Database Users

Power requirements of Universal

When I plug my MDA Pro into my PC it draws 460mA of current at 4.75V and the orange charging light always comes on.
I have bought a car charger - when the MDA Pro is plugged into that it also draws 460mA at 5.04V but the Pro doesn't always seem to realise it is being charged - the orange charging light doesn't come on and the backlight switches off so I cant see the SatNav! (when the light goes off the current goes down to 430mA)
The charger was bought of eBay from shop4hardware/PCglobe for £9.99 and it looks well made.
Any ideas what is going wrong? Has anyone got a 12V charger they are happy with - if so where did it come from and how much??
ceemjay the tight fisted

I bought a car charger off eBay, and while the orange light does come on and stay on, it doesn't seem to charge very effectively. If i'm using something like TomTom the charger manages to keep the battery charge level just about constant, rather than building up charge.
Is this a problem with the Universal? I had a Blue Angel before the Universal, and the car charger I had for that was very effective.
Cheers
Rowan

I had this problem too and solved it by purchasing an "orange" (UK mobile phone operator) branded charger for 10 quid from one of their shops. I have no issues now.
What i did notice when I had the problem was by ensuring the xda was off prior to plugging in the old charger, it would continue to stay orange when turned on. I think this problem is a common one with the usb cable & car charger adaptors combo.

i bought one from expansys, what i noticed:
1. It takes a lot of jiggling, pushing, pulling and twisting to get it recognised by the device (organge light on)
2. When it charges, it does so slowly, i think about 1% per 10 minutes or so, or about 10% per hour.
My two bobs worth anyway.

Many of the mini USB car chargers are simply not powerful enough to charge these devices. They all have the same voltage but the amps are different. I read somewhere that good M5000 car chargers should be rated at 1amp, I'm not sure about this but I've certainly had trouble with ones at around 600mah.
With the under powered chargers you often have to plug them in while the device is switched off. Even then it's not going to charge as well or as quickly. Getting them to start charging without turning you device off is just down to luck and patience.
My advice is to look for chargers that are specific for the M5000 etc. If it also mentions Motorola phones etc, then it's not going to have the required power output.
I hope this helps...
I bought an ORA one from a service station (phone bitz type shop), it was a bit expensive but I needed one in a hurry and you can test them in the store.

as per my earlier post - m5000 is orange branded htc universal, aka o2 xda exec. I believe mine stated it was for the spv500 and it still worked fine...

The universal wants a 2 amp charger really. the 0.5 amp from most chargers including USB ports just is not enough to do much more than stop your battery draining whilst your universal is in use !! other useful alternatives include the charger meant for the newish blackberry

Thanks for all the comments.
The charger that comes with the Pro is rated at 1A however I believe the USB spec only allows up to 500mA to be drawn (as I orginally posted it draws just below that) and I have never had a problem with charging via USB. Hence my confusion!
Is the charging software controlled and might there may be a bug which manifests itself under circumstances?
Clive

The Brodit active holder charges the universal first time everytime, and is a very good place to store the phone on the move. I've got a 3.5mm input on my car stereo and use my phone as my in car music source. If I could get a 3.5mm 4 pole to 3.5mm stereo plug and breakout mic it would be perfect since I could use it as decent handsfree solution, voice command can still use the built in mic when the stereo connection is inserted but the phone app doesn't.

The Brodit holders are nice. I prefer the unpowered version, so I use a separate charger cable. But I agree good holders.

Battery will not charge using Brodit active car holder

Since I upgraded my Trinity using the official HTC rom update I have found that my device will not charge when it's in the brodit active holder in my car. The orange light comes on as if it is charging but when i check the power status i note the power drop over a period of time.
The device will charge without any problem when it is connected to my PC via the usb cable, it also charges without any problem when i use the mains power adaptor.
Initially I thought perhaps my brodit was faulty so i bought a new one, still i have the same problem.
Any suggestions from anyone?
Thanks,
Robert

I recognized very slow charging with my device over USB in comparison to my older PDAs. The reason must be something with the available current over USB (max. 500 mA). Maybe this is also the reason for your problem with the Brodit holder.
Try a separate car charger. They are available quite cheap with a standard USB plug.

