N900 Car Charger problems
 

I have several car charger to usb adapters. For apple devices, for nokia phones, etc. None of these work with the usb charger cable that comes with the N900. The N900 charges just fine when the usb cable is connected to a PC, but does not work with any of the three car charger to usb adapters I have. :( I guess that all of us N900 owners will need to buy dedicated car chargers for the N900. Anyone else with an N900 have a working car charger?

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

I can'y be 100% sure about this but I think the N900 relies on a driver to tell it to start charging. If I plug the usb cable into a machine that has no driver - it won't charge - as soon as the driver is present, away it goes!

I assume Nokia have used some extra wizardry similar to various apple goods, whereby an extra contact in the usb supplies a different signal to kick off charging. Though I would have expected something that worked with an apple device to do the same with the N900!

It would be interesting to see if anyone knows the real answer to this! I'm not sure how their charger adapter in the box can work with other chargers - unless it has the extra signal wired in. Have you tried attaching that to any of your chargers or do all your chargers have the correct plug already?

I'd definitely be interested to know about this, as it could mean all sorts of chargers and extra power packs might become troublesome!

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

I´ve got several generic usb-usb micro generic cables here. I also have a generic 12V dc port - usb charger (cigarette lighter to usb) and my N900 charges with those, in the car and from my laptop. It charges pretty slow from those sources, as they are probably not feeding it as much juice as the wall charger, but they all work for me.

However I can´t sync through other cables than the nokia cable that came with the device. I doubt its a magical cable but who knows....

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

Ads. Thanks.
I have one of the prototypes, and must not have gotten the car chager, but I do have the correct usb cable, and audio and tv out cables. I have several of these car adapter things that only provide a usb. Two of these were from ipod car charger kits, and one was a multi phone charger kit. I am using the usb cable that came with the N900 to try to charge in the car. No luck.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

i tested 3 different ones and only works on one

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

@amorek13. Would you please describe the one that works? If there is a brand on it, that would also help. Thanks.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

Eesh I hope the one I bought from Newegg recently works... oh well if not I can use it on other things. Won't be able to test it until the n900 arrives.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882923001

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

sorry i will look later on as far i remember i bought it at marshalls for my wifes iphone its all white later on i get the picture of it

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

no brand just made in china

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

@amorek13. Thanks for the photo. Yeah, I have one almost exactly the same as that. It doesn't work when using the N900 usb cable. Very odd that this has not been mentioned by anyone. The N900 is the first device I have owned that does not work with one of these standard car charger to usb adapters.
Sheeeeeeeit!

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

As many other phones you can't use a plain data cable plugged in a lighter2usb car adapter.

As many other phones the n900 charges via usb cable only when it founds the driver loaded on the other side (eg: PC, or usb enabled car stereo), or via a true charger which (I suppose) identifies itself as charger.

I don't know the details, but I think it does via a resistor on the 5th pin.

I'm actually using a car charger bought some time ago for a BB storm 9500, and it works perfectly.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

i'm using my friends blackberry charger he brought from target and it works just fine so far

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

Well this is totally unexpected. I bought an extra data cable off fleabay and was going to get a car charger as well. The one's I'm aiming for are 1000ma or 1 amp.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

Had the same issues with the car chargers I had used for my iPhone not working with the N900. Tonight I bought a dedicated micro usb connection car charger that is made by Verizon. It seems to work just fine.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

n900 USB charging solved!

USB charging has become an official USB standard this year:

http://www.usb.org/developers/devcla...arging_1_1.zip

To summariize this: A USB charger is expected to shorten the USB data lines D+ and D-.

Some older devices (especially iPods) implement something different and e.g. keep the data lines on 2.5V via two pairs of 25k resistors.

My car adapter also did not work with the n900. So i opened it to find those four iPod resistors (i don't own an ipod, so i can't tell you if a ipod would actually be charged on this).

