"Unauthorized charger" peeve
David Arnstein
My complaint involves charging the battery. Some of these phones only
charge with a Motorola charger. I suspect that this is a ploy to sell
Motorola battery chargers.
Anyway, the most frustrating aspect is that I can physically connect
my notebook computer to my cell phone using a bog standard USB cable.
But then the phone displays the dreaded "unauthorized charger"
message.
I would prefer not to pack a dedicated phone charger when I travel. Is
there a hack to allow me to charge my cell phone from my notebook? My
current cell phone is a W755.
Thanks for any suggestions.
--
David Arnstein (00)
arnstei...@pobox.com {{ }}
^^
Alan Larsson
for a computer to charge a motorola phone, all you need is to load the
drivers for the phone on the computer.
Richard B. Gilbert
> For the most part, I have good experience with Motorola cell phones.
> My complaint involves charging the battery. Some of these phones only
> charge with a Motorola charger. I suspect that this is a ploy to sell
> Motorola battery chargers.
>
The last time I looked, a battery charger shipped with each and every
Motorola phone. A "car charger" costs extra.
> Anyway, the most frustrating aspect is that I can physically connect
> my notebook computer to my cell phone using a bog standard USB cable.
> But then the phone displays the dreaded "unauthorized charger"
> message.
>
Perhaps because your notebook cannot supply the required voltage and/or
current. Or maybe because your notebook doesn't know the "secret
handshake"! Does the phone actually charge while connected to the notebook?
<snip>
George
Just load the driver on your NB.
GeorgeB
Arnstein) wrote:
>For the most part, I have good experience with Motorola cell phones.
>My complaint involves charging the battery. Some of these phones only
>charge with a Motorola charger. I suspect that this is a ploy to sell
>Motorola battery chargers.
It's worse than that. My wife is using a V3A. We have 3 genuine
Motorola chargers. Her phone gives the dreaded message on 2 of them.
I can use both of the others on my HTC with no problem.
I've not paid any attention to having drivers loaded for computer
charging; when I had the V3A I had drivers installed and it charged
fine from the computer. The HTC still does.
My assumption was that the V3A had an overly sensitive sensing circuit
that has drifted, but ???
George
J
I use one cable that came with a belkin 3 port power strip + 2 port
USB charger. It specifically states it works with Motorola. You can
probably find the same on eBay. This sort of cable will not let you
use data on the phone but will only charge it.
As the other poster stated you can install the USB driver.
Even worse is what VERIZON does. Just the wording of the message shows
how horrible they are. Same phone but with non-Verizon firmware says
something not as harsh as "UNAUTHORIZED CHARGER" ... "Unable to charge"
Richard B. Gilbert
Since every Motorola phone is sold *with* a battery charger I fail to
see what the problem is. I connect the charger to my phone when I go to
bed at night and unplug it in the morning. Those few who spend every
waking hour on the phone may need spare batteries and chargers for them.
George
Maybe you don't travel? Anything I can leave in the drawer when I travel
is a plus. My smartphone will charge via a USB cable. So I have no need
to bring a dedicated charger when traveling.
Richard B. Gilbert
What do you plug the other end of the USB cable into? Laptop?
I seldom travel these days. When I do, I have a car charger if
traveling by car and a "wall wart" if not. I'm not a heavy user either;
a charge would normally last me two or three days at least; it's rated
for four days of "idle", less if I talk.
SMS
If you install Motorola Phone Tools then the phone will charge from a
USB port.
Or you can do some hardware hacking, see
"http://pinouts.ru/CellularPhones-A-N/razrv3_charger_pinout.shtml".
This one _may_ have the hack built in:
Mark F
<rgilb...@comcast.net> wrote in part:
> J wrote:
>...
> > Even worse is what VERIZON does. Just the wording of the message shows
> > how horrible they are. Same phone but with non-Verizon firmware says
> > something not as harsh as "UNAUTHORIZED CHARGER" ... "Unable to charge"
>
> Since every Motorola phone is sold *with* a battery charger I fail to
> see what the problem is.
My problem is that I plug the Verizon supplied charger into my Verizon
phone and it says "UNAUTHORIZED CHARGER". Or worse, it gives a nice
beeping sequence, says "Charging", but when I come back later I find
that at some point it changed to "UNAUTHORIZED CHARGER". This
probably happens because the mini-USB plug on the Motorola
DCH4-050MV-0301 has always fitted loosely into the Motorola V3m phone.
>...
Richard B. Gilbert
Perhaps you need to visit the Verizon Wireless store and ask some
questions. It might be helpful if you bring both the phone and the
charger with you.
