Related
For those interested, I thought I'd share my work that saved me $10 - $30. Since I never used the USB cable that came with my 8125, I cut the cable and connected it to a cigarrette lighter plug. There are 4 wires in the USB cable (yellow,,black,green,white); 2 wires in the plug(red,black). Connect red to yellow, and black to black. The white and green wires can be twisted together to be out of the way, they are NOT connected to any thing. Voila! a homemade car charger that really worksP.S. Check out this website: Funformobile.com. Today animations, ringtones, all sorts of cool stuff for your 8125.Cingular 8125ROM 2.25.11.1
12volts straight to the dome! Better stop up and batteries!
Ya know, the real 8125 car charger converts the car batt 12VDC to 5VDC and regulates the amps to 1. Just thought Id throw that out there!
Take a look at this then!!! I had a camera that i droped and its in little bits, so i just cut the holder abit and now i have a phone holder for when i am flashing roms or doing other things on it!
calouro said:
Ya know, the real 8125 car charger converts the car batt 12VDC to 5VDC and regulates the amps to 1. Just thought Id throw that out there!
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That's funny, I saw the "real" car chargers, and not 1 has a "built-in" converter or step down transformer from 12V to 5V. All it has is a cigarrette lighter plug and the charging cable like the one I made. Is the converter in the cigarrette lighter plug? I use my homemade charger every day in my truck, and have had no problems. My phone would had fried when I first tested it. If anyone else decides to make their own charger, you're doing this at your own risk. I am not responsible for your stupidity or lack of mechanical skills. I'm just sharing my work.
hotdog53 said:
... I am not responsible for your stupidity or lack of mechanical skills. I'm just sharing my work.
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Click to collapse
So, what you are saying is that it was stupid of you to create your own?
Yes, the original car charger has a down converter within the plug - sooner or later your device will either blow up or your battery will break.
I do not recommend this to anyone! You better keep your original USB data cable and buy you a real car charger for $5.00 (and up).
Going hotdog53's way is saving money on the wrong end ... your WIZ is a bit too expensive for that, isn't it?
Junner2003 said:
So, what you are saying is that it was stupid of you to create your own?
Yes, the original car charger has a down converter within the plug - sooner or later your device will either blow up or your battery will break.
I do not recommend this to anyone! You better keep your original USB data cable and buy you a real car charger for $5.00 (and up).
Going hotdog53's way is saving money on the wrong end ... your WIZ is a bit too expensive for that, isn't it?
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Click to collapse
Come on now, how in the heck can a converter or step down transformer be made inside a plastic cigarrette lighter plug??? Visit Cingular's accessories website for car chargers for 8125 or8525, and click on the view details located at the bottom of the car charger pic. The home charger with the big black plug has a converter to step down 120V. I used the pistol type cigarrette lighter plug. Where can I get 1 for 5 bucks? I'll buy it for a spare.
Almost every vehicles electical system runs on a +12V DV Current. A standard cigarete lighter is 12volts. and does not have a transformer. By tying in the usb cable directly to the cars 12V system you are now stuffing massive amounts of electricity into your phone at an unregulated rate. It is highly likely you will burn out sensitive resisters and capaciters in the phone because they are very small and not designed to handle the current. Also charging a battery too fast is bad for it regardless of NmHi, Nicad or Lithiom. If you charge rate "amps" is too high you'll permanently damage battery cells "cook" them. One thing also is that it could actualy draw current from your phone. What I mean is that your phone may plug into the cable and show that it's charging but it's actually draining the battery.
I'd spend the $14 at walmart for the motorola "mini usb style" charger...
Option "b" is to buy a cheap power inverter that converts the current from dc to ac and you will be able to plug in your standard wall charger.
Thanks for this very informative reply. I've used my homemade charger for several days now, and my battery has no problem charging from the home charger. True, the cigarrette lighter is 12V, but the vehicle's voltage regulator controls the amount of voltage that is put into these 12V receptacles. For safety, a fuse would blow before anything drastic happened.
Yeah, but if my truck's Not running, what does the voltage regulator do? NOTHING! Hey everybody who replied and read this thread, I stand corrected and apologize for my sarcasm and knowing all! The protection IS in the plug, and fortunately the pistol plug I used was from another phone car charger. I agree with all the rest...DO NOT MAKE YOUR OWN!SORRY EVERYONE!!Cingular 8125ROM 2.25.11.1
As probably several other users, I have set my hd2 to NOT charge when connected to pc, as I often plug the cable to transfer pictures, cabs and the likes. This is useful when I actually plug it to the PC, and it regularly charges with stock/compatible cable if connected to mains charger.
Problems could arise when you connect the microusb cable to the standard carlighter plug with an adapter having a female USB connector in it. It gets recognized as a "pc" and thus the device won't charge unless you re-enable charging when connected to PC.
