MiFi and Charging
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Manual doesn't really cover this, actually it really doesn't cover much of anything.
I would have assumed, that you could turn off the MiFi so that when charging it, it is all going towards charging. I had it connected to my Toshiba Netbook with the netbook off, but it plugged into the USB port. The Toshiba will do charging on USB ports when it is off.
The MiFi had the Green On button on, but there doesn't seem to be a way to turn it off, so it charges.
3 hours after I left it like that, I checked it and basically the battery was dead... so it is not charging.
Now I have it connected to the AC charger, but even then it still has the service light on. I want it offline so that I get fully charged before I leave in the morning.
How do you do that?
Manual examples... Pg 5 shows the device and the three items (power, USB, Service Status)... but then there is nothing that goes into any detail about any of those. PG 11 says plug in the AC adapter and charge it at least 2.5 hours to ensure a full charge. How do I know there is a full charge??
Then there are 30+ pages that have nothing to do with the device at all. How got get assistance... Wouldn't need assistance if they provided some real documentation.
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hmmm... okay.
I just purchased an external battery system to deal with this. 4hrs assuming you get that much time is not enough as the netbook lasts up to 9 hours. If I am out in the field, I don't want to have to plug into an outlet for power because many time there is no power available.
The external battery system I've been told it will run the MiFi for at least 12 hours and can be used to provide power for just about anything like that (Cell phones for example).
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It is called a Tekkeon TekCharge Rechargeable Li-Poly Battery.
I should have it tomorrow and will be playing with it over the weekend.
I saw it on EVDO Forum but didn't get from there.
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Started the test this afternoon at Noon.
Setup my Toshiba Netbook (nb205) which is plugged into the wall and configured to not turn off.
It is connected to the MiFi via WiFi and is on one of my weather pages which I reconfigured to refresh every 2 minutes. Each page causes about 22 HTML requests and generates about 90k worth of data.
The MiFi is plugged into the the extended battery on it which I charged to full last night.
I will let this run until the MiFi runs out of power.
This would pretty much simulate my type of usage during the day while in the field. I'm on a long time, but not really doing a lot of connectivity. Normally, when I'm in the field, I don't plug the Netbook in at all, so being on for a long period or stretch of time would be unusual, but having the MiFi accessible regardless would be necessary.
I plan on trying another test tomorrow where I would use the most network usage I typically do, which would be using SlingMedia to watch a TV broadcast. I don't do it very often, and never do it for a long time, but it will be a good test of a heavily used connection.
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At that point, the extended battery was still not showin signs of quitting and the MiFi itself was 100% charged. So if the extended battery had quit right then, the MiFi would have kept going another 3-4 hours getting it close to 18 hours.
At 10 hours, I increased the number of web pages being accessed by 4 for a total of 5. This kept access via the MiFi constant.
At 12 hours, I added a Slingbox Media stream which played a TV channel until I turned it off.
I don't really see much point in doing any more testing as this is much longer than I would ever use the device at one time and the Netbook if I were in the field would have needed to be plugged into the all by then. If I could do that, they the entire setup would have kept on going indefinately.
The MiFi never dropped signal during the entire test.
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Not true. Mine doesn't turn itself back on if I use the supplied charger, and turn if off after plugging it in. I may have to do it twice or hold the button down for half a second before letting go, but not more than that. I'm assuming this old thread is about the Verizon MiFi 2200 (there are so many now...)
It's only if I use something else to try and charge it that I find it will always turn itself back on - such as any of the half dozen USB car or wall chargers I have tried.
On the other hand I had a Virgin MiFi 2200, and it would turn itself on no matter what, so it's probably software or version dependent.
I'm looking for a charger for my car that, unlike the ones I've tried so far, will work well.
- allow me to shut it off while it's being charged
- put out enough power that it can charge the MiFi while in use...
- be available for < $5 or so
Extra batteries are cheap now ($4 at amazon), so I may just go that route - buy 3 or 4...
And yeah, I know tis is an old thread...
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haha he didnt really submit info to find this extend battery so after a search i found info
External Battery Pack for MiFi 2200
Provides up to 10 Extra Hours of Usage Time!
http://3gstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=273&products_id=1476
i just placed my order and will let u know how well it works cuz we are mega power users!!
we broadcast a live camera feed at 100k
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Did you get your charger and did it work?
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no.. itz not here yet
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update: its here..but needs 2 charge.. will posted a review after testing!
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update: it was borken!!! the status light never changed from red but it did charge my phone
i order another one from a different place.. and tracking says 9.24.09 so i will keep u posted
Thx
~Brian
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update: okay i dont know what the hell is going on but this new one is doing the same thing
i am going to order there **bleep** car charger and home charger, to see if thats the problem..
also tonite i am plugging it into the upstairs pc hub, instead of the laptops..
will update u again
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If you get yourself a small inverter you'll never have to buy a car charger for any of your electronics. For less than $30 you'll be set for life. Why keep buying different car chargers for all your stuff when you can just use the home chargers, plugged into the inverter.
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yeah i got one already..
and there something odd about this product..
thats why i am buying there **bleep**.. to see if i could make it work!
it would be alot easier if they just included a **bleep** home charger!
after researching i found the device does NOT support center negative polarity
so whatever that means, might be the problem here
i am waiting for a reply back from someone that might know..
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What do you mean? There IS a home charger with the MiFi.
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LOL didnt u read all the post before??
were talking about the weak battery for the mifi and a backup power bank to fix the problem
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I finally managed to figure out the proper cabling to get the Verizon Mifi 2200 to charge using a generic USB charger. To recap the problem... The mifi device will only charge when using the supplied micro usb charger, or when connected to a computer USB port using the supplied micro USB cable. When connected to a computer, the device reverts to it's connected data mode, which turns off the wifi ssid broadcast and requires the Verizon access manager application to be launched. Most third party chargers will not work... including most 12V lighter to USB adapters, and most backup battery solutions.
Here is what is going on... Per the USB specification, Pins 1 and 4 are 5V power and ground respectively. Pins 2 and 3 are data+ and data-. In most chargers, pins two and three are tied via a pullup resistor to the 5V line. If you measure the voltage on 2 and 3 you will see around 3V, equivalent to a logic high state. This has something to do with allowing the device being charged to identify whether it should be in a fast or slow charging mode. More importantly, it is what the Apple iPod expects to see . So, anyone wanting to build generic USB chargers will probably implement this way in order to tap into the single largest device market around. Unfortunately, the mifi does not like the logic high on pins 2 and 3. I haven't yet sorted out why, but when it sees logic high on pins two and three, it refuses to go into charging mode.
The solution is to use a cable where pins 1 and 4 (5V and GND) are carried straight through. Pins 2 and 3 need to be disconnected from the charging source and shorted together at the Mifi end. If this was a miniUSB instead of a microUSB, it would be what is called a "charge only" cable. I have not found any vendors yet for a charge only microUSB cable so I went ahead and performed surgery on a standard microUSB cable. I took a standard USB cable, cut it and then connected it to a microUSB connector from an old Motorola bluetooth headset charger. Interestingly, the microUSB connector from the Moto charger already has pins 2 and 3 shorted together internally so all I had to do was connect 5V and ground and heat shrink tube the whole thing. With this cable I can charge the mifi from any generic USB port, including those on 12V lighter adapters, and rechargeable backup batteries. In addition, I can also connect the Mifi to my laptop to charge while continuing to access the Mifi via wifi.
Only word of caution... You really need to connect the Mifi to your computer using the standard data cable on occasion, say once per month. The reason is that it is only in this mode that you will receive notifications of S/W updates and/or the need to update your PRL. (preferred roaming list).
