Wireless Charging Orb

[Treknologist]

I have a question for those who have ordered and received their orbs. Is your phone making it to 100% charge? I left my N4 overnight on the charging orb (well over 4 hours) and when I checked it in the morning, the charge was only at 85%. It doesn't seem to go any higher. My phone has the Poetic bumper only. Nothing should be hindering the wireless charge. I'm trying to figure out of there is a defect on the orb or is something else is not permitting the phone to reach full charge while on the orb.

 

[S-Doo-1965]

Mine has charged to 100% twice since yesterday.

Run, do NOT walk, and get a Nexus 7. You can thank me later.

 

[soma4society]

I have a question for those who have ordered and received their orbs. Is your phone making it to 100% charge? I left my N4 overnight on the charging orb (well over 4 hours) and when I checked it in the morning, the charge was only at 85%. It doesn't seem to go any higher. My phone has the Poetic bumper only. Nothing should be hindering the wireless charge. I'm trying to figure out of there is a defect on the orb or is something else is not permitting the phone to reach full charge while on the orb.

Mine seems to charge to full when I use it. Sounds like a defective unit maybe? Unless there was something running on the OS that was drawing out more power than the orb was putting in.

 

[sholmes1019]

I posted over in the accessories thread about trouble I'm having this morning that may be the same. Here's my post:

Uh-oh. I woke up this morning to a 100% charge from the wireless charger and have been using the phone since. But when I just returned the phone to the charger, it's giving me the dreaded cycling where it bounces constantly between charging and not charging. I've read about this in with other Qi chargers. I tried putting it in different spots on the charger and resetting the phone, but no luck. The battery percentage is going down during this process. Thoughts?

UPDATE: Resolved. Low power USB power adapter was the cause.

 

[Slender Troll]

I have a question for those who have ordered and received their orbs. Is your phone making it to 100% charge? I left my N4 overnight on the charging orb (well over 4 hours) and when I checked it in the morning, the charge was only at 85%. It doesn't seem to go any higher. My phone has the Poetic bumper only. Nothing should be hindering the wireless charge. I'm trying to figure out of there is a defect on the orb or is something else is not permitting the phone to reach full charge while on the orb.

I have had a few issues with mine not charging to 100%. I left my n4 on it last night, and apparently if it slides too low on the charger, it will stop charging. But I think that's the only reason it didn't charge completely.

Sent from my Nexus 4/Nexus 7

 

[Treknologist]

Looks like I'm not alone with this issue. I tried positioning mine horizontally instead of vertically to see if that made any difference, but it didn't. Do those have had a problem also use a bumper with their N4?

 

[soma4society]

I posted over in the accessories thread about trouble I'm having this morning that may be the same. Here's my post:

Uh-oh. I woke up this morning to a 100% charge from the wireless charger and have been using the phone since. But when I just returned the phone to the charger, it's giving me the dreaded cycling where it bounces constantly between charging and not charging. I've read about this in with other Qi chargers. I tried putting it in different spots on the charger and resetting the phone, but no luck. The battery percentage is going down during this process. Thoughts?

Interesting. I haven't noticed this at all yet. Things seem consistent on my end: attach it, and it charges. The only exception is when my device is very near or at 100%, and at this point the charger seems to stop adding juice (I'm assuming this is just a failsafe or powersaving attribute though).

In both your case and the OPs, I'd be pretty quickly inclined to conclude the unit was defective. I haven't researched other Qi chargers though, so I'm not sure to what extent--as you mentioned--this kind of behavior is typical. At any rate, not charging past 85% and/or unpredictable charging upon connection seem like reasonable grounds for an RMA to me.

 

[Slender Troll]

Looks like I'm not alone with this issue. I tried positioning mine horizontally instead of vertically to see if that made any difference, but it didn't. Do those have had a problem also use a bumper with their N4?

Nope. No protection.

Sent from my Nexus 7/Nexus 4

 

[Treknologist]

Interesting. I haven't noticed this at all yet. Things seem consistent on my end: attach it, and it charges. The only exception is when my device is very near or at 100%, and at this point the charger seems to stop adding juice (I'm assuming this is just a failsafe or powersaving attribute though).

