Sprint store employee claims: car charger works 3x faster

[Trust]

my car charger is as fast as my wall charger.

 

[xpanmanx]

Something else to think about: A crap 5vdc 1a power source may put out less amperage than the label would lead you to believe.

 

[xpanmanx]

Guys, all you need is a 1 amp charger. Period. Anything over 1 amp will not go faster, and anything under 1 amp will charge slower than the HTC AC charger. I know you all like to provide your own experiences, but there's really no reason to discuss it further, because this is the exact specs and design used on the EVO. It cannot, and will not draw more than 1 amp.

By chance do you have any documention which describes the tolerance of the current-limiting system?

 

[xpanmanx]

my car charger is as fast as my wall charger.

You bet it is, if it's kicking the EVO into fast charge, which allows the handset to draw ~1a. Want to know for sure? Check out the Spare Parts app, battery info page.

A normal USB connection is limited to ~500ma, and unfortunately a great many chargers fit the spec. When the EVO senses a USB connection, it kicks down into slow charge.

You can hack a cable or a whole charger such that the EVO kicks into fast charge, but if the charger can't supply the 1a current, your fancy soldering will be for naught.

 

[xpanmanx]

However, if you plug the phone into your computer's USB port, USB ports only have .5 Amp of 5v DC current. As a result, the phone can only draw .5 amps (or 500 miliamps) since that is all that is available.

When it detects a 4-wire USB connection, the EVO will also limit its current draw to 500ma to protect the supply circuit. Just on the off chance that some cheapo motherboard could fry itself sending too much amperage down the traces to the USB port, you understand

The hardware hacks I've been referring to involve tying pin 2&3 of a USB cable together. Obviously, you must never use such a cable with a data-capable USB port,but when used with a properly designed power source, all kinds of goodness happens.

(I take no responsibility if anyone tries this and blows up their junk. YMMV CYA TYVM)

 

[banksj17]

When I am using my gps and the Google navagition with my phone plugged in it still drains the battery a little so I don't think the car charger is 3x faster

Sent from my EVO 4G using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Cory Streater]

Maybe someone can confirm this or not, but I'm pretty sure the Sprint car charger is actually 750mAh.

 

[NicksGarage]

Here's what I did.

I installed this widget, CurrentWidget - Android app on AppBrain, and then tested various charging methods. I got the following results.

Stock cable in PC usb port - 290mA
Stock cable in wall adapter - 562-890mA (varies each time I plug it in)
$2 cable in PC usb port - 306mA
$2 cable in wall adapter - 730-768mA
Stock cable in 1 amp 12v car adapter - 336mA
Old 1 amp Motorola car adapter - 388mA

They all varied somewhat each time but the stock cord in the wall adapter varied the most. Not a big enough sample to mean anything. But does this mean that a 1 amp car adapter really isn't needed? I have a 500mA hour one that I'll have to give a try.

 

[snowwy66]

i'll have to give that current widget a whirl. cuz i'm curious as to my charing rates.

here's been my story. my company phone is verizon. the battery doesn't work so the company provided me with a 12v charger. it charges the fastest.

the wall charger is pretty close.

the pc would be a little slower and to be honest i dont' think it hits full charge. even though the light does turn green

NOW. i've tried 4 different charging methods on my motorcycle. i've tried 3 different plugs. and then i bought a usb plug hooked directly to the battery. ALL 4 methods are very slow.

i've also used those same plugs in my work truck. and got the same slow results. not one of them will charge as fast as the verizon charger. unfortunally for me. the verizon charger took a dump. so now i'm stuck with the slower chargers. the phone has to be in complete sleep mode to get a charge. with the phone in use. it's basically an even draw. use the gps and the phone actually discharges, but not as fast as if it were unplugged.

the biggest problem i've had. is the phone constantly showing charge mode throughout the entire day. unless i reboot the phone. then i get full charge and green light. only have this problem with my SLOWER chargers.


P.S. the car is 14volts. not 12 volts. LOL. (((charging system)))

 

[Chewieez]

fastest way I've found to charge....... turn of your phone while it's charging!

seriously, try it and you'll be amazed.

of course I don't turn mine off each time I want to charge but if I know I only have 45 minutes available and I need as much juice as I can get, I shut my phone off and throw it on the wall charger.

I'm curious now as to what happens with a stock usb -> micro usb cable into a generic USB car charger. (the kind with just the standard usb port) versus the HTC usb cable that came with my EVO.

 

[eldub1]

Sprint employees are like used car salesman. Don't know anything and tell you anything to get you to part with your money.

 

[tibbys]

I think my car charger does charge it faster.

 

[mr.seth.price]

it won't charge 3 times faster but will charge a bit faster. Also the thing to remember is it may overcharge. As the car charger is not properly set up to know when the phone is done. Most OEM chargers out of the box are wired in a way to top it off and keep it topped off. The car charger will continue to give juice as long as fuse is hot for the cigarette lighter (some cars lose power when key is off...some don't). I once had my battery explode. I kept it charged when I went to Dulles airport and left the phone charged while I was gone for the week....a bit of damage....smelled awful (Asurion replacement was awful too!).

