[Q] clarification about USB vs AC charging: battery life - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

i'm reading different opinions about this when i searched through the xda forums and on google.
i'm using the same custom rom and kernel for about a week now. a few days ago, i charged purely on wall socket. left overnight, my battery lost only 2%.
last night, i charged my phone when it was about 30%. i charged using usb up to 85%, then i finished it off on AC up to a 100%. my overnight loss went up to 5% (i did not install any additional apk, or change my setcpu profiles, etc).
there are no topics on this, specifically for SGS2. mostly are from HTC threads.
from what i learned, usb's only pour out about half of what AC's can give (500 mah vs 1,000 mah). does that translate into a poorer batt life?

How you charge your phone, usb vs AC will not effect the battery life, 100% is 100%, it will just charge slower via usb.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

I have noticed something similar with my captivate.I would guess that when you use the wall charger with 1amp the battery gets more of a charge than when you use a usb charger at .5amps. 1amp can cause more chemical change in the battery than half an amp.
sent from my Infuse at Tranquility Base.

SGS2 will only let 650mA into the battery, AFAIK it's hardware restricted to do this. Wall charger will charge faster, but only slightly.

I see no difference and 2% to 5% is within a tolerable variation of overnight drain .
Its all the same electricity .
jje

Sticks02 said:
SGS2 will only let 650mA into the battery, AFAIK it's hardware restricted to do this. Wall charger will charge faster, but only slightly.
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Firmware, actually, and the phone determines how much it will draw based on the resistance between the two USB data pins. If the resistance is < 200 ohms, it assumes it's plugged into an AC charger, and will draw up to 650 mA. Otherwise, it assumes it's plugged into a PC's USB 2.0 port, and will draw up to 450 mA, just under the 500 mA that a USB 2.0 port is supposed to provide, per the USB 2.0 spec.
Since it's firmware, it should be possible to change the current draw by re-compiling the kernel sources with new values. Note that you don't want to go too high on the charging current, as that could cause overheating or fire.

Sticks02 said:
SGS2 will only let 650mA into the battery, AFAIK it's hardware restricted to do this. Wall charger will charge faster, but only slightly.
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And how about charging a spare battery using a separate battery charger?
I have two batteries and I never charge them plugging the phone, just using a spare battery charger. Does it have any negative effect on the batteries' lifespan?

dont know what happened but my phone is being charged with ac adapter as same speed as usb.(more than 4 hours) :S

I have a USB charger capable of delivering 1A.
Even with the data pins shorted (phone side), it still seems to draw only 350 mA :-(
Any ideas?
Known made-up cables that do work?

Related

Maximum charger amperage?

