Database Info

Car charging : definitive answer please??

I'm a soft - not a hard - guy!!
I bought a 2 port, 2A/1A charger offa hee-heebay. I doesn't charge so fast USB specs tell me to short the data pins, on here theres talk of resistor values across pins 4/5.
What do I need to do to get the most current down a USB cable for charging?? Well, apart from holding it in the air in an open field in a thunderstorm.....
Thanks, H.

Just go and buy an original Samsung car charger ... they're only 10 Euro or something like that.
The cheap ones from fleeBay have poor quality components that don't output enough current. I've tested one that from 5.3V on a 0mA load dropped to 3V on a ~500mA load and it didn't got past ~700mA, this adapter was rated 1A at 5V ... and don't make me get started on the safety .

Isn't it ok or simplier just to connect the phone to USB port on the CD Player ?

Yes, you can. but the USB port on most head units rarely have a high output so expect the charging to go very slowly or just keep your battery with the same power level. So a car charger is still recommended if you want to charge your phone fast.

Well I figured it out. Thanks. It might be that shorting the data will do it. The iCharger (tm) I bought has resistors across the data lines, presumably for charging the eyes.
Solution: 1A car USB and Semaphore / fastcharge.
Thanks
Sent from my MOMO9 using xda app-developers app

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?

Hard wired 12V TO 5V / 3A DC Power Converter Micro USB Charger | PROJECT NOW COMPLETE

EDIT: SCROLL DOWN TO POST #12 WHERE I SHOW YOU HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN FULL-1900 mAh CHARGER!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=43663686&postcount=12
-=========================================
Has anyone used this particular item before? Or can recommend a similar hard-wire unit that operates at 2A to 3A?
http://www.amazon.com/DROK-Converter-Connectors-Adapter-Recorder/dp/B00D6B6CJI
I'm thinking about getting one for my SUV and Motorcyle to charge the S4 at normal 1900 rates like the OEM wall-charger. Get that FAST charge.
Yes, I know about cig lighter chargers. No, that is not what this thread is for.

hello did you buy it?

CZ Eddie said:
Has anyone used this particular item before? Or can recommend a similar hard-wire unit that operates at 2A to 3A?
http://www.amazon.com/DROK-Converter-Connectors-Adapter-Recorder/dp/B00D6B6CJI
I'm thinking about getting one for my SUV and Motorcyle to charge the S4 at normal 1900 rates like the OEM wall-charger. Get that FAST charge.
Yes, I know about cig lighter chargers. No, that is not what this thread is for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have this hardwired into my WRX:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CDL-WaterPr...35?pt=US_Power_Inverters_&hash=item1c34627e83
I ran it off the clock circuit (my clock is dead anyways) but any switched 12v source will do. It charges my car integrated Nexus7 without any issues, and at the faster rate.
I have another powering a servo and an aux USB port, but unfortunately I ran so much wire to get it into the center console by the handbrake it charges at USB rates.

paolopaulpaul said:
hello did you buy it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not yet.
Caferacer said:
I have this hardwired into my WRX:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CDL-WaterPr...35?pt=US_Power_Inverters_&hash=item1c34627e83
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, that's a great price! Does it charge at ~1900 rates? Here is an app that will tell you the charging rate:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ccc71.bmw&hl=en

Just bought this one for $9 shipped.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-waterpr...34?pt=US_Power_Inverters_&hash=item3a7a051922
It's a waterproof box so it'll be better on my Motorcycle. I'll let you guys know how it works out by next week sometime.

There was a thread somewhere that explained why some chargers won't do the 1900mah charge. He figured out where and what size resistors to put across the wires to enable it. I think it was in a car dock thread, I'll try and find it.
Sent from my de-Verizonized Galaxy S4, CleanRom style! (using Tapatalk beta 4)

CZ Eddie said:
Not yet.
Wow, that's a great price! Does it charge at ~1900 rates? Here is an app that will tell you the charging rate:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ccc71.bmw&hl=en
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That app won't show the mA on my N7 but does show it charging near the same % as a fast charger.
MonkeyTime said:
There was a thread somewhere that explained why some chargers won't do the 1900mah charge. He figured out where and what size resistors to put across the wires to enable it. I think it was in a car dock thread, I'll try and find it.
Sent from my de-Verizonized Galaxy S4, CleanRom style! (using Tapatalk beta 4)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the shorting/grounding of the data pins that activates 'fast charge' mode on some phones. Nexus 7's and my E4GT (Sprint S2) when I used it didn't require the pins to be shorted to charge faster. Mostly it was the charger (duh) and the quality/length of the cable that affected the charge speed. As well, most of the heavy 1A plus chargers short the data pins in the charger itself so you can use any cable. I believe the S4 doesn't require it as well, but don't have any data to confirm it.
The way I wired mine was to sacrifice a USB female port from a USB extender, and attached the power leads and shorted the data leads. Figured it couldn't hurt. The converter doesn't care if it's putting out 500mA or 3A. It's not intelligent like some chargers in what current it doles out.

Caferacer said:
shorted the data leads. Figured it couldn't hurt. The converter doesn't care if it's putting out 500mA or 3A. It's not intelligent like some chargers in what current it doles out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yours is the second post I've seen where someone has shorted the data pins on a charging-only setup. Is there a reason for doing that?
Ehh, n/m. I remembered the "Google before you ask" mantra...
This explains it nicely:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s3/194362-wont-charge-over-usb-car.html
MichaelBR said:
There are some reasons why it won't work, and some ways to solve it. First, let's understand how it works:
The USB cable has four pins. The inner two pins are where the data goes through. THe outer, power.
When the USB cable is plugged in to a computer, the data pins are connected normally and the phone knows it can only draw certain amount of power
When the cable is plugged in to a charger, the two middle pins are shorted, and the phone knows that it's NOT going to be sendind/receiving data, so it can draw as much power as it can. That's why it charges faster with the charger than when plugged in to a computer
Most chargers short the two pins. Some cables have a switch to do that.
There are different cable cauges as well, with different power capacities.
Some USB chargers, notably car chargers and some low-end (i.e. not good brand) chargers that don't draw from the car/don't give the phone as much current as it needs.
So, if any of below, the phone won't charge, or won't charge fast enough. Or, worse: it may appear as charging, but actually losing battery charge!
Cable too long or incorrect gauge
Middle pins not shorted for some reason
Charger doesn't deliver enough current
And the solutions are:
Don't use cable extensions, cables that are too long. Stick with the cable that came with the phone or with the charger
Get a good car charger, that delivers the right amount of current
I imagine you just got the cable from your original wall charger and plugged it in to the car charger. If you did that, then chances are the cable is OK, and the charger is the culprit. If this is the case, then get a better charger. Check how much current that charger can deliver. Check how much current your device actually needs.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

CZ Eddie said:
Yours is the second post I've seen where someone has shorted the data pins on a charging-only setup. Is there a reason for doing that?
Ehh, n/m. I remembered the "Google before you ask" mantra...
This explains it nicely:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s3/194362-wont-charge-over-usb-car.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be clear, there is no indication it is *required* for the S4. Mine quick charges just fine without shorted data leads. However I did this because my friends have a variety of phones and it only took a few minutes to do.

Caferacer said:
That app won't show the mA on my N7 but does show it charging near the same % as a fast charger.
It's the shorting/grounding of the data pins that activates 'fast charge' mode on some phones. Nexus 7's and my E4GT (Sprint S2) when I used it didn't require the pins to be shorted to charge faster. Mostly it was the charger (duh) and the quality/length of the cable that affected the charge speed. As well, most of the heavy 1A plus chargers short the data pins in the charger itself so you can use any cable. I believe the S4 doesn't require it as well, but don't have any data to confirm it.
The way I wired mine was to sacrifice a USB female port from a USB extender, and attached the power leads and shorted the data leads. Figured it couldn't hurt. The converter doesn't care if it's putting out 500mA or 3A. It's not intelligent like some chargers in what current it doles out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Caferacer said:
To be clear, there is no indication it is *required* for the S4. Mine quick charges just fine without shorted data leads. However I did this because my friends have a variety of phones and it only took a few minutes to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I agree with what you posted in general terms, below is the link to the thread I was talking about. He did some testing and found the pins aren't just shorted, but shorted w/ 82K resistors to get the maximum charging current.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2274321

Will it damage the phone to have a 3A charger plugged into it? Also If it does not damage would it be able to run the camera as a "blackbox" and not die? I currently have a 2a charger and when i use the black box software it dies after about an hour or so.

SUCCESS!
I got the little black box in from eBay.
Gave it a quick/test wire setup. This is NOT indicative of the end result which will be soldered & have shrink tubing, etc.
Okay, first I grabbed my stock S3 data/charge cable.
Snipped off the standard USB end.
Cut off the ends of the pin 2 & 3 wires since they were not being used anymore (data pins).
Then attached the red (power) from the S3 cable to the yellow (power) lead from the little black box. And did the same for the black (negative) leads.
Then hard wired the red & black from the little black box to my motorcycle battery terminals.
On the first test, I only got 460mAh.
Then I decided to short the 2 & 3 pin wires (green & white) on the S3 cable together (attach them to each other). This gave me 1120mAh!
Next I took the tin-foil and wire braid from the S3 cable and tied them together with the negative lead on the S3 cable. This gave me 1220mAh!
Still not satisfied, I then cut down the 5' S3 cable and made it a 1.5' cable.
AND THIS RESULTED IN A FULL 1920mAh!!!! Right on.
That is exactly the same mAh as the stock S4 wall charger & cable combo give me. Very stoked about this. So now I'll do a nice clean install on the bike and then duplicate it for my car dock sometime soon. FULL CHARGE AHEAD!
Crxdc said:
Will it damage the phone to have a 3A charger plugged into it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it will be fine. The phone only draws 1900mAh. If the phone were drawing 3000mAh then there might be a problem.

All done and installed now. And working great!
Negative battery connection (I forgot to shrink tube it but will do that later).
Braided negative wire (~16 to 18awg?) running under gas tank to front of bike.
I wish I would have waited till I got black zip ties in. I hate white zip ties.
The braided wire at the right side of pic that goes up above the gas tank is the pos/neg wire lead that plus right into the phone.
2A inline fuse connecting via blade connector (sorry MC) to a previously used power-on-ignition wire.
This goes to (+) on the little black box.
Note the shrink tube over the braid over the crimp connector (wire goes to top-right of screen).
Phone sitting next to the phone dock I made out of a holster that came with my phone case.
You can see the braided/shrink tubed MicroUSB connector already plugged into the phone.
It's not showing a charge though, because the ignition key is not turned on.
Phone is inserted into stable dock (it will never fall out unless I crash hard).
Ignition is turned on and battery is charging!
And proof that it's charging at the full 1900mAh. Success!

CZ Eddie said:
All done and installed now. And working great!
Negative battery connection (I forgot to shrink tube it but will do that later).
Braided negative wire (~16 to 18awg?) running under gas tank to front of bike.
I wish I would have waited till I got black zip ties in. I hate white zip ties.
The braided wire at the right side of pic that goes up above the gas tank is the pos/neg wire lead that plus right into the phone.
2A inline fuse connecting via blade connector (sorry MC) to a previously used power-on-ignition wire.
This goes to (+) on the little black box.
Note the shrink tube over the braid over the crimp connector (wire goes to top-right of screen).
Phone sitting next to the phone dock I made out of a holster that came with my phone case.
You can see the braided/shrink tubed MicroUSB connector already plugged into the phone.
It's not showing a charge though, because the ignition key is not turned on.
Phone is inserted into stable dock (it will never fall out unless I crash hard).
Ignition is turned on and battery is charging!
And proof that it's charging at the full 1900mAh. Success!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome.

