BT or USB mouse - which consumes less power? - Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Accessories

Just wondering. A USB mouse will draw power from the device in order to operate, but then I can shut down the BT connection. Which do u think will be better for my battery life?

kramerica2 said:
Just wondering. A USB mouse will draw power from the device in order to operate, but then I can shut down the BT connection. Which do u think will be better for my battery life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's all up to you, I would think that if you're already using a BT headset your BT connection will be on most of the time anyway. And most BT devices shut down or go into power save mode if not being used to save battery. The fact that you don't have extra wires coming from the device is also a plus. I would go with the BT instead of USB for style and simplicity. Just my 2 cents .

I don't use the device as a phone at all, so there's no reason for the BT connection to be open. Since I don't really care about the wires, for me its only a matter of battery life.

BT Mouse - good for batter saving?
Did anyone ever find the right response or maybe recommend a BT mouse that would work well and consume less battery power?
Thanks,
Bob

Related

Smarter power plan via USB

When connected to a computer via USB, there are two options, one is charge the battery one is not. But frequent plug in/off Kaiser with USB will frequently switch charge/uncharge status. Will this harm battery life?
Is there any smarter power plans, like whatever USB is connected, charge when battery level is below 2%.
Is there a setting/software could do this?
electronixtar said:
When connected to a computer via USB, there are two options, one is charge the battery one is not. But frequent plug in/off Kaiser with USB will frequently switch charge/uncharge status. Will this harm battery life?
Is there any smarter power plans, like whatever USB is connected, charge when battery level is below 2%.
Is there a setting/software could do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's an idea for an application there. It shouldn't be too hard to cobble together either (famous last words). But the important factor is:
"Will this harm the battery life?"
If this is the case I will try and create an app, if there isn't one out there. If there is no harm to the battery, an app would be useless.
Dave

[Q] Modify car cradle to automatically enable car mode ?

Hi there,
I just bought an active car cradle for the Htc HD2 (Carcomm), no problem, working as expected.
Then I began wondering why the phone would not go into car mode when connected to the car cradle... If it's a car cradle, it should put the phone into car mode, right ??
So I was wondering what could possibly trigger the phone into car mode when connected to a charger.
Found this in another thread (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=767961):
To the person who wanted to know about connecting pins 2&3 to 4 to create a car doc? Looking at the USB spec datasheet It's not that simple. You need to insert a voltage divider across the data lines and tie it back into the 3.2v of the device. A little more trouble than it's worth unless you are doing it for the learning experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and also from user dabigcheezze :
unfortunately it is a problem with froyo, whenever the phone is placed into dock mode, no matter what the charging input, it will only show up charging in usb mode, i have a homemade dock cable with pin 4 to ground, when i hook that up to my 1 amp charger it only shows usb, using a normal cable it shows ac charging, it has nothing to do with the HTC dock, it will happen whenever the phone is placed into dock mode, it also locks the vol output on the 3.5 jack 3/4 up....sooooo stupid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does anyone know about grounding pin 4 to enable car mode ? what about power, is the charger powering enough the phone while using BT, GPS and navigation ? Also, the limitations in Froyo are they gone in Gingerbread or could it be fixed ?
Thank you for sharing your experience, I would really like to have a car cradle working 100%
Nobody ?
Sent from my HD2 using XDA App
Come on, I'm sure somebody did the modification... or tried to do it
Willing to share ?
Hi !
Just wait I can contact the guy I wish to buy that second hand HD2 first, then find an appropriate car charger craddle, and I'll look for a solution.
Don't know how to automatically enable car mode, but just solder the 2 middle wires in your USB cable together and you'll get 1A instead of 500mA, which charges way faster. Your car charger needs an output of 1A, of course, else it's just gonna remain 500mA.
StephanV said:
Don't know how to automatically enable car mode, but just solder the 2 middle wires in your USB cable together and you'll get 1A instead of 500mA, which charges way faster. Your car charger needs an output of 1A, of course, else it's just gonna remain 500mA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply. Yes, it's true. I've seen this small hack to enable AC charging for cheap chargers that are charging with USB mode (400mA I think).
My charger was good enough to provide AC charging (1A), which is great, but not enough to enable the car mode...
What I would like to confirm is if grounding pin 4 will really put the phone in car mode when plugged into the car cradle, before doing it myself...
Do not hack the hardware!
Use a software
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=8178010
Thank you for your response.
But... is it a software for windows only ?
I run Android on my HD2
Unfortunately, the software only runs on Windows Mobile :-(
So you have to try that:
http://translate.google.at/translat....cz/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=73&p=1037#p1037
seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx0zPFQtyxs
I personally ordered the original car holder from htc and it is really a very good one!
Excellent !!
I think that if the mentionned modification works with a HD2 AND a Desire HD, the official Htc android software should work also, like the windows software in the video.
Thank you, it's great ! I will post here my results when done
Even easier - try using PhoneWeaver (can't add a link as a noob)
It's basically an app for setting your phone's parameters, based on all sorts of external influences, such as time, date, power source etc.
So, for example, I have the following settings:-
6:15 am - turn phone on, set volume to Normal
8:15am - set volume to low (for when I'm in the office - its a personal mobile)
4:45pm - set volume to Normal
6:45pm, turn wireless on (as I'm at home, and browsing is much faster)
10:00pm - turn phone / wireless off, set volume to low, start SPB Time (my alarm clock)
Additionally, I have the following:-
If external power is detected AND Activesync isn't running (ie it's not connected to a PC) then turn on Bluetooth and increase volume (this is because the only other possibility for this environment is when its in the powered car cradle)
If external power is detected AND Activesync IS running, turn Bluetooth off, but turn wireless on
It's completely brilliant - never fails and I never have to remember to do anything

