Proprietary USB/charging cables?

[skwatch]

Any thoughts on how the Samsung supplied cables are different? I have several USB cables of the same style, but only the cable that came with my SGP will actually charge the unit. It doesn't seem to be a voltage or current issue either because the factory cable will charge from an AC to USB power adapter or an automotive USB power adapter. But plug the physically compatible non-Sammy USB cable into the same adapters and the device doesn't charge. I have heard of folks having similar troubles with firmware upgrades using the USB cable to the PC.

Hang on to those original cables!

[CrowdAds]

[Tabatha]

Read somewhere that the D+ and - were different, maybe bridged? Somewhat like the HP touchpad. Found OEM charger w/cable on Amazon for $3.51, and also a 3' cable on ebay for $4.99 or BO, free s/h.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/140651022840...84.m1423.l2649 ebay 3'

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details

May want to pick up an xtra cable.

It was at XDA that I read about the cable.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/arch...t-1405236.html

HP Touchpad did not make a car charger, so someone on webosnation forum was customizing and selling the car chargers there. I'll have to ask him if it will also work for the SGP.

[tcat]

I found that my cable that came with my Logitech wireless mouse/kb works (3 others don't). Older car chargers don't seem to work. I think I posted one that does in accessories thread.

[Tabatha]

Looks like it may be the proprietary cable that is needed as other items seem to work if you use the Samsung cable. Stated here is the Blackberry Playbook dock, w/samsung cable, Griffin Powerjolt mini auto charger w/samsung cable, an ebay ipod 1A auto charger w/samsung cable.

Cables that seem to work as stated here is the Sandisk Sansa Clip Zip, and the Logitech wireless mouse/kb. I just tried a Nokia 5320 and Sansa clip w/mini adapter and it appeared to be charging, using the Samsung wall adapter.

Kinda looks like it is all trial and error. If it works, use it.

[Lagoo56]

I use the wall AC charger that came with my Samsung Strive phone to charge my SGP 5.0 and it works fine.

[parchping]

I think the fault more likely lies with your cables. SS would not have any reason to make a non-standard pinout; even if they did, they would tell you about it.

I bought this cable and it works fine:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...01_i00_details

Steve

[skwatch]

The cables I use that do not work on the SGP came with different LG products come to think of it. They work fine on the LG devices. I would certainly expect both companies to use standard pinouts. But as all cables work on their own devices, something is clearly different. The Samsung cable works on the LG devices BTW.

[K O B O]

Originally Posted by skwatch

The cables I use that do not work on the SGP came with different LG products come to think of it. They work fine on the LG devices. I would certainly expect both companies to use standard pinouts. But as all cables work on their own devices, something is clearly different. The Samsung cable works on the LG devices BTW.

I have the Sammy cable hooked up to my pc & I have been using chargers and cables for my Motorola phone around the house.

Out of curiosity, are you basing your observations on the charging indicator or the battery remaining indicator?

There are times when I plug the device in and it does not give the tone acknowledging it has been connected, but, based on the amount of use I will get out of it after I later disconnect it, it must have charged.

I find the SGP5's remaining power indicator, as well as the apps I have used to supplement it, to be unreliable; they seem to 'freeze' at some point and no longer give the actual remaining level until I re-boot the device; ie it has told me I still had 90% remaining after an entire day of us, until I rebooted and it actually showed 5% with the low battery warning popping up as well.

FWIW

Have a Magical Day

[skwatch]

Originally Posted by K O B O

I have the Sammy cable hooked up to my pc & I have been using chargers and cables for my Motorola phone around the house.

Out of curiosity, are you basing your observations on the charging indicator or the battery remaining indicator?

There are times when I plug the device in and it does not give the tone acknowledging it has been connected, but, based on the amount of use I will get out of it after I later disconnect it, it must have charged.

I find the SGP5's remaining power indicator, as well as the apps I have used to supplement it, to be unreliable; they seem to 'freeze' at some point and no longer give the actual remaining level until I re-boot the device; ie it has told me I still had 90% remaining after an entire day of us, until I rebooted and it actually showed 5% with the low battery warning popping up as well.

FWIW

Have a Magical Day

Interesting. I have been going by the tone and charging indicator in the notification bar. I had foolishly presumed that if I didn't get those, I wasn't charging the device and scrambled for another cable. If some cables charge the device without the tone and indicator that is good to know, but still something is still very puzzlingly different about the cables.

There have been a number of discussions about oddities in reported battery status. Here's what mine does: I use Gauge Battery from the Market for a numeric battery level in the notification bar. This seems to give a reasonable and consistent performance as long as the level is below 80%. Above 80%, it mostly just shows 80%. It will charge to 100%, but within a couple of minutes after unplugging it will revert to 80%. On a few rare occasions, I have seen 95% - 90% - 85% without action on my part, but I haven't a clue why it worked on those times. I have learned that I can reboot the device with a power off/power on cycle immediately after charging and then I will see the higher battery levels indicated and decreasing normally.

[Big Sky]

I will note that I have a little problem with my iGo auto charger. It is probably due to wear. As long as my SGP is not on a car mount it charges fine. The vibration loosens the connection and sometimes doesn't charge when on the car mount.

As far as other cables go I have no problem charging the SGP with any Micro USB cable even the Mini USB w/a Micro USB adapter. Which I carry in my togo bag one cable and a few adapters.

[1776]

I asked a similar question on another site's forum that tends to be more technically oriented and I was told that the cable supplied with the SGP is a standard, directly wired usb to micro-usb cable - and that any other should work. What does vary is the usb chargers and on those the pinouts need to be wired a certain way - which results in some chargers working and some not.

As stated above, there have been several oddities reported and discussed on this forum about charging issues - that some have and others do not have.

Samsung was very specific to say that the battery must be fully charged before first use and I wonder if not having done that may cause these charging difficulties later on.

[K O B O]

Originally Posted by skwatch

Interesting. I had foolishly presumed that if I didn't get those, I wasn't charging the device and scrambled for another cable.

I would not consider your presumptions to be foolish, they are logically based. However I would suggest that consider doing some experiments to test whether my experience works out for you as well. Perhaps you do have a charging device that is not living up to its potential on your device.

Try charging the device over night with one of those charges/cables, reboot, and see what you have for battery life.

FWIW



Have a Magical Day.

[skwatch]

Just for the body of information here, I tried one of my LG cables last night and it did not charge my SGP.

[tcat]

That's a fact... but the Samsung cable (and any you find that will work on your Player) will charge the LG.

Originally Posted by skwatch

Just for the body of information here, I tried one of my LG cables last night and it did not charge my SGP.

[AugustusG]

The AC and car chargers for my Verizon LG Revere phone both charge the SGP4 without incident. The SGP4 AC charger will charge the LG phone but it gives a message "Please check that the cable is plugged in correctly and recommended for this phone".

The charger I use each night for my SGP4 came from a Verizon Myfi mobile hotspot.

[skwatch]

Partially answered: I stumbled upon some pin out charts for the micro usb cords. Apparently there are two standard variations. Pin 4 and 5 are bridged as the ground in one version. In the other version pin 4 has no connection. I'm not dextrous enough to reliably get test leads on the tiny contacts to verify which one our SGP requires, but I would guess it requires the bridged ground connection.

[1776]

I bought a ten dollar four foot long, micro-USB charging/sync cable in Walmart. It works perfectly to both connect my SGP 5 to my computer and also to charge it. This is just a cable - it connects to a USB charger - either AC or car, or your PC USB port. I had tried another - also cheap generic cable and it also worked perfectly, but was too short for what I wanted. So I would say, most if not all, micro-USB charging/sync cables work. What comes with or is made for a phone or another device as a cable and charger hardwired together may not work.