In case you experience this, as per link found in second post of this thread, you can short the two middle contacts of the USB connector (the data pins) so the phone recognizes the charger as a proper one instead of mistaking it for a PC.
http://www.pocketpc.ch/htc-hd2-sons...en-hoehere-ladestroeme-akku-laed-im-auto.html
desribes modification of car charger, sorry but it´s german. HD2 detects via USB data pins, if it´s connected to PC or charger. If USB data pins are connected like described in above, it will be charged by the car adapter as well. To achive this you´ve to modify your adapter as described.
Regards
Georg
Thank you! Google translate is helping me... and believe me or not, it seems that what I was guessing is actually true: you need to short the data pins of the usb cable... could you confirm please kleiner_onkel? I am not quite so sure of what I am reading with google, as that kind of english is quite far-fetched
n that case I could also avoid messing with the insides of the usb-lighter adapter, and just short the cables inside an external USB hub
EDIT: I just tested it, syhorted the middle data pins of the usb-a plug inside a cheapo usb1 hub, it works and charges the phone when "charge from pc" is disabled.
Will meddle to clean the job and then will update first post
Can you please, for the sake of the slow minded such as I, explain why you would not want to charge from PC/USB?
pa49 said:
Can you please, for the sake of the slow minded such as I, explain why you would not want to charge from PC/USB?
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+1 for why not.never understood why it would even be an option.I could understand if we still used nickel batteries, but not with li+
Shorting the data pins also tells a device that it can use up to 1.85A of current (versus the 500mA of USB2). Your car charger will have circuitry (of varying complexity, depending on the model) to drop the 12V from the car to something usable by your phone (5V). If the components in your charger can't handle the 1.85A current, you could land up with a pretty hefty repair bill. Be careful out there....
Edit: Need a worst case scenario to see how bad it could be? In the most basic case there'll just be a resistor in the car charger. That resistor is likely 1/4 watt, 1/2 watt tops. Put 1.85A through it and it can pop, potentially going closed (short) circuit leaving your phone with 12V to deal with. The extra current that comes with that means you fry part of your charging circuit at best, your battery (possibly explosively) somewhere in the middle and the entire phone at worst.
samsamuel said:
+1 for why not.never understood why it would even be an option.
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I do see a use, if you're on a laptop running on batteries, you don't necessarily want to empty your laptop batteries faster by recharging the phone if you don't need to. But that's the only one.
Aterlatus said:
Shorting the data pins also tells a device that it can use up to 1.85A of current (versus the 500mA of USB2).
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Click to collapse
More like 0.85 actually, like what it draws from the original charger.
Aterlatus said:
In the most basic case there'll just be a resistor in the car charger.
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Click to collapse
Then that car charger would NOT work and would fry every device connected to it...
Car chargers have voltage regulators, which have overcurrent and overheat protection, linear ones for older ones, DC/DC switching ones for everything you find today.
I believe there's actually still an extra step from this mod to the phone knowing it is on the original charger. I have both a Chinese USB charger and a car charger, rated at 650mA and 800mA respectively. On both (with soldered pins), the HD2 will charge at 600mA, not 800-900 like with the original charger. But 600 is of course already better than 450.
kilrah said:
More like 0.85 actually, like what it draws from the original charger.
Then that car charger would NOT work and would fry every device connected to it...
Car chargers have voltage regulators, which have overcurrent and overheat protection, linear ones for older ones, DC/DC switching ones for everything you find today.
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From: ht tp://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml
Dedicated charger mode:
A simple USB charger should short the 2 data lines together. The device will then not attempt to transmit or receive data, but can draw up to 1.8A, if the supply can provide it.
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It's in the spec, and a car battery won't have any problem supplying the current. A cheap (read: chinese off ebay) charger might well employ just a simple resistor. Sure, any decent charger will use a voltage regulator or a buck converter to maintain the correct voltage. That doesn't mean that ALL will, hence the warning to take care.
"If the supply can provide it" is the key. The USB device will see if the supply can't give that much and its voltage starts to drop.
And anyway the HD2 would never draw 1.8A or it would damage its battery.
I noticed much the same thing by accident as reported in this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=638007
Beware that if your HD2 is set up to detect it, it will turn on Navipanel when plugging in this type of cable
pa49 said:
Can you please, for the sake of the slow minded such as I, explain why you would not want to charge from PC/USB?
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Click to collapse
samsamuel said:
+1 for why not.never understood why it would even be an option.I could understand if we still used nickel batteries, but not with li+
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may be the slow minded here. BUT
1) Everyone having had even third-person experience with laptops knows that using one with a battery inserted and "most of the time" attached to the external power unit, makes the battery die pretty soon, and all laptop batteries are Li-Ion based since quite a while; sure, part of that damage comes from the heat generated on the battery both from the charging and the laptop being turned on, but all the rest is caused by the "unnecessary" repeated charges (confront the "battery university" website for this)
2) I often plug/unplug the cable from the pc to move several small files, I just don't feel comfortable doing it if everytime the battery gets a "charging hit", for the aforementioned reasons
3) I want to be able to charge the device when I choose to and not just everytime I plug it somewhere
4) enabling the car charger as "proper charger" lets the device take up more current and charging faster
5) I've always behaved, with all my Li-Ion powered devices, in a way that I would charge the battery when it got to ~20-30% and not before, reducing the number of times I actually charged it; the definition of "recharge cycle" is not the easiest one here, and "battery university" has an interesting one; but since my behaviour until now has given its good results, I'll just keep doing that
Aterlatus said:
Shorting the data pins also tells a device that it can use up to 1.85A of current (versus the 500mA of USB2). Your car charger will have circuitry (of varying complexity, depending on the model) to drop the 12V from the car to something usable by your phone (5V). If the components in your charger can't handle the 1.85A current, you could land up with a pretty hefty repair bill. Be careful out there....
