Today I managed to get my NookColor cable caught in my car door while I was getting in my car to head to work. This mangled the cable up pretty good. After much swearing and a trip to Barnes and Nobles I purchased a replacement cable. With the new cable in hand I figured I might as well take the end apart on the broken one to see how it was wired up. Using a pocket knife I forced the joint where the two pieced of plastic are joined together apart. The end result is rather interesting.
The first image is of the top side of the connector. This is where the little LED is located. The second image is of the bottom side of the connector. The third is of the bottom side of the connector with the shield removed.
The interesting thing is that the connector does not actually have the four standard pads for connecting to the normal USB pins in the NC's socket. It only connects to the twelve extra pins at the back of the NC's socket. Two of those extra pins must be for the standard USB communications. At least two more are used for the power connection to the NC. That leaves eight unknown pins. One or two of which probably controls the LED on the cable. As soon as I can find my multimeter, I plan on doing a continuity check between the USB cable wires and the pins in the connector. Any other suggestions of things I should be looking for?
I read in passing that the deeper socket on the nc, that makes regular microUSB cables not charge the nc, relates to the extra contacts needed to charge the bigger battery more quickly. Will try to find the reference-
Regular cables DO charge... At 500mha, the stock rom does not she charging but it does around 10%/hr if idle.
There are certainly several ground pins which should be ready to find. finding those will help narrow it down.
Sent from my NookColor using XDA App
Khaytsus: i stand corrected. Found the reference: barnes& noble 'book clubs' (ie forums) thread on "things that you should know about the NookCOLOR." A non nook color USB won't charge it when in a wall socket, but may keep the battery from at least going down.
Even a NC branded USB isn't officially expected to charge a NC, if plugged into a pc USB port. Neverrtheless, some say it trickle charges when left atrached to a computer all night (like 8hrs). In a wall socket it supposed to charge in 4 -5 hours.
Interestingly, NC won't charge at all if turned entirely off while plugged in.
The same thing happened with me too(my cable also broke, and i decided to experiment with it). Here's what i found out.
1. Three wires in the usb cables are solely meant for charging.
2. If only two (ground an one live) wires are connected, the stock cable charges nook like a ordinary usb cable(very slow).
3. The nooks usb cable tip had 3-4 more outputs which were not connected to any wires in the usb cable(they could be anything from mic input to video output).
I was trying to get more info on these extra outputs by soldering some wires to them but it needs very fine soldering, i couldn't achieve that and i broke mine entirely.
That reminds me can anyone send me a extra cable as am not in U.S(so B&N won't send me one) and am sick of waiting for 10 hours before i can play with my nook again.
mjf0000000 said:
Interestingly, NC won't charge at all if turned entirely off while plugged in.
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Click to collapse
Uummm... Don't think this is true as I charged my Nook just last night with it turned off.
I'm sure you have this, but for anyone else who would like to look at the standard USB pinouts.
While I'm on the topic, did the Nova disection help in determining the Nook end of the connections?
the last time i looked, Nova hadn't really looked that close at the USB...they were focusing on the wifi/BT chip.
very nice was planning on doing this myself one day soon...any chance you can go in a bit closer and get clearer pics of the traces on the pcb? Would really help to decipher it.
Interested to see a breakdown of a standard micro usb vs nooks for comparisons sake
A couple of things:
-The NC connector has a row of 12 pins, but does not have any pins that match with the "legacy" microusb pins. At least 4 of the signals on that connector duplicate the microusb pins (gnd, d+, d-, +5). IIRC there are two +5 pins on that row and three grounded pins.
-Hooking only +5 and gnd to the USB end of the stock cable causes the NC to charge at max current draw. I made a short USB interposer that does this. I suppose you could put some carefully applied tape over the middle pins if you wanted to try. Here are some measurements I did of various ways of powering the NC a while back:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=9410625&postcount=243
mjf0000000 said:
Khaytsus: i stand corrected. Found the reference: barnes& noble 'book clubs' (ie forums) thread on "things that you should know about the NookCOLOR." A non nook color USB won't charge it when in a wall socket, but may keep the battery from at least going down.
Even a NC branded USB isn't officially expected to charge a NC, if plugged into a pc USB port. Neverrtheless, some say it trickle charges when left atrached to a computer all night (like 8hrs). In a wall socket it supposed to charge in 4 -5 hours.
Interestingly, NC won't charge at all if turned entirely off while plugged in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have one interesting finding to note. Most USB wall adapters are 500mA. I happened to have a USB wall adapter that is 1A. With my 1A, I was able not only able to keep the battery from draining, but I was able to replenish it (although it was very slow) As a comparison, the USB adapter from B&N is capable of 2A.
