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Disclaimer:

This device uses mains voltage and may have charged capacitors that could still shock you. Attempt at your own risk.

While I do have the USB-C to 12Vdc 2.5mm barrel jack cable, I have way more USB-C QC 2.0 (or higher) capable cables at work, in my work bag and camera bag, as well as my travelling charging kit.

So instead of worrying about potentially misplacing or damaging the specialty USB-C to 2.5mm barrel connector cable, I decided to install a USB-C trigger board, set to 12V, into the charger itself so that I can just grab any USB-C to USB-C cable and get a charge going from a QC 3.0 power bank or charging brick.

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Edited by ph33lix
Added disclaimer.
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The spot I picked is where capacitor C5 was glued down on.

The glue is soft enough that it can be simply pried off the board and folded away 180 degrees. Despite now not laying as flat against the PCB as previously, there's still enough clearance.

Some layout was done and I scraped off the green enamel coating off the PCB traces where 12Vdc courses through (verified with a multimeter in DC mode).

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The USB-C trigger board is so tiny that it can fit in between the existing barrel socket and the glue used to strain relief the charging wiring.

 

Used a soldering iron and flowed some solder onto the exposed copper traces and onto the negative (on the left) and positive (on the right) output pads on the USB-C trigger board. It so worked out that the trigger board's output polarity matched up with the copper traces! So I flowed extra solder to offer some mechanical strength to withstand the insertion forces.

Edited by ph33lix
Autocorrect changed "traces" to "traced".
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Slightly biffed it on the layout for drilling out the hole for the USB-C socket, so the ellipse (or ovoid?) is a little taller than the socket itself; which is still fine.

I was trying to make the cutout accurate so that I can use the plastic enclosure itself to mechanically secure the USB-C socket in the X and Y axis, while the solder joint locks down movement in the Z axis.

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Thankfully, the sides and top of the cutout are indeed snug and gives me the warm and fuzzies knowing that this will handle the typical insertion forces involved in plugging in and unplugging of USB-C cables.

 

Looking forward to having a much more convenient time of keeping the BP-SCL5 batteries topped up while on the go!

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Interesting note: I noticed that all electrolytic capacitors used in the charger are rated for 105°C, despite this charger not dissipating the kind of heat at any rate where high temps could be a problem, especially at the pedestrian charging rate we are dealing with on this thing.

Leica definitely wanted this charger to last as long as their cameras can.

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Excellent work, I was wondering if this was possible because I've heard about these kinds of mods for other appliances. Not sure if I'll attempt to replicate, but very thankful to see your solution in such detail, thanks for sharing!

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Quote

So instead of worrying about potentially misplacing or damaging the specialty USB-C to 2.5mm barrel connector cable, I decided to install a USB-C trigger board, set to 12V, into the charger itself

I'm fully in favour of modding stuff like this (the worst that can go wrong is that you have to buy another charger) but, in this case, wouldn't it be easier to just to buy another cable or two from Amazon and keep one in your camera bag? Or wouldn't one of these €6 generic adapters also do the job?

 

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