Edit: Need a worst case scenario to see how bad it could be? In the most basic case there'll just be a resistor in the car charger. That resistor is likely 1/4 watt, 1/2 watt tops. Put 1.85A through it and it can pop, potentially going closed (short) circuit leaving your phone with 12V to deal with. The extra current that comes with that means you fry part of your charging circuit at best, your battery (possibly explosively) somewhere in the middle and the entire phone at worst.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As kilrah stated, 1.85A may be the max specification, yet the HD2 is NOT going to get that much from a recognized charger. The german thread pointed from the second post of the thread is also specific about it, the intook currents are higher, but not that higher... plus I've peeked inside the car lighter charger, and it's got no single resistor Also, the max 2A is useful when you plug several other things to it for charging purposes other than the HD2, and that's why I connect the HD2 to a USB1 hub connected to the carlighter charger
For a briefly useful reference, my iPaq 214 only took max 200mA from the miniusb plug no matter the charger capacity not the charger "nature", so devices do have a regulator, and it would be reasonable to think that a multihundred euros phone has one, and pretty efficient at it
So aside from hacking the USB cable, is there any other way to make the car usb charger act like a car charger? Or I should save my time and just buy an actual car charger, instead of a universal usb one....?
Thanks!
atagent said:
So aside from hacking the USB cable, is there any other way to make the car usb charger act like a car charger? Or I should save my time and just buy an actual car charger, instead of a universal usb one....?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
solder together the central pins on the charger output port, it's the exact same principle
Even thought hacking a cable is "safer", as you're playing with a ~2USB asset instead of a ~5USD one, and you have to connect a usb cable to the car charger anyway in order to charge the phone
hi there.
shortly-i have this phone with no orig. usb cable and with no wall charger. it was friend of mine phone actualy. given to me with dead battery (i am not sure but i have trouwn it away long time ago)
first I did was to wait until friends of mine from china had sent to me 2 batteries compitable with the phone. what i discovered is that a normal ordinar usb cable cant charge the phone's battery it only can connect to the pc.
second what i did is this: i found my old charger from a very old panasonic cell phone and had a try to make the charging process with the simply contacting corresponding pinouts of the battery to the +&- of this same charger (somehow i dissasembled the plug of that charger and it became more "comfortable" to get in touch to the pinouts of the specific cingular's battery)
that unordinar way i did discovered that i can charge these batteries even not sure how much appropriate that other brand wall charger is. It seems its pretty much the same as a power characteristics.
Meanwhile (as i dont use this phone) i had some free time to search the net and to have better idea about that strange unordinar power charging matter with that model of a phone. The situation is that i cant find a place nearby me to buy a cheap usb and wall charger and become using this nice device finaly.
And also i dont want to buy these cable things before clearly understand why this happens ..
I did try also to charge this phone with a HTC brand wall charger but no sucsess again cause it seems this wall charger is for other htc phone (even same mini usb plug and same characteristics)
What i need is to have answers by someone very informed about that matter and let me know what exactly is the specific power charging matter (need explanations i mean) with this phone. If sharing some good ideas about how to remake others usb cable or wall charger for geting it work along for me in such a case , i will appreciate this very much
thanks
charge
hi ! please forgive me for my bad english! in this case you can charge your phone in 1 way! you need to procure a motorola or any charger with same socket but attention the charger must have 6 volts and no less than 500 mAh(milli amps)! you cut the wires and one wire put on the + of the battery you will see the signs on the battery an one wire at the - no matter which one. and you need stay with the wires 3 - 4 minutes on the battery ! then you put the battery on the phone it will start and then you cand fully charge it with the usb cable ! good luckk ! i hope my inf will help you!
no
no it doesnt work that way.
what i need is the simple answer : what is so special into the pinouts of htc cingular 8125 wall charger?
thats what i need only. Then I might figure out how to proceed
Thanks anyway
I don't know if anyone else has had trouble doing what I have done, but I've got the Cingular 8125 (HTC Wizard 100), which is also known as the HTC 8125.
1. I bought a car charger at a convenience store for $6 that had the mini-USB plug. It worked like a charm. Never any problem there.
2. I also bought a standard USB to mini-USB cable from the local computer store, because I had lost mine, and it also worked fine for both synchronization and for charging.
