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Does anyone know where I could get some microUSB charging cables with the D+ and D- data lines shorted already? (i.e. charging cable only, not for data).
Rather not take apart (Read: Destroy) my microUSB cables I use for data. I have USB wall-warts and USB cigarette lighter adapters which supports drawing 1A from the ports.
Thanks!
Cheers,
Kermee
If your like me and still have plenty of mini usb devices around, you would be best off getting a mini to micro converter off ebay, these already have the pins shorted so my wife and kids can still charge up their stuff and its quite easy to pop on/off the adapter depending on what you want to charge.
There's an easy method to "short" the data pins.
You just need a short USB "leading" (6-12' or 15-30cm extension) cable, a piece of double-sided tape and aluminum foil.
stick the tape to the foil, then cut to the size that can cover both center pins on the jack side of USB leading cable, and plug the microUSB cable, that's it.
You can do the same trick for PSPGo stock USB cable too!
I'm interested in this too. Anyone know of any sites? or at least a microusb to microusb WITH shorted pins adapter?
PhantomRampage said:
I'm interested in this too. Anyone know of any sites? or at least a microusb to microusb WITH shorted pins adapter?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to custom make it.
Do you know of any tutorials on how to do this?
Sorry for the bump but i really want to try this out, can anyone give me more specific instructions? I dont know too much about cable wiring
Buy a USB extender cable, cut the cable in half, connect the red from the plug side to red from the socket side, connect black from the plug side to black from the socket side, leave the white and green from the plug side unconnected (tape over the ends), and twist together the white and green from the socket side. Solder, then electrical tape or heat shrink all the connections. Now plug the cable into any USB charger that provides 700-1000mA, plug your micro-usb cable into the socket end, and plug it into your phone.
Thanks man, i appreciate the help.
Got it working :]
I've decided to make my own cables. Then using red heat-shrink tubing where I made the cut & modification so it would denote it's for "USB charging" only with the data-lines cut ("floating) towards the host and bridged/shorted on the device side.
I was going to make several of these so if there's enough interest, I'm willing to make several extra of these to sell for a nominal price if anyone is interested.
Cheers,
Kermee
I have one of these, for charging only, which I have plugged into my work computer.
Picked it up at some store near where I live, in Hong Kong.
Had no idea it was just for charging (actually, didn't even know you could buy such cables).
I'm probably going to get rid of it though, as I would like the ability to transfer data as well.
You do know that your phone will charge twice as fast with that cable right?
PhantomRampage said:
You do know that your phone will charge twice as fast with that cable right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, the charge on the cable at work is really slow! But I'm not too bothered as it just sits there during the day.
Be aware of that, the phone may get hot when charging because more current is allowed to speed up charing.
mingkee said:
Be aware of that, the phone may get hot when charging because more current is allowed to speed up charing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it does get a bit hot.
In any case, like I said, I'll probably buy a proper sync cable instead in the next few days.
pokey9000 said:
Buy a USB extender cable, cut the cable in half, connect the red from the plug side to red from the socket side, connect black from the plug side to black from the socket side, leave the white and green from the plug side unconnected (tape over the ends), and twist together the white and green from the socket side. Solder, then electrical tape or heat shrink all the connections. Now plug the cable into any USB charger that provides 700-1000mA, plug your micro-usb cable into the socket end, and plug it into your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wanted to say thanks for posting up this info (for some reason thank button isn't showing for this thread). Ordered some USB extension cables today, can't wait to try this out. I've long been plagued with not getting enough juice my USB car charger, now I know why.
