Charging - which lead...? - Touch HD General

Thought I was being clever earlier, and dug out one of my spare mini-USB leads to connect the HD to my laptop, leaving the supplied HTC lead in the mains plug (just to save faffing round).
Activesync wasn't having it though
Which makes me think that either the extra squared off corner contains an extra data pin, or HTC have swapped connectors round in there somewhere.
So - cos I'l just a little bit scared about frying my nice new phone - has anyone charged their HD using a standard mini-USB cable plugged into the mains plug thing, or do we have to use the HTC one?
(sorry mods, wasn't sure if this ought to go in the accessory section or not!)

Yes, I initially charged and synced my HD with a cable that I'd used on my Polaris and probably my Artemis before that.
I had a sense that it maybe didn't charge as quickly on the old lead and so switched to the new lead, but on reflection that was quite possibly because it was the initial charge.
I also use a standard charger in the car with no issues whatsoever

fantastic - thank you very much!

Related

JasJar won't charge any more...any ideas?

I just posted on the accessories forum about my experience with the Brodit active holder that I purchased. Mounted it in my car, and plugged the brodit charger in. Fuse in car charger went bang (not literally). Now I know it's not my power adapter in the car, as I've been using another JasJar charger and GPS charger for ages, so I went to Halfords and bought some replacement fuses. Tried them in the charger. Every one died too instantly.
I assumed the charger must be faulty, and arranged to send the holder back to Clove to replace it. It wasn't until I plugged my JasJar into the normal charger last night that I discovered it was no longer charging at all. I tried unplugging and replugging. I tried using the USB cable in my pc. Nothing works. Even the other car charger won't charge it any more.
I'm guessing I now have to send my JasJar to HTC for repairs and be without it for a couple of weeks. I'm not too happy about it though, and thought I would ask here first if this has happened to anyone else and if there might be a way to get it charging again without having to send it away.
i had a similar problem, i went to france with a charger that had a changable head, with pins for the different countries on click in plates, and on the top was a usb socket.
i took a standard usb to mini usb cable with me figuring this is a usb charger like the one that came with my phone but no, i couldnt get it charging, then after 12 hrs of it refusing, it eventually kicked back in, i sussed you had to use it like plugging it into a pc, ie, it turn it off, wait, then plug it in. bingo it started charging again.
its working like activesync, right pain, shoulda just taken me charger and a mains convrter
sorry it doesent really help but its poss related
Carnivor said:
i had a similar problem, i went to france with a charger that had a changable head, with pins for the different countries on click in plates, and on the top was a usb socket.
i took a standard usb to mini usb cable with me figuring this is a usb charger like the one that came with my phone but no, i couldnt get it charging, then after 12 hrs of it refusing, it eventually kicked back in, i sussed you had to use it like plugging it into a pc, ie, it turn it off, wait, then plug it in. bingo it started charging again.
its working like activesync, right pain, shoulda just taken me charger and a mains convrter
sorry it doesent really help but its poss related
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
similar problem. but i change the port miniusb. 30 dolares in mexico.
no problem, is easy. and now is working ok.
Well I've sent it in for repairs now. Couldn't get the thing to charge.
this forum is amazing...if there is an information available, you can bet it you can find it here...:
thanks carnivor: I had the same problem, but just was not smart enough to get the idea to shut it off and then on...with your help i solved the problem...i still don't get it, why it did charge with the original charger or with the usb cable from the pc and not with the generic usb charger and that same cable....and actually: it depended on the ROM installed: with the qtek rom it did not matter, with the t-mobile it did..
anyway: now it works. thanks!
I notice that the power lead is thinner than a usb lead so there may be less wires inside, ie 2 + ground instead of 4 + ground, the lack of TX and RX connections may well be what causes it. Im not going to hack into the charger cable just yet to find that out.
Intresting about the rom versions changing the fact if you can have device on before sync or not. Im not going to reflash now with an update around the corner im just going to wait for that.
notice that the power lead is thinner than a usb lead so there may be less wires inside, ie 2 + ground instead of 4 + ground, the lack of TX and RX connections may well be what causes it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, but interestingly it also doesn't work with the same cable that syncs and charges from the pc, when this cable is connected to the lighter or the generic USB charger...so the mess starts already in the charger.
but bottomline: as long as there's a workaround...

