Develop Bugs

Using 3rd party chargers

Hi, I have just recieved my TP2 and was reading the manual when I noticed that it stated "Only the AC adapter and cable provided with your device must be used to charge the battery". However I have two USB car chargers and two further AC usb ac chargers from previous phones (a MPX200 and a HTC 730) and several mini USB cables (standard not HTC custom ones). Is it safe to use any usb charger or cable, and the manual is just being pedantic or is there a good reason to only use the supplied charger/cable.
Thanks
Tom

I sometimes don't use the usb cable that comes with it. I use my others usb cable to charge it too. well as long as you checked the voltage before you charge. Like the car usb charger, I guess pretty much standard, as long as it is a 12volt :> Even at home I use different usb cable too.

In general it should be fine. Those warnings are always present, just like the comment to always use the maker's batteries. This is simply because
1. They want to make more money and they will if you buy original products from the phone manufacturer.
2. In the case of warranties, if you used a cheap charger with a defect, they are not responsible for the consequences should something go wrong. If you only use their cables and chargers, they can't really say it was your fault for using a knockoff/generic charger.

A friend of mine even uses his Blackberry charger to charge his Touch HD
When in doubt, check the output of the charger you are using: a standard HTC charger churns out 5V, 1A
USB cables are pretty standard so there isn't a big difference - probably except in build quality of the eletrical contacts and the width of the jack - I have one cable that cannot be inserted into my TP2 without a bit more force.

My TP2 Verizon (CDMA) is on the way. I use an "IGO" car charger and have tips for several phones and IPOD Classic. Interesting that most of my mini usb phones use the "a32" tip and the TP2 is listed as using an "A53" tip. May have a circuit for when fully charged. Both are mini USB.
I say an advertisement for an AC wall charger that says charges A"" usb devices. You plug the USB cord into it. Now why would that be safe for an IPOD, TP2, Motorola..... but not DC current????
Maybe they just lie!

The voltage is not an issue, al usb chargers deliver close to 5V but some deliver low current and the HTC phones prefer >500mA but even so less than this will just mean a longer charge time.
HTC recommend you use their cables/chargers as a safety measure because they use a non-standard connector with one flat side for their headset.
Two things can happen using a standard mini usb in this socket if you are not carefull.
a, A standard connector puts extra stress on the socket due to movement and can cause damage. (see prev device threads on Poss mini usb failure)
b, Some device specific usb chargers can have plug cross-connections to denote charger or data cable recognition and can subject data lines to constant 5V (not usualy a problem)
Basically they are issuing a disclaimer for the non-standard mini usb and trying to sell extra acc's at the same time.

In car battery charging

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)

[Q] Slow USB Charging in AC outlet

Whenever I plug my Desire in an AC outlet, it charges ridiculously slow. I check the battery status and it says "Charging (USB)" (not AC) and USB Debugging pops up. My wall adapter says it has an output of 1000ma. Is the chord bottle-necking the charging speed or is it the adapter? I am using the chord that came with my phone but I bought a new adapter to fit my countries outlets.

Same problem. I would like a resolution to this also.

There is allready a thread concerning this issue and it has the solution your looking for.

mercianary said:
There is allready a thread concerning this issue and it has the solution your looking for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have looked on the forums and it should seem like I should get regular AC charging on my Desire. I have a 1000mah charger and I am using the USB cable that came with my phone. I am wondering why I do not. I looked at my USB (fat side) pins and they are shortened. I have included an image of my charger.

if the adaptor says it supports iPhone etc then that is why the USB debugging symbol is coming up.
because that symbol is up it will only charge at 500mA max (the phone thinks it is in a PC, it doesn't wnat toburn out the USB port).
if it is a cheap adaptor, the voltage regulator may be limited to 100mA. thats what happened with me.
either way, in my eyes you have 3 choices.
1. buy a new adaptor
2. put a new voltage regulator in the adaptor (a friend did this for me)
3. use a converter so the adaptor you have will work in your wall.

nzdcoy said:
if the adaptor says it supports iPhone etc then that is why the USB debugging symbol is coming up.
because that symbol is up it will only charge at 500mA max (the phone thinks it is in a PC, it doesn't wnat toburn out the USB port).
if it is a cheap adaptor, the voltage regulator may be limited to 100mA. thats what happened with me.
either way, in my eyes you have 3 choices.
1. buy a new adaptor
2. put a new voltage regulator in the adaptor (a friend did this for me)
3. use a converter so the adaptor you have will work in your wall.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
O I didn't realize if it was branded to work with iPhone it would charge slowly. Thank you for your help. Next time I'll watch out for a "Works for the iPhoney."

Bump
I would like to know how it ended?
I have a same problem, the only difference is that i have stock HTC AC charger with separate USB cable (stock too). When plugged to AC it shows "charging(USB)". Tried different cables, same result. Tried two different AC adapters, but both were from NOKIA, same result...

