Recharging from USB and power outlet - Nexus S Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I recently got my new nexus s. Is there a difference when charging it from a USB port and from a power outlet? Seems like it charges faster from a power outlet but that could be just me.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

I get the same feeling. Charges faster from a power outlet.

Pretty much everything will charge faster from a wall outlet, there's just not that much power being given over USB.
I've got a charger that gives the same power as a USB socket that I use if I'm charging overnight, I figure it's slightly more environmentally friendly since my phone will take longer to charge.

USB only supplies about 500ma. Where the outlet is more like 1000ma. So yes it would charge faster from an outlet.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA Premium App

Yes, most phones charge faster through power outlet, usb give you less current, usually takes longer to charge.

Thanks for your replies. Out of curiosity, does charging from a computer reduce my battery's life because it takes longer to charge?

No. Trickle charging is supposed to be better on the battery than hitting it hard with a quick charge. What I consider a quick charge would be an aa or similar charger that can charge from dead to full in like an hour or less. 15 minute chargers, IMO, are very hard on batteries. Usually heat isn't good for cells and these chargers get the battery so hot it sometimes is too hot to touch.
In the case with these phones and charging the battery while in the phone, you shouldn't worry too much about it. The phone will regulate how much current and voltage gets to the battery even if you have a charger that is capable of delivering lots of power. If you had the battery out of the phone and in an external charger, that's when you need to look into it.
So, under normal conditions, don't worry about it.