Hard wire phone charger and Bluetooth Receiver to car battery plan...
Hello,
I'm planning to install the following in my car along with new stereo head unit:
1) CraigsDocks Samsung Galaxy S4 docking charger, with USB power out
2) Rocketfish Bluetooth Music Receiver (with aptX), with DC 5V power out (connected to 3' 5V to USB power cable)
Plan to use this to convert (found on EBAY - I can't post links here in XDA yet/new user): Dual USB Cable Connectors Power Adapters 8-22V 12 V to 5V/3A DC Volt Converters... to connect directly to my car battery to power both the Samsung charger and the Rocketfish.
I'm new at this and I'm wondering if you all think this will work, or if I'm missing any steps, or if there are other better suggestions?
Thanks for your help!

ebrowni said:
Hello,
I'm planning to install the following in my car along with new stereo head unit:
1) CraigsDocks Samsung Galaxy S4 docking charger, with USB power out
2) Rocketfish Bluetooth Music Receiver (with aptX), with DC 5V power out (connected to 3' 5V to USB power cable)
Plan to use this to convert (found on EBAY - I can't post links here in XDA yet/new user): Dual USB Cable Connectors Power Adapters 8-22V 12 V to 5V/3A DC Volt Converters... to connect directly to my car battery to power both the Samsung charger and the Rocketfish.
I'm new at this and I'm wondering if you all think this will work, or if I'm missing any steps, or if there are other better suggestions?
Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks good to me. :good:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dual-USB-Ca...064?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51af639938

ebrowni said:
Hello,
I'm planning to install the following in my car along with new stereo head unit:
1) CraigsDocks Samsung Galaxy S4 docking charger, with USB power out
2) Rocketfish Bluetooth Music Receiver (with aptX), with DC 5V power out (connected to 3' 5V to USB power cable)
Plan to use this to convert (found on EBAY - I can't post links here in XDA yet/new user): Dual USB Cable Connectors Power Adapters 8-22V 12 V to 5V/3A DC Volt Converters... to connect directly to my car battery to power both the Samsung charger and the Rocketfish.
I'm new at this and I'm wondering if you all think this will work, or if I'm missing any steps, or if there are other better suggestions?
Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just realize that if you wire it to your batter there will be a small draw from the converter and chargers even when not in use. If you let your car sit for a week or long weekend you might come out to find the battery dead. I personally wouldn't wire anything directly to the battery, especially since you didn't mention an inline fuse. Find a switched 12v lead inside the car. Not only does this protect your phone, charger, and car, but it also means you don't have to run anything through the firewall, which is a pain.
You can either tie into the cig lighter wiring, or find something else (I used my clock circuit since it runs to a 10A fuse and is switched).

Caferacer said:
Just realize that if you wire it to your batter there will be a small draw from the converter and chargers even when not in use. If you let your car sit for a week or long weekend you might come out to find the battery dead. I personally wouldn't wire anything directly to the battery, especially since you didn't mention an inline fuse. Find a switched 12v lead inside the car. Not only does this protect your phone, charger, and car, but it also means you don't have to run anything through the firewall, which is a pain.
You can either tie into the cig lighter wiring, or find something else (I used my clock circuit since it runs to a 10A fuse and is switched).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your clock circuit is switched?
I agree with the firewall being a pita, but I'm not a huge fan of tapping on to other circuits either. With nothing charging, what would be drawing any current? If there's anything, it would have to be minimal. It also allows you to charge a phone/device with the car not running, sometimes very handy (and a modification I've made before for just that reason). An inline fuse is also a must, good point!
Sent from my de-Verizonized Galaxy S4, CleanRom style! (using Tapatalk beta 4)