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.

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
Click to expand...
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"

how to charge htc 8125 with no original usb cable and(or) without orig. wall charger

hi there.
shortly-i have this phone with no orig. usb cable and with no wall charger. it was friend of mine phone actualy. given to me with dead battery (i am not sure but i have trouwn it away long time ago)
first I did was to wait until friends of mine from china had sent to me 2 batteries compitable with the phone. what i discovered is that a normal ordinar usb cable cant charge the phone's battery it only can connect to the pc.
second what i did is this: i found my old charger from a very old panasonic cell phone and had a try to make the charging process with the simply contacting corresponding pinouts of the battery to the +&- of this same charger (somehow i dissasembled the plug of that charger and it became more "comfortable" to get in touch to the pinouts of the specific cingular's battery)
that unordinar way i did discovered that i can charge these batteries even not sure how much appropriate that other brand wall charger is. It seems its pretty much the same as a power characteristics.
Meanwhile (as i dont use this phone) i had some free time to search the net and to have better idea about that strange unordinar power charging matter with that model of a phone. The situation is that i cant find a place nearby me to buy a cheap usb and wall charger and become using this nice device finaly.
And also i dont want to buy these cable things before clearly understand why this happens ..
I did try also to charge this phone with a HTC brand wall charger but no sucsess again cause it seems this wall charger is for other htc phone (even same mini usb plug and same characteristics)
What i need is to have answers by someone very informed about that matter and let me know what exactly is the specific power charging matter (need explanations i mean) with this phone. If sharing some good ideas about how to remake others usb cable or wall charger for geting it work along for me in such a case , i will appreciate this very much
thanks
charge
hi ! please forgive me for my bad english! in this case you can charge your phone in 1 way! you need to procure a motorola or any charger with same socket but attention the charger must have 6 volts and no less than 500 mAh(milli amps)! you cut the wires and one wire put on the + of the battery you will see the signs on the battery an one wire at the - no matter which one. and you need stay with the wires 3 - 4 minutes on the battery ! then you put the battery on the phone it will start and then you cand fully charge it with the usb cable ! good luckk ! i hope my inf will help you!
no
no it doesnt work that way.
what i need is the simple answer : what is so special into the pinouts of htc cingular 8125 wall charger?
thats what i need only. Then I might figure out how to proceed
Thanks anyway
I don't know if anyone else has had trouble doing what I have done, but I've got the Cingular 8125 (HTC Wizard 100), which is also known as the HTC 8125.
1. I bought a car charger at a convenience store for $6 that had the mini-USB plug. It worked like a charm. Never any problem there.
2. I also bought a standard USB to mini-USB cable from the local computer store, because I had lost mine, and it also worked fine for both synchronization and for charging.
3. I bought a second wall charger, buying a standard mini-USB wall charger sold pretty much everywhere cellular phone chargers are sold. It's a common charging port, and this generic worked for me as well.
I'd be interested to hear if anyone has had problems with these types of devices not properly charging the unit.
Even my USB cable for my portable USB hard drive will power my unit.
EDIT: About your problem with it not charging. I had that problem about a year ago, when my battery got extremely old. It wouldn't charge even with the original charger. I just needed a new battery. The batteries get old and stop taking a charge after a certain amount of use. How long this takes depends on how heavily the batteries are used. They, like car batteries, do not last forever.
I had this problem when I had my wiz too. The battery died and drained, and my phone refused to charge it. I took it to an AT&T service center, and they had no clue what the problem was, and they wanted to issue me a replacement (it was a G4, I had a G3, I wasn't about to fiddle with that at the time.) So I asked to borrow a demo device they had there to fix it. I charged my battery on their demo device no problem, got it up to 3%, and finished charging it through my USB cable in the car socket.
It appears to be a sort of one-in-every-few-or-so type condition, but I got hit with it.
seems like noone can tell me if something special inside the mini-USB plug.
i realy cant charge. Very nice device, but i cant make it charging up whit cables.
guys, from up there, say that nothing special about the charging cables, but i trust what i see not what i read.
Perhaps there is a problem with your USB port on the device? USB charging has standards, and all devices that need power from a USB port have the same power pin configuration. Otherwise, they can't call it a USB connection. It would have to be called a proprietary connection, and they would have to change the plug size/dimensions and pins.
If there isn't a problem with your battery (which is the most likely source of your problem), then it may be a loose connection on your USB connector. This happens with a number of devices.
If a sync cable connects to the PC but will not charge the battery, then you definitely have an unusual pin detachment of some sort, or a bad battery.
thanks again..
for pity i was writing a lot to make my recent post and finaly it desapeared cause my session was left.. its funny in some case, but now i just dont want to repeat all what was intended to be posted
i give only the link where you might see why i was assuming that this is a kind of a special matter here with that htc 8125 charging
//pinouts.ru/CellularPhones-A-N/razrv3_charger_pinout.shtml
so, any more help will be appreciated a lot
thanks
SOLVED: HTC Wizard (Cingular 8125) Dead Battery Wont Charge
Dozzen said:
hi ! please forgive me for my bad english! in this case you can charge your phone in 1 way! you need to procure a motorola or any charger with same socket but attention the charger must have 6 volts and no less than 500 mAh(milli amps)! you cut the wires and one wire put on the + of the battery you will see the signs on the battery an one wire at the - no matter which one. and you need stay with the wires 3 - 4 minutes on the battery ! then you put the battery on the phone it will start and then you cand fully charge it with the usb cable ! good luckk ! i hope my inf will help you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi - Too bad for the OP that asked questions but did not listen to this brilliant post.
I have confirmed that a variation of this method works perfectly! I have an old Cingular 8125 that I have been trying to charge for over a year using various USB chargers and NONE would charge the device.
The reason that this may happen is that the original charger has an output of 1 full amp which is much higher than most chargers. The voltage is the same but you need a charger that can handle such a strong current draw.
Nearly all USB chargers can only handle around 250milliamps - 500milliamps which is about half the power needed to breathe life into a fully discharged battery.
The best solution is to NEVER let the battery fully discharge.
Here are the details of what I did:
1. Find the best match charger of 5-6 DC Volts and ability to put out as close to one amp (1000mA) as possible. I chose an old Sanyo SCP-07ADT that is rated at DC 5.4V at 800mA. The plug can be any type, no need to be USB.
2. Cut the connector off the end of the cable and strip the outer black part up about an inch and then strip the positive and negative (red / black respectively) wires up about a millimeter, just enough to have bare metal ends to touch to a small area.
3. Take your battery out of the phone, look at the back of battery for the + and - marks which correlate to one of the metal connection points on your battery, this is where you will "touch" or "attach" the bare ends of the wires.
4. Plug the charger in making sure not to short your bare leads. Before you do this double check that the OUTPUT of your charger is indeed DC voltage so that you don't hurt yourself. You do not want AC output and it can be dangerous.
Then touch the bare end of the red wire to positive of battery, and black wire to negative terminal of your battery. I held them with my fingers while surfing the web for about five or ten minutes. I had no idea if anything was happening or not but it "felt" like the battery might have gotten just a bit warmer.
5. Unplug the home-made bare wire charger and put battery in your phone. Quickly attach a USB charger or just plug into a USB cable of your computer. I pushed it in and nothing happened at first but finally I heard the standard "bleep" when you plug a USB device in. I knew that I made progress because it never beeped before it took about 30 seconds and several "bleeps" of connecting/disconnecting from USB but eventually the charge light stayed on!
It's been about 30 minutes and I'm up to about 50% charge and been using the phone heavily while charging.
So, in summary... never let your battery discharge below 5% or you can only charge it with an OEM cable rated at 1amp (rare). IF you let it discharge to "dead" then charge for 5-10 minutes with the "wire" method and then charge normally!
Thanks to Dozzen for the original idea!!
Wizard that won't charge
When my Wizard/HTC 8125 goes dead my cure for the battery is to use a 9 volt charger with the wires stripped back also. But, my method is a bit different. I place a standard Christmas Tree light bulb (the newer small ones)in series with the charger wires. Observe the correct polarity. The battery is labeled + and - so that part is easy. By using the small light bulb you are doing 2 things. 1.You can see the slight glow from the bulb and know that proper connection is made. 2. You are limiting the charging current to the battery.
If you get really creative like I did you can solder a couple of small nails or in my case a set of red and black probes to the setup and the points on these nails/probes make for much easier connections. Note.... This method may take a few minutes longer but, is much easier on the battery.
In my experience once the battery is below a certain level NO charger that I plug in will work. I just purchased a used 8125 from eBay and brought it back to life most successfully with this method.
hy there my htc wizard battery whos dead so i charched with a cable with + and - the phone starts but when i try to connect to a usb or a adaptor it doesnt charge anymore it show me the charge icon on the baterry but it doesnt charge the usb works fine it's sync to my pc but it doesnt charge anymore... what sould i do?
So it seems no one touched on what really matters here.
A design flaw, in my opinion. The HTC Wizard cannot recharge via USB unless there is enough power to turn on. The reason is because it requires the OS to charge.
So, what many people already posted are very creative ways to charge your 8125. The easiest and cheapest way, in my opinion, is to use AA batteries.
1) Take two AA batteries and tape together so they are in series. Imagine it like this... [- AA battery #1 +][- AA battery #2 +]
2) Use two wires and tape one to each side of the AA's (one on the + side and another on the other battery's - side since the - of the first battery is connected to the + of the second).
--w-i-r-e--[- AA battery #1 +][- AA battery #2 +]--w-i-r-e--
3) Connect the positive (+) wire to the positive (+) side of the phone. By this I mean the 6 metal pieces that stick out to contact the phone battery. I did it by wrapping the wire around the top most one (or second top most, it's been over a year since I've done this.).
4) Connect the negative (-) wire to the negative (-) side of the phone. Again, bottom most or second bottom most (see #3).
5) Insert phone battery while the wires are still in and connected to the two AAs.
6) Let the power flow for 30 seconds or so and then try turning your phone on. This part is the important part because you cannot use a USB to mini-USB connected to your computer to charge the phone unless the operating system can function. Meaning, it needs to be turned on first.
7) Once the phone is on, plug in the mini-USB part and connect it to a computer. I'd recommend getting at least 5% battery before disconnecting the AAs, seeing as you need to be able to start up your phone long enough for the OS to boot. Once the OS boots, you can fully charge it through a normal USB to mini-USB connection on any computer.
old post but just wanted to say thanks. Used the wire to battery method and got phone turned on after 2 mins of holding wires to battery.

Galaxy Tab charging issue + solution

Hey guys - I've been dealing with a Tab charging issue for a few days, and finally solved it... but I thought I'd post the problem and solution here in case it can save someone else a load of frustration if they run into the same problem.
From what I've read, we know that the Tab only draws .5A power from a USB socket, but that it draws ~2A from the wall, and that it knows the difference by testing for a short on the TX/RX USB data wires. (Correct me if I'm wrong on the details, but that's the general impression I've gotten.) We also know that the iPhone/iPad/iPod uses a pair of resistors instead (per the USB spec) to determine the current-delivery capability of the source. (I'm no EE, so I'm a little fuzzy on how that works from a technical perspective.)
So to set the stage: I had brought the USB cable for my Tab with me, but had neglected to grab the USB->outlet adapter for the mains. Similarly, a friend who was on vacation with us had forgotten the charging cable for his iPhone. Thinking I was killing two birds with one stone, I bought an aftermarket USB charging cable for the iPhone which had a separate USB->outlet adapter. His iPhone charged swimmingly, and when I charged my Tab overnight (screen off, starting at ~89% charge) using my cable and the aftermarket adapter, it worked flawlessly. No problem, great solution, or so it seemed...
...until I got home. Suddenly, my Tab wouldn't do more than a trickle charge - the same charge it gets when connected to the USB port on my laptop. (I could tell this was the case because of the small red 'x' next to the charging symbol in the battery icon - which I hadn't noticed while on vacation.) A 2.5-hour car trip using Navigator (screen on the whole time), even with the car charger connected, killed the battery completely. No matter what I did - shutting down apps, rebooting the device, resetting every option I could find - I could not get a fast charge to happen. Even leaving the device plugged in overnight resulted in *less* charge than what I started with if I didn't turn the screen off. I called T-mobile, talked to Samsung tech support twice... and all they could offer was to have me send the Tab back for replacement.
I was at a loss. I nearly did a hard reset in frustration, thinking I had screwed something up royally.
Then I saw the resistors in the pictures in this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=845844&page=3
and something clicked. I had been assuming that the *cables* were the difference between the iPhone and Tab chargers... but there isn't enough room for resistors in the cables! (Well technically, there is, but regardless...) The resistors must live somewhere else... and, I reasoned, that somewhere must be inside the USB->outlet adapter. So I pulled out the 'proper' Samsung adapter, plugged in the Tab, and voilà... a perfect fast charge.
So this is why the Tab won't charge with an iPod (or Sony-Ericsson, as it turns out) mains USB adapter OR USB-port car charger: the circuitry to let the device know it's capable of a full 2A delivery doesn't live in the Samsung cables; it's only present in the adapter. If that's not there, the device thinks it's connected via USB (and will, in fact, say "USB Connected" every time the charger is plugged in) and won't charge more than a trickle.
So that's my story, and hopefully it can save someone else some pain and frustration. Thanks for giving me the floor.
mattcelt said:
Hey guys - I've been dealing with a Tab charging issue for a few days, and finally solved it... but I thought I'd post the problem and solution here in case it can save someone else a load of frustration if they run into the same problem.
From what I've read, we know that the Tab only draws .5A power from a USB socket, but that it draws ~2A from the wall, and that it knows the difference by testing for a short on the TX/RX USB data wires. (Correct me if I'm wrong on the details, but that's the general impression I've gotten.) We also know that the iPhone/iPad/iPod uses a pair of resistors instead (per the USB spec) to determine the current-delivery capability of the source. (I'm no EE, so I'm a little fuzzy on how that works from a technical perspective.)
So to set the stage: I had brought the USB cable for my Tab with me, but had neglected to grab the USB->outlet adapter for the mains. Similarly, a friend who was on vacation with us had forgotten the charging cable for his iPhone. Thinking I was killing two birds with one stone, I bought an aftermarket USB charging cable for the iPhone which had a separate USB->outlet adapter. His iPhone charged swimmingly, and when I charged my Tab overnight (screen off, starting at ~89% charge) using my cable and the aftermarket adapter, it worked flawlessly. No problem, great solution, or so it seemed...
...until I got home. Suddenly, my Tab wouldn't do more than a trickle charge - the same charge it gets when connected to the USB port on my laptop. (I could tell this was the case because of the small red 'x' next to the charging symbol in the battery icon - which I hadn't noticed while on vacation.) A 2.5-hour car trip using Navigator (screen on the whole time), even with the car charger connected, killed the battery completely. No matter what I did - shutting down apps, rebooting the device, resetting every option I could find - I could not get a fast charge to happen. Even leaving the device plugged in overnight resulted in *less* charge than what I started with if I didn't turn the screen off. I called T-mobile, talked to Samsung tech support twice... and all they could offer was to have me send the Tab back for replacement.
I was at a loss. I nearly did a hard reset in frustration, thinking I had screwed something up royally.
Then I saw the resistors in the pictures in this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=845844&page=3
and something clicked. I had been assuming that the *cables* were the difference between the iPhone and Tab chargers... but there isn't enough room for resistors in the cables! (Well technically, there is, but regardless...) The resistors must live somewhere else... and, I reasoned, that somewhere must be inside the USB->outlet adapter. So I pulled out the 'proper' Samsung adapter, plugged in the Tab, and voilà... a perfect fast charge.
So this is why the Tab won't charge with an iPod (or Sony-Ericsson, as it turns out) mains USB adapter OR USB-port car charger: the circuitry to let the device know it's capable of a full 2A delivery doesn't live in the Samsung cables; it's only present in the adapter. If that's not there, the device thinks it's connected via USB (and will, in fact, say "USB Connected" every time the charger is plugged in) and won't charge more than a trickle.
So that's my story, and hopefully it can save someone else some pain and frustration. Thanks for giving me the floor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've recently seen (somewhere) a usb pigtail cable that shorts the pins to make the tab (or any other usb chargable phone) think it's hooked up to a wall charger, rather than a trickle charging usb port.... I need to find that again and just order a few to have in my various cable bags.
If you do find it again, please post it here. Definitely something I'd like in my bag of tricks as well.
Just as an FYI, the 2A charger that came with my Nook Color charges the Tab just fine from mains, even indicates charging. Makes sense, since both devices have a 4000mAH battery.
It's also a nicer unit for travel, it's nicely rounded, the prongs fold into the body of the charger, and you can pick it up from Barnes and Nobles stores just about anywhere in the US. Still doesn't solve the Tab cable issue though.
Croak said:
Still doesn't solve the Tab cable issue though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm planning on hacking apart a spare Tab cable so that it goes to a female microUSB; no more multiple cable types then. The stock Tab cable doesn't appear to have more than 6 pins, of which I'm sure a few are grounds.
Someone recently posted a link to the first cheap 3rd-party cables:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.51931
Get those with a 6' USB extension cable and the Nook charger, and that may be a winning combination. I ordered four the the charging cables yesterday, and I'll try to remember to post whether or not they work out well.
Resonance, what are you planning on using for a car charger, if any? I really like the Navigator app, but it's just not practical if I can't keep the Tab charged while using it.
Does anyone know if there are any USB->12v adapters that have the right circuitry for the Samsung? For that matter, do any other devices use the same amperage detection setup the Tab does? It would be good to know what components are cross-compatible.
Thanks for the info.
How about a list of chargers that work fine on the GTab.
1. Garminfone charger (1amp - works great and I use it as my primary charger)
