Database Users

[Q] Is the charger connector proprietary?

I was just wondering if the charger in the Omnia 7 box has a 'proprietary connector' and not microUSB.
At least that's what I understood from this video:
youtube.com/watch?v=2RQBB2v08hs
I am still getting the Omnia, but I would see the lack of a microUSB interface mains charger as a step backwards, and environment-unfriendly
Thanks!

No, it's standard µUSB. You can use every µUSB charger from HTC/Samsung/Motorola aso.

Thanks a lot... That's really good!

Anyone know if my Hero charger will be ok - it's a higher Amp rating than my Samsung and Blackberry chargers but is a USB charger (ie I could plug my USB cable for the Samsung into the top in place of the mini USB cable that's plugged into it at present if I wanted).
Cheers.

gc48067 said:
Anyone know if my Hero charger will be ok - it's a higher Amp rating than my Samsung and Blackberry chargers but is a USB charger (ie I could plug my USB cable for the Samsung into the top in place of the mini USB cable that's plugged into it at present if I wanted).
Cheers.
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A charger with higher ampere is okay because the battery decides for itself how much amperage it wants to have.
Merely the voltage must be correct but this is USB standard anyway.

Thanks Skycamefalling - saves buying another charger then!

cant we solder USB charge

im not a pro at electronics but isnt it possible to solder a charging plug to a usb cable?
to achieve usb charging?
did it for a homemade IR headtracking unit

SmokeMasta said:
im not a pro at electronics but isnt it possible to solder a charging plug to a usb cable?
to achieve usb charging?
did it for a IR headtracking unit
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I still don't think people understand. This devices needs more output then a usb plug can produce. Think about it this way, would you charge your laptop computer off your desktop usb port? The XOOM requires a 12v charge, just like your laptop.

bwcorvus said:
I still don't think people understand. This devices needs more output then a usb plug can produce. Think about it this way, would you charge your laptop computer off your desktop usb port? The XOOM requires a 12v charge, just like your laptop.
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wont it be able to trickle charge... when in a pinch some charge is better then none at all

What don't people understand about this. A USB plug in a computer might only be able to produce 500ma, but you can plug that SAME USB cable into a wall charger that uses USB and it will charge fast as hell. The iPad does this. All Android phones do this. It makes it so you only have to carry one cable and maybe a small wall plug.

deleted this

bwcorvus said:
The usb port is not connected to the battery for charging anyway.
https://motorola-global-portal.cust...sion/L3RpbWUvMTI5ODgyOTM5NS9zaWQvdnpSbGhIbms=
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guess you missed prev poster point ... if you solder on a charging plug it doesnt mean you need to remove the other plug have 2 plugs on one side

SmokeMasta said:
guess you missed prev poster point ... if you solder on a charging plug it doesnt mean you need to remove the other plug have 2 plugs on one side
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You are right i miss read it

after some reading usb 3.0 delivers 900ma
and it looks those usb charger blocks deliver upto 9w at 1.8a

It is hard to say if it will work. Since I don't have my Xoom yet, I can looking at the output rating of the wall charger. Maybe someone can look at their wall charger and see how much output voltage and current it produces. If it's higher than 5V, the USB might not be able to charge it. If it could charge it, it would be better to have a USB cable that has one end split into two connectors, one with the circular connector, and one with the micro USB end.

ggoldfingerd said:
It is hard to say if it will work. Since I don't have my Xoom yet, I can looking at the output rating of the wall charger. Maybe someone can look at their wall charger and see how much output voltage and current it produces. If it's higher than 5V, the USB might not be able to charge it. If it could charge it, it would be better to have a USB cable that has one end split into two connectors, one with the circular connector, and one with the micro USB end.
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Here you go.

looks like my usb 1.0 charger (from htc (ancient thing)) delivers 5v at 1amp
wondering if newer chargers deliver more. spec sheet of USB 3.0 says it can deliver 9 volt at 1.8 amp
hopefully the EU classifies the moto tablet as a telephone then its obligated by law to have usb charging ability

The iPad charger delivers 5v at 2 amps over a USB to 30pin cable.

bwcorvus said:
Here you go.
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Thanks. I just decided to glance at the Xoom teardown. From what I saw with the hardware, I don't think it will be possible to use USB to charge it. The battery alone is 7.4V, so there is no way to charge it with 5V unless the Xoom had a DC step-up convert. The teardown only lists a step-down converter which probably steps the battery voltage down for all of the components in the Xoom and has nothing to do with battery charging.

