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Not all charging methods created equal?

I am really frustrated with charging my phone.
From the wall, using the stock 700mA Samsung charger, I get 5% every 10 min.
From a USB cigarette lighter charger modified to source 750mA, I get 3% every 10 min.
From a USB cigarette lighter charger that can source 3A, I get hardly anything.
I assume from these findings that one or more of the following is true:
1. The phone knows when it is plugged into a stock charger.
2. The phone has a current limiter that prevents overcharging.
Does anyone have a charger, other than stock, that they recommend?
I'm half tempted to hook my stock charger up to a cigarette lighter inverter and power it that way.
(I'm also half-tempted to grab a current probe tomorrow and measure what the device is pulling.)

i havent really used my oem samsung wall charger much, but i know when i try to charge from my computers usb it takes 4EVER, thats why i jumped on this ebay deal

IBNobody said:
(I'm also half-tempted to grab a current probe tomorrow and measure what the device is pulling.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd probe the chargers and see how accurate their ratings are as well....

does anyone know if using a 1mA charger would be okay? i have one left over from my evo.

The phone won't draw more than 500mA from a charger unless the USB data pins are connected.
Be careful, though... 99.9% of the chargers from China that claim to be 700mA (the nominal value of Samsung's) or 1A will overheat and die (or worse) if you try to actually draw that much current for any sustained length of time. I'd almost go so far as to say that it's SO EASY for a manufacturer to support high-power mode, I'd be automatically suspicious of any allegedly high power charger that doesn't ship with the pins shorted together.
Manufacturers know that most consumers don't know the difference (hell, most users HERE don't know the difference, and XDA is the upper crust elite of the Android phone universe), so they omit the shorting bridge and ship a charger with quoted power capacity that it MIGHT be able to sustain for a couple of minutes if you operated it in a walk-in freezer, knowing that most phones will never draw more than 500mA and it'll work fine for them. It lets them sell the charger for 99 cents AND pretend to be better than the others on the rack because it has a bigger "max power" value.
It's "RMS-vs-Peak" all over again.

Yeah I'm one of those that don't know much about the charging. I did figure there was a different charge rate when plugged into the wall and when plugged into usb or a usb converter like powerjolt.
I also found that one of the usb to micro's that I bought for using with my car powerjolt coverter won't let me connect via debugging/adb shell. was a little surprised at this... is it just a bad cord?

bitbang3r said:
The phone won't draw more than 500mA from a charger unless the USB data pins are connected.
Be careful, though... 99.9% of the chargers from China that claim to be 700mA (the nominal value of Samsung's) or 1A will overheat and die (or worse) if you try to actually draw that much current for any sustained length of time. I'd almost go so far as to say that it's SO EASY for a manufacturer to support high-power mode, I'd be automatically suspicious of any allegedly high power charger that doesn't ship with the pins shorted together.
Manufacturers know that most consumers don't know the difference (hell, most users HERE don't know the difference, and XDA is the upper crust elite of the Android phone universe), so they omit the shorting bridge and ship a charger with quoted power capacity that it MIGHT be able to sustain for a couple of minutes if you operated it in a walk-in freezer, knowing that most phones will never draw more than 500mA and it'll work fine for them. It lets them sell the charger for 99 cents AND pretend to be better than the others on the rack because it has a bigger "max power" value.
It's "RMS-vs-Peak" all over again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
D+ to D- must be shorted to get the high power mode? Maybe that was why my 3A supply was not handling it.

The Epic pulls 380mA when charging from a USB port from a Dell T3400 workstation. The result was steady at 40% and 80%.
I'll try out my other charging methods later and find out everything.
Stay tuned!
EDIT 1:
380mA is the magic number. It draws 380mA from all USB sources, including my two car chargers.
It draws 600mA from the wall adapter.
The wall adapter does indeed have D+ and D- shorted. My other chargers did not.
Here is the pinout for a USB port: http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml
Here is the "beefy" USB charger I've been using:
http://www.wagan.com/index.php?page...ategory_id=22&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=98
This charger is rather nice because the step-down supply (AX3002) has a large heatsink soldered to the ground tab.
It currently pulls up/down the D+/- lines via resistors. Each port is pulled down separately.
What I plan on doing next is to remove the pull resistors from one of the ports and short D+/- together.

