Can Sony allow charging through micro USB port - Sony Tablet S

Hi,
This is a request to Sony engineers to see if they are able to allow some form of trickle charge through the micro USB port.
Its a good alternative especially when we are outside and the device is low on juice.

It's technically impossible as the tablet is designed to charge via high voltage (10v) beyond normal usb maximum (5v).

cow138 said:
Hi,
This is a request to Sony engineers to see if they are able to allow some form of trickle charge through the micro USB port.
Its a good alternative especially when we are outside and the device is low on juice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think part of the hardware gets 5v converted from the higher voltage on the battery and it should not be impossible to convert 5v on usb to higher voltage anyway so I think it is possible at least with a hardware mode. Standard usb is not very powerful so it will need much longer to charge but it should be possible to use more than one usb ports using special y-cables and also many standalone and car chargers output more than standard 500mA.
Sent from my R800i

So long as can trickle charge it should be better then nothing. Sometimes we just need a little bit of extra to prevent this baby to be a big paper weight.

Sony will never do it.
It is Sony after all.
They "might" release the next generation tablet with the USB charger.
Or they might not.

Say it isn't so. Haha. Damn the Motorola Xoom already allows this. Hopefully the Sony engineers are reading this post and put it as something in their to do list.
Its just so much more convenient for users to quickly give our device a life line on the road.

thought
cow138 said:
Hi,
This is a request to Sony engineers to see if they are able to allow some form of trickle charge through the micro USB port.
Its a good alternative especially when we are outside and the device is low on juice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sony's thought process is that this is more of a computer than a phone and that that reflects in the choice of charger.

Yes. Likely to be so. The specialized power connector is so stupid. If they can standardize the power connector for the hand phone why not do it for the tablet. It just makes economic sense. You gain flexibility on cost of manufacture and makes life so much easier for the rest of us.

I agree
cow138 said:
Yes. Likely to be so. The specialized power connector is so stupid. If they can standardize the power connector for the hand phone why not do it for the tablet. It just makes economic sense. You gain flexibility on cost of manufacture and makes life so much easier for the rest of us.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My other two devices have a Micro USB charger, would be nice if the Sony did as well.
Not something that would dissuade me from buying the Sony S, but darn inconvenient.
The plus side is that in theory your recharge time should be a lot less.

Yeah, it should charge faster than Micro-USB. Thats the trade-off of having the Tablet's long-life, long-lasting battery. It delivers plenty of voltage to keep things running smooth which unfortunately kicks it over the maximum voltage that can be provided through USB.
I think you'll find that most high-performance tablet's on the market today won't allow full charging through USB. The best they can usually manage is what the iPad and Galaxy Tab does (i.e. when plugged into USB, they don't charge, but they also don't discharge, keeping the level the same).

Not to sure what's the configuration would be. If the voltage is not high enough then it might be possible to use 2USB ports to try to push the total available voltage to make it useable for charging the tablet.

cow138 said:
Not to sure what's the configuration would be. If the voltage is not high enough then it might be possible to use 2USB ports to try to push the total available voltage to make it useable for charging the tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cranking 10V through a micro-USB connection that was only ever designed for peak voltages of 5.5V would probably not be healthy. It might break the USB or greatly reduce battery lifespan.

