Difficulty charging my phone (Droid 2) via USB port

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JasonT

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 25, 2010
Messages
509
Location
AZ
So I have a Droid 2 from Verizon. I haven't "rooted" the phone or anything like that. I've found that when I try to use a USB cord to charge my phone that my phone freaks out. It indicates a USB connection, then it goes away, then it comes back, and goes away again. It repeatedly does this and does it fairly quickly. I've tried plugging my Droid into a computer and selecting the "Charge Only" option for USB but that didn't help.

I believe what is happening is that the car is looking for songs but doesn't find any. For some reason I guess the software believes that a disconnect/reconnect will let it find some songs. I have noticed that if I put an MP3 somewhere in my phone that the car will automatically start playing that song when I plug in. I've recently started using Google Music though, playing through bluetooth. I believe if I do the song workaround that I'll have to keep switching back to my music if I plug in.

Anyone else having this problem? Anyone else have a better work around? For now I'm using a 12V -> USB adapter but that adapter gets warm and I believe the USB connection would be a better method.
 
JasonT said:
So I have a Droid 2 from Verizon. [...]. I've found that when I try to use a USB cord to charge my phone that my phone freaks out.
Sorry, no help here; only that I have no issues charging my phone (HTC Evo) from the LEAF's USB port.

JasonT said:
For now I'm using a 12V -> USB adapter but that adapter gets warm and I believe the USB connection would be a better method.
My phone gets more than slightly warm doing CPU-intensive things, so I wouldn't get too worried about a power adapter getting warm. I don't know what to tell you other than unless the adapter gets too hot to touch i.e. it feels like might burst into flames at any moment :D, I wouldn't worry.
 
I have somewhat limited experience trying to charge and use bluetooth on the Nexus S 4G - but what happens if you allow USB disk connection from the phone so the LEAF can find all the songs its' heart desires and then you can just ignore it and select bluetooth playback? Or will Google Music not run when USB disk mode is enabled? I usually end up using WinAMP as it was the best way to get lock screen controls when using the archaic Prius AUX input - I haven't tried Google Music and bluetooth yet.
 
aqn said:
I don't know what to tell you other than unless the adapter gets too hot to touch i.e. it feels like might burst into flames at any moment :D, I wouldn't worry.
Just seems like a waste of electricity (yes, I know we're talking about low amounts here, I'm not worried about eating into range). It's also a "less elegant" solution - but until/if I get this figured out it's how I will go.

Devin said:
I have somewhat limited experience trying to charge and use bluetooth on the Nexus S 4G - but what happens if you allow USB disk connection from the phone so the LEAF can find all the songs its' heart desires and then you can just ignore it and select bluetooth playback?
I may mess with this route - I need to play more with Google Music. The reason why I suspect this won't be as "slick" is because it is very cool (when I don't plug in). Right now I start Google Music and put my Droid back in it's holder. When I stop the car, the Droid stops playing the music. As soon as I get back in the car and start driving the music starts back up again from where I was at. At minimum I'll have to toggle through inputs back to bluetooth (yeah, I must sound incredibly lazy) but I suspect it may end up being more steps than that.
 
http://www.connections-usa.com/usb_pinout.html

If you don't mind ruining a cable for normal use, you could open one up and cut the two datalines, leaving the power and ground. That should solve your problem. An alternative would be one of the cables designed to plug into two USB ports in order to power a disk drive. The second plug is already wired this way.
 
davewill said:
If you don't mind ruining a cable for normal use, you could open one up and cut the two datalines, leaving the power and ground. That should solve your problem.
I actually tried this yesterday. My Droid stopped indicating a USB connection disconnecting and reconnecting. However, the charging indicator continued to connect/disconnect. I really don't get why this is working for others but failing so bad for me. I guess at the next Tucson Leaf get-together I'll have to try my unit in another car to ensure that the problem is not my specific car.

I will try the single music file to see if I can make that work with my Google Music. Other than that it sounds like I'm stuck.
 
JasonT said:
However, the charging indicator continued to connect/disconnect. I really don't get why this is working for others but failing so bad for me. I guess at the next Tucson Leaf get-together I'll have to try my unit in another car to ensure that the problem is not my specific car.
A good plan. The other things I'd try would be to measure the 5v to make sure it's putting out the correct voltage, and trying a simple USB stick, just to see if a bus powered device works at all.
 
I'm having the same problem with my Droid X. Every 30 seconds or so power drops for a fraction of a second. It doesn't behave this way on anything besides the LEAF USB port.

I've got the phone set to charge only and I have USB debugging turned on.

Has anyone found a workaround? It would be great to be able to charge from the built in USB port :)
 
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