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[Q] Are all USB Charges the Same?

I have about 5 Micro USB wall charger laying around, so when I got my Captivate I was happy to see that it used a Micro USB.
My question is.... Is all of the Micro USB power supplies the same? the ones i have are from different Motorola phones.
Thanks,

Coldheat1906 said:
I have about 5 Micro USB wall charger laying around, so when I got my Captivate I was happy to see that it used a Micro USB.
My question is.... Is all of the Micro USB power supplies the same? the ones i have are from different Motorola phones.
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume you mean the wall charger. The charger and the cable are actually separate. You can plug any USB cable into this that has a female USB end. The other end could be mini, micro, ipod, or something else.
They are not all the same - the Moto charger delivers more Amps then the Captivate. Some charger deliver less. The phone will only draw what it is set to, so you can use just about all of them.

cool thanks

The short answer: It's probably fine
The long answer:
USB is a specification, so anything using usb should be designed to run at (for USB 2.0) 4.4-5.25 V. It *should* be fine for charging any microUSB device (the "U" is for "Universal") but I guess it's possible (though unlikely) that the company that made the charger did something funky/proprietary with the voltage/amperage, which would make it not USB even though it uses a USB port. See if the charger says the operating voltage/current on it. It should say around 5V and somewhere in the range of 150-900 mA. If it does, you're golden, if it doesn't say you're still probably fine.

The phone is actually quite picky about chargers. It can recognize a USB charger in either (1) AC wall charger or (2) USB charger. If your paritular charger can be recognized as AC charger, it can be charged in a faster rate if your wall charger can deliver. The Captivate comes with a 700ma wall charger. Some can deliver 1000ma or even higher but Captivate internally limits to 1000ma max from what I read. The higher the amprage, the faster it can charge the battery.
On the other hand, if your charger is recognized as USB charger, not only you will be prompted to select USB mode (if you configured to do so) as if you connect it to a PC, you will also be limited to maximum of 500ma of charging current per USB standard. It will be slower than the stock charger (which is slow already).

foxbat121 said:
The phone is actually quite picky about chargers. It can recognize a USB charger in either (1) AC wall charger or (2) USB charger. If your paritular charger can be recognized as AC charger, it can be charged in a faster rate if your wall charger can deliver. The Captivate comes with a 700ma wall charger. Some can deliver 1000ma or even higher but Captivate internally limits to 1000ma max from what I read. The higher the amprage, the faster it can charge the battery.
On the other hand, if your charger is recognized as USB charger, not only you will be prompted to select USB mode (if you configured to do so) as if you connect it to a PC, you will also be limited to maximum of 500ma of charging current per USB standard. It will be slower than the stock charger (which is slow already).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not "picky" it follows the USB specifications. For instance I have a 4 port USB wall charger that is capable of supplying 5 volts at 2000 mA to one port or 5v @ 500 mA to 4 ports. Unfortunately the charger is not complex enough to know how many devices are plugged in at once and therefore always signals to all devices to only use a maximum of 500 mA. So if those devices follow the specs they will only draw 500 mA max since it is seen as a high current device (low current devices only should draw 100 mA max).
I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE OPEN UP ANY ELECTRICS EVER ESPECIALLY ONES WHEN CONNECTED TO THE AC LINES IN YOUR HOMES. IT IS A FIRE AND ELECTROCUTION RISK AND I NOR ANYONE ELSE TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN STUPIDITY.
However I hacked it by adding a resistor of proper value between the data pins so that the phone if it wanted to could use the full 2000 mA. Know whenever plugged into that USB port the phone goes into AC mode and from some rough testing during the bulk charging phase the phone charges at a rate of 40% per hour instead of the USB modes 20% per hour. With this hack it takes roughly 3 hours to fully charge since the final charging stage of lithium batteries requires the current to slowly be dialed back. Thats a lot better than the USB modes 5 hours.