Well, this explains a lot. This was really getting frustrating. I bought a "high-curent" charger for my car and the phone blows through the battery when I'm driving around with Maps running.

Im always on the road and for me an inverter in cigarette lighter with stock wall charger works best.the slowest charge is using stock usb cable since theres a slot for it on the inverter.2nd was radio shack car lighter in inverter.the inverter was from radio shack as well
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

IBNobody said:
Here is the pinout for a USB port: http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is the official spec but there are actually not just four but six connectors on usb micro, which is how samsung can create a whole mess of pinut jumps for various amperage draws as well as data, entrainment dock and car dock.

Need some help with otg + charge mod

Dear XDA, i really need your help,
I am planning to make this (see thubnail)
i want to make a custom case for my htc one s. (I know it will be a little bigger but that's ok)
I want to charge my phone using a usb cable or a micro usb cable, and at the same time doing OTG. I don't know what resistor i will use yet (tips?)
Also add an extra battery. It is an old phone battery. So if i want to charge from the battery i need to stop the solar cell and guide the electricity through the 5v regulator to charge. What ya think?
I am new to modding so please comment cause i need a lot of help to make this one succeed!
Greetings, pro-one1000
sent from htc one s ville

Don't mean to be negative but I see a couple issues right of the bat. First, where are you going to get a 5 volt charger? I would guess most dc chargers are going to be 12, 24, or 36 volts. I don't think they'll run on significantly less. The solar panel is only going to output about one half of one watt. Assuming no friction loss or inefficiencies that would hardly slow your phone's discharge.
If you want to power the phone and hub I would suggest a small sealed lead acid battery. They're available in 12 volts in many sizes. Easily enough power to keep phone totally charged. Will work with cigarette lighter car chargers so you won't need to customize that part. Depending on the size it'll last a week to a month non-stop. Unfortunately, it probably won't fit in your pocket but if you carry a book bag or briefcase you could hide it there... I use a battery like this at work when I'm using a lot of phone battery and moving around too much to plug in.
Good luck with which ever route you choose!
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app

thanks
lampel said:
Don't mean to be negative but I see a couple issues right of the bat. First, where are you going to get a 5 volt charger? I would guess most dc chargers are going to be 12, 24, or 36 volts. I don't think they'll run on significantly less. The solar panel is only going to output about one half of one watt. Assuming no friction loss or inefficiencies that would hardly slow your phone's discharge.
If you want to power the phone and hub I would suggest a small sealed lead acid battery. They're available in 12 volts in many sizes. Easily enough power to keep phone totally charged. Will work with cigarette lighter car chargers so you won't need to customize that part. Depending on the size it'll last a week to a month non-stop. Unfortunately, it probably won't fit in your pocket but if you carry a book bag or briefcase you could hide it there... I use a battery like this at work when I'm using a lot of phone battery and moving around too much to plug in.
Good luck with which ever route you choose!
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply!
First about the charger, i will use my 5v 1amp charger (micro usb) or an usb male to male usb cable from my pc to charge. So i'll be able to get a charger.
You're i think right about the solar panel, i need to find a better one indeed, trying to get one cheap on ebay! If i try to search for a "smal sealed lead acid battery" i get 40 dollar + big cases of batteries, could you please give a example in the form of an ebay-link?
Anyway thanks a lot and when i have ordered the parts i will try to upload the stuff!
Greetings

