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Inconsistent car charging issues

gloriousnumber1

gloriousnumber1

Android Expert
I have the original Motorola Droid. I searched for this question and didn't find it, so if it's there, I apologize for repeating it, please, let me know where it is so I can read more.

This is about charging issues. I have no charging issues at home, no matter what I'm doing with my phone (games, Facebook, texting, Pandora, etc.) and it doesn't seem to matter what home charger I use, no matter if it's meant for the phone or not. However, when I plug it into my car charger (Official Verizon charger with extra USB port, brand new), it will charge, but it sometimes loses charge also.

I leave my work with maybe 80% to 90% according to my what my phone says on the screen. It used to always charge up by the time my 30-45 minute commute is done, but now sometimes it goes the other way. I've even seen it start "charged" on my screen, and when I get home, even though the "charging" insignia is showing in the upper right hand corner, it gets down to as low as 70% while plugged in, using Pandora as I drive.

I have tried taking my battery out for a few minutes and putting it back in, I've tried different chargers, I've even lowered my phone bracket to keep it out of the sun so it doesn't get so hot, thinking that was it.

Finally, I went to Verizon to get my battery replaced, and I don't know if it's "reconditioned" or not, but they did it for free. My phone still seems to have this problem, since yesterday it charged up to 100%, then started to drop again as I drove, with only the map application open, and no Pandora.

Help! I don't know what to do. The car, cigarette lighter plug, and charger are in perfect working order.

I am not sure what to do. I thought it was a weak battery since it's over a year old, but the replacement doesn't seem much (if any) better.

Thanks!
 
Maps / navigation eats a lot of processing power. Coupled with Pandora and even a car charger like the Griffin Technologies Power Jolt Dual I have - see PowerJolt Dual Universal - Universal car charger with 2 USB ports - Griffin Technology - could not supply enough power to my phone.

If you were to wipe data and cache (and thereby get rid of all your apps and settings) and configure the phone you'd probably find that it would stay charged, but barely Add other apps (and in particular, apps that have services that run in the background) and you start to lose charge.

Incidentally, with Eclair, it would charge with both running. As soon as FroYo came out, with its OC kernel, it started killing the battery even while charging when using both.
 
So is that why I didn't have this problem when I first got this phone (late June 2010) and I do now, because of FroYo? You mean to say that with other apps I've added since I got it, and froyo that makes it die quicker? I've even shut off pandora, maps, etc anything I don't run while it's idol and in my pocket, and it still doesn't seem to charge very quickly.

Are you sure heat can't play a part, since it never does that on my way to work in the morning when it's cooler, sun isn't up, and it has a fresh charge from my home charger?

However, if the home charging was the only issue involved, it wouldn't have done it the time I used another A/C charger at work and then plugged it into my car on the way home and it was at 70% when I got home.

I even took an inverter I have an plugged it into my cigarette lighter plug and used my home charger and that didn't help.
 
Heat will have an effect as well, since the processor is overclocked, and thus already running hotter than before. Good catch.

The basic idea is that 1) lots of apps / services running and 2) the OC will cause a significant change to the way things work on your phone.

And, yes, it can still do it even with the inverter plugged in - b/c you're not using maps and pandora at home, and even if you did, staying in the same location means there is not a lot of data download and processing occuring for the maps app while there is when you're on the road.
 
Don't you have to root to overclock? I have done neither. It never occurred to me that staying in one location helps. That makes sense, because when I run Pandora at home or do anything on my phone at home, it phone charges much more rapidly.
 
Yes and no. FroYo came overclocked from Motorola. If you want to manually overclock you have to be rooted. FroYo bumped the clock speeds from 550/600 to 800, IIRC. by default.
 
Makes sense. I didn't know that, so that's why I ask you guys, because I'm a dummy, and you guys are smart.

Speaking of rooting, I might ask a friend to help me root my droid AFTER I upgrade (probably Bionic) next April when I'm able to, then I will be able to decide whether I feel it's safe enough for my new phone also.

Will I have this issue more, less, or the same amount of the time when I get a faster phone, with a bigger screen, more powerful processor, and the like?
 
In addition, by the time I ever recommend rooting a phoe, it's safe as safe can be - there will always be that small 0.001% chance that something could go wrong - but it would have to be hardware rlated, b/c even bad flashes (not camera flashes, but ROM flashes) can be fixed these days.
 
LOL @ not camera flashes! I know I'm dumb, not that dumb! But yeah, you wouldn't know.

Mainly not only the chance of bricking, but the time it takes to get it right and how "geeked out" I would have to get intimidates me a bit.

I would love to learn Spanish, but I am not willing to commit myself to learning it, just not a priority. In the same way, I would love to root, flash custom Rom's, kernels, etc, but I'm pretty sure it would take a long term time commitment that I am not sure I'm ready for.

Also, I'm not sure I need to do that, since my biggest phone issues don't seem to be related to lack of options or the OS itself.

But, I am curious to learn more about Titanium Backup, and if that requires root and how it can help me out.

What about wireless tethering? Will rooting allow me to have 4G tethering? Do the 4G phones offer that now, but with a price, or is it limited to 3G? What about USB tethering on 4G with or without root?

These are all question I have, since I'm considering dumping our home internet in favor for this instead.
 
Actually, I put the camera flashes in there not for *you* but anyone reading this thread - b/c we have all levels of Android proficiency in these forums, an I've learned the hard way that I should not assume any bit of knowledge on the reader's part. But, yeah, you're right - I have no way of knowing your level either.... And at least ya got a laugh out of it. :D

As I mentioned before, it's relatively hard to brick your phone unless you experience a hardware issue, or unless something inadvertently happens (like a cable being disconnected while flashing). Still, though, it *can* be done....

