Been looking for a new car charger for my skyrocket, I'm looking for a retractable usb charger to reduce clutter in my truck. I've been scouring Amazon but I don't think many of them will power the hungry phone with Navigation and Music playing. Anyone have any suggestions?
Find one rated for 1amp, I know eBay has a few
i bought one of these:
http://www.gizmag.com/thanko-release-dual-usb-in-car-charger-low-price/16171/
then i bought a retractable usb cable. The good thing about doing it this way is that I'm able to charge two phones in the car and I can take the cable out and use it on my PC as well.
I has been my experience in the past that the retractable ones do not last long, and often times cause issues with the usb ports on the phones. What I have done is purchased a griffin dual usb port 12v plug, and a short usb cable. And with any excess, I got a few rubber bands from a neighbors daughter that has braces and coiled the remainder of the cable.
Or in vehicle #2, I bought the same griffin 12v plug and then removed the dash bezel and center console and ran the wire underneath that for a good clean look.
Recommend Scosche Dual 2.1A USB Car Charger
I had good luck with cheap retractable cords from ebay (~1/each)
I use them with a Scosche Dual 2.1A (4.2 amps total) USB Car Charger (~$17 on ebay). This charger allows me to use gps navigation on long trips and not drain the battery. My cheaper lower 1amp chargers did not maintain battery power with GPS navigation.
Related
There are many options for micro USB car and home chargers out there. Is there any worry that the chargers are not the right configuration for the Nexus One? I don't want a $10 charger blowing up my $600 phone.
For example, can I buy a Blackberry micro USB charger and safely use it on my N1?
Yes... a Blackberry charger will work perfectly, but I think only puts out 700mA, so it'll take a little longer to charge than the 1000mA charger the phone comes with.
I suggest going to monoprice.com. From there you can buy a 1000mA car charger and wall charger both made for USB cables. You can also buy the USB cable with the microUSB connector. I bought 2 cables and one of each charger for a total of about $9.
Does anyone have pictures of the internals of the charger for the official Nexus One car dock?
The reason I ask is because I'm thinking of buying the car dock and hiding the charger out of view. The problem is that where I'm wanting to put it, there is not enough room to install a 12v outlet alone, much less the outlet and the charger, so I'm wanting to hard wire it all, but need to know how much room the internals of the charger are going to take up to see if it will fit where I want to put it.
i ran into a similar problem to you. I ended up not bothering to pull apart the 5v regulator as it appeared to be glued together. unless someone was very determined to get it apart you you not find anybody who has. I ended up buying a cigarette lighter socket and sticking it and the regulator in my fusebox out of the way.
if this isn't an option you can you any standard microusb charger cable as long as it is rated for 1 amp. I'm pretty sure all 1 amp chargers have the signal pin shorted to the power pin to indicate to the device they can pull 1 amp as opposed to 500ma. If you get one that can be taken apart that would work for your project.
Best of luck with your install! I've hardwired 4 different gadgets into my car and love how clean and tidy everything is. just one cable dangling in my car is too much. please post pics if you get it tucked away as you want, i'd love to see how it works out!
Sounds like space is at a premium. Another option is to hard wire in a Belkin USB charger which is heaps smaller. Then just run a USB charge cable from it to the car dock. Check out the harness I made up in the center bottom pic to get an appreciation of how small it is. Downside is the Belkin Micro USB only puts out 1A as compared to 2A from the genuine charger. So the car dock may struggle a bit.
logger said:
Sounds like space is at a premium. Another option is to hard wire in a Belkin USB charger which is heaps smaller. Then just run a USB charge cable from it to the car dock. Check out the harness I made up in the center bottom pic to get an appreciation of how small it is. Downside is the Belkin Micro USB only puts out 1A as compared to 2A from the genuine charger. So the car dock may struggle a bit.
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I like your setup, I may do something like that myself, but not for the project at hand, but rather just to have a 1amp USB charger for whatever.
Now as for the original project itself, what I'm wanting to do is mount the car dock in my 98 Chevy Blazer right below the review mirror. My Blazer happens to have the Temp. and millage computer readout right above the review mirror mounted to the headliner. There's plenty of places to hook into a switched 12v line in the housing for the millage readout, but as I stated before, it's not enough to house the entire car charger and/or and 12v socket.
I'd prefer to use the original charger that comes with the dock so as to not starve it of power. I'm hoping it's just a small circuit board with wires running to the various connectors. I guess I'll just have to buy it and check it out myself. I don't want anyone to ruin theirs just to satisfy my curiosity, not that I would expect anyone to do that to begin with.
Hi y'all,
I'm looking to buy some new chargers (wall charger, car charger) for my HD2 (not that this should matter, I guess it's something that applies for a lot of devices) but can't figure out which combinations of chargers & cables will really charge at 1A.
The combination of an iPod USB charger with a micro USB cable from my local store resulted in 'USB connected', and hence maxed out at 500mA. Recently also used a 1.2A car charger with a micro USB cable (both from dealextreme, being cheap =) ), and once again I got the dreaded 'USB connected'.
What do I have to buy or do in order to make my phone understand that it's not charging through USB (well, in a way of speaking) but through a wall charger?
Muchos thanks!
Edit: did some more research. Just short circuited the 2 center pins of my car charger, and now it's recognized as AC, whoo! I suppose this applies to all chargers, hence, question solved!
Since I already tried 4 USB car chargers (Osungo Carjuice 2.1A, Belkin 2.1A, Ewent 2.1A, Belkin 1A) with several USB cables (my intention is to use this cable I got from dx.com), but none of the combinations succeeded in charging my N5 while using navigation on the road.
In the settings menu -> battery all of them display Charging (AC) when plugged in my car.
During night time they keep the battery around the same level and during day time the battery percentage even slowly drops.
I'm going to perform some measurements later today with Battery Monitor Widget and/or Currentwidget to get some numbers.
The stores close-by only sell this stuff for ridiculous prices, so I spent enough money on gas already. I haven't ordered anything online yet since it seems nothing is guaranteed to work and therefore I don't want to deal with the hassle of return processes plus shipping costs.
The only car charger that does work is the charger that came with my Galaxy Nexus car holder, but I never liked that charger since it doesn't have a coiled cable so the cable is all over the place across your dash and it has no universal USB connection to charge all kind of devices in your car.
Also I'm looking for a solution which doesn't require soldering of some sort.
Does the USB car charger + coiled USB cable which I'm looking for even exist and why is it so hard to just get a working car charger for your N5?
Today I did some measurements with Currentwidget and the problem lies in the cable which I got from Dealextreme.
When I tested with the USB cable which came with the N5 all chargers work fine.
Now I hope I can find a coiled USB cable which works just like the original N5 cable for a decent price.
Found one from Mediabridge, but it seems this cable isn't available in the Netherlands and on Ebay shipping costs are insane.
Does the 1A charger still charge the phone while navigating? Or is a 2.1A charger needed?
Rhatfield25 said:
Does the 1A charger still charge the phone while navigating? Or is a 2.1A charger needed?
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Both can charge the phone while navigating, as long as you use the right cable.
Very annoying since there is no way to tell which cable is good and which cable is not good.
This was also noticed in the following threads:
[Q] Terrible charge rate?
Need good car charger recommendations please
Discharging while using Navigation
Tried the cable which came with the HTC OEM Car Charger CC C200, together with a 2.1mAh car charger and it barely charged the N5 while navigating. The charging level went up 1% in about 25 minutes time, in comparison if you use the cable which came with the N5 the level will have gone up around 15-20%.
The Mediabridge cables (such as this one) should suffice (available on Amazon and Ebay).
Since those are not available in Europe and shipping costs are way too high, I now found an alternative from Speedlink. Hopefully this one will work just as good as the original N5 USB cable.
I am using PowerGen 2.1A car charger with 3' Samsung OEM usb cable and able to charge the phone while using Navigation, brightness at full, and streaming tune-in on LTE. Very happy with the setup.
I had a monoprice 10' usb cable, the thick version with cap on ends, the 3' samsung oeum usb cable works much better. Testing on my old phone Optimus G Pro, there are about +200mA improvement using the 3' samsung oem usb cable over the monoprice 10' usb cable. so make sure to use the shortest usb cable possible.
I thought I would like to share with others my findings about the USB cable issues and the charging issues also reviewing few products.
I know that it would probably be best with some real table lab equipment but I have tested it with a usb multimeter device : PortaPow USB Power Monitor / Multimeter / DC Ammeter
Showing me Amps and volts.
It is true what is said that the device can detect to a degree the charger
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=53917336
So I used combo of software and hardware testing. I also tested with a S3 and S4 rooted (custom roms), and nexus 7 2013 (unique to this charger that it specs the 5v at 5.2! @ 1.35A and it does push more, to other devise as well)
Not all cables are equal; even not all OEM will work past 1A. It seems that most OEM’s cheat by using a shorter micro USB cable to get better charging results, this is the question many ask why so short cables, the OEM’s are only now slowly moving to thicker power wires IE 28/24 in there OEM usb cables.
Now my findings about the PortaPow USB Power monitor and any of the kind, is that it seems to effect the charging Amps of the device and also effect any smart chargers (will talk about below)
In the past I used to use exclusively the “Battery Monitor Widget” by 3c, lately I went and got also “Galaxy Charging Current Lite” for whatever reason my S3 shows as incompatible? Thought it should work on it, my S4 installed and shows max and reference/average
Test 1: S3 Genuine 100% OEM cable (I know because I bought the S3 new @ t-mobile)
Test 2: Claimed Genuine Samsung Micro USB cable 5 feet ECC1DU6BBE
Test 3: Nexus 7 2013 usb cable (is claimed to be a 28/24 AWG)
I was skeptical about the Claimed Genuine cable, and though it looks and feels just like the real thing, it varies in the logo and length. Performance wise has shown consistently of a 0.1-0.15A lower than the Genuine Samsung cable that I have from S3. This was done with the USB power monitor and with the Galaxy Charging Current Lite app, it even said 860mAh vs 760mAh when I tested the cables, but genuine cable did push up more power and the software was wrong as I have seen over 1.13A with USB Power monitor, but as said the real Genuine cable was better.