Some of those "micro USB" sockets do not offer a good grip.
You'll have to complain to Motorola about that. Mine would pop out of
the socket if I didn't arrange the phone and the cable so that the plug
is actually held in position by the cable.
Q. What do you do about fallout?
A. Put it back in! ;-) ;-) nudge, nudge. . . .
Janet Wilder
Motorola phones are famous for that. I had the entire weld go out on me
on one and it could not be repaired. I have about 3 months left on my
current phone which is a Moto only because there was no other choice at
the time for a global phone. (Well there was a choice, but I didn't want
to pay for the extra charges with a Balckberry)
--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.
Larry
@reader2.panix.com:
> I would prefer not to pack a dedicated phone charger when I travel. Is
> there a hack to allow me to charge my cell phone from my notebook? My
> current cell phone is a W755.
>
> Thanks for any suggestions.
> --
>
Motorola goes to some trouble to protect your USB devices from the
overcurrent their cellphones would cause by charging off your USB ports.
USB ports are rated for only 500ma of current drain and may damage your
computer if you exceed that value. So, to prevent this possibility,
Motorola has encorporated protective circuitry to measure exactly which
power supply it has been plugged into as there are several types of USB
power cables available. The pinouts and special circuitry in the proper
power cables look like this:
Motorola RAZR V3 mini-USB Charger pinout
http://pinouts.ru/connectors/mini-usb_male.gif
RAZR V3 will not charge by simply supplying 5V through USB (it's
possible to use common USB cable for charging if you are using Motorola
special PC driver software).
Motorola uses the pin between Pin #3 and #4 (Pin X) to sense what device
is attached to the mini-USB port. Shorting Pin #3 to #2 and #X causes
the phone to go into handsfree/carkit mode and the LCD backlight will
ignore timeout settings and stay on.
Shorting pin X to pin 2 and to pin 4 via R=200KOhm causes the phone to
go into charge mode.
AC adapter
Pin Name Direction Description
1 +5 VDC -?- PC USB Pin 1 (+5 VDC).
2 USB Data -?- shorted to pin x in charger cable.
3 USB Data -?- not connected
X -?- Shorted to pin 2 + shorted to pin 4 via R=200KOhm in charge cable.
(R=165KOhm?)
4 GND -?- PC USB pin 4 (GND). Connected to pin X via R=200KOhm in charge
cable. (R=165KOhm?)
Comment by Darrin
A standard Motorola USB charger puts ~1.4vdc onto the x pin of the mini
USB plug. A 200k resistor between pin 2 and 4 produces ~1.9vdc on the x
pin. This works for Motorola Q (which works from ~1.2vdc to ~1.9vdc),
but not for Razr V3m. I had to lower the resistor to 165k. This produces
~1.5vdc and allows the charger to become authorized.
End of quoted text.....
By overriding this safety feature, you load the USB device the phone is
plugged into upwards of 2 amps of operating (transmitting) and very
quick charging current as consumers demand the battery recharge so
rapidly. To recharge quickly, requires lots of current your USB ports
are not designed to supply.
Obviously, the nice high current switching charger Motorola has provided
you that is SO TINY, not some heavy old 2A transformer, is the correct
device to charge and operate your phone.
--
"iPad is to computing what Etch-A-Sketch is to art!"
Larry
David Arnstein
explanation.
GeorgeB
>Obviously, the nice high current switching charger Motorola has provided
>you that is SO TINY, not some heavy old 2A transformer, is the correct
>device to charge and operate your phone.
Good morning Larry!
What puzzles me is that neither the Motorola DCH3-050US-0304, 5.0V,
550mA nor a Blackberry PSM04A-050RIMC, 5.0V 0.7A will charge my wife's
V3a. Both charge my HTC Touch fine.
The only charger that will charge the V3a is a CELLET 4.5-9.5 max 0.8A
unit. Yes, it says 9.5.
I don't have anything to plug the mini-usb into to let me use a
voltmeter to measure either current or voltage; the Motorola has "SPT"
style wire, so puncturing the insulation would let me read voltage.
Do you suppose the V3a is trying to draw too much current and then
finding the voltage to be too low?
3 years ago, I thought 5V USB was USB was USB ... now I know better.
Who makes a breakout box with meter testpoints for the 11 total pins?
I say 11 for the HTC which has others for audio and the headset
connections.
Marc Auslander
computer from over current! Wonder how they do that :-)
SMS
> Apparently Moto software can miraculously protect my vulnerable
> computer from over current! Wonder how they do that :-)
Motorola Phone Tools puts the phone into a lower current charge mode to
avoid tripping the over-current protection on the USB ports.
Practically speaking, most USB ports on desktops and laptops don't trip
the over current protection until around 1000 mA, but Motorola has to go
with the standard that specifies 500mA. If you've ever purchased an
external USB powered DVD drive for a laptop you'll notice that it comes
with a cable that allows it to be plugged into two USB ports at the same
time in order to provide enough current, but rarely is it necessary to
plug in both connectors.
The over-current protection on USB ports is an auto-reset breaker. It's
not like the picofuses which are on the PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports
(which were a UL/CSA requirement). So tripping the breaker isn't going
to damage your computer.
Larry
news:gon7o5hd0mg8aum7r...@4ax.com:
> Do you suppose the V3a is trying to draw too much current and then
> finding the voltage to be too low?
>
That's possible. What current is the power supply that works rated for?
> 3 years ago, I thought 5V USB was USB was USB ... now I know better.
> Who makes a breakout box with meter testpoints for the 11 total pins?
> I say 11 for the HTC which has others for audio and the headset
> connections.
>
>
USB only has 5 connections. Motorola's bastardization is really for our
own good. I don't think I've ever seen a breakout box, but I'm sure
they exist.
Larry
news:87iq9ny...@aptiva.optonline.net:
> Apparently Moto software can miraculously protect my vulnerable
> computer from over current! Wonder how they do that :-)
>
Reduce the high charging current to low charging current?
Just a guess.....
Dennis Ferguson
Micro USB OTG connectors (or Micro-AB connectors) have 11 pins. One
set of pins is used when the device is acting as a host, with an 'A'
connector plugged in, the other is used when the device is acting as a
peripheral, with a 'B' connector plugged in. My Nokia 6700 has one,
which is how the USB port works with both my computer (which the phone
charges from) and a USB headset (which the phone provides power to).
The Nokia N810 also has one.
There are also Mini-AB connectors, which do the same thing but
only have 5 pins. I don't know how those work.
Dennis Ferguson
Larry
news:slrnho9vsu.5...@akit-ferguson.com:
> Micro USB OTG connectors (or Micro-AB connectors) have 11 pins. One
> set of pins is used when the device is acting as a host, with an 'A'
> connector plugged in, the other is used when the device is acting as a
> peripheral, with a 'B' connector plugged in. My Nokia 6700 has one,
> which is how the USB port works with both my computer (which the phone
> charges from) and a USB headset (which the phone provides power to).
> The Nokia N810 also has one.
>
> There are also Mini-AB connectors, which do the same thing but
> only have 5 pins. I don't know how those work.
>
> Dennis Ferguson
>
>
Oh, sorry, we were discussing USB connectors on Motorola phones, which
are mini connectors.
Dennis Ferguson
To put the context back...
>>On 2010-02-24, Larry <no...@home.com> wrote:
>>> GeorgeB <nos...@att.net> wrote in
>>> news:gon7o5hd0mg8aum7r...@4ax.com:
>>>> 3 years ago, I thought 5V USB was USB was USB ... now I know better.
>>>> Who makes a breakout box with meter testpoints for the 11 total pins?
>>>> I say 11 for the HTC which has others for audio and the headset
>>>> connections.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> USB only has 5 connections. Motorola's bastardization is really for our
>>> own good. I don't think I've ever seen a breakout box, but I'm sure
>>> they exist.
>
>> Micro USB OTG connectors (or Micro-AB connectors) have 11 pins. One
>> set of pins is used when the device is acting as a host, with an 'A'
>> connector plugged in, the other is used when the device is acting as a
>> peripheral, with a 'B' connector plugged in. My Nokia 6700 has one,
>> which is how the USB port works with both my computer (which the phone
>> charges from) and a USB headset (which the phone provides power to).
>> The Nokia N810 also has one.
>>
>> There are also Mini-AB connectors, which do the same thing but
>> only have 5 pins. I don't know how those work.
>
> Oh, sorry, we were discussing USB connectors on Motorola phones, which
> are mini connectors.
The poster you replied to above was talking about an HTC phone,
which indeed has an 11 pin USB connector.
Also, starting with the V8 and V9 about 3 years ago, I think pretty
much every phone Motorola has introduced since has had a micro USB
connector as well. And there's an actual USB standard for detecting
chargers with micro connectors, so I think any Motorola phone with a
micro connector can be charged with any charger you can physically
plug in. It is only older Motorola phones which are finicky about
chargers.
Dennis Ferguson