Home made car charger discharges! - MDA II, XDA II, 2060 Accessories

Hello:
I built myself a car charger a while ago and it all seemed to work fine. A couple of times however my unit has 'died' after a particularly long journey in the car. I have recently discovered that it was actually getting flat enough to turn off and not turn on until charged; even though it was indicating it was charging.
Further experiments have revealed that if the battery in nearly full (eg 84%) and I use my car charger, the percentage of battery full increases over time indicating it is indeed charging.
However; if the battery is quite empty eg 24% - over time the battery charge decreases until the unit turns off, and needs to be attached to the mains to charge it - even thought it still indicates it is charging!
Soehere in the middle of the two battery states ( 84% - 24%), my charger seems uable to charge my XDA for some unknown reason, I suspected it could be due to current drain - a flatter battery may need more current to charge which the charger cannot provide, but the same situation occurrs even if the unit is turned of and therefore taking very little current from the car charger - obviously leaving nearly all the current available to charge the battery.
Any ideas why this should happen? I am completely stumped - I do not wish to buy a charger as my charging system also incorporates a connection to my GPS unit, and no commercially available chargers provide this at a reasonable price.
Any help or suggestions much appreciated.

BTW: The PDA will only charge if at least one of the pins 16,17,or 18 isconnected to ground and at least one of the pins 20,21 or 22 are connected to +5V. Otherwise, though the XDA may say it is charging, it will actually just drain the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

icarusbop,
Have a look at the charger I made for my XDA II, for use with the in-car kit I also made. The schematics are on my web site - follow the link from my signiature below.
This charger works 100%, and the state of the battery has no effect on charging performance. Mind you, it is capable of supplying > 2 Amps which is sufficient to fully charge the battery while watching movies, and the screen brightness turned all the way up. Charging times are the same as using the plug pack supplied with tyhe XDA II, if not a tad quicker.
The only draw back is the heatsink required for the +5 volt regulator. For the smallish one I have chosen (for the car kit - see pic on my site) it is capable of 2 Amps, but with a larger heatsink (see the first attempt pic of this charger) a full 5 Amps is easily achievable over extended use. It all depends on how much juice your set up requires.
Hope this helps.
Recrem...

I have the same issue but I have an original car kit which was working fine. After I upgraded to 2.06.00WWE i noticed that although when plugged into car kit it says charging, it actually discharges. Although I like this version, I'm in the car quite a bit and need the device to charge, and am thinking about rolling back to the latest rom from the club imate site.
It appears to be a software issue more than a hardware issue....
:?

update,
I've discovered that if charged to atleast 90% when plugged into car kit then it charges.
at some level below this (don't know where yet) it discharges.
welcome to the twilight zone

I haven't tested this with my car kit, and haven't noticed any problems when I had SE installed, although my wife said that her device wasn't charging while in the car, and when she got home after a fair drive, her battery was indeed flat!
I rolled back from 2.02 + 2.06 merged SE to my origional ROM of 1.66.00.WWE purely because some problems became more and more evident - like being unable to connect to ActiveSync unless I reset the device numerous times, and spontaneous hard resets. I have all the same software on my device now with the origional ROM and no problems...
We will be moving this week, and it would be a good test for my ROM and charger to see if it charges when below 90%....
Recrem...

microphone
Hi, did you manage to get the mic working on you carkit? I cannot get the mic working when connected with pins 1 and 5. sound output is working however!
Thanks,
Rob Boerman

Did you design and build your own car kit, or did you follow my design from my web site? I am curious if anyone has used the info I have posted there...
Haven't had a chance to try the mic. I only know it will require a good pre-amp to get it working, and I have been too busy to build one yet - perhaps when I have settled down into our new home after this week-end...
Recrem...

let me know
If you find time this weekend let me know
cheers,
Rob Boerman

All
Just to give my two-pennies worth...
I bought a USB cable when purchasing my O2 XDA II from the O2 shop. When using this cable, if the existing charge is below 85% then the device discharges when connected, however, if it is above 85% then it charges quite happily.
Get this.. if I use my USB CRADLE to charge (in the same USB port etc..) then it charges from below 85% without any problems whatsoever!
Is there a possibility that the USB cable and the USB cradle are wired differently? Are we missing a trick here?

