Database Users

When using phone heavily and charging battery drians.

Hey guys thought I would post here has anyone else expierence this before?
When charging in my car and using either gmaps with gps and listening to music with my g2 the battery drians even while charging!
Yesterday it screwed me over. I was going to a place I had never been and no matter what I tried it wouldn't boot any more. Even after plugging it in to the car charger.
The farthest I would get is that it boots into recovery I hit reboot now and it endlessly loops. Its weird. Is my battery bad?
Thanks!
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

Your battery is fine. I suggest you pull the battery out for a minute or 2 and put it back in
BUT
do not turn the phone on yet. let it charge for half and hour to an hour to give it some charge back and see what happens from there.

Pretty much agree with the above. Make sure you use the wall charger, not USB or the car charger, as those supply lower voltage (EDIT: current or mA, thats the term/units I should have said, per below). Let the phone charge for a long time, maybe overnight, and see what happens.
I've never tried using GPS and playing music at the same time (at least not for any significant length of time). What do you have your screen brightness set at? Since the screen is always on when using Maps/Navigation, turning it down may have a big impact on battery drain, and might result in the charging rate being greater than the drain rate.

I bought the official HTC car usb adaptor for this very reason. Most car adaptors only output between about 300 to 500mA which is less than the battery drain when you play music, use gps and have 3g activated. The HTC adaptor outputs 1000mA and is the fastest car charger I have found. It is as fast as the Nokia N86 home charger I have. Buy one and you won't be dissapointed. It comes with a coiled usb lead in the pack but I use mine with the retractable usb lead that came with my powertraveller.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

USB supplies only 500mA and car chargers often only supply 1000mA as mentioned. This might not be enough to cover everything =/
My car charger (the official HTC Nexus One car dock) does 2000mA though so it's great =)

matt_not_andrew said:
I bought the official HTC car usb adaptor for this very reason. Most car adaptors only output between about 300 to 500mA which is less than the battery drain when you play music, use gps and have 3g activated. The HTC adaptor outputs 1000mA and is the fastest car charger I have found. It is as fast as the Nokia N86 home charger I have. Buy one and you won't be dissapointed. It comes with a coiled usb lead in the pack but I use mine with the retractable usb lead that came with my powertraveller.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great info. I didn't realize the HTC car charger was that much better than others.

Ah ok this has to be it! Yes I imagine between taxing the cpu, generating heat, 3g, gps, and the screen on with music playing would drain faster than a regular usb can keep up with! Thanks guys. I will be finding a better car adapter! Anyone have any links of where they went?
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

I purchased the Motorola Car Charger from the thread below. Did some research on it, and it is rated to put out 950mah. Not quite as much as the stock HTC car charger, but its only $5 if you follow the link from the thread.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=819465&highlight=car+charger
I don't use my phone nearly as heavily as you do in the car, only for GPS directions when I need them. But it works great when I need a quick charge. Drove to work last night (about 15 minutes) and it took me from 22% - 34%. Enough to make it through the evening shift!

battery drain with car usb and gps

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chargers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Car chargers..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We can only use the LG charger?

Since the battery life of the phone is quite poor it's only natural that i would like to charge it when i'm on class or with an usb cable when im using my laptop, using other usb chargers/cables, but on the manual says (of course) that we should only use it with the lg charger that comes in the box or an official nexus 4 charger .
It kinda sounds like bullsh*t until i remember what happened with my motorola milestone, sometimes when i used another charger the screen started doing crazy things, like swipping the homescreens by itself , oppening apps, until i charged it for at least a few minutes with the official charger, some months later my digitalizer died, so you can imagine how traumatized i am, but then i think what's the point of trying to make a standard out of microusb chargers if we can only use the official charger? what do you guys think?

I find battery life to be very good.
I have been using an old HTC charger on mine without issue though. I suspect the 'only use LG charger' is to cover themselves in case you kill the device with a cheap and badly made knock off.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

AW: We can only use the LG charger?
I have literally problems in draining my battery, running Franco's Kernel and Minco v6.
Anyway, using another charger should be no problem. I used the charger of my Asus Transformer and a mobile charger in my car without issues.
sent from my francoed Nexus 4

templope athletes,"
Feel free to use any USB wallcharger you'll find.
I tried some i had laying around (HTC, iPhone 5, iPad) and they all charged without trouble.. :good:

Yeah, I've used a 1A HTC charger with no issue. I accidentally left my lg charger at a friends house and had to use what I had.

the battery life is good, better than s2 with its extended battery, i was wondering about this too as i want to use a sony rx100 at 2amps to charge while im traveling.
on page 168 of the service manual it states the max charging current is set at 900mah, over voltage protection upto 28volts

The current should be controlled by the phone, not the charger. Therefore there shouldn't be a problem with more powerful chargers. The voltage has to be correct, though

The phone certainly regulates the power it takes.
If you are really worried about the chargers just flip them over and read the output ratings. Most of them are exactly the same these days.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

I use my GNex charger with no problems.
P.s- the battery life on this device is outstanding, you just need to find the kernel that works well on your device
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Premium HD app

Any USB charger will work. Note the output current on the charger though, as that will impact how fast it can charge and whether or not you can have the screen on while you charge. The LG charger that comes with the phone is 5v 1.2a, an iPhone charger (at least as of the 4S when I got mine) is 5v 1a and an Amazon Kindle charger is 5v 0.85a. The USB 2.0 spec calls out a max power output of 5v 0.5a.

EnIXmA said:
I use my GNex charger with no problems.
P.s- the battery life on this device is outstanding, you just need to find the kernel that works well on your device
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 for the GNex charger.

[email protected] said:
Any USB charger will work. Note the output current on the charger though, as that will impact how fast it can charge and whether or not you can have the screen on while you charge. The LG charger that comes with the phone is 5v 1.2a, an iPhone charger (at least as of the 4S when I got mine) is 5v 1a and an Amazon Kindle charger is 5v 0.85a. The USB 2.0 spec calls out a max power output of 5v 0.5a.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm confused , the lg nexus 4 charger is 5.0v 1.2A and my galaxy nexus charger which i use sometimes with my nexus 4 is 5.0V 1.0A , what does this mean? what's the difference?

My Nexus 4 is on the way so i cant comment on that but my Sony Xperia S acts differently to different USB leads even on the same charge unit. It might charge at 500mAh or 950mAh (on a charger rated at 850mAh), the screen might be fine or it might act erratic and it all depends on the lead plugged in to the charger

I used Samsung/blackberry chargers and they worked. Not sure if they were as efficient though.

I pretty much use anything but the LG charger and have been doing so over a month. So feel free to use any quality charger you like.
I also charge of my Philips Qi pad and off computer USB ports.
As long as it's providing stable power or anything close to it, it's good.
Just be careful with (fake) cheapo chargers. Those might cause issues with the touchscreen going haywire while charging off them. I've also read that about some car chargers, but so far my cheap 2A 2port USB car charger that came of DX is working fine for me.
YMMV of course. But there is no need to stick to just the LG charger.