Database Users

Awesome little battery Charger for Wing, Dash

Just thought I'd pass this along. This little battery charger for the Wing or Dash charges your phones battery with just one AA battery. It kicks up the voltage from 1.2-1.5v to 5.7v. Saps the hell out of the AA battery but charges the phone -- its really cool. I bought two of them.
I'm Not the seller - I have No interest in selling these. Just thought Wing users would like to know there's such a thing out there.
http://cgi.ebay.com/EMERGENCY-AA-BA...ryZ48492QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

How long of battery power do you get for 1 AA battery?
If it has small USB connector, can I use it for TyTn II (Kaiser)?

I will time it
Hi -- I've not timed it yet but I will and post results.

Iffy
I got one of those little portable chargers for mobile devices. It's a neat concept. Upon pruchasing one of those (in the US) for $19.99, it came with a cheap AA battery, and several adapters for different mobile phones. I used the AA battery that came with it and it charged my HTC Herald P4350 for 20 minutes. You can actually drain (and cause damage too) your phone battery it you have it plugged in (with a dead AA battery) your device (it said so on the package). This is my experience and others may be different. In a nutshell, the amount of time it charges depends on what kind of AA battery you use. Again, this is my experience.

True
Yes it does depend on the type of AA battery you use. A Lithium AA will give you much more than a rechargable NMHI. I put in an alkaline AA and talked with my brother for two hours today using my Bluetooth headset and this thing kept my phone to 100% charge the whole time.
I am not planning on keeping it plugged in all the time especially when its dead.
I am going to use NIMH AA batteries in my Solar Charger that sits on my Dashboard. Rotate them out and get basically free energy. Hey I know its not going stop the Icebergs from melting but its something.
Here are the specs from the package:
Input 1.2-1.5v
Output 5.7v
Standby 80 hours
Talk Time 2 hours
Charge current 850-2300m
Discharge 150-530m
*This one says nothing about draining your phone's battery in fact it says if using NiCads or NMHI to make sure it drains all the way down before you disconnect it. It says best results can be obtained using a Lithium AA but who can afford that.

It Should work with the Kaiser
gogol said:
How long of battery power do you get for 1 AA battery?
If it has small USB connector, can I use it for TyTn II (Kaiser)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it has a mini USB connector and it should work with the Kaiser but you may want to ask the seller to be sure.

How "fast" does your ATHENA charges?

I have been pondering...
Our phone is awesome in every aspect.... battery life is between 6 hrs ~ 7 hrs depending usage...
However... charging the battery seems to take FOREVER !!!!!!!!
it takes like 5+ hours to charge completely
if you want to charge it faster, wireless, phone, screen, etc needs to be off.
so that's the only inconvenient thing i found about our phone.
good thing is i can plug it in anywhere it has USB ports, including my car.

Make sure you use the correct charger. Many chargers that use the same socket do not charge at the same rate as the correct one due to internal wiring - I am not electrician but found this out the hard way.
Many USB/car chargers do not provide sufficient charge to even keep up with Athena power use.

AllGamer said:
I have been pondering...
Our phone is awesome in every aspect.... battery life is between 6 hrs ~ 7 hrs depending usage...
However... charging the battery seems to take FOREVER !!!!!!!!
it takes like 5+ hours to charge completely
if you want to charge it faster, wireless, phone, screen, etc needs to be off.
so that's the only inconvenient thing i found about our phone.
good thing is i can plug it in anywhere it has USB ports, including my car.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The SIZE matters... also in charging.
May be I am wrong, other in this forum are better than me in physic
but
1) The power usage when connected via activesync, having screen backlight 50%, Big HTC HOME is around 200/300 mA/h.
2) The battery is 2200 mA,
3)if you charge it with a 500 mA/h charger... 500-250=250 mA/h.... 9 ours to have a full 2200 mA charge,
Athena have also XSCALE CPU (clock increasing during heavvy usage) and the power usage could increase very quickly (I have seen some 1000 mA/h peak) due to heavvy memory and CPU usage, or microdrive access
Looking at DIVX movies, full screen, USB 1.0 connected... the power DECREASES (slowly)!

