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Help Droid Charging and usb 2.0

pteam

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Nov 26, 2010
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Ok so I think I may have found something tonight. I had the original droid and now a droid X. Normally when charging either of them it takes like 2+ hours to fully charge from a low charge. Tonight I was at a friends house and I took out this new cord I bought at walmart that came with a universal usb car charger. My droid was on 20% and within 20-30 minutes it charged to full!!! I'm almost positive the computer was charging it via usb 2.0. Now I have usb 2.0 on my home computers but it always takes 2-3 hours to charge. I went home and went from a 70% charge to 100% in minutes via this "new" cord and not using the cord that came with the droid. Is it possible the cord with the droid only will charge at a certain rate and this new cord is charging much much faster or enabling usb 2.0 instead of 1.0 or 1.1? It would be great to not have to charge my droid all night long all the time.

Also is there a way to know if your droid is charging via usb 1.0, 1.1, or 2.0 or even usb 3.0? Does this make a difference with charging times? Thanks!!
 
Welcome to the forums! :)

when charging using USB..... your phone is going to use the USB version that your computer has installed....... different phones or cords arent going to change that version...... USB comes from the computer and is not dictated by the phone

as far as the different cables go......... no..... there is no difference in charging speeds between different cables as long as youre talking about standard cables with no relays or switches inline....USB is putting out the same amount of voltage regardless of the cable used...... and your experience of going from 70% to 100% in just a few minutes is a reporting error of some type...... its not possible for the phone to charge that quickly...... not even hooked to the wall charger (which does charge quite a bit faster than USB)
 
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Here is the deal breaker for USB charge - the USB port on your computer is not able to pump out enough electricity. Be very careful this is not voltage - it does pull 110 volts or how much ever the phone needs but it does lower amperage aka electricity. If the amperage is lower it will need longer time to charge your battery to full when it is plugged into your computer as opposed to the electrical socket which is able to pump I think it is up to 15 amps before the circuit breaker gives (I could be wrong on the number of amps). The usb port can only pull out 500 mili amperes. Less electricity/current flowing through the wire lower charging speeds.
 
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Be very careful this is not voltage - it does pull 110 volts or how much ever the phone needs but it does lower amperage aka electricity

USB puts out 12v and 5v, NOT 110v.

If the amperage is lower it will need longer time to charge your battery to full when it is plugged into your computer as opposed to the electrical socket which is able to pump I think it is up to 15 amps before the circuit breaker gives

A typical phone charger puts out about 1 amp, NOT 15. A Refridgerator doesnt even take 15 amps.
 
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Thanks for the welcome!

All I know is I went from 20% (battery showing yellow nearing red) to 100% in around 30 minutes. I then used my phone for a couple hours after that and it went down to like 70-80%. If the phone didnt charge up to 100% then it would have probably died. I'm gonna try to do some charging time tests in today and in the next few days with different cords and different usb ports and even go back to my friends computer. I know charging from my laptop at home normally (brand new laptop that has usb 2.0) that it takes 2-4 hours as alot of people report to fully charge. When charging it seems like it takes forever.
 
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So are you plugging the cable into the SAME USB port when you are doing these tests? Another thing to consider is that the USB ports which are on the motherboard themselves are usually going to supply more juice to your peripherals.

FWIW I have seen some differences when chargin my iPhones on stock cables versus aftermarket cables from the same USB port.
 
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Did you try if your new cable can tranfer data between phone and PC?

Harry

+1 the cable probably doesn't have the data pins connected, so your phone assumes its plugged into the wall and draws the maximum the usb port will allow, the full 500 ma, plus ive noticed with certain Roms and settings my phone doesn't sleep on usb, if your phone is the same way, no data pins would allow it to sleep while charging helping increase the rate of charge? Usb versions have no relation to amperage supplied iirc.
 
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USB puts out 12v and 5v, NOT 110v.



A typical phone charger puts out about 1 amp, NOT 15. A Refridgerator doesnt even take 15 amps.


I love getting misunderstood and misquoted. The first one you are right - USB is up to 12 volts which is not really the relevant factor.

About the 15 amps I was just giving a ballpark as to what is the limit on the usual household circuit breaker. The number may not be exact but in the context of what I was explaining I think it makes perfect sense
 
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I love getting misunderstood and misquoted. The first one you are right - USB is up to 12 volts which is not really the relevant factor.

About the 15 amps I was just giving a ballpark as to what is the limit on the usual household circuit breaker. The number may not be exact but in the context of what I was explaining I think it makes perfect sense

Actually your post didn't really make a lot of sense, yes a 110 outlet in your home can provide more voltage and amperage than a usb port but is not relevant to the question asked, and when you use the wall charger your phone is not using 110, it is stepped down to 5v just like a usb port. Usb 2.0 and 1.1 are only directed at data speeds not the voltage provided, or amperage provided.
 
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Ok my first charge since then. I was at 50% and it went to 100% in 1 hour charging via usb on my computer. This was with the new cord. Does this seem alot faster than a computer usb slot would normally charge the droid x?

Again, can you send data to the phone with your new cord that is so awesome? If not then the question is answered if so we need to look for another explanation.
 
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Here is the deal breaker for USB charge - the USB port on your computer is not able to pump out enough electricity. Be very careful this is not voltage - it does pull 110 volts or how much ever the phone needs but it does lower amperage aka electricity. If the amperage is lower it will need longer time to charge your battery to full when it is plugged into your computer as opposed to the electrical socket which is able to pump I think it is up to 15 amps before the circuit breaker gives (I could be wrong on the number of amps). The usb port can only pull out 500 mili amperes. Less electricity/current flowing through the wire lower charging speeds.
Wow! Just - wow!
 
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I wasn't going to reply but seeing all the mis-information, I just had to set the info straight.

USB spec is 5V DC with maximum of 0.5 Amp current.

your regular wall outlet is 110 to 120V AC with maximum 15 to 20 AMP current depending on the design of the circuit and the circuit breaker in use.

Now 1 AMP from your wall outlet is very different to 1 AMP from a DC power source (such as USB).

For example, if your USB port can put out 1 AMP (some after market chargers can put out up to 2 AMPS @ 5VDC), you would have 5 watts of power (1 AMP * 5V = 5 Watts), now 1 AMP from you wall out let would get you 110 to 120 Watts of power. Significantly more.
The chargers that come with the phones will convert AC current (from your wall) to DC current that phones/laptops use.
AC = Alternating Current (if you look at it on a scope, it is like a sine wave)
DC = Direct Current (look at it on the scope and its a flat line)

Most electronic components use DC power/current. Most have an AC to DC converter built in. Smaller devices (i.e. phones, laptops) don't have enough room for a AC to DC converter so they come with a "Power Brick" that converts the AC to DC before sending the DC current to the device.

USB 1.0/1.1/2.0 are all 5 volts 0.5 Amp (500 miliamps) if it was running at spec.
USB 3.0 has a spec of up to 0.9 Amp (900 miliamps).

Some manufacturers have put extra power on laptop usb ports to power external dvd drives etc. So if you had your phone plugged into one of these ports then it may charge faster. (these are often called Powered USB ports and can go as high as 6 Amps per port)

The battery in the Droid X has approximately 5.5 watt hours of power. Which means if you charge it with a 5.5 watt source, it would take an hour to charge, assuming the phone was turned off. With a regular USB port having only 2.5 watts, it would take a little over 2 hours to charge a completely dead battery, assuming the phone was powered off so it wasn't consuming any of the power from the usb port (i.e. 100% of the power is being dedicated to charging the battery).

I think you should do some controlled tests to see really how long it takes to charge the batteries using the two different cables.

I've tried about a dozen different usb cables, from cheap $0.25 cables to $10 cables and they all take the same amount of time to charge my phone. My Droid X takes approximately 4 hours to charge from 20% to 100% on my PC while the phone is powered up and in use.
 
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No this new cord is charge only and cannot transfer data. So the phone thinks it plugged into the wall and not a computer so its charging faster?

Yes, it's like that.

USB cords for charging only (without the data wires) often has shortened data pins on the mini/microUSB phone side.
This is a coding for many phones (some types of HTC, Nokia, Motorola, Blackberry .... but not the iPhone ;) ) for charging more than the USB current of 500mA.
So the phones are charging faster.

But a phone with a 1500mAh battery full charging in 30 minutes is out of question :)
It was certainly an error of the battery indicator.

EDIT: For the USB output of the PC may be some risk for charging more than USB current.
In particular conditions if multiple USB devices are connected to the PC like USB drives.

