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Got a New Charger, Now the Screen Doesn't Work While Plugged In!

Hello all,
So I just bought a new charger (just a wall charger) and now when I plug my TB in, the screen does not respond to anything! I have to take the plug out to work my screen. It is completely unresponsive (regardless of where I'm at on the screen) while charging. As soon as I unplug it, it's fine.
Any ideas?

Where did you buy the charger from? Some crappy no-name/ebay/cheap chargers do that because they are crap. I had bought a cheap charger for my HTC Touch Pro 2 and that same thing happened, used the regular charger, no problems at all.

I know when I used the charger and cable that came with the thunderbolt, it used to become laggy or less responsive. Not terrible, but I could notice it. It was like all the memory was tied up. It doesn't do it anymore though. I rarely use the original cable and charger anyways.

g00s3y said:
Where did you buy the charger from? Some crappy no-name/ebay/cheap chargers do that because they are crap. I had bought a cheap charger for my HTC Touch Pro 2 and that same thing happened, used the regular charger, no problems at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed. The cheap $1.00 chargers may also harm your battery.

daniel178 said:
Hello all,
So I just bought a new charger (just a wall charger) and now when I plug my TB in, the screen does not respond to anything! I have to take the plug out to work my screen. It is completely unresponsive (regardless of where I'm at on the screen) while charging. As soon as I unplug it, it's fine.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Today I tried to charge my phone at work using my original.al charger that I always use and while it was plugged in, the screen wouldn't respond at all. I thought the phone was the problem but I later troubleshot it to low voltage from the extension cord, not my charger.

There are in fact quite a few micro-usb chargers that cause the screen to become unresponsive when plugged in.. This doesn't necessarily mean that the charger is crap, but it's best to use your manufacturer-approved (oem) chargers whenever possible. I work in wireless, and although our supplier is reputable, their generic chargers don't work well with the Atrix & a few other smartphones. I use them only when necessary, but do your phone a favor & stick to manufacturer chargers.

I had this problem, when I use a properly grounded surge protector the problem doesn't happen any more. It also happens to me when I charge out of my old macbook pro which tends to have a 'staticy' feel to it.

zoso28 said:
There are in fact quite a few micro-usb chargers that cause the screen to become unresponsive when plugged in.. This doesn't necessarily mean that the charger is crap, but it's best to use your manufacturer-approved (oem) chargers whenever possible...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're two months late with your incorrect post. There's a well defined standard for USB chargers, which the TB follows. Non-OEM ones work every bit as well as the HTC one as long as they, too, follow the standard and provide clean power.

mike.s said:
You're two months late with your incorrect post. There's a well defined standard for USB chargers, which the TB follows. Non-OEM ones work every bit as well as the HTC one as long as they, too, follow the standard and provide clean power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry my timing bothered you I was just browsing around for info about the touchscreen issues i've seen. I'm well aware of the standard, 5 +/- 0.25 volts 500–900 mA, and they all seem to charge perfectly well but certain phone/charger combos cause some screens to lag & I just wondered why. For example the motorola adapters all seem to be 5.1 volts @ 850mA, whereas samsung adapters are 5.0 volts @ 700 mA, and the samsungs charge fine on our standard 5/500's while the moto's lag.

zoso28 said:
SI'm well aware of the standard, 5 +/- 0.25 volts 500–900 mA, and they all seem to charge perfectly well but certain phone/charger combos cause some screens to lag & I just wondered why. For example the motorola adapters all seem to be 5.1 volts @ 850mA, whereas samsung adapters are 5.0 volts @ 700 mA, and the samsungs charge fine on our standard 5/500's while the moto's lag.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not clear where the "500-900 mA" and "standard 5/500" figures you give come from. Neither is from the USB Battery Charging Specification.
The spec supports up to a 1.5 A current from a Dedicated Charging Port. The HTC charger is rated at 1 A, and it seems the TB will use all of it. I've seen charging rates of 800 mA, with the phone also running screen, GPS, and more.
Cheap ones, regardless of output, may be poorly filtered with a significant AC component. Those are the ones which will really cause problems.

Touchscreen issues when charging

Anyone having issues with your touch screen when you are using it while it's chArging? Just wondering if i have a faulty device or are there others with the same problem
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

No my device does not have this issue when charging. I think this issue has something to do with the charger.

That's a grounding problem, had it with my SGSII try a different cable.

The sensation had an issue of touchscreen problems while charging. i went through 3 phones. The cause is the same cause as the wifi errors that people are having with the HOX. Bad connection from unibody(sensation) to board.. If we added aluminum foil or solder (just like the HOX wifi issue) it would fix the problem. On the sensation the problem got really bad to where you couldnt unlock the phone with the lockring. grounding issue. I hope the HOX isnt having that same issue and you just have a bum phone or better yet a bum cord or charger. let us know if its either

yeah happened alot on my s2, was due to usb cable or something
but works fine when im charging

It was the grounding issue, does this damage the phone? I have a wall outlet with USB ports so it might emit too much power
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

slojko said:
It was the grounding issue, does this damage the phone? I have a wall outlet with USB ports so it might emit too much power
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every time this has happened it has been because of what the USB cable was plugged in to and not the cable itself. Try the charger it came with in a regular plug. If it doesn't work better then it is a phone problem.

