So I was getting a bit frustrated with buying single and dual USB car chargers that were rated at 1Amp/Port and still having the EVO showing USB charging. I have five chargers now and they all show USB Charging while in spare parts. So being frustrated, I wanted to figure out and solve the problem. After a lot of surfing and digging, I came across the answer. If you check out this wikipedia link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus#Power
You'll find the answer in the Battery Charging Specification of the link:
"In Battery Charging Specification,[31] new powering modes are added to the USB specification. A host or hub Charging Downstream Port can supply a maximum of 1.5 A when communicating at low-bandwidth or full-bandwidth, a maximum of 900 mA when communicating at high-bandwidth, and as much current as the connector will safely handle when no communication is taking place; USB 2.0 standard-A connectors are rated at 1500 mA by default. A Dedicated Charging Port can supply a maximum of 1.8 A of current at 5.25 V. A portable device can draw up to 1.8 A from a Dedicated Charging Port. The Dedicated Charging Port shorts the D+ and D- pins with a resistance of at most 200Ω. The short disables data transfer, but allows devices to detect the Dedicated Charging Port and allows very simple, high current chargers to be manufactured. The increased current (faster, 9 W charging) will occur once both the host/hub and devices support the new charging specification."
The key here is shorting the D+ and D- pins. Looking up the USB pinout can be found here:
http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml
So, taking my cheapest charger that I bought from Walmart for $5.99 that had dual ports that said it was rated at 1A/Port, I opened it up and soldered pins 2 and 3 together for each port and put it back together.
So now with my modified cheapo USB car charger I went to the car and plugged it in and plugged in the EVO. Low and behold, it now says it's "AC Charging" and now it will pull the full 1 Amp.
So with the result to my satisfaction, I opened up my other chargers, ranging from three different Scosche chargers and one single port Belkin 1 Amp charger, soldered pins 2 and 3 together, and now all of my chargers are showing "AC Charging" using the "Spare Parts" app.
Once you take the charger apart, it's fairly obvious which pins are 2 and 3. I guess I should have taken pictures of each one as I had it apart so you could see it.
I hope this helps others with getting the full charging capacity out of their 1 Amp car chargers. Because running Google Navigation or apps such as Pandora/Subsonic will really suck down the juice.
Wow.. great info! Thanks for posting that!
What gives you the impression that it's not drawing 1A when on an actual USB port...or vice versa, what guarantees you the 1A after this trick? ...(yes, I'm just trying to see your logic)...
RavenII said:
What gives you the impression that it's not drawing 1A when on an actual USB port...or vice versa, what guarantees you the 1A after this trick? ...(yes, I'm just trying to see your logic)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
According to everything that I've read on how the EVO and other phones charge, unless it can detect that the charger is a dedicated charger and not connected to a computer, the phone will only draw a max of 500 milliamps at 5 volts. Most of the time, it will only draw 400 milliamps at 5 volts.
There are a lot of threads here on trying to get chargers rated at 1 amp to actually have the EVO charge at 1 amp. The secret is that the 2 and 3 pins must be shorted before the EVO will even attempt to draw more amperage then a normal USB port.
Though you should only do this mod if the charger is truly rated at 1 amp at 5 volts.
So, if I bridge pins 2 and 3, and ground pin 4...I should be able to get it to pull 1 amp and launch into car mode right?
scl23enn4m3 said:
So, if I bridge pins 2 and 3, and ground pin 4...I should be able to get it to pull 1 amp and launch into car mode right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just bridge pins 2 and 3. Leave pin 4 alone. You could also mod a cable to do this, but make sure you never plug it into a computer!
The EVO will now see the charger as a dedicated charger and attempt to draw 1 amp. Though, based on what I have been reading, it wil more than likely draw 800 milliamps instead of 1000 milliamps. Same goes for USB charging at 400 milliamps instead of 500.
How did you get the belkin apart??
Can someone describe to me specifically what it looks like on 1A AC vs a 500mA?
I've tried plugging mine into a couple of 1A wall chargers that I have (including the HTC included charger) as well as my car and house 5mA chargers, and don't see the difference on screen.
ntron1 said:
How did you get the belkin apart??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had to use my pocket knife to slip it in between the spring loaded metal ground part and the plastic case. Make sure you identify which side will lift off. The top part is attached to one of the halves and you don't want to pry against that side. Just put a bit of pressure on each side until you can crack it apart. When putting it back together, I had to use some super glue on each side of the case after I had pressed it together. Just a couple of drops on each side and it looks none the worse for wear. Except it now charges at a a full amp (probably 800 milliamps)
Just to verify, this is the Belkin charger in question:
http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Micro-...3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1283093014&sr=8-3
Andy S said:
Can someone describe to me specifically what it looks like on 1A AC vs a 500mA?
I've tried plugging mine into a couple of 1A wall chargers that I have (including the HTC included charger) as well as my car and house 5mA chargers, and don't see the difference on screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download spare parts from the market. Under battery information it will tell you which mode it's charging in. Either USB or AC.
ChrisDos said:
Download spare parts from the market. Under battery information it will tell you which mode it's charging in. Either USB or AC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I knew I was missing something.
Battery droid will also tell you USB vs. A/C charging.
Andy S said:
Can someone describe to me specifically what it looks like on 1A AC vs a 500mA?
