[Solved] Car charger suggestions - Nexus 5 Accessories

Until now, I be been using whatever cheap 1A car chargers I found on eBay. They show up as AC on the phone, and charge acceptably fast, definitely better than USB, but worse than the original AC charger.
With GPS usage (sygic, 3d acceleration, full backlight, GPS, speaker, and mild CPU usage) the battery actually drains while charging. Starting a 4 hour trip with 100% charge resulted in 40% of battery, even if it was charging on the whole duration of the trip.
So, this summer I'm going to do some bigger road trips. I need a car charger that gives enough power to charge while doing the GPS usage described above. I suppose I'm going to need a charger that gives close to actual 2A, not only in theory. Any suggestions?

kourampies said:
Until now, I be been using whatever cheap 1A car chargers I found on eBay. They show up as AC on the phone, and charge acceptably fast, definitely better than USB, but worse than the original AC charger.
With GPS usage (sygic, 3d acceleration, full backlight, GPS, speaker, and mild CPU usage) the battery actually drains while charging. Starting a 4 hour trip with 100% charge resulted in 40% of battery, even if it was charging on the whole duration of the trip.
So, this summer I'm going to do some bigger road trips. I need a car charger that gives enough power to charge while doing the GPS usage described above. I suppose I'm going to need a charger that gives close to actual 2A, not only in theory. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is due to the fact that your phone only requests 500mA from the car charger (while your phone uses more)
are you using a custom kernel?
I use ElementalX, which has the option to enable fastcharge, which boosts it to 900mA (enough to charge with everything on)

Zorkman said:
that is due to the fact that your phone only requests 500mA from the car charger (while your phone uses more)
are you using a custom kernel?
I use ElementalX, which has the option to enable fastcharge, which boosts it to 900mA (enough to charge with everything on)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there any downside to enabling fast charge. No sure if there isn't why every kernel doesn't enable it by default.

fitz420 said:
Is there any downside to enabling fast charge. No sure if there isn't why every kernel doesn't enable it by default.
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Click to collapse
Because in theory USB ports of e.g. laptops only give 500mA. I've used it on a lot of car chargers, USB hubs, desktops and laptops and never had any problem.
Even if something were to break, it will be your car charger, because your phone can handle a lot more than 900mA, and if your car charger is rated for 1A that will suffice.

Actually the N5 stock has Fast charging enabled. The problems usually are most commonly from poor USB cables and sometimes bad chargers that don't output what they say. If you are dropping battery charge that quickly from a 1A charger most likely you have a problem with one of the 2 I mentioned above. DL CurrentWidget from the play store. Set the Update Interval to 1 sec and then plug in the charger. IF it is a 1A charger you should get just under 1A maybe about 900mA or so. Since you are losing battery life while charging and using the above things you mentioned I would imagine that it is getting about 500mA or less.
Try the test with your OEM cable from the N5 since it is more likely to be better at handling the higher current charge rate. That way you can figure if it is the cable or the charger itself.
Here are ones that MmmmmBacon suggested in his Cheap Charger thread. I am probably going to grab one myself.
http://www.amazon.com/Portable-Dual...=1399909516&sr=8-1&keywords=anker+car+charger
http://www.amazon.com/Anker®-Dual-P...=1399909109&sr=8-2&keywords=anker+car+charger

I use this and it's brilliant and actually charges the battery while using navigation -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=436834887&pf_rd_i=468294
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Ohgami_Ichiro said:
http://www.amazon.com/Anker®-Dual-P...=1399909109&sr=8-2&keywords=anker+car+charger
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Highly recommend this. It can charge two N5s at full speed with no issue.

Sorry for the late reply... I didnt have time to even read the replies till now.
I never believed that a cable could make that much of a difference, but testing right now with the original LG AC charger and misc USB cables the difference is immence. Best performance I managed to get was from the included cable of my Anker powerbank. its around 980-1010mAh constantly, vs the 400-600 most cables do.
I will test in the car ASAP.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/301013129424
http://www.scosche.com/chargers/ipad-usb-car-charger-two-port
My combo for the most compact charging solution. Same speed as the stock charger.

http://www.amazon.com/Anker®-Du...er+car+charger
That is one of the best car chargers I've found, I use to charge my Nexus 5 when I'm on the go.

This Anker charger solved it.
It gives a steady 1000mA that is enough to charge and use GPS.
I have to give a huge thumbs up to Anker, because together with the car charger i also bought the Astroslim 3 6000mAh powerbank, which charges two devices the same time, at a steady 1500mA each!!! I loved bothe the car charger and the powerbank, definitely worth their money.

Related

[Q] How can I determine the amperage my phone is charging at?

I just bought a generic USB wall charger and it's taking much longer to charge than the htc charger that came with my EVO.
I'd like to determine the amps/ma the charger is actually putting out. I don't have a multi-meter, so I am hoping there is a hidden menu or app which will tell me what the phone sees.
Any suggestions?
You can download aLogcat and watch for the current usage, it should post it every so often. It should also say on the charger somewhere too, the stock wall charger is 1000mA
I tried this and found nothing showing charge rate, only the battery percent.
A standard usb wall charger should equal how long it takes to charge if you were plugged into you pc. If it is taking longer than that then you got a super el cheapo charger that puts out less than 500ma (milliamps).
I would be carefull too, cheap usb wall chargers are not know to output clean power and have killed devices. By overvolting/charging them.
I have been doing some testing lately with the htc charger and a pc and have come to the conclusion that the htc wall charger pushing 1 amp (1000ma) charges the battery too fast and doesnt allow for a "strong" charge. Meaning your battery will drain faster. The htc charger is, i believe not meant to be your everyday charger, only a boost charger to get you charged back up quickly.
This is common battery knowledge when it comes to charging... you can charge a battery too fast, and a slower; 500ma "trickle charge" is much cleaner and better for your battery.
Some maybe argue this, and thats ok, these are just my personal findings.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
I'm not seeing that info in the log either.
The charger had a weird range of 250-1000ma.
Yeah I think I'll invest in a better charger just to be safe.
Thank you both for your replies.