This might help your slow charging issue
If the wall charger is causing your phone to charge in a USB state, the charge time will be very long compared to a normal AC charging state which I'm sure you are aware of. A cable called QuickCharge might help. It will enhance USB charging to AC charging. You can find it on Amazon by searching for 'QuickCharge'. It's the 2nd or 3rd item down.

Xperia Mini charger to charge HTC One V?

It's very difficult to again and again detach the USB Cable from the charger to connect my phone to my PC and vice versa. I just wanted to ask whether I can use my old phone's (Xperia Mini) charger and USB cable to charge HTC One V... Then it would be so easy.. also tell me if i can use my HTC One V's USB Cable to connect Xperia Mini to my PC...

if both are usb mini, yes you can
check the voltage and amperage of the chargers.
ps: i charge my phone with apple 4s charger!!!!

do what i did, buy a lead for the pc and keep the one in your charger for good.....

what's a lead?
dont just say thanks hit thanks if i helped
a true lfc supporter
and a former symbian lover
sent from my awesome HTC One V running rc 2.0 by CKPV5 -using xda premium
SUPPORT THE SOFTWARE DEVELOPER'S IF YOU LIKE THE GAME / APP BUY IT

http://www.handtec.co.uk/product.php/6651/htc-one-v-data-cable-dc-m410--usb-microusb-

All usb ports and chargers provide 5V of power and are completely interchangeable. Your charger may offer more current (amps) than a PC's usb port and therefore may charge the device quicker.

klosik said:
All usb ports and chargers provide 5V of power and are completely interchangeable. Your charger may offer more current (amps) than a PC's usb port and therefore may charge the device quicker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HTC's wall charger can dispatch 1A of current, while SonyEricsson (or sony)'s wall charger produce 700mA (0,7A). Desktop or laptop hardware are made for 500mA, but since 2-3 years, they are made for 1 or 2A (search manufakturer for more details). I have a home made microUSB cable for current monitoring, and the V wants ~500mA when charging with 3G and GPS off WiFi on.
The USB is a standard, so the voltage (5V +- 10%) must be that. The microUSB is a standard too, so the cable has the same cable allocation at htc and sony and nokia and so on.
I use the phone with my old SE X8's charger and cable .
V has a quite good charge monitor and controller hardware in it, so problem is unlikeley to occure.

[Q] EU Charging methods

I live in Finland and just ordered the Nexus 7 (2013) from the US. I just realized we have different electric plugs and won't be able to use the default charger without an adapter. Couple of questions:
1) I have two miniusb smartphone chargers. The HTC charger says "Output: 5V = 1A" and the Nokia one "Output: DC 5.0W 1200mA". Will I be able to use these to charge the Nexus 7?
2) I think it's possible to simply use a piece to change the US plug type into the Finnish one since the adapter supports universal voltage and amperage ranges. Will this be the safest and most efficient way to charge?
3) It's possible to use a computer as USB power source. Will this work and how does this method compare efficiency/safety wise to 1) and 2)?
Update: support.google.com/nexus/7/answer/3257354?hl=en
The input voltage range between the wall outlet and this charging unit is AC 100V–240V, and the charging unit’s output voltage is DC 5.2V, 1.35A.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your Nexus 7 can be charged via the USB port on a computer only when Nexus 7 is in sleep mode (screen off) or turned off. Charging through the USB port will take longer than charging with the USB charging unit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4) Wireless charging looks sexy, but how does it compare to 1, 2 and 3? Any recommendations in that regard?
Update: Wireless charging has a speed penalty and the chargers seem to be quite expensive.

Your Nexus 7 will be fine with any USB charger. I have tested mine on 3 different chragers with US, UK, and EU voltage. My USB chargers all say 100-240v. I know EU and UK is 240v. So yes you will be fine with any usb charger.

As far as I know, all micro-USB chargers can take an input voltage of around 120-240 V, which it what you'll find pretty much everywhere in the world, and supply 5 V to the device, so no need to worry about that. The only difference between cables is how much current they can carry, but your battery will only suck as much as it needs to (unless it's limited by the cable, of course), so there is no way more current could go into it then it is safe.
I have also bought my N7 in the US and use it in Europe and charging it by using an adapter to convert from the US plug to the EU one works just fine.
Connecting it to the USB port on your computer will only give about half the current, which is why they say you should keep it off while charging. It will take about twice as long as using a wall charger and there is no gain in battery health. However, if you want to actively use the device, the current supplied by your PC may be less than how much the tablet is using, which will result in an overall (slower than usual) discharge.
I can't say anything about wireless charging, as I've never used it and I'm not planning on starting now.
tl;dr: Use any USB charger on any of your devices, no harm will be caused. The only difference that could show up is charging speed. :good: