I found the circuit copes with the extra voltage fine, I suppose with some new alkaline batteries the voltage would be close to 5 anyway. You struggle to just cut the lead off the lights and power them directly as they are usually pulsed at a higher voltage by whatever circuit wizardry is going on in the box. If i want to power a few strings of bottle lights or something that are powered by button cells you can buy a buck converter from eBay to lower the voltage down then you can solder the usb lead to it and adjust it accordingly for them.
It seems to yes, I have a set that must be 6 or more years old that I did this to, and still works to this day after heavy use. The buck converters are a really good idea. Cheap, simple and you can adjust the brightness of the set if ever you fancy!
I found the circuit copes with the extra voltage fine, I suppose with some new alkaline batteries the voltage would be close to 5 anyway. You struggle to just cut the lead off the lights and power them directly as they are usually pulsed at a higher voltage by whatever circuit wizardry is going on in the box.
If i want to power a few strings of bottle lights or something that are powered by button cells you can buy a buck converter from eBay to lower the voltage down then you can solder the usb lead to it and adjust it accordingly for them.
It seems to yes, I have a set that must be 6 or more years old that I did this to, and still works to this day after heavy use. The buck converters are a really good idea. Cheap, simple and you can adjust the brightness of the set if ever you fancy!
I keep searching for power banks that don't shut off with low current draw - but I don't think it's a big selling feature.
They are hard to find. cheap ones that hold a single 18650 cell can often be good. It defo is not a selling feature though you are right!