Why won't my Note 4 charge in the car or on my computer via usb?

[EminentLeague]

Note 4 Not Charging In Car/With Computer

I recently made the switch from a Iphone 5 to the Note 4. With my Iphone I used to be able to plug it in with the usb cable to the car or computer and it would charge. Now with my note 4 when I plug it in it wont charge, it says its charging, but it doesnt go up in battery. Is there any accessories or settings I could change to eliminate this problem? I deliver pizzas and im constantly on my phone using google maps so I have to have battery on my phone in the car. Thanks guys!

 

[Liquidretro]

Re: Note 4 Not Charging In Car/With Computer

What car charger do you have? A good high quality car charger 2A output with a good 28/24 gauge short cable should do the trick. Anker makes good stuff

A computer will put out usually 500ma and if you have a higher gauge cable that is long (Most cables) then that will slow down even further. It will take forever to charge on a computer. Does your computer have USB 3? I am wondering if a Y cable adapter to plug in twice to computer would help deliver more current.

A high quality USB powerbank might also be a good option.

Personally I have bought 2 different styles of USB Charger Doctors to get numbers on what's going on in the charging process. I am planning at some point of doing a big write up all about my findings once I determine my method and actually do it.

 

[JasW]

Re: Note 4 Not Charging In Car/With Computer

I recently made the switch from a Iphone 5 to the Note 4. With my Iphone I used to be able to plug it in with the usb cable to the car or computer and it would charge. Now with my note 4 when I plug it in it wont charge, it says its charging, but it doesnt go up in battery. Is there any accessories or settings I could change to eliminate this problem? I deliver pizzas and im constantly on my phone using google maps so I have to have battery on my phone in the car. Thanks guys!

Charging via USB connected to a computer is extremely slow, slow enough that it might seem non-existent. You're only getting 300mA, maybe 500mA, tops.

As far as the car goes, I'm assuming you mean plugging the USB cable into a charger in the lighter socket? (If you're talking about plugging it into a USB port in the car, that's another thing altogether, and I could only guess that if it does anything, it's not much faster than plugging it into a computer.) You may have an older charger that only puts out 500mA, which is again insufficient, i.e., charges too slowly. I don't know why the iPhone would have worked with it. Regardless, it sounds like you need a new charger because whatever was working with the iPhone doesn't do it for the Note 4.

If you want to take advantage of the Note 4's fast adaptive charging capability, you might want to look into getting the Incipio Quick Charge 2.0 car charger. It's best to buy it from Incipio rather than Amazon because you can get a 15% discount with the discount code INC15NOW, which helps with the steep $35 price (plus you have to supply your own USB cable). I have one and it works just as fast as the stock fast adaptive charger that comes with the Note 4.

If that's too steep a price, the best regular car charger you can get for the Note 4 is, oddly enough, the BlackBerry Premium car charger for $13.79 on Amazon. It comes with a built in cable so you don't have to worry about whether your USB cable is the problem. Don't be thrown by the BlackBerry name, it's a solidly built, low profile charger with a coiled cord that charges the Note 4 as well as any other charger out there. (I used it with my Note 2 and with my Note 4 before I got the Incipio charger.)

 

[EminentLeague]

Re: Note 4 Not Charging In Car/With Computer

Thanks for the awesome info. I didnt know that computers have such a low output. In terms of my charger, I am using the one that came in the box with the Note 4. And yes, I was plugging the USB cable directly into the USB port in the car, so thats probably why it was not charging. I think im going to get the first car charger you recommended. I totally forgot that my car had a lighter socket in it, so I will just use that with the fast car charger. Thank you again this really helped!

 

[EminentLeague]

Re: Note 4 Not Charging In Car/With Computer

Oh and one more question, the Note 4 can handle this new fast car charger that you recommended, right? I dont know a lot about batteries but I remember hearing somewhere that to much power can damage a battery.

 

[HOLLYWOODANT215]

Re: Note 4 Not Charging In Car/With Computer

Phone battery or car battery?

Posted via Android Central App

 

[maximalife]

Not saying you did this, but $5-$10 charges wont do much in car...you need a good quality one

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[worwig]

Re: Note 4 Not Charging In Car/With Computer

There are a number of things here. Trust me. I use mine as a GPS on a motorcycle, with the screen at max. I need a good charger current and typically make my own chargers for the motorcycle. I like to experiment.

The short story is, you need the right cable and/or charger. Long story, but Apple has messed things up by not following the micro USB standard for chargers. So most chargers charge Android devices slowly.

