Simple Vive Ultimate Tracker 3 tracker charging base

THIS IS A PROTOTYPE AND AS SUCH HAS ROUGH EDGES AND/OR MAY REQUIRE SOME SLIGHT MODIFICATION

This is designed for use with the following PD (Power Delivery) board:

PD Board (Amazon)

Use of a different board may require alterations to the design of the carriage holding the board.

The following files are contained in this project:

Vive Ultimate Tracker Charging Base (Top)
Vive Ultimate Tracker Charging Base (Bottom)
Vive Ultimate Tracker Charging Base (TPU Interface)

Of these, only the first two are explicitly required for completing the project; the TPU interface may be added for a bit of slip-resistance for the bottom of the device but is not required.

Additionally, a length of small-gauge wire with insulation, 6 spring-loaded spherical pins, and a soldering iron + solder are also required.

Instructions for assembly

For printing I used a Creality CR-10SE with Creality Hyper PLA, and Inland TPU for the base interface. You may use any material you are most comfortable with; PETG can be an excellent substitute for PLA in this project.

After printing parts, be sure to clean up any support structures to ensure everything slots together correctly. Ensure everything slots together by lightly pressing the top into the base and adjust as needed.

Measure out your wire to accomodate some working length between each of the tracker interfaces and the PD chip. For my build I used a single pair from a CAT6 cable (22AWG) to act as my conductors.

(A note on the PD chip: While this is not strictly required, its use ensures that we are able to interface with chargers that require a response from the device connected to them. This also enables us to request more higher voltages if necessary - Warning: Do not adjust voltages higher than 5v unless you are absolutely sure of what you are doing. VUT documents state that the trackers only officially support 5v input)

Solder the wires to the PD chip positive and negative terminals (negative may be indicated as GND instead of negative), with one conductor attached to each terminal.

At even intervals from the PD chip solder the spring-loaded pins to the wires, ensuring enough length to allow ample working room.

Once finished with soldering you will have a PD chip with 2 leads coming from the chip to 3 pins each.

Setting this aside, prepare the charging base top for insertion of the pins. The print was designed with pilot holes for the pins and may need to be adjusted based on the pins you opted to use. In case the pins are larger than the holes included in the print, simply use a drill bit approximately the same size of the pins you have and by hand clear out the additional space needed for your pins. The pins should slot in without much effort but still hold securely and not wobble if this is done right.

Take your fully soldered assembly and insert the pins into the holes. It is important here to observe polarity: The middle-most hole is the positive terminal, while the hole closest to the edge of the build is the negative terminal. Once you have these in place you can use a bit of hot glue or some other means of securing the pins in place. Ideally the pins should stick out beyond the edge of the oval surrounding them by approximately 1mm for best contact. Make adjustments as necessary.

Finally, slot the PD card into the rectangular bay in the corner of the base with the board itself above the USB slot (see images). If you are using the indicated PD card, it should fit snugly with the USB lined up within the oval port space.

Slot the two halves together to complete the build; a bit of glue around the edges can help to seal the build but isn't strictly necessary. The TPU base can be attached to the bottom at any time with any means you like. Holes are included in the base to enable mounting the device, if desired. In this case, mount the base before inserting the PD card and closing everything up.