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.
Click to expand...
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.
Thing you’ll need:
Soldering Iron + Solder
18gauge wire
Add-A-Circuit
Spare fuse
Screwdriver
Pliers
Electrical tape
Belkin AirCast
Crack open the case. I used a pair of pliers and applied pressure to the case. When it started to crack at the seams, I just and used a flat head screwdriver to pry it open. Take off the cap from the spring and remove the wedges that stick out of the side.
The spring is the positive contact and the wire connected to the wedges is negative. I used some 18gauge wire for this step. I stripped the negative wire just enough to join about 6” of the 18gauge wire and topped it off with a loop crimp.
For the positive terminal I looped some bare wire around the spring and soldered it. I stripped the other side of the wire and joined it with the Add-A-Circuit and crimped it.
Now in your car, locate the fuse box for the interior of the car. since the add a circuit only works up to 10 amps, find a fuse that’s 10 amps that controls some accessory in the car that TURNS OFF when the is off. You wouldn’t want this to be turned on and drain you battery(albeit slowly). In my case I used the stereo fuse since it shuts off when the car is off and on when it is Now plop in the appropriate fuse(in my case, 10amps, since it has to match the fuse its being plugged into) and plug in your add-a-circuit.
That loop that’s on the negative end of the cable, find a metal bolt thats attached to the car somehow. In my case it was just off to the side of the panel I pryed off. Yours may be easier/harder to get to. Unscrew the bolt and slide the loop in and screw it back in. The easy part is done :S
You’ll want to decide where to put the microphone since that will dictate how hard the next step will be.
I decided to put the puck on the center of the dash. So I snaked the stereo wire from the center of the console to the fuse box and left enough slack to drag the wire back with he puck in attached. After that I just cleaned up the wires a bit by rolling them up.
I'll add pictures as soon as I upload them off my phone
any updates? I'm interested in seeing it.
thanks
good work but where the pics?
or you can just not use your phone in the car. or be like me and have a car with built in bluetooth !
Hi all,
I got fed up with waiting for something like this to be released, so I've decided to make my own, and thought I might as well share the process.
My requirements are:
- One handed operation
- Windscreen mount dock
- Works with my case
- Dock is always 'plugged in' and is left mounted in my car
- Car mode on the phone is triggered when using with the dock (I use Tasker to trigger a load of actions when my car dock is used, such as turning on Bluetooth, saving the current location when I remove the phone from the dock as a basic 'car finder' etc)
I started off with this dock, which I got ages ago as I just wanted something (even though it wasn't what I thought I would end up with). I got this phone almost the day it was launched, and so there wasn't a lot of choice at the time.
Samsung ECS-K200BE - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Gal...4CPO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360155480&sr=8-1
I then had to look for a short micro USB extension cable with a right-angled plug, which turned out to be extremely difficult to find for some reason! eBay delivered in the end (although it took over a month to arrive): http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Micro-USB..._USB_Cables_Hubs_Adapters&hash=item41642d957a
You can also get one that goes to a USB socket instead of a micro USB one, but you'll then lose the ability to trigger car mode later on, as USB has 4 pins only, and phone manufacturers tend to use the 5th pin in micro USB for this purpose.
I'm afraid I didn't take photos of the first couple of steps, but they are fairly simple.
The Micro USB plug has a couple of raised parts on the longer side of the D shape, which provide the 'click' as you plug the cables in, and ensure that cables don't just fall out easily by providing some resistance. You can see them on this image for example: http://www.cablewholesale.com/hires/10u2-03xxx.jpg I filed these off on my micro USB extension, as I want the phone to slide in and out the dock really easily, and the dock itself will hold the phone in position on the plug, so it's not a problem. I filed them down until the plug slid in and out the phone really easily with no resistance at all. Careful where the filings go, you don't want them shorting anything out!
I then put tape across the bottom of my phone (masking tape would do, but I used PVC electrical insulation tape since it's what I had to hand), cut a slot for the micro USB plug, put the whole thing in the dock, position it all to be as central as you can, and plug the micro USB plug into the phone through the cut in the tape.
I also removed the rubber protective piece from the bottom of the dock (it's a separate piece to the back) during this step to prevent glue getting all over it, but remember to leave a small gap for it if you do the same! I also used a penknife to cut some grooves into the sides of the gap that the plug pokes through, to help the glue have something to grip on to.
It's then just a case of using some 5 minute epoxy to hold everything in place - it will stop being runny after 5 minutes, but it will be a bit jelly like for a while after that. I did this bit in 2 stages - an initial glue to get the position fairly fixed, then while the glue was still a bit flexible I put a larger amount on around the sides and also between the outgoing cable and the dock to fix everything. I left the phone in for a few hours (I took it out after the first stage and put it back in again though to make sure I wasn't gluing the phone to the dock!), and had some pressure pushing the plug into the phone/dock assembly (with the phone held in tightly by the dock). You'll have to experiment with the best way to do this but I used tape initially, then when the glue had gone hard but flexible still, i rested the whole lot upright and balancing on the plug to push it in (keep glue away from the phone and only on the dock).
After a couple of hours (or maybe a few more) the glue should harden and go solid, holding everything in place.
And that's pretty much where I'm up to at the moment. The phone slides in and out very easily (I'm pretty happy with it, it's better than I expected), and connecting a charging cable to the extension proves that it works - the phone starts charging when I slide it into the dock, so not broken anything so far!
I'll attach a picture in the next post, as I can do that from my phone a lot easier than transferring it to this PC.
Re: Car Dock with integrated Micro USB Charging plug (ongoing project)
(Apologies for the side-view being blurry)
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note II using Tapatalk 2
Next steps: I plan to put araldite epoxy over the whole plug to secure it and really make sure it isn't going anywhere. This takes a lot longer to set than the glue I've used so far, but the advantage of using the 5 minute epoxy first is that my phone doesn't have to be in the dock for this stage. Then I'll sand it smooth and spray it black, and work on the car mode triggering bit, which I'm going to make as a separate unit. The advantage of using the extension lead is that you can attach whatever accessory you want into the micro USB, audio splitter, charging, car mode or whatever. Or I'm sure you can find similar MHL extensions if you wanted to do that as well.
This is an interesting project. Thanks for sharing the idea. But do you really want to recharge your phone every time you use the dock? Would unnecessary recharging shorten the life of the battery?
Spare batteries are cheap. I'd rather have a phone that is charged more than one with a battery that will last longer. If I have to get a new battery for £10 or whatever I'm not too bothered! I already have 3 batteries for this phone. In addition, as part of a previous project, I have a switch in my car that controls the power output of the micro USB cable coming out of my dashboard so I could turn it off if necessary, and the dock would still trigger car mode when plugged in.
Been a while since I updated this - sorry!
Right, so at the end of the last post, I had basically filed the USB plug down so it didn't 'click' into place, and glued it in place using some fast epoxy. Next, I cut back quite a lot of the fast epoxy (it's not as good as the araldite that I'm going to put all over it, and it's only there to hold the plug in position while the araldite dries). I also cut some gouges into the surfaces around where I'm gluing to help the araldite adhere to the surfaces - it's worth sanding them with some fairly coarse paper too, though probably not that necessary, it'll be plenty strong enough.
After that I masked off the bottom of the cradle, but leaving the usb plug sticking through
Once this was done, I mixed up some Araldite epoxy resin. It has a resin and a hardener that you mix in a 2:1 ratio. I also added quite a lot of finely ground up wood fibres to the mix - if you have access to some, it improves the strength of the material, and also helps you mould it into a shape when you apply it, rather than have the glue run everywhere. You can always hold it in place with tape if not.
After it has dried (first photo), it sands quite well to the desired shape. I didn't want anything too fancy so just made some flats on it and left it at that (2nd and 3rd photos).
Finally I masked it off again, sprayed it matt black and re-fitted the rubber piece that goes at the bottom either side. Voila!
It's possible to spend a lot longer making this neat than I did, but my solution works perfectly for me. If I ever decide I want to make it neater I can easily sand the paint off, sand more glue (or add more on top), and repaint.
Some action photos:
None with the phone in yet as I was using the phone to take the pics - will have to remember my actual camera at some point if anyone is interested!
I used a 'rapstrap' to hold the cable to the stem of the cradle, keeping it hidden and out the way, and plugged in the cable from my car (emerges from a hole in the A pillar where it meets the dashboard - that's a separate mod to the car!). For the cable to switch things into smart dock / car mode / whatever mode I want, I'm going to making the cable described in this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1321491
I have all the parts necessary, will have to see how up-to-scratch my precision soldering skills are! This way, I can swap out the cable for a different one that triggers a different mode if I want, or re-use the cable on another car dock in the future (either one I modified or not!)