And I would like to add, that after several tests with different chargers, no doubt that using HTC chargers makes a big difference, specially the car charger.
In the case of car charger, using a normal one ( output 5V 500mA ) I made a trip of 300Km and the power level went down from 100% to 70% using TomTom.
And with the HTC charger ( 5V 2A ) leaving home with 50% and arriving the same destination with 100%, again using TomTom.
I'm assuming that using other GPS software the results will be equal.
I used car chargers with 500mA, 800mA and also 1A and I tought that the results should be different but in fact it seems to me that one thing is what the charger "says" and another thing is what can "give".
hope this helps.

poppey said:
.. it seems to me that one thing is what the charger "says" and another thing is what can "give".
hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, as I said it is a hard-wire issue

Yup, 2 pins need to be connected together before the Athena will go into "fast charge mode". You could hook up a 1000 amp bench power supply but still discharge your battery with GPS active - until you short the 2 pins. Don't remember which ones, its been discussed before on this board.

very insteresting...
yes i'm using the USB 500ma charger, just because past experiences has kind of though me that charging electronics with too much AMP it can burn it.
but it seems like the ATHENA can take that, since you have been using it.
I guess i'll shop around for a more powerful charger.
poppey said:
And I would like to add, that after several tests with different chargers, no doubt that using HTC chargers makes a big difference, specially the car charger.
In the case of car charger, using a normal one ( output 5V 500mA ) I made a trip of 300Km and the power level went down from 100% to 70% using TomTom.
And with the HTC charger ( 5V 2A ) leaving home with 50% and arriving the same destination with 100%, again using TomTom.
I'm assuming that using other GPS software the results will be equal.
I used car chargers with 500mA, 800mA and also 1A and I tought that the results should be different but in fact it seems to me that one thing is what the charger "says" and another thing is what can "give".
hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

AllGamer said:
charging electronics with too much AMP it can burn it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true. Electronics is in many ways like the water system, with the water pressure equal to volts, and the gallons per minute equal to amps. However, there's one key difference - electronics will only use as much as its needs (and no more). Not like trying to get a drink from a high-pressure fire hose where you'll hurt yourself trying.
A 60 watt light bulb will only draw 60 watts and will not blow up even though it could draw many thousands of watts before the circuit breaker blew.

techntrek said:
Yup, 2 pins need to be connected together before the Athena will go into "fast charge mode". You could hook up a 1000 amp bench power supply but still discharge your battery with GPS active - until you short the 2 pins. Don't remember which ones, its been discussed before on this board.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This seems to do the trick with my Ameo.
http://www.expansys.com/d.aspx?i=154871

Charging via car charger while navigating (long GPS usage time)

Hi all,
It is really exciting to see how a new device's forum gets filled up so quickly . (i'll be getting my device sometime today so I feel like a small kid waiting to go to the candy store hehe)
I did do some reading on http://www.batteryuniversity.com/ and also in different parts of the forum.
But i am not sure how this case fits in all of the battery discussions out there. If am going to drive in the states for 3-5 hours a day where i;ll need to use my phone afterwards to continue my day.
Will keeping the phone plugged in the car charger hurt the battery?
Thanks all.

The best to do in order to increase your battery's life is to let it drop to 5 or 10% then plug it on your car charger.
It will last longer then if you keep it plugged on the charger, that's for sure.
On the other hand, the average life of a battery of this type is between 1 year and 1 year and a half.
Personally I keep a second battery with me all the time.
That's what I used to do with all my previous devices so I never be short of battery

Thanks, then i guess i'll play it safe and recharge when it goes low on juice.
If i dare ask, given the scenario where you disrubt the battery while charging, would it hurt it? I read that it is better to keep it charging once plugged in, but then again this is Li-Ion which should not get hurt if you take it out while charging!
Thanks

Not charging in the car
I noticed that when I have my device pluged into car charger and use it as GPS, it does not charge or loose power. In other words, if it is half-charged when I get into the car, and I drive for 2 hours, it is still half-charged, no more and no less.
What is going all?
Thanks

Fadik said:
but then again this is Li-Ion which should not get hurt if you take it out while charging!
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is correct, but for the good of the battery you need to have it down to 5% (or less) from time to time

michael_r said:
I noticed that when I have my device pluged into car charger and use it as GPS, it does not charge or loose power. In other words, if it is half-charged when I get into the car, and I drive for 2 hours, it is still half-charged, no more and no less.
What is going all?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to have this behavior with my HTC Athena, but did not see it yet on the blackstone. I'll check in the coming days and will let you know

Hi Fadik,
I'd recommend just using your GPS and charging at the same time. Go with BigDede's advice and let it run down a bit before plugging in. This will help avoid possible overcharging.
Compare this with what most laptops are put through - permanently connected to the charger and hardly ever being used on battery. Our Dell still has more than half its capacity after three years of this. If you are still using your HD in 2 years, give a battery as a birthday present!
I don't know of anything that would damage your phone's battery during normal usage. The main battery killers are deep discharge (protection circuits turn your phone off before this point) and very high temperatures (you weren't going to leave your HD on the dashboard of the car during summer while you shop??). Oh, and the obvious, including blocking your car's wheels on a hill, providing canine nutrition, etc...
Hope this helps...

Thanks all for the feedback and input.
and I guess, I should replace the battery every year and a half

BigDede said:
This is correct, but for the good of the battery you need to have it down to 5% (or less) from time to time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a common misinformation.
Do charge the battery often. The battery lasts longer with partial rather than full discharges.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Avoid full cycle because of wear. 80% depth-of-discharge recommended. Re- charge more often. Avoid full discharge. Low voltage may cut off safety circuit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No maintenance needed. Loses capacity due to aging whether used or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All quotes from this handy table at batteryuniversity.com
So to adress the question of the OP:
Your battery will probably do just fine, as long as the pack itself does not heat up too much from the prolonged charges. The battery it self should be protected from overcharge, and tickle charge should not hurt it.
-KJ

fjevel said:
This is a common misinformation.
-KJ
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can stick with what you found on batteryuniversity.com
Im talking about personal experience here
I got my 2 batteries dead in less then 2 monthes on my HTC Athena
due to charging the device everyday while on 50% or more. (Actually charging it in the car, in the office at home, etc ...)
The 3rd one lasted more then a year when I was letting it drop to around 15 or 20%
Again, this is personal experience

michael_r said:
I noticed that when I have my device pluged into car charger and use it as GPS, it does not charge or loose power. In other words, if it is half-charged when I get into the car, and I drive for 2 hours, it is still half-charged, no more and no less.
What is going all?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this same thing when charging through the USB port in the car stereo. I had to revert to the dedicated car charger providing power from the cigarette lighter socket to get it to charge.

Hello
I had some trouble in the past, charging an Ipaq in my car.
You have to check how much the device can provide.
I think the wall charger is giving 1A.
On my USB car charger it could output 750mA. Maybe that's enough to maintain battery level in the case of the HD in GPS use.
I'll check.
You can check how much your usb on your car radio/USB can provide.
But I suppose it's 500mA which is the standard level given by a PC.And that may not be enough.

Why does Battery take eternity for some to charge? I think...

Like many of you guys, I have custom built my own PC. Yeah, it's a little outdated with a Q6600 but it will do for a good year or two more. Good thing I bought a Quad Core. But anyways, getting back to topic, you guys should realize that the Power Output of the front two USB ports are not the same as the USB ports that are in the back. This is a fact as far as my system is concerned. I know because I use a Lacie External drive which will only power on with the rear USB ports.
If you charge the SGS with the included wall charger, it will charge up in about 4 hours. When I leave it on my front USB port, I would wake up in the morning only to find it 60-70 percent full.
PS - I am amazed by the battery of this thing. Here is the break down. I fully charged by 1am. Took it off... then started using it quite a bit till around 3am ish. When I went to bed, the charge was at 72 percent. I work up 6 hours later and guess what, it was at 69 percent. Pretty neat.

