Develop Bugs

How to Modify 1 Amp Car Chargers to show AC Mode

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)...
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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??
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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!
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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

All 30 pin plugs created equally?

Im trying to buy this car charger...
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Galax...2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1311822548&sr=1-2
Im just trying to make sure its compatible.

Yes it would work with Galaxy tab.
I purchased the charging/data cable and car usb linked below.
http://goo.gl/Bj0JN for cable.
http://goo.gl/mzvml for dual usb charger.
It would be less than $8 for both including shipping. It works very good and usb adapter gives enough power to charge Galaxy tab very quick. Also, you get a spare usb to charge your 2nd device. Like a phone, gps etc.

Thanks for that!

media_11 said:
Yes it would work with Galaxy tab.
I purchased the charging/data cable and car usb linked below.
http://goo.gl/Bj0JN for cable.
http://goo.gl/mzvml for dual usb charger.
It would be less than $8 for both including shipping. It works very good and usb adapter gives enough power to charge Galaxy tab very quick. Also, you get a spare usb to charge your 2nd device. Like a phone, gps etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice find, very nice/inexpensive alternative for car charging. Why does the cable need a switch for charge/sync? Samsung one doesn't have that, just curious.

Raistlin1 said:
Nice find, very nice/inexpensive alternative for car charging. Why does the cable need a switch for charge/sync? Samsung one doesn't have that, just curious.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you use it with a Samsung charger, it'll charge/sync when in "sync" mode.
"Charge" mode lets it charge from chargers that normally would not charge the tab, like iPad chargers.
The way "dumb chargers" signal their presence to a device is with resistors between D-, D+, and the power rails. If the charger has the right resistors, the cable just has to pass D+ and D-. If the charger doesn't, the cable needs to disconnect them and put in its own resistor network.

Automobile Quick Charging Solution

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.

Wiring of the µB USB charger plug?

Hi all,
After my original charger stopped working (the plug became lose and was not charging the phone most of the time), I bought an aftermarket generic micro USB B AC. Since using this AC, I noticed very annoying touchscreen unresponsiveness.
I read this has to do with grounding so I popped open the plug to see how it was wired.
It turns out there is only a +5V to the +5V power pin of the micro USB B jack and a GND to the GND pin.
It yields a few questions:
1. Should the “outside” of the USB jack be grounded?
2. Should the D+ and D- lines be shorted to +5V? With a resistor? Without? I keep reading conflicting info on that matter.
3. Does Samsung have a warranty on their defective AC chargers?
Thanks!

Considering the lack of answers to my post, I tried shorting D+ and D- together. This was not a good idea, I think it screwed the charging circuitry and my original battery won't charge anymore.
I hope it only messed with the battery's internals and not the charging circuit of the SGS2 (which seems to be fine aside from that).

sorry to answer late but You cant shortcut D+ and D- with +5V in any case! The method to shortcut it though 2 resistors its a way to force charging circuit to draw more power from wall charger than standard 500mA (up to 2100mA). Anyway, its special schematics where you connect D+ with D- and than connect it though resistor to positive 5V and to another resistor to ground. I dont have precise values of those resistors but on XDA theres a thread about speed charging.
I wonder if You managed to burn S2 charging controller - a followup would be fruitfull for us.

The battery is fine now and the phone is working normally. But I gave up and bought a new Samsung charger, I didn't realise how cheap the original chargers were (about 5 EUR on eBay).
Nothing to do with the topic, but I see you are on Play. How are the speeds? My GF has a SGS2 on Play and it's incredibly slow, whatsapp will randomly receive and send the messages, sometimes a few hours after they have been sent or received by the server. We tried roaming on Plus and Orange but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I'm on tMobile and it's so much better there is no comparison possible. Thoughts?

I dont have any particular issues with play. Especially with SMS 's.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app

[Q] Need Opinion/info on Qmadix 4.4A USB Triple Travel Charging Hub...

So Im in desperate need of at least one more Wall charge for my galaxy note 8.0 and Galaxy S4. The only problem is they're either pretty expensive for the more legit products, or sketchy. I just need the white box part that goes into the wall outlet. SO incredibly embarrassing and frustrating that I can't seem to figure out what it's actually called. In any case, through my searches I found this:
Qmadix 4.4A USB Triple Travel Charging Hub
It allows for three ports, but each port is designated differently. well, okay... two are the same (1A), but ones different (2.4A). I have no clue about electricity, except to know if you don't use the samsung recommended converters it could damage the battery in the long run. Im under the impression that both of my devices require 2.0A. Does this mean only the 2.4A port would work?
Is anyone familiar with this Item Ive listed? Could I use this device to power bot my Galaxy Note 8.0 AND Galaxy S4 at the same time?
It seems like such a great deal and very compact. Can't pass up without at least asking about it.
again, Im asking about the:
Qmadix 4.4A USB Triple Travel Charging Hub

This is what you NEED to get: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2608578

vectron said:
This is what you NEED to get: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2608578
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate the reply. I had actually seen that and immediately fell in love... but I just as quickly wrote it off because of the additional cable thats required to plug it into an outlet. I need something more compact... something with collapsible prongs.
Another one I was looking at is this one iXCC Dual USB 4.2 Amp (20 Watt) SMART High Capacity AC Travel Wall Charger...
Any thought?

Ports listed as 1A might still be able to supply 2A for your phone, but they might be right at the top of their current limiting (thus running warmer). The whole thing about using only Samsung provided charger is just to scare you off so you buy their original overpriced accessories But there is a truth to it as well, when you buy cheap stuff from ebay where they sell 1A rated outputs labeled with 2A and can run into a problem above (overheating, which causes short, which can cause a damage to your phone). Anker is a trusted brand with a decent quality control, RAVPower is good, and I heard of QMadix before as well.
Here is a problem. When you are dealing with wall outlet converters with multiple outputs that carry a lot of heat/power, you are too close to the main electrical outlet. So, I would be careful not too overload these. Maybe using 2 devices plugged in at a time is ok, but NEVER 3 at a time. When you have something like that 40W Anker converter, you are placing it away from the outlet, it exposed to air circulation from every side (cooling it better), and it should have some fuse or internal protection in case of a short. I understand, for convenience you need wall converter that plugs in, but make sure you get a double one, not the triple output one because i would consider those to be not as reliable when you are charging 3 devices at the same time while plugged into a single wall outlet directly.

Anker also make this one: www.amazon.com/Anker®-4-Port-Charger-Travel-Adapter/dp/B00EI8SS4U/ - but I would not load more than 2 ports at a time. Or if you load 3 or 4 ports, make sure it's not overnight when you are sleeping and that all 4 charging devices are not drawing max current

Btw, one quick question... The Anker 40W 5-port USB wall charger... Should I only charge 2 devices at a time with it aswell? or was that referring only to chargers that plug directly into the wall because of the heat issue?

varxtis said:
Btw, one quick question... The Anker 40W 5-port USB wall charger... Should I only charge 2 devices at a time with it aswell? or was that referring only to chargers that plug directly into the wall because of the heat issue?
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Click to collapse
You can use all 5 ports on that one (40W version that doesn't plug into wall outlet directly). That how I do it all the way, mostly using 4 ports at once to charge my Note 2, my Metawatch smartwatch, my mp3/DAP player, and external battery. Sometime also add my wireless headset too