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Alternative 5V chargers (currency?)

Hi, I'm really a noob when it comes to electronics. For all I know, when a cable fits it should work
I have a couple of microUSB chargers laying around. They all have an output of 5 Volt but they output a currency that differs from the standard charger (1A).
What is the "golden rule" wrt currency? Are chargers with a currency that is less than 1A save?

current is not pushed, it is pulled by your device as necessary. voltage is pushed, so correct voltage,5V in this case, is very important. As for the current, if the charger can't supply enough current with that voltage it will get hot and cause problems. i.e., you should have a current greater or equal to your original charger and same voltage. this applies to ALL of your electronics.

ozkaya said:
current is not pushed, it is pulled by your device as necessary. voltage is pushed, so correct voltage,5V in this case, is very important. As for the current, if the charger can't supply enough current with that voltage it will get hot and cause problems. i.e., you should have a current greater or equal to your original charger and same voltage. this applies to ALL of your electronics.
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Thank you very much for this explanation. What do you think, a 5v charger with a current of 850mA will that cause big problems when I use it just accidentally to charge my device.

appelflap said:
Thank you very much for this explanation. What do you think, a 5v charger with a current of 850mA will that cause big problems when I use it just accidentally to charge my device.
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It probably wouldn't be a lot of problems, if you really have to do it, charge it when the screen is turned off, so that you will need less current.

You can charge without risk with any USB charger. Unless the charger "signals" that it can supply more than 500mA by having the 2 USB data pins shorted, the HD2 won't pull more than 500mA, which is the minimum a USB charger must be able to supply.

"Golden rule" - If You have 5V its safe for Your phone, current level is determining the time that You need to charge battery.
Kilrah sad that HD2 'pull' no more than 500 mA - ok, if this is true ( i believe it is , he always make some test for it ) original charger needs about 2h, with 250 mA charger it will take more than twice of that time - 4h ( it's not fully linear )
@Kilrah - did You test what's power ( current taken ) consumption during charging ? it's really only 500 mA ? if so, than why HTC use 1A charger ? usually safety rules are about 15 - 30% more than max current needed.
0.5 A + 30% = 0.65A , so why 1A ?

The minimum current what HD2 accepts is 500mA because this is the USB standart.
If the supply could deliver more than 500mA the HD2 will take it up to 1000mA. The maximum current which the HD2 can use is 1A (1000mA).
So if your charger can deliver 5V and 2000mA the HD2 will limit the current to 1000mA. So you can use a charger, when the voltage is 5V and the current at least 500mA.
The push pull principe in the post before is correct, because the charger is a voltage source and not a current source.

I am already enjoying the benefits of proposed standardisation of phone chargers to micro usb pin. Since I upgraded with HD2 from Nokia N97 I am using the nokia wall chargers as well as well as car charger. I didnt have to buy new charging accessories for this mighty HD2.
By the way would the Nokia data cables (micro usb) be able to sync data when used with HD2. Havent tried yet.....

afropolak said:
@Kilrah - did You test what's power ( current taken ) consumption during charging ? it's really only 500 mA ? if so, than why HTC use 1A charger ?
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As said, IF the 2 USB data pins are NOT shorted (that's how it is by default on <500mA/3rd party chargers, or on a PC), the HD2 will limit the current it pulls to ~450mA.
IF they are shorted (on chargers that support higher current like the supplied one) the HD2 will pull more. With the supplied charger it's about 850mA, with a 3rd party "800mA" Chinese charger that didn't have the pins shorted but was modded to have it done, it pulls about 650mA.
PlayStation said:
By the way would the Nokia data cables (micro usb) be able to sync data when used with HD2. Havent tried yet.....
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Micro USB is a standard, so every micro USB cable should be the same. If not, you've got a botched knockoff.

so how do you short the cable assuming I get a car charger without a USB to micro USB cable and sourced my own cable from a parts bin that was probably for computer usage?

cheahcl said:
so how do you short the cable assuming I get a car charger without a USB to micro USB cable and sourced my own cable from a parts bin that was probably for computer usage?
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I don't think that would be a good move!
You would have to be certain of the regulation circuitry of the charger and it's ability to cope with the attendant initial draw of the battery when plugged in.
This will depend on the state of drain of the battery and the various functions in operation at the time on the phone.
At the moment of plugging in is when the draw will be highest and when any protection circuitry will be essential.
A well topped up battery will "draw" less than a depleted one and will continue charging on as little as 350mAh (again depending on what is running on the phone).
A very depleted battery may well not even start the charging process at such a level. That's why the HD2 comes with a 1000mAh wall charger!
The levels quoted for PC/Laptop USB power are nominal off load levels and will vary depending on any othe devices plugged in on the same bus supply.
So, with a PC that has a few attached USB devices, you may well NOT see 500mAh and as has been reported before, you can get battery depletion back into the USB port as other devices draw from the phone!
Always best to keep the battery topped up to prevent "charging strain" on the cells. This will maximise the capacity available when you need it for those longer periods of time.