Edit: BTW, what's the reason for using the USB extender cable for this, couldn't you just cut an existing USB cable in half and short the D+/D- wires? I'm guessing you cut the extender cable so that you can disconnect the intact USB cable and then it would still transmit data if you desired?
cryptiq said:
Edit: BTW, what's the reason for using the USB extender cable for this, couldn't you just cut an existing USB cable in half and short the D+/D- wires? I'm guessing you cut the extender cable so that you can disconnect the intact USB cable and then it would still transmit data if you desired?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could do that too if you like. I have a big pile of 4" extenders from USB flash drives and wifi dongles and didn't really consider cutting up a microusb cable.
pokey9000 said:
You could do that too if you like. I have a big pile of 4" extenders from USB flash drives and wifi dongles and didn't really consider cutting up a microusb cable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to confirm that I'm understanding the shorting of the D+ / D- wires together, the short needs to be on the side of the cable which is connected to the phone, yes?
The D+ / D- wires which are on the side of the cable plugged into the car charger just need to be covered w/ electrical tape and not touching each other when connected back together, yes?
I drew out a sketch based on your outline of what's connected back to what, and that's what I came up with. The shorting of the D+ / D- wires going to the phone must be how the phone realizes that there's not a data connection to be made, so instead will just look for max power? If the D+ / D- lines weren't shorted when connected to the phone (but instead just not connected based on the cable), would the phone just assume USB and charge slower at that point?
Thanks for your help and clarification! I think I'm understanding what you're outlining.
jones4725 said:
Just to confirm that I'm understanding the shorting of the D+ / D- wires together, the short needs to be on the side of the cable which is connected to the phone, yes?
The D+ / D- wires which are on the side of the cable plugged into the car charger just need to be covered w/ electrical tape and not touching each other when connected back together, yes?
I drew out a sketch based on your outline of what's connected back to what, and that's what I came up with. The shorting of the D+ / D- wires going to the phone must be how the phone realizes that there's not a data connection to be made, so instead will just look for max power? If the D+ / D- lines weren't shorted when connected to the phone (but instead just not connected based on the cable), would the phone just assume USB and charge slower at that point?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, leave the charger side (USB plug) unconnected and preferrably insulated, and the phone side (USB socket) shorted. Before a USB link is established, both a USB host and USB device will set and check for different voltages on the D+ and D- pins to determine what's at the other end. This is just an extension of that and is safe for the device.
pokey9000 said:
Yes, leave the charger side (USB plug) unconnected and preferrably insulated, and the phone side (USB socket) shorted. Before a USB link is established, both a USB host and USB device will set and check for different voltages on the D+ and D- pins to determine what's at the other end. This is just an extension of that and is safe for the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks very much for confirming! I'm going to short two micro USB cables I've got for car use only.
(Yes I mention android development but this is regarding a 'general' topic)
As an android app developer, it's pretty much mandatory that I have my devices plugged into the computer for ADB. However, with wifi / bluetooth / GPS / screen brightness turned on or cranked up, I also need to have the device plugged into something that provides more than the measly 500mA that the computer's USB port can provide. From what I've been able to gather, the USB standard requires that USB hubs and ports cannot supply more than 500mA to a connected device. However, I suspect that there are manufacturers out there that are aware of the need for simultaneous charging + connectivity and have made special cables specifically for this (What I'm thinking of is a Y usb cable where one end plugs into the device, one plugs into the computer and only uses the data wires, and the other plugs into the charger which feeds and charges the device.) Do any of you know if something like this exists and where I can find one? I've definitely tried to Google for it but the phrases I'm using are long and not producing the right results. I obviously don't know the correct term(s) to search for.
