Dewalt DCR015 Radio USB hack?

[K2Orion]

I have a dewalt DCR015 radio. Its the 20V variety. It works well. It even has an aux input and a USB port. I bought a bluetooth receiver so I could stream music from my phone while its still in my pocket. BUT the usb port is only powered when the radio is plugged in.
Anybody out there know if there is a way to power the usb off the battery?

 

[kbs2244]

I don't have one but, it may be that the USB is ment for charging only and not as an input port?
You will have to check the users manual.

 

[Beemer533]

I think he just wants the 5v out on the USB port to power the BT receiver.

Likely the easiest thing to do is a simple circuit with a 7805 to provide a regulated 5v from the 20v battery.

It would require taking apart the radio and disconnecting the USB port from the existing board.

Or a better option is to just add another USB port using the 7805 instead of messing with the existing one.

 

[PassnThru]

I think kbs is on it - the usb port was meant for charging but not off the battery. I would imagine that you will have to tear it down and add a few wires to do what you want. Be careful with voltages though - I think usb is at 5V - don't just connect the battery directly

 

[K2Orion]

Thanks Beemer. Thats exactly what Im trying to accomplish.
The USB port is only for charging, and only has power when the radio is plugged into 110v. I would like to be able to use the USB to power the Bluetooth or charge my phone or anything else when the radio is not plugged into the wall.
I fund this http://www.dewalt.com/tools/cordless-batteries-dcb090.aspx today. It would definitely work, but I would have to get creative on how I mount it to the dewalt radio so its all in one easy to carry package.

 

[Beemer533]

No problem.. I have that USB battery adapter and it works really well. My only complaint really is that it doesn't support adaptive fast charging for my Note 4, but not a huge deal.

If you didn't feel like starting from scratch with the circuit, it would probably work well to just buy that adapter, maybe remove the housing and install it inside the radio.. I'm sure there is some space in there you could make work.

You would really just need to find a point where you could tap directly into the 20v output of the battery.