Edit: Success!

Ideas and questions about MintyBoost kits

Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
Locked
SilverEcco
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:35 pm

Edit: Success!

Post by SilverEcco »

Hardware Issue?
I've gotten some interesting results when trying to charge my MobiBlu DAH-1500i with the MintyBoost.
Rechargeable Input = 2.44v
Rechargeable Output = 5.000v
Alkaline Input = 3.11v
Alkaline Output = 5.01v
MB Rechargeable Cable Output = 2.55v
MB Alkaline Cable Output = 1.91v
PC Cable Output = 5.11v
R5 = Pullup Config.

The 'cable' referred to in the above voltages is the USB charging cable for my MP3 player. This could potentially be a problem with my cable, the best observation that I've made is that when looking at the 4 connector pins for the USB jack on MintyBoost with the jack pointing DOWN, I've numbered the connectors 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. The output tested from the cable equals EXACTLY (2.55v rechrg and 1.91v alka) the voltage you get when testing pins 2 and 4 together. So basically this tells me that the charging cable uses pins 2 and 4 alone, instead of the whole circuit. I ensured that it wasn't a soldering problem with my jack by testing the voltage output on the OTHER side of the pins, inside of the jack, they also show a full 5v.


Firmware Issue?
Additionally, MobiBlu sells a proprietary portable charging pack that is merely a USB port, similar to the MintyBoost. It's designed to charge virtually anything via USB. When the MP3 player is plugged into the unit, it's supposed to say something like 'Charging' on a blank screen. When plugged into a computer, the screen shows a little computer icon, a usb icon, and the charging status (full or charging). When plugged into the MintyBoost, it shows the normal song playing screen, but with a 'battery full' indicator instead of the normal one, two, or three notches you see. Regardless of how depleted the battery is; when using the MintyBoost is displays the 'charging' icon for a second, and then displays the 'complete' icon, and quits charging. It's probable that this glitch with the MintyBoost charging is caused by the strange output by the cable when attached to the MB, it's like it's a hybrid between the two..

Does anyone have any information on this? I'd rather keep the R5 in the pullup configuration if possible, that way I can charge newer iPods, etc with it. I figure the DAH-1500i was initially tested in the pulldown configuration, since it was on the list prior to v1.2.

Pictures, if you need them for anything

Thanks in advance!


Edit 1: A friend of mine ripped my power cable off the PCB today, so I had to re-solder it, while doing so I decided to mess with the R5 configuration some. Obviously I tried it without the R5 first, and received the same result, second I tried it with the R5 in 'Pulldown' configuration, and it works fine now! Unfortunately, now I can't let my friends borrow it to charge their new iPods/Zunes, etc., but that's alright, maybe I can discover a workaround so it works for even more things.

Ladyada, if you will please note this next to the MobiBlu DAH-1500i on the compatibility list, I would be very appreciative! ;)

Locked
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.

Return to “MintyBoost”