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cell phone charger

Hi everybody. I just got a Motorola Razr phone. When I tried to charge it off PC (using generic USB cable) it was complaining about "unauthorized charger" until I downloaded the driver. When I tried to use generic car charger ($7 on ebay as opposed to $30 in Verizon store) the phone gave me same "unauthorized charger" message. Question: does it mean that the phone is looking for more than +5V on pin1? ???? Some inkjet printers manufacturers add some intelligence to the cartridges to make sure that I pay $$$ per "genuine" parts instead of $ for compatible ones. Is this what cell phone makers are doing now?

Reply to
Michael
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I read something about this a couple of weeks ago in EDN or similar. I can't believe you are so cynical!! The real reason they have the battery / charger ID is so you are protected against substandard non-genuine batteries. IIRC Maxim were making the parts.

Reply to
rob

Please correct me if I am wrong: if "non-genuine batteries" were the only concern, it would be logical to include all the "intelligence" with the charger "base" (i.e. the phone, as the battery is never charged outside of it) and keep the power source (wall plug, car charger, USB cable) as simple/cheap as possible.

rob wrote:

Reply to
Michael

You're not wrong Michael, I probably am. I can see your point, the stuff I was referring to is more related to the second point but in regard to the batteries.

Reply to
rob

Sometimes all it takes is to add a resistor in the line. When I had my old Nokia I tried charging it off a six volt gel cell and it gave an error message. I then put a resistor in series with the six volt batt and it worked.

Reply to
kell

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