 

[sprintgirl]

Not sure about specifics but...SUPPOSEDLY car chargers do charge faster which is why they are bad for your battery. That's y people who have a problem with their battery holding a charge or their battery gets a bulge in the middle are always the same people who charge their phone on a car charger constantly. I'm just saying...that's what I heard. And I see it pretty often working in a tech center. Not saying that this is totally verified, the trend could be wrong, but this is what all the ppl with battery issues had in common.

 

[snowwy66]

it's not the car charger that stops the power. it's the phone itself. the phone hardware is what stops the overcharging.

i'm using my companies charger that came with the company phone. it's just a plug with a usb socket. the cord i'm using is just a plain usb cable with one end being the micro plug. you can buy just the plain cables anywhere. it's the same cable i use for my motorcycle. my motorcycle has a 12volt plug with 2 12 volt cigarette sockets and 2 usb sockets. i'm using the current widget prescribed by the above poster. the wall puts out twice the current ANY of my 12 volt methods do. the company car charger i was originally using DID do pretty good and was probbably comparable to the wall charger. however, it don't work anymore so i can't compare the amps using the current widget program. but it was a verizon charger.

 

[Caitlyn McKenzie]

it won't charge 3 times faster but will charge a bit faster. Also the thing to remember is it may overcharge. As the car charger is not properly set up to know when the phone is done. Most OEM chargers out of the box are wired in a way to top it off and keep it topped off. The car charger will continue to give juice as long as fuse is hot for the cigarette lighter (some cars lose power when key is off...some don't). I once had my battery explode. I kept it charged when I went to Dulles airport and left the phone charged while I was gone for the week....a bit of damage....smelled awful (Asurion replacement was awful too!).

A. No, it will not overcharge. All charging technology lies inside the phone. All car chargers are not wired to do anything, they're wired to provide the stated amperage and that's it. Period.
B. The battery likely exploded due to overheating or a flaw in the battery.

Not sure about specifics but...SUPPOSEDLY car chargers do charge faster which is why they are bad for your battery. That's y people who have a problem with their battery holding a charge or their battery gets a bulge in the middle are always the same people who charge their phone on a car charger constantly. I'm just saying...that's what I heard. And I see it pretty often working in a tech center. Not saying that this is totally verified, the trend could be wrong, but this is what all the ppl with battery issues had in common.

There's no correlation, at all. It would be physically impossible, since all a car charger does is provide a certain amperage of power (preferably 1amp, what the EVO maxes out at), exactly like the wall chargers do. There's absolutely no difference in this, except one is plugged into your car (a DC source) and the other your wall (an AC source).

 

[NxTech3]

Generally speaking, car chargers DO charge faster than home chargers, and in the six years I have been teching, people who use the car charger more often than not are the people whose batteries take a dump quicker than just house chargers. I've had almost every carrier, except TMO (garbage) and every rep I've asked has said car charging for emergency purposes only, do not rely on car charger as a primary form of charging

Sent from my HTC Evo 4G

 

[NxTech3]

Sprint employees are like used car salesman. Don't know anything and tell you anything to get you to part with your money.

Pretty sure that's business industry in general, not just Sprint. Like you haven't told someone something that wasnt all based on fact to get something done, you are human after all...



Sent from my HTC Evo 4G

 

[Caitlyn McKenzie]

Generally speaking, car chargers DO charge faster than home chargers, and in the six years I have been teching, people who use the car charger more often than not are the people whose batteries take a dump quicker than just house chargers. I've had almost every carrier, except TMO (garbage) and every rep I've asked has said car charging for emergency purposes only, do not rely on car charger as a primary form of charging

Sent from my HTC Evo 4G

Generally, specifically, realistically, and factually speaking, no, you're wrong. You guys need to understand how electricity works, and how charging circuits work. As far as the phone is concerned, it does not know, nor does it care what charger is being used. It receives a 5 volt charge, with whatever amperage the charger supplies, and it charges at a maximum of 1 amp, no matter what amperage the charger is capable of (if the charger does 2 amps, it still charges at 1 amp).

If you have a wall charger that supplies 1 amp at 5 volts, it will charge EXACTLY THE SAME SPEED as a car charger that supplies 1 amp at 5 volts. PERIOD. There's no argument here, no room for discussion, no anecdotes, nothing. This is basic electrical engineering.

And since HTC's wall charger that it supplies with the EVO IS 1 amp at 5 volts, there is no possible way for any car charger to charge the EVO faster. They can match it, but they cannot exceed it.

The only dangers with car charging is as follows:

1. Draining your car battery because you left it plugged in with the car off.
2. Overheating due to sitting in the sun/in an extremely hot car.

 

[Dave Blake]

Your mileage may very...lol someone had to say it

Later,
Dave