I've tried plugging mine into a couple of 1A wall chargers that I have (including the HTC included charger) as well as my car and house 5mA chargers, and don't see the difference on screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go into Settings, About Phone, Battery... It will say under Battery Status (just in case you don't want to download a new app)
SteelH said:
Battery droid will also tell you USB vs. A/C charging.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
JKGoodrich said:
Go into Settings, About Phone, Battery... It will say under Battery Status (just in case you don't want to download a new app)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks all.
Now if I could find my soldering iron, I'll attempt this on my 1A wall charger from a time circa Rio Carbon
ChrisDos said:
I had to use my pocket knife to slip it in between the spring loaded metal ground part and the plastic case. Make sure you identify which side will lift off. The top part is attached to one of the halves and you don't want to pry against that side. Just put a bit of pressure on each side until you can crack it apart. When putting it back together, I had to use some super glue on each side of the case after I had pressed it together. Just a couple of drops on each side and it looks none the worse for wear. Except it now charges at a a full amp (probably 800 milliamps)
Just to verify, this is the Belkin charger in question:
http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Micro-...3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1283093014&sr=8-3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, 5 minutes and worked like a champ.
Ten minutes of looking for a lost soldering iron, and the Rio Carbon's charger now shows AC. Cool.
Thanks. I'm planning a hardwired mod to make a physical mount (out of a $5 ebay belt clip that I'm going to saw the clip off of...) in the empty Nav hole on my car. Have been trying to find a cheap donar USB plug charger to wire straight into the fuse box, and this will make that search easier.
scl23enn4m3 said:
So, if I bridge pins 2 and 3, and ground pin 4...I should be able to get it to pull 1 amp and launch into car mode right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Back to this one about grounding pin 4. I know that in another thread someone mentioned hacking a cable on the mini USB end to bridge pins 4 and 5 (the "X" on the diagrams on the second page linked in the first post) to automatically put the car in "car dock" mode. Any ideas how we could accomplish this at the regular USB plug end, since there are only 4 contacts on that side?
Andy S said:
Ten minutes of looking for a lost soldering iron, and the Rio Carbon's charger now shows AC. Cool.
Back to this one about grounding pin 4. I know that in another thread someone mentioned hacking a cable on the mini USB end to bridge pins 4 and 5 (the "X" on the diagrams on the second page linked in the first post) to automatically put the car in "car dock" mode. Any ideas how we could accomplish this at the regular USB plug end, since there are only 4 contacts on that side?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to see that the modified charger is showing AC. Afraid I don't know about the car dock mode. Haven't researched that yet.
Thanks again OP. Just modified one and it worked perfectly.
ChrisDos said:
Just bridge pins 2 and 3. Leave pin 4 alone. You could also mod a cable to do this, but make sure you never plug it into a computer!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think you understood my question...Grounding 4 (same as bridging it to 5) should kick the phone into dock mod. So if I can pull an amp and get it into dock mod in my car, it'd be perfect.
Andy S said:
Back to this one about grounding pin 4. I know that in another thread someone mentioned hacking a cable on the mini USB end to bridge pins 4 and 5 (the "X" on the diagrams on the second page linked in the first post) to automatically put the car in "car dock" mode. Any ideas how we could accomplish this at the regular USB plug end, since there are only 4 contacts on that side?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe pin 4 doesn't get used so it's the one missing on the regular USB side...Based on that it would make sense for a wire from pin 4 to not extend all the way. You might just be stuck with with opening it towards the micro usb end.
My htc wall charger shows AC charging. So does my motorola car charger. Do I need to modify anything??
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Related
I have travelled to devon on Saturday and used Google maps navigation which is simply superb as u could see the traffic jams in advance (believe me there were plenty of them) I had my phone charger charging my desire but the battery drained still any idea why surely the charger should charge it or keep the power at the same level ?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Anyone surely someone must know why the car charger hasn't enough power to charge the phone when running navigation and the normal phone functions
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
I have no solution but I have the same problem. Quite frustrating.
You need a charger that outputs at least 1000mA. Most in-car chargers only output 500mA, and so the phone will discharge quicker than the charger can charge it.
Regards,
Dave
foxmeister said:
You need a charger that outputs at least 1000mA. Most in-car chargers only output 500mA, and so the phone will discharge quicker than the charger can charge it.
Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
especially with some GPS apps that consume lots of juice...
Any suggestions which are the best chargers ? Does anyone know what the new HTC dock will incorporate ?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Get a cheap USB cable extender, cut it in half and short the middle 2 pins. Don't remember what colours they are. Look on Wikipedia.
I had same problem. Not anymore. Charges properly when I plug in through the custom cable.
This is a common problem.
It bugged me sufficiently that I investigated it in detail.
The Desire, and presumably some (all?) other HTC phones, employ relatively complex charging circuitry.
When you plug a USB cable into the phone, the phone does at least two different checks to determine what type of power source you have just connected.
If you have plugged in a mains powered official HTC charger, which has a rated output of 1A, then the phone knows that it is safe to draw a maximum of 1A from that charger.
The phone will then draw enough current to power itself and, on top of that, charge the battery at the same time.
This current will typically be in the region of 800mA (0.8A) to 900mA (0.9A).
Under these conditions there is enough current to power all the functions of the phone, including WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS, as well as the usual GSM radio and the phone's other functions, as well as being able to charge the battery.
However, if the phone believes that it is connected to a power source with a lower rating such as a standard USB port, then it will limit the maximum current that it draws from that power source to between 400mA (0.4A) and 500mA (0.5A) as this is the maximum officially provided by a USB port.
