Database Users

battery drain with car usb and gps

Hi
Using today the phone @ 100% brightness with car charger connected and using Sygic / Copilot, I see that my device can't not even charge at the same time that I am using it, but maintain their % of battery. Even with the charger the phone drains battery.
WTF samsung, So i cant make a long travel without running out of battery?
Anyone more with this problem?
PS: My HD2, HD, TyTN2, etc doesn't have this problem with the same car charger, they even charge at the same time.

What's the rating on your charger? I had to swap mine out for a 1A one in order to cope with GPS use in the car. Haven't had a problem since then.
I suspect the one you're using is 750mA or even potentially 500.

I have just had the same problem. I knew i needed a higher amp charger but i thought i would give it a try. The one i used is 650mA, so that's definitely not large enough. The normal 'house' charger is 0.7A (700mA) so in theory that size or above should charge whilst the S2 is being used.

I have a 1200 mA usb adapter for car (a sony ericsson, very very slim one) and I have no issues. You need a decent amount of power for that phone so 650mA will not do, have at least 1000.
http://www.nextag.com/Sony-Ericsson-AN400-Compact-853915153/specs-html
Not sure if this is the exact model but I found it to be the best because it's slim and there is nothing sticking out of the car socket, has a lot of power and I can power any usb device with it.

padlad said:
I have just had the same problem. I knew i needed a higher amp charger but i thought i would give it a try. The one i used is 650mA, so that's definitely not large enough. The normal 'house' charger is 0.7A (700mA) so in theory that size or above should charge whilst the S2 is being used.
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Yest but probably you hava a chinese charger. The rating on it is never near the real one.

oh, I see, crappy charger, ill change then thanks guys

TomTom recently released a high speed multi charger. I replaced my old car charger with this one as I had a similar slow charge problem. Never had a problem ever since. All my weapons are always fully loaded with enough power! Expensive though!
http://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/product...-cables/high-speed-multi-charger-9UUC.001.04/

If someone is using a cheap higher-powered mains adaptor without issue, could you please post a (UK) link? Also if anyone knows of a cheaper alternative to the £20 car charger that would be great too!

I had same problem.I bought Samsung charger and no problem after
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

2.1 Amp TomTom charger is way too much for this device. Samsung wall charger is only rated at 750mA, but someone even found out that in source level Samsung has limited the power current at only 650mA.
With 1 Amp (1000mA) top quality car charger, the phone lost charge while using Navigation on full brightness.
Very slow charging in general for this phone.

shawt said:
I had same problem.I bought Samsung charger and no problem after
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
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Same here

Mittaa said:
Same here
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Can you provide a link? I'd like to get one

I bought mine on eBay for £6.Just search "genuine samsung car charger"
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

I bought today a Belking car charger of 2.1amps and suprise!, same problem battery drain.
Can be maybe the car? I doubt it, any idea?
http://www.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=525940

When you have the car charger plugged into the phone go into Settings/About phone/Status & look at "Battery status"; it should tell you if the phone thinks it's plugged into a USB port (in which case the phone will draw only 450 mA) or an AC charger (from which the phone will draw 650 mA). These limits are built into the Samsung ROM, presumably to keep the phone cool and/or extend the battery's lifespan. They could be overridden (especially the AC charger current limit) in a custom ROM.
Absent a custom ROM, if the Status display says you're connected to a USB port, you could try a different charger, or connecting USB pins 2 & 3 (the two center pins on the USB A connector) together. That's how the phone decides if it's connected to a USB port or AC charger -- the low-resistance (less than 200 ohm) connection between the two USB data pins is the key. The spec calls for 200 ohms resistance between the data pins, but some of the low-end high current chargers I've seen just have a direct short.
If that doesn't work, or if the Status display says you're charging off AC, then try some of the other battery-life tricks documented here in the forums; they should reduce the device's draw from the battery, allowing the charger to do its job.

