This is a very useful device, especially if you are a frequent traveler, and can be made very quickly and cheaply by hand. There are a lot of ready-made devices and cases for 18650 batteries, but for various reasons they all did not suit us and we decided to make our own.
Features of Power Bank
The idea of our charger very simple. This is in some way a case for 18650 LiIon batteries with the ability to quickly replace this battery. The device can both charge the battery itself and charge external devices. And all this, in accordance with the original plan, was to have a minimum size, low cost and the utmost simplicity of the device until everyone could assemble it themselves. And as a result, we got a fairly successful design:
Firstly, this approach saves you from deciding on the battery capacity you need. Our PowerBank allows you to carry as many spare batteries as you need in a given situation.
Secondly, batteries of this format are widely distributed and available. We do not recommend such actions, but they can even be found conditionally free of charge in old technology.
Thirdly, such universal solutions simply do not exist, or they are very expensive. And the main complaint is primarily about the size of ready-made solutions.
Assembly accessories
A complete list of everything you need:
- 18650 battery holder for PCB mounting
- Battery charge controller. It has built-in protection and can charge the battery with current up to 1A
- StepUp converter for charging external devices with current up to 0.5A
- Rocker switch (photo with dimensions)
- Screw M3x6 with countersunk head - 2 pcs
- Nut M3 square - 2 pcs
- Mounting wire and heat shrink tube
- Printed case (download link will be at the end of the article)
That is, the cost (including shipping!) Is approximately $4.
Wiring diagram
Everything is connected very simply, with five wires:
First you need to solder the wires and the switch to the charge board. It is important that the wires from the "B+" and "B-" contacts must be long, and the wires from the "OUT+" and "OUT-" contacts must be made short.
The board is then installed into slots inside the case. It is specially made very tight so that in the future the board does not hang out in it.
Now you can install the boost converter board into its slots and then solder the short wires from the battery charge controller to it, which go through the switch from the "OUT +" and "OUT-" contacts. It is important not to confuse the polarity anywhere, but everything is quite well and intuitively located there.
After that, you can shorten the wires going to the battery, solder them to the battery holder and install the nuts in the grooves. At the same time, observe the polarity of connecting the wires with the polarity on the battery holder and on the ends of the housing!
At this stage, you can already install the battery and check that the device is functioning normally. If everything works fine, then you can additionally fix the boards in the case with the help of tremoglue, but even without this they are held very tightly.
It remains only to screw the holder to the case with screws:
Video
Results
The whole device has dimensions of 79x26x31mm, while the battery diameter is 18mm and the length is 65mm. The charger weighs 25g without battery and 75g with battery.
The components that we used are used very widely and in some way have already proven themselves. We just combined it all into one complete product that anyone can make for themselves. And in our opinion, we have quite succeeded in making it minimalistic and quite suitable for everyday use, both for charging the batteries themselves and for use as a PowerBank.
Download links
File for printing the body on a 3D printer.
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Good day to all dear friends! In today's article, I would like to show you how to make a portable portable phone charger - Power Bank. Its camping qualities lie in the fact that it can be charged using solar energy. This Power Bank will cost quite cheaply, since secondary batteries and cheap Chinese components from online stores will be used in its assembly. Oh well, enough long prefaces, let's go!
And so, for this homemade product we need:
- 18650 batteries.
- Cassettes for batteries.
- Wires.
- Power Bank control board (can be bought from the Chinese).
- Fiberboard or MDF panels (you can also use plastic, as this will come in handy for the Power Bank case).
- Solar panel (battery) 5V.
- Switch.
- Thin plastic tube.
Of the tools we will also need:
- Soldering iron.
- Super glue.
- Screwdriver.
- Pen (or pencil, marker, etc.).
- Stationery knife.
- Drill.
- Thermal glue.
Before you start building a Power Bank, you should deal with batteries. It was decided to use 18650 batteries, since this is the most common battery format and it will be easy to find a control module for them in Chinese online stores. You can buy these batteries new, which is very good, but you can save money and get these batteries from an old laptop, just like the DIY author did. But you must understand that the use of old batteries will not have the characteristics of Power Banka, there will be slow charging, small capacity, etc.
We turn to the assembly of batteries into one battery. Our battery will consist of four batteries. In order to assemble several batteries into one, we need special cassettes (photo below), of course, you can tie them with electrical tape or glue them with thermal glue, but using cassettes will be much more convenient.