icedfire101 said:
It is not "picky" it follows the USB specifications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I say it is picky because without hacking it will only use USB mode for most wall chargers and car chargers out there. It probably won't be any problem for a slow wall charger. But for car charger, 500ma is simply not enough if you also run GPS navigation. The phone uses more than 500ma of juice in that mode. I've to hack my car charger (a 700ma USB charger designed for iPod etc) couple times to let it reliably recognize as AC charger.

foxbat121 said:
I say it is picky because without hacking it will only use USB mode for most wall chargers and car chargers out there. It probably won't be any problem for a slow wall charger. But for car charger, 500ma is simply not enough if you also run GPS navigation. The phone uses more than 500ma of juice in that mode. I've to hack my car charger (a 700ma USB charger designed for iPod etc) couple times to let it reliably recognize as AC charger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again that is not "picky" it is doing what it is suppose to. What we really need are companies that will follow the USB standards and make Dedicated Charging Ports on there chargers. Most companies cheap out and only make 500 mA and 700 mA products (which that is why charging is so slow). Then they sell it to consumers that don't know any better. Especially with the 700 mA chargers since consumers will think that it is better because of the bigger number but devices that properly follow the USB spec will still only draw 500 mA. (I don't know what specifications Apple follows with their device but since a lot of those that I see with 700 mA are geared toward apples device they may be able to make use of them.) I know of no open specification for a USB device to pull 700 mA.
As to why the Samsung stock charger that came with the phone is 700 mA, I m guessing it is because of cost again. I can tell you though that it doesn't short the data lines with the proper X ohm resister for a Dedicated Charging Port. So I m thinking they made their own proprietary standard there just so they could save a few bucks on each charger but still give the consumer something to feel good about for buying there overpriced stuff.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE OPENING UP ANY ELECTRONICS, EVER. ESPECIALLY ONES CONNECTED TO THE AC LINES IN YOUR HOMES. IT IS A FIRE AND ELECTROCUTION RISK AND I NOR ANYONE ELSE TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN STUPIDITY.
Dedicated Charging Ports are required to supply 1800 mA. That means if you try and hack a device that is only rated at 700 mA to be a Dedicated Charging Port the device will possibly overheat and die or cause a fire if any device actually tries to pull the 1800 mA.
As far as car chargers: It is very simple to make a Dedicated Charging Port for a car charger provided you have an old USB one you can mod. Just get a DC-to-DC converter that will convert 11-14 volts (your car battery's voltage range) to 5 volts and throw a X ohm resistor on the USB data pins. Put it all in the empty shell of the donor and your done.

1 Amp Apple wall charger

Are all of Apple's OEM iPhone wall chargers (the white little square looking one's) rated at 1 amp? They're cheap on eBay and I like their small form factor and want to pick one up for my Captivate. Thx

I use one and they work fine.

^If you have your charger on hand, would you mind checking to see if it outputs 1Amp?

On your phone, go to Settings->About Phone->Status->Battery Status. If it says "Charging (AC)", it is charging at the max amperage the charger can offer (up to 1A). If it says "Charging (USB)", it is only charging at 500mA, the max a PC USB can offer. I'm pretty sure for iPhone/iPod chargers, it will show later case on our phone because it is not wired according to Samsung's AC charging requirement. I knew this because I had a 3rd party Car charger that was designed for iPhone/iPod and it won't let my Captivate to charge in AC charger mode. I have to open the charger and make a few mod myself to let Captivate to recognize this is an AC charger, not PC USB.
On the other hand, my 1A charger from Kodak Zi8 flash cam works w/o problem with Captivate.

foxbat121 said:
On your phone, go to Settings->About Phone->Status->Battery Status. If it says "Charging (AC)", it is charging at the max amperage the charger can offer (up to 1A). If it says "Charging (USB)", it is only charging at 500mA, the max a PC USB can offer. I'm pretty sure for iPhone/iPod chargers, it will show later case on our phone because it is not wired according to Samsung's AC charging requirement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ty for the reply. I modded a usb retractable cable by shorting the middle connectors and when I go into settings it shows it's "Charging AC". This is with a generic 700mA usb wall charger I got with a cheap connector kit for my old iPhone.
Anyway, I recently got my Captivate and I find myself constantly playing with it, but it kills my battery doing so. I just want to charge my phone as quickly as possible so I can continue playing with it some more (in a good way).
I like Apple's wall charger because it's small.

From what I have read they are rated at 650 mv so fox is right that they will show as a usb connection. I have never really paid attention and am making a relatively uneducated, yet randomly tested, through my own purely subjective method of simply plugging my phone into anything that will allow my usb cord access, guess that anything with a female usb connection is fine.
Li-ion batteries are kinda dangerous so I am pretty sure there is some sort of idiot proofing built into the charging circuitry in the phone as well.

I'm pretty sure the Captivate will only draw the amps it needs so there should be no danger whether the wall charger is 1 or 2 Amps or more.

The difference is simply the charge time. The phone needs about 3 to 4 hours to get a full charge on the stock 700mA charger. When using generic USB chargers, it will be limited to 500mA max regardless what the charger is capable of and the full charge time will be proportionally longer. The bigger problem is that when your battery is really really low, 500mA may not be enough to even start the charging. That's why you need always keep the OEM charger handy for emergency.
BTW, for a car charger, 500mA won't keep your bettery from draining if you run navigation app that needs to power GPS chip, keep the screen on and download map from 3G connection at the same time. It requires 700mA or more. That is why it is very critical for a car charger be recognized by the phone as AC charger to draw more juice.

Ok, as I stated in my previous post I modded a USB cable by shorting the two middle data connectors, which tricks the Captivate into thinking it's charging with AC through my generic 700mA wall charger. It also says in settings it's "AC Charging" when I looked.
I just wanted to know if the iPhone's wall charger is rated at 1A or was it 650mA?? as newter55 stated.
thx for everyone's help.
Edit: My mistake, I thought I posted this in the Q&A section.

For some new PC motherboard with USB3.0,
they can output 900mA~1000mA(1A) in one single USB port.
You may check this out http://goo.gl/TUaef
If your PC is already 2 years old or older, the usb will only output 500mA in the max.
And, most Li-ion charger are smart enough.
In fact Li-ion charger circuit need to be well design in current control and over current/charge control.
The circuit will not pump full current to the battery in the beginning,
and it will not draw too much, so no need to worry about burn it up.
However if the current is too high let's say 10A.... it may possibly burn the circuit.
Maybe it is a bit difficult to measure current, you need to cut the wire and plug it to ampmeter....
Here is some reference.
500mA - full charge need over 3hrs
700mA - around 2hrs
1A - ~1.5 hr

johan8 said:
For some new PC motherboard with USB3.0,
they can output 900mA~1000mA(1A) in one single USB port.
You may check this out http://goo.gl/TUaef
If your PC is already 2 years old or older, the usb will only output 500mA in the max.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not about USB port side. The phone itself also detects and determines how much current it will draw. If it detects it is a PC USB, it will only draw 500mA max as Captivate is designed following USB 2.0 spec.

Ok, thanks for everyone's help. I was able to find out on my own after scouring the internet and talking to someone who has the Apple wall charger and it is indeed 1Amps. I believe all wall chargers that come with the iPhone 3g and all iPhone models after are 1Amps. Not sure about the original iPhone 2g.
Also, for curiosities sake, the iPad USB wall charger is 2Amps.

foxbat121 said:
It is not about USB port side. The phone itself also detects and determines how much current it will draw. If it detects it is a PC USB, it will only draw 500mA max as Captivate is designed following USB 2.0 spec.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe.
I don't know the control circuit inside GalaxyS.
But USB2.0 doesn't means it is just 500mA.
iphone is just usb2.0, but it is the only thing can draw 1A from USB ?
http://goo.gl/GVqKl
(with designated m/b)

johan8 said:
Maybe.
I don't know the control circuit inside GalaxyS.
But USB2.0 doesn't means it is just 500mA.
iphone is just usb2.0, but it is the only thing can draw 1A from USB ?
http://goo.gl/GVqKl
(with designated m/b)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're missing the point. The charge port on the phone can draw more than 500mA but only if it detects it is connected to a AC charger. Like mentioned above, you have to short the data PINs on the USB port or cable to let the Captivate think it is connected to AC charger. For iPhone, the data pins need to be connected to certain specific voltages in order to let iPhone know it is connected to an Apple AC charger.
When the phone can not detect AC charger characteristics, it falls back to PC USB 2.0 spec which is 500mA max.