Related

[Q] Faster Charger? Please advise

Hey,
I noticed that the droid charge has a bigger battery but it take a lifetime to charge.. is there a better charger I can get other than the one that came stock with the phone? Please let me know. I would really appreciate it.
The stock actually charges fast compared to USB...use a higher amperage charger with the stock usb cord (so it doesn't limit to 500ma). I use my Galaxy Tab charger...works great
Sent from my Droid Charge running GummyFroyo 1.9.1
kvswim said:
The stock actually charges fast compared to USB...use a higher amperage charger with the stock usb cord (so it doesn't limit to 500ma). I use my Galaxy Tab charger...works great
Sent from my Droid Charge running GummyFroyo 1.9.1
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Well I am using the USB in the pc and the battery has not moved once notch ... has to be the rom (gingerbread) or the combnation of usb cord and charger.
stepinmyworld said:
Well I am using the USB in the pc and the battery has not moved once notch ... has to be the rom (gingerbread) or the combnation of usb cord and charger.
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PC USB ports do not do a good job charging phones. they don't have a lot of power going to them. In addition, if you're using your phone while its charging from your computer you will not likely see it charging at all since all the power its getting is going to whatever it is your doing.
The same is true of car chargers. I had mine plugged in in the car for 45 minutes using the GPS. It charged 2%. The point is, the only real effective way to charge your phone is by using a regular outlet.
streetlightman said:
PC USB ports do not do a good job charging phones. they don't have a lot of power going to them. In addition, if you're using your phone while its charging from your computer you will not likely see it charging at all since all the power its getting is going to whatever it is your doing.
The same is true of car chargers. I had mine plugged in in the car for 45 minutes using the GPS. It charged 2%. The point is, the only real effective way to charge your phone is by using a regular outlet.
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Correct about the pc charging; it only runs at .5 amps (500 ma) while the stock charger has 1 amp. However, the car charger really depends on what kind you're using. I use a 2A and it charges fine.
Sent from my Droid Charge running GummyFroyo 1.9.1
streetlightman said:
PC USB ports do not do a good job charging phones. they don't have a lot of power going to them. In addition, if you're using your phone while its charging from your computer you will not likely see it charging at all since all the power its getting is going to whatever it is your doing.
The same is true of car chargers. I had mine plugged in in the car for 45 minutes using the GPS. It charged 2%. The point is, the only real effective way to charge your phone is by using a regular outlet.
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ok cool. so i could just look for a charger will higher voltage being delivered. I hope i get the right one that is compatible to the droid charge. Dont wanna burn the battery out etc
No, not voltage. Amperage. Big difference. Just get a charger with a USB port and a high amperage...I don't think you'll find a higher amp charger specifically compatible with the Charge.
Sent from my Droid Charge running GummyFroyo 1.9.1
kvswim said:
No, not voltage. Amperage. Big difference. Just get a charger with a USB port and a high amperage...I don't think you'll find a higher amp charger specifically compatible with the Charge.
Sent from my Droid Charge running GummyFroyo 1.9.1
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ok thanks!
You need a charger that won't be seen as a USB connection on the phone. If the phone thinks that it is plugged into your computer, it will charge at roughly half the rate of the wall charger. Wall charger will charge at ~700mA I believe, and the USB/Computer connection will charge at ~400mA. You can find the actual numbers in the power regulator driver in the kernel source though.
I have a motorola 950 amp car charger I got off amazon for $5. It works well but if the screen is full bright and I'm running navagation I have seen the battery level drop. To keep up you need a 1+amp charger. That being said the harder you charge the batteries the quicker they will wear out.
imnuts said:
You need a charger that won't be seen as a USB connection on the phone. If the phone thinks that it is plugged into your computer, it will charge at roughly half the rate of the wall charger. Wall charger will charge at ~700mA I believe, and the USB/Computer connection will charge at ~400mA. You can find the actual numbers in the power regulator driver in the kernel source though.
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This is pretty interesting. I'm not a phone dev or an electrician, but I assume these mA numbers are something that are 1) lower than what is actually safe and 2) might be able to be tweaked by a dev with nothing better to do. Not that you are even close to falling in that category, but I think many users would be quite interested in being able to get more charge out of shorter durations, albeit at the risk of burning out their phones.
Search for my responses here on charging cables... Sorry but I'm at 35,000 feet in an airliner and can't search very well to include a link. The "magic" to allow a charge current greater than 500ma is either in the stock AC charger or in a "charge only" cable. The data wires to the phone have to be shorted otherwise the phone will think that it is plugged into a computer and will start USB services and will limit the charging current. Cheapest to fabricate your own adapter!
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
So it wont harm my battery at all to use my galaxy tab charger on my phone? What about in the long run will it degrade faster?
I think the phone has intelligent charging logic (like the newest iphones) so if you keep it cool it will take care of itself. YMMV however!
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
You could have a 10 amp charger, and if it is picked up as a computer/usb connection, the phone is going to pull the same amount of current as it would just plugging it in to your computer. The same goes for car and wall chargers that get picked up as a computer/usb connection. It doesn't matter what charge rate the charger supports, the phone is going to pull the same current as it is regulated to via the kernel. The only time it won't pull the full charge current it is setup to pull is if you have a charger that is rated for a slower charge rate than what the phone wants AND it won't allow charging above its stated capacity (any good charger should do this).
I have looked around (not much though) at how to make the charge rate faster before, but couldn't see how to do anything besides make the phone charge as fast over USB as it can via the wall charger. However, from what I have read, Li Ion batteries do better if they receive a slower charge to full and will not die as fast compared to being rapidly charged.
