HOW-TO: quickly whip up an external Nintendo DS/SP battery pack
posted May 10th 2005 5:32PM
Hello gamers/modders/readers. People are always e-mailing me asking why we never do any DS hacks or mods. Well the PSP is the new toy of the summer currently, but that doesn't mean we can just neglect the DS! So, I bring you a hack that takes 15 minutes, costs $15 or less, and will give you an emergency battery pack for your Nintendo DS or Gameboy Advance SP. It's easy to do, parts are readily available, and now you can wow all your friends by busting it out when everyone's system is dead. You'll be the hero. Promise.
What you�ll need for this is:
+A DS or SP charger with their nutty proprietary plug on the end.
+A Radio Shack battery enclosure for 4 AA batteries (or AAA if you want it even more compact, but don�t mind it being weak)
+Electrical Tape
+Wire Strippers
+Swiss Army Knife/Utility Knife or Toolkit
+Soldering Iron + Solder - Optional (gasp!)
+Batteries
So all the above should be readily available. Lay it all out on a table in front of you and let�s get started.
Step 1. Grab that DS charger
Grab your Nintendo DS AC adaptor and pick a good spot to hack the end off. It�s a pretty long cord so I just chose to do it in the middle. Use your knife for a clean cut right down the middle.
Step 2. Get your battery case ready
Get your neat little case and hack off the ground wire, we won�t need it. Then unscrew the cover and keep it off until you put your batteries in.
Step 3. Stripping away and connecting
Strip away the wire a little bit, you�ll see a green wire inside. Strip that very carefully and reveal it�s golden insides. Then, take your red connector on your battery case. You can either solder it for a secure permanent connection, or just bundle the wires together tightly, cap them, and use a little tape to clean up.
Step 4. Finishing up and powering it up
Wrapping up, you can either tape the short wires from the battery case to the side or you can go further like we did and drill a little hole for them to go into. The finished product should look like this. Small enough to fit in your pocket and good for a little extra juice (not 9 hours of gaming mind you). You can even customize it if you want and it works by connecting it to your DS or SP, and hitting the �On/Off� switch on the battery case. Sweet, simple, and snazzy.
See? It fits right into your pocket with ease. Special thanks to Game Champ from Philadelphia. They hooked me up with a DS Charger for this which was really cool of them. You can call them at 215-405-0303 or visit them at 1509 Chestnut St. when you stop by Philly! Tell them Engadget and Hackaday sent you!
Or you could just buy another LiIon battery for it and swap them out by removing the small screw holding the battery cover on.
If I send in an ages old hack, do I get a free plug for my business?
And no photos?
C'mon, someone must have left the door to the editing room open or something. Someone's kid slipped in and posted this right?
...or for about seven dollars buy a retractable USB/Car charger from, oh, GameSpot, and hack a female USB lead onto that Rad Schmack battery pack for maximum power flexability! :)
Sorry, eight bucks.
Ummm I don't think this will work.
you must connect the neg side of the batteries to the ground braid in the connector wire.
Electricity needs a complete circut (loop)
This will effectively do nothing for you..
the links for the pictures are wrong, i cant see any of the pictures that were posted, can u fix this?
Images are coming - fallout from some server work going on today. Thanks for your patience, folks.
Well, just cause it's not a NEW hack doesn't mean it's no good. This is actually a great little project for those just now sticking their toes into the world of homebrew mods/apps/accessories. But I is most certainly not new. In fact, this hack has been around for PocketPc's for a number of years. Itstructions are of course available on line here
http://www.earthv.com/articles.asp?ArticleID=474
With pics and even Radio Shack part numbers.
Interesting though. This exact hack has been used with a sharp Zaurus and worked fine, as has a Pelican brand external batterypack designed for the PSP. Does this mean then that the Pelican will also work in a DS ? Experiment at your own risk...
http://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=11839&st=0
The DS runs on 5.3 volts, and 4 AA batteries is 6 volts.... wont this fry the DS?
You can also get a 4 D-Cell holder and actually get the 9 hours of gaming that you want. Put a long cord on it and keep it in your backpack.
If weight is no object (ie putting it under your car seat or your desk at work) check out Radio Shack Catalog #: 23-9028. It is 6V 7000mAh, rechargable Lead Acid, but it does weight 3 lbs, almost as much as the laptop I am typing this on!
this is more of a hack than any of the PSP hacks in the contest...
the DS power cable can only support 5.3+VDC so, theoretically, it wont fry the DS because only the max supported voltage will reach it. The worst thing that could happen is the wires get fried.
The DS is actually 5.2V but the amps coming from AA or AAA batteries is not great enough to do anything but power it to be honest. If you used an RC car battery or a 9V battery even, then youd run into trouble.
Come on now. If your gunna post weak stuff, at least post clear pictures.
You guys might want to re-write your instructions, as someone stated earlier, circuits need a loop. So from the battery box, you have to use both common and positive, otherwise nothing will happen.
As for adding bigger batteries, if you can build a small voltage and current regulator circuit, you could stick a car battery on it (extreme, but you get the idea). I'm assuming the DS probably has a smaller voltage requlator built in, so adding a volt or two shouldn't hurt it (it's the amps that will kill it).
Dude this is so totally awsum, i gotta git me one o these.
You could always stick a 7805 on the wire if you're nervous about frying your DS.
5.2-5=.2
6-5.2=.8
So there is a bigger difference without the regulator
Would a battery pack like this power a laptop? if you had the right plug. This is probably a dumb question, but i don't know.
Could this work with 2 3v camera betteries...becasue they're very small, but i dont know if the amps would be right.
Also, you may want to change it because the internal wire color is different in each one. It may be green, red, blue,black, or white. It is just spare wires already made up from the SP phase. I made it and mine was red. I made another charger (USB) and t was white.
it's true...you have to not cut the black wire off..you'll need it to attach to the wire outside of the red/green wire..then it works great..i made it to these instructions and it didnt work..till i wrapped the black wire to the wire outside of the internal wire and it works killer
I used an intec car adapter for DS; after incorrectly connecting the wires the first time to the 4 AA holder (the red wire was NEGATIVE, what the hell?? the white wire was positive) and connecting to my DS with no ill effects (no effects at all, actually), I switched the wires around, now it works well. Thanks for the tip.