DIY Zune Remote charger

Sparks · 05-09-2008, 02:59 PM

This might be of no use to anyone but I have been testing my zune 2nd gen 80 for battery life while playing films and have noticed I can only watch 2 films in a row before the battery is low. As I will be flying from uk to aus soon (24H Flight) Il be needing some extra power! So I came up with this solution.

Reqirements:
4 x 1.2v AA Batteries (Highest mAh possible)
Battery pack for batteries (mine was out of an old radio control car!)
Female usb socket or old usb extension cable

Strip a bit of the plastic coating from usb cable, Cut off the Green or yellow and white cable as they are data. Black is negitive (-) red is positive (+5V).
Connect the 2 cables to battery pack, Plug your zune into the usb cable that came with it, then just plug it into the usb socket and start charging. I will test how many charges this will give without recharging or replacing the AA batteries later.

Peace Out.

Sparks · 05-10-2008, 12:43 AM

Hmm turned out to be a bad ideal. My zune pad just stopped working...

collver · 05-10-2008, 02:24 AM

thats not good bro, try letting the battery die out all the way then recharge the official way.

Sparks · 05-10-2008, 03:48 AM

yea its been on play for hours now! Im going to make a circuit to keep the voltage correct because I think the problem was that the batteries where kicking out too much voltage. Each at 1.4 instead od 1.2

collver · 05-10-2008, 04:04 AM

Yeah man you wanna be careful with that stuff, you don't want it to explode in your face bro.

Sparks · 05-11-2008, 12:05 AM

Hey Iv been learning again!

Firstly after running my zune flat it worked fine again.

I purchased a 3rd part travel charger from ebay for my zune and have noticed when I use it to charge my zune it causes the zune to freeze again. So I messured the voltage coming from it and it was at a stable voltage of 5.05V. My Pc usb output was 4.90V. With such a small difference in voltage I cant understand why this should happen. Maybe the zune really likes to be under 5V?

Anyway any sugestions on this would be much appriciated.

Later today im going to take all this stuff to my dads house (hes a good electronics engineer) to figure this out!

Peace out

Sparks · 05-11-2008, 12:36 AM

Ok just quickly been to my dads!

Supply from my pc was at a freqency of 50Hz with a good clean supply.

Supply from 3rd party charger was a really high freqency and a bad supply with what he called ripples n spikes.

basically dont buy 3rd party chargers as they will damage ur zune!

collver · 05-11-2008, 02:59 AM

At least stay away from stuff from ebay lol.

BEWARE IT CAME FROM EBBAAYYY

Audi4Life · 06-10-2008, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by collver

At least stay away from stuff from ebay lol.

BEWARE IT CAME FROM EBBAAYYY

Great AOTS Ref!

dan_1986 · 06-20-2008, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparks

Hmm turned out to be a bad ideal. My zune pad just stopped working...

I fell over laughing when I read this ...

hxcolin · 06-20-2008, 06:56 PM

This sounds like a really interesting idea. If you figure it out, please let me know!

jackluo923 · 06-20-2008, 08:03 PM

You people know a thread called "portable zune charger" in teh completed hack section?
It's also DIY and it has been tested throughly many times by myself.

BTW.. read the entire thread.

argondey · 06-23-2008, 11:28 PM

yeah, id be careful messing around with the charging method on sophistocated electronics, they often require an extremely stable flow at just the right rate of charge as they do not have the luxory of being able to protect well from overloads, usually not a problem as your computer knows what its doing, but with 3rd party or diy stuf...just make sure you know what you are doing or your new zune could end up a new plastic brick.

jackluo923 · 06-23-2008, 11:55 PM

The zune has a sophistocated charging controller thus will handle all the complicated and delicated charging process.

moomoo34 · 07-14-2008, 11:34 PM

this thread made my laugh

USB charging is pretty standard...because well USB ports are standard....

the problem is that some devices require data to be transferred to charge, or drivers

though the zune doesn't (I have a wall USB charger and it works fine)

I think you need to go to this site: Minty Boost! - USB charger for your gadgets they have kits or directions if you're good @ soldering.

also many people make the mistake of using 9volt batts with a linear regulator which is inefficient, this way shows how to use two 3v AAs with a boost regulator, giving you more charge time.