Wow, this is kind of disappointing i have to say. I have noticed the USB charging is incredibly slow. You can't ever rely on it, i think it would take close to 5 hrs to fully charge from USB, that's insane! By mains it's somewhere between 2 and 3, but that's still way too high.
I take it if you buy a higher-powered mains adaptor (not one for the car) then we'd definitely get the benefits of a faster charge? Can someone post a link to one they are using and know works faster that the stock one?
Cheers

I ll try ur tricks guyz.
for the time being this is my situation (and it sux):
-car charger 1A 5v
-slow chargin and hot device
-using navigator equals : phone burns, drains battery and in the worst scenario freezes
yesterday I received a call while phone plugged into car charger with navigator session. wot happened is phone freezed (screen didnt switch off) and I saw PROXIMITY SENSOR WAS RED!

shawt said:
I had same problem.I bought Samsung charger and no problem after
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
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The first post got me worried for a while, but this info has put me back to ease. Pre-ordered the GS2 (India) and getting the original Samsung charger along as a freebie.

Yeah, i have simelar experience with the samsung s2 in my car.
Its eating the battery even when its plugged in and i think i have a good charger..
I found 1 solution.. I use now copilot, you can set different setting to disable the screen automatically when you drive a straigt forward for some kilometres, only when you need to turn it comes up again.
thats how i set it and it loads a little, but bad anyway.
Maybe thats what the + means in Super Amoled + (+batteryusage)

(•.•) said:
Maybe thats what the + means in Super Amoled + (+batteryusage)
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nexus S didnt have such a problems. it's only around how samsung managed chipset.
I ll try to set cpu downclock while temperature goes over 40..

Chargers

Any risk in using a different charger than the original samsung one to charge the sgs2?
I use a combination of blackberry charger at work, universal micro usb charger downstairs at home, universal car charger and official charger upstairs.
Any concerns with this?

I've been doing that for ages. I use the droid, SE x10 and iPhone chargers with no issue.
As always YMMV

I am using htc's charger which has a higher rating than samsung charger. No problem at all...
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

I use a Sony charger to charge my S2 , I have not even removed the Samsung one from the box , As long as you use a branded charger will be fine.

I've tried to use Nokia's 1200 mA charger, It did charge the phone but whenever i connected that charger the phone would slow down terribly. So, whatever you use, try to keep it around Samsung's charger's 700 mA.

Ive found that the standard charger is rubbish! I had my galaxy s 4 month and it broke, my wifes galaxy 3 did same and now i dont even bother with the one out the box, just use the usb cable and the adapter i got with my tab.
Sent from my SGS2 via XDA App

[email protected] said:
Ive found that the standard charger is rubbish! I had my galaxy s 4 month and it broke, my wifes galaxy 3 did same and now i dont even bother with the one out the box, just use the usb cable and the adapter i got with my tab.
Sent from my SGS2 via XDA App
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Absolutely right...my phone is about 1 month old..and the official samsung charger is already broken..not charging anymore..i guess there is an internal wire breakage at the flexible point of the charger becoz when i shake the wire at that point it starts charging intermittently..
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

I use my Kindle charger any micro usb charger will be fine.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

iznee said:
Absolutely right...my phone is about 1 month old..and the official samsung charger is already broken..not charging anymore..i guess there is an internal wire breakage at the flexible point of the charger becoz when i shake the wire at that point it starts charging intermittently..
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
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Same here. I tried all sorts to get it to work with no joy. I now have 3 duff samsung chargers that are potentially a fire hazard if left plugged in! Tempted to email samsung and raise this concern.
Sent from my SGS2 via XDA App

At home I use a Lenmar AC-to-USB 1A charger I picked up at Fry's for around $10; in the car I use a 1A Cygnett 12V-to-USB charger, also from Fry's. Both charge the device at least as well as the OEM AC charger; the car charger appears to charge the SGS2 even when I'm running CoPilot Live.

I use the iGO charge anywhere.
It's a tad pricey, but since the GS2 battery life isn't great (my only complaint on the phone), the charger is great for it since it has an internal battery that charges up when you put it in an outlet so you can charge the phone without needing an outlet. Great for in school or walking around, just put it in my bag and press the button and it charges.

