I'm trying to build a cell phone charger with 4AA batteries, and i'm having a hard time trying to find a step-up/step down converter that'll give me an output of 5V at 500mA. any help would be much appreciated. thanks

 

With just 4 of them, you'll be lucky to hold 5V at a 500mA load. I don't think you need a converter. Even fresh alkalines will be only 6V. You could add a diode to drop that to 5.3 and you're done.

 

With just 4 of them, you'll be lucky to hold 5V at a 500mA load. I don't think you need a converter. Even fresh alkalines will be only 6V. You could add a diode to drop that to 5.3 and you're done.

I'm trying to charge an iphone, which needs 2V on one of the data pins and 2.5V on the other. Right now, im using NiMh batteries which output around 5V and im drawing 1 amp with an iphone connected, but I wanna make it work with alkaline and rechargeable batteries, so i need a buck/boost regulator thatll give me 5V output at 500mA.