In other words, the phone is intelligent enough not to overload a standard USB port but, when more power is available, it is able to use it.
The mechanism that HTC uses to detect a power supply capable of supplying 1A, as opposed to a USB port, is very simple indeed.
When the phone detects that an external power source has been connected, it checks to see if the two data lines of the USB connector on the bottom of the phone have been short-circuited.
If they have been short-circuited, the phone takes this to mean that a suitable power source has been connected providing a current of at least 1A.
If the data lines are not short-circuited, the phone assumes that the power is coming from a USB port or other device not capable of providing more than 500mA.
In practice, the way this has been implemented is that within the official mains powered HTC charger, the two data pins of the USB connector are shorted together.
As soon as you connect this charger to the Desire, the phone detects the short-circuit and knows that it is connected to a charger capable of supplying 1A.
This particular trick seems to be something unique to HTC rather than being a universal standard, although this is a bit of a guess on my part based on having looked at only a few other chargers.
What this means is that if you have a car charger that is rated at 1A or higher, your HTC Desire will still only draw a maximum of 500mA from this charger.
This problem is easily rectified by opening up the charger and soldering together the two centre pens of the USB connector so that the phone sees this short-circuit and realises that it can safely draw I higher current from the charger.
Unless you know what you are doing and fully understand what I have explained above, then please don't go fiddling around with your charger.
I have carried out this modification myself on a couple of non-HTC mains-powered chargers and a couple of 12V car chargers with 100% success.
I have, however, found that some 12V chargers, even though they are rated at 1A or even 1.5A do not result in the Desire drawing the expected current.
What I found was that the phone would draw only about 250mA and then, after I had shorted the data terminals within the charger, the phone would draw about 450mA but not the 850mA or so that I had expected.
I have yet to determine with certainty why this is but it appears that as the phone begins to draw current from the charger it is able to detect if there is even a relatively small dip in the voltage coming from the charger and, if so, the phone backs off on the amount of current that it draws.
I will be doing a few more tests in my electronics lab to try and get to the bottom of this and provide a more detailed analysis and, hopefully, a useful solution.
In the meantime though, I have at least solved the problem that I was having and, based on numerous forum posts, the same problem that many other people have been having with car chargers not effectively charging the Desire.
Tim
mercianary said:
Get a cheap USB cable extender, cut it in half and short the middle 2 pins. Don't remember what colours they are. Look on Wikipedia.
I had same problem. Not anymore. Charges properly when I plug in through the custom cable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Snap!
I didn't see your post before making mine (above) but my experimentation agrees fully with what you've said.
You can do it the way you've described, by modifying a cable, or you can do it inside the charger itself.
Just make sure that the cable going to the phone has all four USB wires in it. Some of them only have the two power wires, so the phone will never detect the short circuited data lines.
Tim
If you do not want to open your car charger, you can always create a male to female adapter that shots D+ and D- on the female side like the one in the attached picture
Obviously, the charger needs to be able to provide the 1Amps that are needed. If not, it will at best shutdown in protection mode, at worst fry completely with a great chance of fire...
Interesting stuff...
I bought an official HTC car charger and noticed that the included usb cable, when plugged into a pc, does not allow data transfer, only charging.
Can anyone explain that ? Why would there be a difference in the wiring ?
They want you to buy an official USB cable I guess ? Considering any microusb cable works I'm surprised they bother
Maybe because they just put the two VCC and GND wires in there, thus saving on the cabling cost.
Ok how about this then......
I have a USB port I'm my car (to plug in music on a dongle I presume) if I use the USB lead from my charger supplied with the phone (which also works as a data cable) I get a the charging status icon on the battery bar.
So......
Is my phone charging at 1 amp on the car, and at home or am I getting 0.5 on both or something else?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
_Crusoe_ said:
Ok how about this then......
I have a USB port I'm my car (to plug in music on a dongle I presume) if I use the USB lead from my charger supplied with the phone (which also works as a data cable) I get a the charging status icon on the battery bar.
So......
Is my phone charging at 1 amp on the car, and at home or am I getting 0.5 on both or something else?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you check your battery stats by dialing *#*#4636#*#* and look at battery info, then you can see if it is charged by USB (max 500 mA) or at AC (more then 500mA)
I bought the official HTC charger, works perfectly.
thanks a lot for the explanation. I went for an uprated USB car charger but was still using normal cables to plug into it and the phone wasnt keeping up when bluetooth and GPS was on and was flat by the end of a long journey. Have tried the mod and phone is showing as plugged into AC so hopefully this is going to sort my issues.
So am I right in saying that, unless you get one which has been adapted as described above, there is no real difference between one in-car charger and another - none of them will be up to the job of keeping the phone full of jiuce whilst running GPS over a long journey.
Was thinking of shelling out for a Brodit kit, but at £50+, I'll stick with a cheap one.
Narco77 said:
Interesting stuff...
I bought an official HTC car charger and noticed that the included usb cable, when plugged into a pc, does not allow data transfer, only charging.
Can anyone explain that ? Why would there be a difference in the wiring ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got the offical charger and the usb cable is fine for data transfer.
Bingo Accent said:
So am I right in saying that, unless you get one which has been adapted as described above, there is no real difference between one in-car charger and another - none of them will be up to the job of keeping the phone full of jiuce whilst running GPS over a long journey.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really.
