Originally Posted by everydayflyer

Why not try the charger powered by a car battery? As suggested it may very well be the power supply. There are some really bad power supplies out on the market.



Does the voltage stay at 15V while amps. are at around 10?

Yes voltage always stays just above 15 volts, i tried car battery output ams was even less or around 5 amp

Ok, so first day and i already misplaced that "special usb" cord/cable.... any1 know where to get one ?

Can we order from you Junsi ?

Mine is working with regular USB cable.
I am aware the Junsi one is probably not grounded, so i download logs to laptop running from battery.
But i also used desktop PC while powering the iCharger 3010B from power supply of the desktop (i have 12V line taken out) several times and no problem...
Maybe luck.

is ur reg usb cable w/out the ferret block on the end ?

If you don't have the USB cable that came with your iCharger then just make sure the PC and iCharger are not both powered from AC sources while connected to each other. I have seen a laptop killed in this manner, it's not just an old domestic partner's tale.

Originally Posted by SteveM732

If you don't have the USB cable that came with your iCharger then just make sure the PC and iCharger are not both powered from AC sources while connected to each other. I have seen a laptop killed in this manner, it's not just an old domestic partner's tale.

When doing firmware updates, I usually use a 3s lipo to power the charger. Not only is the power perfectly clean but it will also save you from a problem should the power fail. Oh and it floats the charger, solving the usb cable issue.

Originally Posted by qurbaaw1

thanks eecs
I will try to increase the input voltage, but I think in iCharger only voltage cut off is adjustable.

True. Lower voltage limit is to protect a battery when it's used as input power. Should be set lower than the power supply output voltage.

Fred.

ok, so im using the 12v marine battery, opened up a regular usb cable, cut the negative (black wire) and hooked it up, didnt work..

then i cut the red wire...and connected...didnt work ...

it's got the ferret capcitor on the cable too...

the charger did connect the 1st time w/junsi's cable, so i know it's not he charger's usb port ... shouldn't b this difficult

Ok, so i used another usb cable, w/ferret, just a regular one, plugged it in and let windows go to the net and find /install the driver for me. Keep in mind i have already installed it from the junsi CD. Windows installed a Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge.

Now when i use the Junsi upgrader program, i have 3 ports (as i had 3 usb ports on my laptop) and i chose the silicon labs one and lo/behold, it's updated !! (i have my charger connected via 12v marine battery).
... now to try it w/logview !

Now, my ferret is goggling at this topic, too

Did you try to cut the shield instead of the ground wire?

how would that affect the connectivity to the puter ?

well, it's working as my instructions above ... and im loving logview except for sometimes not in english words hahaha

The ground connection to the shield is removed to prevent a ground fault situation if both the computer power supply and the charger power supply are connected.

There are a few ways to prevent a grounding situation if you've lost your original USB:
1) Only use a battery source (not AC) when connecting to a computer, then you can use a regular USB
2) Disconnect the ground wire from the shield plug on a standard USB cable
3) Use a laptop to perform the update with battery power (no AC adapter connected to computer)

Cheers,
David

PS To test if you have the right one you can check for continuity between pin 4 on one end and the USB shield on the other. See here for a diagram on USB wiring.

doesn't splicing it open and snipping the black wire do the same thing as disconnect it from ground ?

thanks for the support, that's y i bought this awesome charger is cuz of users like this community who are quick and willing to help !!

loving the 206B !!

The black is required as you learned here

ok, so im using the 12v marine battery, opened up a regular usb cable, cut the negative (black wire) and hooked it up, didnt work..

The shield is not required and is the one not connected on the supplied USB cable.

Originally Posted by flarssen

True. Lower voltage limit is to protect a battery when it's used as input power. Should be set lower than the power supply output voltage.

My mistake. For some reason I thought the iCharger had an upper input voltage limit as well as a lower limit. Probably I have been playing with regenerative discharge too much recently, and for that there certainly is an upper input voltage limit!

Anyway, the principle of maintaining a margin remains: if you are delivering 15V from your power supply then you want the iCharger's lower limit set to something significantly less than 15V (say 14.5V or below).