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Problems with Galaxy S and 3rd party ac adapters!

Yesterday night I was playing with the phone before sleeping. It was charging not with the provided ac adapter, but with the usb-miniusb cable + an aiino usb-ac adapter. Well, the weird thing is that using google maps, the touch/multitouch control was completely f****d up. I mean, it was impossible to pinch-to-zoom, using the zoom buttons worked, but when I used only one finger to move around the map, instead of moving it was zooming randomly in&out without a reason. So I unplugged the cable and it was working perfectly...

It seems your 3rd party ac adaptor is not appropriately grounded so there is a small current on the touchscreen. Capacitive touchscreens recognize minimal changes in currents on the surface. That's why fingers, oranges, organic material work with it, but no stylus or other pens.

Hmm that's an interesting point, I didn't think about that. Do you think I should stop using that charger? Could it damage my device in some way?

I got it with my iPhone 3GS on a car charger too. But it didn't hurt the device at all.
I cannot guarantee this though...

I always used it with my iphone 3g too, and also used my iphone while it was charging...but I never had such an experience on iphone's multitouch...that's really strange!

I had the same issue with a generic ac micro usb charger I bought on ebay.
Since the phone was just newly released, there seemed to be a premium on the chargers described as being for the galaxy s so I went and bought a much cheaper micro usb charger compatible with motorola devices. I figured the contacts would all be the same and all micro usb chargers the same.
Wrong.
As soon as I plugged in that charger, the touch screen was borked. The display was fine but the touch response was shot. If I tap the application drawer in the home screen, it would register a click on some other random spot on the display. The phone was utterly useless while plugged into this charger.
To troubleshoot, I tried mixing it up between the original samsung charger and the generic, resetting etc, and it always came down to the charger. Crap with generic, prefect with original.
TL;DR - not all chargers compatible with samsung galaxy s, borked touch response from generic charger.
Perhaps it would be useful to change the title off this post and move to the accessories forum? Useful for people to add their feedback on generic chargers they've used.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Btw, the charger did charge the phone but I guessed having extra current run through the screen would damage the capacitive sensors.
Compared to the original samsung which has 4 contacts, the micro usb plug on the generic had an extra contact. I tried to open up the plug to see if I could do something about the extra contact but it broke and I the it out.
Shame I didn't think to make a video to share.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

changaz said:
I had the same issue with a generic ac micro usb charger I bought on ebay.
Since the phone was just newly released, there seemed to be a premium on the chargers described as being for the galaxy s so I went and bought a much cheaper micro usb charger compatible with motorola devices. I figured the contacts would all be the same and all micro usb chargers the same.
Wrong.
As soon as I plugged in that charger, the touch screen was borked. The display was fine but the touch response was shot. If I tap the application drawer in the home screen, it would register a click on some other random spot on the display. The phone was utterly useless while plugged into this charger.
To troubleshoot, I tried mixing it up between the original samsung charger and the generic, resetting etc, and it always came down to the charger. Crap with generic, prefect with original.
TL;DR - not all chargers compatible with samsung galaxy s, borked touch response from generic charger.
Perhaps it would be useful to change the title off this post and move to the accessories forum? Useful for people to add their feedback on generic chargers they've used.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok I changed the title, now I think to move it the help of a moderator is required...

i have the same problem with my crap charger. but mine won't even charge, it charges up like 1% / 30 minutes and I can't use it while the phone is turned off because it just turns on by itself. crap.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

I use my nokia n97 charger to charge galaxy since I bought it no problem at all
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

i bought my SGS on ebay and it didn't come with a charger.
the 3rd party charger i bought on ebay doesn't charge the phone and makes it do all sorts of things by itself.
just a warning to others, you may want to spend the extra money on a charger that specifically says it's compatible.

carlocb said:
Yesterday night I was playing with the phone before sleeping. It was charging not with the provided ac adapter, but with the usb-miniusb cable + an aiino usb-ac adapter. Well, the weird thing is that using google maps, the touch/multitouch control was completely f****d up. I mean, it was impossible to pinch-to-zoom, using the zoom buttons worked, but when I used only one finger to move around the map, instead of moving it was zooming randomly in&out without a reason. So I unplugged the cable and it was working perfectly...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same problem with my desire, with a 3rd party microusb charger .... when i use pinch to zoom the screen goes crazy

Note that if I touch the usb cable ground (outer metal part) with one hand, my touch screen then works.

cedricberger said:
Note that if I touch the usb cable ground (outer metal part) with one hand, my touch screen then works.
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Click to collapse
This is definitely something to do with Capacitive touchscreens.
Similar thing happeend to my ipod touch 3g when I used a 3rd party wall charger on it

How bad is it to our phones ?....
I would like to know what is really happening.
Is the usb charger "ground" at an important voltage relative to earth ground ?
Is it at a variable voltage, which would even more confuse our phone ?
Could we safely ground it, and how ? (connecting the usb ground to earth, maybe via a grounded 220V plug ?) .
I think anyway I will at least mesure the voltage (and maybe leaking current relative to real ground) level of this usb "ground"...
Any electronician to explain how it is normally done in quality chargers ?

cedricberger said:
How bad is it to our phones ?....
I would like to know what is really happening.
Is the usb charger "ground" at an important voltage relative to earth ground ?
Is it at a variable voltage, which would even more confuse our phone ?
Could we safely ground it, and how ? (connecting the usb ground to earth, maybe via a grounded 220V plug ?) .
I think anyway I will at least mesure the voltage (and maybe leaking current relative to real ground) level of this usb "ground"...
Any electronician to explain how it is normally done in quality chargers ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure what ground here is! My e-bay travel charger 4.7v 500mA with a Samsung logo has no ground connection on the charger - normal in Europe. Problem probably is that it is possibly not a Samsung unit at all - well it only cost 1euro - It does charge and the screen does freeze until I disconnect it. Only got it today - but nothing is getting hot and no other problems so far. The voltage rating is of course less than the standard 5v.

