Charge by Computer?

[Kryptomatic]

Can the NookColor charge by Computer via the USB port or only by the wall charger thats included?

[schatzieWI]

Unfortunately, the nookcolor only charges with its cord and plug.

[phoneboy]

NC will charge from usb port. It will also charge using a cell phone car charger. It just takes a lot longer. And you have to let it sleep. It consumes more than a standard usb cable provides when the screen is on. The cable that comes with NC has extra pins the put out more current.

[Kryptomatic]

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phoneboy wrote:
NC will charge from usb port. It will also charge using a cell phone car charger. It just takes a lot longer. And you have to let it sleep. It consumes more than a standard usb cable provides when the screen is on. The cable that comes with NC has extra pins the put out more current.

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"It just takes alot longer" with a phone car charger. Is this the same for by computer?

Guess im trying to figure out if I would need to buy an extra charger, so that I dont have to

haul around a charger to charge the nook. If a computer could do the same then I wouldnt maybe need to worry about the extra charger.

[schatzieWI]

How much longer does it take?

[Gottaluvit]

 My nook color has charged very rapid  when hooked to my computer .. within a min or two it has charged from 85% to 100% .. thats just one example  of it happening . I have asked CS why this happened and if it hurts the battery . CS either had no anwser or said that it could charge with the computer . I found this strange though . I also have had it happen with more then one NC ( I have had to go thur some replacements ) . I have not found that it hurt the battery .

[phoneboy]

Id guesstimate 2 - 3 times longer. I use a power inverter for my truck. Top it off while driving. Carrying the charger is no problem as my "man purse" has a seperate pouch. Holds my jump drive, ear buds and extra mSD CARDS.

[DrWho453]

I don't know how quickly it charges, but I do know that It will charge up while you are transfering files as well. It does not need to be put to sleep to charge. It just that you can't use your nook and charge from the USB port at the same time. I know if you tell windows to safely remove the device, it will stop charging the nc and I think if you tell windows to eject the device it stops charging but I haven't verified that part yet. I just know that as long as its connected to the computer and says USB is connected on the Nook, It will charge the battery. Now if you boot with a Froyo/Honeycomb SD card, you can connect the USB to the computer, charge the battery and still use the Nook. I found that out last night.

[donc13]

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schatzieWI wrote:
Unfortunately, the nookcolor only charges with its cord and plug.

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Not true.

The NC *will* charge from a standard usb port...but VERY slowly.    In fact, a standard usb port does not put out enought power to even run the NC....meaning, if you plug it into a usb port and continue to read on the NC, the battery will go down....just not as fast as it would if not plugged into a usb port.

but if your NC is off, a standard usb port will charge the battery but instead of 3 hours it's likely to take closer to 12 hours to charge.

[orb9220]

Charge mine from computer regularly.

from 35% took a good 8-9 hrs.

Last night from 50% was fully charged in 5-6 hrs.

.

[Kryptomatic]

So the NC does charge from computer but takes forever,  might be best for one to purchase a additional charger that way you dont have to haul a charger around as much.

Did this with my cell phone charger, one at home one at work, no need to haul back and forth when you want to charge. Less to carry or worry about forgetting to take it with you.

Plus instead of waiting 8 hrs could have it charged in about 3 hours with regular NC charger.

[schatzieWI]

Krytomatic, I would just buy another charger. 12 hours is not acceptable. Guys, is it better to let the battery drain down before charging or is "topping off" ok for the battery?

[Kryptomatic]

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schatzieWI wrote:
 is it better to let the battery drain down before charging or is "topping off" ok for the battery?

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schatzieWI,

Hey, thats a good question never thought of that... Anyone ???

[riffrafff]

"Top it off" whenever you feel like it.  These Li-ion batteries only last 2-3 years, regardless of how often you charge them.

[Judy54JR]

the company says no it can't charge with the pc; unlike the nook classic. What I did was buy the car charger and it comes with two cables (one for the color and one for the classic). You can use any usb adapter that plugs into the electric but you have to use the color cable so I have an extra cable now and I keep an extra usb adapter at work so that at the most I might have to bring in my cable but most of the time I just keep one at home or in the car and one at work.

[Judy54JR]

Ok; I've already replied once but after reading people who said it would charge with a pc I had to try it. I plugged in my nook color and then went to settings and under device it said it was not charging. The message that normally pops up when you put it on the charger (even on the car charger) did not pop up either. So if't sits charging it's so slow that it doesn't know it. When I used the color cable and the adapter for the classic (it's smaller than the color one) it said it was now charging. At least now I know that it is getting a good charge. This is just one more small feature that the classic had that should have been carried on with the color. Not a big issue; my cell won't charge by the pc either.

[orb9220]

Sorry to pop anybodies bubble.

But the Nook Color Does charge via computer. Only way I have been charging it since Jan.

1) It will take about 5-8 hrs from 50% charge. Have charged it full from  35% within 8-9 hrs.

2) It won't start charging until you let it go to sleep. And you won't see a charging icon.

3) Of course you have to leave computer On? As mine is always on and just the monitors turn off.

This has been stated by many others. That the Nook color does charge via the usb cable. Just not as fast as when plugged into the AC adapter.

[Kryptomatic]

Well,

I downloaded and read the 'Quick Start Guide' and right there at the bottom of the diagram of step1 it says..."NookColor will not charge when connected to a computer"

By the sounds of it they need to update their 'guide' or for some reason they just didnt want us charging by computer.???

[riffrafff]

Proably didn't need the frustration of explaining how normal USB ports only supply 500mA, and how the NC uses that much just to be "on."  4000mA (battery rating) divided by 500mA (consumption) equals the eight hours B&N claims for battery life.  It'll charge on a computer, slowly, if it's asleep. 

[Serolf_Divad]

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schatzieWI wrote:
Krytomatic, I would just buy another charger. 12 hours is not acceptable. Guys, is it better to let the battery drain down before charging or is "topping off" ok for the battery?

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My understanding is that it's better to "top off" Lithium Ion or NiMH batteries. It shortens their lifespan to allow them to drain fully. The old NiCad rechargables supposedly developed a "memory effect" if they were constantly allowed to discharge to a certain level before re-charging, but that is not the case with current battery technologies (and it's been debated whether it ever really was the case with NiCads to begin with).

Here's Wikipedia:

A complete discharge of a cell until it goes into polarity reversal can cause permanent damage to the cell. This situation can occur in the common arrangement of four AA cells in series in a digital camera, where one will be completely discharged before the others due to small differences in capacity among the cells. When this happens, the good cells will start to drive the discharged cell in reverse, which can cause permanent damage to that cell. Some cameras, GPS receivers and PDAs detect the safe end-of-discharge voltage of the series cells and auto-shutdown, but devices like flashlights and some toys do not. A single cell driving a load can't suffer from polarity reversal, because there are no other cells to reverse-charge it when it becomes discharged.

Irreversible damage from polarity reversal is a particular danger in systems, even when a low voltage threshold cutout is employed, where cells in the battery are of different temperatures. This is because the capacity of NiMH cells significantly declines as the cells are cooled. This results in a lower voltage under load of the colder cells.[13]