I was always wondering how to speed up this unacceptably slow USB charging (If you are in a low signal area with bluetooth ON then the battery is drained far more quicker than the laptop can charge it ending up with a flat battery ). Finally I tested the output from the pins of the wall charger and my Laptop. Even when the laptop is powered off (no data exchange) the USB charging is very slow. The HD seems to send a ~1v pulse through D+ channel when to connect it to USB port (even when powered off the device seems to check if it is a USB data port), but with the charger it does not!, so we need to break this communication.
So I put a thin plastic film over the D+ and D- terminals of the USB cable and voila the device charges much faster..(slightly slower than wall charger - 25% slower, can be accounted for by the lower power output of the laptop USB port, the voltage of laptop usb port is 150-200 mV lower).
While I am typing this my HD has gained 9% charge with screen on!! . Natively it charged atmost 1% by this time with screen off.
Now I am looking for a permanent mod for my spare USB cable hacking off the data lines.
For those in a hurry with nothing but a HD with flat battery USB cable and a computer at hand, worthwhile using a thin paper over the inner two pins of the USB cable on PC side and plugging it in. (You do this at your own risk).
Hope it helps others too. Let me know your experiences.
With my Desktop USB port, charge rate is better than wall charger if you block the data pins. The port seems to be capable of 1.5 amp at 4.96 v
Also ensure that the USB cable snugly fits the mini USB port on HD.
Could this be also the problem why (my) Blackstone doesn't receive a TMC-signal with HyperGPS & iGO8 while charging in my car?
It's a genuine car charger from HTC, so I should say these pins are already "shut" from connection, or am I wrong?
I have a usb cable that is dedicatet for charging. It dosent have D+/- wires. With this cable on my laptop the charge time form about 20% is more than half of regular USD cable..
The cable was supplied with a car BT handsfree.
Regarding the TMC issue Im not shure, Try asking the guys that developed HyperGPS they might know, if not they might be able to fix if they arent aware of the issue
Interesting tip, thanks... I've lost my charger and have been finding it a pain to charge it using the USB port on my laptop.
I cut a small strip of paper from one end of a sticky note, and stuck the adhesive end to the outer flat surface of the USB plug to secure the strip in place. Seems to have done the trick, because the charging light is on and the PC hasn't detected the device. As for how long it takes to charge... will have to wait and see.
Also, I was wondering if there was any difference in charging speed (i.e. when charging via USB normally without using this trick) between activesync and file transfer mode?
I woke up this morning and the battery of my Atrix was completely dead. Since I was in a hurry to get to work I thought I'm going to charge using the computer in my office with the supplied USB cable.
It appears that the phone won't charge from 0% turned off! I had to borrow a Blackberry wall charger from a college and jump start the Atrix before plugging it to my computer's USB and start charging.
My iPhone 3GS would come back to life if plugged to the USB port after a complete discharge.
Is there a solution for the Atrix? Are there other android devices you know of with the same issue?
Thank you
my milestone also have this prob
The moto wall chargers run at 800+ma. This is more than the usual ~400-600ma that other chargers run at. Computer USB ports only supply 500ma MAX. The atrix doesn't seem to like anything under ~600ma and prefers 800-1000ma for some weird reason.
If you've got a well powered USB port, it will charge the phone. If it's underpowered, the phone won't even take the charge.
Yes, from a dead batt, the phone wont even wake up the charge circuit for anything under 600ma. I've experienced it as well.
Thank you. What about USB 3.0? I have that in my home PC. But it still sucks how I can't wake up the phone if the battery completely drained with all the USB around me at work or wherever when a wall-charger is not within reach.
Shouldn't the phone preserve the last drops of the battery before shutting down so it allows us time to start it up again and charge by USB 2.0?
I think it wouldn't hurt if Motorola made it shutoff at like 2% allowing us to charge the device and get it up using USB 2.0. Or maybe a dev can get around it as an optional tweak for users?!
That also made me think of something else. Would the alarm go off if the battery completely died while you were asleep? I know iphone, Nokia and probably many other smartphones does that (preserving last drops for this purpose).
all usb has the same voltage specs, 3.0 ports wont charge better than 2.0 ports on the same system, the only thing that will make a difference is the build quality of the hardware and the voltage regulation from the power management.
A powered usb hub would be your best bet if you can't get to a moto charger
diedemus said:
all usb has the same voltage specs, 3.0 ports wont charge better than 2.0 ports on the same system, the only thing that will make a difference is the build quality of the hardware and the voltage regulation from the power management.
A powered usb hub would be your best bet if you can't get to a moto charger
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Click to collapse
I thought it's better to bring up this thread instead of opening a new one since I've been investigating the same issue.
We all know that Android phones and widgets especially can drain the battery unexpectedly.