mattcelt said:
Resonance, what are you planning on using for a car charger, if any? I really like the Navigator app, but it's just not practical if I can't keep the Tab charged while using it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A 12V inverter, attached to the standard wall charger. :/
I bought the Duragadget 12V->USB charger, since it was advertised specifically as a 2A charger for the Galaxy Tab, but it DOES NOT work as advertised (the Tab treats it like a any other low-current USB port, and even offers to mount mass storage, heh).
Using the inverter and the wall charger worked just fine, though it was a bit clunky and unstable (on mine, the prongs aren't tightly gripped, so it bends out of place easily).
Does anyone know if there are any USB->12v adapters that have the right circuitry for the Samsung? For that matter, do any other devices use the same amperage detection setup the Tab does? It would be good to know what components are cross-compatible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd been contemplating giving the Duragadget charger with integrated cable a try, but having been burned once by Duragadget, I'm a bit hesitant to do so.
ResonanceZero said:
Someone recently posted a link to the first cheap 3rd-party cables:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.51931
Get those with a 6' USB extension cable and the Nook charger, and that may be a winning combination. I ordered four the the charging cables yesterday, and I'll try to remember to post whether or not they work out well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OMG...I bought a charger cable from amazon SOLD BY AMAZON marketed as OEM samsung charger and I got the same one in the deal extreme page. WTF...paid $12 for it too.
ResonanceZero said:
A 12V inverter, attached to the standard wall charger. :/
I bought the Duragadget 12V->USB charger, since it was advertised specifically as a 2A charger for the Galaxy Tab, but it DOES NOT work as advertised (the Tab treats it like a any other low-current USB port, and even offers to mount mass storage, heh).
Using the inverter and the wall charger worked just fine, though it was a bit clunky and unstable (on mine, the prongs aren't tightly gripped, so it bends out of place easily).
I'd been contemplating giving the Duragadget charger with integrated cable a try, but having been burned once by Duragadget, I'm a bit hesitant to do so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
looks like that car charger is the same as the one you bought with a USB cable included.
nacron said:
looks like that car charger is the same as the one you bought with a USB cable included.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good eyes. I thought it was a different unit with an integrated cable.
Has anyone found a functioning 12v charger?
yes, the verizon store has a 12v charger for the galaxy tab, but that was the only place I was able to find one... other than online.
Hi,
Can anyone else confirm that the Nook charger works for the Tab?
I've tried other high current (2.0+ amp) chargers. Some designed for the ipad and some not, and I always get the trickle charge icon and it's treated as a computer USB connection (Mass storage device options, etc).
How much was the Verizon charger?
Thanks!
stock wall charger works for me.
knowthenazz said:
Hi,
Can anyone else confirm that the Nook charger works for the Tab?
I've tried other high current (2.0+ amp) chargers. Some designed for the ipad and some not, and I always get the trickle charge icon and it's treated as a computer USB connection (Mass storage device options, etc).
How much was the Verizon charger?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google the gobatt 2 charger. It comes with a usb adapter that charges the tab on any charger.
texasreb said:
Google the gobatt 2 charger. It comes with a usb adapter that charges the tab on any charger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Thanks for the tip. I can't find much information about the Scosche GoBatt 2 charger, or the adapter that comes with it. Today I tried other Scosche chargers, including their iPad charger, and it didn't seem to work.
Can you give some more details on the adapter that comes with the GoBatt 2?
Thanks!
Got this travel adapter by ZipKord with 2 - 1 amp outlets. Works with the OEM cord and also the Gomadic tip made for the Galaxy Tab. Just need to be careful it's not the older version that only has the lower power outlets. Cheapest I could find was $13+, so if it's less, it's the lower power. With the Gomadic tip and reractable cord, it says it's charging.
EVO 4G 9292 - Travel Adapter By ZipKord
Also this Scosche battery pack seems like it would work. Has 2 - 1 amp USB ports. I ordered one and should get it tomorrow.
Scosche IPDBAT2 Portable Back Up Battery for iPad and iPod
Oops - can't do links. Just search in Amazon. It's where I got both.
Gomadic cord and tips from Gomadic. Love losing the excess clutter (cords).
galaxy tab 7 charging while turned on
can someone explain well how to build the adaptor for charge galaxy tab 7 while it turned on?
is it possible to have a scheme with picture and some photos which describe the work to do?
thanks. and excuse me for bad english.
mattcelt said:
Hey guys - I've been dealing with a Tab charging issue for a few days, and finally solved it... but I thought I'd post the problem and solution here in case it can save someone else a load of frustration if they run into the same problem.
From what I've read, we know that the Tab only draws .5A power from a USB socket, but that it draws ~2A from the wall, and that it knows the difference by testing for a short on the TX/RX USB data wires. (Correct me if I'm wrong on the details, but that's the general impression I've gotten.) We also know that the iPhone/iPad/iPod uses a pair of resistors instead (per the USB spec) to determine the current-delivery capability of the source. (I'm no EE, so I'm a little fuzzy on how that works from a technical perspective.)
So to set the stage: I had brought the USB cable for my Tab with me, but had neglected to grab the USB->outlet adapter for the mains. Similarly, a friend who was on vacation with us had forgotten the charging cable for his iPhone. Thinking I was killing two birds with one stone, I bought an aftermarket USB charging cable for the iPhone which had a separate USB->outlet adapter. His iPhone charged swimmingly, and when I charged my Tab overnight (screen off, starting at ~89% charge) using my cable and the aftermarket adapter, it worked flawlessly. No problem, great solution, or so it seemed...
...until I got home. Suddenly, my Tab wouldn't do more than a trickle charge - the same charge it gets when connected to the USB port on my laptop. (I could tell this was the case because of the small red 'x' next to the charging symbol in the battery icon - which I hadn't noticed while on vacation.) A 2.5-hour car trip using Navigator (screen on the whole time), even with the car charger connected, killed the battery completely. No matter what I did - shutting down apps, rebooting the device, resetting every option I could find - I could not get a fast charge to happen. Even leaving the device plugged in overnight resulted in *less* charge than what I started with if I didn't turn the screen off. I called T-mobile, talked to Samsung tech support twice... and all they could offer was to have me send the Tab back for replacement.
I was at a loss. I nearly did a hard reset in frustration, thinking I had screwed something up royally.
Then I saw the resistors in the pictures in this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=845844&page=3
and something clicked. I had been assuming that the *cables* were the difference between the iPhone and Tab chargers... but there isn't enough room for resistors in the cables! (Well technically, there is, but regardless...) The resistors must live somewhere else... and, I reasoned, that somewhere must be inside the USB->outlet adapter. So I pulled out the 'proper' Samsung adapter, plugged in the Tab, and voilà... a perfect fast charge.
So this is why the Tab won't charge with an iPod (or Sony-Ericsson, as it turns out) mains USB adapter OR USB-port car charger: the circuitry to let the device know it's capable of a full 2A delivery doesn't live in the Samsung cables; it's only present in the adapter. If that's not there, the device thinks it's connected via USB (and will, in fact, say "USB Connected" every time the charger is plugged in) and won't charge more than a trickle.
So that's my story, and hopefully it can save someone else some pain and frustration. Thanks for giving me the floor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
potential solution
found this on youtube, looks like it has great potential:
forum won't let me post url links, but this is the video code in you tube. We're all geeks here (I think) so you know where this goes :
=uPc-ZA3t5aY
hope it helps!

Categories

Resources