Related

[DEV] Boost USB power to NC from computer

Greetings Devs.
I found this software which promises to charge i products faster. So why not the nook? I know it works with the ipad/iphone/itouch, but not the NC (or anything else for that matter). I was looking in the ini file and managed to match up the class id of each product, and then I found the id for the NC and added this line:
HKLM, System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{3f966bd9-fa04-4ec5-991c-d326973b5128}, LowerFilters, %REG_MULTI_SZ_APPEND%, AiCharger
To both the install and uninstall filter. However, I cannot tell if it pushes extra power to just the ipad, or if it does to all of them.
Ideas? Tried digging around the sys file in hex, but nothing found. I think it would be nice if we could boost output a bit
USB Standard is 500mAh. If you somehow force your port to deliver more power you could fry it.
khaytsus said:
USB Standard is 500mAh. If you somehow force your port to deliver more power you could fry it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well yeah, but no one is at least curious if this could help out at all? Maybe hardware manufactures cap it @ 5V, .5A and they override it? Maybe it provides a steadier draw somehow? Maybe they draw more power from the rails for powered-usb slots?
ace7196 said:
Well yeah, but no one is at least curious if this could help out at all? Maybe hardware manufactures cap it @ 5V, .5A and they override it? Maybe it provides a steadier draw somehow? Maybe they draw more power from the rails for powered-usb slots?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Charging more than 500ma through the USB hardware is bad.
Lithium batteries charge at full amperage over the entire charge cycle, and just turn off the charge when they hit a certain voltage (~3.6v per cell on lipo IIRC?)
I don't think there is anything you can do from the computer side unless it tells the device itself to pull the full 500ma when it would try to pull less (for fear of overloading a USB interface, as there are usually 2 ports per USB port on a computer (IIRC.)
IMO, just use a powered USB hub?
Winmo custom roms had a quick-charge feature built in to a lot of them.
I don't think anyone fried anything.
This thread belongs in QnA though unless the op is actually developing something.
Did any naysayers even bother to look at the link? It is for Asus brand mobos only. And only certain ones are supported. Surely Asus isn't going to release an app that would fry the port...
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
lafester said:
Winmo custom roms had a quick-charge feature built in to a lot of them.
I don't think anyone fried anything.
This thread belongs in QnA though unless the op is actually developing something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thinking of developing the software for it...
Syco54645 said:
Did any naysayers even bother to look at the link? It is for Asus brand mobos only. And only certain ones are supported. Surely Asus isn't going to release an app that would fry the port...
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As pointed out here, this is not JUST simply software. This is the software portion of a hardware feature on Asus motherboards. The boards have a separate controller in them that allows more amperage to specific USB ports for the purpose of charging particular, high amperage items (ipad, iphone) only. As also stated here, the USB standard is a fixed 5V .5A and this isn't something that can simply be modified via software as the controllers themselves would have problems managing higher draws (not really the physical ports).
The only application this would have would be to users with those specific boards IF the software can be hacked to allow that amperage on the Nook. It may also be worth mentioning that the Nook's internal connector is different and the higher power provided by the wall charger is not over the standard USB VCC pins on the connector. I'm not familiar enough with the wiring inside the device to say for certain, but the standard charge connections from USB may be a different path than the wall charger on a charge controller.
Quick Edit: This actually doesn't appear to be the same as their hardware specific version, which most likely makes it even less useful. It looks like this enables charging in multiple standby modes and most likely forces the port to full amperage; which is typically only done after the device negotiates with the system, initial port power is much lower. My device manager shows the Nook pulling it's full 500mA already, so unless you're trying to do a lot of charging while your computer is in standby, this isn't gonna be of much use.
Edit 2: Quick bounce around the internet shows this app as causing a bit of instability and BSODs. May not be everyone, so if you're still testing this let us know if you're stable.
Infraded said:
As pointed out here, this is not JUST simply software. This is the software portion of a hardware feature on Asus motherboards. The boards have a separate controller in them that allows more amperage to specific USB ports for the purpose of charging particular, high amperage items (ipad, iphone) only. As also stated here, the USB standard is a fixed 5V .5A and this isn't something that can simply be modified via software as the controllers themselves would have problems managing higher draws (not really the physical ports).
The only application this would have would be to users with those specific boards IF the software can be hacked to allow that amperage on the Nook. It may also be worth mentioning that the Nook's internal connector is different and the higher power provided by the wall charger is not over the standard USB VCC pins on the connector. I'm not familiar enough with the wiring inside the device to say for certain, but the standard charge connections from USB may be a different path than the wall charger on a charge controller.
Quick Edit: This actually doesn't appear to be the same as their hardware specific version, which most likely makes it even less useful. It looks like this enables charging in multiple standby modes and most likely forces the port to full amperage; which is typically only done after the device negotiates with the system, initial port power is much lower. My device manager shows the Nook pulling it's full 500mA already, so unless you're trying to do a lot of charging while your computer is in standby, this isn't gonna be of much use.