Bought a Belkin Dual USB car charger (1.0A + 0.5A) online. Will report back.

Rofa1 said:
I'm not sure what ground here is! My e-bay travel charger 4.7v 500mA with a Samsung logo has no ground connection on the charger - normal in Europe. Problem probably is that it is possibly not a Samsung unit at all - well it only cost 1euro - It does charge and the screen does freeze until I disconnect it. Only got it today - but nothing is getting hot and no other problems so far. The voltage rating is of course less than the standard 5v.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My best shots would be no ground (mass) issues, but:
1. stability of the charger output voltage
2. stability of the charger output current
3. value of the charger output voltage
4. capacity of the filter capacitors in the charger (too little - 50/60 Hz hum is distributed to the output)
5. Is the charger impulse or stabilized?
Capacitive screens must be very sensitive to changes of impedance and if there is no stable voltage or current or if the output is interfered with electrical network hum, the touchscreen may go crazy in my opinion...
edit: format tags corrected

Working fine without any capacitive screen issues.
The good thing is it works as charger mode instead of USB. So I assume the 1.0A socket would actually charge faster than USB mode.
v205 said:
Bought a Belkin Dual USB car charger (1.0A + 0.5A) online. Will report back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

It will be high-frequency noise on the DC output voltage of the charger. Chargers use a high-frequency DC-DC converter method and the cheaper ones don't do a very good job of filtering the high frequency out of the DC at the other end. This noise enters your phone and plays havoc with the sensitive circuits in the capacitive touchscreen.
It is nothing to do with grounding of the input side of the power supply; when you ground the output side (the USB plug) with your hand, your body capacitance filters out some/all of the noise.
You could probably filter this out by adding capacitors or whatever but really, the solution is don't buy $1 chargers for your $x00 phone.

[Q] TF AC adapter safety hazard

I'd heard some people mention that they had been getting little electric shocks from the TF while plugged in. I experienced this a few minutes ago with the TF plugged into my dock which was plugged into the charger. I think I found out why...
I got my multimeter out and connected the negative to my house's ground. Then I held the other probe to the shield on the HDMI connector on the TF. This should be chassis ground, the same ground you come into contact with when you touch any of the metal. I measured about 62V between what should be about neutral potential and earth. This is the voltage you feel, since 62V is above the breakdown voltage of skin. Fortunately it doesn't seem to be much current since people aren't getting knocked on their asses.
I also noticed that the plug isn't polarized, so I turned it around and did the same check. Only about 5V this time, safe and consistent with what I'd expect between neutral and ground. When plugged in like this, the wide side (neutral) on mine is on the same edge of the adapter as the "S" in ASUS right above the USB connector.
ASUS should be able to fix this with a modified USA plug adapter that has a polarized (wider neutral) prong. For now, even if you're not getting shocked, plug the adapter in with the "S" lining up with the wider prong on the outlet. That is, if you're plugging it into a standard 3-prong with the round ground prong facing towards the floor, plug it in so that the "ASUS" on the end is upside-down.
pix below.

Interesting finding. We should get this on the issue list for Asus to take a look at.

Interesting. Thanks for finding this. It sounds like the power supplies should be recalled or at least a polarized plug sent to all US owners before someone gets hurt. I hope someone at Asus is listening.
One question though. Shouldn't the difference between ground and the neutral be zero?

jerrykur said:
One question though. Shouldn't the difference between ground and the neutral be zero?
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Click to collapse
Not zero, but probably less than 5V. The same circuit measures about 700mV between neutral and ground. I don't know what it means, but at least it isn't a shock.

Mine actually melted. I bought a new one. A dynex ultimate charger dx-ua. Its 11 volts / 1.5 amp. It charges great and no more problems
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

This would explain why sometimes I feel the tingling and other times I don't - probably based on the way I have it plugged in.
@D_Czap - Melting is a pretty scary and dangerous possibility...wonder if they're going to issue a recall.

Interesting find! Were you able to take a measurement with the charger plugged into the keyboard, and the tablet charging from the keyboard?

Popsiclestand said:
This would explain why sometimes I feel the tingling and other times I don't - probably based on the way I have it plugged in.
@D_Czap - Melting is a pretty scary and dangerous possibility...wonder if they're going to issue a recall.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hah. I felt that tingling too. Now it makes sense.
Not pleased that my tablet has another issue though

D_Czap said:
Mine actually melted. I bought a new one. A dynex ultimate charger dx-ua. Its 11 volts / 1.5 amp. It charges great and no more problems
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
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Click to collapse
If it melted, it was a fire hazard. Be sure to let Asus know!

