Related
So I went onto monoprice.com and was able to get a complete car kit that included a cigarette to USB adapter, 3ft USB to 5-pin microUSB cable, and universal car mount, all for a total of $11.28 $11.37 including shipping!
the individual items are:
cigarette to USB
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10826&cs_id=1082602&p_id=3523&seq=1&format=2
USB to 5-pin MicroUSB
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10303&cs_id=1030307&p_id=4867&seq=1&format=2
Car charger
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003WRBGK6/ref=oss_product
Universal GPS car mount
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10840&cs_id=1084001&p_id=5272&seq=1&format=2
I hope this helps anyone who is looking for a cheap but effective mounting system for their car
EDIT
The adapter did not charge the phone correctly, so my phone would drain faster than it would recharge. I went to amazon.com and bought a car charger that should work great, and only ends up making the total a few cents higher
Wow. Good price there.
The output of the car charger is 1000ma, the stock wall charger is 700ma I believe. You think it'll hurt it? If anything, I think the phone will just get warmer than normal when plugged in.
that's the car mount I use. Picked it up from there, really cheap but you get what you pay for. Its an ok car mount but not great.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
speoples20 said:
that's the car mount I use. Picked it up from there, really cheap but you get what you pay for. Its an ok car mount but not great.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well hey, it'll work right? Lol.
As for the charger, I'm not sure. I don't think I'll do anything bad really.
dam thats not a bad price!
Just a FYI
Even though the car charger is rated at 1000mA, it does not have the D+ and D- pins shorted together. This causes the phone to think it is connected to a data only device (and not a power supply). Because of this, it only draws 500mA, which when using with Navigation actually causes more drain than what the charge is.
It's a simple fix though. Just pull apart the charger, and solder the middle pins together (look on the underside of the board, and solder together the two middle solder points). The proper way to do it, and the way I did it, was to bridge it using a 200ohm resistor.
Ask that kinda sucks. Well I'll see how it works before I try anything. Is there a canker on that site that will work correctly? Or is the problem with the car to usb rather than the usb cable itself?
I bought one of these chargers for my duaghter before this thread and it does not work with her Vibrant. Guess I will have to mod it.
jinx8402 said:
Just a FYI
Even though the car charger is rated at 1000mA, it does not have the D+ and D- pins shorted together. This causes the phone to think it is connected to a data only device (and not a power supply). Because of this, it only draws 500mA, which when using with Navigation actually causes more drain than what the charge is.
It's a simple fix though. Just pull apart the charger, and solder the middle pins together (look on the underside of the board, and solder together the two middle solder points). The proper way to do it, and the way I did it, was to bridge it using a 200ohm resistor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to be a hard core tweaker to break down an solder a $2 cable. I wasted more than $2 worth of time just reading the post about it.
Ok, so it didn't work. The phone just said that the usb had been plugged in, but it didn't charge. I took a pic of what the charger looks like torn apart, can you tell me where I need to souder? Am I going to have to tear open the usb casing, or is it something I can do without tearing it apart any further?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
So I grabbed another car-to-usb thing, and now it says It's charging but It's apparently draining faster than it is charging :-( it doesn't even seem to be slowing down the drain. Do you guys think that a different cable might affect things, or should I just get a new charger/adapter?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
freekyfrogy said:
So I grabbed another car-to-usb thing, and now it says It's charging but It's apparently draining faster than it is charging :-( it doesn't even seem to be slowing down the drain. Do you guys think that a different cable might affect things, or should I just get a new charger/adapter?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have this charger, but try using the cable that came with the phone. If its the same, then try to exchange it or using a different cable.
I also bought mine from monoprice and it does not charge. It only drains .
Will look for alternatives.
Pneumatic said:
You have to be a hard core tweaker to break down an solder a $2 cable. I wasted more than $2 worth of time just reading the post about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just did a few quick searches, because like a few others have said, it drains faster than it charges when using navigation. Not good if you're on a long trip.
Also, it is not the cable itself it's the charger that is not correct. I used both a monoprice wire and the oem one that came with phone. Just as an update, I have noticed that while soldering the points helped a little, it is still not pulling as much as even the stock wall charger (which is only rated at .7A). I found this out by going to the file /sys/class/power_supply/battery/batt_chg_current.
