5G will not charge from wall adapter

My new 15 gig 5G will not charge from a 5 volt wall adapter.It charges fine on the USB port on my computers.
So I decided to take a USB extension and cut it an place a current meter in series with the 5 Volt on the USB line.What I found is that it will draw ~500ma with the data lines connected in the cable(in other words a normal cable). Now if I disconnect the data wires so that I am only connecting the 5 volts from the USB port it will draw ~100 ma for a second and then draw no current.It appears that some kind of handshaking is required. Is this normal?
As it is now I will not be able to ever charge it from a 5 volt supply.Do they do something to the data lines on wall adapters?

Windows XP

Posted on Feb 6, 2006 2:21 PM

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12 replies

Feb 6, 2006 2:34 PM in response to btabz

I have a usb power adapter.It is not made by apple but is 5 volts 1 amp. It supplies the 5 volts on the proper USB pins on the connector.The data connection(the two middle ones are not connected to anything). Are the data lines (for handshaking) required for charging? It will not also charge on a USB port on a computer unless the data lines are connected?

Apr 25, 2006 5:43 PM in response to radarshop

I believe the issue is that these "dumb" USB power adapters really just supply power and don't communicate with the 5G to tell it they are able to supply "USB high power" (500mA max) not just the 100mA default maximum. In other words the 5G is following the USB Specification: Low Bus Power devices take all their power from the bus, but no more than 100mA at a time. High-power, bus-powered devices can draw up to 500mA after they are configured by host system software, but must not draw more than 100mA until they are configured (USB Specification, Version 1.1, Section 7.2.1).

I have read that early 5G firmware did not have this issue leading me to believe Apple could someday provide a help full firmware update that allows the 5G to draw Full Power if it does not get an answer when it asks the AC adapter how much it can supply.

Meanwhile the only way I have found to begin the 5G charge cycle with any third party USB power Adapter (AC or Auto) is to force a full reset of the iPod WHILE CONNECTED.

Dell Latitude Windows XP Pro iPod 5G

Apr 25, 2006 6:21 PM in response to radarshop

I have a new 5G 30Gig Video iPod. I was disappointed to find out that my iMac G5 won’t charge the new iPod when it (iMac) is sleeping. I believe this is due to the USB 2.0 port. My old 3G iPod (firewire) charged when the iMac was awake or sleeping. However, I my 5G iPod does charge just fine on the 3G’s dock plugged into the wall (110 VAC) with it’s firewire power adapter. -jv

5G iPod iMac G5 G4 PowerBook G4 iBook 1Gig Shuffle Mac OS X (10.4.5)

May 25, 2006 9:20 PM in response to radarshop

Well I finally got my "dumb" USB charger (a Belkin F8Z009 Power pack) to work with my iPod 5G 30GB. To wake up the 5G needs to see 2.5 volts on it's data lines. The easiest way to do this is with a voltage divider made with two equal resistors. Like this:

User uploaded file

As a poof of concept I made the device below with four 30K resistors but anything from 10K to 50K should work fine.

User uploaded file

A more compact wake up cable could be made by cutting into a standard USB male-female extension cable and soldering in four resistors like this:

User uploaded file

Of course if your building your own or can get your "dumb" USB charger open then the resistor voltage dividers can go inside.

Dell Latitude Windows XP Pro iPod 5G

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5G will not charge from wall adapter

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