Related
Hi all,
I've been looking at a solar powered charger for my Jasjam, and the one that seems to catch my eye the most is this one called the "Scotty":
http://www.solartechnology.co.uk/acatalog/Scotty_Charger.html
I know that the limitation in USB Car Chargers about having to solder pins 4 and 5 to get it to charge will probably also affect this solar charger as well, but has anyone had any direct experience with either this one or another brand?
Can you get enough juice out of it to charge a Tytn / Jasjam?
Don't know about that one. But here's a recommended Solio one for mobile devices with press releases:
http://www.solio.com/v2/
thanks for that link, it looks pretty good as well, if not better given that it has a greater total solar panel area. The first one I found can swap the internal batteries for standard AA's for instant power if required which is what makes me lean towards that... hmm... decisions, decisions. I hate making choices like that! haha
galaxys said:
Don't know about that one. But here's a recommended Solio one for mobile devices with press releases:
http://www.solio.com/v2/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, just another FYI for everyone here... I ended up getting the Solio Solar charger (http://www.solio.com/v2/).
Many thanks to Galaxys for the suggestion. It charges to almost full after a full day of sunlight and stores 1 and a half full charges for my Jasjam. It's great for weekends away and is small and compact for that extra peace of mind of having a portable charge. Unfortunately, word has gotten around that I now have it and occasionally some friends of mine who forget to charge their phones ask to use it.
Dinty said:
Well, just another FYI for everyone here... I ended up getting the Solio Solar charger (http://www.solio.com/v2/).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iam looking for solar charger as well and got two questions regarding the solio. is the solio hard enough to take some outdoor activities (dirt/rain/drops) to a certain level and do i have to solder the pins in order to charge my tytn?
thanks
chaos42
chaos42 said:
iam looking for solar charger as well and got two questions regarding the solio. is the solio hard enough to take some outdoor activities (dirt/rain/drops) to a certain level and do i have to solder the pins in order to charge my tytn?
thanks
chaos42
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
g'day!
It's a well made and solid little device, but by no means is it indestructible... I store it in a ziplock plastic bag just in case it gets wet. If it's raining, then I won't pull it out to use because there won't be enough sunlight anyway (but I guess you could cover it in something if you really wanted to).
Also, in regards to the pin soldering, I haven't had to do that. So far it has worked perfectly each time without it.
It does have one interesting feature which is good and bad at the same time. Once it detects that the phone is fully charged, it stops sending power to the device. I assume it does this to conserve the power in it's own battery (but I guess this stops you from using it as an "extended battery" for the phone.
So far I've used it to charge my Jasjam, Bluetooth GPS and a couple of other Motorola phones and it has worked each time.
If you've got any more questions, let me know. Hope this is useful.
hiho dinty,
thanks for the quick reply. It was indeed very helpful.
I am going to order my solio right now and looking forward to my next trip to the desert in november
cheers chaos42
what about human/mechanical chargers? wouldnt those work good too? at least for short burst charges... u know like those devices u shake and stuff
Wind and Sun charger
Just found this site. There are about to release a wind and sun powered charger. looks quite promising.
http://www.hymini.com/
but no word about a release date or price rigth now ;(
cheers
chaos42
Maplin battery box hacked..
Maplin sell a battery box with solar panel in the lid.
I buy these, take out the panel which is on grp board & well made, wire a diode & charger plug & socket, & glue velcro loop all over the back.
They are cheap, give an open circuit output of 7.5 volts, and can flow up to 250 mA in bright sunshine.
They don't damage my phones or pdas, which in any case seem to have conditioning circuits in them.
Can buy at £15 usual price or £8 when on offer.
I am able to parallel any number of these together for more current, or in series to a cigar lighter smpsu to give a regulated 5 volts.
The panels can get wet, no problem, & the phone being charged stays dry inside a sandwich box.
I discovered that for Wizard/Hermes a current maximum of 1 amp has to be observed up to 80% charge, then reduce to 1/4 amp to top it. For other pdas the current max is lower.
Hope this helps.
Peter
Dinty said:
Hi all,
I've been looking at a solar powered charger for my Jasjam, and the one that seems to catch my eye the most is this one called the "Scotty":
http://www.solartechnology.co.uk/acatalog/Scotty_Charger.html
I know that the limitation in USB Car Chargers about having to solder pins 4 and 5 to get it to charge will probably also affect this solar charger as well, but has anyone had any direct experience with either this one or another brand?
Can you get enough juice out of it to charge a Tytn / Jasjam?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
chaos42 said:
Just found this site. There are about to release a wind and sun powered charger. looks quite promising.
http://www.hymini.com/
but no word about a release date or price rigth now ;(
cheers
chaos42
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The post is quite old, but nevertheless i will post a reply just in case someone bumps into it and thinks - Wow! a wind charger, let me search the web and get one for myself.
Well, in the latter case stay away from Uniross brand windchargers(I own one)
I have written a review in Amazon. Here it is:
Well, i was very excited to buy this gadget (costed me 30 EUR in Paris ). I bike a lot and this was also meant to be used for outdoor hiking activities.
But..
First of all the lack of any type of power meter renders the device unreliable to the point of uselessness. You take the charger (with a 1200 mAh battery inside) and you have no idea how much of the battery is filled. You can put it to charge from mains, and maybe be shure that it is charged in some 3-4 hours (not mentioned in manual). But then, if i needed an external battery, there are definitely better choices.
Second: You cannot charge your device and charge the device simultaneously, nor you can charge your device "on the go"-directly from wind..
Third: You cannot turn on the quite weak led lights in front of the device and charge it simultaneously (so, for example if you bike in the evenings when it is late, you have to chose, either you use it's light for safety, or you charge the device.)
Forth: in the description on Uniross site it is said "Can also be charged through a computer or through wall plug". Well, it can be only charged using supplied wall plug, no wire for computer charging..
Fifth: It almost has no effect on my HTC HD2 (1230 mAh). The charging current for my device is quite hight ~ 1 A. So make sure your device will agree on some 500 mA of charging current (most of them will probably)
Sixth: It does need quite strong wind to charge, it starts to charge when your speed (in no wind condition) gets around 15 km/h. People say it needs some 15 km of ride to be fully charged. How they managed to estimate that the charger is fully charged - i have no idea.
Seventh: The charging indicator (which tells you that the speed is enough for charging), is placed right in front of the charger, so to see if it does charge you have to dangerously lean forward or ask the aproaching bikers if they see a green LED light- truly stupid design flaw.
Eighth (the most annoying and stupid): YOU HAVE TO CHARGE IT FROM MAINS FOR SOME 20% BEFORE YOU CAN START CHARGING IT FROM WIND!! Can you imagine how dumb this condition is.. first - there is no way to know how long should i charge it from mains to get the necessary 20%. Then, when i am outdoor and lets say charging the phone - if i use all the juice - the charger will become useless, as there won't be a possibility for another startup charging. Then I have to charge till it is decreased to 20% and use the wind to charge it back. HA! there is now way to know that it is on 20%,10% or 30%... how dumb the design and functioning can be... This is truly a raw device they let out on market. Shame for Uniross.
(i will stop here because it is too late...)
I wish i would have read a review like this before i went and got this piece of ... something... Hope it helps someone else.
lusjash said:
.....
Seventh: The charging indicator (which tells you that the speed is enough for charging), is placed right in front of the charger, so to see if it does charge you have to dangerously lean forward or ask the aproaching bikers if they see a green LED light- truly stupid design flaw.
Eighth (the most annoying and stupid): YOU HAVE TO CHARGE IT FROM MAINS FOR SOME 20% BEFORE YOU CAN START CHARGING IT FROM WIND!! Can you imagine how dumb this condition is.. first - there is no way to know how long should i charge it from mains to get the necessary 20%. Then, when i am outdoor and lets say charging the phone - if i use all the juice - the charger will become useless, as there won't be a possibility for another startup charging. Then I have to charge till it is decreased to 20% and use the wind to charge it back. HA! there is now way to know that it is on 20%,10% or 30%... how dumb the design and functioning can be...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unbelievable, pal!
I could not stop laughing with tears (sorry for that) with their stupidity! Unbelievable and really ...funny, but sad at the same time.
Thanks for sharing!
DISCLAIMER - I am just putting this in here so that if anyone gets any funny ideas ... Whatever you read/use in this How-TO Post is at your own RISK. The aim of this post is to help others who had the same issues as me when they were abroad ... and were stuck without a mobile Running MGLDR 1.13 and DFT stock ROM (WP7) and a USB cable but no other chargers ... If the OS doesn't boot you WON'T manage to charge via USB UNLESS you follow this HOW TO GUIDE (it's the ONLY ALTERNATIVE YOU HAVE OTHER THAN BUYING A CRADLE CHARGER) ... it WORKS 100% but I am fed up of finnicky people emailing /posting / trying to play the "experts" on the matter when they know nothing about the matter
Dear all
After going through all sorts of Registry fixes which were momentary in nature. I decided to find a viable alternative which does in actual fact work with all current WP7 builds and all MGLDR's provided with a USB Storage option.
It has been said that the WP7 Software does not charge the battery to its full potential. I also incidentally ran into the problem of charging the mobile when the battery died. Primarily because the mobile loads ... restarts ... loads ... restarts and you keep on "praying" until the OS boots to get it charged.
Alternative fixes so far which worked for me were:
- Adding android to your SD Card ..booting in android and charging it in android mode
- Charging it in Cradle Charger
- Some people even pulled out 2 wires from a USB cable (+ve and -ve) to get their phone on again (crazy and dangerious)
- MGLDR 1.12 hangs when trying to charge mobile while it is off.
- MGLDR 1.13 reboots (as a momentary fix) in order to avoid the hanging caused in 1.12
Problem is
- I can't stand the fact that we have to have 2 OS'es to get it charged properly
- I can't stand the fact the we have to remove the battery in order to get it charged externally via cradle charger
So we have to adapt to the present circumstances unfortunately. If nothing, and the fix does not give you more battery life, this method avoids you from
- buying/carrying a cradle charger with you when abroad.
- having a dual boot system (WP7 / Android) on your phone
- making you do crazy/quick fixes such as the USB cable thingy mentioned above ... (don't try it)
no need for anything of that!
HOW TO:
So in a nutshell if you drained your battery too much and don't have a cradle charger ... with the added bonus that you may get improved battery life out of WP7 is the following.
- Boot into MGLDR setup menu (hold the end call button at start up)
- Boot your mobile and hold the "End Call button" to go into the MGLDR setup screen.
- Choose USB Storage menu
- METHOD A - Let the mobile Charge for 6 hours (typically overnight would be ideal) (Note: It will not over-charge and it will not damage your battery.
OR
- METHOD B - Charge the mobile for 4 hours (to keep mobile on overnight) and charge the last hour in usb-mass storage mode. This has the added benefit that you do not get your screen on for a long time. This will not damage your battery and those of you who are worried about over-charge can go for this alternative and not take any risks.
- NOTE that you will NOT get the charging indicator ON in this mode. PRECISELY that's the whole point of charging in this mode, the battery will charge to its fullest as it is not under the influence of the WP7 software. It is like as if you put the battery in a cradle charger and charged it outside.
- When you wake up ... hit the back button to go to main menu and choose RESET option to reboot your mobile : ) and voila!
RESULTS:
- I got improved battery life charging the mobile in this MODE. I got 36 hrs + of battery life (normal usage) which is very good.
ADDED BENEFIT: QUICKFIX FOR DEAD BATTERY - NO CRADLE CHARGER - NO DUAL BOOT
- There seems to be mixed feelings about this as some of the readers have reported no discenable difference in battery performance. While I will not contradict these people, I got improved longevity from the HD2's battery. Clearly the OS is reporting the battery level badly. If NOTHING this method still serves as a quick fix
- if you drained your battery and cannot get your HD2 on again
AND
- You Do not own a cradle charger
- Registry did not work for me.
SETTINGS - WHICH IMPROVE BATTERY LIFE:
- You can optimise settings as follows in order to get my same results, again I hear many of you not wanting this as it turns of features from their PDA but as I said above, we have to adapt for the time being:
Settings are -
- ROM DFT Stock ROM original build (issued 13/01/2011)
- Radio 2.15
- Screen timeout 30 seconds
- Screen brightness set to auto
- Wifi turned off (on only when needed)
- Bluetooth turned off (on only when needed)
- Location turned off (on only when needed)
- Data Connection turned off (on only when needing to check mail)
- Email sync turned off (not every 30 mins)
- 3g turned ON - UPDATED - I got better battery life with 3G ON but this may change from country to country so I suggest that you have a go with 3G being ON or OFF and see which is better for you....)
IF YOU USE THIS POST - HIT THE THANKS BUTTON - IT's the LEAST you could do!
Regards all
Alcatraz
Hi Alcatrazx,
sounds logical I´ll give it a try and report later, thanks.
pronor
Thx
Thx Bro!
Will try it later too. I'll report.
One question though... Do you need to do this everytime you charge your phone, or just the first charge?
Sounds interesting, I will try and report
tardcutt said:
One question though... Do you need to do this everytime you charge your phone, or just the first charge?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you have to do everytime... If you reboot your WP7, the battery is under the influence of the software again and does not charge correctly. Beat me if I'm wrong
Very interesting. I will try it
It's a good idea for some times, but I would not use it as an every night thing.
I sometimes get calls or messages during the night (and usually they are important). Another thing is that if you use your phone to wake you up this will not work at all.
I hope WP7 development progresses and solves this issue in the upcoming updates.
Nevertheless it's a nice way of going by, and thanks for taking the time to test it and post about it.
PS: does the light turn green after 6hours of charging or not. Probably not, but worth asking .
Another solution should be to charge a second battery in an external charger...
pronor
Another issue with this "workaround" is that MAGLDR keeps the screen opened, which can cause some devices to overheat, so be cautious with this one. I say that an external charger is the smartest alternative. I actually use this method and it works perfectly.
karendar said:
Another issue with this "workaround" is that MAGLDR keeps the screen opened, which can cause some devices to overheat, so be cautious with this one. I say that an external charger is the smartest alternative. I actually use this method and it works perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to sound pessimistic, BUT, people have already reported clearly in other Threads that they have tried the solution of charging their battery using an external charger with no luck. I can't see how this is any different. In addition, 6 hours will probably kill your battery in the long run (overcharging) - I have queried HTC support about it in the past.
Simple enough mate! Though 6 hours of battery charging will probably make significant damage to your HD2 battery... HD2 normally will charge in about 1 and a half hour or 2 udner WM6.5 or Android!
Not bad idea though! Bravo..
Charging while in Android remains for me the most convenient option. I must say though that this battery issue in wp7 is not that obvious for me. The phone charges quite well in wp7 and only sometimes I feel the need for a restart, after which the percentage increases with 15, not more.
most chargers since the beginning of time have a battery cut off, when the charger unit detects the polarity is starting to reverse it switches off, of course i cant say for sure using the MAGLDR method would use this, potentially it could just be a case of "connecting two wires to a battery" which as you guys have pointed out would not been good, at worst your battery could get seriously hot, or potentially if you reverse the battery polarity enough you would have half of a battery thats unusable.
I think what should be taken from this however, is that like myself and other have been saying for a long time, if your battery is charged propperly it will last a long longer, people reporting empty batteries within 20 odd hours, in my opinion, either have dud batteries or are not charging them properly
the MAJOR plus side to this post is the ability to fix the empty battery restart issue, that alone makes this idea a gold star and should be stickied!
dazza9075 said:
most chargers since the beginning of time have a battery cut off, when the charger unit detects the polarity is starting to reverse it switches off, of course i cant say for sure using the MAGLDR method would use this, potentially it could just be a case of "connecting two wires to a battery" which as you guys have pointed out would not been good, at worst your battery could get seriously hot, or potentially if you reverse the battery polarity enough you would have half of a battery thats unusable.
I think what should be taken from this however, is that like myself and other have been saying for a long time, if your battery is charged propperly it will last a long longer, people reporting empty batteries within 20 odd hours, in my opinion, either have dud batteries or are not charging them properly
the MAJOR plus side to this post is the ability to fix the empty battery restart issue, that alone makes this idea a gold star and should be stickied!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
People reporting these batteries issues my friend are people who are knowledgable enough to reach to xda-developers forums - i.e. people who have a pretty good understanding of what battery drainage is and whether their batteries are dying or not; who have installed a number of winmo roms, android roms etc.
there are roms that drain battery and others that handle power better. in the ports of Windows Phone 7 for HTC HD2 there is an issue with battery drainage, and thats a fact.
There is no issue with bat drainage but with false bat stat reporting.
TheOnly1 said:
There is no issue with bat drainage but with false bat stat reporting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats the true Sir but how fix it
TheOnly1 said:
There is no issue with bat drainage but with false bat stat reporting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, thats what i was saying, apparently not very well
ndamianou said:
People reporting these batteries issues my friend are people who are knowledgable enough to reach to xda-developers forums - i.e. people who have a pretty good understanding of what battery drainage is and whether their batteries are dying or not; who have installed a number of winmo roms, android roms etc.
there are roms that drain battery and others that handle power better. in the ports of Windows Phone 7 for HTC HD2 there is an issue with battery drainage, and thats a fact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
your level of wit and sarcasm is actually quite funny given that you completely got my point wrong, the issue is quite simply this, the drivers for our HD2 are copies from another device, a device that is similar but not the same, the issues we have with battery are down to the fact that WE do not know if the battery is charged or not, at least at a first glance, and given the inability of many people on here to actually read threads and posts correctly it is not beyond the realm of possibility that many users dont know what level there battery is charged to, thus it may not be charged propperly.
If windows reports a full battery and its only half full then it will "appear" to empty twice as quick, now i think thats pretty clear for every one?
huismeester said:
Thats the true Sir but how fix it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
we cant
our phone must be different to a degree than the phone this ROM is based off otherwise we wouldnt have the issue, lets all assume for a second we can actually start chopping and changing files in WP7 like WM. We would need to find some sort of driver that exactly matches our HD2 and i doubt that will happen.
whoever made the driver isnt going to just bring out a new version for an old peice of hardware that isnt supported by MS, perhaps if a new piece of hardware has the same battery controller as us something can be done.....maybe
huismeester said:
Thats the true Sir but how fix it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have the following options:
1. Try the registry tweak. That worked for me and I actually have no battery issues for the last 2 weeks or so.
2. Charge the battery under Android during the night. That's pretty usable as you only need to reboot and you still have a fully functional phone Way better IMO than the USB Mass Storage trick.
I have a minimal Android installation on my SD (Angry Birds, you know) and it currently reports roughly the same values as WP7.
Hey guys,
I'm in a very unfortunate but serious situation here.
My X10 outright refuses to charge via the power point ( please see: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1054455 ). And, now, I'm using the EWJet ROM with Zdzihu's custom kernel. My battery is at 0% (charging is a pain, really slow - also, I don't think it's calibrated properly), and, since I'm using this kernel, I cannot off-line charge!
So, I'm looking for an alternative how to charge my battery. Would cutting my cable and matching the positive and active wire's to the battery's positive and negative terminal's be sufficient? If so, how long should I keep it there for at least some charge to get my battery up enough to start my device?
Thanks guys,
Regards,
Mayazcherquoi.
I wouldn't rly suggest cutting the wires since the x10 has internal circuitry that protects the battery, the battery itself should have circuitry too if memory serves right. You could do it if you know what your doing but Li-On batteries tend to be explosive if you don't know what you're doing. If you push for this method I'd suggest having a voltmeter close to check the battery and charger voltage before starting.
You could try finding a wireless charge pad compatible for the x10 if repairing the phone isn't possible. Since you mentioned cutting the cable and matching the wire and such I figure you're handy. So why not try replacing the micro usb connector? I mean its already busted anyway.
EDIT: Charge pad like this http://store.androidandme.com/sony-ericsson-xperia-x10-powermat.htm , hopefully you can find something cheaper :S
kindred7 said:
I wouldn't rly suggest cutting the wires since the x10 has internal circuitry that protects the battery, the battery itself should have circuitry too if memory serves right. You could do it if you know what your doing but Li-On batteries tend to be explosive if you don't know what you're doing. If you push for this method I'd suggest having a voltmeter close to check the battery and charger voltage before starting.
You could try finding a wireless charge pad compatible for the x10 if repairing the phone isn't possible. Since you mentioned cutting the cable and matching the wire and such I figure you're handy. So why not try replacing the micro usb connector? I mean its already busted anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thing is, I don't really have the parts :-/ And I kind of need this up and running by tonight I cut the wires from an old Motorola phone charger (unable to determine which is positive and negative) which details at OUTPUT: 5.0V - 550mA, and practising on an old O2 Graphite Lithium Ion battery (to no avail ) which outputs at 3.7V - 1100mAh.
So far, no explosions. Is this okay to practice on?
Thank you.
Use a voltemeter to determine the polarity. The old phone battery circuitry may be refusing to charge since the battery may have dipped below the minimum allowed voltage to prevent any danger. Since you've gone this far I suppose it won't hurt to see if you can get it going, check the polarity first of the charger though.
Explosions only happen at the instant of trying to charge a dead li-ion without circuitry or trickle charge and also in the event of excessive current which would be heat related.
kindred7 said:
Use a voltemeter to determine the polarity. The old phone battery circuitry may be refusing to charge since the battery may have dipped below the minimum allowed voltage to prevent any danger. Since you've gone this far I suppose it won't hurt to see if you can get it going, check the polarity first of the charger though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thing is, I don't have a voltmeter
Is there absolutely no visual difference between the wires? Post A picture.
Hmm... I'd guess this question will return a no as an answer but, do you have an LED handy that you could use in series with a resistor as a visual aid?
kindred7 said:
Is there absolutely no visual difference between the wires? Post A picture.
Hmm... I'd guess this question will return a no as an answer but, do you have an LED handy that you could use in series with a resistor as a visual aid?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, I don't have an LED, but I have a motor. Depending on how I connect it, it will spin either clockwise or counter-clockwise (I think). How could I determine the positive and negative from that?
And no, the wires of the Motorola Charger were split, and both coloured black. Inside the black insulation, however, is just the standard copper colour.
This is the best illustration I could find: http://mohitjoshi999.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/080609_0658_dcmotorinte2.png
Clockwise has the positive at the top of the motor, assuming the rotor faces out (The page didnt specify but I would think that would make more sense).
Hope that helps.
EDIT: By rotor I mean the shaft.
kindred7 said:
This is the best illustration I could find: http://mohitjoshi999.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/080609_0658_dcmotorinte2.png
Clockwise has the positive at the top of the motor, assuming the rotor faces out (The page didnt specify but I would think that would make more sense).
Hope that helps.
EDIT: By rotor I mean the shaft.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know, I'm kind of doubting it changes sides now since it's too fast.
By that diagram, I think I've found which is which. Still quite uncertain though.
If it's a typical dc motor it will change as you alter polarity.
If you have paper clips you can wrap two on the rotor, if they are different colour it would be even better. That way you could decern what direction it's turning.
kindred7 said:
If it's a typical dc motor it will change as you alter polarity.
If you have paper clips you can wrap two on the rotor, if they are different colour it would be even better. That way you could decern what direction it's turning.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good idea.
Okay, I think I've got it. I've marked the negative (black wire) with some sticky tape.
What now?
Also, thank you so much
Since you have the polarity figured you you could go ahead and try it again on the old battery just to be sure if it can give you any indication of charging. If not try it on the xperia battery. Id suggest monitoring the temperature of the battery while charging by sense of touch, if it feels hot pull it off and let it cool before continuing.
The xperia battery is 5.4 Whr and the power going into the battery is 2.75W, so it should take 1.96 hrs to fully charge, assuming max current. So about 59 minutes will give you 50%.
EDIT: I used the xperia charger power instead of the one you're using
best thing to do is charge it in the car. rev the engine or get it up to 180km/h and that should cause it to start charging and since you have the custom kernel, it will turn on and continue charging. I hope it works, I had the same problem
Sent from my X10i using XDA Premium App
This is for kernel devs only. The patch itself is useless to those who do not/can not compile their own kernel.
This was a pretty big hit on some other devices so I figured I'd give it a shot for you gys. This allows one to force AC charging for any charger that is detected as USB (e.g. many car chargers) and pull the full current the charger can support. It also provides additional security when connecting to public charging stations because by forcing AC charging, USB/adb data transfers are disabled, protecting your data.
It is essentially a software version of the modified charge only usb cables.
Fast charge can be toggled by issuing:
echo 1 > /sys/kernel/fast_charge/force_fast_charge
and off:
echo 0 > /sys/kernel/fast_charge/force_fast_charge
In addition I have created a toggle fast charge widget that may be used to toggle fast charge on and off right from your home screen:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.incredicontrol.fastchargewidget
I have also implemented a toggle in IncrediControl (free) that will allow you to turn it on and off.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.incredicontrol
For the widget (or any fast charge toggle) to work, you MUST be running a kernel that has this patch implemented.
As a good gesture to support a fellow dev, I ask that if you implement the patch into your kernel, please link to my widget as one means to toggle it. You are of course free to provide other ways to toggle it as well if you so desire.
Kernel devs, if you would like to test the widget yourself to confirm its working, and for convenience of testing, please contact me and I will provide you with a copy. You must show that you are a kernel dev though (i.e. link me to your kernel post so I can match your username).
Good luck have fun!
http://www.incredikernel.com/wp-con...wnload.php?id=shooter_force_fast_charge.patch
Thank you to those who tested for me.
Any takers?
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA
I'm willing to give this a shot, quick question though, does this use AC charging if you plug it into your computer? Or is it only for other sources, such as the car charging you suggested?
Will dual mount SD, or multi mount still work after enabling this
I prefer those functionality
---------------------Tapatalk ----------------------
Sent my new HTC Evolution 3D running ROMeOS UNSENSED.
supaphreek said:
I'm willing to give this a shot, quick question though, does this use AC charging if you plug it into your computer? Or is it only for other sources, such as the car charging you suggested?
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When on, it will be detected as AC for any source normally detected as USB. This includes your computer. Not every computer can put out enough amperage to significantly increase charge speed though. So it depends on your charging source. Even if your charging source can't put out more than 500mA (what USB charging is limited to), since the phone is in AC mode, it will be able to sleep while connected to the USB source so you will see some small gain because of less power usage from the phone.
jcsy said:
Will dual mount SD, or multi mount still work after enabling this
I prefer those functionality
---------------------Tapatalk ----------------------
Sent my new HTC Evolution 3D running ROMeOS UNSENSED.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you have the feature toggled on, the phone is in AC mode and all USB transfers are disabled. Turning it on and off is as simple as tapping the widget or opening an app and unchecking a box though.
Tap the widget on (or other means of toggling) - AC mode
Tap the widget off - Auto (detects based on charging source like stock)
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Fast charge? I remember having that on the DHD, Lord Clockan's work. It was great having that extra overcharge + fast charge...
I'm no dev, but having this feature on future ROMs would be very nice.
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Any chance you can max the current input? I mean... it begins at >+900mA when the battery is very low, and the current slows down as the battery charges.
Also, when playing a game that, say, consumes about -400mA and the current input is +800mA, the current will slow down to +400mA only (since another 400mA are being consumed by the phone). You can immagine what happens when the battery is almost full and you're playing a game...
I am guessing that having the current input always maxxed out would charge the battery (a lot) faster. Would that damage it, too? If not, could it be implemented?
in experience, below 80% the numbers are as per below
900+ ma WALL PLUG
400+ ma USB
600+ ma CAR CHARGER
these are rough numbers, not accurate
after 80%, they tend to be slower
the latest BMW i posted is able to track -ma drains accurately, and +ma charges accurately but has yet 2 be released by Cedrid. I wonder whats taking him...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=976183&d=1333259488
jcsy said:
the latest BMW i posted is able to track -ma drains accurately, and +ma charges accurately but has yet 2 be released by Cedrid. I wonder whats taking him...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=976183&d=1333259488
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't press install. Can press additional info, can press cancel but can't press install. Weird.
PlayPetepp said:
Can't press install. Can press additional info, can press cancel but can't press install. Weird.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't press "Install" while Filter Screen / Screen Adjuster is running / turned on. That's the only thing that prevented me from installing apps until now... If you have that installed, I suggest you turn it off for the time you're installing apps.
Otherwise... I don't know... Wipe cache, dalvik, fix permissions, zipalign apks...
Id love to see this implemented.. im running the standard LeeDroId kernel.. id happily flash it over the top if that would be of any help. I do 80% of my phone charging via USB.
Kev
Formhault said:
Fast charge? I remember having that on the DHD, Lord Clockan's work. It was great having that extra overcharge + fast charge...
I'm no dev, but having this feature on future ROMs would be very nice.
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Any chance you can max the current input? I mean... it begins at >+900mA when the battery is very low, and the current slows down as the battery charges.
Also, when playing a game that, say, consumes about -400mA and the current input is +800mA, the current will slow down to +400mA only (since another 400mA are being consumed by the phone). You can immagine what happens when the battery is almost full and you're playing a game...
I am guessing that having the current input always maxxed out would charge the battery (a lot) faster. Would that damage it, too? If not, could it be implemented?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would be concerned with heat buildup and possible damage by pushing that much additional current. Not to say its not possible, but I would be leery of implementing it.
KevAmiga said:
Id love to see this implemented.. im running the standard LeeDroId kernel.. id happily flash it over the top if that would be of any help. I do 80% of my phone charging via USB.
Kev
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Send me a PM with your e-mail address.
chad0989 said:
I would be concerned with heat buildup and possible damage by pushing that much additional current. Not to say its not possible, but I would be leery of implementing it.
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Click to collapse
As I thought. Not going to make a fuss about it, it was just an idea; I knew it could be dangerous
I bought a pack that had a car charger and a wall charger (both of supposedly 1A output) - lighter than the battery cap of the EVO 3D, rofl. The car charger worked perfectly (the power output was meeting the expectances). The wall charger barely sends 30mA (ROFL). In the pack, I also got some sort of expandable Apple cable. The entire "pack" was cheap Chinese crap, I paid ~$3 on it.
I still have the oh-so-good wall charger. It didn't push much current to the Desire HD even with the fast charging kernel...
Guess in cases like that, there's nothing any kernel patch would be able to solve, eh?
Formhault said:
As I thought. Not going to make a fuss about it, it was just an idea; I knew it could be dangerous
I bought a pack that had a car charger and a wall charger (both of supposedly 1A output) - lighter than the battery cap of the EVO 3D, rofl. The car charger worked perfectly (the power output was meeting the expectances). The wall charger barely sends 30mA (ROFL). In the pack, I also got some sort of expandable Apple cable. The entire "pack" was cheap Chinese crap, I paid ~$3 on it.
I still have the oh-so-good wall charger. It didn't push much current to the Desire HD even with the fast charging kernel...
Guess in cases like that, there's nothing any kernel patch would be able to solve, eh?