I PM'ed kennethpenn if there's a way to automate a shutdown when the battery reaches a certain level so it can charge and wake up connected to a computer USB 2.0 port (As in if it can be implemented in his ROM). Kenneth replied that he's not sure, and I've been looking for an app that can do that.
Now before we go more on that, I wish to have your opinion on how important you think it is to sacrifice the last little drops of the battery in favor of being to charge/wake up your devices when you're on the go and may not have access to wall charger?
If there's an app that can allow it then I'm welling to do the tests and find the sweet spot of when to shutdown and if it would actually charge to wake up.
Thank you
I had the same problem yesterday, I only have the USB cord with me and I thought my phone was dead for real or defective. Thanks god for XDA ... The user manual did not say anything about computer usb power not being powerfull enough.
CyberPunk7t9, there is (a few) threads dedicated to improving Atrix battery life full of usefull tricks. I did not try it yet, but SetCPU might be of a great help too.
Remeber, the Atrix requires the Motorola usb drivers to be installed to charge the phone off a port. If the phone is off, your computer is not reconigizing that it was plugged in, so the drivers do not start. *I could be wrong* Happen to me last night though
it's a hardware issue on the computer side. without the moto drivers there telling the USB port to up the current coming out, your phone won't charge on it. most computer-based USB ports do not run high current for power purposes unless enabled. it cannot be solved with an app and mandating a shutdown at 2% is most likely going to cause more problems than solve. the solution is to not run your battery down, honestly. you shouldn't be for LiPo batteries anyway.
diedemus said:
all usb has the same voltage specs, 3.0 ports wont charge better than 2.0 ports on the same system, the only thing that will make a difference is the build quality of the hardware and the voltage regulation from the power management
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Click to collapse
It's not voltage that matters, it's current.
I have a gigabyte board which has 'rapid charge' technology, meaning it supplies extra amperage to the usb ports...my battery was close to dying when I saw this thread so as a test I let it completely die and then I tried charging from usb.
Result: It worked.
I still don't get as quick of a charge from USB as I do from the wall but at least there is enough amperage to charge from a completely dead state.
diedemus said:
all usb has the same voltage specs, 3.0 ports wont charge better than 2.0 ports on the same system, the only thing that will make a difference is the build quality of the hardware and the voltage regulation from the power management.
A powered usb hub would be your best bet if you can't get to a moto charger
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get your facts straight!..............USB 3.0 IS a powered USB port!
USB 3.0 will charge more devices, quicker
Not only will USB 3.0 cables facilitate faster transfer speeds, but they’ll carry more power, too. The USB-IF recognizes the growing number of portable devices that charge via USB (cellphones, MP3 players, digital cameras), and have bumped the power output from about 100miliamps to 900 milliamps. That means not only will you be able to power more than 4 devices from a single hub, but the increase current will let you charge up heftier hardware as well.
Maximum PC
<edit> Also, my Atrix charges fine off the 3.0 ports on my HP laptop.
dcarpenter85 said:
I have a gigabyte board which has 'rapid charge' technology, meaning it supplies extra amperage to the usb ports...my battery was close to dying when I saw this thread so as a test I let it completely die and then I tried charging from usb.
Result: It worked.
I still don't get as quick of a charge from USB as I do from the wall but at least there is enough amperage to charge from a completely dead state.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a gigabyte UD7 in my PC. I wanted to use the rapid charge feature for a while. Still planned. Also the On/Off Charge feature to charge the iphone/ipod while the computer is turned off. I will probably assign some time to test those tomorrow.
CaelanT said:
Get your facts straight!..............USB 3.0 IS a powered USB port!
USB 3.0 will charge more devices, quicker
Not only will USB 3.0 cables facilitate faster transfer speeds, but they’ll carry more power, too. The USB-IF recognizes the growing number of portable devices that charge via USB (cellphones, MP3 players, digital cameras), and have bumped the power output from about 100miliamps to 900 milliamps. That means not only will you be able to power more than 4 devices from a single hub, but the increase current will let you charge up heftier hardware as well.
Maximum PC
<edit> Also, my Atrix charges fine off the 3.0 ports on my HP laptop.
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Click to collapse
I have USB 3.0 in my PC too. But as someone stated here, USB 3.0 does not provide more voltage than USB 2.0. Just more consistency I think.
But what matters, Can any of those solutions charge and start a completely dead Atrix?
Thank you for participating guys.
USB ports can only source 100mA unless the host and client agree to a higher current. If as mentioned the Atrix needs more then this to wake-up the phone with a dead battery then it can never request the higher current. This is also why the Moto drivers need to be installed to get the higher current.
CyberPunk7t9 said:
I have USB 3.0 in my PC too. But as someone stated here, USB 3.0 does not provide more voltage than USB 2.0. Just more consistency I think.
But what matters, Can any of those solutions charge and start a completely dead Atrix?
Thank you for participating guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you need a port or power source that will supply enough current to the phone. period. if your computer's ports don't do it, it won't work. go find a higher amp USB port.
Maybe try the usb 2 to 1 cable? So you plug it into 2 usb ports and than into the atrix
CaelanT said:
Not only will USB 3.0 cables facilitate faster transfer speeds, but they’ll carry more power, too. The USB-IF recognizes the growing number of portable devices that charge via USB (cellphones, MP3 players, digital cameras), and have bumped the power output from about 100miliamps to 900 milliamps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually USB 2.0 can supply 500 mA, but as someone said to get more than 100 mA, the host and device have to 'negotiate' which I think means driver support of some kind.
I have noticed in Device Manager says that my SGS plugged into my laptop as a mass storage device is only taking 100 mA, but it doesn't charge much slower than it does from a wall charger (which is actually pretty slow, almost 3 hrs for a full charge). Still if I do the math to charge 1500 mAh at 3.7V with 5v in 3 hours would take about 370 mA (assuming 100% efficiency, so the actual current draw must be higher).
If anyone knows a more accurate way of determining the current a USB port is supplying, since Device Manager seems to be wrong, that would be interesting information.
What's interesting here is that at 0% the device isn't even on and can't power up to negotiate a higher current draw. If it can't turn on with 100 mA from the charging port it's stuck, which I suspect is the problem here with the Atrix.
USB 3.0 has the potential to charge at 900mah but yes it’s still 5vdc, the phone will not pull more than 500mah unless it detects the data lines are bridged. This is a safety feature so it doesn't blow your usb2.0 ports as the phone wasn’t built with usb 3.0 spec in mind. If you have a 3.0 usb port you can make a fast charge cable with the data lines cut and bridged, make sure you cut them and they aren't still connected to the host side or you might kill your port.
callen81 said:
USB 3.0 has the potential to charge at 900mah but yes it’s still 5vdc, the phone will not pull more than 500mah unless it detects the data lines are bridged. This is a safety feature so it doesn't blow your usb2.0 ports as the phone wasn’t built with usb 3.0 spec in mind. If you have a 3.0 usb port you can make a fast charge cable with the data lines cut and bridged, make sure you cut them and they aren't still connected to the host side or you might kill your port.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mA, not mAh
dLo GSR said:
mA, not mAh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm so used to talking about batteries I guess I left the "h"ours in, haha.
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
Hello everyone!
Not sure if this is normal, but I don't think so.
So my problem is that charging with USB is very, VERY slow! But if I recall correctly, it was normal in that first weeks... But after like a month or so, I noticed that it's very slow compared to normal AC charging.
Its like 75% slower via USB. Im on NexusBeam v4.2.3 (ICS), but it occurs on other ROMs too.
Any ideas?
USB power is considerably less than socket power >…>
Sent from my ice cream powered Nexus S
It was the same with my former iPhone. Charging with USB took much longer and I only used it when I already had lots of battery left and was just syncing it.
I kept a separate cable just for charging so I wouldn't have to switch them back and forth.
USB cannot provide the amount of power that an electrical socket can that's why. It'll be slower no matter what phone or ROM you have.
USB ports provide around 500mA of power, the wall charger that came with my phone provides 700mA. So it's kinda faster. (Some MSI boards I have seen have a toggle to disable data for a usb port but provide more power, around 1Amp, Some external hard disks do this too by using 2 USB ports at once)
Hi,
On STweaks there is the option for tweaking the battery charge rate, both on USB and AC charging mode... question is, since the AC-charging current is so much more than on the USB mode (AC has 1000mA as standard value, whilst for USB charging the standard is 460 mA), I am wondering if I set the USB charging to 1000mA will this have any detrimental effect on the battery?
out of curiosity - does any of you use higher power even on AC charging? on STweaks you have the option of setting to 1900 mA , which should almost halve charge times... would this really damage the battery in the long run?
Thanks in advance for any advice!
1900 is standard with the samsung charger.
Usb charging depends on your say laptop if they can handle 1000ma.
The battery itself isn't an issue here as the battery is quite capable of handling the nearly 2A load the charger transmits. The issue is whether your source can output the amount of power you've set in STweaks. The standard USB port frequently found on PCs and laptops is intended for low-power devices, and has a maximum power rating of 500mAh. Some laptops and netbooks include a powered USB port, which is sometimes color coded. This powered port can draw sufficient power to not only run an external hard drive, but also can be used to charge smartphones. In the S4, the kernel is tricked into thinking it's on AC power when it's plugged into a powered USB port, and thus charges at the AC rate.
In my case, I've set the USB rating in STweaks to 700mAh, but only because I occasionally use a USB cigarette lighter adapter in the car to charge the S4 while I'm using Maps. If I were to connect directly to my laptop the S4 would likely only charge at 500mAh regardless of the setting due to the USB port maximum power rating. I however have had no reason to test this, as all 7 ports on my Belkin hub are powered, and thus can charge the S4 at the AC rate I set in STweaks (1900mAh).