I'm using my BlackBerry charger with no issues, I just do it for convenience as the charging time is the same as the standard charger.

Cheers for the replies, you have put my worried little mind at ease!

daz_2000 said:
Cheers for the replies, you have put my worried little mind at ease!
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+1 .Just used the charger from a different brand and no bad feelings while using it

well, i just emailed samsung raising my concerns regarding the faulty chargers... see what they come back with....

Guys have you noticed any change in response when we plug in another charger?
I have been using the HTC charger, 200 mA (input), Output 5V --> 1A.
Whenever i connect my phone to charge and try to work on it, i see my screen lag terribly. Haven't tried it with the supplied charger though due to the low voltage that came with it.
I know i would be wrong, but wanted to check with the experts on this forum...

maddesire said:
Guys have you noticed any change in response when we plug in another charger?
I have been using the HTC charger, 200 mA (input), Output 5V --> 1A.
Whenever i connect my phone to charge and try to work on it, i see my screen lag terribly. Haven't tried it with the supplied charger though due to the low voltage that came with it.
I know i would be wrong, but wanted to check with the experts on this forum...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i am using the htc charger that came with the desire hd...no issues what so ever...screen response while charging is the same on or off the charger.

maddesire said:
Guys have you noticed any change in response when we plug in another charger?
I have been using the HTC charger, 200 mA (input), Output 5V --> 1A.
Whenever i connect my phone to charge and try to work on it, i see my screen lag terribly. Haven't tried it with the supplied charger though due to the low voltage that came with it.
I know i would be wrong, but wanted to check with the experts on this forum...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
200ma is way low, less than half the 500 ma usb standard. Get a new charger. Most of the chargers you are going to see will be 500 ma I would go with double that.

Some (bad?) chargers will disable touchscreen
I have a couple of usb-chargers off ebay and they give some trouble.
When connected, the touchscreen will not work anymore.
This is mentioned in the manual btw.
Guess the SII is a little sensitive.

Yeah, ebay chargers are a crapshoot. Head to walmart or similar and read the power specs, get something that puts out 5v at 1A LPS. This will charge much faster than the often usb based standard 500 mA chargers and the battery will not be harmed at that charging level which is what many stock HTC chargers put out nowdays. Do not get anything less than 500mA, this is the usb standard and works but will be slower to charge. El Cheapo no name chargers on ebay and such may have the spec but may or may not actually put out the juice. You can usually tell this because the phone will have problems like the ones mentioned right here. The stock charger does not put out any special juice, juice is juice. If a charger puts out to spec the phone will work while charging.

Car chargers..

i know this has probably been asked 28934832 times, and i just spent an hour reading through the phandroid inc forums about these, but here's my question...
so i had an eris before this with the stock HTC mini usb car charger. it would charge as AC, not USB. so when i got the INC, i bought a little adapter from radio shack. on my INC, it would charge as USB...which i guess the adapter messed with the current somehow, which sucks bc it took forever to charge.
then i found my OLD aftermarket ebay cheapo 2 dollar retractable micro USB car charger that i used with my LG Env Touch. i plugged it in, and wa-la! it was AC! i was like, holy damn, that's awesome. thing is, it seems to still charge slow as hell for AC, almost as slow as USB, maybe a little quicker, but slower than charging from my wall.
so my question is, can you still show AC and not charge as fast as the wall outlet would?