Apologies for the rotation of the photos, it's the right way up on the originals... strange.
I should say as well - I've been using this for a couple of weeks now, and I'm glad I spent the effort. It works so much better than I expected! It's effortless to get the phone in and out. I thought there would be a lot more 'misses' when I tried to get the phone in, but it's gone in straight away almost every time - obviously there has been the odd 'miss'! The sides of the cradle do a good job guiding the phone in, as the phone is almost as wide as them, so it gets roughly centred anyway, then you just squeeze the sides of the dock in and the phone is gripped tightly - no chance of falling out. To release, it's just a button at the back of the dock then lift straight out with the same hand - pretty convenient.
I'd love to see other people's pics if they make one, or improve mine (probably not too hard to do!), or any other mods that do the same thing!
Car Dock with integrated Micro USB Charging plug (ongoing project)
Nice work mate
:good:
Re: Car Dock with integrated Micro USB Charging plug (ongoing project)
I think it looks great. Obviously a labor of love and I'm down with that. This holder could suffice for your next couple Sammy phones as long as the USB depth doesn't change much with different cases/devices. Overall I dig it
This looks like what I did for my S3 in August of last year, except I molded Sugru to keep everything together and for the base, I used a holster w/ the "wings" bent apart so I could just slide in from the top and pull it up and out when undocking. It works w/ a thin case (i usually just have a bumper around my phone).
I actually trimmed it a bit more after this picture was taken to make it cleaner and even cut the top half of the holster off to make it easier to grip the phone when pulling it out. Best thing is, it's so fast to pop it in or pull it off to undock it - I actually had the phone in the holster with the cable plugged in while the Sugru was setting so it lined up the cable perfectly.
Re: Car Dock with integrated Micro USB Charging plug (ongoing project)
Very nice! I cant seem to find one anywhere that fits the note 2 with microusb. Keep us updated
Sent from my SGH-I317 using xda premium
Thanks all for you kind comments! I'm just happy I have a good setup now. Once the cable disappears behind the dock, it disappears from the drivers point of view - it goes behind the dashboard where it's connected to a USB charging unit and a 3 way switch (can choose between charging on, off and on with ignition), all wired directly into the fuse box. Last step is the cable to put it into car mode or smart dock mode (not decided which to use yet), also with audio out - though I would likely not use that, since I use Bluetooth to the car anyway. Thought I might as well make the whole cable with that option since I was making one anyway! I may have a stab at that this weekend
how about using NFC for changing profile? You could attache NFC tag to your holder
Yep, that's also an option and would be very easy to do - but I have Tasker installed and use the car mode to trigger a load of actions, so probably won't be needing NFC for that.
Disclaimer: I was given these items at a large discount for my honest and unbiased feedback/review.
Meenova
Ultimus Qi Wireless Charging Dock
The Ultimus dock looks like it is made out of brushed aluminum; however, it is actually made entirely out of plastic. I was a little disappointed to see this when I first took it out of the box since I expected a much better feeling item from Meenova. The dock honestly feels cheap no matter how you decide to look at it. It does feature and adjustable plastic base that makes it more versatile so your phone should be able to line up. I did find a small issue with this set up; since the base (shelf the phone sits on) can move it tends to creek & flex when you place your phone down on it. I had to use the lowest setting on it for the S7 Edge which might not bode well if you have a phone like the Note 5 or Nexus 6. If the phones coil were lower and it had to be raised upwards, I don’t think the charger would be stable since it rocks a little bit right now. The bottom of the charger does have a ‘tacky’ piece of material on the bottom to keep it from sliding around your desk like other chargers I have seen. It works well enough to not have the charger fall over when I place my S7 Edge down on it and Meenova includes 2 spare ones in the box just in case the original one wears out over time. Despite the charger being made of out plastic, and feeling a little rickety the brushed metal finish does have a nice texture to it.
What’s in the box:
-Ultimus Qi Wireless Charging Dock
-Micro-USB cable
-2x spare ‘tacky’ bottom pads
-Documentation
On the backside you will find a micro-USB input port that you can use to plug in the included micro-USB cable. Since the charger operates at the standard qi speed of 5V/1A, it doesn’t require a higher output wall adapter like some of the newer 10W+ wireless chargers do. When charging your phone, the viewing angle it gives you is nice and isn’t as steep as TYLT’s 45 degree one. The charger will take your S7 Edge about 3.5-4.5 hours to fully charge depending on how low your phones battery is.
