[Q] Looking for App / Widget - Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hey there...
Has anyone come across an app or a widget that can show you the actual current draw from the charger?
I have about 4 different car chargers that don't seem to be up to the job and I would like to see if they're actually putting out enough juice... or, more importantly, is the phone getting enough juice...
Something that could show what the phone is using vs how much it's getting would be even better...

The only info you can get in the incoming current is the phone telling you USB (0.5a) or AC. Type *#*#info#*#* in dialer to see this info. I think its under general.
More to the point the charger probably isn't the problem.
The phone will draw up to 1a when connected to an official AC charger. Otherwise it will draw up to 0.5amp (USB).
USB standard is 0.5amp the phone needs about 0.7amp to charge when switched on. If you were to plug your phone into your laptop USB port and your phone tried to pull 1amp it 'could' fry parts of your laptop because it is only designed for 0.5amp. To stop this the phone will only charge at 0.5amp when attached to an unknown charger.
To make the phone charge properly we need to make the phone think its plugged into an original charger.
To do this simply short the data pins.
This can be done one of 2 ways.
Crack open the charger and short the 2 middle pins.
Or
Get a USB wire extender. Cut it in half and splice the data wires together. Look on Wikipedia for the colours, I don't remember.
I like the second option because you can then use it to charge from any USB port. Ie ps3 Xbox wii freeviewbox skybox laptop PC or whatever has a USB port on these days.

I have 4 chargers all rated 1A that I have "modded" and none of them seem to be able to actually charge the phone...

Get a voltimeterthingy to see how many amps it is outputting.
If none of them work maybe its your car. Could have blown a fuse. Might not even be connected of its a used car. Try the chargers in another car.
Does the phone say its charging when you plug it in and then not charge or does it just do nothing?

Phone comes up "Charging (AC)" but doesn't actually charge...

Androids built-in power monitor gathers current data and can show you the battery charge rate approximately. It does work fairly accurately by our testings in the FroYo Battery Life thread. Use apps from the market like CurrentWidget or OSMonitor (under Messages) to see instantaneous device current draw (or net charge) but you'll very likely need root access for these to work.
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- Sent via my HTC Desire -

Awesome! Thanks... CurrentWidget is exactly what I was looking for

Related

speed up usb charge?