This happens to me too. Charging from the laptop with an eBay (chinese) cable causes the touchscreen to be unresponsive.
Here's how to test: Open the Notes and draw a few lines very fast.
Here's the results:
USB Charging
No USB Charging

Here is a video of it happening to me on my skyrocket. It was because of the charger. Try a different cable, then a different wall adapter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x__jdlGXyjk

It is because of the charger...it's always recommended to use the charger that came with the phone eventhough they give us a tiny a$$ USB cable.
Sent from my HTC One XL using Tapatalk 2

Yes, I have an issue - when the phone gets to 90%+ while charging, the screen becomes very unresponsive. The drags don't drag - instead the touches are registered as taps.
You can get an app like MultiTouch Test - and you will see, it's very clear to see when this happens.
My first One X device did not have this issue, so it's something specific to my current unit. Doesn't bother me much, since it only happens at 90%+ charge, while plugged in...

neocryte said:
My first One X device did not have this issue, so it's something specific to my current unit. Doesn't bother me much, since it only happens at 90%+ charge, while plugged in...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To me it doesn't happen all the time, sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. Unplugging the cable and plugging it back in seems to temporarily fix the problem, if I leave it charging for a couple more minutes, I think the problem will come back, but again, unplugging/plugging it back, solves it temporarily. It's weird...
Oh, and all this to say that I observed this behavior while charging around 65%, not 90%. And I've only observed this while charging with AC power with the original cable and charger. The problem did not present itself (yet) while charging through USB.

Touchscreen While Charging
Nazgulled said:
To me it doesn't happen all the time, sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. Unplugging the cable and plugging it back in seems to temporarily fix the problem, if I leave it charging for a couple more minutes, I think the problem will come back, but again, unplugging/plugging it back, solves it temporarily. It's weird...
Oh, and all this to say that I observed this behavior while charging around 65%, not 90%. And I've only observed this while charging with AC power with the original cable and charger. The problem did not present itself (yet) while charging through USB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just had this happen with the stock charger from my old HTC One using it on my HTC One X. Along with touchscreen problems it got VERY hot located as you are looking at the camera side it got hot on the top right side near the camera. Dunno what that could be. Both chargers are rated at the same voltage and amperage, I dont get it
jmdwyer

jmdwyer said:
I just had this happen with the stock charger from my old HTC One using it on my HTC One X. Along with touchscreen problems it got VERY hot located as you are looking at the camera side it got hot on the top right side near the camera. Dunno what that could be. Both chargers are rated at the same voltage and amperage, I dont get it
jmdwyer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's caused by electrical noise. The voltage supplied from your mains outlet is alternating current (typically 50/60hz in frequency). a usb charger has to do two things; firstly step down the voltage (110v/230v/240v down to 5v) and secondly rectify the alternating current into direct current (positive and negative). how it does this is by using a transformer which employs an iron core surrounded by copper windings, this generates a lot of rf (radio) which travels down the cables to the device as well as broadcasting a short distance through the air, a decent charger will use shielding as well as a few other pieces of circuitry which will neutralize the rf given off. In order to rectify the voltage the charger will use a variety of diodes and capitors, in a cheap Chinese charger they will typically use as little as 2 and possibly a generic chemical capacitor (similar to a small battery) these degrade over time and can get quite hot, fat and eventually burst - when you hear about chargers exploding or setting on fire it's usually because the capitors aren't up to the job. a Chinese charger may have all the quality control and certification stamps but most of them are forged, if you buy a charger for less than $10 this is what your likely to end up with. the outputted voltage may appear 5v on a multimeter but they are a very dirty output and can spike from 3v to 7v or even more the load on the charger increases. The dirty output interferes with the mechanism used on touch screen devices which also employ a type of capacitance to register where you are pressing on the screen. A decent charger will use solid state capitors and which should last a lifetime.
if the smartphone miss behaves whilst charging 90% of the time it's because of a faulty charging device (or one employing poor components). a decent charger may cost more $20 but they are significantly safer for both you and the device.
The problem with mains sockets with built in usb usually comes down to shielding, they will either have none or be earthed (which might sound like a good idea but in practise a lot of domestic devices will create leakage to earth causing more noise - alot of studio equipment will have a separate earth). These may not be as dangerous as cheap Chinese chargers but still undesirable.
If a original or good quality charger isn't available one of the best sources for charging a phone will actually be a desktop pc with a usb3 port. The whole pc is insulated in a nice metal case and there are a plefora of high quality components to create a stable clean power supply (a cpu voltage tolerance is usually measured to 2 decimal places of a volt which is pretty good).
Ditch the rubbish cheap chargers, you honestly get what you pay for and they aren't good for the long term health of the phone. If it hums or makes a high pitch noise whilst plugged in your playing with fire - literally. they aren't bothered if your phone dies in 6 months or bursts into flames so long as they get the $5 x 100,000 people who buy them (these things literally cost pennies for them to put together, even though the case might look the business inside they are nasty and as cheap as)
Sent from my HTC One XL using Tapatalk