I noticed the tingling the other day!
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

thanks for OP, we can now avoid the tingling by plugging the ac adapter upside down, or in other words with the "S" in the word "ASUS" logo on the side of the longer slot.

klau1 said:
thanks for OP, we can now avoid the tingling by plugging the ac adapter upside down, or in other words with the "S" in the word "ASUS" logo on the side of the longer slot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reversed the adapter... tingling is gone... this is starting to sound like a jock-itch commercial! LOL Thanks for the tip.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

Thanks to the OP for reporting this issue. I suspect, though, that the problem goes deeper than just a question of polarization of the AC wall connection.
I would expect complete isolation between the AC input and the DC output to the TF. The presence of a measurable AC voltage between those points implies to me that there is some leakage current between the primary and secondary leads of the transformer in the power supply. That just should not be happening.
I suggest that you do a resistance check between the AC connectors (not plugged into the wall, of course) and the chassis ground of the TF when the charger is plugged into the TF. Any resistance reading lower than open would indicate a path for current, and a potentially hazardous condition.
There is another thread on this forum reporting a problem that ASUS is aware of with one model (0B-LF) of the chargers, but I don't know what the problem is, and perhaps this is it.
It would be helpful for anyone experiencing even a mild shock, to check the model number, and post that fact and the charger model number on this thread.
I'm due to get my TF tomorrow, and that's the first thing I will be checking.

As a possibly related aside, I think that Asus is shipping the adapter disassembled for a reason. I think that they got UL approval on the adapter alone, and not the assembled unit. That's easier for manufactures to do these days, just one thing to get approved. That's why they can't ship with the AC portion attached. On the down side, it might mean that the adapter was never tested by UL with the AC prongs attached.

Here is a pic of my adapter with a melted prong, Kind of scary.

After some tests, I am finding that the adapter is marginal at best and should probably not be used to charge the TF mated with the KBD especially when both batteries are low. I have had good results charging separately and in stages stopping when the adapter gets hot. I would not let my combo sit on charge overnight( unattended). I am guessing that ASUS bought the charger from a supplier and that the capacities are overstated making the demand on it too much.

D_Czap said:
Here is a pic of my adapter with a melted prong, Kind of scary.
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Click to collapse
That is indeed scary. Can you provide the model number of the charger?

vicw said:
That is indeed scary. Can you provide the model number of the charger?
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Click to collapse
The model number is AD827M. That was kind of hard to read.

Rumbleweed said:
After some tests, I am finding that the adapter is marginal at best and should probably not be used to charge the TF mated with the KBD especially when both batteries are low. I have had good results charging separately and in stages stopping when the adapter gets hot. I would not let my combo sit on charge overnight( unattended). I am guessing that ASUS bought the charger from a supplier and that the capacities are overstated making the demand on it too much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This could be true. It might be like the Apple iPhone charger recall. Maybe we need to look for chargers with the green dot.

D_Czap said:
The model number is AD827M. That was kind of hard to read.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you read the 'Type' code (it's on the line underneath the model number) and tell us that too please?

[Q] Nexus S Touchscreen not responding while charging

Hi everyone.
My Nexus S touchscreen has stopped working while charging. The charger is original, and I havent had any problems before this. The screen does work when charge it through my computer. Anyone have any idea what the problem might be? I updated to 2.3.4 around two week ago, but I've charged the phone after the update without the touchscreen dying.

I read about that problem a good number of times now, most often with third-party chargers, though. It seems, that the touch screen is very susceptible to interference on the power source (which is not really surprising, considering the touch sensor technology).
Maybe your wall adapter is just faulty or out of spec.
Something I just thought of: Do you have any power line communication devices? If so, try to unplug all of them and test again.
Try a few different power outlets, too, maybe even in different buildings.

If its not a real charger it won't work. Alot of these phones only will work with OEM charges from Samsung or Motorola chargers
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

I would love to know what you mean by "real charger".

One of my chargers is very slightly over voltage (5.2V) and my touchscreen becomes erratic when I use it - I try to keep using it to a bare minimum. Personally I'd stop using that charger. You never know what long term damage it may be causing.

I really don't mean to challenge your measurement, more so since I don't know how you got it, but I find it anything but trivial to measure voltages to any degree of accuracy.
Since I can't afford laboratory equipment with accuracy in the ppm range, I am stuck with a cheap hand multimeter that is rated at 1% plus a few counts, but only inside one year from manufacture when stored the whole time in defined conditions. The next best thing would have been a 150 Euro version with about 0.5%. That means, that the least significant number in the reading is all but useless.
And we are not even talking about ripple, interference and forward leakage. Try measuring your charger's +5V and 0V to earth. You will probably see significant readings.
Anyway, what I am trying to say is: The average user will have to trust the rating on the label.
And the 5.2V you measured are still inside the specification range, which is 5V plus minus 5%, so from 4.75V to 5.25V, if I remember correctly.
If I felt adventurous and had the problem I might try decoupling everything a bit with some big ultralowESR capacitors near the phone. That should give a lowpass together with the cable resistance.

Hi guys,
I have also come across this behavior - I was charging my Nexus S using the supplied USB cable and the screen hasn't been responding nearly at all.
In my case, this was caused by the notebook charger - when I unplugged it (ran on battery), everything was fine again. Therefore I blame my charger to be a source of some sort of interference.
If you are on a laptop, maybe you could try that. If this is a case of the outlet charger, maybe it is not working properly (to be replaced?)
Hope this helps

same here... wt*
okay im using some Chinese charger but what is doing with the display ...

[Q] Terrible charge rate?

