[Q] Hack/create Motorola Smart Charging cable - Droid RAZR M Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Has anyone figured out what makes the smart charging cable different from other microUSB cables that puts your phone in Desktop mode when plugged in? I'd imagine it's a resistor somewhere, or some pins jumped, something like that. I just have no idea what to do to hack an existing cable.
The cable I had got smashed, so it won't plug in any more. I was hoping I could hack one of my existing cables to do the same thing. I have AutomateIt set up to run my nightstand clock program when it's plugged in at night, but that's annoying. I'd rather have the phone do it automagically. (Note, I'm running PACman, so SmartActions is a no-go).
Any ideas?

Related

Now my phone won't charge

Totally stock (but i don't think it matters).
Plug the phone in, orange LED comes on.
Hold it or place in on the counter five seconds later, LED is off.
Had the phone since 6/4.
Anyone else having issues?
Are you using the AC charger ? I have two Evos and one of the chargers does what you are describing. The orange LED comes on and then goes off after a while and the phone stops charging. Does it on both phones, the other charger works fine with both usb cables.
Are you using the USB charger with a computer or laptop or plugging straight into the wall with an AC charger?
This does make a difference because if you are charging with a USB + laptop combination you could be suffering from the computer going to sleep and disabling the USB ports power to conserve laptop battery life. If you are having the issue when plugging into the wall, try plugging into a computer and selecting the "Charge Only" option when your USB debug comes up. Once it does this, allow it to charge for a period of time and then turn the phone off, switch to AC power plug and see what happens.
Perhaps you had some kind of over voltage spike on the charger through the AC plug. I could see it possibly tripping something in the phone to stop taking charge to protect the handset.
Also make sure if you do use a laptop, use a USB 2.0 or better port. More power and faster connection. Gotta love it.
Your charger may not be sourcing enough current anymore (for whatever reason). I have seen the exact same behavior with USB car chargers that were only sourcing 100-150mA.
Have you tried plugging the USB cable into a modern desktop PC? (Some laptops have reduced current ports, so a desktop is a safer bet)
Its definitely a current issue. I tried to charge my phone using my bluetooth headset's wall charger, but I got the behavior you are describing. The bluetooth headset's charger just doesnt put out enough current.
Are you using the charger that came with the phone? if so, you may want to exchange the charger...
im having the same problem when i connect it to my desktop, it sees it for about 2 secs n then disappears. My computer at work has no problem seeing the phone. i wonder if i need a driver or something for my usb ports, anyone have any ideas??
tarheelsmj12001 said:
im having the same problem when i connect it to my desktop, it sees it for about 2 secs n then disappears. My computer at work has no problem seeing the phone. i wonder if i need a driver or something for my usb ports, anyone have any ideas??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably not a driver issue, but that that rail from the power supply is either undervolted (say 4.6V instead of 5V), or can't provide enough current (amperage) or both. If I recall correctly, the Evo needs 5V @ 1A (+/- 3% tolerance).
Phone not charging
my phone has been charging fine since I got it... even been using the night desk clock app while sleeping at night for the alarm with it plugged in... everything was good...
With my phone about to die today, I plug it in to the wall charger, the led/batter indicator shows that it is charging... then POW.. it says I have a low battery and it needs to be plugged in... WTH??? it is plugged in!
The only thing I did today was flash the new boot.img for the cap fix over in Toast's thread...
Weird thing now is that I took my hero battery and put it in my EVO, plugged it into wall charger, and it stays charging... So, I put my EVO battery in my hero, plugged it in, and whola... it's now charging...
Please help as I am baffled.
MILH0U5E said:
The only thing I did today was flash the new boot.img for the cap fix over in Toast's thread...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's your problem right there. that custom kernel is known to have charging issues.
I'm having the same issue with my car charger consistently. Plus my AC charger less consistently. For example, I'll go to bed and plug it in, the next morning I wake up and see the phone is at 80% charge and isn't charging. At some point over night, it gave up. This is with the stock charger too.

Galaxy Tab charging issue + solution

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!

Custom charger?

I recently bought a custom 2 amp charger after the stock one died. Anyways, whenever I plug it in, I noticed that it would ask me whether I wanted to access the USB storage. Apps that need the SD card similarly, would terminate (ex: music).
Is there any way to solve this and to make the phone realize that this is a power outlet charger and not a USB charger? I think that the Epic drew about 650 milliamps or so charging and much smaller over PC (I think about 350 to 400 ish IIRC). It seems to currently only be charging at PC USB speeds as well and not the same rate as the stock charger.
Thanks in advance.
There's a way for the phone to tell if it's connected to a PC or AC adapter depending on a resistor shorting out two pins. Make sure you don't have anything other than the +5V and Ground connected.
I had the same thing happen with a car charger. Bridging / shorting the data pins causes the Epic to see the charger as a regular charger, and not usb for data or charging. This can also be done in the cable, itself, however, then you have the problem of having to cut part of your USB cable and re-tape or heat-shrink tube it.
There's a couple threads discussing similar problems/solutions:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=908363
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=709226

[Q] Nexus 7 short circut damage help, please.