For the "mod" to work, your charger must be able to source at least 1000mA which most can't anyway.
So you first have to find a charger that does and then, if it's not already the case, short the D+ and D- cables together.
Note that this can be done by disassembling the charger (not being sure of being able to put it back together), by using conductive glue on the USB plug itself (a bit invasive) or by using an adapter like the one I shown in my previous message (but you need to do it yourself or have someone do it for you)
I have been on the hunt for a charger for my car and home that shows up as an AC charger so that I can get a faster charge. After a bit of tinkering I have found that all you need to do to get ANY charger to show up as a AC charger is to have 5V on the standard USB + & - leads and simply connect the two data wires together. This will tell the phone that this is an AC adaptor.
I actually bought a cheapo 1A USB car charger from DealExtreme and it was supposed to show up as an AC adaptor but it didn't. So I carefully opened it up and de-soldered the resistors that were connected to the data pins on the PCB and verified that there were no more connections going to the two data pins on the USB connector (the two middle pins) and then put a small dab of solder across them. I plugged my MonoPrice USB cable into it and went to my car. Lo and behold it shows up as an AC adaptor AND actually charges at the full 1 AMP capacity!
Just wanted to share this with you guys. If people want to send me their chargers I would be happy to mod them for you (just pay shipping). I was also thinking about picking up a bunch of the USB 1A car chargers from DealExtreme, modding them, and then re-selling them. Would anyone be interested?
houseofbugs said:
I have been on the hunt for a charger for my car and home that shows up as an AC charger so that I can get a faster charge. After a bit of tinkering I have found that all you need to do to get ANY charger to show up as a AC charger is to have 5V on the standard USB + & - leads and simply connect the two data wires together. This will tell the phone that this is an AC adaptor.
I actually bought a cheapo 1A USB car charger from DealExtreme and it was supposed to show up as an AC adaptor but it didn't. So I carefully opened it up and de-soldered the resistors that were connected to the data pins on the PCB and verified that there were no more connections going to the two data pins on the USB connector (the two middle pins) and then put a small dab of solder across them. I plugged my MonoPrice USB cable into it and went to my car. Lo and behold it shows up as an AC adaptor AND actually charges at the full 1 AMP capacity!
Just wanted to share this with you guys. If people want to send me their chargers I would be happy to mod them for you (just pay shipping). I was also thinking about picking up a bunch of the USB 1A car chargers from DealExtreme, modding them, and then re-selling them. Would anyone be interested?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the post! I just wanted to add to it a link which includes some more information about performing this "mod." I haven't done mine yet, but I intend to soon.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=767961
Sb22 said:
Thanks for the post! I just wanted to add to it a link which includes some more information about performing this "mod." I haven't done mine yet, but I intend to soon.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=767961
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that link! I didn't know if anyone else tried this yet. But I can verify that it works perfectly! The best part is that my car charger looks stock as I used 2-part epoxy to glue it back together.
i have said it before and i will say it agai , fast full 1amp charges a bad for your battery and do not allow proper charges this you get **** for battery life.
nice mods but not good for battery life
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
v_lestat said:
i have said it before and i will say it again , fast full 1amp charges are bad for your battery and do not allow proper charges. you get **** for battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i heard you say that before, and i thought you were full of crap. after trying it for several charge cycles, it is plain as day. your battery charge WILL last longer from a slow usb half amp charge. seriously.
sometimes, however, it isn't worth waiting for. in a "non-primary" charging location such as a car, I can see the benefit in catching a quicker "top-off" charge.
I know your post is old, but THANK YOU MAN !!, i was having trouble obtaining only 100mAh from a AA-battery portable charger, modded a cable and now it's working so fine !!
Hmm, I could probably modify one of my short USB extension cables and cut off the data pins and keep that cable somewhere for cases where i'd prefer the turbo charge... Just snap on this usb extension cable (or maybe even an adapter) and boom you're getting the 1A charge
PS: my old WinXP box actually complains and shuts off the usb port if it sucks more than usual 500 mA, you would need to solder two usb connectors in parallel to fix that
I know this is mostly common knowledge but I still see many questions regarding this come up, so instead of explaining this over and over I can now link to this and flame away.
anyway...
When you charge your phone using an original HTC wall charger you phone gets all the power it needs to run itself and charge (up to 1000ma).
When you charge from any (most) other devices (this includes car chargers,non HTC wall chargers or any USB port) your phone will draw up to 500ma (the USB standard) REGARDLESS of the devices output.
The reason why the phone only draws 500ma on USB is so it does not damage any equipment by drawing more power than it can output safely (by design anything with a USB port can safely output 500ma).
The trouble is pretty much all equipment can safely output more than the USB standard of 500ma and safely charge your phone at full speed.
The phone distinguishes between an original HTC charger and other devices by whether or not the data wires are shorted (connected to each other).
How to do the charger mod.
Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for anything that may happen as a result of doing this, by following these instructions you will be pushing any device you charge your phone from beyond the USB specifications, results of this may be, but not limited to your motherboard bursting into flames, you car exploding, the inventor/s of USB knocking on your door and slapping you in the face, but most probably faster charging and not a lot else.
Get yourself a short USB extender wire, male at one end, female at the other.
Cut the wire in half.
Connect the red and black wires up as they were before (or don't cut them in step 1).
On the Female side of the wire connect the green and white wires together.