Edit 2: Quick bounce around the internet shows this app as causing a bit of instability and BSODs. May not be everyone, so if you're still testing this let us know if you're stable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to use the nook's cable to quick charge. I believe it's the same on the USB side but different on the NC side.
Thanks Infraded for the helpful reply. I did a quick search and it seemed it caused more trouble than it's worth (BSOD, etc). I'll dig deeper.
I had the same issues with my iPad. If your motherboard vendor supports it, they have a BIOS update that adjusts the USB ports to charge things like the Nook and iPad.
khaytsus said:
USB Standard is 500mAh. If you somehow force your port to deliver more power you could fry it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some dell laptops (my 5400 has it) have an option in bios for USB Power Share, where they allow USB devices which know if they are connected to to wall chargers or USB plugs to charge as if they were on wall chargers.
Its epic win.
In the NC teardown, didn't they discover that the Nook Color actually uses a custom micro USB connector which is backwards compatible with the standard? It goes on to say that the NC charges only through a pair of 12V pins on the USB cable that is provided with it out of the box, and in fact when you connect your NC to your computer it is *not charging at all* even if your ROM says it is. This is consistent with my experience where the battery only goes down when plugged into my PC.
Needless to say you would need some pretty serious hardware hacks to get your PC pumping 12 volts to the USB cable.
mthe0ry said:
In the NC teardown, didn't they discover that the Nook Color actually uses a custom micro USB connector which is backwards compatible with the standard? It goes on to say that the NC charges only through a pair of 12V pins on the USB cable that is provided with it out of the box, and in fact when you connect your NC to your computer it is *not charging at all* even if your ROM says it is. This is consistent with my experience where the battery only goes down when plugged into my PC.
Needless to say you would need some pretty serious hardware hacks to get your PC pumping 12 volts to the USB cable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Um, no. The wall charger puts out 5 volts @ 1.9 Amps. Take a close look at the bottom of your own charger...specs are right there. Supposedly, the nook will only charge when the amperage is at least 1.9 amps. In practice it will charge as much as can minus the current it is drawing...usually more than a standard port can put out(.5A).
ie standard port = .5A
Nook draw is ~ .45A
total for charging is .05A....barely noticeable or in worst case not even enough to keep up.
Not to mention that many ports shut down entirely if they think they are sending out to much current.
send 12 volts into your nook and you will have found one of the few ways to brick it
edit: what these"hacks" for the usb ports do is raise the limiting on them to higher values..say 5 volts @ 1A or rarely 1.5A
Two of SMSC's family of transceivers supports up to 1.5A from dedicated charger ports.
Furthermore, I'm charging my nook color from my netbook right now with a standard non-OEM usb cable. So I don't think you need the standard one
Some basic info here:
http://www.smsc.com/media/Downloads/Product_Brochures/usb333x_334xfs.pdf
ace7196 said:
Two of SMSC's family of transceivers supports up to 1.5A from dedicated charger ports.
Furthermore, I'm charging my nook color from my netbook right now with a standard non-OEM usb cable. So I don't think you need the standard one
Some basic info here:
http://www.smsc.com/media/Downloads/Product_Brochures/usb333x_334xfs.pdf
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I'm thinking that the extra pins in the stock cable are mostly for the led in there. Going back to work monday and ordering a spare for teardown purposes with my first check. I'll let you all know exactly what I find out.
mthe0ry said:
In the NC teardown, didn't they discover that the Nook Color actually uses a custom micro USB connector which is backwards compatible with the standard? It goes on to say that the NC charges only through a pair of 12V pins on the USB cable that is provided with it out of the box, and in fact when you connect your NC to your computer it is *not charging at all* even if your ROM says it is. This is consistent with my experience where the battery only goes down when plugged into my PC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Except that it does charge on ANY source. If the NC is running and active it uses MORE CURRENT THAN 500mAh, so it won't charge any, but it's still getting 500mAh of juice.
If you turn off the screen, it'll slowly charge.... Around 10%/hr.
And I suspect that the 1.9A from the stock charger+cable comes from all 3 pairs, the standard pair + the two extra in the B&N cable, but it's possible that the stock cable only charges the extra two pairs. Regardless, it does charge from a standard cable on any USB port. The B&N ROM does not show charging unless it's charging at 1.9A.
ace7196 said:
Two of SMSC's family of transceivers supports up to 1.5A from dedicated charger ports.
Furthermore, I'm charging my nook color from my netbook right now with a standard non-OEM usb cable. So I don't think you need the standard one
Some basic info here:
http://www.smsc.com/media/Downloads/Product_Brochures/usb333x_334xfs.pdf
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can also confirm nook will charge off a standard USB (at least while I've got CM7), using the stock BN cable, and definitely faster than 10%/hour. Have been doing so off my work computer for a while now. I recall that this did NOT work while the NC was virgin unrooted, however, although occasionally there'd be this weird "bump" in batt level to 100% when first connecting. Have not seen that effect since going to CM7.
last night as a test I let my nook go to 10% remaining. Then I used my daughters LG Ally cable on the stock charger for 1 hour. It charged to 24%. Then I drained back to 10% and used the stock cable for 1 hour...result?....44%. There IS something special with the stock cable. I don't think there is any magic to the charger other than the amperage.
deadbot1 said:
last night as a test I let my nook go to 10% remaining. Then I used my daughters LG Ally cable on the stock charger for 1 hour. It charged to 24%. Then I drained back to 10% and used the stock cable for 1 hour...result?....44%. There IS something special with the stock cable. I don't think there is any magic to the charger other than the amperage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uh.. Yeah. As said a hundred times, the cable has 4 extra pins for charging on the MicroUSB side.

