Touchstone Car Charger (simple how-to guide)

[rocklobster01]

Sweet - the biggest reason why I wanted the Palm one was because if it was the same type cable that comes with the phone (and it looks like it is according to rocklobster) I'd like to pull it out of the car and charge up from a friend's laptop if I'm at a friend's house and need some juice.

Yeah man! The cable is a fully functional MicroUSB cable that supports charging and data transfer. I personally like the using the shorter cable better anyways when I need to transfer Music, Wallpapers, etc, and it's always in my van when I need it. Also don't want to risk losing or damaging the OEM MicroUSB cable.

It sure beats having to pay the same price for Sprint's dedicated charger (plus I think it's ugly as crap) and the Palm car charger just compliments the Pre and Touchstone very well. Also included in the car charger kit is an adapter that will charge Treo devices as well!

My advice: Don't let your Sprint rep suck you into their charger, (if they haven't already) go down to Best Buy or Palm.com and get it for the SAME price. The only Pre accessory that Best Buy does not sell is the Touchstone (as of right now.)

[docjj]

I tried to use the USB port in my 2008 BMW 535x1 for charging. If I plug in the micro USB cable to the car port and then to the pre directly, it works great. If I plug in a touchstone into the cable, no charge capability. Perhaps it is that amperage thing listed above, but it really pisses me off. It works direct cable to pre. Go figure...

[jboucicaut]

*just found a RIM USB charger and it works with the MicroUSB/Pre. Only thing that concerns me is that the BB charger has DC output of 5v =0.5A whereas Palm is 5V = 1.0A. Should that be a concern?

[rocklobster01]

*just found a RIM USB charger and it works with the MicroUSB/Pre. Only thing that concerns me is that the BB charger has DC output of 5v =0.5A whereas Palm is 5V = 1.0A. Should that be a concern?

This won't be a problem at all, since the charger is only pumping half of the juice as what the Palm charger does. The only thing is, the RIM charger will charge your Pre at least half as slow as the Palm charger, which with my experience with all kinds of rechargeable batteries, is not a bad thing, it actually prolongs the overall life of the battery if you were to say, charge your Pre overnight using the RIM cable to get a full charge, then using your Palm cable when you need a juice boost.

[rocklobster01]

I tried to use the USB port in my 2008 BMW 535x1 for charging. If I plug in the micro USB cable to the car port and then to the pre directly, it works great. If I plug in a touchstone into the cable, no charge capability. Perhaps it is that amperage thing listed above, but it really pisses me off. It works direct cable to pre. Go figure...

Have you read into the Touchstone's technology any by chance?

(Here's a Wikipedia link explaining Inductive Charging)

The Touchstone uses "Inductive Charging" (popular in electric toothbrushes) to charge the device. Inductive charging is basically creating a transformer when the Pre is docked on the Touchstone, and transferring electricity through non-conductive materials (plastic, rubbers, etc) so it is going to take more juice to complete the circuit.

This also makes sense in lieu of what jboucicaut was saying about RIM's MicroUSB charger's output amperage compared to Palm's charger. (By the way, 5v 0.5a or 500ma is the DC output of a standard USB port) The Palm charger's extra half an amp was designed to power the Touchstone's extra power needs.

[jboucicaut]

This won't be a problem at all, since the charger is only pumping half of the juice as what the Palm charger does. The only thing is, the RIM charger will charge your Pre at least half as slow as the Palm charger, which with my experience with all kinds of rechargeable batteries, is not a bad thing, it actually prolongs the overall life of the battery if you were to say, charge your Pre overnight using the RIM cable to get a full charge, then using your Palm cable when you need a juice boost.

Nice. I'm amazed on how fast the Palm charger is. Takes me like 30 min to get me from 30 to 100.

[rocklobster01]

Nice. I'm amazed on how fast the Palm charger is. Takes me like 30 min to get me from 30 to 100.

I'm right with you on that one! Palm gets a high 5 for being awesome.

[dragonol2]

AWESOME advice!!! I followed the instructions and now am using the Touchstone in my car as a much easier way to charge on the go... now I'm just debating on whether to buy another Touchstone to keep in the car or keep transferring the one I have now from the car to the home. But thanx for the advice, it worked like a charm!

[wessock]

Awesome! Thanks

[bretov]

i loved it so much i had it hard wired into my BMW 335i convertible

i can confirm that navigation and touchstone work just fine for 3-4 days now