[flv:http://kinasmith.com/media/video/usbcharge.mov 640 480]
The USB charger is built, uncased, and working well. The storage capacitors give about 2 minutes of stand-time at a 300 mA draw, which isn’t too bad. Not quite as much as I’d like, but it’s going to have to do for now. My first experiments with using a proto-board worked out well. More stable than free-form point to point soldering, if only due to the structure that the board provides. As mentioned in the video, this project is using a slightly modified Minty-Boost kit, from Adafruit Industries. I’ll be putting together a tutorial with a circuit schematic and explanatory pictures for this as well.