sirlylos

Hi Guys,

I wonder if anyone's had this. When I charge with a non HTC USB cable the phone wont charge. I've had it on for the last 16 hours and although the light goes orange and the little battery animates as though it's charging it hasn't budged since I put it on...

I haven't tried it with the official cable yet but does anyone know of any reason why a non-HTC USB cable wouldn't do the same as a HTC branded one?

Thanks,

SirLylos

SUroot

No reason I can think pt. If the battery animates and the light is orange, that suggests the cable is doing what it should. Have you tried this cable elsewhere? Tru the official one too.

speedycolzalez

While there are a couple of threads on here suggesting that not all usb cables are created equal the fact its charging a bit suggests it could be a problem with the phone.

You need to see whether it charges OK with the HTC supplied cable.

sirlylos

Just checked fellas and the official cable charges - it's the weirdest thing... I always thought all USB's cable where the same.

SUroot

They are, just different ends. Unless its for something specific and its wired differently. It's not like an rj45 or rj11 where many things need different wiring config. U stands for universal

nx1977

You have set usb as charge, haven't you?

solarfusion

Another thread here:

http://androidforums.com/htc-desire/73095-all-usb-cables-not-alike.html#post926520

I found a 1m ebay generic cable worked fine but a 2m ebay cable did not. 1.8m belkin cable is looking promising so far.

kboya

i have some blackberry usb leads off amazon/ebay (cant remember which), and they work a treat (about £1.50 each)

SUroot

At work, I have a mini-a to mini-b usb cable about 1m in length, then an adaptor mini-b female to micro male and that charges fine.

JEL888

Just in case you haven't checked this simple option, are you sure it is charging (orange light & battery indicator with lightening bolt remain) during the ENTIRE time? I bought a "The Phone House" (French telecom accessories & phone store) brand micro USB car adapter that came with a standard PC USB to micro USB cord. Depending on the tilt of the micro USB within my HTC Desire (I tested it by using the cord alone in the HTC wall adapter after I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't charge with the car adapter it came with), it either lights up and work or doesn't. I periodically check to see if it is still connected properly (as a slight change in position can terminate the connection) and as long as it remains properly positioned, it works (and I periodically disconnected it to see if the battery indicator on the phone advanced (green battery indicator fills up).

Now I'll try the same thing in the car! I now this means the cord isn't reliable, but at least for now I have a backup cord. What I really wanted was the USB PC car adapter without a cord, so that was extra for me. Hope this can help someone.

I have a question though, does anyone know where I could find a micro USB tip that I can connect to a solar dynamo charger? I bought my charger before iPhone and HTC existed and though I have LG, NOKIA, etc, tips, I now need a micro USB 5-pin tip. Thanks in advance for any help!

Merk78

I've had my Desire charging through a USB charger for the past 2 hours. Phone shows as charging however when I check the settings the battery charge appears to have plateaud at the level it was at when I started charging.

adza

I have the same problem - have a number of USB cables I've bought off Ebay. Most do not work with data, but allow charging. (Confirmed this).

There are a couple of different ones that do work with data as well as charging, but the majority seems to be charge only.

Looking at the USB cables themselves, I notice that pins 1 & 5 on the cables go all the way to the front but pins 2, 3 and 4 don't go all the way.

They appear to stop shorter on the cables that don't work. The cables that do work appear to have pins 2, 3 and 4 much closer to the 'end' of the plug than the cables that don't work.

Maybe the HTC plug on the phone is that little too short for all cables to plug in all the way or only a certain number of cables have pins 2, 3 and 4 the right length?

Edit - looks like Pins 1 & 5 are for power, and 2, 3 and 4 for data - so that could be the answer.

Last edited by adza; August 15th, 2010 at 05:32 PM.

hgmichna

Check How to make a car charging cable for HTC smartphones | Windows Problem Solver for details on why standard USB cables do not charge with max. current.

Every USB cable should charge at up to 500 mA, but this may not be enough while the phone is used heavily, like for navigation.

nafanny29

I have the same situation. Only official cables work for data, and 2 of my 3 non-htc cables dont actually charge my phone, even though the orange light comes on.

MatthewV

I've just bought a cheap USB-micro USB cable from Ebay to charge my HTC Sensation at work.

The cable doesn't charge (although orange led and charging symbol). Strangely enough data-sync is working....

Harry2

If you use your phone while charging and if you don't use the HTC wall charger with this cable, it could be that there isn't enough charging current because the phone needs all the current for its operating.

Never heard of a USB cable that only has data wires
But maybe one of power wires is brocken.

Harry

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Rastaman-FB

cheeply made usb cables cannot handle the throughput required to charge a device properly
i also found that some could just about chare but couldnt transfer large files without disconnecting.

buy official blackberry/palm pre cables. they are the best and most compatible while remaining cheap

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Fishyweb

I bought a Blackberry USB charging cable from Poundland for, ahem, one pound. It works a treat for charging my Desire. Haven't tried data transfer.

hgmichna

Don't believe all the nonsense that gets written. Every cable can charge a smartphone, regardless of price. And every cable can transfer any size of file.

