Need USB 5v for your project and want the easy ability to swap out the batteries so you can recharge them later? With this simple project you can use Ryobi 18v Lithium Batteries to power your own projects or lights that run on 5v. To make it even easier there is no soldering required for this project and it only needs very basic tools. The batteries can be gotten for quite cheap during sales and provide pretty good capacity for the cost. Even better if you already have some of them lying around now you can reuse them for anything you want. So lets dive right in and get this project started!

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Here is a complete list of Supplies & Tools you will need. They are not all the same supplies I used but should be similar or better replacements.

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Supplies

• Ryobi 18v Battery Connector – (This has both a fuse and switch which is highly convenient and saves extra steps of adding your own.)
• 12-24v Step Down to 5v 10A Voltage Regulator Converter – (10A is probably overkill but it gives it an extra amperage buffer of 50w total and has screw terminals.)
• 2x Mountable USB Female Port Power Only – (This gives you two USB female cables so you can plug anything USB into the other end and they have screw holes letting you easily mount them onto something.)
• Optional: 4x USB Switched Light Bulbs – (These lights work very well, are easy to work with, and very bright for only using 5w.)

Tools

• Optional: Quick Wire Stripper – (Not required but saves time when stripping wires.)
• Wire Stripper & Crimper – (We just need a wire stripper for this or a razor blade/knife also would work.)
• Single Philips #2 Screwdriver – (Just a single screwdriver which will work for this whole project.)
• Multi-bit Screwdriver – (Multiple bit screwdriver so you have more for future projects.)
• All in One Screwdriver and Wire Stripper – (If you don’t already have a wire stripper and screwdriver this one tool has both.)
• Wire Stripper and Screw Drivers Kit – (This comes with both a wire stripper, two screw drivers, and a utility knife.)
• Optional: Auto-Ranging Multimeter - (This is a similar style to the one I am using, any multimeter you have should work. If you don't have one this is not required it is just used for testing but it is a good idea to always test it.)

First strip the ends of the wires on the Ryobi Battery Connector.

Now loosen the screws on the 12-24v to 5v Step Down Voltage Regulator and insert the red positive wire to the + on the input side of the regulator and the black negative line onto the – of the input side of the regulator and screw them both into place.

Now screw in the 5v USB Female Ports red positive wire to the + of the Output side of the Voltage Regulator and the black negative wire to the – of the Voltage Regulator and screw them both down.

Optional but it is always a good idea to make sure nothing went wrong before plugging in your USB device. Use the voltage tester to test the Ryobi Battery Connector side and the 5v Output of the Voltage Regulator side. A fully charged Ryobi 18v Battery Should be around 19-20v mine is 19.59v. The 5v USB side should be 5v or really close to it mine is 5.03v which is good.

This step is optional if you are using this project for something other then lighting. Now plug the USB Y Splitter that came with the USB Lights into the Female USB Port and plug in two of the USB Lights into the two ports of the Y Splitter.

You are now done with the project and have successfully turned your 18v Ryobi Battery into USB 5v it really was that easy! The next step if you got the lights is to hook them up where you need light. The lights come with an easy hook connector on top to make hanging them easy. If you are going for a more permanent placement of them a staple gun with a wire guide makes it easy to attach to wood. Now go enjoy your project!

This system will work for more then just Ryobi 18v Batteries and can easily be modified to fit many other power tool battery systems. You could easily have it work for any 12v, 18v, 20v, or 24v power tool batteries depending on what 5v Voltage Regulator you get. As long as the fully charged battery input is below the 24v max the Voltage Regulator used it should be able to handle it. If you want to use another power tool battery instead of Ryobi simply type in the brand of your power tool plus battery connector into amazon here. That link will take you right to a search of power tool battery connectors on Amazon. You can see them for all sorts of brands such as DeWalt, Milwaukee, Porter Cable, Kobalt, Black & Decker, etc. That's just from the first page, there are a lot more brands too, and it doesn't matter if its a stem type or rail type battery, there is almost always an adapter you can find. So any type of power tool battery, just about, that you have already or can get for cheap could be used and can be used with your 5v projects.

If you want to see what this project was used for check out my Ryobi Shed Lighting Instructable here.

If you want to get 12v out of your Ryobi 18v Batteries see my other project here.

If you want to get 12v out of your Ryobi 40v Batteries see my other project here.

If you would like to support me in making these projects you can do so here.