Help Need More Power

[Tosa90]

It seems that my phone charger is incapable of providing enough power to the phone while it's in use to keep the battery from draining.

I've tried every USB AC charger I can find in my house. The highest rated one is the Bionic charger at 850mA. Not only does it take for ever to charge, but if I leave the screen, 4G, and Bluetooth on at the same time my battery actually drains while plugged into the AC charger.

I'm just wondering if anybody knows of any high output AC chargers that could keep up with my phone without frying it in the process. With the extended battery it's taking upwards of 5-6 hours to fully charge from ~20-25%

 

[Travisimo]

It seems that my phone charger is incapable of providing enough power to the phone while it's in use to keep the battery from draining.

I've tried every USB AC charger I can find in my house. The highest rated one is the Bionic charger at 850mA. Not only does it take for ever to charge, but if I leave the screen, 4G, and Bluetooth on at the same time my battery actually drains while plugged into the AC charger.

I'm just wondering if anybody knows of any high output AC chargers that could keep up with my phone without frying it in the process. With the extended battery it's taking upwards of 5-6 hours to fully charge from ~20-25%

Join the club! I also have the extended battery and my phone takes at least 4 hours to charge from 10% - 100% if I leave the phone on. I am not aware of a faster charger, but hopefully someone else does because I'd like to know too! I do have the car charger, and unless it's my imagination (and that's quite possible), it almost seems as if that charges my phone faster than the wall charger???

Your only other options are 1) put the phone in Airplane mode or turn certain features off so that it charges a bit faster (though I doubt that will actually make that much of a difference), 2) turn the phone off while charging, which seems to half the charging time with my phone, or 3) get a battery dock and keep one battery charged while using the other and just swap them out when one goes dead. None of these solutions is ideal, though...

 

[Ageguy]

i have found that while in my car it is better to use one of these.
Whistler PRO-100W 100-Watt Pro Power Inverter - 100 Watts, AC Outlet, USB Port, 5-Point Adjustable Power Plug at TigerDirect.com

i have had no issues using the usb port to charge my phone. i have slacker radio playing and my wife is usually surfing the net also and my battery charges pretty quick. might want to give it a shot and see if it helps.

 

[johnlgalt]

It's going to be hit an miss. Charging is affected by a number of variables, the the major one is:

number of actively running apps. if you have multiple GMail accounts, plus all the SoMed accounts connected, plus other stuff that runs (DLAN servers, gMusic 3.0 beta, weather app, new app, etc.) all of which need to use power in order to update - it eats a lot more battery power.

But the biggest drain is almost always the screen itself. If you can turn the screen off while charging it charges faster.

As for pumping more amps through the phone - won't work - phone is regulated to take in no more than ~850 mA, IIRC.

 

[tehsusenoh]

In addition, turn off GPS tracking apps. On my dad's Bionic, even when plugged into the car, the battery level goes down, although it may be that he has K-9 set to check for emails on 3 accounts every minute...

But yes, GPS uses quite the battery.

 

[bigbabys]

I have never heard of anything like this in my entire life. I use the home dock which leaves my screen on all night and my phone doesn't even get close to "draining" while it's plugged in. It most definitely charges. And I use my car charger while navigating and listening to pandora and it still charges... ???

 

[MajorTom308]

This is simple use a usb 'Y' cable for charging. See the link

Amazon.com: OEM UTStarcom Universal Y Adapter USB Data Cable With Two Male & One Female Connector: Cell Phones & Accessories

I bought one and it charges my bionic from my laptop just as fast as my desktop dock.

If you need a usb A male connector to plug into your laptop you can pick a double male usb A adapter locally from Best Buy, CompUSA, and most electronic shops

 

[LrdAnkh]

I have never heard of anything like this in my entire life. I use the home dock which leaves my screen on all night and my phone doesn't even get close to "draining" while it's plugged in. It most definitely charges. And I use my car charger while navigating and listening to pandora and it still charges... ???

Ditto

 

[x026092]

Double ditto.

 

[kingnut]

I have had the same problem. When running GPS, screen at 100% brightness, data sync, and bluetooth it drains even while being charged at 850ma. From what ive read heat has a major factor of not allowing the battery to charge efficiently . So try to keep your phone cool.

I read the above comment about the phone being limited to 850ma. Is there any specific documentation i can refer to on this? Because there are guys out there using 1a chargers saying that it does charge the phone faster. I guess the only way im really gonna know is to buy one and test it against the stock charger.

 

[bigbabys]

I have had the same problem. When running GPS, screen at 100% brightness, data sync, and bluetooth it drains even while being charged at 850ma. From what ive read heat has a major factor of not allowing the battery to charge efficiently . So try to keep your phone cool.

I read the above comment about the phone being limited to 850ma. Is there any specific documentation i can refer to on this? Because there are guys out there using 1a chargers saying that it does charge the phone faster. I guess the only way im really gonna know is to buy one and test it against the stock charger.

It is obviously something you guys are doing differently and maybe knowing this the OP can look into what he can change to fix his issue instead of assuming it's just "working as intended".

 

[OutOfPhase]

I use both of these with no problems they charger the bionic fairly quick at least for the bionic. They are very powerful chargers, the home is a 2 amp charger and the the car is a 2.1 amp. They both have dual usb ports.

home charger: Amazon.com: IPAD-2USB: High Power Slim AC Wall Plug to 2 x 5V USB Adapter (Compatible with iPad 1 and iPad 2): Electronics

2 amps per port

Car charger: Amazon.com: Ultra Compact High Output Dual USB Car Charger - 2.1A Output Ideal for Charging iPad, iPad 2, Galaxy, iPhone, HTC, Droid, GPS, and Other Tablets, Smart Phones and USB Powered Devices: Car Electronics

The car charger says 2.1 amps max but now it is 2.1 amp's per port

 

[bigbabys]

I use both of these with no problems they charger the bionic fairly quick at least for the bionic. They are very powerful chargers, the home is a 2 amp charger and the the car is a 2.1 amp. They both have dual usb ports.

home charger: Amazon.com: IPAD-2USB: High Power Slim AC Wall Plug to 2 x 5V USB Adapter (Compatible with iPad 1 and iPad 2): Electronics

2 amps per port

Car charger: Amazon.com: Ultra Compact High Output Dual USB Car Charger - 2.1A Output Ideal for Charging iPad, iPad 2, Galaxy, iPhone, HTC, Droid, GPS, and Other Tablets, Smart Phones and USB Powered Devices: Car Electronics

The car charger says 2.1 amps max but now it is 2.1 amp's per port

Just out of curiosity, were you having problems before you got those chargers? This really is a new issue for me. I don't know if I am using some drastic power-reducing setup but I have never ever seen my battery drain while connected to any kind of charger in any circumstance. Even 3D gaming...

My setup in a typical home charging scenario:

Apps Running (non-stock):
JuiceDefender
Tasker
Beautiful Widgets
GOLauncher

Hardware Status:
Screen On
Bluetooth Off
Wifi On (And connected)
Brightness Max
GPS on (Not in use)

And in a car charging scenario (assuming I'm navigating as I don't really use the charger otherwise)

Apps Running
JuiceDefender
Tasker
Maps/Navigation
Pandora, Zumocast, or UberMusic(local mp3 player)
GOLauncher

Hardware Status
Screen On
Bluetooth Off
Wifi Off
Brightness Max
GPS On (In use)


With the above setup, my phone will always be charging. It will certainly charge slower than when the phone is asleep, but it still charges. I could run some tests to tell you how fast it charges, but in the hour long drive home from work (without navigation, but with pandora streaming and the screen on at full brightness) I go from about 12% to 20%.

 

[CKwik240]

I read the above comment about the phone being limited to 850ma. Is there any specific documentation i can refer to on this? Because there are guys out there using 1a chargers saying that it does charge the phone faster. I guess the only way im really gonna know is to buy one and test it against the stock charger.

For all you know, their observations could be skewed by a belief that they think they should get a faster charge (think placebo effect). I know you are aware of the testing I did and admittedly, it did not include a wide array of testing conditions to determine if the limit I ran into was dependent on other variables or not, but it does appear quite clear that the phone does limit current.

 

[thenew3]

Let me share my charging experience.

Bionic with extended battery, for my experiment, I drained it completely (let the phone shut down due to lower power).

Then while the phone was off, plug in the charger and wait till it charges. (keeping the phone off the entire time)

Using the stock charger that came with the phone, it took 3.5 hours to charge a completely dead extended battery to full charge.

Using the charger that came with my son's ipod (white square charger that says 5.1v 2.1A 10Watts output on it), the phone charged in 1.5 hours.

So it seems a more powerful charger can charge the battery much quicker (as expected) and there isn't any limits in the phone as to how much current it can take in to charge the battery. Unless the limit is higher than what the apple ipod 10 watt charger can provide.

I don't have access to a charger that provides more current then the 2.1A of the ipod charger so I can't test to see if there is a higher limit.

 

[OutOfPhase]

Just out of curiosity, were you having problems before you got those chargers? This really is a new issue for me. I don't know if I am using some drastic power-reducing setup but I have never ever seen my battery drain while connected to any kind of charger in any circumstance. Even 3D gaming...

My setup in a typical home charging scenario:

Apps Running (non-stock):
JuiceDefender
Tasker
Beautiful Widgets
GOLauncher

Hardware Status:
Screen On
Bluetooth Off
Wifi On (And connected)
Brightness Max
GPS on (Not in use)

And in a car charging scenario (assuming I'm navigating as I don't really use the charger otherwise)

Apps Running
JuiceDefender
Tasker
Maps/Navigation
Pandora, Zumocast, or UberMusic(local mp3 player)
GOLauncher

Hardware Status
Screen On
Bluetooth Off
Wifi Off
Brightness Max
GPS On (In use)


With the above setup, my phone will always be charging. It will certainly charge slower than when the phone is asleep, but it still charges. I could run some tests to tell you how fast it charges, but in the hour long drive home from work (without navigation, but with pandora streaming and the screen on at full brightness) I go from about 12% to 20%.

I have not had any issues, I usually use the desk top charger at night with no problems. I just have them for my wife's ipad and use them when I need to. I like to flash new roms on a full battery and the bigger charger's, charger my bionic quick.

 

[kingnut]

Let me share my charging experience.

Bionic with extended battery, for my experiment, I drained it completely (let the phone shut down due to lower power).

Then while the phone was off, plug in the charger and wait till it charges. (keeping the phone off the entire time)

Using the stock charger that came with the phone, it took 3.5 hours to charge a completely dead extended battery to full charge.

Using the charger that came with my son's ipod (white square charger that says 5.1v 2.1A 10Watts output on it), the phone charged in 1.5 hours.

So it seems a more powerful charger can charge the battery much quicker (as expected) and there isn't any limits in the phone as to how much current it can take in to charge the battery. Unless the limit is higher than what the apple ipod 10 watt charger can provide.

I don't have access to a charger that provides more current then the 2.1A of the ipod charger so I can't test to see if there is a higher limit.

interesting can you post a picture or model number of the charger your talking about? ipods wouldnt come with a 2.1A. an Ipad probably does. still i tried charging my bionic with my buddies 1A ipod aftermarket wall charger using my micro usb cable and it wouldnt charge it. interested to see the charger you have.