My charging issue has deteriorated to the point that it dosn't charge at all in the car kit, it does charge in the pc usb hub and on mains. I down graded to 1.72.00WWE last night and tested it in the car kit this morning and it still discharged, so the software appears to have nothing to do with it.
I think the earlier statement by indecided may yeild results:
"The PDA will only charge if at least one of the pins 16,17,or 18 isconnected to ground and at least one of the pins 20,21 or 22 are connected to +5V. Otherwise, though the XDA may say it is charging, it will actually just drain the battery."
I will pull my gear apart this weekend and test it out. Possibly I've got a bad connection.

davidberrysmith said:
I think the earlier statement by indecided may yeild results:
"The PDA will only charge if at least one of the pins 16,17,or 18 isconnected to ground and at least one of the pins 20,21 or 22 are connected to +5V. Otherwise, though the XDA may say it is charging, it will actually just drain the battery."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
[Theory] The pins are quite thin, it's hard to think you can push 2+ Amps thru one of them without melting it down (at least the insulation). Maybe this is the problem: if you need a big loading current - like when the battery is below 85% - and you don't have more than one pin pair connected to +/- 5V the phone is not charging, although it may say so.
Solution: connect ALL three of pins 16-18 to GND and ALL three pins 20-22 to +5V.
[/theory]

Solved my problem,...
pin 22 had come away from the circuit board. So I sweated it down and just for good measure sweated down all other connections as well.
Put the phone back together and threw it in the car kit, charge ingreased from 78%.
time to upgrade the os again.
:wink:

david... perseverance does pay off... cool.

Related

Charging

Is there any way to get my X7510 to be more efficient at charging?
It seems recently that even from the straight charger it's taking almost all incoming power to run leaving next to nothing for charging.
USB Sync has always been like this, but straight charge used to be quite quick.
Are you using the original charger that came with it?
I've also found that the Flint is much more fussy about charging than any other device, including the previous X7500. USB charging takes an age, especially if the device is left on. My 'power pack' emergency charger hardly charges it at all, despite being able to fully charge my Advent 4213 netbook. My Diamond's wall socket charger hardly charges it at all, despite being technically the same spec as the Flint's one.
My original charger, and my Brodit car cradle both still charge mine pretty well- the Brodit will charge it up from 50% to 100% in about 1 hour, even with SatNav operating.
With my external power pack, or if I can only access a USB charge, I now use a screen-off application (built into PocketPlus) to keep it turned on, but on a very low battery drain.
Yes, it's the original charger. It appears to have had a knock though, the plug is a bit bent. I wonder if that's damaged something :-/
Can you guys recommend a small portable power recharger that works well with the X7510?
I would be taking a long flight soon and I would like for my X7510 to last the trip.
I can't really suggest anything because neither of my 'emergency packs' work properly with the X7510.
Perhaps you could check with the airline whether they have 'in-seat' charging/power facilities? Some have a powered USB charging socket and some have proprietary connections, but might have a suitable adapter?

Anyone have this portable charger & PPC Tech's 5 Pin Adaptor?