I use one to charge my Zune. Haven't had a problem.

foxbat121 said:
You're missing the point. The charge port on the phone can draw more than 500mA but only if it detects it is connected to a AC charger. Like mentioned above, you have to short the data PINs on the USB port or cable to let the Captivate think it is connected to AC charger. For iPhone, the data pins need to be connected to certain specific voltages in order to let iPhone know it is connected to an Apple AC charger.
When the phone can not detect AC charger characteristics, it falls back to PC USB 2.0 spec which is 500mA max.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I fully understand what you're saying.
In iphone3, it can only draw 700mA from USB,
IP4 can draw nearly 1A from "computer" USB.
While iphone are just USB2.0 !
GalaxyS can draw 1A in max.
But does it like iphone4 can draw 1A from PC USB ? I don't know.
Or just like IP3 can draw only 500~700mA ?
I don't have new m/b and ampmeter so can't testing on it.

Findings on Galaxy S4 charging current

With the advent of the S4, and its higher capacity battery, one could understand a higher charging current. However, I seem to have uncovered some findings that the charging system on the S4 is a bit more complex than first thought!
This is a bit techy, and assumes you have a basic amount of electrical knowledge, ie voltages, currents, resistance etc., but I'll try and keep it as simple as possible for anyone who may not!
To explain: The mains charger supplied with the S4 is a model number ETA-U90UWE, rated 5V @ 2A. However, the phone will ONLY charge at full current (which as I have measured so far, depending on what the phone regulates it to, typically sits in the region of 1.2 - 1.5A), when using the supplied charger (or possibly one of equal or higher current rating, depending on how it's configured internally), AND the supplied usb cable, OR any other usb cable, provided its shielding (the metal outer surface of the connectors) is connected at BOTH ends of the cable. Use a cable that doesn't have this shielding, and the charge current drops, regardless of whether there is plenty of current available or not. Use a different charger with an unshielded cable and the current drops even more, again regardless of whether it can supply plenty more current.
My assumption on this, is possibly an effort by Samsung to avoid the scenario of sticking 1.5 amps down a flimsy cheapo cable, the wires of which will likely be too thin to carry it.
After doing some probing around with a meter, I have managed to find a slight difference with the charger itself, compared to a generic one. In a generic one, the two data pins are usually just shorted together, which tells most phones that it's a mains charger rather than a USB port. On the Samsung one on the other hand, the pins appear to be shorted together, and also connected via resistors across the supply line (known as a potential divider), which holds these shorted data pins at a certain voltage. This is what tells the phone what sort of charger it's connected to.
Attached are a couple of diagrams to show the difference between the two chargers. There are in fact various setups of resistors that different manufacturers use to set the charging current, so it's quite easy to run into compatibility issues!
To make this a little less confusing I have done some preliminary experimenting, and I set out my results here.
For the test, I used combinations of 4 different usb style mains chargers: an apple iPhone one rated at 1A, an iPad one rated 2.4A, an HTC 1A one, and the genuine S4 one. With these I used two cables - the supplied Samsung S4 one (which is shielded), and a cheap generic one (which isn't). I started by measured the charging current directly with a meter, by using a very short usb breakout lead I've made, enabling me to interrupt the 5V line. However, I soon noticed that the use of any extension cables, even shielded, can lessen the chance of maintaining a good shielding connection, so I continued the exercise relying on the "galaxy charging current" app to get a reading.
Charger.................... Cable................ Current (A)
=====================================
HTC 1A.................Generic..................... 0.5
HTC 1A.................Samsung S4..............1.0
Apple 1A...............Generic......................0.5
Apple 1A...............Samsung S4..............1.0
Apple 2.4A............Generic......................0.6
Apple 2.4A............Samsung S4..............1.3
Samsung S4.........Generic...................... 0.8
Samsung S4.........Samsung S4...............1.3
So as you can see from these results, the original charger makes a difference, and the supplied cable (or a good quality shielded one) makes a further difference. If you have any further findings please feel free to add them here.
I can see that this is going to confuse some people, as it has me, as I'm sure some will inevitably try charging up their phone on generic chargers/leads at some point, with potentially long charging times resulting!
.

Very nice findings! Thanks for sharing them.
Not only what you say about longer charging time, but also discharging may occur (it has with me) while connected to the USB. I left my phone with USB tethering and it shut itself down after a couple of hours (it was low on battery already). I wanted to keep all the accessories in "new condition" in case I sell the phone in a few months, but I guess this justifies using the official charger and usb lead.
I hope someone can shed some light on the detection mechanism or the particular characteristics of the official cable so it can be replicated in generic ones.

From your findings, also Appe 2,4A charger has some control on the cable used, thanks.

Yes, but you won't be able to get more than about 0.75A out of it even with the samsung s4 cable.

You could try to add an extension cable to check if the charging system needs exclusively an original samsung cable from the charger to the phone.
Original samsung charger => extension cable male/female => original samsung cable => phone
PS: is there an app to check the charging current?

My experiments used an extension cable, that's the one I made into a breakout cable. So no it doesn't change by adding a cable.
There is an app, called galaxy charging current, which I tried also. In the 0.75A results above it showed a max permissible current of 1000mA, with the fully samsung setup it showed 1900mA. In the lower scenarios is showed up as 460mA. Other than that it doesn't tell you anything, it literally just shows you a max possible current, not the actual current it's drawing.

I've found out what the issue was, my generic cable was obviously a cheap one and wasn't shielded! I have edited my original post to re-explain.
Also I did a further test on a PC usb port - the Samsung cable allowed for 500mA, but the unshielded cheap one only allowed about 350mA, so (as pintycar found out), the phone actually carries on discharging in this case!

Interesting post.
I've been trying to mod a car charger so that the s4 draws more than 300mA so far unsucessful. I'm going to add in the 82K resistance and see what happens.

demusss said:
Interesting post.
I've been trying to mod a car charger so that the s4 draws more than 300mA so far unsucessful. I'm going to add in the 82K resistance and see what happens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Using a 5a digital bench power supply, I took a normal micro USB cable, cut it in two, added in the 82k resistors and tested.
Before: 450ma, after 1.73a
Then using a clamp meter I tested it with a 2amp Asus tablet charger - it varied between 1.48 and 1.61 amp.
I have since built a few more cables - one to use in my car (again 2 amp charger).
All in all, it works very effectively. Thanks for the initial research (saved me having to open my charger.)
BTW I suspect it is the charger where the resistors are, not the cable, otherwise the phone would try to pull 1.5a + from a laptop if you connected it.
Left my samsung cable at work so will test it tomorrow (if I remember)!
W.

Interesting. So basically for us laymen, you are telling us to use the original charger and cables to the extent possible ... right?
Can you clarify to me what an unshielded cable is? Maybe with a picture? I've got a blackberry's cable at work connected to my PC.
At home, I also have a cable and charger that I got with my Nexus S (I think this says Output 5.0V ~ 0.7A).
Would this be a problem or can I get by with these?
Thanks

I've been using the Samsung cable+charger+USB extension cable and charging the S4 usually takes about 4 hours, I'm going to try with just the Samsung cable next time and see if it makes any difference since people are saying that theirs can be fully charged within less than 3 hours.

