One of my last long distance rides turned out to be grueling.  It started going sour when I noticed my phone battery level was getting low.  In a pinch, I used the battery pack that supplied my helmet camera.  That kept it alive for the remainder of the ride.  I wasn’t as lucky with my main pack.  It seemed to work but the charger stopped.  To add insult to injury, I then had to haul the dead weigth.  It turned out that the override setting got changed and it was running a bit warm.  Now I konw.

That solves the problem with the main pack, but what about the small devices like my phones and recharge packs?  It seems like a simple fix should do it, and that turns out to be true.

There are a few items that I can piece together to accomplish this.  The end result will be a USB charging source that I can run from my main pack.

Here is a parts list of the items that will make up the USB power dongle.  Tally the cost up and I’m looking at $31 to make it.
1. DC – DC Buck Converter $3/ea
2. 5V Regulator Circuit $2/ea
3. USB Hub – Hacked from a IOGear 4 Port USB Hub $10/ea
4. (2) Anderson connector pig tails $1/ea
5. Plastic Enclosure $15/ea

I’ll be gathering the items together and putting this one together stat!