Alright, so I have a mini USB car charger that is rated at 2.0A (got with GPS) and I just want to make sure the extra amperage is not going to charge my battery too quickly and then kill it in the process. All I have to go on is that my wall charger is capable of only 1.0A and the computer USB is on the level of mA. Does anybody have a car charger or know the maximum amperage possible that these phones can take?
Thanks in advance.
Its to Strong ! I have Crash a PDA with 1.5A
I've used a 2.0a charger but noticed that the battery didn't charge right.
On that note, also noticed that a .5a or 500mA charger after about 6 months killed my battery. (burned out and won't take a full charge anymore)
Recommendation is to stick to 1.0A charging as much as possible as the Wizard's charge circuit is designed at 1.0A charging and monitoring.
DOESN'T MATTER ..if u know the basic Ohms Law..its the max capacity of the charger.(or any source) the current regulating circuits will take care of the real charging current fed to the battery
I charge my phone on my computers USB connection all the time, all computers have a maximum of 500mA USB current.
Amps are pulled from the charger, not pushed to the phone.
Voltages are pushed to the phone, not pulled from the charger.
If the phone draws too much current from the charger, the voltage drops to a point where the maximum power (P (Watt) = U (Voltage) * I (Amps)) of the charger isn't exceeded.
According to the USB specification you need at least 200mA with 500mA recommended +5VDC.
More is never a problem, you could even use a 50A power supply without breaking your phone. Practically spoken: I wouldn't do that.
huh?
I have messed up a few devices before by putting the wrong charger on the device (2.0 amp charger on a droid eris and 1amp charger on the MOTOACTV) Is this a problem with the device's charging circuit? In general it should only pull up what it needs to charge but my devices were messed up?
I returned the first MOTOACTV after it wouldn't leave the boot screen and the second one I got acted funny on 1 amps as well. It charged fine on .75amp charger that came with the device but when I put it on my HTC Dinc charger it shot up from 10% to 20 to 30 etc. all within minutes. Hope I didn't mess this one up too.
Just trying to figure out what the deal is. My phone for sure charges faster when connected to 1amp vs .5amp (computer). This makes sense I understand because the device is able to handle 1amp, but I wonder if it would mess up with a 2amp charger.
Thanks!
The last two posts of 2008 are correct. Your phone is capable of drawing more than 500 mA but less than 1000 mA. If the charger is 1A, 1.5A, 2A, or 50A, it won't make a difference to the phone's charging time or life.
Wrong voltage can be bad, but phones are designed to support USB charging, as a minimum, and 1A to 2A is always safe. As was said in 2008, the charger pushes voltage to the battery, but the battery pulls current from the charger.
That's a really good way of describing it
Pushing and pulling current and voltage is a really good way of describing it.. Given that I am theoretically well within the charging parameters, how comes my phone (Galaxy mini/pop) becomes unusable when its charging (touch screen doesnt touch and screen jumps to new screen without touching?) Am I wrecking my phone?
No, your charger is to blame. Maybe it isn't properly grounded. Phones with capacitive touch screens (not the Wizard! but maybe your phone) can get really weird on some chargers. I have a Nexus One with an aftermarket charger that always makes the touch screen go haywire. When I use an HTC charger, the phone has no problem. As far as I know, the damage isn't permanent, it's just that the sensors get confused. When I disconnect from the charger, turn the phone off, then turn it on, all is well.
My wizards were never bothered by chargers, no matter what kind, as long as they were mini-USB, they were the right voltage. The wizard doesn't take as much current as more modern phones, either.
Hmm. Not properly grounded sounds very plausible. Viva mediterranean circuits. Thanks
Usb chargers will be rated at 5v, which is exactly the correct voltage to charge your device. What you want to make sure is you buy the correct "rated" amperage. Not because it will damage your phone. Amperage only exists as a sum of the power used by the device. You want to find a decent 1amp (1000mA) or higher if you wish, rated usb charger. The the mains charger for your phone is only rated at 1amp, so a 1amp charger is adequate. Avoid 500ma chargers as it will take twice as long to charge and gps / satnav applications will drain the battery even when charging at that rate.
Also if you have a new pc, most of the decent boards will specify 1amp charge even when off if it has on/off charge stated on manufacture details.
Newer phones will charge fine with higher amperage
The myth that charging your device at a faster rate will reduce the life of your device’s battery is false!
If you want quicker charging, look for a wall or car charger that delivers 2100 mA of current at 5 volts higher won't matter.... These lithium ion batteries can handle it... It was just back then if you were to try to put a faster charger in an older battery it (in any cases) just won't charge.

How long to charge???

