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Can the phone tell the different between a charger and a computer?

I just find it stupid that the phone would show a notification for USB connection when I connect it to a charger.

Yes, it can tell the difference. Check in OS monitor, it knows whether you are getting power from USB, or from AC.

My phone thinks my car is a computer. As far as I know, it goes by the current being received -- 500 mA from a computer, 700 mA from the stock wall charger.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

I don't think it depends on the current.
With my factory charger, if I insert the charger in and kinda pull out one side of it, it will think it's a computer and I can "mount" my sd card. so it might be a certain way the connectors touch inside

saint168 said:
I just find it stupid that the phone would show a notification for USB connection when I connect it to a charger.
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It depends on the charger, but yes, the phone for the most part can tell the difference. It has to do with the voltage that is put out.

Ikonomi said:
My phone thinks my car is a computer. As far as I know, it goes by the current being received -- 500 mA from a computer, 700 mA from the stock wall charger.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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It has nothing to do with amperage (unless it is under 500) and everything to so with charging source. Wall chargers basically short the data wires to indicate AC charger and car chargers do not.
There is a thread in accessories forum discussing this and mods to get full charging out of car chargers. I did it by modding an extra cable. My car charger puts out 1 amp but the phone never draws more then ~ 750 mah.
Sent from my MB520 using XDA App

Dungeon47 said:
Yes, it can tell the difference. Check in OS monitor, it knows whether you are getting power from USB, or from AC.
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Every time I read one of your posts, in my head is McGyver's voice. Hearing him narrate the xda forums is hilarious.
From a phone

The phone can take up to 1000mA of charging current. But only if it detects it is on one of its supported AC chargers. Draw more than 500mA on a PC USB port may damage it. So, there is special wiring needs to be done for the data PINs on the USB port. That's why for generic car charger and wall chargers, it can't only assume it is PC USB port and charges at a slower pace (500mA). You will need the Samsung AC or Car charger to charge at higher current. I managed to mod one of car charger to be recognized as AC charger (no USB prompt). And you really need it because if you're using the phone as GPS navigation device, 500mA won't be able to sustain it (battery will keep be drained). You need 700ma or more.

It also depends if you have your USB connection set to a default if you will get that pop up when you connect it to any other than an AC charger.

Ikonomi said:
My phone thinks my car is a computer. As far as I know, it goes by the current being received -- 500 mA from a computer, 700 mA from the stock wall charger.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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Yes it does and is sensitive. I have been using a BT headphone charger and I would be perplexed that my phone showed 100% but pull the plug and its at 87% every morning AFTER recalibrating the battery.. LOL
Decided to use the Samsung Charger and no such issues. Needs those extra Milliamps.....

Alternate micro USB wall chargers

After using a wall adapter to micro USB port charger that only supplies 0.7 A instead of the 1 A the stock charger does, the lower adapter got very hot. Does the phone still try to draw one amp if its not connected to a PC through usb? Considering the standardization of micro-usb it would seem like G2x owners will try to use chargers at friends houses for other phones and it may not be the safest thing. Any input?

My factory LG charger only provides 0.7 amps.. but I use my hd2 charger that provides 1 amp cause the phone charges a little faster on it.. so I don't understand what your actually trying to say?
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

k00zk0 said:
After using a wall adapter to micro USB port charger that only supplies 0.7 A instead of the 1 A the stock charger does, the lower adapter got very hot. Does the phone still try to draw one amp if its not connected to a PC through usb? Considering the standardization of micro-usb it would seem like G2x owners will try to use chargers at friends houses for other phones and it may not be the safest thing. Any input?
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Phone can only draw as much power as the charger supplies, up to something like 1 amp. If the charger supplies less than that, then it only draws what the charger supplies. If the charger supplies more than 1 amp, then it will still only draw the 1 amp that it needs. The more important thing to ensure is that the voltage of that charger is the same as the stock charger.
G2X CM7

squish099 said:
My factory LG charger only provides 0.7 amps.. but I use my hd2 charger that provides 1 amp cause the phone charges a little faster on it.. so I don't understand what your actually trying to say?
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
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It's strange we got different chargers. This one outputs 4.8V at 1.0A. It also squeals when the phone is in standby. If i wake it it stops humming. Model STA-U13WR2. I wonder if charge rate has to do with anything bad? When the charge says completed and it is plugged into a USB port, it will charge for another hour at times. Makes sense since a high charging rate will cause the battery voltage to spike and read as if the charge is complete when it's still got room.

[SOLVED]Entropy: Got a charging question.

