By "directly" I mean using regular USB data cable (most likely USB->Micro USB) and NOT special charge only cable that has data pin shortened to draw higher current.
The reason for this post is that I found that my new phone (Moto X) doesn't charge when connected directly via regular data USB cable even though charging indicator is on. When idle it still loses several %/ hour, when running Google maps - much more.
After Googling I found that if the phone is connected as USB media device it draws less power from USB and it may not be sufficient to charge phones with high capacity batteries. Workarounds include using charge-only USB cables that have data pins shorted, cigarette lighter chargers or AC charger if your car is equipped with AC socket (mine is, but what a pain to have to use it for this!).
Here is my situation on '11 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 430N (2 USB ports, Android phones are recognized as media device on both):
Old phone (Droid Incredible, 1300 mAh battery) charged fine when idle via regular data cable even though it was in media player mode. I haven't really used it when running Google Maps much so can't comment on that.
New phone (Moto X, 2200 mAh battery) doesn't charge via regular data cable (even though indicator shows phone charging). When idle it still loses several %/ hour, when running Google maps - much more. I tried 500 mA cigarette lighter charger and it charges it fine in idle, haven't tried while running Google Maps yet.
The USB power in my truck is provided by one of these:
http://daqstuff.com/400116_5volt_switching_power_supply.htm
The only mod I made was to short pins 2 and 3 on the USB ports, which is required for full current charging with a Nexus 7. Dunno if the Moto X is the same, but it charges just fine when plugged into it.
My Moto X does not charge from the USB port in my Acura. I use a USB adapter in the cigarette lighter if I need to charge it.
Sent from my XT1053 using Tapatalk
Solutions Etcetera said:
The USB power in my truck is provided by one of these:
http://daqstuff.com/400116_5volt_switching_power_supply.htm
The only mod I made was to short pins 2 and 3 on the USB ports, which is required for full current charging with a Nexus 7. Dunno if the Moto X is the same, but it charges just fine when plugged into it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow 2 amps. At home my iPhone is good for something! Its 2 amp wort charges the x fast!
Yes all phones charge in my Hyundai but very slowly since its only a regular USB port not a charging port. I use a Griffin dual USB charger instead.
Sent from my Sero 7 Pro using Tapatalk
Moto X does not charge in my Honda or Volkswagen via car's USB port. All my previous phones including nexus 5 did. For Moto X I have to use car charger.
From my Moto X, in your face!
My wife's X does not charge via her aftermarket stereo in her Subaru. I have not tried it in my F-150 though.
Standard USB ports in a PC supply 5V and 550mA which is not enough to charge current smart phones. If you are using apps, 550mA is not enough to maintain the charge level (i..e if you have 90% charge, plug into a standard USB port, and use Google Maps or stream a movie from the internet, your battery's charge will slowly drain. Not as fast as when unplugged, but it will drain).
The X ships with a 1150A adapter. I've used 850mA to slowly charge the phone.
I've not metered the voltage and current coming out of my car's USB port.
I use a dual port USB charger that outputs 2.1A per port. (its either Griffin or Kensington)
I stumbled across this issue when I tried to charge my X in the car. I have an old nokia car charger (had nice thick writes and curly cord) that I cut the plug off and soldered a micro usb plug and a resistor between pin 5 and ground for activating car mode on my SGS2 (i9100). I plugged in the X, nothing. I did some research and found that shorting D+ and D- puts it into AC fast charge mode. Charges fine with the screen on. Luckily the old nokia charger has enough grunt to cope.
swyped from my JB GT-N8000 with TapatalkPRO
Yep
Interesting. Mine does charge via the USB cable on my aftermarket head unit, but it is fairly slow. All I care is that it doesn't drain the battery at all for 4 hours car trips while streaming music and running Google Maps with the screen on the entire time.
mine slowly/medium charges with MyLog and CarHome Ultra or Nav.
I have a magnet and SkipDot in my car dock to auto unlock and trigger car mode which launches CarHome Ultra. I use Llama to further trigger and enable bluetooth and gps as well as disable WiFi. bluetooth connecting to my JVC head unit triggers My Log and automatically logs journeys for tax. Llama cleans up and turns of gps/bt which causes MyLog to finish too.
swyped from my MOTO XT1053 with tapatalkPRO
Related
http://www.expansys-usa.com/d.aspx?i=148251
Charges both at same time.
Sweet. I may get one of these.