Compatibility with Nokia fast microUSB chargers

The Samsung charger adapter which comes in the box is very slow in nature. It take more than 2 hours to charge my phone. I was wondering if I can use the following Nokia brand chargers which are fast chargers?
Nokia Charger Adapter CA-146C
Nokia Fast Micro-USB Charger AC-10
It won't make any difference the phone decides what current it draws from the charger, so it'll take just as long to charge.
Are you really sure about this? Can you link me to some articles which confirm this.
Even I was thinking about purchasing AC-10 charger from Nokia.
How fast is the nokia charger?
0-10% -> 100% in an hour or less?
Joey2o11 said:
It won't make any difference the phone decides what current it draws from the charger, so it'll take just as long to charge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure about this. I have a friend with a Blackberry Playbook and he reckons his phone charges much faster if he uses the charger from that.
The "stock" S2 charger is 700mA - it doesn't take a genius to work out that for a 1650mAh battery this will take about 2.5 hours to fully charge the battery under ideal conditions (phone off) or anything from 3-6 hours with the phone on, depending all what's running or if you're using the phone while it's charging.
Which is all pretty ridiculous - ok we're comparing apples and oranges when we compare a S2 to the likesw of a Nokia, but I do miss the days when I could charge my phone in an hour and have it last two or three days. I thought my Blackberry was bad but at least I can usually squeeze a full day out of it...
The only wall wart I had lying around that was more than 700mA was a 5V 2A supply. I've tried with that which works, but the phone chokes with a "battery overtemp" warning after about 10 minutes - which tells me I AM pumping more into the battery than it can handle. This would suggest that there IS a happy medium where we can optimize the battery charge time - I'm bust looking for a 1A supply...
I have TWO AC-10Xs, and am using it with the Ninphetamene kernel (which comes with increased charge input mods to 800ma) fine. Charges to full in about 2.5-3 hours.
I've never gotten overcharge errors either.
Hi,the usage of more powerful charger will eventually reduce lifespan of your battery. This comes from basic physics, materials and so... Higher mA means faster current, which wear the material of the capacitor - battery.
I have capdase 2 USB car charger that was used for my old iphone device.
It outputs 1A.
is it safe to use it?
I tried to charge with it for 10-15minutes or so, and didnt recognize any suspicious warmups...it reached 41~degrees while at the moment im charging and using it as a hotspot and its on 38 degrees.
DobermanS said:
Hi,the usage of more powerful charger will eventually reduce lifespan of your battery. This comes from basic physics, materials and so... Higher mA means faster current, which wear the material of the capacitor - battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone (specifically, the kernel) limits charge coming in, and there MUST be hardware limiters on the batteries and the phone themselves (which, in some cheapo batteries DON'T WORK and results in them frying themselves and the phone in process) and the batteries are replaceable anyway.
eranyanay said:
I have capdase 2 USB car charger that was used for my old iphone device.
It outputs 1A.
is it safe to use it?
I tried to charge with it for 10-15minutes or so, and didnt recognize any suspicious warmups...it reached 41~degrees while at the moment im charging and using it as a hotspot and its on 38 degrees.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i use htc wall charger rated at 1A and having no proplem with ,a pc USB port is capable of 1A and we all know there are no problem ,even so there are no visible improvement in charging time because as someone said the charging current is automatically regulated
ledavi said:
i use htc wall charger rated at 1A and having no proplem with ,a pc USB port is capable of 1A and we all know there are no problem ,even so there are no visible improvement in charging time because as someone said the charging current is automatically regulated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's good to know that the current is regulated by the device.
Is there a software to see what is the current taken by the phone?
As long ad the temperture isn't higher than 45degrees is it ok?
By the way, Im pretty sure that usb outputs 0.5A and not 1A
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
battery monitor widget
It seems logical to be able to use all chargers as smartphones all have micro usb .
(I 'm not sute that's mean something in english, sorry)
Great widget! thanks.
I really like the data it gives!
Sadly, while charging with my .7A original charger & meanwhile giving a hotspot to my laptop, it shows that only 76mA comes in!
hehe, gonna take forever to charge the battery this way.
i doubt this. i'm still worried about the compatible problem~~~
After two days with the battery monitor widget Im affraid itself it drains the battery.
could it be it affects the battery?
settings are regular, it monitors changes every 60seconds
Let's see if I can help make things a bit clearer. Feel free to correct where I may be off.
The Nokia thing, it's not a charger. It's a power supply.
The "charger" is built into your phone, hardware-wise.
How can I prove it?
Take the Samsung supplied cable, plug it into your computer. You'll see that your phone is charging too. No, the cable is not a charger. Do you think your computer is a special built charger for your phone? Hardly.
The charging circuit is within the phone, and thus charging the battery when there's available power.
Ok, so we have the charger (i.e. the mobile phone), we have the battery, we need the power. Where do we get power from? The wall adapters (or computers). So what are the wall adapters? Ratings of 1000mah means that the wall adapter can provide up to 1000ma per hour.
However, your charging circuit will determine how much current to actually draw. For example, drawing 800mah for 10 min may raise the temperature to 55 degrees, so after 10 min the charging circuit drops the charging current to 500mah.
Of course, if you're using el cheapo cables, some cables may not be able to support the current draw and you may find that even with 20000000mah power supplies your phone can only draw 100mah.
The SGS2 heats up pretty easily, and it doesn't quite draw beyond 700mah. The circuit built into the phone doesn't allow it to, if i'm not wrong. If your phone is overheating while charging, you better change your case as it's going to cause your phone to overheat sooner or later.
Using a 20000000mah power supply isn't an issue, because the charging circuit within the phone will be able to draw only a certain amount.
Me, I plug my SGS2 into a 2Ah charger every night to charge, and yes it's perfectly fine. I'm only upset that after buying an expensive 2A charger, I realised that the phone is not able to draw high currents (phone even heats up to 55degree Celsius when charging).
Charging the phone on a ice pack (which lowered the phone temperature to 16 degrees while charging) didn't increase the amount of current drawn by the phone, even on a 2A power supply.
My humble advise is, stick with the stock power supply, or at most get a 1A version. No need to splash for a 2A power supply. If you really need faster charging, get a battery charging dock.
eranyanay said:
After two days with the battery monitor widget Im affraid itself it drains the battery.
could it be it affects the battery?
settings are regular, it monitors changes every 60seconds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes of course it does. It consumes a certain amount of ma per hour, doesn't it?
Personally, there's a app called watchdog, look for it, IMHO it helps to catch rouge apps better, and manage battery better.
I thought the whole idea of having a universal micro USB charging connection across most good brands was so you could use other chargers!
moooxooom said:
yes of course it does. It consumes a certain amount of ma per hour, doesn't it?
Personally, there's a app called watchdog, look for it, IMHO it helps to catch rouge apps better, and manage battery better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I just like the widget, which shows me also the battery temperture
I hope it doesnt takes too much

