Hi all. Just wanted to pass along a something I noticed about the A1 the other day by accident. This may explain why some folks see painfully slow charging times.
So, when charging the A1 the other night, I plugged it into a power brick I have that has a USB charger port on it instead of the 120V plug that came with the A1. I had my iPhone plugged into another USB port on the same power brick. A few seconds after I plugged in the A1, my iPhone started cycling between charging and batter about once every few seconds (and letting out an annoying beep every time it did). This continued indefinitely until I unplugged my iPhone out of concern.
After thinking about the situation, I realized that what was happening to the iPhone was the USB power converter in the brick was getting overdrawn and tripping the overcurrent protection. After it tripped, the overcurrent circuit would recent and it would start charging for a second and the would flip again.
That got me wondering. I looked at the power brick, and is rated for .5A @ 5v, the USB standard powered port.
Then, I looked at the power output on the A1 120V charger brick. Sure enough, it is rated at 1.5A @ 5V, 3x the "standard" current for USB. The A1 must be configured to draw more than 0.5A for standard USB, and it was tripping the inadequate circuit on the power brick I have.
So, if you are charging your A1 off a laptop (which likely only supplies 0.5A), or off a power brick that is < 1.5A, the charging time on your A1 is going to be significantly longer (maybe 3x). Your best option is to use the 120V adapter that came with the device, or a power brick that is at least the same current (1.5A).
I wonder if the A1 can detect when it is plugged into a computer and limit its current draw to 0.5A in that case. If not, I could see it potentially overdrawing some computer's USB ports, or tripping their current protection.
Just thought I would pass this along....
So, when charging the A1 the other night, I plugged it into a power brick I have that has a USB charger port on it instead of the 120V plug that came with the A1. I had my iPhone plugged into another USB port on the same power brick. A few seconds after I plugged in the A1, my iPhone started cycling between charging and batter about once every few seconds (and letting out an annoying beep every time it did). This continued indefinitely until I unplugged my iPhone out of concern.
After thinking about the situation, I realized that what was happening to the iPhone was the USB power converter in the brick was getting overdrawn and tripping the overcurrent protection. After it tripped, the overcurrent circuit would recent and it would start charging for a second and the would flip again.
That got me wondering. I looked at the power brick, and is rated for .5A @ 5v, the USB standard powered port.
Then, I looked at the power output on the A1 120V charger brick. Sure enough, it is rated at 1.5A @ 5V, 3x the "standard" current for USB. The A1 must be configured to draw more than 0.5A for standard USB, and it was tripping the inadequate circuit on the power brick I have.
So, if you are charging your A1 off a laptop (which likely only supplies 0.5A), or off a power brick that is < 1.5A, the charging time on your A1 is going to be significantly longer (maybe 3x). Your best option is to use the 120V adapter that came with the device, or a power brick that is at least the same current (1.5A).
I wonder if the A1 can detect when it is plugged into a computer and limit its current draw to 0.5A in that case. If not, I could see it potentially overdrawing some computer's USB ports, or tripping their current protection.
Just thought I would pass this along....
