[andrewd416]

Hello Crackberry World....

Juss got a playbook...i have a question....does the playbook charge while plugged into a laptop/desktop????

[Motorcycle Mama]

Yes, but much more slowly than when it is plugged in to the supplied charger.

Also, it must be turned on to charge.

[Technerd.McLeod]

Used to, but it doesn't anymore. It will probably come back as I don't even understand why they took that ability away from the PB.

@MM - Mine doesn't even charge when connected to my computer anymore, and I've read of several other people's PBs not charging while connected to the computer after the .3.1868 update.

[Jerryg50]

Hello Crackberry World....

Juss got a playbook...i have a question....does the playbook charge while plugged into a laptop/desktop????

___


Make sure you use an original Blackberry cable to charge your Playbook. The wire guage they use is greater than used in the low cost universal type cables.

I tried charging the Playbook from a USB port. I found better results using a powered USB hub. I found the 7 port hub works better for this than the 4 port. This is because the power supply for the 7 port is a little stronger. Make sure there are no other devices connected to the same hub that require USB power. I would suggest to install the latest version of the Blackberry desktop manager.

The computer will require the Playbook drivers be installed so it will allow USB power to the Playbook. These come with the desktop manager installation.

On the Playbook, when charging from a USB hub port, turn off the Bluetooth, WiFi, tethering, and bridge mode. Make sure no applications are running on the desktop. Press the standby (red) button to put the Playbook in to standby.

Under ideal conditions it will charge at a rate of about 5% to 7% per hour. From 0% in theory it could take from about 14 to 16 hours for a full charge depending on what the USB port can feed out.

If your drained the Playbook battery more than about 20% or less the USB port in practice may have problems to put back a full charge.

I tried charging the Playbook with the regular Blackberry phone charger. It will not charge the phone. The charger becomes very warm and does not accomplish anything worth while. I found out this can actually burn out the phone charger.

The phone charger is rated at 700 ma. The Playbook charger is rated much higher. Going from memory I believe it is in the range of about 1500 ma or so.

I ordered a spare Playbook pocket charger from the Blackberry site. I also bought to fast chargers to leave in two different locations.


Jerry G.

[narci]

If your looking for a car charger, get one rated 1.8amp or higher.

Kensington has one called a powerbolt that charges at 2.1amps.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[simsim]

As I understand it, when charging through your USB cable from a PC/laptop, it trickle charges only - and if you are using the PB at the same time you may be consuming more power than it is charging. If asleep you will charge very slowly.

The power adaptor that cam with it charges very quickly however.

[FF22]

If your looking for a car charger, get one rated 1.8amp or higher.

Kensington has one called a powerbolt that charges at 2.1amps.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Got that Kensington unit at Fry's yesterday - does NOT work. I tried it two ways. At home, plugged it into an ac-car-charger wall unit to see if this would work in a motel using the car charger part. No sign of any charging and after half hour, the pb lost power. I then tried it in my Subaru - both the cig lighter socket and the one in the rear hatch area - neither of those powered the pb.

But while experimenting, I pulled out my Verizon charger from my BB 8830 days (now used with the 9650/bold) with a small micro adapter - that worked in the car and at home, now plugged into that wall adapter for cig lighter adapters.

So back to Fry's goes the powerbolt.

[FF22]

ikeny:

That is interesting. I wonder if they inadvertently tweaked out something from the charging sensors that affects these 3rd party and usb charging options.

[Stinsonddog]

usb cables that handle data cause the slower charging. if you get cables that are marked for charging only they should be much faster. that is why the standard cables are slower. this is a usb design.

[robsteve]

There is another thread here on it, but the answer is you need a charge only cable to force the playbook to charge quickly via a usb port or usb port charger. i suspect with the new firmware the playbook is checking if it is a charge cable otherwise not drawing more than half an amp.

For cars, it is probably easier to just use an inverter and the normal playbook charger.

Robert

[qsauditor]

I've been using the BB Charging Pod since day-1 and it's been great. Plug it in at night and the next morning I'm able to use it all day. BTW, it takes about 20 minutes for a full charge using the Pod.

[schiri]

My 9780 wall charger (a usb cable plugged into an AC plug adapter) appears to be charging my PB, albeit rather slowly.


Faster than the pc route anyway.

[FF22]

I can confirm that a "charging only" usb cable allows quick charging from a computer. My roommate ordered one from ebay, it was branded AT&T and was for BB phones. I was able to use that cable and charge the PB from an ipad charger.

You just reminded me that I stopped at an AT&T mobile store a few weeks ago and purchased one of those cables but placed it aside. I just plugged it into my computer and see the LightningBolt which has not happened with some of my micro usb cables. Also, I do NOT see the pb showing up as another drive - so the cable is obviously designed differently and does not work for data. Since my pb was pretty much fully charged, I will have to check it out much later in the day and see how charging actually progresses.

[roger33-33]

___


Make sure you use an original Blackberry cable to charge your Playbook. The wire guage they use is greater than used in the low cost universal type cables.

I tried charging the Playbook from a USB port. I found better results using a powered USB hub. I found the 7 port hub works better for this than the 4 port. This is because the power supply for the 7 port is a little stronger. Make sure there are no other devices connected to the same hub that require USB power. I would suggest to install the latest version of the Blackberry desktop manager.

The computer will require the Playbook drivers be installed so it will allow USB power to the Playbook. These come with the desktop manager installation.

On the Playbook, when charging from a USB hub port, turn off the Bluetooth, WiFi, tethering, and bridge mode. Make sure no applications are running on the desktop. Press the standby (red) button to put the Playbook in to standby.

Under ideal conditions it will charge at a rate of about 5% to 7% per hour. From 0% in theory it could take from about 14 to 16 hours for a full charge depending on what the USB port can feed out.

If your drained the Playbook battery more than about 20% or less the USB port in practice may have problems to put back a full charge.

I tried charging the Playbook with the regular Blackberry phone charger. It will not charge the phone. The charger becomes very warm and does not accomplish anything worth while. I found out this can actually burn out the phone charger.

The phone charger is rated at 700 ma. The Playbook charger is rated much higher. Going from memory I believe it is in the range of about 1500 ma or so.

I ordered a spare Playbook pocket charger from the Blackberry site. I also bought to fast chargers to leave in two different locations.


Jerry G.

A very comprehensive summary of charging do's and don'ts. One additional thing I have noticed with USB charging now is that the battery symbol may not SHOW it charging but if you tap on the battery symbol to see the % charged you will see the charging symbol through the battery. My USB port charges at about 10% per hour...versus about 35% per hour for the rapid charger.

[FF22]

You just reminded me that I stopped at an AT&T mobile store a few weeks ago and purchased one of those cables but placed it aside. I just plugged it into my computer and see the LightningBolt which has not happened with some of my micro usb cables. Also, I do NOT see the pb showing up as another drive - so the cable is obviously designed differently and does not work for data. Since my pb was pretty much fully charged, I will have to check it out much later in the day and see how charging actually progresses.

I figured I would reply to myself which will move the thread up.

I plugged the pb into my computer's usb using the AT&T CHARGING cable - no data on this cable. After about an hour and 15 minutes, the charge has gone for 46% to 76%. Whereas using a "normal" data-usb cable the charge is barely discernable.

So there are different cables for charging solely versus cables for data and charging things like my BB phone.

[r6punk]

Yes, but much more slowly than when it is plugged in to the supplied charger.

Also, it must be turned on to charge.

this is very dumb. why do u have to leave the unit on in order to charge? what if i was totally out of juice and can't power the unit on, will it still charge? bb has to come up with a fix for this.

[Jerryg50]

A very comprehensive summary of charging do's and don'ts. One additional thing I have noticed with USB charging now is that the battery symbol may not SHOW it charging but if you tap on the battery symbol to see the % charged you will see the charging symbol through the battery. My USB port charges at about 10% per hour...versus about 35% per hour for the rapid charger.

This is absolutely right! I tested that out and came to the same conclusion.

When charging from the USB cable, make sure all the options such as WiFi, bridge, and tethering are turned off. This is also applies to making sure no user programs are active.


Jerry G.

[gilbeyallen]

Having read this post (and not been able to find a userful travel solution myself) how can RIM be surprised at the lack of interst in the PB. Coming from an underdog position they go on to make the thing as difficult as possible to integrate into business use. You would think they would make this thing as easy as possible to adopt.

I sinply don't want to have to carry around special chargers for a Playbook. You need to be able to pick up any charegr capable of putting out enough juice. Why did they bother with a standard MicroUSB when it is anythying but standard.

I am a huge supporter of BB but they seem to be doing their best to fail in the tablet space.

[peter9477]

This thread is so ancient, I think most of what was written is obsolete and doesn't apply to the latest versions of the OS. That's an occupational hazard when raising the dead like that! ...

[jpash549]

There are at least two versions of the micro USB. The BB magnetic travel charger is used by many people with great success. No reason why you expect GM parts to work in a Ford product.

[Chaddface]

I bought a $6 micro USB charger at a gas station that works fine for PB and Phone.