"battery not charging"

[George Stevens]

Both the pull down widget and my battery indicator app say that - but the battery charge numbers keep going up, so it must be charging. Any ideas?

 

[jerrykur]

Both the pull down widget and my battery indicator app say that - but the battery charge numbers keep going up, so it must be charging. Any ideas?

Are you using the charger and cable that came with the unit? You cannot charge most tablets from a computer or phone charger since they do not provide enough current.

 

[George Stevens]

I've got so many charger cables - USB and Cig lighter and ac to micro USB cables lying around, I don't even know which one came with it. I use them interchangeably - until they break - they get treated kind of roughly in my vehicle - and yep, they all work. The proof is that I've kept the thing going for months! Right now, tho, they say "not charging", yet the numbers keep going up.

 

[jerrykur]

I've got so many charger cables - USB and Cig lighter and ac to micro USB cables lying around, I don't even know which one came with it. I use them interchangeably - until they break - they get treated kind of roughly in my vehicle - and yep, they all work. The proof is that I've kept the thing going for months! Right now, tho, they say "not charging", yet the numbers keep going up.

Well at least we know what is causing the message.

Anyway, you can get a slow charge or not charging message with a lot of android devices when you use a cable/charger that does not provide the full amperage the device would like to see. As you point out this does not mean the device is not charging, but it likely means the device is not seeing as much current as it would with the factory charger/cable combination. If you ask more from the device, such as running a game or mapping, you might find that the device is running hot and the battery is dropping even though it is connected to the charger.

If I were using the device in a car I would look at getting an charger that supplies 2 amps or so. Perhaps someone can suggest an in-car charger for the Nexus 7. I know the ones for the iPad provide 2.1 amps and are readily available. Also, does anyone know if the cable on the Nexus 7 is cross wired to indicate that there is additional current? Asus did this with the Transformers and it caused a lot of people to not be able to get a full charge even though the charger they used was capable of putting out more than enough current.

 

[The Thermocuple]

can charge from a 5V USB but ONLY with the tablet powered OFF. The charge rate will be about 3-4% per hour.

 

[The Thermocuple]

my advice: cold restart (volume down + power button), uninstall the widget and try again. Good luck.

 

[George Stevens]

Charging or not charging, whatever the widgets and aps may say, it's now back to 100% charge, as usual.

I keep the USB end attached to the cig lighter in the vehicle via a USB adapter.

I'm certainly no electronics expert, but why should simple cables with a USB at one end and a micro usb at the other vary in the amount of electricity they deliver unless the cables were different gauges, and they all look about the same to me?

 

[mattjwydra]

The charger that the USB cable is connected to determines the amount of current that goes through the cable.

 

[jerrykur]

Charging or not charging, whatever the widgets and aps may say, it's now back to 100% charge, as usual.

I keep the USB end attached to the cig lighter in the vehicle via a USB adapter.

I'm certainly no electronics expert, but why should simple cables with a USB at one end and a micro usb at the other vary in the amount of electricity they deliver unless the cables were different gauges, and they all look about the same to me?

Two things at play. One, the charger has to provide enough current. Second, some companies cross wire their USB cable, use slightly different ends (ex. longer pins), other otherwise alter their cables or ends to tell their tablets or chargers to switch to higher power settings. This link shows what Asus did on the transformer DIY TF101 charger and other charging methods - xda-developers. This is all perfectly "legal" within the USB spec, but means that not all systems can use a generic USB cable and charger.

With that said, the Nexus 7 does not appear to have these cable and pinout issues, and should be fine with any cable, given the charger is outputing enough current.. I just tried a Griffin "PowerJolt Universal Car Charger with ChargeSensor" in my car. This charger is rated a 10 watts or so and therefore is putting out 2 amps (10 watts = 5 Volts (USB voltage) X 2 Amps). This charger works fine with an Ipad 3/4 and also charged my Nexus 7 just fine. I then tried a generic "cell phone charger" rated at 2.5 watts (5 volts X 0.5 amps). That worked fine for my Droid DNA, but the Nexus 7 displayed an warning icon.

So as long as you have a car charger that puts out enough current you should be fine. But, use a charger that does provide enough current and the Nexus 7 will charge very slowly, or if you are using the unit to say navigate, perhaps not at all.