I'm assuming the 5v charger you're talking about it a car charger; which means it would have an input voltage of 12 - 14 and won't run on 3.7 (and even if it could run on the lower voltage the amperage would go up dramatically draining the usable power in the battery in minutes. And I wouldn't connect anything to a USB port for two reasons: first, if you connect two batteries in parallel (red to red and black to black) and they're not identical one will usually drain the other as they try and equalize (unless you isolate them from each other). Second, I don't think most USB ports (USB 3.0 i believe has provisions to receive power) are designed to receive power on a computer and your schematic doesn't include anything to prevent back feeding power to the computer.
There are many solar chargers I've seen that would give you the output you need - I've seen them designed to trickle charge RVs, boats, cars, and motorcycles - but I think they would be way to larger for what your looking for.
And I guess I should clarify what I meant by small... Was a bad choice of words for a cell phone forum, I guess. I meant small relative to other lead acid batteries; i.e. car or boat batteries. This is similiar to what I use:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/12VOLT-5AMP...US_Rechargeable_Batteries&hash=item589ef11aed
Attached is a pic of my batteries and the adapter that gives me a cigarette lighter type receptacle. And I use a spare motorcycle float charger to keep them charged. And because they're 12 volt batteries they'll power and accessory that is designed to run in a car.
I guess I should probably have asked what is your ultimate goal? And do you carry anything where you could stash the battery?
giesse1996 said:
Thanks for your reply!
First about the charger, i will use my 5v 1amp charger (micro usb) or an usb male to male usb cable from my pc to charge. So i'll be able to get a charger.
You're i think right about the solar panel, i need to find a better one indeed, trying to get one cheap on ebay! If i try to search for a "smal sealed lead acid battery" i get 40 dollar + big cases of batteries, could you please give a example in the form of an ebay-link?
Anyway thanks a lot and when i have ordered the parts i will try to upload the stuff!
Greetings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thanks for your reply,
After thinking I want to use a second1-5 volt boost regulator attached a small high capicity battery of 3.7 volt. (like a galaxy sIII battery or something. So if i put the switch to on the extra battery should charge with 5v my phone battery. Or i could charge my phone directly from a high efficient solar cell with 5v.
I indeed have no idea how to prevent backfleeding. Do I need diodes / light emmitting diodes for this? And indeed the batteries you mentioned are way to big. I am planning to use an old battery from an other phone with the 5v boost regulator mentioned above. Further i don't understand where you see a computer in my scheme?
Your mod ( i think i it deserves that wonderfull name) with the 12v battery is a good idea. Very handy when going out without a charge point. I usually go to school and am probably able to put the large battery in there, but as i mentioned i want to keep it a "phone case".
My ultimate goal is to make the tiniest possible case for the htc one s ville with,
- a very small usb hub 4 port for 3 female ports and inside a micro sdhc memory for more storage.
- Add the charge ability, so i don't need to take the phone out of the case to charge
- be in otg mode and charging mode at the same time (i guess the hardest challenge)
optionary:
- Add a battery so when i get the actual phone out of the case the solar cell can keep providing power to the battery
- Add a solar cell
- make it actual work with multiple switches
Really appreciate your help!
Greetings,

I misunderstood "First about the charger, i will use my 5v 1amp charger (micro usb) or an usb male to male usb cable from my pc to charge" to mean you might have a computer available to charge. I guess you just meant the cable itself. Understood.
I'm not an electronics expert by any means but yes I believe diodes will prevent the current from flowing in an undesirable direction but they won't prevent one battery from draining another. Two batteries connected in parallel can drain each other and the diode will slow that but I don't think it will eliminate it. Might be able to mitigate the affect by opening one of your switches when the auxiliary battery is not in use. When two batteries are wired in parallel they are frequently connected to an isolator that has three terminals (for a two battery setup). Terminals one and two go to batteries one and two and terminal three goes to the system it's connected to. Batteries one and two never 'see' each other and therefore cannot affect or drain each other.
Not sure I have anything else that can really help... GOOD LUCK! And post pics and details if you build a working prototype.

Thanks again!
I'll try to order a couple extra diodes with low consuption, that plus the switches will hopefully do the job. I ordered yesterday the parts out of China, so it'll take a month to get it in my hands. Now I have more time to consider how it can be assembled all together, but if i get anything i will post it directly!! If it works i may try to make a tutorial for other people so they could also enjoy more ports on their phone!
Greetings

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!

[Q] Wireless Charging + Daydream Bizarre Performance

This is my first experience with wireless charging so I'm probably missing the obvious here so please, anybody, point that out.
I'm newly using a wireless charger with my N5 & performance just doesn't make any sense to me. It's the Korean/Chinese knock-off of the N4 Orb which others on XDA have used successfully. On basic charging it does work but I can't make any sense of these numbers:
Charging I get roughly 10% per hour -- not great, but okay for bedside/overnight.
Charging with daydream on (Dashclock) on I get a loss of roughly 10% per hour! Yes, the phone keeps indicating it is charging in spite of this heavy drain.
But sometimes daydream just turns off & it returns to charging -- this seems to happen if I start off with the phone (mostly) charged. For the most part though, if I leave the phone on the charger overnight with daydream enabled I'll wake to a nearly empty battery.
As I said, these numbers make no sense to me at all. Part of the problem may be the power source for the orb - it's only 1A but even if it's underpowered I can't see the drop from +10% to -10% /hour.
Second part of my query -- does anyone know if it would be effective (and safe!) to feed 1.2A to the orb & maybe get faster charge. Or maybe that would be enough to keep up with the Daydream drain?
FWIW the the USB charger (1.2A) is very fast, I get better than 1% per minute -- unaffected by Daydream.

