# Fast USB charge hack changed my life



## Kancerstick (Dec 25, 2011)

So, ever since devs have been implementing the fast USB charge hack into kernels....my life has changed.

I was always switching between different usb cables / car chargers / portable charging packs etc etc etc to charge my gnex correctly and fast. Well, no more of that is needed.

Everything I used ended up only letting my phone draw ~200-300 mAh at the most, other than the stock charger. I also didn't feel like spending tons of cash on accessories just for my gnex to charge correctly.

My 1.5amp rated car charger, never pulled more than 300 mAh, due to my USB cable, or whatever, I have no clue but it was not working properly ever, even after switching between ~4 different USB cables. After starting to use the hack, it now pulls greater than 1 amp no matter the cable i use and keeps the phone charging in a positive direction with gps on / bluetooth on / streaming music / screen on. It even pulls 1 amp when its connected to my computer USB port, which it used to pull like 200 mAh.

I was about to buy more things to try, but the USB hack did the job. I am so grateful to all our wonderful devs for our gnex. Not only did this simple hack save me money, but it also cured anxiety attacks in the car. I would honestly always be driving with the phone charging and be pissed off that it just WAS not charging, as i had to be extremely weary of keeping the screen on / gps on / bluetooth on. But now, thanks to the dev's I just pop that cable in and I know my phone's in a happy place .

So if any of you guys have not tried it yet, i strongly urge you to if you are having charging woes!


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## DHO (Nov 6, 2011)

Tried a few times, though I worry it could potentially hurt the battery,... perhaps it cannot, but I don't know any better


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## ERIFNOMI (Jun 30, 2011)

My 1amp car charger works without it (I'm pretty sure but I've only used it on one trip) but I think it's a great mod, when used correctly.

Glad the amazing devs of the Android community helped you out.

EDIT rather than 2x posting:



DHO said:


> Tried a few times, though I worry it could potentially hurt the battery,... perhaps it cannot, but I don't know any better


Shouldn't hurt your battery. The stock charger is 1amp. If it was any less, the damn thing would never charge.


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## Erbeck.M (Dec 28, 2011)

How did you check how much each cable/charger was pulling? Kinda interested to see how my cables fare since I charge my gnex about 4 different ways (dock USB car and standard charger)

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk


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## Kancerstick (Dec 25, 2011)

the only app i have found capable of displaying charge data is called "battery monitor widget"

Im using the pro version. Whether or not its accurate, after I enabled the USB fast charge hack, the mAh charge current readout jumped significantly


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## ERIFNOMI (Jun 30, 2011)

Erbeck.M said:


> How did you check how much each cable/charger was pulling? Kinda interested to see how my cables fare since I charge my gnex about 4 different ways (dock USB car and standard charger)
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk


+ another for battery monitor widget. Good app I learned about back in the glory days of xda. I always have it up on a home screen and check current draw (and now %/hr) after a days usage.


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## Jubakuba (Sep 8, 2011)

DHO said:


> Tried a few times, though I worry it could potentially hurt the battery,... perhaps it cannot, but I don't know any better


From Imo's explanation...
It only tricks your phone into drawing as much as it normally would via AC...as opposed to USB connections causing less draw.
So it should be fine...


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## saikano17 (Dec 27, 2011)

Car charger only pushes 0.5 amp regardless of what you use. That's when fast usb charge comes in to trick the phone thinking it's AC charge which is 1 amp.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk


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## Jaxidian (Jun 6, 2011)

Kancerstick said:


> I know my phone's in a happy place


Just be careful with heat and warmer weather coming up if you mount it in your windshield!


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## Rasputin (Nov 2, 2011)

Elixer.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## MFD00M (Aug 31, 2011)

I wouldn't say it's a life saver for me, but it sure is convenient! My wall charger at work is short, so i wasn't able to check and answer texts while it was charging. Now I plug into my usb port on my desktop and i can charge it as fast as my wall charger, and i can reply to texts while plugged in. Oh and the 180 degree rotation, so i can use it upside down


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## mech_egr (Oct 18, 2011)

Argh engineer senses tingling....theres a difference between amps and mah!

haha but it is a great hack


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## ERIFNOMI (Jun 30, 2011)

mech_egr said:


> Argh engineer senses tingling....theres a difference between amps and mah!
> 
> haha but it is a great hack


I didn't even catch it. I guess I knew what he was going to say so I looked at the numbers and got the gist of it.


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## BrianMigs (Sep 14, 2011)

Is this tweak supported on Monolith B2? It's using Franco's M2 kernel.


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## Erbeck.M (Dec 28, 2011)

so I just downloaded battery monitor widget but I'm not sure exactly where the reading is. Is it the green estimated at the top here?








Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk


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## ERIFNOMI (Jun 30, 2011)

Erbeck.M said:


> so I just downloaded battery monitor widget but I'm not sure exactly where the reading is. Is it the green estimated at the top here?
> View attachment 20980
> 
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk


Yep, your phone is drawing about three-quarters of an amp.

EDIT: You can put that number, as well as others, on the widget. I have global estimate in the middle, mA on top, and %/Hr on the bottom.


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## Erbeck.M (Dec 28, 2011)

Alright I'm assuming you have the paid version though right?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk


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## ERIFNOMI (Jun 30, 2011)

Nope, free version. Though as Mich as I use it I really should pay for it. To change what the widget displays go to settings, widget content.


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## abqnm (Jul 3, 2011)

Few things to keep in mind about this tweak:

1. It won't hurt your phone. The phone only draws as much power as it needs. It won't ever draw too much power. That was a concern before lithium ion batteries. Older battery technologies did not always employ intelligent adaptive charging circuits as they were often not needed. Lithium ion batteries are charged differently and the rate varies as it gets closer to full.

2. Battery Monitor Widget is just an estimate but if you configure your battery size properly and the charger output to 1000mA, it will usually be fairly accurate after a few days of history gathering.

3. The mA consumption you see takes into account the usage of the phone as well so while you may see close to 1000mA when the phone is idle with the screen off, you may only see 2-300mA if you are heavily using the phone while downloading a torrent over 4g, for example. The activities you are doing are drawing much of that charger output to run the phone.

Sent from my brain using human to phone transport technology.


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## samsuck (Jul 5, 2011)

is it true that when you use this hack you can't plug in your phone to transfer files unless you turn off the fast charge hack?


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## trparky (Sep 3, 2011)

Is there a quick shortcut to put it into Fast Charge mode?


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## abqnm (Jul 3, 2011)

samsuck said:


> is it true that when you use this hack you can't plug in your phone to transfer files unless you turn off the fast charge hack?


Correct. It has to be disabled to use USB file transfer.

Sent from my brain using human to phone transport technology.


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## abqnm (Jul 3, 2011)

trparky said:


> Is there a quick shortcut to put it into Fast Charge mode?


AOKP b28 actually includes a toggle for it for kernels that have it. Imoseyon has a script included in his leankernel to quickly toggle it on and off. Not sure about other kernels or ROMs though.

Sent from my brain using human to phone transport technology.


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## trparky (Sep 3, 2011)

Yeah, I'm on LiquidSmooth with iMoseyOn's 1.7.1 kernel. But a nice home screen shortcut would be nice.


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## Zaphod-Beeblebrox (Jun 21, 2011)

trparky said:


> Yeah, I'm on LiquidSmooth with iMoseyOn's 1.7.1 kernel. But a nice home screen shortcut would be nice.


pretty sure I saw that Jbirdvegas put something in liquid control to turn on/off fast_charge.


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## chad0989 (Dec 9, 2011)

trparky said:


> Is there a quick shortcut to put it into Fast Charge mode?


I'm the developer who created the fast charge patch for the gnex. I've produce a widget to toggle it on and off also.

Its in the market as Fastcharge / Force AC Toggle.

It had a couple issues at first but all the bugs should be worked out now.


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## abqnm (Jul 3, 2011)

chad0989 said:


> I'm the developer who created the fast charge patch for the gnex. I've produce a widget to toggle it on and off also.
> 
> Its in the market as Fastcharge / Force AC Toggle.
> 
> It had a couple issues at first but all the bugs should be worked out now.


Good to know. Thanks!

Sent from my brain using human to phone transport technology.


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