3. I bought a second wall charger, buying a standard mini-USB wall charger sold pretty much everywhere cellular phone chargers are sold. It's a common charging port, and this generic worked for me as well.
I'd be interested to hear if anyone has had problems with these types of devices not properly charging the unit.
Even my USB cable for my portable USB hard drive will power my unit.
EDIT: About your problem with it not charging. I had that problem about a year ago, when my battery got extremely old. It wouldn't charge even with the original charger. I just needed a new battery. The batteries get old and stop taking a charge after a certain amount of use. How long this takes depends on how heavily the batteries are used. They, like car batteries, do not last forever.
I had this problem when I had my wiz too. The battery died and drained, and my phone refused to charge it. I took it to an AT&T service center, and they had no clue what the problem was, and they wanted to issue me a replacement (it was a G4, I had a G3, I wasn't about to fiddle with that at the time.) So I asked to borrow a demo device they had there to fix it. I charged my battery on their demo device no problem, got it up to 3%, and finished charging it through my USB cable in the car socket.
It appears to be a sort of one-in-every-few-or-so type condition, but I got hit with it.
seems like noone can tell me if something special inside the mini-USB plug.
i realy cant charge. Very nice device, but i cant make it charging up whit cables.
guys, from up there, say that nothing special about the charging cables, but i trust what i see not what i read.
Perhaps there is a problem with your USB port on the device? USB charging has standards, and all devices that need power from a USB port have the same power pin configuration. Otherwise, they can't call it a USB connection. It would have to be called a proprietary connection, and they would have to change the plug size/dimensions and pins.
If there isn't a problem with your battery (which is the most likely source of your problem), then it may be a loose connection on your USB connector. This happens with a number of devices.
If a sync cable connects to the PC but will not charge the battery, then you definitely have an unusual pin detachment of some sort, or a bad battery.
thanks again..
for pity i was writing a lot to make my recent post and finaly it desapeared cause my session was left.. its funny in some case, but now i just dont want to repeat all what was intended to be posted
i give only the link where you might see why i was assuming that this is a kind of a special matter here with that htc 8125 charging
//pinouts.ru/CellularPhones-A-N/razrv3_charger_pinout.shtml
so, any more help will be appreciated a lot
thanks
SOLVED: HTC Wizard (Cingular 8125) Dead Battery Wont Charge
Dozzen said:
hi ! please forgive me for my bad english! in this case you can charge your phone in 1 way! you need to procure a motorola or any charger with same socket but attention the charger must have 6 volts and no less than 500 mAh(milli amps)! you cut the wires and one wire put on the + of the battery you will see the signs on the battery an one wire at the - no matter which one. and you need stay with the wires 3 - 4 minutes on the battery ! then you put the battery on the phone it will start and then you cand fully charge it with the usb cable ! good luckk ! i hope my inf will help you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi - Too bad for the OP that asked questions but did not listen to this brilliant post.
I have confirmed that a variation of this method works perfectly! I have an old Cingular 8125 that I have been trying to charge for over a year using various USB chargers and NONE would charge the device.
The reason that this may happen is that the original charger has an output of 1 full amp which is much higher than most chargers. The voltage is the same but you need a charger that can handle such a strong current draw.
Nearly all USB chargers can only handle around 250milliamps - 500milliamps which is about half the power needed to breathe life into a fully discharged battery.
The best solution is to NEVER let the battery fully discharge.
Here are the details of what I did:
1. Find the best match charger of 5-6 DC Volts and ability to put out as close to one amp (1000mA) as possible. I chose an old Sanyo SCP-07ADT that is rated at DC 5.4V at 800mA. The plug can be any type, no need to be USB.
2. Cut the connector off the end of the cable and strip the outer black part up about an inch and then strip the positive and negative (red / black respectively) wires up about a millimeter, just enough to have bare metal ends to touch to a small area.
3. Take your battery out of the phone, look at the back of battery for the + and - marks which correlate to one of the metal connection points on your battery, this is where you will "touch" or "attach" the bare ends of the wires.
4. Plug the charger in making sure not to short your bare leads. Before you do this double check that the OUTPUT of your charger is indeed DC voltage so that you don't hurt yourself. You do not want AC output and it can be dangerous.
Then touch the bare end of the red wire to positive of battery, and black wire to negative terminal of your battery. I held them with my fingers while surfing the web for about five or ten minutes. I had no idea if anything was happening or not but it "felt" like the battery might have gotten just a bit warmer.
5. Unplug the home-made bare wire charger and put battery in your phone. Quickly attach a USB charger or just plug into a USB cable of your computer. I pushed it in and nothing happened at first but finally I heard the standard "bleep" when you plug a USB device in. I knew that I made progress because it never beeped before it took about 30 seconds and several "bleeps" of connecting/disconnecting from USB but eventually the charge light stayed on!
It's been about 30 minutes and I'm up to about 50% charge and been using the phone heavily while charging.