I then just bridged the D+ and D- line in my car adapter (the two middle ones on the usb socket) with a 200 ohms resistor (in fact 2*100 ohms in series). And guess what? Now it charges my n900 just fine.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

amorek13: I have an iPod charger that looks like this but has 1000mA max output. I had to replace the generator in my car after using it with N900.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

You damaged the generator in your car? That's pretty odd for several reasons:

1. There's a fuse between the generator and the socket in your car to prevent damage from shortcircuits
2. The generator is able to charge a car battery which by far exceeds anything you n900 will ever draw
3. There's a battery in your car being able to take load of your generator. This battery is able to provide several thousand amps.

To summarize: Whatever you plug into your car will burn and smoke way before any harm to the generator is being caused.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

Well, I think most likely that the generator in question was near its death anyway and this charger was just the last straw. Some components inside the charger did melt. Also, the car in question is Lada.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

I also tried a 'MotorMonkey' USB charger with my N900 today and it didn't work either. Fortunately I sell various things like this so will be able to test some other kinds tomorrow.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

I have a Griffin 12v adaptor that was for my first gen iphone. The Nokia cable charges my BB Tour with no problems. Does not charge my N900. The Griffin does not have any markings letting me know what is the output.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

Pop your USB car charger apart and short the D+ and D- pins together. Simple 5 minute job.

The D+ and D- pins are the two center pins

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

I have also an usb car adapter that doesn't work, i think i need to short the D+ and D- pins together but with a resistor or directly ?

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

I am using a iGo USB charging cable with their Micro USB tip. I have used this combo to charge my N900 from my Laptop, Desktop, portable battery and a generic USB car adapter. I also use it to charge my Sprint MiFi. The thing I really like about this cable is that it is short enough (about a foot) that I keep it in my pocket all the time and it also has a built in holder for 2 additional tips, in case you have some other devices that need charging.

You can get the USB cable here:

http://www.igo.com/Accessories/USB-C...vt/ps002710003

and the correct tip for the N900 here:

http://www.igo.com/A-Series-Tips-for...invt/660069701

They also have a car charger which will probably work, but I haven't tried it and at $20 I am not likely to buy it. I bought a generic USB car charger for $6 at fry's which works fine.

http://www.igo.com/Mobile-Device-Cha...550007&bklist=

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

In my car (citroen c4) the lighter is far from the front panel, so i need:

• lighter to usb adapter (i'm using aiio USB-MCLA-B but doesen't work with n900)
• 2mt. usb male to famale cable
• usb to micro usb cable (nokia ca-101)

I think i should open the lighter usb adapter to short the usb pins (d+ and d-) or found another adapter thatk works.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

as ghetto as it may be.. i bought the cables and not willing to buy anymore.. i stuck a 1/8th by 1/4th piece of foil with tape on the edge, into the USB A side, and wallah..
tried with wall charger/cig, with same cable, works fine..

even tried onto pc.. it detects it as only a charger.. not a data cable with usb/pc suite mode

hope this helps everyone

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

I bought a car charger made for the Nokia N97, I assumed (hoped) it would work for the N900, but no luck, it doesn't work at all :-(

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

The shorting of the data pins is a sure-fire way of getting charging working it seems. However, I've found just good ole' fashion persistence gets the n900 to charge on generic chargers.

I, for example, use one of the Belkin micro USB chargers with a blackberry storm cable (standard microUSB cable afaik, works to sync and all) and if I continually plug and unplug the charger I will eventually get it to charge. I wouldn't recommend it (and it cant 'wake' the device if the battery is totally flat) but if you REALLY need to charge your N900 on the road and haven't shorted those pins yet. This has reliably worked (in the sense that sometimes it will charge upon the first plug-in and sometimes it will take a few solid minutes of trying :P)

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

So this one doesn't work. I was hoping the cable would be shorted already since it was never intended to be used for data.
http://t1.pixhost.org/thumbs/498/141...sal-car-ch.jpg

I am waiting on an OEM Nokia car charger - nothing to do with usb - and hope it will work.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

i have an old style nokia charger with the fat plug, i just wang the adapter that comes in the box on the end, happy days. i did have a micro usb charger, but that lasted no longer than 10 minutes when it blew up and smoked in the 12v output. lucky it didn't blow the phone up as the fuse never went.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

I've borrowed a friend's N900 for a week or two to see how I like it. But I'm also having problems charging it.