OK, first off I'm on infused v2.0.2 with bedwa's infusion kernel. I've been reading your threads and noticed what I think is a problem with my charge current. After I applied the /1.83 operator to current widget I only see a max of 475 mA on AC outlet power on a charger I bought. The charger is a Griffin charger that says 1A. The USB cable I'm using is the stock cable. When I use the stock charger I get ~250mA. What's happening here? I can get 1100mA on my car charger pre-operator in current widget which I'm thinking is roughly the 600mA max. Its an AT&T charger made for the aria (I think). Is something wrong with my phone? I think it charged the same on stock but not sure. What should I do?
Thanks for any help. You're the best I know when it comes to charging info.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997R using Tapatalk

02ranger said:
OK, first off I'm on infused v2.0.2 with bedwa's infusion kernel. I've been reading your threads and noticed what I think is a problem with my charge current. After I applied the /1.83 operator to current widget I only see a max of 475 mA on AC outlet power on a charger I bought. The charger is a Griffin charger that says 1A. The USB cable I'm using is the stock cable. When I use the stock charger I get ~250mA. What's happening here? I can get 1100mA on my car charger pre-operator in current widget which I'm thinking is roughly the 600mA max. Its an AT&T charger made for the aria (I think). Is something wrong with my phone? I think it charged the same on stock but not sure. What should I do?
Thanks for any help. You're the best I know when it comes to charging info.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997R using Tapatalk
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475 mA means you're in USB charging mode.
Which is what will happen with any iDevice charger. iDevice chargers use resistors to set D+ and D- at either 2.0 volts each or 2.0 on one and 2.8 on the other. Our phone treats this as USB.
You need a cable (I think AT&T's dedicated charge-only cable will do this) that shorts D+ and D- together if you want to use an iPod/iPhone/iPad charger. (Exception - car dock hides the charger's D+ and D- and the ID resistor in the dock takes priority.)
250 mA on stock charger sounds odd unless the battery was almost full.

Hah. Duh! My battery was at ~95% and I plugged it up to the stock charger to see what the current was. That was my fault. I didn't think about the iDevice thing but I remember reading it now. I think that explains it.
Thanks!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997R using Tapatalk

Charger HTC Question

Hi all.
Could the charger of desire work normally(when check in about phone it must be show AC not USB) for the HTC desire HD and Inspire 4g.
Thanks

If it shows AC that means you are charging through a power outlet and when it's charging by USB you are charging it through a USB cable connected to a computer
Charging through AC is faster then USB
Sent from my Desire HD using xda app-developers app

Why does USB from PC charges slower than the one from the socket?

emptyto said:
Why does USB from PC charges slower than the one from the socket?
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PC has only 500mA current output, your wall charger has 1A output
greater current faster charging-but this does not mean that battery has not its max. charging current!
higher charging current can easily damage your battery and cell phone.

I charge my phone with Xperia charger, with Kindle charger, with Nokia charger and many more. So far I have no problem with my battery. As long as on the end of the cable you have “micro-b usb” and stable (troublefree) electric transformator to supply that cable you can charge your battery. The time to charge may be different but the result is the same.

bravebg said:
I charge my phone with Xperia charger, with Kindle charger, with Nokia charger and many more. So far I have no problem with my battery. As long as on the end of the cable you have “micro-b usb” and stable (troublefree) electric transformator to supply that cable you can charge your battery. The time to charge may be different but the result is the same.
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+1 you only have to use a micro usb!

The charger should work with any phone other than iPhones

Quiglesigles said:
The charger should work with any phone other than iPhones
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Correct!
As long as it is a usb micro charger, it all works....
only the time required to fully charged varies...

I am using a Nokia USB cable as a Charge. Works fine too.
Sent from my Desire HD using xda app-developers app

I'm using Nokia cable, Sony cable ... All work fine !

As long as the two data cables are connected to eachother, the DHD will recognise it as a wall charger, and it will use 1 ampère. Instead of the 0.5 amps when connected to a PC (when the data cables aren't connected to eachother).

You can buy "charging only" cables. They always charge at maximum rate and do not transmit any data. Usually come with external battery packs etc.

Just to clarify some. (Talking about USB2.0 as 3.0 has a little higher power)
The USB on computers are powered by the motherboard (if not using extra PCI USB card).
Usually the motherboard gives about 500mAh to each USB host. If that host has 4 USB connectors all those connectors share the 500mAh.
And just be careful to not go above 500mAh as some (older) motherboards or even add in card's cannot handle the extra power and will fail to work(permanently).
So a charge-only cable will not make a difference in this situation, same goes for using multiple USB ports as that also brings extra problems with it, as power/voltage doesn't flow in just 1 direction (when using 2 poles). You could blow out USB voltage regulators when connecting different USB power leads together.
As for the phone side you can also use a 5000mAh power source, as the phone will 'take' what it needs. For DHD the max charging power is about 800mAh~900mAh if I'm not mistaken.
As long as its 5V and somewhat stable.
So if you want to charge the DHD (or any other USB chargeable phone, mostly all of them) as fast as possible use the original wall charger.
If you have to do it on the PC/Notebook unplug as much USB devices as possible, so most of the power can go to the phone.
Also make sure the screen of the phone is turned off as that's the biggest battery drain of the DHD. Thus also making charging slower (when on).

I'm using htc charger to charge my e-cigarette . It's works good.

If you plug it into USB socket, and enable "Fast charge" option, does it do anything? Does it block the data transfer and acts like a wall socket (1A) ?

