I had a BIG problem with a third party battery charger (RIMAX).
It is a Car charger and a wall mount charger, with USB plug and cable, but IT WORKS ONLY WHEN THE WIZARD IS ON! If the battery goes down for some reason and the phone couldn't turn on, you're lost! :evil:
So, the lesson learned is: before travelling without your original charger check if the one you have could charge the wizard also when is OFF and not only in stand-by mode!
I also have a strange issue with a third party car charger - after plugging in the car charger I have to switch the universal off then on again to make it charge...very wierd!
I've also got one of those, though would prefere one with a bit of cable in the middle to reduce stress on the connector.
Have you checked the amp output on the chargers. They're probably putting out 0.5 amps (USB spec). If you look at the wall charger that came with the wizard, it puts out 1.0 amps. That's why when your battery is completely dead, the 0.5 amp charger can't put enough juice into it to get the battery up to a high enough level.
Actually, according to the USB spec, a device is not supposed to consume more than 100mA without being recognized by the USB host. That is, the USB host is only going to give your phone 100mA until the phone says, "hey, i'd like 500mA, please!"
Sometimes manufacturers may shortcut this and just allow the port 500mA at all times, but a standards-conforming one won't.
This MAY be part of the reason why we have problems charging a completely dead Wizard -- it's only going to get 100mA until the device has enough juice to wake up and request more.
This MAY be part of the reason why we have problems charging a completely dead Wizard -- it's only going to get 100mA until the device has enough juice to wake up and request more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah! - That's the problem I had yesterday - had left my Vario on with TomTom draining away the battery and forgotten about it on Saturday night, had just spent the day moving house and everything was in chaos and had no idea where the charger was.
So when I realised it was dead on Sunday whilst out in the car, I plugged it into the car charger that came with my GPS unit, which I have used to charge the phone many times before - but it would not charge, no light, nothing!
When I got home all I could find was the mains charger for the GPS and a USB cable - tried both and none would put any charge into the phone.
By this stage I was shi**ing myself that the phone, which I got mainly for GPS for travelling around Germany in June, was DEAD - with 3 weeks to go!
of course later in the day, once I had eventually found the proper charger, it took a slight pause after being plugged in and then the little orange light of joy came on and brought me salvation!!!!!
I suspected it might have been something like the previous poster said but not being very technical I really didn't know!!
Thanks.
I've had the same frustrating experience. When the battery is very low or dead the only charger that will work is the original adapter, not the car charger or cradle or pass thru my laptop. As I result I have to carry the original adapter whenever I travel and I often wake up with a dead Wizard if I dont realize how low the battery is when I park it in the cradle.
Very frustrating. I dont understand why Boxwave doesnt use a beefier adapter connected to the cradle.
I've had the same frustrating experience. When the battery is very low or dead the only charger that will work is the original adapter, not the car charger or cradle or pass thru my laptop. As I result I have to carry the original adapter whenever I travel and I often wake up with a dead Wizard if I dont realize how low the battery is when I park it in the cradle.
Very frustrating. I dont understand why Boxwave doesnt use a beefier adapter connected to the cradle.
I've had the same frustrating experience. When the battery is very low or dead the only charger that will work is the original adapter, not the car charger or cradle or pass thru my laptop. As I result I have to carry the original adapter whenever I travel and I often wake up with a dead Wizard if I dont realize how low the battery is when I park it in the cradle.
Very frustrating. I dont understand why Boxwave doesnt use a beefier adapter connected to the cradle.
This part of the forum is covered in different charging issue threads due to it being such a prominent feature. Things ranging from model numbers, overheating, not working at all and only working intermittently.
I thought I would attempt to build a thread of the issues we Transformer owners are experiencing and seeing if anyone can really get to the bottom of this.
From what I have picked up from the forums many people are getting bad responses from Asus support, either providing no help at all or asking for the entire tablet+dock+charger at the users expense for shipping.
Common problems outline
[1]The brick gets very hot and stops charging
[2] The contacts between the brick and country adapter (e.g. USA/UK/EU) don't contact properly.
[3] The brick refuses to work altogether for no obvious reason.