On the Male side of the wire simply leave the green and white wires connected to nothing.
Insulate the ends of all of the wires with insulating tape.
Tie a knot in the wire so if the wire is pulled the knot is pulled and not the connection you made, it doesn't look pretty but the wire will last a lifetime this way.
All done, now use this wire in between your desire and whatever you want to charge from and get a full speed charge. You will lose data connectivity when using this wire.
There are other ways of doing this, for example.
Soldering together the data pins (middle 2) on the device you wish to charge from. Don't do this on your laptop...this method is intended for car chargers, wall plugs, and external USB battery packs.
Soldering together a male and female USB port and plug directly with no wire in between, this can look really good if you know what your doing.
Great guide! Just a quick question I have a 3rd party USB cable but an official htc wall plug. Will my desire still get 1000mA? Or will it only get 500 because of the 3rd party charger?
ste1164 said:
Great guide! Just a quick question I have a 3rd party USB cable but an official htc wall plug. Will my desire still get 1000mA? Or will it only get 500 because of the 3rd party charger?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a 3rd party changer and I did this mod and it's working really great it's charging really fast
ste1164 said:
Great guide! Just a quick question I have a 3rd party USB cable but an official htc wall plug. Will my desire still get 1000mA? Or will it only get 500 because of the 3rd party charger?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The original charger shorts the data pins so it doesn't matter what cable you use.
Hi,
just wanted to say thank you for the idea. For me this is really usefull in some situations at work, where I have no access to a socket, but a pc.
It charges not as fast as the AC charger, but MUCH faster, than the usual 500mah USB method.
And so does it look like:
fileden.com/files/2006/9/25/238757/charger2.jpg
fileden.com/files/2006/9/25/238757/charger1.jpg
TrTech said:
just wanted to say thank you for the idea. For me this is really usefull in some situations at work, where I have no access to a socket, but a pc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And next time, use your brain first, please.
Do you have an idea why the HTC Desire does limit the current to 500mA if it's not connected to a dedicated charger which shorts the two data pins? Ever thought about it? Ever?
Umm... yes. But please feel free to enlight me.
TrTech said:
Umm... yes. But please feel free to enlight me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
umm, and I thought the post starter already answered this question:
The reason why the phone only draws 500ma on USB is so it does not damage any equipment by drawing more power than it can output safely (by design anything with a USB port can safely output 500ma).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So in other words:
Any laptop or computer can output max. 500mA by USB specifications.
So this means:
You can have luck and your computer doesn't get damaged if more current gets requested, it just limits the current to something around 500mA.
You can have luck and your computer just shuts down the USB port and Windows reports you that a malfunction device got connected.
You can have bad luck, most often the case, especially on cheap notebooks, netbooks, computers, a fuse will prevent bigger damage and the USB port remains dead until the rest of it's computer live.
So the limit got wisely chosen. So if you want to use your USB ports in the future, too, then only use this 'trick' on wall adapters which support an output current equal or larger than 1A (1000mA), or use it only in combination with USB ports which support that high currents (most often advertised as being able to charge the Apple IPad), most often found on external USB hubs.
UpSpin said:
umm, and I thought the post starter already answered this question
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too. Its all written in the first post and I'm doing it on my own risk. Still wondering about your raging post.
I will update this, as soon as the first pc was fried.
TrTech said:
Me too. Its all written in the first post and I'm doing it on my own risk. Still wondering about your raging post.
I will update this, as soon as the first pc was fried.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was that 'unfriendly' because other people will do the same, because person xy said that it works. Then they fry their mainboard or notebook and complain.
I also don't understand why anyone risks damaging intentionally its computer or parts of it, especially if there's absolutely no need for it, e.g. just let it charge in USB mode, or take a small charger with you, or at least use two USB ports to separate the load.
But well, maybe some people don't have to take care of their computer.
This is an interesting thread. I have a Pebble charger and it literally takes four hours to charge my 1400mAh from ~0% to 100%, now my question is, will this damage my Pebble charger shorting the two wires to draw a greater current from the unit?
Overheating, melting and explosions are something I am looking to avoid.
I have yet to find a device that has been damaged doing this. I have personally tried this on a ps3, Xbox wii, 4 laptops 2 desktops, car radio,car charger and a sky+ box.
Kalavere said:
This is an interesting thread. I have a Pebble charger and it literally takes four hours to charge my 1400mAh from ~0% to 100%, now my question is, will this damage my Pebble charger shorting the two wires to draw a greater current from the unit?
Overheating, melting and explosions are something I am looking to avoid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try this? I too have a Pebble and would be interested to know if I have just 30 minutes to plug it in, can I charge quicker.
Also, did the guys PC blow up? He said he would come back!?!? Maybe it did and he's in hospital still Dangerous things USB ports...
thanks for this ! I go to try this
MM i have an interesting one (which i still dont get)
i have a pebble charger
with OEM HTC Micro USB charger cable
and Pebble charger
plug phone into OEM micro USB charger to phone (phone says Power AC) yeh thats right
OEM Micro USB to computer (chargin USB)
So far so good
Pebble charger OEM USB to phone (chargin USB)
Pebble Cable charger to phone ( Power AC)
why are the OEM and Pebble charger cables different?
