Because I think Apple are rip-off merchants I make my own ipod charger with an old phone charger (for its rectifier) and a USB extension cable. Very simple job of cutting the USB cable retaining the female connector and stripping back the + and - wires disregarding the data wires. Then just soldering them to a phone charger with a suitable output voltage. I'm using a charger with 5.7v o/p which charges my ipod mini but not my ipod video. They're both rated 5v-30v. Why won't it charge my video?

you have made a typo error

5v-30v????

tks

Maybe the extra load of the ipod Video pulls the transformer voltage down?

If the colour screen boots up etc when you plug it in.

We've got 1 of those cheepy 4 way multivoltage transformers and that always reads over until you put load on it. So maybe if yours is marginal already it can't keep up.

Also maybe the Video needs some com's wires to be connected, i've got some things that just refuse to charge up on purely a USB connection, they need some link to the computer.

[Edited on 22/11/07 by MkIndy7]

nope, 5v-30v apparently?

OR you can use an onion to charge your ipod:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfPJeDssBOM&feature=related

That onion thing is coooool, I saw the other post. Think you're right about not charging solely on USB. Going to have to bite the bullet and buy a charger. RIP £3.25 chargers.

[Edited on 22/11/07 by Daimo_45]

is the current that matters. the charger you have is rated at a certain number of mA it can deliver. for a mobile phone it may be small enough as it can be also for the ipod mini, but the ipod video might draw much more so as the charger not to cope. basically its a longer version of what MkIndy7 said.

voltage range can be that big, this is why it can be charged in the car with 12v, on the computer with less than 5v or the charger which i think is around 5v too

EDIT: check this out. the original apple charger is rated at 1.0 A output. see? check this on your mobile phone charger, its probably somewhere in the milliamp range.

[Edited on 22/11/07 by robertst]

If you really want to make a Lo-cost Ipod charger...

Buy a 5V voltage regulator from rapid electronics (47-3290)

Then all you need are a selection of reistors and a couple of capacitors...to smooth the supply a bit....

Would then take anything from 8V up to 14V with a supply of 1A

All parts could be had for under a fiver including a USB lead...

U2U me if you desperatly want a schematic to work from

[Edited on 23/11/07 by tegwin]

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