im using this and mine gets full charge within 1 and half hours
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

10% per hour? Something's wrong. A wireless charger shouldn't take much longer than wired.
It's possible your adapter is a dud. Try using the 1.2a adapter, it'll be fine. If it still isn't faster, you might have a bad charger.
Also, if it came with a USB cable, don't use it. The wires are too small to carry a reasonable amount of current.

NotFromMountainView said:
This is my first experience with wireless charging so I'm probably missing the obvious here so please, anybody, point that out.
I'm newly using a wireless charger with my N5 & performance just doesn't make any sense to me. It's the Korean/Chinese knock-off of the N4 Orb which others on XDA have used successfully. On basic charging it does work but I can't make any sense of these numbers:
Charging I get roughly 10% per hour -- not great, but okay for bedside/overnight.
Charging with daydream on (Dashclock) on I get a loss of roughly 10% per hour! Yes, the phone keeps indicating it is charging in spite of this heavy drain.
But sometimes daydream just turns off & it returns to charging -- this seems to happen if I start off with the phone (mostly) charged. For the most part though, if I leave the phone on the charger overnight with daydream enabled I'll wake to a nearly empty battery.
As I said, these numbers make no sense to me at all. Part of the problem may be the power source for the orb - it's only 1A but even if it's underpowered I can't see the drop from +10% to -10% /hour.
Second part of my query -- does anyone know if it would be effective (and safe!) to feed 1.2A to the orb & maybe get faster charge. Or maybe that would be enough to keep up with the Daydream drain?
FWIW the the USB charger (1.2A) is very fast, I get better than 1% per minute -- unaffected by Daydream.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I'm using DashClock also and when it doesn't crash, my phone will charge just fine. Seems like about 3 hours total with daydream on, and about 2 hours with it off just regular charging. Here's my charger: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DOW1RD0/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1. Seems like you have a defective charger but it is a really weird situation.

Thanks guys, the jump to 1.2A made a world of difference! It still seems strange, but I guess there's a minimum threshold for the phone to properly charge. (I am really guessing!) Plugging the OEM charger into my qi orb I finally get a positive charge with daydream -- not fast, but good enough to wake with a charged phone! Without daydream I just got about 36% in the past hour.
A quick scan of eBay and the only 1.2A USB supplies I can find are refurbished LG & cost as much as the full qi orb! (from US with crazy shipping costs on these - I'm in Canada) But there are lots of 1.5A blocks, cheap (and free shipping from China). So... do you think it would be safe to try the 1.5A? According to Play the Google qi comes with a 1.8A supply but I have no idea how much the pad modulates the power or if that is all in the phone itself. It would be nice to have fast wireless charging, but with the dramatic jump with just the .2A increase I may be looking at something too powerful.
My concerns are (in order) 1. Don't want to fry the phone!
2. Don't want to burn down my apartment!
3. Would rather not trash the orb. The orb was inexpensive so I'm willing to gamble on point # 3.
Advice / assurances / suggestions? Please.
Mr. Sprinkles said:
Also, if it came with a USB cable, don't use it. The wires are too small to carry a reasonable amount of current.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume you mean USB out from PC since OEM charger is USB and orb power supply is USB as well. Point taken on PC charging though.