[Q] Compatibility with car charger on 1.5A and 5V

Hi,
a friend of mine have gifted to me a car charger that is incompatible with my Legend, because is miniusb (with output: 5V - 1.5A) and the regular charger in bundle with the phone is microusb with output: 5V - 1A.
Can I use the car charger, with a differte cable (the car charger can use usb cables), or the current in output is to much for the phone?

It doesn't actually matter how powerful the PSU (power source unit) is, even if it was 5V / 10A you could still use it... To put it to easy talk, the phone will just take what it needs. The important parameter is Voltage, which is OK - 5V

Dr.Romca said:
It doesn't actually matter how powerful the PSU (power source unit) is, even if it was 5V / 10A you could still use it...
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That's not quite true. The power does matter, but only in a limited way. The voltage (volts) must match. The current (amps) or power (watts) rating of the supply must be at least that which the device draws.
So in this case; yes, you are absolutely fine. You just need an adaptor to make the plug fit.
My work phone has a mini-USB socket, but requires 1.5A to charge successfully, which is three times as much as standard USB. My personal phone has the same socket, but will charge when connected to a conventional USB host like a laptop, which only supplies up to 0.5A. I can use any USB charger with my own phone, but I can only charge my work phone from its own charger.
Apparently I've not made enough posts to include links, but you can google "Charging Batteries Using USB Power - Maxim" and click on the first link, as long as you don't mind reading a moderately technical document.

Don't nitpick I'm an engineer so I know how these things work end to end, If you have power and a good charger (not meaning the car charger, but the actual charging circuit handling the battery charging inside the phone) you can charge even from 5V / 200mA It'll just take more time, of course you'd have to add more than the phone consumpts, but if you do that you're basically OK...
What you're referring to is USB charging, we all know USB doesn't have to have full 5V but in case of charger, there will be 5V...(possibly even more when open)

I have this car charger with 5V and 1000mAh
http://www.ansmann.de/cms/de/consumroot/chargers-and-power-supplies/universal-chargers/carcharger-micro-usb.html
and i must say it is worse than the Original charger for the Wall outlet from HTC -- it takes about twice as long to charge the phone.
And when i use my phone for Navigation it even slowly discharges the phone - which is truly annoying!
EDIT:
I did some research: on original HTC Chargers the Data+ and Data- pins on the micro-USB-connector are short-circuited to tell the HTC-Phone that it connected to an original charger - only when the phone realizes this, it charges with 1000mA!!! Otherwise it only charges with the USB-specificated 500mA
You can easily check this when you charge your Phone with a 3rd-Party charger, go to:
Settings-> Telephone-Status -> Battery
Here is usually written charging (USB)
only with original chargers you get "charging" (AC)
I opened the connector of my Car-charger and short-circuited the Data+ and Data- --> Now it says charging (AC)
I still have to test if charges faster now, and charges the phone while navigation - because until now it discharges while navigation, despite being connected to the Car-charger.
So to say it short: If you want to quickly charge your phone in your car buy a original HTC Car charger, or short-circuit a 3rd-Party one.

f4b1ck said:
Hi,
a friend of mine have gifted to me a car charger that is incompatible with my Legend, because is miniusb (with output: 5V - 1.5A) and the regular charger in bundle with the phone is microusb with output: 5V - 1A.
Can I use the car charger, with a differte cable (the car charger can use usb cables), or the current in output is to much for the phone?
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don't worry you can charge your phone with no problem
i have the same 5V 1.2 A ,it's charging with no problem

It's good to have stornger charger. Probably you wil be able to charge your phone faster But it always have to be 5V.

Make non-motorola charger work?

So this is my first motorola and I had heard of the issues they have with non motorola chargers. Now I am experiencing it first hand. With the same ac charger I have charged many phones with and is capable of 1 amp output (D4 charger is only rated at 850 mA) my D4 struggles. With the device off it charged painfully slowly. While on it cannot even charge. It discharges while plugged in despite the charging indicator and reporting "charging (AC)" in status.
How does it know it is not a moto charger? Is it just about the resistance between the data pins? For most other phones shorting the data pins on the charger indicates to the phone that it is a high current charger and not a computer USB port. Is there a similar trick for motorola phones? I would rather not have to purchase an overpriced moto oem car charger. I have a perfectly fine 1.2 amp car charger soldered directly into my car's 12v system behind the dash. Can I make it work?
Thanks!

On a regular basis I successfully charge my D4 using both a charger from a Samsung Reality feature phone and from a B&N Nook Simple Touch, in addition to the one that came with it. I've also used a variety of car chargers.
Sent from my DROID4 using XDA

Actually, so far I have only one charger that had any trouble charging the phone (it was a $3 charger with 2 USB ports), but the $3 charger with ONE USB port works fine, as does the Nook Color charger, Blackberry charger, and Samsung charger I have tried it with, as well as both my old car charger and Lenovo's always-on charging port on their laptops.

