Chargers Matter

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cpurick

Senior Member
Jul 29, 2011
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FWIW, I think I may have traced my recent charging problems to a Belkin USB charger at my office. On this power source, the battery indicates charging from USB, and apparently there's not enough current to keep up with the demand of the device. It discharges continuously with the screen on, and only keeps even with the screen off. The only way to charge with the Belkin is to turn the phone off.

With the included HTC adapter at my home, however (and with a Motorola adapter left over from a previous phone), the Rezound will charge with screen off, and perhaps even a little with the screen on. Allowed to charge overnight, I do not have to turn the device off when using the HTC charger. On this charger, the phone indicates AC power.

Of course, none of this was an issue before I took the ICS leak. Even though I've gone back to GB, I still have the ICS firmware, and I suspect something different in there is affecting charging.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if HTC simply lowered charging rates as part of a campaign to deal with widespread heat issues. If you were trying to cool the phone, that's definitely something you would consider tweaking.
 

thatsricci

Senior Member
Nov 28, 2011
319
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For sure, it's a known issue, some chargers give the full 1A ( the phone indicates AC charging) and some only give 400ma or less (USB Charging).

Search around for chargers and there's good discussion on AC adapters that work well, and even how to modify a USB wall/car charger to give a full AC amount.
 

a.mcdear

Senior Member
May 20, 2010
1,716
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Phoenix, Arizona
Both my gigabyte and msi motherboards are able to deliver up to 1.5A via the USB ports, and are even able to charge my phone (or tablet) when the computer is OFF. ;)
 

thatsricci

Senior Member
Nov 28, 2011
319
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Both my gigabyte and msi motherboards are able to deliver up to 1.5A via the USB ports, and are even able to charge my phone (or tablet) when the computer is OFF. ;)

for sure, but i bet your phone is only commanding 500ma from it since the phone is usb 2.0 spec... I too have a power port on my laptop to charge things when the laptop is off but it doesn't get over usb 2.0 spec because of the phone :x

I've tried everything, short of trying to make, or looking for, customized drivers to overload it.
 

a.mcdear

Senior Member
May 20, 2010
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Phoenix, Arizona
for sure, but i bet your phone is only commanding 500ma from it since the phone is usb 2.0 spec... I too have a power port on my laptop to charge things when the laptop is off but it doesn't get over usb 2.0 spec because of the phone :x

I've tried everything, short of trying to make, or looking for, customized drivers to overload it.

You might be right when it comes to the Rezound, but I know for a fact that it is capable of supplying more than 500mA to some devices for charging. It charges my TF101 even with the screen on, which every other computer with ordinary USB ports seems incapable of doing. If I plug my TF101 into any other computer with a standard USB 2.0 port, it will still slowly discharge if the screen is on and I'm using it.

Either way, I notice absolutely no difference between charging via USB on my computer or via the actual charger, so I'm relatively sure the USB port IS outputting at least the full 1A that the actual charger is rated at, and I am NOT using a kernel with the "fast charge" mod..

I haven't really spent much time noticing how slowly the Rezound would charge on a regular USB 2.0 port. Maybe I'll give it a shot on my laptop tonight just to test it out.

Or, a simple ammeter would probably put the issue to rest definitely.. I wonder if I know anybody with one I could use.....
 
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nosympathy

Senior Member
Dec 19, 2010
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Cincinnati
You might be right when it comes to the Rezound, but I know for a fact that it is capable of supplying more than 500mA to some devices for charging. It charges my TF101 even with the screen on, which every other computer with ordinary USB ports seems incapable of doing. If I plug my TF101 into any other computer with a standard USB 2.0 port, it will still slowly discharge if the screen is on and I'm using it.

Either way, I notice absolutely no difference between charging via USB on my computer or via the actual charger, so I'm relatively sure the USB port IS outputting at least the full 1A that the actual charger is rated at, and I am NOT using a kernel with the "fast charge" mod..

I haven't really spent much time noticing how slowly the Rezound would charge on a regular USB 2.0 port. Maybe I'll give it a shot on my laptop tonight just to test it out.

Or, a simple ammeter would probably put the issue to rest definitely.. I wonder if I know anybody with one I could use.....

Or you could use a battery charging app to verify what rate it is charging at.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA
 

plcline

Senior Member
Aug 27, 2009
92
18
for sure, but i bet your phone is only commanding 500ma from it since the phone is usb 2.0 spec... I too have a power port on my laptop to charge things when the laptop is off but it doesn't get over usb 2.0 spec because of the phone :x

I've tried everything, short of trying to make, or looking for, customized drivers to overload it.

Use a charging only cable, i.e. Naztech Micro USB Charging Cable (sorry, don't remember who initially pointed to this), and the phone will see the source as an outlet and not a usb port.
 

a.mcdear

Senior Member
May 20, 2010
1,716
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Phoenix, Arizona
Use a charging only cable, i.e. Naztech Micro USB Charging Cable (sorry, don't remember who initially pointed to this), and the phone will see the source as an outlet and not a usb port.

Well that makes sense, any USB cord without data points can only provide power and therefore the phone wouldn't be able to determine whether its a computers USB port or a charger. When the data pins are present, the phone must request a high-power mode from the computer in order to obtain the full 500mA on standard ports, or 1.5A in the case of some newer boards as I mentioned earlier.