Solutions attempted
[1] Bending the two contacts between the brick and country adapter slightly away from the brick (1 - 2mm)
[2] Calling (a somewhat unhelpful so far) Asus and asking for replacement
[3] Preserving (Not very Fun)
--------------------------------------------------
The problems I am experiencing myself are basically that the charger works sometimes perfectly and other times not at all.
I can plug my charger in sometimes and it will work fine, others I can plug it in and my TF doesn't indicate charging although it does charge just VERY VERY slowly (about 2% every 25min).
Heat has not been an issue for me as it has been for many, my charging cable doesn't got warm at all and the brick is never alarmingly warm, nowhere near as hot as my laptop charger gets and the Asus charger is only 5V less than my laptops charger.
Model Numbers
Model numbers have been spoken about but so far I cannot find any evidence that they are different from one another, a known fault with 0B-LF so issues reported to Asus with that model should be find, but as far as I can tell problems with these power bricks happen across all the models (0B-LF, 0B-1LF, 0B-2LF)
If your having issues with your power brick post them below so we can try to keep them all in one place and hopefully try and resolve this.
As you are in the UK i'm not sure if this would apply to you but from my personal experience, i've had situations where the charger itself would be quite warm to the point where up close you can smell that aroma of overheating electronics. The charger has also refused to charge even when not hot, but will work once again after i've taken it off the mains and let it sit.
The american outlets differentiate between the hot and neutral leads via the larger and smaller prongs. I read in another thread concerning polarity and surface charges that when the charger is plugged in with the prong on the A side of the ASUS logo towards the larger (neutral) hole, then the charger will work properly. This has been my experience. I've come to a personal conclusion that the design of the charger is such that it is pole-sensitive but asus didn't bother to tell anyone which prong goes where, hope that might be of some use to you.
lacrossev said:
As you are in the UK i'm not sure if this would apply to you but from my personal experience, i've had situations where the charger itself would be quite warm to the point where up close you can smell that aroma of overheating electronics. The charger has also refused to charge even when not hot, but will work once again after i've taken it off the mains and let it sit.
The american outlets differentiate between the hot and neutral leads via the larger and smaller prongs. I read in another thread concerning polarity and surface charges that when the charger is plugged in with the prong on the A side of the ASUS logo towards the larger (neutral) hole, then the charger will work properly. This has been my experience. I've come to a personal conclusion that the design of the charger is such that it is pole-sensitive but asus didn't bother to tell anyone which prong goes where, hope that might be of some use to you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never have had my charger get hot enough to smell like burning. The only way so far of resolving the issue is leaving my charger unplugged for about 20 min+ and then reconnecting it to my TF.
You forgot the "stick the brick in the freezer" trick.
Not kidding, it worked like a champ for me and a few others.
Put the brick in ziplock bag and stick it in the freezer.
newtybar said:
You forgot the "stick the brick in the freezer" trick.
Not kidding, it worked like a champ for me and a few others.
Put the brick in ziplock bag and stick it in the freezer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know you can achieve the same result by just letting it sit without being plugged anywhere between 20 - 30 minutes. Just in case you don't want to put it in the freezer anymore.
Teleported from my Asus Transformer using Tapatalk
AcIdC0R3 said:
You know you can achieve
the same result by just letting it sit without being plugged anywhere between 20 - 30 minutes. Just in case you don't want to put it in the freezer anymore.
Teleported from my Asus Transformer using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that's what I have been doing, if I plug in my TF and it won't charge I just leave it unplugged for about half an hour and then plug it in again but this is a bit of a pain. Could really do with a better solution.
-_-
Today my TF is refusing to charge at all. It trickle charges from the charger but this takes forever, its gone up 2% in just over 30mins. I'm not sure what to try now.
I have plugged it into charge, didn't work, left it unplugged for 20mins, plugged back in, wouldn't charge, left it unplugged for an hour, plugged back in, wouldn't charge, left it to trickle charge because it only had 1% battery.
I'm not sure what to try now, I might have to call Asus after I go on holiday.