MonkeyTime said:
Your clock circuit is switched?
I agree with the firewall being a pita, but I'm not a huge fan of tapping on to other circuits either. With nothing charging, what would be drawing any current? If there's anything, it would have to be minimal. It also allows you to charge a phone/device with the car not running, sometimes very handy (and a modification I've made before for just that reason). An inline fuse is also a must, good point!
Sent from my de-Verizonized Galaxy S4, CleanRom style! (using Tapatalk beta 4)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, my clock circuit has a switched lead to wake up the clock as well as a hard wired lead to retain the time. Both run to the same 10A fuse.
There is a small transformer in the converter and the receiver bluetooth will stay on. They have a small energy draw which is not negligible over a long period of time. At the very least I would include a dash mounted switch to completely shut the charger and receiver off. For instance I have a bluetooth OBD adapter (Not too much unlike your bluetooth receiver) that drained a 2 year old car battery over a week I left the car sitting while I was on vacation. For day to day driving it's not a problem but my OBD adapter isn't hardwired and I can just remove it when I know the car will be sitting.

Thanks
Caferacer said:
Just realize that if you wire it to your batter there will be a small draw from the converter and chargers even when not in use. If you let your car sit for a week or long weekend you might come out to find the battery dead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oooh, good point! Makes sense to me. I have never done a mod to my car's audio system so I'll be paying a professional installer. I'm so glad to have this information before I shop around at the good places here and get some offers!
Thank you!

Qi charging

What Qi-charging options are there for the xperia Z5?
Any chance that Sony will release something similar to WCR14, or are we stuck with fitting generic receivers between the phone and a case?

As I know, z5 doesnt support wirelless charging out of the box

Proday said:
As I know, z5 doesnt support wirelless charging out of the box
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, exactly, no support for wireless charging. However, Sony has released cases with built-in wireless charging for earlier models of the Z-line
and I was wondering if anyone knew if they are going to release a similar solution for the Z5 Compact.
At the moment it seems as though the only viable option is to install a qi-receiver bought on ebay or a similar site and pair it with a case.
Not so bad i guess, since it probably is a hell of a lot cheaper and you get to choose whichever case you want.
Awaiting my Z5C now and will update when I have installed a qi solution.

That is impossible becouse that cases before have connection over magnetic charger and z5c dont have it.

Okay, bummer..
I thought they might solve the problem of the missing magnetic port by using the micro-usb connection..

Just wanted to confirm, I purchased a Qi Wireless Receiver that connects over USB - no dice. They don't have the "teeth" that microusb ports have and due to the water proofing the port doesn't turn on.

jonshipman said:
Just wanted to confirm, I purchased a Qi Wireless Receiver that connects over USB - no dice. They don't have the "teeth" that microusb ports have and due to the water proofing the port doesn't turn on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really?
Shucks.. I just ordered one of those..

Tried various adapters and it doesn't draw enough power to charge. It just vibrates and turns the screen on but doesn't say charging.

Maybe you should try "detect the usb device" option

moazzam.munir said:
Maybe you should try "detect the usb device" option
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
I will be ordering up a high amp one soon to hopefully help me get my phone through the day. I'll report in if it does or doesn't work.

I am using this one
http://www.amazon.de/Universal-Qi-Wireless-Ladegerät-Micro-USB-Android-Handy-Schnittstelle/dp/B00OH12LA0/ref=sr_1_2?s=ce-de&ie=UTF8&qid=1456411436&sr=1-2&keywords=qi+receiver+1000ma#productDetails
in combination with this case
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B016D8ZACK?ref_=pe_1365651_54849071
looks perfect and my phone gets from empty to 100% in about 6 hours.