One of the things I loved most about my Nexus 4 was just how quickly it charged. And unlike my SGSII before it, it could even gain a charge while being actively used for Waze. Really great.
With the 5 I'm back to where I was. And thanks to tools I picked up during the 4, I'm able to see why more easily. Seems on the exact same chargers I used my 4 on, I'm easily pulling 400+mA less than the 4 did from the same device and same cable.
I haven't had time to draw a correlation yet, but last night at home on a multi-out adapter from Monoprice I was able to pull over 1200mA which is more than I've ever seen ANY of my devices pull before. But today, on the same model at my office, but with a different cable, I'm pulling around 200mA. Same as what I was getting in my car, which would frequently dip into the negatives, and that was WITHOUT Waze running. Also of note, in ALL of these locations it's being listed as "USB plugged" instead of "AC plugged." I'd say that accounts for the difference there, but the 1200mA draw was listed the same way, so I doubt it.
So, has anyone else noticed this yet and found any correlations between devices, cables, etc., so we can figure this out? Using more power than it takes in will not be something I can survive with and will definitely make this phone a less-than-ideal upgrade over the 4 in the battery life department. But it's pretty clear it's not impossible to get a good charge.
(and yes, before anyone asks, all of my adapters have jacks with a minimum of 1A out, and each also has a 2.1A port. Surprisingly, unlike my 4 which tended to draw LESS power from the 2.1A port, the 5 appears to be unconcerned by the difference, pulling the same poor number from both)

Yes, i agree with you. I just check today, charging my phone from the pc and it seems fast charge isn't doing its thing.

duckied said:
Yes, i agree with you. I just check today, charging my phone from the pc and it seems fast boot isn't doing its thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I haven't even dared test it from a PC yet. All I can say is from wall warts and car chargers it's terrible. I can't imagine how bad it is from the limited PC ports. Although it's probably exactly the same, since it seems to be identifying all my wall outlets as USB connections.

using my lg g2 charger and it charges my nexus 5 super fast. 1 hour charge will give me almost full battery

spadeace9 said:
using my lg g2 charger and it charges my nexus 5 super fast. 1 hour charge will give me almost full battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not too surprising. I've read other reports that it charges nice and fast with the stock charger, which is likely the same as the G2 charger since they share most of the same hardware. But that doesn't help with car charging or those of us who've consolidated into multi-port chargers.
When I get home I'm going to mix and match some cables and devices and try to narrow in a bit more. This sounds like the Nexus 7 (2012) goose chase all over again.

The USB/AC detection is done with a definied resistance. Some chargers don't meet those exact resistances (cheap resistors have a big tolerance) -> the phone detects it as USB.
The cable can make big difference, I've tested several different cables on the N4 once, charging rate was between 600mA and ~1100mA (which should be the max) on the same charger.
Maybe the resistance in the charger is right inside the resistance tolerance, so the slight difference in resistance between the cables is enough.
Since the N4 most probably uses a different charge IC than the N5 (I haven't checked tho), it could be that the N4 had a wider tolerance than the N5.
What should help are those charge cables , the one I'm using from Porta Pow can only be used for charging therefore ignoring the charger resistance -> phone should always detect it as AC(even on a PC). Another good thing about those cables is the big wire diameter. Or a kernel where you can force AC charging regardless of the actual source.("fast charge")

That all sounds pretty logical. Considering I got much better results with the Monoprice premium cables I used last night (which oddly, are much THINNER than the cheaper ones), I'm going to experiment with those this evening and see if that makes all the difference.
As for kernels, I'm not planning to root this one if I can help it. I managed to get through the life of my 4 without rooting, too. I know it's heresy on XDA not to root, and until I got Nexus devices I would have agreed. But since stock Jelly Bean I haven't felt that burning need to "take back" control of my phone. I seem to already have plenty.

I observed the same inconsistencies with the N5's charging behavior and did some qualitative tests. I've attached a screenshot with my findings.
The phone is clearly capable of charging rapidly. My primary focus is getting a high current off the car charger. Is there a way to force AC charging mode vs. USB charging, or should I focus on more quality cables / adapters?

Just did some additional testing of my own and found some interesting results. I didn't take perfect notes, but here's what I got:
With the Monoprice 4-port Wall Charger 2.1A 8856:
Cheap Monoprice cable: bad charging, fluctuating between -80A and 200A.
Cheap unknown cable: same as above.
Monoprice premium 3ft cable: 900-1200A.
Monoprice premium 6ft cable: 700-900A.
With the Monoprice 1A car charger 6765:
Bad charging with all cables tried.
With the Monoprice 2.1A car charger 8858:
Bad charging with all cables tried, with exception of Monoprice premium 3ft cable which had same low end, but occasionally bumped over 300A.
With 3.1 (split between two ports) charger purchased on Amazon (my standby for my Nexus 4:
Bad charging with all cables tried.
With Monoprice 2-port USB Car Charger 3.1A 10071:
Cheap Monoprice cable: Bad charging
Cheap unknown cable: Bad charging
Monoprice premium 3ft cable: 700-900A
So it looks like high-end Monoprice paired with high-end Monoprice pays off. Unfortunately there's a rather serious catch with model 10071: it KILLS GPS. At least it did on my Nexus 4, and other reviews reported it as well. I can't be certain yet about it on the 5, but the little experimenting I did in the parking lot showed some anomalies I didn't like. Which means I apparently get to choose between GPS killing my battery, or charging my battery killing my GPS.
Also tried Nexus 7 2012 charger with its own cable and got bad charging, too.