Wookie said:
I recognized very slow charging with my device over USB in comparison to my older PDAs. The reason must be something with the available current over USB (max. 500 mA). Maybe this is also the reason for your problem with the Brodit holder.
Try a separate car charger. They are available quite cheap with a standard USB plug.
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Hmm, this is a question that needs answering. On my Prophet I could plug it into my car 12v cig with an 850mah usb adapter and it would power the device for navigation and also charge it at the same time. Now with my Trinity, it seems to have a hard time keeping up, so I bought a new high powered adapter (2,000mah). It still doesn't seem to be charging very fast although it seems to be able to keep up with the device power usage. Is there a charging problem with the Trinity with some roms?

After trying multiple car chargers, most of which wouldn't even power the charge light on my Trin let alone charge the battery I opted to spend a few quid and bought the Carcomm CMPC-96. It works a treat and charges the battery very quickly even when i'm running tomtom and making and taking calls at the same time. I can't figure out why my brodit holders wouldn't produce enough power to charge the battery but this Carcomm product is the Dogs !

Unsufficient charging

Hi commumity,
was using my Ameo today in my car. BT and phone activated, screen maximum brightness.
I have a 12V / 230V converter installed providing 160W continously. While using phone and contacts throughout the day, battery power dropped more and mmre though my device was connected to power supply. In the afternoon it ran out of power starting with loosing the connection to vodafone.
Who has similar experiences, who has a better way of charging in car?
best regards
dieter

My old car charger which works fine with all my old WM devices does not supply enough power for my Ameo.
My Brodit powered holder does.

Confucious said:
My old car charger which works fine with all my old WM devices does not supply enough power for my Ameo.
My Brodit powered holder does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second that. This has been discussed numerous times - you need to check the ampage of your charger. If it's niot supplying enough, turn the screen brightness right down.

Well i guess its time for a little electrical networks lesson.
this phone consumes, under typical use about 300mAh, so if you have the screen on bright and the phone on with bluetooth your going to be using more than that and don't forget you still need to charge the battery and to top it all off your device will start to get hot and nothing kills a battery more than heat.
Solution: you need to make sure that you get a car charger that has an output of at least 1A... remember it will work with less but it won't charge as fast. usually but not always, you can find this information somewhere on the charger.
hope this helped

Output of 1A is one thing, but it seems that HTC devices (the Athena for one) more ways for charging. The orignal car charger from HTC does power the device fast(I have the charger for a few days now and can confirm that). There is also adapter cable available that allows fast charging. See the following post and post. It looks like the original HTC connectors use different pins on the connector for fast/powerfull charging

dpbakker said:
Output of 1A is one thing, but it seems that HTC devices (the Athena for one) more ways for charging. The orignal car charger from HTC does power the device fast(I have the charger for a few days now and can confirm that). There is also adapter cable available that allows fast charging. See the following post and post. It looks like the original HTC connectors use different pins on the connector for fast/powerfull charging
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Click to collapse
Yes, you're right. The original car charger does charge very well my Dopod with the screen turns to maximum, phone, bluetooth and GPS all are turned on.

Would anyone please care to post a direct link to a fast 1A car charger in the UK? I tried looking at the HTC ones at expansys but wasn't sure which were official and which weren't. Thanks

Yeah, a link for a good charger in The Netherland would be apriciated as well!
Thank in advance.

The official HTC car charger
for NL: http://www.expansys.nl/p.aspx?i=145177
for UK: http://www.expansys.com/p.aspx?i=145177

yaughan said:
Would anyone please care to post a direct link to a fast 1A car charger in the UK? I tried looking at the HTC ones at expansys but wasn't sure which were official and which weren't. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Brodit mount has car charging built in and is also extremely sturdy. Available from Brodit dealers

dieterpapa said:
Hi commumity,
was using my Ameo today in my car. BT and phone activated, screen maximum brightness.
I have a 12V / 230V converter installed providing 160W continously. While using phone and contacts throughout the day, battery power dropped more and mmre though my device was connected to power supply. In the afternoon it ran out of power starting with loosing the connection to vodafone.
Who has similar experiences, who has a better way of charging in car?
best regards
dieter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have seen the ameo using over 1.2A
Device turning to hot to handle...
But then again mineis back with T-mobile for repairs...
Wich sucks bigtime
had the device 1 week
T-mobile has it 3 weeks
Told me it would take 2-3 weeks, now they say they don't know when it will be ready

Car charger does not work

Q: Suddenly my car charger (cigarette lighter plugged) is not working anymore. After 5 mins. my device stops charging..... is there anybody having the same problem and knows how to solve it?

