[Q] Charging phone using non-standard chargers - General Questions and Answers

Currently using a HTC Sensation XE. It uses a 5V 1A output charger.
I have a couple of other chargers lying around at higher amperage (2.1A) and others at lower amperage (500-700mA). Was wondering if using either of those would be damaging to the phone/battery?
Another strange phenomenon I have encountered is, when using an Iphone charger (which has the same output as the original HTC charger), it takes forever to charge the battery (20% over a 8hrs). Any insight into the topics would be appreciated

As far as I know the charging current is controlled by the phones hardware. So if you connect a charger which can provide a current of 500mA-700mA, it will be bottlenecked by the chargers specifications.
However when you connect the 2100mA charger, the internal current-controller of the phone will limit the current to the best value for keeping the battery temperature acceptable.
Considering your iPhone charger, i'd say the connection causes the phone to think it's connected to a PC and limits its current to the default maximum current of the USB-port (500mA).

Related

[Q] DHD Micro-USB Charging question

So my DHD arrives tomorrow.
After reading about battery life, I want access to as many chargers as possible.
Can you tell me: Will my existing Micro-USB Chargers (Blackberry) be compatible with the DHD? I'm not sure if each unit will require a specific voltage / wattage?
Or can I just plug & play with which ever Micro-USB charger I come across?
Thank you & sorry if it's a dumb question...
Any cable will do fine. Definitely if you're charging through a PC since I've never heard of a phone/battery that can't handle the 5V it outputs (max for USB charging). A mains charger you can never be too sure with since it may have higher current/watt output, but I've really never let this stop me except that I'd avoid using cheap Chinese knockoffs.
It depends... microUSB connected to computer will be of course good, as it is hardware limited to 0,5A. External chargers are good question, but in my experience the phone/battery usually have a charge limiter so even if the charger does allow you to use higher current, the phone doesn't have to use all the power it can get.
For example i used the Nokia AC-10E charger for my Motorola Milestone since i bough the phone, and had no problems with it. And will use it for DHD too.
The official HTC chargers have an outpur of 5V/1A, so as long as your charger has the same output you should be good.
Nokia AC-10E has 1.2A, but as i said - that is the maximum it can give to the phone, batteries/phones have a current regulators so even if you connect a charger which can give you 2A @ 5V, nothing will happen - the phone will regulate the current which is used to charge the battery.

[Q] got a generic charger....it says-5v 500mah,original is 5v 1a(amper)is this ok?

