Looking for a fast car charger.

[ctenorman]

After getting my Evo 3D all setup, I've started using it in the car connected via bluetooth while streaming music with the nav on and the screen running full blast. My old iPhone would continue gaining charge while these things were going on, but my new Evo seems to loose battery life even while plugged in to the car - help!

I'm currently using this charger: powerFUZE - Home & Car USB Charging Kit

Can someone tell me if there's a faster charger out there, as I'm sometimes running out of juice mid-trip when on a long journey. I'm not too worried about the Evo heating up too much as it sits right in front of a vent that I can use to cool it off if needed.

Thanks!

 

[RossAM]

It actually depends on the cable you are using, not the charger. USB is designed for data transmission, it has 4 pins. One for power, one for ground and 2 for data. A charger has no need for the data pins, so they are shorted together. Your phone can sense if the data pins are shorted together or not. If you are using a data cable your phone knows it's a data cable so it only draws 500 mA (I'm not sure why, presumably not to drain devices it is connected to that have a data connection, like a laptop).

So, you should be able to take a cable and short the data pins and it will charge faster. Of course, you won't be able to use the cable as a data cable anymore. I'm not positive that they simply need to be shorted together. I would search around and be careful if you're not sure what you're doing. I'll see if I can't dig up where I read about it.

EDIT: To clarify, USB has 4 pins. The end you plug into your phone is micro USB, which actually has 5 pins. One is unused, often specifications leave unused pins for future use. In the case of the Evo 3D this allows you to take a 5 pin micro USB port and have it function as an MHL port. This is part of why the 3D needs a special cable to output to an HDMI port.

 

[RossAM]

It looks like other phones may have different ways of deciding what the power source is (Personally I think it's ridiculous that cellular charging isn't more standardized). All the reason to be more careful about modifying electronics.

Here's what I found on the RAZR.
Here's where I read about the HTC trick.

Good luck.

EDIT: I would first check Menu->Settings->About Phone->Battery to see if it is charging in USB or AC mode

 

[ctenorman]

Thanks RossAM, great stuff!

After downloading a battery widget I was able to monitor the charging rate in miliamps of my phone. It seems that the cables I have will charge at the full rate when plugged into the AC outlet that HTC included with the phone. So I'm thinking it must be the charger.

Can you recommend a charger that will give me the highest AC charging rates out-of-the-box, as i'm not experienced at shorting pins and would be worried I'd do something wrong.

Thanks!

 

[ctenorman]

Actually, after a bit of research, I've gone ahead and purchased the HTC Generic Car Charger with USB/micUSB Cable CC C200 (1A/5V). It was on ebay for $6 with shipping, and from the reading I've done it will charge the phone at 1 amp, as it includes both the charger and cable and is designed for HTC phones.

Thanks for your help RossAM!