car chargers and nav

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jamesy

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Apr 29, 2010
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So I have a scosche usb car chager from back when I had an iphone. I've been using it with the sync cable that came with my incredible and Its been charging ok. Kinda similair to a usb trickle charge. Anyway I take a trip and use nav and play a little music and I'm blasting the ac so I'm sure the phone is not overheating as its sitting on my center console. The phone drains dead even while plugged in. I just ordered the incredible compatible car charger from Motorola on this site and have heard of some car chargers not having enough power does anyone use the Motorola chargers and nav android does that work? Anyone use scosche and nav and have probs?
 
I use the Verizon Car Mount/Dock and the Verizon car charger. I plug in several times a day and have no charge problems. In fact, plugging in only once or twice a day for only 10 -20 min while driving gives me enough juice to go 12+ hrs on the stock battery. (I am a zealot when it comes to turning on and off the GPS, WIFI, BT radios only when I need it.)

Hope this helps.
 
jamesy said:
So I have a scosche usb car chager from back when I had an iphone. I've been using it with the sync cable that came with my incredible and Its been charging ok. Kinda similair to a usb trickle charge.
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The Incredible is seeing the USB charger as a USB host and limits the charge to 500 mAh (regardless of the chargers rated output), which is not enough to charge and run GPS and other apps at the same time. You need to either mod the charger, which involves taking it apart and soldering 2 pins together, or buy the highest rated (up to 1A) non USB car charger you can find. Sprint & Verizon's is 850 mAh and Seidio sells one that's a full 1A. I can't speak to the quality of either since I choose to do a USB mod instead. When it's plugged in and charging, you should be able to open the battery status screen in settings and see AC Charging vs USB Charging.
 
PvilleComp said:
I use the Verizon Car Mount/Dock and the Verizon car charger. I plug in several times a day and have no charge problems. In fact, plugging in only once or twice a day for only 10 -20 min while driving gives me enough juice to go 12+ hrs on the stock battery. (I am a zealot when it comes to turning on and off the GPS, WIFI, BT radios only when I need it.)

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

I can't even find this dock anymore... on their site.
 
Cory Streater said:
The Incredible is seeing the USB charger as a USB host and limits the charge to 500 mAh (regardless of the chargers rated output), which is not enough to charge and run GPS and other apps at the same time. You need to either mod the charger, which involves taking it apart and soldering 2 pins together, or buy the highest rated (up to 1A) non USB car charger you can find. Sprint & Verizon's is 850 mAh and Seidio sells one that's a full 1A. I can't speak to the quality of either since I choose to do a USB mod instead. When it's plugged in and charging, you should be able to open the battery status screen in settings and see AC Charging vs USB Charging.
Click to expand...

that's interesting. i use a USB car charger in my car and it works great. i can run the nav with screen on, stream slacker radio, and still charge it up at the same time. i guess the $2 USB charger i bought off ebay already is setup to give a full charge. i am almost certain when i charge it like that it doesn't pick it up as USB charging, but i will check today. i have been recommending to all my friends to do the same setup, but i guess there is a chance it might not work for them.
is it easy to take apart and solder it? any instructions on the web?
 
I used this person's post as a guideline on how to do it. I was successful at the solder job, not so much in prying it apart and re-glueing it when I was finished. I might try this procedure again, on a charger that comes apart by unscrewing the a fastener at the tip of the charger, or just buy a non USB car charger. I would be surprised if your phone is showing AC Charging with the charger you described. If it is, it should me maxing out at 500mAh per the standard for USB hosts.
 
I have a ebay charger that plugs into a electrical socket for my truck. I have it plugged into an AC/DC converter which is plugged into my cigarette socket. It charges the phone nicely, but when plugged in, it freezes the screen to where I can use anything. I can still receive texts, emails, and calls but the screen won't let me open or answer anything. I use it for charging emergencies since it renders my phone useless when plugged in.

Any thoughts to why the screen freezes?
 
I had that happen with the USB output of a dual purpose Amzen battery only charger I bought from Fommy. The output amperage for the USB port said 350mAh. Needless to say, I never plugged my phone into it again and threw the thing away. If you're screen is freezing, I don't think you should continue to use that method personally.
 
Cory Streater said:
I had that happen with the USB output of a dual purpose Amzen battery only charger I bought from Fommy. The output amperage for the USB port said 350mAh. Needless to say, I never plugged my phone into it again and threw the thing away. If you're screen is freezing, I don't think you should continue to use that method personally.
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Will do... I will take your advice! I use my blackberry charger at home so i guess i can swap my truck charger for the one HTC provided with the phone. Just don't like how short it is.

Thanks Cory!
 
When driving and using your incredible for navigation. How do you keep the screen on?
 
robm15 said:
When driving and using your incredible for navigation. How do you keep the screen on?
Click to expand...

my screen stays on if i have the navigation running. if i leave that screen, then the screen timeout will come into effect again.
 
You won't get a "stronger" charge but you will get a faster charge which will result in the GPS usage not out pacing the charger. Hence the reason some charger while using GPS won't keep the phone charged.

.5-1amp is the norm for USB charging solutions. (4.25-5 volts)
 
trmoney24 said:
hey cory, this is the one i bought a while ago. says "Output: DC5V 1000mA." so you think this is why i am getting a stronger charge?

Car Charger 4 mp3 mp4 mobile phone USB 1000mah - eBay (item 160444466169 end time Jul-12-10 09:26:32 PDT)
Click to expand...

I'd bet money that the Incredible is only drawing 500mAh from that charger. Plug your phone into it and go to settings > about > battery. If it says Charging (USB) then I'm right. If it says Charging (AC Adaptor), then I'm wrong.
 
Radioshack has a car charger that is a 1.2 Amp charger with an extra usb connect for BT or whatever that works great fro nav. Keeps up like a champ
 
I got a car charger I picked up from Walmart a while back. I used my phone to navigate a 3 hour trip yesterday and when I unplugged it the battery was at full charge and lasted the rest of the day. Not sure what brand the charger is but it was about 14 bucks.

Aaron
 
Cory Streater said:
I used this person's post as a guideline on how to do it. I was successful at the solder job, not so much in prying it apart and re-glueing it when I was finished. I might try this procedure again, on a charger that comes apart by unscrewing the a fastener at the tip of the charger, or just buy a non USB car charger. I would be surprised if your phone is showing AC Charging with the charger you described. If it is, it should me maxing out at 500mAh per the standard for USB hosts.
Click to expand...

I wonder if that trick would work with other USB 12v adapters? I picked up a dual USB 12v from Amzer to use for the DI and my GPS as it was rated at 2 amps total. I checked the charging status on the DI today after reading this thread and it says "charging USB". When I plug my GPS in it goes into computer connected mode as if I were doing a data update and won't function as a GPS.
 
There were other threads on XDA saying that all USB chargers had 2 data pins that you could solder together to fix this, but the one I bought was the only one that had pictures showing where exactly those data pins were. Is yours easy to take apart or is it glued together like mine was?
 
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