Ipad charger on Atrix?

The Atrix's default adapter in an 5v = .85A, while the Ipad's is 5v = 2.1A. Is it safe for the battery to use this charger? I also have been using the ipod charger on my atrix too, should i countinue to use the ipod charger or does that have negitive effects too, ipod charger is 5v = 1A
Atrix: 5v = .85A
Ipod/Iphone: 5v = 1A
Ipad: 5v = 2.1A
Typically, a device will only pull what it needs, amperage-wise. The ratings on power supplies are, to my knowledge, always indications of maximum amperage, not any form of 'forced' current. Thus, the only time you need to be worried is if it is lower than your device's required input. You should be fine with either.
+1
That's correct. I actually spent a lot time researching that kind of stuff because I use electronic cigarettes and finding chargers for them was difficult. Anyways, as long as it's 5V it should be fine. They actually make AC adapters that are iPad "compatible", meaning that they are just rated at 2.1A but it still works with the iPhone which the OP has stated uses a lower Amperage.
ian426 said:
Typically, a device will only pull what it needs, amperage-wise. The ratings on power supplies are, to my knowledge, always indications of maximum amperage, not any form of 'forced' current. Thus, the only time you need to be worried is if it is lower than your device's required input. You should be fine with either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, both of you.
Would it charge the same rate?
the fact that a device will pull as much as it needs is true, but that is true only to the devices, appliances, and anything that is using the electricity, not storing it - which is the case with the battery. any electrical device uses only as much power as it needs. for example: a 55watt house light bulb will only use .5 amps, (110 volts AC) even though the circuit is wired for 15 amps max.
When it comes to cellphones, the cellphone is the device that uses the power and the battery stores the power. during charging, battery will try to pull as much in as you will give it, unless there is a limiting factor involved. a limiting factor can be a charger it self, which will supply 1.0 amps, .85 amp max, or what ever the case may be. also there may be a limiting factor built in to the phones circuitry it self that would allow only so much to go through ( i seriously doubt though)
By plugging in to 2.1A charger, the battery will try to intake all 2.1 amps,
Pro: you are charging the battery in half the time.
Con: if it doesn't destroy the battery right away, the lifespan of it and usefulness decreases dramatically.
This is called overcharging the battery, do some research on that and you will find out that overcharging the battery is never a good thing.
2.1A is not enough to destroy the battery right away, but if you would have plugged in 5 or 10 amp charger, it probably would, i'm just saying this to explain the concept.
I personally do use a 1.0A charger that i have left over from previous cellphone (touch pro 2) and your ipod charger should be ok too, but I wouldn't use anything bigger then that.
a small experiment that you can conduct which may or may not work. compare the temperatures of the battery/cellphone while it is charging on .85amp charger and 2.1amp, when it is on a bigger charger, it should get a lot hotter, and that is what destroys the battery.
As far as my knowledge goes, i have taken enough classes about electricity and electronics, and have been working in the field for several years, so i hope i was helpful enough and explained it in simple enough terms for everyone.
hlywine said:
the fact that a device will pull as much as it needs is true, but that is true only to the devices, appliances, and anything that is using the electricity, not storing it - which is the case with the battery. any electrical device uses only as much power as it needs. for example: a 55watt house light bulb will only use .5 amps, (110 volts AC) even though the circuit is wired for 15 amps max.
When it comes to cellphones, the cellphone is the device that uses the power and the battery stores the power. during charging, battery will try to pull as much in as you will give it, unless there is a limiting factor involved. a limiting factor can be a charger it self, which will supply 1.0 amps, .85 amp max, or what ever the case may be. also there may be a limiting factor built in to the phones circuitry it self that would allow only so much to go through ( i seriously doubt though)
By plugging in to 2.1A charger, the battery will try to intake all 2.1 amps,
Pro: you are charging the battery in half the time.
Con: if it doesn't destroy the battery right away, the lifespan of it and usefulness decreases dramatically.
This is called overcharging the battery, do some research on that and you will find out that overcharging the battery is never a good thing.
2.1A is not enough to destroy the battery right away, but if you would have plugged in 5 or 10 amp charger, it probably would, i'm just saying this to explain the concept.
I personally do use a 1.0A charger that i have left over from previous cellphone (touch pro 2) and your ipod charger should be ok too, but I wouldn't use anything bigger then that.
a small experiment that you can conduct which may or may not work. compare the temperatures of the battery/cellphone while it is charging on .85amp charger and 2.1amp, when it is on a bigger charger, it should get a lot hotter, and that is what destroys the battery.
