In the Maker Shed: Minty Boost USB Charger

Hot Topics:

By Maker Shed
Posted 2011/07/05 @ 8:00 am
Category General, Electronics

Let’s face it, we love our gadgets. They keep us connected, they keep us secure, and they have fully integrated themselves into our lives. But what happens when your gadget runs out of batteries and you are nowhere near a charger? With the Minty Boost USB Charger from the Maker Shed, you don’t have to worry! Just build the kit, put it in a tin, add two AA batteries and your USB powered gadget will be back in action in no time. Don’t want to worry about carrying batteries around? Make a Solar Minty Boost like Instructables user JoshuaZimmerman. Just use some rechargeable batteries, attach a solar cell, add a diode and let the sun take care of the rest!

Also in the Maker Shed:

Get a copy of the MAKE Ultimate Guide To 3D Printing today!

3D Printers Buyer's Guide — 15 Reviewed
Getting Started in 3D
Learn the Software Toolchain
3D Design for Beginners
3D Printing without a Printer

Buy now!

In the Maker Shed

29 Responses to In the Maker Shed: Minty Boost USB Charger

AndrewS on July 5th, 2011 at 9:13 pm said:

get a proper phone and you wouldnt need to charge it every day.

Reply ↓
- Frank Guillen Jr on September 20th, 2011 at 3:29 am said:
  
  Like an Android who are known for their long lasting batteries?? lol
  
  Reply ↓
  
  Zoth .... on September 28th, 2011 at 1:17 am said:
  
  My G2X goes 36-48 hrs. between charges…
  
  Reply ↓
  
  Devron Rahmatov on October 17th, 2011 at 3:06 pm said:
  
  I have Xperia10 Android, and damn, i charge it only ones a week. Min 2 days with playing and talking
  
  Reply ↓
  
  Ryan Carroll on October 18th, 2011 at 6:10 pm said:
  
  because you dont have any bitches to sext
  
  Reply ↓
  
  Brock Akerman on October 23rd, 2011 at 7:23 am said:
  
  Lol i charge my x10 every night. Even when I hardly use it, it wont go a day running idle without using at least 50% power
  
  Reply ↓
  
  Gina on May 3rd, 2012 at 5:04 am said:
  
  good for you! now you have that time to dedicate to learning how to spell… “ones” ???
  
  Reply ↓
  
  S on November 1st, 2012 at 10:09 pm said:
  
  Yeah, I think he was trying to spell ONCE….
Richard Burt on July 6th, 2011 at 12:17 am said:

Doesn’t always work, look on a few forums before buying.

Reply ↓
Anonymous on July 6th, 2011 at 5:23 pm said:

I had a kit in a drawer for a while and recently built it with my son so he couldn’t use the “My cellphone was dead” excuse when I couldn’t get in touch with him. Works great, but the problem we ran into is Altoids doesn’t make the gum any longer so, no gum, no tins. In the end we used a regular Altoids tin storing the cable in the extra space. If you’re a glass half full person you can look at it as a bonus project to make/modify a housing for it.

Reply ↓
- mrs22 on August 7th, 2012 at 11:57 am said:
  
  I was thinking the same thing myself! Need a place to store your cable and the larger container is perfect! Definitely half full!
  
  Reply ↓
Jeff Reedy on September 9th, 2011 at 7:40 pm said:

genius

Reply ↓
Easy Forex Guides on November 4th, 2011 at 11:11 am said:

battery life is getting more important from day to day. a promising product from ASUS is the new Transformer Prime tablet, with 16 hours of battery life. all this from a quad core tablet.

you can find more information on the (official?) forum: transformerprime.info

Reply ↓
Lily on November 9th, 2011 at 10:05 pm said:

This is right that the charger circuitry and 2 AA batteries fit into an Altoids gum tin.I like this one.This is an amazing.I appreciate to this content.Thanks to share this blog with us.I will keep share in future.Keep it up.

Reply ↓
Valerie Wallflower Anderson on December 5th, 2011 at 2:32 pm said:

So now I can be judged by the color of my skin, my weight, my hair color, my clothes, my speech and the battery life of my cellphone. America is headed in the right direction…

Reply ↓
- Gina on May 3rd, 2012 at 5:01 am said:
  
  over-generalize much?? who is judging you by your phone? if they really are, why do you care? all of america? really??
  
  Reply ↓
iKeep Charger on January 19th, 2012 at 4:50 pm said:

I have to say thanks for this great and useful blog post…!

Reply ↓
maggie on March 11th, 2012 at 7:17 pm said:

So how do you build the kit?

Reply ↓
Michael Castor on March 12th, 2012 at 10:03 am said:

First, you buy a kit from the Maker Shed. Then, you follow these instructions! http://www.ladyada.net/make/mintyboost/make.html

Good luck!

Reply ↓
mary hannah on July 5th, 2012 at 10:33 am said:

where r the instrucshins on how todo it

Reply ↓
Michael Castor on July 5th, 2012 at 10:38 am said:

Right here: http://www.ladyada.net/make/mintyboost/make.html

Reply ↓
S2345 on July 8th, 2012 at 6:55 pm said:

Can I just purchase it already made? The solar version would be nice.

Reply ↓
Alana on July 8th, 2012 at 7:47 pm said:

I have a Motorola Karma and the battery life is really great! I can go a few days without charging it and still text quite a bit. But this would be handy to have on the days that I forget how low my battery has gotten.

Reply ↓
Anon on July 15th, 2012 at 6:19 am said:

Seriously, why does anyone care how long someone elses cell battery lasts. Mind your own!

Reply ↓
PAM on September 11th, 2012 at 11:15 am said:

THIS WAS A GREAT IDEA …GOOD FOR CAMPING! THANK YOU FOR SHARING!

Reply ↓
Piikkahboo on September 13th, 2012 at 10:57 pm said:

So how do i do it? It doesn’t give me any type of instruction?

Reply ↓
- Maker Shed on September 14th, 2012 at 8:44 am said:
  
  First, you buy a kit from the Maker Shed (http://www.makershed.com/product_p/mkad2b.htm). Then, you follow these instructions (http://makeprojects.com/Project/MintyBoost-USB-Charger-Kit-v3-0/1096/1#.UFNQ_Bh9l7A)
  
  Reply ↓
daniel on May 1st, 2013 at 10:00 am said:

it is cool.

Reply ↓
pear phones on May 2nd, 2013 at 3:01 pm said:

Simply share your story at the Square – Trade Facebook page and you could
win a chance to receive a replacement device. Not only are the toxins harming the environment,
they are not exactly biodegradable either. If you choose the prepaid option, you pay full price for the phone but your monthly
service rate is $80 a month.

Reply ↓