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Click to collapse
haha, yeah. You're always ultimately limited to the max the charging source can put out.
jcsy said:
in experience, below 80% the numbers are as per below
900+ ma WALL PLUG
400+ ma USB
600+ ma CAR CHARGER
these are rough numbers, not accurate
after 80%, they tend to be slower
the latest BMW i posted is able to track -ma drains accurately, and +ma charges accurately but has yet 2 be released by Cedrid. I wonder whats taking him...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=976183&d=1333259488
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just installed that newer version of BMW. Selected HTC Evo (test) as mA retrieval method. Battery is at 90% and the input current is +305mA. Also, I disagree that the phone takes +900mA from the wall charger when the battery is under 80%. Input over 900 is only when the battery is like under 10%... At 50%, for example, it isn't +900...
ive got 3 wall chargers, and all of them are original from the phones I bought respectively, HD2 HD2 and EVO3D
they report about 900 below a certain %, and it could be 40% , 50%, 80%, etc
i guess you get the drift
anyways, you are supposed to select Automatic to get proper drain readings
forgot 2 mention that
Still need a tester to PM me. Have a test kernel ready to go, just need confirmation so I can post the patch.
chad0989 said:
Still need a tester to PM me. Have a test kernel ready to go, just need confirmation so I can post the patch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi mate, i would like to test, but is it available for all kernel?
thanks
ilovemeow said:
hi mate, i would like to test, but is it available for all kernel?
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent you all the info. Thanks!
why dont you release the sources for kernel developers like Leedroid, Anryl, Mdeejay, Chad.goodman, Cile381 to compile into
and then, we users, can test them out as a seperate branch?
With credit to VR-25 from Github:
If you edit these files and put you own values in then your phone will start charging when it drops below 75% and stop when it gets to 80%. (put your own values in, etc.)
I have only tested it briefly but it seems to work for AC and USB charging for me so far. No other apps or tweaks needed.
/sys/devices/platform/google,charger/charge_start_level:75
/sys/devices/platform/google,charger/charge_stop_level:80
EDIT: You need to be rooted to do this, and you need to reapply the settings after reboot.
I have a Tasker action that does this automatically 5 minutes after rebooting.
If only there was a way to use that without root :-S
What would be the purpose for this.
I always charged to a 100% and never had issues on my devices.
I use the adaptive charging overnight and think that will help with battery life.
vandyman said:
What would be the purpose for this.
I always charged to a 100% and never had issues on my devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you do some reading you will see that charging over 80% and draining under 20% will significantly shorten the lifespan of your battery. This is important for those of us that have devices not sold in our country so getting replacement batteries would be very difficult and expensive. I have phones that are more than 9 years old and still going fine if charged like this.
Galaxea said:
If you do some reading you will see that charging over 80% and draining under 20% will significantly shorten the lifespan of your battery. This is important for those of us that have devices not sold in our country so getting replacement batteries would be very difficult and expensive. I have phones that are more than 9 years old and still going fine if charged like this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you would have read the correct information on this subject. You would know that this not true for today's battery technology.
This is nothing but a myth.
You will have a better chance looking for Bigfoot.
Why waste 40% of your battery use....
vandyman said:
If you would have read the correct information on this subject. You would know that this not true for today's battery technology.
This is nothing but a myth.
You will have a better chance looking for Bigfoot.
Why waste 40% of your battery use....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the contrary. The most recent phones attempt to limit the time that they spend at 100% exactly because it's so bad for battery longevity. Having options like the OP's approach just gives users more flexibility, should they want more control than, in this case, Google's adaptive/AI approach.
And it's not 'wasting' 40% of the battery. Keeping between 80% and 20% just optimizes battery service life during those days you only actually only need 60% of it's possible capacity. When working from home that's often the case for me. I actually tend to use ~30% of the battery in a day. Better to charge it up daily to about 70% than all the way to 100% and let it go down to 10% over 3 days. If it's easy to do, why not?
Not quite the same, but EV design also has their batteries normally operating in the middle range so as not to compromise their service life...
Definitely not myth. The only myth is that lithium cells exhibit a memory effect and need to be deep discharged and fully recharged periodically to maintain their capacity. It's actually bad for them to do this! The only reason to do this would be in an attempt to recalibrate the software for the battery level gauge (at the cost of a little damage to the battery each time you do that).
vandyman said:
What would be the purpose for this.
I always charged to a 100% and never had issues on my devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most folk don't notice reduction in battery capacity until it becomes severe. For example, a friend claimed it wasn't a problem charging his iPhone to 100% ritually. When he checked the OS, it said his battery capacity was 80% of what it was when new. He said he hadn't noticed it affect how long the phone lasted.
If your usage is such that you can predict how much capacity you need, you can choose to charge to 100% only those times you will actually need that capacity. Other times you can look after the battery so it's able to actually give near on 100% for longer, those times it's important to you.
Others who keep their phones a short time or are comfortable with the cost & inconvenience of a battery replacement, or simply don't care, don't have to worry....
WibblyW said:
On the contrary. The most recent phones attempt to limit the time that they spend at 100% exactly because it's so bad for battery longevity. Having options like the OP's approach just gives users more flexibility, should they want more control than, in this case, Google's adaptive/AI approach.
And it's not 'wasting' 40% of the battery. Keeping between 80% and 20% just optimizes battery service life during those days you only actually only need 60% of it's possible capacity. When working from home that's often the case for me. I actually tend to use ~30% of the battery in a day. Better to charge it up daily to about 70% than all the way to 100% and let it go down to 10% over 3 days. If it's easy to do, why not?
Not quite the same, but EV design also has their batteries normally operating in the middle range so as not to compromise their service life...
Definitely not myth. The only myth is that lithium cells exhibit a memory effect and need to be deep discharged and fully recharged periodically to maintain their capacity. It's actually bad for them to do this! The only reason to do this would be in an attempt to recalibrate the software for the battery level gauge (at the cost of a little damage to the battery each time you do that).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This all maybe good if you are planning on keeping your device for a few years.
Most people buy a new device every other year. If not once a year.
... and if you really want to knacker the battery, heat it up too!
Worst case scenario - using a sat nav app on your phone in the car on a hot day with the phone plugged into a car adaptor. It's going to be sitting there at elevated temperatures, possibly with the sun shining on it, whilst being kept at 100% battery....
I'm only a customer (and have no other affiliation) and like to tinker, so I got one of these for use in the car to limit temperature when charging and limit max charge. Not cheap, but ok compared with the cost of the phone https://chargie.org/
I'm sorry, but at the snails pace this phone charges I'd be very surprised if charging it to 100% every night will make any noticeable difference in the long run. I had a Xiaomi Mi10 Ultra with 120W fast charger. That phone used to charge from 0% to full in like 20 minutes. Now that's one way to quickly kill your battery.
The Pixel uses your alarm to adaptively charge the battery so it should never overcharge it anyway. I'd much rather us all of my battery than use it only between 20 and 80% just for it to last a little longer.
The files are overwritten on reboot so I created a Tasker task to write the values on reboot each time.
Biggenz said:
I'm sorry, but at the snails pace this phone charges I'd be very surprised if charging it to 100% every night will make any noticeable difference in the long run.
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Click to collapse
On what basis? All the research and tests are based on charge level not charge rate. Fast charging potentially just makes it worse...
But at the end of the day it's your phone. You'll charge it in whatever way works for you.
I feel like this post sort of misses the point. It clearly is aimed at those intending to keep their phones >1yr, it is stated explicitly.
I'm not rooted right now, so I've been using the AccuBattery app. One of the things it does it gives a notification every few minutes when the battery is at 80% or above so that you can physically unplug the phone from the charger. Obviously having this done automatically would be better, but I've been surprised at how well the notifications have worked in my case. Plus, I can always leave the phone plugged in if I know I need a full battery for some reason (ie a long day away from any charging source).
Galaxea said:
With credit to VR-25 from Github:
If you edit these files and put you own values in then your phone will start charging when it drops below 75% and stop when it gets to 80%. (put your own values in, etc.)
I have only tested it briefly but it seems to work for AC and USB charging for me so far. No other apps or tweaks needed.
/sys/devices/platform/google,charger/charge_start_level:75
/sys/devices/platform/google,charger/charge_stop_level:80
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dumb question but what did you use to write values into those files? Did you use a text editor (with root access) or just termux or something? I tried with the built in MiX text editor but it seems to choke once I open up the file.
Gibsonflyingv said:
Dumb question but what did you use to write values into those files? Did you use a text editor (with root access) or just termux or something? I tried with the built in MiX text editor but it seems to choke once I open up the file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used FX File Explorer (root option). Look for the #. SYSTEM (Root).
I was wondering if changing the file permissions after writing to them to read-only would make the changes stick, but I am sure the OS could still overwrite them...??
I wonder if there's a similar variable to tweak at what temperature the phone considers the battery is too hot and stops charging?
Galaxea said:
With credit to VR-25 from Github:
If you edit these files and put you own values in then your phone will start charging when it drops below 75% and stop when it gets to 80%. (put your own values in, etc.)
I have only tested it briefly but it seems to work for AC and USB charging for me so far. No other apps or tweaks needed.
/sys/devices/platform/google,charger/charge_start_level:75
/sys/devices/platform/google,charger/charge_stop_level:80
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did a bit of testing and it works fine. A few things I noticed:
1. Doesn't survive reboot. Now that I've set up MiX with pinned folders, I can make the change in seconds. Need to sit down and read through the acc documentation because AccA doesn't work. Would love to have an automatic solution. Miss my old Battery Charge Limit.
2. charge_start doesn't seem to matter. After all, if charge_start is set to 75 and the phone is at 70%, it shouldn't charge. But it does. I've kept mine at 0.
3. Point #2 is kinda beside the point, though, because charge_stop will stop at the set value and stay there. No noticeable increase in temperature from what I can see. Definitely less than when charging.
4. Still shows as charging rapidly when it hits the level. Is it rapidly cycling charging on and off? Or in a kind of micro-current state? Or this may be a true battery idle situation where all power is drawn from the adapter. Ampere and AccA just show "not charging".
Edit: With a bit of use today, it does seem to act like a normal min/max charge deal, so I set it at 75 start/76 stop. Not sure what was happening at first...maybe something to do with the adaptive charging since I still have that on. Either, way, no complaints. With my use case working from home, I have it plugged in most of the day and it'll only take me about a minute to change charge_stop to 100 when I'm planning to go out all day somewhere away from chargers. Not ideal, but still a big improvement. Changes my rating of the thing from maybe 3.5 stars to 4.5.