Do you know how much amps it's delivering? The Athena needs at least 2A to show any sign of being charged!!! I'm suspecting it's only delivering 500mA which is the max amount of amps a Jabra headset can take without frying itself. 500mA is just enough to light up the amber charging light on the Athena and nothing else.
sumtingwong said:
Do you know how much amps it's delivering? The Athena needs at least 2A to show any sign of being charged!!! I'm suspecting it's only delivering 500mA which is the max amount of amps a Jabra headset can take without frying itself. 500mA is just enough to light up the amber charging light on the Athena and nothing else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always thought that a regular HTC charger provided 1A. Do you use a 2A charger?
According to Expansys and PP Techs this should at least give more than 500mA:
The majority of new devices are equipped with two different charging modes: a sync-n-charge mode through a computer USB port (slow charge) and a regular charge mode through an AC/DC adapter or any other charging accessory (fast charge). Those two charge settings require two completely different pinouts and are not compatible with each other.
In select devices, this incompatibility would mean that a sync-and-charge cable for your device, when connected to an AC/DC adapter or similarcharging accessories, will not be properly configured to charge your device.
Our new Lil Sync® Duo Adapter is the convenient solution to this common charging problem. Using our adapter will forces your Sprint PPC-6700 to use the most effective, “fast-charge” mode when plugged into AC/DC power. Additionally, there is a Jabra 8 pin companion port tailed onto the adapter. This allows you to conveniently charge a second accessory such as a Jabra headset simultaneously.
In some cases, your Sprint PPC-6700 will not charge from an AC/DC adapter or other charging accessory when the battery life is below 30 percent. Our Lil Sync® Duo Adapter will charge your Sprint PPC-6700 from a completely drained battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like an interesting little accessory.
Yes. I am using a 2A charger both at home and in my car. The one I'm using is the TomTom USB Charger for Go/One/OneXL/XL. Attached are the pictures of the car charger. The home charger provides the same amp. If you're in the US, the car charger is sold at Target for $19.99. The car charger is bent at an angle but the home charger is not. If your car doesn't have bluetooth and you have to use the audio jack on your athena, then you'll need a mini USB angle adapter to reposition the cable upward. The mini USB angle adapter comes standard with the old Motorola Razr V3 so if you already have one of those phones, you don't have to buy a new adapter. Otherwise, the Motorola mini USB angle adapter is sold for a few bucks where Motorola phones are sold.
What's the deal with the battery on this phone. It takes several hours (3-4) to go from (near) 0 to 100% charge, with USB.
And, when using navigation on the phone, with a car charger plugged in, the phone still loses a little bit of charge. All other phones I had, they would charge somewhat slowly with the GPS on (since GPS is using draining a lot), and never seen one that loses charge even while connected.
I have tried 2 different car chargers, both aftermarket though. Do you see the same?
hkk said:
What's the deal with the battery on this phone. It takes several hours (3-4) to go from (near) 0 to 100% charge, with USB.
And, when using navigation on the phone, with a car charger plugged in, the phone still loses a little bit of charge. All other phones I had, they would charge somewhat slowly with the GPS on (since GPS is using draining a lot), and never seen one that loses charge even while connected.
I have tried 2 different car chargers, both aftermarket though. Do you see the same?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of the car chargers only deliver 500mAh - when your phone is plugged in, go to settings-> about phone and see if it says AC or USB charging. You also need a car charger that is rated at more then 500 mA.
But even with a charger rated at more then 500mA - the phone still thinks it is plugged into USB. I got around this by modifying a USB cable - I connected the data lines together on the micro usb end and the phone thinks it has AC power and charging keeps up with GPS.
BTW I am using a 2 port car charger (2 1Amp USB ports) Griffin I think, but i tested with many others, and after other internet searching realized the wall charger shorts the data wires and we can mimic this on a car charger.
alphadog,
Thanks for the reply.
Can you give more details on how to connect the data lines together? And, no issues doing that?
hkk said:
alphadog,
Thanks for the reply.
Can you give more details on how to connect the data lines together? And, no issues doing that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No issues for me. First - use a decent USB cable. Also, see this thread for more info... one of my posts is page 2. Page one shows you an easier hack for testing - no cutting required.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=774665&highlight=battery
I took a USB cable and did all my work on the micro end - where the connector for the phone is. I stripped back some of the outer insulation, so i could work on the inner wires. I didn't cut the whole end off. The two wires that are not red and black are the data wires. I cut them, stripped them, and soldered them together. These 2 wires are from the micro plug end, so i created a loop back or connection of the 2 data wires at the plug end.