NotFromMountainView said:
Thanks guys, the jump to 1.2A made a world of difference! It still seems strange, but I guess there's a minimum threshold for the phone to properly charge. (I am really guessing!) Plugging the OEM charger into my qi orb I finally get a positive charge with daydream -- not fast, but good enough to wake with a charged phone! Without daydream I just got about 36% in the past hour.
A quick scan of eBay and the only 1.2A USB supplies I can find are refurbished LG & cost as much as the full qi orb! (from US with crazy shipping costs on these - I'm in Canada) But there are lots of 1.5A blocks, cheap (and free shipping from China). So... do you think it would be safe to try the 1.5A? According to Play the Google qi comes with a 1.8A supply but I have no idea how much the pad modulates the power or if that is all in the phone itself. It would be nice to have fast wireless charging, but with the dramatic jump with just the .2A increase I may be looking at something too powerful.
My concerns are (in order) 1. Don't want to fry the phone!
2. Don't want to burn down my apartment!
3. Would rather not trash the orb. The orb was inexpensive so I'm willing to gamble on point # 3.
Advice / assurances / suggestions? Please.
I assume you mean USB out from PC since OEM charger is USB and orb power supply is USB as well. Point taken on PC charging though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The official orb charger comes with a 1.8a brick. You should be fine.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4

NotFromMountainView said:
Thanks guys, the jump to 1.2A made a world of difference! [...] you mean USB out from PC since OEM charger is USB and orb power supply is USB as well. Point taken on PC charging though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean if your orb uses a USB cable and came with one, don't use the cable it came with. They're often very cheap and add a lot of resistance which will increase charge time.
It wasn't the step up to 1.2A that made a world of difference, it's using a quality adapter that made the difference. Your 1A adapter must have been faulty or grossly overrated. Sounds like it was putting out less than 500mA.
As for a higher amperage power supply somehow damaging things? Not possible. The circuitry in the wireless charger is only going to use what it needs, you could hook it up to a 50A power supply and it'll still draw around 1A. The N5 is also input current limited to 1.2A, so using a crazy high amperage adapter won't have much benefit anyway.
Still, not a bad idea to get a 1.5A - 2A adapter to compensate for whatever current the wireless charger itself uses. This is probably why the official one includes a 1.8A adapter.

Mr. Sprinkles said:
10% per hour? Something's wrong. A wireless charger shouldn't take much longer than wired.
It's possible your adapter is a dud. Try using the 1.2a adapter, it'll be fine. If it still isn't faster, you might have a bad charger.
Also, if it came with a USB cable, don't use it. The wires are too small to carry a reasonable amount of current.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mr. Sprinkles said:
I mean if your orb uses a USB cable and came with one, don't use the cable it came with. They're often very cheap and add a lot of resistance which will increase charge time.
It wasn't the step up to 1.2A that made a world of difference, it's using a quality adapter that made the difference. Your 1A adapter must have been faulty or grossly overrated. Sounds like it was putting out less than 500mA.
As for a higher amperage power supply somehow damaging things? Not possible. The circuitry in the wireless charger is only going to use what it needs, you could hook it up to a 50A power supply and it'll still draw around 1A. The N5 is also input current limited to 1.2A, so using a crazy high amperage adapter won't have much benefit anyway.
Still, not a bad idea to get a 1.5A - 2A adapter to compensate for whatever current the wireless charger itself uses. This is probably why the official one includes a 1.8A adapter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
El Daddy & Mr. Sprinkles thanks, that's just the type of reassurance I needed!

just use the 2,1A amazon kindle charger with your orb... its cheap, safe and wont fry your phone
Gesendet von meinem Nexus 5 mit Tapatalk

Mr. Sprinkles said:
I mean if your orb uses a USB cable and came with one, don't use the cable it came with. They're often very cheap and add a lot of resistance which will increase charge time.
It wasn't the step up to 1.2A that made a world of difference, it's using a quality adapter that made the difference. Your 1A adapter must have been faulty or grossly overrated. Sounds like it was putting out less than 500mA.
As for a higher amperage power supply somehow damaging things? Not possible. The circuitry in the wireless charger is only going to use what it needs, you could hook it up to a 50A power supply and it'll still draw around 1A. The N5 is also input current limited to 1.2A, so using a crazy high amperage adapter won't have much benefit anyway.
Still, not a bad idea to get a 1.5A - 2A adapter to compensate for whatever current the wireless charger itself uses. This is probably why the official one includes a 1.8A adapter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So from what I heard wireless charging, like a pogo plug can charge at a higher rate than the micro USB port in some devices (I've heard pogo plug can go up to 2.5A where the micro USB in that device is limited to 1.8A). So I'm wondering as these qi chargers get better, will this also be true. Mine is a 1A but seems like it charges around .8A so it's maxed out. I guess this also raises the question as to how fast is good for a battery also.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk