Database Users

[Q] Missing pin on stock USB cable or normal design?

Hello everyone, I happen to notice that my stock N4 USB cable has a possible missing contact pin (not sure what to call it). The only other USB cables I have to compare it to are Samsung cables and all the pins are there. I'm curious if that pin is left out by design or it is a defect. Without knowing if it's left out for a reason. I have been reluctant to use my other cables because they do have that extra pin. I'm thinking maybe more pins could be bad if the N4 wasn't designed for it? So my question is, do you folks have all the pins on your stock N4 USB cables. Thanks in advance, Peace.
PS I have had two charging discrepancies since I've owed the phone. Twice when I plugged in (wall socket) my phone shot up to 100% instantly. I had to unplug, power down, plug back in, and power back on to get the proper battery reading again.

Mine appears to be missing too. Maybe it is built that way. I didn't notice until I just checked. I haven't had any problems with file transfers using the cable with my computer or with charging.
Edit: Found this thread on another forum that explains 2 other users having the same issue with their nexus 4s. It appears to be normal. http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-nexus-4/246222-nexus-4-oem-usb-cable.html

Check out the other end. You should only have 4 contacts there too.
They build it like that to save money (less metal). You only need 4 contacts for a USB cable. (The phone side will have all 5 for use in slim port, OTG, etc.)
From left to right in your picture you have:
Ground
Data-
Data+
Voltage
And that's all ya need.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

Shorting the USB Port?

I bought a Nexus One with the infamous broken power button issue, and I am curious what would the effect be if I short the VCC and GND line in the charging port? Has anyone tried that? I am thinking that it will either fry the board or trick the phone to think that it is charging.
The reason I want to do this is because I travel a lot and I might not have access to USB charging if I want to swap the SIM card. I am familiar with the other tricks regarding remapping the trackball_center and I am going to install a version of CWM that doesn't support charging (that way the phone boots when I plug a charging cable).
So long story short... what do you think about attempting to short the micro USB charging/data port?

dcalpha said:
what do you think about attempting to short the micro USB charging/data port?
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Not much.
Unless the unit is in USB host mode there will be no voltage on the Vcc line.
Even in USB host mode it should be current limited and do no damage.
Still, I wouldn't do it.
I don't know why you think that shorting it will do something useful.

Renate NST said:
Not much.
Unless the unit is in USB host mode there will be no voltage on the Vcc line.
Even in USB host mode it should be current limited and do no damage.
Still, I wouldn't do it.
I don't know why you think that shorting it will do something useful.
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I actually do not know, thus I asked... just trying to think outside the box about a way to trick the phone to think it is charging short of carrying a portable battery charger with me (which can be problematic on carry-on luggage).

Another idea I am thinking about is building a small flex cable using a conductive ink pen that permanently connect to the phone's battery on one side and a cut down male micro-usb on the other side (to slim it down). Such cable would be small enough to fold under the battery cover and allow it to close.
My question is: Will the ~3.7v be enough to get the phone to start charging? and do you foresee any issues with feeding power from the battery right back into the phone's charge port?

dcalpha said:
Another idea I am thinking about is building a small flex cable using a conductive ink pen that permanently connect to the phone's battery on one side and a cut down male micro-usb on the other side (to slim it down). Such cable would be small enough to fold under the battery cover and allow it to close.
My question is: Will the ~3.7v be enough to get the phone to start charging? and do you foresee any issues with feeding power from the battery right back into the phone's charge port?
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I think 3.7 won't be enough. Coz usb giving ~5V. So phone won't charge at smaller voltage.

Weird charging issue...

Hand my Nexus 6P three days now. Everything has been fine until this after noon.
Came home and put it on it's stock charger took it off a few hours later and noticed it was at 78%. I put it back on the charger and say it was not taking a charge. Here is where it get strange. The phone will charge off other chargers and the Nexus Charger will charge my LG G5 but the Nexus xharger and the Nexus will not work together.
Don't know if this matters, but I have noticed that the USB-C port of the Nexus 6P is a bit tighter than that of the G5.Don't think that should effect anything, but thought I'd mention it.
As i just got it I'm considering taking it back to Best Buy, but it's the 128gb model and I'd have to wait for a replacement.
Any ideas or should I just exchange it.

OK, this is a new one...
I rebooted the device and it seem to be charging with the stock charger again.
I'll have to keep my eye on this.

In the past I've noticed charging issues (on the 6p or previous android devices) can be caused by a dirty usb port (sometimes it's even caused my phone to restart over and over). I *carefully* used a bent paperclip and a *small* piece of cotton soaked in rubbing alcohol (I used ripped the end of a toothpick) to clean out the port. I got a decent amount of gunk out of it. (Caution though, I've also broken several ports and had to send for an asurion replacements when I wasn't extremely careful while pressing down on the middle tab/contacts of the usb port.)

EvanVanVan said:
In the past I've noticed charging issues (on the 6p or previous android devices) can be caused by a dirty usb port (sometimes it's even caused my phone to restart over and over). I *carefully* used a bent paperclip and a *small* piece of cotton soaked in rubbing alcohol (I used ripped the end of a toothpick) to clean out the port. I got a decent amount of gunk out of it. (Caution though, I've also broken several ports and had to send for an asurion replacements when I wasn't extremely careful while pressing down on the middle tab/contacts of the usb port.)
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Hummm.... I might just use compressed air every so often to try and keep things out of the USB port. Don't wanna be sticking things in there that might break it.
But the phone is just a few days old so I don't thin that was my issue.

I have a new Nexus 6P, and mine seems very finicky when charging over USB using a Benson Leong approved Type C-to-A connector. In fact, I end up losing a charge quite rapidly sometimes, as if my Nexus is trying to charge my desktop computer (i.e. "power supply" mode), even though it's in USB charge mode. However, it will work fine on a wall charger. I try to avoid wall chargers since it's hard to beat computer power - I mean the wall charger isn't a 650W 80+ Platinum PSU with all the fancy safeties and ripple suppression. Any idea what it could be? I think it might be a software bug.

jerm1027 said:
I have a new Nexus 6P, and mine seems very finicky when charging over USB using a Benson Leong approved Type C-to-A connector. In fact, I end up losing a charge quite rapidly sometimes, as if my Nexus is trying to charge my desktop computer (i.e. "power supply" mode), even though it's in USB charge mode. However, it will work fine on a wall charger. I try to avoid wall chargers since it's hard to beat computer power - I mean the wall charger isn't a 650W 80+ Platinum PSU with all the fancy safeties and ripple suppression. Any idea what it could be? I think it might be a software bug.
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First, just use the wall charger.
"I try to avoid wall chargers since it's hard to beat computer power - I mean the wall charger isn't a 650W 80+ Platinum PSU"
you are very wrong with that statement!
Depending on the trype of USB you computer has it will only supply a fraction of the power your charger will. USB 2.0 will max out at 500mA (.5A) USB 3.0 will max out at about 900mA. Many of the ports on you PC will supply even less power, usually one one port will actually supply the the full power of the USB standard. The PSU on you computer has nothing to do with it.
It is generally recognized that that using a computer to charge you phone is very slow and only if you have no other option, and even then you have to plug it into the main port to make sure it has enough power to charge (slowly) you device. Unless you lucky enough to have a new computer with USB 3.1 type-C that can deliver up to 3A, stay away from charging from you computer.
I just tested on four on my computers USB ports on my computer and only one gave me a little over 1A and that almost 1/3 of what the Nexus wall charger can do.

RojasTKD said:
OK, this is a new one...
I rebooted the device and it seem to be charging with the stock charger again.
I'll have to keep my eye on this.
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My 6p did this after I used a cheap usb a-c cable off eBay to charge my device in the car, after a reboot and a replacement a-c cable (belkin this time) I've never had issues again. Like you I only had issue with the original nexus charger when I went to use it at night, other chargers were fine, and a reboot did solve the issue.

RojasTKD said:
First, just use the wall charger.
"I try to avoid wall chargers since it's hard to beat computer power - I mean the wall charger isn't a 650W 80+ Platinum PSU"
you are very wrong with that statement!
Depending on the trype of USB you computer has it will only supply a fraction of the power your charger will. USB 2.0 will max out at 500mA (.5A) USB 3.0 will max out at about 900mA. Many of the ports on you PC will supply even less power, usually one one port will actually supply the the full power of the USB standard. The PSU on you computer has nothing to do with it.
It is generally recognized that that using a computer to charge you phone is very slow and only if you have no other option, and even then you have to plug it into the main port to make sure it has enough power to charge (slowly) you device. Unless you lucky enough to have a new computer with USB 3.1 type-C that can deliver up to 3A, stay away from charging from you computer.
I just tested on four on my computers USB ports on my computer and only one gave me a little over 1A and that almost 1/3 of what the Nexus wall charger can do.
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Click to collapse
You're very wrong in your interpenetration of my statement. The low amperage is precisely what I want. If I'm in a hurry, I'll use the rapid wall charger, otherwise I charge my phone overnight; it's habbit and convieniet for me since I have a small room and sleep next to my computer. The slower charge puts less wear on battery and it doesn't trickle as long either. There is also a redundancy of protections - the surge and overvoltage protection of the motherboard, from the PSU itself (including ripple/noise suppression) and then there is the surge protector the computer itself is plugged into - there isn't any safer or cleaner power in the house for charging my phone.

WallCharger makes noises during charging

Hi there,
I just noticed yesterday that my wall charger (original came with the package) makes some weird noises (electrical if that makes any sense) But only during charging.
Is it normal or I should get rid of it#
Thanks?

That don't sound good. Does it do it with any other charger? Could be the usb cable? Check with other chargers first to determine which is faulty.
Sent from my ZTE A2017 using Tapatalk

I noticed that to when it's quick charging, mine is also the one that came with the phone. Sound scares the hell out of me, rather charge it slowly with my old Motorola charger than think that thing is gonna spark up a flame.

Axon 7 usb type c charging
Hi, I 've bought a new Axon 7 (128gb 4gd Rom or A2017 model). I use the quick charger and cable that came in the box and when I shut the phone down and insert usb type c in the port(in one fell swoop and in one push)it starts charging and it shows a battery shape that above it is written "quick charging" in chinese language, but again when the phone is shut down and this time first I insert half of the usb type c in the phone's port and wait until the phone vibrates then I push the other half of the usb type c in the port and this time it also shows a battery shape but above it is not written quick charging in chinese language and also it is actually not charging at all and is stuck at a certain battery percent. I just wanna know if your Axon 7 is and acts the same as mine so please try it and tell me?(I think this issue is because of usb type c cables and nothing is wrong with the phone cause I've seen Lg g5 acts the same when I tried it)

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
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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).