How To Charge My Iphone 4 Without A Charger

James Davis

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Gone are the dark ages where you needed a charger when your iPhone battery drained out. This article aims to describe how to charge an iPhone without a charger in five useful ways.

When the iPhone runs out of battery, it is usually charged using a charging adapter and a lightning cable. The cable is fixed into the adapter which is plugged into the wall and then connected to the iPhone. A sign of bolt/flash appears next to the battery, which turns green, in the status bar on the iPhone screen indicating that it is being charged as shown in the screenshot below.

iphone battery icon

However, there are more ways and means that explain how to charge an iPhone without a charger.

Five of such unconventional methods are listed and discussed below. These can be tried at home by all iPhone users. They are safe and do not harm your device. They are tried, tested and recommended by iPhone users all over the world.

1. Alternate Power Source: Portable Battery/ Camping Charger/ Solar Charger/ Wind Turbine/ Hand Crank Machine

Portable battery packs are easily available in the market to suit every budget. They are of different voltage, so choose your battery pack carefully. All you need to do it attach a USB cable to the pack and put connect it to the iPhone. Now switch on the battery pack and see that your iPhone is charging normally. There are a few battery packs that can be fixed permanently at the back of your device to maintain a constant supply of power and preventing the iPhone from running out of battery. Such packs need to charge once their power is consumed.

portable charger

There is a special kind of chargers available these days. These chargers absorb heat from the camping burners, convert it into energy and be used to charge an iPhone. They come in very handy during hikes, campings, and picnics.

camping burner chargers

Solar chargers are chargers that draw their energy from the direct rays of the sun. That is very useful, eco-friendly and efficient. All you need to do is:

Place your solar charger outside, during the daytime, where receives direct sunlight. The charger will now absorb the sun rays, convert it into energy and store it for later use.
Now connect the solar charger to the iPhone and it will begin to charge.

solar charger

A wind turbine and hand crank machine are energy converters. They use the wind and manual energy respectively to charge an iPhone.
In a wind turbine, the fan attached to it moves when switched on. The wind's velocity determines the amount of energy produced.

All you need to do is:

Connect the iPhone to the wind turbine using a USB cable.
Now turn on the turbine. The turbine usually works on its battery which can be changed from time to time.

wind turbine charger

A hand crank can be used to charge an iPhone by following these steps:

Connect the hand crank machine to the iPhone using a USB cable with a charging pin on one side.
Now start winding the crank to collect enough energy for the iPhone.
Crank the handle for about 3-4 hours to fully charge your iPhone.

wind crank charger

2. Connect iPhone to a P/C

A computer can also be used to charge an iPhone without a charger. It is very common when you are on the go and forgets to carry your charging adapter along. This problem can be solved easily. If you a spare USB cable for you, you need not worry. Follow these steps to charge your iPhone using a computer:

Connect your iPhone to a P/C or laptop using a USB cable.
Turn on the computer and see that your iPhone is charging smoothly.

usb charging

3. Car Charger

What happens when you are on a road trip and your iPhone battery drains out. You might panic and consider stopping at a hotel/restaurant/shop along the way to charge your phone. What you can do instead is charge your iPhone using a car charger. This technique is simple and very efficient.

All you need to do is plug in your iPhone to the car charger carefully, using a USB cable. The process might be slow but is helpful in critical situations.

car usb charging

4. Devices with USB ports

Devices with USB ports have become very common these days. Almost all electronic devices come with a USB port be it stereos, laptops, bedside clocks, televisions, etc. They can use to charge an iPhone without a charger. Just plug in your iPhone into the USB port of one such device using a USB cable. Switch on the device and see that your iPhone is charging.

5. DIY Lemon Battery

This is a very interesting 'Do It Yourself' experiment which charges your iPhone in no time. It requires a little bit of preparation and you're good to go. It is one of the most bizarre ways of charging an iPhone without a charger.

What you need:

An acidic fruit, preferably lemons. About a dozen would do.
A copper screw and a zinc nail for each lemon. This makes it 12 copper screws and 12 zinc nails.
Copper wire

NOTE: Please wear rubber gloves at all times during this experiment.

Now follow the steps listed below:

Partially insert the zinc and copper nails in the centre of the lemons next to each other.
Connect the fruits in a circuit by using the copper wire. Connect a wire from a copper screw of a lemon to a zinc nail of another and so on.
Now connect the loose end of the circuit to a charging cable and tape it properly.
Plug the charging end of the cable into the iPhone and see that it starts charging because a chemical reaction between zinc, copper and Lemond acid produces energy which is transmitted through the copper wire as shown in the image.

DIY Lemon Battery

Thus we learned the methods about how to charge an iPhone without a charger. These methods to charge an iPhone are very helpful especially when you do not have a charger in hand. They might be slow in charging the battery but come in handy on various occasions. So go ahead and try these now. They are safe and do not harm your iPhone in any way.