it says- output :5v 500mah
the original says-output:5v 1a(amper i guess)
will this screw up the battery?
chances are no, considering it is half what htc recommends you charge it with, either it will charge it very slowly (half the current of the original) or the voltage wont provide enough to kick the phone into charging mode and nothing will happen (i.e. the charger "wont work")
Thanks for the help
It'll work, but as panyan said, it'll recharge much more inefficiently than with a 1 amp charger.
Actually... It will charge the phone exactly as charging via USB, as USB is limited to 0.5A.
Yep, it will charge your phone just fine @ USB charging speed, I have a similar charger.
And some of you forgot to mention that the phone will struggle when for example you will play games or use gps. Charge will be insufficient and instead charging it will slowly discharge while using it.
Sent from my Desire HD uing XDA App
Well yes and no, in normal usage it will charge phone, but when you use your phone the way that you would drain the batty in two hours, then it will discharge.
Hey... Yeah if the charger is a car charger then it may not charge fast enough if using GPS software which can drain the battery fast. 1Amp reccomended for faster charging... other than that should charge fine but just slow like USB charging (which has a max of 500mA).
One question guys... I bought a car charger from ebay listed as for HTC phones. It looks like a cheap knock off product with a glowing blue HTC logo when used in the car. The device is rated at 2Amps. Now from what little I know about electronics I've been told that AC/DC Plug packs with more Amps are ok and the device just only uses what it needs. I'm not however familiar whith battery charing when you have a higher rated Amps charger... Would the battery on the phone just be greedy and "ask" for the full 2Amps? Would this then put strain or be dangerous by charging the phone too quickly?
Secondly while we are on the topic of electronics... I'm trying out a super cheap ebay battery supposedly rated at 1600mAH (I know these rating are usually fake). I've noticed the HTC battery is around 4.17V when fully charged. This battery charged up to 4.2V fully charged... Is that dangerous for the device?
2 amp is better, correct me if i am wrong. So the output is 5V and 2A, is that mean the power is 10W every hour ?
2 A charging current (if the phone takes in that much) will damage the battery in a long term use.
It is incredibly unlikely that the phone will discharge the battery faster than it charges unless you're doing something very wrong, e.g. Running a console emulator while downloading a large file over HSDPA with WiFi enabled (but not connected) and using GPS navigation with screen brightness at maximum!
Screen and background services take approx 150mAh, and I doubt radio will take much more than that combined. That puts drain 200mAh less than USB charging, 700mAh less than direct charging.
FYI: There's a spec for USB charging of mobile phones from supported USB ports which can pull up to 1500mA.
DeathJester said:
It is incredibly unlikely that the phone will discharge the battery faster than it charges unless you're doing something very wrong, e.g. Running a console emulator while downloading a large file over HSDPA with WiFi enabled (but not connected) and using GPS navigation with screen brightness at maximum!
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Hmm... not sure for Desire HD I haven't tested GPS with SatNav software using current widget... I do know that I'm pulling well over 200mA just with basic use at home with Wi-Fi on and GPS & Bluetooth off and I kill all backround apps. I do know that I've been in the car and seen TomTom app on my friend's jailbroken iPhone 3G (or 3Gs) and with the GPS on and not doing anything intensive... we were actually travelling down a long straight highway, the phone was chewing more battery than the car charger could charge, so he switched off GPS.
Ah also guys no need to worry about the 2Amp charger... It sh*t itself on the 3rd car use and no longer works at all. Junk! I also noticed on the 2nd car trip that opening Android SpareParts the charge is displayed as USB Charging not AC Charging so yeah I believe that the car charger was only a standard USB (max 500mA) power output and not 1Amp let alone 2Amps. Annoying how false advertising or labelling is part and parcel with cheap Chinese products.I was meaning to test the charger's output with Current Widget (which is what I'll do for my next car charger) but the charger crapped out and was useless before I got a chance.
One thing I did notice from looking at a log using Current Widget while charging my phone on the A/C charger in standby, the charge tapers off the power output the more the battery is charged. To get an accurate idea of if the car charger is going to be outputting 1Amp I'd be sure the phone battery is down to 40% (or in the 40s) then with all other stuff switched off I'd run a log on Current Widget and turn the screen off for a few minutes. You should have a reading of around +700 to +800mA if the car charger is rated at 1Amp.
Be wary of the cheap Asian knock of car chargers with the coil spring cord and the HTC logo that lights up blue.... Not worth the 3 or 4 bucks they sell on ebay for.
There's a spec for USB charging of mobile phones from supported USB ports which can pull up to 1500mA.
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There's commonly those double USB cables for laptop hard drives so yeah I can see that if the USB ports are actually giving you the full rated maximum of 500mA you can get 1Amp output with this kind of cable but 1500mA?!? The only way I'd see possible for this is either you have a tripple USB cable connected to 3USB ports that are all outputting the full 500mA (and that's if a triple cable even exists or lets say you solder another one onto a double cable) or you have a USB AC/DC charger or some other USB port/hub you've rigged up which provides more than the USB standards of max 500mA per port. How else is this possible?!? Has the max power output of 500mA changed since USB 2.0 standards?
yeah there are usb 2.0 ports with more than 500mA power supply.
some companys give some extra juice to their (or often only one) usb ports.
for example: i've got an Dell Studio XPS 16 Notebook here. it has 3 usb ports, 2 with normal 500mA supply and one with 1A (for charging your phone, etc).
DN41

