Pandora Not Charging

[mario9705]

It charged perfectly fine before! I don't know what happened. One of the clips that holds the battery in is broken if that helps. Sometimes it just randomly turns on when it's plugged in and just gets stuck in a loop! PLZ HELP! If I can send it back to get it fixed then please tell me how I can do that.


Thanks. ^_^

 

[EvilDragon]

Which clip is broken? The one on the side where the batterie contacts are?

 

[mario9705]

No the one on the opposite side, I don't know what caused it

 

[Loonie]

My 1GHz unit seems to have temperamental charging as well. It charged okay the first time, but now it seems to charge for a brief period initially and then stop. One time I left it charging then came to it in the morning and found it switched on, charging light off, battery down to around 45%.


I was hoping to do some diagnostic stuff, but whadya know, my multimeter appears to have packed up. I'll do some testing when I get a replacement meter.


Connections to the battery seem very good. I was at first considering the possibility the Pandora might be applying a charging load of more than 2A, that would cause the output of a 2A max-rated switch-mode power supply to drop sharply, or even shut itself off for protection, which might cause this behavior.


However, I now think it may well be a simple case of the adapter that connects between the PSU and the Pandora having an unreliable connection. Since the Pandora's charge LED does not respond instantly to the charger being connected or disconnected, it may well appeared to have been charging for a brief period after initially being plugged in, when the connection had actually broken when I released it. I have the cable rotated to a certain alignment right now, and the LED has remained solidly red for a good hour or so.


I'll know more when I pick up a replacement multimeter.

 

[Loonie]

Grabbed a new cheap´n´cheerful multimeter today. along with a new power plug. I was very sure that adapter plug was the problem. I've cut off the old plug and soldered on the new one, so that adapter is no loner needed.


The Pandora is now charging happily and consistently. Also since I was soldering on a new plug I was able to measure the charge current just to satisfy my curiosity. I measured with desktop and also with the N64 emu running to keep the CPU busy. In both cases, the Pandora was sucking down just under 1.2 A, well within the limit of the PSU.

 

[marktuson]

Mine's stopped charging too, I've tried over USB and using a PSP charger (can't seem to find my original charger), but nothing going into it at all. There is no physical damage to the unit as far as I can discern.

 

[EvilDragon]

Mine's stopped charging too, I've tried over USB and using a PSP charger (can't seem to find my original charger), but nothing going into it at all. There is no physical damage to the unit as far as I can discern.

Is the battery fully empty already?


If it is, it can take up to 1 hour before you see any reaction on the Pandora when you connected a PSP charger.


And USB won't work in that case.

 

[jastolze]

Mine's stopped charging too, I've tried over USB and using a PSP charger (can't seem to find my original charger), but nothing going into it at all. There is no physical damage to the unit as far as I can discern.

Is the battery fully empty already?


If it is, it can take up to 1 hour before you see any reaction on the Pandora when you connected a PSP charger.


And USB won't work in that case.

Mine isn't charging either. This is the first time this has happened ever. You mentioned that it can take an hour to see any reaction, does this effect the red light that comes on when it's charging? Because mine's showing any red light... If it makes any difference, I'm also using a PSP Charger. Maybe some connection, like voltage issues?

 

[flashlightbuff]

My pandora is no longer charging via usb cable to a pc either. But I can't specifically recall if it ever charged via USB to a pc its been a while since I tried to charge it this way.

 

[Newfarmy]

Oh, so I'm not the only one with this problem <_<


I posted just yesterday on the german forum about this. I have a first batch and this is the 3rd time something is wrong with my pandora.


At the end of last year it wouldn't load via the PSP-cable and i simply thought, it would be a problem with the charger. I loaded it via USB since.


Now i bought a new PSP-charger, pluged it in, Pandi starts itself (as it should) but it won't charge at all! What's more, the touchscreen does hardly react as long as the cable is plugged in. As soon as i pull it out it works just fine


I got really tired of this beeing the 3rd time something is broken with it and so i have put it up for sale in the forum. I just don't have the time and patience to send it back AGAIN, wait for it just to discover an other defect :angry:


Don't know if i could give it back to the shop after a little more than a year and get a refund...

 

[EvilDragon]

Okay, if the touchscreen does not react, you got a cheap PSP Adapter, not an original one.


I've got one cheap chinese ripoff AC adapter here as well which does exactly the same - it is so badly shielded that the touchscreen on the Pandora becomes unresponsive.


If you try to use that AC adapter with a real PSP and TV Out, the picture will be totally broken as well.


This doesn't happen with a good shielded PSP adapter (and certainly not with an original Sony one)


As that charging issue happened a few times for you, I'm pretty sure that it was the AC adapter damaged the Pandora.


Sadly, with one batch we also got these cheap adapters (before that, the same company delivered good ones).


After we found out, we switched to a new company right away. Luckily, only about 100 or 150 got one with a cheap chinese clone. And while it's the first time I hear it actually damages a Pandora, it seems pretty evident now, if it happened to you multiple times... the touchscreen issue confirms the bad shielding.

 

[EvilDragon]

Okay, small update:


It seems his Pandora actually is not damaged.


I reread his thread at the german boards and it seems the AC port of the Pandora is working properly (he can charge slowly with a different adapter, which probably is not powerful enough to fully charge), so it seems that only that cheap AC adaptor is not working properly.


So while cheap adapters can cause issues, they won't damage anything.

 

[Newfarmy]

You mean the first adapter i got with my order? With this one it all started at the end of last year (long charging, etc.) I got the new adapter just yesterday and with this one i experienced the problem with the touchscreen, the old one just stopped working though the long charging started right after that.


Oh, just missed your last post


Well, i'll send the "new" adapter back and see if it works with an other one though it may take some time. I'm going on holiday for a week on friday (at last).


I would never have imagined that bad shielding could lead to this kind of problem. I only encountered visual or audio interferences with some digital devices and audiomixers but never something like that!


I'd sure be happy if just the adapter is the problem and not the Pandora itself

 

[EvilDragon]

Send me you adress and I'll send you a new one today, you should have it by tomorrow.


I remember that issue pretty well, as I was working with notaz on the 1GHz units and told him the touchscreen was totally unresponsive... he couldn't reproduce it and sent me multiple drivers to debug the issue.


Then suddenly it worked - and later on, it stopped working again.


We were both clueless. Then at some time I found out it always happened during charging - and then only when using a certain AC Adapter...

 

[neko]

Send me you adress and I'll send you a new one today, you should have it by tomorrow.


I remember that issue pretty well, as I was working with notaz on the 1GHz units and told him the touchscreen was totally unresponsive... he couldn't reproduce it and sent me multiple drivers to debug the issue.


Then suddenly it worked - and later on, it stopped working again.


We were both clueless. Then at some time I found out it always happened during charging - and then only when using a certain AC Adapter...

Possibly RF interference. The screen is probably not shielded very well. If I have my cellphone next to my laptop it messes with the screen (and it's not even a touchscreen).

 

[Moriarty]

I realize that this is a relatively old thread but i have a similar issue to what Loonie described above. My pandora, a brand new 1 Gh model, has very finicky charging and only charges well when the connector from the power adaptor is bent at a certain angle with pressure applied constantly. A soon as pressure is released the unit stops charging and if the angle is not just right the unit refuses to charge at all. I assume that it is an issue with the connection between the adaptor and the port but have no basis for this other than the observations above. Does anyone have an idea about what I can do to resolve the issue? Short of opening the Pandora myself and soldering in a new charging port.

 

[Franko]

I'd avoid forcing or bending anything at any "angle".  THAT doesn't sound right.  I recently received a 1 GHz model and the AC plug is a bit "tight" (you have to align it and swivel it a bit whilst pushing it in), but I haven't had a problem.  So therefore you shouldn't....CASE DISMISSED!(slams gavel down)!!

Judge Judy says that If you need to apply pressure at an angled plug then you might have a misaligned and bent part on the PCB.  Sounds like you might need to send this one back to your supplier within your region.  I can no longer guess within a reasonable doubt WHERE a certain person might be from.  People just speak English even if they're from Tibet.  It's very relaxing and gives peace of mind to us that own a Pandora - it's an open...(butterfly flutters)...XPerience? 

No! Bad Sensei!  (smacks master in face with a frozen carp as a geisha spanks me on the bottom with a fan)....okay, tell me again that I no makey good posts on the intertubes!  I'm a baaaaaad boy!  Oh yeah....

 

[Franko]

Good luck to you, Moriarty.  I hope that you can solve your problem.  You can always charge your unit via the mini usb plug (although a bit slower), and you may already know this.  Not sure if you ever owned a PSP, but the voltage and polarity of the plugs are the same...maybe you could try a PSP Charger to see if it fits easier?  I get that your charging port is bent now - I do....but it'd be a good test and hopefully wont damage the plug further.  If it feels "looser", then it won't damage it.  You can attempt to diagnose this thing further (within reason) just to let yourself and others know what you've tried.  OR send it back to ED.  Askarus is an expert repairman.

 

[CocoCreekFisherman]

Send me you adress and I'll send you a new one today, you should have it by tomorrow.


I remember that issue pretty well, as I was working with notaz on the 1GHz units and told him the touchscreen was totally unresponsive... he couldn't reproduce it and sent me multiple drivers to debug the issue.


Then suddenly it worked - and later on, it stopped working again.


We were both clueless. Then at some time I found out it always happened during charging - and then only when using a certain AC Adapter...

Could a picture be shown of that certain AC adapter so some may identify if they have it?

Including myself ----> :blink: ......>

 

[J36]

How can I see if I have one of those cheap AC-adapters for the pandora? I've had much problems with my adapter and start think it might be charger. Is it possible to order only pandora AC-adapter?