As far as my knowledge goes, i have taken enough classes about electricity and electronics, and have been working in the field for several years, so i hope i was helpful enough and explained it in simple enough terms for everyone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I might have to double check that. There is a chance that there is some sort of limiting circuit between the wall and the charger for the Atrix... I am fairly certain at least laptops do so. I will see if I have a stronger charger and I will check the voltage across the leads in the atrix... if I can.
Its not voltage that you should be checking, voltage should be same in all usb chargers, about 5 volts, you should be checking amps
hlywine said:
Its not voltage that you should be checking, voltage should be same in all usb chargers, about 5 volts, you should be checking amps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My mistake... realized that after I posted it.
Also -- I do not have any USB charger that is over one amp, so I cannot check this. If anyone has a mutineer and a more powerful charger, they could do so.
The important factor is the Voltage which is at 5V for both the iPad and Atrix chargers. Whether it is rated at 10W or 5W does not matter because that just reflects the capacity for the current. And the charger is "rated" at 2.1 meaning it can handle that current rather than meaning it will force it. The "draw" of current is decided by the phone itself, as long as the Voltage is identical, the other factors should not matter.
If you read the "Summary" here it will say that, with the iPad charger, you can charge an iPhone which is similar to the Atrix in charging specs:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4327
And here are a couple more links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZjRm8nkv9Q
http://munnecke.com/blog/?p=836
hlywine said:
the fact that a device will pull as much as it needs is true, but that is true only to the devices, appliances, and anything that is using the electricity, not storing it - which is the case with the battery. any electrical device uses only as much power as it needs. for example: a 55watt house light bulb will only use .5 amps, (110 volts AC) even though the circuit is wired for 15 amps max.
When it comes to cellphones, the cellphone is the device that uses the power and the battery stores the power. during charging, battery will try to pull as much in as you will give it, unless there is a limiting factor involved. a limiting factor can be a charger it self, which will supply 1.0 amps, .85 amp max, or what ever the case may be. also there may be a limiting factor built in to the phones circuitry it self that would allow only so much to go through ( i seriously doubt though)
By plugging in to 2.1A charger, the battery will try to intake all 2.1 amps,
Pro: you are charging the battery in half the time.
Con: if it doesn't destroy the battery right away, the lifespan of it and usefulness decreases dramatically.
This is called overcharging the battery, do some research on that and you will find out that overcharging the battery is never a good thing.
2.1A is not enough to destroy the battery right away, but if you would have plugged in 5 or 10 amp charger, it probably would, i'm just saying this to explain the concept.
I personally do use a 1.0A charger that i have left over from previous cellphone (touch pro 2) and your ipod charger should be ok too, but I wouldn't use anything bigger then that.
a small experiment that you can conduct which may or may not work. compare the temperatures of the battery/cellphone while it is charging on .85amp charger and 2.1amp, when it is on a bigger charger, it should get a lot hotter, and that is what destroys the battery.
As far as my knowledge goes, i have taken enough classes about electricity and electronics, and have been working in the field for several years, so i hope i was helpful enough and explained it in simple enough terms for everyone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks live4nyy, i never saw those before. with all the stuff described there, the only conclusion possible is that each device has its built in limiter on how much it will pull while charging, or apple figures that with a bigger charger your battery on ipod/iphone will still last you past the 1 year manufacturers warranty expiration date, but barely past that date, instead of lasting 3-5 years like its suppose to. what ever the case is with apple, i just hope we have a safety built in into our atrix phones. I guess the only way to find out is to actually check the amperage while its charging.
I'm almost positive that the lithium batteries in phones these days are "rated" for specific current and have built in circuits that dictates the "flow", which is also the same thing that causes the battery to go into a "trickle" charge when near capacity. Just for that there has to be some sort of "regulation" happening. See also here:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/question501.htm
But I agree, better safe than sorry. If you happen to have an iPad charger that you plan on using let me know how it goes. I'm curious as well.
hlywine said:
thanks live4nyy, i never saw those before. with all the stuff described there, the only conclusion possible is that each device has its built in limiter on how much it will pull while charging, or apple figures that with a bigger charger your battery on ipod/iphone will still last you past the 1 year manufacturers warranty expiration date, but barely past that date, instead of lasting 3-5 years like its suppose to. what ever the case is with apple, i just hope we have a safety built in into our atrix phones. I guess the only way to find out is to actually check the amperage while its charging.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

