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MP3 player - charging

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?

Reply to
Glenda and Bob Scott
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Try this.

Cheers TT

PS You can get car cigarette lighter ones as well

Reply to
TT

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

Reply to
Nicholas Sherlock

Thank you, Nicholas, and thank you also, TT, for your informative responses. It seems that building (or even buying) a suitable USB charger is not a simple matter. I will just have to continue relying on a computer to keep the B103F charged.

Regards Bob

Reply to
Bob

Did you try the DSE unit I suggested and it didn't work? I know it works with iPods and Creative's Zen Touch.

Cheers TT

Reply to
TT

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

Reply to
Bob

Remember that DSE's got a 14 day period for you to return something if it doesn't do what you want. If you've got time, you could try that approach.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Parker

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