I recently got my new nexus s. Is there a difference when charging it from a USB port and from a power outlet? Seems like it charges faster from a power outlet but that could be just me.
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I get the same feeling. Charges faster from a power outlet.
Pretty much everything will charge faster from a wall outlet, there's just not that much power being given over USB.
I've got a charger that gives the same power as a USB socket that I use if I'm charging overnight, I figure it's slightly more environmentally friendly since my phone will take longer to charge.
USB only supplies about 500ma. Where the outlet is more like 1000ma. So yes it would charge faster from an outlet.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA Premium App
Yes, most phones charge faster through power outlet, usb give you less current, usually takes longer to charge.
Thanks for your replies. Out of curiosity, does charging from a computer reduce my battery's life because it takes longer to charge?
No. Trickle charging is supposed to be better on the battery than hitting it hard with a quick charge. What I consider a quick charge would be an aa or similar charger that can charge from dead to full in like an hour or less. 15 minute chargers, IMO, are very hard on batteries. Usually heat isn't good for cells and these chargers get the battery so hot it sometimes is too hot to touch.
In the case with these phones and charging the battery while in the phone, you shouldn't worry too much about it. The phone will regulate how much current and voltage gets to the battery even if you have a charger that is capable of delivering lots of power. If you had the battery out of the phone and in an external charger, that's when you need to look into it.
So, under normal conditions, don't worry about it.
I tend to charge my transformer by leaving it plugged into my pc via usb for most of the day.
Does anyone know if this is bad for the battery compared to using mains to charge?
Obviously with the transformer it takes a very long time to fully charge via usb so it is plugged in for hours and hours.
The battery is a Lithium Polymer (Lipo) so it doesnt have a memory like the old Nicads and its even better than NiMH or Li-ion. Newer Lipos can be charged at upwards of 2-3C. There is no benefit from trickle charging these batteries. The internal charging circuit wont allow it to happen anyway. Once the battery hits 4.2v per cell it will stop the charge. So to answer your question; no it doesnt matter which you use to charge it. Might as well use the main charger and have it done faster.
Interesting, but do we know the transformer uses the newer battery and could you provide a reference to the info for this newer type of li-ion battery?
Well in this case the 2-3C charging is irrelevant since we have no way of charging it that fast anyway since the TF has some sort of internal charging circuit. I was just trying to make the point that the main charger is not nearly putting out enough current to cause the battery any harm or for that matter a shorter life than the USB would. Looking at the AC charger it says 15v 1.2A so it should charge at about 2.5 times faster than a typical USB port if it were putting out 15v (it doesnt...it only puts out 5v 500mA). Im actually surprised that at 5v it manages to charge it at all....guess thats why it has to be off and sit there for 2 days.
carrera0to60 said:
Well in this case the 2-3C charging is irrelevant since we have no way of charging it that fast anyway since the TF has some sort of internal charging circuit. I was just trying to make the point that the main charger is not nearly putting out enough current to cause the battery any harm or for that matter a shorter life than the USB would. Looking at the AC charger it says 15v 1.2A so it should charge at about 2.5 times faster than a typical USB port if it were putting out 15v (it doesnt...it only puts out 5v 500mA). Im actually surprised that at 5v it manages to charge it at all....guess thats why it has to be off and sit there for 2 days.
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I had the general impression that slower charging of batteries is usually better. You usually don't get something for nothing. If the newer batteries are different that great but where did you read this?
Hey,
I noticed that the droid charge has a bigger battery but it take a lifetime to charge.. is there a better charger I can get other than the one that came stock with the phone? Please let me know. I would really appreciate it.
The stock actually charges fast compared to USB...use a higher amperage charger with the stock usb cord (so it doesn't limit to 500ma). I use my Galaxy Tab charger...works great
Sent from my Droid Charge running GummyFroyo 1.9.1
kvswim said:
The stock actually charges fast compared to USB...use a higher amperage charger with the stock usb cord (so it doesn't limit to 500ma). I use my Galaxy Tab charger...works great
Sent from my Droid Charge running GummyFroyo 1.9.1
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Well I am using the USB in the pc and the battery has not moved once notch ... has to be the rom (gingerbread) or the combnation of usb cord and charger.
stepinmyworld said:
Well I am using the USB in the pc and the battery has not moved once notch ... has to be the rom (gingerbread) or the combnation of usb cord and charger.
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PC USB ports do not do a good job charging phones. they don't have a lot of power going to them. In addition, if you're using your phone while its charging from your computer you will not likely see it charging at all since all the power its getting is going to whatever it is your doing.
The same is true of car chargers. I had mine plugged in in the car for 45 minutes using the GPS. It charged 2%. The point is, the only real effective way to charge your phone is by using a regular outlet.
streetlightman said:
PC USB ports do not do a good job charging phones. they don't have a lot of power going to them. In addition, if you're using your phone while its charging from your computer you will not likely see it charging at all since all the power its getting is going to whatever it is your doing.
The same is true of car chargers. I had mine plugged in in the car for 45 minutes using the GPS. It charged 2%. The point is, the only real effective way to charge your phone is by using a regular outlet.
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Correct about the pc charging; it only runs at .5 amps (500 ma) while the stock charger has 1 amp. However, the car charger really depends on what kind you're using. I use a 2A and it charges fine.
Sent from my Droid Charge running GummyFroyo 1.9.1
streetlightman said:
PC USB ports do not do a good job charging phones. they don't have a lot of power going to them. In addition, if you're using your phone while its charging from your computer you will not likely see it charging at all since all the power its getting is going to whatever it is your doing.
The same is true of car chargers. I had mine plugged in in the car for 45 minutes using the GPS. It charged 2%. The point is, the only real effective way to charge your phone is by using a regular outlet.
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ok cool. so i could just look for a charger will higher voltage being delivered. I hope i get the right one that is compatible to the droid charge. Dont wanna burn the battery out etc
No, not voltage. Amperage. Big difference. Just get a charger with a USB port and a high amperage...I don't think you'll find a higher amp charger specifically compatible with the Charge.
Sent from my Droid Charge running GummyFroyo 1.9.1
kvswim said:
No, not voltage. Amperage. Big difference. Just get a charger with a USB port and a high amperage...I don't think you'll find a higher amp charger specifically compatible with the Charge.
Sent from my Droid Charge running GummyFroyo 1.9.1
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ok thanks!
You need a charger that won't be seen as a USB connection on the phone. If the phone thinks that it is plugged into your computer, it will charge at roughly half the rate of the wall charger. Wall charger will charge at ~700mA I believe, and the USB/Computer connection will charge at ~400mA. You can find the actual numbers in the power regulator driver in the kernel source though.
I have a motorola 950 amp car charger I got off amazon for $5. It works well but if the screen is full bright and I'm running navagation I have seen the battery level drop. To keep up you need a 1+amp charger. That being said the harder you charge the batteries the quicker they will wear out.
imnuts said:
You need a charger that won't be seen as a USB connection on the phone. If the phone thinks that it is plugged into your computer, it will charge at roughly half the rate of the wall charger. Wall charger will charge at ~700mA I believe, and the USB/Computer connection will charge at ~400mA. You can find the actual numbers in the power regulator driver in the kernel source though.
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This is pretty interesting. I'm not a phone dev or an electrician, but I assume these mA numbers are something that are 1) lower than what is actually safe and 2) might be able to be tweaked by a dev with nothing better to do. Not that you are even close to falling in that category, but I think many users would be quite interested in being able to get more charge out of shorter durations, albeit at the risk of burning out their phones.
Search for my responses here on charging cables... Sorry but I'm at 35,000 feet in an airliner and can't search very well to include a link. The "magic" to allow a charge current greater than 500ma is either in the stock AC charger or in a "charge only" cable. The data wires to the phone have to be shorted otherwise the phone will think that it is plugged into a computer and will start USB services and will limit the charging current. Cheapest to fabricate your own adapter!
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
So it wont harm my battery at all to use my galaxy tab charger on my phone? What about in the long run will it degrade faster?
I think the phone has intelligent charging logic (like the newest iphones) so if you keep it cool it will take care of itself. YMMV however!
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Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
You could have a 10 amp charger, and if it is picked up as a computer/usb connection, the phone is going to pull the same amount of current as it would just plugging it in to your computer. The same goes for car and wall chargers that get picked up as a computer/usb connection. It doesn't matter what charge rate the charger supports, the phone is going to pull the same current as it is regulated to via the kernel. The only time it won't pull the full charge current it is setup to pull is if you have a charger that is rated for a slower charge rate than what the phone wants AND it won't allow charging above its stated capacity (any good charger should do this).
I have looked around (not much though) at how to make the charge rate faster before, but couldn't see how to do anything besides make the phone charge as fast over USB as it can via the wall charger. However, from what I have read, Li Ion batteries do better if they receive a slower charge to full and will not die as fast compared to being rapidly charged.
imnuts said:
You could have a 10 amp charger, and if it is picked up as a computer/usb connection, the phone is going to pull the same amount of current as it would just plugging it in to your computer. The same goes for car and wall chargers that get picked up as a computer/usb connection. It doesn't matter what charge rate the charger supports, the phone is going to pull the same current as it is regulated to via the kernel. The only time it won't pull the full charge current it is setup to pull is if you have a charger that is rated for a slower charge rate than what the phone wants AND it won't allow charging above its stated capacity (any good charger should do this).
I have looked around (not much though) at how to make the charge rate faster before, but couldn't see how to do anything besides make the phone charge as fast over USB as it can via the wall charger. However, from what I have read, Li Ion batteries do better if they receive a slower charge to full and will not die as fast compared to being rapidly charged.
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Slow charging is true to some extent, but there is no need to charge our battery's under 1.5amp.
And shorting the two data pins on the USB doesn't work it looks for a specific resistance, I saw the ohm load somewhere, but now of course I can't find it lol..
When I get really bored tonight I will edit this and figure it out. But yeah our phones can easily pull 800ma or more with full screen brightness and maxed out processor. So that would result in no charging at all on some chargers. I use a 2a wall charger that came with my evo and it charges very very quickly. Never more than 1 hour to full charge unless I am gaming on it while it charges lol. This is using the cord that came with the phone of course so that it knows it isn't in a data enabled usb slot.
MasterRy88 said:
So it wont harm my battery at all to use my galaxy tab charger on my phone? What about in the long run will it degrade faster?
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In electronics, when given a voltage source (as opposed to a current source) the Voltage is set to a fixed value. That is what our wall USB outlets are. Voltage sources
Think of Voltage like a waterfall. The water is always dropping from the same height. The voltage is always set to the same value.
The mA rating (the current) is determined by how much juice the phone can pull. Just because a charger is capable of supplying more current (say 1 or 2 amps), it doesn't mean that the Droid is going to draw that much current. However, if the droid is capable of pulling more current, it will benefit by charging faster.
Does that help at all?
*edit* Dang it. Didn't scroll down enough to see that imnuts posted already. Oh well, screw it. I'm leaving my post. lol. People who don't know about Voltage and Amperage need to hear the waterfall example at some point in their lives.
lane32x said:
In electronics, when given a voltage source (as opposed to a current source) the Voltage is set to a fixed value. That is what our wall USB outlets are. Voltage sources
Think of Voltage like a waterfall. The water is always dropping from the same height. The voltage is always set to the same value.
The mA rating (the current) is determined by how much juice the phone can pull. Just because a charger is capable of supplying more current (say 1 or 2 amps), it doesn't mean that the Droid is going to draw that much current. However, if the droid is capable of pulling more current, it will benefit by charging faster.
Does that help at all?
*edit* Dang it. Didn't scroll down enough to see that imnuts posted already. Oh well, screw it. I'm leaving my post. lol. People who don't know about Voltage and Amperage need to hear the waterfall example at some point in their lives.
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I don't really understand this because voltage and amperage are different things...
Sent from my Droid Charge running GummyFroyo 1.9.1
skydeaner said:
When I get really bored tonight I will edit this and figure it out. But yeah our phones can easily pull 800ma or more with full screen brightness and maxed out processor. So that would result in no charging at all on some chargers. I use a 2a wall charger that came with my evo and it charges very very quickly. Never more than 1 hour to full charge unless I am gaming on it while it charges lol. This is using the cord that came with the phone of course so that it knows it isn't in a data enabled usb slot.
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Did you read anything I posted The phone is only going to pull a set charge rate, depending on what type of connection it sees. It doesn't care what power rating the connection has, it will pull as much power as it can, up to the limit defined in the power regulator of the kernel. You can use a 1A charger, or a 2A charger, doesn't matter, the phone is still only going to pull a set. The phone will pull 475mA via USB connection (your computer) or 800mA via an AC adapter (wall charger). Unless you figure out how to hack the battery driver to allow a faster charge, those are the two rates you get, regardless of how much power the wall charger can supply.
kvswim said:
I don't really understand this because voltage and amperage are different things...
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A charger is going to provide a set voltage (5V I believe) and that is the only constant in the charging process for what is going into the phone. The amperage is going to be determined by the phone or the wall charger. The only time the wall charger will be the limiting part in charging is if its circuitry is setup to cut off charging over a certain level, and if it is rated for a lower charging rate, odds are, it probably won't cut it off and instead produce a fire hazard.
Something else people don't realize is that the charging rate isn't just bad for the battery if you charge to fast, pulling to much power in to charge the battery, especially while using the phone, creates a heat problem as well. While the phone will shut itself down before any major damage can occur, why would you even want to create a situation that could potentially damage the phone hardware?
imnuts said:
Did you read anything I posted The phone is only going to pull a set charge rate, depending on what type of connection it sees. It doesn't care what power rating the connection has, it will pull as much power as it can, up to the limit defined in the power regulator of the kernel. You can use a 1A charger, or a 2A charger, doesn't matter, the phone is still only going to pull a set. The phone will pull 475mA via USB connection (your computer) or 800mA via an AC adapter (wall charger). Unless you figure out how to hack the battery driver to allow a faster charge, those are the two rates you get, regardless of how much power the wall charger can supply.
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what about car chargers? i have one that I think is 2A and it seems to charge my phone a bit faster than my wall charger
blazing through on my VZ Droid Charge 4G
I've noticed that charging with 500mah charger, charges the battery MUCH slower than a 1000mah (1amp) charger, which charges really fast. I'll need to time it, but I'm thinking the 1000mah charger charges the stock battery in less than 2 hours, where as the 500mah charger takes many hours, I usually let it charge overnight.
My question is, is there any performance gain to slow charging vs fast charging? ie: slow charging giving a deeper charge, vs fast charging?
any opinions?
i use a 2amp charger i had already that fully charges the O3D in around half an hour/45 mins. get the same runtime whether i use that or the stock charger.
hefonthefjords said:
i use a 2amp charger i had already that fully charges the O3D in around half an hour/45 mins. get the same runtime whether i use that or the stock charger.
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Any chance of a link to this charger, I'd really like that sort of charging speed.
Pete
My guess would be anything that would charge an iPad... those require like 2.1amp, so that would be a 2amp usb charger.... I've seen 2.1amp home chargers, car chargers, etc... all because of the ipad I'm guessing.
Its not that simple. Any device that uses USB for charging can only pull 500ma, that's a universal agreement. To get around this each manufacturer uses a method of "informing" their device that it is connected to a charger that can supply more current (HTC shorts the data leads in the supplied charger I don't know what LG does). I have a 1amp car charger but it still only gives 500ma but the genuine LG charger gives an amp because the phone "knows" it can supply more.
I'm going to stick a test meter into my LG chargers over the holidays to see how the data leads are connected.
Pete
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The charger i have is a noname brand. I bought it from walmart for 6 quid. It also came with a 2amp car charger and a micro usb cable.
Micro usb cables are not standardised like that. Ive never heard of such a thing at all. As far as i know most phones will "fast charge" if they dont detect a data connection and dump as much current as they can into the battery so you can pretty much present them with whatever current you like and the charge time will just get faster. There is probably a hardware limit to that somewhere in the charge circuit but i dont know what the limit is. 2amps is the highest power usb charger ive seen but its not exactly aomething i regularly keep an eye out for.
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Slow charging is always better as this will allow the optimal number of battery cycles before the battery's capacity will start to degrade.
So if you only ever slow charge then your battery will have a longer life cycle.
Hello, I have a question regarding charging. In fact, when I use the OEM charger which provides 830mA of current to charge my Atrix 4G, it charges fast (~+50%/h). However, when I charge it with the charger of my Note 2 which supplies 2A of current, it charges very slow (~+12%/h). So, I find this very weird since theoretically it should charge even faster than with the OEM charger that came with it since it supplies a greater current. However, when I charge the Note 2 with the Note 2 charger, it charges with a reasonable speed (~+50%/h). Any explanation?:banghead:
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Dan Law 001 said:
Hello, I have a question regarding charging. In fact, when I use the OEM charger which provides 830mA of current to charge my Atrix 4G, it charges fast (~+50%/h). However, when I charge it with the charger of my Note 2 which supplies 2A of current, it charges very slow (~+12%/h). So, I find this very weird since theoretically it should charge even faster than with the OEM charger that came with it since it supplies a greater current. However, when I charge the Note 2 with the Note 2 charger, it charges with a reasonable speed (~+50%/h). Any explanation?:banghead:
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
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well the note 2 has a 3,100 mAh Battery and needs a specific charger for it becuase its a big battery, on the Artix 4g its a 1,930 mAh Battery, if you look on both of your chargers (the wall mount)it can show how much Volts,Hz,mAH it will charge.
The charging current of a battery is limited by its physical capabilities. You cannot charge a battery designed to be charged at ~800mA with 2A of current - your battery would die very quickly and possibly even catch fire. Each phone has a circuit that limits the charging current to a value that is known to be safe for batteries used with that phone. This means that plugging a bigger charger to a small phone won't make it use the full capabilities of it.
Besides - in case of Li-Ion batteries, the faster you charge the faster your battery will degrade in time. This is the reason why I charge my battery using a USB connection to my PC, where the charging current is limited to 500mA (USB 2.0 limit).