Database Users

battery life concerns on wizard

I've had an o2 mini s for about a week now and i'm pleased with it on the whole. My only real concern is battery life. My mini seems to drain much quicker than by xda 2 s which I had before. I seem to drop about 10% in 1 hour 10 mins and that's just a few calls/txts and minimum fiddling.
8:20 100%
9:42 88%
I've dropped all the o2 software and don't have any tricky 3rd party apps installed only;
xbar3 ( great btw )
avantgo wireless
ebook reader
tcpmp
I've read quite a few posts about battery life being good on this phone but i'm not seeing it. I'm still in my 14 day cooling off period and i'm considering sending it back for a replacement.
Jeff

Is Wifi off, bluetooth off. Do you check your email every ... minutes over GPRS?...
With email checking every 10 minutes my qtek battery last at least 2 whole days.

wifi/gprs/bluetooth all off - not used today
Just phone today - maybe 12 calls.
Time now 14:21 battery at 61% !
Now i'm worried ......I reckon i'll be down to 30% by this evening.

16:32 - 49%

maybe there are problems with these batteries i had problems with charging the battery it didnt seem to show correct level, sent it back for another unit

17:26 - 38%.
If another goes we'll be up here all day.

My battery life seems to be utter rubbish every time I charge my MDA Vario over the USB link. I can go to bed with 100% battery and find it dead by morning. This has happened two or three times since I bought it on 5th November. Last Saturday morning I had the USB cable connected to download some music to my SD card with 100% charge at 10:00. I played music for about an hour through the supplied headphones and by 13:00 I was down to 50% battery. By that evening I was down to a few %. I've read reviews that you you should squeeze about 10 hours of continuous music from this thing on one full charge so an hour of music and 7 hours of standby/sleep seems pathetic.
If I charge using the mains charger and sync over Bluetooth I get a standby battery life of about 5 days. Obviously that is shortened with use so in practice I am charging it every 2-3 days (no point starting a day with only 20% left!).
I have no idea why USB charging is completely hopeless. I have tried soft resetting or closing all active apps after charging, to make sure ActiveSync isn't actively running and causing a drain (just as you are advised to with a Bluetooth sync) but that seems to make no difference. USB charging is rubbish. Mains charging is the only way to go, IME.

21.50 - 24 %

Charging over USB hopeless
tdodd said:
I have no idea why USB charging is completely hopeless. I have tried soft resetting or closing all active apps after charging, to make sure ActiveSync isn't actively running and causing a drain (just as you are advised to with a Bluetooth sync) but that seems to make no difference. USB charging is rubbish. Mains charging is the only way to go, IME.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I confirm USB charging IS rubbish. The reason seems to be that the power available out of that conector on a PC is not enough to charge properly... I had the same issue with BA and Himalaya...
Answer: get a USB charger / car charger that can deliver 1A minimum.
BTW I found a craddle for the Wizard in Dubai @ Plugins. It comes with USB port/cable + power adapter. Works like a charme.
Cheers,
Hal.

tdodd said:
My battery life seems to be utter rubbish every time I charge my MDA Vario over the USB link. I can go to bed with 100% battery and find it dead by morning. This has happened two or three times since I bought it on 5th November. Last Saturday morning I had the USB cable connected to download some music to my SD card with 100% charge at 10:00. I played music for about an hour through the supplied headphones and by 13:00 I was down to 50% battery. By that evening I was down to a few %.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My C500 Did that when I had it Plugged in the Front USB ports on my case, I normaly had it plugged in to the onboard USB at the back of my pc with a usb ext cable so I could have it on my desk but I went off to a lan party and when I plugged everything back in I put my USB cable to front usb port and found it was Discharging my Battery instead of charging it, got my usb in Back port all is fine again now
Maybe you have yours in to the front USB port or non onboard port?

I use a laptop, which only has two USB 1.1 ports but they each supply enough juice to power a USB ADSL modem (not that I'm using one of those these days), which is more than some PCs will manage and also my USB hard drive, which my Shuttle won't. So there is no lack of power from the USB ports on the laptop.
Of course, the USB spec only permits a maximum current demand of 500mA so any equpiment expecting more should not be using USB for its power supply. In any event, the phone does charge from the USB ports, albeit very slowly, but eventually the orange charge light does go green. So my situation is not one of discharging instead of charging.
I've just swapped my ROM from Vario to k-jam so I'll see if that makes any difference to the performance. I know it's given me 802.11g, which was missing before.

I had an M500 briefly (Magician) on Orange that had very poor battery life, it was one of the reasons I ebayed it, gave the contract sim to my wife and started a cheaper better value T-Mobile account with an MDA Compact, which
had better battery life. Typically overnight after a full charge the Orange unit went down to 75% and the T-Mobile one was at about 98% on standby.
My Vario I have now, my other T-Mobile account has very good battery life and charges very well off USB. If I sync it in the morning whilst reading my emails and stuff, let it charge USb for about 25 mins, it'll be full and by the night it will have dropped down to about 80%. This is with about 30 mins of calls, about seven or eight emails sent/received and maybe 15 mins with WIFI on.

tdodd said:
I use a laptop, which only has two USB 1.1 ports but they each supply enough juice to power a USB ADSL modem (not that I'm using one of those these days), which is more than some PCs will manage and also my USB hard drive, which my Shuttle won't. So there is no lack of power from the USB ports on the laptop.
Of course, the USB spec only permits a maximum current demand of 500mA so any equpiment expecting more should not be using USB for its power supply. In any event, the phone does charge from the USB ports, albeit very slowly, but eventually the orange charge light does go green. So my situation is not one of discharging instead of charging.
I've just swapped my ROM from Vario to k-jam so I'll see if that makes any difference to the performance. I know it's given me 802.11g, which was missing before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do you have a link to the imate rom? is the vario rom also available?

sundip said:
do you have a link to the imate rom? is the vario rom also available?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't remember for sure where I got the k-jam ROM ( I think someone saved a copy somewhere) but try here - ftp://ftp.clubimate.com/ - and then save file K-JAM_WWE_1010903_106_10110_ship.exe
That is a self installing upgrade that includes the whole k-jam ROM and k-jam extended ROM files.
I don't know where to get a Vario ROM from. I did back up my own copy (I hope) but the method is a bit whacky and as I only have a 1GB mini-SD card my ROM backup image is 1GB because the only way to secure the image is to dump the whole card to a file.
Before you go playing around do make sure you have your own backup of the ROM or if not the whole thing then the Vario extended ROM files at least. I'm using the k-jam ROM with the Vario Extended ROM.

Re: Charging over USB hopeless
hal said:
I confirm USB charging IS rubbish. The reason seems to be that the power available out of that conector on a PC is not enough to charge properly... I had the same issue with BA and Himalaya...
Answer: get a USB charger / car charger that can deliver 1A minimum.
BTW I found a craddle for the Wizard in Dubai @ Plugins. It comes with USB port/cable + power adapter. Works like a charme.
Cheers,
Hal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Is there any way to disable USB charging? I didn't connect USB very often since it will charge automatically and I don't like the battery be charged very often. It might kill battery soon. I like to sync with bluetooth; however it is much slower than USB. It's amazing if there is any tool to disable USB charging. Because it will sync fast and will not hurt the battery. Thanks for the suggestions in advance.
Cheers!
Michael

Re: Charging over USB hopeless
Michael Lin said:
Is there any way to disable USB charging? I didn't connect USB very often since it will charge automatically and I don't like the battery be charged very often. It might kill battery soon. I like to sync with bluetooth; however it is much slower than USB. It's amazing if there is any tool to disable USB charging. Because it will sync fast and will not hurt the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are thinking of older batteries such as Nicads. Topping up often does not hurt Lithium batteries, in fact it's better for them. Their main enemies are deep discharge and heat - and that's exactly what you're subjecting it to by letting it run flat, then charging for hours to get it back to max.

Re: Charging over USB hopeless
Ineedtoys said:
You are thinking of older batteries such as Nicads. Topping up often does not hurt Lithium batteries, in fact it's better for them. Their main enemies are deep discharge and heat - and that's exactly what you're subjecting it to by letting it run flat, then charging for hours to get it back to max.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear Ineedtoys,
Thanks for the reply. I understand that there is no so called "memory effect" on Lithium battery; however when I checked the battery spec, I always found that there is a "charging cycle limitation". For example, a specific battery claimed that it can be rechaged 10,000 times, then very USB charging will be counted also. It will reach 10,000 times faster. This is my concern. I don't know if this is right or wrong. Can somebody help to clarify this?
B. Rgds.,
Michael

Re: Charging over USB hopeless
Ineedtoys said:
You are thinking of older batteries such as Nicads. Topping up often does not hurt Lithium batteries, in fact it's better for them. Their main enemies are deep discharge and heat - and that's exactly what you're subjecting it to by letting it run flat, then charging for hours to get it back to max.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear Ineedtoys,
Thanks for the reply. I understand that there is no so called "memory effect" on Lithium battery; however when I checked the battery spec, I always found that there is a "charging cycle limitation". For example, a specific battery claimed that it can be rechaged 10,000 times, then very USB charging will be counted also. It will reach 10,000 times faster. This is my concern. I don't know if this is right or wrong. Can somebody help to clarify this?
B. Rgds.,
Michael

Re: Charging over USB hopeless
Michael Lin said:
Ineedtoys said:
You are thinking of older batteries such as Nicads. Topping up often does not hurt Lithium batteries, in fact it's better for them. Their main enemies are deep discharge and heat - and that's exactly what you're subjecting it to by letting it run flat, then charging for hours to get it back to max.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear Ineedtoys,
Thanks for the reply. I understand that there is no so called "memory effect" on Lithium battery; however when I checked the battery spec, I always found that there is a "charging cycle limitation". For example, a specific battery claimed that it can be rechaged 10,000 times, then very USB charging will be counted also. It will reach 10,000 times faster. This is my concern. I don't know if this is right or wrong. Can somebody help to clarify this?
B. Rgds.,
Michael
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's true. It's the same with Notebooks. The more you charge it, while it's in use, the faster the battery gets "killed"!

Re: Charging over USB hopeless
Michael Lin said:
Hi,
Is there any way to disable USB charging? I didn't connect USB very often since it will charge automatically and I don't like the battery be charged very often. It might kill battery soon. I like to sync with bluetooth; however it is much slower than USB. It's amazing if there is any tool to disable USB charging. Because it will sync fast and will not hurt the battery. Thanks for the suggestions in advance.
Cheers!
Michael
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Answer my own question.
I am quite sure that the USB charging can be disabled since I used to see the config on a HP device. I also believed that this can be done by 'registry' since it is Windows tradition. I finally found it after a short study. Please go to
HKLM\Drivers\BuiltIn\usbfndrv
and change the
EnableUsbCharging to '0'
then
soft reset => Bingo.
Hope it helps.
Michael

USB Fast Charging?

Came from a TP2 and I could charge via USB at around 900 mA using fast charge driver.
Since I am a complete Android n00b, and an EVO n00b I have two questions.
1. Are there any apps out there that can show you how fast the battery is charging and discharging? I had one called Battery Monitor in WM, and I want an Android version of that.
2. It appears that USB charging is quite slow. Can anyone confirm the speed at which this phone charges via a USB port?
3. Is there a way to make this faster?
TIA!!

1. Are there any apps out there that can show you how fast the battery is charging and discharging? I had one called Battery Monitor in WM, and I want an Android version of that.
2. It appears that USB charging is quite slow. Can anyone confirm the speed at which this phone charges via a USB port?
3. Is there a way to make this faster?
A 1. I don't believe there is one (someone correct me if wrong), but there are apps to monitor your battery percentage.
A 2. Not sure, shouldn't be too long, how long is it taking yours?
A 3. I don't believe so.

Hero's Hero said:
1. Are there any apps out there that can show you how fast the battery is charging and discharging? I had one called Battery Monitor in WM, and I want an Android version of that.
2. It appears that USB charging is quite slow. Can anyone confirm the speed at which this phone charges via a USB port?
3. Is there a way to make this faster?
A 1. I don't believe there is one (someone correct me if wrong), but there are apps to monitor your battery percentage.
A 2. Not sure, shouldn't be too long, how long is it taking yours?
A 3. I don't believe so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks...Not sure how long it takes as I havent had the phone too long. I know while plugged into my computer last night it wouldn't charge very well.

Computers have much lower power than a wall socket. If you want to charge the EVO fast use the wall plug. Anyone who uses a Mac and the wired keyboard should know what I am talking about.

Please search before posting...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=591041

A USB port provides 500ma of power, you can get micro USB cable that will Y off and plug into two USB ports, providing 1000ma of power.

Grims said:
A USB port provides 500ma of power, you can get micro USB cable that will Y off and plug into two USB ports, providing 1000ma of power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every computer I owned charged my TP2 at around 800-900 mA as long as the fast charge driver was on the phone.
So I know for a fact that it's possible. It's limited by the phone, not the USB port. Appreciate the reply, but did you read Negrito's link?
And Negrito, I did search... This forum.... No hits. I see the link you provided was in the Hero forum. I didn't realize that the fast charge USB issue was affecting other Android phones as this is my first.

supdawg said:
And Negrito, I did search... This forum.... No hits. I see the link you provided was in the Hero forum. I didn't realize that the fast charge USB issue was affecting other Android phones as this is my first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My bad broseph, totally forgot im still subscribed to Hero threads. I just switched to the Evo Launch day.
Its not really an issue per se as that's how all phones normally operate. On WinMo we just got spoiled my No2Chems hack. Anyone know if No2Chem made the jump to Android?
I have seen a lot of familiar names on the Evo forum, like OMJ, and Caulkin!!! I cant wait until someone comes up with an untethered root option and how to bypass the NAND cause I know the ROMs are just going to be simply amazing.

Was digging around in the custom menus, can't remember which one, but one of the ones that you type ##numbers# and enter your MSL and there was a check box for USB charging. Mine was unchecked for some reason. I left it alone but wonder if that makes a difference?

I've tested a few charging scenarios and can tell you that using a wall charger that outputs 1000 ma will help speed up the charge.
These from Monoprice work very well:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10311&cs_id=1031106&p_id=6767&seq=1&format=2
want the same thing for the car?
try this one.
Here's the link to a micro usb cable at monoprice for $1.20.
There's a nice Rosewill 4 port charger, that will output 2000 ma IF you have only one device plugged in. With two devices plugged in, it falls back to 1000 ma (still really good). I have this in the kitchen for the kids to jack their various usb things in for charging.
The thing to remember is that the phone will pull as much as it can (most recent phones can pull between 750 and 1000 ma.) What will cause it to charge slower is not usually a software setting, it's having a port that will only put out 500 ma or less...which is what many computers output.
Sean

there is an option in settings /devolopment for usb charging doesnt ssy what it does though

I don't think mine has taken more than 4-5 hours to fully charge and signal strength isn't the greatest at my house so that probably has an impact on it as well... I've no idea if that's normal for a smartphone or if it's considered slow, I don't think my Sony Ericsson feature phone was any faster but the battery indicator on that thing was wildly inaccurate anyway.
My EVO seems to charge just as fast w/the included HTC adapter as with a generic Philips one I had, as well as one of those retractable cables. I was afraid that cable wouldn't be very well shielded and it wouldn't charge right but it seems fine, I'll only be using it when I travel anyway.

Negrito said:
My bad broseph, totally forgot im still subscribed to Hero threads. I just switched to the Evo Launch day.
Its not really an issue per se as that's how all phones normally operate. On WinMo we just got spoiled my No2Chems hack. Anyone know if No2Chem made the jump to Android?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No one has seen nor heard from No2Chem in months... Some people think he may have died

I could charge my Touch Pro 2 in about an hour or two using a standard usb plug on any computer I owned.
Might I add the Touch Pro 2 and the EVO share the same identical battery. The EVO obviously draws more current..... I found while using my EVO while plugged into a computer, it barely charges at all. My guess is its discharging while charging at a very similar rate.

Contrary to what most of you are saying, the ma rating of the charger really makes no difference as the phone (and prior htc phones) will pull <500ma if they detect they are plugged into a computer or non-official charger and 1a if they detect an htc charger (which can even damage 500ma chargers). The way this is detected is through grounding of one of the microusb pins in the official charger (and indeed many generic chargers but not all will be detected this way). Absent this grounding (I forget which pin), it will charge at a slower speed. I know of cheap 500ma chargers which have been caused to smoke by attaching a cable with that grounding fooling the phone into thinking it is an oem charger. Many chargers labeled 1a will charge at the 500ma rate as well.
Also, modern computers are fully capable of outputting 1a of power through the usb port. While the spec indeed is 500ma, with a proper cable (or the fastcharge driver for windows mobile), you can force a 1a power draw without any issues. Cheap usb hubs or cheap usb power ports may run into issues.
I'd love to see a solution for android but I don't think one exists.