Just Mobile 4400 mAh Charger: http://www.expansys-usa.com/d.aspx?i=166301
PPC Tech's 5 Pin Adaptor: http://www.expansys-usa.com/d.aspx?i=145975
Found another: http://www.tang-shop.com/universal-external-battery-powerbox.html DO NOT TRUST THIS SITE!!!
I want to buy a portable charger, anyone have any experience on this brand?
Can you recommend what you are using? Can it charge fast? I read some chargers can't charge fast.
I'm having real problems with portable chargers for the X7510
I have a U2O 13200 mAh charger for my Advent netbook, which also has a USB output for mobile devices at 5V/ 1000mA, but unless the X7510 is on standby, or in screenoff mode, it won't charge fully and takes an age. Likewise for my Maplin minicharger, though that's no real surprise.
The only reliable way to charge mine without the wall charger, is to plug it into my Brodit active holder in the car! For some reason the X7510 seems to draw more current than USB can supply when turned on- not something I noticed with the X7500.
NeilM said:
I'm having real problems with portable chargers for the X7510
I have a U2O 13200 mAh charger for my Advent netbook,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This looks nice. Sad that it does not work well with the X7510.
Does it maintain the battery level if you have your X7510 turned on while charging?
NeilM said:
I'm having real problems with portable chargers for the X7510
I have a U2O 13200 mAh charger for my Advent netbook, which also has a USB output for mobile devices at 5V/ 1000mA, but unless the X7510 is on standby, or in screenoff mode, it won't charge fully and takes an age. Likewise for my Maplin minicharger, though that's no real surprise.
The only reliable way to charge mine without the wall charger, is to plug it into my Brodit active holder in the car! For some reason the X7510 seems to draw more current than USB can supply when turned on- not something I noticed with the X7500.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if the USB adapter on this link (post #7) can fix your charging problem: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=387531&highlight=usb+chargers
or how about using the original active sync chord to charge?
I might go for this charger: http://www.tang-shop.com/universal-external-battery-powerbox.html
Then I will also buy the PPC Tech's 5 pin Adaptor: http://www.expansys-usa.com/d.aspx?i=145975
Thanks for that info- may try the adapter. I'd just seen a similar post on Modaco about the Omnia and Diamond CDMA phones and the fast charge/trickle charge problems. 1st I'd heard about the differing pinouts!
I've tried all the different USB cables- the X7510 is only supplied with a standard USB cable (at least mine was) though my Diamond has the enhanced one. Neither makes any difference. My problem is not really that it won't charge from the power pack, but that if left turned on, the power pack stops charging after a time and I have to press the charge button again to restart it.
USB via the PC just about manages to trickle charge it, unless its set to Disk Drive mode, in which case it is faster; screenoff/standby is faster still.
Keep us updated!
NeilM said:
Keep us updated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I'll post my update and review. I'll be ordering them today. Hopefully this will work
Hi all, I travel a lot by train and I am always using my flint to watch videos etc.
I have two Emergency chargers and I manage to use both of them happily,
A couple of things i will note down are,
They both power the device and I cant get a decent charge out of either of them but the flint will drain the external battery first. e.g. If I am watching a video I plug in either of the batteries and the flint will deplete those before it starts using its internal battery.
I have noticed a decreased charging time (Faster Charge) when the phone is in storage drive mode. I have no idea how this would help its just something I have observed while using the chargers.
On the odd occasion the flint will attempt to Sync to the batteries!? Again this is complete madness, the only explanation I can think of is the phone assumes its plugged into my PC.
The chargers i use are,
Emergency Charger
I like this one because it takes standard AA batteries which are available everywhere. It provides about 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minuets of constant power on a Standard Duracell AA.
FreeLoader Solar Charger
This one i bought ages ago the solar panels are not up to scratch so i charge it via USB. It provides 1 hour of constant power.
Hope this helps you out; let me know if you need any other info.
Regards
Atomiser
Now I'm interested in this, too. I'm planning on doing a cycle ride from John O'Groats (Nothern tip of the UK) to Land's End (Southern tip) - commonly referred to as a JOGLE.
During my JOGLE I will be using GPSed (www.gpsed.com) to track my progress. This means I'll be using the data connection to upload every five minutes or so, as well as constantly using GPS to log the route.
Needless to say I don't quite expect my battery to last the 6 to 8 hours of cycling I'll be doing every day, so I need to look into some other methods of charging my x7510.
Also, cycling in the UK means that solar chargers are more often than not somewhat less useful than what they'd be in sunny climates, like Turkey.
Atomiser09 said:
Hope this helps you out; let me know if you need any other info.
Regards
Atomiser
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The information is definitely useful. Thanks.
NanoRuler said:
Needless to say I don't quite expect my battery to last the 6 to 8 hours of cycling I'll be doing every day, so I need to look into some other methods of charging my x7510.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe NeilM's suggestion of U2O 13,200 mAh battery charger is an excellent option for your need.
