In Navigation - Not charging

[dcmccabe]

Recently, during several trips of 4 plus hours, my HTC Thunderbolt would beep and show battery leverl low. I checked the 12v adapter and the power light was on and the charging "bolt" on the battery indicator was on. Eventually it would shut off because the battery was not being charged. I'm using a suction cup docking station & 12v adapter. I have tried it with and without the docking station and with different 12v adapters. Results the same.

I'm using Google Maps with navigation on, Bluetooth on. Doesn't the 12v adapter supply enough volts/amps to charge the battery or keep it charged while in use?

Any ideas appreciated.

Don

 

[bpyazel]

It depends on the charger. You want to look at the mAh on the chargers. I have one that is rated 700 mAh and it is not enough to keep up with GPS on, screen on and bluetooth on.

You can use an app like battery monitor widget and then activate navigation, your blue tooth and all that and plug in your power and go into the app to see how much of a negative draw on your battery is there to give you an idea of how much more juice you need from a charger to break even. I think mine was around -200 mAh with everthing running with it plugged in. So a 1000 mAh charger would probably work well.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

[MG386]

A good car charger can do almost 1 amp or around 975 MAh.

Most car chargers only output 500-700 MAh.

With navigation/GPS/bt/screen all on, u will need a high output charger to keep up. I got a 975 output motorolla charger on Amazon for $4.


Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

[worwig]

NOTE:

The charger output number is misleading.

The phone has to decide if it is plugged into a PC, or a good charger. If it is not sure about the charger, it defaults to PC USB port mode. The maximum current the Thunderbolt will draw from a PC is around 300ma. It doesn't matter it the charger is rated at 2000ma, it will only pull about 300ma. That is because PC USB ports have a limited output. When used as a GPS, downloading maps, Bluetooth on, and with the screen bright, that isn't enough, so the battery slowly dies.

If the phone is certain that it is a high rate charger, then it will charge at about 800ma. At 800ma, it not only can power the phone with a bright screen, but it can charge the battery too. It doesn't matter if you have a 800ma charger, or a 5000ma charger, the Thunderbolt will pull about 800ma. (if the cables and all are good).

SO, you need a charger rated for at least 800ma, 1 amp is enough. And you need to be certain that the phone knows that it is plugged into a high rate charger. By the USB standard for a micro USB plug, this is done by shorting out the two data pins, D+ and D-. I do this by opening up the charger and soldering a short beteen the two center pins of the USB. I have done that when traveling by taking a very small sliver of aluminum foil, laying it across the two center pins in the charger, and carefully plugging in the USB. Very few chargers come with the pins shorted as the standard requires.

Use software like the "Battery Monitor Widget" that will indicate the true current. It will show the difference.

Also, the HTC home charger has the pins shorted in the charger. And, I have seen some REALLY poor cables that have such thin wire, that they can't carry the current. So if you have trouble, it could be the cable.

 

[MG386]

Another option if your rooted is to use supercharge kernel that has altered charging current limits. This allows me to charge at about 1200 MAh with a good charger cable.

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