Jerry

Ps. If I were going to have use my Nexus 7 in my car a lot I would look into adapting a QI standard wireless charger onto the mount. There are some threads here (this forum and the accessories forum) on how to do this. Then there would be no need to mess with plugging and cables and possibly screwing up the USB plug. Wireless charging is just so nice and the Nexus 7 is one of the first devices to support it. Throw your device on the charging pad and it start charging. Pull it off and is stops.

 

[Longjohn119]

Both the pull down widget and my battery indicator app say that - but the battery charge numbers keep going up, so it must be charging. Any ideas?

Simple and correct answer .... The "wall wart' that comes with the Nexus 7 (and 10) has a resistor built into the USB port placed across the USB data lines. The Nexus 7 'sees' this resistance instead of a varying signal so it knows it's charging and it is not a regular USB device in the port.

Only real downside (As long as the wall wart you are using is rated at a **solid** 2 amps, don't just believe what the Chinese tell you) is it doesn't say it's charging when it actually is, but just use a battery meter app to verify it is charging which is basically what you've already been doing. It doesn't hurt anything (As long as the wall wart part is good) it just makes verifying that it's charging a little more inconvenient .... As far as the ones for a lighter socket in a car buy the ones rated 3 amps so you are sure to get a solid clean 2 amps, cheap DC-DC converters pushed to their upper (often overrated) limit tend to get pretty ugly, either losing regulation or blowing those junk capacitors the Chinese are so fond of using

Google does this so you don't use a cheap underrated wall wart and risk damaging the unit .... If you are using a wall wart that didn't come with the Nexus I'd use one rated no less than 2.5 amps and 3 amps like the auto ones mentioned earlier would be even better. That will give you 25-33% 'overhead' to work with and the output will be more stable and cleaner

 

[Longjohn119]

Charge sensor = resistor across USB data lines

It's part of the USB OTG specs which Google basically wrote but not all manufacturers of Android devices and accessories follow

 

[George Stevens]

Yikes! I thought charging was simply a matter of grabbing any old wire with my paw and seeing if it fits! I mostly use the tablet in my vehicle and I leave it plugged in to a cig lighter outlet. Most of my cables are bought at Sams Club @$10, some are discount store $5 cheapos. All seem to work but the Sams cables seem to last slightly longer. I don't actually see any advantage to figuring out how to use a cordless charger and buying yet another electronic device because it would still use up a cig lighter outlet plus I guess I'd need to keep the tablet attached to the charger base as opposed to a cable.

Speaking of charging, I bought this portable charger and it seems great for when you are away from a charge source:

Anker 2nd Gen Astro3 12000mAh Portable Charger Backup External Battery

 

[jerrykur]

Yikes! I thought charging was simply a matter of grabbing any old wire with my paw and seeing if it fits! I mostly use the tablet in my vehicle and I leave it plugged in to a cig lighter outlet. Most of my cables are bought at Sams Club @$10, some are discount store $5 cheapos. All seem to work but the Sams cables seem to last slightly longer. I don't actually see any advantage to figuring out how to use a cordless charger and buying yet another electronic device because it would still use up a cig lighter outlet plus I guess I'd need to keep the tablet attached to the charger base as opposed to a cable.

The advantage of wireless charging in a car is that the cables never need to get connected or disconnected so there is no wear and tear on the cable ends or your Nexus 7's USB socket. I once managed to jam the USB port on my 2012 Nexus 7 when the cable got snagged in my car. With the wireless built in the 2013 Nexus 7 you add the charging pad to the car dock once and from then on just drop your tablet in the dock.

I have several wireless charging pads in my house including one next to my bed. It holds the Nexus 7 at a 50% angle, charges right through the case, and when the Nexus 7 goes into "inactive" mode it display a clock. When I need the Nexus 7 I just grab it and it is fully charged and ready to go. I use the other chargers with my phone (droid DNA) and have them wired into the drawer where I put my keys and phone. When I come home I throw the keys and the phone in the drawer and in the morning I just grab my full charged phone. Wireless charging is high on my list of must haves for any phone.