Tasker In-Car power issue

I have built a Nexus 7 into my car and I have a small issue.
I need a tasker profile:
When I turn the car on, the screen turns on and music plays.
When i turn the car off, the music stops and the screen turns off. (along with other stuff)
I have created a "test" version of all this so when I connect a power cable (i.e when charging) it turns the screen on and plays music.
When I disconnect the USB (i.e. stops charging) the screen goes off, music stops, bluetooth off etc and all this works fine.
However, the USB will always be connected with power coming through so I cannot use this option. I need another way to detect if the car is on and when it turns off so I can run the correct tasks.
One option i thought of is buy a wireless charger and build it into the car. When my phone is placed on the charger, send a text message to the tablet to turn it on, and when i turn the car off the charging will stop, then the phone will send a text to the tablet to turn the screen off etc.
However after purchasing the wireless charger, i realised everytime i get a call or take my phone of the charger for whatever reason, the screen will go off and music will stop, so this isnt an option either.
So the question is, what can i do so tasker can detect that the car is on or off so the nexus can perform the tasks?
Hope that makes sense
idi_idi said:
ISo the question is, what can i do so tasker can detect that the car is on or off so the nexus can perform the tasks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do realize that you really have two problems, right? The Nexus 7 will not know when the car is started, or stopped. Unless you can disconnect the power, manually etc.. If you can do that, you can send a command in fastboot to force the N7 to power up when power is connected, otherwise you'd have to boot it up manually.
You could unplug the USB charger.. Or have the tablet turn off after N hours of inactivity, although how do you detect "new" activity if there's no change when the car is started.
If your car has bluetooth, you could detect that as the "turn off" task perhaps, but turning on is probably your bigger issue.
Will the wireless charger idea work?
idi_idi said:
Will the wireless charger idea work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No idea what you mean by wireless charger (2012 model has no wireless charging), or how you'd control it with the phone. And unless your tablet is a 3g one, I don't know how you'd directly communicate with it either.
I just put my phone back to stock so I had to uninstall Tasker, however your tablet does not pull power once the car is off correct? I had a power based one as well, I remember testing it with a surge protector. I could leave the USB connected but flip the surge protector on and off (to mimic power to the phone being halted). To my knowledge when the car is off your USB shouldn't be drawing power therefore you could run the profile off that. Export the profile and post here. I'd like to help test it.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
elpeterson said:
To my knowledge when the car is off your USB shouldn't be drawing power therefore you could run the profile off that. Export the profile and post here. I'd like to help test it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My last four cars (current and previous of wife and my cars) the lighter plug stays powered when the engine is off.
I think it's getting increasingly common for the plugs to stay powered. So there's no way for the tablet to know the car is off unless the car has bluetooth and you can look for that.
khaytsus said:
My last four cars (current and previous of wife and my cars) the lighter plug stays powered when the engine is off.
I think it's getting increasingly common for the plugs to stay powered. So there's no way for the tablet to know the car is off unless the car has bluetooth and you can look for that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have actually found the exact opposite to me true. My wife's 2014 Pilot goes off as well as my 2012 Veloster whereas my 2001 Sable and her 2007 Passat left them on. I'm not sure if you can resolve your issue then. I'll keep looking into it. You could trigger it based on speed I think
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
elpeterson said:
I have actually found the exact opposite to me true. My wife's 2014 Pilot goes off as well as my 2012 Veloster whereas my 2001 Sable and her 2007 Passat left them on. I'm not sure if you can resolve your issue then. I'll keep looking into it. You could trigger it based on speed I think
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suppose that could work.. Find out the speed for several periods in a row, if it's zero, assume it's time to shut down. But that'd mean it's playing music etc during that period etc.
IMO bluetooth, or a plug he can turn off, is really the only way if his USB is powered up all of the time.
Also remember, he has no way to know when to power UP either. I still maintain that's the bigger problem, especially if it's a fixed install and he can't poke the power button
