image above is from www.ladyada.net
I have been looking for a long time for a project that I could build with my fiance that would be and interesting and useful, and at the same time provide her with an introduction to electronics and soldering. I settled on the Minty Boost from LadyAda. Kits can also be purchase from Make Magazine's online store (which is where I got my 2 kits - the kits were v1.2 by the way). For $20 I figured I really couldn't go wrong, and I was right.
The kits proved easy and fun for my fiance and the instructions from LadyAda's website were more than adequate. When we were done we had two functional chargers. The picture below shows our chargers without the Altoids gum tin (we need to go buy some gum).
Here is where things get a bit sticky. You can see in the picture that there are 2 iPhones and a Shuffle. One charger is plugged into the Shuffle, while the other charger is plugged into the iPhone that is turned on. The Shuffle charges perfectly (although it's hard to see that the LED is on in this pic), but the iPhone refuses to charge. I'm stumped as to what the problem might be. We have tried both iPhones (one has the current software version of 1.0.2 while the other has an older 1.0 version) and neither iPhone will register or take a charge. If anyone has any suggestions or figures this out, please let me know by posting to this blog, or to the iPhone portion of the LadyAda forum (or both, that way both communtites benefit from your infinite wisdom).
All in all, I think the project is a lot of fun even if I never get my iPhone to work with it. I would highly reccommend the project to anyone interested in useful electronics projects. And don't be scared away by this project. My fiance had never soldered in her life and she had no trouble at all. Just remember to follow the instructions carefully and you'll be set.
Here is where things get a bit sticky. You can see in the picture that there are 2 iPhones and a Shuffle. One charger is plugged into the Shuffle, while the other charger is plugged into the iPhone that is turned on. The Shuffle charges perfectly (although it's hard to see that the LED is on in this pic), but the iPhone refuses to charge. I'm stumped as to what the problem might be. We have tried both iPhones (one has the current software version of 1.0.2 while the other has an older 1.0 version) and neither iPhone will register or take a charge. If anyone has any suggestions or figures this out, please let me know by posting to this blog, or to the iPhone portion of the LadyAda forum (or both, that way both communtites benefit from your infinite wisdom).
All in all, I think the project is a lot of fun even if I never get my iPhone to work with it. I would highly reccommend the project to anyone interested in useful electronics projects. And don't be scared away by this project. My fiance had never soldered in her life and she had no trouble at all. Just remember to follow the instructions carefully and you'll be set.
2 comments:
re: getting the Mintyboost working with an iPhone:
You need to use the 2.0 kit with 100k resistors, but even then the iPhone/touch needs more juice than 2 AA's can supply. See my link for more info on how I got it work.
http://www.everythingicafe.com/forum/iphone-accessories/mintyboost-34249.html
You need to use the 2.0 kit with 100k resistors, but even then the iPhone/touch needs more juice than 2 AA's can supply. See my link for more info on how I got it work.
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