Very insightful. The worst part is that I have two original HTC chargers and they both emit the high pitched noise.
Sent from my Evita

timmaaa said:
Very insightful. The worst part is that I have two original HTC chargers and they both emit the high pitched noise.
Sent from my Evita
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some of the very small chargers might whistle a little, its called coil noise and isn't as bad as capacitors about to pop. The iron core hasn't been sufficiently dampened or glued into the case so it resonates when the ac passes through it, the pitch may change depending on the voltage (whether its a 230v or 110v power supply). It isn't unsafe but HTC should be doing a better job at checking the new chargers, over time most chargers will develop coil noise as glue tends to melt or degrade.
Very insightful video, you'll never buy a cheap charger again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi-b9k-0KfE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
The gist being the cheap chargers could very well set on fire and the USB could go live at mains voltage with no circuit protection, death traps spring to mind. Be careful what you buy.
Sent from my K701HBC using Tapatalk

[Q] Micro-USB chargers don't fit properly?

Hey,
Is anyone else noticing that not all micro USB chargers fit properly with this phone? For example, I have a Micro USB charger from my Droid Pro that I really like because it has interchangeable plugs (for use in foreign countries). Unfortunately this charger doesn't fit quite right and sometimes the phone doesn't charge/doesn't detect being plugged in. It seems loose and has a lot of play when it's "plugged into" the phone.
If you look at the micro USB port itself, it seems to be pushed back into the bezel by about 1mm more than "normal" -- so I think this may be the cause of the problem. If I hold the micro USB cables side by side, it seems like the metal part of the official cable is about 1mm longer than the cable for my Droid Pro. Actually, I probably could take an exacto knife to the pro's cable and cut it back a little bit...
So - is anyone else experiencing this? It's worth noting that the official charger works fine and fits snugly, so it's not the phone itself is messed up.
-- Dan

I have had a charger or two that mine hasn't been happy with. I believe that the output of the charger is an issue as well. It seems that an output of less that about 1 amp won't activate the charging circuit. I blame it on the larger battery. My tablet won't charge with too low an amp rating either.

dbeedle said:
IIt seems that an output of less that about 1 amp won't activate the charging circuit. I blame it on the larger battery. My tablet won't charge with too low an amp rating either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Razr Maxx HD charges just fine with an 850 ma charger -- and the phone should charge even with 500 ma since that's the maximum output of USB. Can you please provide further details on how you came to this conclusion?

Only an assumption based on my experiences with other devices (tablets) and chargers, most notably the Palm Touchstone which was/is notoriously picky about the amperage. I have had a charger or two that would not charge the Maxx HD that seemed to seat well in the connector. If I remember right my wife's Samsung Nexus charger is one of these. I can only guess that, if the connector seats well in the socket that lack of amperage could be the cause of the charger not working with the Maxx. I only offer this up as a possible cause to charging issues. There are certainly other possibilities.
Note: I did just try the USB port on my laptop with a know "good" cable and it does activate the charging circuit. So while I'll still contend that not all chargers are equal to the others, in this case I'm probably wrong in thinking the amperage to be the culprit. I'll have to examine some cables a little closer even though they appear to fit correctly!

