How to make an OTG cable with your own hands
Everyone knows that any electronic devicecan be connected to a computer using a standard USB cable. Thus, using a laptop or personal computer, you can connect various devices, for example, printers, cameras, smart phones and storage devices (USB flash drives and external hard drives).
What is OTG?
Is there a way to do without a computer? Easily, the market has long appeared many adapters under the common name OTG-cable. Their cost varies from a few dollars to a dozen or even two. However, their difference from simple data cables is so insignificant that it is easy to make an OTG cable with your own hands. For example, from the remains of old connectors, cables and adapters.
So, first you need to decide what we needOTG cable. The power of another device due to the battery may be needed in the absence of power grids nearby, for example, in trips or hikes, but this option is not the most effective. We must immediately decide whether we will connect two specific devices permanently with each other or better to make a universal OTG cable with our own hands for the use of any USB devices, as a store type. It is also better to check immediately whether your device is capable of supporting such connections.
Tools and safety
Working with cables will require:
a knife for stripping from insulation;
nippers or side cutters (remember the saying: "7 times measure - 1 cut"), an extra spike on the cable will degrade the quality of communication between devices and increase the resistance in general, which will affect the loss of data or the inability to charge due to the resistance of the conductor;
soldering iron, solder and flux; at the end of the article, we will consider how you can do without this device.
What is what?
To begin with it is necessary to disassemble, what contacts inplugs and sockets for what are needed, since in mini and micro variants there are more than 1 pin more than in universal serial bus connectors. So, the first pin is marked with red insulation inside the wire, it is intended for supplying voltage. The second and third pins, marked with white and green insulation, are designed for data transmission. The fourth black pin is zero or ground, working in tandem with the first supply wire. In mini-and micro-USB, such functions are assigned to the fifth, last pin, and the fourth is a marking or identifier. It is designed to provide information about the connection to the device and in the data cables is generally not connected anywhere.
The simplest version
First of all, let's consider the connection variantbetween two specific devices, for example, a tablet computer and a camera. Since they both have nests with 5 contacts, whether it's micro or mini USB, you just need to gently weld the corresponding wires together. Suitable 2 unnecessary data cables with suitable plugs. You need to cut them and clean the wires from the insulation, then connect according to the color differentiation, that is, black with black, yellow with yellow and so on. Each connection must be isolated from others with the help of hot melt adhesive or at least an electrical tape. If you connect such a cable to the devices on the screens, a dialog box will appear, where you will have to choose which device will be the main one in this mini-network. You can forcefully designate the main and secondary device in the cable itself. To do this, connect the 4th and 5th contacts in the plug of the main device, and in the other plug the 4th contact simply does not connect to any one. Thus, the device will automatically determine itself as the master in the connection, since the token contact will indicate the presence of the connection, whereas on the second device it will be "empty".
For a variety of devices
Consider the option of how to make a universalOTG-cable with own hands. In addition to the micro or mini USB plug, depending on the device, we need a USB connector. You can take it from old motherboards, cut off the USB extension cable or disassemble the USB-splitter (the so-called YUSB hub). The latter option is preferable, since it will allow connecting several peripheral devices to the host device, just like a computer. The connection sequence is the same as above, the main device is connected to the device plug in the same way, connecting the 4th and 5th pins. The diagrams clearly show the scheme for connecting the pins in the connectors and plugs.
With power connection
Some devices are differentpower consumption, which leads to a quick discharge of the battery of the main gadget, whether it's a smartphone or a tablet. In this case, the OTG cable can be improved with your own hands by adding a power cable with a USB plug for the network adapter. To do this, you can use the rest of the data cable, from which the micro- or mini-USB plug was previously cut off. The connection is made on two current-carrying contacts, black and red, ignoring the wires for data transmission. It should be remembered that at long distances, the resistance of the wire, reinforced with soldered joints, will reduce the voltage and current, so the use of long cable runs is likely to prevent a stable connection of the devices. Use approximately 20-30 cm of cable for each plug and connector to avoid interruptions and interruptions of the connection.
Finally, I want to mention how to collectOTG-cable with your own hands without a soldering iron. The principle of assembly is the same as described above, but the connection of the wires is done in several other ways. Here we indicate two of them:
Solder paste contains powder solder and flux and does not require the use of a soldering iron. Such paste is applied to the joined parts and heated with a conventional lighter.
There are connections at all without the use of hightemperatures. The so-called Scotch Lokas are connectors for low-current systems with a special contact cutting into the wires using a clamping device, pliers for example.
Whatever you decide to do with your own hands, remember that cutting cables is not a guarantee and replacement is not possible for such cables.
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