Solved Repurpose Ipod Firewire Charger To Work With Apple Dock Usb Devices Media Player Accessory

Chosen Solution

I have one of the original Apple iPod firewire chargers that I haven’t used for years. With my growing number of USB devices, I’m now thinking how can I repurpose this firewire charger so that it can charge Apple USB devices, say the new iPad 2 device? Is there a cable that connects the FireWire power pins to USB power pins or some other method to this? Or would a Firewire cable to Apple Dock cable work? It would be a shame to throw away the Apple iPod firewire charger since it still works! I believe it puts out 12V?

Sorry, but probably not. If it doesn’t already work (have you tried it?), then you won’t be able to do much. Firewire uses unregulated power (~25v), which would fry most USB devices. If you have one of those white wall-bricks that you want to repurpose, the only thing you could do is wire up a 5v voltage regulator (lm7805) and a USB port. At that point, I’d just get a USB wall brick.