We insert the batteries into the cassettes so that by soldering the batteries, we get a parallel connection.
The next step is to solder the batteries together. Many already know that batteries cannot be soldered with a soldering iron, as it is very easy to overheat them and they will fail. The best way to connect batteries is contact welding, if you have one, then you are a very happy person and use it to assemble this homemade product. Well, if you just own a soldering iron, then keep in mind that you should solder the batteries for a short time so that the battery does not have time to warm up, and also use soldering acid for soldering. It is necessary to tin the batteries as in the photo, and then attach the wire by soldering.
For the next step, we need a Power Banka control board, this board includes many functions, which allows us to make the design as compact as possible. We solder our battery assembly to the control board. Not forgetting the polarity, there are “+” and “-” markings on the board, so you won’t get confused.
Let's make a body. For the body, we will need a wooden MDF panel, but you can use any suitable flat material that you can work with. We cut out a panel of a suitable size and, attaching the control board, circle it along the contour.
Cut out a window for the display. The MTF panel is quite soft and in order to cut a window for the display, we need a clerical knife. We simply draw several times with a knife along the marked contour, using force.
Using hot glue, glue the battery assembly and the control board to the MTF panel.
From the same MTF panel, two identical rectangles should be cut, the length of which will be equal to the length of the main part of the case, and the width should be such that the battery fits. And two more identical rectangles of the same width, but the length should be equal to the width of the body. After we cut out the blanks, we glue two of them, those that are shown in the photo.
Seeing that the LED from the control board interferes a little, the author decided to make holes so that its indication could be seen and the LED did not rest. And also glued to the body.
Then, on the other panel, we also mark the holes for USB and Power Bank charging. And also glue it to the body with super glue.
On one of the side parts we cut and drill holes for the switch and the off button. We need a switch to turn solar charging on and off.
Next, we need a solar battery, which should be connected to the control board. Solder should be in the places indicated in the photo, and through the switch.
Since our solar battery is smaller than the Power Bank case and it will not be enough to use the wall. For the last wall of the case, we will cut out a small rectangle from the MTF panel, and glue it with super glue to the indicated place as in the photo.
And glue the solar panel itself to the case and finish assembling the case.
Today you will not surprise anyone with the presence of a smartphone, tablet or camera. Every person has all these special gadgets, but quite often there are situations when it is not possible to recharge them using a charger through the mains.
In this case, you will definitely need a power bank or an external battery that is used to recharge portable devices, for example, while hiking. Of course, you can buy a ready-made power bank, but why spend money if you can make it yourself.
We bring to your attention several do-it-yourself power bank construction schemes.
1. Power bank from rechargeable batteries mobile phones
So, let's look at how to make a power bank with your own hands using several mobile phone batteries. For this you will need:
Several ordinary mobile batteries (preferably six or nine) with a capacity of 1020 mAh each.
We install the batteries parallel to each other and wrap them lengthwise with adhesive tape, and across with electrical tape. Please note that the terminals must be open, to which the wires will later be soldered.
We solder our batteries together by connecting two terminals: “plus” and “minus”. The central terminals of the battery or the temperature sensor can be omitted, since they are only needed to show the remaining charge level of this device.
We make control measurements and attach everything with hot glue.
And voila, you're all set!
This Power bank will be enough for you for four or five full recharges of your phone.
2. An external battery from a simple flashlight
To build a Power bank from a flashlight, we need:
Directly the flashlight itself with a 3.7 volt battery;
Voltage converter with built-in USB output, which allows the 3.7 Volts of the flashlight's lithium-ion battery to be converted to 5 Volts;
charge controller.
a) Dismantle the device.
B) Remove one of the lamp resistors (an LED must be soldered to it). This will allow you to replace one of the bright glow modes with a new mode - Power Bank.
C) In the place where the plug for recharging the flashlight is located, we place our converter with a USB output.
D) We solder "plus" and "minus" from the battery to the battery charge controller. After that, we solder a 5V converter to the OUT + / OUT- contacts of this controller.
Please note that you first need to release one switch contact and solder the converter to it.
E) Now we check the performance of the converter, if necessary, solder it.
E) So, if everything works, use epoxy glue to glue the controller and the converter.
G) We collect a flashlight and can use it.
Now you will always be in touch and in the light, the main thing is not to forget to charge the flashlight battery!