Phone
V+ Red wire -------------------------------USB Plug @ Car Charger
D+ ----------------| connect
D- ----------------| these 2 wires
V- Black wire ------------------------------ USB Plug
So this is my first motorola and I had heard of the issues they have with non motorola chargers. Now I am experiencing it first hand. With the same ac charger I have charged many phones with and is capable of 1 amp output (D4 charger is only rated at 850 mA) my D4 struggles. With the device off it charged painfully slowly. While on it cannot even charge. It discharges while plugged in despite the charging indicator and reporting "charging (AC)" in status.
How does it know it is not a moto charger? Is it just about the resistance between the data pins? For most other phones shorting the data pins on the charger indicates to the phone that it is a high current charger and not a computer USB port. Is there a similar trick for motorola phones? I would rather not have to purchase an overpriced moto oem car charger. I have a perfectly fine 1.2 amp car charger soldered directly into my car's 12v system behind the dash. Can I make it work?
Thanks!
On a regular basis I successfully charge my D4 using both a charger from a Samsung Reality feature phone and from a B&N Nook Simple Touch, in addition to the one that came with it. I've also used a variety of car chargers.
Sent from my DROID4 using XDA
Actually, so far I have only one charger that had any trouble charging the phone (it was a $3 charger with 2 USB ports), but the $3 charger with ONE USB port works fine, as does the Nook Color charger, Blackberry charger, and Samsung charger I have tried it with, as well as both my old car charger and Lenovo's always-on charging port on their laptops.
JKingDev said:
So this is my first motorola and I had heard of the issues they have with non motorola chargers. Now I am experiencing it first hand. With the same ac charger I have charged many phones with and is capable of 1 amp output (D4 charger is only rated at 850 mA) my D4 struggles. With the device off it charged painfully slowly. While on it cannot even charge. It discharges while plugged in despite the charging indicator and reporting "charging (AC)" in status.
How does it know it is not a moto charger? Is it just about the resistance between the data pins? For most other phones shorting the data pins on the charger indicates to the phone that it is a high current charger and not a computer USB port. Is there a similar trick for motorola phones? I would rather not have to purchase an overpriced moto oem car charger. I have a perfectly fine 1.2 amp car charger soldered directly into my car's 12v system behind the dash. Can I make it work?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure how it knows one way or the other. I've successfully used a few LG chargers to charge my D4. The only really hickup I've ran into is the usb cables from those lg chargers won't sync data to the phones when plugged into a computer, they'll still charge off the usb port but won't read as a usb connection to the computer.
Heh, captcha is trynply.
Every charger I've used, including an old charger for an EN-V, kindle, supplied, and various other phone chargers works just fine with this phone. Probably have a bad charger, guy.
Thanks for the replies. I guess I was wrong. My modded car charger works just fine. I guess its just time to retire the old charger that I have been using. I think it might be my old nexus one charger.
A more important question would be does the thing charge over computer-bound USB ports?
When you're without a charger, but there's a USB cable that fits your phone, sometimes a regular USB data port is the only that is around... even though it might take a really long time.
Try a computer bound USB port, then try your actual charger, again. Or do the hard reset (vol down plus power, hold until it actually does it), which is just like pulling the battery.
See how that goes.
Chris
RueTheDayTrebek said:
A more important question would be does the thing charge over computer-bound USB ports?
When you're without a charger, but there's a USB cable that fits your phone, sometimes a regular USB data port is the only that is around... even though it might take a really long time.
Try a computer bound USB port, then try your actual charger, again. Or do the hard reset (vol down plus power, hold until it actually does it), which is just like pulling the battery.
See how that goes.
Chris
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does in fact charge via USB port. In fact, it has a 'charge only' mode. Depending on how much juice your port puts out, and what you are doing with the phone, it will charge slowly/not at all, though.
from my experiences, the droid 4 will not accept lg microusb cables, the charging bricks work tho. i use a blackberry microusb on mine along with a Logitech and the stock moto ones. 1.2 amps is a bit high but not crazy sounding. personally, I charge at 1 amp.
I'm trying to make a fast charging cable for use in the car. The current charger I use seems to work fine, but the coiled cable annoys me. When I use a standard USB cable the charging reverts to slow mode which means the GPS and screen drain the battery faster than the cable can charge it.