So, in summary... never let your battery discharge below 5% or you can only charge it with an OEM cable rated at 1amp (rare). IF you let it discharge to "dead" then charge for 5-10 minutes with the "wire" method and then charge normally!
Thanks to Dozzen for the original idea!!
Wizard that won't charge
When my Wizard/HTC 8125 goes dead my cure for the battery is to use a 9 volt charger with the wires stripped back also. But, my method is a bit different. I place a standard Christmas Tree light bulb (the newer small ones)in series with the charger wires. Observe the correct polarity. The battery is labeled + and - so that part is easy. By using the small light bulb you are doing 2 things. 1.You can see the slight glow from the bulb and know that proper connection is made. 2. You are limiting the charging current to the battery.
If you get really creative like I did you can solder a couple of small nails or in my case a set of red and black probes to the setup and the points on these nails/probes make for much easier connections. Note.... This method may take a few minutes longer but, is much easier on the battery.
In my experience once the battery is below a certain level NO charger that I plug in will work. I just purchased a used 8125 from eBay and brought it back to life most successfully with this method.
hy there my htc wizard battery whos dead so i charched with a cable with + and - the phone starts but when i try to connect to a usb or a adaptor it doesnt charge anymore it show me the charge icon on the baterry but it doesnt charge the usb works fine it's sync to my pc but it doesnt charge anymore... what sould i do?
So it seems no one touched on what really matters here.
A design flaw, in my opinion. The HTC Wizard cannot recharge via USB unless there is enough power to turn on. The reason is because it requires the OS to charge.
So, what many people already posted are very creative ways to charge your 8125. The easiest and cheapest way, in my opinion, is to use AA batteries.
1) Take two AA batteries and tape together so they are in series. Imagine it like this... [- AA battery #1 +][- AA battery #2 +]
2) Use two wires and tape one to each side of the AA's (one on the + side and another on the other battery's - side since the - of the first battery is connected to the + of the second).
--w-i-r-e--[- AA battery #1 +][- AA battery #2 +]--w-i-r-e--
3) Connect the positive (+) wire to the positive (+) side of the phone. By this I mean the 6 metal pieces that stick out to contact the phone battery. I did it by wrapping the wire around the top most one (or second top most, it's been over a year since I've done this.).
4) Connect the negative (-) wire to the negative (-) side of the phone. Again, bottom most or second bottom most (see #3).
5) Insert phone battery while the wires are still in and connected to the two AAs.
6) Let the power flow for 30 seconds or so and then try turning your phone on. This part is the important part because you cannot use a USB to mini-USB connected to your computer to charge the phone unless the operating system can function. Meaning, it needs to be turned on first.
7) Once the phone is on, plug in the mini-USB part and connect it to a computer. I'd recommend getting at least 5% battery before disconnecting the AAs, seeing as you need to be able to start up your phone long enough for the OS to boot. Once the OS boots, you can fully charge it through a normal USB to mini-USB connection on any computer.
old post but just wanted to say thanks. Used the wire to battery method and got phone turned on after 2 mins of holding wires to battery.
When I charge the Streak, I cannot use the Streak well.
When I try to do something, the screen is jumping to other screens by itself.
Anyone this problem?
You have to use the Dell charger and cable, not anyone else's...
Tom.
maybe you have some wire near the device. magnetic interference.
what i have succesfully used to charge my dell streak :
-car charger from motorola 1 Amp with converterplug
-normal car charger (most of them are 500mA which is fine)
-my htc charger (1 Amp)
-other usb wall charger (500mA)
-pc
-hama usb reader self powered.
-usb port of car-stereo
-usb port of a philips stereo
-usb port of panasonic/sony/philips tv
in general any usb port will do fine to charge. the only time one needs a 1 Amp charger is when the battery died out and it wont charge on usb anymore and wont turn on.
I see that issue when I'm plugged into the computer. I can tell how bad it is because I can't even use swype - my blue 'trail' goes crazy all over the place and its tough to scroll/switch screens. But... don't have that issue when plugged into the wall charger. Maybe a bug? I know there are plenty of them with stock 1.6...
tom_tui said:
You have to use the Dell charger and cable, not anyone else's...
Tom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I am using the original Dell cable and charger.
same here, and this problem I found also on my Motorola Droid X....I dont know about samsung galaxy S since I have sold it
but for sure, Motorola Droid X and Dell Streak have that problem while charging
do you have it attached to a self-powered hub ? if so that could be it. try attach it to pc usb directly.
The streak goes crazy if you are using it from a non harmonised power supply - I have tested this personally and find that the capacitance of the srceen is affected if the power supply does not have a perfect flat signal.
This commonly occurs with switched mode power supplies, which can impart a 50Hz voltage drop-off "click" into the signal - laptops, small footprint desktop PC's, as well as the 12V-230V power invertors used in cars to get a mains socket. This caused by the way it rectifies the AC signal into a DC signal and there is nothing you can do about it.
An oscilloscope shows it well, but I doubt everyone has one of those in the cupboard under the stairs...
Simple answer - change your power supply, or don't charge the streak this way!