USB charging on some amps, AC on others

As far as I know, if you plug in your Nexus5 (or any phone) into a power source with high amperage (>1A), your phone should utilize the amps it actually needs to charge at full speed (AC Charging).*
For example, if i plug my Nexus 5 into a 2.1A charger, it will charge just fine and draw only the required amps needed.*
Ive noticed my phone (rooted with faux) and my wifes (stock) and very finicky when it comes to the amps a charger uses. *It appears that if a charger is not exactly 1.0A or 1.2/1.3A, the phone charges as USB and not AC (no matter which USB cable I use). *Below is what I have found out, *with charge type/amp and how the phone sees it
Stock charger (1.2A) - AC
Anker 25W 5-Port Wall charger (1A Android port) - AC
Anker 25W 5-Port Wall charger (1A iPhone port) - USB (not sure why??)
Anker 25W 5-Port Wall charger (1.3A Galaxy Tab Port) - AC
Anker 25W 5-Port Wall charger (2.1A iPad ports) - USB
Anker E4 13000mah battery (2A) - USB
ANker E4 13000mah battery (1A) - AC
Anyone else experience this?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

What you've observed here actually has nothing to do with the amperage of your ports and everything to do with how their data pins are wired. The N5 (and most other android devices) looks for the data +/- pins in the USB port to be shorted together, this is how it determines it's connected to a charger. Apple devices do this differently, they look for a specific combination of voltages to be present on the data +/- pins. When you connect your N5 to an Apple port, it ignores these voltages and just charges as if it were connected to a PC.
Now the fact that it sees the Galaxy Tab port as a charger is kind of interesting because the Tab uses yet another method for charger detection. It looks for resistors of a specific value connecting the data +/- pins to the power +/- pins. Cool that the N5 recognizes this configuration as well.
Anyway, this is why your Anker charger has ports dedicated to specific devices, each one is configured a little differently.

That would make sense, however, I would expect the same thing on my Nexus 4 but that doesn't happen. It charges as AC for every port
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

It could simply be that the N4 uses a different power control IC from the N5 (they almost certainly do). That and the software controlling the charging determine whether the phone enables AC charging from different ports or not.
I believe (I have not tried this) that some custom kernels have a setting that enables fast charging unconditionally, to draw as much current as the hardware allows.

Yeah I'm waiting for a kernel to support Fast charge, don't believe any do at the moment
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

the phone may revert to lower power usb charging if some condition isn't met... the phone is completely ignorant of the rated power of the wall wart. current is drawn, it depends on ohms.. so it has nothing to do with the "power output." what i mean is there is no situation where too many amps is going to trigger something in the phone, the phone controls the amps and is ignorant of the max the supply can give unless the phone actually exceeds that and detects a voltage drop, the supply can't force more amps without raising voltage to do so but that's just not how these devices work. so it's not because of the amps of the charger, it must be some other aspect.
what the phone can see is voltage. the state of the microusb "Id" pin (which will probably be open if you are using a data cable and not a specific dock to put it in desk mode or car mode, not that i think the n5 has those modes, but the Id pin is what tells the phone these things, as well as set them into download mode to flash them) and the state of the data pins. generally the data pins need to be shorted together to tell the phone to go into ac charging.
it's possible however that if the voltage is lower than 5v, the phone assumes there is voltage drop from too low a power rating on the supply and it's unable to supply the current. in this situation the phone may default to a lower current charging mode. some ac chargers may not go all the way to 5.0v they may put out as low as 4.45v... if the voltage is either low or unstable from the "high output" charger it may cause the phone to think it has exceeded the output rating of the supply when infact it's just getting unclean power. try it with an official tablet charger for a kindle or something and not a store bought anything..... some of the high output chargers just have substandard regulators and/or filtering.
there may also be more to this. usb 3.0 has a higher current rating than usb 2.0 if the phone can detect the type of port it's connected to, that may also determine the charge mode.. (in thoery anyway, no reason it can't work that way, but i can't say i know that it does on any current device)

It's getting pretty aggravating now that my Nexus 5 charges as USB when connected to my anker slim 2 1A external battery as well as my anker astro e4 1A port. No reason why it should do this
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

If you use a fast charging USB cable with the proper pins shorted you should get it to charge with in AC mode. I grabbed one from Amazon and it changed from DC to AC on the same charger.

jalanjkcarp said:
If you use a fast charging USB cable with the proper pins shorted you should get it to charge with in AC mode. I grabbed one from Amazon and it changed from DC to AC on the same charger.
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Oh thanks for that tip. I'll order one on Amazon right now and update this thread
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

What happens if you connect an Apple device to one with the shorted pins?

Earth explodes
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

jalanjkcarp said:
If you use a fast charging USB cable with the proper pins shorted you should get it to charge with in AC mode. I grabbed one from Amazon and it changed from DC to AC on the same charger.
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Tested the new USB cord on all ports, charges as AC. Thanks a lot
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk