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alfmar is offline alfmar
2010-03-08 , 15:09
Posts: 88 | Thanked: 411 times | Joined on Mar 2010 @ southern Italy
#1
I have a couple of Bizpower battery packs, featuring 5V 1.5A output on an USB female connector (only VCC and GND pins). In the last months I used them to charge some portable devices (which had an USB plug for charging).

While it may sound strange, sometimes it has some sense charging a battery using another battery. For example - as in my case this week - when you are going to have a few days trip without any AC power plug all the way.

I just found that N900 does not start charging until some USB event happens.

That is, it doesn't charge when applying the CA101 USB cable to the above described "5V battery with USB plug".

And the N900 doesn't charge when applying the CA101 to my notebook in standby mode (while in standby mode, the notebooks keeps the USB power up, but the charging only starts when the notebook is running).

It only charges when there is some of its official cables/chargers.

This is quite annoying.

The quickest solution is to buy immediately another BL5J battery for the N900, and/or stop playing games, stop listening MP3s, stop watching videos, stop phone calls, stop browsing the network, stop, stop, stop... and crossing my fingers, hope to last three-four days.
 
Rob1n is offline Rob1n
2010-03-08 , 15:13
Posts: 3,617 | Thanked: 2,412 times | Joined on Nov 2009 @ Cambridge, UK
#2
Originally Posted by alfmar View Post
I have a couple of Bizpower battery packs, featuring 5V 1.5A output on an USB female connector (only VCC and GND pins). In the last months I used them to charge some portable devices (which had an USB plug for charging).

While it may sound strange, sometimes it has some sense charging a battery using another battery. For example - as in my case this week - when you are going to have a few days trip without any AC power plug all the way.

I just found that N900 does not start charging until some USB event happens.

That is, it doesn't charge when applying the CA101 USB cable to the above described "5V battery with USB plug".

And the N900 doesn't charge when applying the CA101 to my notebook in standby mode (while in standby mode, the notebooks keeps the USB power up, but the charging only starts when the notebook is running).

It only charges when there is some of its official cables/chargers.

This is quite annoying.

The quickest solution is to buy immediately another BL5J battery for the N900, and/or stop playing games, stop listening MP3s, stop watching videos, stop phone calls, stop browsing the network, stop, stop, stop... and crossing my fingers, hope to last three-four days.
The N900 will charge perfectly well with any dedicated charger which meets the USB charging specifications (i.e. has the data pins shorted). Unfortunately this seems to be a fairly recent change to the specifications, so a lot of dedicated chargers don't currently do this. I assume this is also why it won't work with your notebook in standby mode.
 

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volt is offline volt
2010-03-08 , 15:18
Posts: 1,309 | Thanked: 1,187 times | Joined on Nov 2008
#3
Yeah, basically the N900 want to negotiate a current with the charger. If the charger isn't made to do this, the Nokia refuses to charge. It could have assumed that any USB charger that doesn't support a negotiation protocol follows the USB standards. It doesn't.

The good news is, with a hacked cable adaptor you can probably use the battery solution you have now. As is the case with old "dumb" chargers.

More about it here: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=38230

I also assume that this is the issue with the notebook - it can't negotiate while in standby.
Last edited by volt; 2010-03-08 at 15:20.
 

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alfmar is offline alfmar
2010-03-09 , 00:16
Posts: 88 | Thanked: 411 times | Joined on Mar 2010 @ southern Italy
#4
Good: shorting D+ and D- works!

N900 follows "recent specifics" (expecting D+/D- shorted), while the BixPower Mobile Power Pack did only have a "dumb" setup.

I hacked a spare USB cable and shorted pins 2 and 3, triple-checked it, and finally saw my N900 battery charging from an external battery. Yay!

Last edited by alfmar; 2010-03-09 at 00:32.
 
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volt is offline volt
2010-03-09 , 08:25
Posts: 1,309 | Thanked: 1,187 times | Joined on Nov 2008
#5
Good stuffs!

I have my own opinions on which setup is "dumb" though. Sometimes simple really is better.
 
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ossipena is offline ossipena
2010-03-09 , 09:26
Posts: 3,159 | Thanked: 2,023 times | Joined on Feb 2008 @ Finland
#6
Originally Posted by volt View Post
Good stuffs!

I have my own opinions on which setup is "dumb" though. Sometimes simple really is better.
unfortunately common sense isn't very much appreciated sometimes when making these kind of standards...
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aironeous is offline aironeous
2010-03-09 , 09:34
Posts: 819 | Thanked: 806 times | Joined on Jun 2009 @ Oxnard, Ca.
#7
Think with your dipstick Jimmy!
 
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