If you have a power bank laying around and would like to use it as a means to power a robot car or any other electronics project, here is how to do it. The idea is to replace the battery box with a power bank. The current battery box uses eight 1.5 V AA batteries that produce a total of 12 V.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBVR9SQdsuWA3M37VO76kfD9ZiSqnJ70TPvs25zNA-ArIpotGD6zWevNpw32NXLPQ62xAu0k384DGdJvwiCEwutEB5PNU3RpmcoYzSSrGg8lxF-Eh9U2osLrwbS1rBB38dE7c0Rte6YDU/s640/IMG_20160719_095014.jpg)
The robot car uses the GoPiGo board which operates with voltages between 7 V and 12 V. The Raspberry Pi needs 3.3 V to operate, while each motors need between 3 V and 6 V to operate at maximum load.
A typical 4000 mAh power bank outputs around 5 V, which is far too little voltage to operate the robot car. In order to power the robot car using a power bank I figured I would need a power bank that could output at a least 12 V.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjfPzSDq_WQSbIWHU57jZrJJxFV64ANjgQoED2cXcavOp4KWaY0ZjeWTNzJJk-H1cN1oA0XJjcfmxEQPxgPREfvqkp-fHtCbukGbr0N7y_oAktKdtDmtVp1zvbXaq4b_dCik2wb08eeuk/s640/IMG_20161006_143028.jpg)
Problem is that power banks with high voltage output are far too big to mount on a small robot car. Just as I was about to give up the idea of using a power bank to power the robot car, I thought of using a USB power converter.
I forgot all about a USB power converter I had laying around to use for powering externally my Sony Alpha camera with a power bank.
The USB power converter basically converts the power bank's 5 V into 8.4 V so I figure why not use it to power the robot car? All I needed to do now is get a DC plug converter and a DC connector extension that would connect the USB power converter to the robot car.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBVR9SQdsuWA3M37VO76kfD9ZiSqnJ70TPvs25zNA-ArIpotGD6zWevNpw32NXLPQ62xAu0k384DGdJvwiCEwutEB5PNU3RpmcoYzSSrGg8lxF-Eh9U2osLrwbS1rBB38dE7c0Rte6YDU/s640/IMG_20160719_095014.jpg)
The robot car uses the GoPiGo board which operates with voltages between 7 V and 12 V. The Raspberry Pi needs 3.3 V to operate, while each motors need between 3 V and 6 V to operate at maximum load.
A typical 4000 mAh power bank outputs around 5 V, which is far too little voltage to operate the robot car. In order to power the robot car using a power bank I figured I would need a power bank that could output at a least 12 V.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjfPzSDq_WQSbIWHU57jZrJJxFV64ANjgQoED2cXcavOp4KWaY0ZjeWTNzJJk-H1cN1oA0XJjcfmxEQPxgPREfvqkp-fHtCbukGbr0N7y_oAktKdtDmtVp1zvbXaq4b_dCik2wb08eeuk/s640/IMG_20161006_143028.jpg)
Problem is that power banks with high voltage output are far too big to mount on a small robot car. Just as I was about to give up the idea of using a power bank to power the robot car, I thought of using a USB power converter.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjpQ9VJLwRq1dIZ70uUxylHGRplf_YfJqxYOBYhcWGxQb7eGqP42SaV8vjM1yWZh0Fu0SXhE0z-1PZZUipIceeHWfu0WQWlQ7Mm0_hTcVwotchyh5fgU-jWX7dYPKoXY1TTncNA2d7q9c/s640/IMG_20161006_144755.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCNdnwa5e64gLNqYDxmfarXCJ9TmNyzyhyphenhyphenqf3j7OFidrETyt0UcbTa_U0gdl8FEKlI5izNHGMOiFbOIkh0jJYAEl6MhtelU357P2Ivy_sMVr9hhjKlYmQwFui3-TF-XwCIbUA-VDppSew/s640/IMG_20161107_144842.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivHUh6jgmP-3Wlo68Sfiqm4EaquQ1QXc3LJ5SO1RsJMwteU7i3lbAiqtJ6PbqfWxBzL-8h4EQzvr3zhV-wNdOHqRt4xiNZ83CVI2kYMkXxNKJ4A-6bCSDx7btCJ1EQF43DW9eexr9eFow/s640/IMG_20161107_144731.jpg)
DC barrel connector extension
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM-LY40IfoUByjYgPbLlxuaK2aaPFd2oL7je_hqLzmcdbc_ewiac3CGq93cD0tson7biCbvg06xGg0dnr3t1JZTftnYih8SjbEGDv6pYMtgUls9rtKVVTO5jD0aefwIUWvzxuIqazG-P8/s640/IMG_20161107_144809.jpg)
male 1.7 mm to 5.5 mm female DC
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj214NGu7f_ISRk9aQY6BgkgU-nq_0ouDMIz3ToQOW9kxHlixRiVYqibvyJNVyzCd1rgioahun4bTJ_185ZQAfA5M26HI7uuctr7jGgBNM9gDmOdIdH1qvoWY3aXnJJ3ZdJxzdAcD9vsjo/s640/IMG_20161107_144650.jpg)
After hooking everything together, I am happy to report the USB power converter worked a treat! Here is a video below:
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