cell phone charger on 2nd power strip doesn't charge

Did it fully charge that battery, i.e. did it stay on for long after it was charged in strip A? Are you sure you're getting full power out of strip B? Did you measure it with a voltmeter?

Plugging in an unpowered charger into a device like a cell phone can give some squirrely results, at least based on what happens when the power fails in my house when the phone, laptop and a bunch of other gear is being charged.

One last question - are the plug blades on the charger polarized? I can't remember what allegedly unpolarized device I had that would not work correctly if it was plugged in upside-down (relatively speaking).

Other than that, I'm officially out of ideas. Sorry I couldn't help. I bought a USB charge monitor (and lots of adapters) so I could monitor the current flow into the device being charged. Helpful in situations like this and only cost $6. To diagnose this problem correctly I'd use those along with a DVM to measure the voltage at strip B. But remote diagnostics on a text-based system where you can't even draw a sketch easily - yes, I give up. (-:

I would recommend getting another power strip and seeing if it exhibits the same characteristics as the one you have now.

Reply to
Robert Green
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I based my comment just on what he described in this last message but willing admit I could have it 100% wrong.

That's why I feel it's phone specific and most likely the battery but in reading around the net it could also be the charging connector's hosed or intermittent. It's becoming clear that they should have stopped at the mini-USB connector because the micro USB connector appears to be not very robust. The mini connector had the advantage of having a shape that made it difficult to try to plug in upside-down. Even the full-sized USB connector is deficient (IMHO) in that regard.

Just too difficult to figure out remotely so I'll bow out. I hope someone more tenacious than I am figures it out and posts back here.

Reply to
Robert Green

Or if you're really dedicated to knowing the answer, and I gather that is the point of the thread, reversing strips a and b can be done right now.

Reply to
micky

Patients, Grasshopper.

Reply to
Gordon Shumway

When it's night there, it's day here. I don't know if that helps you or not.

There are a lot of strange things that happen in this world.

I have a DVDR with a digital tuner that I use in place of buying a digital TV. Connected to it is a digital to analog converter (I forget the short name for that, something-modulator) and connected to that is the television.

And when I turn the ceiling light on in the bedroom with the switch that is 3 feet away, there is a pause in the sound. It's silent for a second or so. But the picture isn't affected. There isn't even a blink.

And if I turn the light on in the stairway, which is 20 feet away, I get the same effect. If I turn either light off, I sometimes get the same effect and other times, maybe not.

If it do it several times in a row, after the first, second, or maybe the third time, it stops happening.

When I last asked about this on sci.electronics.repair and maybe here, no one had any good ideas. IIRC the most common suggestion was that I was wrong and it wasn't happpening.

But here it is 3 years later, and I don't notice it as often I think because I'm used to it, but it happened yesterday, while I was 20 feet away (normally I'm not paying attention when I'm that far away, and I wasn't but I noticed anyhow.)

A lot of strange things, and little things that I can see no reason God would do, since they don't promote anything he wants, not even belief in him.

(For a non-strange but still quite amazing thing, see my next thread about elephants and landmines.)

Reply to
micky

Could be a noise spike that the unit picks up and reacts to, perhaps tripping an audio limiting circuit temporarily so that you don't hear a gigantic pop.

Does the unit have a remote? Does the behavior still occur when you put black tape over the IR "eye"? Are these LED, CFL or incandescent lights?

Reply to
Robert Green

Doctors have patients.

Grasshoppers have patience.

I'll explain it, much later.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Gee, Charlie Brown, sorry I took a WAG but it was labeled as such when I said: "Sounds like . . . " That was based on what he said in that message (I confess I joined the thread late) and experience with bad batteries.

We can't be sure that it's charging. He said "the percentage does go up" which is an indicator reading, not necessarily telling us anything about the actual battery state.

More curious is that he's clearly not had enough time for the battery, after being charged, to completely discharge, so I am not sure the testing procedures are telling us anything valid. Does the phone actually charge up and take a full charge on the good strip? What's the voltage coming out of the charger on either strip and what's the voltage going into the charger?

I'm troubled by the inconsistency of the problem description by the OP, or so it seems to me (posted by the OP at different times:

Reply to
Robert Green

Even quicker. I've found that power strips, particularly ones with filter circuits, can interact with each other. I've had some that block X-10 signals and it doesn't matter if A goes to B or B goes to A.

As I said to Trader, I am bowing out. Too many red flags and not enough interest, I guess. Without the proper tools on the OP's end like . . .

formatting link
(USB Charger Doctor - recommended to me by someone here and INCREDIBLY useful for such situation. It tells you what voltage and amperage is actually reaching the charger. It's only $7.50 and no one who charges anything by USB should be without it.)

. . . there's going to be a lot of tail-chasing for little long-term or useful edification for me, anyway, because if I had such a problem I'd put the Charger Doctor on the case (no financial interest - just a very happy customer who saw similar items selling for $75.)

Reply to
Robert Green

Damn spell check. There needs to be a context check.

I can't wait that long!

Reply to
Gordon Shumway

Yes remote but never tried tape. Using the actual remote never causes a loss of sound. Why would the light from the fixture do that, even if it includes some IR? And what about the light from the stairwell (and the upstairs hall on the same switch). I don't t hink either of those lights can reach the IR eye.

They used to be incandescent and now they are CFL. Same thing either way. Until yesterday I had 60 or 75W equivalents in the ceiling fixture. Isn't that 15 or 19 watts? times 3. It wasn't enough to read with so yesterday I put in 100w eqivalent, 25 watts times 3.

I think the spark from the on off switch, a silent switch with no or almost no detent, is causing radiation that does soemthing.

If I remember, I'll do some more tests.

Reply to
micky

I love gadgets like this, but how often do such situations really occur? Even in this case, I assume the OP is only academically curious, and that his practical problem is solved by using strip A, and that he knows this.

I want you to convince me to buy this, but then I see

plus xxx for shipping. SHIPPING (CALCULATED IN CHECKOUT), I hate that., Sure enough, they want my name, email, address, and PHONE before they'll tell me the shipping cost.

And then I see these and wonder if I shoudl buy these too!

USB Micro-B Breakout Board Simple but effective - this breakout board has a USB Micro-B connector, with all 5 pins broken out. ... $1.50

USB Cable with Switch Add a power switch to any USB-powered project simply by plugging this between the USB power port and ... $2.95 Is unplugging just as good as using this switch?

Wow. Okay the price is great, but do you really use it?

Reply to
micky

Perhaps but it means less wear on the connectors which aren't as robust as they should be. Not something I would buy - well, maybe. I avoid over-taxing frequently used USB connectors by using short extension cords. This because I once plugged in a USB cable into an OTA DVR and push the USB jack right into the chassis. Not well anchored, as you can imagine. Effing up a USB port on a table, phone or laptop can be a real PITA and expensive to repair.

Yes. All the time. I have a few of them (got them with free Amazon Prime shipping but that URL was WAY too long to cite). I have them attached to my main phone charger and on the PCs I use to charge oddball items like cameras, MP3 players, etc.

They are good for telling when you're overloading your USB ports, too. Revealed that a Sansa clip player's battery was going bad because it was drawing way more current than before. It's helpful if you use it to take baseline measurements of chargeable gear so that you know what it should be. It also tells you how much juice your chargers can output (varies greatly) and if they're really within specifications. You'd be surprised at how many cheap Chinese chargers don't even meet the USB spec and are over or undervoltage by more than 2 volts. Also tells you the voltage under load as well as the amps being drawn by the chargee. (-:

Reply to
Robert Green

Just spitballing based on the fact that it seems only switched light fixtures affect the unit, not switching other kinds of loads. Besides, it's a simple test to perform by just blocking the IR window. I know it's far-fetched but it could be as the lamps fire up the are sending light pulses that mimic the MUTE command and once the bulbs warm up their emissions change. That would explain why it goes away after several attempts (the bulb's warmed up). Are your lights on dimmers? What kind of switches control them? Are they on the same circuit as the TV/DVDR? It could be that anything in that chain (DVDR to modulator to TV) is causing the problem but the TV is mostly likely.

If the guys at Sci-repair were stumped, it's likely to be something very arcane that's happening, perhaps even related to something defective in the equipment. Do you have a socket adapter? Can you screw that in instead of the lightbulb and then try plugging in some non-light load to see if it happens? If it does, we know that light has nothing to do with it and it's probably a powerline glitch of some sort.

Anyway, those are the two things I would try. Running a non-lamp load from one of the light sockets that exhibits the problem and taping over all the IR windows on the equipment. There might even be an IR window on the modulator.

Maybe one of our electrician experts can venture an opinion about silent, non-snap switches and whether they can put a noise spike on the line.

Please do. This is an oddball problem for sure. I'd also do a google search using the model numbers of the devices you have to see if anyone's had a similar problem.

Reply to
Robert Green

That IS a stretch. Plus the DVDR doesn't have** a mute command, and two different tvs have been affected, or maybe three

**Actually it's an annoyance that neither the DVDR or any VCR I've seen, even my 500 dollar one that had everything else, has a mute command or more importantly, a Previous Channel command. Sort of related, the digital antalog converter box I'm using, which was 80 dollars minus the 40 dollar coupon, does have a Power On for the TV, which required no setting and I guess is supposed to work without programming for any tv.

No.

The only lights I remember for sure do this are the bedroom ceiling, 3 of them, with two 3-way switches.

I was going to say yes until I remembered that I installed the ceiling light myself and it's on a different circuit. (with the light on the other bedroom ceukubg, the light and outlet in the attic, and the outlets and light at the workbench in the basement.)

So, No.

Yeah, I have those things. I think mine are 60 years old or more. I know I never bought one and I don't think my mother ever used one, so they must have been in the hardware box** when my father died in 1955. Maybe my grandfather bought them. He died 1930 or 40. **This is the same box that contained the light bulb extensions, one of which I finally used last year 40 years after I took possession of them.

Or they might come from my grandmother, on the other side of the family, who moved out of her house in wtih her daughter around 1960. So they're still 60 years old or more. ...... Where was I?

That requires standing on the bed, which wobbles when I stand on it. It's hard to change the lightbulbs plus there's a glass shade. I'm getting worn out just thinking about it, but maybe I'll do it.

Okay.

I red a web forum about the DVDR, about 500 posts, and I still subscribe to it (though no one posts anymore. At least I think I"m still subscribed. It's on A-V forum, or whatever)

and no one said anything about this.

The TV is nothing special, and I expect no one talks about it.

Reply to
micky

Okay, you've convinced me.

The breakout board is cheap but I'll probably never use it, and I could make one from the bad flashdrive I have.

The cord with the switch might be useful and it coincides with my fetish for adapters. i once tried to attach a switch to the flat grey indoor telephone wire that went to a headset, so I could answer the phone with it. Boy, was that hard, and when I was done, it was fragile. So maybe I should buy this.

As to shipping Mr. Monster, I barely know what to do with it, so quick shipping is not much of a plus. And Amazon has probably lost a customer since I've bought everything I need, practically, and the 35 dollar miiniimum is much harder to meet than $25 was. And membership, I'm not going to spend money to spend money. Save hundereds their new competitor, Jet says. That would require spending thousands, and I might spend 100 at most this year at places like Amazon or Jet.

Reply to
micky

I tried it (reverse the order of the two strip) and it did charge the phone B that was unable to be charged before. What's going on? I have no clue.

Anyway, thanks to anyone who replied to my question.

Reply to
yyy378

Sounds like time to call a preist, and have both power strips water baptized in the salty ocean, while the power strips are plugged in.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

You are welcome. You better check to make sure your fridge is still working. Can't tell what is going on in your house!

Reply to
taxed and spent

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