Make your own USB-carger.

Hey all.

I saw the need for a USB-Charger on my bike. On long trips i wanted to be sure to have cellphone battery if i needed to contact someone.
Looked around for allready done solutions but wasnt satisfied with them. Expensive, connected straight to the battery, too big to make a nice and neet installation etc etc.... So i decided to make one myself.

Adding a few images to the post to explain the different steps i did if someone would like to do the same for their bike.

Things you need.
Souldering iron.
12V USB charger for a car. i used the smallest one i could find.
A smal can/container with a lid to make keep wather and moist out.
Some cables
Shrink hose.


1. Open the charger.
2. Cut the spring and the metal piece connected to the short cable. Save a small piece of the spring to get a pint to connect the cable.
3. Connect/soulder the extentioncables. Dont remember what cable is +/- but that info can be googled.
4. Shrink the hose around the cables and reasseble the chager
5. Use a lot of electrical tape to get protection agains moist.
6. Insert the charger in your canister. I used an old photo film tube.

I wasnt satisfied with the fitment so i made a "bush" to fill the gap between the carger and the inner wall of the canister Shown below.


Remeber to fill all the holes where cables run through the canister with silicone.

I choosed to connect the charger to the licenceplate lights. That connection has a fuse and was quite near the position where i want the charger. The carger can only be used with the ignition key on.
On the VZ800 there is a space under the seat that i used to put the charger.
Have been working fine for more than one season.

Hope that this can be to help for other members.

That is very clever, and congratulations on your English, which is superb. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the compliment on my english

The construction it self took me a while of thinking but the work itself was quite simple.

I guess that it is possible to make connections straight from the battery and just secure it with a small fuse. Then the charger will work without the ignition key turned. But then there is the possibilty of battery drain if the curcit is shorted some how or that the powerconsumer isnt detatched from the curcuit.

I wasn't clever enough to make my own, but like you, I prefer to connect a power socket through the ignition to avoid battery drain.

Good job Always handy having a usb charger these days, is that something like a camera film holder you used for holding it in ?

It is the can/box/tube that the camerafilm is delivered in.
Went down to the local photo shop and asked for a couple. Got them for free since they throw them away when the film is processed.

The bush is just a pice of plastic shaft/axel that i shaped in the turning machine at work to fit the diameter of the "can" and charger.
No big thing if you got access to that kind of tools.

Good mod twenty2 thanks for sharing it.

twenty2 wrote:

The bush is just a pice of plastic shaft/axel that i shaped in the turning machine at work to fit the diameter of the "can" and charger.
No big thing if you got access to that kind of tools.

You could always squeeze silicone sealer around it to get a snug fit, if a turning machine is unavailable? once dried it would stop any ingress of water too.

Silicone sealer is a good solution, Makes a good fit, takes up some of the vibrations and allso seal the hole that the cable goes through. All at once

Very impressed, thanks for posting that

Very clever mod, I will make one of those this weekend.

Quote :

Mr Intruder;
Very clever mod, I will make one of those this weekend.

How did it turn out?

Sorry I didn't get the chance but I did get all the bits, I will post as soon as I have done it.
The funny thing is that I actually did see one that would be fine for a bike at a reasonable price but the modder in me will not allow me to buy it when I can make one.
Once again thanks for showing us How.

No rush. I was just courious how things went.
Sure you can find nice and not to expensive things at your local delar every now and then. But as you say "the modder inside" must get a challange.

Next thing im gonna do is "fork wrap around led turnsignals". Found a nice kit for that on ebay for allmost no cash at all