imnuts said:
You could have a 10 amp charger, and if it is picked up as a computer/usb connection, the phone is going to pull the same amount of current as it would just plugging it in to your computer. The same goes for car and wall chargers that get picked up as a computer/usb connection. It doesn't matter what charge rate the charger supports, the phone is going to pull the same current as it is regulated to via the kernel. The only time it won't pull the full charge current it is setup to pull is if you have a charger that is rated for a slower charge rate than what the phone wants AND it won't allow charging above its stated capacity (any good charger should do this).
I have looked around (not much though) at how to make the charge rate faster before, but couldn't see how to do anything besides make the phone charge as fast over USB as it can via the wall charger. However, from what I have read, Li Ion batteries do better if they receive a slower charge to full and will not die as fast compared to being rapidly charged.
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Slow charging is true to some extent, but there is no need to charge our battery's under 1.5amp.
And shorting the two data pins on the USB doesn't work it looks for a specific resistance, I saw the ohm load somewhere, but now of course I can't find it lol..
When I get really bored tonight I will edit this and figure it out. But yeah our phones can easily pull 800ma or more with full screen brightness and maxed out processor. So that would result in no charging at all on some chargers. I use a 2a wall charger that came with my evo and it charges very very quickly. Never more than 1 hour to full charge unless I am gaming on it while it charges lol. This is using the cord that came with the phone of course so that it knows it isn't in a data enabled usb slot.
MasterRy88 said:
So it wont harm my battery at all to use my galaxy tab charger on my phone? What about in the long run will it degrade faster?
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In electronics, when given a voltage source (as opposed to a current source) the Voltage is set to a fixed value. That is what our wall USB outlets are. Voltage sources
Think of Voltage like a waterfall. The water is always dropping from the same height. The voltage is always set to the same value.
The mA rating (the current) is determined by how much juice the phone can pull. Just because a charger is capable of supplying more current (say 1 or 2 amps), it doesn't mean that the Droid is going to draw that much current. However, if the droid is capable of pulling more current, it will benefit by charging faster.
Does that help at all?
*edit* Dang it. Didn't scroll down enough to see that imnuts posted already. Oh well, screw it. I'm leaving my post. lol. People who don't know about Voltage and Amperage need to hear the waterfall example at some point in their lives.
lane32x said:
In electronics, when given a voltage source (as opposed to a current source) the Voltage is set to a fixed value. That is what our wall USB outlets are. Voltage sources
Think of Voltage like a waterfall. The water is always dropping from the same height. The voltage is always set to the same value.
The mA rating (the current) is determined by how much juice the phone can pull. Just because a charger is capable of supplying more current (say 1 or 2 amps), it doesn't mean that the Droid is going to draw that much current. However, if the droid is capable of pulling more current, it will benefit by charging faster.
Does that help at all?
*edit* Dang it. Didn't scroll down enough to see that imnuts posted already. Oh well, screw it. I'm leaving my post. lol. People who don't know about Voltage and Amperage need to hear the waterfall example at some point in their lives.
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I don't really understand this because voltage and amperage are different things...
Sent from my Droid Charge running GummyFroyo 1.9.1
skydeaner said:
When I get really bored tonight I will edit this and figure it out. But yeah our phones can easily pull 800ma or more with full screen brightness and maxed out processor. So that would result in no charging at all on some chargers. I use a 2a wall charger that came with my evo and it charges very very quickly. Never more than 1 hour to full charge unless I am gaming on it while it charges lol. This is using the cord that came with the phone of course so that it knows it isn't in a data enabled usb slot.
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Did you read anything I posted The phone is only going to pull a set charge rate, depending on what type of connection it sees. It doesn't care what power rating the connection has, it will pull as much power as it can, up to the limit defined in the power regulator of the kernel. You can use a 1A charger, or a 2A charger, doesn't matter, the phone is still only going to pull a set. The phone will pull 475mA via USB connection (your computer) or 800mA via an AC adapter (wall charger). Unless you figure out how to hack the battery driver to allow a faster charge, those are the two rates you get, regardless of how much power the wall charger can supply.
kvswim said:
I don't really understand this because voltage and amperage are different things...
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A charger is going to provide a set voltage (5V I believe) and that is the only constant in the charging process for what is going into the phone. The amperage is going to be determined by the phone or the wall charger. The only time the wall charger will be the limiting part in charging is if its circuitry is setup to cut off charging over a certain level, and if it is rated for a lower charging rate, odds are, it probably won't cut it off and instead produce a fire hazard.
Something else people don't realize is that the charging rate isn't just bad for the battery if you charge to fast, pulling to much power in to charge the battery, especially while using the phone, creates a heat problem as well. While the phone will shut itself down before any major damage can occur, why would you even want to create a situation that could potentially damage the phone hardware?
imnuts said:
Did you read anything I posted The phone is only going to pull a set charge rate, depending on what type of connection it sees. It doesn't care what power rating the connection has, it will pull as much power as it can, up to the limit defined in the power regulator of the kernel. You can use a 1A charger, or a 2A charger, doesn't matter, the phone is still only going to pull a set. The phone will pull 475mA via USB connection (your computer) or 800mA via an AC adapter (wall charger). Unless you figure out how to hack the battery driver to allow a faster charge, those are the two rates you get, regardless of how much power the wall charger can supply.
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what about car chargers? i have one that I think is 2A and it seems to charge my phone a bit faster than my wall charger
blazing through on my VZ Droid Charge 4G

Battery charging, 500mah (slow) or 1000mah (fast) any difference in performance?

I've noticed that charging with 500mah charger, charges the battery MUCH slower than a 1000mah (1amp) charger, which charges really fast. I'll need to time it, but I'm thinking the 1000mah charger charges the stock battery in less than 2 hours, where as the 500mah charger takes many hours, I usually let it charge overnight.
My question is, is there any performance gain to slow charging vs fast charging? ie: slow charging giving a deeper charge, vs fast charging?
any opinions?
i use a 2amp charger i had already that fully charges the O3D in around half an hour/45 mins. get the same runtime whether i use that or the stock charger.
hefonthefjords said:
i use a 2amp charger i had already that fully charges the O3D in around half an hour/45 mins. get the same runtime whether i use that or the stock charger.
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Any chance of a link to this charger, I'd really like that sort of charging speed.
Pete
My guess would be anything that would charge an iPad... those require like 2.1amp, so that would be a 2amp usb charger.... I've seen 2.1amp home chargers, car chargers, etc... all because of the ipad I'm guessing.
Its not that simple. Any device that uses USB for charging can only pull 500ma, that's a universal agreement. To get around this each manufacturer uses a method of "informing" their device that it is connected to a charger that can supply more current (HTC shorts the data leads in the supplied charger I don't know what LG does). I have a 1amp car charger but it still only gives 500ma but the genuine LG charger gives an amp because the phone "knows" it can supply more.
I'm going to stick a test meter into my LG chargers over the holidays to see how the data leads are connected.
Pete
Sent from my LG-P920 using xda premium
The charger i have is a noname brand. I bought it from walmart for 6 quid. It also came with a 2amp car charger and a micro usb cable.
Micro usb cables are not standardised like that. Ive never heard of such a thing at all. As far as i know most phones will "fast charge" if they dont detect a data connection and dump as much current as they can into the battery so you can pretty much present them with whatever current you like and the charge time will just get faster. There is probably a hardware limit to that somewhere in the charge circuit but i dont know what the limit is. 2amps is the highest power usb charger ive seen but its not exactly aomething i regularly keep an eye out for.
Sent from my LG-P920 using xda premium
Slow charging is always better as this will allow the optimal number of battery cycles before the battery's capacity will start to degrade.
So if you only ever slow charge then your battery will have a longer life cycle.

Infuse charging Amp question

Hello. If I charge the Infuse with something like this (http://www.amazon.com/PowerGen-Dual-Heavy-Ouput-Charger/dp/B006SU0SX0/ref=pd_sim_sbs_e_5) using the 2A port, would it overload the infuse and break it? Or would it just charge it faster?
I don't think it will break it...but it will defiantly shorten you batterys actual life....meaning your battery condition and charge hold will decrease faster...so in the short run your phone will charge fast but after a while your phone will lose the ability to hold a good charge
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda app-developers app
These chargers were designed to accommodate the tablet. Due to the large battery capacity the tablets charge at a higher Amp in order to fully charge within a reasonable amount of time. If they only pulled 500mA or 700mA it would take a very long time to reach a full charge. Your battery life will not be affected AT ALL because by design your phone which handles the charging will only pull between 500mA and 700mA which this charger is capable of.