Charger Concerns

I see that the wall charger for the Galaxy Nexus outputs 5V and 1A. Unfortunately, none of the extra chargers I'd like to use as additional chargers have this output. Some of them are 5.1V, and some of them all put out under 1A.
From what I understand, using a charger w/ a higher voltage could potentially damage the phone. I know that this unlikely considering it's only an extra .1V in my case, but I don't want to risk it.
As for the amps, I believe that using lower amps isn't dangerous, but may result in charging taking longer than normal.
Are these two assumptions correct? Also, does anyone know of any cheap chargers that put out 5V/1A? If you put in "phone charger" in Amazon, the second hit is a Samsung OEM charger that puts out 5V/0.7A, but I'd rather get one that is going to be an exact match.
700-800mah are fine and acceptable for charging. But if wanting to play games on a charger and still get some kind of charge, go with a 1000 mah charger. 1000 mah charger is also best to use while using mhl so you can hopefully not lose battery charge while streaming video over hdmi.
Sent from my samsung gt i9250 which is in the wrong country.
Speaking of the charger... anyone found a cheap charger adapter for the Nexus? I don't like the massive brick of a "international adapter" Handtec packaged with the phone >.>
Dmw017 said:
Speaking of the charger... anyone found a cheap charger adapter for the Nexus? I don't like the massive brick of a "international adapter" Handtec packaged with the phone >.>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Micro-Travel-Charger-M540/dp/B002HJBM04
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Travel-Charger-Adapter-MicroUSB/dp/B0049IE70I
Dmw017 said:
Speaking of the charger... anyone found a cheap charger adapter for the Nexus? I don't like the massive brick of a "international adapter" Handtec packaged with the phone >.>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using a Griffin charger for the iPhone (1 amp)... it's very small and the plug blades fold up, making it very pocketable. Give the included iPhone cable to a friend.
http://www.amazon.com/Griffin-NA231...?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1322795627&sr=1-33
alee said:
I'm using a Griffin charger for the iPhone (1 amp)... it's very small and the plug blades fold up, making it very pocketable. Give the included iPhone cable to a friend.
http://www.amazon.com/Griffin-NA231...?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1322795627&sr=1-33
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's.. 24 bucks ... for a charger..
lol fml
Dmw017 said:
it's.. 24 bucks ... for a charger..
lol fml
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha, it's a nice charger.
If you don't get that one, do get a charger that does at least 700mA... or ideally 1A. Some of the cheaper chargers don't put out a lot of power and it will take a long time to charge your phone.
alee said:
Haha, it's a nice charger.
If you don't get that one, do get a charger that does at least 700mA... or ideally 1A. Some of the cheaper chargers don't put out a lot of power and it will take a long time to charge your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...you say it folds too huh :/ ....
but for that price, i wonder if there are any samsung chargers that are just as good if not better..
that is Apple, after all
hey isnt http://www.amazon.com/Griffin-Techn...al-USB-Charging/dp/B004EYH5WY/ref=pd_sim_e_10 the same product , it says it does 5 volts at 5 watts ... thats the same right?
edit: some people are reporting that the charger only charges at 0.5A instead of the full 1A on [some] android devices. if you have the charger, can you confirm your nexus charges at the full 1A watts
I've been doing fine with just plugging it into my computer like I always do with every other phone.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Dmw017 said:
hey isnt http://www.amazon.com/Griffin-Techn...al-USB-Charging/dp/B004EYH5WY/ref=pd_sim_e_10 the same product , it says it does 5 volts at 5 watts ... thats the same right?
edit: some people are reporting that the charger only charges at 0.5A instead of the full 1A on [some] android devices. if you have the charger, can you confirm your nexus charges at the full 1A watts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same one.
Good question on whether it's putting out a full 1A. I guess what I do is check the charge times tomorrow with a few different 1A chargers to see if it measures up.
I use this for home:
http://www.amazon.com/Cellet-Charger-Retractable-Cable-myTouch/dp/B004XVM1T0
And this for the car:
http://www.amazon.com/Griffin-Powerjolt-Dual-Universal-Micro/dp/B0042B9U8Q
Both are dual-USB and put out 1amp. Charges my GNEX and iPhone 4 (work) at the same time without issues.
Just feel like to chime in here for another question.
I know typical USB port from a PC outputs 0.5A while the wall charger outputs 1A, so besides charging time, is there any particular advantages to use wall charger over USB from PC?
I've read somewhere else states that despite the longer charging time using a USB port from a PC, it provides more thorough charges hence is better for the battery than using a wall charger, is this true?
Thanks!
assisterah said:
Just feel like to chime in here for another question.
I know typical USB port from a PC outputs 0.5A while the wall charger outputs 1A, so besides charging time, is there any particular advantages to use wall charger over USB from PC?
I've read somewhere else states that despite the longer charging time using a USB port from a PC, it provides more thorough charges hence is better for the battery than using a wall charger, is this true?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've read that the wall charger drops the battery down to 90ish % after it hits 100% and just goes between the two levels until you unplug your charger
While a USB charge is slower and charges your device up to a "fuller" charge
...I may be unfathomably wrong though