At the moment, its connected so when the car turns on, the USB is powered up and when the car turns off, the power in the USB stops. So at the moment, my tasker profile works on "when charging" do Task A, when not charging do Task B. And it all works fine at the moment.
However I am having issues with charging, (The device is not charging fast enough when turned on and the battery drains over a couple of days) so i planned to keep it always charging, so the power in the USB will always be there regardless of if the car is on or off. So i cant use the "when charging" on tasker anymore. So i needed a new way to it to figure out when i got in the car.
Here are my ideas:
1. Have a wireless charger in my car for my phone. (Not the tablet). When i get in the car, i could put my phone on the charger, have the phone send a text to the tablet to turn it on. When i remove the phone from the charger, send a text to the tablet to turn it off. Simples
2. Connect a wifi router in the boot or something and have it start up only when the car starts, and turn off with the car. It doesn't have to be connected to the internet, it just needs to power up. Then i can do a 'When wifi near' on tasker to see if the car is off or on, and turn the screen off accordingly.
3. Connect the tablet to my phones bluetooth. Whenever i get in the car, they will connect and the tablet will power on. when i leave the car, it will power off. (Not the best option since it will stay on even if i am near the car)
4. Similar to option 1, but have a nfc sticker in the car. when i swipe my phone on it, it communicates with the tablet and turns it on, n then off when required. but i dont want to do this since i know i am going to forget to turn it off one day.
I don't really want to do the speed option, since i want it to turn on as soon as i enter the car, not when i start driving, and i want to be able to park up and use it when i need to put an addess in the sat nav etc.
idi_idi said:
However I am having issues with charging, (The device is not charging fast enough when turned on and the battery drains over a couple of days)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your charger isn't charging fast enough, you're using a crappy charger or one that isn't designed for Android. If your car has a built-in USB port, those are usually super slow, maybe 500mA, most less.
Anyway, glad to hear that your power follows the car state, that makes it all simple.
khaytsus said:
If your charger isn't charging fast enough, you're using a crappy charger or one that isn't designed for Android. If your car has a built-in USB port, those are usually super slow, maybe 500mA, most less.
Anyway, glad to hear that your power follows the car state, that makes it all simple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried about 20 different chargers, up to 2.5amps. The problem isnt the charger. The problem is i dont drive the car long enough to give it time to charge. So if i drive the car for about half an hour a day, for the other 23.5 hours, its on standby. so the battery is always going to go less. So thats why I plan to connect the charger directly to the battery so it will always be charging.
idi_idi said:
I've tried about 20 different chargers, up to 2.5amps. The problem isnt the charger. The problem is i dont drive the car long enough to give it time to charge. So if i drive the car for about half an hour a day, for the other 23.5 hours, its on standby. so the battery is always going to go less. So thats why I plan to connect the charger directly to the battery so it will always be charging.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, I thought you had the tablet turning off when the car went off. If I were you, I'd set up a profile that turns off the tablet if it hasn't had power in a few hours, pretty simple to do. On Power, set a time var, every so often check that time var to see if it exceeds your threshold, and power down if so.
If you don't have much installed, it should be a fairly quick power-up, especially the plug goes hot when you start the car.
BTW I hope you're considering cold and heat if you're leaving the tablet in the car. Leaving it in the heat all summer will will the battery.
You can use Timur's kernel, it senses power to turn N7 on or deep sleep it.
Also charges N7 while using OTG.
It;s designed for car install.
khaytsus said:
If your charger isn't charging fast enough, you're using a crappy charger or one that isn't designed for Android. If your car has a built-in USB port, those are usually super slow, maybe 500mA, most less.
Anyway, glad to hear that your power follows the car state, that makes it all simple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, you need to get at least a 2A charger for your car. My wife would watch Netflix on long drives and my car USB port or the normal USB charger I got for the cigarette lighter worked until I up'd it to a 2A charger. I can have screen on for hours while streaming video and still fully charge the tablet in a reasonable amount of time.

[Q] How to use the Note without a Battery?