If it's after a period of time maybe a battery contact issue?
vincentvdvelde said:
Q: Suddenly my car charger (cigarette lighter plugged) is not working anymore. After 5 mins. my device stops charging
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Click to collapse
If you've already read the sticky posts relating to car chargers and your (mystery brand) charger isn't one of those, then maybe your phones battery terminals and connectors need careful cleaning with a cotton bud moistened with contact cleaner or IPA. I had a problem with my mains charger ceasing to charge my TyTN II after a minute or two a long time ago and after cleaning as described, the problem went away. Be sure not to spray the contact cleaner or IPA onto the phone or battery, only the cotton bud/Q-tip and then gently rub that on the spring contacts and battery terminals. How does charging via mains adapter or PC USB port go?

Flying Kiwi said:
If you've already read the sticky posts relating to car chargers and your (mystery brand) charger isn't one of those, then maybe your phones battery terminals and connectors need careful cleaning with a cotton bud moistened with contact cleaner or IPA. I had a problem with my mains charger ceasing to charge my TyTN II after a minute or two a long time ago and after cleaning as described, the problem went away. Be sure not to spray the contact cleaner or IPA onto the phone or battery, only the cotton bud/Q-tip and then gently rub that on the spring contacts and battery terminals. How does charging via mains adapter or PC USB port go?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats the thing: adapter/ USB port works for recharging.... v strange

vincentvdvelde said:
Thats the thing: adapter/ USB port works for recharging.... v strange
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It still could be a battery contact issue as voltages may differ slightly when using the car charger compared to the other forms of charging. As an example if the Kaiser is set to stop charging when the supply voltage drops below a certain value and the car chargers voltage is lower to start with (and fluctuates with normal driving/electrical usage) then that may explain things. It's well worth doing this cleaning every so often anyway as a matter of course so give it a try and see what happens.
Additionally, could heat be a factor eg if it's sitting on a hot dash or near heater vents (the device is designed to not recharge above certain temperatures)?

Flying Kiwi said:
It still could be a battery contact issue as voltages may differ slightly when using the car charger compared to the other forms of charging. As an example if the Kaiser is set to stop charging when the supply voltage drops below a certain value and the car chargers voltage is lower to start with (and fluctuates with normal driving/electrical usage) then that may explain things. It's well worth doing this cleaning every so often anyway as a matter of course so give it a try and see what happens.
Additionally, could heat be a factor eg if it's sitting on a hot dash or near heater vents (the device is designed to not recharge above certain temperatures)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the advice, i will give it a try

if you have any adapters that allow for another usb input, nice a headphone adapter, or the HTC Multifunction Audio Cable YC A300, a ycable or anything with a USB in, try that first.
if that doesn't work, take the unit into your retailer and they will give you a new (or refurbed) unit, as your USB port may have a pin or two out of whack.

This may be weird, but my tilt used to charge just fine from most USB chargers(car, AC, usb cords). One fine day it quit charging off most chargers except the official AC charger from AT&T. I tried to fiddle with the USB pins inside as one looked like it might be a bit bent/damaged. No luck.
However, yesterday I noticed that My Settings->System->Power->Advanced settings page had following option checked:
'When device is turned on, do not charge the battery when connected to the PC'.
Once I unchecked it, it started charging of PC USB cables (obviously), but strangely enough also charging from my car charger(s). Hope this works out for you or someone else...

jrd said:
This may be weird,
'When device is turned on, do not charge the battery when connected to the PC'.
Once I unchecked it, it started charging of PC USB cables (obviously), but strangely enough also charging from my car charger(s). Hope this works out for you or someone else...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is probably because your normal USB pin 4 and 5 in the cable of your other chargers are not shorted to signal that there is no data connection. So your phone thinks it is connected to a PC (or a device which might send it data), hence not charging the battery according to that setting

I have a similar infuriating problem, i have had a MDA VArio III for over a year now, had an issue with my last one and had a replacement issued in October. Now i have used the Brodit active holder (ciggy lighter version) since day one over a year ago and wit the new MDA as well. now all of a sudden phone will not charge in the holder, borrowed a friends active cradle still no charge, used a no brand usb ciggy ligther charger and charges fine!!!!
When phoe n is placed in the holder orange charging light comes on but phone does not charge and the light goes out 5 mins later!!!
any ideas anyone???
thanks
Matt

Mattcity said:
I have a similar infuriating problem, i have had a MDA VArio III for over a year now, had an issue with my last one and had a replacement issued in October. Now i have used the Brodit active holder (ciggy lighter version) since day one over a year ago and wit the new MDA as well. now all of a sudden phone will not charge in the holder, borrowed a friends active cradle still no charge, used a no brand usb ciggy ligther charger and charges fine!!!!
When phoe n is placed in the holder orange charging light comes on but phone does not charge and the light goes out 5 mins later!!!
any ideas anyone???
thanks
Matt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Problem solved - Pin 5 on my phone was ever so slightly out of alignment, bent back into place and all is now well! strange it only affected the brodit holders, nothing else!

Car charger failure explained
I also experienced this same problem and actually broke my phones mini usb plug in frustration at lack of charging. Got it fixed again though
The reason for this problem has become apparent since my phone was repaired. In your car, like my car when the heater is switched on it will gradually heat up the cigarette lighter socket. My charger cable like yours has a thermal safety circuit built into it. So when the ciggy socket heats up the heat is transferred to the charger plug and breaks the elec charging circuit. You might see me driving around London with my charger plug hanging out of my window (to cool it down) on a Winter's day!!! Honk if you do.
The solution would be a cheaper charger without the thermal circuit built in. Go into Maplins or PC World and ask them for that..... They dont know what your talking about, because I have already tried.......! Good luck

You just need to make sure to enable your phone to charge when connected to PC.
Start->Setting->System->Power->
UN-CHECK the box that said "When device is turned on, DO NOT CHARGE the battery when connected to PC"

Emergency charger and Tytn II

Hello, I've just bought an emergency charger for my Kaiser. It takes the power from an AA battery and gives the USB voltage in the output. It works great with my Mio A 501, but doesn't work at all with the Kaiser. I did a quick search and found this in a discussion about car chargers:
Are you using the HTC charger or an OEM one?
The HTC charger works all the time the OEM ones don't - the reason being that if you use a normal Mini USB cable, the handsets will only take a charge if there is an indication of a data connection (either than gprs or the cable) - otherwise it won't take a charge.
You can apparently solder a couple of wires together on a normal mini USB cable - but I wouldn't know where to start on that!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now I've already heard of that, for example, a Play Station Portable needs the data wires in the USB grounded in order to charge. Is it the same with Kaiser? (putting three wires together isn't a big deal) Or is there an easier way how to make it charge?

So, I gave it a try and soldered the data wires with the ground wire. But when I try to charge the Kaiser, a yellow led starts to glow (which it didn't with the original cable) and, after a minute or two, the led goes off and Kaiser stops charging. When I turn the Kaiser off and then plug the cable in, the yellow led doesn't go off. However, when I turn Kaiser back on to check the battery meter (after about half an hour), I find out that the battery didn't take any charge at all. So, could anyone tell me what the problem is?
thanks, Mike
PS.: Adding some photos of the wires...

Probably because of the voltage...
Hey!
Have you checked the output voltage of this charger? Standard charger outputs 5V. If yours outputs less - the battery won't charge; if outputs more - you may "burn" your PDA chipsets
5V - 5.5V is safe range.

I found this on thinkgeek.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/cellphone/b43f/
It says for iPhone, but sure it would work just fine with other devices that have issues.

had a same problem but using it in the car...
when i got my tytn2 i immediately bought a car charger and the salesman told it's an original one, said output 5v 1A.. when using in the car it charged for a minute or two and went off... than i got from ebay a micro usb 1A charger (used for iPhone too) and tried in the car-> it work flawlessly