47 replies to this topic

[YoungHog]

Metoo, on Mar 18 2006, 04:48, said:

The answer's quite simple. The mains charger is rated to give 2 Amps at 5 V. Most generic USB chargers and PC USB ports only give 0.5 Amp - if you are lucky (which is within the USB spec). So there simply isn't enough current to start off a full charge. Worse still, drawing too much current from a  cheap adapter could cause the regulator it to overheat and fail, and stuff 12V into your precious phone. I doubt if any of them have over voltage protection.
It's silly to spend $1000  on a phone, then try and save a $10 by using a cheap / borrowed charger. Even more so to continue to try and use it even though it's obvious it doesn't work. Just because the plug fits doesn't mean it's up to the job. Don't risk it. Use something that is specified properly for your device. If you want something more flexible than the manufacturer offerings, Boxwave have a range of high curent chargers (>1A)  for this purpose.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I feel ya.. I have just confirmed on 2 different occasions.. Overnight charges.. That the off brand charger that I got for unit.. Is in fact draining the battery and not charging it. Regardless of how much battery is left when placed on that unit..  The next day on both tests.. I couldn't turn the unit on and had to use the original OEM charger.

I will from here forward only use the OEM charger and OEM USB charger.. Not much I can do with the car charger as it does its duty and its never in there more than 7 hours..

just an FYI..

YoungHog

[K22]

Metoo, on Mar 18 2006, 10:48, said:

overheat and fail, and stuff 12V into your precious phone. I doubt if any of them have over voltage protection.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It gives me great pleasure to advise that the HTC magician, does indeed have overvoltage protection. I can vouch for this first hand, after stuffing 12v into mine... and it lives!   All I got was a red light, then a hard reset... lucky me!

Edited by K22, 01 April 2006 - 05:54 PM.

[Karucifer]

Metoo, on Dec 16 2005, 19:34, said:

You need to check your facts. As awarner says, they are NOT designed to run flat, in fact the internal structure is permanently damaged if they fall below approx. 2.5V per cell.  Your analogy is utter rubbish too - you yourself admit that a kettle needs a "small amount of water", i.e. a minimum charge. What happens if you turn the kettle on with absolutely no water?

The batteries used in PDAs and mobile phones have internal controllers which temporarily disconnect the battery when it gets close to the low voltage limit to prevent further discharge. That's why it may become unresponsive to normal charging. If the cell voltage falls below approx 1.5V the controller considers it faulty and permanently disables the battery. This is done for consumer safety - as Lithium can be highly explosive if mistreated (e.g. by trying to charge a faulty cell).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually the kettle analogy would refer to water level, not the ability to boil. An empty kettle can't provide boiled water but if you fill it (charge) it can.

Looking after around 150 li-ion and li-poly based devices and regularly seeing them run flat I'd have to disagree on the discharge front too, zero failures in over 2 years since they were put out in the field. Newer cell technology is no more prone to collapse or failure than NiMH - they don't develop the same type of memory either.

The only documented issue with HTC devices and Lithium cells is that some models won't charge if completely discharged from a PC USB connection, but this shouldn't be a problem with the desk charger.

Considering the frequency of these reports I'd suggest a few dud batteries are out there, which is no shock considering the tens of thousands being sold each week. People don't post threads about the ones which work

[kkhalil76]

Can anyone please give me instructions on how to hotwire the battery? I lost my original charger, battery went dead, USB not charging it, so I ordered an off-brand mains charger from ebay (waiting to get it), but from what I'm reading here it probably won't work when I get it. I called my local T-Mobile store and they don't have any spare chargers in stock, so I need to hotwire the battery and then charge it with the off-brand charger when I get it... Any help appreciated.

[nevawlkalone]

After reading every post in this thread im lost....whats the moral?

Dont let your phone die or do...

I always run down and charge items atleast twice before main use...ma c550 both iPAQ pocket PC's my iPOD does it frequently 'coz i use it 24/7!

What is to be done?

Edited by nevawlkalone, 16 May 2006 - 01:37 PM.

[Metoo]

nevawlkalone, on May 16 2006, 13:34, said:

After reading every post in this thread im lost....whats the moral?

Dont let your phone die or do...

I always run down and charge items atleast twice before main use...ma c550 both iPAQ pocket PC's my iPOD does it frequently 'coz i use it 24/7!

What is to be done?

I wouldn't worry about that, I do the same. The damage comes when you forget about it and leave it discharged for a long time, so that the self-discharge of the battery drops the voltage below the limit for normal charging.

[kkhalil76]

So no one has instructions on how to hotwire the battery?

[Psyc]

I found this site after experiencing the same problem and researching it on the net.  I saved my usb cables, but got my imate running again after connecting it to a car battery charger for about two minutes.  WTF up with this, and is there a sollution yet?  I'm getting a new phone asap as I'm not interested in this struggle with a piece of plastic equipment.

Imate's ass, bring back my nokia!

jonhitch, on Dec 13 2005, 10:20, said:

Just to let you know of an experience I had over the weekend. I had run my battery right down - I wasn't near a computer to sync and didn't have my mains charger with me. When I noticed I only had a small amount of charge left I decided to turn off the unit and charge later.

When it came to charging I attached my unit to a usb sync cable and left it to charge. However no light came on and I was worried that the connection was not working properly. My Wizard had no charge too so I couldn't turn on to check. I decided to attach to my mains charger and let it top up overnight.

The next morning - still no charge! At this point I was starting to panic. The unit would not respond to anything and would not show it was charging. Agghhh! I went online and found (via howardsforum) that this has happened to a number of other users. Apparently if the charge left in the battery is too low then it will not even take charge!

I tried everything however the only way I was able to charge the battery was to remove it from my Wizard, strip down a USB cable and charge using the bare cables (try at your own risk!). My battery then charged up enough for me to then insert in the machine and the battery to then top up as normal!

So the moral of the story is - don't let your battery run down too low!