Hey guys - I've been dealing with a Tab charging issue for a few days, and finally solved it... but I thought I'd post the problem and solution here in case it can save someone else a load of frustration if they run into the same problem.
From what I've read, we know that the Tab only draws .5A power from a USB socket, but that it draws ~2A from the wall, and that it knows the difference by testing for a short on the TX/RX USB data wires. (Correct me if I'm wrong on the details, but that's the general impression I've gotten.) We also know that the iPhone/iPad/iPod uses a pair of resistors instead (per the USB spec) to determine the current-delivery capability of the source. (I'm no EE, so I'm a little fuzzy on how that works from a technical perspective.)
So to set the stage: I had brought the USB cable for my Tab with me, but had neglected to grab the USB->outlet adapter for the mains. Similarly, a friend who was on vacation with us had forgotten the charging cable for his iPhone. Thinking I was killing two birds with one stone, I bought an aftermarket USB charging cable for the iPhone which had a separate USB->outlet adapter. His iPhone charged swimmingly, and when I charged my Tab overnight (screen off, starting at ~89% charge) using my cable and the aftermarket adapter, it worked flawlessly. No problem, great solution, or so it seemed...
...until I got home. Suddenly, my Tab wouldn't do more than a trickle charge - the same charge it gets when connected to the USB port on my laptop. (I could tell this was the case because of the small red 'x' next to the charging symbol in the battery icon - which I hadn't noticed while on vacation.) A 2.5-hour car trip using Navigator (screen on the whole time), even with the car charger connected, killed the battery completely. No matter what I did - shutting down apps, rebooting the device, resetting every option I could find - I could not get a fast charge to happen. Even leaving the device plugged in overnight resulted in *less* charge than what I started with if I didn't turn the screen off. I called T-mobile, talked to Samsung tech support twice... and all they could offer was to have me send the Tab back for replacement.
I was at a loss. I nearly did a hard reset in frustration, thinking I had screwed something up royally.
Then I saw the resistors in the pictures in this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=845844&page=3
and something clicked. I had been assuming that the *cables* were the difference between the iPhone and Tab chargers... but there isn't enough room for resistors in the cables! (Well technically, there is, but regardless...) The resistors must live somewhere else... and, I reasoned, that somewhere must be inside the USB->outlet adapter. So I pulled out the 'proper' Samsung adapter, plugged in the Tab, and voilà... a perfect fast charge.
So this is why the Tab won't charge with an iPod (or Sony-Ericsson, as it turns out) mains USB adapter OR USB-port car charger: the circuitry to let the device know it's capable of a full 2A delivery doesn't live in the Samsung cables; it's only present in the adapter. If that's not there, the device thinks it's connected via USB (and will, in fact, say "USB Connected" every time the charger is plugged in) and won't charge more than a trickle.
So that's my story, and hopefully it can save someone else some pain and frustration. Thanks for giving me the floor.
mattcelt said:
Hey guys - I've been dealing with a Tab charging issue for a few days, and finally solved it... but I thought I'd post the problem and solution here in case it can save someone else a load of frustration if they run into the same problem.
From what I've read, we know that the Tab only draws .5A power from a USB socket, but that it draws ~2A from the wall, and that it knows the difference by testing for a short on the TX/RX USB data wires. (Correct me if I'm wrong on the details, but that's the general impression I've gotten.) We also know that the iPhone/iPad/iPod uses a pair of resistors instead (per the USB spec) to determine the current-delivery capability of the source. (I'm no EE, so I'm a little fuzzy on how that works from a technical perspective.)
So to set the stage: I had brought the USB cable for my Tab with me, but had neglected to grab the USB->outlet adapter for the mains. Similarly, a friend who was on vacation with us had forgotten the charging cable for his iPhone. Thinking I was killing two birds with one stone, I bought an aftermarket USB charging cable for the iPhone which had a separate USB->outlet adapter. His iPhone charged swimmingly, and when I charged my Tab overnight (screen off, starting at ~89% charge) using my cable and the aftermarket adapter, it worked flawlessly. No problem, great solution, or so it seemed...
...until I got home. Suddenly, my Tab wouldn't do more than a trickle charge - the same charge it gets when connected to the USB port on my laptop. (I could tell this was the case because of the small red 'x' next to the charging symbol in the battery icon - which I hadn't noticed while on vacation.) A 2.5-hour car trip using Navigator (screen on the whole time), even with the car charger connected, killed the battery completely. No matter what I did - shutting down apps, rebooting the device, resetting every option I could find - I could not get a fast charge to happen. Even leaving the device plugged in overnight resulted in *less* charge than what I started with if I didn't turn the screen off. I called T-mobile, talked to Samsung tech support twice... and all they could offer was to have me send the Tab back for replacement.
I was at a loss. I nearly did a hard reset in frustration, thinking I had screwed something up royally.
