Quick question about charging a mobile battery - Motorola Droid 4

Quick question. If you leave your phone plugged in and its fully charged and your using it, is the phone just leeching off the charger for power or is the charger pushing out small bursts of power to the battery. The context of my question is i'm starting to use webtop alot and I leave my phone on all day plugged in. Is continuing this behavior going to impact my battery or does the phone just leech directly off the charger without using the battery?

It's fine to leave it plugged in all the time. The phone has a "smart circuit" that use what is called trickle charge to just continually top off the battery as it drops below full charge. The phone is designed such that it doesn't receive power directly from the charger or USB cable, unless the +5v DC current is on pin 1 like a factory flash cable.
Bottom line is there is no damage or shortening of the life of the battery to leave it charging all the time while in the dock or any other means and Li Ion batteries no not have memory problems.

On a related note, is there any damage in using low-power chargers?
I have an external solar-powered battery charger that also supports USB-out, and I find that it doesn't put out enough power to really charge the battery, but it can keep the battery at its current charge level (whenever it is plugged in) for the equivalent of one charge (so the phone could theoretically last 2ish days).
I'm wondering whether this is constantly charging/discharging the battery (bad thing), or just providing enough power to run the phone (good thing).
I've also seen a similar behavior when charging over USB. If I'm using the phone a lot, sometimes a usb port doesn't supply enough juice to charge the phone.
I also saw this in some (rarer) cases with my OG Droid, but I didn't pay it much mind because I had 3 batteries for that thing and you could pick them up for a few dollars off of Amazon.com.

Thanks!
cellzealot said:
It's fine to leave it plugged in all the time. The phone has a "smart circuit" that use what is called trickle charge to just continually top off the battery as it drops below full charge. The phone is designed such that it doesn't receive power directly from the charger or USB cable, unless the +5v DC current is on pin 1 like a factory flash cable.
Bottom line is there is no damage or shortening of the life of the battery to leave it charging all the time while in the dock or any other means and Li Ion batteries no not have memory problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much for your response. I had a feeling it was something like this. Good old "smart circuit".

podspi said:
On a related note, is there any damage in using low-power chargers?
I have an external solar-powered battery charger that also supports USB-out, and I find that it doesn't put out enough power to really charge the battery, but it can keep the battery at its current charge level (whenever it is plugged in) for the equivalent of one charge (so the phone could theoretically last 2ish days).
I'm wondering whether this is constantly charging/discharging the battery (bad thing), or just providing enough power to run the phone (good thing).
I've also seen a similar behavior when charging over USB. If I'm using the phone a lot, sometimes a usb port doesn't supply enough juice to charge the phone.
I also saw this in some (rarer) cases with my OG Droid, but I didn't pay it much mind because I had 3 batteries for that thing and you could pick them up for a few dollars off of Amazon.com.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To my knowledge, there is no reason a low power charger should present any problem, but charging from the USB on a PC is limited to 350mA and will definitely not push enough current to charge the phone while it is under heavy use like Mobile Hotspot tethering with LTE or even 3g.
The standard wall charger is 850mA and even that can sometimes only keep up or charge very slowly under heavy load.

USB spec is [email protected] not 350mA. But yes, a dedicated charger probably will charge faster. Some may go as high as 1A output...
Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk

Related

Charging from PC - worth while?

