Tag Archives: gadgets

Fix USB devices not charging on laptops/netbooks (Windows 7)

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Last night, I came across a minor issue on my netbook. I want to be able to charge some of my many USB devices (such as my phone, iPod, mifi) while on the go, but I couldn’t get them to charge properly.

For example, I tried to plug in my mifi to charge it up on my long trip home – the computer recognised it fine and it charged for a few seconds – but after a little while the device reported it wasn’t charging.

I’ve discovered the problem is caused by a little power saving feature in Windows 7. It has a feature built-in that automatically reduces the power supplied to a USB device if it is not in use. Whilst this is a handy idea, it’s pretty annoying when I want to charge gadgets.

If you’re having the same issue, here’s the fix.

Go to Control Panel (make sure you’re viewing all options – by selecting Large/Small Icons in the “View by” menu), click Power Options and then choose the power plan that you’re using most (in time you might want to go through all of them). For the power plan you’ve selected click “Change Plan Settings” and then “Change advanced power settings”.

Now you’ll need to navigate to the “USB settings” plus button. Click it, then the plus button of “USB selective suspend setting” and you should see the following.

image

They’re probably set to Enabled. If they are, here’s your problem. Set it to Disabled for both On Battery and Plugged In, click Apply, and that should solve your problem.

If you can’t modify the settings because the options are all greyed out, it’s because your computer’s manufacturer is using some form of power management software that doesn’t want you to change the settings. In the case of my Samsung netbook, it was “Fast Start”. Disable whatever crud it is that’s greying out the options and you’ll be able to modify the settings. 

Charge your gadgets for free… while you’re on the move – with the Black Hills Outdoor Solar Backpack (review)

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Black Hills Outdoor Solar Backpack

I finally have my solar backpack – have been wanting one for ages. I just love the idea of being able to charge all of my gadgets for free, with the bonus that I can basically be doing whatever I want – whether it’s walking, cycling – whatever.

Anyway, I bought the Black Hills Outdoor Solar Backpack because it basically did exactly what I wanted. And at £49.99 it was hardly expensive.

It arrived in 3 days – ordered June 30th and it arrived today (July 3rd). It arrived it good packaging – no signs of damage in transit or anything like that. I was very pleased to find that they hadn’t wasted time and resources with stupid packaging – it was simply wrapped in a plastic sheet, which was in the postage bag. I hate companies that ruin the environment with pointless amounts of packaging, as you can probably guess.

I opened the back and I found the 17 adapters, battery back, and instructions. The adapters cover most phones and gadgets. It charges my Nokia 3120 Classic, PSP and my iPod Touch 2G very well so I’m very pleased with that. Sometimes the iPod Touch’s charge takes a little while to initiate and requires a bit of fiddling with the adapter, but it works well once it is connected.

Charging a device is very simple. You simply connect the charging cable to the ‘OUT’ socket, and then the adapter onto the charging cable. Then you just turn the switch to the 5.8V setting and off you go.

The solar panel is about the size of a 6″x4″ photo, so it isn’t huge, but on the other hand it catches light very well and is pretty efficient. You can tell how much energy is being captured by the solar panel with the LED on the battery pack. If you connect the solar panel up to the ‘DC IN’ port on the battery pack, the LED will show how much energy is being captured. The brighter the LED is, the more energy is being captured.

The backpack also comes with a USB cable for charging the battery by USB, and a wall adapter for charging via the mains. This is useful because you can charge the battery before you go out, so you always have power available even if there is no sunlight.

Another cool thing is that you can charge the battery pack and charge a gadget from the battery pack at the same time. This means you can have the solar cell charging the battery pack, and have the battery pack charging your gadget.

There is also a bright LED torch on the battery pack, which is not particularly big, but can light up small areas if required. I don’t really see the point of this, but it is an outdoor bag so I guess it could come in handy.

BHO say that the solar cell is waterproof and the bag is splash proof. I haven’t tested this personally, but it’s good that I don’t have to worry if it rains.

Overall, I’m really happy with the backpack. For £50 it’s very good value for money (solar cells aren’t cheap at the moment), plus it has a years warranty if it stops working for whatever reason. It will definitely come in handy for me, and I’d recommend it to anyone who likes to be outdoors.

I’ve posted up a photo gallery on Flickr, so you can have a look at the product for yourself.