TurboFool said:
Just did some additional testing of my own and found some interesting results. I didn't take perfect notes, but here's what I got:
With the Monoprice 4-port Wall Charger 2.1A 8856:
Cheap Monoprice cable: bad charging, fluctuating between -80A and 200A.
Cheap unknown cable: same as above.
Monoprice premium 3ft cable: 900-1200A.
Monoprice premium 6ft cable: 700-900A.
With the Monoprice 1A car charger 6765:
Bad charging with all cables tried.
With the Monoprice 2.1A car charger 8858:
Bad charging with all cables tried, with exception of Monoprice premium 3ft cable which had same low end, but occasionally bumped over 300A.
With 3.1 (split between two ports) charger purchased on Amazon (my standby for my Nexus 4:
Bad charging with all cables tried.
With Monoprice 2-port USB Car Charger 3.1A 10071:
Cheap Monoprice cable: Bad charging
Cheap unknown cable: Bad charging
Monoprice premium 3ft cable: 700-900A
So it looks like high-end Monoprice paired with high-end Monoprice pays off. Unfortunately there's a rather serious catch with model 10071: it KILLS GPS. At least it did on my Nexus 4, and other reviews reported it as well. I can't be certain yet about it on the 5, but the little experimenting I did in the parking lot showed some anomalies I didn't like. Which means I apparently get to choose between GPS killing my battery, or charging my battery killing my GPS.
Also tried Nexus 7 2012 charger with its own cable and got bad charging, too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a pattern obviously, the 6ft to 3ft drop seems high but is ok I guess.
I've never seen such a picky device when it comes down to charging, usually it just works as expected ^^
Have you tried your cables on the carger it came with ? Or the cable it came with on your other cargers ?
Is there something with "AWG" written on your cables ?
@random_dgp: Well you basically have 2 choices: get a kernel with (force) fast charge support (don't know if there is one yet) or get a charger/cable combo which works.
If you're planning on rooting your N5 anyway I would go for the kernel way I guess, since the charger and the cable are fine most probably, they just aren't in the specs the N5 requires.

maisi said:
There's a pattern obviously, the 6ft to 3ft drop seems high but is ok I guess.
I've never seen such a picky device when it comes down to charging, usually it just works as expected ^^
Have you tried your cables on the carger it came with ? Or the cable it came with on your other cargers ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first-gen Nexus 7 was at least this bad. Actually its biggest problem was it refused to even ADMIT it was charging (even though it was) off of most devices. In fact everything I just listed it would claim wasn't even connected to it. A few hours later it was full, but it refused to recognize it. 4.2 fixed that, but it was still slow off of most devices. This at least admits it's being charged, but barely is.
And no, I haven't tried the stock charger yet. I guess I will, but it's not a high priority since it doesn't cover my issues.

TurboFool said:
One of the things I loved most about my Nexus 4 was just how quickly it charged. And unlike my SGSII before it, it could even gain a charge while being actively used for Waze. Really great.
With the 5 I'm back to where I was. And thanks to tools I picked up during the 4, I'm able to see why more easily. Seems on the exact same chargers I used my 4 on, I'm easily pulling 400+mA less than the 4 did from the same device and same cable.
I haven't had time to draw a correlation yet, but last night at home on a multi-out adapter from Monoprice I was able to pull over 1200mA which is more than I've ever seen ANY of my devices pull before. But today, on the same model at my office, but with a different cable, I'm pulling around 200mA. Same as what I was getting in my car, which would frequently dip into the negatives, and that was WITHOUT Waze running. Also of note, in ALL of these locations it's being listed as "USB plugged" instead of "AC plugged." I'd say that accounts for the difference there, but the 1200mA draw was listed the same way, so I doubt it.
So, has anyone else noticed this yet and found any correlations between devices, cables, etc., so we can figure this out? Using more power than it takes in will not be something I can survive with and will definitely make this phone a less-than-ideal upgrade over the 4 in the battery life department. But it's pretty clear it's not impossible to get a good charge.
(and yes, before anyone asks, all of my adapters have jacks with a minimum of 1A out, and each also has a 2.1A port. Surprisingly, unlike my 4 which tended to draw LESS power from the 2.1A port, the 5 appears to be unconcerned by the difference, pulling the same poor number from both)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OOC what sort of dmm/ammeter are you using to measure this?

TurboFool said:
One of the things I loved most about my Nexus 4 was just how quickly it charged
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont know if you're making this up, or if i have a defective nexus 4 lol
before i optimized my N4 i was getting about 4-5 hours of screen time, but it took at least 3 full hours to charge. that charge time to usage time ratio was killing me.
i am having much much much better results with my N5. i have no reason to charge it through a USB port on the computer(are you using an USB 1.0 port or something?), but charging it with the charger that it came with, i get a full charge in about 2 hours.
my N5 will charge a tiny bit over 1% per minute(while on or off), until it gets to 80% and then it charges at about .5% per minute or something
if you're getting the same charge times on the wall charger then i think you might have a defective charger/device. testing this will also be a good way to find out if it's just a slow usb port too