ggoldfingerd said:
Thanks. I just decided to glance at the Xoom teardown. From what I saw with the hardware, I don't think it will be possible to use USB to charge it. The battery alone is 7.4V, so there is no way to charge it with 5V unless the Xoom had a DC step-up convert. The teardown only lists a step-down converter which probably steps the battery voltage down for all of the components in the Xoom and has nothing to do with battery charging.
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Does it require the same voltage to do a trickle charge? From the research XDA members have done so far, the Xoom charger requires 1.5A, USB puts out .5A, that's not too far off if we just want trickle charging.
The battery is 7.4V but 5V isn't too far off either.
Does the market app SPARE PARTS work on the Xoom, or some other charging monitor app?
Maybe someone who already has the Xoom and knows how to solder can frankenstein a USB charging adapter? Make one end fit into the charging port of the Xoom and the other end fit into a standard micro USB plug.
This way, you carry your normal USB cable for data transfer but if you need to charge, then you plug the USB plug into the adapter which plugs into the charging port.
BTW, can someone please clarify that the charging port IS THE ONLY WAY to charge the Xoom? Someone said on here that the docking device has a USB plug that will charge the Xoom thru the USB?

Neo3D said:
Does it require the same voltage to do a trickle charge? From the research XDA members have done so far, the Xoom charger requires 1.5A, USB puts out .5A, that's not too far off if we just want trickle charging.
The battery is 7.4V but 5V isn't too far off either.
Does the market app SPARE PARTS work on the Xoom, or some other charging monitor app?
Maybe someone who already has the Xoom and knows how to solder can frankenstein a USB charging adapter? Make one end fit into the charging port of the Xoom and the other end fit into a standard micro USB plug.
This way, you carry your normal USB cable for data transfer but if you need to charge, then you plug the USB plug into the adapter which plugs into the charging port.
BTW, can someone please clarify that the charging port IS THE ONLY WAY to charge the Xoom? Someone said on here that the docking device has a USB plug that will charge the Xoom thru the USB?
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Spare parts works fine, so does battery monitor widget. The dock uses the 2 metal pins between the hdmi and charging hole.

My HTC charger outputs from the AC adapter to microusb at 5V and 1.0A, which is as high as I've seen with other phones and chargers.
The Xoom charger appears to output 12V at 1.5A.
I'm no electrician but that does seem like a pretty big difference. 140% greater in and 50% greater respectively.

A lot of armchair electrical engineers in here. Tell me, what would you gain from creating your own proprietary usb charger? You'd still have only one of them and you couldn't use it on anything else.
Has anyone stopped to think that it's very highly likely that the usb charging pins aren't hooked up at all inside the xoom?
This forum is the biggest group of whiny people I've ever encountered, and I once accidentally walked into a GoP fundraiser.

Neo3D said:
Does it require the same voltage to do a trickle charge? From the research XDA members have done so far, the Xoom charger requires 1.5A, USB puts out .5A, that's not too far off if we just want trickle charging.
The battery is 7.4V but 5V isn't too far off either.
Does the market app SPARE PARTS work on the Xoom, or some other charging monitor app?
Maybe someone who already has the Xoom and knows how to solder can frankenstein a USB charging adapter? Make one end fit into the charging port of the Xoom and the other end fit into a standard micro USB plug.
This way, you carry your normal USB cable for data transfer but if you need to charge, then you plug the USB plug into the adapter which plugs into the charging port.
BTW, can someone please clarify that the charging port IS THE ONLY WAY to charge the Xoom? Someone said on here that the docking device has a USB plug that will charge the Xoom thru the USB?
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Well the current rating is only part of the equation. Think of the voltage as the pushing force for the current. The Xoom has two Li-Po packs (two batteries) with a nominal voltage of 7.4V. It really depends on the battery, but in general for Li-Po's, the minimum voltage for this battery will be something close to 6V. Li-Po's require specific ways of charge with min/max voltages and certain currents. The minimum battery voltage cannot be overcome by the 5V from USB, thus it will not charge the battery.
If anything, the 5V could power the device, but it wouldn't charge the battery. I would bet that this doesn't work. The power jack on the Xoom probably goes into a regulator that reduces the 12V into a lower voltage that charges the Xoom.

gbenj said:
My HTC charger outputs from the AC adapter to microusb at 5V and 1.0A, which is as high as I've seen with other phones and chargers.
The Xoom charger appears to output 12V at 1.5A.
I'm no electrician but that does seem like a pretty big difference. 140% greater in and 50% greater respectively.
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I don't see how you see it as whining, we're just figuring out how to get things we want ourselves instead of waiting for the manufacturer to do it for us
Most of XDA's reader probably have some kind of techincal/engineering/IT/industrial background. Nothing wrong with pooling our talents to solve manufacturers' shortcomings.

