Better phone/sat-nav charging from your bike/car USB

[Mr Fro]

On long GPS guided rides I've had a problem with my phone; being that when it's plugged in, it gives a message along the lines of "You're not charging me enough son". Ultimately leading to a flat phone battery and guessing the way home.

No longer I say!

I've found that (on android at least) unless your USB charger has the D+ and D- pins connected then your phone will only charge at a rate as if it were connected to your PC (~50%), not the full tickle it would get from your proper manufacturer's AC charger.

Being too cheap to fork out for a couple of new chargers and too lazy to split the ones I have in half to solder the connectors up, I've merely put a tiny bit of aluminium tape over the middle two pins of the USB lead and I now have full charging capacity!

Check it out yourself - plug your phone in and look at the battery level - it'll say "Charging (USB)" or something. Then use a doctored up lead and it'll say "Charging (AC)". Obviously, don't do this on your computer lead as you'll not be able to transfer data.

[Tango]

Hmm....interesting.....thanks for the info Mr Fro......

Bike charger is OK.....but the car charger leaves a bit to be desired....although the phone battery doesn't die in the car....even when I'm playing music and have CoPilot running at the same time..... so, maybe it's not so bad......

[Stu]

known this for ages I split the cable and just twisted the wires together

[Mr Fro]

known this for ages I split the cable and just twisted the wires together

So why didn't you share it with the rest of us mere mortals?

The USB in the V40 is pants too - bluetooth zaps the battery quicksharp, even if it's plugged in.

[Stu]

Because I wasn't aware that some of you needed to know

There is some chargers with it already built in

[Adam]

I've found that my phone never really charge much when it's on the bike and sat nav is on it usually stays about the same or a few % higher, I'll give it a go if I have some aluminium tape lying around cause I'm not buying a whole roll for a tiny piece!

Yes Stu share your hints and tips, you should create a section for it titled "Stuarts' tips & tricks"

[Stu]

a bit of your mothers tin foil will suffice

tips and tricks section is not a bad idea really

if you do this to your phone make sure you check that it is charging on AC and not USB

when charging on AC it should take 1000ma of charge whereas on USB its upto 500ma usually around 300 if you are lucky!! so you could in affect get twice as much charge to the phone

other tips turn things off you dont need/use when using the satnav turn screen brightness down as low as you dare etc but most know about this stuff

[Adam]

So how do you know if it's charging ac or usb? I have an iphone and it doesn't say anything different. And also how do I attach the tin foil to the pins?

I have to turn my screen brightness right up to be able to see anything so that probably doesn't help..

But yes a tips & tricks section would be useful for all sorts of things, like putting stripes on your car gives it an extra 5bhp haha

[Tankbag]

Hmm....interesting.....thanks for the info Mr Fro......

Bike charger is OK.....but the car charger leaves a bit to be desired....although the phone battery doesn't die in the car....even when I'm playing music and have CoPilot running at the same time..... so, maybe it's not so bad......

Bob with the CoPilot did you manage to install the maps to your added sd card or to the phone ? my cheap ass phone hasn't got enough memory on the phone for the maps. Cheers

I have found a work around for Sygic though ( but not paid for the full version yet )

[Stu]

So how do you know if it's charging ac or usb? I have an iphone and it doesn't say anything different. And also how do I attach the tin foil to the pins?

I have to turn my screen brightness right up to be able to see anything so that probably doesn't help..

 

forget it this is only for android

I think the Iphone needs a special charger

[scott-01422]

Have you a picture so know exactly what to alter please.

[Stu]

no pic but read here

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=767961

[Stu]

and for the Iphone thing!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Modify- ... od-iPhone/

[Adam]

Cheers Stu, looks a bit complicated for the iphone! Might be getting rid of it soon so I'll just stick it out for now.

[TC]

Is this why my iphone wont charge on the bike.

[Mr Fro]

What I did:

http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/xx246/Mr_Fro/IMAG0292-picsay.jpg

[Throttled]

I find my phone charges OK, but when the sat nav is on, it will not charge any more (though it does not discharge either). Is that a sign it is not working on full power?

[Chrissb6]

Hi no not really, the sat nav is a high drain on the battery. So as long as the phone charger is managing to hold the battery charge all should be ok