The beast? I got mine but haven't powered it up yet for charging purposes. There is no light indicator that tells you when its done.
Got mine yesterday and I charged via AC and it took about 3 hours to complete. After letting it drain over night after 8 hours of heavy usage, I'm charging via USB and it's taking forever. With it on and after 2 hours, it was only at 15%. Now turned it off and it's been 3 hours and it looks like 75%. BTW, press the power button once and the screen will show the batter gauge.
you should charge it while turned on and for 6 hours or more for 4-5 cycles. Let it go down to 5% for those 4-5 cycles. Do not let it turn off from lack of power.
That is from instructions I received from a third party battery which had these detailed instruction to maximize capacity. I am sure you will get 1000 different ways but that is what I use and have always had good battery life.
iLAofficial said:
The beast? I got mine but haven't powered it up yet for charging purposes. There is no light indicator that tells you when its done.
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Click to collapse
While powered off, you can hit the volume button to get a visual on the batter status.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA App
This thing pretty much requires the cable that came with it to charge at full speed. Older MicroUSB cables charge at a much slower rate and are recognized as USB devices when plugged in. It must be because of the higher capacity battery. When you have the right cable plugged in, though, it charges pretty fast.
I'm noticing that even using the wall charger and the USB cable it came with, it's taking about an hour for the Note to charge only 15%. Anyone else noticing this? Is it normal that the first batch of charges takes this long (at that rate it would take 6+ hours to charge from 0-100%)?
My note charges very fast when I use the ac adapter and super slow when I use the us from my computer. About 1.5 hours on the ac and more than 3 hours on my pc's us
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA App
Its always a good idea to charge using the AC wall adapter. The USB port on a computer usually supplies ~.5A @ 5v to charge the phone, the included Samsung wall charger supplies double that with 1.0A @ 5v. That is the reason you see such a big difference in your charging times.
(Some computers now supply more than .5A through USB, but .5A is most common)
USB3.0 can supply 5.0v @ 950mA to charge, but the kernel isn't set up to take advantage of this, I'll see if I can change that (it would only affect charging while booted)
Just shy of the AC adapter for those of us with USB3 ports
ulkesh said:
I'm noticing that even using the wall charger and the USB cable it came with, it's taking about an hour for the Note to charge only 15%. Anyone else noticing this? Is it normal that the first batch of charges takes this long (at that rate it would take 6+ hours to charge from 0-100%)?
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same here..
Da_G said:
USB3.0 can supply 5.0v @ 950mA to charge, but the kernel isn't set up to take advantage of this, I'll see if I can change that (it would only affect charging while booted)
Just shy of the AC adapter for those of us with USB3 ports
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Click to collapse
I was excited reading this because my new laptop has a 3.0 port. However, I then remembered that my power brick for my laptop is kick ass and has a USB port that charges devices at 1A anyways. Haha.
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda premium
So I got it down to 5% and then I plugged it in at around 8pm and at 11pm it was at 100%. Not bad, not great but seems about right. Now my question is I see a notification that battery is fully charged and to unplug charger but Im going to bed soon and am going to leave it plugged over night. Is this risking the battery in any way?
ygong said:
same here..
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Same here rooted on on demand cpu governor.
Da_G said:
USB3.0 can supply 5.0v @ 950mA to charge, but the kernel isn't set up to take advantage of this, I'll see if I can change that (it would only affect charging while booted)
Just shy of the AC adapter for those of us with USB3 ports
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be the only use for my USB3.0 ports so far. Have yet to even need to utilize it.
The charger that comes with the Note can charge the battery in 3hours via ac. I wouldn't suggest to charge via usb, just because it's way too slow. Im using my playbook charger to charge my Note, Galaxy Nexus , and my bb 9900. This charger is 1.8a, it nearly charges 2x faster than the regular 1a that comes with most phones. Same thing for my car charger 2a, i even use my ipad charger to charge my iphone 4s and it's way faster!! Use more powerful chargers... Not more than 2a or your device might melt down!!
Sent from my iPad 3G
big samm said:
The charger that comes with the Note can charge the battery in 3hours via ac. I wouldn't suggest to charge via usb, just because it's way too slow. Im using my playbook charger to charge my Note, Galaxy Nexus , and my bb 9900. This charger is 1.8a, it nearly charges 2x faster than the regular 1a that comes with most phones. Same thing for my car charger 2a, i even use my ipad charger to charge my iphone 4s and it's way faster!! Use more powerful chargers... Not more than 2a or your device might melt down!!
Sent from my iPad 3G
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That's weird. I was under the impression that GS Note only accepts 1.0A of power. Well at least that's what it saids at the back of the phone. I've got an iPad charger that draws out 2.1A, maybe I should give that a try.

Bigger charger, faster charge?

Hey guys
I was wondering , since it takes this phone over 3 hours to fully charge... If I buy a Nokia charger with an output of 1.2 mah ,would it take a shorter time for this phone to charge? Its own charger has 0.7 mah output..
No. SGS2 has a capped charge rate of 650 as far as I know.
----------------------
GTI9100 KK5
yes but it might get hot. i used to charge with playbook's charger all was well. but now i use the samsung S2 charger. but i never checked if it was charging faster
Ok, thank you both
atifsh said:
yes but it might get hot. i used to charge with playbook's charger all was well. but now i use the samsung S2 charger. but i never checked if it was charging faster
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Click to collapse
Charging is controlled by the phone only and varies depending on whether it detects a USB data link or not. And the battery temperature.
So, provided the charger is rated at 700mA or greater, the phone will charge at the fastest rate it sets. On USB, the charge rate is lower. USB 2 ports have a maximum of 500mA output... and if the phone is on, the charge rate is often lowered further.
I use an iPAD2 charger for convenience, which is rated at 2A. The phone charges fine, but only at the same rate as the stock Samsung charger.
LenAsh said:
Charging is controlled by the phone only and varies depending on whether it detects a USB data link or not. And the battery temperature.
So, provided the charger is rated at 700mA or greater, the phone will charge at the fastest rate it sets. On USB, the charge rate is lower. USB 2 ports have a maximum of 500mA output... and if the phone is on, the charge rate is often lowered further.
I use an iPAD2 charger for convenience, which is rated at 2A. The phone charges fine, but only at the same rate as the stock Samsung charger.
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thanks for the info dont know about S2 but i know few brands allow that. blackberry is one of them, using playbook charger on their phones charge them faster but battery gets hot.
I cant find the exact post to link it for you but I'm sure the devs had a discussion about it in the siyah dev thread.
Mains capped at 600 by the device.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1263838&page=1406
----------------------
GTI9100 KK5
Well, I needed more actual facts than technical stuff. So the idea is not to buy the nokia charger cause the sgs2 wont charge faater. This sucks. HTC evo 3d battery charges to full in abou 1,5 hours and it lasts enough so...I really dont understand samsung
In my ROM there is an option to enable fast charging. If you enable that, a charger with a higher mAh will make sense.
Probably the heat issue is the main reason for not implementing a higher charge rate. Battery degradation world be another.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
I don't think you should use a bigger charger with a higher voltage to charge your phone, the battery for your SGS2 might not be able to handle the amount of voltage from the charger
MacBreQ said:
In my ROM there is an option to enable fast charging. If you enable that, a charger with a higher mAh will make sense.
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Click to collapse
Thanks but I prefer stock roms