Im a long time lurker, and been following alot of posts... let me just say that you guys really are geniuses...this is day 2 of having my tmobile tp2.. and i been reading your forums since yesterday morning non stop....
If you have the time im interested in this...
1- i seen a post on speeding up the time your usb charges your tp2. But didnt see the cab or the reg edit string.. if there is one... is there?
2- info for adding items, or removing "call history" from home screen? maybe replacing with more comon things like messaging...
3- any way to constantly keep a stock listed in the tf stock tab? instead of always having tgo type in the same stock?
4- i just bought tt6 for an older phone...obviously it wont work with tp2. and i dont want to pay $ for a new program. i spent it all on teh phone..
does WVGAFIX3 work? or any other programs top change res before starting TT6?
5- with out downloading or running programs.. when on homescreen, "camera" and "allpeople" are always on the bottom green bar.. can i replace them with somethign more usefull?
seriously....you guys are awesome...
Would also like to know how to speed up USB charging. Think i read somewhere you get 1000mah per hour with the charger and 500mah with USB charging.
yeah, home charger that came with the device is rated on the make as 1A, or 1000mah... and i do know that usb is 500mah.. or .5a standard..
but when using my tp2 while connected to usb, it sometimes gets a pop up message saying charge supply insufficient...
perhaps cable doesnt fit well in the phone? either way, usb charging is very slow...
USB ports on a computer cannot output more then 500Mah. this has nothing to do with the phone.
the Wall charger can only output 1000Mah, again, this has nothing to do with the phone. just the way it is.
if you wanted to charge the battery faster you could get a battery charger for Rccars. you will not get the battery to charge faster through conventional means.
FYI, the fastest you can safely charge the battery in the Tp2 is 1500Mah. (1C) or you will risk damaging the battery and limited recharge cycles.
By any chance are you sharing the same USB port with other devices through a USB hub?
not sharing any other devices on the usb port....
what you say makes sense, and i wouldnt use a charger more then 1000mah... not worth the risk...
MAYBE its all relative since working with it in hand constantly and charging usb wise...
ill actually test mine tomorrow and time how ling it takes to charge usb from 0 to 100%
just a note : current is measured in Amps or milliamps (ma) , mah is milliamp hours and refers to battery capacity. Chargers output ma , not mah.
Getting the insufficient power popup when trying to charge via USB means the computer isn't giving out enough current to the USB. Try using different USB ports... i've known some USB ports are able to give more power on the same computer... depending on what header theyre plugged into on the PC motherboard.
Try to find an original HTC Universal (Imate JasJar etc.) charger. It is rated for 1500ma. I use it once a month for my Touch HD (a somewhat higher amperage recharge can condition a weak battery but it gets pretty hot....so beware!) and I am still using my HD (9 months old) like it is new.
Regards,
Gordo
Hi Loueber,
in regards to point 4 I have used WVGAFIX3 with TT6, it basically swaps you phone to lower resolution leaving a black bar at the bottom of the display. But it does then allow older QVGA apps such ass TT6 to be run.
Hope that helps
This program should take care of you: http://www.nuerom.com/BlogEngine/page/nuePowernueBattery.aspx
without that the USB hub will only power up to 500ma, with that it'll go up to 1000ma like it would off a wall charger.
Not from USB, the wall charger offers a slightly higher voltage, and from that the phone knows it can draw down a higher amperage. The Nuerom power driver will maximize the power you can draw from USB, but it still will not draw over 500ma from USB.
Even if split the four wires from the USB charge cable, and hook power wires up to a 5.1V 1000ma wall charger, and the data wires to your computer it will STILL only draw 500ma. The phone has multiple different safety mechanisms to prevent draw of over 500ma from a USB port.
In short, the only way to charge at faster then 500ma is from a wall charger. Unless somoene hacks the power drivers for the TP2/Rhodium in a way that contravenes the built in safety mechanisms.
I used a female to female usb adapter.. usb to mini-b adapter.. and finally a Y adapter that came with a cheap (10$) SATA-to-USB hard drive enclosure.. It allows the HD to pull max current and not operate in wimpy .5A mode. This is useful for 7200rpm 2.5 inch hds.. but I digress.. One end is data+power, another is power only.. Pull the data plug and the charging light remains constant.. That tells me the TP2 is utilizing power from both sources. The same works for pulling the power-only plug.. I'm tempted to hook up the data port to the wall adapter and test out that 1.5A someone mentioned earlier..
I'll try it out tonight..
btw: I'm currently looking for a program to show me the power input.. So far, tbattery isn't playing nice with my 1% battery driver.
Blades said:
btw: I'm currently looking for a program to show me the power input.. So far, tbattery isn't playing nice with my 1% battery driver.
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Doesn't the previously mentioned nuePower control panel app do it?
There is some misconception on this.
In the USB connector at the phone, there is a pin that if grounded tells the phone to charge at a max of 1 amp. If it is floated, it charges at a max of 500ma. If you go over 500ma, you risk damaging some laptop USB ports, thus the reason for the limit when using a USB cable. The supplied charger grounds that pin and goes up to 1 amp.
So it doesn't matter if you have a 5.1 volt supply, or a 4.9 volt supply, or 1 amp available or 20 amps available. It will charge at 1 amp, or 500 ma. max depending on the charge mode pin.
The pinout that I have calls it pin B. It is the pin next to the ground.
http://www.hardwarebook.info/ExtUSB
I don't recall where I got it, but I have an inline plug that I can insert in the USB plug that has a switch. Flip that switch, and the current goes up to 1 amp from the USB port.
Theres a program called batteryinfo.exe located in \Windows. Its pretty simple.. but it does show the info I need. It does create a log file in \.. Safe to delete whenever (assuming app is closed). So far, I haven't seen anything above 1 amp.. Theres discharge current (how much mA your device is using) and charge current. They usually add up to around 1A.
This NC pin.. if this were grounded by the HTC AC adapter, wouldn't the other end (USB) of the cable have 5 pins?
I have the htc AV connector.. I'm sure that has all the necesary wires in the jacket. I don't want to cut it up yet tho..
It would probably be better to cut up a 'dongle'. I would make an rj45 connector for each row of pins. Once you have some cat5/5e/6 cable to play with, the possibilities are endless..
Any more info on this nc pin?

