How To Make A Mobile Power Bank?

The portable nature of smartphones makes them ideal for making phone calls, texting, and accessing apps away from home, but the battery life of a cell phone is limited. Being on the go all day means that many smartphone users are not close to an outlet that they can use to charge their phone when they are traveling for work, school, or pleasure. A power bank offers a portable power source that people can use when other charging options are not available. Power banks can be made into a do-it-yourself project for those who do not mind a small, hands-on building project.

About Power Banks
A power bank is a small case that is filled with batteries. The batteries in a power bank are wired in a way that allows a phone to be plugged into the power bank in order to be charged. Since batteries are being used to supply the power to the mobile device, power banks need to be recharged or the batteries need to be replaced in order for the bank to be used multiple times, depending on the type of batteries that are used. There is an outlet on the external portion of the power bank that allows a USB charging cord to be plugged into the bank to offer compatibility with nearly any type of smartphone.

Making Power Banks
Making a power bank is a project that anyone can complete. Here are the steps that need to be followed in order for the power bank to successfully transfer power from the batteries to the mobile device.

Step One
Gather the necessary supplies. Three batteries will be needed, and these batteries can be either 3.7 or 4.0 volt. Additional supplies include a cell phone charger designed for use in the car, hot glue, black electrical tape, a toggle switch, and an RCA female plug. Tools used for this project include scissors and pliers. A food storage container is used to keep all of the components organized and to make the power bank easily portable.

Step Two
Connect the batteries together with the connector located on the end of each battery.

Step Three
Clip off end of the car charger and strip the wires.

Step Four
Connect the positive wire found in the battery to the center stem of the toggle switch.

Step Five
Connect the negative wire of the battery pack to the negative wire found in the car charger and the negative wire in the RCA female plug.

Step Six
Connect the positive wire in the car charger to the right stem of the toggle switch.

Step Seven
Connect the positive wire in the RCA female plug to the left stem of the toggle switch.

Notes
Wrap each connected wire with the electrical tape. The top portion of the car charger that allows a USB connection is used to connect the phone to the power bank.