So, I apparently did something very stupid with my new Nexus 7.
I have a few 1 TB external hard drives, which don't get enough power via an OTG adapter from the Nexus 7 to run. So, I purchased a two into one cable -- that is, a cable that combines two male USB A plugs into one Micro USB B plug so that a USB 3.0 hard drive can use two USB 2.0 ports to have enough power. I had planned to use this to enable use of the hard drives with the Nexus 7 while traveling by plugging one cable in the tablet and the other into a charger.
When I got the cable I tested it by plugging one of the USB A plugs into my Nexus 7, and then I plugged the other into my computer's USB port. The Nexus 7 promptly shut down, the computer complained of a power surge on the USB port, and a distinct smell of melted plastic came from the computer's USB port. I guess the combining cable didn't combine so much as it just acted like a double headed male A USB cable and shorted things out?
The Nexus 7 refused to restart afterwards until I it plugged it into its charger. It works now, mostly. However, if its battery charge is above about eighty-seven percent then it always reports that it is charging, regardless if it is plugged in or not. And if I plug it into a computer while it is reporting that it is charging I have to restart the tablet to get it to connect to the computer -- I guess it thinks it is connected to a charger and doesn't bother checking for a data connection unless restarted.
The level where it stops thinking it's charging varies somewhat -- I've had it still claim to be charging all the way down to eighty-two percent charge, and by repeatedly opening the battery app over and over again I have been able to get it to notice that it's really not charging all the way up to ninety-one percent, but no higher, and I have to open and close the battery app an increasing number of times for every percent that it goes up over eighty-seven before it will notice it's not charging.
Any idea what kind of damage I'm looking at? How to fix it? Whether I can get the warranty people to fix it free of charge? If yes, whether they will send me a new one or just fix the one I have? Whether it's worth getting fixed since it mostly still works, and doesn't really bother me as long as it doesn't get worse?
Nothing?
Nothing from anyone?
Try replacing the internal USB plug? About $25. Easy to do your self.

USB Type C port loose?

Hi Everyone
I was wondering if anyone had or is currently experiencing loose usb type c connections between the port and the cable. I recently bought the device in November during Black Friday. As my daily driver I started to notice that when plugging in the cable it no longer stay firmly in. Instead it would sometimes pivot left or right. I am RMA my device through Newegg as the RMA passport procedure in Canada with ZTE is complicated.
I would appreciate any and all feedback regarding this. Hopefully no one will experience this later on.
I don't have that problem, though using the USB micro to USB Type-C port seems like its not the best connection (phone will randomly vibrate when using it while plugged in, leaving me to believe it disconnects and connects quick). But that's using the adapter. I have a question though too, do you or anyone else, hear like, electricity/static/spark sounds when unplugging the QuickCharge 3.0 USB type C cable+AC adapter that comes with it? It's my first time using Quickcharge, it hardly seems like it should work that way, but its not exactly something I can Google lol
moccor said:
I have a question though too, do you or anyone else, hear like, electricity/static/spark sounds when unplugging the QuickCharge 3.0 USB type C cable+AC adapter that comes with it? It's my first time using Quickcharge, it hardly seems like it should work that way, but its not exactly something I can Google lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it should be that way, but I also have this sound. At first I thought it was because of QC3. But I try to charge from my PC usually, and that sound is still there, you can even first unplug USB-A from QC or PC, and only then from phone, but it still sparks. Like something is shortening. Happens all the time when there's charging involved. I have usb-otg and it doesn't do that.
Edit: can confirm that usb-c wiggles, even on my pc motherboard, where I have never used it before. So thats normal I think, but it is still sturdy and won't unplug easily.
Type C male plugs can jiggle so they can put less stress on the female ports.
Also, manufacturers _should_ comply with the exact design reference and always build female ports with the specified measures, so that consumers may opt for a different cable in case of improper fitting.
The sparks sound (a distinguishable crackling noise) while unplugging used to happen on the first month after I bought my unit and after that, it stopped. I think the battery takes some time to stabilize the energy output. Ampere says the charge is normal.
Had this Problem once, try to clean the USB port (Used a Q-Tip and A needle with a thin towel).

Categories

Resources