Is charging our Kaisers from the PC ok? How much power does the USB provide to the Kaiser? Same as the standard adapter? I am asking this because I found no answer on the forum and I would prefer to load it directly from the PC every time rather than keep using the standard charger and putting it in the power outlet.
my advice for you to stop this option
because normaly we keep the phone connected to the pc for a long time and it makes the phone in charging mode all the time and iam sure that will make the battery dies fast
stop this option by disabling it from the battery options you can see it by clicking on the battery icon on the start bar
greetings
My phone has been plugged in to the USB at work all day, 5 days a week, for 5 months now. I can still get about 2 days out of the battery when I need to - for instance, after unplugging it each Friday at 5 I usually won't have to charge it until the same time on Sunday, the only time it generally does get plugged into the wall charger. I'm pretty sure my battery performance is still on a par with most people's - ie, not amazing, but quite livable with. It's certainly not showing any signs of harm from overcharging.
Boinng said:
My phone has been plugged in to the USB at work all day, 5 days a week, for 5 months now. I can still get about 2 days out of the battery when I need to - for instance, after unplugging it each Friday at 5 I usually won't have to charge it until the same time on Sunday, the only time it generally does get plugged into the wall charger. I'm pretty sure my battery performance is still on a par with most people's - ie, not amazing, but quite livable with. It's certainly not showing any signs of harm from overcharging.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here.. no problems. I don't even know where my charger is.
I charge mine from the PC all day too, and it stops charging when its at 100%. The bottom line is this: a USB port delivers a minimum of 500ma at 5v, the wall charger is probably very close if not more than that. The charging circuit in the phone does all the work of converting the 5dc into a charging voltage/current required by the battery, usually ramping up and down. Theres no difference other than maximum current between a USB port and ANY 5vdc adapter.
Wall wart gives 5V/1A. USB at 5V/500mA will not harm your battery. If you're using the standard battery, USB charging is appropriate to keep it topped up.
RMD
Isn't the constant charging of the batter bad for it?
I mean you charge it use it for a while then hook it up again and so on, isnt it better for the battery if you wait until it says that you have to recharge it?
According to my BatteryStatus, my wall charger gives me around +500-600mA (depending on programs running) and USB 2.0 charging from the front port on my computer gives about +100-300mA (depending on what's plugged into the computer and program usage).
Insaneboy said:
Isn't the constant charging of the batter bad for it?
I mean you charge it use it for a while then hook it up again and so on, isnt it better for the battery if you wait until it says that you have to recharge it?
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Click to collapse
That was a nicad battery issue lithium batteries do not have that issue.
-McMex
i think the point here is not if you charge it by usb or charger
for many people as they said it goes as well ok but it's an old advice used to be known that it's not good for your battery health to be on the charger all the time
also the same fact that it's always better to let the battery goes empty before you recharge it again some people have the sickness of recharging batteries when it's just gets 5 percent less , then they immaditaly start to recharge it again and this is a big mistake because in the long period the first levels of the battery start to die because they have never been used
mcmexican said:
That was a nicad battery issue lithium batteries do not have that issue.
-McMex
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Click to collapse
Didn't know that.
Thanks.
haam1978 said:
the same fact that it's always better to let the battery goes empty before you recharge it again some people have the sickness of recharging batteries when it's just gets 5 percent less , then they immaditaly start to recharge it again and this is a big mistake because in the long period the first levels of the battery start to die because they have never been used
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, its quite the opposite of what you say. If you let Lithium batteries discharge all the way, they will loose their capacity faster.
The following link will back up my claim:
http://batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm
Relevant quote: "Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because there is no memory. (In this respect, lithium-ion differs from nickel-based batteries.) Short battery life in a laptop is mainly cause by heat rather than charge / discharge patterns."
usb v wall charger
My kaiser
wall charger charges battery from flat (1%) in 1 hour
USB on PC takes 4 hours to go from 15 to 80%, only over night did it get to 100%.
I use wall charger everyday now.
axonn said:
Is charging our Kaisers from the PC ok? How much power does the USB provide to the Kaiser? Same as the standard adapter? I am asking this because I found no answer on the forum and I would prefer to load it directly from the PC every time rather than keep using the standard charger and putting it in the power outlet.
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Click to collapse
i use the pc option especially when i am traveling and only have my portable. When using my portable, i plug my phone in to get a charge... i like this option as it saves me from having to lug around another adaptor as well as being able to charge my phone just off the batteries of my portable at any time,,,, good option
posted twice --- as usual being a post hog
It's fine. It just takes longer to charge, especially if you're transferring a lot of data.
With the lithium ion chemistry, it is very detrimental to the battery if you let it run down to empty all the time. The batteries do not like this at all and will exhaust much quicker this way. If you were to store the batteries, you should store them at 40% in a cool place as that would only lose 2% of life per year I believe. At 100% storage, you can lost 20% a year of life. A little reading at that battery university website goes a long way
johnny13oi said:
With the lithium ion chemistry, it is very detrimental to the battery if you let it run down to empty all the time. The batteries do not like this at all and will exhaust much quicker this way. If you were to store the batteries, you should store them at 40% in a cool place as that would only lose 2% of life per year I believe. At 100% storage, you can lost 20% a year of life. A little reading at that battery university website goes a long way
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what happens when your battery that you leave stored at 100% loses 20% a year and a few years later it hits 40%?
Battery
haam1978: You are surely right for NiMh. But I don't know about Li-Ion. Time will tell. For now, I prefer to do it your way: discharge almost completely, BUT NOT TO 0%. Mostly to 5 - 10%. But the problem is that my stupid Windows doesn't report the life of the battery accurately ::- (. I got a Mugen 3000 Mah batt...
rotohammer & johnny13oi: Interesting website indeed. Unfortunately as I told haam, I can't get an accurate battery reading for this huge battery I got. Anyway, I'm still reviewing it ::- D.
rotohammer said:
Actually, its quite the opposite of what you say. If you let Lithium batteries discharge all the way, they will loose their capacity faster.
The following link will back up my claim:
http://batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm
Relevant quote: "Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because there is no memory. (In this respect, lithium-ion differs from nickel-based batteries.) Short battery life in a laptop is mainly cause by heat rather than charge / discharge patterns."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
100% correct.
On a side note, my kaiser will get fully charged way faster when connected to the wall as opposed to USB. (always connected to a desktop with a real big UPS).