Then I saw the resistors in the pictures in this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=845844&page=3
and something clicked. I had been assuming that the *cables* were the difference between the iPhone and Tab chargers... but there isn't enough room for resistors in the cables! (Well technically, there is, but regardless...) The resistors must live somewhere else... and, I reasoned, that somewhere must be inside the USB->outlet adapter. So I pulled out the 'proper' Samsung adapter, plugged in the Tab, and voilà... a perfect fast charge.
So this is why the Tab won't charge with an iPod (or Sony-Ericsson, as it turns out) mains USB adapter OR USB-port car charger: the circuitry to let the device know it's capable of a full 2A delivery doesn't live in the Samsung cables; it's only present in the adapter. If that's not there, the device thinks it's connected via USB (and will, in fact, say "USB Connected" every time the charger is plugged in) and won't charge more than a trickle.
So that's my story, and hopefully it can save someone else some pain and frustration. Thanks for giving me the floor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've recently seen (somewhere) a usb pigtail cable that shorts the pins to make the tab (or any other usb chargable phone) think it's hooked up to a wall charger, rather than a trickle charging usb port.... I need to find that again and just order a few to have in my various cable bags.
If you do find it again, please post it here. Definitely something I'd like in my bag of tricks as well.
Just as an FYI, the 2A charger that came with my Nook Color charges the Tab just fine from mains, even indicates charging. Makes sense, since both devices have a 4000mAH battery.
It's also a nicer unit for travel, it's nicely rounded, the prongs fold into the body of the charger, and you can pick it up from Barnes and Nobles stores just about anywhere in the US. Still doesn't solve the Tab cable issue though.
Croak said:
Still doesn't solve the Tab cable issue though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm planning on hacking apart a spare Tab cable so that it goes to a female microUSB; no more multiple cable types then. The stock Tab cable doesn't appear to have more than 6 pins, of which I'm sure a few are grounds.
Someone recently posted a link to the first cheap 3rd-party cables:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.51931
Get those with a 6' USB extension cable and the Nook charger, and that may be a winning combination. I ordered four the the charging cables yesterday, and I'll try to remember to post whether or not they work out well.
Resonance, what are you planning on using for a car charger, if any? I really like the Navigator app, but it's just not practical if I can't keep the Tab charged while using it.
Does anyone know if there are any USB->12v adapters that have the right circuitry for the Samsung? For that matter, do any other devices use the same amperage detection setup the Tab does? It would be good to know what components are cross-compatible.
Thanks for the info.
How about a list of chargers that work fine on the GTab.
1. Garminfone charger (1amp - works great and I use it as my primary charger)
mattcelt said:
Resonance, what are you planning on using for a car charger, if any? I really like the Navigator app, but it's just not practical if I can't keep the Tab charged while using it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A 12V inverter, attached to the standard wall charger. :/
I bought the Duragadget 12V->USB charger, since it was advertised specifically as a 2A charger for the Galaxy Tab, but it DOES NOT work as advertised (the Tab treats it like a any other low-current USB port, and even offers to mount mass storage, heh).
Using the inverter and the wall charger worked just fine, though it was a bit clunky and unstable (on mine, the prongs aren't tightly gripped, so it bends out of place easily).
Does anyone know if there are any USB->12v adapters that have the right circuitry for the Samsung? For that matter, do any other devices use the same amperage detection setup the Tab does? It would be good to know what components are cross-compatible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd been contemplating giving the Duragadget charger with integrated cable a try, but having been burned once by Duragadget, I'm a bit hesitant to do so.
ResonanceZero said:
Someone recently posted a link to the first cheap 3rd-party cables:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.51931
Get those with a 6' USB extension cable and the Nook charger, and that may be a winning combination. I ordered four the the charging cables yesterday, and I'll try to remember to post whether or not they work out well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OMG...I bought a charger cable from amazon SOLD BY AMAZON marketed as OEM samsung charger and I got the same one in the deal extreme page. WTF...paid $12 for it too.
ResonanceZero said:
A 12V inverter, attached to the standard wall charger. :/
I bought the Duragadget 12V->USB charger, since it was advertised specifically as a 2A charger for the Galaxy Tab, but it DOES NOT work as advertised (the Tab treats it like a any other low-current USB port, and even offers to mount mass storage, heh).
Using the inverter and the wall charger worked just fine, though it was a bit clunky and unstable (on mine, the prongs aren't tightly gripped, so it bends out of place easily).
I'd been contemplating giving the Duragadget charger with integrated cable a try, but having been burned once by Duragadget, I'm a bit hesitant to do so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
looks like that car charger is the same as the one you bought with a USB cable included.
nacron said:
looks like that car charger is the same as the one you bought with a USB cable included.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good eyes. I thought it was a different unit with an integrated cable.
Has anyone found a functioning 12v charger?
yes, the verizon store has a 12v charger for the galaxy tab, but that was the only place I was able to find one... other than online.
Hi,
Can anyone else confirm that the Nook charger works for the Tab?
I've tried other high current (2.0+ amp) chargers. Some designed for the ipad and some not, and I always get the trickle charge icon and it's treated as a computer USB connection (Mass storage device options, etc).