05-09-2008, 02:59 PM	#1 (permalink)
Sparks Squirt Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 14 Reputation: 10	DIY Zune Remote charger This might be of no use to anyone but I have been testing my zune 2nd gen 80 for battery life while playing films and have noticed I can only watch 2 films in a row before the battery is low. As I will be flying from uk to aus soon (24H Flight) Il be needing some extra power! So I came up with this solution. Reqirements: 4 x 1.2v AA Batteries (Highest mAh possible) Battery pack for batteries (mine was out of an old radio control car!) Female usb socket or old usb extension cable Strip a bit of the plastic coating from usb cable, Cut off the Green or yellow and white cable as they are data. Black is negitive (-) red is positive (+5V). Connect the 2 cables to battery pack, Plug your zune into the usb cable that came with it, then just plug it into the usb socket and start charging. I will test how many charges this will give without recharging or replacing the AA batteries later. Peace Out.

05-10-2008, 02:24 AM	#3 (permalink)
collver Experienced Zuner Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: some where left of the right Posts: 121 Reputation: 14	thats not good bro, try letting the battery die out all the way then recharge the official way. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Noob Patrol : Locked and Loaded To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

05-10-2008, 04:04 AM	#5 (permalink)
collver Experienced Zuner Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: some where left of the right Posts: 121 Reputation: 14	Yeah man you wanna be careful with that stuff, you don't want it to explode in your face bro. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Noob Patrol : Locked and Loaded To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

05-11-2008, 02:59 AM	#8 (permalink)
collver Experienced Zuner Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: some where left of the right Posts: 121 Reputation: 14	At least stay away from stuff from ebay lol. BEWARE IT CAME FROM EBBAAYYY __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Noob Patrol : Locked and Loaded To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

06-20-2008, 06:56 PM	#11 (permalink)
hxcolin Zuner Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 60 Reputation: 11	This sounds like a really interesting idea. If you figure it out, please let me know! __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. MySpace: To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

05-10-2008, 12:43 AM	#2 (permalink)
Sparks Squirt Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 14 Reputation: 10	Hmm turned out to be a bad ideal. My zune pad just stopped working...

05-10-2008, 03:48 AM	#4 (permalink)
Sparks Squirt Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 14 Reputation: 10	yea its been on play for hours now! Im going to make a circuit to keep the voltage correct because I think the problem was that the batteries where kicking out too much voltage. Each at 1.4 instead od 1.2

05-11-2008, 12:05 AM	#6 (permalink)
Sparks Squirt Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 14 Reputation: 10	Hey Iv been learning again! Firstly after running my zune flat it worked fine again. I purchased a 3rd part travel charger from ebay for my zune and have noticed when I use it to charge my zune it causes the zune to freeze again. So I messured the voltage coming from it and it was at a stable voltage of 5.05V. My Pc usb output was 4.90V. With such a small difference in voltage I cant understand why this should happen. Maybe the zune really likes to be under 5V? Anyway any sugestions on this would be much appriciated. Later today im going to take all this stuff to my dads house (hes a good electronics engineer) to figure this out! Peace out

05-11-2008, 12:36 AM	#7 (permalink)
Sparks Squirt Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 14 Reputation: 10	Ok just quickly been to my dads! Supply from my pc was at a freqency of 50Hz with a good clean supply. Supply from 3rd party charger was a really high freqency and a bad supply with what he called ripples n spikes. basically dont buy 3rd party chargers as they will damage ur zune!

06-20-2008, 08:03 PM	#12 (permalink)
jackluo923 Senior Zuner Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Greater Vancouver BC Posts: 1,275 Reputation: 122	You people know a thread called "portable zune charger" in teh completed hack section? It's also DIY and it has been tested throughly many times by myself. BTW.. read the entire thread. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

06-23-2008, 11:28 PM	#13 (permalink)
argondey Jr. Zuner Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: corona, ca Posts: 35 Reputation: 15	yeah, id be careful messing around with the charging method on sophistocated electronics, they often require an extremely stable flow at just the right rate of charge as they do not have the luxory of being able to protect well from overloads, usually not a problem as your computer knows what its doing, but with 3rd party or diy stuf...just make sure you know what you are doing or your new zune could end up a new plastic brick.

06-23-2008, 11:55 PM	#14 (permalink)
jackluo923 Senior Zuner Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Greater Vancouver BC Posts: 1,275 Reputation: 122	The zune has a sophistocated charging controller thus will handle all the complicated and delicated charging process. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

07-14-2008, 11:34 PM	#15 (permalink)
moomoo34 Squirt Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: GA/NC and China Posts: 16 Reputation: 16	this thread made my laugh USB charging is pretty standard...because well USB ports are standard.... the problem is that some devices require data to be transferred to charge, or drivers though the zune doesn't (I have a wall USB charger and it works fine) I think you need to go to this site: Minty Boost! - USB charger for your gadgets they have kits or directions if you're good @ soldering. also many people make the mistake of using 9volt batts with a linear regulator which is inefficient, this way shows how to use two 3v AAs with a boost regulator, giving you more charge time. __________________ Cooler sig coming soon. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

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