Seems my charger will only trickle charge now, I cant get it to charge properly whatever I try. Maybe I should put it in the freezer for 20mins and see what it does......
If you do the freezer trick, let the adapter sit out UNPLUGGED for a short while.
Introducing heat can result in condensation (water) and we all know water and electronic bits don't get along that well.
Vendors are starting to get stock in spare chargers these days. I just got one in last week. Never had problems with the original yet, tho. The new one is going to the office where it will stay.
FrayAdjacent said:
If you do the freezer trick, let the adapter sit out UNPLUGGED for a short while.
Introducing heat can result in condensation (water) and we all know water and electronic bits don't get along that well.
Vendors are starting to get stock in spare chargers these days. I just got one in last week. Never had problems with the original yet, tho. The new one is going to the office where it will stay.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will do. I might have to order another charger if I get no luck with Asus support.
didge3 said:
Will do. I might have to order another charger if I get no luck with Asus support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get a new one, and if it works normally, toss the original one in the box and exchange it at the place you purchased the second one at.
If ASUS won't replace it under warranty, the above will end up with them replacing it when the vendor returns it to them.
I've done some research and as far as I can tell the TF power brick operates in two modes, one is for lower powered 'ordinary' usb devices, such as my phone. This allows this charging brick to charge at 5v @ 2amps outputting a total of 10W.
The second option is primarily for when a TF is connected and runs at 15v @ 1.2amps outputting 18W.
My charging brick seems to charge my phone on the 5v mode fine, but when I connect my TF it isn't charging properly and takes ages, this leads me to believe that somewhere down the line my charging isn't connecting something somewhere and allowing for the 15v charging to take place.
Would I be right in saying this or am I talking all jibberish?
didge3 said:
I've done some research and as far as I can tell the TF power brick operates in two modes, one is for lower powered 'ordinary' usb devices, such as my phone. This allows this charging brick to charge at 5v @ 2amps outputting a total of 10W.
The second option is primarily for when a TF is connected and runs at 15v @ 1.2amps outputting 18W.
My charging brick seems to charge my phone on the 5v mode fine, but when I connect my TF it isn't charging properly and takes ages, this leads me to believe that somewhere down the line my charging isn't connecting something somewhere and allowing for the 15v charging to take place.
Would I be right in saying this or am I talking all jibberish?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd agree. Something in the solid-state(a mosfet or IC) has crapped out due to heat, breaking the 15V section of the charger. Time for a new one. It's possible there's damage to pin 7 in the usb port, but heat-fry is much more likely.
msticninja said:
I'd agree. Something in the solid-state(a mosfet or IC) has crapped out due to heat, breaking the 15V section of the charger. Time for a new one. It's possible there's damage to pin 7 in the usb port, but heat-fry is much more likely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah definately taking it back to retail store I bought it from, hopefully they will try it and just give me a new charger then and there.
Info I've gleaned, just in case it might assist someone:
1) I took delivery of an 0B-3LF charger today from ASUS UK, haven't seen any mention of the 3LF yet on XDA. It *appears* to generate less heat but that could just be a placebo effect.
2) Coincidentally, my 0B-2LF - which always got hot when charging dock+tablet simultaneously - failed last night. Unplugging it from the mains then replugging it did not fix it, even though it was cold to the touch by this point. Six hours after unplugging it from the mains, I tried again... the 0B-2LF started working, and continues to work. So if your charger fails, unplug it, give it six hours, then try it again - ideally before registering an RMA, otherwise you'll have to spend an extra half hour working out how to cancel the RMA (answer: email [email protected] with your RMA number, serial number and case reference).
My charger works whenever it feels like it wants to. I've been messing with it for the last 30-45 min with no luck. Unplugging the charger from the outlet, trying different outlets, unplugging and plugging back in the usb cable, with and without usb 3.0 extension, rotating the mains to switch the polarity, pushing out the prongs for the country adapter, widening the opening in the prongs, banging the charger, letting it sit and nothing is working. Just now it turned on, but right after the boot screen, it made the low power chime and died.
Seems like the problem is getting worse. Before when it first stopped charging it was really easy to get it charging again.