In car battery charging

I have travelled to devon on Saturday and used Google maps navigation which is simply superb as u could see the traffic jams in advance (believe me there were plenty of them) I had my phone charger charging my desire but the battery drained still any idea why surely the charger should charge it or keep the power at the same level ?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Anyone surely someone must know why the car charger hasn't enough power to charge the phone when running navigation and the normal phone functions
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
I have no solution but I have the same problem. Quite frustrating.
You need a charger that outputs at least 1000mA. Most in-car chargers only output 500mA, and so the phone will discharge quicker than the charger can charge it.
Regards,
Dave
foxmeister said:
You need a charger that outputs at least 1000mA. Most in-car chargers only output 500mA, and so the phone will discharge quicker than the charger can charge it.
Regards,
Dave
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especially with some GPS apps that consume lots of juice...
Any suggestions which are the best chargers ? Does anyone know what the new HTC dock will incorporate ?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Get a cheap USB cable extender, cut it in half and short the middle 2 pins. Don't remember what colours they are. Look on Wikipedia.
I had same problem. Not anymore. Charges properly when I plug in through the custom cable.
This is a common problem.
It bugged me sufficiently that I investigated it in detail.
The Desire, and presumably some (all?) other HTC phones, employ relatively complex charging circuitry.
When you plug a USB cable into the phone, the phone does at least two different checks to determine what type of power source you have just connected.
If you have plugged in a mains powered official HTC charger, which has a rated output of 1A, then the phone knows that it is safe to draw a maximum of 1A from that charger.
The phone will then draw enough current to power itself and, on top of that, charge the battery at the same time.
This current will typically be in the region of 800mA (0.8A) to 900mA (0.9A).
Under these conditions there is enough current to power all the functions of the phone, including WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS, as well as the usual GSM radio and the phone's other functions, as well as being able to charge the battery.
However, if the phone believes that it is connected to a power source with a lower rating such as a standard USB port, then it will limit the maximum current that it draws from that power source to between 400mA (0.4A) and 500mA (0.5A) as this is the maximum officially provided by a USB port.
In other words, the phone is intelligent enough not to overload a standard USB port but, when more power is available, it is able to use it.
The mechanism that HTC uses to detect a power supply capable of supplying 1A, as opposed to a USB port, is very simple indeed.
When the phone detects that an external power source has been connected, it checks to see if the two data lines of the USB connector on the bottom of the phone have been short-circuited.
If they have been short-circuited, the phone takes this to mean that a suitable power source has been connected providing a current of at least 1A.
If the data lines are not short-circuited, the phone assumes that the power is coming from a USB port or other device not capable of providing more than 500mA.
In practice, the way this has been implemented is that within the official mains powered HTC charger, the two data pins of the USB connector are shorted together.
As soon as you connect this charger to the Desire, the phone detects the short-circuit and knows that it is connected to a charger capable of supplying 1A.
This particular trick seems to be something unique to HTC rather than being a universal standard, although this is a bit of a guess on my part based on having looked at only a few other chargers.
What this means is that if you have a car charger that is rated at 1A or higher, your HTC Desire will still only draw a maximum of 500mA from this charger.
This problem is easily rectified by opening up the charger and soldering together the two centre pens of the USB connector so that the phone sees this short-circuit and realises that it can safely draw I higher current from the charger.
Unless you know what you are doing and fully understand what I have explained above, then please don't go fiddling around with your charger.
I have carried out this modification myself on a couple of non-HTC mains-powered chargers and a couple of 12V car chargers with 100% success.
I have, however, found that some 12V chargers, even though they are rated at 1A or even 1.5A do not result in the Desire drawing the expected current.
What I found was that the phone would draw only about 250mA and then, after I had shorted the data terminals within the charger, the phone would draw about 450mA but not the 850mA or so that I had expected.