[Q] Phone doesn't charge fast enough

I spend a lot of time tethering and just using my phone with the charger on... But if I spend too much time on it the phone still dies... I look at my battery usage and even though it IS charging the graph is still going down... Any word?
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
Do you have it plugged into the wall or through the USB port?
The phone uses more mAh than the USB port is capable of providing if you are doing almost anything with the phone. The wall charger can have a hard time keeping up at times too.
Thaxx said:
I spend a lot of time tethering and just using my phone with the charger on... But if I spend too much time on it the phone still dies... I look at my battery usage and even though it IS charging the graph is still going down... Any word?
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same problem with my EVO and the issue seems to still exist on the EVO 3D. Essentially, as posted above, when plugged into a computer, the phone charges at a lower mA than it does when plugged into the wall. Tethering uses both the WiFi radio and the 3G/4G radio which consume more power than the charging is able to supply, hence you'll see the phone slowly die even though it is charging.
I haven't really seen a good long term solution for this. I know, in an attempt to mitigate power consumption, the CPU can be down clocked and ran at a lower speed (SetCPU common App used for this purpose and free on XDA), but not sure how significant the impact it will have on the power drain.
It really would be interesting to see some detailed stats on how much power each radio in the EVO 3D consumes when used alone and when used together.
Hope that helps!
Thanks both of you but I do charge it though the ac adapter... Its gotten to the point where I got the screen all the way down and only using 3g so it barely charges... I can't even use netflix that way
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
Thaxx said:
I spend a lot of time tethering and just using my phone with the charger on... But if I spend too much time on it the phone still dies... I look at my battery usage and even though it IS charging the graph is still going down... Any word?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you wifi or USB tethering?
Because wifi tethering will chew through battery like nobody's business. When tethering through wifi, you are operating both the 3G/4G radio as well as the wifi radio, and doing so pretty extensively. To boot, the 3G/4G reception where you are may not be ideal, so the radio has to try harder to maintain a signal.
I've had two other smartphones that I tethered daily with, and in both cases the battery would slowly drain even while plugged into the stock charger for the phone, so that by the end of my workday the battery would be around 30-50% despite being plugged in the whole time.
You may want to get a 3rd-party charger with a higher mA rating (something in the 1500mA range), which may help.
saltorio said:
Are you wifi or USB tethering?
Because wifi tethering will chew through battery like nobody's business. When tethering through wifi, you are operating both the 3G/4G radio as well as the wifi radio, and doing so pretty extensively. To boot, the 3G/4G reception where you are may not be ideal, so the radio has to try harder to maintain a signal.
I've had two other smartphones that I tethered daily with, and in both cases the battery would slowly drain even while plugged into the stock charger for the phone, so that by the end of my workday the battery would be around 30-50% despite being plugged in the whole time.
You may want to get a 3rd-party charger with a higher mA rating (something in the 1500mA range), which may help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The charging unit on the phone will down grade to one amp even if you get a 1500 ma charger. I have a iPad charger rated st 2.1 amps and still charges as fast as the stock charger. This is built in protection. I may be wrong..
life64x said:
The charging unit on the phone will down grade to one amp even if you get a 1500 ma charger. I have a iPad charger rated st 2.1 amps and still charges as fast as the stock charger. This is built in protection. I may be wrong..
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Ah, that's good to know.
ive never had a phone that keep keep up with charging while wifi tethering. 4g phones are especially bad because of the wimax radio
Success100 said:
ive never had a phone that keep keep up with charging while wifi tethering. 4g phones are especially bad because of the wimax radio
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It kinda makes sense...if WiFi tethering and mobile network on easily will exceed the normal thereshold of over 1 amp...hence battery gets hot and chrarger is working overtime in trying to power the phone with every thing going on and charging the battery with ma usage exceeding regulated power. I never thought of it like that.to bad I cannot diet this way...
life64x said:
It kinda makes sense...if WiFi tethering and mobile network on easily will exceed the normal thereshold of over 1 amp...hence battery gets hot and chrarger is working overtime in trying to power the phone with every thing going on and charging the battery with ma usage exceeding regulated power. I never thought of it like that.to bad I cannot diet this way...
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Yeah, it's a similar issue to what can happen is using Google Navigation:
GPS + constant data + screen + graphic rendering = drain
I picked up a 1A car charger just to help combat that, though apparently Google is working on this very issue themselves:
http://www.google.vu/support/forum/...n&fid=4cc9c887d2e027120004a7f6a622a7be&hltp=2
life64x said:
The charging unit on the phone will down grade to one amp even if you get a 1500 ma charger. I have a iPad charger rated st 2.1 amps and still charges as fast as the stock charger. This is built in protection. I may be wrong..
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Click to collapse
I don't think that's right. I bought a rapid charger off Ebay and definitely notice the difference from the other Samsung charger I was using. Maybe the Samsung was only rated less than 1 amp, I don't know, but this charger will take my phone from under 50% to about 95% in the half hour drive to work.
I had the same problem as the OP. Running the GPS and Nav apps for the duration of the trip would leave my phone with less juice than when I started. After the new power cord it's a few percentage points higher at least.
I bought this one. For $3 bucks I figured I couldn't go wrong since it was a U.S. seller and had high feedback.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300518663951&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT
ScottSNX said:
I don't think that's right. I bought a rapid charger off Ebay and definitely notice the difference from the other Samsung charger I was using. Maybe the Samsung was only rated less than 1 amp, I don't know, but this charger will take my phone from under 50% to about 95% in the half hour drive to work.
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Depends o the amperage of the charger being used. Many older chargers and stock chargers from all but the most recent phones are in the 500mA to 750mA range. The data on the charger should list it's output.
A lot of USB car chargers need to be modded to get the full power out of them. They basically tell the phone that it's connected to a computer and to only take ~500mA. When you mod them, the phone will pull ~1A.
There's a thread somewhere around that talks about it and shows how to do it, I think it's in the EVO 4G forum. Basically, you short out pin 2 and 3 so the phone knows it's not connected to a computer.
Night·Fire said:
A lot of USB car chargers need to be modded to get the full power out of them. They basically tell the phone that it's connected to a computer and to only take ~500mA. When you mod them, the phone will pull ~1A.
There's a thread somewhere around that talks about it and shows how to do it, I think it's in the EVO 4G forum. Basically, you short out pin 2 and 3 so the phone knows it's not connected to a computer.
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I thought that had to do with getting iPhone chargers to work on the every other device on Earth? Something about Apple speccing the ground differently or something?
I know that with the vast majority of older iPhone-intended chargers, they simply won't charge any other USB device I've tried (my old Xperia X10, my mom's Sony eReader, the EVO 3D, my friend's Samsung Galaxy). If they were simply being limited to 500mA, they'd still charge, just not particularly fast.
-edit-
OK, I think I found the issue (from Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus):
Non-standard devices
Some USB devices require more power than is permitted by the specifications for a single port. This is common for external hard and optical disc drives, and generally for devices with motors or lamps. Such devices can use an external power supply, which is allowed by the standard, or use a dual-input USB cable, one input of which is used for power and data transfer, the other solely for power, which makes the device a non-standard USB device. Some external hubs may, in practice, supply more power to USB devices than required by the specification but a standard-compliant device may not depend on this.
Some non-standard USB devices use the 5 V power supply without participating in a proper USB network which negotiates power draws with the host interface. These are usually referred to as USB decorations. The typical example is a USB-powered keyboard light; fans, mug coolers and heaters, battery chargers, miniature vacuum cleaners, and even miniature lava lamps are available. In most cases, these items contain no digital circuitry, and thus are not Standard compliant USB devices at all. This can theoretically cause problems with some computers, such as drawing too much current and damaging circuitry; prior to the Battery Charging Specification, the USB specification required that devices connect in a low-power mode (100 mA maximum) and communicate their current requirements to the host, which would then permit the device to switch into high-power mode.
In addition to limiting the total average power used by the device, the USB specification limits the inrush current (i.e., that used to charge decoupling and filter capacitors) when the device is first connected. Otherwise, connecting a device could cause problems with the host's internal power. Also, USB devices are required to automatically enter ultra low-power suspend mode when the USB host is suspended. Nevertheless, many USB host interfaces do not cut off the power supply to USB devices when they are suspended since resuming from the suspended state would become a lot more complicated if they did.
There are also devices at the host end that do not support negotiation, such as battery packs that can power USB-powered devices; some provide power, while others pass through the data lines to a host PC. USB power adapters convert utility power and/or another power source (e.g., a car's electrical system) to run attached devices. Some of these devices can supply up to 1 A of current. Without negotiation, the powered USB device is unable to inquire if it is allowed to draw 100 mA, 500 mA, or 1 A.
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There's also a good discussion on it here: http://superuser.com/questions/7765...connected-with-my-pc-to-charge-my-droid-phone