USB Charging
Just tried to charge it VIA USB and wall charger with USB port & this is the result.

Extended USB Cable not charging nexus 7

I tried swapping out the USB cable that came with my nexus 7 with a longer usb cable (still using the same charger though edit: by that, i mean the ASUS charger that came with the N7). It doesn't seem to be charging though, even though it says 'charging' on the screen. When i was using the nexus 7 while plugged in, i actually lost 1% charge after using it for like 30 or so minutes.
I think i grabbed this cable off Ebay. It had no trouble charging my phone. Are there different grades of USB cables or something?

By same charger do you mean the one it came with? The 2 amps charger. Sorry I had to clear that bit up. I think longer cables creates more resistence but I'm not sure if the cable length is significant enough stop charging. I have no idea about grades of USB cables though maybe someone can elaborate on that.

Summerfly said:
By same charger do you mean the one it came with? The 2 amps charger. Sorry I had to clear that bit up. I think longer cables creates more resistence but I'm not sure if the cable length is significant enough stop charging. I have no idea about grades of USB cables though maybe someone can elaborate on that.
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Yes, the ASUS charger it came with, i plugged in the 6 foot microusb cable i bought off ebay into it.

MFister said:
Yes, the ASUS charger it came with, i plugged in the 6 foot microusb cable i bought off ebay into it.
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Okay, 6 foot cable doesn't sound excessively long. I have to ask what were you doing on it while charging and what brightness setting was the screen at. Maybe you were draining more power than the charger can provide?

This is pretty common. The stock cable has larger conductors, as I assume other 2 amp chargers come with, and standard cables are sensed somehow and charging current is limited. Try finding a 22awg cable, I think it will work.

I use a USB extender since I don't have any outlets near my bed. I use a cable rated for USB 2.0 and haven't had any problems. I have had problems with cables that aren't. The Motorola USB cables are rated for 2.0 and they all work fine for me with no problems.

burpootus said:
This is pretty common. The stock cable has larger conductors, as I assume other 2 amp chargers come with, and standard cables are sensed somehow and charging current is limited. Try finding a 22awg cable, I think it will work.
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Thanks, i assume this cable that's 28/24 awg would work?
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10303&cs_id=1030307&p_id=8643&seq=1&format=2

I use a cable extender, but I insert the original stock cable into the tablet (not the charger). It appears to recognise that and charge at the correct rate.

I've tried using a usb extender to charge with the asus charger and the Asus USB cable and checking with battery graph it charges much slower compared to using just the Asus cable.

People with eyesight better than mine will see that the micro USB socket has 5 pins and the Nexus looks at the 5th pin to decide what is connected and what the connected device is allowed to do. The pin can be grounded, not connected (floating) or can be connected to ground via I think 3 fixed resistances. Google for USB on the go. I think that is the standard adopted by Asus and the cable doesn't comply.

I'm using a nook 1/2 cable I got with a car charger for the nooktablet
It works and is longer then the stock cable it came with.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

EE here. I just ran into this issue recently, so I'll share what I learned. Grab a multimeter and measure the resistance of the cable. Check all 4 pins just in case one of them is worse than another.
In my case, I had a really horrible USB extension cable. It measured about 4 Ohms. 4 Ohms is low enough for a multimeter to pass a continuity test, but do out the math:
V = I * R
V = 2A * 8 Ohms (4 Ohms on VCC, 4 Ohms back on GND)
V = 16V.
16 volts?? Where does 16V come from? Short answer: It doesn't. If 2A were actually flowing, the USB cable would have a 16V drop across it. It doesn't though, which tells us that 2A is not flowing. 1A is also not flowing, since that would still be 8V.
0.5 Ohms is a good estimate for a MAXIMUM resistance for a USB charging cable. That's a 1V drop at 2A, meaning the phone is only getting ~4V. That explains why the USB cable that comes with the Nexus 7 is so darn short - it comes in at around 0.1 Ohms (or perhaps less, that's about the limit of what I can accurately measure)

Wanted to get a longer USB cable that will work the Asus adapter, any links?
Thanks.

came across this thread while investigating a strange thing in charging my 4400mah extended battery of my s3.
I have a 5v 1A stock samsung charger with an extension cable i was always using to charge my old phones with a less capacity battery (mugen 3200mah)
This night i spent i wasnt ble to get a full charge from 5% to 100% in 8 hours and this sounds more than strange, but yet understandable.
i will try timings with the stock cable without extension and i'll come back...

