Coming from a Motorola Droid, I had a number of 1A car chargers lying around that I figured would just work fine with the Galaxy Nexus. Wrong. The GNex detects whether it is plugged into an A/C charger or a USB port by looking for a connection between the two middle pins of the USB port (D+ and D-). The AC adapter that comes with the phone has those pins bridged, so in the Settings|Battery screen, it will say "Charging (AC)" and charge with the full 1A if needed. My old Droid brick does, too, although it is only 850mA. Pretty much all of my other chargers do NOT have those pins bridged, and because of that, the phone will say "Charging (USB)" and only charge using a limited amount of current. I don't know the exact amount, but it's likely 500mA or less. I noticed this when I plugged in my GNex and went for a drive with navigation. After a couple hours I noticed that the battery had gone down instead of up, and even after I stopped navigating it was only increasing very slowly. Further research showed that this is a well-known thing for a lot of phones - but it is new for me coming from the Motorola Droid.
Now, the easiest fix for this is to go to the Verizon store and purchase a Verizon charger for $25 or so. Nope!
I decided to just mod some of my chargers to see how it would work. The hardest part is disassembling the charger without destroying it. Some are made mostly of plastic and glued together, like the Griffin brand dual 1A USB adapter I have. There is just no way for that to come apart and end up back in one piece again. Here are some of the chargers I had better luck with:
Mini USB Car Charger for iPod Nano Touch iPhone 3G iPhone 3GS iPhone 4 and other USB powered Products Random Color
This charger disassembled quite well. The white section at the tip simply unscrews. If you hold the two nubs on the side in, the metal sleeve will slide off (be careful, as those two nubs are spring-loaded - you WILL lose them, and the springs!). Once the sleeve is off, it splits into two halves and exposes the circuitboard. The 4 USB pins are easily accessible. I bent the two middle pins towards eachother and soldered it, reassembled it, and it works great.
The second charger I modified is this one:
iPhone Compatible Mini Black USB Charger
This one required a very small torx bit - I believe it's a T1. I had the correct size in a set of very small torx bits I bought online. One bolt is visible, the other is underneath the sticker. Once the bolts are removed, the metal plate will come off, and you can unscrew the tip (there is a fuse and spring inside). Same as the other one, the 4 pins are easily accessible. The leads were not long enough to bend, but they were close enough to each other (and far enough from other components) to bridge them together with solder.
The advantages of modifying your own charger are:
1). Cost savings! $1.99 + $1 microUSB cable vs $30? I think so!
2). You can use a standard microUSB cable. This means you'll always have one with you if you need it.
3). You can charge other USB gadgets with the same charger (iPods, other phones, etc)
4). The chargers Verizon sells are one-piece, rather than USB with a standard cable.
5). The Verizon chargers are also HUGE, especially compared to these tiny ones.
I take no responsibility if you screw something up and explode your phone, car, or self trying this.
Note: Other alternative options exist. One alternative option is to get a "Charge-Only" microUSB cable that does the same thing (bridges D+ and D- in the cable). It will work fine, too, but then you're stuck carrying around a microUSB cable that can only charge. Another option is to get a short USB extension cable (like the ones that come with thumb drives), cut it in half, and make the modification inside the cable. Now you have another cable you're stuck carrying around.
Hope people find this helpful!
Now, the easiest fix for this is to go to the Verizon store and purchase a Verizon charger for $25 or so. Nope!
I decided to just mod some of my chargers to see how it would work. The hardest part is disassembling the charger without destroying it. Some are made mostly of plastic and glued together, like the Griffin brand dual 1A USB adapter I have. There is just no way for that to come apart and end up back in one piece again. Here are some of the chargers I had better luck with:
Mini USB Car Charger for iPod Nano Touch iPhone 3G iPhone 3GS iPhone 4 and other USB powered Products Random Color
This charger disassembled quite well. The white section at the tip simply unscrews. If you hold the two nubs on the side in, the metal sleeve will slide off (be careful, as those two nubs are spring-loaded - you WILL lose them, and the springs!). Once the sleeve is off, it splits into two halves and exposes the circuitboard. The 4 USB pins are easily accessible. I bent the two middle pins towards eachother and soldered it, reassembled it, and it works great.
The second charger I modified is this one:
iPhone Compatible Mini Black USB Charger
This one required a very small torx bit - I believe it's a T1. I had the correct size in a set of very small torx bits I bought online. One bolt is visible, the other is underneath the sticker. Once the bolts are removed, the metal plate will come off, and you can unscrew the tip (there is a fuse and spring inside). Same as the other one, the 4 pins are easily accessible. The leads were not long enough to bend, but they were close enough to each other (and far enough from other components) to bridge them together with solder.
The advantages of modifying your own charger are:
1). Cost savings! $1.99 + $1 microUSB cable vs $30? I think so!
2). You can use a standard microUSB cable. This means you'll always have one with you if you need it.
3). You can charge other USB gadgets with the same charger (iPods, other phones, etc)
4). The chargers Verizon sells are one-piece, rather than USB with a standard cable.
5). The Verizon chargers are also HUGE, especially compared to these tiny ones.
I take no responsibility if you screw something up and explode your phone, car, or self trying this.
Note: Other alternative options exist. One alternative option is to get a "Charge-Only" microUSB cable that does the same thing (bridges D+ and D- in the cable). It will work fine, too, but then you're stuck carrying around a microUSB cable that can only charge. Another option is to get a short USB extension cable (like the ones that come with thumb drives), cut it in half, and make the modification inside the cable. Now you have another cable you're stuck carrying around.
Hope people find this helpful!
