USB charging on the go

[battye]

http://ohgizmo.com/2007/06/19/panasonic ... on-the-go/

What a great device, it's something I can see myself using.

However, this is something I've had in mind for a while.

I have a spare USB hub (which I bought for $2, it hardly works, but I think it should do the trick! ). If I take this apart, would it be possible to then connect a battery to part of the hub, which could then power an iPod?

This person seems to have tried something similar: http://www.hackaday.com/2005/01/28/how- ... attery-v2/

That guy has used a 9V battery with a 330ohm resister.

What I am concerned about though, is how much voltage I need to power an iPod. I don't want to fry it Does anyone have an idea? How much power would normally carry through to a USB device if it was plugged into the computer?

Thanks

[nesman]

I've had similar thoughts, but I'd be scared to ruin something. I have a usb "lava lamp" that is basically a usb cable with 2 internal wires soldered to a small light bulb socket. (No drivers or anything, it just draws power. As far as I can tell, the pc doesn't even know it's plugged in.) I think it'd be cool to find other things that can be powered in this method.

Better yet would be a way to enable/disable power to a usb port remotely (in Linux, of course). This way I could turn it on to alert me to new mail, use it as an automatic night light, or figure out how to combine it with a webcam and make it a motion sensing light.

[battye]

I'll give this a go sometime soon. I probably won't test it on the iPod though, not until I'm sure it will work anyway.