Thorstenk said:
I am using this one
http://www.amazon.de/Universal-Qi-Wireless-Ladegerät-Micro-USB-Android-Handy-Schnittstelle/dp/B00OH12LA0/ref=sr_1_2?s=ce-de&ie=UTF8&qid=1456411436&sr=1-2&keywords=qi+receiver+1000ma#productDetails
in combination with this case
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B016D8ZACK?ref_=pe_1365651_54849071
looks perfect and my phone gets from empty to 100% in about 6 hours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks nice! what kind of amperage are you able charge with tst receiver?
I'm going to be ordering this one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00YGV76LK/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A11ID9O6IRX38
Review show that it's pretty close to 1amp in most cases.
And using this so every time its in my pocket I'll have this in there charging it..
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B018T...X236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=qi+power+bank

Ampere shows 200-600 mAh (depending of the position)
Its working really good and its cheap, don't get why not all the companies install it in their phones ...

jonshipman said:
Just wanted to confirm, I purchased a Qi Wireless Receiver that connects over USB - no dice. They don't have the "teeth" that microusb ports have and due to the water proofing the port doesn't turn on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wanted to post to say that this is wrong. What it needs to work is a connector has the data pins to be connected so that it shows that it's capable of outputting higher than 500mA. I'm using the Zoer receiver that has that and it works fine. Amperage is between 260mA to 770mA depending on the qi charger that I use.

no, not really. This qi definitely works.
nvrd said:
Really?
Shucks.. I just ordered one of those..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You just need one with 4 pins instead of the cheaper 2 pin ones. I have one which definitely works. Unfortunately, xdadevelopers doesn't let new users post links for some reason, so I can't help anybody with the link to the one I use. I spent a lot of time working out what to use and finally went into a 'retail store' to test the one I ordered before ordering my own z5 compact. If anybody wants the link to the ebay item, just email at [email protected]. Make sure you choose the 'A type' for the z5 compact. Works a treat. There is a lot of confusion about qi on the z5. Some people are saying that it is because of its waterproof attributes, you can't do it. Not so. This works perfectly and once on, can be used with any QI standard charging mat.

Guy, anyone tried with the quickcharge wireless pad yet? By the way, do we need to have quick charge supported receiver coils in order to use the quick charge charging pad?

qiang85 said:
Guy, anyone tried with the quickcharge wireless pad yet? By the way, do we need to have quick charge supported receiver coils in order to use the quick charge charging pad?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never seen a quick charger receiver? I gave up on this in favor of quick charging at lunch

For those that have gone down this route a couple of questions please:
1) How has the QI receiver lasted if the phone is submerged? Did it just need rinsing in clean water and drying out or was it screwed?
2) Is there a maximum thickness to the case which I should worry about?
3) What sort of time does it take to charge up?
4) If I'm playing music or video will it charge quicker than I'm draining the battery?
Thanks!

I just got this one:
ASIN=B01E15W2ZA
and it works good with my Xperiy Z5 Compact. It charges with about 600...700 mA, something les than with a normal charger, but absolutely enough for my purpose - modt of the time I just want to recharge over nitght. It goes up to 100 %.
The included power bank feature can also be used via Qi, but probably smarter it to use it with a cable to not waste Your capacity as heat.
By the way: Even NFC works through the receiver!
But still I folded the receiver cable twice to position the receiver on the lower edge of the beackside of the phone. This way I avoid the risk, that NFC sensitivity gets reduced and I can line up the phone better on the charger, because it must lay quite exact on the cross.

i have qi charger for 5c and it works. i order plate fro qi and qi charger from ebay. just this qi sticker must set under some case. another way it is possible to broke it.

OTG Cable + Charging for G900T

Hello,
Has anyone been able to find a cable or dock that provides OTG support AND can charge the phone at the same time? This would be for a G900T
Thanks!

For whatever it's worth, I tried a Valarm cable on a G900V S5, no luck charging and using as a dock. The cable seems to work on the S4 though.