Sorry if i am posting in the wrong area but the topics seem pretty similar to me =P
to put my 2pence in, i've just done this but slightly different than the OP method..
i bought the belkin car charger, gives 1amp, but is detected as 'USB', not 'AC' charging mode, so my phone only charges upto 500ma which isnt enough (in reality it doesnt charge when i have GPS & max screen brightness).
instead of modding a USB cable (unable to use for data) or buying extra kit (money/ordering/going out) i pulled a strand of wire from a spare mains cable i had, threaded it through the 2 center pins on the belkin charger and then twisted the wire together.
USB cable is slightly tighter in the socket now, but still removable and keeps everything nice and tidy.... and more to the point; cheap!
poor shown from belkin; 'USB charger' mode in a car! like it would ever have data connection to the 12v socket.
hope that helps someone!
USB cable to quick-charge an HTC smartphone
Check http://winhlp.com/node/855 for some more details and photos of a USB cable modification.
Does this mod change the detection of car mode
Hi,
I have just started flashing a couple of roms and noticed that when using my desire with my car charger (1amp rated) it does not charge when doing navigation. looking on battery widget I get a max 289mw on car charge and it is showing as a USB charge. Flashed back to stock and now the car charger shows up as ac connected rather than USB. This does solve the discharging on navigation issue but I would like to run Gingerbread.
my question is...
Will this mod stop the Desire detecting and automatically entering car mode when it is plugged in? Anyone done it to their car charger?
Ta
Yes
The cable modification (shorting the data lines 2 and 3, instructions at http://winhlp.com/node/855 ) will switch any HTC smartphone into AC charging mode.
But I am totally stumped as to why you can achieve AC charging mode without this mod. I know of no other way the HTC phone could detect a car USB charger. I'm tempted to ask you to repeat the test.
If anybody here has any idea, please respond. To the best of my knowledge no USB device is allowed to pull more than 0.5 A from USB power, lest the power source switch off according to the USB specification. The only exception is that the device gets positive information that it is connected to a charger that can deliver a higher current, and for HTC devices that is signalled by a shortcut between the two data lines.
Thank you. I would rather not check again I did look for a while. Reverted back to stock for now.
It is a Huawei curly lead car charger with a 1a rating. The strangest thing is that with my stock Vodafone rom it detects as AC power on battery widget but on both leedroid and RCMix it shows up as a USB charge and I get the power issue. On all three roms it detects car mode correctly (Which is good!).
I was just wondering if the mod would also break the car mode detection?
I can't find anything on how car mode is detected!
I just picked one up at walmart for $16. Its rated at 5v 2.1 amps. So it should work, but it still shows a red x on the tab when charging. I'm probably gonna take it back. Does anybody know of a car charger that plays nice with our Tabs?
Yadao said:
I just picked one up at walmart for $16. Its rated at 5v 2.1 amps. So it should work, but it still shows a red x on the tab when charging. I'm probably gonna take it back. Does anybody know of a car charger that plays nice with our Tabs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like it is not seeing some sort of required voltage or signal on one of it's pins to tell it to charge at full power. Or maybe it is charging at full power but because of this required voltage or signal the TAB doesn't show it. Someone on the Asus Transformer forum really delved into the Asus connector and found all kinds of interesting stuff like that,
Maybe I'll do some timed charging tests then.
It's probably not outputting enough power. You need 2amp charger like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Scosche-reVIV...NO4Q/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1309665830&sr=8-3
It is a 2 amp charger.
Edit: Its this charger, just sold without the cable.
http://www.amazon.com/Griffin-Technology-PowerJolt-Charger-iPhone/dp/B003GAAQXM/ref=pd_cp_e_1
It's not the amperage - it's the pin configuration. The Samsung chargers have a different pin configuration that tells the tab to start charging. Note that the pin swap happens in the charger unit, not in the data/charging cable so it's not enough to use a stock USB charger with the cable that came with your tab.
You can get adapters off of ebay that turn a regular USB charger into a "Samsung tab charger", you'd plug the adapter into the USB charger then the cable that came with the tab into the adapter and it should start charging.
This thread has more info on the adapters:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1116496
Thanks for the info. It definitely wasn't charging. I had it plugged in for a half hour with no percentage increase. Just returned it.
I don't have the resistors to reproduce my findings but found that there is a residence of 8.28k ohms between ground and both d+ and d-. 8.43k ohms between 5v and both d+ and d-. 0.7 ohms between d+ and d-.
I expect that in these adapters that there are two resisters and a diode.
Can any one verify this?
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium App
ericlmccormick said:
I don't have the resistors to reproduce my findings but found that there is a residence of 8.28k ohms between ground and both d+ and d-. 8.43k ohms between 5v and both d+ and d-. 0.7 ohms between d+ and d-.
I expect that in these adapters that there are two resisters and a diode.
Can any one verify this?
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Tab fast charges if you short D+ and D-, otherwise it's limited to 500mA.
I tried connecting the pins together, connecting both to ground and both to positive and none of those configurations put it into charge mode. When I test what comes out of my charger, I get 1.248 between the data pins and ground.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium App
ericlmccormick said:
I tried connecting the pins together, connecting both to ground and both to positive and none of those configurations put it into charge mode. When I test what comes out of my charger, I get 1.248 between the data pins and ground.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to let the d+/d- pins float.
If you let them float, then you get the same red x. Before you said you needed to short them. What are you shorting them to?
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ericlmccormick said:
If you let them float, then you get the same red x. Before you said you needed to short them. What are you shorting them to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I thought I already tested my Tab with my adapter that seems to work for everything else. Turns out it gives me the red X too. I guess Samsung can't follow a standard (though not as bad as the Transformer's adapter/cable).