USB Charging So Slow Almost Not Worth It

Is anyone else having this problem?
Any work around to having it actually charge the battery up?
it uses electricity faster than its recharging its crap! ive never known any device do this. When im low on battery and have it connected to my computer i have to switch it to the mains for 30 mins. Its terrible, bad design fault
I have the same problem with my Toshiba G900 (WVGA too). Very slow on USB, but normal fast at standard charging or car charging. USB is very bad for this at all.
it really depends on what you're doing with the phone, its unlikely to charge when busy, its a lot faster at charging than my old advantage, im actually impressed!
have you made sure that you've not ticked turn off charging whilst connected to a computer?
charged in under 3hours whilst on connected to ubuntu yesterday.
don't u guys realized how many amperes that a USB socket and your PC (as well as the power supply) allowed compared to a wall socket?
usb chargin usually is never worth it.
I don't understand your disappointment, usb voltage/ampere are the same for all devices, even for my touch when used as modem doesn't supply enough power for charging seriously
Does it even charge at all via USB when the X1 is on idle? If it does, how long does it take from low to full?
I left my X1 idle on USB for 6 hours, it was nearly flat when I put it on and after 6 hours it was still 1 bar below full. Whereas my LG Viewty fully charged in about 2 hours. My Universal only takes about 3 hours
So in my case, comparing the three phones, you can see where my dissapointment originates from.
vinokirk said:
I left my X1 idle on USB for 6 hours, it was nearly flat when I put it on and after 6 hours it was still 1 bar below full. Whereas my LG Viewty fully charged in about 2 hours. My Universal only takes about 3 hours
So in my case, comparing the three phones, you can see where my dissapointment originates from.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But remember the size of battery the x1 has maybe the 1500 comes into play.
BuddyLee said:
But remember the size of battery the x1 has maybe the 1500 comes into play.
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Click to collapse
Well, of course. Xperia's battery is bigger. That's like complaining that your glass fills up faster than your pool. (may be exaggerating a bit )
BuddyLee said:
But remember the size of battery the x1 has maybe the 1500 comes into play.
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Click to collapse
True tho, point taken.....dissapointment level aleviating.....slightly....
After my phone beeped saying the battery was low, I plugged it into my USB hub (which has a mains supply). An hour later I removed the cable and the phone beeped again.
At least with my P990 I was able to gain some charge, it seems like with the X1 it just stops the battery running down.
Try it after Softreset again. I had this problems with an old ROM on my G900 too. After some time it did not charge. Softreset fixed it.
also yall are forgettin that it's a different kinda battery in the x1 compared to other phones it's ising a li-po compared to a li-ion (which is in most other ppc phones) it charges slower via usb because it's tryin to keep from exploding any extra surge that the usb gets could cause your phone to explain
the li-po is more likely to explain given the way it's built
when you use the wall chargers and car chargers the connection are ment fron rapid rechargin of the device unlike the usb which is for data transfer mainly
when you think about the charge time just think about how long it actually takes for your phone to run out of battery life from what i heard it's close to like 1.5 to 2.5 days compared to normal ppc phones that last probably a day at the most with out recharge
hope this help
Keland44 said:
also yall are forgettin that it's a different kinda battery in the x1 compared to other phones it's ising a li-po compared to a li-ion (which is in most other ppc phones) it charges slower via usb because it's tryin to keep from exploding any extra surge that the usb gets could cause your phone to explain
the li-po is more likely to explain given the way it's built
when you use the wall chargers and car chargers the connection are ment fron rapid rechargin of the device unlike the usb which is for data transfer mainly
when you think about the charge time just think about how long it actually takes for your phone to run out of battery life from what i heard it's close to like 1.5 to 2.5 days compared to normal ppc phones that last probably a day at the most with out recharge
hope this help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Err... this is not true for TP. TP lasts about 2 days on average from normal daily usage and it doesn't have problem charging via USB. Given that the port used is USB 2.0 not 1.1 or below. Took about 2~3 hours from nearly flat to full charge if I remember correctly. I have to try again just to make sure. But definitely not taking 6 hours.
I would've thought that X1 shouldn't have any problem with charging since the battery is only like 150mA more than TP. Also, if it's charging faster from the AC adapter, the same result should be expected when charging from USB port. Doesn't matter the type of battery used. Unless if X1 somehow limits the charging current on purpose when PC USB port is detected. Even though USB 2.0 is actually capable of giving out 1.5A maximum. Try to soft reset it after charging for about 2~3 hours. See if the battery gets fully charged. Some TP users are experiencing this issue as well when the battery meter only updates to fully charged after doing soft reset. Experienced users might want to try and measure the current drawn when charging via USB 2.0 port.
Hope this helps.
On my xperia if i put it in sleep mode, it charges no problem using USB.
the advantage used to charge slower from a usb port, that is until someone found out that the standard ac charger had a short across two of the usb pins, and with a quick mod of a usb cable charged quickly from the usb on a computer
however my x1 charges the same from usb or mains, I use the same cable, but can't see what difference that makes.
there are three conditions that affect charging speeds, whether device is on or not, off charges much faster, whether screen is on or not, screen off charges faster, whether theres good radio signal, if like at home, reception is dodgy it can really draw a lot of juice.
Just for comparison sake, I did a test on my TP just to confirm. Charging via USB 2.0 while it was on idle with screen turned on, from 4% to 100% it took about 2.5 hours and its battery feels warm.
Ok lets clear out some things.
A standard PC USB socket can provide maximum 500mA (milli-Amperes) Current at 5 Volt. Ideally that means that a battery rated at 1500mAh (milli-Amperes-hour) can be charged around 3 hours (minimum). Now, subtract the current that the xperia needs while operating and you will get how many milli-Amperes are left for charging.
Of course in order to know how many current the xperia needs to operate you need to connect an ammeter in series, also keep in mind that current needs change depending on usage (wifi, 3g, bluetooth etc).
So in essence if you USB port is not very good and can't give fully 500mA and the xperia needs a great amount of current to be on, then the charging time can be quite long. A simple formula could be:
xperia_Battery_mAh / (USB_Current - xperia_Current)
Now the mains charger is rated at a greater value than the USBs 500mA. Actually I don't own yet an xperia (waiting patiently to arrive), so I don't know how much current the charger can give. Can someone see what is the rating of the charger?
From other devices I own (that can charge through USB) I've seen that their chargers are rated as high as 2 Amperes. Obviously these devices never draw so much current, it is just a failsafe or it was more cheap for them to bundle a charger like that. But they could draw 800mA of current which the USB port is unable to do so.
Keep in mind that while charging with USB might be longer, generally it can be safer for the battery (longer battery life and more charge/discharge cycles), although I am not so sure about this with excessive charging times in a USB port.

HD2 Mains Charger with a difference!