Findings on Galaxy S4 charging current

With the advent of the S4, and its higher capacity battery, one could understand a higher charging current. However, I seem to have uncovered some findings that the charging system on the S4 is a bit more complex than first thought!
This is a bit techy, and assumes you have a basic amount of electrical knowledge, ie voltages, currents, resistance etc., but I'll try and keep it as simple as possible for anyone who may not!
To explain: The mains charger supplied with the S4 is a model number ETA-U90UWE, rated 5V @ 2A. However, the phone will ONLY charge at full current (which as I have measured so far, depending on what the phone regulates it to, typically sits in the region of 1.2 - 1.5A), when using the supplied charger (or possibly one of equal or higher current rating, depending on how it's configured internally), AND the supplied usb cable, OR any other usb cable, provided its shielding (the metal outer surface of the connectors) is connected at BOTH ends of the cable. Use a cable that doesn't have this shielding, and the charge current drops, regardless of whether there is plenty of current available or not. Use a different charger with an unshielded cable and the current drops even more, again regardless of whether it can supply plenty more current.
My assumption on this, is possibly an effort by Samsung to avoid the scenario of sticking 1.5 amps down a flimsy cheapo cable, the wires of which will likely be too thin to carry it.
After doing some probing around with a meter, I have managed to find a slight difference with the charger itself, compared to a generic one. In a generic one, the two data pins are usually just shorted together, which tells most phones that it's a mains charger rather than a USB port. On the Samsung one on the other hand, the pins appear to be shorted together, and also connected via resistors across the supply line (known as a potential divider), which holds these shorted data pins at a certain voltage. This is what tells the phone what sort of charger it's connected to.
Attached are a couple of diagrams to show the difference between the two chargers. There are in fact various setups of resistors that different manufacturers use to set the charging current, so it's quite easy to run into compatibility issues!
To make this a little less confusing I have done some preliminary experimenting, and I set out my results here.
For the test, I used combinations of 4 different usb style mains chargers: an apple iPhone one rated at 1A, an iPad one rated 2.4A, an HTC 1A one, and the genuine S4 one. With these I used two cables - the supplied Samsung S4 one (which is shielded), and a cheap generic one (which isn't). I started by measured the charging current directly with a meter, by using a very short usb breakout lead I've made, enabling me to interrupt the 5V line. However, I soon noticed that the use of any extension cables, even shielded, can lessen the chance of maintaining a good shielding connection, so I continued the exercise relying on the "galaxy charging current" app to get a reading.
Charger.................... Cable................ Current (A)
=====================================
HTC 1A.................Generic..................... 0.5
HTC 1A.................Samsung S4..............1.0
Apple 1A...............Generic......................0.5
Apple 1A...............Samsung S4..............1.0
Apple 2.4A............Generic......................0.6
Apple 2.4A............Samsung S4..............1.3
Samsung S4.........Generic...................... 0.8
Samsung S4.........Samsung S4...............1.3
So as you can see from these results, the original charger makes a difference, and the supplied cable (or a good quality shielded one) makes a further difference. If you have any further findings please feel free to add them here.
I can see that this is going to confuse some people, as it has me, as I'm sure some will inevitably try charging up their phone on generic chargers/leads at some point, with potentially long charging times resulting!
.

Very nice findings! Thanks for sharing them.
Not only what you say about longer charging time, but also discharging may occur (it has with me) while connected to the USB. I left my phone with USB tethering and it shut itself down after a couple of hours (it was low on battery already). I wanted to keep all the accessories in "new condition" in case I sell the phone in a few months, but I guess this justifies using the official charger and usb lead.
I hope someone can shed some light on the detection mechanism or the particular characteristics of the official cable so it can be replicated in generic ones.

From your findings, also Appe 2,4A charger has some control on the cable used, thanks.

Yes, but you won't be able to get more than about 0.75A out of it even with the samsung s4 cable.

You could try to add an extension cable to check if the charging system needs exclusively an original samsung cable from the charger to the phone.
Original samsung charger => extension cable male/female => original samsung cable => phone
PS: is there an app to check the charging current?

My experiments used an extension cable, that's the one I made into a breakout cable. So no it doesn't change by adding a cable.
There is an app, called galaxy charging current, which I tried also. In the 0.75A results above it showed a max permissible current of 1000mA, with the fully samsung setup it showed 1900mA. In the lower scenarios is showed up as 460mA. Other than that it doesn't tell you anything, it literally just shows you a max possible current, not the actual current it's drawing.

I've found out what the issue was, my generic cable was obviously a cheap one and wasn't shielded! I have edited my original post to re-explain.
Also I did a further test on a PC usb port - the Samsung cable allowed for 500mA, but the unshielded cheap one only allowed about 350mA, so (as pintycar found out), the phone actually carries on discharging in this case!

Interesting post.
I've been trying to mod a car charger so that the s4 draws more than 300mA so far unsucessful. I'm going to add in the 82K resistance and see what happens.

demusss said:
Interesting post.
I've been trying to mod a car charger so that the s4 draws more than 300mA so far unsucessful. I'm going to add in the 82K resistance and see what happens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Using a 5a digital bench power supply, I took a normal micro USB cable, cut it in two, added in the 82k resistors and tested.
Before: 450ma, after 1.73a
Then using a clamp meter I tested it with a 2amp Asus tablet charger - it varied between 1.48 and 1.61 amp.
I have since built a few more cables - one to use in my car (again 2 amp charger).
All in all, it works very effectively. Thanks for the initial research (saved me having to open my charger.)
BTW I suspect it is the charger where the resistors are, not the cable, otherwise the phone would try to pull 1.5a + from a laptop if you connected it.
Left my samsung cable at work so will test it tomorrow (if I remember)!
W.

Interesting. So basically for us laymen, you are telling us to use the original charger and cables to the extent possible ... right?
Can you clarify to me what an unshielded cable is? Maybe with a picture? I've got a blackberry's cable at work connected to my PC.
At home, I also have a cable and charger that I got with my Nexus S (I think this says Output 5.0V ~ 0.7A).
Would this be a problem or can I get by with these?
Thanks

I've been using the Samsung cable+charger+USB extension cable and charging the S4 usually takes about 4 hours, I'm going to try with just the Samsung cable next time and see if it makes any difference since people are saying that theirs can be fully charged within less than 3 hours.

