19 thoughts on “Simple USB Plug

  1. This is so simple that i cant believe i didn’t think about this early. I used to tear apart every usb cable i own to salvage the connector off of it and only attach the +5 and -5 volts. Now i can just use all the radio shack pcb prototyping boards i have laying around.

  2. Ok, this is really disturbing. Everyone knows this already, for cryin’ out loud. We’re all very proud of you for being able to use your soldering iron. :-)
    However, I’d love to see more hardware type stuff that’s for real on hackaday… How about some pinin-pinout diagrams or something?
    -ProfHiB and the Ourang-Outang Clan

  3. Pretty neat thing,I like it, though “hack” got misplaced in this one, and gets over-used recently whenever somebody add led`s to the calculator case, i`ll call this MOD not a hack… ahh good old days, where have you gone….

  4. I have to admit, I’ve never seen this trick before…. But I don’t have too much prototyping board around, and lots of hacked usb cables, so I don’t need it too much…

    But, I recently discovered that normal lead pencil graphite sticks make nice smoke off USB, and don’t get too hot except where they meet the wire… Meaning, I could use this and have a piece of lead close to my laptop. Typing in public, and people see smoke start pouring out of a dell laptop :P

  5. to the guy who wrote the first post he tells you why you dont need a resistor. reading is learning! there is genius in simplicity. if you look at his site he is actually a skilled modder.

  6. I always print a board with the little strips then solder them a bit like this, but etched myself instead of using proto. I would much rather take the time to etch than end up with a broken port on my PC from a solder blob.

    I keep wondering where he found the 5v LED! Where can I get one? =P

  7. The proto board trick also works for the charging port on the original (fat gray) Nintendo DS. I used it and a usb cable to charge it before I got a charger from a friend.

    @atrain
    I love that idea. I think I’ll go do some testing now to see how many milliamps that would pull. A blown 5v fuse sucks ass.

  8. A bright LED is ok, but some places have two lead leds that change color, cycle through several colors, fading and blinking. Halted (Santa Clara, CA) had these for a while. (ob disclaimer – I used to work there)

  9. Of course, when you figure that the whole thing (including electricity) probably cost about 25¢, he’s probably not terribly worried (and then he also mentions why there’s no resistor! But afaik, you should always use a resistor in any LED that you don’t want kicking the bucket)

    I actually like this – it’s simple, and it’s an easy way to get power, and if you’re really a hacker you don’t think “bah this sucks!” You think “Now how can I make this blow up/light on fire/power a tesla coil/car/what mod can I use this for”

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