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Droid charger - Which one to buy

twiy06

Newbie
Nov 10, 2009
25
0
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I bought the Motorola multimedia station. It's awesome. Well worth $25. Comes with a desk dock and automatically turns into a clock with weather and quick access to alarm and music. It uses a magnet to sense that you're in dock mode. Pretty sweet.

You can also change the color of the screen to a darker hue so as a night light, or you can just turn the screen off as usual.

It comes with another plug in USB wall socket thing and another USB cable for charging.

Too bad you can't just get into this dock screen mode without the dock. You'll need a widget or something to do it.

I also have the car mount. I love these Genuine Motorola items, they are awesome.
 
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I really don't understand why some chargers are causing peoples' screens to act crazy. True, the charger that comes with the DROID is 5.1V, 850mA. But when you plug it in to your actual computer, all you're getting is 5.0V, 500mA (which is the official USB spec).

I wonder if the problem is actually with the "IC chip" that some of these chargers say they have. DROID should not require this since it manages the battery charging on its own. When you plug it in your computer, the computer is simply supplying a constant 5.0V, 500mA.
 
Upvote 0
I bought the Motorola multimedia station. It's awesome. Well worth $25. Comes with a desk dock and automatically turns into a clock with weather and quick access to alarm and music. It uses a magnet to sense that you're in dock mode. Pretty sweet.

You can also change the color of the screen to a darker hue so as a night light, or you can just turn the screen off as usual.

It comes with another plug in USB wall socket thing and another USB cable for charging.

Too bad you can't just get into this dock screen mode without the dock. You'll need a widget or something to do it.

I also have the car mount. I love these Genuine Motorola items, they are awesome.

Did the car mount come with a charger? It states that it does on Motorola's website but it says it doesn't on Verizon's. just curious, if it comes with one i think i'll get it, but otherwise i might just by a cheap car mount from somewhere online.
 
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The car mount does not come with a charger but you can easily plug the same USB cable in.

You just need to get a USB car charger. Any car charger with a Micro-USB connector will work but you can also piece it together. monoprice.com has them for a few bucks. If you just buy the charger end you can use your current cable.

But I would also recommend getting a longer USB to micro USB cable for a few more bucks from monoprice.

Here are some links to make your life easier:
Car USB charger
HDMI Cable, Home Theater Accessories, HDMI Products, Cables, Adapters, Video/Audio Switch, Networking, USB, Firewire, Printer Toner, and more!

Cable, 10ft should be good to get around the dash and up on the left.
HDMI Cable, Home Theater Accessories, HDMI Products, Cables, Adapters, Video/Audio Switch, Networking, USB, Firewire, Printer Toner, and more!

I love how the Droid uses standard USB cable so it's easy to get what you need without paying exhorbitant prices for proprietary cables.

I do recommend the motorola dock since it has the magnet sensor to automatically go into Car mode when you put your droid into the mount. That's the best part. Im sure other mfgs will come out with it also later on, but for now its great. I got mine for $20 directly from Verizon, they had 30% off so give them a call and ask.

Hope that helps.

Did the car mount come with a charger? It states that it does on Motorola's website but it says it doesn't on Verizon's. just curious, if it comes with one i think i'll get it, but otherwise i might just by a cheap car mount from somewhere online.
 
Upvote 0
I bought these off Amazon. Both from the Eforcity seller. The work great.

Moto Branded Car charger $4.48 + $2.98 shipping

Moto Branded travel Charger $3.37 + $2.98 shipping

I actually use the travel charger at home, plugged in behind my bed, and the one that came with the phone I use as a travel charger. Much more versatile, I can use it in the wall or in my laptop/desktop. The travel charger has a much longer cord than the usb cable does too.

edit: I hear people are having a lot of trouble with non-Motorola/generic chargers. For what its worth I think Motorola puts some ID thing into their stuff. I've had plenty of Motorola phones, none of em ever seemed to work with other chargers, such as a BB one. It would all say something to the effect of not a Motorola charger, it won't charge, use a Motorola licensed cable.
 
Upvote 0
The car mount does not come with a charger but you can easily plug the same USB cable in.

You just need to get a USB car charger. Any car charger with a Micro-USB connector will work but you can also piece it together. monoprice.com has them for a few bucks. If you just buy the charger end you can use your current cable.