If I knew a bit more about circuitry in general and the USB standard specifically, I could probably solder together a cable like this with a couple diodes to prevent the charger from zapping the motherboard's USB, or perhaps, as mentioned, not connect the power wires at all. I do have 6-8 spare cables laying around but I'd rather not start chopping and black-taping unless I get some confirmation Plus I only have one female end to mangle, so... yeah ;p
My idea for the splice & solder (in case no commercially available alternative exists):
Code:
computer - 2 data -----\
|----------------- device
charger - 2 power -----/
Most chargers and phones have some kind of regulator circuit built-in anyway, at least that's the impression I'm under. Generally if you crack open a charger there are only two cables black and red (+/-) which makes things considerably easier but that's assuming you have a charger that's just for charging and not one that requires you already have a usb cable to plug into it (like some that come with phones now). Standard wiring color schemes applied to all the cables I've cut open and spliced so as long as you go black/black red/red from the charger and leave the other wires untouched you should be ok. You'll know if something's wrong quickly because your phone will get quite a bit hotter than normal and do so faster, and you shouldn't need to add any components as they're already in the charger circuit (diodes to prevent current flow-back, resistors and the transformer to convert to dc, capacitors to smooth the current, etc). Just use common sense when working with this, don't solder until you test, don't splice wires together that don't seem right, use a multimeter to make sure you're getting the proper wires, don't work on anything while it's live unless you're properly insulated and even then not if you can help it, all that jazz.
Yeah, my biggest concern would be that I was told that some USB devices negotiate current requirements with the motherboard, which I'd assume goes over the two data wires, but I remember landline phones have 2 wires but both power and data flow over it, so I wasn't completely confident that the two power wires weren't passing data as well. If I run the 2 data to the computer and the 2 power to the charger, and it turns out that the negotiation requires all 4 wires be connected from the device to the computer, then I've just ruined two good cables.
I just am not so super confident in my logic and theorizing that I'd want to risk frying circuitry If I can nab a commercially available accessory that does this for $30 it's a lot less than having to buy another $700 device and a new $200 motherboard (at the least)
I don't think you really have to worry, but I wouldn't replace the charger wires, I'd connect the wires from the charger to the power lines inside the usb cable that way even when the charger isn't plugged in the phone is still getting some power and it'd basically be hooking them up in parallel when the usb and charger are plugged in. You could always go buy a $20/$30 cheapo phone that connects through microusb-to-usb and test the cable on that through a USB hub. that way if something goes wrong you're only losing a cheapo phone and a usb hub, but honestly things shouldn't fry as long as you get the wiring right and don't try to do something like black to red because then you're feeding power from the charger back into the usb socket which is where things get ugly.
I think i've found something on the interwebs, that will actually save you the wire-splicing and soldering
It is actually just what you described, it uses 2 USB ports in order to provide 1000mA to a device.
dealextreme.com/p/cable-style-dual-power-1000ma-usb-2-0-4-port-hub-13526
Sorry for the inconvience with the url, atm i'm not yet allowed to post links directly... :/
Xadro said:
I think i've found something on the interwebs, that will actually save you the wire-splicing and soldering
It is actually just what you described, it uses 2 USB ports in order to provide 1000mA to a device.
dealextreme.com/p/cable-style-dual-power-1000ma-usb-2-0-4-port-hub-13526
Sorry for the inconvience with the url, atm i'm not yet allowed to post links directly... :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that some of the smaller usb external drives have a cable that has 2 "type-a" connectorsto allow data connection/enough power for the drive. I have not seen these in micro-usb form, only mini-usb. SO, I do not see why it would not work.
papabear said:
I know that some of the smaller usb external drives have a cable that has 2 "type-a" connectorsto allow data connection/enough power for the drive. I have not seen these in micro-usb form, only mini-usb. SO, I do not see why it would not work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, USB offers about 2.5v of charge aswell as data connectivity of course, I don't understand why it wouldn't work... I can tell you from experence through that it does take about 40% longer, and will suck the life out of a laptop if you are using it on battery mode.
The reason I was thinking about cutting the power wires from the computer entirely is I don't know what dumping 1-2 amps into the computer's USB port is going to do ;p
Edit: Looks like newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817707145&cm_re=2a_output_usb-_-17-707-145-_-Product should do what I'm interested in, if the details are legitimate. Who knew finding a hub with full details would be so hard? ><
LycaonX said:
The reason I was thinking about cutting the power wires from the computer entirely is I don't know what dumping 1-2 amps into the computer's USB port is going to do ;p
Edit: Looks like newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817707145&cm_re=2a_output_usb-_-17-707-145-_-Product should do what I'm interested in, if the details are legitimate. Who knew finding a hub with full details would be so hard? ><
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just as papabear already said, there are also external hdd, that use this kind of wire.. so it should be no problem. If the ports arent't capable of delivering that power (but as far as i know they are designed for 500mA each), simply you will not get the the full 1 A.