.7 Amp vs 1.0 Amp Charger

So the One X comes with a 1.0 Amp charger. The charger would not fit(too long) in the spot where I have been using my Samsung charger.
I compared the two and saw the only difference is the .7 A to 1.0 A. looked up if it was ok to use. Some even reported longer battery life with the slower charger. Makes some sense just lasts longer.
Maybe I am crazy but it seems like I get better battery life from the .7 charger.
I have went back and forth a few times....But of course not enough days to really tell.
thoughts?
Definitely overthinking it. It will just charge slower.
eallan said:
Definitely overthinking it. It will just charge slower.
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Yep, what he said.
To think of it another way, you can charge your phone via a USB connection to your computer, but it's much slower. This is because USB only provides 0.5 (or maybe it's 0.2?) Amps.
However, going with an adapter that's HIGHER than 1.0A could cause damage.
In the long run, slower charges will likely make your battery last more cycles. But on a per-cycle basis, it should not give better battery life.
If you run your battery down, the smaller charger (and definitely the case for PC USB because they max out at 500ma) may not be able to charge at all. In normal cases, it is fine.
Higher than 1a won't damage anything. .7 might not actually charge the battery 100% depending on if the phone thinks it is usb(500ma charging mode) or ac charger(wont charge properly).
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA
c5satellite2 said:
Higher than 1a won't damage anything. .7 might not actually charge the battery 100% depending on if the phone thinks it is usb(500ma charging mode) or ac charger(wont charge properly).
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA
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Click to collapse
This. The voltage is what really matters. The phone won't draw more than it can to charge. If it draws 1A while charging and you put it on a 2A charger, it will pull 1A. But if the voltages don't match up and there isn't a protection circuit for that type of problem, you could fry the electronics with a higher amperage.
100% on the voltage! That is the important one. .7a shouldnt be recognized as a real ac charger resulting in the phone thinking it is USB 500ma charging mode which is the same as pc, slow. If the device thinks the .7a charger is ac charging mode, the battery probably will never charge to 100%. In fact if you were at 100%, and the phone was in ac charging mode with a .7a charger, it would drain your battery! More than 1a, the phone will only draw what it is capable of. Some aftermarket chargers will still charge in USB 500ma mode because the phone won't recognize them as ac charging 1a mode. I had an old HTC charger once that did funny things to my inspire, it would open navigation every time it was plugged in(thought it was a car dock I guess). Use real OEM chargers if possible. They will charge the fastest, and you won't have issues. The real HTC chargers at 1a are much faster than the aftermarket chargers I have tried. I have a good Kensington 1a car and wall charger, and the HTC blows them away as far as speed!
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA
c5satellite2 said:
100% on the voltage! That is the important one. .7a shouldnt be recognized as a real ac charger resulting in the phone thinking it is USB 500ma charging mode which is the same as pc, slow. If the device thinks the .7a charger is ac charging mode, the battery probably will never charge to 100%.
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Actually, AC charging mode or PC USB mode is not determined by amprage or volts (all use 5v). It is determined by how the data pins are terminated. Most non-Apple chargers terminate data pins the same way so they will be recognized as AC charger. Apple chargers are the ones that may not be recognized by the phone as AC chargers because Apple terminates data PINs different than everyone else. Regardless of the charging mode, they all can charge to 100% if they can initiate the charge.
LiIon battery charging circuitary is much more complicated than your normal AA chargers. It is regulated internally so that slightly variations of input voltage won't affect the charging. It has to internally control the charge process precisely so that it can terminate the process at the exact moment (overcharging results in explusion).
Input power supply being 0.7A or 1A has no bearing on the level to which the battery is filled. Even input voltage has no bearing! The only impact to the system will be the rate at which you can charge.
Not true. Some chargers make the device think it is a real ac charger, but do not provide enough to charge to 100%. And yes it has to do with pinout. Some ac chargers aren't recognized properly and results in USB charge mode even if they have more than 500ma available. Even if your pc provides more than the USB standard of 500ma, it will only draw 500ma and charge slowly.
Don't mess with the voltage, it WILL damage your device! The previous post should be ignored, and deleted.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA
I use my touchpad charger and its 5.3v instead of 5v and its definitely charging my phone faster than the HTC stock charger. No affect on battery life though.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
5.3v or 5v is ok because there is a little leeway, and I'm sure the 5.3 isn't exactly 5.3 anyway. If it was, the extra .3v is probably within range, and is not blowing things up, just stressing them a little more, making some heat, and wearing them out slightly quicker.
Try a 12v charger, see what happens. LOL.
Seriously the 5.3v might actually be closer to 5v than a charger labeled 5v and therefore could result in better charging. Remember, input voltage varies as well. Your electricity could go under 100v or as high as 120v. Our electric grid is not very consistent. Supply is constantly being adjusted to meet demand, resulting in widely varying voltages. I have seen it dip into the low 90v range on hot summer afternoons, and rarely in the 115v-120v range where it should be. The 5.0 volt charger would result in the best performance if it was actually putting out a TRUE 5v. A high quality charger, with high quality, consistent, 115v input power that is properly rated is ideal. In reality it doesn't exist.
5.3v close enough, might actually be better. One way to tell, put the voltmeter on it!
If you have access to volt/multimeter, could you post your ac voltage at the outlet and the dc voltage coming out of the 5.3v charger. Could be interesting. How many amps is the charger also? Might have to get one.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA
Dont have that but this is the link to it
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0055QYJJM
I'll provide the exact specs when I get home.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
Can you clarify what you mean by this?
c5satellite2 said:
Not true. Some chargers make the device think it is a real ac charger, but do not provide enough to charge to 100%.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA
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Click to collapse
Either an input power provides power or it doesn't. The only reason it would "stop" is if the charger in the phone runs out of headroom and I have yet to see this with any AC/DC or USB supply.
The whole issue of whether or not the phone identifies the power supply is an entirely separate discussion. But once it does identify and begin charging it will do so until completion.
---------- Post added at 12:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:05 PM ----------
c5satellite2 said:
The 5.0 volt charger would result in the best performance if it was actually putting out a TRUE 5v.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA
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Click to collapse
This is not true. Take two AC/DC adapters...
A) [email protected] = 4.24W
B) [email protected] =4.00W
The HTC One X has an internal switching charger with dynamic input power limiting. So it will actually be able to draw MORE current from Adapter A than Adapter B. Also, because the charger in the One X is a switching charger there will be negligible extra heat generated and no excessive wear and tear.
how did you know?
racerex said:
Can you clarify what you mean by this?
Either an input power provides power or it doesn't. The only reason it would "stop" is if the charger in the phone runs out of headroom and I have yet to see this with any AC/DC or USB supply.
The whole issue of whether or not the phone identifies the power supply is an entirely separate discussion. But once it does identify and begin charging it will do so until completion.
---------- Post added at 12:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:05 PM ----------
This is not true. Take two AC/DC adapters...
A) [email protected] = 4.24W
B) [email protected] =4.00W
The HTC One X has an internal switching charger with dynamic input power limiting. So it will actually be able to draw MORE current from Adapter A than Adapter B. Also, because the charger in the One X is a switching charger there will be negligible extra heat generated and no excessive wear and tear.
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Click to collapse
Htc has input power limiting? Internal switching charger? Where did you get this information?
The plugpack will be voltage regulated(to protect from overvoltage with under designed load) not ampage regulated.
The battery charges via voltage float, the higher the voltage the quicker the charge, but the voltage is regulated anyways so there is no fast and slow charge. It is charging or it's not. The charge circuit steps up and down the voltage to give fast/slow charge not the plugpack in mobile phones.
1.0a versus 0.7a just means the rated output is lower. It does not change the load. All that happens is the 0.7a will be running over its rated output which results in running hotter and potential running undervoltage.
Running 0.7a is not good if the battery charge circuit will draw 1.0a by design. Your plugpack just becomes a firerisk.
You should always match the designed specifications, eg 12v 1.0a.
The device expects a 12v(or close) input and should be able to draw 1.0a without issue.
If you over or under volt the charge circuit it could blow up, if you over draw the supply it might melt.
is it ok to charge 0.7A battery with 1.0A charger
omer101 said:
is it ok to charge 0.7A battery with 1.0A charger
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Did you not read the thread?
Sent from my Evita