I will try and get closer pics of the PCB when I get home from work. I just need to get better lighting than my dark home office.
Related
I'm creating a new thread because I think my charging issue is unique...
My Kaiser will show an orange light and indicate that it's charging when:
1. Powered On and plugged in to: USB, AC power Adapter, or Car charger
but it will not take a charge and the orange light goes out after about two minutes.
2. Powered Off and plugged into: USB, AS Power, or car charger
but the orange light remains on and it never charges (tried 5 hours)
The device also does not sync, I don't see anything physcially wrong with the USB port, but it was damaged by water several weeks ago, it hasn't worked properly since.
I've been getting by with an external battery charger that I purhcased from Ebay.
Does anyway have any ideas? I've reflashed the device since then as well and there is no change in how it reacts to charging..
Hi echofive
I have the same problem with my Kaiser but at least it charges with just one of my 5 AC power adapters. Not in my Car charger and not on a USB connection.
Maybe it has something to do with the small USB pins on the Kaiser which are not properly aligned. You can try to bend them.
Good luck.
Hello, I was having this same issue and (long story short) I believe that it is the small USB pins on the phone.
Here is what I found (sorry knda long post). I have two ATT TILT phones. My Original Tilt phone got soaked in water but I was able to almost salvage the phone by soaking it in Denatured alcohol and letting it dry. This 'wet' Tilt has all functions but cannot read sim cards. It does however charge perfectly.
The replacement Tilt I have works like a charm but refuses to charge. Regardless of USB charging, off the wall charger or car charger, the orange light comes on, says it is charging but in 2 minutes the light goes out. The phone is still listed as charging but I know it is not charging because the battery level continues to drain. The phone does sync to my PC and I am able to transfer files to/from my new TILT via a USB cable. Just cannot charge the device.
I have 3 batteries. 2 stock batteries and the large 3200mah battery. All three batteries will not charge on my new TILT. I tried charging it via USB connected to my Computer, Car cigarette lighter, Car inverter charger, official TILT charger from CINGULAR ATT. Completely unable to charge the device.
If I attempt to charge the batteries (all three of them) on my old 'wet' TILT the batteries charge regardless of what method I use. It will charge via USB connected to the PC, USB connected to wall charger, official ATT TILT charger, or car charger. No issues. So I know the chargers, cables and batteries do charge on a TILT. Both TILTs are official ATT TILT devices. Two of the batteries are stock and 1 of the batteries is a SEIDO 3200mah.
Sometimes I get lucky and the new TILT phone does charge. In these cases I charged the phone using the Wall charger and the battery was over 50% capacity.
Now I know the new Tilt USB port is working because it syncs to my PC just doesnt charge after 2 minutes (light goes out) and battery continues to drain (watched and tested this after 3 hours of observation). I ended up ordering one of those TILT USB connectors which have a 3.5mm headphone jack and USB port.
This device: http://www.amazon.com/i-Trek-Stereo...8&s=musical-instruments&qid=1230877732&sr=8-4
What is weird is that I can now charge my NEW TILT using the USB port on this connector with this connector attached to my new TILT. If I attempt to charge the TILT using the onboard USB port, it stops after 2 minutes and the light goes out.
Personally, i think it has something to do with the pins. Hope this helps someone.
Jinkage said:
Regardless of USB charging, off the wall charger or car charger, the orange light comes on, says it is charging but in 2 minutes the light goes out. The phone is still listed as charging but I know it is not charging because the battery level continues to drain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been there, had that problem and the solution was even simpler and didn't involve the charging/USB port at all. Get a cotton bud (US folks call them Q-Tips) and spray some contact cleaner on it (not anywhere near the phone) and use it to carefully clean both the gold strips/terminals on the batteries along with the gold spring terminals on the phone. Although they may look clean, invisible grime film can make the connection fail and cause this problem. This is also a good tip to follow with ordinary household battery rechargers and NiMH cells. I haven't had this problem since but still carry out a terminal clean every few months to be on the safe side.
My phone wouldn't charge anymore. Searching through threads I found a magnificent magnified picture of the mini-USB port and the way the right part of the port was bent down a little. It was exactly like that with my phone, I used the pointing stick to tilt it up a little (be careful it may break of the pins, and that would lead you far from home!), which fixed! Haven't had the issue since!
Regards,
Nika.
Hi.
Have you still the link with the picture . I have the same problem an i am afraid , that i can kill my Kaiser
Regards
Dariely
Nope, sorry...
I had a similar issue with my Kaiser. It would charge with a USB cable and an ac adapter but not in the car. It used to but stopped. I took a dental tool and lifted the two little legs inside on the bottom of the mini usb port so they would contact the charger again and all is well.
nikagl said:
My phone wouldn't charge anymore. Searching through threads I found a magnificent magnified picture of the mini-USB port and the way the right part of the port was bent down a little. It was exactly like that with my phone, I used the pointing stick to tilt it up a little (be careful it may break of the pins, and that would lead you far from home!), which fixed! Haven't had the issue since!
Regards,
Nika.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YEAH!
Great Tip!
had the same issue as you a long time!
tilt up the pins: no more problem!
THANKS A LOT !
I straightened up the last pin. I was beginning to think it was my AC Charger...I plugged it in my Ashtray charger and it charged without a problem. I will see if this takes a charge. I didnt use any denatured alcohol, I just took the compressed air canisters used for computers and cleared out the usb port....
we wait now
What's the deal with the battery on this phone. It takes several hours (3-4) to go from (near) 0 to 100% charge, with USB.
And, when using navigation on the phone, with a car charger plugged in, the phone still loses a little bit of charge. All other phones I had, they would charge somewhat slowly with the GPS on (since GPS is using draining a lot), and never seen one that loses charge even while connected.
I have tried 2 different car chargers, both aftermarket though. Do you see the same?
hkk said:
What's the deal with the battery on this phone. It takes several hours (3-4) to go from (near) 0 to 100% charge, with USB.
And, when using navigation on the phone, with a car charger plugged in, the phone still loses a little bit of charge. All other phones I had, they would charge somewhat slowly with the GPS on (since GPS is using draining a lot), and never seen one that loses charge even while connected.
I have tried 2 different car chargers, both aftermarket though. Do you see the same?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of the car chargers only deliver 500mAh - when your phone is plugged in, go to settings-> about phone and see if it says AC or USB charging. You also need a car charger that is rated at more then 500 mA.
But even with a charger rated at more then 500mA - the phone still thinks it is plugged into USB. I got around this by modifying a USB cable - I connected the data lines together on the micro usb end and the phone thinks it has AC power and charging keeps up with GPS.
BTW I am using a 2 port car charger (2 1Amp USB ports) Griffin I think, but i tested with many others, and after other internet searching realized the wall charger shorts the data wires and we can mimic this on a car charger.
alphadog,
Thanks for the reply.
Can you give more details on how to connect the data lines together? And, no issues doing that?
hkk said:
alphadog,
Thanks for the reply.
Can you give more details on how to connect the data lines together? And, no issues doing that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No issues for me. First - use a decent USB cable. Also, see this thread for more info... one of my posts is page 2. Page one shows you an easier hack for testing - no cutting required.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=774665&highlight=battery
I took a USB cable and did all my work on the micro end - where the connector for the phone is. I stripped back some of the outer insulation, so i could work on the inner wires. I didn't cut the whole end off. The two wires that are not red and black are the data wires. I cut them, stripped them, and soldered them together. These 2 wires are from the micro plug end, so i created a loop back or connection of the 2 data wires at the plug end.
Phone
V+ Red wire -------------------------------USB Plug @ Car Charger
D+ ----------------| connect
D- ----------------| these 2 wires
V- Black wire ------------------------------ USB Plug
I have a friend who is visting the US (I'm from Canada) and I asked him to pick me up a nook. Not finding clear info in some of the reviews, mainly concerned about charging.
This charges over usb when hooked up to your computer right? Just want to make sure it doesn't use a proprietary cable for charging. I read on the ipad side, that older computers don't give out enough power to charge over usb, is that an issue with the nook?
What adapters/cables does it come with exactly? And is it just a standard mini-sub for the charging?
Also, this has a headset jack correct? I've read no bluetooth, I guess there's no way to get a mic working on this then.
Micro USB, will charge VERY slowly using a computer. Includes a 2amp wall socket and special cable to quick charge (still micro usb, just more pins). Has a headset port but does not come with a headset.
I've only had a few mobile devices. I read the ipad can charge over usb if the mobo supports giving out that extra juice. Some mobo's have a new firmware update to enable this.
The connector is micro-usb but just more pins. Hmm. so if the cable breaks or I misplace it no other micro-usb will charge it?
edit: i read a little more and found that it's 30 pin proprietary cable to speed up charging. I also read the galaxy tab does something similar.
Does anyone know if they use the same pin configuration? probably not, but I can get tab usb cables here.
I know you didn't ask for it but I'll tell you anyway
In case you are worrying about registering your device (mandatory at initial setup).
I'm NOT in the US and it worked fine.
Good to know. Thanks.
But I'm more concerned about charging it and relying solely on their cables.