And i must agree, hardware vendors rarely add detailed power info -.-
Okay so my usb port has been a bit annoying the past week - where i had to vigorously wiggle the cable to get it to charge or to sync (and even when it did decide to connect to the computer, it would chop out eventually)
But now it's no longer charging or being recognized by my comp
It's strange because the headphone adapter was working fine, and so was the usb host, but it just wont charge anymore - I effectively now have a dead TG01
Currently, i'll get the orange light, telling me it's charging, but when i try to power on, nothing happens...
So i'm thinking a new USB port which is where I need some help: I'm not sure on what part to get
But maybe This is the one? Comparing the images with the ones found on the net of the TG01 (Yep - I still haven't got mine open yet)
But yeah, just a heads up on whether you think it would work would be epic, or whether you think i should just try a different battery/charger/throw it away (Although i'm almost certain it's the port, as it was working intermitently before - it's now gone altogether)
are u using only usb to charging or an wall charger?
djtonka said:
are u using only usb to charging or an wall charger?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wall charger, but i tried USB, and still no luck
It just wont charge at all, regardless of the orange light when plugged in now that it's off (though i wouldn't get it when the phone did still have charge left and was therefore still switched on...)
BUMP: Any ideas you clever people? Just some guidance would be nice...
I'm still without my beloved TG01, I'm having to use a **** old Samsung G600
I do have some problems of my own with my USB cable. I believe the problems are due to the cable, though. The wall charger works fine. The USB cable that I use, has to stay somehow "forced"... imagine having the cell laying face up on a desk. The USB cable gets out and is forced by a small pen that stays right near the cellphone, to have a 30% slope upwards, so pushing a bit the cable onto the upper part of the USB port. I do know that you are telling us a different issue, however, maybe this way you could check whether it's just a broken connection and not a completely dead port.
No, this sounds like the exact issue i had...
It was like this with the Charger and USB - where i had to force it to be recognised or charged, and it would still cut out after a while - and wiggling it or knocking it wouldn't actually affect it, it would be of it's own accordance...
But it was strange because the headphone adapter worked fine...
Nothing happens at all now though
Are you try: Settings- Connections- USB to PC- unmark Enable advanced network functionality
I can't turn the phone on because it wont charge, so it's not that
Battery may be defective. Try with any 5V charger, connect directly to battery pin in 10 min
Hi
It vaguely remembers me of something I read on the forum about different micro usb (explaining my different cables do not connect just the same, some easy, some bit forced); I think there also was a drawing. (but I don't have time to search for the exact thread; it was not the "solving usb port mistery one))
Maybe your earphone adaptator don't have exactly the same as your charger? And if it is not battery trouble, find a charger with the "very right" micro usb plug?
Thank you both so much for your response:
I understand why you say it could be the battery problem with the charger - but it doesn't explain the intermittent connection with my computer when using the USB cable. Which is convincing myslef more and more that it's a port problem
One solution for now would be to buy one of these cheap external battery chargers from eBay, but it would mean i still wouldn't be able to use sync using the USB cable and i'm a bit conscious on whether the charger is safe and wont fry my battery
Which is why i'm leaning towards having a stab at reparing it myself
It'd solve the issue directly and it'd be a safer and more secure solution too... (the external charger would have to be ordered in from Hong Kong eBay)
I'm having what seem to be exactly the same problems. I have used 2 x usb based chargers on it - and neither work (whereas they had been working for the past 6 months). Got a mains charger last week - was working for a while - but as of right now, no longer works.