---------- Post added at 10:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:56 PM ----------
man that little Apple charger is so damn cute ... lol , ill probably end up buying it once the 1A volt charge is confirmed
edit: just bought it lol, oh well.. it will probably maybe more or less somewhat possibly work like it should at 1A :}
assisterah said:
Just feel like to chime in here for another question.
I know typical USB port from a PC outputs 0.5A while the wall charger outputs 1A, so besides charging time, is there any particular advantages to use wall charger over USB from PC?
I've read somewhere else states that despite the longer charging time using a USB port from a PC, it provides more thorough charges hence is better for the battery than using a wall charger, is this true?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not an expert on the subject but I was under the impression that cycles (charge + discharge) were a bigger factor on battery life than something like this. The longer a current is running through the battery (charge or discharge) is detrimental to it's life span.
Leaving a laptop plugged in all the time ruins its battery is my source on this one. I would say it's because it has a constant charge running through the battery.
qreffie said:
I've been doing fine with just plugging it into my computer like I always do with every other phone.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That takes a lot longer vs plugging it into the wall
rashad1 said:
That takes a lot longer vs plugging it into the wall
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Click to collapse
True dat. Unless it has changed , USB only outputs 500mA.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
[hfm] said:
True dat. Unless it has changed , USB only outputs 500mA.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
500mA is the max before the PC will disable the port. So your actually get less current.
There are some ports, depending on the motherboard that have a option of outputting more power for charging devices, and also have the port powered when the computer is off. But a normal usb 2.0 port is limited to 500mA max per spec... so a normal usb 2.0 port charging a phone is drawing less then 500mA, or it would get and over current condition and disable the port.
I design electronics and work with USB and batteries often, so let me clear some stuff up in no particular order:
- PC ports are limited to 500mA so will only ever output a max of 500mA
- You can use a wall charger that outputs 1000mA but on most devices the data pins on the micro USB need to be shorted to tell the phone it can try to draw more than 500mA. This is true for HTC devices for example. That means if you get a cheap charger that doesn't short the data pins, when you plug your standard micro-usb cable into it, it will still only charge your phone at 500mA.
- The charging controller is actually in the phone. It decides based on temperature (there's a sensor in the battery), current, voltage across the battery (current charge) and characteristics of the type of battery to figure out how much current to allow into the battery. Although its true that a 500mA charger may have different affects than 1000mA chargers, there usually is very little perceivable difference. Which is (slightly) better really depends on the charging controller and how it decides when to stop charging.
- When the battery is full, the phone continues to 'trickle charge' for a period of time. This isn't a bad thing. Overcharging a Lithium battery can be extremely dangerous, so normal charging occurs at a high speed and then slows down at a safe limit below the 'true' 100%. After that the phone continues to trickle charge to top up the battery. This is the reason you read in phone manuals you should charge the phone for 8 hours or overnight for its first charge.
- When charging at 500mA, the battery does not get as hot. This usually means you get closer to the true 100% before 'trickle charging' starts. With a 1000mA charge the battery heats up a lot more so charging may switch to trickle much sooner. Here's an example with made up figures.
Lets say you charge your battery with a 500mA charger, and it takes 2 hours. When the phone shows 100% it may actually be at 99%, and trickle charging. Leaving it for another 30 mins may take it to its full capacity.
Now, lets say you charge your battery with a 1000mA charger, and it takes 1 hour. When the phone shows 100% it may actually be at 98%, and trickle charging - It stopped sooner because the battery was hotter. Leaving it for another 30 mins may take it to full capacity.
Conclusion.. the 500mA charger took 2.5 hours, while the 1000mA charger took 1.5 hours. However if you unplugged both when the phone showed 100%, the 500mA charged battery may last longer, and so you think the 500mA somehow resulted in a more thorough charge!
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter which you use. the absolute charge cycles is what counts. Charge to 100%, then dont charge till its 0 for best battery care. Constantly plugging into a charger or dock all day on and off is bad. But having said that, your phone is there to be used, so a sensible balance of the two is the best bet.
Thank you so much for the detailed response, kam187. Would you recommend avoiding using a 5.1V charger, considering the phone came with a 5V charger?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
I wouldn't use it. The 0.1v probably won't make any difference, but it may not be regulated. Chargers with these odd values sometimes don't have any regulator inside them. That could damage your phone as the voltage could shoot up and down as the current draw changes.
Just search amazon/ebay for any MicroUSB charger, and pick one from a reputable manufacturer like Motorola, HTC, Samsung etc. Since all phones now use MicroUSB, there's loads of these chargers around from previous phone models etc.
Here's just one I saw on amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Trave...E70I/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1322808220&sr=8-3