I have yet to determine with certainty why this is but it appears that as the phone begins to draw current from the charger it is able to detect if there is even a relatively small dip in the voltage coming from the charger and, if so, the phone backs off on the amount of current that it draws.
I will be doing a few more tests in my electronics lab to try and get to the bottom of this and provide a more detailed analysis and, hopefully, a useful solution.
In the meantime though, I have at least solved the problem that I was having and, based on numerous forum posts, the same problem that many other people have been having with car chargers not effectively charging the Desire.
Tim
mercianary said:
Get a cheap USB cable extender, cut it in half and short the middle 2 pins. Don't remember what colours they are. Look on Wikipedia.
I had same problem. Not anymore. Charges properly when I plug in through the custom cable.
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Snap!
I didn't see your post before making mine (above) but my experimentation agrees fully with what you've said.
You can do it the way you've described, by modifying a cable, or you can do it inside the charger itself.
Just make sure that the cable going to the phone has all four USB wires in it. Some of them only have the two power wires, so the phone will never detect the short circuited data lines.
Tim
If you do not want to open your car charger, you can always create a male to female adapter that shots D+ and D- on the female side like the one in the attached picture
Obviously, the charger needs to be able to provide the 1Amps that are needed. If not, it will at best shutdown in protection mode, at worst fry completely with a great chance of fire...
Interesting stuff...
I bought an official HTC car charger and noticed that the included usb cable, when plugged into a pc, does not allow data transfer, only charging.
Can anyone explain that ? Why would there be a difference in the wiring ?
They want you to buy an official USB cable I guess ? Considering any microusb cable works I'm surprised they bother
Maybe because they just put the two VCC and GND wires in there, thus saving on the cabling cost.
Ok how about this then......
I have a USB port I'm my car (to plug in music on a dongle I presume) if I use the USB lead from my charger supplied with the phone (which also works as a data cable) I get a the charging status icon on the battery bar.
So......
Is my phone charging at 1 amp on the car, and at home or am I getting 0.5 on both or something else?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
_Crusoe_ said:
Ok how about this then......
I have a USB port I'm my car (to plug in music on a dongle I presume) if I use the USB lead from my charger supplied with the phone (which also works as a data cable) I get a the charging status icon on the battery bar.
So......
Is my phone charging at 1 amp on the car, and at home or am I getting 0.5 on both or something else?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you check your battery stats by dialing *#*#4636#*#* and look at battery info, then you can see if it is charged by USB (max 500 mA) or at AC (more then 500mA)
I bought the official HTC charger, works perfectly.
thanks a lot for the explanation. I went for an uprated USB car charger but was still using normal cables to plug into it and the phone wasnt keeping up when bluetooth and GPS was on and was flat by the end of a long journey. Have tried the mod and phone is showing as plugged into AC so hopefully this is going to sort my issues.
So am I right in saying that, unless you get one which has been adapted as described above, there is no real difference between one in-car charger and another - none of them will be up to the job of keeping the phone full of jiuce whilst running GPS over a long journey.
Was thinking of shelling out for a Brodit kit, but at £50+, I'll stick with a cheap one.
Narco77 said:
Interesting stuff...
I bought an official HTC car charger and noticed that the included usb cable, when plugged into a pc, does not allow data transfer, only charging.
Can anyone explain that ? Why would there be a difference in the wiring ?
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Click to collapse
I got the offical charger and the usb cable is fine for data transfer.
Bingo Accent said:
So am I right in saying that, unless you get one which has been adapted as described above, there is no real difference between one in-car charger and another - none of them will be up to the job of keeping the phone full of jiuce whilst running GPS over a long journey.
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Not really.
For the "mod" to work, your charger must be able to source at least 1000mA which most can't anyway.
So you first have to find a charger that does and then, if it's not already the case, short the D+ and D- cables together.
Note that this can be done by disassembling the charger (not being sure of being able to put it back together), by using conductive glue on the USB plug itself (a bit invasive) or by using an adapter like the one I shown in my previous message (but you need to do it yourself or have someone do it for you)

So why is my battery draining while charging?

I've noticed this happening any time I tether via USB or use GPS navigation while plugged in. Even though I'm connected and charging, I slowly but surely discharge. This weekend I used Google Nav for 2 hours and lost 20% of my battery while charging! On Juice Plotter, I notice the green charging glow at the bottom is a more transparent shade of green (as opposed to solid green when solely charging). Any ideas what causes this or how to avoid it? It seems to be recent.
TheBiles said:
I've noticed this happening any time I tether via USB or use GPS navigation while plugged in. Even though I'm connected and charging, I slowly but surely discharge. This weekend I used Google Nav for 2 hours and lost 20% of my battery while charging! On Juice Plotter, I notice the green charging glow at the bottom is a more transparent shade of green (as opposed to solid green when solely charging). Any ideas what causes this or how to avoid it? It seems to be recent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me guess, you're charging off a USB port in your laptop, or using the data cable that came with the phone in your car charger?
Not all USB sources (or cables, for that matter) are created equally. Most PC/laptop ports put out 500mAh, half of what the Evo is designed to take (the factory AC adapter, the wall plug, is 1000mAh, aka 1amp).
Since it's only getting half the draw it can't quite keep up with how much power you're sucking away from the battery. This is usually only present when using the device heavily, such as with the screen on and GPS or WiFi/3G actively running.
The charging indicator (at least on Sense) indicates if it's getting the full "AC" charge (1amp) or if it's getting a reduced current charge. Sounds like that's what you're noticing.
My wife's Samsung Moment charger is 700mAh/0.7amp, and it can keep my Evo steady during use (it's powering it for 3G+WiFi tether right now), but it doesn't really charge fast at all, basically it just keeps it from depleting.
I've been meaning to try one of the USB Y-cables that join 2 standard USB ports to one female port for combined power of 1amp, but I'm not sure it will work as I hope. Anyway, I'll report back if I get around to it.
Otherwise, use an actual 1amp AC adapter whenever possible. Shop on eBay, chargers are stupid cheap. Just look for one that says it can do 1amp/1000mAh. If you're using the phone at work and want to have a convenient charging source, get one of the $20 docking cradles with an AC adapter on eBay. If it's in your car, any 12v USB charger should work, as long as you use a proper pass-through charging micro USB cable and not a "data cable". There's a slight difference in how the pins are wired inside. The Rocket Fish brand of micro USB cables are known to work (that's how I charge mine at full power in my car).
Way to go GT. Are you a student? I'm an ME phd student.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
sprocket87 said:
Let me guess, you're charging off a USB port in your laptop, or using the data cable that came with the phone in your car charger?
Not all USB sources (or cables, for that matter) are created equally. Most PC/laptop ports put out 500mAh, half of what the Evo is designed to take (the factory AC adapter, the wall plug, is 1000mAh, aka 1amp).
Since it's only getting half the draw it can't quite keep up with how much power you're sucking away from the battery. This is usually only present when using the device heavily, such as with the screen on and GPS or WiFi/3G actively running.
The charging indicator (at least on Sense) indicates if it's getting the full "AC" charge (1amp) or if it's getting a reduced current charge. Sounds like that's what you're noticing.
My wife's Samsung Moment charger is 700mAh/0.7amp, and it can keep my Evo steady during use (it's powering it for 3G+WiFi tether right now), but it doesn't really charge fast at all, basically it just keeps it from depleting.
I've been meaning to try one of the USB Y-cables that join 2 standard USB ports to one female port for combined power of 1amp, but I'm not sure it will work as I hope. Anyway, I'll report back if I get around to it.
Otherwise, use an actual 1amp AC adapter whenever possible. Shop on eBay, chargers are stupid cheap. Just look for one that says it can do 1amp/1000mAh. If you're using the phone at work and want to have a convenient charging source, get one of the $20 docking cradles with an AC adapter on eBay. If it's in your car, any 12v USB charger should work, as long as you use a proper pass-through charging micro USB cable and not a "data cable". There's a slight difference in how the pins are wired inside. The Rocket Fish brand of micro USB cables are known to work (that's how I charge mine at full power in my car).
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I'm using the included charging cable. Doesn't that have full capacity? I also use a standard USB adapter in the car. It seems like that would be able to output the correct amount of volts.
gtkansan said:
Way to go GT. Are you a student? I'm an ME phd student.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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3rd year CmpE.
I had the same problem until I noticed how hot my phone was using the nav. 13 hour drive. I purchased a vent cradle for the car and so that it can stay cool while in use and charging. While the other guy may be right theoretically, its not right practically. The evo will shut off its mini usb hub once it starts getting dangerously hot so that it won't damage your phone. Long story short make sure your phone is at safe temps no need to buy another charger for your evo. keep at cool temps so that phone won't cut off power supply will even shut your phone down if its way to hot, happened to me in atlanta not fun.
"Insert Fancy Quote"
TheBiles said:
I'm using the included charging cable. Doesn't that have full capacity? I also use a standard USB adapter in the car. It seems like that would be able to output the correct amount of volts.
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When you say "included charging cable" do you mean the wall plug that came with the Evo or just the cable with a USB connector on one end and a micro USB on the other end? Because THAT cable is pinned as a data transfer cable and designed to relay only half voltage no matter what you plug it into. I know, because it only charged my Evo at slow speed when plugged into my USB car charger. Once I replaced it with the Rocket Fish cable it charged at full speed.
kwilbur3 said:
I had the same problem until I noticed how hot my phone was using the nav. 13 hour drive. I purchased a vent cradle for the car and so that it can stay cool while in use and charging. While the other guy may be right theoretically, its not right practically. The evo will shut off its mini usb hub once it starts getting dangerously hot so that it won't damage your phone. Long story short make sure your phone is at safe temps no need to buy another charger for your evo. keep at cool temps so that phone won't cut off power supply will even shut your phone down if its way to hot, happened to me in atlanta not fun.
"Insert Fancy Quote"
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See above. While I agree that heat will kill the battery and possibly trigger a shutoff, I don't think that's his problem. If you use the wrong cable or charger you will only get half charging current.
sprocket87 said:
When you say "included charging cable" do you mean the wall plug that came with the Evo or just the cable with a USB connector on one end and a micro USB on the other end? Because THAT cable is pinned as a data transfer cable and designed to relay only half voltage no matter what you plug it into. I know, because it only charged my Evo at slow speed when plugged into my USB car charger. Once I replaced it with the Rocket Fish cable it charged at full speed.
See above. While I agree that heat will kill the battery and possibly trigger a shutoff, I don't think that's his problem. If you use the wrong cable or charger you will only get half charging current.
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Click to collapse
I mean the USB cable that comes in the box with the EVO that plugs into the AC adapter. Maybe I will look into a new cable then. Hmm.
Edit: Those Rocketfish cables that you mentioned seem to be ungodly expensive. No way in hell am I going to pay more than $5 for a USB cable. Any alternatives?
TheBiles said:
I mean the USB cable that comes in the box with the EVO that plugs into the AC adapter. Maybe I will look into a new cable then. Hmm.
Edit: Those Rocketfish cables that you mentioned seem to be ungodly expensive. No way in hell am I going to pay more than $5 for a USB cable. Any alternatives?
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This is the one I got: http://cgi.ebay.com/ROCKETFISH-MOBI...ARGING-CABLE-/350384355972?pt=PDA_Accessories
$3 shipped
And there are 2 USB cables that came with the Evo (mine anyway), a thick one that was bundled with the wall charger and a thin one that's intended just for data sync. The thin one doesn't seem to charge at full speed.
If you're using the other one and it's STILL draining then maybe there is an issue with heat or something, like the other guy said. Is the phone SUPER hot at the base, where the kickstand is, when this happens?
OP - I am having the same problem. I'm 95% sure it's caused by something wrong in CM6 regarding how it handles USB charging. Past few nightlies I have been leaving my phone on the charger doing NOTHING overnight and it goes dead.
This CANNOT be due to lack of charging strength:
#1 the same exact charger worked perfectly in the past, before I flashed a certain nightly - not sure which one exactly it started in
#2 if it was charging, but slowly why in the world would the battery drain when I have it underclocked to 245 mhz and the phone is sleeping with screen off?
On my standard charger that came with the phone it is working fine even though it's a USB that plugs into an adapter - not sure why this doesn't work with my other one that I had from another phone since it worked perfectly before. Something is definitely odd with CM6 and USB charging.
sprocket87 said:
This is the one I got: http://cgi.ebay.com/ROCKETFISH-MOBI...ARGING-CABLE-/350384355972?pt=PDA_Accessories
$3 shipped
And there are 2 USB cables that came with the Evo (mine anyway), a thick one that was bundled with the wall charger and a thin one that's intended just for data sync. The thin one doesn't seem to charge at full speed.
If you're using the other one and it's STILL draining then maybe there is an issue with heat or something, like the other guy said. Is the phone SUPER hot at the base, where the kickstand is, when this happens?
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That's odd, because my EVO only came with the one cable for the adapter. Phone stays cool.
berardi said:
OP - I am having the same problem. I'm 95% sure it's caused by something wrong in CM6 regarding how it handles USB charging. Past few nightlies I have been leaving my phone on the charger doing NOTHING overnight and it goes dead.
This CANNOT be due to lack of charging strength:
#1 the same exact charger worked perfectly in the past, before I flashed a certain nightly - not sure which one exactly it started in
#2 if it was charging, but slowly why in the world would the battery drain when I have it underclocked to 245 mhz and the phone is sleeping with screen off?
On my standard charger that came with the phone it is working fine even though it's a USB that plugs into an adapter - not sure why this doesn't work with my other one that I had from another phone since it worked perfectly before. Something is definitely odd with CM6 and USB charging.
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Click to collapse
I've also noticed lately that my phone will charge insanely fast. Like from 30% to 90% in half an hour.
Sprocket - stupid question here... do these Rocket Fish charging cables also handle data transfer just as well as the stock micro-usb cable that came with the phone or would someone want to have one JUST for charging and keep their stock cable for data transfer purposes?
TheBiles said:
That's odd, because my EVO only came with the one cable for the adapter. Phone stays cool.
I've also noticed lately that my phone will charge insanely fast. Like from 30% to 90% in half an hour.
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Sorry I was unclear - the other cable I have that is the problem is one from another phone but the same type, and up until recently it worked perfectly.

USB charging cable

Lately I've noticed something odd. Depending on the USB cable I use the charge rate seems to vary substantially. In fact, in some cases under heavy phone usage, I've seen the battery decrease while on the charger. Now, I know what you're thinking: Some USB cables have the D+/D- pins shorted which switches from USB (500mA) to AC (1A) charging mode. I'm using a really cool CTC-2USB-5V2A charger which seems to show up as AC on all cables (including the ones that barely charge it). The two cables I know are charging it well are the one that came with my HP Touchpad and the one that came with my Kindle Fire HD 7, the ones that didn't have been el-cheapo eBay cables. Since its showing up as AC for all the cables, I'm assuming the only difference can be that the eBay cables use thinner wires which take more voltage drop.
Have people seen this before? Is this the problem? Does anyone know where to get some quality 2 meter / 6 ft cables cheap?
If you want to verify that one cable is allowing more current through than another, I would suggest getting "Battery Monitor Widget" by 3c (in the play store)
Put the apps widget on your screen, plug our phone in and wait for widget to update. Do the same for each cable and compare
CNexus, I am absolutely convinced one is charging faster than another.I was using the battery monitoring that came with the phone (or at least the one in Blazer ROM). You can plug one cable in and update the graph and the slope of the battery state is much higher on one cable than another. I installed battery monitor widget and I do not see anything that shows how much current is going into the phone.
But this really doesn't address the question of why one cable is charging faster than another, is it the wire gauge? Is there something else going on I don't know about?
hpmaxim said:
CNexus, I am absolutely convinced one is charging faster than another.I was using the battery monitoring that came with the phone (or at least the one in Blazer ROM). You can plug one cable in and update the graph and the slope of the battery state is much higher on one cable than another. I installed battery monitor widget and I do not see anything that shows how much current is going into the phone.
But this really doesn't address the question of why one cable is charging faster than another, is it the wire gauge? Is there something else going on I don't know about?
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I can absolutely verify that this is true. It's usually that the pins in the micro sd port are running thin from normal use. Usually normal wear and tear, or possibly the cable has gotten crimped somewhere on it Respectively, the same Non- charging cables are likely to corrupt data transfer as well, making it difficult to do development, or transfer your favorite videos or songs.. Someone recently stole my new cable and all the files I'd transferred to my phone from the computer or vice versa from my older cable were corrupted. Especially ROMS, KERneLS, and Video. This could be a potential huge problem for someone in a sticky situation needing to ODIN, or make an ABD shell connection. I suggest tossing those cables and buying new ones. I know they're expensive, but it might be the difference between having your phone soft bricked till next payday or not.
Timmetal, just to be clear I am comparing multiple identical eBay cables to the Touchpad/Kindle Fire cables.... Sounds like you are saying it is a manufacturing defect in the cables (presumably all of them) that are not necessarily related to the wire gauge. Regardles...
A 6 foot 28 gauge cable would drop about 800+ mV (which is a lot, since a fully charged battery is probably around 4.2V and USB is 5V).
A 6 foot 24 gauge cable would be about 400 mV drop.
A 6 foot 22 gauge cable would probably be 250-300 mV drop.
Monoprice has 3 styles of cable:
1) the 28/28 economy cable (which I presume means 28 gauge on all wires) for 81 cents the
2) the 24/28 cable (presumably 24 gauge on power and ground, and 28 on the others) for $1.40
3) the "premium" cable which they don't give any info on, for $2.96
Newegg has a 22 gauge for $4
Price isn't that big of a deal one 1, but I'll probably buy 10 which starts to make a difference (although prices go down a bit with quantity on all of these). Sounds like the 24/28 Monoprice might be the best bet.
Battery monitor widget is an app, after you download it long press on your home screen > widgets > and there should be one for the "battery monitor widget" app, so basically put the "battery monitor widget" widget on one of your homescreens
And im not saying this is to see whether one is charging more than another, because you can just see that clearly
This is to see how much more it is because this app shows you the mA coming through the cord
The phone software controls the charge rate based on what it thinks it is plugged into. I think it limits its draw to 500ma if it senses a USB port on the other end (since the USB standard limits it to 500ma anyway), it charges at 700ma if it senses a wall-wart type charger. Not sure how it senses the difference, but you will notice on the lock screen it will say either Charging (USB) or Charging (AC).
Questions and help issues go in Q&A
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poit said:
The phone software controls the charge rate based on what it thinks it is plugged into. I think it limits its draw to 500ma if it senses a USB port on the other end (since the USB standard limits it to 500ma anyway), it charges at 700ma if it senses a wall-wart type charger. Not sure how it senses the difference, but you will notice on the lock screen it will say either Charging (USB) or Charging (AC).
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Sorry if I didn't make this clear, the phone is claiming it is an AC charger in both cases, but one cable versus another makes a big difference in charging speed. Anyway, I ordered 9 of the $1.40 Monoprice cables. We'll see if they work.
poit said:
The phone software controls the charge rate based on what it thinks it is plugged into. I think it limits its draw to 500ma if it senses a USB port on the other end (since the USB standard limits it to 500ma anyway), it charges at 700ma if it senses a wall-wart type charger. Not sure how it senses the difference, but you will notice on the lock screen it will say either Charging (USB) or Charging (AC).
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Click to collapse
Sort of off topic but Interesting. My lock screen just shows charging. USB port on computer, USB cable plugged into wall charger or dedicated 700mah Blackberry wall charger, it makes no distinction as to how it's being charged. It does charge faster using a wall charger obviously but I've never noticed a difference in rate between using different cables.

USB from computer and car charging really slow....

Hi Guys,
I have a thinkpad which has regular USB and also a fast charge USB port. They have worked fine in the past on other phones and I used to see at least 1 amp charge rates. (on the fast charge port)
Using either port on the 20 X I only get about 200 ma charging rates?
I'm using "Ampere" to get the charging rates, it is definitely charging slower than normal...
Have you guys noticed this?
Also of note, It charges really slow from my car as well. On the hour drive home the phone only went up 4%. (This is a VW using android auto)
I think all bets are off when your using 3rd party chargers. I think Huawei might have some official accessories that you may need to buy.
jeradjohnso said:
I think all bets are off when your using 3rd party chargers. I think Huawei might have some official accessories that you may need to buy.
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I have a bunch of phones and every single one of them charges at normal charging rates off my laptop and in my car, this is pretty strange...
Huawei uses a completely different setup from QC 3 from charger to cable . How does it charge with the supplied charger and cable that you received with your phone? If you buy extra chargers for home or car make sure they say they do Huawei "Supercharge". They are a little hard to find but they are out there. Make sure the USB cable is rated for 5a(amps)
Cccmachins said:
Huawei uses a completely different setup from QC 3 from charger to cable . How does it charge with the supplied charger and cable that you received with your phone? If you buy extra chargers for home or car make sure they say they do Huawei "Supercharge". They are a little hard to find but they are out there. Make sure the USB cable is rated for 5a(amps)
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I haven't even used the included charger and cable, but plugged in at the house I do see 2 amp charge rates which is great.
The downside is that in the car with android auto I can't really plug it into anything other than the car's USB and that give me a really slow trickle charge. This is where a bulk of my charging occurs since I drive for work so much. Basically I have never charged my other phones outside of the car, I just use android auto all the time and the batteries are always topped off. So not being able to charge from car or laptop is not a deal breaker at all, but it certainly means I need to start carry a charging cube around everywhere.
Just seems odd for such an expensive flagship phone to not charge correctly via USB like every other phone I have ever had.
Try the supplied charger and cable just to make sure you do not have a defective phone. When you plug in the cable to charge watch your screen. It should show your battery percentage and a short lighting bolt. Then in just a second it should change to a long lighting bolt and say super charging. If it does that you know your phone is charging correctly. Take your Huawei supplied cable and use it on your laptop and car and see if that doesn't increase your chances speeds.
Cccmachins said:
Try the supplied charger and cable just to make sure you do not have a defective phone. When you plug in the cable to charge watch your screen. It should show your battery percentage and a short lighting bolt. Then in just a second it should change to a long lighting bolt and say super charging. If it does that you know your phone is charging correctly. Take your Huawei supplied cable and use it on your laptop and car and see if that doesn't increase your chances speeds.
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I gave the original cable a shot and it still basically charges at 200-250ma from my laptop. Very odd indeed. Not even seeing the normal 500ma that you would get on a regular USB port. (Tried both standard and high charge rate USB ports on my lenovo)
Anyone else seeing this behavior?

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