When I get my charger, I will try and charge without the PPC Tech Adapter and see if it will fast charge or not. If it won't, I will then use the Adapter and see if it works.
Nanoruler- you have a PM
Don't trust tang-shop.com
DON'T TRUST TANGSHOP.COM
I tried contacting them after placing my order and no response. I already allerted my credit card provider and I will report them to the BBB.
Off to look for another charger.
cktlcmd said:
When I get my charger, I will try and charge without the PPC Tech Adapter and see if it will fast charge or not. If it won't, I will then use the Adapter and see if it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I decided to skip this proceedure and use the PPC Tech 5 pin adaptor with the 4400 mAh from Just Mobile. I will then ran a movie in continous loop and see how long it will take for the charger to be depleted.
UPDATE:
I ran a movie in loops with BT headset stereo ON for sound. My X7510 was fully charged with green indicator lights and so is the battery charger. The Just Mobile 4400 mAh Charger lasted 5 hours until my X7510 had to rely on its own battery power.
I also connected the PPC 5 pin USB. Basically my X7510 used up the power of the charger first, as I can see the green indicator light on my X7510 for the full 5 hours.
I would definitely recommend this charger to anyone. It is small, about the size of 2 AA batteries stacked side by side. It is well made and the finish feels like it is coated with rubber to give you a none smudge surface probably to avoid sliding off the table. I give it 10/10.
Excellent news!
Do you think the PPCTechs cable makes a difference? Not got around to trying one yet!
NeilM said:
Excellent news!
Do you think the PPCTechs cable makes a difference? Not got around to trying one yet!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I'll test it too just for you. I will only use the cable provided by the Just Mobile Charger 4400 mAh, since in my first test I already made use of PPC Tech's 5 pin adaptor. I just finished charging my X7510 from the wall outlet so it has its green indicator light on. I am now waiting for the green indicator light to turn back on after attaching the charger so I can start the test again. Will update you guys with the result.
Update:
10 minutes passed and I don't see the green indicator light. I have my X7510 setup so that if it is charging the screen is turned on with full brightness. It makes me think the 5 pin adaptor does make a difference.
30 minutes passed.... all I saw was the orange indicator light (my device is charging). I think it is safe to assume the PPC Tech's 5 pin adaptor DOES WORK. The charger can't keep up with the demand of my device, with just the screen turned on with full brightness.
I will now attach the 5 pin adaptor and wait....it took 15 min for the green indicator light to show.
CONCLUSION: The PPC Tech's 5 pin adaptor does work for fast charging the X7510.
Thats great! <getting credit card out and calling Expansys!>
For reasons unimportant here, I only have an HTC Diamond charger. When I use that with the X7510, it keeps turning the power on (ie it won't charge in standby), so this may be related to the USB config. I'll try the PPC Techs version!
NeilM said:
it keeps turning the power on (ie it won't charge in standby)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure you programmed your device to shut off when charging?
Because on mine, I have it setup so that the screen is always on and in full brightness when charging or syncing via cable.
cktlcmd said:
Are you sure you programmed your device to shut off when charging?
Because on mine, I have it setup so that the screen is always on and in full brightness when charging or syncing via cable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I need to recheck the config!
Fast-charge adapter
cktlcmd said:
Just Mobile 4400 mAh Charger: http://www.expansys-usa.com/d.aspx?i=166301
PPC Tech's 5 Pin Adaptor: http://www.expansys-usa.com/d.aspx?i=145975
Found another: http://www.tang-shop.com/universal-external-battery-powerbox.html DO NOT TRUST THIS SITE!!!
I want to buy a portable charger, anyone have any experience on this brand?
Can you recommend what you are using? Can it charge fast? I read some chargers can't charge fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have experience with a device RELATED to that 5-pin adaptor. It is called "HTC Advantage Lil Sync DUO Pro HandsFree & Charging Adapter" (http://www.ppctechs.com/HTC-Advanta...c-DUO-Pro-HandsFree-Charging-Adapter_1008.htm). I have used these for years with HTC Advantage x7501s. I would have to say they are ALMOST correct when they say:
"In some cases, your HTC Advantage will not charge from an AC/DC adapter or other charging accessory when the battery life is below 30 percent. Our Lil Sync® Duo Pro Adapter will charge your device from a completely drained battery."
I've never had it get that bad, but it can be very slow to charge once it gets below 20%. And using a high-current adapter doesn't help. (A high-voltage one might charge faster. Use at your own risk.) Using the Adapter_1008 with the switch set to F will often get it charging even from a computer's USB port. But not always.
I've only had an Athena 1.5 (Ameo 16GB from T-Mobile UK) for a day, so I have limited info. It does acknowledge it is charging with the switch in either the S or F position, so it is a fair guess that it uses the same pinouts for charging. YMMV.
I have found that the HTC x7501s are just plain weird about recognizing headphones, with or without the adapter. I have built various hypotheses about it, and the machines have disproven every one.

Charging on a Motorcycle

Ok, I have a strange problem, and wondering if any of you have basic electronics knowledge.
I am trying to charge my blackstone on my motorcycle, but having some problems.
Setup:
- 12V cigarette lighter (power outlet) hooked directly to my battery.
I also have an inline switch and an inline 10A fuse.
- Standard USB car charger. (this charges my phone in a car just fine.)
Problem:
- It drains my phone battery very fast.
- I installed HomeScreen Plus so I could see the mA drain/charge on my battery. When I have the phone hooked to the bike and 'charging,' it reads +100 mA (charging) but the battery will drop down about 6% in about 5 minutes or less.
I am really confused by this...
Thanks for your time / input!
You should measure the amount of electric charge actually coming out from the outlet using a proper measurer.
is the battery in your bike good? ive seen bad batteries act this way. they seem normal and have the amps to start the bike but under any other load the voltage drops.
12.3V on the Power outlet and 4.9V on the end of the USB cable, which is why I am all the more confused.
I haven't tested the current yet, but that is slightly more difficult, as I have to disassemble it first. Although its not like I have any current limiting hardware in the way, its hooked directly to the battery (through the fuse)
Ill play around with it more tomorrow... :-(
If anyone has any ideas, let me know. Thanks!
Yea, the battery is good. Brand new. Cranks the bike and run all accessories just fine.
ryoojin83 said:
Yea, the battery is good. Brand new. Cranks the bike and run all accessories just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's absolutly impossible that a bike's battery problem discharge your phone through the adapter.
I guess you should try another adapter.
I own a bike and i charge my diamond through a car to usb adapter too. The only problem i sometime ran into is that the phone get so hot that it disable the voltage input to preserve itself. It happen only when the phone is exposed to the sun through the plastic window of my tank bag.
I now own a bike "ram mount" with a native diamond holder, it's really great.
ryoojin83 said:
I haven't tested the current yet, but that is slightly more difficult, as I have to disassemble it first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should be a problem with D+ D- pin, if your adapter is specific to a phone model...
try another adapter.
I have tried 3 USB chargers, and all of them do the same thing.
the phone connects with a standard USB cable (mini-a?) I have tried with 2 or 3 actual cables.
I am planning to head out to NAPA, to get a new 12V connector and rewire it. This time I am going to get the 'sealed' one... *sigh* I will let you know if I figure it out or not. Hopefully its not the switch I have wired in... 10A switch, so I doubt it

