I'm working on a small amatuer electronics project that involves connecting an optical joystick to a hacked playstation controller. A playstation controller uses a 3.3v source for it's circuit, which is provided from the controller port. The optical joystick I'm using needs 5v. I've thought about using a battery to step-up the voltage to 5v, but then I discovered charge-pump ICs that seem to do the same. Will this work? From what I've read -- again, I'm very new to electronics -- these switching charge-pumps are able to increase the voltage using a few capacitors at the cost of lowering the amperage. I'm not certain yet, but I believe the loss in amperage won't be a problem in this case. Here is the MAX682 IC I've been reading on that I think would do the trick: http://www.maxim-ic.com/quick_view2.cfm/qv_pk/1837 The problem is, it requires surface mounting on a PCB -- something I really don't have the knowledge/skills to accomplish yet. Is there any product out there that already provides a charge-pump IC and the necessary capacitors pre-mounted on a PCB? Dimension Engineering makes the AnyVolt Mini, but it's $28, and more designed for prototyping -- variable output, etc. I'm looking for something fixed. Thanks in advance to anyone that can help. dz