can we charge our tab with mini usb port

Yes can we charge our tabket with mini usb port, with a blackberry charger?
No, we can't.
What would happen if I charge it with blackberry charger
Nothing ... there is no connection to the battery ... so it will not charge.
That just is poor design. Sony controls the power connector deliberately making it proprietary. Its expensive and bulky to bring around. Further more its battery life is nothing to shout about. Making this problem even more glaring. Its not as if the competition are not implementing micro USB charging.
I hope the Sony design engineers are able to do something about it. Good design doesn't just restrict itself to external physical aesthetics.
The problem here is that the AC adapter output are 10.5V and USB is limited to 5V.
But I agree, I wonder if Sony will ever learn that the use of proprietary accessories and ports is NOT a) customer friendly and b) not driving up sales numbers.
They (more or less) failed with their Memory Sticks, they failed with UMD and they will definitely not create a hype around the PS Vita with it's proprietary memory card.
BackToTopic:
It is not only the voltage ... a second topic is the current.
USB can only provide 500mA current .. but this would lead to a quadruple charging time.
Also, you'd be surprised how many tablets can't charge from USB. Since USB uch low voltage and current limitations, many tablets don't charge or implementation iPad-style behaviour (doesn't charge but also doesn't discharge). There will always be something about the Tablet you don't like, so just enjoy what is overall a very good Tablet.
So long as future iterations of the Sony tablet charging port is not proprietary that will be good enough I guess. Its mind boggling the rationale for going to a totally different and unique design.
They could standardize the mobile smart phone charging ports why can't they do it for the tablet?
cow138 said:
So long as future iterations of the Sony tablet charging port is not proprietary that will be good enough I guess. Its mind boggling the rationale for going to a totally different and unique design.
They could standardize the mobile smart phone charging ports why can't they do it for the tablet?
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They can't do it for the tablet because all the tablets on the market today work on very different power requirements to phones.
On one level, different tablets use different approaches to batteries (i.e. the Thrive is a very large, user-replaceable battery, whereas the Sony uses a smaller, hard-to-remove battery pack), which would make them difficult to standardise.
The other problem is different power requirements. Tablets often operate on much higher voltages than phones, such as the Sony's 10V battery which well exceeds the 5V that USB can provide.
I'm sure one day there will be a higher voltage standard connector, but at the moment, the market is just too varied and too fast-moving to support the creation of such a standard.
The Apple iPad charger has a 2100mA which is more than 4 times what standard USB chargers output, many other tablets have a similar output. It would still be longer to charge than the standard plugpack. Unfortunately, Sony seems to view Apple's success, as an argument for using proprietary accessories and cables. But newer Xperia devices are shipping with Qi Wireless Charging; in a generation most devices will most likely use that.