Ive been told that cars electric systems can send spikes of current through the charger that could fry the battery. I had a LG Ally that i would charge in the car but it was more like a trickle charge where the wall would charge it fast. When i bought my Dinc, i didnt buy a car charger. Not sure if the response helps any.
Sent from my Hybrid using XDA Premium App

so i did some testing and came up with this:
on the wall charging in the house, going up a percent took about 53 seconds
in my truck using the charger that shows A/C, it took about 1min33sec
in my truck using an HTC car charger with a mini-to-micro usb adapter (which shows as USB in the menu), it took 3 minutes 22 seconds just to go up 1 percent
so no matter what, it's slower than inside...hmm

Thats true,and if could guess, i would guess its the difference between 12 volts vs. 120 volts.
Sent from my Hybrid using XDA Premium App

Actually, I think the count is 28934841...
Do the chargers you use in your vehicles indicate their output? A higher value means, on average, quicker recharging. I've seen chargers as low as 250 mA, many at 500 mA (half an amp), a few at 700 mA, quite a few at 1A, and a rare one that puts out 2A (meant for iPads).
Personally, I need one that puts out at least 1A because then I can charge my phone up while I'm using navigation. Anything less and my phone slowly discharges completely (and gets REALLY hot in the meantime).
This is the one I use:
https://store.griffintechnology.com/powerjolt-dual-universal-micro

damn, 20 bucks for a charger....ugh.
the charger i use doesn't indicate ANYWHERE on it what it is, which sucks. my stock HTC one says it's the 1a, but that stupid usb adapter must cut that in half and make it charg slow, which sucks. i need to find a 1a guy somewhere
hmm...i use a car lighter adapter thing that i plug in that has 3 slots for stuff..so like i can use my GPS adapter, a charger, and something else at the same time. it's like an adapter extender. it also has a USB port in it..i wonder if that USB port will put out 1a like the one you showed above..? i didn't even think to try that

I got mine from Wal-Mart for $12.88 plus tax.
There are other 1A chargers out there. Just try a few and return the ones that don't work well enough. But first, check into the one you have...
Sent from my CM7 ADR6300 using XDA App

I usually power off my phone completely and charge it if I'm on the go... Ridiculously fast charging that way

GPS & bluetooth + charger =no charge

While traveling I was using the gps (coPilot) with my bluetooth on, (just for calls) and was getting low on battery!
So... Naturally I plugged in the charger! Guess what! Battery drained nonetheless!
Has anyone else seen this? I have the screen brightness to the lowest setting... But to no avail!
I apologize if it's been covered before, but just looking to see if anyone else had this issue and any suggestions on making that battery not run down while plugged in!
Thanks everyone! Oh, and yes I have a second battery for these occasions!
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App

Yes. covered before and many people see this. May be worth tying a 1amp or higher charger.

Also, if the phone gets too hot, it will stop charging.

I have the same thing... Its just don't charge however it maintain the battery at whatever level it was.. This is simply fixed by getting a higher amp charger

Thanks everyone will get a higher amp charger...
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App

I m having the same prob
Sent from my SGH-I717M using xda premium

same as mine when using the apps to watch movie。
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Are any of you guys with problems using the Samsung Cardock , or
are those chargers "random" chargers of other phones ?

my official samsung charger that came with it has decided to pack in after a month of use, it no longer charges at the rate it used to of about 24% an hour and im lucky to get about 5% an hour now. I've tried my old hd2 charger (same 5v 1a output) and it charges without any issues
samung make crap chargers

That's what I think the issue is, I'm using a generic charger and it's not pushing enough juice!
Gonna pick up another charger soon and report back.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App

I got a 1A car charger with my mount which works ok (cheapo chinese says 1A). I think any car charger with a USB slot which says 'Ipad' would work better, IIRC the ipad needs ~2.2A so it would have plenty of juice.

I've got various car chargers, one at 850mA, one at 1A and one at 2.1A. None of them charge the Note while using sat nav (Copilot) even using night mode (dark backgrounds to maps) and dimming the backlight in between junctions. I've tried the USB lead that came with the Note and a lead from another phone. No improvement.
The phone shows Charging AC because I have the central pins shorted on the chargers, but even that is not enough. I'm thinking the only solution is to buy a proper Samsung charger, which might have some other trick up its sleeve for getting the Note to draw sufficient current.

I have just switched from using co pilot to another satnav app and the phone now charges faster. I knew co pilot was juice hungry. ...
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[Q] Vehicle Charging

Any idea why I can't seem to get the phone to actually charge in a vehicle while I am using Google Maps/Navigation or even just Spotify. I tried turning the brightness way down (can't read it), and tried turning Fast Charge on via Toggle. What does Fast Charge do anyway?
I am using a good 2.1A vehicle charger with a good USB cable. Is this normal even for stock ROM? I do know signal strength has a say in that. I just did 6 hours of driving and my battery dropped from 100% down to 60% by the end of the trip. I know it's more than not having it plugged in..
I am currently on AOKP ROM Milestone 2.

Im on a s3 with a s4 rom chaos latest same problem ! Get hot battery as well seems to even out if blue tooth is off its a 4.2.2 problem /glitch
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

You guys may have weak batteries. I had a bad battery right out the box. While charging in the car, my battery level would drop rather than rise. I took the battery back to the Sprint store where I bought the phone and they load tested the battery and said that it was bad (they have a special load tester for phone batteries). They gave me a new battery out of another, brand-new S4 box. One of the advantages of buying stuff in a store is getting better service (not always, but usually).

Seems strange.. I plan on getting a spare OEM battery anyway. I guess I'll try another battery and see what happens. Got the phone @ Best Buy.

I just did a test out of curiosity. I left my house and my battery was at 58%. I plugged it into my car charger and turned on gps navigation and played music. Twenty minutes later I was at 70%. I am using my stock odexed mf9 with all of my mods.
What is this fast charge toggle?
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4

You need to get a 2 amp car charger. The white samsung block that comes with the S4 and note 2 use 2 amps vs the 1 amp charger that you prob have in the car. If you use any applications that draw a lot of battery, the 1 amp charger will basically keep the battery elevated, when I am watching a youtube my battery does not "charge" and if it does it charges very very slowly on a 1 amp charger. Most places that sell chargers will have a 1 amp charger so you need to look for 2 amps or "rapid" charger, which are most likely 2 amp chargers. Just make sure it's from a credible manufacturer as well, that ebay **** will allow spikes from your vehicles charging system and decrease battery life.

mista_k said:
You need to get a 2 amp car charger. The white samsung block that comes with the S4 and note 2 use 2 amps vs the 1 amp charger that you prob have in the car. If you use any applications that draw a lot of battery, the 1 amp charger will basically keep the battery elevated, when I am watching a youtube my battery does not "charge" and if it does it charges very very slowly on a 1 amp charger. Most places that sell chargers will have a 1 amp charger so you need to look for 2 amps or "rapid" charger, which are most likely 2 amp chargers. Just make sure it's from a credible manufacturer as well, that ebay **** will allow spikes from your vehicles charging system and decrease battery life.
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Like he said, a quality charger is the key, and the problem with most car chargers are they aren't wired correctly. When the charger communicates to the phone it will appear as a usb charger and then the phone will only charge at .5 amps because it thinks its charging from a usb port instead of a charger. There are mods out there to mod the chargers so the phone thinks its connected to a wall charger and will charge much faster.

I was kind of wondering if there would be a better car charger out there for our phones. I've been using my old reliable VZ charger I've had since the Droid X. It does the job, but not as great as it should or could be. Haven't had any issues with it & charges okay. I'm due for a new one lol.

The problem is likely the cable you are using. After lots of research it became clear to me it is my USB cables that is stopping my nexus 4 and 7 from being charged in the car.
I bought a good quality dual 3.8A charger but couldn't get it to charge my N4 while using Co-Pilot UNTIL I changed the cable to a "charging only" cable. Basically the cable does not put the device in data mode and allows the device to be charged at higher rate than a normal data cable.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0088HTYUE/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

P1NK13P13 said:
I was kind of wondering if there would be a better car charger out there for our phones. I've been using my old reliable VZ charger I've had since the Droid X. It does the job, but not as great as it should or could be. Haven't had any issues with it & charges okay. I'm due for a new one lol.
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Best buy has Rocket Fish 2 and 3 amp chargers for the car that work great. They also have 2 usb input ones also. You can just buy the charging part and use any cable you want or buy the one with the cable.
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