Welcome to the first ever episode of DIY LIfe's don't-it-yourself, where we showcase a DIY project gone wrong or didn't work right for one reason or another. DIY can be the boon or bane of your existance, depending on the idea, the time and effort and even sometimes I've heard, Murphy's Law. Today, I raise my own hand and claim ineptitude, yes, if you must know, this DIY project was mine.

I am a computer guy, and so to me, everything, yes everything can be solved with some type of computer hardware or software, or both. I have a computer solution that will eliminate world hunger, but unfortunately I haven't had a chance to work on it much, so I'll get back to you on that. I try to fix everything with my knowledge of computers. Most of the time it works like a charm. Sometimes it doesn't.

I tried to do make a USB-powered charger for my household cordless-drill, since I had lost the factory shipped power adapter (I know, my bad). While not a terrible idea, I admit it may have been poorly executed. Since I am sadly not an electronics nerd (aka can hack anything MacGuyver style) only an electronics fan, I may have missed some key details that are needed to make this project a success.

I started with a USB cable, with a typical male-connector on it, and a similar power-adapter to the one I lost. Now I cut wires and stripped the ends to get good ends to work with. USB uses 4 wires, the white and green are data in most cases, so I wanted the red and black ones for this. Red is positive and black is negative just like in any standard battery configuration.

I basically spliced the wire from the plug (cut off the old adapter) to the USB cable's appropriate ends and wrapped up the cable with electrical tape. It didn't really charge my drill at all. I am wondering if anyone out there has ideas on why. Using USB will provide 5V to whatever it is connected to, and my drill needs 6V to charge. Is the one volt difference enough to render this psuedo-solution completely ineffective? I imagined that it might just take much longer to charge, but to no avail.

Why else would this not have worked, is it a matter of polarity perhaps? Maybe I had it all wrong, maybe I needed much more voltage than I thought, or something else entirely? I guess this might have gone better if I learned more about electronics and knew voltages, amperage and other such ethereal phenomenon. I am admiteedly not the sharpest tool in the electric shed.

When you don't-it-yourself, or when you don't know enough about what you are doing, it can be much worse than the seemingly non-eventful conclusion, and you can be very hurt if you aren't careful. How would I rectify this problem, is there a way to salvage or rework this idea, using a USB connector to charge a drill? Let me know, this is your chance to prove your prowess on the subject.