I searched for a long time before I found the answer to this. It is unfortunately not possible to charge and use OTG at the same time.
A USB wire has 4 wires inside it. Normally two wires are used for data and two for power (positive + ground). When it's used in OTG mode it uses all four wires for data meaning there are no available wires for charging.
The salutation I came up with was to buy a wireless charger. The S5 doesn't have build in wirelesss charging abilities so you have to buy both the charger and the reciver (I paid about $25 for both pieces on amazon). This is the only way I've found to charge the phone and use OTG at the same time.
There are also guides to attach power directly to the back of the S5 where the Wireless Charger would attach, but then you'd need to have wires running out of the back of your phone. I also didn't have much luck with this approach but I also only gave it a few minutes of trying with my volt meter.
Another approach is to get an OTG wire that you can switch between charge mode and OTG mode, but again you can't do both at once.
Links:
Wireless Charger: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0143GESZO
Wireless Charger Receiver: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MG7IADW
OTG Wire: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AU8E25A
Permanent Charger Mount Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwTrlMomZ6o
P.S. feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I spent a few days on google before I came to this conclusion.

DanksF said:
I searched for a long time before I found the answer to this. It is unfortunately not possible to charge and use OTG at the same time.
A USB wire has 4 wires inside it. Normally two wires are used for data and two for power (positive + ground). When it's used in OTG mode it uses all four wires for data meaning there are no available wires for charging.
The salutation I came up with was to buy a wireless charger. The S5 doesn't have build in wirelesss charging abilities so you have to buy both the charger and the reciver (I paid about $25 for both pieces on amazon). This is the only way I've found to charge the phone and use OTG at the same time.
There are also guides to attach power directly to the back of the S5 where the Wireless Charger would attach, but then you'd need to have wires running out of the back of your phone. I also didn't have much luck with this approach but I also only gave it a few minutes of trying with my volt meter.
Another approach is to get an OTG wire that you can switch between charge mode and OTG mode, but again you can't do both at once.
Links:
Wireless Charger: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0143GESZO
Wireless Charger Receiver: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MG7IADW
OTG Wire: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AU8E25A
Permanent Charger Mount Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwTrlMomZ6o
P.S. feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I spent a few days on google before I came to this conclusion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
id love to argue with your post (not really, just thought it was funny to say that), but youve done your research man!!! I ordered an OTG cable for rooting my chromecast, so ill test it out. I bet youre right as your logic seems to be very sound. Thanks for the info sir!!

Hi,
I'm also interested in getting my S5 charging and using OTG at the same time.
I have this usb hub which can achieve this with my Galaxy Tab S, but not with the S5.
Isn't there any kernel or ROM that can fix this ? ( I currently have stock 6.0.1 ROM on G900F )
I can't believe that no one on this planet actually achieved this on S5. I red about some Motorola owner who fixed this with a kernel mod btw.
thank you in advance for any help on this !

DanksF said:
I searched for a long time before I found the answer to this. It is unfortunately not possible to charge and use OTG at the same time.
A USB wire has 4 wires inside it. Normally two wires are used for data and two for power (positive + ground). When it's used in OTG mode it uses all four wires for data meaning there are no available wires for charging.
The salutation I came up with was to buy a wireless charger. The S5 doesn't have build in wirelesss charging abilities so you have to buy both the charger and the reciver (I paid about $25 for both pieces on amazon). This is the only way I've found to charge the phone and use OTG at the same time.
There are also guides to attach power directly to the back of the S5 where the Wireless Charger would attach, but then you'd need to have wires running out of the back of your phone. I also didn't have much luck with this approach but I also only gave it a few minutes of trying with my volt meter.
Another approach is to get an OTG wire that you can switch between charge mode and OTG mode, but again you can't do both at once.
Links:
Wireless Charger: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0143GESZO
Wireless Charger Receiver: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MG7IADW
OTG Wire: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AU8E25A
Permanent Charger Mount Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwTrlMomZ6o
P.S. feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I spent a few days on google before I came to this conclusion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have studied this also and until devices basically come with a dual charging circuit so voltage and data can go in and out But you are also correct, No arguments on that.