It also depends upon your proficiency with electronics and computers. I'm a rather savvy guy when it comes to computers and electronics, and all it took me was a lot of reading (voluntarily, as I was still worried back then) and then plunging in myself and just doing it. These days there are one click rooting tools that can save you a lot of hassle and frustration, and as I am a purist, I normally say "Avoid them like the plague" but they do have merit.


TiBu will help in that it saves apps and the associated settings s that when you restore a ROM / install a new ROM / Restore your entire phone via SBF you can have your apps all set back up like it was when you made your last backup. It's time consuming, especially in keeping up with the latest backups on your phone on a daily basis, but well worth it if you plan on ROMing your phone / have an unplanned disaster b0rk your phone.

Last I heard was that VZW was performing packet analysis on all packets from the phone to make sure people were not tethering without paying for the tethering service, and since I don't use tethering I cannot say one way or another. However, the OG DROID (Motorola DROID A855) is 3G only, so of course you cannot have 4G tethering on *it*. I think you're asking me for the future again, with the Bionic, and by then, who knows what will be true?

Keep your home Internet and enable WiFi at home and use it - unless you're on dialup, or a ridiculously slow ADSL line.
 
I do have the wireless modem set up, and my wife uses her laptop and i-touch off of it. With my droid in it's current state, I have trouble telling any difference in speed, but it may be that my phone doesn't have the processing power to actually make things much faster, because the internet is only as fast as the phone can make it, I guess.

Do you suppose if I was brave enough, rooting my droid would tide me over until I can upgrade, I mean it can't make the screen bigger, but it sure can make the thing a bit more gutsy, am I right?
 
it can make things seem a lot more snappy - a the expense of the battery.

I bought 2 spare batteries off Amazon sellers (one later got washed, leaving me with 2 total) and a Motorola battery charger that accomodates the BP, BS BQ and another line of batteries and uses both Mini and Micro USB inputs. Total spent was like $20, and it was the best decision I made since I overclock. I almost never get over a day out of my batteries....but having a fully charged spare in my pocket makes it easier to nto worry about running out during the day....
 
Depends on your definition of "gutsy". After all, it's an OG Droid, stuck with 256MB of internal RAM. Rooting won't change that... nothing will. You CAN, however, overclock the processor to make it faster and smoother. I've clocked mine as high as 1200MHz with no problem, and used SetCPU to underclock it when idle or in a low-demand state. Saves battery that way.

The Droid really didn't come with bloatware that needs to be removed, so that's not in the equation. Rooting will give you access to the system files, which can streamline things... especially with a custom ROM that is optimized for the Droid's limitations.
 
If I need help with rooting, or anything else, I am sure I will be back here, and maybe be a slightly more advanced novice at that point.

Thanks all, have a great day.
 
gloriousnumber1 said:
Help! I don't know what to do. The car, cigarette lighter plug, and charger are in perfect working order.

I am not sure what to do. I thought it was a weak battery since it's over a year old, but the replacement doesn't seem much (if any) better.
Click to expand...
The battery's not the issue. The battery can't tell if it's charging in your car or at home.

Your problem is that you're using more power than you're supplying so the net result is that your draining your battery even when charging it in the car.

Look at your car charger. Find out how much current it supplies. I'm suspecting it's providing current equivalent to USB which is 500mA. If that's the case then replace the car charger with one that supplies as close to 1000mA/1A as possible. The more current, the faster the charge. Your wall chargers probably supply more current if you look at their specs.

The Verizon branding doesn't really mean anything.

johnlgalt said:
Maps / navigation eats a lot of processing power. Coupled with Pandora and even a car charger like the Griffin Technologies Power Jolt Dual I have - see PowerJolt Dual Universal - Universal car charger with 2 USB ports - Griffin Technology - could not supply enough power to my phone.
Click to expand...
Here's another good example. Follow the link and look at the specs for this charger: 500mA.
 
I don't know if this helps or not, but: I was on a L-O-N-G road trip, GPS on, phone plugged in to the charger, and the poor thing DIED on me about 3/4 of the trip! Turns out I was simply using more energy than I was taking in with the car charger. Turns out I forgot to turn off some things I didn't need for the trip.

On the return trip, I turned off wi-fi and bluetooth. And, with the GPS on, phone plugged in, it made it all the way home. The phone wasn't polling for those things, and I actually kept the phone charged the whole way.

Point being: check your settings and turn off what you don't need. That and a good charger should cause a net gain in your energy. :)
 
I'm using an 850 milliamp charger from Verizon that is supposed to be what I need, same specs as my home charger.

I Just can't figure out why it NEVER does this in the morning. If it's not heat, it's gotta be the direction of travel. Does driving certain directions affect signal strength on Pandora or other apps causing the phone to work harder and therefore the battery to drain faster?

Let me make it clear, driving home from work is not the only time my phone has this problem, but it NEVER does it in the morning. Unless it's because it sits on my home charger all night before I leave in the morning.

Is there any other tests I can try as far as direction, temperature, etc? Turning off Pandora and covering my phone so it can't get any sunlight seems to help anytime though, not sure which part of that helps. I have not noticed an obvious difference just leaving it mounted and shutting off Pandora when my phone just sits with the screen off while it charges. Oh yeah, I keep autolock off while using Pandora always.
 
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