Help Reliable charge/data cable needed

[peterc10]

Has anybody managed to source a reliable data cable that has a low enough electrical resistance that is actually manages to charge the Sensation I have tried three from fleabay without any success. The first two took all night to increase the battery charge by 10%

The third one was supposed to be a genuine HTC lead and had the little white HTC tag on. It was the worst of all. In half an hour with it plugged in and the phone on standby the battery actually lost 3% charge - so it could not supply enough current to even run the phone on standby, let alone have enough spare to charge the battery!

And it is not the charger (genuine HTC) or phone. When I use the genuine HTC lead that came with the phone in half an hour the battery charge level went up by 21%.

So anybody any ideas please on where I can get a good lead without paying through the nose.

 

[Tink-GB]

The only data cable I have found to work better than the original supplied was a cable from an older Nokia my wife had. Not sure of the model but it came with a larkge Nokia plastic clip permanently attached.

So far I can be driving listening to music through the AUX radio socket from it, using the Google Navigation at the same time and it charges lovely...

 

[peterc10]

Thanks but I only need it to be as good as the genuine HTC one, because that does fine for me. However I do want it to be better than the "genuine" HTC one on fleabay

 

[Harry2]

The idea of a Nokia USB cable isn't bad at all
I have one with only 20cm lenght and it works fine with the HTC wall charger.
But I think for its price you can also buy a genuine HTC

If you want I'll look for the Nokia part number.

Harry

 

[peterc10]

Please if you could I could see how much I can get it for. I did not know Nokia used micro SD charging. Can it also do data transfer as well though?

 

[greatgoogly]

I've found the ones from these guys work fine for me USB Cables

 

[peterc10]

I've found the ones from these guys work fine for me USB Cables

aaah .... yes .... sorry .... should have made clear I live in the UK

 

[Harry2]

Please if you could I could see how much I can get it for. I did not know Nokia used micro SD charging. Can it also do data transfer as well though?

http://www.nokia.co.uk/find-products/accessories/all-accessories/memory-cards-and-cables/cables/nokia-connectivity-cable-ca-101d

It is also a data cable (but 8" is short for a data cable )

Harry

 

[Tink-GB]

The nokia cable is on amazon for a couple of quid.

Amazon.com: USB CA101 Connectivity Cable: Cell Phones & Accessories

It's a CA-101...

Does the job brilliantly.

 

[peterc10]

The nokia cable is on amazon for a couple of quid.

Amazon.com: USB CA101 Connectivity Cable: Cell Phones & Accessories

It's a CA-101...

Does the job brilliantly.

Thanks for that, but that is a link to US Amazon. However I have found this cable in UK Amazon for only

 

[Cougar]

Get that and one of these?

 

[Jason71]

Where are you charging from? a PC? That will be slow with any USB cable because USB is limited to 500ma.

you could try this?

"Micro USB Ultra Fast Android Smartphone Charging Cable"

eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace

not a data cable though.

 

[peterc10]

Where are you charging from? a PC? That will be slow with any USB cable because USB is limited to 500ma.

you could try this?

"Micro USB Ultra Fast Android Smartphone Charging Cable"

eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace

not a data cable though.

As I said in my OP I was using the genuine HTC wall charger that produces 1000milliamps. So no different to this. But I find that charging from my PC works just fine anyway, with the genuine HTC cable.

 

[Jason71]

As I said in my OP I was using the genuine HTC wall charger that produces 1000milliamps. So no different to this. But I find that charging from my PC works just fine anyway, with the genuine HTC cable.

OK fair enough but the truth is the HTC cable is not a standard USB cable. Since USB is limited to 500ma USB cables are not designed to carry 1000ma. The HTC cable has larger than standard conductors for a USB cable because it is designed to work with a 1000ma charger.
The best course would be to either try another HTC cable (maybe the one you bought was faulty) or get a y cable like the one from the previous link I posted or from a portable hard drive. These have beefed up conductors because they are deigned for heavier loads. Even if you only plug in one of the 2 usb plugs (the main one) it should work much better than a standard usb cable.

Charging from a PC you say works fine but even with the standard cable it will actually be slow since the phone itself will throttle the current to 500ma

 

[peterc10]

All I want is a cable that does what is required, i.e. charges my phone and moves data. All the cables I bought were advertised as doing both and they couldn't. The latter one was advertised as being a "genuine original" and it still couldn't. And the supplier (who was very good) phoned me and explained that he had had several others complain about this.

And I have had several smart phones all of which used USB and all of which charged fine. The only difference is that the Sensation has a micro USB rather than a mini USB port. And finally as I said the phone charges fine from my computer as well as from the wall charger when I use the lead that came with it, so it ain't that either.

The fact is that the electrical resistance on all of the leads was too high so that not enough current was being passed through - it is simple ohms law.

 

[Jason71]

The fact is that the electrical resistance on all of the leads was too high so that not enough current was being passed through - it is simple ohms law.

We appear to be violently agreeing. All cables are made from pretty much the same copper so the only so the only thing that has a significant effect on the resistance is the size of the wire and its length. I don't know why your genurine HTC lead did not work. Either it was the wrong HTC lead or a faulty batch.
The profit margin on USB leads is minuscule and copper is very expensive so manufactures use the thinnest conductors they can to meet the necessary USB specification which does NOT include a requirement to carry 1000ma. Therefore your chances of finding a suitable standard USB cable for this job are slim. The longer the cable the worse it will be. There are many threads on other forums on this. It is not an issue unique to you.
Hence my suggestion of a different HTC cable or a Ycable.

 

[E Mitril]

Try a charger for a new Blackberyy - here in the UK you can get generic Blackberry chargers that are a mtre log and the BBerry has the same inplud to the power socket in the sensation and it works fine. Just bring your HTC Sensation to the store with you to be sure it's a fit. These sockets are getting more generic. In fact I think the EU passed a law tha in Europe at least all these chargers will have to be generic and interusable at some poin - for environmental reasons. Nice...E Mitril UK

 

[Deleted User]

try the sony ericson x10 chargers they seem to be working quite well for me.

 

[peterc10]

Guys - the charger is NOT the problem. I have 3 genuine HTC chargers and they all work fine with this phone as long as I use the the genuine HTC lead. So does the USB port of my computer, so with "only" 500ma the thing is still charging fine. And the chargers used to charge my last two HTC phones with any cheap lead I bought. But they had a mini USB connection, not the micro USB on the Sensation.

And there, I think, lies the problem. All of those other leads are as thin as the ones I have had which don't work, the only difference is the connector. The resistance of a lead is not just about the copper wire. The most resistant bit is often at the connection, and that where I think the problem lies. I suspect it is very difficult to get a good connection onto the micro connector.

Thanks for all your help to date