In both your case and the OPs, I'd be pretty quickly inclined to conclude the unit was defective. I haven't researched other Qi chargers though, so I'm not sure to what extent--as you mentioned--this kind of behavior is typical. At any rate, not charging past 85% and/or unpredictable charging upon connection seem like reasonable grounds for an RMA to me.

I'm giving it a couple more days and it the behavior persists, I'm doing the RMA. This is not a cheap accessory to keep if defective.

 

[soma4society]

I'm giving it a couple more days and it the behavior persists, I'm doing the RMA. This is not a cheap accessory to keep if defective.

Bingo, lol. It is a pretty damn cool one though Good luck with it.

 

[jweimn]

I have a question for those who have ordered and received their orbs. Is your phone making it to 100% charge? I left my N4 overnight on the charging orb (well over 4 hours) and when I checked it in the morning, the charge was only at 85%. It doesn't seem to go any higher. My phone has the Poetic bumper only. Nothing should be hindering the wireless charge. I'm trying to figure out of there is a defect on the orb or is something else is not permitting the phone to reach full charge while on the orb.

I'm having the same issue. All I have is the bumper and a zagg invisible shield and it'll charge to a certain point and then it will stop and I have to pick up the phone and set it back down. Not sure if its the charger or the phone?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[sholmes1019]

Figured out (sort of) my issue with charging/not charging. It was plugged into a Griffin dual USB travel charger, one of the older ones that is fine for phones but doesn't provide enough current for tablets. Switching it to the USB adapter from my iPhone 4 fixed the problem and it wirelessly charges fine now.

That said, there are two things that are surprising about this:

1) the Nexus 4 charged perfectly fine using that Griffin charger for 10 days. So, it looks like the orb requires more current than the phone.

2) this doesn't explain why the phone charged overnight to 100%. As I said in my first post, when I woke up this morning I had a fully charged Nexus 4. It was only after that when it stopped charging.

No big deal either way with these. They're non-issues going forward.

 

[anon(52425)]

Getting 100 percent charge. My led indication turns off when it reaches 100. I am using the bumper.

 

[minnemike]

Figured out (sort of) my issue with charging/not charging. It was plugged into a Griffin dual USB travel charger, one of the older ones that is fine for phones but doesn't provide enough current for tablets. Switching it to the USB adapter from my iPhone 4 fixed the problem and it wirelessly charges fine now.

That said, there are two things that are surprising about this:

1) the Nexus 4 charged perfectly fine using that Griffin charger for 10 days. So, it looks like the orb requires more current than the phone.

2) this doesn't explain why the phone charged overnight to 100%. As I said in my first post, when I woke up this morning I had a fully charged Nexus 4. It was only after that when it stopped charging.

No big deal either way with these. They're non-issues going forward.

I would think all bets are off when using a lower power source with the unit. I would be ready to expect all sorts of weird behavior.

 

[Treknologist]

Well, the phone charged fully yesterday. The problem, I think, I was having was that I had the Day Dreams on while charging. I changed that setting and now I have no problems.

 

[jweimn]

Yes it seems if you do not use the power cord that came with it then it won't work correctly and charge weird.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Kaenon]

I have the orb and my N4 is currently in the nikkin case. No issues, full charge every morning.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[KitN]

Guys, if you're using anything but the included USB cord and AC adapter expect problems!

It CLEARLY states that the Orb is to ONLY be used with the included USB cord and AC adapter! Otherwise it may not charge properly, DUH!!, or even cause damage to the phone and/or the charger!

Sent from my Nexus 4

 

[Con3784]

Have the QI Energizer at home, never any problems. Got the orb for work and it works intermittently. It will then stop charging. If I disconnect the cable from the back of the orb and reconnect it, it will start charging again. Already called Google and a new unit is on the way. I hope it's the charger and not the phone. I have a case on it. Same thing happens when I take the case off. Will do a test at home with the energizer to make sure it's not the phone.

 

[drich]

hey guys, just got my orb today and after reading about it on this site it I haven't noticed anyone mentioning that the table top surface of the orb does not have any stickiness to it like all the touchstones I used with the palm phones. When I pull the phone off the orb the orb comes off the table. Surely I am missing something here... can't believe something that cost $70 to get here won't stay attached to the surface it sits on. I put a couple of piece of a sticky pad like some people use to hold their phone in a vehicle which works ok but is there a better way? I kinda felt like I should not have to rig it. I look for something to peel off the bottom but nothing there...what am I missing? thanks