Paparasee said:
Interesting. So basically for us laymen, you are telling us to use the original charger and cables to the extent possible ... right?
Can you clarify to me what an unshielded cable is? Maybe with a picture? I've got a blackberry's cable at work connected to my PC.
At home, I also have a cable and charger that I got with my Nexus S (I think this says Output 5.0V ~ 0.7A).
Would this be a problem or can I get by with these?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I believe (guess work here ) that only the original charger "needs" a shielded cable - could be checked by shorting the ground and shield on one side and see if it works at the higher current - if I am bored I may do it - it probably checks the shield and limits the current if it is not there (note I have not tested this so only going by the first posters findings).
BTW a shielded cable has a wire mesh around the 4 internal cables - this mesh avoids external interference messing with the signals. Can't see it affecting the charging though BUT shielded cables tend to have thicker internal cables so could be related to this.
I have it charging at 1.7a on an unshielded cable (thought he power strands are thicker than average) Shielding should only affect the data transfer speed, not the charging current.
If the Nexus S has only a 700mah charger then this will not be able to provide enough current for high speed charging and could easily burn out - nice smell, dead charger, not much else. therefore only use a normal unmodified usb cable (and it will charge at about 450mah).
W.

all this would eexplian why the charger that camewith my S2 dosen't appear to charge my phone fully over night...

For what it's worth I'm charging with a Note 1 charger...a thick shielded cable via the S3 docking station....and getting 900mah...
will get my original cable tonight and have a go tomorrow...

interesting read, my s4 lead and charger are still in the box and I'm using my nexus 10 ones phone charged from about 30% to full in just over 2. may have to change the old HTC £2 lead I've got connected to my works pc then, maybe why it's struggling to charge when playing music. guess this is one way to get people to buy more expensive cables

Very interesting read, thanks TS.
My original charger and cable set is still in the box; I've been using my Mom's old Galaxy Note charger.
I'll try the original cable + wall mount and see how fast it is compared to my current charger.

wmccann2 said:
Using a 5a digital bench power supply, I took a normal micro USB cable, cut it in two, added in the 82k resistors and tested.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you show me your final cable with a pic? Thanks

After this thread I have stopped using my blackberry bold cable to charge s4 and of course the cheap one too.. thanks op!
Sent from my GT-I9500 using xda app-developers app

I'm not sure if shielded vs. unshielded is the difference - probably wire gauge is the difference.
For example, if you shop at Monoprice, you have two options for USB cables: 28 gauge cables, and 24/28 gauge cables.
For wire gauge, lower is larger - the 24/28 gauge cables have thicker wires for the + and GND lines. A pure 28 gauge cable is likely to drop voltage a bit at high currents, and my observations have been that most newer devices, ESPECIALLY Qualcomm-based ones, are VERY finicky when it comes to input voltage drops.
As to the charger itself:
Apple chargers are almost guaranteed not to charge at full current, as they don't conform at all to the USB battery charging standard. Some newer Android devices do have at least partial detection of Apple chargers, so they may charge at 1A if an Apple charger is detected (any Apple charge, even 2.1A ones).
It sounds like the included official charger is a tablet-compatible one. Samsung tablets expect D+ and D- to be held by the charger at 1.2 or 1.8 volts (I forget which). As a result, Samsung tablets will not charge from standard chargers (like an N7 charger), but standard devices (like an N7) will charge from Samsung tablet chargers.
Now, the question is: Does the GS4 *require* a Samsung tablet-style charger, or did Samsung just include a tablet-style charger because it's backwards-compatible with standard devices? (less part numbers to track in inventory).
A useful pair of points would be: Using the same cable, does the Samsung charger behave significantly different from a Nexus 7 charger?

wmccann2 said:
Hi,
Using a 5a digital bench power supply, I took a normal micro USB cable, cut it in two, added in the 82k resistors and tested.
Before: 450ma, after 1.73a
Then using a clamp meter I tested it with a 2amp Asus tablet charger - it varied between 1.48 and 1.61 amp.
I have since built a few more cables - one to use in my car (again 2 amp charger).
All in all, it works very effectively. Thanks for the initial research (saved me having to open my charger.)
BTW I suspect it is the charger where the resistors are, not the cable, otherwise the phone would try to pull 1.5a + from a laptop if you connected it.
Left my samsung cable at work so will test it tomorrow (if I remember)!
W.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I missed this post on my first read-through: What happens if you just short D+ and D- when using the bench supply?

Hard wired 12V TO 5V / 3A DC Power Converter Micro USB Charger | PROJECT NOW COMPLETE

EDIT: SCROLL DOWN TO POST #12 WHERE I SHOW YOU HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN FULL-1900 mAh CHARGER!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=43663686&postcount=12
-=========================================
Has anyone used this particular item before? Or can recommend a similar hard-wire unit that operates at 2A to 3A?
http://www.amazon.com/DROK-Converter-Connectors-Adapter-Recorder/dp/B00D6B6CJI
I'm thinking about getting one for my SUV and Motorcyle to charge the S4 at normal 1900 rates like the OEM wall-charger. Get that FAST charge.
Yes, I know about cig lighter chargers. No, that is not what this thread is for.

hello did you buy it?

