USB charging

[Neil Paice]

Ok just a quickie, had my nexus 4 plugged into my laptop at work just to top the charge up as I was listening to music via spotify and Bluetooth headphones and I noticed although the battery icon suggested charging with the lightning bolt it actually didn't charge and seemed to be discharging normally as if not plugged in at all. Any ideas??

Posted from my nexus 4

 

[Neil Paice]

Ok so it seems using your phone whilst charging via USB uses more power than it receives whilst charging. Nothing connected to it and plugged in to the laptop it seems fine. Wouldn't have thought a pair of Bluetooth headphones would have sapped that much juice. Oh well you live and learn.

Posted from my nexus 4

 

[IAmSixNine]

computer usb ports have a current out put of 500mA. or half an amp..
The wall charger that came with your device is rated at 1 amp, or 1000mA.
So by using your computer your cutting your max charging in half.
When your device is in stand by 500mA is enough to slow charge.
But if your using your device its possible the device is consuming more then 500mAh and thus discharging while plugged in.

 

[srkmagnus]

Also, It's possibly not the Bluetooth aspect that is draining battery. Instead, possibly more of the device running to play the necessary music to your headphones. If you were streaming from a service, such as Pandora or Google Music then its also using data services, which can be taxing on the battery.