 

[George Stevens]

" I once managed to jam the USB port on my 2012 Nexus 7 when the cable got snagged in my car."

What happened, did part of the plug get stuck in it? Were you able to get it out? So far, luckily, it is always the plugs that break not the port. Unfortunately I can't say the same for my old laptop. The port in it broke. Now I have become conscious of getting a new laptop that has a strong charging port. I don't plan on getting an Apple but I think their patented magnetic plug might be the best.

Can you recommend any specific wireless chargers?

 

[jerrykur]

" I once managed to jam the USB port on my 2012 Nexus 7 when the cable got snagged in my car."

What happened, did part of the plug get stuck in it? Were you able to get it out? So far, luckily, it is always the plugs that break not the port. Unfortunately I can't say the same for my old laptop. The port in it broke. Now I have become conscious of getting a new laptop that has a strong charging port. I don't plan on getting an Apple but I think their patented magnetic plug might be the best.

Can you recommend any specific wireless chargers?

What happened to me is I snagged the USB cable one too many times when reaching for a cup in the holder. It bent the USB port on the device and made it a bit egg shaped instead of rectangular. This made it really hard to insert the thin microUSB cable. I ended up "operating" on it with some microsized tools I own and reshaping the port back to correct dimensions. After that I pulled the dash to route the cables behind the radio and out of my way. But I was still worried about jamming the USB port. I have since switched to a Garmin GPS, since I tend to need guidence most in places where cell reception (and thus Google maps) is spotty.

The MacBook does have that nice MagSafe power cable. But then they screw it up by using a very fragile cable and junk strain relief at the power supply end. So if you trip over the cable it pops out of the computer, but either tears the cable and/or pulls the cable out of the power supply. I guess this Apple's way of getting another $70-100 out of you for a new power supply.

As far as wireless chargers go, I am partial to the Nokia units. They are cheap (and I am cheap), you can find them for $25 or so if you look hard (AT&T store), and seem to work very well. The specific units I have are the Nokia DT-900 and DT-910. But, since your Nexus supports the Qi wireless charging standard, and Qi compatible charger should work. Check out the "Nexus 7 (2013) | Accessories" forums for more recommendations and car mounting pictures, etc.

 

[George Stevens]

I use my tablet mostly in the vehicle and I leave a charging cable attached to it most of the time, and yeah I snag the cables too. I don't know if the wireless charger would work well for that because you need to balance the slippery tablet on the slippery wireless charger don't you? Sounds like it would work better at home. Anyway, I'll stop by the Verizon store and see what they have as I just found out I get 25% discount on accessories there. Amazon has a lot of those things. I never paid any attention to them before. How do they charge without a wire, by magic? I heard some crazy guy going on about how people in the future will be able to talk to each other over long distances without wires too. Yeah right. How would that work, by magic?

I use a Garmin GPS too. I'd hate to have to rely on something like the n7 for directions with its coming and going GPS signals, though the screen is a lot bigger and better than the Garmin's (and my particular old model Garmin has a very nice screen, but much smaller and not as nice as the N7's).

 

[physioprof]

Apple lightning cable connector is a beautiful piece of engineering.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[George Stevens]

... But, since your Nexus supports the Qi wireless charging standard, and Qi compatible charger should work. Check out the "Nexus 7 (2013) | Accessories" forums for more recommendations and car mounting pictures, etc.

I better do that, because I bought a Nokia wireless charger at the Verizon store using my 25% discount, and it works good at home, but I didn't realize that it comes with no USB or cig lighter connection, nor do I see any available adapters, so I can't use it in my vehicle which is the place I do use it.

 

[Shawn Lu]

Sorry about reviving an old thread but I'm also facing the "not charging" but battery is going up problem. I am using the OEM cable and wall mount. When plugging in the first time it won't read as charging. I have to unplug and replug it in for it to read as charging. Any ideas?

 

[GSDer]

Welcome to the forums!

When plugging in the first time it won't read as charging. I have to unplug and replug it in for it to read as charging.

Have you tried a different cable anyway? You can use a cable from your phone or other Android device.

It's possible that the micro-USB port is dirty - power the device off completely and use a toothbrush and/or compressed air to try to clean it out.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk