PSP charging

[Nige]

I was just wondering, is it normal for the PSP to stop charging from AC when the wireless connection is being used? This does slightly limit how long wireless games can last..

[gorim]

It is normal for just about any equipment with rechargeable batteries to recharge slower when turned on and used. How slow depends on many factors. In order to recharge a battery, there must be excess power delivered by the power supply beyond that used for the device's immediate usage by you.

Keep in mind that the PSP uses a 5V DC power supply, which by itself delivers very little power. If you are using the PSP to play a game, with wifi turned on, chances are that very little extra power is available for recharging the battery.

[Nige]

> Keep in mind that the PSP uses a 5V DC power supply, which by itself
> delivers very little power. If you are using the PSP to play a game, with wifi
> turned on, chances are that very little extra power is available for
> recharging the battery.

Voltage isn't "used up" by devices, current is. Plus what usually happens when charging portable devices is that they continue to draw power from the battery while it is being charged - they're not drawing power direct from the mains.

Anyway that's a mute point, as what happens when my colleague's PSP is plugged in (4% battery level to start with) is:

a) charger plugged in, orange light comes on (charging)
b) PSP starts up and we initiate a game share
c) As soon as his PSP begins to download, the orange light changes to a green one (not charging)
d) before the download is finished his PSP powers off due to lack of battery power
e) The orange light now reappears!

So the charger may as well not be plugged in during wireless operations. This seems a bit crazy to me.

[gorim]

Voltage isn't "used up" by devices, current is. Plus what usually happens when charging portable devices is that they continue to draw power from the battery while it is being charged - they're not drawing power direct from the mains.

I never said anything about voltage, except to describe the power supply, which at 5V supplies a pitiful amount of *power* which is defined as Power = Volts * Amps. Amps as you know is *current*.

And speaking of current, since in the rest of my message I spoke in terms of *power* and not *voltage* you have done nothing to refute what I said, if that is what you were trying to do, and I still stand by on my statement that the *power* supply apparently does not supply enough *power* for the PSP to do all of the things it CAN do at one time (i.e. power lcd at full brightness, play sound, do graphics, and do Wifi) on top of being expected to recharge the battery.

One must consider that the PSP will be designed to avoid drawing more current, and therefore power, than the power supply is capable of providing, one would hope, to avoid burning it up. Or you could just have a dud power supply thats in danger of burning up.

In any event, try this: make sure the LCD is on minimum brightness and then see if you can get any decent charge out of it while playing w/WIFI. Keep in mind that when the PSP is not plugged in, it automatically prevents the highest brightness setting due to the huge energy consumption and a concern for battery life. There may be a connection here... but maybe not. *shrug*

[Alex Atkin UK]

I can confirm that indeed the PSP DOES stop charging the battery when wireless is in use. This happens in the browser or in games, anywhere that wireless is activated.

However contrary to previous comments about this, the PSP DOES continue to run off the PSU NOT battery power during this. I presume there just isnt enough current left to charge the battery with wireless in use, but it most certainly does NOT discharge your battery while plugged into the mains. I checked this myself by using the web browser for an hour on mains and checking the battery charge level before and after, it remained the same neither increasing nor decreasing.