I'm not sure what else to do. I will try later to use the other adapter I have for connection to usb keyboard. The strange thing is - this will probably work but charging won't!
So....is it the micro usb port that's broken? (strange if it is but still works for data)
OR
could it be the battery?
Anyone wanting to know how to fast charge using the usb port on your pc/laptop?
This usually takes ages compared to charging via mains lead, the hack itself is quite simple and involves modifying the usb cable
my results are as follows (these can vary depending on what you are using your phone for, what background apps running, etc.
charging with mains lead :
4.2v
998mah
mains ac
charging with STANDARD usb lead:
422mah
3.999v
standard usb
and finally the MODIFIED usb lead hack:
4.161v
782mah
usb hack
as you can see it is a 53% increase in charging compared to standard usb charging mah, and slightly under mains ac charging mah,
as my phone is always plugged in at my work pc or home pc or laptop or whatever this works out good
TUT:
use at your own risk this is for information purposes only and I hold no responsibility to any damage that may arise
using a micro usb cable (charging cable for htc phones)
cut it using a pliers half way through the cable
using pliers again cut away the thick black wiring, the red and black small wiring, and white and green wiring
from the usb port end to the microusb connect the black and red cables together so they join
from the microusb end short out the white and green cables together
from the usb port end leave the white and green cables, do not touch these
use insulation tape/solder to clean it up and then your cable is ready
I will make a mod for car chargers also soon
see attached image showing which wires to cut and which to join up and which to leave alone, if this helped you in anyway (it should help you ) then please hit the thanks button
this mod will trick your pc/laptop/htc into thinking that it is not a pc usb cable and will allow higher currents and voltage to your phone
you can check this with current widget from market place
once this mod is done, you cannot use the same cable again for pc/usb tethering or usb disk drive, only cable can be used for charging
Care to explain how you did it? I got a spare Micro USB cable willing to try and make a tutorial with pictures.
So you forgot to put the directions for the mod...
Sent from my Sensation 4g using XDA App
directions are up with a picture
Seems awesome, but I'd be way too scared to try that on my own. >.<
First of all im not against this mod. Just want to share my experience just this morning.
I charge my phone via the stock usb cable to my pc and leave until morning approx 7hrs. What happen now my phone Menu button become unresponsive tried different method, shake google for answer , but nothing work. Worst come to worse i may return the phone to HTC for repair. So for anyone want to try this be careful, this could be a problem with HTC as it could result more problem.
HTH
Sounds dangerous and a bit risky. Why not just use a USB y cable and a micro USB adapter?
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com.au/viewitem?itemId=370586078337
Its not dangerous nor risky in my opinion...
I am using this trick since I owned HTC TYTN2 and I`m using it now.
Hmmm...
I always thought the different voltages came from the charging adaptor..
The phone adaptors have normal charging voltages so thats why charge normal speed... however PCs have lesser voltage due to USB ports. I think the PC voltage varies on the device that's plugged in.
Thus, we can use the same cable for charging with an adaptor and also for data transfer and the phone knows what its plugged into.
Pardon me if i'm wrong... could be a misconception i had
Why go to that bother when you can just plug in the adaptor!
Sent from my Sensation using Tapatalk
thunderskain said:
Hmmm...
I always thought the different voltages came from the charging adaptor..
The phone adaptors have normal charging voltages so thats why charge normal speed... however PCs have lesser voltage due to USB ports. I think the PC voltage varies on the device that's plugged in.
Thus, we can use the same cable for charging with an adaptor and also for data transfer and the phone knows what its plugged into.
Pardon me if i'm wrong... could be a misconception i had
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's got nothing to do with the voltages, they are the same. The phone senses that the data wires are not connected together (open) and presumes that it is plugged into a pc / laptop usb port. Because of this the phone then restricts the current it draws from it's source so that it doesn't cause damage to the pc / laptop usb power supply.
Inside the phone charger the data connections will be shorted out so the phone knows it's the charger and can draw full current.