[Q] Can't charge, won't charge

Plugged in Transformer last night to charge it up overnight when the battery hit 30%. I updated the firmware yesterday morning and everything was going swimmingly.
Woke it up this morning, and found it was at 9% battery remaining and had a low battery warning. I had a closer look and the battery icon shows no indication that it's charging when it's plugged in.
Right now I've plugged it into a bog-standard USB charger and turned it off, hoping it'll trickle charge (damn the lack of a charge LED!) and that it's a fault with the power adapter rather than the device itself.
Anyone else had this issue?
I had the same problem a few days ago, my charger was plugged in via a multi block and it would not charge.
I even went to the extreme of taking my device back to comet in the hope I could swap the charger out with their demo unit.
Man behind counter plugs my charger into some sort electrical surge protected socket and it starts charging straight away leaving me looking like a right tool standing their. (and they tried to sell me 3 years extended cover)
Brought it home and plugged it into the very socket where it wasn't working and what do you know? It starts working!
Not sure what the issue was but it now works again.
Ok well that's good to know!
On trickle-charge it's now gone up by 2% since I posted.
Looks like the power adapter has its own faults...
Oh, and what do you know... plugged wall charger back in (it's been unplugged for 20mins) and now it's all happy and charging again.
Hooray.
yeah maybe that 20 minute trip to comet fixed mine too..
the USB mains adapter plug has a fatal flaw - the middle part of the usb connection isn't as sturdy as it sould be so it is easy to plug a USB port in the wrong way around and it looks and feels plugged in correctly as the middle part just moves out of the way.
If it isn't charing always check to make sure the USB connection is in the right way around in the plug.
I am bummed about this proprietary power connector; and apparently proprietary USB cable with extra pins (negating the use of USB extension cables). I wish the TF had a standard round power adapter similar to the Acer A500.
Thank God, i thought i was the only one. Had exactly this problem with mine when it arrived a couple of days ago, i am lucky enough to have lots of USB chargers around so i tried and tested various combinations and tried to charge other devices with the asus charger.
The problem lies as far as i can see, entirely with the charger unit. The charger comes in two parts, one is the usb dock and the other the relevant country plug. The way the plug fits onto the face of the charger is the important part. There is a central 'locating pin' made from plastic and two contacts that slot into the charger carrying the live and negative. The construction of this part is very, very poor. The tolerances are not a match for the quality of the plastic, the T shaped plastic locater does not actually locate the bottom pins properly and needs a great deal of force to lock in placce, and here is the best part, it doesnt like STAYING locked. As the plastic is weak, and we are looking at just a couple of mm here, it will snap, that will stop there being a clean contact and no charge. As a remedy, i have secured the face plate to the charger very tightly with a high tech rubber band
I agree, the use of specific power connectors in this day and age is just as dumb a decision as any manufacturer can make, and the rate it recharges at from a USB to PC connection can only be described as comical, a full recharge in 26 hours . Aside from all that its nigh on perfect, but i can see power related alternatives being VERY popular until Asus catches up with the rest of the electronics industry.
havent even had mine an hour and i havent done the update because its not at 50% and it will not charg at all. when i first tried to start it i thought it was doa because it would not turn on. guess ill take you guys advice and leave it unplugged for a while. i hate the charging cable is so small too that definately sucks.
Hmmm... if only a few other people created topics about not charging...

Skyrocket can't function as GPS Navigator?