-While plugged into the wall ithe value is showing 1050 on average.
-Plugged into usb it shows 850 on average
-On the modified car charger around 900 on average.
So even with the mod it still doesn't pull the full amp and still drains a bit quicker than the charge
freekyfrogy said:
Ok, so it didn't work. The phone just said that the usb had been plugged in, but it didn't charge. I took a pic of what the charger looks like torn apart, can you tell me where I need to souder? Am I going to have to tear open the usb casing, or is it something I can do without tearing it apart any further?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try the fix and see if you get better results than me. If you look at the port that you would plug in the usb cable, (from the angle you took the picture) you will see four pins "bend" down into the pcb board. These are the four pins I am talking about. The outside two are for power. The middle two are your D+ D- (data) pins. if you flip over the board you will see the 4 factory solder points, just add a dab of solder to the two middle points.
I bought this combo as well and the charger works fine for my usage: pandora on my one hour commute. I can't get navigation to work right (and I know how to get to work so I have not tested that.
Only flaw so far is that the audio cable from my phone placement on the windscreen to the aux-jack in for my stereo is an inch too far than my cable can reach. Time to get a longer cable.
I just went ahead and bought this on amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003WRBGK6/ref=oss_product
This should do the trick, and when coupled with the gps mount is only a couple cents more than buying the adapter+cable
it would make the total package... $11.37
what do you guys think about this one?
http://www.amazon.com/Portable-Char..._21?ie=UTF8&s=wireless&qid=1282314027&sr=1-21
suppose to replace car / wall charger as a one unit...
The new car charger works great when my phone is asleep it will fully charge in under an hour! The only thing is, with my screen all the way up using gps it still drains a lot faster than it charges. When I turned the screen down, it didn't seem to go down at all in the 5 or 6 minutes of driving I did. Does this screen really suck THAT MUCH power??? Are there any chargers out there capable of charging this phone well enough to allow for full screen brightness while using the gps functionality?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
freekyfrogy said:
The new car charger works great when my phone is asleep it will fully charge in under an hour! The only thing is, with my screen all the way up using gps it still drains a lot faster than it charges. When I turned the screen down, it didn't seem to go down at all in the 5 or 6 minutes of driving I did. Does this screen really suck THAT MUCH power??? Are there any chargers out there capable of charging this phone well enough to allow for full screen brightness while using the gps functionality?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
I'd like to know the same thing.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
I've noticed this happening any time I tether via USB or use GPS navigation while plugged in. Even though I'm connected and charging, I slowly but surely discharge. This weekend I used Google Nav for 2 hours and lost 20% of my battery while charging! On Juice Plotter, I notice the green charging glow at the bottom is a more transparent shade of green (as opposed to solid green when solely charging). Any ideas what causes this or how to avoid it? It seems to be recent.
TheBiles said:
I've noticed this happening any time I tether via USB or use GPS navigation while plugged in. Even though I'm connected and charging, I slowly but surely discharge. This weekend I used Google Nav for 2 hours and lost 20% of my battery while charging! On Juice Plotter, I notice the green charging glow at the bottom is a more transparent shade of green (as opposed to solid green when solely charging). Any ideas what causes this or how to avoid it? It seems to be recent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me guess, you're charging off a USB port in your laptop, or using the data cable that came with the phone in your car charger?
Not all USB sources (or cables, for that matter) are created equally. Most PC/laptop ports put out 500mAh, half of what the Evo is designed to take (the factory AC adapter, the wall plug, is 1000mAh, aka 1amp).
Since it's only getting half the draw it can't quite keep up with how much power you're sucking away from the battery. This is usually only present when using the device heavily, such as with the screen on and GPS or WiFi/3G actively running.
The charging indicator (at least on Sense) indicates if it's getting the full "AC" charge (1amp) or if it's getting a reduced current charge. Sounds like that's what you're noticing.
My wife's Samsung Moment charger is 700mAh/0.7amp, and it can keep my Evo steady during use (it's powering it for 3G+WiFi tether right now), but it doesn't really charge fast at all, basically it just keeps it from depleting.