I think this is pretty unique
http://tinyurl.com/yztqtrq
A mains charger with multiple plus adapters BUT...and here is the clever bit, the mains charger has a small lithium ion battery built in so that whilst you are charging your HD2...it's also charging the internal battery. That means if you are away from a power source, you can still charge your HD2 by flicking the switch on the side of the mains unit and it then charges your HD2.
I haven't had it long enough yet to see how many charges it'll do, but it seems like a good bit of kit and the only charging kit I'll ever need. Heck, it even comes with two USB ports in the top, (you can actually charge TWO devices at the same time) plus a USB charge cable and a car charger plug too.
Nice, but what's the battery capacity there? It looks a bit smallish.
Batrtery capacity
Looking at the battery it's a 3.7v, 1000mAh ... 'BL-5C' which I think is battery for some Nokia phones.
..you don't use the smaller 'emergency' battery actually in your HD2, you just plug your HD2 into the charger as normal, flick a switch on the charger and it uses the juice in the emergency battery to charge your HD2. So this means that even if you are away from mains power, you can still charge your device
simples...
1000 mAH is too little, alas. Otherwise I'd get a couple of those.
Too little...?
Hiya
Electricity isn't my strong point....but I don't get why you say 'it's too little'. I've been charging my HD2 using the device and it seems OK. Did I confuse you? The 1000 doesn't go *IN* the HD2...it stays in the charging unit and charges it form there...
stevep said:
I think this is pretty unique
http://tinyurl.com/yztqtrq
A mains charger with multiple plus adapters BUT...and here is the clever bit, the mains charger has a small lithium ion battery built in so that whilst you are charging your HD2...it's also charging the internal battery. That means if you are away from a power source, you can still charge your HD2 by flicking the switch on the side of the mains unit and it then charges your HD2.
I haven't had it long enough yet to see how many charges it'll do, but it seems like a good bit of kit and the only charging kit I'll ever need. Heck, it even comes with two USB ports in the top, (you can actually charge TWO devices at the same time) plus a USB charge cable and a car charger plug too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great find! The whole package is actually as cheap as a cheap non-OEM HD2 battery
stevep said:
The 1000 doesn't go *IN* the HD2...it stays in the charging unit and charges it form there...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah but that doesn't matter - surely a 1000 mAh battery will not be able to fully charge the HD2's 1230 mAh battery?
In fact, it would probably be better if the secondary battery did go into the HD2 as you're sure to lose some of the power by way of heat etc during the charging.
I must say i like the car charging aspect. If you find yourself low in the morning, you can charge while you driving, and take it with into work (or anywhere without having to plug in) and finnish it off. Traveling time is not usually sufficient to give a decent charge.
You can then replenish the small battery on the way home. Makes sense.
I got one of these but am having some trouble using the sync & charge cable with a PC. Although the phone will charge when plugged in, t I'm not asked whether I want to connect via ActiveSync, disk drive, etc. and I get driver errors on the PC. Do I have to do something special to use the cable with a PC?
I think its a charging cable only and not a data transfer cable.

Help! charging question....

does anyone know of any tweak, app or utility that will disable the semi-regular notification telling me that "the usb port I am using does not have sufficient current to charge the device, please close some applications." It comes on whenever I am playing music and then switch over to my gps app. I'm never really in the car long enough and I think the normal warning when the battery gets low is sufficient enough without this thing popping up ever time i open a new app.
Any help is very appreciated. Its an ATT Pure with the last feb 16th energy rom, maxmanila, and sense 2.5
Thanks!
This warning message is to alert you to the fact that you are discharging the battery at a greater rate than you are charging.
It is not to tell you the battery is low although that is what would eventually happen rather more quickly than normal.
In effect the charge circuit is being overloaded and the battery capacity is being drawn down and depending on the usage, will result in increased heat generation which is bad for the circuits and the battery cell.
I gather you are using the device in the car. You should have a USB adapter that gives 1000mAh, at least, and if it's not then the associated circuits and also the wiring, could well be showing signs of damage from heat build up.
If the USB adapter is rated at anything less than 1000mAh I would suggest obtaining a more suitable one because it's not up to the job.
As for disabling the notification it will be a registry tweak if it's possible at all.
thanks for the help.
i checked the car charger,it is rated correctly. this also happens when its plugged into the pc usb port, or a powered hub. the only time it doesnt happen is when its connected to the htc ac adapter. when i am using it in the car, it still charges to full ( albeit slower than normal) even with the tom tom ap, music player, palringo, and bing open. I was aware that the battery will drain, i just want the only warning to be the low battery warning, which i have set to 20 percent, but even in the car, it doesnt ever get that low ( i do periodically discharge it to empty for battery maintenance reasons)
dezaras6 said:
thanks for the help.
i checked the car charger,it is rated correctly. this also happens when its plugged into the pc usb port, or a powered hub. the only time it doesnt happen is when its connected to the htc ac adapter. when i am using it in the car, it still charges to full ( albeit slower than normal) even with the tom tom ap, music player, palringo, and bing open. I was aware that the battery will drain, i just want the only warning to be the low battery warning, which i have set to 20 percent, but even in the car, it doesnt ever get that low ( i do periodically discharge it to empty for battery maintenance reasons)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have a car charger rated at 1000mAh and it is exhibiting what you say then there is something wrong with it!
USB ports are rated at 500mAh nominal. That is to say the manufacturer of the equipment should make sure that one port will give that output.
It sometimes doesn't work that way and you get badly designed port power feeds across however many ports that you have and if you have more than one in use then the current drops of accordingly. Then it struggles to charge your phone.
Even powered hubs can suffer this way.
When you use a wall charger that all changes and the whole thing works efficiently.
Having your phone under stress like this in your car is not a good thing and neither is periodic discharge. It's just not necessary.
Could you please give me an advice? I'm using my tom-tom charger for my td2 in the car. It says 2A for output while the td2 original wall charger says 1A. Do you reckon is there any problem? many thanks.
If the car charger at 2Ah does not have a "shut down" circuit, or the charging system in the phone does not, then you will, in short order, smoke the battery.
Ok, txs jdwilson. You mean "shut down" circuit as a way the charger prevents the energy pass to the phone when the baterry if full but allows it when more energy is needed? By the way, now i've notice that my tom-tom says input 1A! So, the charger as the "shut down" circuit or tom-tom as in it, or i will have the same problem on my tom-tom, although the charger is the tom-tom original one. Thanks

USB charging in car?

Iam using the Dell Streak 7 as a sat nav system in the car. Ive tried to charge it up on the usb car adapter but it seems to loose its charge over time, making the D7 unusable for the purpose of a sat nav. Am i doing something wrong or is there a special usb car adapter for the job?
Thanks, David.
Does it say it's charging when plugged in?
Depending on how powerful your charger is it's likely that it's draining faster then the charger can provide. At best on my s5 it's just barely faster then the charger and the s7 needs more power then that.
Thanks for peply, yes it states it is plugged in. I came to the same conclusion. Wonder if there are any other chargers that have more juice.
diddy64 said:
Thanks for peply, yes it states it is plugged in. I came to the same conclusion. Wonder if there are any other chargers that have more juice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are several that will do the job. Just look for specs that include putting out 5.5 volts and 2 amps. Several of the chargers that are made for the iPad2 will work. And you may want to install a lighter adapter that you can wire directly to the battery that will allow up to 2 or 3 amps from each port
Most standard USB ports do not put out enough power to charge the DS7. The best bet is to use a inverter that plugs into your cigarette lighter and then plug the charger into that, not just the USB cable.
http://www.amazon.com/Power-Inverter-Charger-Portable-SmartPhones/dp/B00144KS6W
I use this setup:
Bestek Adapter
Trans4m lighter adapter
The Bestek I have wired to the battery so I have no fuse problems with lighter, and with that I can charge either my iPad2 or my Streak7, IF I need to charge both, then I plug the Transform adapter into the Bestek and can then charge BOTH devices, the Ipad2 AND the Streak7 and a couple of other things if need be
Thank you guys, this gives me alot of hope. Once again you all get my thanks.
Cheers,
David.
Yea, like they previously stated not all chargers are created equal.
Unless it states it's a tablet/ipad charger you cant assume it's doing 2+ amps. Most phone/lower end ones can only do 500mA/1A.
Realistically you'd prob need at least 2 amps to get a net gain while using gps/anything demanding. But I dont know if it would even try and draw above that if given the chance. [email protected] is what the bundled wall charger does and can accept up to 5.5v (as it's still within the +/-10% tolerence of the usb spec, but just barely)
My fully charged stock S7 WiFi running 514 draws only 45-70mA. Maybe starting fully charged would help?
wptski said:
My fully charged stock S7 WiFi running 514 draws only 45-70mA. Maybe starting fully charged would help?
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I don't know anything about how it works, but I imagine tablets are wired to know when they are receiving the correct amount of input. For instance, if you connect your Streak 7 to a powered USB hub that only puts out 5 volts, it won't charge nor will it charge when connect via usb to the PC, it has to be receiving 5.5 volts and 2 amps before it will let itself receive charge. I have an iPad that is the same way and have noticed all the tablets I have had my hands on are the same, Galaxy Tabs, Transformers, Xoom... all those have to receive higher numbers to charge. So you have to have a cigarrette lighter adapter that puts that out, if it's for a cell phone it won't do anything for it
cdzo72 said:
I don't know anything about how it works, but I imagine tablets are wired to know when they are receiving the correct amount of input. For instance, if you connect your Streak 7 to a powered USB hub that only puts out 5 volts, it won't charge nor will it charge when connect via usb to the PC, it has to be receiving 5.5 volts and 2 amps before it will let itself receive charge. I have an iPad that is the same way and have noticed all the tablets I have had my hands on are the same, Galaxy Tabs, Transformers, Xoom... all those have to receive higher numbers to charge. So you have to have a cigarrette lighter adapter that puts that out, if it's for a cell phone it won't do anything for it
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The voltage is constant but current isn't. It won't know how much current is available unless it asks for it. It's like a 2A fuse, you can draw up to 2A, no more.
Even with a fully charged battery it'll show charging at 98% for a short time and that's when I saw the higher 70mA but I'm not sure if it's in the CC or CV part of a Li-Ion charge cycle but I'd guess CV because it's less than 100mA.
My bad thinking measuring AC input current instead of DC current since this thread is about USB power.
Used a cheap ReTrak USB extension cord that loses connections to seperate the wire to measure DC current. My fully charged S7 showing 100% charge still draws 150mA after hours of being plugged in. Since Li-Ion cells normally don't use a constant trickle charge, I "assume" something draws on the battery all the time along with the indicator light and buttons.
Booting up it draws a little over 1A, fully charged while booted up, it draws around 600mA. While charging and powered up, it draws 914mA. Charging while off, it draws 1160mA. Far from 2A.
wptski said:
My bad thinking measuring AC input current instead of DC current since this thread is about USB power.
Used a cheap ReTrak USB extension cord that loses connections to seperate the wire to measure DC current. My fully charged S7 showing 100% charge still draws 150mA after hours of being plugged in. Since Li-Ion cells normally don't use a constant trickle charge, I "assume" something draws on the battery all the time along with the indicator light and buttons.
Booting up it draws a little over 1A, fully charged while booted up, it draws around 600mA. While charging and powered up, it draws 914mA. Charging while off, it draws 1160mA. Far from 2A.
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I understand that, but you are missing the point, if the internal wiring of these tablets don't receive the 2A they want they WILL NOT even begin to charge. I tried literally dozens of chargers when I first got my S7, spent a couple hundred bucks actually, and none of the chargers not meant for larger devices won't work, and what those chargers all had in common, 2A output