The Nexus 7 2013 micro USB cable that is short, performed the best, gave the max Amps out of all the cables. I will test my Monoprice 28/24 cables and update this thread.
Quick tests of chargers:
Car charger form Amazon,
PowerGen White Dual USB 4.2A (20W) Car charger Designed for Apple and Android Devices
I quickly tested to see if this thing will push past 1A and it did at the time I was testing with nexus 7 and its cable with the usb power meter, and It was pulling around 1.13A
Next up single wall charger, I saw this and had to buy!
Blackberry Folding Blade Charger for Playbook rated at 5v @ 1.8A! priced under $5!!!
I tested this one with the software on my S4, it quickly showed after few min pulling 1.4A and Galaxy charger showed maxed out 1900 on all!
I think this one wins for the cheapest and sturdy charger, just shy of 2A!, will become my work charger, the cable is nice and thick along with pretty good length 6ft+!
Next up I had to get me a family charger (4-5 port)
I get tired of short cables on wall chargers, so I went and got
Anker® 40W USB Desktop Charger
This charger claims a total of 40w for 5 ports! With intelligent device detection PowerIQ.
This charger so far (1 day use) has been great, I connected the S3 and the power meter showed 1A, I connected the S4 with the meter and was only getting 1.13-1.3A, the software did not show max, so here is the issue seems the usb monitor will cause the charger to not read the devices to there 100%, after taking it out and connecting it directly the galaxy charger showed maxed 1900mAh
The USB cable used was the nexus 7 one.
What I love about this charger, no lights! Perfect for me for overnight charging, also has standard power cord, the unit itself is quite compact too, now I can have short usb cables 1.5ft or 3ft ones and not worry about reach, as the charger can stay next to your devices, simply use conventional power cable extender on the charger unit, not on your usb devices!
I will conclude that it seems now since we are pushing past the usb spec for charging, that the shortest cable is best, be it 28 awg or 24 awg, and of course OEM’s already knew that, I am pretty sure that the OEMs are switching to 28/24 awg cables
Links:
PortaPow USB Power Monitor / Multimeter / DC Ammeter
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DF2485S/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Samsung ECC1DU6BBE 5-Feet Micro USB Charging Data Cable - Original OEM - Non-Retail Packaging
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DVBB0XQ/ref=oh_details_o01_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Anker® 40W USB Desktop Charger
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GTGETFG/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Blackberry Folding Blade Charger for Playbook (Black)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004OZMWUS/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
PowerGen White Dual USB 4.2A (20W) Car charger Designed for Apple and Android Devices
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0088U6OZY/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
if people are interested, I can designate some time and take few pics of the monoprice cables, and show why they fail, its obvious but need a good pic to show the reason, maybe we can find a way to fix them?
the cables are great, the connectors look great at first but are not so great
I just ordered the Anker 40W USB Desktop Charger on Amazon with same day shipping for $5.99. Thanks for your review!
been using the Blackberry Folding Blade Charger for awhile now. indeed the closet and fastest ul get to the original charger
it can be had on ebay 2 for 4.99
kinubic said:
been using the Blackberry Folding Blade Charger for awhile now. indeed the closet and fastest ul get to the original charger
it can be had on ebay 2 for 4.99
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I could not find 2 for 4.99 I did find 2 for 8 or so... are you sure its the "Blackberry Folding Blade Charger for Playbook" this one is specifically 1.8A
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-New-OEM-...Phone_PDA_Cables_Adapters&hash=item58afbd2941
looks like Amazon still is selling them as well
drutort said:
I could not find 2 for 4.99 I did find 2 for 8 or so... are you sure its the "Blackberry Folding Blade Charger for Playbook" this one is specifically 1.8A
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-New-OEM-...Phone_PDA_Cables_Adapters&hash=item58afbd2941
looks like Amazon still is selling them as well
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Click to collapse
yes the seller is mobilepros1
just checked his store seems his not selling it anymore
not sure if u can see this but this was the listing
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemVersion&item=221456227839&view=all&tid=1395101280012
kinubic said:
yes the seller is mobilepros1
just checked his store seems his not selling it anymore
not sure if u can see this but this was the listing
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemVersion&item=221456227839&view=all&tid=1395101280012
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ah yes I searched item#221456227839
that was even better bargain heh
the USB cable is as important as the plug. I use an ANKER 4-port plug with a factory S4 cable. It runs at 1900, same as if I used the factory S4 plug. I ran a whole experiment too. I had a USB cable IDENTICAL to my S$ cable, and it only charged at 320 with the same ANKER or S4 plugs. My S4 has a popup telling me to use a better charger