Input rating, and base height settings
Micro-USB input
'Tacky bottom' with the plastic still on it
Side View
Front View
Base view with the plastic still on it
Charging
Overall:
I’m not a fan of the cheap feeling build this charger has compared to all of Meevoa’s other excellent products that I have. I’m going to keep it on my desk, and update this review if anything changes, breaks etc. over time.
Meenova
USB 2.0 Hub with Micro-USB charging
This little hub is unique in the sense that it offers both micro-USB ports alongside conventional USB ports that can be used for data transfer. The little hub isn’t designed to charge your phone, or anything that requires a huge power draw due to its limited 5V/2A input. Each port is limited to a 5V/0.5A output on the hub which makes sense given its 5V/2A input rating.
The hub does support data transfer, so you can charge a pair of Bluetooth headphones while plugging in a mouse or other peripheral for example. I don’t have too many devices that I could use the micro-USB ports to charge other than some headphones. I have a Surface Pro 4 which is what I tested the hub on. My SP4 is docked with Microsoft’s Surface dock which gives it addition ports/power to tap in to. I believe these ports are limited to 5V/1A or somewhere in that range. If I try to pull too much power from the port via this hub, or any other device it will deactivate my port until I reboot my Surface. For this reason, I only recommend using the data transfer USB ports for flash drives, or related devices, and the micro-USB ports for low power charging such as Bluetooth headphones. I didn’t have any issues using it to charge the mentioned headphones (Bose QC 20 2015 model, and my Samsung Level U Pro BT headphones). The Samsung Level U Pro headphones will not fit with the way the micro-USB port is oriented, but I can still use the regular USB port to charge it via a micro-USB cable.
What’s in the box:
-USB 2.0 Hub
-Micro-USB Cable
-Documentation
On the underside of the hub there is the same ‘tacky’ type base that will prevent the hub from sliding around your desk. I haven’t found any issues with it moving around so far, but I’ve only used it for a day or so now. As with the Ultimus Qi Dock, the hub is made out of plastic, but it feels significantly more sturdy in comparison.
Top
Front
Back
Bottom
Charging my Bose QC 20's
Overall:
I think this is a good little charging station for small devices like headphones if you are looking for a compact solution that doubles as an additional USB port for your computer. I use it to charge my Samsung Level U Pro BT headphones (not via the micro-USB port) and my Bose QC 20 noise canceling ones while I’m at my desk. I don’t use the USB 2.0 ports for data transfer since I normally just plug my USB 3.0 devices into my Surface dock for the faster transfer speeds. If you don’t need the speed (when plugging in BT mouse, or the S7 Edge for example), then the USB 2.0 ports will function just fine.
I'm anticipating power outages here from Hurricane Irma. I'm throwing together a quick AA powered cell phone charger using a voltage regulator circuit. My question concerns the wiring of the type C connector. I cut a cable that came with my car cigarette lighter charger (charging only, no data). The guides I have read all say there should be red, black, green and white. The red and black are supposed to be the power. Mine only has red, green and white, with an outer shield braid. The shield is connected to the outer section of the type C connector. I can't find any information on this setup. I've considered using the red for positive and the braid for ground, but I would rather not ruin my phone if this is wrong (Nexus 5x). Can anyone shed some light on this for me?
There are three contacts within the C connector which I assume are the three wires, and the outer section as I mentioned connects to the braided shield. Thanks for any help, I would like a way to charge after the power goes out, and I have tons of AA batteries here.
Thank you!
Unless you can find the info somewhere, I guess the only way to find out how to connect the cables properly is to either open up the cable where it connects to the type C connector, or open up the cigarette lighter charger and see how the wires are connected there.
you could also just connect the car charger to 5 or so AA in series and power it that way. It would also help since it will likely have a fuse and regulate the output to the phone properly.
I appreciate the quick replies. I finally just took a gamble and it seems to be working as it should. I used an LM2596 Buck DC-DC Converter Step Down Module connected to 8 AA cells adjusted to 5v. Works like a charm so at least I should have some access to info after the power goes out. Thanks again!