The USB 2.0 only requires that a motherboard provides 150mA to a single port (& 500mA to 5 ports). Where as a chargers don't conform to this standard and provides a much higher charge, which charges your battery much quicker.

Only use USB if you have nothing esle.
The wall charger that came with the SGS is a 700mA. I just ordered a 1000mA wall and car charger.

The more I use this phone the more I am amazed by it. The Battery life on this thing is really great. It's already been close to 12 hours (11:30) and the battery is now finally at 49%
I've used this phone quite a bit and the battery held up really well. I used Let's Golf, Navigation, Armored Strike, Calls, Texts, Gmail... Good stuff.

So your telling me if i get a charger with more mA it will charge faster? Where can i get a bigger mA charger.

I don't know, but my battery charges fast as hell. It goes up about 5% in 20 minutes.

mystycs said:
So your telling me if i get a charger with more mA it will charge faster? Where can i get a bigger mA charger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.
Mono Price is great.
Car charger (1000mA)
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10826&cs_id=1082602&p_id=3523&seq=1&format=2
Wall charger
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10311&cs_id=1031106&p_id=6767&seq=1&format=2
then pic a cord length
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030307
Ebay has tons also, just search and look at the specs. You want to make sure it says 1A or 1000mA
BigWorldJust said:
I don't know, but my battery charges fast as hell. It goes up about 5% in 20 minutes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
5% in 20mins, that's 15% per Hr, or 6.5 hrs from empty to full. You are happy with about 6.5 hrs for a full charge?

SykesAT said:
5% in 20mins, that's 15% per Hr, or 6.5 hrs from empty to full. You are happy with about 6.5 hrs for a full charge?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL , kids today are inept when it comes to arithmetic but cmon...

Aight more like 10% every 20 minutes, lol. I didn't know this was a math class, sorry. It is the summer you know -_________________________________-.

will it hurt the battery life or shorten the amount of time you can use the battery if you use a higher mA? because if it wont then why didnt Samsung just include a 1000mA charger with it?

alecjake said:
will it hurt the battery life or shorten the amount of time you can use the battery if you use a higher mA? because if it wont then why didnt Samsung just include a 1000mA charger with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will do neither.
read this. Gives some basics on Li-ion batteries. link
Essentially these batts can and should be charged at 1C c=capacity. Our batts are 1500mA so we could and should charge at 1500mA.
Slower charging is fine but these batteries rely on circuitry recognizing a drop in voltage to turn the charge off, or down to a lower current as to not damage the battery. If you charge at a higher rate the drop in voltage is more obvious than with a lower voltage and harder to miss thus less chance of an overcharge and battery damage. Added bonus is the battery charges quicker
Over charging is the killer of batteries. Overcharge occurs more from circuitry missing a change in voltage and failing to terminate.
Hope this helps.

alecjake said:
will it hurt the battery life or shorten the amount of time you can use the battery if you use a higher mA? because if it wont then why didnt Samsung just include a 1000mA charger with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you were an engineer and could save the company one cent, how would you do it? That was about one cent worth of cooper in the charger times ten million devices.you just made your year end bonus.
A dedicated chip inside the phone regulates the battery charge.

SykesAT said:
Yes.
Mono Price is great.
Car charger (1000mA)
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10826&cs_id=1082602&p_id=3523&seq=1&format=2
Wall charger
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10311&cs_id=1031106&p_id=6767&seq=1&format=2
then pic a cord length
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030307
Ebay has tons also, just search and look at the specs. You want to make sure it says 1A or 1000mA
5% in 20mins, that's 15% per Hr, or 6.5 hrs from empty to full. You are happy with about 6.5 hrs for a full charge?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just visited the links you put up and chatted with the live chat team and they have no cables currently for the vibrant ?
where did you find it on the site
thanks

HOw many mA is the charger the phone came with?

leechdweler said:
I just visited the links you put up and chatted with the live chat team and they have no cables currently for the vibrant ?
where did you find it on the site
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
all you need is a USB - Micro USB cable.

mystycs said:
HOw many mA is the charger the phone came with?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
700 mA. See the info panel on the charger, it'll tell you.

So a charger with more mA will charge my phone faster i assume? I wont loose any battery capicaty right? It wil charge the same amount just faster i assume?

mystycs said:
So a charger with more mA will charge my phone faster i assume? I wont loose any battery capicaty right? It wil charge the same amount just faster i assume?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its obvious you didn't even bother reading 6 POSTS up. This thread isn't even a full 2 pages, stop being lazy.

So I bought my car charger (cigarette adapter + separate usb cable) from
"Mono Price".
Specs:
PID:3523 Car Charger (Cigarette Lighter) to USB Female Converter - Black
PID:5139 USB 2.0 A Male to Micro 5pin Male 28/28AWG Cable - 10ft
Very weird thing is happening, instead of charging my phone it drains it .
The battery icon moves back and forth as if it is charging but it drains my battery relativity fast.
5 mins using the car charger I lost 25% of battery life .
Does anyone know why this is happening ?

boodies said:
The more I use this phone the more I am amazed by it. The Battery life on this thing is really great. It's already been close to 12 hours (11:30) and the battery is now finally at 49%
I've used this phone quite a bit and the battery held up really well. I used Let's Golf, Navigation, Armored Strike, Calls, Texts, Gmail... Good stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How...? I am on my third Vibrant and i last 6-7 hours...

Yet Another Battery Tip

Well... I completely stopped charging my phone with the wall charger and I am now just using either my car charger or USB and i've noticed my phone over the last two days has probably doubled in being able to hold a charge. Today I made approximately 2 or 3 30 minute - 1 hour calls, used the internet approximately 20 times for about 5 minutes each time and used SNESnoid for approximately 1 hour straight and my battery was at 40% after a 10 hour work day, not too shabby. Not to mention I also don't get that annoying 10% drop within 10 minutes of unplugging the phone anymore
I've seen a ton of other battery tip's but I've yet to see any actually say stop using a wall charger all together. Here's to hoping this helps someone

Lol thanks for the tip. I highly doubt this is anymore then a placebo but good luck to whoever tries it. Not calling you OP I am just finding it hard to believe.
Furthermore, have you tried reseting your battery stats. I mean the initial 100-90 percent drop you are calling to quick sounds like its the fault of bad battery stats. If you need a link to how to reset your battery PM me only because I might not check back to this post lol.

DirtyShroomz said:
Well... I completely stopped charging my phone with the wall charger and I am now just using either my car charger or USB and i've noticed my phone over the last two days has probably doubled in being able to hold a charge. Today I made approximately 2 or 3 30 minute - 1 hour calls, used the internet approximately 20 times for about 5 minutes each time and used SNESnoid for approximately 1 hour straight and my battery was at 40% after a 10 hour work day, not too shabby. Not to mention I also don't get that annoying 10% drop within 10 minutes of unplugging the phone anymore
I've seen a ton of other battery tip's but I've yet to see any actually say stop using a wall charger all together. Here's to hoping this helps someone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm... I don't think that USB/Wall would actually make a overall difference in battery life but it could be that it doesn't "idle the charging" when you hit close to a full charge. So you're probably just getting the extra 5-10% that you mentioned.

twilk73 said:
Lol thanks for the tip. I highly doubt this is anymore then a placebo but good luck to whoever tries it. Not calling you OP I am just finding it hard to believe.
Furthermore, have you tried reseting your battery stats. I mean the initial 100-90 percent drop you are calling to quick sounds like its the fault of bad battery stats. If you need a link to how to reset your battery PM me only because I might not check back to this post lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ehh... I don't make BS threads, never have and those that know me from the Hero forums can vouch. Just posting my findings