The 8.3k or so between both d+/d- and ground and d+/d- and +5V is misleading since we're seeing 1.2V at the data pins. This post implies that it's actually a 33K/10K divider from +5V to ground which makes the 1.2V make sense. I'll try this later tonight if I can find some spare USB connectors.
The 33k/10k spilt did the trick!
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium App
See my post here.
Scosche makes Galaxy Tab specific 2.1amp car chargers with 1 and with 2 USB slots. Go here: http://www.scosche.com/consumer-tech/search/ and type USB in the search box on the top of the page. On the resulting page of USB devices you will find the Galaxy specific models.
They make identical models of "generic" USB car chargers which you can find cheap on eBay and just use the SAMSUNG CHARGING ADAPTER to make it work but the Galaxy Specific models are a cleaner install.
MisterEdF said:
Scosche makes Galaxy Tab specific 2.1amp car chargers with 1 and with 2 USB slots. Go here: http://www.scosche.com/consumer-tech/search/ and type USB in the search box on the top of the page. On the resulting page of USB devices you will find the Galaxy specific models.
They make identical models of "generic" USB car chargers which you can find cheap on eBay and just use the SAMSUNG CHARGING ADAPTER to make it work but the Galaxy Specific models are a cleaner install.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good find. I saw those on Amazon, but they seemed expensive, and I couldn't find any info at the time about whether it worked on the 10.1 or just the original Tab. I like the low profile one, but it is only single port. The dual-port looks too large for my setup.
I also got 4x China chargers for the price of one of those. =/
The Scosche iPad chargers such as the reVIVE II for iPad can be modified. Mine's in the car so I can't provide the exact resistor location or pictures, however:
If you open the reVIVE II and you look at the board with the plug portion to the left and the USB jacks to the right:
The upper USB jack is the 2.1A port. You need to perform the following mods to make it charge the tab:
Take D+ and D- and short them together. Solder blob will do this.
At this point instead of having 2.0v on one pin and 2.8v on the other (Resistors used for telling Apple iDevices to charge at 1A+), you will have 2.4v on both pins.
On the upper edge of the board there will be three resistors. The rightmost one is the current limiter for the power LED. (It should have a trace going to the LED)
The next one is part of the voltage dividers for one of the USB pins. Specifically, the voltage divider that originally generated 2.8v. Remove this resistor. I believe it has "62C" printed on it. Remove it - it'll be a pain in the ass. Tiny part, lead-free solder with ridiculously high melting temp.
At this point, if you reassemble the charger, you should see around 1.2-1.24 volts on D+ and D-. Congratulations, you now have a Galaxy Tab car charger.
flarbear said:
You can get adapters off of ebay that turn a regular USB charger into a "Samsung tab charger", you'd plug the adapter into the USB charger then the cable that came with the tab into the adapter and it should start charging.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THANKS!!! I was wondering why my 2.1A USB car charger wasn't working. Well, now I know and hopefully this adapter plug that I just ordered off of ebay will do the trick.
What is the best solution for quick charging the Galaxy Nexus in an automobile?
I have started to use 12-220 volt converter so I can use wall chargers.
I have bought a few of the low profile car usb chargers but they were never recognized as an AC charge. Come to find out, it was the USB cable. I bought a usb charging cable from Amazon last week and it goes in the USB charger and the phone does not think it is a USB charge. I have not timed it but it is recognized the same as the wall charger.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VYBCAY
ellisz said:
I have bought a few of the low profile car usb chargers but they were never recognized as an AC charge. Come to find out, it was the USB cable. I bought a usb charging cable from Amazon last week and it goes in the USB charger and the phone does not think it is a USB charge. I have not timed it but it is recognized the same as the wall charger.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VYBCAY
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 .. this solution has been working great for me, as well.
I've been getting 2.1A car chargers (look for ones for the iPad), most of the ones I had prior to this were 700mA or so and they can't keep up with my 1A phones. Be careful of dual port chargers advertising 2A, they may only be 1A each and may be "optimistic" about that rating. And don't worry about getting one rated for too much current, the Galaxy Nexus won't pull more than an amp no matter what the charger rating.
Some really good solutions here and thank you all for the help.
I'd really hate to use an inventer in my car just to maintain a clean install, so that really isnt an option for me.
Was really hoping to be able to use a off the shelf car charger with the correct pins to trick the GNexus into thinking that it was charging from a USB port, but the above solution should work well with using a socket USB charger.
I've never run into a car adapter that looks like a USB port, including the VZW charger with a spare port or the cheap 2.1A chargers I got from Amazon. My guess is that a charger not built correctly and leaving the data pins open only supports ~500mA anyway. Even if that's not the case I have a moral objection toward buying a cable to fix a design flaw in another cheap product - but that's just me
Grant H said:
Some really good solutions here and thank you all for the help.
I'd really hate to use an inventer in my car just to maintain a clean install, so that really isnt an option for me.
Was really hoping to be able to use a off the shelf car charger with the correct pins to trick the GNexus into thinking that it was charging from a USB port, but the above solution should work well with using a socket USB charger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got a charger similar to http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/USB-Car-...ccessories&hash=item4ab18358f4#ht_1638wt_1392
All I had to do was undo the screws at the top, put a bit of solder between the middle usb pins, and my phone recognises it as a AC source rather than USB.
