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Help In car charging

kingdave

kingdave

Android Enthusiast
Hi all,

When using my DHD in car as a sat nav I use the standard USB cable that came with the phone and a cigarette lighter USB socket from my local supermarket.

While this allows it to mostly retain a charge the battery does deplete somewhat on long journeys.

Is there a better socket or cable I can use to prevent battery use, or even better, actually charge the battery while still being used as a GPS?

Thanks
 
Don't do that too often or get a new charger/cable ASAP. From what I've read, that's apparently really bad for your battery.

I'll see if I can find the link if you like?
 
Charging Lithium-ion – Battery University

Some portable devices sit in a charge cradle in the on position. The current drawn through the device is called the parasitic load and can distort the charge cycle. Battery manufacturers advise against parasitic load because it induces mini-cycles. The battery is continuously being discharged to 4.20V/cell and then charged by the device. The stress level on the battery is especially high because the cycles occur at the 4.20V/cell threshold.

A portable device must be turned off during charge. This allows the battery to reach the set threshold voltage unhindered, and enables terminating charge on low current. A parasitic load confuses the charger by depressing the battery voltage and preventing the current in the saturation stage to drop low. A battery may be fully charged, but the prevailing conditions prompt a continued charge. This causes undue battery stress and compromises safety.
Click to expand...

And here too.

It is important to note that trickle charging is not acceptable for lithium batteries. The Li-ion chemistry cannot accept an overcharge without causing damage to the cell, possibly plating out lithium metal and becoming hazardous.

The question occasionally comes up "What is the effect of charging with less than 4.2 volts?" Unlike other battery chemistries the battery will charge, but it will never reach full charge, it will only be partly charged. The reason for this is that stuffing the ions into the anode or cathode crystals requires more voltage than the simple electrochemical cell voltage. The higher the voltage the more ions can be inserted. The page linked page here some quantitative data on the relative capacity of lithium-ion batteries that are charged below 4.2 volts.
Click to expand...

Those are the simplest explanations I could find.
 
The top quote suggests I should turn my phone off when it is charging regardless of how it is charging. Does anyone actually do this? Would it not prevent the alarms going off in the morning?

The second quote talks about charging at less than 4.5v. The cigarette lighter in my car is 12v. Does that not make the point irrelevant?

I don't always use the sat nav but always charge the phone on the way home from work using the car power socket. If I don't my battery will be dead by 8pm.

Will the cable and adapter linked to above actually work the way I want it to or does that also fall into the dangers quoted above?
 
kingdave said:
The top quote suggests I should turn my phone off when it is charging regardless of how it is charging. Does anyone actually do this? Would it not prevent the alarms going off in the morning?

The second quote talks about charging at less than 4.5v. The cigarette lighter in my car is 12v. Does that not make the point irrelevant?

I don't always use the sat nav but always charge the phone on the way home from work using the car power socket. If I don't my battery will be dead by 8pm.

Will the cable and adapter linked to above actually work the way I want it to or does that also fall into the dangers quoted above?
Click to expand...

I only ever turn my phone off when charging if I'm in the middle of a night shift and I know I won't be needing it. It's not really practical to charge it that way all the time. I'm not sure the volt thing would be relevant because you've said it's not charging/losing charge despite being plugged in.

If however you're continually "charging" whilst using it as a sat nav, it will have a detrimental effect. Normal use whilst charging should be fine.

No idea about the charger though. Harry knows what he's talking about so I think it's a safe bet.
 
Interesting to read. My dad has the original Desire and will use it from time to time as a sat nav while charging from the cigarette lighter, i have noticed that his phone gets crazy hot now when charging. Regardless of how it is charged. Not 100% on whether its related. just throwing it out there. Then again he also turns it off every night and sticks it for charge all night whether it needs it or not. Most of the time it does not need a charge.

I literally never turn my phone off. Never. Always on when it charges. Just general use though so hopefully its ok. I might try and turn it off when im not using it.

About the alarms; my old SE W800i would sound the alarm even when off so at the very least there might be an app to do that or maybe its even built it? Must be possible with a smartphone.
 
The not turning off whilst charging I don't think would be a massive issue, power drain is minimal so it shouldn't "confuse" the battery too much. It would be impractical to do it every time it's charged and there's probably an element of over cautiousness.

Unfortunately the alarm switches itself off when the phone goes off which is weird when you consider with fastboot the phone is never really fully off.
 
The car socket is above 12 volts when car is running. It's also very spiky esp. with AC on. Car charger should convert this to the USB standard 5v without spikes.

But maybe it is over 5v and noisy. Which car chargers regulate better? Any recommendations?
 
Harry2 said:
HTC car charger c200,
charges your DHD while your nav app is running :)

Harry
Click to expand...


Well, I bought a c200 cable and it is a massive pile of utter shit.

On a 2.5 hour trip earlier this week using this cable and Google Maps navigation I lost 27% of my battery.

