Database Users

Tool to TURN ON/OFF USB CHARGING ?!

I know I can edit my Registry Settings to either charge via USB or no - but I am wondering if there is a program ( or someone talented enough can program one ) to turn on/off USB charging.

What's the registry setting? I'll put it into VJEschaton.
V

Hi, cool!
the key is here:
OFF:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\usbfndrv
EnableUsbCharging=0
ON:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\usbfndrv
EnableUsbCharging=1
I attached the complete export of the registry setting for on/off.

Does this work? I've never heard of it before. But I'm not very WM5 yet. I'm still old skool...
V

Please excuse my ignorance, but for what reason would you disable USB charging ?!

vijay555 said:
Does this work? I've never heard of it before. But I'm not very WM5 yet. I'm still old skool...
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Yes, it works - I tried in the past, and just double-checked. Batti happily says the thing is still on battery, and the regular battery indicator is shown.
gazzrenn said:
Please excuse my ignorance, but for what reason would you disable USB charging ?!
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Click to collapse
Maybe they have a very crappy laptop and don't want to waste laptop battery on re-charging their pocketpc. Or maybe they're playing a game with a joystick on a USB hub and the joystick goes unresponsive intermittently due to slightly too little charge to the joystick. Who knows
I'm certainly turning it back on as soon as ActiveSync lets it respond again

Reason is that I have an active CarKit ( it would charge the battery on the PDA ), then I have a USB Dock at home and office. So I change the place of my PDA at least 3 Times a day and I don't want the battery to be charged all the time.
So I decide myself when/where the PDA actually gets its "juice" - thats all

You do know that with the Wizard's battery, you don't have to worry about "battery memory" or any of that nonsense... i.e. you don't have to let the battery fully discharge before charging to extend the battery life, or any other archaic knowledge!

Just because its a lithium-ion battery does not mean that charging cycles do not have an effect on the battery life.
True. LithiumIon does not have a the memory effect as do NiMh batteries have. BUT as stated, every battery, that also includes LithiumIon batteries do have a specific number of charging-cycles.
So if you want to get the most out of a notebook battery or in this case a PDA battery you should also consider taking care of it and that means do not charge it if not needed. This will considerable raise its lifetime without problems.

DREAMBOXER said:
Just because its a lithium-ion battery does not mean that charging cycles do not have an effect on the battery life.
True. LithiumIon does not have a the memory effect as do NiMh batteries have. BUT as stated, every battery, that also includes LithiumIon batteries do have a specific number of charging-cycles.
So if you want to get the most out of a notebook battery or in this case a PDA battery you should also consider taking care of it and that means do not charge it if not needed. This will considerable raise its lifetime without problems.
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Click to collapse
that's not true, li-ion is best when kept from deep discharges. you can charge whenever you want, because if it's near full and you recharge it, that doesn't count as a full charge cycle. it will actually damage the battery if you always empty out.

@Dreamboxer:
Wikipedia:
Unlike NiCad batteries or NiMH batteries, lithium-ion batteries should be charged early and often.
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You can read the entire text here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion_batteries
or you use the german wikipedia site. Keep in mind: Do not discharge it below 40% and you are able to prolong its life.
Wusste ich auch nicht

Aha! Now I am smarter Thanks alot for the information - well I guess one can never learn enough :wink:

So I don't think there's much point to this really...
Yep, you should all know that allowing the battery to discharge heavily can cause long term reduction in performance. Topping up is advised for these batteries, unlike ni-cds.
V

Oddly enough I can think of a use for this.
For a while I've occassionally noticed that if I connect my XDA to a certain laptop or use certain alternative cables etc usually if the battery level is below a certain point then the XDAii (Hima) actually discharges instead of charges (ok ok I know I'm wandering into Wizard realm). I think this has been posted as an issue several times over in the Hima forums (but I'm not swearing to it). The trouble is you only find this out when you are in the circumstance and usually want to carry on syncing or working so it would be quite good to be able to decouple the charging function (assuming that it would protect against discharging).
Anyway, bumped my gums enough... off for a brew and a return to Hima forums.
Regards - Mallow1

Is there a registry key for doing the same in magician? Thanks!

JwY said:
DREAMBOXER said:
Just because its a lithium-ion battery does not mean that charging cycles do not have an effect on the battery life.
True. LithiumIon does not have a the memory effect as do NiMh batteries have. BUT as stated, every battery, that also includes LithiumIon batteries do have a specific number of charging-cycles.
So if you want to get the most out of a notebook battery or in this case a PDA battery you should also consider taking care of it and that means do not charge it if not needed. This will considerable raise its lifetime without problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's not true, li-ion is best when kept from deep discharges. you can charge whenever you want, because if it's near full and you recharge it, that doesn't count as a full charge cycle. it will actually damage the battery if you always empty out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right, but DREAMBOXER also!! You should not discharge a Li-Ion battery completely - but the charging cycles for Li-Ion are limited, as for any other type of battery! In fact a Li-Ion has a maximum number of cycles of around 500, whereas NiCd batteries can be charged more than 1000 times! :!:
When continuously charging the battery I estimate that you will have to buy a new one in around one year - I realized the effect of continuous charging with my first notebook - after half a year almost always connected to the power socket the battery was crap, although I never had let it deeply discharge! With my new notebook I always take out the battery when I have a power socket - after one year the battery is still like new!
However, the effect of continuous charging also depends on the charging electronics - I assume that some progress has been made in this area...
If you are planning to use your Wizard for no longer than half a year, this point is of course not relevant for you... :wink:
EDIT: I just read the Wiki entry - they also write a lot of crap:
"A unique drawback of the Li-ion battery is that its life cycle is dependent upon aging from time of manufacturing (shelf life) regardless of whether it was charged, and not on the number of charge/discharge cycles..."
Don't believe everything that's written down there - the lifetime of a LiIon battery DEFINITELY depends on the charging cycles!

DoctorT said:
Don't believe everything that's written down there - the lifetime of a LiIon battery DEFINITELY depends on the charging cycles!
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Click to collapse
That's the beauty of a wiki - you can change it. Did you?

ZeBoxx said:
DoctorT said:
Don't believe everything that's written down there - the lifetime of a LiIon battery DEFINITELY depends on the charging cycles!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the beauty of a wiki - you can change it. Did you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't think about that before... :lol:
I just changed it - just added a "just" as I don't have the time to think about an overall revision:
"A unique drawback of the Li-ion battery is that its life cycle is dependent upon aging from time of manufacturing (shelf life) regardless of whether it was charged, and not just on the number of charge/discharge cycles."

agree with doctorT, you are quite right,TBOMK.

DREAMBOXER's advice isn't correct.
Please, help with subj.

New MDA, Best way to start my battery charging?

Hi,
I am getting a MDA and i want to get the ultimate battery life out of it. So it should be arriving soon, and i want to know how to start getting the most out of it. I have looked on the board at the horror stories of batteries lasting not so long. I have experienced that as well.
This is a replacement unit for a USED MDA that i bought. So i have no idea how the previous owner charged it. But i get only about a 24hrs out of it with hardly any use on it besides a few calls.
I will not open the unit till i get a few replies on the initial charge and charging thereof.
Please post your battery life and how you charged and continue to charge the battery and phone now.

I plug my phone into the wall.

It's a good idea to charge the battery completely before using the device, then do not charge it again until it dies. Run at least several cycles like this - this helps the battery last longer in the future.

seugene said:
It's a good idea to charge the battery completely before using the device, then do not charge it again until it dies. Run at least several cycles like this - this helps the battery last longer in the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya, after searching through the threads i get mixed opinions. Some say do that. Others say keep it tipped off. I am in half a mind.

pda battery is a bit different from phone battery.
while new phone battery need to charge at least 10hrs in order to achieve max performance, is it different with pda battery.
you dont have to charge that long before you use it. just make sure it is fully charge and when you are not using ur wizard, just plug in to ur usb cable. the more you charge it the longer it will last.

I wouldnt worry too much, replacement batteries can be obtained from Ebay for about 14 quid.

I basically have mine connected to my PC all day so it never really gets very low apart from at the weekend when I'm not at work but the charge will usually last the weekend unless I do a lot of wireless surfing.

i fully charge mine every few days. i seem to get a decent battery life off of it with moderate use (about 60 mins worth of phone calls a day, texting, mp3 player for 20 mins a day, gprs/wifi for about 10 mins a day) i have quite a few programs on it that would drain the battery moreso, but at the end of the day ive usually got about 60% battery left. my phone is only 3 months old mind.
if i forget to charge it, and whilst in the office, a simple case of plugging it into the pc keeps it topped up

Hermes Lithium Battery. End of story.

Hello everyone. First of all, let me congratulate all of you who have made this incredible site. I've been reading your threads for 3 weeks and finally i wanted to make my first post. I didnt wanted to be a stupid post so thats why it took me 3 weeks to make it.
I got my first Hermes 5 days ago (yes i searched for info about hermes 2 weeks before i got it) and it is everything i always wanted/needed.
I live in a city called Temuco in Chile (A southamerican country ) and this toys are very expensive even if its a 2 or 3 years old toy like hermes).
When i received my Hermes i was ready to flash roms and got everything to do it, thanks to you guys),
I'm very pleased with some of your roms and now im using [OPTIMIZED Manilla2d][20755 09/29](AlmostNak3d)(V8) by joshkoss.
The only subject that worried me was.................... Battery life, so i did some searching and thats my first post about. Hope you guys find it usefull. I know there are some battery related posts around but wanted to make some conclusions about the subject.
Here we go.
I've been searching and reading different articles about optimizing a li-ion and li-ion polymer battery, as they basically behave the same way.
In recent days i've been thinking a way to keep my battery life longer.
What i first thought, and without any knowledge, is what i've heard all my life: "A fast charged" battery lasts shorter than a "slow charge" battery.
In some battery chargers there are two ways to charge batteries. Slow and fast. And i always feel that slow charge was better than fast, so i thought.
My Hermes charger is 5V 1A.
If i charge my hermes through USB (Which i think has less than 1A) my battery should be "better charged" and the charge should last longer.
I never quite tested this but as a normal "battery user" it sounded more logical to me.
So i searched on google if there was any information about li-ion batteries and its characteristics.
I went to www.batteryuniversity.com and what i read astonished me.
Battery Conclusions
1.- Lithium batteries are completely different than older nickel based batteries.
2.- Lithium is a very unstable element and behaves abnormally when overcharging and overdischarging.
3.- According to batteryuniversity, "Overcharging makes the cell causes plating of metallic lithium on the anode; the cathode material becomes an oxidizing agent, loses stability and releases oxygen. Overcharging causes the cell to heat up. If left unattended, the cell could vent with flame."
4.- Over-discharging is as dangerous as overcharging. According to batteryuniversity, if discharged, "Copper shunts may have formed inside the cells, leading a partial or total electrical short. The cell becomes unstable. Charging such a battery would cause excessive heat and safety could not be assured."
5.- Lithium batteries are usually overcharge and over-discharge protected.
6.- You shouldnt use chargers different than the manufacturer's one.
7.- End of story and End ob battery thoughts.
I (we) just have to live with that.

The Li-on cells for my Makita tools are charged on a computer controlled charger. It reads temp and level of charge and charges accordingly. Manufacturers estimate 3000 charges before the battery is dead, and this after fast heavy discharge that can make a battery too hot to hold and fast charge that takes 22 minute on a 3ah batttery from fully flat to fully charged.
The people who use Li-on at the edge of their accepted use, the radio control flyers, use computer controlled chargers that read the same parameters and more. Many of their chargers read individual cells and balance the charge. Again, after use, the batteries can be too hot to hold.
In a phone or a laptop we use a wall wart the same as any old nicad. I dont know if any clever stuff goes on inside the laptop or phone to regulate charge level according to battery condition but I don't think so. We get about a year out of a laptop that is trickle charged. I'm on almost 2 years for my Tytn with no discernable drop in life but I think I've been lucky, it seems to be about a year for many people. So that's 365 charges, approx.
My guess is that it's charger technology rather than battery technology that limits our battery life.

The Hermes does have a battery sensor. It can be screwed up though when you go below a certain level (<10%), hence people who have trouble recharging a TOTALLY flat battery. The Hermes sensor doesn't detect a battery giving a red LED.

