Database Develop

[Q] Whats With Charging This Thing?

When I first got the phone earlier this week, I could plug it into the charger in the wall just fine with no issues, it would just charge. Now suddenly it started telling me USB connected and goes to the MTP screen and of course locks up the phone.
I can of course bypass this by switching the phone to mass storage mode, but since I have Kies and use it occasionally, it would be nice to not have to switch that setting each time depending on my charging/syncing situation.
Why would it have not locked it up with the MTP screen originally when charging from the wall but now it does? The results are the same whether its plugged into the wall or the USB port on the computer. I have two Captivates bought brand new on a family plan, both do this now with any combination of chargers and USB cables, wall USB port, or car charger. Neither one has a common application installed since the other is my girlfriends who hasnt done much to it yet, so Im blaming the phone itself for now...
~T.J.

Interesting. I just checked with my BB charger and they dont do it using that charger, but they do it as soon as I connect the stock charger again.
Im wondering if its a voltage sensing circuit thats tripping due to the different voltages which should be applied - either wall charger or USB port. Maybe for some reason my wall chargers arent putting out enough voltage and its thinking its a USB port, but the BB charger is putting the right amount of voltage out?
Am I on base as to how it differentiates between wall or USB port? The number of pins obviously doesnt matter as all the cables have all the pins in them, unlike some charger cables which only have the power and ground. The only thing I can think of is that it uses the amount of voltage/current to tell the difference and create its reaction.
~T.J.

Sounds like a problem with the stock charger, maybe usb cable alignment. My iphone wall adapter does this with the samsung cable but the samsung wall adapter doesn't, same with my car charger from att. Also I have a $5 walmart car charger that has a cable that splits into both a mini usb and a micro usb that isn't a real usb cable, it's charge only. That cable has no problem on any wall or car adapter. I believe the phone detects if its connected by checking voltage on a data pin (just a guess really) so if a nonstock charger is used it assumes that it is a computer. But it may also be a data signal that is given off by the charger.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

did you try a new charger and if so, did it work? I've had my captivate since Thursday and on Thursday it charged and everything fine, but then yesterday,
a) no computer I connect it to while recognize it, no matter what I have it set too and have latest drivers installed
b) if I charge it, after I unplug it, it locks up to black screen and I have to remove the battery to get it to work
c) I also have an in-dash touchscreen monitor in my car that has a usb port because it works with an ipod. I plugged the usb into to use it as a car charger, unplugged it, same thing
d) it did say usb connected after it was unplugged, but I switched from mass storage to ask on connection and it went away
so is an actual wall charger the solution?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

and now I unplug it, and if it locks, it will not unlock, just black screen
I have to take out the battery and then only way to get it to turn back on, is to plug it back in the wall
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

^^^Ouch that's not right, if you can't figure it out you may need to re-flash or just bring it back under warranty, or insurance
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

[Q] Faster USB Charging?

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?
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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.

[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

[Q] difference between usb power and normal power supply

Hi!
I am building a special car charger for my galaxy s.
I put the 5V to MicroUSB VCC and also GND...
The phone is charging.
Here the problem:
I'm using tasker app to detect many phone states and automatically switch some features when pluging in some devices. I noticed that the normal galaxy s charger is detected as normal power supply. My method with just VCC=5V makes the phone think that there is a usb cable on it. So it says: Charging with USB power.
I started thinking about how the normal power supply tells the phone that it is no USB. First I thought of the 5th pin (pin 4: ID) on the micro USB connector. Later I noticed that it seems that the normal charger does not has this pin. So it should be open circuit like I have on my charger...
Does anybody know what the normal charger does to tell the phone it is a normal charger?
Additional story:
I found another usb device with micro usb which is charging with the normal charger only! With normal usb cable it is not possible to charge it. Right now I can't charge this device with my car adaptor.

What sets the charging type is the resistance between the data pins. USB charging will be limited to about 500mA, a plain charger can deliver more current, thus reducing charge time. Somewhere on XDA resistor values are listed for various modes but this site has a really bad search engine.

rogem_kk said:
... but this site has a really bad search engine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are right!
normally nobody dares to say something bad about this site. Don't get me wrong... The information and the community is awesome but the search engine is awful.

But google works still OK
Refer to the thread: Click and look for post 60 to start from there are some interesting conclusions, e.g. in post 71 as well...

[Q] Is any kind of fast charging possible?

Team,
First off, I want to say thank you for creating an amazing resource for these phones. I currently have a Galaxy S4 Active MF3. I bought the phone with the intent of using it in conjunction with my car stereo, which is a Pioneer 8500 BHS. I've paired this up with a Samsung MHL 2.0 adapter and ARLiberator. On top of this, I have installed a OBD-II bluetooth module in the car that also communicates with the phone. The end result is that the phone delivers full touch screen control of all apps on the phone, full bluetooth hands free calling, voice control, GPS (Tom Tom), Pandora, and most importantly, gives me a second dashboard where I can customize any gauge that the car did not offer stock, such as boost gauge, wideband air/fuel ratio, exhaust gas temperature, and a few other things. I'm using the full version of Torque to do this. It is amazingly useful, with one exception. The Samsung MHL adapter never lets the phone charge at more than 300 milliamps. The USB connection straight from the stereo charges at 900, and a 2.1 AMP charger with the Samsung cable will charge at 1900. However, regardless of the combination I use, the MHL always cuts this down to 300. This causes the phone to lose about 15-20% of it's charge every hour. For short trips, this is OK, but for longer trips, I can no longer use GPS, which is a big problem, as that's the whole reason I got the phone. Other users of the standard Galaxy S4 and this combination have been able to get around this issue by installing a ROM with Fast Charge enabled, which gives them 800 milliamps. This is just enough to let the phone be used and slowly charged at the same time.
I understand that currently we're limited to stock kernels with modifications layered on top (GoldenEye, ETC...), and that the Fast Charge code requires a kernel recompile in order to function. Is this correct? Do I have any other options? I've considered wiring in a wireless charger just to get the phone to charge on long trips, but I'm concerned that wireless charging in addition to the USB input and charge may cause the battery to overheat or reduce it's life.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance,
Matt

