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View Full Version : how to fast charge yr athena in yr car/from yr PC


KukurikU
29th May 2008, 10:33 PM
yes, only by short circuiting the x and the 4 pins start a FAST recharging on regular USB cable.!! i recharged my athena, in my car, with a modified USB cable 20% in 50 minutes! before modifying the cable all i was able to achieve was 10% in 3 hours!
see also :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=387531
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=387531
http://pinouts.ru/PDA/pda_miniusb_pinout.shtml

here is a short "how to" with pics at: http://picasaweb.google.com/whvoltage/USBCableMod. i took no responsibility for any damages caused by my tutorial. i did it and it worked.
1. peel with a knife (watch yr fingers!) the molded plastic.
2. remove the metal casing with a small screwdriver. start from the part that holds the cable after this gently release the 2 parts parts of the metal casing.
3. it's time to release the contacts.
4. clean the contacts with alcohol (don't waste good wisky) for a good and fast welding.
5. the delicate part is to create the short. be fast, underneath the pins there is a relatively thin layer of plastic.
6. done.
7. rebuild the casing.
no syncing after this modification. for syincing you''l have to use an unmodified cable.
now for the real funny staff: after finishing i realized that i did it "the hard way".
why? i did it on the small and very delicate end of the cable. i am sure it is much easier to do it on bigger, wider end. i am an electrical engineer and i once upon a time i learned that a cable shortened at one end will be shortened at the other end also. i laugh at my self for about 5 minutes......
next step: an universal cable that is charging and syncing and works with my athena AND with my trinity. how? i'll add a toggle switch (this time at the wider end, hehehe).
to be continued....

Arctic Matt
30th May 2008, 10:14 AM
though I actually use a diddy usb car charger made for a motorola that has a quick charge system built in. This does the trick for me with out the risk of me blowing up my Ameo and car as I am crap at soldering!
Plus 80nok here in Norway is a bargin (about 15usd)

KukurikU
30th May 2008, 11:24 AM
though I actually use a diddy usb car charger made for a motorola that has a quick charge system built in. This does the trick for me with out the risk of me blowing up my Ameo and car as I am crap at soldering!
Plus 80nok here in Norway is a bargin (about 15usd)
i also tried in my car a Motorola cable. no success.....
yes, there are special cables (found one that actually has 2 heads, one sync one for charging) but they are not available in my country.
athena did not "made waves" here....too big to carry...
i bought one, second hand only for my car. when i walk i carry a trinity.
the athena will be mounted in my car (beat the hell of all the navigation/bluetooth devices sold for cars).
and btw, my athena was charged from 5% to 10% in just 10 minutes!

Arctic Matt
30th May 2008, 02:30 PM
Forgot to mention that the connection was very loose from the Motorola charger and after a small sqeeze or two from some pliers it fitted great. When loose the charger worked on rare occasions. After the squeeze it charges all the time and bloody quick too with no visible side effects.

Al936
30th May 2008, 10:09 PM
I have made measurements in my wall outlet charger which came with HTC Advantage X7501 and can confirm that there is short circuit between pin X and pin 4 (GND). So, looks like Advantage check this for FAST charging.

Brau0303
31st May 2008, 01:01 AM
My soultion to the charging issue is I use an inverter and a wall charger from my kaiser and this works fairly well. before that the car charging kit would not even maintain the charge if gps was running.

Cheers
BR