XDA Flame User Forum at xdaflameusers.com

Hi again.

i'v tested several car Chargers for the last time i post, nothing charge it when the screen is ON.
all of them charge it when the screen is off. (i think the screen need to be ON when i navigate )

the finale stage i did was, i pluged a 12-220V convertor and use the ORIGINAL o2 cahrger, this was the only way to charge it.

my guess is that there is a short someware in the charger, and it not a regular one...

for my opinion, it very strange that i must use a 220v in my car to chare a 5v device...

wgat you think?

The problem is that the Flame needs a "special" charger. I suspect that's because the USB port can be used for USB Host, so there is some circutry that switches from "charge Flame" to "feed current to USB device" when current/voltage at the socket reaches some values. This is a guess, I don't know for sure. But I have done this test: I have a 5,4v 2A USB charger (from Brando) and a Y cable with Mini-USB and 4 mm DC jack; if I plug the Flame it won't charge, but if at the same time I plug another device at the DC jack, the Flame also starts charging.

BTW ...

did you notice the line "For example, if the device without charging, and Wifi or GPS is on", the flame have a builtin GPS ???

It might be a voltage issue. Sometimes you must increase the voltage a tiny amount, say .1v, to get charging to work.

As for mini-USB, pin 4 is open during charging and grounded when the flame supplies power to a client. See the thread on right-angle plugs. Motorola, and perhaps O2/Arima too, have gone past the USB standard by allowing different charging modes to be specified by different voltages on pin 4.

leek wrote:

It might be a voltage issue. Sometimes you must increase the voltage a tiny amount, say .1v, to get charging to work.

But my charger is rated 5,4 V, already. It charges everything: PSP, N560, Touch, GPS... Except the Flame.

leek wrote:

As for mini-USB, pin 4 is open during charging and grounded when the flame supplies power to a client. See the thread on right-angle plugs. Motorola, and perhaps O2/Arima too, have gone past the USB standard by allowing different charging modes to be specified by different voltages on pin 4.

You seem to know better than I do . But there is something besides voltage and maximum current that must be meet for the Flame to charge. I found this is also happening with my wife's Motorola V3, it won't charge with my 1 A, 5 V car carger, only with her's.

Last edited by igalan (2007-09-07 11:07:13)

You seem to know better than I do But there is something besides voltage and maximum current that must be meet for the Flame to charge. I found this is also happening with my wife's Motorola V3, it won't charge with my 1 A, 5 V car carger, only with her's.

I don't know better than you do

I just know that Motorola has a "low current" charging mode and a "high current" charging mode. The "low current" one is within the normal limits of USB, while the "high current" one is faster. Mini-USB only defines two states, Mini-A, and Mini-B, by the ID pin 4. But Motorola defines 4+ different states by setting a voltage on pin 4 with a resistor. There's different resistors for different charging modes and peripherals, which is how Motorola is able to send analog audio out through a Mini-USB.

I have no idea whether Arima does anything similar for the Flame, or what prevents it from charging in certain operating modes.

If the backlight current plus the PDA current plus the charging current exceeds the input current, then surely the charging will be the first to lose.

I wish the Flame had another DC input jack for charging, because by its current design, you cannot charge and host simultaneously. A separate DC input jack would also not be current-limited to USB standards.

kevkwek wrote:

However, several USB chargers I bought could not charge the flame. It was by chance when I plugged in the Holux GPS charger that I realised it works ... and so the rest of the chargers can be used for the GPS receiver ... thank God I dun have to search anymore..

You are right that not all charger fits into Flame although it may look like each other.

My HTC Uni & Trinity come with the box USB charger does not work or intermitent with Flame, but Flames come with box USB charger works on HTC Uni & Trini. I believe there is some little size difference between the 2 charger mechanically. So do not worry, just try until one that works especially if you are buying those in shops.

By the way, anyone encounters greater than 1A Charger? 2.5 hours of charging time is a little too long.

I've thought to step on the save side and i have ordered a Car Charger from http://www.gpsforless.co.uk/
They offer a "xda flame Car Charger"
Bullshit!
They send me a universal Car Charger which, guess what, didn't charge my device.
So be carefull with this shop!

They don't even answer emails about that!
So don't buy anything there.

Last edited by mamema (2007-10-09 08:45:39)

I use a Motorola USB car charger. Works Ok, but still the current is quite low, so if I use BT, WiFi, fully lighted LCD, etc., it consumes more that it gets from charger.

2 mamema. I use my Flame with GPS while driving, so BT and full LCD is on. In that case, Flame charges very slowly (charging curent is around 30-40 mA), but still charges.

i manage to find a car charger that work for the O2 flame, bought it at challenger cost around S$20.

gmontem wrote:

Anyone still in their quest to look for a USB car charger?

TomTom USB Car Charger (for TomTom GO/ONE/ONE XL/XL)
input: 12/24V
output: 5V 2A

I use to charge my Flame with this Tomtom car charger sometime (one or 2 times a week).
It works, but i don't know if it harms the battery. I didn't notice any problem on my 3800 mugen power battery.