41 replies to this topic

[t0mm13b]

Hi guys,

Can you please try this and give it a shot, when you install it, it's called USB Charge Commander.

When you select "Disable USB Charging", the charging of the battery becomes disabled. Likewise, "Enable USB Charging" re-enables it - Simple really...

Let me know how it goes?

Will push this out to github ASAP.... Have phun \o/

Thanks!

Edited: ITs available to ye all in spirit of open source - have fun in browsing the code - might prove to be educational for those learning to program.

Attached Files

•  UsbChargeCommander_debug.zip   15.09K   774 downloads

Edited by t0mm13b, 03 March 2011 - 07:12 PM.

[css771]

t0mm13b, on Feb 28 2011, 18:43, said:

Hi guys,

Can you please try this and give it a shot, when you install it, it's called USB Charge Commander.

When you select "Disable USB Charging", the charging of the battery becomes disabled. Likewise, "Enable USB Charging" re-enables it - Simple really...

Let me know how it goes?

Will push this out to github ASAP....

Thanks!

Tried it out just now and it works accordingly as reported in Spare Parts.
With USB Charging set to off, the notification area battery icon still appears as though the phone is charging though Spare Parts reports otherwise.
Would be great if this was included in the Settings app, (probably under Applications > Development ?)
And a user may forget that they have turned USB Charging off and later realise it. So maybe if a notification were to be shown that Phone is not be charging, it would be a good idea.

Still, overall great idea

[t0mm13b]

css771, on Feb 28 2011, 14:08, said:

Tried it out just now and it works accordingly as reported in Spare Parts.
With USB Charging set to off, the notification area battery icon still appears as though the phone is charging though Spare Parts reports otherwise.
Would be great if this was included in the Settings app, (probably under Applications > Development ?)
And a user may forget that they have turned USB Charging off and later realise it. So maybe if a notification were to be shown that Phone is not be charging, it would be a good idea.

Still, overall great idea

Cheers for the idea... let me work on this more to flesh it out...

Incidentally, the idea came about, it was there on Eclair, under Settings > USB.. when I first got the Blade, I used VillainROM, and noticed the setting was in place to do that job, then it got dropped from the official AOSP trunk! Then I switched over to Modaco ROM Froyo, and it is no longer there....

Don't ask me why.... still I thought it would be nice to get this up and running to compensate!

Thanks!

Edited by t0mm13b, 28 February 2011 - 02:36 PM.

[richardkemp]

Fascinating... but what is it for?

[pellonet]

richardkemp, on Feb 28 2011, 15:07, said:

Fascinating... but what is it for?

+1
I can't think of a situation where I would need this but would be interested to hear of a scenario where it would be useful.
Thanks anyhow though.

[t0mm13b]

pellonet, on Feb 28 2011, 15:14, said:

+1
I can't think of a situation where I would need this but would be interested to hear of a scenario where it would be useful.
Thanks anyhow though.

Ok, imagine you are on a train, and there's no power point for your laptop, and you want to transfer files across to the handset and vice versa, instead of draining the battery on the laptop, disable the usb charging on the handset, and copy files across, in that way prolonging the battery on the laptop.

The other situation is that out of concern in the event of messing up or possibly reducing the battery's longevity by constantly plugging in the handset to transfer files (face it, suppose you needed to transfer a package) then unplug the handset (this would be more handier for devs). That would be where it can be used.

Despite advances in battery technologies etc, the risk is there anyway by reducing the quality of the battery by plugging/unplugging. And anyway, its a nice feature to have...

Edited by t0mm13b, 28 February 2011 - 03:26 PM.

[wbaw]

t0mm13b, on Feb 28 2011, 15:25, said:

the risk is there anyway by reducing the quality of the battery by plugging/unplugging.

There's no risk, in fact it's better for Li-Ion batteries to be charged in this way.

[PeaNut_HU]

wbaw, on Feb 28 2011, 17:29, said:

There's no risk, in fact it's better for Li-Ion batteries to be charged in this way.

Yep, there is no "memory effect" on Li-Ion and Li-Polymer batteries, and it is also always accompanied by a deep-discharge protection circuit.

[IronDoc]

It would mean battery level reporting got worse quicker I guess.
Don't really see much need but a lot of people have been asking for it so it's good that it's there.

[wondertx]

t0mm13b, on Feb 28 2011, 13:13, said:

Hi guys,

Can you please try this and give it a shot, when you install it, it's called USB Charge Commander.

When you select "Disable USB Charging", the charging of the battery becomes disabled. Likewise, "Enable USB Charging" re-enables it - Simple really...

Let me know how it goes?

Will push this out to github ASAP.... Have phun \o/

Thanks!

I think it's really a useful tool, cos I connect the phone via USB from time to time

[ManMetDeHamer]

wondertx, on Mar 2 2011, 15:24, said:

I think it's really a useful tool, cos I connect the phone via USB from time to time

Edited by ManMetDeHamer, 12 April 2011 - 04:31 PM.

[sm4tik]

t0mm13b
now that you're on gen2 CM7 (just finished reading your conversion process ) can you please test and see if you get this little helper working as it should? I tried CM7 for a while and found your little app while searching for a universal way to disable usb charging (SS has kallt_kaffe's own tool?), but each time I plugged in usb, every battery indicator I could find told me it was still charging. I've been using usb quite frequently for really short periods and it really bothers me to mess with the battery when it's really not necessary and it would be nice to have a tool like this around!

