USB Helicopter Cable

Factual Questions
1

I am not sure where else to ask but there are a lot of smart people here.

I have a tiny remote control Helicopter which charges via USB or with a cable from the remote control handset (which of course drains the AA batteries in the controller). I am looking for the cable to charge it from USB but can’t seem to find anything other than a source in China that has a minimum order of 20,000 units.

USB Cable

The Helicopter

Does anyone know what the helicopter end of the cable connecter is technically called? It is a very tiny 2 pin connector.

2

doesn’t look like any standard USB connector, sadly.

3

The connector looks proprietary (or at least pretty obscure) to me. I would get another handset cable, lop the end off, and splice it to a USB cable. Make sure that there isn’t any voltage/current regulation going on - USB supplies 5v at up to 500mA, and you want to make sure that the helicopter can take a 5v regulated input.

4

http://www.yahobby.com/syma-helicopter-s107-spare-parts-cable-p-1760.html

http://www.skyartec-wasp.com/zr-z008-usb-cable-p-12016.html

5

Looks like a standard mini USB cable. Similar cables are used for Blackberry phones (charging) and certain digital cameras for downloading pics.

6

The copter in question looks a lot like my S-107, but maybe they all do. The first cable linked above is for a S107, so might work

7

Hereis the same Syma cable from Amazon for $.025 + S&H.

We have several different brands of RC helicopters, and they all use the same charging cable.

8

Does it have a light on it? If not, how do you know when it is charged?

9

It’s not - my son has one of these - it’s only got two pins at the helicopter end, and the USB plug end contains some kind of charging circuitry, as there’s a light that indicates the charging state.

10

Yes, there is a light built into the connector at the computer end of the cable. When the battery is fully charged the light comes on.

11

Oops. I looked at my post this morning, and realized I misplaced the decimal point. It should be $0.25.

12

I just saw in a store a couple of weeks ago, a AA charger that plugs into a USB port. Get one of those, and a set of rechargeable AA batteries, and keep swapping them. Assuming you can’t find the right cable for cheaper than that, of course.

13

You can also get a 110 volt charger if you would rather use that than USB