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USB Power Supply/Phone Charger Issue

13K views 27 replies 15 participants last post by  bseos 
#1 ·



Hi! I bought the USB power supply in the picture above, and connected it directly to my battery. I want to be able to use my phone as a GPS so I need to keep it charged on long rides. The issue I am having is that after installing the USB power supply and then connecting my iPhone, the phone indicates that it is being charged, however, the charge percentage will not go up. I tested this several times riding around the city, while running the GPS app, the battery charge on my phone slowly went down, and while the phone was off, the charge percentage stayed constant. Both times, the phone had an icon indicating it was being charged.

Does anyone know why this is happening? Is it because the battery of the ninja 300 will not output enough power?

P.S. I also tried installing it to a switchable power source like the tail light, I had the same issue.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Your phone isn't receiving enough amperage from the charger to actually charge it. WHile the charger is giving it some power (which is why it's draining slowly) It doesn't have enough to actually charge it.

I'd recommend getting these.
 
#4 ·
No, the battery has more than enough power to charge the phone as well as power many other electronic devices but it's the power adapter/charger you are using that is the problem.
 
#8 ·
I think not... if you leave the cable attached even w/o being hooked up to a device I think it'll still draw, but if you just leave the empty outlet attached to the battery it should be fine. Then again if you're leaving it for months you should attach a battery tender anyways.
 
#9 ·
The USB cable I'm using to connect to the power supply I installed is the standard one that came with the phone, and it works perfectly fine plugged into the computer or the wall.

Also, in reference to the fact that my current USB charger may not be receiving enough amperage from the battery, I found that it has the following specifications:

Input voltage: 12V-24V ± 4.0V
USB (output) voltage: 5V ± 0.25V
Output Current: 2.1A
Cable length: 1.83m
Insurance: 7.5A

Given that, shouldn't it have plenty of amperage output? Is it possible that there is another reason why my phone's charge percentage won't go up when it's connected to the motorcycle? Perhaps I have to be riding at a certain RPM for the motorcycle battery to be providing enough power, is that possible?
 
#10 ·
What is the rating of the fuse? It should be about 2a or higher. I found that sometimes things just don't like to work together. I.e. In a cheap cig lighter socket to usb, using the Samsung cable I got a notification saying I am hooked to a slow charger. Use a cheap cable I got with one of those power packs though and it charges fine. Though most phones draw 2.1a so the socket will have to supply as much
 
#14 ·
Do NOT install a USB power outlet connected directly to your battery.



It will drain your battery if bike is left alone for longer than a few days.

Yes, yes it certainly will. You always want to run these through a fuse. I've been using an Optimate for my iPhone for several months and even using the phone as a GPS and music source, it stays fully charged while I'm riding.
 
#16 ·
I just wanted to put the big warning for newbies like me so they avoid the mistake. I rode my bike around for a few hours and charged the battery, and uninstalled the USB charger completely. I'm just going to buy a 20000 mAh power bank and put it in my tank pad, it'll be enough to re-charge anything multiple times so no need to have an on board USB slot.
 
#18 ·
sorry for posting without googling if what I'm saying is correct, but I distinctly remember that apple devices sometimes do not charge from usb unless it's an apple usb. for example, I'm quite sure if I connect an ipad to my computer's usb it won't charge, it wants to be connected to its own wall usb charger. so the problem might be your iphone, not the charger.
 
#19 ·
Hey Berkies -

Just go with the OptiMate USB cable that Michael V recommended (1st response to your post). I had the exact same issue as you: iPhone 6 using GPS and streaming music and my Battery Tender Brand USB port wasn't giving the phone enough juice. The OptiMate works perfectly.

User Malice also suggested getting a non-data cable for charging purposes. The difference being that a non-data iPhone cable has two of the four USB connections: positive and negative. A regular iPhone cable has positive, negative, and two data connections. I CANNOT tell you why the data cable would interfere with power. But user Malice said he switched from his data cable to a non-data and he saw increased charging times.

This is a link to my post regarding the OptiMate cable (links included): http://www.kawasakininja300.com/forum/9-ninja-300-parts-accessories/97825-optimate-usb-port.html

Good luck -


Doug
 
#20 ·
Here's my setup. One USB is enough. The double USB is tough to mount inconspicuously.
 

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#21 ·
This is how I did mine. Hooked the posi directly to the battery; negative to a nearby bolt. I ride mine everyday so I'm not worried about battery drain now. Will probably switch that soon now that I know everything works perfectly. Had to fabricate the mounting plate out of a generic bracket from Home Depot's lumber dept.
RAM-HOL-PD3U is the cradle I use. I had it on my scooter before this bike and crashed it...a lot and it never let go of my phone.
RAM-B-201U-A is the short arm ball-to-ball
RAM-B-367U is the base. Is the same bolt size as the stock handlebar mounts so it FITS PERFECTLY EVEN WITH STOCK BARS!! or with woodcraft clip-ons.
 

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#27 ·
This is how I did mine. Hooked the posi directly to the battery; negative to a nearby bolt. I ride mine everyday so I'm not worried about battery drain now. Will probably switch that soon now that I know everything works perfectly. Had to fabricate the mounting plate out of a generic bracket from Home Depot's lumber dept.
RAM-HOL-PD3U is the cradle I use. I had it on my scooter before this bike and crashed it...a lot and it never let go of my phone.
RAM-B-201U-A is the short arm ball-to-ball
RAM-B-367U is the base. Is the same bolt size as the stock handlebar mounts so it FITS PERFECTLY EVEN WITH STOCK BARS!! or with woodcraft clip-ons.
Looking at your photo I thought you may like to know that I found that the bottle caps from 2L milk bottles (in Australia anyway) fit perfectly over the fork tops.
 
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#24 ·
Any experiences with this USB charger?

https://www.amazon.com/Motopower-Wa...rd_wg=kBCeR&psc=1&refRID=BJG6GYKPJNZ91GXTFK25

Also would it be possible to run multiple of these from the battery? Reason is I have one pigtail ran to the truck space on my bike but if I wanted to run optimate, the wiring is too short to have it ran from where I have my current pigtail. I also have one unused since mine came stock without the wall charger, I had to buy the whole kit lol

https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tend...rd_wg=kBCeR&psc=1&refRID=BJG6GYKPJNZ91GXTFK25
 
#25 ·
I'm having the same charging problem with my phone (Pocophone F1).
It was working fine with the quadlock usb charger until a few months have gone by, it it started to connect and disconnect whenever it was plugged in. Though it was a faulty unit, so quadlock sent me another one. Again worked for a few weeks and same problem. So then I went ahead and bought a optimate 2400mA USB Charger. That also wasn't working correctly. With phone plugged in it was giving me a charging symbol, but the charging rate was so slow that the phone was discharging quicker than it was charging, until I'd turn the bike on then it would no longer charge at all even after turning the bike off and unplugging and plugging it back in.

Tried plugging in the old quadlock charger. It no longer constantly disconnects when charging but again the charging rate was so slow that the phone was discharging quicker than it was charging.

My battery seems fine, but I've ordered a new one in just in case however I doubt it's a battery issue. Could be a regulator issue by the looks of things.
I've also ordered a 2-pin SAE connector with an inline fuse as the one that came with the quadlock charger did not include a fuse.

Will give you guys an update when I sort this out.
 
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#26 · (Edited)
Update: Okay, so the new SSB PowerSport Lithium Ion Polymer Battery seems to have solved the issue. My old battery was 9 years old and even though it's never given me any trouble starting the bike and voltage test was good I guess it just couldn't cut it being able to charge the phone... for whatever reason.

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If anyone is curious how I got my charger setup, I have the optimate 2400mA USB Charger under the pillion passenger seat for easy access as it opens with a key, and a long usb cable (2m) which routes to the front of the bike which I have ziptied. I also purchased a CozyCaps USB Cap to keep dirt and water out of my usb c connector when it's not plugged in.

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And here's some charging rate readings with my phone connected. Note: It wont hit over 2,000mA unless the phone is completely off due to it running background processes. However it's now more than enough for me to run GPS, Bluetooth, maps and etc and still have it charge at the same time.

Communication Device Gadget Telephony Mobile device Mobile phone
 
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