is it safe to add an activity LED to an USB charging cable in parallel?
full story: I've recently bought one of these glowing USB charging cables, but it died after a few months of use so now i am thinking to make myself a replacement with a single activity led.
Here it is my plan:
- take an USB extension cable and cut a bit of insulation in the middle of it
- cut the power and data wires and strip both ends
- solder a 330ohm resistor and a led in series with the power and ground wires like this:
simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab
The cable will be used only to charge mobile phones, because i think the increased current usage may cause issues to USB controllers.
EDIT: still looking for an alternative design providing some form of current-passing indication using discrete components only.