Question about chargers

I have an HTC Explorer, which came with a USB cable and an adapter to allow me to charge via mains as well. (Something like this: http://i.expansys.com/i/g/g232723.jpg - that's not the exact same one, but you get the idea). This charger says on it that it has an output of 5V and 1A. I also have a Blackberry Playbook, which came with a charger with a micro USB connector. However, this charger says on it that it has an output of 5V and 2A.
I have tested the HTC charger with my playbook, and it worked, but the question I want to ask is this: would it be dangerous to try the playbook charger on my HTC phone? (2A output from Playbook charger versus the presumably expected 1A input on the phone) I would like to be able to only carry one charger when travelling and the playbook charger has interchangeable adapters for international plugs, so it would be better to take, but obviously I don't want to overload the phone and have it burst into flames or whatever.
Any advice on the matter would be great, thanks.
It's not recommended by the manufacturer. It can void your warranty, though I don't know how they'd ever find out you were doing so. There can also be issues when using the cable to transfer data and such.
I did watch a video about that Blackberry charger.
Supposedly because of that 2A output, it charges your phone twice as a fast.
Sent from my Ainol Novo7 Elf using xda premium
I don't think there would be considerable damages but..I'd just use them both, even if it's less comfortable
I looked around and I think it should be safe. From what I've read online, the phone will only take a certain amount of current, regardless of the current being made available by the charger. Because the voltage is the same (5V), and the resistance of the phone circuitry is constant, by Ohm's law, I = V/R, so I will always be the same as long as V is the same. Presumably it'll drop with a lower input current, but the max I will always be the same, and that'll be limited to a safe level.
It might take a slightly higher current (say if the max the phone can take is 1.2A or something, the 1A charger can only give 1A but the 2A would give the full 1.2A), but no higher than the circuits in the phone will allow. After reading this, I realised that it made a lot of sense, and I think it's right. I also read that if it does charge the phone faster (which it will if the phone is taking a higher current e.g. 1.2A) it'll reduce the number of charging cycles that you get out of the battery. But the consensus seems to be that doing it every now and again when travelling etc. should be fine.
Thanks for all your responses.
EDIT: I think at worst, I might damage the battery, and they're not overly expensive to replace I don't think.
I agree, the rating on the charger is what it's MAX output, not that it will push that much current to your device. If you have an extra USB cable (that you dont mind cutting apart) and a mulit-meter, you can check to see how much current your phone is pulling from the BB Playbook charger. connect your mult-meter in-line with the red wire in the usb cable (just connect all others together)
Just make sure your mult-meter is rated for at least 2A.
Hope this helps.
Devices with lithium batteries usually have a charger circuit that limit the peak current that is sent to the battery. They also utilize temperature compensation so if you are charging the battery too fast, it starts limiting the charge current.
Where you might have a problem is when it's plugged in and you are using it, especially if the battery is low. You get high charge currents, combined with the operating current.

Faster charging?

i recently bought the P900 (wifi version).
full charge will take around 5 hours, which in practice translates to 4 hours (i never get to 0% and charging from 90%\95% and on will be slowed down by the device anyway).
is there any way to speed up the charging?
like buying a 5.3V 3A charger. will the OEM cable be able to transfer the additional current?
could the device even take advantage from a 3A charger?
if so, can you recommend on any?
its important to me because i always use 100% brightness.
No. In the past mobile devices (mostly phones) shipped with cheap 500ma chargers and bumping up to higher amperage chargers would have an affect on charge time. Those days are gone as charging efficiency of chargers and cost to produce have lead to included chargers being optimized for charging times. Charging circuitry in the devices is going to take what it's rated to take and no more, so once a charger is plugged into it that's rated the same as the device is designed to take there's little else that can be done to speed up charging.
Bottom line - the charger that came with the tablet if it's the official one (i.e. if you bought new, not used and someone included the wrong one) is optimized to charge the tablet at the fastest rate. Based upon the numbers you noted your charge times are not excessive, the tablet is designed to take around 2A and it won't take 3A even if the charger is rated for it.
If you want faster charging you need to sell your tablet and get a Snapdragon variant instead (LTE tablets from various carriers) or start practicing better battery management to reduce how depleted your tablet gets. For me that means not running at highest brightness unless I really need it and topping off the battery whenever I can. When I get really low and I have a reasonably long period that I can charge I'll sometimes shut the tablet completely down rather than put it to sleep so that charging is accomplished with near zero load on the battery.
oh, bummer.
well, i guess i would have to learn how to live with that.
TY for your reply.
im planning on buying a 2 port charger so i wont have to carry so many stuff with me,
how much slower the device will charge with a 5.0V charger?
should i look for a 2 port 5.3v charger? a normal device wont have troubles with that?
It's not the voltage it's the amps. If you want to charge two devices simultaneously as quickly as possible the power supply needs to be rated to output the wattage necessary to provide the amperage the devices will draw for maximum charge rate.
My recommendation is to find something capable of over 20 watts (2A x 5V = 20watts). I'd buy this for future Qualcomm quick charge use.
https://www.anker.com/products/A2031111
Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk
my question was how much slower the note pro will charge with a 5.0v 2A charger as opposed to the OEM one which is 5.3v 2A.
and if there is any problem to use a 5.3v charger with a normal smartphone.
charging the note pro is more important to me than my other devices.
Yonany said:
my question was how much slower the note pro will charge with a 5.0v 2A charger as opposed to the OEM one which is 5.3v 2A.
and if there is any problem to use a 5.3v charger with a normal smartphone.
charging the note pro is more important to me than my other devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes but you also noted that you want to buy a 2 port version and I'm saying that the voltage is only part of the equation. Unless you are already aware that you need one rated at 2A simultaneously (you didn't specify). I honestly never measured between the two, I do not worry about 5V vs 5.3V since the charging voltage of the lithium ion cells is under 5V anyway. AFAIK the current is more critical. Maybe someone else more knowledgeable in electrical engineering can chime in since I'm unsure how the charging circuit within the phone will step down the voltage from the charger to the battery. All I know is if one tops off regularly or charges overnight there's no night and day difference between the stock 5.3V charger and a 5V one so long as the aftermarket one is rated 2A or more.
Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

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