I read the ipad can trickle charge on newer computers but some wouldn't provide enough power. Asus et al have released utilities to increase the power to the usb ports.
I can't post the links but endgadget has an article about it providing links to those utilites. They just talk of apple devices but does this work with the nook?
It comes with a charger for US-type sockets and only if you charge your nook with this (and yes, it is proprietary ) it'll charge quickly. It does seem to charge when you connect it to a standard PC USB port but at an extremely low rate.
On the device Micro-USB (not Mini) is used.
You say it does seem to, do you mean from personal experience? How slow? It sounds like that if you do own one it was so slow you didn't let it finish.
Like if it's 8hrs overnight, I can live with that, but I want to confirm that there is a plan b and not solely rely on their cables.
And as I mentioned asus and others released utils to give more power output to the usb (although these seem like their were only created for ipads). Wondering if those utils speed things up.
for ex, google asus ai charger to see what I mean.
I received my nook Color a mere few hours ago so I can't tell you a lot about its charging behavior It "seems" to load slower via standard USB... if you want to know about the details check one of the large threads on the NOOK and its rooting. I remember reading some information about the USB connector and its peculiarities there.
Ah you just got it. I see.
I found this on the root thread:
'
"There are 12 pins coming off the connector. It looks like there are no pins for the standard micro USB portion, only the extended 12 pins. 2 pins are used to bring in +5V, 2 pins are for signal ground providing a hefty circuit for the 2A charging. USB takes up two pins, and as far as I can tell 2 more are for each LED via current limiting resistors. Two more pins go to discretes that I haven't identified, and two more pins are unconnected. I'll take my scope to them when I have some time."
Not sure what he means when he says no pins for the standard micro portion...
Maybe the plug doesn't have standard USB pins, but the NOOK itself does have standard USB pins as well as the proprietary ones. Because I have trouble inserting the original B&N plug, I went out earlier today and bought a standard Micro USB cable...
I connected it to the nook and it said "not charging", so I went out to do some shopping (10-20 minutes max) and left it at 89%... when I came back it was at 93 %.
So it DOES in fact seem to charge albeit slowly.
Thanks. It's weird, lots of comments of its own cable not fitting properly.
As long as it charges with a normal cable I'm good.
I guess it is charging... however there is a slight chance, that it's NOT charging and the battery charge display is lying (de-calibrated). I don't think so, but I'll only know for sure after a few more days of using only the standard USB charger cable.
Just reading up on USB chargers, and I found somewhere in a thread here about phones defaulting to smaller ma when charging via USB if the connector didn't have the data pins shorted or something.
So, I was wondering a couple of things:
1) If the default charger supplies 700ma, do you think that is the most the Nexus S can draw? Does anyone have one of these shorted USB chargers? Does it charge the NS faster?
2) If it does charge faster, how hard would it be to do something similar to shorting the data connections? I have a generic AC-USB cable which I currently use for my iPod touch.
3) Is there a way to check if it is already shorted out? The USB charging port looks similar to ones on my computer, but I'm not sure what to look for.
Thanks for any help! Maybe if we can sort out this stuff, we can provide a solution for those looking for faster charging!
it does work safely, i'm using a 1000 mAh charger at home, and a 2000 mAh charger in the car both are from aftermarket eBay/DealExtreme charges.
no overheating
and charges faster than stock
AllGamer said:
it does work safely, i'm using a 1000 mAh charger at home, and a 2000 mAh charger in the car both are from aftermarket eBay/DealExtreme charges.
no overheating
and charges faster than stock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thankyou for that AllGamer, I'll think of possible ways I could mod the charger now
The only reason it is slow is because of the USB charging brick instead of just a charger.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
I know it's a wrong thread, but anyone has any pointers as to how to short a regular USB cable to make the phone think it's a power adapter cable?
XBOHDPuKC said:
I know it's a wrong thread, but anyone has any pointers as to how to short a regular USB cable to make the phone think it's a power adapter cable?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah it's not the wrong thread that was one of my questions! I'm not sure exactly where you would do it, but maybe if you skinned the wire, then cut the data lines it would work?
Not sure which end you would do it on however, but that may not matter. Any other ideas?
The two center pins in the USB carry the data. If you pull them out, the cable won't be able to connect to the computer.
Sent from my Nexus S
Wow - you don't need to do this and you wouldn't want to in a computer anyway.
The USB specification says that 500ma (@ 5v) of current should be available from a computer's USB port. Of course, the actual wires can carry much more than this, so manufacturers can tell their phones to takes as much current as is offered.
