Engineer makes USB-C AirPods Pro before inevitable Apple release

YouTuber and engineer Ken Pillonel has continued replacing Lightning with USB-C charging on Apple devices, this time converting AirPods Pro — and making the plans open source.

First Pillonel created the world's first iPhone with USB-C in his modification of an iPhone X in October 2021. Next he transformed the regular AirPods charging case in May 2022, for which he published detailed instructions in July, 2022.

Now he's reworked the charging case for AirPods Pro.

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"After the success of my previous project, a 3D-printed case and custom USB-C part for the AirPods Gen. 1 and 2," says Pillonel, "I decided to replicate the project for the AirPods Pro series, due to great demand."

It is far from a simple or a short job, plus Apple will doubtlessly move AirPods Pro to USB-C at some point. So it's also not a practical solution, but rather than just an intricate engineering challenge, it's an attempt to prolong the life of the devices.

"The goal was to find a solution that gives a second life to the allegedly unopenable cases," continued Pillonel, "which all face an inevitable end of life because of their built-in battery."

Ultimately, Pillonel took parts of original Apple AirPods Pro charging cases, but also had custom-built circuitry, and then 3D-printed a new case.

It's not clear how long it took him, or what the final cost of the build was. However, he believes the complexity of the job has put off People who really want to do it, and he's offering a solution.

"Now, I decided to sell the USB-C replacement part myself," he says. "I realized that 2 million people watched the last video where a similar project is done for the original AirPods, and only a few attempted to repair it as shown."

"This proved to me that it is too difficult to build integrated circuits at home," he continued, "and the only way to have a real impact is to lower the difficulty of repair by making the ready-to-install replacement part available to purchase."

It's not clear yet when the USB-C replacement part will be available, or what it will cost.

Separately, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted that Apple will revise the AirPods range to have USB-C chargers. There is EU legislation that will require the change, and that comes into effect in 2024.

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7 Comments

danox 11 Years · 3442 comments

About 1 year ago

What’s the big deal? I am happy that the iPhone, iPads or AirPods still has a wired connection. One day it won’t, and that’s when the real hell starts for the end-user.

StrangeDays 8 Years · 12986 comments

Ah yes making the plans open source, as if anyone other than an absolutely fraction of a fraction of a minority care, let alone will DIY engineer them.

chadbag 13 Years · 2029 comments

StrangeDays said:

Ah yes making the plans open source, as if anyone other than an absolutely fraction of a fraction of a minority care, let alone will DIY engineer them.

That does not make them any less valuable. The majority of people don’t download Linux onto their computer either.

Some people do things for the challenge and then share the results of their quest. I downloaded and used a PCB board plan that someone did for the challenge and I had a bunch made. And did a repeat run of them (through cheap PCB contract manufacturers). I could be the only person that downloaded that persons efforts and had some made. (They were released in a model railroad forum I am on and I’m the only one who I’ve seen mention using it). Someone had a challenge and I was able to use the fruits of their labors. (in case anyone cares it was a board to convert one brand of small DCC decider to another form factor).

I developed a PCB for model train railroad car lighting. A very inefficient and complicated circuit i am sure since I am not an electronics person but am a SW Engineer and the circuit shows it 🤣. I made the board plans available upon request and had a batch made up and sold them at basically my cost and had a few people request them.

Hobbyist hackers and DIYers are a great bunch.

MplsP 8 Years · 4047 comments

chadbag said:

StrangeDays said:

Ah yes making the plans open source, as if anyone other than an absolutely fraction of a fraction of a minority care, let alone will DIY engineer them.

That does not make them any less valuable. The majority of people don’t download Linux onto their computer either.
Some people do things for the challenge and then share the results of their quest. I downloaded and used a PCB board plan that someone did for the challenge and I had a bunch made. And did a repeat run of them (through cheap PCB contract manufacturers). I could be the only person that downloaded that persons efforts and had some made. (They were released in a model railroad forum I am on and I’m the only one who I’ve seen mention using it). Someone had a challenge and I was able to use the fruits of their labors. (in case anyone cares it was a board to convert one brand of small DCC decider to another form factor).

I developed a PCB for model train railroad car lighting. A very inefficient and complicated circuit i am sure since I am not an electronics person but am a SW Engineer and the circuit shows it 🤣. I made the board plans available upon request and had a batch made up and sold them at basically my cost and had a few people request them.

Hobbyist hackers and DIYers are a great bunch.

This.

I’ve watched plenty of videos like this and I enjoy seeing the skill, ingenuity and engineering. Most of the time I don’t undertake the project myself but sometimes I do. Sometimes it’s out of necessity, sometimes it’s simply for the challenge. Regardless, it doesn’t make the video worthless.

Sad to see the same players continually dismiss and denigrate other’s efforts.

Hallel 1 Year · 5 comments

JP234 said:

danox said:

What’s the big deal? I am happy that the iPhone, iPads or AirPods still has a wired connection. One day it won’t, and that’s when the real hell starts for the end-user.

I have the AirPods pro, and I've never plugged them in. I just sit them on our Belkin wireless charger every month or so.

Yes. But what about data transfer. It would be very nice to use a wired connection to move all those hi-res photos to a computer.