TurboFool said:
The first-gen Nexus 7 was at least this bad. Actually its biggest problem was it refused to even ADMIT it was charging (even though it was) off of most devices. In fact everything I just listed it would claim wasn't even connected to it. A few hours later it was full, but it refused to recognize it. 4.2 fixed that, but it was still slow off of most devices. This at least admits it's being charged, but barely is.
And no, I haven't tried the stock charger yet. I guess I will, but it's not a high priority since it doesn't cover my issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh that's bad , I didn't know that!
Would just be the "reference test" since the stock charger should meet all the specs (and works fine here with every cable).
@cutterjohn: "Currentwidget" can display those values.
Enddo said:
i am having much much much better results with my N5. i have no reason to charge it through a USB port on the computer(are you using an USB 1.0 port or something?), but charging it with the charger that it came with, i get a full charge in about 2 hours.
my N5 will charge a tiny bit over 1% per minute(while on or off), until it gets to 80% and then it charges at about .5% per minute or something
if you're getting the same charge times on the wall charger then i think you might have a defective charger/device. testing this will also be a good way to find out if it's just a slow usb port too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem he's having isn't about a computer USB port at all, the problem is that the N5 thinks it's plugged in a computer and limits the current to 500mA to meet the USB specs (and don't blow up some usb ports without a fuse somewhere) but in reality it's plugged in a wall charger.
His phone should be fine since it's working as expected on some carger/cable combos.
Btw. the N5 isn't pulling more current than the N4(both 1,2A), so it should charge almost exactly as fast/slow as the N4. It should even be a bit slower since the battery is slightly bigger I think.

cutterjohn said:
OOC what sort of dmm/ammeter are you using to measure this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm simply using the app Battery Monitor Widget. Really handy tool that solved some problems for me on the 4 with some weird charging situations. While I'm sure it's not insanely precise, it reflects my draining or charging rate well enough to show me what's going on.
Enddo said:
before i optimized my N4 i was getting about 4-5 hours of screen time, but it took at least 3 full hours to charge. that charge time to usage time ratio was killing me.
i am having much much much better results with my N5. i have no reason to charge it through a USB port on the computer(are you using an USB 1.0 port or something?), but charging it with the charger that it came with, i get a full charge in about 2 hours.
my N5 will charge a tiny bit over 1% per minute(while on or off), until it gets to 80% and then it charges at about .5% per minute or something
if you're getting the same charge times on the wall charger then i think you might have a defective charger/device. testing this will also be a good way to find out if it's just a slow usb port too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you're missing the fact that I'm comparing it directly to how well these same devices charged the 4. So they're clearly not defective so much as the 5's requirements have changed completely. And USB 1.0 (I think you mean 1.1) isn't relevant here, as I'm not charging off a computer, I'm charging off a wall and/or car adapter. But sounds like we had very different experiences with the 4. I could charge my 4 off my Monoprice pocket battery in crazy fast time, and my phone was always full by the time I reached my destination in the car, even with Waze running (once I figured out I couldn't use the long cable I was using initially).
maisi said:
Oh that's bad , I didn't know that!
Would just be the "reference test" since the stock charger should meet all the specs (and works fine here with every cable).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely. A control of sorts. Might as well.
Btw. the N5 isn't pulling more current than the N4(both 1,2A), so it should charge almost exactly as fast/slow as the N4. It should even be a bit slower since the battery is slightly bigger I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. That's why I was surprised. There's no way it SHOULD be this much slower. Yes, I can see percentage adjusting slightly for the larger battery, but that's why I'm going by mA input instead, and my 4 was getting WAY better in the car. Although I don't think it ever got the 1.2 I'm getting with the Monoprice wall combo, so THAT's impressive. Now if I can just get that in my car without the RF interference and I can call it a day.

maisi said:
@cutterjohn: "Currentwidget" can display those values.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well then your either have defective hardware or currentwidget just doesn't work. As I inferred hard to tell w/o proper tools.
[EDIT]
Oops, multiple responses and replied to incorrect one, but really if your recharge rate is that much lower v. n4 I'd say that your chargers or n5 are defective. It's going to take longer to charge the n5 obviously, and I have no idea what the max draw either can achieve as I've been strictly using inductive charging w/max 1A supply(as per Qi spec)... n5 takes longer to charge than n4, but thats to be expected by batt cap(and wear(decreased cap) of n4 batt)...
Subjectively, the n5 takes longer to charge, but not that much longer that I've noticed, again batt cap, etc. so...
Both USB/AC adapter chargers I know supply a max of 1.2A...
...(from last so) ask for a replacement n5, after they've been replacing them for a single dead pixel...
[/EDIT]

My n5 charging real fast fatter t than my n4!
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

cutterjohn said:
Well then your either have defective hardware or currentwidget just doesn't work. As I inferred hard to tell w/o proper tools.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Neither I think, we don't need any mA values to see that something is wrong, android is telling us that it thinks that it's connected to a usb port while it isn't.
Of course if we would want to measure exact mA values we would need a different equipment, for cable comparisions in order to see a tendency, the values from the charge IC should be good enough.(IMO)
[EDIT]
Oops, multiple responses and replied to incorrect one, but really if your recharge rate is that much lower v. n4 I'd say that your chargers or n5 are defective. It's going to take longer to charge the n5 obviously, and I have no idea what the max draw either can achieve as I've been strictly using inductive charging w/max 1A supply(as per Qi spec)... n5 takes longer to charge than n4, but thats to be expected by batt cap(and wear(decreased cap) of n4 batt)...
Subjectively, the n5 takes longer to charge, but not that much longer that I've noticed, again batt cap, etc. so...
Both USB/AC adapter chargers I know supply a max of 1.2A...
...(from last so) ask for a replacement n5, after they've been replacing them for a single dead pixel...
[/EDIT]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just saw your edit ^^
Well it looks like the N5 has a very low tolerance for AC/USB detection, I'm sure that neither his chargers or Phone are defective, the chargers just aren't 100%in the spec which is obviously enough. I'm sure that the stock charger would be fine.