Almost all computers limit their USB power output accordingly - this is why some opld usb-powered external hard drives needed 2 USB plugs to get enough power. The only computers that I am SURE emit significantly more than 500ma on their USB ports are first and second generation MacBook Airs.
Some phones, the N1 and every other HTC specifically, look for a specially shorted cable to "know if they are plugged into the wall adaptor" as opposed to a computer USB port. In reality, this is just a way to make you specifically buy HTC chargers as opposed to third-party off-brands, because plugging one of these phones into an off brand charger will limit the current draw to about 450ma.
If you want to know if your Android phone thinks that it is in "USB" mode or in "AC" mode, just plug the phone in, open the dialer, enter *#*#4636#*#* and then select battery info. If your phone is one that cares (not all do), it will say USB if it thinks it should be in USB charging mode, or AC if it thinks it should be in AC charging mode.
I would not try shorting out the middle pins in a cable and then plugging it into the computer. First, most will probably just disable the USB port completely, shutting off even power you could draw. Second, if it doesn't shut down, you run the risk that a badly-built USB port might not properly limit the current to 500ma - and since they are not designed to furnish more current than that, you might melt something expensive or start a fire. third, if you make a mistake, you risk shorting out either your phone or your computer, which might ruin your day, week or month, depending on your financial means to replace the system that cooks itself.
I would just run out to your local store, pay 15 bucks for a 2A third-party usb charger brick, and go to town. That will work perfectly - this is what I use, and it probably cuts the charge time by 30-40%. Obviously, this indicates that the NS is not capable of drawing a full 2A - I have not put a meter on it, but I would bet that it limits itself to somewhere just under an amp in.
I have recently bought both a 2A wall charger and car charger and my phone does not recognise either of these as anything more than a 500mA source.
Is it really just a case of opening the car charger up and shorting out pins 2 & 3? they are currently not connected to anything in the charger.
If it's indeed a matter of shorting the data lines, then I think you can skin the wire as suggested by others, but then cut the data lines, short the end that leads to the phone, leave the end to the computer open. I think it's the phone that tries to determine whether the data lines are shorted.
Edit: Can someone measure the continuity between the data pins with the stock charger? I wonder if they are shorted. I'm still waiting for my Nexus S to arrive, so can't test it.
Yup, the data lines in the stock Nexus S charger ARE shorted.
I just modified a cheap 1A car charger by popping it open, soldering the 2 data lines together and putting it back.
The report on the Nexus S before I did this (*#*#4636#*#*) said "USB", and afterwards it now says "AC".
I will report back after I make a road trip if this improves the GPS + Pandora + Screen in car situation. I suspect it will.
----------------
Yup, the car charger seemed to actually maintain and increase the battery this time. Seems good.
The NS supports chargers output to a max of 1000mA, as it says on the back of it, where the battery resides.
I was surprised to see that, upon trying to charge the Nook Color for the first time, that the microUSB connector is very brittle to say the least. I was having a hard time even getting the nook end of the cable to be fully connected, because I was afraid I might break something. It eventually would go in with a violent SNAP sound, but it was still scary.
The next time I needed to transfer some files/charge, I tried one of my generic monoprice microUSB cables and didn't have the same issues. The connection was made with no fuss, and everything works the same. This may seem like an obvious thing to do, but, in case there's someone out there that hasn't tried a different cable and had the same concerns as me, it's a better route.
A regular microUSB cable doesn't have the power connectors on both sides (or something to that effect). I read a B&N support post over on their forums and someone mentioned trying another microUSB cable. Support warned they would only get a trickle charge without the actual Nook USB charger.
Had the same problem, almost like fishing around with the stock nook cable to get it to seat. My motorola works a little better, but still seems like a quality issue with the alignment of the micro USB on the bottom of my nook.
I think the nook wall to USB charger is 2 amp which is more then the standard 1 amp chargers that most phones and devices come with.
Does the stock cable have additional connections to light up the status light at the tip? A slow charge is better than possible snapping something off the Nook itself in my opinion.
No, the secondary power lines on the connector aren't just to light the status light though I'm sure that's part of the power draw. It'll just take you twice as long to charge. If you're an overnight charger, that might be alright for you.
I see. I also just checked the the ac adapter. It puts out 1.9A--way more than a standard USB charger. Maybe that has somethng to do with the special cable as well.
Sent from my SCH-I500
I also had some quality issue with the default cable. Changed the cable and it was fixed.
Mine was bought around Christmas, have they fixed that issue with the latest versions?
Don't think so, because I bought mine earlier this week. However, the USB connection with the factory cable seems to have been magically fixed. I have to be really careful, but the B&N cable fits better now. Strange.
Sent from my SCH-I500