CZ Eddie said:
Has anyone used this particular item before? Or can recommend a similar hard-wire unit that operates at 2A to 3A?
http://www.amazon.com/DROK-Converter-Connectors-Adapter-Recorder/dp/B00D6B6CJI
I'm thinking about getting one for my SUV and Motorcyle to charge the S4 at normal 1900 rates like the OEM wall-charger. Get that FAST charge.
Yes, I know about cig lighter chargers. No, that is not what this thread is for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have this hardwired into my WRX:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CDL-WaterPr...35?pt=US_Power_Inverters_&hash=item1c34627e83
I ran it off the clock circuit (my clock is dead anyways) but any switched 12v source will do. It charges my car integrated Nexus7 without any issues, and at the faster rate.
I have another powering a servo and an aux USB port, but unfortunately I ran so much wire to get it into the center console by the handbrake it charges at USB rates.

paolopaulpaul said:
hello did you buy it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not yet.
Caferacer said:
I have this hardwired into my WRX:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CDL-WaterPr...35?pt=US_Power_Inverters_&hash=item1c34627e83
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, that's a great price! Does it charge at ~1900 rates? Here is an app that will tell you the charging rate:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ccc71.bmw&hl=en

Just bought this one for $9 shipped.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-waterpr...34?pt=US_Power_Inverters_&hash=item3a7a051922
It's a waterproof box so it'll be better on my Motorcycle. I'll let you guys know how it works out by next week sometime.

There was a thread somewhere that explained why some chargers won't do the 1900mah charge. He figured out where and what size resistors to put across the wires to enable it. I think it was in a car dock thread, I'll try and find it.
Sent from my de-Verizonized Galaxy S4, CleanRom style! (using Tapatalk beta 4)

CZ Eddie said:
Not yet.
Wow, that's a great price! Does it charge at ~1900 rates? Here is an app that will tell you the charging rate:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ccc71.bmw&hl=en
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That app won't show the mA on my N7 but does show it charging near the same % as a fast charger.
MonkeyTime said:
There was a thread somewhere that explained why some chargers won't do the 1900mah charge. He figured out where and what size resistors to put across the wires to enable it. I think it was in a car dock thread, I'll try and find it.
Sent from my de-Verizonized Galaxy S4, CleanRom style! (using Tapatalk beta 4)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the shorting/grounding of the data pins that activates 'fast charge' mode on some phones. Nexus 7's and my E4GT (Sprint S2) when I used it didn't require the pins to be shorted to charge faster. Mostly it was the charger (duh) and the quality/length of the cable that affected the charge speed. As well, most of the heavy 1A plus chargers short the data pins in the charger itself so you can use any cable. I believe the S4 doesn't require it as well, but don't have any data to confirm it.
The way I wired mine was to sacrifice a USB female port from a USB extender, and attached the power leads and shorted the data leads. Figured it couldn't hurt. The converter doesn't care if it's putting out 500mA or 3A. It's not intelligent like some chargers in what current it doles out.

Caferacer said:
shorted the data leads. Figured it couldn't hurt. The converter doesn't care if it's putting out 500mA or 3A. It's not intelligent like some chargers in what current it doles out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yours is the second post I've seen where someone has shorted the data pins on a charging-only setup. Is there a reason for doing that?
Ehh, n/m. I remembered the "Google before you ask" mantra...
This explains it nicely:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s3/194362-wont-charge-over-usb-car.html
MichaelBR said:
There are some reasons why it won't work, and some ways to solve it. First, let's understand how it works:
The USB cable has four pins. The inner two pins are where the data goes through. THe outer, power.
When the USB cable is plugged in to a computer, the data pins are connected normally and the phone knows it can only draw certain amount of power
When the cable is plugged in to a charger, the two middle pins are shorted, and the phone knows that it's NOT going to be sendind/receiving data, so it can draw as much power as it can. That's why it charges faster with the charger than when plugged in to a computer
Most chargers short the two pins. Some cables have a switch to do that.
There are different cable cauges as well, with different power capacities.
Some USB chargers, notably car chargers and some low-end (i.e. not good brand) chargers that don't draw from the car/don't give the phone as much current as it needs.
So, if any of below, the phone won't charge, or won't charge fast enough. Or, worse: it may appear as charging, but actually losing battery charge!
Cable too long or incorrect gauge
Middle pins not shorted for some reason
Charger doesn't deliver enough current
And the solutions are:
Don't use cable extensions, cables that are too long. Stick with the cable that came with the phone or with the charger
Get a good car charger, that delivers the right amount of current
I imagine you just got the cable from your original wall charger and plugged it in to the car charger. If you did that, then chances are the cable is OK, and the charger is the culprit. If this is the case, then get a better charger. Check how much current that charger can deliver. Check how much current your device actually needs.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

CZ Eddie said:
Yours is the second post I've seen where someone has shorted the data pins on a charging-only setup. Is there a reason for doing that?
Ehh, n/m. I remembered the "Google before you ask" mantra...
This explains it nicely:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s3/194362-wont-charge-over-usb-car.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be clear, there is no indication it is *required* for the S4. Mine quick charges just fine without shorted data leads. However I did this because my friends have a variety of phones and it only took a few minutes to do.