I've been meaning to try one of the USB Y-cables that join 2 standard USB ports to one female port for combined power of 1amp, but I'm not sure it will work as I hope. Anyway, I'll report back if I get around to it.
Otherwise, use an actual 1amp AC adapter whenever possible. Shop on eBay, chargers are stupid cheap. Just look for one that says it can do 1amp/1000mAh. If you're using the phone at work and want to have a convenient charging source, get one of the $20 docking cradles with an AC adapter on eBay. If it's in your car, any 12v USB charger should work, as long as you use a proper pass-through charging micro USB cable and not a "data cable". There's a slight difference in how the pins are wired inside. The Rocket Fish brand of micro USB cables are known to work (that's how I charge mine at full power in my car).
Way to go GT. Are you a student? I'm an ME phd student.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
sprocket87 said:
Let me guess, you're charging off a USB port in your laptop, or using the data cable that came with the phone in your car charger?
Not all USB sources (or cables, for that matter) are created equally. Most PC/laptop ports put out 500mAh, half of what the Evo is designed to take (the factory AC adapter, the wall plug, is 1000mAh, aka 1amp).
Since it's only getting half the draw it can't quite keep up with how much power you're sucking away from the battery. This is usually only present when using the device heavily, such as with the screen on and GPS or WiFi/3G actively running.
The charging indicator (at least on Sense) indicates if it's getting the full "AC" charge (1amp) or if it's getting a reduced current charge. Sounds like that's what you're noticing.
My wife's Samsung Moment charger is 700mAh/0.7amp, and it can keep my Evo steady during use (it's powering it for 3G+WiFi tether right now), but it doesn't really charge fast at all, basically it just keeps it from depleting.
I've been meaning to try one of the USB Y-cables that join 2 standard USB ports to one female port for combined power of 1amp, but I'm not sure it will work as I hope. Anyway, I'll report back if I get around to it.
Otherwise, use an actual 1amp AC adapter whenever possible. Shop on eBay, chargers are stupid cheap. Just look for one that says it can do 1amp/1000mAh. If you're using the phone at work and want to have a convenient charging source, get one of the $20 docking cradles with an AC adapter on eBay. If it's in your car, any 12v USB charger should work, as long as you use a proper pass-through charging micro USB cable and not a "data cable". There's a slight difference in how the pins are wired inside. The Rocket Fish brand of micro USB cables are known to work (that's how I charge mine at full power in my car).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using the included charging cable. Doesn't that have full capacity? I also use a standard USB adapter in the car. It seems like that would be able to output the correct amount of volts.
gtkansan said:
Way to go GT. Are you a student? I'm an ME phd student.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
3rd year CmpE.
I had the same problem until I noticed how hot my phone was using the nav. 13 hour drive. I purchased a vent cradle for the car and so that it can stay cool while in use and charging. While the other guy may be right theoretically, its not right practically. The evo will shut off its mini usb hub once it starts getting dangerously hot so that it won't damage your phone. Long story short make sure your phone is at safe temps no need to buy another charger for your evo. keep at cool temps so that phone won't cut off power supply will even shut your phone down if its way to hot, happened to me in atlanta not fun.
"Insert Fancy Quote"
TheBiles said:
I'm using the included charging cable. Doesn't that have full capacity? I also use a standard USB adapter in the car. It seems like that would be able to output the correct amount of volts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you say "included charging cable" do you mean the wall plug that came with the Evo or just the cable with a USB connector on one end and a micro USB on the other end? Because THAT cable is pinned as a data transfer cable and designed to relay only half voltage no matter what you plug it into. I know, because it only charged my Evo at slow speed when plugged into my USB car charger. Once I replaced it with the Rocket Fish cable it charged at full speed.
kwilbur3 said:
I had the same problem until I noticed how hot my phone was using the nav. 13 hour drive. I purchased a vent cradle for the car and so that it can stay cool while in use and charging. While the other guy may be right theoretically, its not right practically. The evo will shut off its mini usb hub once it starts getting dangerously hot so that it won't damage your phone. Long story short make sure your phone is at safe temps no need to buy another charger for your evo. keep at cool temps so that phone won't cut off power supply will even shut your phone down if its way to hot, happened to me in atlanta not fun.
"Insert Fancy Quote"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See above. While I agree that heat will kill the battery and possibly trigger a shutoff, I don't think that's his problem. If you use the wrong cable or charger you will only get half charging current.
sprocket87 said:
When you say "included charging cable" do you mean the wall plug that came with the Evo or just the cable with a USB connector on one end and a micro USB on the other end? Because THAT cable is pinned as a data transfer cable and designed to relay only half voltage no matter what you plug it into. I know, because it only charged my Evo at slow speed when plugged into my USB car charger. Once I replaced it with the Rocket Fish cable it charged at full speed.
See above. While I agree that heat will kill the battery and possibly trigger a shutoff, I don't think that's his problem. If you use the wrong cable or charger you will only get half charging current.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean the USB cable that comes in the box with the EVO that plugs into the AC adapter. Maybe I will look into a new cable then. Hmm.
Edit: Those Rocketfish cables that you mentioned seem to be ungodly expensive. No way in hell am I going to pay more than $5 for a USB cable. Any alternatives?
TheBiles said:
I mean the USB cable that comes in the box with the EVO that plugs into the AC adapter. Maybe I will look into a new cable then. Hmm.
Edit: Those Rocketfish cables that you mentioned seem to be ungodly expensive. No way in hell am I going to pay more than $5 for a USB cable. Any alternatives?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the one I got: http://cgi.ebay.com/ROCKETFISH-MOBI...ARGING-CABLE-/350384355972?pt=PDA_Accessories
$3 shipped
And there are 2 USB cables that came with the Evo (mine anyway), a thick one that was bundled with the wall charger and a thin one that's intended just for data sync. The thin one doesn't seem to charge at full speed.
If you're using the other one and it's STILL draining then maybe there is an issue with heat or something, like the other guy said. Is the phone SUPER hot at the base, where the kickstand is, when this happens?
OP - I am having the same problem. I'm 95% sure it's caused by something wrong in CM6 regarding how it handles USB charging. Past few nightlies I have been leaving my phone on the charger doing NOTHING overnight and it goes dead.
This CANNOT be due to lack of charging strength:
#1 the same exact charger worked perfectly in the past, before I flashed a certain nightly - not sure which one exactly it started in
#2 if it was charging, but slowly why in the world would the battery drain when I have it underclocked to 245 mhz and the phone is sleeping with screen off?
On my standard charger that came with the phone it is working fine even though it's a USB that plugs into an adapter - not sure why this doesn't work with my other one that I had from another phone since it worked perfectly before. Something is definitely odd with CM6 and USB charging.
sprocket87 said:
This is the one I got: http://cgi.ebay.com/ROCKETFISH-MOBI...ARGING-CABLE-/350384355972?pt=PDA_Accessories
$3 shipped
And there are 2 USB cables that came with the Evo (mine anyway), a thick one that was bundled with the wall charger and a thin one that's intended just for data sync. The thin one doesn't seem to charge at full speed.
If you're using the other one and it's STILL draining then maybe there is an issue with heat or something, like the other guy said. Is the phone SUPER hot at the base, where the kickstand is, when this happens?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's odd, because my EVO only came with the one cable for the adapter. Phone stays cool.
berardi said:
OP - I am having the same problem. I'm 95% sure it's caused by something wrong in CM6 regarding how it handles USB charging. Past few nightlies I have been leaving my phone on the charger doing NOTHING overnight and it goes dead.
This CANNOT be due to lack of charging strength:
#1 the same exact charger worked perfectly in the past, before I flashed a certain nightly - not sure which one exactly it started in
#2 if it was charging, but slowly why in the world would the battery drain when I have it underclocked to 245 mhz and the phone is sleeping with screen off?
On my standard charger that came with the phone it is working fine even though it's a USB that plugs into an adapter - not sure why this doesn't work with my other one that I had from another phone since it worked perfectly before. Something is definitely odd with CM6 and USB charging.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've also noticed lately that my phone will charge insanely fast. Like from 30% to 90% in half an hour.