The difference in quality between cables is essentially in their shielding. Again this has nothing to do with the function of the cable, but it makes a difference in interference. A poorly or not at all shielded cable will produce more interference, for example in the car radio when you receive a weak station.

However, the bigger factor than the shielding is the quality of the charger. Some chargers produce a lot of noise even with a shielded cable.

Rastaman-FB

im telling you 100% that you are wrong and purely talking in regards to theory and not fact.
I have 10 microusb cables at my work for various different things bought at different times purely because of what i do at work.
I can catagorically tell you that some poorly manufactured cables do not charge properly and have data transfer issues. this is for whatever reason like the wiring used is not actually capable of coping with 500-1000ma or the build is bad so there are crossed wires.
there are also issues of the official htc usb cable melting at the end due to poor quality connector.

so saying they are all the same is wrong
you buy a poorly manufactured cable (cheeper than the cheep blackberry ones) you can get issues charging.


you think the op was lying when he said the aftermarket cable couldnt charge but the official one could?

/rant

hgmichna

Of course a cable can be defective.

Rastaman-FB

also if the manufacturer doesnt meet usb standard and has thinner wiring than required.

Harry2

A cheaply, low-grade copper alloy for the wiring could do the worst.

Harry

Rastaman-FB

exactly im just going against people who say any microusb is fine its not
any well made good quality microusb is fine

stephylee09

I have an HTC Sensation 4G and there isn't a single NON HTC usb cable or wall charger that works with it. Only the HTC branded usb cables and wall chargers work. I have tried multiple other non HTC branded cables and chargers and none of them work. Just my input!

hgmichna

You work for HTC, eh? What a nonsense!

If your phone does not get charged when connected with a standard USB cable to a standard USB connector on any computer, then it is defective. If it is still under warranty, return it.

AC vs. USB charging is another matter.

Rastaman-FB

utter nonsense. as long as the cable is good quality they will work fine
right now i have a samsung usb musb, blackberry musb, palm musb and they all work with my desire and other htc phones i play about with

artymarty

I have never seen a thread with so many 'experts' who clearly don't know what they are talking about.

Yes, a cable can make a difference. Quality and length are important.

I won't go into the stuff about shorting out the data lines to force AC charging with some chargers - you can research that yourself.

This is on my HTC One X, while running, using a battery monitoring app, it tells me how much is reaching the battery after the system has used what it needs for the screen, apps running etc etc...
Firstly lets explain what the numbers mean...
---
700mA means 700mA is CHARGING the battery. It's what's left from what the charger is supplying and what the system is using.
-250mA means 250mA is being DRAWN from the battery It's what's left from what the charger is supplying and what the system is using.
---
Got that??? Ok, here we go....

Using a genuine HTC charger (1000mA) and:
HTC cable (about a 1m long) = 623mA
HTC cable (about a 1m long + Apple USB Cable 1m extender) = 574mA
E-Bay Blue and very thin 2m usb cable = -219mA
And for refrence, no cable plugged in = -287mA

So as the charger has the same output in each example, the phone is the same running the same apps etc, clearly, adding the apple extender to the HTC cable introduces some resistance and you lose around 25mA
The cheap crap E-bay cable (that works fine for data by the way) gives so little (around 68mA) I'm going backwards - even though the phone reports AC Charging (the battery app being a little more smart says AC Discharging)

So there you have it.

Now all you turkeys calling BS on this still, the burden of proof is on you then.
If you think you are so smart, do this experiment...

Get a 30m garden hose, 2 balloons and some rubber bands and someone with a stopwatch to time you...
Cut 10cm off the end of the hose.

Attach a balloon on one end of the short length of hose with a rubber band, nice and tight. Get your timekeeper to yell "Go" and then you blow through the hose with your mouth till the balloon pops. Ask them how long it took.
Write that number down.


Now do the same with the remaining 29.9m of garden hose. Attach a balloon on one end with a rubber band, nice and tight. Get your timekeeper to yell "Go" and then you blow through the hose with your mouth till the balloon pops.
That's right. Keep blowing till it pops.
Now ring your timekeeper up and ask them how many hours they waited before they gave up and went home, while you were still trying to pop the balloon.

So, does the length of hose make a difference?

Try a similar experiment with a 1m length of garden hose (which has an internal diameter of about 19mm) and a 1m length of fish-tank air hose (which has an internal diameter of about 2.5mm).
Make sure the hoses are the same length. Exactly 1m
Do the garden hose first, ask your timekeeper how long it took to pop the balloon.
Do the fish-tank hose second, ask your timekeeper how long the ambulance took to reach your house after you passed out.

Does the quality (thickness in this case) make a difference?

Conclusion. Yes there is a difference, and yes you should shut up and not make comments on that which you know nothing about or can not be bothered to do research or experiments to prove your BS theory..


Marty

stv1a

Great, fact based post. Would love to know what app you used!