Caferacer said:
That app won't show the mA on my N7 but does show it charging near the same % as a fast charger.
It's the shorting/grounding of the data pins that activates 'fast charge' mode on some phones. Nexus 7's and my E4GT (Sprint S2) when I used it didn't require the pins to be shorted to charge faster. Mostly it was the charger (duh) and the quality/length of the cable that affected the charge speed. As well, most of the heavy 1A plus chargers short the data pins in the charger itself so you can use any cable. I believe the S4 doesn't require it as well, but don't have any data to confirm it.
The way I wired mine was to sacrifice a USB female port from a USB extender, and attached the power leads and shorted the data leads. Figured it couldn't hurt. The converter doesn't care if it's putting out 500mA or 3A. It's not intelligent like some chargers in what current it doles out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Caferacer said:
To be clear, there is no indication it is *required* for the S4. Mine quick charges just fine without shorted data leads. However I did this because my friends have a variety of phones and it only took a few minutes to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I agree with what you posted in general terms, below is the link to the thread I was talking about. He did some testing and found the pins aren't just shorted, but shorted w/ 82K resistors to get the maximum charging current.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2274321

Will it damage the phone to have a 3A charger plugged into it? Also If it does not damage would it be able to run the camera as a "blackbox" and not die? I currently have a 2a charger and when i use the black box software it dies after about an hour or so.

SUCCESS!
I got the little black box in from eBay.
Gave it a quick/test wire setup. This is NOT indicative of the end result which will be soldered & have shrink tubing, etc.
Okay, first I grabbed my stock S3 data/charge cable.
Snipped off the standard USB end.
Cut off the ends of the pin 2 & 3 wires since they were not being used anymore (data pins).
Then attached the red (power) from the S3 cable to the yellow (power) lead from the little black box. And did the same for the black (negative) leads.
Then hard wired the red & black from the little black box to my motorcycle battery terminals.
On the first test, I only got 460mAh.
Then I decided to short the 2 & 3 pin wires (green & white) on the S3 cable together (attach them to each other). This gave me 1120mAh!
Next I took the tin-foil and wire braid from the S3 cable and tied them together with the negative lead on the S3 cable. This gave me 1220mAh!
Still not satisfied, I then cut down the 5' S3 cable and made it a 1.5' cable.
AND THIS RESULTED IN A FULL 1920mAh!!!! Right on.
That is exactly the same mAh as the stock S4 wall charger & cable combo give me. Very stoked about this. So now I'll do a nice clean install on the bike and then duplicate it for my car dock sometime soon. FULL CHARGE AHEAD!
Crxdc said:
Will it damage the phone to have a 3A charger plugged into it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it will be fine. The phone only draws 1900mAh. If the phone were drawing 3000mAh then there might be a problem.

All done and installed now. And working great!
Negative battery connection (I forgot to shrink tube it but will do that later).
Braided negative wire (~16 to 18awg?) running under gas tank to front of bike.
I wish I would have waited till I got black zip ties in. I hate white zip ties.
The braided wire at the right side of pic that goes up above the gas tank is the pos/neg wire lead that plus right into the phone.
2A inline fuse connecting via blade connector (sorry MC) to a previously used power-on-ignition wire.
This goes to (+) on the little black box.
Note the shrink tube over the braid over the crimp connector (wire goes to top-right of screen).
Phone sitting next to the phone dock I made out of a holster that came with my phone case.
You can see the braided/shrink tubed MicroUSB connector already plugged into the phone.
It's not showing a charge though, because the ignition key is not turned on.
Phone is inserted into stable dock (it will never fall out unless I crash hard).
Ignition is turned on and battery is charging!
And proof that it's charging at the full 1900mAh. Success!

CZ Eddie said:
All done and installed now. And working great!
Negative battery connection (I forgot to shrink tube it but will do that later).
Braided negative wire (~16 to 18awg?) running under gas tank to front of bike.
I wish I would have waited till I got black zip ties in. I hate white zip ties.
The braided wire at the right side of pic that goes up above the gas tank is the pos/neg wire lead that plus right into the phone.
2A inline fuse connecting via blade connector (sorry MC) to a previously used power-on-ignition wire.
This goes to (+) on the little black box.
Note the shrink tube over the braid over the crimp connector (wire goes to top-right of screen).
Phone sitting next to the phone dock I made out of a holster that came with my phone case.
You can see the braided/shrink tubed MicroUSB connector already plugged into the phone.
It's not showing a charge though, because the ignition key is not turned on.
Phone is inserted into stable dock (it will never fall out unless I crash hard).
Ignition is turned on and battery is charging!
And proof that it's charging at the full 1900mAh. Success!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome.

