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Wireless Charging
  • GrimtechGrimtech
    69.00 KarmaPosts: 36Crew
    Right then, this might be a long post but I hope some of its useful.......

    My large original images can be found here with the password "Jollatides":

    http://smg.photobucket.com/user/grimtech/library/Jolla


    After reading the excellent post by "Rainisto" at Maemo.org http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=92059

    I wanted to get wireless charging working on my Jolla too!

    I purchased a wireless charger:
    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350951744680?var=620206347247&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#sthash.YRVbUkku.dpuf

    and wireless S4 receiver:
    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231108160457?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#sthash.YRVbUkku.dpuf


    First of all I tested the receivers output voltage when placed on the pad:
    photo 2013-12-23-1843small.jpg

    Which showed a nice 5.33 Volts

    Next job was finding the thinnest wires to connect the receiver to the Jolla power pins. I found the twisty ties used to tie up cables were the thinnest I had around, and the plastic cover helped guide the wires as well:

    "photo 2013-12-23-1842small.jpg

    Before beginning I tried just the receiver sat on top of the Jolla battery and when re-fitting the other half it made the back bulge due to the thickness, and also due to the receiver being so wide from left to right:

    "photo 2013-12-23-1848small.jpg

    I wanted my Other Half to have the least amount of bulge possible.
    Whilst thinking about this problem, I set about making the wires.

    First I bent the wire into tiny loops:
    "photo 2013-12-23-1844small.jpg

    Here is the cable loop showing the its size compared to the contacts on the receiver :

    photo 2013-12-23-1845small.jpg


    I then filled the loops with solder to make flat "pads":
    "photo 2013-12-23-1846small.jpg

    To keep the setup as thin as possible I removed the contacts from the receiver by de-soldering them:

    "photo 2013-12-23-1840small.jpg

    photo 2013-12-23-1847small.jpg

    After each step I put the receiver back on the pad to make sure it was still working and the voltage was still the same and nothing had gone wrong.

    Next I read more about the receivers, and realized that they could be cut down without damaging the coil etc, and I took a peak inside to see how much space was around the receiver circuit:

    photo 2013-12-23-1849small.jpg

    The cut down receiver allowed it to be rotated and permit the reciever circuit to sit in the space below the Micro SD card.

    photo 2013-12-23-1850small.jpg

    The pads I made to contact the phones power pins I sat on a tiny piece of double sided foam:

    photo 2013-12-23-1839small.jpg


    The finished thing looks like this:

    photo 2013-12-28-1865small.jpg

    I put the Other Half on to the charging pad and measured the voltage again and it was still 5.3V
    Now the time to fit the other half to the phone!
    I did this and found a ting bulge in the middle at the top, so I removed a tiny part of the "shelf" molded into the other half that sits under the micro SD card. I also noted that the Jolla power pins were making great contact as I could see marks they had made in my soldered pads.

    So time to put it back together again and try it out.

    :(

    When placing the re-assembled phone on to the charging pad, the blue LED that had previously come on as in the first image (and start the multi-meter showing the 5.3V) now started to flash and alternate green and blue. The charging pad comes with no instructions telling me what this means.
    The phone does not show as charging.

    As soon as I take the Other Half off the phone and put it on the pad, the blue light comes on and I can measure 5.3V !!!
    I have tried powering the pad with many wall adapters from 500mA upto 1600mA and the same thing happens.
    The receiver is rated as 600mA.
    Yes I believe I do have my pads the correct way round for the +ve and -ve power pins on the phone.

    My gut feeling is the cheap charging pad is the fault, and I am waiting to take my phone to a friend who has genuine Nokia charging pads to see if this helps...

    Any advice would be great!?!?

    Hopefully these images etc should help others make a charging Other Half.

    I just cant work out why mine wont work when installed on the phone and laid on to the pad.





    Post edited by Grimtech at 2013-12-29 00:38:55
  • GrimtechGrimtech
    69.00 KarmaPosts: 36Crew
    Reserved for updates
  • GrimtechGrimtech
    69.00 KarmaPosts: 36Crew
    Reserved for updates
  • KaaczKaacz
    25.00 KarmaPosts: 19Crew
    OK, I wil try this charger and both i9300 & i9500 receivers: http://www.ebay.com/itm/281227661397 :)
    Post edited by Kaacz at 2013-12-30 13:51:57
  • MohjiveMohjive
    2.00 KarmaPosts: 2Crew
    I managed to hack a galaxy s4 receiver, rated 1000mA, to enable wireless charging on my jolla with a Nokia charger.
    The charger flashed when I had short circuited the receiver. Make sure that this doesn't happen when you assemble the half with your jolla phone.
  • jamesonjameson
    1.00 KarmaPosts: 1Crew
    I am not hands-on familiar with the Jolla since I have not received mine yet. When you talk about the Jolla "power pins", are they the input power pins (the same that are on the USB charging input) or the pins that are intended to power the OH? In the first case it should work, and the only problem I can see (if you are sure the pins are not reversed) is that the Jolla draws too much current; in the second case, you won't be able to charge the phone that way: those pins are a power output, coming from a regulator; you are very likely to break something this way, since most probably the power provided by the Jolla to the OH is 3.3 V and you are feeding 5 V to this low-impedance port.
  • StrahlexStrahlex
    40.00 KarmaPosts: 31Crew
    Technically this is great but however I think wireless charging is in general a stupid idea as it is just a waste of energy.
  • JollaTidesJollaTides
    668.00 KarmaPosts: 526Captain
    Strahlex said:

    Technically this is great but however I think wireless charging is in general a stupid idea as it is just a waste of energy.


    Is there evidence to suggest it is an inefficient method for charging ?

    Sail On!
    /
  • MohjiveMohjive
    2.00 KarmaPosts: 2Crew
    @jameson: there are a 5V and a gnd pin to the left of the Sd-card slot (with screen facing down) for aux power, like an extra battery toh or wireless charging.
    The 3.3V pin and interupt pin is top right and then there's I2C data and clock below that.
  • StrahlexStrahlex
    40.00 KarmaPosts: 31Crew

    Strahlex said:

    Technically this is great but however I think wireless charging is in general a stupid idea as it is just a waste of energy.


    Is there evidence to suggest it is an inefficient method for charging ?

    Wireless charging is based on inductive coupling which would need a perfect alignment of the two coils for high efficiency. Another problem is coil heating meaning that energy is lost due to non ideal conductors. According to Wikipedia systems used for charging electric cars currently have efficiency of about 80-90%. Wireless chargers for phones and so on have an efficiency of about 60% or so (I have read somewhere some time ago). Inductive coupling is one of the oldest technologies in electrical engineering. I think this technology is nearly 100% tracked down and we will never reach 100% efficiency here even with superconductors.
  • JollaTidesJollaTides
    668.00 KarmaPosts: 526Captain
    @Strahlex

    Thanks for the explanation - it certainly takes the shine of induction charging in these energy 'aware' days. 60% efficiency is very poor.
    Sail On!
    /

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