dsm
Dave
How to make your own Interphone chargers
A while ago I purchased a pair of BlueAnt Interphone units for myself and the missus so we could keep in touch while riding together. For those who haven't tried them already, they're fantastic - cheaper, easier and quicker than setting up a Starcom or PMR466-based system provided you only want two people to be able to chat and they remain within 150 yards of each other.
Now that the days are getting sunnier and the roads are getting drier we're venturing out on some longer rides (when her Bandit can keep up with my Fazer S2, naturally :rockon
. The Interphones have a pretty good battery life but after 4 hours or so they start to run down. You can buy a 12V accessory socket charger for them but this requires two accessory sockets if you want to charge them simultaneously, and obviously they're then attached to the bike and easy to nick while you're in the pub
A quick peek at the charging unit reveals that they charge off 5V DC, which is nice because there are many easy ways of doing this.
I've built two types of charging leads for my Interphone to use while I'm out and about, one that connects to a pack of 4 AA NIMH rechargable batteries:
(each NIMH is a little over 1.2V so a pack of 4 is just about right for the 5V you're after)
...and one that plugs in to a computer's USB socket. Here's both of them:
The Interphone unit uses a 6-pin Mini-DIN connector and a couple of minutes with my Multimeter showed that they're using Pin 1 for +5V and Pin 5 for GND (note: this is different to what another thread I found on the Interweb said, so careful what you read!). I'm in the UK so I popped down to Maplin to buy the bits I need, but I'm sure you can get the bits from any decent electronics shop like Radio Shack. I've put the part numbers in the PDF assembly guide (see top of post). When I assembled the Mini-DIN connector I found that the outer sheath made the plug far too fat to fit in to the Interphone unit, so I instead wrapped the connector with black electrical tape.
Both types of charger work brilliantly for me, I've even found that a 2-minute top up at the petrol station gives me another 20 minutes or so of talk time. Usual disclaimers apply: I have no idea what these things do for the Interphone warranty, so use them at your own risk. Although mine work great I can't guarantee that yours won't blow things up, so don't sue me! Also, although the battery version uses a PP3 connector to clip on to the battery pack, do NOT connect the charging lead to a 9V PP3 battery or bad things will probably happen! Use only a pack of four NIMHs since they'll give you the right voltage.
I hope somebody finds this useful!
Dave.
(Proud owner of 2007 Fazer S2 in black for three weeks and counting)
A while ago I purchased a pair of BlueAnt Interphone units for myself and the missus so we could keep in touch while riding together. For those who haven't tried them already, they're fantastic - cheaper, easier and quicker than setting up a Starcom or PMR466-based system provided you only want two people to be able to chat and they remain within 150 yards of each other.
Now that the days are getting sunnier and the roads are getting drier we're venturing out on some longer rides (when her Bandit can keep up with my Fazer S2, naturally :rockon
. The Interphones have a pretty good battery life but after 4 hours or so they start to run down. You can buy a 12V accessory socket charger for them but this requires two accessory sockets if you want to charge them simultaneously, and obviously they're then attached to the bike and easy to nick while you're in the pub A quick peek at the charging unit reveals that they charge off 5V DC, which is nice because there are many easy ways of doing this.
I've built two types of charging leads for my Interphone to use while I'm out and about, one that connects to a pack of 4 AA NIMH rechargable batteries:
(each NIMH is a little over 1.2V so a pack of 4 is just about right for the 5V you're after)
...and one that plugs in to a computer's USB socket. Here's both of them:
The Interphone unit uses a 6-pin Mini-DIN connector and a couple of minutes with my Multimeter showed that they're using Pin 1 for +5V and Pin 5 for GND (note: this is different to what another thread I found on the Interweb said, so careful what you read!). I'm in the UK so I popped down to Maplin to buy the bits I need, but I'm sure you can get the bits from any decent electronics shop like Radio Shack. I've put the part numbers in the PDF assembly guide (see top of post). When I assembled the Mini-DIN connector I found that the outer sheath made the plug far too fat to fit in to the Interphone unit, so I instead wrapped the connector with black electrical tape.
Both types of charger work brilliantly for me, I've even found that a 2-minute top up at the petrol station gives me another 20 minutes or so of talk time. Usual disclaimers apply: I have no idea what these things do for the Interphone warranty, so use them at your own risk. Although mine work great I can't guarantee that yours won't blow things up, so don't sue me! Also, although the battery version uses a PP3 connector to clip on to the battery pack, do NOT connect the charging lead to a 9V PP3 battery or bad things will probably happen! Use only a pack of four NIMHs since they'll give you the right voltage.
I hope somebody finds this useful!
Dave.
(Proud owner of 2007 Fazer S2 in black for three weeks and counting)