3. Power bank from simple batteries 2200 mAh 3.6 V
For this Power bank you will need:
Lithium-ion batteries themselves (preferably 8 pieces);
Nowadays, electricity is one of the most important things. It is used everywhere, for lighting, communication, or simply for the operation of household devices. And electricity, like everything else, tends to end. It is possible that at any time your phone or laptop may run out of power, and it will be impossible to connect it to the network in this situation.
Then the Power bank comes to the rescue - an external battery. It can help extend the life of your device. You can see an example of a Power bank in the photo below.
In principle, such things can now be freely available in an electrical engineering store. However, there external batteries cost decent money, and it is not always appropriate to buy it when you can do it yourself at home. Therefore, we want to present a few simple instructions for creating a Power bank at home.
External battery from mobile phone batteries
One of the most simple ways create a Power bank at home - assemble it from mobile phone batteries. After all, a modern person has a bunch of old unnecessary phones lying around somewhere. Do not rush to throw them away, it turns out they can still be useful to you.
Necessary materials:
- Batteries from cell phones;
- Controller with USB connector;
- A pair of wires;
- Box.
First, it is necessary to clarify that the batteries should be as similar as possible, it will be easier (other lithium-ion batteries can be used instead of phone batteries). And all of them must be of the same volume, in our case it is 1020 mAh each.
Their number only affects the volume of the future Power bank, but from 6000 to 20000 mAh in general will be optimal. In addition, any of them requires energy for their own work, so it is necessary to subtract about 20-30% from the total power. This will be the net charge that your external battery can give out.
The connector on the controller can be absolutely anything, just the way you need it. It's just that USB is the most common, so we chose it.
So, when everything is assembled, you can start assembling our device.
First, let's group the batteries for greater convenience. To do this, we install them parallel to each other and fix it all with tape or tape (everything is done taking into account your batteries). Important! Contacts must be open!
Now you need to solder the batteries and the controller together, namely the “+” and “-” contacts (these are extreme). Don't touch the center ones. Then, in the “case” of our Power bank, we estimate the location of all the elements and mark the places for future connectors. It remains only to make holes and fix all the elements with hot glue in the box.
All is ready! This power bank of batteries is enough for you to recharge your phone several times.
Power bank from a regular flashlight
On the market now you can find flashlights with recharging other devices, and we will try to do about the same. Such a device will combine both a flashlight and an external battery.
Necessary materials:
- Simple flashlight;
- Voltage converter with USB connector (for 5 V);
- charge controller.
To begin with, we will disassemble the flashlight and pull out a resistor from there, the one to which a small LED is soldered. We won't need it anymore (at least here). Instead, we put a battery charge controller there.
Now, in the place where the flashlight was recharged, we put a converter with a USB connector (again, the connector can be the one you need).
Next, you need to solder “+” and “-” from the flashlight battery to the controller. Now solder our power converter and OUT+/OUT pins on the controller. Do not forget to release the flashlight button and connect it to the energy converter.
After all the work done, we need to check if our device works. If everything is fine, then we attach all the elements using the same hot melt adhesive and assemble the installation together.
Now the power bank from the flashlight is ready to use.
These were just the most common and easy-to-make ways to assemble an external battery. There are a huge number of other methods, but they require much more free time, and their cost is much higher. But that doesn't mean they are better.
DIY power bank photo
Most modern multifunctional gadgets have one annoying drawback - they run out quickly, especially when multitasking. Therefore, many smartphone owners have already acquired a lifesaver in the form of recharging away from power sources. We will tell you in detail how to build such a power bank with your own hands.
What is power bank
A power bank is a portable battery with a capacity of 2 to 15 thousand mAh. The higher this indicator, the longer the device will be able to feed your gadget. It is easy to use it by connecting the power bank and phone, tablet - with a USB cable. It is quite easy to make such a power bank with your own hands from improvised materials.
These devices are of the following types:
- Lithium-ion - light, with no charge memory, high energy density, low k self-charge.
- Lithium-polymer - overtake the first type in terms of energy density per unit volume, by weight.
- Equipped with a solar battery - the charge power depends on its area.
Some models are equipped with two or even several USB outputs for recharging several gadgets at the same time, LED (light) indication or LCD display for displaying service information about the level and charging process, as well as an LED flashlight.
