Boxwave MiniSync Cable and Charging Kit for MDA Compact

[Anonymous]

Well, there is good news and bad news about aftermarket charger cables for the Magician series-

I purchased a "minisync mobile charging kit" from Boxwave for my MDA Compact. It consists of a retractable cable with standard USB on one end and MiniUSB on the other; plus a wall adapter, car plug, and battery adapter, each of which have a standard USB socket in them ($50 US).

The good news is that the retractable cable works fine for sync and charge when pluged into a "real" USB port on a computer;

The BAD news is that when the retractable cable is plugged into the Boxwave wall adapter, car plug, or battery adapter - NO CHARGING!!

In "reverse engineering" the charger which came with my MDA Compact, I found that BOTH contacts 4 and 5 on the mini-USB-b connector were connected to ground. On the Boxwave MiniSync retractable cable, only contact 5 is connected to ground. By jamming a small ball of aluminum foil into the Mini-USB-b connector on the MiniSync cable, I was able to connect contacts 4 and 5 together electrically, without affecting the other 3 contacts. The whole kit works perfectly for charging the MDA Compact with the aluminum ball in place.

Unfortunately, the MiniSync cable will NOT function as a normal sync cable to the computer in this condition - probably because the aluminum foil which shorts pins 4 and 5 also shorts to the metal connector shield, and the computer connection does not like that. Remove the aluminum ball and it works fine as a sync/charge cable with the computer; but not with the Boxwave chargers.

I conclude that pins 4 and 5 must be shorted WITHOUT shorting to the shield, and I have not figured out how to do that yet with the Boxwave retractable cable. I have given all of this information to Boxwave - perhaps they will eventually make the proper cable.

Contact 4 on the mini end is not normally connected to any of the 4 contacts on the big end, so just shorting 4 to 5 (without contacting the shield) should not affect the computer connection. In fact, there is a cable made specifically with 4 and 5 shorted -

http://server4.gs-shop.de/200/cgi-bin/shop.dll?referer=Indexkatalog&AnbieterID=3388&Seite=frameset.htm&bnr=USB2-A-MiniB-1.0&PKEY=29C1

which lists a "T-mobile SDA" and many other phone-type PDAs in its compatibility listing. For those of you who need a cable to attach to an existing USB charger, this would seem to be the one to get (unverified).

Best of luck,
Eric

[rdkay]

Hi Eric

Do you think by getting this cable the Boxwave Battery Charger would work? I want to buy it, I have posted here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=15829

I only need the battery charger in fact. But maybe also the USB car charger adaptor from my Holux GPS Mouse would work (doesnt work :( ) now to charge the Magician with this cable... Any help appreciated.

Cheers
Rainer

[Anonymous]

Rainer:

I BELIEVE the German cable I referenced would work, but I could not be absolutely sure, since I have not tried it. I have received word from Boxwave that they think the original cable they sent me was defective. I have requested to them that they check the new cable before they send it to me, to verify that contacts 4 and 5 are shorted together. They said they would do it, but I haven't heard back from them yet.
According to my test, any cable which has contacts 4 and 5 shorted together on the Mini-USB end should work on the Magician with any standard USB charger including the boxwave battery pack you referenced, and any car charger with USB connector.

I'll forward results when I get the new cable from Boxwave.

In the meantime, you might try the test I did with a small ball of aluminum foil to short out connections 4 and 5 (only). This should allow you to try your car charger, but be sure to remember to remove the foil ball if you want to use the same cable for synching to a computer.

Regards,
Eric

[rdkay]

Hi Eric

Thanks a lot for these informations. :)
I will try the aluminium trick, I have many spars USB cables laying around and if it works to try to solder the cable.. In the meanwhile I will order this battery charger :-)

Thanks!
Rainer

[Anonymous]

I am going to DIY a batterycharger. According to the USB menu, the one in red color is +5V, black color is -5V, green color is +data and white color is -data.

As a result , I want to know the one you mentioned for shortage of pin 4 and 5 are in which color.

Best Regards

[dickr43]

Hi Guys,

I had the same problem an read a thread om PocketPC-Club.nl about this issue. I learned that the carcharger for the SPV C500 also works on the MDA Compact. I ordered one in the UK, because its hard to get in the Netherlands, and found it to be true.

So if you don't want to solder cables, just buy the C500 charger!

[R. Knops]

Hi Everyone,

I'm using the Adapt Travelset and the charging works really fine. Both carcharger en "wall" chargers work fine.

The only thing I'm not very pleased about is the retractable cable. The rolling mechanism is not perfect: the pulling out works fine, but the rolling back gives sometimes problems.

Just gimme an ordinary standard kable like delivered with the JAM !! But that is just my opinion.

Here the link where I've ordered my stuff:
http://www.deshop.nl/produkt_detail.asp?hgr_id=14&gr_id=03&produkt_id=1403ADTTRVIMJAM

Kind Regards

[Kyri]

I bought one of these miniSync cables for the MDA Compact and a word of advice. They doesnt work or to be more accurate they cant both charge and sync.
I got word back from Boxwave (well after 10 emails because you never get through to anyone who knows what they are talking about) and they admitted that they actually have 2 miniSync cables for the MDA Compact... one syncs and the other charges.
They offered me the second cable for 50% discount (as if I want to carry around 2 cables...) and when I demanded a refund they declined to refund the shipping...
Basically as mentioned above there are issues with the wiring of this product.
Anyone got one that works? (syncs and charges and is retractable?)
K

[thereaperman]

the way i did it, was to get a v3 razor car charger for £4 from my local market and keep a normal usb lead in my bag, so i could charge it and use it anyware : :)

[bnycastro]

I have the boxwave miniSync (for Magician) and a VersaCharger. It works very well and I have not encountered any problems. I bought another sync-n-charge cable TSR brand and when I tried to use the VersaCharger it disconnected the battery on my Magician for awhile (soft reset needed to start PPC, no data loss) anyway I left the TSR connected to my office desktop and the boxwave solution everywhere else.

[Kyri]

I am sure it does work with a versacharger. But basically they do NOT have a miniSync cable that syncs and charges from a standard USB port.
They have two cables that do one thing or the other. They have replied to me in writing confirming this and after a long exchange of email they also finally accepted to give me a refund since they have been misinforming people on their website.
I personally wanted only one miniSync cable to carry around and use to charge and sync with my laptop or PC. They dont have such a product for the Magician although they had one for my XDA II.
Yours,
K

[bnycastro]

My minisync works well... for syncing with the PC and when charging via VersaCharger. maybe you got a defective product?

[Kyri]

Well I guess Boxwave are confused themselves regarding their products. Like I said they emailed me that they dont have such a product only two different miniSyncs for the MDA Compact... hence they are offering me a refund.