Sprocket - stupid question here... do these Rocket Fish charging cables also handle data transfer just as well as the stock micro-usb cable that came with the phone or would someone want to have one JUST for charging and keep their stock cable for data transfer purposes?
TheBiles said:
That's odd, because my EVO only came with the one cable for the adapter. Phone stays cool.
I've also noticed lately that my phone will charge insanely fast. Like from 30% to 90% in half an hour.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I was unclear - the other cable I have that is the problem is one from another phone but the same type, and up until recently it worked perfectly.
I bought a 1000ma car charger off ebay, but it only seems to charge my phone very very slowly. I know it will be using a lot of power as the gps, screen etc is running, but i do the same at home with a charger that I know works and the battery % still goes up.
I also bought a 1000ma official HTC mains charger off ebay and it doesnt seem to charge my phone at all. (I've got a refund for this charger).
Is there an app that tells me how much current my phone is drawing from its external power source? Then I can test a charger as soon as I buy it off ebay, and if it doesnt do as advertised ill ask for my money back straight away!
Or is there a way to do it manually? I have a multimeter.
I also am very interested in this, as I have several car -> USB converters that do not state their output. It would be nice to know which one(s) are going to be the best for my usage.
I have a brother-in-law that is an EE, and I'll be seeing him this evening. I'll pick his brain and post back whatever I can find out...
You should be able to do it (somewhat) easily using your multimeter if you don't mind stripping a wire or two. You basically just connect the leads across some kind of load (you could try to leave it plugged into your phone, but may want to try something else) and then use the multimeter's probes to measure the current across the load.
The original Samsung charger outputs 5V---1000ma, I have an extra blackberry micro usb charger that outputs 5V---750ma.
I want to use my old blackberry charger in my office, will this different current output affect my battery long term or short term?
edlivian said:
The original Samsung charger outputs 5V---1000ma, I have an extra blackberry micro usb charger that outputs 5V---750ma.
I want to use my old blackberry charger in my office, will this different current output affect my battery long term or short term?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One of the immediate side effects will be that your phone will take a longer time to fully charge your battery.
If I helped you out in any way please thank me. Thanks.
Not sure how the blackberry chargers are. I know some of the Motorola chargers are accepted by the phone for high current charging (any charger that doesn't puts the phone in low current mode).
I charge my phone every night on my old 700mah Samsung charger and while it does take longer youd hardly notice unless you were trying to get as much charge in say an hour as possible. So as long as the phone doesn't limit it you should be good. <500mah is very noticeable.
I know it will take longer to charge. But Im not as familiar with appropriate charging output for li-ion as i am for ni-mh Sanyo eneloops for example that ideally should be charged at 220ma to maximize cell life.
edlivian said:
I know it will take longer to charge. But Im not as familiar with appropriate charging output for li-ion as i am for ni-mh Sanyo eneloops for example that ideally should be charged at 220ma to maximize cell life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The rule still applies the less current used to charge the better the lifespan. The phone was paired with a battery with the intention of using a 1 amp charger. The phone will only allow high current charging mode if it thinks the charger is Samsung. Shorting the data pins is a way to fool it and many aftermarket chargers already do this.
With your phone on and the phone in low current mode (320 mah i believe) you will have a hard time charging the phone if anything is wake locking the phone even screen off. You will even have trouble charging and using the phone at 500mah depending on whats going on.
The phone will be eating some amount of power from the charger, the battery is not always seeing as much current as you might think. I always stick by the practice of not deep discharging it, LiION would rather be topped off then not charged (geeze remember NiCad laptop batteries.... lol). I feel this battery will be the shortest lifespan of any phone or laptop I have ever had. Just due to how much use it sees.
Charger
Any micro usb charger should work. I've had a dozen or so different gadgets that all use micro usb from Blue Tooth headsets, to speakers. I use all chargers interchangeably with one noteable exception. My wife's Nook Tablet will only charge using the provided Nook charger. Found that out the hard way.
I have also found that not all micro usb cables will provide data transfer for all phones. I'm guessing different pin-outs? For instance when I was trying to root my ET4G, I forgot my OEM cable at home so I tried to use my EVO cable. That dind't work well at all.
