Charging issue

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Use the search function, lots of other people had this problem before. This tablet is a ticking time bomb. It can break every day, especially the battery. It’s likely that you can fix it, by opening it and look if the cable attached to the battery flipped out, because it’s not fixed properly by the manufacturer.

[Steve]

I looked it up, but only found threads reporting about charging problems, but no fixes.
But it seems to be a famous problem, so I contact Geabrest and see waht happens.

[brainvision]

I bought this tablet from AliExpress and the seller also sent me a charger and a cable. they both was really crap and I had issue after a few months.. the charge went from 300 to 1280 depending how I moved the cable; when I reached a good position I let it. After a few weeks more I noticed that Ampere started to output impossible charging voltage, reaching also 1960! But it was fake because the battery did not charge and the charger was cold!

So I contacted the seller and it send me new charger and cables: the charger is the same but a different cable and it seems to charge fine. But it seems to me that it always need 5 minutes to really start to charge: I put the screen ON time to 30 minutes and I see that it start to charge to 500, 600 with a max of 1280 and it goes down and up; then after minutes it stay fixed on maximum rate, that is 1280 and long as I was able to see..

Did you try to monitor for 10 minutes at least?

Also, about a previous topic where we can find a fix. It seems to me that I saw something like that in the past, but now I’m not able to find it. I’m not even able to search the forum here! Could you please link the thread, Hans? Thanks

[Chris Clayton]

My tablet has been OK (about 2 months) although the charging behavior has seemed a bit odd, which is why I have been concerned that none of the battery apps from the Store display any usage statistics in Windows (though they do in Android mode). I have not heard of the Ampere app, so I will look for it now. I was going to post a question but will wait until your post has answeres.

Someone else has reported the absence of a charger which is surely a packing oversight, possibly to do with the fact that different chargers are needed depending on the country?

[brainvision]

oh sorry I thought you used Ampere to check charging voltage.. In Windows I have to say that it was even worst.. I used a tool by the great developers of NirSoft http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/battery_information_view.html but when had issues with cable I noticed it always show 0 / 200 charge voltage so I try with Android. Don’t remember who but someone also reported charging issues after Windows 10 Anniversary Update.. I still have to try with this new charger in Windows.

Regarding the missing charger it’s very common among chinese manufactures: some third parties sellers supply it and add to the packages, some doesn’t..

[Chris Clayton]

How do you get Ampere to run in Windows? I downloaded it (not the Android version) and the file is an APK which I have come across in Android, not Windows and so far have not got it to run.

[brainvision]

no way, Ampere is for Android, naturally; you should always download apps from play store, not apk that could contains every kind of stuff crackers don’t tell!

As I wrote above here, for windows I used to use NirSoft software called Battery InfoView, you’ll also find the link. The sens of my post was that I find more issues charging in Windows than Android, in a nutshell..

[Chris Clayton]

I am mystified. I downloaded Ampere from the website which refers to both Android and Windows, eg.
<h1 class=”app-name”>”App Ampere APK for Windows Phone”</h1>
Can you explain this for me.

I have the NirSoft program. Unfortunately it does not give the information I want, which is the history of charging (in) and discharging (out). This is supposed to be given in some detail in some of the Windows Store apps but is not displayed in my Cube (and in other Cube’s I understand). It is also available in apps for the Android OS, just not for the Windows OS. So the best I seem to be able to do is to track charging / discharging while Android is running. Odd.
<p class=”os”></p>

[brainvision]

can’t explain, sorry, but I’m sure APK are ONLY for Android so no way you could use it on WP. The only thing I can imagine is some sort of scam cracked apk site, if you give me the link I can confirm it..

The only official places where to download Ampere are:

• https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gombosdev.ampere
• http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/app-ampere-charging-meter-t3012890

About NirSoft BatteryInfoView I did no understand what you meant.. I used it for months (also on my laptop) and I was clearly able to see charge/discharge voltages.. It can also write down a text log file..

After you install BateryInfoView you should have a command bar: the first icon is for battery general info, the second one monitor voltyages; from the Options you can customize the polling time to refresh records..

I’m attaching a screenshot from the NirSoft official web page; you don’t have that, can’t find or the program is not recording at all?

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[Chris Clayton]

This is where I got the Ampere app.

Regarding Battery Info View, I am trying some things out and will post a comment later.

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[Chris Clayton]

I now have Ampere installed on Android OS. I have not yet worked out why it has four pages displaying exactly the same information, just in a slightly different form. I must be misunderstanding something, though I have read all the guidance I can find.
I clearly had not examined NirSoft’s BatteryInfo properly and now see that it has a lot of the detail I want. The reason why I thought it did not give the history of charge / discharge is that on reset or close down all the info is deleted, so it restarts with a blank page (also often happens when just minimised)— but now I have learned to save the logs before closure. They show one of the things I was concerned about, which is does the charged level continue to increase (at a slower rate) while my Cube is in use? Yes, it does. I have not learned how to interpret the Rate column (no explaination on the website.)  But every few seconds the log reports ‘Charging’ or ‘Dicharging’ with a column showing  the % capacity changes. So even I can easily tell whether the battery is draining or not.

What I have not solved is this issue with my machine.  When the battery has fully charged and is then discharging, why does it not charge even though power is connected and switched on? When I first had the Cube the battery dropped to near zero and the PC crashed, even though AC was connected; and it would not restart until I had left it charging over night. Now I know what to do, at least as a temporary fix. It is to switch off briefly, say at 50%. Then I find charging will restart (as shown by the blue light). It is not really a problem, now I know. I think the blue light is a good feature, it helps to keep me aware of charge / discharge status without having to check an app or gadget for the info.
A couple of questions: why is no data provided for Watts and especially Amps (I vaguely remember this can a worked out)? Plus as BatteryInfo, and some other apps I have found in the Maxthon app Store, display battery data why are Windows itself via the powercfg command and all the apps in Windows Store unable to display battery usage information (appart from the present state on tiles / icons)?

I mentioned Maxthon. This is a less well known but generally well regarded browser which has its own quite large Windows apps Store, some familiar but others less so including Battery Optimiser and Battery Bar which do work OK on my Cube.

[Hans Sprungfeld]

“What I have not solved is this issue with my machine.  When the battery has fully charged and is then discharging, why does it not charge even though power is connected and switched on? ”

It’s sadly normal condition with this crappy tablet. It’s some kind of hardware failure mostly caused by poor or wrongly configured charging chip. You cant have this tablet on power while using it for example on your desk like a 2nd screen or information panel or even watching a movie, it mostly will destroy the battery over time, because it will discharge to about 95% then charge again to 98% then discharge, charge, discharge, charge and so on in infinite loot. Sadly nothing you can do about it.

“A couple of questions: why is no data provided for Watts and especially Amps”

Normal condition with this crappy tablet. Because the drivers for the battery have no access to it, it wont provide information like charging count, ampere, and so on. So the software wont work. Dont bother to install any battery app they all wont work with this tablet.

[brainvision]

sorry Chris I did not understand everything you said, and don’t even understand why you talked us about Maxthon browser, that we all know! 😀 😀 😀

BTW, first remember you are using lithium battery now, so search Google for voltages and how lithium batteries are related to voltages.

Also, I found the same issue you found when trying to have info about battery with Windows Store apps. I used two apps and they both shown me 0 (zero) battery available all the time! Unknown or unsupported driver, I guess.

Last but not least, about the battery hitting 100 and then discharging even if power attached: well it’s completely normal and NOT A CRAPPY HARDWARE! Imagine what would happen if battery is full but the charger goes on putting 1.240 mah to the tablet! Briefly, it would burn or at least destroy the battery in a few days!

Modern devices have an integrated chip that take care of this: if the battery is pretty empty is tries to charge as soon as possible (on normal condition); When battery is charged it stops charging so to not brake the battery; please note that the system will most of the times tells you that the charge is still 100% while actually it went to 98% (this is the most common reason why often the first 5% of the battery seems to go down quicker when you remove the charger – it was not really 100% charged); once the battery went to lower levels (still unknown to me, may change depending from OEM and hardware and charger) the chip unlock the charge and the battery starts to change again.

Believe me, this is NOT an issue, this is NOT crappy hardware, but it’s a safe measure and your battery will last much more thanks to that! 😉

EDIT last but not least, about Ampere: yes you are right, it has five (don’t remember exactly how much) different ways to show the same info.. it’s up to you to choose the one you prefer: when you scroll them a little star appear somewhere and you can press it to choose that mode as default/preferred.

The app you shown into your previous post is totally crap, IMO: there are no possible APK for Windows Mobile! But maybe it could be an app for developers to send APK somewhere for some reason I cannot imagine at the moment..

[Martin Gorbush]

brainvision wrote:

Last but not least, about the battery hitting 100 and then discharging even if power attached: well it’s completely normal and NOT A CRAPPY HARDWARE! Imagine what would happen if battery is full but the charger goes on putting 1.240 mah to the tablet! Briefly, it would burn or at least destroy the battery in a few days! Modern devices have an integrated chip that take care of this: if the battery is pretty empty is tries to charge as soon as possible (on normal condition); When battery is charged it stops charging so to not brake the battery; please note that the system will most of the times tells you that the charge is still 100% while actually it went to 98% (this is the most common reason why often the first 5% of the battery seems to go down quicker when you remove the charger – it was not really 100% charged); once the battery went to lower levels (still unknown to me, may change depending from OEM and hardware and charger) the chip unlock the charge and the battery starts to change again. Believe me, this is NOT an issue, this is NOT crappy hardware, but it’s a safe measure and your battery will last much more thanks to that!

I wouldn’t be so sure. Of course it might depend on battery what will happen to it when constantly is tople charged. In my Toshiba A8 notebook which was almost 100% time connected to charger battery almost died in no more than a year (just after 6 month of usage). That’s why in better notebooks there is application or system setting thanks to it you can select to charge battery to only 50%.

Side note. This problem is bigger under Android because there PMIC is set to charge battery till 4.35V (which this battery often couldn’t reach) and not 4.2V like in Windows.

[Chris Clayton]

Interesting and useful information. I had thought that the ‘not charging when plugged in’ behaviour might be an intended safety feature which is OK, it is just that it seems somewhat erratic. My previous Chinese tablet, QuantumView, had charging which seemed to be ‘set and forget’ in comparison, though it did not have a charging on light and usually reported up to %120 without out any obvious problem.

Regarding Maxthon, I have found users who have never heard of it, including businesses who ask what browser I am using responding much like “Max who?”. Maybe it is more the case here, ie.UK.  I have rarely seen it recommended, which surprised me because I regard it as a good browser, especially for downloading.

Battery apps which work. As Windows Store battery apps do not work as intended, except for giving the current state of charge, I thought it might be helpful to someone if I list the apps I have found so far which do work:

BatteryInfoView

BatteryBarPro

Battery Optimizer

Desktop gadgets: Battery Monitor, Battery Meter, Power Status

In fact I have found just about every app I have tried does work apart from those on Windows Store. Odd?

[Author]

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