Charging Issue. Difference between Meizu and MicroUSB cables?

I have not done much research to find out why, mainly because most discussion is in Chinese. It seems that the device cannot charge properly without the stock Meizu cable. Does anyone know why this is? It appears to be a standard MicroUSB cable.

I'm using a Kindle Fire charger right now and it's charging fine.
Sent from my M030

and the stock white cable right? Charging off various sources isn't a problem. The problem is the cable.

AdamOutler said:
and the stock white cable right? Charging off various sources isn't a problem. The problem is the cable.
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My Meizu cable is black and that works just fine as well
Sent from my M030

If you can give me the link to the Chinese discussion, I can translate and roughly summarise the discussion and findings (if any) for you.

It might be just like the Nexus 7 discussions where people think the magic is the cable, but then you find out that when they change the cable they also were using an iPad charger...
Don't you have an MX Adam? Easy enough to test a few combos.

Charges fine on both my lg, Meizu and any other micro usb cable.
The charger is the magic here...
This device needs 2amp input to charge properly.
If your charger can't provide this you get flicker charges.

I think MrColdbird is more-or-less right.
My Meizu MX (4-core) charger looks like it's rated at 1.2A. Charging with a lower-power charger usually does not work, and even my portable battery pack with its 1.5A output only works while the external battery is at least half-full.
However, I also have a couple of 0.5A chargers that seem to work OK, and it charges OK from the USB ports on my laptop, which I think are 0.5A. All-in-all, it's very choosy when it comes to chargers! But you're right, the cable isn't really the issue.
Charlie

I don't know what's going on. I'm using a Nexus7 charger, a samsung charger and my computer. All three require the Meizu-White cable. Standard MicroUSB fails.
Are you guys using CN or HK versions? Mine's an HK.

Should be easy enough to test. Just measure for any resistance between the pins on the uUSB side of the completely unconnected cable. If you find any resistance between GND and ID, or between any other pins, they're playing games with us!

HK here to Adam.
So this adds to the mystery as well.

i got the mx032 as well, and the problem is the charger.
works with my following chargers:
-htc 12V (1A)
-ipad (2.1A)
-sony xperia (850mA)
-motorola milestone
doesn't not work with:
-samsung travel adapter (700A)
-noname 12V (1A+2.1A)

E:V:A said:
Should be easy enough to test. Just measure for any resistance between the pins on the uUSB side of the completely unconnected cable. If you find any resistance between GND and ID, or between any other pins, they're playing games with us!
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Sometimes, I have such a situation

My M031 charges with Nexus 7 charger and cable.

Charging

In order to benefit from rapid charging do I need to compatible charging brick + cable? I want to be able to rapid charge my phone at work, can I buy a separate cable to use with the spare charger from my old HTC phone? if so can anyone recommend a USB-A to USB-C cable, or a reasonably priced 3rd party charger from the UK.
Thanks

yourpassenger said:
In order to benefit from rapid charging do I need to compatible charging brick + cable? I want to be able to rapid charge my phone at work, can I buy a separate cable to use with the spare charger from my old HTC phone? if so can anyone recommend a USB-A to USB-C cable, or a reasonably priced 3rd party charger from the UK.
Thanks
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Yes you are right, not all cables & bricks support rapid charging. You need compatible brick with USB C to USB C for Rapid charging.

chichu_9 said:
Yes you are right, not all cables & bricks support rapid charging. You need compatible brick with USB C to USB C for Rapid charging.
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But there are USB-A-USB-C cables that are rapid charge compatible.

yourpassenger said:
But there are USB-A-USB-C cables that are rapid charge compatible.
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I have a similar cable, which does fast charge but not Rapid charge. I bought my cable from iOrange-E USB A to USB C cable, in case you are interested.