cutterjohn said:
Well then your either have defective hardware or currentwidget just doesn't work. As I inferred hard to tell w/o proper tools.
[EDIT]
Oops, multiple responses and replied to incorrect one, but really if your recharge rate is that much lower v. n4 I'd say that your chargers or n5 are defective. It's going to take longer to charge the n5 obviously, and I have no idea what the max draw either can achieve as I've been strictly using inductive charging w/max 1A supply(as per Qi spec)... n5 takes longer to charge than n4, but thats to be expected by batt cap(and wear(decreased cap) of n4 batt)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Clearly neither is the case from my testing. The N5 charges beautifully off of the right combination of chargers, and all of those chargers charged the N4 beautifully. Neither is defective, but the N5 apparently has a different tolerance requirement than the N4.
Really, as opposed to anything being defective, it sounds more like a design flaw in the N5. It's WAY too picky about its power sources.

Mine charged REALLY slow the first day and that night. It also drained really quickly during that same time. I am now on my third day and it has long battery life plus it charged about 20% in 30 minutes on a car charger. Seems quicker than my S3.

Nexus 9 keyboard folio faulty

Hi I bought 2 keyboard folio from eBay brand new but it is like it haves a faulty battery. When I try to pair it with the tablet through NFC I press yes on the "do you want to pair the Nexus keyboard" but after some seconds it fails. But when I put the keyboard to charge it works. After I pair the devices and use the keyboard when I unplug it it stops working straight away. So I was wondering if this happened to anyone else and if it is any key combinations to hard reset the keyboard or something like that?
More people having the same issue!!!!!!!!
https://productforums.google.com/fo...ce=footer#!msg/nexus/miyKVULMUWo/7vH_5T0OGwAJ
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA-Developers Legacy app

Has anyone found a way to replace the battery or fix the charging issue, battery not charging?

Has anyone tried using a portable external battery charger to power the keyboard, how long does it last?

Until you unplug the external battery.
Sent from my HTC 10 using XDA-Developers Legacy app

I opened the keyboard and the battery seems to be dead because I tried to charge it with another charger and nothing was happening. On the keyboard I put another battery 400mah but still wasn't charging so I thing the board is faulty too. I will take a picture of the battery and upload it because I tried to find one but I couldn't.
Sent from my HTC 10 using XDA-Developers Legacy app

vincenzo697 said:
I opened the keyboard and the battery seems to be dead because I tried to charge it with another charger and nothing was happening. On the keyboard I put another battery 400mah but still wasn't charging so I thing the board is faulty too. I will take a picture of the battery and upload it because I tried to find one but I couldn't.
Sent from my HTC 10 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please upload any pictures you can, would be really helpful.
I was considering buying a simple small portable battery charger 1500-2200-4000~ and using it, but it would discharge too quickly, attempting to charge the faulty one in the folio. Also considered taking the folio battery/charging component and splicing in portable battery charger..
Another option I thought of, is using a male to male micro usb cable from the Nexus 9 to the folio.

I am using a generic micro usb charger works fine. I also bought a male to male micro usb cable attached to the Nexus 9 and folio, also works great. The keyboard hardly registers drawing any power.

Sorry for the late reply. That's the original battery of the keyboard which i tried to find but couldn't. The hard part is that it needs to be 1.5mm to 2mm of thickness Max so the keyboard top part can close normally. The other pictures is the modification I made replacing the battery but with a thicker one. It wasn't charging so that's why I came to the conclusion that it must be the board too that it is faulty. I connect the - and + cables from the charger to the exposed cables to charge the battery and that's it.
Sent from my HTC 10 using XDA-Developers Legacy app

That's a lot of hardware. So the battery may be good and its the charger that's faulty. Thanks for the images!

clockcycle said:
That's a lot of hardware. So the battery may be good and its the charger that's faulty. Thanks for the images!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NO. The battery too is faulty. Because I connect it straight to the charger and it doesn't charge.

Maybe?
vincenzo697 said:
NO. The battery too is faulty. Because I connect it straight to the charger and it doesn't charge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey... Just bought a brand new one with the same issue straight out of the box.
Have you tried measuring the original battery with a multimeter?
The battery protection circuits will sometimes protect the battery from undervoltage by not letting them charge any more as it potentially damages them...
One way to attempt to recover the batteries is to remove the protection PCB and charge them with a LiPo charger at super low amps till they get up to like 3.3v then letting the original charger and battery protection finish charging it... (Kinda dangerous if battery really is damaged)
These things sat on shelves for years.... I can't imagine the batteries didn't drain.
Edit: did you take the keyboard apart??? Lol... Is it glued together??
I took mine apart... This is not a reversible process lol... Checked battery voltage and sure enough... 0 volts.... There's no Li-Ion charger that will ever try to charge that battery as there is a risk of fire.
Looks like HTC cheaped out on the battery protection circuit and it didn't cut off the battery below 3.3v and let it get to 0v... Gonna have to try to recover the battery using my lab power supply to trickle charge it... My lipo charger complains and won't charge it at all.

I'm having the same problem. Just bought one of these on Amazon for $30 and was excited to use it. How did they charge $130 for this when it came out?? This is useless. I'm going to have to return this junk. Any solutions before I do?