There has got to be a standard car charger on the market with the middle usb pins already soldiered!
I found this on Amazon which advertises itself as a rapid charging device.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000S5Q9CA
Grant H said:
What is the best solution for quick charging the Galaxy Nexus in an automobile?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure the charger has the IC (rapid) chip. I use this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Vehicle-Adapter-micro-USB-Charger/dp/B000S5Q9CA
I've heard that Motorola one mentioned a lot as a good one.
The nice thing about having the low-profile usb plug is (a) it is low profile, (b) I can use it to charge other devices. The charge-only cable is only about $4, so I had no issues buying it to work with this to charge as an AC charge over a USB charge.
Grant H said:
There has got to be a standard car charger on the market with the middle usb pins already soldiered!
I found this on Amazon which advertises itself as a rapid charging device.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000S5Q9CA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have this one and it charges just like it does from the home outlet and its says "AC" charging. I bought another 8 for family and friends and they all love it.
I think I've figured out the disconnect, I've run into chargers that appear as a USB host which limits the charging to 500mA on previous phones I've had.
You guys are concerned about USB vs. AC charging mode. Of the chargers I've got, this one lists as AC while the rest as USB. However, the fact that the other chargers all work just fine keeping up with GPS+streaming music indicates that the USB vs. AC really has no bearing on the charge current delivered. I'd stay away from charge-only cables just because they'll get mixed in with your standard USB cables and you'll knock yourself out wondering why they don't work. On the other hand, if you really want AC in your battery info order the one I linked.
I keep it in my car... i think I've heard on other threads that USB charging doesn't keep up with GPS (for Directions). Any verify?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
TheKaz said:
I keep it in my car... i think I've heard on other threads that USB charging doesn't keep up with GPS (for Directions). Any verify?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's much more important is the rating on the power source. The GN can pull up to 1000mA, if your charger is only rated for 800mA (like many car chargers) it doesn't matter if it's in AC mode.
jdbower said:
What's much more important is the rating on the power source. The GN can pull up to 1000mA, if your charger is only rated for 800mA (like many car chargers) it doesn't matter if it's in AC mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
makes sense.. the one I use has dual usb (1.0 and 2.1)
You went and gave me a project for the weekend, and once again science prevails over anecdotal evidence. I took each of my 5 chargers and hooked them up to a 12V power supply that measures current. I then recorded whether the charger reported AC or USB, for the ones with USB I modified a right-angle adapter to short out the data pins, and I measured the current. The contenders:
Verizon Wireless Dual Charger
XTG Dual Port Charger
Griffen Powerjolt Dual USB Charger
Griffen Portjolt Micro
CostMad Dual USB Charger
The VZW model was USB out the external port as I had tested before, however AC out the built-in cable which I hadn't bothered to test. It pulled 0.25A @12V via the USB port and 0.59A via the cable. Hmmm... A hole develops in my previous observation. While I had used this on a long car trip with no issues, it was via the built-in cable.
The XTG was new, I hadn't used it before as it's in the car I rarely drive. It reported USB and 0.22A. With the adapter to make it report AC it pulled 0.48A.
The pattern was set. I had expected the Griffen adapters to be built more appropriately but the dual charger reported 0.22A without the adapter and 0.42A with. I had used this without losing charge in the past so this was surprising to me, but it's possible I just wasn't drawing as much current because the screen was dimmer or something.
The compact Griffen adapter (which is great for a laptop bag, BTW) pulled 0.21A and 0.47A respectively.
The cheap CostMad adapter was the only one that performed well out of the box, both reporting AC and pulled 0.57A.
In theory, a perfect adapter should pull 0.42A. Anything more is waste, anything less means it's not keeping up. I have doubts about the Griffen 2x allowing for a full amp, but the VZW and CostMad chargers are pretty lossy. What's even worse is that I'm pretty sure the VZW charger is rated for 800mA (but I can't find an actual spec on it) which would mean that it pulled the most power for the least current. Not that this really matters unless you've got an electric car.
Sorry for misleading you earlier, I should have checked the other port of the known-good VZW charger and probably doublechecked the numbers on my other "known good" charger. Still hating cables that work for charging but not for data, I ended up modifying each of the chargers to short the middle pins (except for the VZW one). If I didn't have the soldering iron for this, I probably would have gone for some of these instead.
Grant H said:
There has got to be a standard car charger on the market with the middle usb pins already soldiered!
I found this on Amazon which advertises itself as a rapid charging device.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000S5Q9CA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CyberPunk7t9 said:
Make sure the charger has the IC (rapid) chip. I use this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Vehicle-Adapter-micro-USB-Charger/dp/B000S5Q9CA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using the same one and it works perfect. Charges even when GPS navigation is running.
Make sure you select Amazon as the seller though. I heard there are a lot of fake ones.
Grant H said:
There has got to be a standard car charger on the market with the middle usb pins already soldiered!
I found this on Amazon which advertises itself as a rapid charging device.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000S5Q9CA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 to those recommending this one. I have this exact model and it does indeed charge at the "AC" rate, about twice as fast as the "USB" rate.
TheKaz said:
I keep it in my car... i think I've heard on other threads that USB charging doesn't keep up with GPS (for Directions). Any verify?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Motorola one will charge even when using GPS. I have a friend I bought one for that uses his GPS all day and loves the Motorola charger.