Computer Related > Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating	Computing Issues
Thread Author: VxFan	Replies: 27

New Wed 30 Nov 11 00:08   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - VxFan

Does anyone know the default rating for the mains charger? Just bought a 2nd hand E585 from Ebay which didn't originally come with the mains charger, but the seller has thrown one in as part of the deal. Trouble is it's not a genuine Huawei charger. It's rated at 5 volt, 1000 mA, but I want to know what the genuine charger is rated at before I zap the E585 by putting it on to charge. The CE marking looks suspicious too. 100% sure it's not the correct CE label. Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 30 Nov 11 at 00:09 Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 30 Nov 11 03:17   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - Iffy

Can't help with rating, but didn't we have a thread about dodgy CE markings? Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 30 Nov 11 10:12   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - VxFan

Yes. That's why I know it's not a pukka CE mark. www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=5146&m=113327 Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 30 Nov 11 10:45   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - spamcan61

I'll try and have a better look around the 'net later,but it appears from this 3rd party charger that it uses a mini or micro USB to connect to the mifi, in which case it is almost certainly 5V at less than 1A:- tinyurl.com/cxy5ba9 Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 30 Nov 11 14:13   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - VxFan

Having found a similar looking charger on Amazon, I don't think I'll be using it, going on some of the comments:- tinyurl.com/cozks37 tinyurl.com/csv2rzq Lots of comments about burning smells, charger exploding, poor build quality, etc. I'm not for one minute saying it's the same charger, but it looks very similar. I would still like to know what the rating of the Huawei supplied one is though. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 30 Nov 11 14:18   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - spamcan61

This says 5V 650mA which sounds plausible:- www.3gmodem.com.hk/Huawei/E585.html Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 30 Nov 11 18:54   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - VxFan

Thanks for that spamcan. I've been looking around myself, but with no success other than the rating of the battery. Chargers for this device on ebay say they're 1000 mA as well, which doesn't match the info you found. Here's a photo of the ratings label, and one of the charger img21.imageshack.us/img21/6546/imagerepc.jpg img831.imageshack.us/img831/5862/imageiqm.jpg Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 30 Nov 11 19:38   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - spamcan61

It looks like the E585 requires 650mA minimum power supply @ 5V, so a charger capable of supplying 1000mA should be fine. That CE mark does look well dodgy, doesn't mean it's going to burst into flames first time you look at it funny, but not a good sign. 5V 1000mA does seem to be the de facto standard for these USB charger plugs, they all rely on the actual device you're plugging in to sort out its own charge cycle. No different to plugging into the USB port on a PC really - although you'll be doing well to get 1000mA out of a PC USB port Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 30 Nov 11 19:44   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - RattleandSmoke

I think this warrants reporting to trading standards, they only know about the fake transformers is people report them. Is a major time bomb and the government it seems cannot give a stuff about the million or so fake transformers being sold on the net. At least you know it is fake, but how many people don't? Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 30 Nov 11 19:51   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - Zero

Stop mithering Dave, Its a USB charged device, it wont draw enough current to warm a tadpole. Its fine. You aint gonna blow it up, that charger is man enough for the job. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 30 Nov 11 20:03   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - RattleandSmoke

I would be more concerned about safety, I bet if you open it up it doesn't even have any protective circuits or even a basic fuse. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 30 Nov 11 20:28   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - Zero

Your spreading doom and gloom and despondency again., Its a low powered wall wart, nothing is going to explode, and I bet you a month of your takings it has got a fuse. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 30 Nov 11 21:06   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - RattleandSmoke

If the safety markings are fake, who is to say the fuse isn't fake? The amount of fake BS1363 plugs I have seen is shocking in very sense of the word. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 30 Nov 11 22:24   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - rtj70

Bin the charger then and use one you already have. Or plug the MiFi in the PC to charge. Panic over? It charges via mini USB connection. So the higher amp rating the quicker it will charge. At least that version of the MiFi device will charge and be useable at the same time. The original (I have one but not used now.... still have Vodafone credit on the SIM in it) would not charge if it was on! And alternative... top it up in the car when driving. That way you can keep an eye on it charging. Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 1 Dec 11 00:45   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - VxFan

Yes, I can still charge it from the PC via the USB lead. The mains adapter is basically a USB charger. It charges quicker from a mains charger than from the PC though. Rattle suggested about opening it up. Er, I didn't need to - read on. If I were to use this charger at work, then it will require PAT testing. I am an approved tester and I would fail it on several things. 1. The incorrect CE marking. 2. The neutral pin is slightly bent when compared with the other pins, and there is also a ridge where the metal connector meets the plastic insulator. 3. Worst of all though, I did the pull test. Basically you grab both halves of the charger and pull each half in different directions using approx the same amount of force that you would if you were removing it from a 13 amp wall socket. Guess what, the charger fell in half exposing the innards. The 2 securing screws (under the ratings label) were only screwed into the retaining holes by 1mm. Here's what I found inside:- img196.imageshack.us/img196/6541/imageawu.jpg img839.imageshack.us/img839/7219/imageotu.jpg img705.imageshack.us/img705/1852/imageplf.jpg Chances are the transformer doesn't have a thermal fuse in the windings. I observed several dry joints. If you look at the last picture, you can see the sloppy soldering where whoever assembled it partially melted the case. I'm not even going to bother to try it. Best place for it is landfill. I shan't give the guy on ebay negative feedback as the mains charger wasn't originally part of the deal. I asked if it came with a mains charger (as the pictures didn't show one). He said no, but would throw one in for free. I will email him and make him aware of how dangerous the charger is though. Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 1 Dec 11 at 00:49 Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 1 Dec 11 00:54   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - rtj70

>> It charges quicker from a mains charger than from the PC though. So you need 1A or thereabouts instead of 500mA for that then. Like the charger you got. Get a safer alternative. I don't see why you posted to be honest. You already know it's a cheap charger. Or use one (or two) USB ports. Surprised someone with a smartphone needs such a device. I have the original 3 MiFi and used it a bit when we were moving house etc. I use the Android phone with data plan now as required. The phone itself or using WiFi tethering (USB tethering available too). Last edited by: rtj70 on Thu 1 Dec 11 at 00:57 Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 1 Dec 11 02:07   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - RattleandSmoke

Not surprised one bit. I knew from experience as soon as you mentioned the fake CE markings everything inside would be. It would be hand made in an illegal backstreet Chinese factory in some slumville hence the poor soldering. Have a look on laptop chargers on ebay, and you will see how wide spread the problem is, with all the fake leads with insulation sleeving on the earthing and LN pins being slightly too short. Seen several fake cables too, claiming to be 1mm when in in reality there is less copper in the cables than CAT5 strands! I will post a picture of one I have tomorrow, and yes it did burst into flames. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 23 Dec 11 10:34   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - VxFan

Ended up buying a genuine one for just under £9. img208.imageshack.us/img208/6218/imagebwh.jpg Yes, I could recharge it from the PC, but it takes too long. The handbook says that to charge a battery from flat via a USB cable from a PC is up to 2½ hours when not in use, and up to 8 hours when in use. When using a mains charger it takes a max of 2 hours when not in use, and up to 4 hours when in use. In the real world however it's taking well over 6 hours via the PC (MiFi switched off and not in use) to recharge. And that's not from flat. With the mains charger it's taking less than 2 hours to fully recharge from flat. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 23 Dec 11 13:14   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - spamcan61

Charging by USB from PC might well only charge at 150mA, so not surprising it takes a while. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 26 Dec 11 00:43   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - VxFan

Actually I think it's the USB micro lead that's causing the long charging. Using a Blackberry charger (650 mah rating with a fixed micro USB connector) it only takes a couple of hours to fully charge. Using the USB lead that was supplied with the Huawei charger also only takes a couple of hours to fully charge. But using the USB lead that was supplied with the MiFi device, and plugged into the Huawei charger, it's been on charge since 7pm and still not fully charged. Next time it requires charging, I'll try the USB lead that came with the Huawei charger and see how quickly it charges using the PC. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 26 Dec 11 00:51   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - rtj70

I am guessing but the lead that came with the Huawei is not a data lead. Is it? I ask because I bought a cheap USB micro lead and it charges my phone a lot faster than a standard micro USB lead. The cheap lead has no data connections and therefore the phone assumes it is connected to the power and charges quicker. I think some devices charge at a slower (lower mA) rate if it's a data connection. Happy for anyone like Zero to correct me. But my phone can charge quicker that's for sure. My old (original) 3 MiFi which is also a Huawei device was designed not to charge whilst on! Doh. Only ever used it a bit and it still has data on the Vodafone PAYG SIM (made the device SIM free quite easily). Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 26 Dec 11 01:21   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - VxFan

>> I am guessing but the lead that came with the Huawei is not a data lead. Is it? No idea. How can you easily tell the difference? Is it that only some of the pins are wired? I only bought the MiFi device as I can't get a 3G signal at work on my iPhone and the WiFi in the building has recently been interrogated to see what people were using it for and subsequently nanny filters have been put in place. Besides Big Brother now watching what we're doing, more and more people were using the WiFi signal anyway and making it too slow at times to use anyway. Only 2 months of my phone contract left, so might consider changing from Tesco (ok, 02) to either Orange or 3 - both of which offer an excellent 3G signal where I work. There isn't even a Vodafone 3G signal where I work either. I know that the 3 network and Orange share transmitters. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 26 Dec 11 01:34   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - rtj70

>> No idea. How can you easily tell the difference? When I plug in my phone (Samsung Galaxy S) it does not recognise being plugged into a computer (so a USB connection is possible).... it just charges. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 26 Dec 11 09:48   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - Zero

For a standard, USB isnt a lot of the the time. The port on the computer should measure the amount of current and shut down if its too high. Lot of them don't. Subsequently a lot of devices now, as RTJ suggests, limit the current rate depending on whether they detect they are plugged in or not. As he says, if you are using a data cable, it will limit the charging rate. A data cable has all four pins wired, a charging cable dont. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 26 Dec 11 11:32   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - rtj70

And some devices won't charge unless plugged into a computer if you use a standard USB data cable. I'm thinking of my old Sony eReader (PRS-300). If you plug it into a computer it will charge... but then it won't let you read a book whilst it charges. Plug a normal data cable into a USB wall charger... and it won't charge via USB because it is not plugged into something with a data connection. This is all to make you buy the Sony charger I guess. That lets you read and charge. And you can buy a USB cable that has the right connection to plug into that socket to charge and read via USB etc. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 26 Dec 11 12:12   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - VxFan

>> A data cable has all four pins wired, a charging cable dont. Looking under a magnifier, I can see 5 pins in the end of the micro connector though. Could the 2 outer ones be linked together and the other 3 remaining pins make 4 connections in total? Looks like I'll have to get the multimeter out and ring it through to check continuity. Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 26 Dec 11 at 12:13 Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 26 Dec 11 12:25   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - spamcan61

More than you could ever wan to know about USB charging here:- tinyurl.com/7fytory Multimeter might not give expected results, as some leads have chips embedded in them - although less likely with a USB than manufacturer specific ones. Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 5 Jan 12 21:13   Huawei E585 MIFI mains charger rating - VxFan

>> Actually I think it's the USB micro lead that's causing the long charging. Is it. It takes approx 7 hours to fully charge via the computer and USB micro lead that supplied with the MIFI device. No idea if the lead is the original manufacture supplied one as the MIFI device was bought 2nd hand. Using the micro USB lead that was supplied with the mains charger that I bought separately it took approx 3½ hours to fully charge with the MIFI device via the same computer. Guess which micro lead I'll be using in future to charge it. Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 5 Jan 12 at 21:14 Reply to this message | Report message