Modify USB Sync Only Cable to Charge Too!

[elephant007]

P930

You're welcome for the info, glad to share it. As for your question, I wouldn't know nor dare try. I guess I could put my voltmeter on the sync cable and plug in the wall charger and see what happens... as far as all that goes though, I'd just refrain from plugging in the wall charger and the sync cable into a USB port.

[pendelton]

Cool charger idea! I tried it out and had a question for ya'all. I took apart the USB cable plastic housing and looked at the connections to the treo and there are three contacts going into the treo's power connector: 5V, GND, and a second pin that's tied to GND by the power charger (let's call this pin#2 say). What's been described jumpers 5V from the USB wire over to the power connector but leaves pin2 floating. I wired the 5V over and plugged it into a USB port and wahla it works. However the pin2 looks like it has a pullup to 3.3V inside the treo. It isn't clear what pin2 is used for, but I went ahead and tied it to GND to mimmic the power charger's connections. Anybody know the impact of this pin2?

Gracias

[markiwerner]

I clicked on my mouse until I found the following.....

DirectSync Cableâ„¢ - Palm Treo 700wx

I don't know if this is adversizing a product ... but here it is anyway.

No soldering irons or non-bare whire.... just $15 and a few days waiting. I drink a beer to the genius with the soldering iron though!

[rayshiva]

ok so I did this mod, it was pretty easy- and viola!! the light is on and it seems to be charging... really slow. I searched around and found that the 5v usb power standard output is 100mA. I also found that high speed car chargers for the 700wx run at 850 - 1000 mA. Soooo... I guess this is why it seems to charge very slowly when using the hacked cable, low mA. I hope it doesn't cause any damage running this way, like reducing battery life over the long term.

I am a total n00b at electronics and the 700wx for that matter (had it for a week) so if I am wrong about details don't be surprised.

PS- I am really pissed that the 700wx is a GPS device yet I have to buy an external GPS to use GPS... that BLOWS. I know it can be used too... verizon uses the onboard GPS in their phones to track "chaparone" phones, so I know it can be done. DOn't even get me started about WiFi... my palm pilot 2 years ago had WiFi built in... now I have to buy an external wifi card... what a joke. yay capitolism and proffiteering.

forgive the rant it's 3:30am and I love my phone, and the hackability of windows mobile is awesome.

le tron
Ray

[MadSquabbles]

wonderful mod! took all of 5 minutes to do... taking the casing off took longer than the soldering.

thanks! you saved me 12 bucks!

[indnracn2]

i know this is one year later but i ahve a similar question. I have a direct connect sync cable. mine charges just fine. i can sync just fine as long as i initiate the sync via the phone sync button. i want to know if anyone has tried to add a sync button to the cable? meaning i cannot update my phone for any security updates or firmware with out the sync button? any ideas.