increase charging speed by raising voltage levels

my SGSII takes about 3 hours to fully charge. in japan, we had charging stations, where youd place a battery in a machine, and itd charge it from 10% - 70% in about 8 minutes,. and to 90% in about 15. this was because the machines used a higher current.
ive noticed the stock usb charger that comes with the S2 is a lower voltage of those compared to HTC, or say one youd buy at radio shack. yet even with a higher voltage charger, the phone still charges at the same rate. this is because the kernel controls input levels. the input levels are set to slowly take in a current, there are many reason youd want to have a slower charge.
one is to reduce salt bridge deterioration, which is ware on the battery. while this may be an issue for some who plan on keeping their phone battery for years, without upgrading their phone, or battery, for most of us a year of ware wont make a difference.
a second issue is heat, a faster charging battery generally charges warmer than a slower charging battery. however the phone will still not get as hot as a phone sitting in the sun, or playing a high graphics intensive game.
i would like to adjust the kernel to allow higher frequencies, how much of a higher frequency? well that would require bench testing. but a higher frequency indeed
has anyone played with these settings in the kernel, or done any benchtesting on the matter? id be very interested to hear your findings.
It's not possible.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1468834
This has been asked more times than I've been able to keep count on here over the past month :-/ Answer doesn't change (unless you want to blow **** up).
so then the only way is to use an external battery charger?
because i know for a fact, an external battery charger can charge a battery very fast, ive experienced this first hand
on that link you posted, it said that the sgs2 charging limit is 650mA, but the USB charge is set lower.. has anyone raised the USB charge to 650mA? this would at least help my phone charge faster in the car, or while plugged into my laptop
soraxd said:
so then the only way is to use an external battery charger?
because i know for a fact, an external battery charger can charge a battery very fast, ive experienced this first hand
on that link you posted, it said that the sgs2 charging limit is 650mA, but the USB charge is set lower.. has anyone raised the USB charge to 650mA? this would at least help my phone charge faster in the car, or while plugged into my laptop
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The USB charge is not set to low, the current given by that of a computer USB port is less than 650mA (500mA if i remember correctly) and also depending on the car charger the output (might) be less than 650mA. I use the same computer USB cable with an external USB charger and i notice 2 things:
1- Since the phone pulls the required current from where ever the USB is plugged in, if it has capability of providing 650mA the phone will take 650mA. And with the external USB Charger (iSound Portable Charger) i can charge the phone in 3 hours.
2- Secondly while plugged in the iSound it shows charging "AC plugged in" this is because it can provide 650mA (which is the same as the wall outlet adapter)
Actually from what I know, and correct me if I'm wrong, even using the charger that comes with the sgs2 isn't the healthiest choice for your battery because the voltage is high to cut down on charging time. The best should be by connecting to your pc
I think it is the amps of the charger what makes a difference in charging speed
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
Jetmantrunks said:
Actually from what I know, and correct me if I'm wrong, even using the charger that comes with the sgs2 isn't the healthiest choice for your battery because the voltage is high to cut down on charging time. The best should be by connecting to your pc
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Click to collapse
Mistakenly pressed the thanks button, instead of the quote lol
Anyhow see if the phone is plugged in to the device that can provide as much current from 0.1A to 2.2A (from simple devices to Iphone <- they require 2.2A) the phone automatically draws the amount of current it is made to draw which is SGS2 is 650mA which is coincidentally the same as the wall outlet adapter.
I might be wrong, so correct me if i am.
I as thinking of lower the 650Ma AC rate to 450Ma or less, to allow the phone to slowly charge up overnight, with the aim of finding a rate that acheives a 5-6 hour charge time from empty.
Any thoughts? I was just thinking it should cause less heat and perhaps extend is life accordingly?

Is it possible to see how many Amps of power are being provided?

Just curious if there is an app or something similar that would show how many amps are being provided when charging through a wall charger/USB powered hub? The reason I ask is that I'm thinking of buying a powered USB 3.0 Hub. The adapter that came with our phone says it's 2 Amp, so I am assuming our phone can pull 2 amps for charging. Just wanted to verify in some way that a 2 Amp dedicated port would really work for this phone.
*Madmoose* said:
Just curious if there is an app or something similar that would show how many amps are being provided when charging through a wall charger/USB powered hub? The reason I ask is that I'm thinking of buying a powered USB 3.0 Hub. The adapter that came with our phone says it's 2 Amp, so I am assuming our phone can pull 2 amps for charging. Just wanted to verify in some way that a 2 Amp dedicated port would really work for this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I get home, I'll download the kernel source and see if I can find out how much power it draws during charging. I doubt however, that it will draw 2A during charging as most chargers are rated to supply more power than the phone will accept.
Yeah, 2A seems like that could melt a battery charging that fast. Someone sent me a private message and told me to try CurrentWidget. I threw that on the phone and it registers as 1A while charging. But it appears like the widget doesn't break it down with decimals. For instance it could be charging with 1.8A and wouldn't know it. I put it in a standard USB port and it reported as charging with 0 Amps but the battery was indeed charging.
I took a quick look at the N7100 (International Note 2) source posted on Github by CM and it looks like AC charger is 650mA, USB is 450mA. It's a little hard to tell what exactly it's using for charging, so I'll try to verify that when I get home and have a chance to take a better look.
*Madmoose* said:
Yeah, 2A seems like that could melt a battery charging that fast. Someone sent me a private message and told me to try CurrentWidget. I threw that on the phone and it registers as 1A while charging. But it appears like the widget doesn't break it down with decimals. For instance it could be charging with 1.8A and wouldn't know it. I put it in a standard USB port and it reported as charging with 0 Amps but the battery was indeed charging.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A 3100mAh Lithium Ion battery can easily handle a full 2A charge rate. The ideal charge profile for Lithium Ion is a CC/CV profile, starts at constant current between like 3V and 4V, which most LI batters can take a rate of 1C, meaning it can handle a charge rate of 3.1A, recommended charge rate to achieve the most possible charge/discharge cycles is usually 0.2C so for a 3100mAh battery that would be 620mA. Once the charge gets to the correct voltage it gets to constant voltage and charges until termination current usually in the 100mA range. So yes, it can handle a 2A charge no problem.
Hey there. I very much appreciate that breakdown. Makes me wonder why they dropped the amps so much during charge.
bose301s said:
recommended charge rate to achieve the most possible charge/discharge cycles is usually 0.2C so for a 3100mAh battery that would be 620mA.
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Click to collapse
If this is true (first time I've seen this anywhere), that would line up great with the 650mA max charge rate I found. Also, I downloaded the VZW source, and it doesn't look to significantly different from the N7100 source, at least as far as the charger stuff is concerned, so I would say they both probably have a max charge rate of 650mA.
I appreciate the info and time you both put into this. I guess it means a 2A usb port will be slight overkill. Even changing the charge rate to a higher value seems to indicate a lower battery life. Makes you wonder how apple did it's math for the ipads charge rate. The battery must be huge to accommodate a 1.1A charge rate. Or they are sacrificing battery life for fast charging.
Wont the kernel dictate the charge rate no matter what the charger is rated at?
If the kernel is set for a charge rate of 650mA (0.650A), then why does the Note 2 have a more powerful 2A wall charger, while the GS3 has a 1A wall charger.
FAUguy said:
If the kernel is set for a charge rate of 650mA (0.650A), then why does the Note 2 have a more powerful 2A wall charger, while the GS3 has a 1A wall charger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The original nook color 7" came with a 2A wall charger and that was 2 years ago... both my note 2 and nook color charge about the same rate (quick to 99% and slow to 100). The charger is probably cheaper to make at 2A rather than anything and plus it could be used to charge future devices. Also if you used a 1A charger to charge the note it might possibly get warm/hot from running at near full capacity.
Im using my OLD blackberry 700mA wall charger to charge the phone at night while im sleeping. No problems with heat.

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