The charging cable that works has a resistor between ground and the unused pin 4, but what I want to know, is this the only USB charging standard that the Droid4 supports, for example does it support the one where you put a resistor between the two data pins, or the one where you just join the data pins together?
If it supports either of those, then this project just got a lot easier as I can just chop the Type A connector off my USB cable and do all the work without having to solder a Micro USB connector.
Could you de-solder the coiled cord and solder in a micro USB cord or even a female USB cord for removal of OEM usb... or is that what you mean in the last paragraph... If you want I could give it a try as I have three rapid car chargers and several USB cables...
Lum_UK said:
I'm trying to make a fast charging cable for use in the car. The current charger I use seems to work fine, but the coiled cable annoys me. When I use a standard USB cable the charging reverts to slow mode which means the GPS and screen drain the battery faster than the cable can charge it.
The charging cable that works has a resistor between ground and the unused pin 4, but what I want to know, is this the only USB charging standard that the Droid4 supports, for example does it support the one where you put a resistor between the two data pins, or the one where you just join the data pins together?
If it supports either of those, then this project just got a lot easier as I can just chop the Type A connector off my USB cable and do all the work without having to solder a Micro USB connector.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if this has anything to do with your question but try an ipad or tablet charger (2.1 Amp) which i use on my droid 4 and charges it fast.
Regular chargers use 0.7 to 1.0 Amp. I know tablet chargers are bulky but they tend to charge your device faster.
Also maybe this thread will work for you: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1984838
I'm using a 2amp car charger with a USB socket at the moment and I assure you it isn't charging at that speed. The other charger with the coiled cord does charge at the higher speed, but it also has the odd wiring.
That thread is interesting, is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about, but I'm looking for confirmation that it will actually work with the Droid 4 before I start hacking up cables. The Droid 4 seems to be fussy about which chargers it will work with, my 2amp charger worked fine with the HTC Desire Z, for example.
Another part of my reason for doing this is I want to use the right-angled USB plug that is on my USB lead, but that Micro USB connector is sealed and unmodifiable.
Lum_UK said:
I'm using a 2amp car charger with a USB socket at the moment and I assure you it isn't charging at that speed. The other charger with the coiled cord does charge at the higher speed, but it also has the odd wiring.
That thread is interesting, is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about, but I'm looking for confirmation that it will actually work with the Droid 4 before I start hacking up cables. The Droid 4 seems to be fussy about which chargers it will work with, my 2amp charger worked fine with the HTC Desire Z, for example.
Another part of my reason for doing this is I want to use the right-angled USB plug that is on my USB lead, but that Micro USB connector is sealed and unmodifiable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure but there is a radio called ihome ic50 (Google it) i own it and it has a special switch which the manual says if the device has a proprietary charging protocol flip the switch. I made a quick test and it charges in both ways. I'm pretty sure your idea will work as long you know what you are doing. BTW the ihome ic50 is pretty cool for any android device.
I have been using Google maps a lot while driving and obviously it is quite heavy on the battery.
I have noticed however that when using my car charger (powergen dual charger) with standard cable that the phone continues to loose charge.
Surley it should charge over and above the maps usage?
Sent from my EVA-L09 using XDA-Developers mobile app
What's the Ampere output of the charger? You need more than standard 0,5A output.
Here the same. I used 1A,2A and 3.1 A. Data off and still not enough.
hpsauce37 said:
I have been using Google maps a lot while driving and obviously it is quite heavy on the battery.
I have noticed however that when using my car charger (powergen dual charger) with standard cable that the phone continues to loose charge.
Surley it should charge over and above the maps usage?
Sent from my EVA-L09 using XDA-Developers mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if this is still the same with USB Type-C (but I suspect it is) but this happened a lot with certain car chargers.
The problem was the manufacturers didn't appreciate how smart phones control their charge. They look to see if there is a certain resistance across the two data pins. If it is a certain value or above, the phone decides it is plugged into a USB port on PC, and limits it's own charging current to 500mA in line with USB standards and prevents damage to your motherboard.
Some charger manufacturers do not appreciate this and do not short the data pins. The phone sees infinite resistance (open circuit), and switches to USB charging.
I used to get around this by having a car charging only cable I adapted by shorting the data cables (green & white) at the phone end. It worked perfectly. I made sure this cable stayed in my car and never got used for anything else.
However I cannot say for certain that this is safe to do on USB Type-C so try at your own risk.
If you are able, test this safely by plugging in a chopped off USB type A into the charger, and testing what resistance you are reading across green & white cores. (Unless you can get your testing probes inside the charger and check directly of course!)