Paparasee said:
Interesting. So basically for us laymen, you are telling us to use the original charger and cables to the extent possible ... right?
Can you clarify to me what an unshielded cable is? Maybe with a picture? I've got a blackberry's cable at work connected to my PC.
At home, I also have a cable and charger that I got with my Nexus S (I think this says Output 5.0V ~ 0.7A).
Would this be a problem or can I get by with these?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I believe (guess work here ) that only the original charger "needs" a shielded cable - could be checked by shorting the ground and shield on one side and see if it works at the higher current - if I am bored I may do it - it probably checks the shield and limits the current if it is not there (note I have not tested this so only going by the first posters findings).
BTW a shielded cable has a wire mesh around the 4 internal cables - this mesh avoids external interference messing with the signals. Can't see it affecting the charging though BUT shielded cables tend to have thicker internal cables so could be related to this.
I have it charging at 1.7a on an unshielded cable (thought he power strands are thicker than average) Shielding should only affect the data transfer speed, not the charging current.
If the Nexus S has only a 700mah charger then this will not be able to provide enough current for high speed charging and could easily burn out - nice smell, dead charger, not much else. therefore only use a normal unmodified usb cable (and it will charge at about 450mah).
W.

all this would eexplian why the charger that camewith my S2 dosen't appear to charge my phone fully over night...

For what it's worth I'm charging with a Note 1 charger...a thick shielded cable via the S3 docking station....and getting 900mah...
will get my original cable tonight and have a go tomorrow...

interesting read, my s4 lead and charger are still in the box and I'm using my nexus 10 ones phone charged from about 30% to full in just over 2. may have to change the old HTC £2 lead I've got connected to my works pc then, maybe why it's struggling to charge when playing music. guess this is one way to get people to buy more expensive cables

Very interesting read, thanks TS.
My original charger and cable set is still in the box; I've been using my Mom's old Galaxy Note charger.
I'll try the original cable + wall mount and see how fast it is compared to my current charger.

wmccann2 said:
Using a 5a digital bench power supply, I took a normal micro USB cable, cut it in two, added in the 82k resistors and tested.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you show me your final cable with a pic? Thanks

After this thread I have stopped using my blackberry bold cable to charge s4 and of course the cheap one too.. thanks op!
Sent from my GT-I9500 using xda app-developers app

I'm not sure if shielded vs. unshielded is the difference - probably wire gauge is the difference.
For example, if you shop at Monoprice, you have two options for USB cables: 28 gauge cables, and 24/28 gauge cables.
For wire gauge, lower is larger - the 24/28 gauge cables have thicker wires for the + and GND lines. A pure 28 gauge cable is likely to drop voltage a bit at high currents, and my observations have been that most newer devices, ESPECIALLY Qualcomm-based ones, are VERY finicky when it comes to input voltage drops.
As to the charger itself:
Apple chargers are almost guaranteed not to charge at full current, as they don't conform at all to the USB battery charging standard. Some newer Android devices do have at least partial detection of Apple chargers, so they may charge at 1A if an Apple charger is detected (any Apple charge, even 2.1A ones).
It sounds like the included official charger is a tablet-compatible one. Samsung tablets expect D+ and D- to be held by the charger at 1.2 or 1.8 volts (I forget which). As a result, Samsung tablets will not charge from standard chargers (like an N7 charger), but standard devices (like an N7) will charge from Samsung tablet chargers.
Now, the question is: Does the GS4 *require* a Samsung tablet-style charger, or did Samsung just include a tablet-style charger because it's backwards-compatible with standard devices? (less part numbers to track in inventory).
A useful pair of points would be: Using the same cable, does the Samsung charger behave significantly different from a Nexus 7 charger?

wmccann2 said:
Hi,
Using a 5a digital bench power supply, I took a normal micro USB cable, cut it in two, added in the 82k resistors and tested.
Before: 450ma, after 1.73a
Then using a clamp meter I tested it with a 2amp Asus tablet charger - it varied between 1.48 and 1.61 amp.
I have since built a few more cables - one to use in my car (again 2 amp charger).
All in all, it works very effectively. Thanks for the initial research (saved me having to open my charger.)
BTW I suspect it is the charger where the resistors are, not the cable, otherwise the phone would try to pull 1.5a + from a laptop if you connected it.
Left my samsung cable at work so will test it tomorrow (if I remember)!
W.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I missed this post on my first read-through: What happens if you just short D+ and D- when using the bench supply?