I have a Nokia microUSB charger that I use for my N97, but that doesn't work - which seems odd as I'd have thought they'd use the same method?

At the moment I'm limited to hooking it up to my computer which is a pretty clumsy way to charge it :)

Is there a simple third party charger that'll charge an N900 and an N97?

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

This doesn't add to the discussion here at all, but I bought a USB car charger from zagg.com and it doesn't charge my n900. It charges my friend's Blackberry and my other friend's iPhone just fine. So, just don't buy one from zagg if you want to use it for an n900 (it's not a problem with the zagg product, just the n900).

I do have the zagg invisibleShield for my n900 and I like it a lot. I'd recommend it.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

I have the same charger (Belkin Micro Auto Charger) and cannot get it work. I am not sure how to go about shorting the data pins, would it be possible to give a detailed explanation?

Having to buy an addition charger would be a pain (too many cables floating around in my car), so any help would be very much appreciated.

Thank you!

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

I have a "force" branded micro-USB car charger.
When plugged in the N900 said it was charging, but it must have been getting less current than it consumes, at least with backlight and GPS on. The battery level continued to drop.
It was only a 2-wire cable, and I replaced the cable and micro-USB connector. Now it works fine. I don't know how the old one was connected to make it appear to charge, but not really. Could it just have been too much resistance in the cable, so lower voltage?

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

Sorry, didn't see your reply.

I haven't gone about shorting the pins myself but from what I can tell its just a case of connecting the two data wires together or shorting the contacts on the actual plug.

Here's a link from someone that's actually done it properly (with a 200ohm resistor; as per spec) http://danielwould.wordpress.com/201...-dumb-charger/

As for not getting it working on the belkin; it certainly seems like it won't work and then suddenly it will charge as if nothing is wrong. This is from plugging and unplugging from the phone side.. which probably isn't the best for the plug itself but it works in an emergency.

EDIT: Okay, just did the pin shorting on a sacrificial USB extension cable and it definitely works. You'll be connecting the green and white wires together and thats about it. I did it on a USB extension (which I also shortened in the process) simply because it's easier to carry around and it can make any old microusb cable compatible.

Although I soldered mine (poorly, I might add) you could probably get away with just twisting the bare cables together and taping it up. Keep in mind this is what is supplying power to your device but if you want to go dodgey then thats how :P

Also pics (yes, thats an Apple charger :P)
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ent-YZAIBV.jpg
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ent-7B49AV.jpg

EDIT2: Word of warning; even though the colours of the cables SHOULD be green and white you should check beforehand whether they are ordered correctly! Dodgey cables might have these mixed up and sending 5V down the wrong line could SERIOUSLY mess your device. That warning also extends to if you mess up the soldering/isolation of wires etc.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

Is there a car charger for the N900 available without problems and with enough power for display + GPS?

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

Nokia DC-10 has as much power as the wall-charger, which is about 5 times more than what display+gps uses. Works fine.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

This looks like a fast car-charger to suit Nokia micro-USB:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.26327

DC-10 equivalent? I have ordered one. Only $4.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

The cable i got to charge my logitech mouse with chargeable batteries via computer usb works flawlessly for the N900 - so i do think it's a standard cable

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

I have a Nokia DC-6 that seems to work just perfectly.

Re: N900 Car Charger problems
 

I've got Powerjolt Dual Universal 2 USB Blk Car Charger, and it works sometime:) that's really weird but I don't know how do I get it working. Plugging and unpluging the cable few times. Most likely I have to plug the charger, than cable into charger and finally cable into n900. and yes, I do use out of the box cable.

btw, this charger doesn't work with 5800, so it could be charger issue too.