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Other Drone charging issues

Discussion in 'General' started by Xir, 15 Nov 2016.

  1. Xir

    Xir Modder

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    A question to the electronics geniusses out there.

    I was gifted a small quadrocopter, a nice toy. This thing runs on a 3.7V LiPo cell.
    The charger that comes with it is USB-based. Charger in laptop USB port, LiPo-Cell conncts to charger, charging occurs.

    Now I didn't want to use the laptop to charge these, and I have two tablet charger wallplugs, that give out 5V via USB, at 2000mA.

    So tablet charger wallplug in plug, USB-charger in USB, LiPo-cell connected...no charging :confused:
    I turned the wallplug around (we can here) charging works. :confused:

    What the heck does the wallplug do different than the computer USB-port (apart from beeing stronger)?
     
    Xir, 15 Nov 2016
    #1
  2. Xir

    Xir Modder

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    Retestet it with a different USB-Charger. Similar effect.

    This is a 4 cell charger, so I connected 4 cells. With the wallplug, one, maybe to cells would charge.
    On the computer USB-port, all cells charge.
    4 Cells means ~1500mA, so the wallplug should be doing fine, while the computer-USB-port should take a lot longer.

    I don't get it.
     
    Xir, 15 Nov 2016
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  3. Xir

    Xir Modder

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    Tested with two different tablet wallplugchargers.
    Same effect :confused:

    Both charge a tablet or a phone or a powerbank fine.
     
    Xir, 15 Nov 2016
    #3
  4. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Sounds to me like the battery charger is doing actual USB negotiation for the power - i.e. if you do an lsusb (or your operating system's equivalent) it'll appear as a device. The Sony DualShock controllers do the same thing, which is massively annoying: you can charge 'em by pluggin them into a laptop, desktop, or the PlayStation 3 itself, but they won't charge from a smartphone charger or battery pack.
     
    Gareth Halfacree, 15 Nov 2016
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    Xir likes this.
  5. Xir

    Xir Modder

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    Ah? Didn't know that, learn something every day.
    Though I can't imagine why they'd build something like that into a cheap-as-chips charger.
     
    Xir, 17 Nov 2016
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  6. daveypro

    daveypro Minimodder

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    guess the ps4 dual shocks are different? as i charge them off my ankey multi usb iq charger thing.
     
    daveypro, 17 Nov 2016
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  7. play_boy_2000

    play_boy_2000 ^It was funny when I was 12

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    I assume that by turn it around, you mean flip the wall plug around swapping the live and neutral?

    It's probably a quirk of auto-ranging power supplies. I have a charger for my asus TF101 that does 15V and 5V and it works fine either way in Canada, but when I was in Australia, it would only charge my phone one way around. I think the 15V (for tablet charging) actually worked either way around, oddly enough.
     
    play_boy_2000, 17 Nov 2016
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  8. Xir

    Xir Modder

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    Yes thats what I mean.

    The weird part is, the tablets charge just fine, no matter which way the plug is in the wall. And my tablets charge by 5V usb.
     
    Xir, 21 Nov 2016
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