Increase your charging speed by 2x with new cable

I just bought two sets of SONICable,The World's Most Advanced Charging Cable, for $49.00. Supposedly, they will increase you charging speed by 2x. It's a crowdfund project, and the cables will supposedly be delivered in March 2015.
I'm not affiliated with the project. I only think it sounds like an exciting product and decided informing the community about it.
Does it work on the same principle as this video for doubling your WiFi speed?
Code:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG5cEik2ABY
Well while surely there are better and worse cables, doesn't charging speed depends on the output of the wall piece and the charging circuitry?
On bad cables i get at most 1 Amp to charge the tablet, but with the original samsung cable i do get around 2 amps which is the designed output of the wall piece.
Maybe it works like the "Fast Charge" mode on custom kernels.
Charging is limited by 3 factors
1. Stock charger 5 Volts, then most importantly is the Amps - 2A for typical Samsung charger so going faster then this is unlikely with the stock charger, and tablets can already charge at 1890mA so probably 90% of its rated current.
2. Cable quality and length most Samsung cables are already high-quality and have copper wires with two bigger wires for the 5v and Ground line and they are short length (3-6ft) so they can easily handle 2A output (probably higher).
3. Probably the most important is the phone / tablet, usually they have several circuitry and software (kernel) protections to limit the charging speed for several reasons since lithium-ion / poly are extremely dangerous if they are overcharged or overheated or otherwise improperly charged (you can see videos of people overcharging lithium battery's then tapping them causing a huge fireball )
So it is very unlikely for a cable to achieve better charging speed, it probably just has the Data + - pins shorted to tell the charger / phone to charge at full speed (though this is unnecessary nowadays since most chargers already do this, but it could be beneficial for older phones / tablets)
arcadia2uk said:
I just bought two sets of SONICable,The World's Most Advanced Charging Cable, for $49.00. Supposedly, they will increase you charging speed by 2x. It's a crowdfund project, and the cables will supposedly be delivered in March 2015.
I'm not affiliated with the project. I only think it sounds like an exciting product and decided informing the community about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You seriously spent $49 on a usb lead
From the link you supplied:
'When the switch is ON: All of the power is focused on charging, sync/data is disabled'
What, like using a mains charger where there is no sync connection (or buying a cheap charging cable where the data pins aren't connected)
Hes either a bot or someone paid to advertise that "product". It did remind me of "double your network speed" video from youtube where dude wraps one ethernet cable with another one and doubles his internet speed.
I saw this post a while back, and it was immediately clear to me that it was a scam. I can't BELIEVE that they actually raised over $400k on this thing. Indiegogo seems like it's becoming a scammer's conduit to gullible/uninformed buyers.
When did commercial posts get so frequent in here?
ssmr2t said:
When did commercial posts get so frequent in here?
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Apparently, there's a difference between buying a sd-card on amazon, or a glass protector on amazon compared with a pair of cables on Indiegogo. Although, I can't really see the difference.
Anyway, if and when I receive the cables I will let you know how it worked out.
Did you get your cables yet? Your OP says they were due in March 2015
Edit: I like this better http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...9QNSmGzx8GP_qMGpQ&sig2=O-5lUKoBFozTFf-A2spM6A
ssmr2t said:
Did you get your cables yet? Your OP says they were due in March 2015
Edit: I like this better http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...9QNSmGzx8GP_qMGpQ&sig2=O-5lUKoBFozTFf-A2spM6A
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No news as of yet, who knows maybe it is as suggested a hoax. But, as I'm enjoying gadgets I'll take the risk.
arcadia2uk said:
No news as of yet, who knows maybe it is as suggested a hoax. But, as I'm enjoying gadgets I'll take the risk.
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Keep us posted! Im interested in the results.
I'll probably buy when the price goes down.
Seems like an interesting concept. I'd like to see the cable in real-world action. Assuming they actually make it to market, i'll buy when the price goes down.
Believe it, or not, but I actually received my cables last week. The charging speed is substantially improved, but definitely not 2x. However, I still haven't tried charging by connecting over the PC, where this might show up. Anyway, as a fan of gadgets I still satisfied with my purchase.
I'm glad your happy with your purchase.
Charging speed is limited by the circuitry in the tablet itself. There's a limit in the amount of amps it can pull from anything (charger/computer or any USB port). I have an extremely powerful charger so I'm sure I hit the max charging rate of my devices. This cable will not improve that. I'm also sure that it's actually charging faster and drawing more power than my original chargers as some devices act a bit weird when charged fast.
The "twice as fast" charging rate will be the exact same charging rate as you get from a "charge only" cable if (and only if) you connect it to a computer or another device that syncs data. In every other scenario you'll get the exact same charging rate.
Note that your computer typically has a USB port for charging that's capable of drawing more power than the standard 500 mA that USB 1 and 2 offer. (USB3 can draw 900 mA, up to 1500 mA if it's a charging port)
Keep in mind that the stock charger output is 5.3 volts.
Lower impedance cable helps.
Samsung stock cable is good enough, and PNY cable also does a good job.
You can have the same thing on eBay for $6 ...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-smart-c...-Apple-Android-With-V-A-display-/141342314642
A charge only cable so you get maximum charge speed starts at only £5
http://www.portablepowersupplies.co.uk/portapow-fast-charge-micro-usb-cable/
An choice of USB Charging adapter, but do you really need these?
http://www.portablepowersupplies.co.uk/portapow-fast-charge-data-block-usb-adaptor/
John.
If you have 5 port 8 amp IQ charger, you can charge T520 faster.
ssmr2t said:
Did you get your cables yet? Your OP says they were due in March 2015
Edit: I like this better http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...9QNSmGzx8GP_qMGpQ&sig2=O-5lUKoBFozTFf-A2spM6A
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I got my cable, and the 2x works if you charge through your computers USB, as what the cable does is cutting off the communication to charge only. I saw a post at XDA that explain how to do this by yourself in about 5-10 min.

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