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MP3 player - charging
- 02-11-2008
- Glenda and Bob Scott
February 11, 2008, 4:47 am

I have a Sony NWD B103F MP3 player that is designed to charge its battery
through a USB computer connection.
I don't always have a computer with me when I want to use the MP3 player, so
I have tried to charge the battery by simply connecting a regulated 5 volts
to the correct USB power pins (Pins 1 and 4, with no connections to pins 2
and 3). However, this does not work with the B103F. It seems that it is
necessary to more closely simulate a USB port, presumably with voltages (or
no voltages) on the USB data pins (Pins 2 and 3).
Does anyone know how this can be done, please?
through a USB computer connection.
I don't always have a computer with me when I want to use the MP3 player, so
I have tried to charge the battery by simply connecting a regulated 5 volts
to the correct USB power pins (Pins 1 and 4, with no connections to pins 2
and 3). However, this does not work with the B103F. It seems that it is
necessary to more closely simulate a USB port, presumably with voltages (or
no voltages) on the USB data pins (Pins 2 and 3).
Does anyone know how this can be done, please?

Re: MP3 player - charging

Some devices require an actual USB handshake before they start drawing
enough power to charge - This is the USB spec. Unfortunately, that
requires a complete USB host controller in the charger. Every charger
that I've seen is just a dumb +5V supply, so some polite devices can't
be charged.
Cheers,
Nicholas Sherlock

Re: MP3 player - charging

No, TT, I have not tried the DSE unit. It's quite reasonably priced and I
would be quite happy to buy it, if it was certain to work. However I
suspect that it does nothing more than providing 5 Volts to USB Pins 1 and
4, which I can easily do myself. I think that my Sony B103F may be much
more fussy about its charging source than the iPods and Creative's Zen
Touch.
When I originally Googled this topic I found that someone had built a
charger by simulating a USB port with a network of resistors connected to
the USB Data pins, but this did not work for me either - in fact, after
trying this I needed to press the master reset button on the B103F to get it
working again. This fussiness about its charging source may be a good
reason for many people to avoid Sony MP3s. AFAIK Sony doesn't sell a
charger for this unit.
Thanks anyway
Bob
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