Electronic – Google Glass 3.5mm jack with battery neck strap

audiobatteriesconnectordiy

I'm thinking of improving my Google Glass by DIY building a micro usb to 3.5mm headphone jack with a battery connected to a neck strap out of parts from the internet.

I've already built the neck strap with gorilla clamps and a sewn in pouch at the back to house my 2600mAh USB pocket Power pack Charger External battery pack. It's nice and slim at 95mm x 25mm and round so sits on the back of the neck comfortably.

What I do want help with is the electronics. From what I have researched Google Glass uses a Maxim integrated MAX14532E chip to switch 3 functions, USB, TTY, Audio. In audio mode the pins represent the following.

  • Pin 1: +5V
  • Pin 2: Right audio out
  • Pin 3: Left audio out
  • Pin 4: Detect
  • Pin 5: GND

Also I've read that a 500kΩ resister will switch audio to stereo and 1mΩ will switch to mono.

Sooo my theory is that if I connect it all up like the following I should have a wearable addon battery pack that should double the battery life and a 3.5mm stereo jack for my beats earphones ?

  • Pin 1: + from battery pack
  • Pin 2: Right audio out
  • Pin 3: Left audio out
  • Pin 4: 470kΩ 1/4W 0.25W ±1% metal film resistor (Couldn't find 500kΩ)
  • Pin 5: GND (resistor and battery)

Total cost for this if it works is about £35, £70 with some good earphones ! Just I'm in the UK and don't want to brick my glass lol I can't get another pair.

Best Answer

The power connections above certainly seem to match the USB pinouts which is the most important thing to get right for a start. Maybe once constructed you could test that the charger is working with a cheaper device with a micro USB port to make sure you've got the pin ordering right.

I haven't verified the other information you've researched on Google Glass in particular but even if the device is in USB data mode I think it's relatively unlikely that placing headphones across the D+ / D- lines to ground would cause any damage. If you wanted to be cautious you could place a 1K resistor between the headphone ground and USB ground on the first test to limit the maximum possible current down to the sort of range used during normal USB communication. I'd expect that should be barely audible just for an initial test.

Finally I'm not sure how criticial it is for that device but to ensure that it is in the right mode it probably is worth shelling out for something closer than a 470k resistor. Most hobby type electronic shops won't sell them but 499k is the closest E192 value. Here's one at Farnell / Element 14 in the UK. I noticed the delivery charge is quite high but they probably have some other stuff you need or you may be able to pick them up (not sure how that works in the UK).

Related Topic