I got the evo hdmi dock that sprint sells today, not really charging. - EVO 4G Accessories

The light comes on most of the time but it still doesnt really seem to be charging it. Any idea what's up?

Swap the USB cable and use the one that came with your phone. Lots of times the USB cables are the culprit.

Don't have the one that came with my phone but I've tried a few different cables
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

Is the phone active during the charging time and does the phone charge normally without the dock? I've noticed that with my stock sprint EVO car dock plugged in, when used to navigate (GPS), screen on and perhaps playing music through the aux connection, the phone only holds its own. Won't fully charge, but won't discharge either and if I turn off the screen or spotify, the phone will charge, just slowly.
As the USB cable plugs into the dock, not the phone when it's mounted, removing the phone and plugging in directly has the phone charge normally.

patass, can I get a link for the dock? Sounds interesting, I might try it myself as I have the cable that came w/ my phone.

Related

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.
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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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Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.

[Q] Problems with HTC EVO car dock and charging?

Hi, everyone:
I just got the HTC EVO car dock a few weeks ago, and I'm mostly pleased with it. One strange thing, though - it appears that the phone's battery will not charge as quickly as it used to, if it charges at all.
This evening, I tried an experiment. I had my 1A charger connected to the EVO dock, then I docked my EVO. When I go into Settings/About Phone/Status, Battery status shows Charging (USB). However, when I remove my phone from the dock and plug it into the charger directly, Battery status shows Charging (AC)!
I haven't been able to find an answer to this problem. One thread here stated it is a problem with Froyo and the dock application, that it only allows charging via USB, but I can't corroborate that. I found another thread that said it's a safety feature, that it won't charge a hot battery, but in my testing above, the battery is fairly cool and I still get different results.
Has anyone else come across this problem? Perhaps it's just a defective dock? Otherwise it's a fantastic car dock, but I'd hate to find out it has a design flaw that borks charging. Thanks!
The car dock does charge as usb mainly bc the dock has a slightly different pin set putting the phone into navigation mode ..but also decreasing contact with the port ...
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
I have the same car charging problem, although I don't use a dock, or the docking application. I just cannot charge in the car. The EVO reports that it is charging (AC), yet no electrons flow toward the phone from the car, as reported by both Current Widget and SnapTurbo's widget.
I've been looking for a solution to this issue for a while. The car's power port works fine. I can plug the home charger into an inverter and plug the inverter into the power port and that works perfectly. I have tried three different brands of car charger and none work. My next solution will be to find a DC12 to USB adapter and use my regular USB cable and see.
Hopefully we can get some answers.
OK, a little more info:
I installed CurrentWidget, and I logged my half-hour commute. For one log, I had the phone plugged in the Dock. For the other, I had my phone plugged in directly from the charger. For both sessions, I had 3G and GPS on, Car Home was running and I had the navigation program open. Here's what I found:
Phone in Dock average draw: -77.419Ma
Phone out of Dock average draw: +136.0588Ma
So, my unscientific conclusion is that the dock is somehow losing over 200Ma. With Nav, 3G and GPS running, that's enough to change the phone from a charging state to a dis-charging state.
I guess I'm going to return this dock. It's a shame, really, because otherwise it's a well-build, easy-to-use dock. But if it's not going to charge my phone while driving, it doesn't make sense to use.
It's not the dock, its froyo...when the dock is placed into dock mode by grounding pin 4 ANY dock that truly places the phone into dock mode will do it...I built a dock cable when the phone launched, it worked fine..now after froyo it and the HTC dock cause the usb only charging rate as well as the 3.5 jack volume fix..(won't go any louder)
It is the suck. I'm the OP on the HTC dock now available thread, I've had the thing a long time and had it apart, its power and ground with a jumper to ground pin 4..that's it..no data wires..that's also why it wont let u mount the usb...also the suck...hope that helps your problem..
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[Q] Car App starts when plugged in

I have a strange issue that popped up out of nowhere. Every time I plug my phone into my car charger and I hit my "home" button on the phone, I get the car app home screen. I have no idea how this may have gotten switched on. If I plug the phone into the AC charger, it doesn't happen.
The worst part is...when I unplug the phone from the car charger, it won't stop going to the car app (when you hit the home button) until the phone is rebooted.
Any thoughts on this or is anyone having this issue?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
That is weird. You don't have the app downloaded do u?
Sent From My Evo Killer!!!
No..nothing. It must be some kind of built in car app that thinks the phone is docked when it gets plugged into the car charger.
The only other thing the phone is doing at the time is that it's connected by (by bluetooth) to the Sync system in my ford truck.
I'm stumped
What kind of car charger is it? Who makes it?
The picture you are showing is the same app that starts when I plug the phone into the Infuse Car Dock (it is the Samsung ET4G version of Car Home). Though it does stop when I unplug the phone.
You may have a defective phone that is reacting to a part of the car charger. The charger may have the same plug link or magnet that the phone dock does causing the phone to go into car home.
Try turning off the bluetooth and connect the phone to the car charger. Does it still happen?
Are you using the usb cord that came with it? This problem actually happened on some EVO 4G phones, just google car mode issue EVO and you should know what I mean. With that said, mine has the same issue, except instead of it starting when plugged in, it only starts car mode on its own sometimes when there's lots of moisture in the air, I live in Seattle so it happens a lot this season. I've recently switched back to the original usb cord and since I haven't really been outside in the rain, I haven't had a chance to see if that solved the issue.
I think I figured it out. I noticed the phone was only charging for short spurts when it was plugged in so I ran out and purchased a new car adapter and the problem is gone. Maybe it was getting low voltage from the adapter?
In any case...thank you all for your replies.

Phone doesn't know it's plugged in.

When the phone is off and plugged into the wall, it charges. When the phone is on, and I plug it into the wall or computer, the phone doesn't know it's plugged in.
I ordered a brand new usb charging flex jack and replaced the old one, still the same problem. What gives?
EDIT: I am stock. Not rooted.
Does this happen on the original cable also?
Have you tried wiping?
Is Fast Charge on?
Fk. It doesn't even charge from the wall! When the phone is off, it has the animation that says it's charging when i plug it in the wall. I left it plugged into the wall overnight. This morning I took a look at the phone, and it didn't charge!
Oh noez, what should i do?
Also, I don't have the original cable. I'm using an HTC one.
EDIT: Dafuq?! I found an LG charger. Apparently the phone knows that it's charging when I charge with that. The thing is, that charger is just a charger; it's not a usb cable+ an adaptor. So I can't use it for adb and such.
What is Fast Charge?
convolution said:
Fk. It doesn't even charge from the wall! When the phone is off, it has the animation that says it's charging when i plug it in the wall. I left it plugged into the wall overnight. This morning I took a look at the phone, and it didn't charge!
Oh noez, what should i do?
Also, I don't have the original cable. I'm using an HTC one.
EDIT: Dafuq?! I found an LG charger. Apparently the phone knows that it's charging when I charge with that. The thing is, that charger is just a charger; it's not a usb cable+ an adaptor. So I can't use it for adb and such.
What is Fast Charge?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should mention what ROM you're on (and version) so that no one else makes the same mistake I did in assuming you had a custom ROM and that Fast Charge is on. It's a feature that makes sure that whatever charges it is recognised as AC 1amp charger as some chargers aren't designed well enough (I believe it involves a single solder point) to report themselves as capable of 1A. If it doesn't report as AC to Android, it will charge at 500mA instead (it assumes USB power). It sometimes causes problems with connecting to PC via USB.
Get another USB cable, this time none of that fancy **** go straight to OE Samsung or something.
=O I thot all usb cables are made equal! So I can't use an HTC usb cable? The dude didn't sell me the phone with a cable T.T
Also, I'm stock. I am not even rooted.
My nexus just started acting stupid when I plug it in also.
Mine sat in a drawer for a few weeks and when I plugged it in to charge, it wouldn't.
What I did was this.
plug device into charger
remove battery for a few seconds
replace battery
press power button
phone powered up and began charging.
Even now, it still sometimes doesn't recognize the charger and I have to unplug and plug it in until it does.
I use a rocketfish cable.
convolution said:
=O I thot all usb cables are made equal! So I can't use an HTC usb cable? The dude didn't sell me the phone with a cable T.T
Also, I'm stock. I am not even rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some devices are picky, you'd think that all USB cables are made equal (I did too) but some just don't work well with certain devices. I've had printers th... wait printers always have **** problems... I've had uh... usb extensions not work well with some Wifi dongles and such. My old milestone didn't like the Samsung cable either (yet the Moto cable works perfectly on gnex)
=O. Then it has to be the usb cable! No way it's not!
I ordered one on ebay =D
Rooted Gnex here I come!
dmappdev said:
My nexus just started acting stupid when I plug it in also.
Mine sat in a drawer for a few weeks and when I plugged it in to charge, it wouldn't.
What I did was this.
plug device into charger
remove battery for a few seconds
replace battery
press power button
phone powered up and began charging.
Even now, it still sometimes doesn't recognize the charger and I have to unplug and plug it in until it does.
I use a rocketfish cable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you dmappdev,
I followed your procedure (feel like talking about surgery here, which isn't too far from topic); I'm convinced that it helped in some way, directly or indirectly... as at first, my Galaxy S Advance still wouldn't recognize/charge my phone with:
1. its own charger,
2. my old Galaxy Ace's charger,
3. a universal wall usb plug used with the S Advanced own USB-to-USBmini cable.
My last idea was to use, quote: an old Nokia USB cable connected to my PC... and that worked.
I was much too happy my phone had remembered how to charge to stay mad... But I still tried those three means for charging again, and only the phone's original charger worked now. So the phone's charging ability has been "awakened" in some way, but only for the original charger ...technology is improving, but not the ethics on making life easier for the consumer.
All this was yesterday. This morning (there's more, yes), I saw my phone indicating a 100% charge although it had been disconnected from charge for several hours - something that had already happened once yesterday, before the unable-to-charge situation; a simple reboot took care of the problem, the battery status now showing a more realistic 53%.
Any comments to any of the above? If not, thanks again for your tip anyway !!!

Car Dock Stopped Working

I have been using the official car dock since it came out at it has worked great.
Yesterday my phone wouldn't go into dock mode when insert, It also didn't charge.
Because I was at critical battery level I tried plugging my phone straight into the charger and it still didn't charge.
I assumed my cigarette lighter fuse had blown so I replaced that. Dock and charger still didn't work.
Tried a different charger. It worked going straight into the phone.
Plugged the charger into the dock and still cant get my phone connected to it.
Did something fry my charger and dock?
Any suggestions on how to get it working?

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