Convert Pinephone Keyboard into Powerbank

[magdesign]

Maybe you are like me and want to use the Pinephone Keyboard also to charge other devices as a simple Powerbank,
with following steps you can add an USB-A socket and use it as such a device (and you get the option to still use your usb-C phone port when keyboard is attached):

Schematic view of what we are going to do:



1.) Open the keyboard



2.) Remove the controller board:



3.) Cut the wires on J2. its better to cut two of them longer and two of them shorter, so you have a visual feedback of the polarity:



4.) Drill a hole in the outer cage which fits the diameter of your USB-A connector (just cut an usb extension cable to get a plug...):



5.) Insert the cable through the hole,
     solder + and - to the cutted cables,
     apply a shrink hose to isolate it, add a cable tie as a pull protection, but everything together and you are good to go:






Your powerbank is finished and you even see the status of your powerbank on the phone:

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After trying to add LED's to show the charging status of the battery and speaking to megi, there is no possibility to do so. You will only get the charging status when connecting the phone... since the charging chip disables the led charging status when I2C is active and with the current wiring, this is always.