But I would also recommend getting a longer USB to micro USB cable for a few more bucks from monoprice.

Here are some links to make your life easier:
Car USB charger
HDMI Cable, Home Theater Accessories, HDMI Products, Cables, Adapters, Video/Audio Switch, Networking, USB, Firewire, Printer Toner, and more!

Cable, 10ft should be good to get around the dash and up on the left.
HDMI Cable, Home Theater Accessories, HDMI Products, Cables, Adapters, Video/Audio Switch, Networking, USB, Firewire, Printer Toner, and more!

I love how the Droid uses standard USB cable so it's easy to get what you need without paying exhorbitant prices for proprietary cables.

I do recommend the motorola dock since it has the magnet sensor to automatically go into Car mode when you put your droid into the mount. That's the best part. Im sure other mfgs will come out with it also later on, but for now its great. I got mine for $20 directly from Verizon, they had 30% off so give them a call and ask.

Hope that helps.

Funny that you mention this....

I ordered mine about 2 weeks ago - they arrived on Monday.

Specifically, I got:

For only $0.87 each when QTY 50+ purchased - Car Charger (Cigarette Lighter) to USB Female Converter - White | Car Charger Accessories

and

For only $1.16 each when QTY 50+ purchased - USB 2.0 A Male to Micro 5pin Male 28/28AWG Cable - 10ft | USB 2.0 Cable - Micro-B Type

for a grand total (including shipping) of $4.50 US.

I am using the longer cord for my MM dock and the cord that comes with the MM dock with the car adapter in the Nav dock. It reaches perfectly fine in my '99 Altima with the dock mounted halfway up the windshield. Plus, the official Moto cables have that locking clip, preventing slippage, which is what I need in the car, not at home....

Win win situation for me. Now I have to return the $20 Rocketfish charger to BB....
 
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The reason the touchscreen is more sensitive when its connected to the wall is that

The wall has a "real" ground. This effectively boosts the voltage potential between itself, and your body. The screen uses what's called capacitive sensing, which means it detects minute voltage differences between itself and your finger, in order to know which part of the screen you're touching. That's why your screen won't respond if you touch it with an insulator such as a plastic pen.

Think of when its cold out and you get a static shock when you touch a door handle or something metal. If that metal is grounded you get a shock. If it's not grounded then you won't get a shock, or it will be much smaller than if the metal were grounded. Like at my office, I never get static shock from the door handles on the glass doors because the metal is insulated (not grounded).

Related article: Capacitive sensing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


I really don't understand why some chargers are causing peoples' screens to act crazy. True, the charger that comes with the DROID is 5.1V, 850mA. But when you plug it in to your actual computer, all you're getting is 5.0V, 500mA (which is the official USB spec).

I wonder if the problem is actually with the "IC chip" that some of these chargers say they have. DROID should not require this since it manages the battery charging on its own. When you plug it in your computer, the computer is simply supplying a constant 5.0V, 500mA.
 
Upvote 0
I bought all 5 of these items for 30.00 bucks at: THECELLPHONESHOP
Cell phone accessories, Mobile accessories - Motorola, Samsung, LG, Nokia, Nextel, Sony ericsson, Sanyo, Kyocera, Audiovox and Bluetooth

They all work perfectly. Ive been buying all my phone accessories here for like 5 years. Unbeatable prices and neve got a bad item. By the way, the data cable that I got here for 4.99 also charges the droid, I know that some posts say that the data cables from other venders arent pinned to charge? This one does.


Name Code Qty Each Options
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Retractable Car Charger RCHA-MOTDROIRE 2 6.99
For Motorola CLIQ, DROID
USB Data Cable For DAT-MOTDROIUSB 1 4.99
Motorola CLIQ, DROID
Travel Charger For TCHA-MOTDROIELE 2 2.99
Motorola CLIQ, DROID
Subtotal 24.95
Shipping 4.99
Total 29.94
 
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I got the same charging kit as the OP. The wall charger seems to work fine, no screen issues. Car charger also works fine, a little loose in the cigarette socket, but nothing dramatic.

UPDATE: Actually, looks like the wall unit charges fine. But if you try to use the Droid whilst charging, it registers multiple presses, and you get weird input. So if you want to charge, no using the phone.
 
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