Also my father got the TF within the same week i got mine. He went overseas and came back to visit again and his charger has no issues. But i did notice he keeps the USB 3.0 extension along with the usb cable all plugged into each other into the mains whereas I unplug mine and wrap them up when taking them along.
Think that might have something to do with it?
my charger is a 0b-1LF
maxh2005 said:
Info I've gleaned, just in case it might assist someone:
1) I took delivery of an 0B-3LF charger today from ASUS UK, haven't seen any mention of the 3LF yet on XDA. It *appears* to generate less heat but that could just be a placebo effect.
2) Coincidentally, my 0B-2LF - which always got hot when charging dock+tablet simultaneously - failed last night. Unplugging it from the mains then replugging it did not fix it, even though it was cold to the touch by this point. Six hours after unplugging it from the mains, I tried again... the 0B-2LF started working, and continues to work. So if your charger fails, unplug it, give it six hours, then try it again - ideally before registering an RMA, otherwise you'll have to spend an extra half hour working out how to cancel the RMA (answer: email [email protected] with your RMA number, serial number and case reference).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's how mine started, but got worse. I only charge my tablet once a day and the charger is unplugged from the outlet between charges. Now I can't get it to charge. Every now and then if i unplug it and plug it back in, it'll boot up the TF but then the second the boot animation is over, makes the battery low chime, 0% remaining and shuts off!
Just got off the phone with asus tech support, they gave me an RMA number and i have to mail the charger to them to see if they can repair it.... whats up with that? why can't they just mail me a new one and i mail them back this broken one or get billed for it like every other tech company i've dealt with?
I've had the exact same issues as both of you. At first if it wouldn't charge I would leave it for a few mins and then it would charge straight away. It slowly got word and I had to fight with it more to get it to charge and now it will only trickle charge.
I will charge it up overnight tonight and leave it for six hours or more. Hopefully this will work until I can send it back.
(I'm not sure if i have mentioned this somewhere but my charger model number is 0B-1LF)
So I got an rma to send my charger to asus but I think I narrowed it down to the cable and not the charger. I tried my dad's charger and it works with that. Then I tried my cable on my dad's charger and no go, only trickle (5v) charge. Then tried my dad's usb cable on my charger and it worked. So I think it has something to do with the cable not telling the charger it needs 15v.
Going to call asus back tomorrow and see if they'll
Send me another cable.
asus rant: how come I have to pay to mail out my defective part and be without it while they repair or replace it? Every other company I've dealt with would send me the replacement and I would have to mail back the defective unit (using a prepaid label included) or be billed for it.
Sent from my Dell Streak XDA premium app - please excuse my miswyping
fone_fanatic said:
So I got an rma to send my charger to asus but I think I narrowed it down to the cable and not the charger. I tried my dad's charger and it works with that. Then I tried my cable on my dad's charger and no go, only trickle (5v) charge. Then tried my dad's usb cable on my charger and it worked. So I think it has something to do with the cable not telling the charger it needs 15v.
Going to call asus back tomorrow and see if they'll
Send me another cable.
asus rant: how come I have to pay to mail out my defective part and be without it while they repair or replace it? Every other company I've dealt with would send me the replacement and I would have to mail back the defective unit (using a prepaid label included) or be billed for it.
Sent from my Dell Streak XDA premium app - please excuse my miswyping
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe its my cable too, unfortunately I don't have another brick to try it on. Will have to just wait and see.
Hello XDA,
I'm not sure how this happened, but for the past couple of months I haven't been able to charge my phone while it is turned on. It shows the charging animation but the battery still drains, even with all radios off and screen off. I can leave it charging all night and end up with a nearly flat battery. Plugging it in to any wall socket seems to only slow the draining, and plugging it in to a fully powered USB socket (many tried) keeps it at the same battery level, or very slowly charges it if I don't use it. If I turn it off however, I can charge it until full in the normal time with the original AC charger.
Here's the really strange part: I've tried several new chargers of different brands including samsung and it makes no difference. Not only that, but they won't charge it when powered off either making them completely ineffective. It doesn't initialize the charge properly - the screen either shows a battery with a progress circle over and over again without getting to the charging animation, or displays the charging animation over and over and never charges at all, but nevertheless gets hot.