Power bank from old phone batteries
In order to make such a device, you will need from six to nine unnecessary, but working batteries from phones (it is advisable to select their capacity from 1200 mAh). Do-it-yourself power bank from telephone batteries is done according to this simple algorithm:
- Carefully wrap three batteries with tape - you will end up with two or three stacks. Make sure that the terminals of all batteries face the same direction and are not covered with adhesive tape.
- Choose a suitable case for the device - a plastic box, a soap dish.
- Soldering together the extreme terminals of all batteries - "plus" with "plus", "minus" with minus. "The middle terminal is a temperature sensor that allows you to find out the remaining capacity level. You can not touch it.
- Inside the case, draw a place for the controller on the edge, make a hole for the USB connector.
- Connect the batteries to the controller, then attach all the elements to the case with hot glue.
- Close the case with a lid or glue the halves of the soap dish together - the power bank is ready! The device is enough for 4-5 recharges of a medium-powered gadget.
Do-it-yourself power bank from auto-charging
To create such a mechanism, you will need:
- eight lithium-ion AA batteries 18650 (3.6 V, 2200 mAh);
- car charger for a mobile phone;
- housing from the car relay block;
- USB connector.
Such a do-it-yourself power bank (the connection diagram of the elements is presented above) is done according to the following instructions:
- Mark and drill holes for the USB output and the future switch in the case from the block.
- According to the attached diagram, solder the batteries together in two blocks of 4 each.
- Arrange the elements in the case, attach them with hot glue for reliability.
- Solder the batteries to the on/off block.
- Then connect the switch to the USB connector, based on the notation in the diagram.
The power bank can fully charge the phone's battery once or twice when using the cable. To start the charge cycle, flip the switch to the "on" position, when finished, do not forget to turn off the Power bank.
Power bank from finger batteries
Necessary materials:
- several wires;
- USB connector;
- a box in which photographic films are sold;
- a small plastic bottle (for medicines, vitamins);
- staples;
- a can of deodorant or air freshener;
- wire;
- 2 matchboxes;
- 4 AA batteries.
How to make a power bank with your own hands:
- Having unfolded the top wall of each matchbox, glue them together with their bases, place two batteries inside each.
- Using staples, create contact between the batteries from the two boxes, attach them with wire.
- Fold the device compactly into the plastic box.
- Poke a hole in the bottom of the plastic jar for a USB output. Fix it inside the jar, solder wires to it.
- Connect the USB connector to the batteries.
- Cut off the top of the can, fix the construction inside it with hot glue. The bottom of the jar with a USB output will serve as a lid.
Power bank from the screwdriver battery
Such a do-it-yourself power bank is made from:
- a suitable case for a future device;
- z / y for the phone;
- switch buttons;
- voltmeter;
- USB connector;
- screwdriver battery (Li-ion 2000 mAh, 10 pieces of 1865 batteries).
The idea goes like this:
- Tape three blocks of three batteries.
- Three are connected in series, three are connected in parallel.
- Make holes in the case for the toggle switch and for the USB connector. Fix these elements inside.
- The switch button here performs two tasks: one position is charging the device itself, the second is the smartphone.
- Connect a voltmeter. Its function is to display the input current when recharging and display information about the level of charge of the device.
Power bank from a flashlight
To convert a flashlight to a Power bank, you will need:
- the flashlight itself with a 3.7 volt battery;
- controller;
- voltage converter with USB output (so that 3.7 volts go to the desired 5).
Do-it-yourself power bank:
- Remove the flashlight resistor to which the LED is attached - to change the "bright light" mode to power bank.
- Remove the plug with which the flashlight was charged, replace it with a USB output with a current converter.
- Solder "+" and "-" flashlight batteries to the controller.
- Locate the "OUT+" and "OUT-" pins on the controller. You need to connect a 5-volt converter to them.
- Before working with the switch, release one of its contacts. Then solder the transducer directly to it.
- Perform a performance check on the transmitter. If the result is unsatisfactory at this stage, you can re-solder the contacts.
- Once successfully tested with epoxy, carefully attach both the controller and the transducer to the body of the former flashlight.
- Assemble the structure - you now have an unusually shaped power bank.
The purchase of a power bank sometimes becomes necessary when buying a gadget, especially with a large screen that "eats" the lion's share of the charge. However, with a minimum level of skill, this useful device is quite possible to assemble on your own. We hope our tips have helped you.