Problem with charging Hermes from external battery

[rickh925]

I have an external battery that I use with my laptop that includes a standard(6 pin) female USB port for charging devices as well as an output port on the batter for a cable with multiple tips including one for my laptop as well as one that is a mini USB male end.

I've read the posts about the problem with the 4th pin being connected to nothing in a standard 6pin -> mini USB cable and the recommendation to solder pin 4 to the ground cable on pin 5. I can do that, but don't really have time to do right now.

Does anyone know where I can buy a cable like that? Does HTC sell them?

Rick

[boz]

Hi rickh925 and welcome to 4WM

Try Smartphone, Pocket PC & Ultra-Mobile PC Store - eXpansys UK they sell a huge range of accessories for the Hermes. HTC use them in their listings for suppliers of accessories.

[rickh925]

I looked at MobilePlanet, the US site for eXpansys UK and can't really tell what USB cable would have pin 4 set from nothing to ground. I sent them an email asking specifically if they sold a mini USB cable with pin 4 set from the standard "nothing" to ground(pin 5). If I find a cable and don't have to make it, I'll post the source for others.

Rick

[boz]

Yes it would be nice to know, I have a hunch that they may be ok, because somewhere at the back of my mind I remember that these were being used for car chargers, because they had the the ground pin on them.

[waveydavey]

If memory serves though this is a "feature" particular to HTC devices. I doubt you'll find many cables in a retail outlet for this sort of thing as potentially plugging it into a different device could cause issues.

[rickh925]

Well, a little more on this story. I have a BatteryGeek Portable Power Station that I use on my long trips to Asia. It has a built in USB port that I was trying to use to charge my Hermes without any luck. I found in the kit that it also has a mini USB tip for the DC Out cable that, when the battery is set to deliver 5V, works fine with my phone and my Moto BT stereo headset.

So, it seems that I won't have to do surgery on a USB cable and risk shorting everything out.

Rick

[boz]

Nice find, at least it proves it can be done!

[gemblaster]

Shoot, it doesn't help those of us that would like to buy instead of melting up our usb cables(all thumbs) LOL. Was looking forward to a confermed retail source product number that worked, oh well....

Mabey in a month or so I will try to melt away then.

GB