Charging cord vs standard USB data cable

RedWingsFan · Jan 31, 2012

Is there a difference between a charging cord for the EVO and a standard USB data cable for our phones? I thought I remember reading a thread about the charging cable being different so charging faster.

The reason I ask is I need a 15ft USB charging cable for my EVO.

Akasa Fox · Jan 31, 2012

It's all based on the power drawing from the source. I don't think the cable makes a difference.
As a general rule, USB charges slower than AC.

sniperkiki · Jan 31, 2012

I can tell that there is a difference!

I used normal USB cable from my other mobilephone (xperia x8, and Nokia 5230) and my HTC Evo 3D didnt recharging, he was showing that he is recharging but no... recharg was so slow that he wasnt able to recharg battery. After couple of hours from 20% it went to 18% of battery

RedWingsFan · Jan 31, 2012

Akasa Fox said:
It's all based on the power drawing from the source. I don't think the cable makes a difference.
As a general rule, USB charges slower than AC.

I understand that trying to charge off the computer will be slower. But what I was asking is the cord which you plug in to the USB wall adapter (that comes with the phone) different from your average micro-usb cord. Because at the end of the day, the cord we get from the factory to charge is a micro-usb cord.

But I think I read somewhere that there is a difference in the pins or something that identify as a charging cable instead of a data cable allowing more power to pass through.

Boss2212 · Jan 31, 2012

Not sure but my knowledge tells me that when u plug USB cable to poweradapter it just becomes regular charger and phone knows this by higher voltage coming to it...while USB plugged in to laptop or computer less voltage tells the phone and as well as the drivers from computer tells phone that's its USB cable link! Essentially cable is same but the.power adapter in front just converts USB to 2-pin regular power source!

Sent in 3D

RedWingsFan · Jan 31, 2012

Boss2212 said:
Not sure but my knowledge tells me that when u plug USB cable to poweradapter it just becomes regular charger and phone knows this by higher voltage coming to it...while USB plugged in to laptop or computer less voltage tells the phone and as well as the drivers from computer tells phone that's its USB cable link! Essentially cable is same but the.power adapter in front just converts USB to 2-pin regular power source!

Sent in 3D

I just did an experiment with my charger. I used the stock HTC charger that came with the phone. Plugged in my HTC provided cable, went to battery status, and it said "Charging (AC)".

I then tried another micro-USB cord I had laying around and again it said "Charging (AC)".

So my guess is the cord doesn't matter. What I'd like to see is if there is a difference in power that the cord is allowing to be pulled between the two. Anyone know an app for this?

Next I went and took the Griffin charger I bought for my iPad2. It is rated up to 2.1amps for output so it should be sufficient enough to charge our phones just like the stock charger. When I plugged it in using the stock HTC cable and the standard Micro-USB cable, both read: "Charging (USB)". Again, I wonder if there is a difference in power being drawn because it thinks it is USB.

Saneless One · Jan 31, 2012

The cord probably doesn't matter as long as it's a decent cord. I'm sure there's some POS cords that are not going to deliver much at all, but any USB cable I've bought from monoprice has charged just fine, and has done its full output either via a usb port or if I plug that cable into a usb->AC adapter.

vanisleguy1976 · Jan 31, 2012

RedWingsFan said:
What I'd like to see is if there is a difference in power that the cord is allowing to be pulled between the two. Anyone know an app for this?

Elixer 2! Grab it from the market, select 'status bar' and set it up with battery current, which will then allow you to see your current drain (or charge) rate by pulling down your menu!

(lots of other great things in elixer! I urge everyone to check it out! It's totally replaced extended controls for me! Probably the best utility in android since TB!)

Sent from my HTC EVO 3D GSM using Tapatalk

Las_Vegas · Feb 1, 2012

The phone sets the charging rate based on if the data lines of the USB cable are active. If they are active, the charging rate is limited to the standard 500mA USB supply. If open, the phone goes into AC mode which allows up to 2A (2000mA) charging rate depending on the power supply.

KB112 · Feb 1, 2012

I'm not entirely sure if MicroUSB is different than some of the other standards out there. But there are indeed some usb cables that are ''Data'' cables and do not charge. I have an old flip phone for my son and his usb data cable connects to the pc fine, we can transfer music to his microsd card etc. However it does not charge his phone at all.

unCoRrUpTeD · Feb 1, 2012

I've used a couple of different cables and here's what I've noticed...

Some cables won't charge, but can be used for data.

Some will charge, but can't be used for data.

Some can charge, and be used for data.

I know that some that charge, but can't transmit data have the data wires missing for cheaper production. And this could be the same thing for those that can be used for data, but not charge.

Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App

hfinlay10 · Mar 1, 2012

Can also change data cables into AC charging cables only, so that they will charge at 1000mA from a USB port and not 500 mA as normal. Means you can't use the cable as a data cable, but in a car charger that's not a problem, and often you want a quick charge from a USB port.

Basically the two data pins have to be shorted together--google it.

EDIT: See here-- http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml -- basically the white and green wires need to be shorted together. I have done this and my phone now says Charging (AC) when using car charger or USB from PC.

NixZero · Mar 1, 2012

basically you can have three types of usb port/cable as per 2007 Battery Charging Specification - regular data cable ("old" usb standard) that cand provide up to 100mA without negotiating with the hub, 500mA after negotiating; charging downstream ports that can provide up to 900mA plus data without needing to negotiate; dedicated charging ports that can provide up to 1.5a without data (Ive seen 2a chargers so I suppose this is covered too, in the official standard I cant find it)

jamexman · Mar 1, 2012

Ir does matter. The original usb cable must have some extra or different pins, because when I use a generic one I'm not able to adb to the phone from the PC, I'm only able to adb with the original usb cable. Charging is fine.

Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App

cyklops619 · Nov 16, 2013

sniperkiki said:
I can tell that there is a difference!

I used normal USB cable from my other mobilephone (xperia x8, and Nokia 5230) and my HTC Evo 3D didnt recharging, he was showing that he is recharging but no... recharg was so slow that he wasnt able to recharg battery. After couple of hours from 20% it went to 18% of battery

ya dude i completly agree with u ...my htc wildfire s was also not charging if i used a normal data cabel instead of htc usb cable

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Charging cord vs standard USB data cable

RedWingsFan

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Akasa Fox

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sniperkiki

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RedWingsFan

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Boss2212

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RedWingsFan

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Saneless One

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vanisleguy1976

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Las_Vegas

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KB112

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unCoRrUpTeD

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hfinlay10

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NixZero

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jamexman

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cyklops619

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