I don't know anything about battery...
I'm currently have a problem with a battery or power-related. My X01HT have just 1 day life in use. I was try it with different second-hand battery, but it likes first condition when only life in 1 day. Hmm.. may be which is the wrong? The battery or the phone?
I have 2 set of X01HT, next time I will try to exchange the battery from both of it. I want to test their battery life to compare and make conclusion about which is the wrong between the battery or the phone.
My tested phone have radio version 1.14.01.10 and have unlocked with NextGenServer. I am using the newest Pays ROM Full. IPL: 1.04. SSPL: 2.60 (Olipro). I have experienced using Pays ROM in twice, first which already sold and the second is this case. Both of the have the same radio version. I think the first one is okay about the life stability, but this one have a problem. May be ROM have influenced the battery life? Or may be IPL/SSPL have caused instability too?
Sorry guys, about poor in English. May be I need to make a thread to share my problem with you.
Thanks.

Hermes are battery hogs but some programs can be power leeches too.
If the radio rom isn't good for your area it also can be a power drain as it is constantly scanning for connection.
I tend to find about 2 days is all my battery lasts for with a little bit of use. Depends what you are using....
Cheers...

I have 3 pieces of SoftBank X01HT.
One of them just fine in the life of the battery, so network here is fine too (maybe). But this one is already sold, so I can't test the battery to my another X01HT which have a critical power problem.
Another X01HT so sleepy, the life of the battery just 1 day. I was try to replace the battery with another battery (2ndhand and I don't know the condition actually) but it have no change, just 1 day too, may be less... Now I try the third battery. I'll reported soon about this...
So how about your opinion about critical power in the X01HT? May be there is another factor beside the battery? Beside the program/OS? May be some physically probelm with their board or etc?
Sorry about poor in English.

I can't say much about the X01HT... All Hermes internals should be the same, but they may put extra things in or take things out depending where you buy your Hermes.
So saying, the Hermes, if not all HTC phones, seem to use a large amount of power. If you use apps it will of course discharge faster.
Sometimes it can be as simple as changing the radio rom but this is risky as the radio rom tends to be permanent brick if something goes wrong with the flash.
Maybe an app you have running and don't realise, I had a BT program that did this, had to shut it down or my battery was down to 70%in about an hour or 2.
Cheers...

Can it hurt the battery if ...

I've often wondered about this issue, but haven't been able to find a clear answer. Yes, I searched the forums here, and still no solution.
When I'm at home, my phone is usually connected to my PC through ActiveSync. During this time it's ALWAYS charging.
Here's my question:
Is there ANY problem with leaving the phone on charge through the USB connection, even when it's fully charged and the green light is on?
Some people say it reduces battery life, and it makes the battery very hot, but mine never gets hot. It may get mildly warm, but that's it.
So, any comments?
Thanks,
Peter

PeterHTC said:
I've often wondered about this issue, but haven't been able to find a clear answer. Yes, I searched the forums here, and still no solution.
When I'm at home, my phone is usually connected to my PC through ActiveSync. During this time it's ALWAYS charging.
Here's my question:
Is there ANY problem with leaving the phone on charge through the USB connection, even when it's fully charged and the green light is on?
Some people say it reduces battery life, and it makes the battery very hot, but mine never gets hot. It may get mildly warm, but that's it.
So, any comments?
Thanks,
Peter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's no problem at all. In fact the battery benefits from it.

all li-ion and li-po batteries have a overall lifespan, they naturally degrade in a chemical process, the main things that accelerate this are charge and temperature. The more time they are kept charged in a warm environment the capacity reduces
so if you took two batteries and left one 30% charged at 10C and another 100% charged at 30C for 12 months, the fully charged battery will degrade faster and have less of its rated capacity available. this is why you find laptop batteries loosing capacity when they spend most of their time plugged in
i used to worry about the effect, but with cheap replacement batteries available from ebay its really not something i'd worry about now, when the battery gets really bad just replace it

Thank you for the quick reply, guys.
Peter

[Q] Help, Please! Changing is soooooo long.

To full chagne the battery, need more than 10 hours. Tried different ROMs, Batteries, changers, cables. the same result.
It looks like a hardware issue...... but....
when I used a DC power supplier(5.2V, limit to 1A) and plug in the cable, it appears the DC current is 0.5A, and after 10 second, fall down to 0.1A. at least, in the first 10secend the hardware worked all right...

Do you use the original OEM charger ?
Have you tried a different charger ?
How old is your Note ? Have you tested a different battery too ?

azzledazzle said:
Do you use the original OEM charger ?
Have you tried a different charger ?
How old is your Note ? Have you tested a different battery too ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried different ROMs, Batteries, changers, cables. the same result.