[Q] List of Nexus 5 car chargers that charging in AC mode

Hi,
I would like to create list of car chargers that are able to charge N5 in AC mode.
Till now I have found only one review on Amazon on: "PowerGen Dual USB 3.1A Car charger".
Sorry, but I still can't post links.
I want to buy something that works for sure.
So, please share your real life experience...

armourer1 said:
Hi,
I would like to create list of car chargers that are able to charge N5 in AC mode.
Till now I have found only one review on Amazon on: "PowerGen Dual USB 3.1A Car charger".
Sorry, but I still can't post links.
I want to buy something that works for sure.
So, please share your real life experience...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-Dual-...5839252&sr=8-1&keywords=anker+usb+car+charger is working fine, it has 2 ports one of which says it is for apple but works just fine on any device both ports charge over 2 Amps.

Ady1976
Thanks for replay,
Can you please Goto Settings -> About -> Status -> Battery Status: and verify that you see Charging (AC) ?
I am also able to charge with old Griffin charger, but it only works with "Charging (USB)" - 0.5A.
Thanks...

armourer1 said:
Ady1976
Thanks for replay,
Can you please Goto Settings -> About -> Status -> Battery Status: and verify that you see Charging (AC) ?
I am also able to charge with old Griffin charger, but it only works with "Charging (USB)" - 0.5A.
Thanks...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, yes it does say charging by (AC)

Ady1976
Thanks a lot !
Now I have one more charger to choose from -

0.5A is USB level so that's why that one doesn't work, anything that charges at 1A or over should be fine.

b1g1an said:
0.5A is USB level so that's why that one doesn't work, anything that charges at 1A or over should be fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My charger is capable of driving more than 0.5A, but the phone don't "understand' it.

Android determines that a charger is a wall charger (as opposed to a computer) by the fact that the data ports are shorted together. Apple chargers don't do this, so most chargers made for Apple products will only charge Android devices at 0.5A. Heck, almost no car chargers do, unless they were made specifically for an Android device. Here's what I did:
I ordered this Griffin car charger, mainly because of the size. It just BARELY sticks out of the car's charging plug. Then, I ordered the Nexus Wireless Charger, and used the cable it came with (minus the wall plug). Presto... Qi wireless charging in my car. The magnets hold the N5 in place nicely so it doesn't slide off the charger in my center console, and the charger I linked easily supplies the 1.8A that the Nexus Charger expects.
The catch is that this charger was designed for an Apple product, so I had to carefully pry it apart and short the center two USB pins with solder using a soldering iron (those are the data pins).
EDIT: I should point out here that the Nexus charger may work fine without shorting the pins. I didn't test it. I wanted the ability to quick charge via cable if necessary, since Qi charging is a bit slower, so I shorted the pins, but if all you're interested in is Qi charging, you may be able to get by without modifying the charger. If someone wants to test this, please let us know.

jt3
Thanks for the info. I have some kind of Griffin charger with 2 USB ports.
So, I will try to do the same - shorten data pins inside the charger.
I will post it works

Just an FYI, I was charging with a charger that listed AC mode last weekend yet it wasn't charging faster than the power was draining.
Not all the AC modes officially charge at a faster pace unfortunately. My Galaxy Nexus car dock charger though did charge it at a proper AC pace.

What took me a little while to figure out is that this issue may not be as related to the charger as it is to the cable. I tried 3 different car chargers and none of them would keep up with GPS battery drain in the car. I figured out that common to all 3 chargers that I was trying was the cable. So I bought this cable and now all 3 of the same chargers work great. I am finding that even at 1.0A you can keep up with the gps battery drain. At 1.5 amps or greater you can charge the battery in the car while using GPS full time.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0088HTYUE/ref=ya_aw_oh_pit

jalanjkcarp said:
What took me a little while to figure out is that this issue may not be as related to the charger as it is to the cable. I tried 3 different car chargers and none of them would keep up with GPS battery drain in the car. I figured out that common to all 3 chargers that I was trying was the cable. So I bought this cable and now all 3 of the same chargers work great.
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Click to collapse
This is because some "charge only" cables don't have data pins at all (usually, because they came with a charging dock of some sort, or were designed for devices other than Android). Remember, I said earlier that Android notices that it's on a charger when the data pins are shorted. If they're missing completely, then it will only charge at 0.5A.
My rule of thumb is to stay far - far away from charge-only cables.