JKingDev said:
So this is my first motorola and I had heard of the issues they have with non motorola chargers. Now I am experiencing it first hand. With the same ac charger I have charged many phones with and is capable of 1 amp output (D4 charger is only rated at 850 mA) my D4 struggles. With the device off it charged painfully slowly. While on it cannot even charge. It discharges while plugged in despite the charging indicator and reporting "charging (AC)" in status.
How does it know it is not a moto charger? Is it just about the resistance between the data pins? For most other phones shorting the data pins on the charger indicates to the phone that it is a high current charger and not a computer USB port. Is there a similar trick for motorola phones? I would rather not have to purchase an overpriced moto oem car charger. I have a perfectly fine 1.2 amp car charger soldered directly into my car's 12v system behind the dash. Can I make it work?
Thanks!
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Not sure how it knows one way or the other. I've successfully used a few LG chargers to charge my D4. The only really hickup I've ran into is the usb cables from those lg chargers won't sync data to the phones when plugged into a computer, they'll still charge off the usb port but won't read as a usb connection to the computer.

Heh, captcha is trynply.
Every charger I've used, including an old charger for an EN-V, kindle, supplied, and various other phone chargers works just fine with this phone. Probably have a bad charger, guy.

Thanks for the replies. I guess I was wrong. My modded car charger works just fine. I guess its just time to retire the old charger that I have been using. I think it might be my old nexus one charger.

A more important question would be does the thing charge over computer-bound USB ports?
When you're without a charger, but there's a USB cable that fits your phone, sometimes a regular USB data port is the only that is around... even though it might take a really long time.
Try a computer bound USB port, then try your actual charger, again. Or do the hard reset (vol down plus power, hold until it actually does it), which is just like pulling the battery.
See how that goes.
Chris

RueTheDayTrebek said:
A more important question would be does the thing charge over computer-bound USB ports?
When you're without a charger, but there's a USB cable that fits your phone, sometimes a regular USB data port is the only that is around... even though it might take a really long time.
Try a computer bound USB port, then try your actual charger, again. Or do the hard reset (vol down plus power, hold until it actually does it), which is just like pulling the battery.
See how that goes.
Chris
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It does in fact charge via USB port. In fact, it has a 'charge only' mode. Depending on how much juice your port puts out, and what you are doing with the phone, it will charge slowly/not at all, though.

from my experiences, the droid 4 will not accept lg microusb cables, the charging bricks work tho. i use a blackberry microusb on mine along with a Logitech and the stock moto ones. 1.2 amps is a bit high but not crazy sounding. personally, I charge at 1 amp.

USB fast charging (kernel)

Some kernels come with USB fast charging as an option that you can toggle. If you use this, does it shorten the battery health long-term ? I'm not referring to turbo chargers (aftermarket), this is just the kernel setting. I recall reading this awhile ago, but I was curious myself.

mikeprius said:
Some kernels come with USB fast charging as an option that you can toggle. If you use this, does it shorten the battery health long-term ? I'm not referring to turbo chargers (aftermarket), this is just the kernel setting. I recall reading this awhile ago, but I was curious myself.
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all it does is increase the voltage coming in when charging via a USB. USB charging voltage is about a quarter/third that of a wall charger. no, no negative affects.

Not at all, even with USB fast charge on it will draw less power than if it were plugged in a regular wall charger or the turbo charger. There's an app called Ampere you can use to monitor how much power the phone draws while charging (or even discharging) you can use it to see the differences between regular usb, fast charge usb, turbo charge, etc.

Ok, that's good to know. Now I can re-toggle the feature and not worry.:good:

What about if it is toggled on and you put it on a regular charger ? Is it still fine ?

mikeprius said:
What about if it is toggled on and you put it on a regular charger ? Is it still fine ?
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if its on and you charge it in a wall outlet, nothing will happen. it will only work on a real USB connection.

Motorola put in support for the Qualcomm rapid charge in the nexus 6.
Read up:
https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/quick-charge
It allows the battery to charge at a higher voltage with USB connections and Qualcomm certified rapid chargers AND a compatible cable. The nexus 6 can still recharge with standard chargers and cables, just at a slower rate regardless of kernel support.
To answer the damage questions: Moto says no damage to the battery as long as certified chargers are used.

Can't you use any standard usb charging cable? (Assuming it's not really long or poor quality)

USB Power Delivery Cable

Looking at this article it seems like an upgraded cable could charge a device faster. If the phone shows "Fast charging" can that be improved upon? Could a USB PD cable charge faster? Is the cable that came with the phone the best?

It is true that the cable intervenes with the charge the battery receives, but, in the end, there is a limit in the charge the charger itself can supply

I have used a couple of different USB Type-C cables that are said to be suppose to offer much faster charging speeds than the bundled stock Samsung Type-C cable. Honestly I don't notice a difference in charging speeds.

The real proof is always testing with a USB wattmeter and a phone that has less than 80% charge (screen-off).
The most I get out of a stock charging brick and a Anker Type-C cable is 18 Watts. Stock cable gives me 16 Watts under the above conditions