Anything special about the USB cable included in box?

I just got my S2 5 days ago. All this time I been wondering why it takes around 5 hours to charge from 20% to 100%. At first, I been using my G2X charger, it was rated at the same 5V 1A output so I thought it wouldn't matter. Then I used the included Samsung charger with same LG cable, no difference. Now when using the Samsung cable, it only takes about 2 hours to charge from around 15% to 100%.
Is this just coincidence? Is my phone too new and just needed a few cycles? I'll test again tomorrow, or when my phone reaches below 20% with the LG cable.
There's been known issues with using chargers other than stock..mine gets stuck at 100% until I reboot if I use any charger other than the OEM that came with it.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
the OEM cable
it'll be your life line in case of emergency like this one
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1561432
From my experience you're going to always want to use the charger and cord that came with the phone. I bought my Galaxy S II off the streets and it did not come with the cord, so originally I tried using my OG Droid charger since it's micro USB too but it wouldn't even accept it at all (I'm pretty sure because it was too under-powered for the Galaxy S II (My speculation)). I tried using an older LG micro USB cable too (I think it was even older though) it didn't work either, so now I use my Vizio TAB micro USB cord which seems to work fine.
But also at my work we have a 3rd party micro usb charger too but it's universal, but if I charge my phone on there, not only does it take longer to charge it doesn't hold the battery as long.
So what I've figured out is you're gonna want to use your own charger the phone came with to achieve maximum battery life, also unplug the charger right away when it hits 100%.
shilent said:
I just got my S2 5 days ago. All this time I been wondering why it takes around 5 hours to charge from 20% to 100%. At first, I been using my G2X charger, it was rated at the same 5V 1A output so I thought it wouldn't matter. Then I used the included Samsung charger with same LG cable, no difference. Now when using the Samsung cable, it only takes about 2 hours to charge from around 15% to 100%.
Is this just coincidence? Is my phone too new and just needed a few cycles? I'll test again tomorrow, or when my phone reaches below 20% with the LG cable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow lol I post the same thing every second day on some forum or other xD
The usb is special in the sense it has a nice rubber feel and cool plastic iphone style caps on the end..
Its a MICRO-USB male to USB male cable, nothing more, seeing as it is still a standard USB cable it has a max current of 5v (5.25 I do believe..), plugging it into a USB to AC converter over 5v can screw up the device and cable, sscond point.
Standard charger is 5v AC, using a charger below wont cause harm, but using one above can screw up your phone and battery and not ground it properly..
3rd point, keep in mind the mAh on the charger when charging, some (for like bluetooth headsets) are only 500mAh)
mAh is an acronym for ampere an hour, and in short, for chargers measures the current sent to the device at an hourly rate, for batterys (such as lithium ion) measures the actual charge capacity of the cell, using one with a higher mAh then the stock battery (1850mAh) will only charge it quicker and is recommended.
Fourth and final, remember with USB to AC adapters that some only have +5 and ground enabled (2 outer pins), ising the device its meant for on a ac adapter with all 4 pins enabled will make the device try to establish a connection and can again, make it not ground properly. I think ours has the 4 pins enabled though so ignore the last point..
*edit
Lmfao at above few posts (your theories have no basis, allow me to explain)
When you plug your charger in, regardless if its connected or not, its "live"
That being said, the every cellphone (keyword: cell) uses a lithium-ion battery,
That cell has a control board with a chip with a bit of information, some variable, the device has READ access to this board, and collects informagion such as max mAh, current mAh, and min mAh, the device then calculates from that, a percentage,
It then displays that information to the user, the minimum (displays 0-1%), is usually a value around ~100mAh if the cell dies to 0mAh, this can reset the control board and drasticly reduce the batterys expectancy and overall life.
Also, the actual chip on the phone, is simply for, when the battery is full, (current mAh meets max)
Said device drops connection to the cell and resumes on AC, leaving battery fully charged.
Unless you use a charger outside above said specifications, its literally impossible for a charger or file on said device (referring to batterystats n00bs who dont research) to adjust or recalibrate a lithium ion battery.
Hows that for a response I kept it clean
doug36 said:
Wow lol I post the same thing every second day on some forum or other xD
The usb is special in the sense it has a nice rubber feel and cool plastic iphone style caps on the end..
Its a MICRO-USB male to USB male cable, nothing more, seeing as it is still a standard USB cable it has a max current of 5v (5.25 I do believe..), plugging it into a USB to AC converter over 5v can screw up the device and cable, sscond point.
Standard charger is 5v AC, using a charger below wont cause harm, but using one above can screw up your phone and battery and not ground it properly..
3rd point, keep in mind the mAh on the charger when charging, some (for like bluetooth headsets) are only 500mAh)
mAh is an acronym for ampere an hour, and in short, for chargers measures the current sent to the device at an hourly rate, for batterys (such as lithium ion) measures the actual charge capacity of the cell, using one with a higher mAh then the stock battery (1850mAh) will only charge it quicker and is recommended.
Fourth and final, remember with USB to AC adapters that some only have +5 and ground enabled (2 outer pins), ising the device its meant for on a ac adapter with all 4 pins enabled will make the device try to establish a connection and can again, make it not ground properly. I think ours has the 4 pins enabled though so ignore the last point..
*edit
Lmfao at above few posts (your theories have no basis, allow me to explain)
When you plug your charger in, regardless if its connected or not, its "live"
That being said, the every cellphone (keyword: cell) uses a lithium-ion battery,
That cell has a control board with a chip with a bit of information, some variable, the device has READ access to this board, and collects informagion such as max mAh, current mAh, and min mAh, the device then calculates from that, a percentage,
It then displays that information to the user, the minimum (displays 0-1%), is usually a value around ~100mAh if the cell dies to 0mAh, this can reset the control board and drasticly reduce the batterys expectancy and overall life.
Also, the actual chip on the phone, is simply for, when the battery is full, (current mAh meets max)
Said device drops connection to the cell and resumes on AC, leaving battery fully charged.
Unless you use a charger outside above said specifications, its literally impossible for a charger or file on said device (referring to batterystats n00bs who dont research) to adjust or recalibrate a lithium ion battery.
Hows that for a response I kept it clean
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's exactly my point. Shouldn't all micro USB cables be the same? I been charging all my other smartphones with many different micro USB cables and they all charged normally. Now with this phone, it takes over 5 hours to charge with my LG branded cable, this is with the stock S2 charger. Now with the Stock S2 cable, it charges in about 2 hours.
I'm gonna have to test again with the LG cable, as others reported long charging times within the first few days.