Harry
 
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Here is the deal breaker for USB charge - the USB port on your computer is not able to pump out enough electricity. Be very careful this is not voltage - it does pull 110 volts or how much ever the phone needs but it does lower amperage aka electricity. If the amperage is lower it will need longer time to charge your battery to full when it is plugged into your computer as opposed to the electrical socket which is able to pump I think it is up to 15 amps before the circuit breaker gives (I could be wrong on the number of amps). The usb port can only pull out 500 mili amperes. Less electricity/current flowing through the wire lower charging speeds.

:thinking: You might think this makes sense, but you are wrong. Amperage is current, not electricity. Electricity is electricity, and it is a combo of current and voltage. I think you know what you WANT to say, but your terms are all confused and mixed up.
 
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Each USB port on a computer is rated at 1/2 amp, yet the wall charger produces 1 amp.

To do this properly you could pick up a USB Y cable and re-solder it, in the process:

I968320.jpg


Short pins 2 & 3 using no more than 200 ohms. This from wikipedia:

"In Battery Charging Specification,[33] new powering modes are added to the USB specification. A host or hub Charging Downstream Port can supply a maximum of 1.5 A when communicating at low-bandwidth or full-bandwidth, a maximum of 900 mA when communicating at high-bandwidth, and as much current as the connector will safely handle when no communication is taking place; USB 2.0 standard-A connectors are rated at 1500 mA by default. A Dedicated Charging Port can supply a maximum of 1.8 A of current at 5.25 V. A portable device can draw up to 1.8 A from a Dedicated Charging Port. The Dedicated Charging Port shorts the D+ and D- pins with a resistance of at most 200 Ω. The short disables data transfer, but allows devices to detect the Dedicated Charging Port and allows very simple, high current chargers to be manufactured. The increased current (faster, 9 W charging) will occur once both the host/hub and devices support the new charging specification."

Then just make sure you plug in the computer connectors before connecting the phone.
 
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Ok I charged the droid today with the usb cable that came in the droid box with the same computer from the same usb port that I charged before and I went from 40% to 100% in 2 hours and 23 minutes. So about twice as long to charge the droid from computer using the cord supplied with the phone and half as long using the aftermarket cord. The phone was powered on while charging in both test cases.

So droid supplied usb cord charging from computer went from 40% to 100% in 2 hours and 23 minutes or about 10% charge every 24 minutes.

Aftermarket cord bought at walmart charged from same computer and same usb port went from 50% to 100% in 1 hour charging via usb on my computer or about 10% every 12 minutes.
 
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Each USB port on a computer is rated at 1/2 amp, yet the wall charger produces 1 amp.

To do this properly you could pick up a USB Y cable and re-solder it, in the process:

I968320.jpg


Short pins 2 & 3 using no more than 200 ohms. This from wikipedia:

"In Battery Charging Specification,[33] new powering modes are added to the USB specification. A host or hub Charging Downstream Port can supply a maximum of 1.5 A when communicating at low-bandwidth or full-bandwidth, a maximum of 900 mA when communicating at high-bandwidth, and as much current as the connector will safely handle when no communication is taking place; USB 2.0 standard-A connectors are rated at 1500 mA by default. A Dedicated Charging Port can supply a maximum of 1.8 A of current at 5.25 V. A portable device can draw up to 1.8 A from a Dedicated Charging Port. The Dedicated Charging Port shorts the D+ and D- pins with a resistance of at most 200 Ω. The short disables data transfer, but allows devices to detect the Dedicated Charging Port and allows very simple, high current chargers to be manufactured. The increased current (faster, 9 W charging) will occur once both the host/hub and devices support the new charging specification."

Then just make sure you plug in the computer connectors before connecting the phone.

Thank you for finding this Battery Charging Specification

Harry
 
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The package is made by vivitar power: car charger universal usb. It also says it can charge cameras, games, and ipods. I can take a picture but its just a usb cord that splits into 2 attachments at the end one that fits the droid and one that fits a mini usb. The only marking on the cord is on the droid plug end it has a usb symbol and a capital B under it, the other cord end the mini usb has only a usb symbol under it. It came with a universal usb car charger just a cigarette ligher plug with a usb port on the end of it. As some have said above I guess the computer or the droid thinks this cord is a "charger" cord and charges at 1amp instead of 1/2 amp which is why it charged at exactly twice the speed.
 
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