB device and only costs pennies to make.
- 330 ohm 1/4 watt resister
- 10k ohm 1/4 watt resister
- 3mm LED (any color)
- USB type A jack (female)



- Pin 1 is bent over and soldered to the case of the jack. The case of the jack is then connected to the wallwart ground.
- Pins 2 & 3 are connected together then soldered to one end of the 10k ohm resister. The other end of the 10k ohm resister is connected to +5vdc.
- Pin 4 is connected to +5vdc. One end of the 330 ohm resister is also connected to +5vdc. The other end connects to the anode of the LED. The cathode of the LED is grounded.
- The 10k ohm resister is used to pull the USB data lines high. Some devices require these lines to be at +5vdc before initiating charging.

Rich Gates
Administator for GetUSB.info
GetUSB.info started in 2004 with the concept of providing USB information for everything USB related. At the time, USB was gaining momentum and every day new products, articles and news became published. Today, the site is focused on bringing technical information, tricks and hacks to USB related products. The site does publish off topic information as well, to keep the variety up. Please visit the footer area of any page if you or your company is interested in article or product placement via purchased advertising.