Award Tour said:
Hmmm... I don't think that USB/Wall would actually make a overall difference in battery life but it could be that it doesn't "idle the charging" when you hit close to a full charge. So you're probably just getting the extra 5-10% that you mentioned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know for a fact im getting the initial 10% but I looked at my battery today at 12:40 tonight before leaving work thinking "ahh crap I haven't charged it it's got to be at, at least 5-15% and nope, it was exactly 39%, I was amazed. Talked to a girl for about 40 minutes on my drive home, talked to another friend for 5 and battery dropped to 35%

I've noticed this as well. Days that I've only used my moto car charger, the battery (even the cheap ebay ones) seem to hold the charge better, which I thought was strange, because you would think it would be a worse -maybe equal- change.

Charges more slowly and fills up more?

oOflyeyesOo said:
Charges more slowly and fills up more?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's my theory

This is the case with most batteries, and I thought it was common knowledge with Li-ion. The lower the current you charge with, the better the charge.
Using the higher amperage wall charger lets you hit the voltage peak quicker but, the topping charge will take longer. A lot of car chargers are just as high amperage as wall chargers.
Other things you can do to try maintain the capacity of the battery over the course of its life:
-NEVER let it get hot (whether from heavy usage or keeping it in a hot car or the sun)
-never deep cycle (totally kill the battery)
-try to keep it between 40 - 60% charge for most of its life (Li-ion batteries do not like being at full charge or no charge)
Doing any of these things once will not destroy the battery, but by the 500th charge cycle, you can bet your ass it will.
http://batteryuniversity.com/partone-12.htm

DirtyShroomz said:
2 or 3 30 minute - 1 hour calls
internet 20 times
SNESnoid
...
work day
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like my kind of job! Seriously, I use USB (through a laptop) and car chargers almost exclusively and I have no real complaints about battery life. And by that I mean it gets me through the day, which is all I've come to expect from phones for the past few years. But I did happen to use a wall charger last night, and I have JuicePlotter active, so I did some checking.
Comparing my last overnight charge using my laptop's USB to last night's charge through a wall adapter, I found that the charging was actually faster through the laptop. I see that the charge tends to drop off as it approaches 100%, so I took pairs of points from uniform sections of each plot for my comparison:
Laptop USB:
44% to 82% in 41 minutes = 0.927% / min
Wall:
63% to 91% in 37 minutes = 0.757% / min

kzibart said:
Sounds like my kind of job! Seriously, I use USB (through a laptop) and car chargers almost exclusively and I have no real complaints about battery life. And by that I mean it gets me through the day, which is all I've come to expect from phones for the past few years. But I did happen to use a wall charger last night, and I have JuicePlotter active, so I did some checking.
Comparing my last overnight charge using my laptop's USB to last night's charge through a wall adapter, I found that the charging was actually faster through the laptop. I see that the charge tends to drop off as it approaches 100%, so I took pairs of points from uniform sections of each plot for my comparison:
Laptop USB:
44% to 82% in 41 minutes = 0.927% / min
Wall:
63% to 91% in 37 minutes = 0.757% / min
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hah, yeah my job is pretty amazing sometimes but I have def quit using the wall charger (unless I absolutely have nothing else around)
As far as for droiddev... this is my first phone where charging it from different devices gives me different results. I don't see where it would be common sense, Li-ion batteries are not supposed to not have these memory leak/hold issues like past batteries. A charge is a charge to li-ion batteries, but not in this case.

DirtyShroomz said:
As far as for droiddev... this is my first phone where charging it from different devices gives me different results. I don't see where it would be common sense, Li-ion batteries are not supposed to not have these memory leak/hold issues like past batteries. A charge is a charge to li-ion batteries, but not in this case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure what you mean, but you will get the most life out of your battery by charging it short spurts at a time over USB. Read the article I linked to and you will see what I mean, but you can get the best charge into your battery by slowly ramping up in steps with a low current charger.