I'd be looking at the quality of the charger and cable. I have QC2.0 & QC3.0 car chargers (yes I know the P9 is not QC compatible, but it means they are a decent quality charger capable of sustained 5V2A and possibly more) and a decent quality cable (20AWG or better). I have data, bluetooth and my GPS Satnav app running and the phone easily still charges (up to 10-15% hour). Also the temperature matters, if the phone is on the dashboard or windscreen in direct sunlight then it will heat up quite easily and the charging rate will drop. I've put my red hot phone, barely charging, on a vent mount with the car's aircon blowing cool air and the charging rate soon crept back up to normal levels as the phones temp dropped.
wnp_79 said:
Not sure if this is still the same with USB Type-C (but I suspect it is) but this happened a lot with certain car chargers.
The problem was the manufacturers didn't appreciate how smart phones control their charge. They look to see if there is a certain resistance across the two data pins. If it is a certain value or above, the phone decides it is plugged into a USB port on PC, and limits it's own charging current to 500mA in line with USB standards and prevents damage to your motherboard.
Some charger manufacturers do not appreciate this and do not short the data pins. The phone sees infinite resistance (open circuit), and switches to USB charging.
I used to get around this by having a car charging only cable I adapted by shorting the data cables (green & white) at the phone end. It worked perfectly. I made sure this cable stayed in my car and never got used for anything else.
However I cannot say for certain that this is safe to do on USB Type-C so try at your own risk.
If you are able, test this safely by plugging in a chopped off USB type A into the charger, and testing what resistance you are reading across green & white cores. (Unless you can get your testing probes inside the charger and check directly of course!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Modern chargers don't work that way, Qualcomm's Quick Charge and other fast charging methods (including Huawei's fast charging) also use the data cables to "talk" to the charger & so provide voltage over and above the standard 5V (9V, 12V etc) and they do not work with a shorted data cable. Well, they would work, but not at fast charging speeds. I certainly don't and have never used a "charge only" cable.
Opgelost Ga naar je build tik er een paar keer op. Ga naar de ontwikkelaars en verander je usb in alleen opladen. Laadt nu goed op bij mij.
Purchased a new Anker 3.0 charger and still same problem. It will not charge up while using maps.
Seems very strange
Sent from my EVA-L09 using XDA-Developers mobile app
hpsauce37 said:
Purchased a new Anker 3.0 charger and still same problem. It will not charge up while using maps.
Seems very strange
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have a lot of data use while using Maps? 3G or 4G data? Are you using Smart or Performance power plan? As I said above... decent cable?
Check in Battery Manager also for which app is using the power... is it Maps or something else?
I just purchased new ZUS car charger its 4.8 A i will post results after I try it
Sent from my EVA-L19 using Tapatalk
colthekid said:
Do you have a lot of data use while using Maps? 3G or 4G data? Are you using Smart or Performance power plan? As I said above... decent cable?
Check in Battery Manager also for which app is using the power... is it Maps or something else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using 3g. Smart performance mode. Original cable being used and only maps running.
It will not charge above level I plugged cable in while on maps. Will charge when I turn screen off but very slow in my opinion.
Could be a deal breaker for me as I use my phone as a sat Nav alot these days
Sent from my EVA-L09 using XDA-Developers mobile app
Anker
[Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0] Anker PowerDrive+ 1 (Premium Quick Charge 3.0 24W USB Car Charger) for Galaxy S6 / Edge / Plus, Note 5 / 4, Nexus 6, Samsung Fast Charge Qi Wireless Charging Pad and More
This is what I am using
Sent from my EVA-L09 using XDA-Developers mobile app
Well I have a 2 port Anker QC3.0 car charger, so basically provides the same output as yours and don't seem to have any issues.
I did a test last night using google maps instead of my usual Satnav and was still charging 5-8%/hr, which is lower than I normally get, but still charging. I had my usual Bluetooth (linked to car), Data (3 & 4G) & GPS all on. Data use was higher and I assume this is what has dragged the charging % down & is probably the reason your's doesn't charge much if at all.
I use an offline Satnav app (Sygic) which obviously cost £, but saves on the data & power (& is very good IMO I might add!), but I believe there are free offline Satnav apps in the play store...might be worth trying to see if you still have charging issues.
Also check your screen brightness (settings, display, brightness)...make sure set on auto & slider below set about 50% (unless you really need it brighter!)
Read mine answer back and it's solved