This weekend I went on a trip and decided to try out using my Skyrocket as a GPS navigator using Google Navigation. I had my phone mounted and plugged in the whole time for about a 2 hour trip. The screen was on the whole time usually at high brightness (it would dim every once in a while.) When I removed my phone from the mount I noticed the power was down to the low 60's, which struck me as slightly odd since it was plugged into the charger the whole time. The next day I tried to use it as a GPS system again, but even as it was plugged in, this time I literally saw the battery gauge draining. When I turned off navigation and the screen the phone would finally start charging.
Is this a common thing or is there an issue with my phone or possibly my charger? Does doing all those things really drain the battery faster than it can charge it? One last note is that I was not in an LTE area during this, or at least not the whole time (I only noticed it was LTE at one time during the trip.) When I saw my battery draining in front of me I definitely was not in an LTE area.
Might be your charger. I'm having no problems using it as my primary driving, hiking and general outdoor GPS unit. When on car charger, it's charging faster then it drains.
I believe my charger is an old Motorola car charger that came with my wife's old dumbphone. It's actually not even a Micro-USB charger, but rather a Mini-USB with an adapter.
This may be a dumb question, but the actual charging port shouldn't be the issue right? I'm assuming those are always the same standard.
Check the car charger amperage output. I have an old car charger to USB that only puts out 750mA and another thats puts out 1A. Anything less than 1A with the navigation running (which means the screen and GPS stay on, of course), and it'll still drain the battery (and even at 1A it may still drain).
I've been putting off getting a powerful enough car charger myself. You'll need one that puts out 1-2A I would think. Most of the common ones off the shelf are 1A or less, and I've heard that some chargers reported max output is not as good as reported.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727
jslanger said:
Check the car charger amperage output. I have an old car charger to USB that only puts out 750mA and another thats puts out 1A. Anything less than 1A with the navigation running (which means the screen and GPS stay on, of course), and it'll still drain the battery (and even at 1A it may still drain).
I've been putting off getting a powerful enough car charger myself. You'll need one that puts out 1-2A I would think. Most of the common ones off the shelf are 1A or less, and I've heard that some chargers reported max output is not as good as reported.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i second this...my phone won't even charge on some wall chargers, unless 700mAh or higher. let alone do any battery heavy functions like GPS. get something with at least 1a output
I'll try swapping the chargers. I have an overpriced AT&T one that I got for free that is collecting dust.
If the charger has 1A output then it should be OK
I'm having the same problem with my Skyrocket and cheapy charger that I bought at Fry's. Use the navigation with screen on and my battery is less than when I plugged it in.
Going to buy this combo 2A and 1A charger.
http://www.amazon.com/GTMax-2-Port-..._1_5?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1329796381&sr=1-5
Its the amount of mah your charger is putting out. Not the phone. The charger is not supplying enough power
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk
CZ Eddie said:
I'm having the same problem with my Skyrocket and cheapy charger that I bought at Fry's. Use the navigation with screen on and my battery is less than when I plugged it in.
Going to buy this combo 2A and 1A charger.
http://www.amazon.com/GTMax-2-Port-..._1_5?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1329796381&sr=1-5
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When I was looking for a more powerful option, I saw that one on Amazon as well. My only hesitation at buying it was why it was so much cheaper than all comparable options at local stores, or even online...I've heard that the cheapie chargers may not actually output what they say...though for $4 plus shipping, I guess it's not much of a gamble. Let us know how it performs!
P.S.-Pulled up the reviews...not too many positive ones (though 1 or 2 were good): http://www.amazon.com/GTMax-2-Port-...iewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
Its actually more than just the charger output that is a problem. If the center two pins on the USB connection aren't shorted, the phone will treat it as a USB connection to a computer, not an AC connection from the wall, and only draw a max 500mah. I had bought a 1amp and 2 amp charger for my car and would get the same results as the 500. I started to think it was my car limiting my output!
But I then found an article detailing this problem that I've since lost the link to, but the method worked. Pop open the charger and solder the 2 middle connectors together and all is good.
I don't know why the charger manufacturers don't know this... Or maybe this phone is doing something new? Maybe someone makes a USB-> micro USB with the center pair shorted in cable?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk
Just Google "Solder USB Car Charger" and you'll find plenty of tutorials about how to do that. Personally I'd rather just buy one that out of the box works.
Tried out my AT&T charger (which can be found here) and it worked perfectly. Set up the GPS and everything and now it will charge even while doing all that stuff. Thanks for the help
I have the same issue with my SkyRocket. LTE makes no difference. If I'm using Google Navigation or Waze and the Screen is on my charger/phone can't keep up with the battery drain. If I turn the screen off and keep the GPS app running the battery either doesn't drain or doesn't drain as fast.
I've checked my car charger and it's one of those dual usb ones, with a 1 amp port and a 2.1 amp port. It has no indication of which port is which, so I don't know what port I'm using at any particular time. I've tried both and the effects are the same.
Regardless, when the phone is plugged in to that charger the phone reports that it's an AC charger. Supposedly that means I'm getting at least 1 amp, right? So why is 1 amp not enough?
I don't like the car charger you guys suggested because it has the curly cord. I'd rather use a car charger that doesn't come with a cable so I can plug in my own usb cable.
Any suggestions?

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