How much was the Verizon charger?
Thanks!
stock wall charger works for me.
knowthenazz said:
Hi,
Can anyone else confirm that the Nook charger works for the Tab?
I've tried other high current (2.0+ amp) chargers. Some designed for the ipad and some not, and I always get the trickle charge icon and it's treated as a computer USB connection (Mass storage device options, etc).
How much was the Verizon charger?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google the gobatt 2 charger. It comes with a usb adapter that charges the tab on any charger.
texasreb said:
Google the gobatt 2 charger. It comes with a usb adapter that charges the tab on any charger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Thanks for the tip. I can't find much information about the Scosche GoBatt 2 charger, or the adapter that comes with it. Today I tried other Scosche chargers, including their iPad charger, and it didn't seem to work.
Can you give some more details on the adapter that comes with the GoBatt 2?
Thanks!
Got this travel adapter by ZipKord with 2 - 1 amp outlets. Works with the OEM cord and also the Gomadic tip made for the Galaxy Tab. Just need to be careful it's not the older version that only has the lower power outlets. Cheapest I could find was $13+, so if it's less, it's the lower power. With the Gomadic tip and reractable cord, it says it's charging.
EVO 4G 9292 - Travel Adapter By ZipKord
Also this Scosche battery pack seems like it would work. Has 2 - 1 amp USB ports. I ordered one and should get it tomorrow.
Scosche IPDBAT2 Portable Back Up Battery for iPad and iPod
Oops - can't do links. Just search in Amazon. It's where I got both.
Gomadic cord and tips from Gomadic. Love losing the excess clutter (cords).
galaxy tab 7 charging while turned on
can someone explain well how to build the adaptor for charge galaxy tab 7 while it turned on?
is it possible to have a scheme with picture and some photos which describe the work to do?
thanks. and excuse me for bad english.
mattcelt said:
Hey guys - I've been dealing with a Tab charging issue for a few days, and finally solved it... but I thought I'd post the problem and solution here in case it can save someone else a load of frustration if they run into the same problem.
From what I've read, we know that the Tab only draws .5A power from a USB socket, but that it draws ~2A from the wall, and that it knows the difference by testing for a short on the TX/RX USB data wires. (Correct me if I'm wrong on the details, but that's the general impression I've gotten.) We also know that the iPhone/iPad/iPod uses a pair of resistors instead (per the USB spec) to determine the current-delivery capability of the source. (I'm no EE, so I'm a little fuzzy on how that works from a technical perspective.)
So to set the stage: I had brought the USB cable for my Tab with me, but had neglected to grab the USB->outlet adapter for the mains. Similarly, a friend who was on vacation with us had forgotten the charging cable for his iPhone. Thinking I was killing two birds with one stone, I bought an aftermarket USB charging cable for the iPhone which had a separate USB->outlet adapter. His iPhone charged swimmingly, and when I charged my Tab overnight (screen off, starting at ~89% charge) using my cable and the aftermarket adapter, it worked flawlessly. No problem, great solution, or so it seemed...
...until I got home. Suddenly, my Tab wouldn't do more than a trickle charge - the same charge it gets when connected to the USB port on my laptop. (I could tell this was the case because of the small red 'x' next to the charging symbol in the battery icon - which I hadn't noticed while on vacation.) A 2.5-hour car trip using Navigator (screen on the whole time), even with the car charger connected, killed the battery completely. No matter what I did - shutting down apps, rebooting the device, resetting every option I could find - I could not get a fast charge to happen. Even leaving the device plugged in overnight resulted in *less* charge than what I started with if I didn't turn the screen off. I called T-mobile, talked to Samsung tech support twice... and all they could offer was to have me send the Tab back for replacement.
I was at a loss. I nearly did a hard reset in frustration, thinking I had screwed something up royally.
Then I saw the resistors in the pictures in this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=845844&page=3
and something clicked. I had been assuming that the *cables* were the difference between the iPhone and Tab chargers... but there isn't enough room for resistors in the cables! (Well technically, there is, but regardless...) The resistors must live somewhere else... and, I reasoned, that somewhere must be inside the USB->outlet adapter. So I pulled out the 'proper' Samsung adapter, plugged in the Tab, and voilà... a perfect fast charge.
So this is why the Tab won't charge with an iPod (or Sony-Ericsson, as it turns out) mains USB adapter OR USB-port car charger: the circuitry to let the device know it's capable of a full 2A delivery doesn't live in the Samsung cables; it's only present in the adapter. If that's not there, the device thinks it's connected via USB (and will, in fact, say "USB Connected" every time the charger is plugged in) and won't charge more than a trickle.
So that's my story, and hopefully it can save someone else some pain and frustration. Thanks for giving me the floor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
potential solution
found this on youtube, looks like it has great potential:
forum won't let me post url links, but this is the video code in you tube. We're all geeks here (I think) so you know where this goes :
=uPc-ZA3t5aY
hope it helps!