Thunderbolt Inductive charging

unremarked · Apr 13, 2011

The Thunderbolt does not support inductive charging out of the box in default configuration.

There is an official HTC-made inductive charging enabled back that should be available soon.

Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt.

SJUnion · Apr 14, 2011

The door does seem to add some thickness to the phone. Ill have to get a look at it IRL before I order online..when it becomes available that is.

I don't really want to add any more weight or thickness to an already large phone. That being said it doesnt look that bad...a small lip.

pmdied · Apr 22, 2011

http://phandroid.com/2011/04/21/htc...ery-cover-to-go-on-sale-any-day-now/#bXpulseX
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

boristhebladexx · Apr 27, 2011

i wonder if it will fit inside my case-mate...

EDIT: after looking at the pictures........ probably not

trunklips · Jun 12, 2011

Palm mod

I performed the Palm mod by taking the coil out of the Palm Pixi Plus case and soldering it into the TB. I bought the case and Palm Touchstone from Verizon's website. I noticed that after the mod the largest current draw I have is ~250mA. When plugged in with a wall AC charger I get up to 800mA. Has anyone else performed this mod and is experiencing the same results?

farmboystrong · Jun 12, 2011

so the back looks like the extended battery back???? will the extended battery fit in the back too or not?

mintytoo · Sep 1, 2011

To trunklips,

First, thanks for the pics of where you soldered and labeling with positve and negative. Very helpful. My question for you is why you did not try to solder to 2 of those four points that seems to be where the verizon inductive cover makes contact with the phone? Are those four points not able to charge?

check out this pic h t t p :// img51.imageshack.us/img51/205/htcthunderboltinductive.png

yareally · Sep 9, 2011

You can currently get the touchstones for the pre for wireless charging + the doors to hack for the thunderbolt dirt cheap on amazon and verizon. I bought 2 docs for like $3.70 each on verizon and 2 doors for 4 dollars a peice.

golden_boy · Sep 21, 2011

Thank you "trunklips" for the pictures.

The coil and circuit from the palm has two terminals +ve and -ve. However, the thunderbolt has provisioning for four points like "mintytoo" has pointed out. Does anyone have information on these four connection points?

I am hoping to hook up the charging coil directly to these four points.

yareally · Sep 21, 2011

golden_boy said:
Thank you "trunklips" for the pictures.

The coil and circuit from the palm has two terminals +ve and -ve. However, the thunderbolt has provisioning for four points like "mintytoo" has pointed out. Does anyone have information on these four connection points?

I am hoping to hook up the charging coil directly to these four points.

I'd test them with a multimeter. I don't have all the parts yet for them.

golden_boy · Sep 23, 2011

I was hoping that the four pins would be a simple double post for +ve and -ve. Probing the pins on the thunderbolt with a multimeter did not give me any info.

What we probably need is someone to probe the four contact points on the back of an actual thunderbolt inductive charging battery cover (I don't have one) when laid active on a charging pad.
Hoping it to be a simple +ve and -ve on two of the pins, unless HTC got fancy with some control signals etc.,

yareally · Sep 23, 2011

golden_boy said:
I was hoping that the four pins would be a simple double post for +ve and -ve. Probing the pins on the thunderbolt with a multimeter did not give me any info.

What we probably need is someone to probe the four contact points on the back of an actual thunderbolt inductive charging battery cover (I don't have one) when laid active on a charging pad.
Hoping it to be a simple +ve and -ve on two of the pins, unless HTC got fancy with some control signals etc.,

ugh, well that sucks. hopefully someone around here had the actual charger cover and a multimeter.

golden_boy · Oct 7, 2011

yareally said:
ugh, well that sucks. hopefully someone around here had the actual charger cover and a multimeter.

Help!!
Can some one with official HTC cover probe the four points??

yareally · Oct 7, 2011

golden_boy said:
Help!!
Can some one with official HTC cover probe the four points??

+1

Someone out there with a cover has to know how to use a multimeter or have access to one and we can explain how to use it.

bbolton_98 · Oct 15, 2011

Have cover what do you need to know?

get infected ( InfectedRom.com )

yareally · Oct 16, 2011

bbolton_98 said:
Have cover what do you need to know?

get infected ( InfectedRom.com )

Do you have a multimeter (voltmeter) handy that you can do some checks for us?

Mainly need to do checks on the connection points for the back cover to see which connections are positive and which are negative.

If you can, take a reading with a multimeter with the case back on and connected (as best as you can do it since the multimeter wires will have to go under the case).

Also try another reading right after taking the case perhaps as well.

If that isn't enough details, just let me know.

EDIT:

I may not need you to do it after all. The multimeter I used was busted I think. I tried a different one and the bottom right one is + and the top left one is - and the other 2 are not used. I'll report back when I get it set up. I need some wire from the store today.

Appreciate the offer to test though.

EDIT2:

I tested attaching wires to the gold prongs under the case and it showed as "charging (inductive)" when hooked up to the hp touchstone charger. I don't think it's possible to really hold them in place for a permanent solution without soldering though. They're just too tiny.

However, anyone that has been holding off wanting to do inductive charging without the $40 dollar case back, go find a cheap case backing for a palm pre/pixi and take off the coil and attach to our phones and to the prongs located next to the battery. Easy peasy and no opening up the phone itself (which would void the warranty for sure). You can get the touchstones for the HP pre/pixi + ac cord for dirt cheap as well (4 to 5 bucks). So total, you would be spending a max of say 16 dollars or so for the case back + touchstone + ac cord instead of probably 80+ for "official" stuff for the thunderbolt.

theherkman · Oct 19, 2011

Wow, this is super cool. I am doing this ASAP.

Links from amazon are below for anyone else interested.

Back cover is $4.00 (NEW).

Charger is $4.97 from verizon (NEW).

How are you holding the contacts on to the gold points? Tape? Does the coil fit inside the battery compartment with the back closed all the way? Is the charging speed equivalent to wall charging or is it the lowered voltage (usb equivalent)?

yareally · Oct 19, 2011

theherkman said:
Wow, this is super cool. I am doing this ASAP.

Links from amazon are below for anyone else interested.

Back cover is $4.00 (NEW).

Charger is $4.97 from verizon (NEW).

How are you holding the contacts on to the gold points? Tape? Does the coil fit inside the battery compartment with the back closed all the way? Is the charging speed equivalent to wall charging or is it the lowered voltage (usb equivalent)?

They're soldered to the points (with tape over that). I don't trust any other way to make them stick there.

Yes, it fits (barely).

Induction charging probably takes 20-30% longer. Keeps the usb port from wearing out though. I had it happen once on a blackberry before my 2 year contract was up. Ended up rigging up a usb cord to charge on the dock points for it directly by slicing it open.

You'll need a cord to go with the charger as well (verizon also sells them cheap, just look for palm pre/pixi ac cords). You could use the one that came with your phone though, but I just liked having another one (and they're cheap [like 4 dollars] and better quality than the HTC one).

theherkman · Oct 19, 2011

Wait, so you mean those charging docks don't come with AC cords?

I also don't want to void the ability to take my TB into Verizon and have them swap it out, will I be able to remove everything with no mars if I solder?

yareally · Oct 19, 2011

theherkman said:
Wait, so you mean those charging docks don't come with AC cords?

I also don't want to void the ability to take my TB into Verizon and have them swap it out, will I be able to remove everything with no mars if I solder?

Dock (the disk) does not come with one, nope. It's a regular micro usb slot though so you dont really have to buy one if you have another one made for a phone.

Can you remove the solder? Yeah I'm sure you can scrape it off or use some desoldering methods. I don't really see the reason to care. It wont void your warrenty. You didn't actually mod anything internally if you're using the contact points. It's the official way to wireless charge it (just not paying the official price).

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