The S7 can and will draw off low capacity ports, it just wont admit to charging unless it's at least 1A as it's just that.
I've had my S7 charge off a 500mA port on my pc at the rate of like 1%/hour while sleeping. As it's barely gaining even while idleing it's not really charging in the literal sense, but it's definitely charging in the technical sense.
Are your data lines shorted together? I believe most high draw devices wont attempt to pull 2A unless it detects that it's on a high draw charger (which I think do this to indicate it as such)
cdzo72 said:
I understand that, but you are missing the point, if the internal wiring of these tablets don't receive the 2A they want they WILL NOT even begin to charge. I tried literally dozens of chargers when I first got my S7, spent a couple hundred bucks actually, and none of the chargers not meant for larger devices won't work, and what those chargers all had in common, 2A output
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I don't know why your various chargers didn't work but it doesn't seem to be because of current. It didn't charge at 2A or even close to that.
If what your saying correct, why was I able to charge at less than 2A then? Could this be a ROM issue? I only had Froyo for a few hours but I've read that it didn't support USB charging which came with HC but it only charges with the S7 OFF.
It's possible that the demand went higher and I just didn't see on my current clamp meter. I'll have to try a current clamp and a scope to see if I missed a peak level.
Also what we are refering to as the charger might not be a charger but only a power supply and the actual charging circuit is in the S7.
I did notice one odd thing though. The green LED lights up at around 90% battery level and it's still charging. I downloaded a battery app which read the same level.
wptski said:
I don't know why your various chargers didn't work but it doesn't seem to be because of current. It didn't charge at 2A or even close to that.
If what your saying correct, why was I able to charge at less than 2A then? Could this be a ROM issue? I only had Froyo for a few hours but I've read that it didn't support USB charging which came with HC but it only charges with the S7 OFF.
It's possible that the demand went higher and I just didn't see on my current clamp meter. I'll have to try a current clamp and a scope to see if I missed a peak level.
Also what we are refering to as the charger might not be a charger but only a power supply and the actual charging circuit is in the S7.
I did notice one odd thing though. The green LED lights up at around 90% battery level and it's still charging. I downloaded a battery app which read the same level.
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You were able to charge because your charger was CAPABLE of outputting 2A at least... try charging with one that CAN'T put that out and you should find that the Streak will not charge, on ANY ROM has been my experience, custom or stock
cdzo72 said:
You were able to charge because your charger was CAPABLE of outputting 2A at least... try charging with one that CAN'T put that out and you should find that the Streak will not charge, on ANY ROM has been my experience, custom or stock
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Capable is the magic word here. The wall wart isn't putting out 2A from what I've seen, unless it does for a split second at the start which I'm going to look into.
Most wall warts at whatever their rating is put out a higher voltage with no load and slightly higher than its marked voltage under a load. If it required [email protected] max., you used a [email protected], S7 needs more current, the voltage would decrease. What's been stated here might be that the voltage was being pulled down and that's why the S7 wouldn't charge, not "really" the 2A issue.
I have a battery pack/cell load testing device used on RC stuff that connects via USB port for its graphic software. There were issues with certain Dell laptops that had a low voltage at their USB ports.
Maybe starting fully charged would help?
I have the OEM T-Mobile car charger and I've found that if I have a full charge before plugging the Streak into the charger it maintains a full charge for as long as I'm driving/using it. Otherwise, with a less than full charge I've watched it slowly discharge even though it's plugged in and is charging.
FYI: I also have a top of the line car charger for an iPad2 that charges the iPad no matter what charge level I plug it in. This iPad charger has a USB port which I have plugged the Streak USB cord into and it also doesn't keep up with the Streak's discharge if the Streak isn't a full charge to begin with. Kind of strange because I would think the iPad would draw more than a Streak. (the iPad isn't plugged in at the same time the Streak is charging)
DCoop said:
Maybe starting fully charged would help?
I have the OEM T-Mobile car charger and I've found that if I have a full charge before plugging the Streak into the charger it maintains a full charge for as long as I'm driving/using it. Otherwise, with a less than full charge I've watched it slowly discharge even though it's plugged in and is charging.
FYI: I also have a top of the line car charger for an iPad2 that charges the iPad no matter what charge level I plug it in. This iPad charger has a USB port which I have plugged the Streak USB cord into and it also doesn't keep up with the Streak's discharge if the Streak isn't a full charge to begin with. Kind of strange because I would think the iPad would draw more than a Streak. (the iPad isn't plugged in at the same time the Streak is charging)
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The S7 must run some check before it tries to charge . Whatever it is the OEM supplied power supply passes the test.
What's the specs on your two power supplies?
Just remember if you dont have the same 2A for charging in the car. You cannot charge the streak while its TURNED ON. Same with USB charging, just turn the streak OFF, then charge. It will work. =)
Otherwise, Id get a DC to AC converter for the car, plug in your normal adapter.

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