If you have ever found yourself in a situation where you’ve needed to significantly increase the battery life on your phone, you know how difficult� it can be if you didn’t plan ahead. Sure, you can run to the store and try and buy some sort of battery extender, but most of the time those are going to need to be plugged in for a few hours to get a full charge. So what do you do? You walk into Radio Shack, buy a few parts and some regular alkaline batteries and build a charger.

This is a surprisingly easy process, as it only takes about five minutes and requires no tools. All you need is a battery holder, a connector for your phone, a diode, and some tape. The video below outlines the exact instructions on how to accomplish this. What you’re left with is a rather bulky, but effective phone charger that you can use immediately.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVUbIMncjqM