[dtuivs]

So, i've been stack charging this Playbook for a week now, and I'm not entirely sure where the voltage lies.

The 3 dots at the lower corner read .83.
the Triangle and the circle in the upper center read 1.52.
And a couple other dots read 1.13?

i dont know exactly what to take from this should i add the voltages together?

and at what point should i try turning it on? (I haven't tried as of yet, to prevent it from taking up charge trying to power up and having to start all over again. )

[Acidwire]

just sell it and buy another tablet brand, playbook is literally dead to any update besides minor maintenance anyway now that Thors decided not to support BB10. Even IOS and Android are going to get BBM before the playbook ever does


sorry to be pessimistic, i dont know how to help with the technical problem i hope someone comes along who can help you

[dtuivs]

Yeah, and I'm not rich. I can't go out and buy a new one every time something has a fixable issue. This BB10 issue is a first world problem. Us on the lower levels are happy that we can flaunt a Tablet at all. I didnt even buy this, is was a gift, but im happy with it, regardless of its current condition.

Please don't respond unless you have Helpful information.

[Q100]

So, i've been stack charging this Playbook for a week now, and I'm not entirely sure where the voltage lies.

The 3 dots at the lower corner read .83.
the Triangle and the circle in the upper center read 1.52.
And a couple other dots read 1.13?

i dont know exactly what to take from this should i add the voltages together?

and at what point should i try turning it on? (I haven't tried as of yet, to prevent it from taking up charge trying to power up and having to start all over again.

Can you take a picture of your device an post it?...Are you running bb world apps or have side loaded stuff? If you sideloaded stuff I'd do a security wipe.

[dtuivs]

The device will not power on.

Running Something previous to os1.5
no, sideloads. and i don't know about apps.

[JeepBB]

Contact Bb support and do what they say... If they can't resolve it, they'll start the returns process which works well.
Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

[Q100]

Here is a pic of mine.

[Q100]

The other thing I'd try is hooking it up to a PC and installing the desktop software it's should charge through the PC as well through usb.

[dtuivs]

Thanks, i cant afford the $49.99. so I'm trying the twitter support.

[dtuivs]

The Desktop software won't recognize that the playbook is connected (tried on all ports) but nothing. It even tried connecting to my Curve through the Bluetooth.

Would charging through USB and Rapid Charger at the same time help any?

[Gearheadaddy]

Read up on disassembly. Charge battery manually bypassing internal charger that takes battery voltage to work. Saw this work on you tube...

Posted via CB10

[dtuivs]

what video was it?
can you post a link?


ive already seen the David Sunshine many many times. but i dont want to harm the battery.

[Gearheadaddy]

Are you stack charging it correctly? First, do not turn it back on. Second, when stack charging, it will only take 60 seconds of charge at one time by design. This is so the batteries (2) will not get hot and catch fire. Plug in the charger for one minute. Pull plug for 1-2 seconds and re- connect. Do this a bunch of times until the charge light starts working and then leave it alone for at least an hour....

Posted via CB10

[Gearheadaddy]

Playbooks will NOT charge from a computer usb connection. Nor will they charge from a cell phone charger. They need at least 1.7 amps to charge.

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[dtuivs]

I'm going to assume the instructions are the same through every OS. But when do i know when its charging?

[ARWestenberger]

Playbooks will NOT charge from a computer usb connection. Nor will they charge from a cell phone charger. They need at least 1.7 amps to charge.

Posted via CB10

My PlayBook charger broke on me over a year ago, and I have been using the one that came with my 9930 ever since. As of yesterday the thing won't charge at all... I think I am going to take this as a sign from the God's that I should get a Surface. At least I have an excuse now.

BlackBerry Z10 | Verizon | 10.2.0.93

[FF22]

So, i've been stack charging this Playbook for a week now, and I'm not entirely sure where the voltage lies.

The 3 dots at the lower corner read .83.
the Triangle and the circle in the upper center read 1.52.
And a couple other dots read 1.13?

i dont know exactly what to take from this should i add the voltages together?

and at what point should i try turning it on? (I haven't tried as of yet, to prevent it from taking up charge trying to power up and having to start all over again. )

What are you reading to get those values? The charger? Or somewhere on the pb?

Do you have the original charger?

For stack charging, you may have to do it repeatedly - like 30 - 40 times.

How old is your pb?

Don't keep trying if you get the Red light/5 Yellows... you'll soon drag the battery down past where you can start it again. Leave it off, plug it in and let it charge (with at least a 1.8A charger). Once you get the flashing (once every few seconds) green light, you can power it up - on the charger. If you do drag it down below the red flash/5 yellows, plug it in for 1 minute, unplug (at the wall) for a second or so, plug it back in and repeat for 20-30 minutes. You'll eventually get the red/yellows and then leave it plugged in (and off) until you get the flashing green. It's a PITA but the PlayBook has a very conservative charging algorithm when the battery is below 2.67 Volts to prevent explosions (I'm guessing). I've never been unable to start one with that method.

Mapsonburt:


The PlayBook OS currently shuts down at 3.5 volts. When the battery gets below 2.67V it won't show power lights or even try to start because there isn't enough juice to even power the processor to run the code on the BIOS. The BIOS is software hard coded on a chip within the PlayBook that tells it how to load the PlayBook OS and is coded such that it only recognizes signed PlayBook boot images (which is why it is so hard to root and that nobody has been able to get one to boot Android or WebOS. The BIOS software also contains some charging algorithms for when the OS is not running - ie device is powered off but plugged into a charging source. This code ONLY runs when the battery is above 2.67 volts because the processor can't run below that.

The root of the problem is that this design issue prevents the device from accepting any charge longer than 60 seconds when the battery is too low to run the charging algorithms on the BIOS or on the OS (one runs before the device is powered on and one runs afterwards). RIM did this because Lithium Ion batteries have a nasty habit of catching fire if not charged properly so they wanted to ensure that the processor could be in control of the charging. Makes perfect sense and they probably thought they were avoiding situations like where early Li Ion batteries on laptops were catching on fire. The problem is they were a bit too aggressive in dealing with the problem at design stage. If the battery is below 2.67Volts their protective algorithms can't run but you also can't put enough charge into the battery to charge it! Hence all the reports of people having success with stack charging.

Unfortunately there are a lot of wrong ways to do this floating around out there and getting repeated everyone someone posts a new thread on the issue. It really should be made a sticky. What is the right way?

1) ONLY use a source that provides 1.7Amps or more of charge. The original charger provides this. The rapid chargers provide a lot more. Your phone charger only provides a fraction of this. Anything less is going to take forever to charge the battery above 2.67 volts and may not have enough juice to charge the battery AT ALL once the processor starts to run above 2.67Volts or even worse once the OS starts to run above 3.5Volts. Forget about using your computer to charge it when the OS isn't running as the computer looks for the hardware to identify itself and won't put out a full charge current unless the device indicates it can accept. Once the OS is running, you'd often CAN get enough power from the USB on the computer but that is because the OS has signaled it is OK for the computer to send it. When the OS/BIOS isn't running, the PlayBook won't take much/any charge from a computer. The rapid chargers are best as they quickly charge but more importantly do not use the (too) flimsy USB port. A lot of problems are caused by this port getting wobbly over time and the device not getting a charge at all. Everyone should have a rapid charger.

2) Until you get your device WELL above the 3.5Volts that let's the PlayBook boot, do NOT try to start it. Every attempt drags the battery down some more and that attempt sucks much more charge from the battery than you can put in in those 60 seconds before the hardware shuts down the charging. How can you tell where your battery is? Well if you are getting no lights on the playbook on your first charging attempt you are below 2.67volts. If lights go on and then it doesn't start the OS it is below 3.5Volts. If it loads the OS and then dies it is just above 3.5Volts. If the device loads the OS it is somewhere below 5.0Volts. Depending upon where you start (how low the battery is) various techniques work best. They are: REAL stack charging (plug in for 60 seconds, unplug, plug in for 60 seconds, repeat until the processor starts accepting charging (the big battery symbol on the screen). Again, DO NOT try to turn the device on until then. You are just working against yourself and it will take much longer. You should get the charging symbol within 20-45 minutes of repeated REAL stack charging. Forget you ever heard of plugging in for 2 mins and then off for 2 mins and similar as those 2 mins of off time are COMPLETELY worthless. I have put a multimeter on the PlayBook in this state and it NEVER takes more than a minute of charge when under 2.67volts but will accept another minute of charge after a short (1-2 second) disconnection. Just do it right.

3) Once you see that charging screen leave it plugged in to the charger (stop stack charging) for at least an hour before you try to start the PlayBook. If you don't you may end up in a situation where the attempt to start drags that battery back down below 2.67V and you have start stack charging again. Be patient, you are almost there!

4) Fully charge your Playbook after this to ensure your PlayBook gets back to 100%.

Unfortunately, there isn't a lot RIM can do about this now. It's a hardware design issue. I'd be interested in knowing if the fixed it with the 4G versions. I don't think I've ever seen that complaint with one of those but I've "fixed" both of mine a few times (the kids keep trying to power them on after letting them shut down on low battery despite me saying time RUN not walk and put it on a rapid charger when ever it hits the flashing red battery signal (9%). I've also helped many friends and people on the web and NOBODY who has followed the instructions has failed to get their PlayBook to charge.

I'm convinced this fault is the reason so many PlayBooks are returned to the stores and through RMA. RIM has been very good about this but it should never have happened. Happy Charging!


........................
The battery is likely below 2.65 volts. That happens if the PlayBook has sat for a while. Plug your charger into the playbook (make sure it's the stock charger and not a computer or other charger as you need to pump in lots of amps - more than 1.7amps - the more the better). The rapid charger is even better as it can go to 5 amps.

LEAVE the charger plugged into your PlayBook. Unplug it from the wall (to save the fragile micro-USB port) every minute for a few seconds and plug back in. You'll see lots of references on the web to plug in for 2 minutes and unplug for 2 minutes. Ignore those. I took the PlayBook apart and put a multimeter on mine when it was doing this. If the battery is below 2.65 volts, the PlayBook charging circuit charges for about 1 minute and then shuts down. NO AMOUNT of continued charging makes any difference. As soon as you unplug it (at the wall) and power it back up, it will take charge again for another 45-60 seconds. Repeat.

Keep doing that for as long as it takes to get the screen to show the charging display. If it is just below 2.65volts, it will take somewhere between 20-45 minutes as the battery only takes a little bit of charge each cycle and you need to get that voltage up over 2.65 volts (at which point it will show the charging display and take a full charge). It may take more... but keep at it. Every time you plug it in for 60 seconds, you are adding a bit more power to the battery.

DO NOT try to power the device on until the device has a full charge. You will just risk getting it into a situation where it can't fully boot before it drags the charge down below 2.65 volts again and you'll have to start all over.

This works... and saves you from having to jump start it like I did the first time I got mine into this situation.

----------------------

KB27705-BlackBerry PlayBook battery power charge, discharge characteristics, and guidance on extending battery life

..............................

[Dave Bourque]

Do you have the magnetic rapid charger? If you don't you should purchase it and give it a try. This magnetic charger provides power directly to the battery.

Sent from my BB10 smartphone.

[Q100]

How old is the device if your still under warranty call. Or try todo a restart on the Playbook...
press and hold ALL three top buttons (Power + Up volume + Down volume) simultaneously, for about ten seconds.

[DOCTOREVIL8]

Do you have the magnetic rapid charger? If you don't you should purchase it and give it a try. This magnetic charger provides power directly to the battery.

Sent from my BB10 smartphone.

^^^^ this!!!!

Posted via CB10

[jpash549]

Do you have the magnetic rapid charger? If you don't you should purchase it and give it a try. This magnetic charger provides power directly to the battery.

Sent from my BB10 smartphone.

Do you have a reference for this? Don't believe that the magnetic charger bypasses the charge control circuit.

A thread giving data for the 12 volt charging port is:


http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...nments-749469/


This thread includes posts by Delmeister and Peter9477 on the rapid charger.

Another reference which includes info on Playbook charging as well as a lot of other information is to the toolkit.

http://www.troubleshootingtoolkit.co...?lang=1&id=223

[Dave Bourque]

I don't have a reference, only my past experience that the pb would not charge until I got the magnetic rapid charger.

Sent from my BB10 smartphone.

[jpash549]

I don't have a reference, only my past experience that the pb would not charge until I got the magnetic rapid charger.

Sent from my BB10 smartphone.

Could have been because of a bad USB port? The charging path from the magnetic port is certainly different but don't believe you connect directly to the battery certainly not with 12 volts. Thus if you had to stack charge with the wall charger you would expect to stack charge with the magnetic port charger. Connecting voltage directly to the battery terminals is dangerous and could damage the device unless you are an expert and should not be done on the basis of seeing a You Tube video.

Agree that the magnetic port chargers particularly the Rapid Travel Charger are great accessories for the PB. I use my RTC exclusively when charging my PB.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using CB Forums mobile app

[rjkolo]

Do you have the magnetic rapid charger? If you don't you should purchase it and give it a try. This magnetic charger provides power directly to the battery.

Sent from my BB10 smartphone.

My wife let her PlayBook sit for about 2 months and it wouldn't boot even after trying the stack charging. I forgot I had bought a rapid charging stand when it first came out. I dusted it off, charged up her PlayBook and it was working again in 20 minutes.

On a side note, we both got our PlayBook day they were released. I use mine every day, and have no complaints and will continue to use it until it dies. I still get about 2-3 days of battery on lite use, no OS10 is a huge let down but what do we really want out of an device that is 3 years old. HP Envy X2 will be a soon purchase for to replace it if it dies.

Posted via CB10

[Dave Bourque]

Could have been because of a bad USB port? The charging path from the magnetic port is certainly different but don't believe you connect directly to the battery certainly not with 12 volts. Thus if you had to stack charge with the wall charger you would expect to stack charge with the magnetic port charger. Connecting voltage directly to the battery terminals is dangerous and could damage the device unless you are an expert and should not be done on the basis of seeing a You Tube video.

Agree that the magnetic port chargers particularly the Rapid Travel Charger are great accessories for the PB. I use my RTC exclusively when charging my PB.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using CB Forums mobile app

The usb port was working so no.

Sent from my BB10 smartphone.