BTW, the current rating on a charger is NOT the hourly rate (ah). Also charging a lithium ion battery at a rate of 1850mah or higher should not be recommended.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
shilent said:
That's exactly my point. Shouldn't all micro USB cables be the same? I been charging all my other smartphones with many different micro USB cables and they all charged normally. Now with this phone, it takes over 5 hours to charge with my LG branded cable, this is with the stock S2 charger. Now with the Stock S2 cable, it charges in about 2 hours.
I'm gonna have to test again with the LG cable, as others reported long charging times within the first few days.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its never gonna be a linear charge or drain.
Simply put its an OS, As all OS's they have services that can start at different points, and also open different apps, also using rhe device, applications still in the ram, connection strength will all effect this its impossible to check 2 differenf charge methods accurately enough to get a definitive answer without 2 identical systems, apps, data, kernal and all, one on top of the other, plugged in simultaneously, in sleep mode, to the same outlet :/
Haha well I may be in trouble. I use several different friends, co workers chargers everyday.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
JaZart said:
Haha well I may be in trouble. I use several different friends, co workers chargers everyday.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have 3 chargers I use for this and haven't had no issues, there is no way using a different charger (unless its outside above said specifications) that it can do anything to your device including screw with the charge level.. people just don't like to research.
Just an update, it took 2 hours and 25 minutes to charge my S2 from 25% to 75% using my LG cable (same stock S2 charger). I'm gonna test with my Palm micro USB cable next.
shilent said:
Just an update, it took 2 hours and 25 minutes to charge my S2 from 25% to 75% using my LG cable (same stock S2 charger). I'm gonna test with my Palm micro USB cable next.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One, if you want an accurate trst with one device, kill to zero percent and plug it in, eithout turning on time to 100%, run same test eith another cable
**EDIT
shilent said:
BTW, the current rating on a charger is NOT the hourly rate (ah). Also charging a lithium ion battery at a rate of 1850mah or higher should not be recommended.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampere-hour
Link for you to check your **** before correcting people
Using one equal to or higher then battery capacity IS recommended..
To save you the trouble of reading **** WAY over your head:
The Faraday constant is the charge on one mole of electrons;
approximately equal to 26.8 ampere-hours. It is used in
electrochemical calculations.
An ampere-hour is not a unit of energy. In a battery system, for
example, accurate calculation of the energy delivered requires
integration of the power delivered (product of instantaneous
voltage and instantaneous current) over the discharge interval.
Generally, the battery voltage varies during discharge; an average
value may be used to approximate the integration of power. [3]
In summary, the higher the mAh, the longer the battery will last.
One, if you want an accurate trst with one device, kill to zero percent and plug it in, eithout turning on time to 100%, run same test eith another cable
**EDIT
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampere-hour
Link for you to check your **** before correcting people
Using one equal to or higher then battery capacity IS recommended..
To save you the trouble of reading **** WAY over your head:
The Faraday constant is the charge on one mole electrons;
approximately equal to 26.8 ampere-hours. It is used in
electrochemical calculations
An ampere-hour is not a unit of energy. In a battery system, for
example, accurate calculation of the energy delivered requires
integration of the power delivered (product of instantaneous
voltage and instantaneous current) over the discharge interval.
Generally, the battery voltage varies during discharge; an average
value may be used to approximate the integration of power. [3]
In summary, the higher the mAh, the longer the battery will last.
For chargers, the higher mAh sends a larger current of the same voltage to the device, charging it faster, lower mAh can and will cjarge slowly.. I'm not sayin go use a 5v 50k mAh charger for the battery and charge it in a split second here.
Wtc! I hit edit! Mod plz merge these...
Charge rate of 1C = the capacity of the battery, in our case, 1C = 1850mah. It is not recommended to charge over 0.7C when it comes to lithium ion batteries. If a charge rate of 1850ma is recommended, then why do all chargers top out at 1A?
I collect high performance flashlights, most of them use lithium ion cells. I know about charging and discharging li-ion otherwise I could lose my hands.
Anyway, the point of this thread was about the stock USB cable vs other cables. The only thing I can think of at the moment is that my LG cable has more resistance than the Samsung cable, which is why it charges slower. Though that's hard to believe is the charging time is more than double.
doug36: I've seen you post in other threads, all you like to do is insult people, or at least try to. This is the last time I'm gonna post in this thread, you keep posting irrelevant information. Next, you're going to try to insult me, I'm not going to respond, and you're going to think you won or whatever, I don't care.
If anyone wants more info, or has any questions, please send me a PM.
JaZart said:
Haha well I may be in trouble. I use several different friends, co workers chargers everyday.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eww... everyone hits and quits it? XD
I've noticed that the charger that comes with the S2 has a special hook on one side and looks distinctly different than other usb micro cables.
Personally i think it's really dumb.. wasn't the point of micro Usb to be uniform across all phones?!
Sounds like a good way for Samsung to make some extra bucks.
JhonKa said:
I've noticed that the charger that comes with the S2 has a special hook on one side and looks distinctly different than other usb micro cables.
Personally i think it's really dumb.. wasn't the point of micro Usb to be uniform across all phones?!
Sounds like a good way for Samsung to make some extra bucks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was curious about this two. What makes the included charger official...the brick or the cable out both
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
I have no idea, all I know is that i tried to use my charger for my G2X and the SGSII wouldn't go past 95% charged? I used the Samsung charger and it charges perfectly?
Well lately my stock samsung charger has been terrible.
Even when I plug it into the wall it charges so slowly that if im below 15%; it will die
When left alone or charging while off for about 45min it will have up about 2-5%; so there's a major problem here.
But using a different charger and it charges at a faster(normal pace); 5% to 65% in appox 1 hour.
JaZart said:
Well lately my stock samsung charger has been terrible.
Even when I plug it into the wall it charges so slowly that if im below 15%; it will die
When left alone or charging while off for about 45min it will have up about 2-5%; so there's a major problem here.
But using a different charger and it charges at a faster(normal pace); 5% to 65% in appox 1 hour.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's normal? :O mine takes about 4 hours from red battery.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Has anyone noticed that if you turn the phone off..or let the battery die to 0% and then turn itself off. If you then plug it into an LG usb cable it will put the phone into download mode.
This works every single time with my g2x cable.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

Highest Charging Current for One X

Hi all:
I just did a test on the maximum charging current of the One X using current measurement equipment, and it shows that the One X does not draw above 460mA of current while charging.
With this value, i suspect that the One X limits max charging current at 500mA, which means 3 things:
1) Using any previous generation USB charger (750mA or 850mA or 1A) is good enough. Attempting to use the iPad's charger (rated at 2A) WILL NOT get you faster charging time.
2) When using battery draining applications, the charging current may not be enough for you to both CHARGE and USE the Phone. Thus it might be a better idea to give your One X some dedicated charging time.
3) Some computer USB ports may specify 500mA of output current, but there are many times the available current is less than that. On my USB port, the charging current is only about 300mA at times. So it is better to use a dedicated charger if you have it available. Having that said, however, it is still ok to charge the One X with a USB port at 300mA, just that charging will take longer.
That's all I have to report. Useful information for all.
limestone said:
Useful information for all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Useful indeed. Thanks
Sent from my HTC Vivid using XDA app
I've had mine charge at 780mAh+ before. 1amp HTC charger. Charge rate slows down at the last 20-30% or so. So from 70%-100% battery, charge rates normally slow to about 450mAh.
limestone said:
Hi all:
1) Using any previous generation USB charger (750mA or 850mA or 1A) is good enough. Attempting to use the iPad's charger (rated at 2A) WILL NOT get you faster charging time.
Useful information for all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks a lot, i can confirm the statement above because my stock charger is broken and i'm using the ipad's one.
bye
i tried to use the charger for htc chacha and hd2..
both does not work.. red light will light up but after a while it will go off and the phone does not charge..
Charging my HOX while the phones working hard eventually (after say, 5 mins), causes the charge LED to flash green/red. I've had this twice now, once while playing a 720P HD film, and once when playing Glowball.
Both times the phone was very hot, so i'm not sure if the LED thing was to indicate that the battery was too hot to charge, or that the charger could not supply enough power to charge and power the phone at the same time.
fi3ry_icy said:
i tried to use the charger for htc chacha and hd2..
both does not work.. red light will light up but after a while it will go off and the phone does not charge..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using my HD2 charger at work every day. It charges at about 400/500mA.
Original charger gives me 650/750mA (lowers at the end)
chaps said:
Charging my HOX while the phones working hard eventually (after say, 5 mins), causes the charge LED to flash green/red. I've had this twice now, once while playing a 720P HD film, and once when playing Glowball.
Both times the phone was very hot, so i'm not sure if the LED thing was to indicate that the battery was too hot to charge, or that the charger could not supply enough power to charge and power the phone at the same time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the charger cannot cope with the discharge from the game, a pop up message actually appears. If it's blinking means it's too hot. Try not to do anything intensive the last 20-30% remaining (meaning at 70-100% battery).
Nice info thanks
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
fi3ry_icy said:
i tried to use the charger for htc chacha and hd2..
both does not work.. red light will light up but after a while it will go off and the phone does not charge..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here... I am using the Atrix 4G (US) charger, it does not charge the phone. The charger gives output of 850mA. It does charge when plugged into the laptop, but I think it will take very long that way.
*edit for posterity*
after a while (I did it when battery had charged to 20%), I could connect the Moto US charger, and it would show as "AC". It would not want to charge through it when the battery was really low (2%), but it would charge via USB in that case. Weird behavior, IMO.
USB limited to 500. AC limited to 1A.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
If you want maximum speed of charging (AC charging) you need:
1A charger with shorted D+ and D- pins (eg, original HTC charger).
iPad charger probably doesn't have these pins shorted, so in this case phone will see it as USB charging (you can check it in settings->battery) and will limit charging current to 500mA. Also lot of aftermarket car chargers will work only in USB mode despite they are able to supply 1A.
Here you can find some info on USB Charging Ports (shorted D+- pins):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus#Charging_ports_and_accessory_charging_adapters
When charger is "USB", it will not draw more than 500mA from the charger, and usually it will not charge at all (because the current draw with screen on is higher than 500mA).