as far as I know, there is a possibility of welding a 100 Ohm (or just short circuit (more risky, but I've read that some guys using a standard usb cable with simple bypassed Data-wires in combination with the S4A)) between the D+ and D+ wires of the USB-Cable (should be the green and white wire within the cable). Regarding http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs a resistance below 200 ohm is the sign for a dedicated charging cable/device.
I've seen a manual of an sgs user, having full loading speed in his car, using a modified cable. Unfortunately his manual is in German, u can find it here. All credits belong to him.
by the way, i am pretty sure u will find an similar manual within this xda-board using the right search patterns, cause It does not seem to be device related.

shaDNfro,
Thank you very much for your reply, but unfortunately the 'cable mod' will not work in this instance. The reason that it won't work is that the stereo needs the Data + and Data - for Audio and synchronization data being sent back to the headunit for broadcast, and the MHL blocks the D+ and D- resistance from reaching the phone. To verify this, I took a stock Samsung cable with a voltage inverter in the car, and wired the whole system up into the MHL adapater. The system still charges at 300 ma, despite the fact that I can plug the same cable going into the MHL directly into the phone and get 1900 ma. If I use a 'modded' cable without the inverter, then the MHL still charges at 300 ma, but AppRadio will not function, as it gets no signal from the data ports on the USB. To add insult to injury, the MHL input is a 12 pin interface, and shunting D+ and D- cables on the MHL output is dangerous, as the system is doing more with the 12 pins than a standard 4 pin USB. I really don't want to fry a 400+ dollar phone.
What we really need here is one of two things:
1. The ability to upload a recompiled kernel into the system (I know that we have a bounty on this and it's not going anywhere)
2. The ability to modify the input amperage without a recompiled kernel
I'm not sure if either of the above two things can be done. I'm either going to have to live with this or get a new phone.
If ANYONE has any other ideas, please let me know!
Matt

Is it possible to mod usb cable to take the power directly from car charger?
Connect usb chargin wires to car charger from phones end of usb??
Sent from my GT-I9295 using poor english.

Vaiski said:
Is it possible to mod usb cable to take the power directly from car charger?
Connect usb chargin wires to car charger from phones end of usb??
Sent from my GT-I9295 using poor english.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Vaiski,
That's not a bad idea! From some more of my recent research, it appears that I now have three options I can look into:
1. Vaiski's idea of adding a 2.1 AMP second USB line to the + and - phone input while cutting the current MHL + and - cable output. This would essentially allow the MHL to get its power from the stereo's USB input, and the phone to get its power from an external, high amperage USB line and still allow me to keep the data flowing between the phone, MHL adapter, and stereo. I've got a second 'generic' MHL adapter that I wouldn't mind cutting up to spare my $50.00 Samsung MHL adapter if this doesn't work. This wouldn't allow the system to get the full 1900 ma, but it should get me upwards of 300 ma, which is where I am now.
2. I can add a wireless charger into the mix. From what I've read, if you charge with USB and wireless charging at the same time, the wireless charging would take priority. This would give me the same results as option #1.
3. I can try using the samsung S4 Multimedia dock. It appears that the dock doesn't have the same voltage output limitations as the MHL adapter. It does cost $100.00, though, and it's rather bulky.
These are all really great ideas, but what really bothers me about all this is that it shouldn't be necessary. If Samsung/AT&T hadn't installed a bootloader kernel checksum, none of this would matter. I could simply put a custom kernel in and call it a day with my current hardware. Hopefully someone will crack the bootloader soon. That would really be the best option instead of being locked into 4.2.2.
Thanks again!
Matt

s4 active charging
mattb22 said:
Vaiski,
Thanks again!
Matt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know whether or not you found a solution to your problem yet. I discovered same problem using stock charging cable and having Bluetooth, Wi-Fi amd GPS turned on, playing music through usb to a pioneer stereo.... no Bluetooth on stereo, but was using a BT hands-free device. Anyway, same problem as you, charger wouldn't keep up. Tried turning off Wi-Fi... had mobile hotspot turned on for wife's tablet, helped some but still drained faster than charged. A couple months ago, I couldn't find the factory charging/data cable and phone needed charging, so I tried a cable from one of those battery powered phone chargers, thing is only about a foot long, but phone said "charging" it went from about 30% to full in less than an hour, this phone has never charged that fast. I've experimented with it a bit, and it won't work as a data cable but it will keep up with everything turned on. I don't know if it's the length of the cable, or if the pins on the cable are different, in any case, try different cables, if you only need charge while your driving then the lack of data won't be a problem, though I liked being able to charge and listen to music at the same time, I'd rather know that my phone won't be dead when I get to the other end of a long road trip.... besides I figured out that a flash drive plugged into stereo plays music better.
Hope this helps