iPod Battery Pack

A

antoniohawk

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
326
I'm new to electronics and have a few questions regarding this tutorial on making a battery pack for my ipod. My first question, is exactly what batteries to use for this project. It says in the tutorial to use pp9 9volt batteries, but from looking on the internet, they don't seem to be the generic kind that you find at the drugstore. Are there other batteries that would work? The next question that I have, is where can I get that firewire connector. I have visited mouser, but I'm not sure which one to buy since they have so many to choose from. I will probably have a few more questions, but thanks to anyone that can help me. :)

[edit]
It helps to include the link to the tutorial. http://www.drewperry.co.uk/iPod/index.php?page=batterypack
[/edit]
 
yeah thos are standerd 9vs that you can get at any store.
if you want to build it exatly like that guy, you need a PCB mount Male Firewire mini connector.

if i were building it, i would have hooked 4 LiION 3v batts (there about the size of a AA) up in series... so it would be rechargable, and a little smaller then his box. i would have also made glued it to the back of a IPOD clip so that it could snap onto the back of it (and stay on without putting extra strain on the connector.
 
Where would they sell lithium batteries like that? and how would you go about charging them since I recall reading that lithium batteries use a weird charging system?
 
you can get LiIOn batts at radioshack, or online at Mouser, DigiKey, or Newark InOne.
you can find LiIOn charging circuts by searching on google. they are all over the place... and are only "wierd" because you dont have to slow-charge them like NiCads.

if you need help finding a circut let me know
 
Those rechargeable batteries sound interesting, tell me more. Also, what do you mean by an iPod clip and could you possibly link me to a firewire connector that would work. I live in the U.S. if that makes a difference with price and availability. Thanks for the help thus far. :)
 
i would mod one of these:
t7420lla_125.jpg

or
m9129ga_125.jpg


to hold teh batts on teh back of the IPOD, so it would look like this:


except that uses AA batts. well wait, if that uses 4 AA bats, why dont you? im SURE you could build it for less then 60$. it wouldent be too hard, you get a bat holder from the rad shcaks, some plexi to make a clip, and AAs are dirt cheap and come in alkiline, NiCad, and LiIon.

sorry i didnt remember this before
 
I'd hope that I wouldn't have to spend anywhere close to $60 for something so trivial. After spending $300 on the iPod itself, I'm ready to start saving some money by making my own stuff. I don't quite understand how the 4 AAs would work because in the tutorial it says that you need 12 volts. Someone please set me straight lol.
 
okay heres the deal...

the actual battery in the ipod is 3.7v 1230mAh.

if you decide to power it thrugh the firewire port (which is linked to the charging circut) your gonna need 12v (firewire spec).

if you get that cute little apple connector (looks about an inch long), you can power right into the main regulator itself (not charging the other bat, just extending its mAh's). i quote right off apple's site:
"The [external] Battery does NOT charge the internal iPod� Battery. The power will by-pass the internal battery and goes straight to the unit."

the apple certifyed adapter takes 4 AA batts. they are probably hooked up in serial to make 6v (regulated down to 3.5, its because of the voltage curent curve of a alkline batt) at about 1500mAh, just about doubling the battery life.

if you were to make a bypass adapter, you would have to get one of thos fancy apple plugs, but you wouldent need to lug around 12 volts. amatera fact... you can get a 4x AA holder from radioshack for about $2, and a set of 4 NiMH batterys (2000mAh) for $25, and the charger for $10... or you could build your own charger, theres lots of diagrams online.

so i hope that clears some stuff up for ya
 
That does clear up a lot of stuff, thank you. I'm not really sure that I want to spend the money on the "fancy apple plug." If that is the case, what do you suggest that I do? I'm thinking that the best thing would be to somehow get that "fancy apple plug" and make my own. The only problem is getting it. One thing that I really don't understand is why that battery pack that apple sells is $60!
 
well if you want the "fancy apple plug" theres a couple of places you could get it... but EBAY comes to mind.

the reason apple sellls em for 60$ is because if you have $400 to blow on a mp3 player then you have $60 to blow on batterys... and if you dont then they dont care (because there apple, for gods sake). the whole thing is a rich dude's market.
 
How is the "fancy apple plug" different than the regular firewire one? I don't really understand because one end is the fancy plug and the other end is a firewire connector. [here] I guess that I main question, is how is the fancy plug differerent than the method in the tutorial. In the tutoria he uses a firewire and fancy plug cable and in the battery pack, there is no firewire connector. Thanks for being so patient with me and trying to help me understand all of this. :)
 
okay with in the apple connector there are more then 4 termials... i expect more then 8 or so

the firewire is only hooked up to some of them, some of them are for audio, some are for batterys, some of them are for USB...


they all do diffrent things... speciatly cables like firewire cables will only hook up to some of them. the battery fixture hookes up to diffrent ones. any mod wound involve figureing out what each pin does, and soldering directly to the metal tab (if its there, if its not you may have to make one)

not a problem, any chance to help any of you geinuses on [H] ill take
 
It sounds like, in essence, that I could make my own Belkin Battery pack. The only problem now is finding a cheap fancy plug and figuring out which wire goes to which part. Any ideas on that?
 
I dont have a ipod so dont really know how this wroks..
If you were to connect it through firewire to charge will you still use the docking cable?
Does the Ipod have a seperate power in port or does it do everything through the docking cable or cradle?

Does the sync cable have some sort of power input for an ac adapter or is it all reliant through the firewire port?

Edit..
Did some googling and cant seem to find a connector pinout anywhere.. I shall assume your option is only through a sync connector (firewire thing) unless you find a secondary power input (I found one pinout of the cradle and it seems to only have one 12V in for the firewire cable), your best bet is to charge through that firewire thing. Seems the easiest too.. either way, you will need to carrry around that cable and I dont think you will loose too much efficiency, your only real problem is getting 12v.. 8AA wont really be fun to carry. unless you go for AAA or perhaps one of those 6v>12v things.
 
Yeah, I foudn that too.. I guess thats why they came up with the idea of using the firewire batterypack instead.
 
doesn't the ipod come with 2 cables anyway?

one firewire and one usb 2.0? couldn't you nab the apple customer connector from the one you're not using?
 
my fiancee's 20GB iPod came with 2 cables. each had the wide thin connector on one end, and then a firewire and usb plug on the other.
 
Can you imagine going into an airport terminal with a deck of cards box with wires coming out of it. Oh Boy would that take some explaining
 
BoySetsFire said:
my fiancee's 20GB iPod came with 2 cables. each had the wide thin connector on one end, and then a firewire and usb plug on the other.
Click to expand...
Oh ok, that may be the case for the 4th generation iPods, but for my 3gen, it wasn't. :)
 
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