The chargers I've tried are:
Cygnet for samsung phones including SGS-II
Belkin for Samsung phones including SGS-II
Premium blackberry travel charger
Premium 10W 2A Samsung travel adaptor
One charger that did seem to work while plugged in was from a new Sony Xperia Windows phone charger I borrowed once.
I've exchanged at the store 3 times now with the same result! It must be something wrong with the hardware or software...
I've calibrated the battery, I've had a new battery for a couple of months and normally still lasts all day and more on a full charge. It is a 3rd party high quality Anker battery. The problem is the battery is getting a lot more taxed now that I'm using 3G over the portable hotspot, so its not quite lasting the day anymore.
I've had countless custom ROMs on there now, current ROM is CyanogenMod 10.1 stable. Would returning to stock then reinstalling help?
Something that shouldn't matter is I've moved from the UK to Australia. I'm still using the English charger as its the only one that works. And the Xperia charger that seemed to work was Australian too.
Before it got this bad I think it was getting slower and slower to charge. I had to replace the old USB cable that eventually got really loose, then broke and i've tried several new ones with no improvement in charging ability. Is it possible that the contacts inside the micro-USB socket might have been bent from the old cable moving around so much so that only minimal contact is achieved with any other cable? The new connectors do seem to fit perfectly.
In the attached screenshot, you will see on the left the AC charger is plugged in while battery level goes down, then on the far right its plugged in to a computer and is kept level.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!
sevenlions said:
Hello XDA,
I'm not sure how this happened, but for the past couple of months I haven't been able to charge my phone while it is turned on. It shows the charging animation but the battery still drains, even with all radios off and screen off. I can leave it charging all night and end up with a nearly flat battery. Plugging it in to any wall socket seems to only slow the draining, and plugging it in to a fully powered USB socket (many tried) keeps it at the same battery level, or very slowly charges it if I don't use it. If I turn it off however, I can charge it until full in the normal time with the original AC charger.
Here's the really strange part: I've tried several new chargers of different brands including samsung and it makes no difference. Not only that, but they won't charge it when powered off either making them completely ineffective. It doesn't initialize the charge properly - the screen either shows a battery with a progress circle over and over again without getting to the charging animation, or displays the charging animation over and over and never charges at all, but nevertheless gets hot.
The chargers I've tried are:
Cygnet for samsung phones including SGS-II
Belkin for Samsung phones including SGS-II
Premium blackberry travel charger
Premium 10W 2A Samsung travel adaptor
One charger that did seem to work while plugged in was from a new Sony Xperia Windows phone charger I borrowed once.
I've exchanged at the store 3 times now with the same result! It must be something wrong with the hardware or software...
I've calibrated the battery, I've had a new battery for a couple of months and normally still lasts all day and more on a full charge. It is a 3rd party high quality Anker battery. The problem is the battery is getting a lot more taxed now that I'm using 3G over the portable hotspot, so its not quite lasting the day anymore.
I've had countless custom ROMs on there now, current ROM is CyanogenMod 10.1 stable. Would returning to stock then reinstalling help?
Something that shouldn't matter is I've moved from the UK to Australia. I'm still using the English charger as its the only one that works. And the Xperia charger that seemed to work was Australian too.
Before it got this bad I think it was getting slower and slower to charge. I had to replace the old USB cable that eventually got really loose, then broke and i've tried several new ones with no improvement in charging ability. Is it possible that the contacts inside the micro-USB socket might have been bent from the old cable moving around so much so that only minimal contact is achieved with any other cable? The new connectors do seem to fit perfectly.
In the attached screenshot, you will see on the left the AC charger is plugged in while battery level goes down, then on the far right its plugged in to a computer and is kept level.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMO, u should revert back to a stock samsung Firmware (pertained to ur region) and then see if the issue persists or not to rule out any possible 'Software issue' in the first place
Thank you, I will try that and report back the results.
You can try hawkerpauls nuke if flashing stock doesn't work: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2100558