Car charging cable for x50v

acejavelin · 09-22-09, 10:47 PM

I am looking for a car charger cable that will power and charge my x50v simultaneouly, any ideas? I have tried a few different cables I got cheap off of eBay, but they will only charge the unit when it is turned off, if the unit is turned on it either does nothing or will power it on and off, blinking the backlight and charge indicator on and off. I would like to use it as a GPS for driving directions well charging at the same time, or at least power the unit without discharging the battery since I want the battery when I get where I am going to do geocaching with a CF GPS card in the unit. Any recommendations??

emeraldgirl08 · 09-22-09, 11:20 PM

The correct output is needed here. I have a Belkin cigarette USB adapter. The voltage output is 5.4V~2A.

My sister uses one that does 5V~less than 1A. I tried plugging my USB to Ax cable into it and my power level indicator on my screen indicated it wasn't being charged while I had it on. I found my adapter and plugged my Ax back into it and the bar indicated it was being charged while I was listening to music.

acejavelin · 09-22-09, 11:26 PM

Kinda figured that was the issue after reading some of the other posts here... Do you have a part number or something for that Belkin unit???

emeraldgirl08 · 09-23-09, 12:09 AM

It is a Belkin F8D0004.

I got mine as part of an Axim 51v sale so I got lucky :)

Not sure but you might try ebay with this item. Googling points out to some sales but they are pretty expensive.

Good luck.

kcallahan · 09-23-09, 06:40 AM

Check this link:

Dell Axim X50v Car & Auto Charger : (5 Star Rating): Google Checkout available.

Of course, you may want to consider a powered holder to use the GPS while driving. :)

acejavelin · 09-23-09, 08:33 PM

Thanks, sounds like either of those will work for what I want.

Appreciate the input.

oreillyj · 09-25-09, 10:32 AM

I've had this Carcomm cradle and charger for an X50v for nearly 3 years and it works fine. It's mounted next to the driver so I can use it as a SatNav, but most of the time I use it just to recharge the Axim. It has a plug to go into the cigar lighter but I'm sure you could hard wire it in if necessary. I can't remember who I got it from in the UK, you'll have to Google it.
Carcomm

acejavelin · 10-01-09, 06:37 PM

Originally Posted by kcallahan

Check this link:

Dell Axim X50v Car & Auto Charger : (5 Star Rating): Google Checkout available.

Of course, you may want to consider a powered holder to use the GPS while driving. :)

Well, ordered one of these since I already had a cheap windshield mount cradle, and I had trouble finding a USA seller of the Carcomm unit. Hope it works better than the cheap-o ones I got from eBay. Have the Axim unit all setup for GPS navigation in the car as well geocaching, so I REALLY hope this works.

kcallahan · 10-01-09, 08:02 PM

I have one and it works great with the universal mount.

acejavelin · 10-06-09, 07:12 PM

Originally Posted by kcallahan

I have one and it works great with the universal mount.

Got that car charger from Pocket Solutions today and it works great!!! Only issue is that if I tip it a little too far forward it loses connection and jumps to battery power, but I think this is more an issue with the Axim's connector rather than the charger since it has to sit just so in the cradle to charge and the factory A/C adapter plug does the same thing. Oh well, will work for what I wanted.

Thanks for the recommendation, I really appreciate the information!!!

kcallahan · 10-07-09, 06:23 AM

Glad it works for you. I have two AXs. One does what your does with the connector. The other one has no problem. :approve:

Here's what I do with the one with the connector problem. I connect the cable to the AX. Then pull the wire along side the AX, put it in the universal cradle, and clamp it together. This will keep the connection in one position while you're driving. Sometimes I have to pull the cable slightly after it hooked up to make the connection. But, once it's in place it usually stays connected. Hope this helps. :)

acejavelin · 10-10-09, 06:41 PM

Hmmm... I may have spoken too soon when I said all worked well before with the Pocket Solutions charger. This morning I actually went to hook everything up, plugged it in with the power turned off, and the charge light on the power button started doing an AMBER/GREEN alternating flashing. So I unplugged it and tried again and this time the unit turned on by itself, but ran on batteries, turned off the power and it appeared to be charging.

So anyway, I needed to hit the road, so I unplugged the power and just ran on the battery (I have a MEGA-capacity battery, but I did try the standard one and it did exactly the same thing) for a while, after two to three hours on the road using the Axim as a GPS unit I stopped at my destination, I checked the battery and it was at 62%, so I turned off the unit and connected the charger, got an AMBER charge light, and went inside. When I came out an hour and half later, unplugged the unit, turned it on, then checked the battery level again and it was at 51% so it was not actually charging the battery, it was DISCHARGING it, and the lighter plug was VERY HOT. The unit was now acting very odd, the backlight would not time-out and shut off, it was dog slow, and BT would not connect properly, so I did a soft reset and all was well. Went and did some geocaching in the area then checked battery again, it was at 44% so I connected it to my cheap-o eBay charger with the power off and went on to some other errands for a couple hours, it was then at 77% (as expected). (the cheap-o unit will NOT charge or power the unit with it turned on)

Tried the Pocket Solutions charger again with similar results, connect for an hour or so, charge had dropped, recepticle end was very hot, and it still would not power the unit when it is turned on.

BTW, all works well when using the cradle or the OEM Dell P/S with the travel adapter, I can use and charge at the same time as expected.

Sounds like I either got a lemon charger, or the Axim has something wrong with it. I am leaning towards the first one since everything works with the OEM charger.

Agree? Disagree? Ideas?

[UPDATE: Sent an email to Pocket Solutions, awaiting their response]

JakeRich · 10-11-09, 10:48 AM

Does it have the current rating on the unit anywhere? The Axim, particularly with a big battery, can draw up to 2 A, or 2000 mA current. The bigger the battery, the higher the current draw. If your supply isn't rated that high, it will start to fluctuate in voltage causing the Axim's charging light to swap back and forth. Eventually it will cease charging at all, although the Axim's light will be on telling you it is and the battery will try to charge itself, with the inevitable drop in remaining power. That sounds exactly like your circumstances to me. Dell adapters are rated at 2410 mA, btw. If I were you, I wouldn't use anything rated less than 2A.

kcallahan · 10-11-09, 12:56 PM

I've never tried charging my 2200 mAh battery in the car charger. Like JakeRich said, the charger may not work well with extended batteries. :(

acejavelin · 10-11-09, 03:25 PM

Well, my main battery is a 3600mAh battery since I use this mainly for geocaching and I need it to go several hours without charging, but I tried a fully charged standard battery with the same results too.

The specs for the cable are NOT listed on the unit or the packaging, but it was designed for Axim and was recommended by kcallahan so I assumed it would function properly.

The only Dell car charger I found on Dell's website was by Pharos (model PX006) found by searching Dell's accessory store for "axim car" (sorry, I don't have enough posts to put up a full link) Is this the one you were referring to (I didn't see any specs on that one either on Dell's website)? It looks like it would use the Dell Travel adapter, is that correct?