Actually the HTC battery Widget will show you if you are on AC (1A) or USB (500ma) charge. You can get this widget from the market (not sure why it is not included in the phone in the first place).
I think that the grounding pin is likely the trick and I will be searching the web to see if I can locate it. I have an older battery pack from APC that can output 1.6A but the only way to get the EVO to charge as if it was on "AC" is to use the HTC plug, and then quickly, before the charge light goes out switch to my alternate source. This seems to trick the EVO into thinking that it is still plugged in to the official charger.
This is of course trickier with my car charger, which has been very frustrating - using the phone for navigation and plugged in via usb usually has the battery draining rather than charging!
I wish there was an easy way to fix this, my old phones always attempted to pull as much current as they needed.

My friend uses a 2A charger for his HTC touch pro 2, and it uses the same battery as the EVO if u guys didnt know.
i havent tried it on my evo, but being its from htc too (and uses the same battery)... id expect it to work with that much current.
I currently use a 900mA one in my car, and i do notice that if i use something less than that i tend to get feedback from the audio jack that connects to my cassette player

Found a discussion on this on the android forums relating to the HTC Desire:
<Too new of a user, system won't let me post the link>
I opened a car charger and shorted pins 2 and 3, and the phone did show charging over AC (2 and 3 are the data pins, 1 & 2 are power). My multimeter was acting up, so I am not sure whether the EVO is actually pulling more current - it does appear to be charging faster.
If you try this make sure of 2 things:
1. You charger is capable of 1A.
2. If you choose to short the pins on a USB cable make sure this cable never gets plugged in to your PC.

Rennat said:
Computers have much lower power than a wall socket. If you want to charge the EVO fast use the wall plug. Anyone who uses a Mac and the wired keyboard should know what I am talking about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know what you mean! Haha

supdawg said:
Came from a TP2 and I could charge via USB at around 900 mA using fast charge driver.
Since I am a complete Android n00b, and an EVO n00b I have two questions.
1. Are there any apps out there that can show you how fast the battery is charging and discharging? I had one called Battery Monitor in WM, and I want an Android version of that.
2. It appears that USB charging is quite slow. Can anyone confirm the speed at which this phone charges via a USB port?
3. Is there a way to make this faster?
TIA!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For your Q #1 search the market for Battery Indicator, great simple app that gives you a battery percentage and how long you have been plugged in or unplugged.

Fix for battery drain when connected to PC

I'm not sure if this has been noted elsewhere but I couldn't find it if it was.
I ran into the problem yesterday in which my HD2 running WP7 would drain the battery if connected to the PC USB port instead of charging it. This was the first time my phone had done this and restarting the phone and switching USB ports did not result in any difference.
On a whim I decided to look in my device manager and there was an unknown device listed there. I selected it and had is search for and install the drivers and now it listed as USB Composite Device. Once that was done, the phone charged as normal.

jaxjaguar said:
I'm not sure if this has been noted elsewhere but I couldn't find it if it was.
I ran into the problem yesterday in which my HD2 running WP7 would drain the battery if connected to the PC USB port instead of charging it. This was the first time my phone had done this and restarting the phone and switching USB ports did not result in any difference.
On a whim I decided to look in my device manager and there was an unknown device listed there. I selected it and had is search for and install the drivers and now it listed as USB Composite Device. Once that was done, the phone charged as normal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone's listed as Windows Phone USB, which i think is cool, but stll not enough!
Charging takes hours...

stealth21 said:
My phone's listed as Windows Phone USB, which i think is cool, but stll not enough!
Charging takes hours...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that depends on the charging source.
if you use a laptop you will only be getting 200-300mA of current, a normal PC USB port will give you around 500mA, the wall charger will give you 1A (1000mA)
Now its not as simple as that as the device uses some of that power for working as we cant charge whilst off, so knock 100mA off it if the screen is on, on standby it'll be minimal so forget that.
1A charger should get you charged in ~1.5 hours
PC will double it to ~2.5 hours, some PCs do have 1000mA ports so say ~1.5-2.5 hours)
laptop could be ~4-6 hours (some laptops do have 500mA ports so say ~2.5-6 hours)
note you can get 2A quick chargers (~35min-45min, but i would be very careful with those an can ultimately lead to a shorter life span of the battery

dazza9075 said:
that depends on the charging source.
if you use a laptop you will only be getting 200-300mA of current, a normal PC USB port will give you around 500mA, the wall charger will give you 1A (1000mA)
Now its not as simple as that as the device uses some of that power for working as we cant charge whilst off, so knock 100mA off it if the screen is on, on standby it'll be minimal so forget that.
1A charger should get you charged in ~1.5 hours
PC will double it to ~2.5 hours, some PCs do have 1000mA ports so say ~1.5-2.5 hours)
laptop could be ~4-6 hours (some laptops do have 500mA ports so say ~2.5-6 hours)
note you can get 2A quick chargers (~35min-45min, but i would be very careful with those an can ultimately lead to a shorter life span of the battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for quick reply, i tried computer it took so long..
Although I'm using wall charger nowadays it takes more then 3-4 hours. Theres something wrong, When i had winmo6.5 the device was fully charged in 2.5 hours...

stealth21 said:
Thanks for quick reply, i tried computer it took so long..
Although I'm using wall charger nowadays it takes more then 3-4 hours. Theres something wrong, When i had winmo6.5 the device was fully charged in 2.5 hours...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah that doesnt sound right, the battery its self is only 1230mA, the wall charger is 1000mA on standby within WP it should draw any more than 10mA but lets say 100mA on the extreme side, that gives you a net gain of 900mA every hour which is like 1 hour 20min.
I assume its the 1A charger that came with the device? check the adaptor and see what the current output is listed as
according to your figure of 3 hour charge time ( again, assuming from flat) that means its dumping around 400mA in to the battery an hour. That means one of two things
Firstly that your device is using an incredible 600mAh, that would be toasty and is unlikely!
Secondly, the charger isnt putting out 1000mA, more likely 500mA or 300mA
I suppose there is a third option, something gone wrong in the device its self, i cant think why it would tho, try running it near flat, restart it, make a note of the battery level then restarting again (you restart twice because WP on the HD2 has battery reporting issues) hold down the VOL down button on reboot which will take you in to the bootloader.
plug in the charger and leave for half hour, go back to windows and look at battery (remember to set the clock properly again!)
if the charger is 500mA it will have only charged to just less than 1/3
if its 1A it will be just less than 2/3 maybe half
the point of doing it in the bootloader is that you rule out WP and its dodgy drivers and will help to narrow down the problem

Check charge current in Battery tool apps. Battery current - positive figures are charging current.negative discharge.
To get high charging current(more than 200 ma) from power suply(wall or car) usb data lines must be shorted(fast charging mode). On ploperly made power supplies usb data shorted and phone can suck high current(700-800ma normaly not more).
Even if on charger written 1000ma it doesn't mean phone wil take all. what is written on charger - it is max allowed.

zcdg said:
Check charge current in Battery tool apps. Battery current - positive figures are charging current.negative discharge.
To get high charging current(more than 200 ma) from power suply(wall or car) usb data lines must be shorted(fast charging mode). On ploperly made power supplies usb data shorted and phone can suck high current(700-800ma normaly not more).
Even if on charger written 1000ma it doesn't mean phone wil take all. what is written on charger - it is max allowed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed, although from my own tests it draws around 900mA, there is a large number of variables including power fluctuations on a dirty line regulated supplies, state of the battery, etc, its safe to play with estimates I think in this case without overcomplicating things, but the fact remains, on a wall charger that comes with the HD2 it should fully charge in around 1.5 hours unless it is not the same charger or something is wrong with it.

dazza9075 said:
Indeed, although from my own tests it draws around 900mA, there is a large number of variables including power fluctuations on a dirty line regulated supplies, state of the battery, etc, its safe to play with estimates I think in this case without overcomplicating things, but the fact remains, on a wall charger that comes with the HD2 it should fully charge in around 1.5 hours unless it is not the same charger or something is wrong with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, with correct wall or car charger it charges in about 1.5 hours from almost empty to full.

Extreme difference between charging on pc and charger

I can't remember if this has been happening before, but when I have the HD2 conncted to a computer it takes forever to charge. Maybe 1 % per 10 or 15 minutes! Charging on the regular charger is so many times faster. Mybe 1 % per minute or so. This can't be right, can it? I have the same problem on my HD2 and my wife's HD2. They both are using the same ROM (ironically it's the Energy Max Sense ROM...). Is it possible that the ROm is the culprit? They both have quite new original batteries.

USB port supplies less than half the "oomph" of the wall charger. USB charging will run about 300mAh while wall charger will supply about 800mAh
Also, older PC power supplies and older USB 1 sockets may provide even less, depending on what other devices are in/on your machine drawing power.

Yes, thanks. I know that. But that shouldn't accord for an at least 10 time slower charge. And I know that they weren't like this before, but I can't remember how long before. And I have no idea if it can be the radio ROM, the regular ROM or what.

I use energy ROM but older 23699 & see no issues on USB charge rate but yours does seem rather long, what status is the device in when USB connected & is screen off !

Also, keep in mind that the rate of charging goes down as the battery level approaches 100%. So maybe u r comparing charging rates measured over different regions of the curve, i.e. observing the rate with usb charging when the battery is around 90% will be drastically different from the reading observed with wall charging when the battery is at 10%.
Sent from my HD2

Mastiff said:
I can't remember if this has been happening before, but when I have the HD2 conncted to a computer it takes forever to charge. Maybe 1 % per 10 or 15 minutes! Charging on the regular charger is so many times faster. Mybe 1 % per minute or so. This can't be right, can it? I have the same problem on my HD2 and my wife's HD2. They both are using the same ROM (ironically it's the Energy Max Sense ROM...). Is it possible that the ROm is the culprit? They both have quite new original batteries.
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if youre running windows 6.5 the quickest way is to turn the phone off then charge
or get a cheap chinese battery charger 6 dollars and a spare chinese battery extended around 10 bucks with 2400 mah double the juice i got a couple of those i never charge my phone anymore lol

Mister B, I have tried with the phone both on and off. But I really need to keep the phone on because I get a lot of work mail and SMS that I need to keep an eye on. Also I don't think I had problems with earlier versions of Energy, I may have to try to go back and see if it's the ROM.
ASCIIker, no. The problem isn't the final bit of the charge. If I put it in when it's around 30 % it almost won't charge at all. If anything it looks like the phone is getting a better charge when it's close to 100 %.
Casemandan, I have a charger like that you describe, but I do a lot of driving with TomTom, and even though I did change battery on the run yesterday it's not something I would recommend...
Btw I have the same problem in the car, with a combined charger/battery charger cradle that I have put there. The red/orange charging light is on, but it goes slowly down instead of charging. But I'm wondering if that is because the car charger is connected to a mini USB in the cradle, not to the micro USB. I have to try that.

I don't have mine connected for much time via USB to PC but when do & have left on charge rate seems acceptable, could be ROM as I found a few issues with newer builds.
As for car charger the low rate will be down to the power adaptor unit being recognised as USB charge not AC charge.
If the Power adaptor you are using can feed 800mA<>1000mA then modding it by bridging data leads so handset goes to AC charging rate is the way forward. Use tbattery to see what current charge mode is.
You may be able to buy car charger already set for AC charge (have a browse in HD2 accessories forum) but I use an old USB 1000mA Ericsson adaptor I bridged for AC charge mode.
Like you say testing charge direct in car is a good idea as many of the phone/battery charger cradles output pathetic charge current.

Well, it's not the ROM. I tried an original ROM and had the same problems. I need to see if there is something wrong with my cradle. I do have a charger that should do what you describe, but when it's plugged into the cradle in the car it doesn't. I'll try to connect it to the micro USB instead of the mini USB and see if that matters.

Phone doesnt reliably charge when connected to PC

Anyone else notice the phone randomly doesnt charge when plugging it into the computer?
The battery will say charging, the lock screen will say charging, but the battery screen will say not charging and the graph will show a green charging line but draining battery. Replugging the phone in fixes it. I havent had an issue with the wall charger.
Theres nothing wrong with the USB ports, it charged my other phone fine and it charges this phone when it works.

my N4 charges fast when I plug it to my laptop. I connect it to my USB 3.0 port..

PCs aren't designed to charge phones. It may work for a dumbphone with a 500 mAh battery, but it doesn't have the amperage to charge a smartphone efficiently. The charging adapter that comes with the phone is 1200 mA (milliamps), a computer USB port only provides 500 mA (on USB 2.0). On USB 3.0, it provides 900 mA, so it will charge faster, but not nearly as fast still as the 1.2 amp travel adapter.
On top of this, the phone is constantly using battery power while on, so it is very likely that when the screen is on and you are using the phone plugged into the computer, the phone is drawing power faster than the computer is charging it.

MusicMan374 said:
PCs aren't designed to charge phones. It may work for a dumbphone with a 500 mAh battery, but it doesn't have the amperage to charge a smartphone efficiently. The charging adapter that comes with the phone is 1200 mA (milliamps), a computer USB port only provides 500 mA (on USB 2.0). On USB 3.0, it provides 900 mA, so it will charge faster, but not nearly as fast still as the 1.2 amp travel adapter.
On top of this, the phone is constantly using battery power while on, so it is very likely that when the screen is on and you are using the phone plugged into the computer, the phone is drawing power faster than the computer is charging it.
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That is not what Im talking about. It says charging everywhere except the battery screen where it says not charging, that is obviously a bug. A computer can power a phone fine anyways, they are made to be powered by a USB port.

idividebyzero said:
That is not what Im talking about. It says charging everywhere except the battery screen where it says not charging, that is obviously a bug. A computer can power a phone fine anyways, they are made to be powered by a USB port.
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Mine says charging and shows charge icon when connected via USB

idividebyzero said:
That is not what Im talking about. It says charging everywhere except the battery screen where it says not charging, that is obviously a bug. A computer can power a phone fine anyways, they are made to be powered by a USB port.
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I had this problem today. The battery was dying fast (Average for this one) and I had popped it into my stereos USB, The battery didn't show the charging sign.
WTF? So I switched to the "Cigarette lighter port" and with a different cable plugged that in. No go. Held in the power button to simulate a battery pull, Still didnt work.
Turned it off, Went back to work and three hours later getting ready to drive home i plugged it in. The phone was getting warm, But the battery charging sign never popped up. I turned it on and the left side (By the sim card) was getting ultra-hot but betterbatterystats said the battery was only feeling at around 101degrees (Normal for this small sun). A minute later it was highly uncomfortable to hold (Just near the sim card area), I thought the battery was going to catch on fire like those youtube videos.
I power cycled once again, the battery charging sign popped up and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Seconds later the phone ****ing flipped its wig, It kept making the charger plugged in sound and vibrate every half second. I about had a stroke, Thinking it's going critical. ONE MORE POWER CYCLE, Everything is normal.
My earlier experience seemed similar to yours OP, Let me know if your phone melts your hand off and goes all bi-polar like mine did.

I'm having the same problem. It has nothing to do with a computer not being powerful enough to charge it, especially when they aren't even being used such as overnight. It has charged every other smartphone that I've used. It will say that it is charging on the lockscreen and on the settings pulldown but it will just constantly drain battery. I will put it on the charger before bed and wake up 8 hours later and it says it is at 86% with a steady decline in battery. This only happens when connected to my iMac and not when plugged into a wall outlet.

I wouldn't think USB 3.0 improves the charging speed at all, since the protocol still uses USB 2.0

I just remove all the cables and replace them. It seems to solve it.
Same with the AC adapter. I noticed sometime it would say charging USB when I switched. I just unplug everything and plug it back in and it goes back to normal.
/shrug

I havent noticed it getting warm, it just doesnt charge even though it knows its plugged in and is supposed to be charging. It works after replugging it in.
It also seems to charge abnormally slowly.
I wonder if the issue with the phone not working right with Nokia chargers (constantly disconnects and reconnects) is related to this. It may not have anything to do with the Qi standard because the phone just doesnt charge right period.