My old blackberry chargers seemed to work fine but I started seeing some strange jumping around of the battery while using. For instance it would all of a sudden jump up to 100% charged then if I unplugged and plugged back in it would go back to 70% or whatever. I went back to only samsung or just charging off usb. I use my pc, printer, cable box etc to charge my phone.
I charge mine with either the stock charger that came with my E4GT, or an old 700MAh charger that came with my old Samsung Rant. Occasionally I use the charger that came with my HTC Evo 4G. I really can never tell a difference. Although, like someone above said, it seems as if non-Samsung usb cables will not charge when plugged into a computer. That's how it is with the HTC cable, and I've also tried an LG usb cable and got the same results.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
BBJon said:
I have also found that not all micro usb cables will provide data transfer for all phones. I'm guessing different pin-outs? For instance when I was trying to root my ET4G, I forgot my OEM cable at home so I tried to use my EVO cable. That dind't work well at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? I rooted and always use Odin using an HTC cable...
EggosEvo said:
I charge mine with either the stock charger that came with my E4GT, or an old 700MAh charger that came with my old Samsung Rant. Occasionally I use the charger that came with my HTC Evo 4G. I really can never tell a difference. Although, like someone above said, it seems as if non-Samsung usb cables will not charge when plugged into a computer. That's how it is with the HTC cable, and I've also tried an LG usb cable and got the same results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the exclaim, the replacement to the rant and thats where my 700mah charger came from.
All of my other Micro USB cables except the one are non samsung and I use them all for charging, data and they charge while connected to pc. But none of them are from other phone manufacturers or anything. The Micro USB spec is what these phones are using there is no difference.
The difference that matters most of the time is tolerances. Its easy to end up with cables that will work well in one port but not another. The rest of the cable may also be out of spec and not work well or at all for certain purposes.
I've ruined two batteries because of non-OEM chargers on the ET4G. (Actually, ruined two, and made a third battery just render terrible performance.) I definitely don't have the problem with other devices I own, and it's definitely happened with two separate ET4G's I've owned.
So, "be very careful using alternate chargers" is all I would advise.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Please correct me if I'm wrong but isn't electricity the same no matter the source?
If the phone is looking to pull 1A and your charger is rated for .7A I'd be worried about the charger not the battery, which technically is a cell not a battery.
Tolerances were mentioned before and I think that is most of the problem with certain cables working fine for some people and not others. All connectors and cabling are supposed to meet the USB spec and many cheap ones don't. Also the supposed 10,000 insertion rating for micro USB is a bit optimistic imo. I replace cables after a couple months max because of loose connections.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
dberend said:
Please correct me if I'm wrong but isn't electricity the same no matter the source?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really because these chargers are doing AC to DC conversion and voltage regulation is a huge factor in its job. With a bad charger design not only can charging be affected, possibly even hurt the battery. Since the phone will consumer charger power to run while on the charger the phone can become unstable. Not talking a defective charger, just bad and cheap designs.
dberend said:
If the phone is looking to pull 1A and your charger is rated for .7A I'd be worried about the charger not the battery, which technically is a cell not a battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think about that alot actually. Coming from PC power supplies you never want to overload the unit. But I know for a fact I have devices that demand more from chargers than can be given, and do not have the low current and high current modes like this phone.
I am no electrical engineer and am only familiar with AC to DC and DC to AC circuits and various voltage regulation techiniques. But it is possible to current limit as well right? You design a half amp charger, with the data pin short to put the Samsung into high current. You limit the current to 500 mah but over build the components just a little to increase lifespan.
Anyways, I bought a 2.1 Amp RCA wall charger from walmart last night on a wim. 9 bucks, might come in handy when i get a tablet. Has a 1 Amp side and a 2.1 Amp thats shared with the 1 Amp. Phone didn't show any ill will to it and I had my Schosche GoBatt on the 1 amp end. If the phones drawing too much current could be bad in the long run but its working so far. Charged at the normal speed of the stock charger.
RainMotorsports said:
Not really because these chargers are doing AC to DC conversion and voltage regulation is a huge factor in its job. With a bad charger design not only can charging be affected, possibly even hurt the battery. Since the phone will consumer charger power to run while on the charger the phone can become unstable. Not talking a defective charger, just bad and cheap designs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you on bad and cheap designs. How many tv's and other electronics have been rendered useless by a few substandard capacitors that saved the manufacturer $.02 per unit?