First, go to Settings, then battery. Plug in your charger. Where it says "Not Charging", should change to "Charging (USB)" or "Charging (AC)". If it shows "Charging (USB)", then it will be a pretty slow charge. As in 8 to 12 hours or so from full dead. The phone thinks it is in a limited output PC USB connector and doesn't want to overload the PC port. This is most often caused by the fact that most chargers are wired to charge Apple 'i' devices, and Apple does not follow the rules for micro USB charging. So the chargers for Apple devices often don't charge fast with everything else.
You can get a charge only cable, that will tell the phone it is on an AC charger, no matter what USB type it is plugged into. That will bump the charge rate
You can modify the charger itself. This is what I usually do. Crack them open and cut/jumper some wires.
You can place a piece of foil in the chargers USB cable to short the D+/D- lines which is often all that is needed.

In my wife's car we carry a 2 amp charger. I had to modify it AND be very careful with cable selection, just to get near 1 amp on my Galaxy S4. 5 volts through a cable at 1 amp gives you maybe 4.7 volts at the phone. It becomes a problem trying to charge a battery that is over 4 volts already. So a good cable becomes critical too.
I bought a 3 amp charger. It was wired for Apple as they typically are, and charged slowly like a PC USB port. I modified it for a truer micro USB specs, and it now approaches 1.5 amps, which is about max the Note 4 will suck from a standard charger. This 3 amp charger also runs at about 5.2 volts. That extra few tenths of a volt means that it will work with cheap cables too.
I use cheap 1 amp chargers on the bike that I make. I bump the voltage to about 5.2 volts and wire proper micro USB charging logic into them. The phones still struggle to get over 600ma from the 1 amp chargers. So that is marginal. I just bought a few 3 amp inline 5 volt chargers. As expected, the didn't follow the micro USB spec, and they charge at a very slow 300ma or so. I am modify one right now as I type this to get the full output. Hopefully it is over 1 amp to keep up with the big bright Note 4 display in sunlight.

 

[JasW]

Re: Note 4 Not Charging In Car/With Computer

Oh and one more question, the Note 4 can handle this new fast car charger that you recommended, right? I dont know a lot about batteries but I remember hearing somewhere that to much power can damage a battery.

Yes, absolutely. Several of us around here (including me, as I mentioned) have bought it and are using it with our Note 4s. Samsung 4 uses a variant of the Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 technology for its own adaptive fast charger (the white one that Samsung put in the box), but they have specifically said that any Quick Charge 2.0 charger will work and fast-charge the phone. And so the Incipio charger does work, and it does fast-charge the phone in the car.

No need to worry about too much power in this situation (or any) -- a phone only draws what it can use.

As an added thought, you probably want to get a new USB cable because they can have a definite impact on charging depending upon whether they are properly shielded, etc. Crap cables can decrease the amperage that your phone draws from the charger. The one I use with the Inicipio charger (and so does at least one other person here on AC) is this Mediabridge coiled cable.

 

[xFrozen]

Re: Note 4 Not Charging In Car/With Computer

I'm currently charging my Note 4 using my USB 3.0 port on my laptop (which produces 950mAh I believe) .. and it's really slow. It was dead, I plugged it in, turned it on (booted it up), and it shut down within 2 minutes. So now it's completely off and charging, and after about 25 minutes it's only at 4%. I wish USB ports could charge faster. Just telling you how my USB charging experience is so you get an idea of it.

 

[worwig]

Re: Note 4 Not Charging In Car/With Computer

So now it's completely off and charging, and after about 25 minutes it's only at 4%. I wish USB ports could charge faster.

Normal.
The phone sees it is a normal USB port. It has no clue that it is a higher powered port. It is charging at about 300ma. For 25 minutes, that is close to 125ma/hr. On a 2330ma/hr battery, that is about 5%. So 4% is expected.

 

[godzillinois]

Re: Note 4 Not Charging In Car/With Computer

I too have just switched from an iPhone 5 to a Note 4 (it’s good to be back on Android!) It’s gonna take some getting used to not being able to travel with just a USB cord to charge my phone at my work computer.

I found another Quick Charge car adapter from Powermod which is currently $26.90:

http://www.amazon.com/Powermod-Charge-Certified-In-Vehicle-Charger/dp/B00P9UILUM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1416257523&sr=8-2&keywords=qualcomm+quick+charge+car+charger

Has anyone heard anything about this charger/brand? After Incipio’s coupon (and as long as they don’t charge shipping) then it’s ‘only’ $2.85 cheaper, but it does come with a usb Cord which is handy.