When charger is AC, it seems to draw 1000mA - but this is still too low to charge while phone is doing anything, as it will draw 700mA and charge ~250mA top.
I hope this can be tuned in kernel, because it sucks, I also hope that power source can be AC (and not battery - look in dmesg when charger is connected), because battery gets too hot when under load...
colin_ktp said:
If you want maximum speed of charging (AC charging) you need:
1A charger with shorted D+ and D- pins (eg, original HTC charger).
iPad charger probably doesn't have these pins shorted, so in this case phone will see it as USB charging (you can check it in settings->battery) and will limit charging current to 500mA. Also lot of aftermarket car chargers will work only in USB mode despite they are able to supply 1A.
Here you can find some info on USB Charging Ports (shorted D+- pins):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus#Charging_ports_and_accessory_charging_adapters
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you post a potential list of car charger which are working at 1mA according to you?
I've only tested few devices:
Extrememac external battery for iPhone/iPad (max 2A) had pins not shorted - USB charging mode on One X (500mA).
Some cheap car adapters - max 1A (according to spec) - USB charging mode on One X.
To fox this problem you should prepare a USB extension cable or micro-usb cable with shorted D+ and D- pins and it should be recognized as AC adapter. I think that also some old HTC phone chargers might come with shorted pins in cable already, but don't know which...
What about the official HTC car charger?
MickyMax said:
What about the official HTC car charger?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that one will charge at the full rate.
There is no list of known good chargers - it's down to luck or a recommendation from someone who found one. You can be sure that any charger advertised as "iPhone, iPad or iPod" compatible will NOT charge your One X at the full rate.
I found one recently in a local petrol station shop. It was £5. I took it apart to have a look and the D+ and D- pins are correctly connected together (via a low value resistor) so it charges at the full rate.
So, I might suggest you look for the cheapest Chinese car charger you can.
USB charging not OK inside a car
zvieratko said:
When charger is "USB", it will not draw more than 500mA from the charger, and usually it will not charge at all (because the current draw with screen on is higher than 500mA).
When charger is AC, it seems to draw 1000mA - but this is still too low to charge while phone is doing anything, as it will draw 700mA and charge ~250mA top.
I hope this can be tuned in kernel, because it sucks, I also hope that power source can be AC (and not battery - look in dmesg when charger is connected), because battery gets too hot when under load...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bingo. I also noticed that when I have the screen on at 100% brightness, GPS and Bluetooth on, i.e. in the car, the USB charger cannot even keep up with the battery drain.
On top of that, the battery gets really hot.
I did not have any of these issues with my SGS2, and frankly, I think it's very disappointing. One should at least be able to stay on the same battery level while doing nothing too fancy and on USB inside a car.
A380 said:
Bingo. I also noticed that when I have the screen on at 100% brightness, GPS and Bluetooth on, i.e. in the car, the USB charger cannot even keep up with the battery drain.
On top of that, the battery gets really hot.
I did not have any of these issues with my SGS2, and frankly, I think it's very disappointing. One should at least be able to stay on the same battery level while doing nothing too fancy and on USB inside a car.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a lot of factors in the charging current. When you charge, the battery will heat up during the process, especially towards the end of the charging cycle. If you are using your phone at the same time and cause even more heat and charging may slow down to prevent overheating. Also, as mentioned prior, charging slows down as capacity is reached. 100% brightness, GPS, and Bluetooth all on has always walked the fine line of just barely keeping up on my past phones on a 500 mA USB charger. On top of that, this phone is a lot more powerful than an SGS2 and the T3 and big screen produce more heat which may be slowing your charging more.
The problem is a lot of cheap chargers that the phone thinks are USB chargers, not AC chargers, thus causing them to only charge at 500 mA. If you have a proper charger, or a properly modified charger, you should get more like 1A, assuming conditions are right.
In the past I've used Battery Monitor Widget from the Play store to show my charging current on a widget, as well as track and graph battery use, charging current, temperature, etc. Might want to give it a try if you're more interested in charging details.
Im using my htc desire charger and cable (the one that splits in two). It works fine for me but it does take a while to get a full charge. Should i use the charger and cable that came with the phone?

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