I try not to use any charger that doesn't have HTC, Samsung, etc on the label. I figure if they were willing to back it warranty wise for the original device it should put out clean enough power.
I'm far from being engineer but I do quite a bit of hardware hacking and learned a little bit about electronics when I was at Ft Gordon. So I'm not completely lost around a multimeter
I would imagine that there is some protection built into the charging circuit of the phone itself. How effective or what kind of tolerance Idk suppose I could look for datasheets if anybody really cares.
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I recently sold my old Toyota Rav4 which only had a standard cigarette lighter car charger. I used a cheap charger I've had since my old Blackberry Tour to charge my ET4G. I work on the road a lot and used the car charger a lot for about the last 10 months til my phone started dying on me. Sprint store tested the phone and said the battery was slightly swollen and definitely showed signs of being damaged which in turn damaged the terminals on the phone causing constant reboots. I paid $35 to have Sprint/Samsung replace the phone as it was less than a yr old and under warranty.
I now have a new car and new ET4G. New car has USB port under the radio as well as 2 standard car charging ports. I've done several searches and read several threads about different voltages and which ones actually charge phones and tablets etc but none have answered my question. The question is is USB charging any safer than standard car charger? I've been told by a friend that fluctuations in the cars battery can send different amounts of charge to the phone and damage it over time. Both methods charge my phone so I don't care which one I use though I'd rather use USB as my USB cord is just 1.5 feet long (perfect length to reach my phone mount).
For some reason they actually gave me a new ET4G not a refurb and it works great. I don't want to damage the battery on this one and would like to keep it alive and sell it when I upgrade phones around December. That's only a few months away but I'd like to know I'm not damaging the battery in the mean time. Any input would be great. Thanks in advance and sorry for the lengthy write up.
Anyone with any input? Anyone use USB to micro USB in their cars?
Don't know if the new car is also a Toyota but here goes...
04 and 10 Toyotas - tried a cheapo MicroUSB charger and the voltage actually drained the battery! So I bought a $10 lighter to USB port charger, plugged in the cable and charges like a champ!
It really depends on how much power they're pushing through the USB port and whether the E4GT can regulate it. I'm finding it to work great - and MTP mode should give you access to the music on the head unit. (Again, *if* it's a newer Toyota...)
Most radios and internal usb ports will be 500ma (same as a standard computer usb port). That is only enough to charge the phone when it is sleeping. Just snag a $10 adapter that puts out 1a.
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Thank you both. I just drove 2 hours with Bluetooth on and GPS running while connected to USB. Battery drained 8% which isn't much so it wasn't strong enough to charge it but slowed down drain.
The new car is a 2013 Hyundai Elantra GT (It's a new model to Hyundai). The cigarette charger doesn't seem to over heat the phone like my Toyota did. I'll ask Hyundai how much charge the cigarette lighter port puts out I guess.
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I highly recommend the OEM Motorola car charger. Got mine on Amazon for $6. It was the only charger that would work on my old phone because it had voltage control. Any generic charger would only drain my battery while still displaying the charging animation.
Plus it has a cool blue glow to it.
Ravaged Pheonix said:
I highly recommend the OEM Motorola car charger. Got mine on Amazon for $6. It was the only charger that would work on my old phone because it had voltage control. Any generic charger would only drain my battery while still displaying the charging animation.
Plus it has a cool blue glow to it.
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Sweet, I'll take a look at it. I heard back from Hyundai and the guy said he has no documentation on it yet since its a new model but if I wanted to swing by he could test it real quick and let me know. Today was hot as hell. I got in the car and blasted the AC. Put the phone on the USB charger and after about 10 minutes I got a warning on my screen saying phone is too hot and charging has stopped. I didn't even have GPS on or anything. I quickly unplugged the phone and it was fine after that. How can the USB overheat the phone when it can't even charge it while I run GPS and Bluetooth? I wasn't too happy. I used a brand new USB to micro USB cord from Monoprice (5 pin if that makes a difference).