March 26th, 2015, 10:06 AM | #1 |
ninjette.org sage
Name: Kevin
Location: Portland, OR
Join Date: Oct 2013 Motorcycle(s): Ninja 250R, Tiger 800 XRT Posts: 828
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DIY USB Cable with Voltage Converter
I mounted a camera on my bike and wanted to power it from the bike (via USB). Wanting to do somthing a little more sophisticated than putting a 12V plug under the cowling and plugging a USB adapter into it, I decided to do this:
Purchased a Castle Creations BEC (Battery Eliminator Circuit). This is used in RC vehicles to remove the need for a second battery, but it's basically just a voltage converter that takes 12V in and puts out a configurable voltage that is set to 5.1V out of the box, perfect! The bare wires are connected to the bike's power (battery or whatever you use, I have a PDM60), the other end goes to my USB cable. I shorted the wires, added some heatshrink to improve water resistance, and put connectors on both ends. The yellow wire on the output side is a signal wire used for changing the output voltage, and I just cut it off. Next I created a splitter so I could plug two USB cables into it, I used the turn-signal type connectors to hopefully make it easier to crimp terminals onto the tiny USB wires (24 gauge if you get a good cable). Next I chopped off the "A" end of the USB cable and exposed the wires. The white and green wires are the data lines, I just cut them off, but you could short them together to ensure that whatever (non Apple) device you use it with sees it as a "charge only" cable. Then I attached terminals to the power lines, even these small terminals are too big to properly crimp, but I made it work by putting the insulation crimp in the uninsulated crimping slot of the tool and using pliers on the uninsulated crimp to crush it down smaller. Finally, added some heatshrink and popped on the connector. Plugged them all together and ran the USB cable up to the camera in front, works like a charm! Next project will be to build my own USB cable from scratch. Regular USB cables have far thicker PVC sheathing than needed for this use as well as metal sheathing for noise reduction, which isn't need for simple power supply. I'm going to build a custom USB cable with a mini-USB connector on one end, 20 gauge wires, thin PVC sheath, and turn-signal type connector on the other end. Also I'll short the data ports together for "charge only" functionality. |
4 out of 4 members found this post helpful. |
March 26th, 2015, 11:41 AM | #2 |
Daily Ninjette rider
Name: Hernan
Location: Florida
Join Date: Mar 2011 Motorcycle(s): 2007 Ninja 250 Posts: A lot.
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March 26th, 2015, 12:27 PM | #3 |
in your machine
Name: Scott
Location: Summer Shade, Ky.
Join Date: Oct 2014 Motorcycle(s): 98 Ninja 250/F12 aka ZX-2R "SERENITY", 91 Ninja 500/A5 aka ZX-5R "Phoenix", 84 Honda GL1200A "SIREN" Posts: A lot.
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Nicely done sir
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March 26th, 2015, 01:06 PM | #4 |
antiant
Name: antiant
Location: Cali
Join Date: Aug 2012 Motorcycle(s): None Posts: A lot.
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I will be doing something similar for my bike setup, but I don't have the technical know how to do it myself, so I'm having someone do it for me. I also have a PDM 60 and I'm going to run a camera on it so it runs continuously when the bike starts up. Nice write up, thanks for sharing. This will help explain what I want to do, to the person who is going to do the work for me.
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March 26th, 2015, 01:15 PM | #5 |
ninjette.org certified postwhore
Name: Spooph
Location: Golden, CO
Join Date: Jul 2010 Motorcycle(s): '08 Ninja 250R Posts: A lot.
MOTM - Oct '15
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I've been wanting to do this for a while having gone the cigarette lighter route prior...
I was thinking of working in a separate circuit from the battery with a power relay run through the ignition, mounting it all in a small Pelican with USB A female plugs soldered to a PCB... However, I can't think of a creative way to weather proof the wires that would passing across the seam of the Pelican... http://www.pelicancases.com/1010-p/1010.htm Ideas?
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March 26th, 2015, 02:41 PM | #6 |
in your machine
Name: Scott
Location: Summer Shade, Ky.
Join Date: Oct 2014 Motorcycle(s): 98 Ninja 250/F12 aka ZX-2R "SERENITY", 91 Ninja 500/A5 aka ZX-5R "Phoenix", 84 Honda GL1200A "SIREN" Posts: A lot.