The solution is easy.
I have effected this repair on multiples of the nexus 9 folio keyboard.
Someone said earlier that the charging circuit is bad in addition to the cell being at 0v. This is simply not true. For the charging circuit and the cell to both be bad you will have likely hit the lottery in a bad way, or shorted and caused damage yourself.
Truth is that as mentioned before their protection circuit on their $130 keyboard was not up to the task. I make the assumption also that they overpriced these so heavily they sat until their hardware choices became apparent by making them DOA after the cell's voltage fell too low.
Someone stated that opening the keyboard is irreversible, this is also untrue, it only requires a bit of skill and patience.
Take it for what it is, because I would never recommend someone to revive a cell that had been sitting below 3.2v, it's just unsafe, but this is what worked for me as I didn't feel like digging through china stock to find a matching cell.
The cell is at 0v, so the fix is simple, connect another similar chemistry (3.2v-4.2v) cell in parallel (between the protection circuit and the cell.) I just used and 18650 from a laptop battery. Let's call this a "jump start." Start the charging and disconnect the second cell. Red charge LED should remain solid and charge cell 1 to 4.2v and you are good to go.
As far as the details, we know that the cell is on the left side, so only heat and slice adhesive from just beyond the corner to the center, slide your tool under the cell to remove the adhesion from the main body and carefully slip the cell out far enough to get at the contacts in order to get between the protection circuit and the cell.
main points
1 DO NOT PUNCTURE THE CELL (ALUMINUM TEARS EASILY)
2 DO NOT DAMAGE THE RED AND BLACK LEADS FROM THE PROTECTION CIRCUIT TO THE MAIN BOARD
3 DO NOT PRY OPEN THE OUTSIDE CORNER NEXT TO THE CELL AS THIS CORNER IS MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO DEFORMATION THAN OTHER AREAS
Probably best left to a skilled tech, but it can certainly be done.
The adhesive htc uses is much like hot glue, so after scraping the old glue out reseal and press with a hot glue gun (precision tip recommended,) easy peasy.
On a final note, shame on you htc (and google.)

k2thec said:
The solution is easy.
I have effected this repair on multiples of the nexus 9 folio keyboard.
Someone said earlier that the charging circuit is bad in addition to the cell being at 0v. This is simply not true. For the charging circuit and the cell to both be bad you will have likely hit the lottery in a bad way, or shorted and caused damage yourself.
Truth is that as mentioned before their protection circuit on their $130 keyboard was not up to the task. I make the assumption also that they overpriced these so heavily they sat until their hardware choices became apparent by making them DOA after the cell's voltage fell too low.
Someone stated that opening the keyboard is irreversible, this is also untrue, it only requires a bit of skill and patience.
Take it for what it is, because I would never recommend someone to revive a cell that had been sitting below 3.2v, it's just unsafe, but this is what worked for me as I didn't feel like digging through china stock to find a matching cell.
The cell is at 0v, so the fix is simple, connect another similar chemistry (3.2v-4.2v) cell in parallel (between the protection circuit and the cell.) I just used and 18650 from a laptop battery. Let's call this a "jump start." Start the charging and disconnect the second cell. Red charge LED should remain solid and charge cell 1 to 4.2v and you are good to go.
As far as the details, we know that the cell is on the left side, so only heat and slice adhesive from just beyond the corner to the center, slide your tool under the cell to remove the adhesion from the main body and carefully slip the cell out far enough to get at the contacts in order to get between the protection circuit and the cell.
main points
1 DO NOT PUNCTURE THE CELL (ALUMINUM TEARS EASILY)
2 DO NOT DAMAGE THE RED AND BLACK LEADS FROM THE PROTECTION CIRCUIT TO THE MAIN BOARD
3 DO NOT PRY OPEN THE OUTSIDE CORNER NEXT TO THE CELL AS THIS CORNER IS MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO DEFORMATION THAN OTHER AREAS
Probably best left to a skilled tech, but it can certainly be done.
The adhesive htc uses is much like hot glue, so after scraping the old glue out reseal and press with a hot glue gun (precision tip recommended,) easy peasy.
On a final note, shame on you htc (and google.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want to try this repair on my keyboard. do you have pictures where to connect the wires.
I have a laptop battery
i have the case pulled apart
Just want to make sure that the wires are in the correct place.

The folio battery has a USB jack at one end and a switch (on/off perhaps) and a blue light at the other. What's happening when the blue light blinks?

Lindommer said:
The folio battery has a USB jack at one end and a switch (on/off perhaps) and a blue light at the other. What's happening when the blue light blinks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i meant if i take the keyboard apart.
I ordered another on off ebay, but i used the suggestion i thiunk i saw on here. I have a microusb OTG plugged into the nexus 9 and running a usb to the keyboard. it is supplying enough power to run he keyboard. also it does not seem top drain much power at all.
I'm typing this message on the folio keyboard. if the other keyboard folio has the same issue then i can at lease use this solution to use the folio.
now i need to order a shorter usb to microusb cord so i dont have to rubber band the cord and look sloppy when carrying it around

Thanks for that. But what about the blinking blue light?

Lindommer said:
Thanks for that. But what about the blinking blue light?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is paring mode if in not mistaken.

Nah, it's definitely a charging light. Doesn't blink when pairing but does when a USB charging lead is plugged in. Goes off after a couple of minutes, which confirms what we all know: the keyboard doesn't/won't charge.

Picked up one of these new from Ebay. It doesn't seem to want to charge and will only work when plugged in with charger. Anyway to get it working? Guess it's a return