Charger or PC USB

Is any difference charging my DHD form PC's USB then charging from original charger ?
I may be wrong, but I think wall charger provides more power than USB or car dock
Sent from my Desire HD using xda app-developers app
I've read many times that using USB, you battery might last longer than using the wall charger. I've never noticed this...
USB seems a bit slower than the wall charger but other than that seems the same.
Install Battery Monitor Widget, and you will see how much current each option gives at different levels of charge.
To be exact, the device DRAWS current, it's not a question of the highest output being the best. If the device can't receive more juice, the additional output cannot be used.
When the battery is nearly empty you will see the biggest current draw - as the charge gets closer to 100%, the amount the device draws drops, until it reaches 0mAh on full charge.
My OEM wall charger provides up to 1000mAh, and the PC USB provides 500mAh, you will initially charge the device faster with the wall charger, until the current drawn by the device drops beneath 500mAh - after which point they will charge equally fast.
That, in the case of my phone (with a Mugen 1500mAh battery) happens around the 60% charge mark. So if the charger outputs are as mentioned above, you wouldn't see any difference in the rate of charging after 60%
HTC wall charger can output 1A with data pin short-circuit. PC USB can output 500~600ma or 1A on some laptop but no data pin short-circuit.
Fast charge mode is 900mA. It is on when data-pin short-circuit is detected OR on a fast-charge enabled ROM (or say, kernel).
Otherwise, it only pull 500ma.
Use your battery in your way. Charge it when you like. DHD can replace battery.
Stating the obvious BUT, of course, you can access your phones storage when connected to PC via USB for charging!
---------- Post added at 10:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:13 AM ----------
Also, be careful of using unpowered USB hubs - there may not be sufficient power on the port to charge effectively.
I think charger will have more power. :cyclops:
A wallcharger will always push more amps to the phone.
Don't get confused by people telling you, that wallcharging will damage your battery! That's just not true.
Every phone has an inbuild unit, that controls the amps going to the battery.
Charger outputs more power and therefore it charges faster. Some kernels have the option called "fast charge" which allow you phone to drain more power from the PC and allow it to charge almost as fast as via charger. You can not access files while connected to the PC if the "fast charge" option is enabled.
As already stated above, AC charging is generally faster.
Now many people say that charging by USB will make your phone last longer, but from my personal experience is quite opposite, plus, usb charging is easily interrupted (PC hibernating, stand-by, restarting, etc...). if you are comfortable with both ways (neither PC nor wall outlet too far away), use wall AC.
interesting, i noticed charging via AC (wall) gives my dying battery that extra oomph and seems to make my phone last longer in the day
I think Charger is always best than PC charging.
Its fast.
AC charging is faster due to a higher voltage and ma charge rate
USB uses a much more lower voltage and ma charge rate, it is true that USB charging is SLOWER and a myth is that USB charging does make your battery last longer.
On sense 2.1 I noticed my battery last 4 days with low - medium ussage because I only charged with USB but now I charge with AC with medium ussage my battery lasts a day.
With kernel tuner you can add a 4x4 widget which can tell you the voltage and mah raise / drain
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using xda app-developers app
I think the power if you charger the mobile from Charger it will be faster more than PC charging
-SmOgER said:
As already stated above, AC charging is generally faster.
Now many people say that charging by USB will make your phone last longer, but from my personal experience is quite opposite, plus, usb charging is easily interrupted (PC hibernating, stand-by, restarting, etc...). if you are comfortable with both ways (neither PC nor wall outlet too far away), use wall AC.
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+1. I vote AC charging
Charging with Original charger is awesome
Charging from Orginal charger takes less time then chargin from a pc usb
Charging from charger is faster, but charging from USB is more stable, as far as I know...Because it has a balanced voltage all the time. Not sure though. Just heard from somewhere.

[Q] High Power Charger?

Whenever I use my sensation when I get home, I always game on it.
You know games such as dead trigger, It gives me the notification "Power is being used more than charge" or something like that.
I was wondering if there was a charger that charges faster.
I was thinking about getting an external charger,as I have 2 batteries, but please give me your opinions!
Thanks!
I ordered a pair of Anker 1900 batteries that came with a charger that can charge a battery externally as well as charge the phone directly. Any charger capable of providing 1000mAh is enough to provide a full charge; that's all the phone will draw anyway. If you go into settings and power, if it says Charging (AC) and not Charging (USB) you're drawing as much as you can. The travel charger that shipped with the phone will give you the fast charge...
Here's the kit I ordered: http://www.amazon.com/1900mAh-Batte...id=1358461441&sr=1-2&keywords=anker+sensation
owner eod said:
Whenever I use my sensation when I get home, I always game on it.
You know games such as dead trigger, It gives me the notification "Power is being used more than charge" or something like that.
I was wondering if there was a charger that charges faster.
I was thinking about getting an external charger,as I have 2 batteries, but please give me your opinions!
Thanks!
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Click to collapse
If a high powered charger existed then it still wouldn't solve your problem. The reason why you get this notification while playing games is because, in order to prevent a fire, when the Sensation reaches a certain temperature then it will stop charging the battery; if the phone gets too hot then it will not charge.
I have that problem to all i did get new battery look at thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2101362
A high power charger just has the ability to let a larger amperage value through without it melting.
But both a phone charger and a tablet charger are 5 volt devices like all
Smartphones usually have a 1amp charger. Tablets have a 2 amp charger. But both are 5 volts.
You can plug a smartphone into a 2 amp charger easily enough. But the charger can't "push" the extra amp to the phone. That's not how it works. The phone can only "pull" 1 amp. It's the device that regulates how many amps it consumes.
But you could plug your phone directly into a wall socket without a charger and it will send 120 volts to the phone. Of course this will fry the phone pretty quickly (or the phone will register that it's got too much voltage and kill the circuit to protect itself) but assuming that the phone could survive the voltage the battery would then charge very fast.
In other words a higher powered charger won't help charge the phone faster because the phone is regulating how much power it takes from the charger. The phone is set up to only draw 1 amp. Period.
More voltage would charge the device faster but fry the phone. More amperage won't help because the phone won't use it anyway.

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