I bought a "2.1A Car Charger" with a single USB port (made by PNY....Amazon for about $6 shipped)... opened it up and soldered a bridge between the middle 2 USB pins.
Previously it reported Charging (USB), now I get Charging (AC). Confirmed with a widget that showed charging amps, the number went way way up.
Presumably any of these chargers claiming high-amp output will only work with iDevices, I guess they ignore the USB standard that if the two middle pins are bridged, its a power-only connection and full power can flow.
I did test this on an HTC One X running 4.2 and it reports Charging USB though, so there is a dependency on one of the newer Android kernels (my N5 runs 4.4.2)
Edit: oh yea... with my newly modded charger, I tested turning on Bluetooth streaming audio to my car, GPS on, navigation running, screen on, 100% bright, and wifi tethering enabled, and i STILL had a net charge going.

I've just bought a Blackberry Premium In-Vehicle Charger and my N5 recognizes it as an AC charger. The phone pulls around 1A from it (it's good for up to 1.8A). This is it, though I purchased mine from a local store.

[Q] Question on how Android devices charge.

Okay so recently my car charger took a dump and I searched for one thats able to power my Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 while using GPS in the car. Found one bought it and it workes and has Apple and Non Apple ports so other devices can pull more than 500mA HOWEVER, it would still decharge while using GPS using a brand new monoprice cable. So I loaded up the battery monitor app and looked at how much of a charge my tablet is getting. These are my findings,
Note the power drawn showed roughly 500-800mA of draw while testing these cables
1. brand new micro USB cable from monoprice failed to put the device into a charging state. On either port of my charger or if it did it was roughly 200mA on the non-apple and little less than that on the apple port.
2. Modified cable shorted pins (green and white) to pull more power pulled roughly 1-1.2amps bringing charge rate around 400mA on the apple and non apple port.
3. OEM samsung cable pulled a solid roughly 2amps, put the device charging at around 1200ish mA on either port. Wtf? Same as my AC charger.
So it seems that the Samsung cable is the only one to charge my device worth anything. Unless I'm missing something about how these devices charge ect. This makes no sense.

Russosaur said:
Okay so recently my car charger took a dump and I searched for one thats able to power my Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 while using GPS in the car. Found one bought it and it workes and has Apple and Non Apple ports so other devices can pull more than 500mA HOWEVER, it would still decharge while using GPS using a brand new monoprice cable. So I loaded up the battery monitor app and looked at how much of a charge my tablet is getting. These are my findings,
Note the power drawn showed roughly 500-800mA of draw while testing these cables
1. brand new micro USB cable from monoprice failed to put the device into a charging state. On either port of my charger or if it did it was roughly 200mA on the non-apple and little less than that on the apple port.
2. Modified cable shorted pins (green and white) to pull more power pulled roughly 1-1.2amps bringing charge rate around 400mA on the apple and non apple port.
3. OEM samsung cable pulled a solid roughly 2amps, put the device charging at around 1200ish mA on either port. Wtf? Same as my AC charger.
So it seems that the Samsung cable is the only one to charge my device worth anything. Unless I'm missing something about how these devices charge ect. This makes no sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Tab uses more power to charge since tablets have bigger batteries or more batteries. Standard micro USB chargers are not built to draw in as much power as Tab chargers. It is all in how it's wired and the amount of teeth. Also my Tab uses its own wall adapter to draw in more power.

I was looking into that its the difference between a 5 or 11 pin micro usb connectors. I would assume, oh well I'm only out a few bucks for the two cables, now I need to fine an 11 pin one to keep in my car.
Sent from the Milky Way

jpijper said:
Sprite Terminator:
http://store.spritesoftware.com/?page_id=280
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same issue with other tablets. They draw more power so they need a different USB cable.
Sent from my SGH-T989