Right I am sick of seeing Samsung Battery's die, not the other day I saw at lest 5 note battery's in one of these recycle battery bins and all of them was ballooned just like mine, I want to use the device without a battery this phone is used as a home entertainment device and 3G modem nothing more, its not used as a phone any more, I want to integrate it in to my Bluetooth speaker would look nice and fit very well.
Problem is I have no idea how to go about doing this without the battery, if there a way to to trick the phone to thing it has a battery or has anyone made a factory cable for the Note?
I feel all companies that make these device to run off a battery only are destroying our world faster as there is so much life left in old android devices if we just could power them from mains power only.
I would like to power it from the battery side if I could so I can still use the USB host but this is not 100% important the 11 gig free on the device and the sd slot will do our home music needs.
Any advice would be great but please don't reply 'get a new battery there cheap', the unit once built wont have access to the battery so making it impossible to keep changing the battery when it balloons again.
Thanks, Rex
62 9262248
i think u disrespect our device,
no one accept that
darkangel0077 said:
i think u disrespect our device,
no one accept that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For a member with only 5 posts you clearly have no idea what your talking about, how is wanting to give my device a new lease of life
disrespectful? The only thing letting the device down right now is the lag of battery well damaged balloon battery, Housing this with my 50 wat
bluetooth powered speaker would really give new life to this device and how I am using it as a 3G modem I would also like to use the USB host
that this device supports.
I think you should be less disrespectful in your posts next time.
# Back to Topic
I could use wifi to access content on my network but I was hoping to set up RPI to send the phone to the TV making the device able to also stream my videos to the TV, I am not sure that Android or this device could support multi wifi connections if it could I could do that and also have a dedicated stream for my netflix.
If I can find a way to power all this then I think I will also open a build log post later with all the parts and steps
I was going to use our Acer Iconia Windows 8.1 tablet but the USB host on that is like a wet fist out of water, the android is much better at this task then the tablet.
Recap, I would like to power the device without a battery but via the battery pins so I can still use the USB host.
I need to be able to draw enough power for the device, the USB and Wifi + Bluetooth at the same time.
If any ideas on how this could be done it would be great, I was thinking using some kind of meter to find out what the battery gives the battery circet and then find some kind of multi power block to offer that.
rexzooly said:
For a member with only 5 posts you clearly have no idea what your talking about, how is wanting to give my device a new lease of life
disrespectful? The only thing letting the device down right now is the lag of battery well damaged balloon battery, Housing this with my 50 wat
bluetooth powered speaker would really give new life to this device and how I am using it as a 3G modem I would also like to use the USB host
that this device supports.
I think you should be less disrespectful in your posts next time.
# Back to Topic
I could use wifi to access content on my network but I was hoping to set up RPI to send the phone to the TV making the device able to also stream my videos to the TV, I am not sure that Android or this device could support multi wifi connections if it could I could do that and also have a dedicated stream for my netflix.
If I can find a way to power all this then I think I will also open a build log post later with all the parts and steps
I was going to use our Acer Iconia Windows 8.1 tablet but the USB host on that is like a wet fist out of water, the android is much better at this task then the tablet.
Recap, I would like to power the device without a battery but via the battery pins so I can still use the USB host.
I need to be able to draw enough power for the device, the USB and Wifi + Bluetooth at the same time.
If any ideas on how this could be done it would be great, I was thinking using some kind of meter to find out what the battery gives the battery circet and then find some kind of multi power block to offer that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No Android doesn't support Multi-Wi-Fi Connections. (Don't think anything supports that...)
I've tried using Note 2 without charger, doesn't work, probably doesn't for Note either. Though it might work with a socket that supplies loads of power.
Smack that Thanks button if I helped!
KitKat came in on my OmniROM, running on my Note 2.
Sent from a small country called Singapore.
P.S. Time for school, not much time for XDA
Irwenzhao said:
I've tried using Note 2 without charger, doesn't work, probably doesn't for Note either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes by default almost all phones don't let your power them on without the battery, but many newer android devices can be powered
by outlet power when in been programmed a factory mode, this is what I am asking people about if anyone has taken the chip of the batter
and provided it outlet power to fool the phone in to thinking its on battery.
You could cheat, find a power adapter and connect it to the battery connectors.
In case OP is still interested I have an idea about this issue. I had exactly the same question, how to power up an android phone without a batery plugged in.
Ignore daedric's post. Smartphones are powered by batteries which, when fully charged, provide 4.2 volts. Power adapter's output is 5 volts, so you would most probably damage your device. Supposing that phone chargers' output was 4.2 volts you would still not be able to use the device because the device draws a lot more current than a charger can provide.
My idea is to use a reliable DC-DC step down converter, and a powerful power adapter. I don't know how much current a Note could draw from its battery but I would try to find a step down converter that could at least handle 3 amps of output without damaging itself. Then I would try to find a reliable power supply like a 12v 2A. The idea is to connect the power supply to the step down converter and the converter to the battery pins on the device. Of course you would also have to set the potentiometer of the converter to output 4.2v.
BUT, there is one more problem. You have to trick the device to make it "think" that there is a battery connected and I don't know exactly how this can be done. I found on the internet a blog where a guy did so by connecting a resistor between the negative battery pin (on the device) with the third pin on the device. So, I don't know if it's possible on the Note, and how to do it. All I'm trying to say is that it might be possible, it just needs more research.
_purple_ said:
In case OP is still interested I have an idea about this issue. I had exactly the same question, how to power up an android phone without a batery plugged in.
Ignore daedric's post. Smartphones are powered by batteries which, when fully charged, provide 4.2 volts. Power adapter's output is 5 volts, so you would most probably damage your device. Supposing that phone chargers' output was 4.2 volts you would still not be able to use the device because the device draws a lot more current than a charger can provide.
My idea is to use a reliable DC-DC step down converter, and a powerful power adapter. I don't know how much current a Note could draw from its battery but I would try to find a step down converter that could at least handle 3 amps of output without damaging itself. Then I would try to find a reliable power supply like a 12v 2A. The idea is to connect the power supply to the step down converter and the converter to the battery pins on the device. Of course you would also have to set the potentiometer of the converter to output 4.2v.
BUT, there is one more problem. You have to trick the device to make it "think" that there is a battery connected and I don't know exactly how this can be done. I found on the internet a blog where a guy did so by connecting a resistor between the negative battery pin (on the device) with the third pin on the device. So, I don't know if it's possible on the Note, and how to do it. All I'm trying to say is that it might be possible, it just needs more research.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking maybe you could take the bust battery and like you said use some kind of step down and psu connected to the battery side of the battery's chip thing so that it would provide the right power to the device.
rexzooly said:
I was thinking maybe you could take the bust battery and like you said use some kind of step down and psu connected to the battery side of the battery's chip thing so that it would provide the right power to the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a very clever idea. Unfortunately, I don't have currently any old smartphone to try it. In case you try it, be cautious not to short the lithium battery. They can be very dangerous. In case it vents, the gases are very dangerous if inhaled. There's also the risk of fire.

[Q] using laptop battery as usb charger

I bought a crappy battery pack from dx.com.
the battery works but makes a horrible noise when connecting the phone to the 2A port ... 1A no problem
also it was cheap, chinese, and labled "power bnak" instead of "bank"... total crap
and then I thought... I have a practically new perfectly good huge capacity 12 cell laptop battery that is just sitting on the shelf doing nothing since I don't carry around my laptop most of the time and its connected to ac power with battery disconnected all the time....
what if I could connect a Usb port directly to the battery?
It could be a really overkill emergency charger!
Anyone knows how this can be done?
maxlieb said:
I bought a crappy battery pack from dx.com.
the battery works but makes a horrible noise when connecting the phone to the 2A port ... 1A no problem
also it was cheap, chinese, and labled "power bnak" instead of "bank"... total crap
and then I thought... I have a practically new perfectly good huge capacity 12 cell laptop battery that is just sitting on the shelf doing nothing since I don't carry around my laptop most of the time and its connected to ac power with battery disconnected all the time....
what if I could connect a Usb port directly to the battery?
It could be a really overkill emergency charger!
Anyone knows how this can be done?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong voltage.. U would frie your charging circuts..
maydayind said:
Wrong voltage.. U would frie your charging circuts..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you charge from the wall socket it's also the wrong voltage... you convert it
maxlieb said:
When you charge from the wall socket it's also the wrong voltage... you convert it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True but u asked if u connect it derectly. So stop asking questions u already know the answer to..
maydayind said:
True but u asked if u connect it derectly. So stop asking questions u already know the answer to..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Directly meant without a huge laptop attached to it
It's possible
Some laptops will keep power flowing to USB ports without being fully on- possibly in sleep mode. Recommend doing that if that's the case, although that's quite heavy to carry around just for charging your phone.
A multi meter can tell you what voltages are coming off the laptop battery and radio shack or a local electrical supply store can get you the parts to convert the voltage to the same as the battery on the "power bnak" then it should just be a matter of making sure you have solid connection and plug in - that big of a power source would be great for camping or power outages.

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