Blog Entries: 25
MOTM - Jun '17, May '16, Mar '15
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@Ralgha
I'm curious, why didn't you just get one of these? http://www.ebay.com/itm/201317393601...601%26_rdc%3D1
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violente et ignorantia ZX-2R BLOG Twitter and Instagram = Ghostt_Scott I'm not here to change your mind, just to inform. |
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March 26th, 2015, 03:13 PM | #7 | |
ninjette.org sage
Name: Kevin
Location: Portland, OR
Join Date: Oct 2013 Motorcycle(s): Ninja 250R, Tiger 800 XRT Posts: 828
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Quote:
It's bulkier, the camera is under the headlight, so the socket would have had to go inside the cowling, doable but big. It's extremely not water resistant when something is plugged into it. It's not a secured connection, with the way I went, only the plug into the camera itself isn't secure, all the other connections are secured with a clip. |
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March 26th, 2015, 05:07 PM | #8 | |
ninjette.org sage
Name: Kevin
Location: Portland, OR
Join Date: Oct 2013 Motorcycle(s): Ninja 250R, Tiger 800 XRT Posts: 828
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Quote:
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March 27th, 2015, 01:42 AM | #9 |
ninjette.org certified postwhore
Name: Inderveer
Location: San Jose
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Why wait for the box to show up at the door when you can just make it yourself! Lol
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March 27th, 2015, 06:27 AM | #10 |
The Corner Whisperer
Name: Chris (aka Reactor)
Location: Northern KY
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March 27th, 2015, 07:11 AM | #11 |
I'm crazy,your excuse is?
Name: Winston
Location: Connecticut
Join Date: May 2013 Motorcycle(s): 250 2007 ninja Posts: A lot.
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Dig it!
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March 27th, 2015, 09:37 AM | #12 | |
EX500 full of EX250 parts
Name: Bill
Location: Grand Rapids-ish, MI
Join Date: Jul 2012 Motorcycle(s): '18 Ninja 400 • '09 Ninja 500R (selling) • '98 VFR800 (project) • '85 Vulcan VN700 (sold) Posts: A lot.
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Quote:
I have a USB power port like Ghostt linked installed on my 500. Some GPS units that use a standard USB port for charging have direct-wire 12V kits. It's a USB plug on one end, red and black wires on the other, and all the necessary magic in between to make it Just Work™. If you can find a GPS with a USB port matching the port and power draw of your camera (or other device), you can simply buy one of those. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002ALTKBM/ is one example.
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March 27th, 2015, 10:28 AM | #13 | ||
ninjette.org sage
Name: Kevin
Location: Portland, OR
Join Date: Oct 2013 Motorcycle(s): Ninja 250R, Tiger 800 XRT Posts: 828
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Quote:
Another factor in how fast your device will charge is the gauge of wires used in the USB cable. Most cheap cables use 28 gauge wire and you might not get more than 500 milliamps out of it anyway. Better ones use 24 gauge wire, which is generally sufficient for 2A draws. When I make my own I'm going to use 20 gauge wire, mostly because that's the smallest one I have. Quote:
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March 29th, 2015, 05:34 PM | #14 |
ninjette.org dude
Name: 1 guess :-)
Location: SF Bay Area
Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE, '15 CRF110F, '13 TT-R50E Posts: Too much.
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Looks good!
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March 31st, 2015, 09:21 PM | #15 | |
EX500 full of EX250 parts
Name: Bill
Location: Grand Rapids-ish, MI
Join Date: Jul 2012 Motorcycle(s): '18 Ninja 400 • '09 Ninja 500R (selling) • '98 VFR800 (project) • '85 Vulcan VN700 (sold) Posts: A lot.
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Quote:
That seems extremely dangerous. Older chargers used shorted data lines to indicate 1A rather than the standard 500mA. If new devices try pulling 1.5-2A on an older charger because the data lines are shorted, it could burn up the charger. USB's Battery Charging Standard mentions the voltage divider circuits, but I couldn't actually find values that correlated to various current ratings.
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April 2nd, 2015, 10:49 AM | #16 | ||
ninjette.org sage
Name: Kevin
Location: Portland, OR
Join Date: Oct 2013 Motorcycle(s): Ninja 250R, Tiger 800 XRT Posts: 828
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Quote:
Quote:
There's a new protocol called USB Power Delivery that dictates negotiation over the data lines to establish power draw, but that is part of USB 3, all these phones are USB 2. Some devices have additional charging protocols, like Qualcomm Quick Charge, but they still work with standard USB too. Even the Nexus 6 (which I have) supports Quick Charge, if you plug it into a charger that supports Quick Charge then it charges at a higher voltage and amperage, but if you just plug it into a normal charger with shorted data lines it pulls about 1.5 amps. |
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