I was quite surprised when I switched to the Note from the Dell Steak. My old phone would charge much quicker. The Note takes about six hours to fully charge I'd say. As a result I plug it in pretty much whenever I can.
- - Sent from my phone using technological wizardry

Yeah, Mine can take around 5+ hours too if im charging it from <5%
Bear in mind that it is a bigger than normal battery, 2500mah.
But if it is like you say, Taking 10+hours to charge, Id get it looked at, Maybe send it off for repair or something.

NiceMrMustard said:
As a result I plug it in pretty much whenever I can.
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Click to collapse
Isn't it bad to constantly charge your phone even when it still has battery?
I heard it reduces the battery's life span.

I dont believe it is, I often charge mine even when its got plenty of juice left.
It may reduce life span, But the battery will live longer than the time you will own the phone so i guess it dont matter

No one can help. feel bad.
I saw sevral links saying same problem, but no solutions... poor us...

little-vince said:
Isn't it bad to constantly charge your phone even when it still has battery?
I heard it reduces the battery's life span.
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Click to collapse
From what I've read, it's what you're supposed to do with the current generation of batteries. But then there's so much crap floating about about batteries it gets hard to figure out what is reliable info.

And this is with the original charger? If it's not an official charger, there's a big chance the phone will draw only what's usually allowed across USB. Which isn't much... In fact, with USB, the power draw of GPS/screen on/games can make your phone discharge even with the charger on. So try the official charger, on AC power.

Same problem...
I have the same problem.
At the beginning, about 3 months ago, my SGN works fine, battery are charged to 100% in 2 hours maximum.
I'm buy the phone from a Samsung Store, all accessories are originals. Today I send my phone to the technical assistance and there's no problem with battery or the charger.
My problem stars about 3 weeks, with an alert about different voltages after a full charge, the problem was solved only removing the battery and waiting an hour. At the technical assistance, the answer was to charge the phone when it's shutdown.
I already try that, format the cache, rebuild the system, everything using the ICS LQ3 from Baltic.

leandroaps said:
I have the same problem.
At the beginning, about 3 months ago, my SGN works fine, battery are charged to 100% in 2 hours maximum.
I'm buy the phone from a Samsung Store, all accessories are originals. Today I send my phone to the technical assistance and there's no problem with battery or the charger.
My problem stars about 3 weeks, with an alert about different voltages after a full charge, the problem was solved only removing the battery and waiting an hour. At the technical assistance, the answer was to charge the phone when it's shutdown.
I already try that, format the cache, rebuild the system, everything using the ICS LQ3 from Baltic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is the problme solved after remove the battery for 1 hour?

paddyzou, the problem with the wrongs voltages, yes, my steps to solve this:
- Full discharge
- Shutdown of the phone
- Remove the battery for 1 hour
- Full charge with the phone hang out
The problem with the low charge I think that was okay, it's seen to be happen in random times, I just flash another LQ3(France) version of ICS yesterday and seems to be working fine.

leandroaps said:
paddyzou, the problem with the wrongs voltages, yes, my steps to solve this:
- Full discharge
- Shutdown of the phone
- Remove the battery for 1 hour
- Full charge with the phone hang out
The problem with the low charge I think that was okay, it's seen to be happen in random times, I just flash another LQ3(France) version of ICS yesterday and seems to be working fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
appreciate you so much. Hope it works.

Mine takes around 2 hrs to fully charge the battery. I use supplied samsung charger.

NiceMrMustard said:
From what I've read, it's what you're supposed to do with the current generation of batteries. But then there's so much crap floating about about batteries it gets hard to figure out what is reliable info.
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Click to collapse
This is correct, a chemical reaction takes place while the battery is discharging and is reversed when charging(changing). The chemistry of the battery changes how they hold energy. The Lithium ion batteries in our phones can be charged any time, they have no "memory" characteristics like previous rechargeable batteries (NiCd).
OP, it sounds like your charger is going. My stock HTC charger (2-3 years old) now only charges at about 40% the speed, which means the phone will discharge while its plugged in. I recommend grabbing one of those tiny square usb chargers (1A 5v, not 0.5A). I got one for like $6, as long as its 1A it will be quick.