Hack Yourself An Emergency DIY Car Charger

On the lam without your car charger? Splice some wires and be on your way.

By The Big Book Of Hacks Posted 01.07.2013 at 3:30 pm 5 Comments

DIY Car Charger The Big Book Of Hacks

MATERIALS
USB cable for your device
Any 5-volt car cigarette lighter adapter
Knife
Tape

STEP 1
Cut the USB end off the cable for your device and strip the insulation. You’ll use the black and red wires to connect to the adapter. Twist together the other two wires.

STEP 2
Cut off the end of the cigarette lighter adapter that does not plug into the cigarette lighter. Use the knife to strip the insulation to reveal the black and red wires.

STEP 3
Twist the two red wires together and the two black wires together. Wrap tape around the joints to insulate them.

STEP 4
Plug it in and charge up your phone in the car.

This project was excerpted from The Big Book Of Hacks: 264 Amazing DIY Tech Projects, a compendium of ingenious and hilarious projects for aspiring makers. Buy it here. And for more amazing hacks, go here.

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5 Comments

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Robot

01/07/13 at 3:48 pm

Nice car! Lame hack and opens a large opportunity to send 12 to 18vDC accidently to your nice expensive device. Sometimes high voltage blows devices and sometimes getting the polarity backwards blows the same device too. Perhaps you should get a volt meter\multi meter and check the voltages in advance.

Common to computers is turning off your usb device prior to unplug, else harm might come to the device or computer.

I see lots of things that can go wrong, if a novice does this.

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Vertumnus

01/07/13 at 6:08 pm

hehehehe....

in case of emergency go to any gas station and they will have the proper adapter with USB out port, for 5.00 ( well in N.A anyway ) it seems...

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ghost

01/08/13 at 1:19 pm

^ yeah somehow that concept escapes the gas stations here in upstate new york.

in case of emergency go to the back of your house, find an old car charger, cut the wire off at about halfway, strip them, then splice them with usb charger cable for device.

to mars or bust!

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Amun-Ra

01/08/13 at 2:07 pm

"...STEP 1
Cut the USB end off the cable for your device and strip the insulation. You’ll use the black and red wires to connect to the adapter. Twist together the other two wires..."

Soooo, in an emergency, I just happen to have an adapter already available, wire cutters\strippers and usb cable too, really, really? And the adapter I just found I have for an emergency will convert 12 to 5vDC and not fry my cell?

Maybe, if I am going to have all these things about, just in case for an emergency, I will stop by a gas station in advance and just have a cell phone adapter charger already available, just in case for an emergency too, lol.

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philmarz2004

01/10/13 at 11:56 pm

I got a usb modulator which accept a normal usb flash drive as an input device and fit the cigarette lighter as the power source, i bought this 6 years ago,for 15 Saudi Riyals less than 3 USD dollars, it charges my 3 cellphones -2 get outdated,my camera,sometimes i left it "on"for 1 day and 1 nite. also buy another charging cord and have it exclusively always in your car, never take it out,no over voltage, no hustle,