V3 not charging Samsung S4 Mini GT-19195 now with pics

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soundcatcher
 
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V3 not charging Samsung S4 Mini GT-19195 now with pics

Post by soundcatcher »

I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 mini and I'm having issues with getting it to charge... The model number is GT-19195

I have a V3 MintyBoost...

I have tried it with generic batteries and some Duracell Ultras but I can't get more than a 10-14% charge out of a pair of batteries before they are spent...

I have tried both variations of the 2 usb pins either separated or soldered together.. The phone shows it's charging either way but still I can only get a tiny charge...

If it helps the battery in the phone is a 3.8v li-ion 7.22 wh

I've had a look at the adapter that came with the phone and it shows that it has a 5.0v 1.0A output... I realise that a device will draw only as much current as it requires....

So I'm wondering if I'm fighting a losing battle trying to get this phone to be charged or if I'm missing something?

I clocked that an S3 is compatible so I'm a little confused?? Could it be as simple as using a generic or just not a samsung cable to see if that will help?

Help Please!
Last edited by soundcatcher on Tue Sep 16, 2014 8:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

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soundcatcher
 
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Re: V3 not charging Samsung S4 Mini GT-19195

Post by soundcatcher »

Quick update... Just had a quick look at the device manager on my laptop and with the phone plugged into the usb port it was drawing 96mA and charging happily.. Admittedly not as fast as the mains charger but charging all the same...

Yes the batteries and boost did get incredibly hot... To the extent that the cheapo batteries labels started to peel off....

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soundcatcher
 
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Re: V3 not charging Samsung S4 Mini GT-19195

Post by soundcatcher »

No solutions or suggestions?

This is sad.... I have a minty boost gathering dust with no current fix... Looks like it may end up on the scrap heap and my dreams of being able to charge our phones in the middle of a field without the need to carry heavy power banks that I have to charge before we go appear to be dashed. Looks like I may end up buying an EC Technology YN-025 22400mAh High Capacity Power Bank ..... ;-(

I've attached some photos of front and rear of the board I have put together... Ignore the white stuff on the solder side... This is sticky fluff as it was mounted in the tin using the double sided foam pad... Oh and yes I have tried soldering the 2 middle usb pins together and no this didn't help..

Image
Image

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: V3 not charging Samsung S4 Mini GT-19195 now with pics

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

It sounds like your MintyBoost is working. But a pair of AA alkaline cells is not going to come close to charging the 1900mAh battery in your Samsung. Considering the boost efficiency and the charge efficiency and the generally poor performance of Alkaline cells in high drain situations, 14% sounds about right. Earlier generation phones such as the iPhone 3 were getting about a 20% charge. And they only had 1200mAh cells.

The MintyBoost is a good backup power supply. It doesn't make a good general purpose phone charger for the current generation of phones.

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soundcatcher
 
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Re: V3 not charging Samsung S4 Mini GT-19195 now with pics

Post by soundcatcher »

Thanks.... 10-14% is a bit rubbish considering the cost of a pair of duracell AA batteries over time and the initial cost of the unit.... If I go down the c cells and d cells route to get a better charge the weight is somewhere around a proprietary portable charger... And of course the cost is going up... To save weight I could go down the lipo route... But the costs have just shot up and for around the same cost or less I could have a unit that can fully charge 2 devices at the same time and have a battery life readout on the unit too. I agree as an absolute emergency I've just broken my leg and I need to phone for help charger it's perfect... For anything else it just doesn't cut it... There are better devices out there that will fully charge a phone and that are similar in size and weight. The concept is very cool and I still like the concept. But the practicalities of the device just doesn't meet with the expectations and the hype...

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: V3 not charging Samsung S4 Mini GT-19195 now with pics

Post by Franklin97355 »

For a product developed over 8 years ago it may not be up to today's power demands. Think about what you could get in a smart phone 8 years ago. Perhaps this is what you are looking for https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-pow ... us-charger and perhaps not.

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soundcatcher
 
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Re: V3 not charging Samsung S4 Mini GT-19195 now with pics

Post by soundcatcher »

Thanks for the information... I had no idea that kit was so far out of date.... The lipo charger looks cool. It's storage is a bit underpowered and overpriced for what I'm looking for though... For the cost of the charger and just a 6000mah it's possible to but a unit that has 4 x the charge that is already cased ready for use... On the flip side.... If being compact was more important than the ability to have a decent battery level I can see how it would be incredibly useful...

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Theesire
 
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Re: V3 not charging Samsung S4 Mini GT-19195 now with pics

Post by Theesire »

i see this is an old post, but what sort of batteries are recommended for this charger?


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Slamjam2000
 
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Re: V3 not charging Samsung S4 Mini GT-19195 now with pics

Post by Slamjam2000 »

I like the idea of using the powerboost 500 plus charger. Now, how do I case this? Do you sell something that will house the 3.7v and the power boost?

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: V3 not charging Samsung S4 Mini GT-19195 now with pics

Post by Franklin97355 »

What size battery and how will you have the parts situated? Could you give us the dimensions of the enclosure you need? We have these https://www.adafruit.com/categories/208 and this https://www.adafruit.com/product/16

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Slamjam2000
 
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Re: V3 not charging Samsung S4 Mini GT-19195 now with pics

Post by Slamjam2000 »

I was thinking about the Lithium Ion Polymer Battery - 3.7v 2500mAh as the power source but don't know if I could stack the powerboost 500 on top of it inside of an enclosure. I see the links you supplied and think it would work inside the altoids tin but don't know if I could modify the tin to house the works without having to take it and the battery out everytime I want to charge the phone.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: V3 not charging Samsung S4 Mini GT-19195 now with pics

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

The 2500mAh cell and the powerBoos will fit into the regular Altoids-size mint tin. https://www.adafruit.com/products/97

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