There is a chance that it could damage the pc / laptop if the usb port supply is not rated high enough
Just to update the thread, I've been using this for the last year and a half on all the HTC's I own and no issue at all,
I can connect my phone to my laptop if i dont have access to mains
I can use the cable in the car to a usb charger (which charge slow for some reason)
there are many reasons i.e. in work where I can only use a usb port and no extra plugs for a/c, it means I don't have to carry a plug around with me just a usb cable,
A good post, the issues around drawing to much power could effect older laptops
If I understand correctlly USB3 has the ability to supply more power than USB 2
Anyone any idea if this would reduce charge times without the mod?
battery will die soon enough...
you should place a 220 Ohm resistor between the data lines (green and white) if you do that, you will be able to use the where it was intended for, data
with the 200~220 Ohm resistor the phone recognizes the connection as AC-charger. i dit this with a DealExtreme carcharger
source: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Upgradi...-current-to-HTC-Hero-and-other-devices/5172/1
If you can get to the ID-pin of the USB-connector (pin4) and connect the following resistors to GND, you get interesting USB modes
Dock-mode = 44-49 kOhms
Car-dock = 5-16 kOhms
source: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1185431
I've done this, and soldered all the cables in the right positions, now I'm testing the charge times between this and a normal usb cable on my HTC G1.
First thing I noticed was that my phone says charging via AC, instead of usb.
Will edit this with the results.
Edit : Been a while, forgot about this, so I forget the exact numbers, but my phone charged around 1 and half hours faster with this mod, and yes, it was on USB 3.0 so its quite good.
Worthless to try if you don't have USB 3.0.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Does this mod increase charge with main AC lead that output 2A e.g. Ipad charger head???
usb3 provides up to 900ma
so usb3 should work without any problems
this is usb specification
http://www.usr.com/education/peripherals0.asp
by default usb2 provides 500ma unless it is asked for more by the device, this is where the mod of the cable comes into play, it provides up to 1000ma with this mod
johnerz said:
If I understand correctlly USB3 has the ability to supply more power than USB 2
Anyone any idea if this would reduce charge times without the mod?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have an Notebook with USB3.0 and also Power-USB. (Power usb only works with a dockingstation).
The charging is also bad. Takes about ~4 hours from 2% - 100%.
I thought about power reducement by phone, when dataconnection is available. Now I know it for sure :-/
My charger keeps breaking, to be specific the cable.
The cable is very, very poorly designed. It contains 1 wire which is covered by braided shielding. The wire is the positive and the braided shielding negative. At the point where the braided shielding comes together for connecting to the micro adapter the shielding keeps breaking. This means no charging. I have tried soldering couple times but the shielding and wires are so thin it´s just usable a couple of times, until it breaks again.
I tried to make a DIY cable, but i didn´t get it to work. Probably need to place a resistant over some pins, however on the acer micro usb i couldn´t found one on the board where the micro usb is soldered on. Acer didn´t follow the usb standard with this adapter, the wire inside the cable is white, normally this is data instead of positive.
So i´m waiting for the 2nd time for a new 50 euro charger.
Just curious if more people also experienced this problems.
Yeah, I'm on my third charger now. You can charge them through USB although the charging light doesn't show and it takes about two full days to charge from low to 100%.
I have heard, though that a USB 3.0 supplies enough power to charge the a700. Haven't tried it yet, though. It may be cheaper just buying yourself a USB 3.0 PCI card for your PC and charging to that way.
Sent from my A700 using xda app-developers app
I had similar issues where I thought my charger was broken, but it was a thermal problem. It seems, that if the charger keeps plugged into the socket for example over night, it can get so hot that it triggers some thermal protection and switches of. To reset the termal protection, It's not enough to let it cool down (which it does on it's own after shutting down anyway), but I had to unplug it for a couple of minutes, then replug it again - charger working!
I never had an issue with the cable though...