I've also found it difficult to get it to "sit right" in the DHDs USB port so that it actually charges.

Glad I only spent £5 and not the rrp on this hunk of junk.
 
kingdave said:
Well, I bought a c200 cable and it is a massive pile of utter shit.

On a 2.5 hour trip earlier this week using this cable and Google Maps navigation I lost 27% of my battery.

I've also found it difficult to get it to "sit right" in the DHDs USB port so that it actually charges.

Glad I only spent £5 and not the rrp on this hunk of junk.
Click to expand...


I think, you bought junk off eBay ;)
No way this is the original HTC car charger.

Harry
 
Whatever you bought for £5, only with the original HTC car charger you whould be sure to charge properly your DHD in the car with a running nav app.

http://www.htcaccessorystore.com/uk/p_htc_item.aspx?i=204036&phone=203871

EDIT: Because of the difficulty with your DHD's USB port: Have a charging check with your DHD: When you charge with your HTC wall charger, look at Settings > About phone > Battery > Battery status ... there you should see "Charging (AC)", not "Charging (USB)".
You should see the same when you charge your phone in the car with the HTC car charger.

Note, "Charging (USB)" is charging with up to 500mA current and this is not enought when you have running a nav app.

Harry
 
Harry2 said:
Whatever you bought for £5, only with the original HTC car charger you whould be sure to charge properly your DHD in the car with a running nav app.

http://www.htcaccessorystore.com/uk/p_htc_item.aspx?i=204036&phone=203871

EDIT: Because of the difficulty with your DHD's USB port: Have a charging check with your DHD: When you charge with your HTC wall charger, look at Settings > About phone > Battery > Battery status ... there you should see "Charging (AC)", not "Charging (USB)".
You should see the same when you charge your phone in the car with the HTC car charger.

Note, "Charging (USB)" is charging with up to 500mA current and this is not enought when you have running a nav app.

Harry
Click to expand...


Checked that out and the phone reports as charging on AC, not USB
 
Can't remember what mine says when connected to the car charger but I *think* it says 'ac charge'. This is with a pukka Nokia car charger with an adaptor for micro-usb. Phone stays cool and still charges even when being used as an mp3 player and sat-nav at the samer time (oh, and it also takes calls .. :-) )


Dave
 
dvhttn said:
Can't remember what mine says when connected to the car charger but I *think* it says 'ac charge'. This is with a pukka Nokia car charger with an adaptor for micro-usb. Phone stays cool and still charges even when being used as an mp3 player and sat-nav at the samer time (oh, and it also takes calls .. :-) )


Dave
Click to expand...

Yes, in this case it had to be AC charge :)

Some generic charger can do this too.
But you can't know it before you bought it and tried it.

So all what I said is "for to be sure" buy an original HTC charger.

Harry
 
kingdave said:
Checked that out and the phone reports as charging on AC, not USB
Click to expand...


So it seems the car charger works all right.

Maybe you need a new battery?

EDIT: Before you buy a new battery you could messure the charging current.
The Battery Monitor Widget does this.
Charging battery at 15% with no nav running you should messure 700-800mA.

Harry
 
Harry2 said:
So it seems the car charger works all right.

Maybe you need a new battery?

EDIT: Before you buy a new battery you could messure the charging current.
The Battery Monitor Widget does this.
Charging battery at 15% with no nav running you should messure 700-800mA.

Harry
Click to expand...

HTC Battery widget indicates that battery is in "good" health.

Where do I see the 700-800mA figure when charging?

This is also the cable I bought, from this seller, fulfilled by Amazon:
Genuine HTC CC C200 Micro USB Car Charger: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics
 
kingdave said:
HTC Battery widget indicates that battery is in "good" health.

Where do I see the 700-800mA figure when charging?

This is also the cable I bought, from this seller, fulfilled by Amazon:
Genuine HTC CC C200 Micro USB Car Charger: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics
Click to expand...

I mean the Battery Monitor Widget from market.

The charger from Amazon looks like the original HTC charger.

So it's important that you look at the charging current.
If the charger has a malfunction you could return it.

Harry
 
joshfishkins said:
That's the one I bought. Logo glows blue when its charging and I'm pretty sure it says USB charging when charging - does that mean its fake?
Click to expand...

If your Phone Info says USB charging then the charger is a fake.
But kingdave said his Phone Info said AC charging?

Harry
 
Harry2 said:
If your Phone Info says USB charging then the charger is a fake.
But kingdave said his Phone Info said AC charging?

Harry
Click to expand...

Checked on the way home tonight and it said AC charging, so I breathed a sigh of relief. However, it now seems to activate my car panel when I'm not in the car, but I've got a separate thread going for that!
 
Tried the charger again but using the standard USB cable and it seems to work, although I haven't had a chance to use it over any period of time while navigating.

Seems the curly cable that came with the charger is utterly useless and of poor build quality.
 
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