MediaTek Pump Express Plus: does ZOPO 7 support quick charge?

[jockyw2001]

EDIT: For those who don't like to read here is a short summary. The Speed 7 and Speed 7 plus do support "Pump Express (PE)". With the attached modified little kernel and boot image for the stock Android 5.1 rom and with a stock charger, you can shorten the charge time by approximately 30-40%. An other MediaTek quick charge variant called "Pump Express Plus (PEP)" is not supported. I am now using my own PE mod since almost 2 months and am very happy with it

Here starts the original full story text:

Last year MediaTek announced their Quick Charge solution called Pump Express & Pump Express Plus:
http://www.mediatek.com/en/features/power-management/pump-express/

My Zopo 7 needs about 5 hours to fully charge when it is down to about 7%, so I tried to find out if Pump Express could be a solution.

A reasonable well explanation of Pump Express can be found here:
http://gadgetstouse.com/gadget-tech/mediatek-pump-express-charging/44855
And here is another document which compares QC and Mtk quick charge mechanisms:
http://www.panjit.com.tw/upload/en/product_app/6_product_app_file_1.pdf

It also mentions that the MT6753 chipset inside the Zopo Speed 7 does in fact support "Pump Express Plus". I then wondered what is further required to support it and I found one needs a battery charger with a charge controller ic such as the ones described here:
http://www.dialog-semiconductor.com/sites/default/files/mediatek-pump-express-adapter-solution.pdf

Such a battery charger is capable to deliver different power stages to the phone depending on what it senses on the USB VBUS supply line. An example of such a charger is this one:
http://de.aliexpress.com/item/In-St...Halo-H3-Quad-Core-4G-LTE-5-0/32285686209.html

I haven't tried such a charger myself yet and I would be very interested to hear if someone.

EDIT1:
In this Zopo support forum the administrator replied possibly the motherboard charge circuit limits the current. I want to verify if that is indeed the case and ordered a mediatek "pump express plus" compatible charger and will test it with my speed 7:
https://www.coolicool.com/original-usb-quick-charger-for-bluboo-x550-smartphone-g-41028

EDIT2:
In the stock kernel config the pump express options are not enabled, so I will have to build a new kernel or "borrow" a boot image from another device where it is enabled.
EDIT3:
I flashed a boot.img from a Ulefone Power stock rom. The Ulefone also has a MT6753 and supports pump express plus (pep). Unfortunately, my zopo doesn't boot up. So must build a custom kernel with pep enabled.

UPDATE1 (24/03/2016):
I have built a boot image and a little kernel (lk) with "Mediatek Pump Express (PE)" support for Zopo Speed 7. After I receive my "Pump Express Plus (PEP)" compatible charger I will also build a boot image and little kernel with PEP support. PEP software support depends on the charge chip that is built in the charger, so I need to open that charger to figure it out. I have just measured whether my phone charges quicker and indeed it is a lot faster now with a 5V/2A charger (see below). Everyone with a Zopo 7 and knowledge how to flash lk and boot images is invited to test. Of course I cannot be blamed or held liable if you damage or brick your phone with the attached software. My phone works fine with it.

I monitored charge percentage level and started charging with the phone powered on at a level of 15%:
17:45 15%
17:52 17%
18:09 28%
18:15 32%
18:45 50%
19:15 68%
19:45 87%
20:07 100%

That implies from 0 to 100% in 167 minutes which is less than 3 hours! Before, with the same charger it took 4-5 hours
The charging is a perfect linear curve and that is, as I understood it, exactly what Pump Express is supposed to do. I am hopeful Pump Express Plus can work too. Lets see in a couple of days when my charger will be delivered. To be continued ....

EDIT4:
I have done a cross check with the original boot.img and lk.bin: charging takes 2:20 minutes per 1%. With my Pump Express (PE) boot.img and lk.bin it takes 1:40 minute per 1%. So a full charge with my kernel built is almost 30% quicker

UPDATE2:
Added Pump Express (PE) enabled boot.img and lk.bin for the Speed 7 Plus (I own a Speed 7, so I can't test these files). Make a full backup with TWRP or CWM recovery and then try it out.

UPDATE3:
I received information about the charger hardware of the Speed 7 models directly from Zopo (thanks Charles Bird !): unfortunately the hardware does not support switched chargers and therefore also no Pump Express Plus

 

[marcol87]

great job man!!
keep on updating us

 

[Listy2021]

Fingers crossed you crack this for all us Speed 7 users matey

 

[jockyw2001]

I have updated my first post (UPDATE1) and attached a boot image and little kernel which support Pump Express.

 

[marcol87]

thanks for your job!!
just to be sure: did you test that on Speed 7 or Speed 7 Plus?

 

[jockyw2001]

Speed 7

I will build Speed 7 Plus images in a few days.

 

[marcol87]

Speed 7

I will build Speed 7 Plus images in a few days.

damn
do you think it is supposed to work on Speed 7 Plus?

---------- Post added at 10:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:35 PM ----------

uh sorry I didn't read second part of your message

thanks!

 

[Listy2021]

I have updated my first post (UPDATE1) and attached a boot image and little kernel which support Pump Express.

I'm willing to be a guinea pig and try the files out, can they be flashed via SP Flash Tool or Flashfire?

 

[jockyw2001]

I use SP Flashtool. Save my lk and boot files in a new folder and copy the scatter file to it.

I have done a cross check with the original boot and lk: 2.3 minute per 1%. My pump express boot and lk: 1.67 minute per 1%

 

[Listy2021]

I use SP Flashtool. Save my lk and boot files in a new folder and copy the scatter file to it.

I have done a cross check with the original boot and lk: 2.3 minute per 1%. My pump express boot and lk: 1.67 minute per 1%

Gotcha :good: I'm a bit busy over the next few days, so I'll have a play about with the files probably Sunday night. Btw did you see that Carliv released a tweaked boot.img of his own? Any chance of you having a look and then incorporating his changes in to your boot.img along with PE (and PEP eventually). Thanks again for all your effort and work you're putting in to this matey

 

[jockyw2001]

Added Pump Express (PE) enabled boot.img and lk.bin for the Speed 7 Plus to my 1st post. Happy easter!

 

[marcol87]

Added Pump Express (PE) enabled boot.img and lk.bin for the Speed 7 Plus to my 1st post. Happy easter!

I tried the Pump Express on my Speed 7 Plus and I could charge the phone (from 16% to 100%) in 2h and 45 minutes! that's great!!

but not only the charging speed has increased: discharging is faster than before.
with stock lk and stock boot I could reach 4h of screen ON but now I can't even reach 2h. Also during the night the phone lose about 2,5% per hour (from 50% to 30% in almost 8h).
is this normal?

 

[marcol87]

another (very weird) problem: when I connect the charger to the phone, battery discharges faster and faster (17% to 11% in 5-6 min) and it keeps on discharging till I reboot the phone. after reboot the battery starts to charge

 

[jockyw2001]

I tried the Pump Express on my Speed 7 Plus and I could charge the phone (from 16% to 100%) in 2h and 45 minutes! that's great!!

but not only the charging speed has increased: discharging is faster than before.
with stock lk and stock boot I could reach 4h of screen ON but now I can't even reach 2h. Also during the night the phone lose about 2,5% per hour (from 50% to 30% in almost 8h).
is this normal?

Thanks for testing and reporting!

The discharge behavior is of course odd and something I will look in to. I didn't notice that on my Speed 7, but I will systematically check and compare the discharge curve of my Speed 7 with my kernel and the with original kernel. Some problems may be caused by the kernel, because the source code I used s not the latest version. Zopo published the source code of kernel v3.10.65 on 10/10/2015, but the kernel version in the latest published rom is of 28/12/2015 and is shown as version "3.10.65+" in the about phone settings menu. I suspect they fixed a few bugs in that version. I will ask Zopo whether they can share the latest kernel source code.

 

[jockyw2001]

another (very weird) problem: when I connect the charger to the phone, battery discharges faster and faster (17% to 11% in 5-6 min) and it keeps on discharging till I reboot the phone. after reboot the battery starts to charge

After flashing the new files I recommend to power off the phone and remove the battery for about 20 seconds. This ensures the PMIC (power management ic) is properly resetted.

 

[marcol87]

due to those problems I'm forced to reflash stock lk and boot.
I hope you'll fix them, anyway thanks for you job!

After flashing the new files I recommend to power off the phone and remove the battery for about 20 seconds. This ensures the PMIC (power management ic) is properly resetted.

can I do this now? or should I reflash the files again?

 

[jockyw2001]

Before reflashing stock boot and lk I would advise to remove the battery for about 20 seconds and then test again.

 

[marcol87]

I tried to remove the battery for 20 seconds but the problem persists (from 38% to 16% during the night, about 7 hours).
so, with 16% of battery, I reflashed stock boot and lk, removed the battery for 20 seconds and after the boot the battery was magically at 58%.
Now it's at 29% and I'm still using it.

 

[jockyw2001]

so, with 16% of battery, I reflashed stock boot and lk, removed the battery for 20 seconds and after the boot the battery was magically at 58%.

That shows the battery charge value is not correctly displayed when you use my files and the battery calibration must be resetted. I found a procedure somewhere in the zopomobile forums once, but I haven't got a link right now.

 

[marcol87]

That shows the battery charge value is not correctly displayed when you use my files and the battery calibration must be resetted. I found a procedure somewhere in the zopomobile forums once, but I haven't got a link right now.

I could not find that procedure.
I'll try with Battery Calibration app from the playstore, do you think it's a good solution?