[t0mm13b]

sm4tik, on Apr 15 2011, 21:25, said:

t0mm13b
now that you're on gen2 CM7 (just finished reading your conversion process ) can you please test and see if you get this little helper working as it should? I tried CM7 for a while and found your little app while searching for a universal way to disable usb charging (SS has kallt_kaffe's own tool?), but each time I plugged in usb, every battery indicator I could find told me it was still charging. I've been using usb quite frequently for really short periods and it really bothers me to mess with the battery when it's really not necessary and it would be nice to have a tool like this around!

Thanks sm4tik for the heads up... will check it out and update the github repo also

[Dark_Sorcerer]

t0mm13b, on Apr 16 2011, 15:34, said:

Thanks sm4tik for the heads up... will check it out and update the github repo also

Hi there,

Is this tool working in CM7? =)

Thanks!

[kogos]

it works in CM7... the only problem is it wont update the status bar icon..

If u disable usb charging with this app, when phone is on USB, status bar shows its charging, and the red led is on, indicating it's charging. However, if u go into settings, u'll see it's on "discharge" state. So, it works, but its just the status bar not updating correcty

[sm4tik]

kogos, on May 19 2011, 14:08, said:

it works in CM7... the only problem is it wont update the status bar icon..

If u disable usb charging with this app, when phone is on USB, status bar shows its charging, and the red led is on, indicating it's charging. However, if u go into settings, u'll see it's on "discharge" state. So, it works, but its just the status bar not updating correcty

I'll give it another go at some point. When I was testing it, it was charging all over the place = battery status, spare parts, etc.. but a lot has changed since Good to know it should be working now!

Edit: Tested and working. I was actually using the USBChargeCommander.apk from github earlier, not the one provided in the OP, so that might also be the reason for it not working for me in the first place.

Edited by sm4tik, 20 May 2011 - 08:04 PM.

[ezablade]

I've had a search and can't find an answer, so, here goes. Is there a way to do exactly the opposite to this?

I need to be able to charge without USB data connection kicking in. Two reasons, firstly, it sometimes mounts the SD card and none of the apps run from the card and secondly. admin rights to connect unauthorised hardware to usb ports is disabled at work and I'm pretty sure attempts are logged.... would be nice not to have the various warnings, errors and info pop-ups appearing when connecting my Blade to the work laptop to give the battery a boost after a day of browsing etc when bored!

I know you can buy power olny USB cables, but, these seem to cost 5 times the cost of a data one, which is odd as they do less!

For getting data onto the phone I just use FTP anyway, as this means I don't have to dig the usb cable out at home, where I charge from the mains. Yes, I am too lazy to reach over and unplug from the mains charger, plug into the computer and then switch back again. Also annoys the missus if her phone is charging and I nick the cable and her battery is flat the next morning.

[p0peye]

PeaNut_HU, on Mar 1 2011, 18:41, said:

Yep, there is no "memory effect" on Li-Ion and Li-Polymer batteries, and it is also always accompanied by a deep-discharge protection circuit.

I connect the phone to PC and disconnect it 20-30 up to 50x in a day (transfer the data all the time to PC, but have to get out of the office as soon as the phone rings to take the call - or to make one...)

I have heard that the Li-Ion battery don't suffer a "memory effect".

My interpretation of the "mem effect" is that with time, the Li-Ion battery won't provide shorter using time if it is randomly charged (not drained to 5% and then fully charged).

But what about a charging cycles (1000, 2000 cycles?)

How do you count a charging cycle:
- connected/disconnected to the charger, or
- charged (in 1, 2, 10 iterations) from 5% to 100%?

In the first case, I really can see a potential of this app...

Or are you saying that I can connect and disconnect the charger for unlimited times?

Math:
30 x 365 = 10950.
Can a Li-Ion battery stand 10000 charging cycles (in a year)?

Cheers, and THANKS, ezablade, if nothing else for taking time to develop this app

[t0mm13b]

p0peye, on Jun 2 2011, 15:55, said:

I connect the phone to PC and disconnect it 20-30 up to 50x in a day (transfer the data all the time to PC, but have to get out of the office as soon as the phone rings to take the call - or to make one...)

I have heard that the Li-Ion battery don't suffer a "memory effect".

My interpretation of the "mem effect" is that with time, the Li-Ion battery won't provide shorter using time if it is randomly charged (not drained to 5% and then fully charged).

But what about a charging cycles (1000, 2000 cycles?)

How do you count a charging cycle:
- connected/disconnected to the charger, or
- charged (in 1, 2, 10 iterations) from 5% to 100%?

In the first case, I really can see a potential of this app...

Or are you saying that I can connect and disconnect the charger for unlimited times?

Math:
30 x 365 = 10950.
Can a Li-Ion battery stand 10000 charging cycles (in a year)?

Cheers, and THANKS, ezablade, if nothing else for taking time to develop this app

Uhhhh let's straighten this out... what's ezablade got to do with the app that I put together?  

[xLunchboxXx]

Besides the discussion wheter this tool is useful or not - I just want to say that it doesnt work on my device
At least the battery icon is still showing the charging animation...
Is there any experience on the LG P990 from anyone else or a hint?
Before you ask: yes I gave the app root rights =)