Revitalize Your Older Electronics with MagSafe-Style Wireless Charging — in 15 Minutes

Pseudonymous maker "dagorald" has put together a guide to brining a little convenience to older portable gadgets like the Amazon Kindle 3 — by adding wireless charging capabilities in around 15 minutes.

"Recently I lost two newer [Amazon] Kindle models (10th gen.)," dagorald writes by way of background to the project. "One got stolen, and the other [had] a broken screen. Having tried to repair the latter without success, being an almost not repairable device, had to look out for my old Kindle 3.

"[I] loved the fact that said device is really easy to replace some inner parts, like the screen. This gave me the idea of modernizing somewhat my beloved Kindle 3 using some spare items that I had lying around."

Using a sub-$3 wireless charging circuit and a spare Apple MagSafe-compatible metal ring, dagorald was able to dismantle the Kindle and the charging pad and integrate the two together. "Connect the device to the usual charging port," dagorald explains, "[and] carefully, using the multimeter, check the pins that give positive 5V. Use the port connector as reference GND."

With the power pins identified, the wireless charging circuit can be soldered into place. "Use some tape to electrically isolate it from any metallic surfaces," dagorald adds. "Choose a proper location [for the coil] and fix it there [with] some more tape. Close the gadget and fix the metallic [MagSafe] ring."

Dagorald's full write-up, which the maker notes "could easily apply to a lot of other different gadgets" able to benefit from the convenience of wireless charging, is available on Instructables.