Hard wire phone charger and Bluetooth Receiver to car battery plan...
Hello,
I'm planning to install the following in my car along with new stereo head unit:
1) CraigsDocks Samsung Galaxy S4 docking charger, with USB power out
2) Rocketfish Bluetooth Music Receiver (with aptX), with DC 5V power out (connected to 3' 5V to USB power cable)
Plan to use this to convert (found on EBAY - I can't post links here in XDA yet/new user): Dual USB Cable Connectors Power Adapters 8-22V 12 V to 5V/3A DC Volt Converters... to connect directly to my car battery to power both the Samsung charger and the Rocketfish.
I'm new at this and I'm wondering if you all think this will work, or if I'm missing any steps, or if there are other better suggestions?
Thanks for your help!

ebrowni said:
Hello,
I'm planning to install the following in my car along with new stereo head unit:
1) CraigsDocks Samsung Galaxy S4 docking charger, with USB power out
2) Rocketfish Bluetooth Music Receiver (with aptX), with DC 5V power out (connected to 3' 5V to USB power cable)
Plan to use this to convert (found on EBAY - I can't post links here in XDA yet/new user): Dual USB Cable Connectors Power Adapters 8-22V 12 V to 5V/3A DC Volt Converters... to connect directly to my car battery to power both the Samsung charger and the Rocketfish.
I'm new at this and I'm wondering if you all think this will work, or if I'm missing any steps, or if there are other better suggestions?
Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks good to me. :good:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dual-USB-Ca...064?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51af639938

ebrowni said:
Hello,
I'm planning to install the following in my car along with new stereo head unit:
1) CraigsDocks Samsung Galaxy S4 docking charger, with USB power out
2) Rocketfish Bluetooth Music Receiver (with aptX), with DC 5V power out (connected to 3' 5V to USB power cable)
Plan to use this to convert (found on EBAY - I can't post links here in XDA yet/new user): Dual USB Cable Connectors Power Adapters 8-22V 12 V to 5V/3A DC Volt Converters... to connect directly to my car battery to power both the Samsung charger and the Rocketfish.
I'm new at this and I'm wondering if you all think this will work, or if I'm missing any steps, or if there are other better suggestions?
Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just realize that if you wire it to your batter there will be a small draw from the converter and chargers even when not in use. If you let your car sit for a week or long weekend you might come out to find the battery dead. I personally wouldn't wire anything directly to the battery, especially since you didn't mention an inline fuse. Find a switched 12v lead inside the car. Not only does this protect your phone, charger, and car, but it also means you don't have to run anything through the firewall, which is a pain.
You can either tie into the cig lighter wiring, or find something else (I used my clock circuit since it runs to a 10A fuse and is switched).

Caferacer said:
Just realize that if you wire it to your batter there will be a small draw from the converter and chargers even when not in use. If you let your car sit for a week or long weekend you might come out to find the battery dead. I personally wouldn't wire anything directly to the battery, especially since you didn't mention an inline fuse. Find a switched 12v lead inside the car. Not only does this protect your phone, charger, and car, but it also means you don't have to run anything through the firewall, which is a pain.
You can either tie into the cig lighter wiring, or find something else (I used my clock circuit since it runs to a 10A fuse and is switched).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your clock circuit is switched?
I agree with the firewall being a pita, but I'm not a huge fan of tapping on to other circuits either. With nothing charging, what would be drawing any current? If there's anything, it would have to be minimal. It also allows you to charge a phone/device with the car not running, sometimes very handy (and a modification I've made before for just that reason). An inline fuse is also a must, good point!
Sent from my de-Verizonized Galaxy S4, CleanRom style! (using Tapatalk beta 4)

MonkeyTime said:
Your clock circuit is switched?
I agree with the firewall being a pita, but I'm not a huge fan of tapping on to other circuits either. With nothing charging, what would be drawing any current? If there's anything, it would have to be minimal. It also allows you to charge a phone/device with the car not running, sometimes very handy (and a modification I've made before for just that reason). An inline fuse is also a must, good point!
Sent from my de-Verizonized Galaxy S4, CleanRom style! (using Tapatalk beta 4)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, my clock circuit has a switched lead to wake up the clock as well as a hard wired lead to retain the time. Both run to the same 10A fuse.
There is a small transformer in the converter and the receiver bluetooth will stay on. They have a small energy draw which is not negligible over a long period of time. At the very least I would include a dash mounted switch to completely shut the charger and receiver off. For instance I have a bluetooth OBD adapter (Not too much unlike your bluetooth receiver) that drained a 2 year old car battery over a week I left the car sitting while I was on vacation. For day to day driving it's not a problem but my OBD adapter isn't hardwired and I can just remove it when I know the car will be sitting.

Thanks
Caferacer said:
Just realize that if you wire it to your batter there will be a small draw from the converter and chargers even when not in use. If you let your car sit for a week or long weekend you might come out to find the battery dead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oooh, good point! Makes sense to me. I have never done a mod to my car's audio system so I'll be paying a professional installer. I'm so glad to have this information before I shop around at the good places here and get some offers!
Thank you!