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How to charge a Movi fast

Discussion in 'Movi Technical' started by Rorick Edge, Oct 2, 2018.

  1. Rorick Edge

    Rorick Edge Active Member

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    I thought that I'd pass this on. It may be helpful for those of us who are not yet using computers and chargers with USB-C.

    I am about to purchase, for reasons unrelated to the Movi, a USB-C power adapter and a USB-C to USB-C cable. Looking at the FAQ, I've just learned that this will charge the Movi in just over an hour (boldface added):

    The Movi has a USB-C port and can be charged with the included standard USB cable or an optional USB C-C cable.


    USB C-A: Charging from a USB A wall adapter supports 2.5W, which will take take about 8 hours to fully charge Movi. The most efficient wall adapters are those designed for tablets (iPad or Android), as they often provide more than 2.5W, maximizing input and reducing charging time. USB ports on computers are not recommended.

    USB C-C: Movi supports charging speeds up to 29W with USB C wall adapters. At 29W, Movi will charge in a bit longer than one hour.
    You can also remove the included batteries from Movi or charge a spare set with an external charger. This is great to prep a couple sets of batteries for a trip or adventure where you won't have access or time to charge every day. We don't sell a charger for 18650 batteries, but they are available online!

    For example (to use a rather pricey option), you could use this Apple 30W USB-C power adapter, plus a USB-C to USB-C cable, to charge a Movi in a fraction of the time that it takes with a USB-A source: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MR2A2LL/A/30w-usb-c-power-adapter
     
  2. Kevin P Riley

    Kevin P Riley Active Member

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    At the moment select Walmart’s have the apple 29w usb-c charger on clearance for 11 dollars. My local Walmart doesn’t have them but yours might, then all you need is the usb-c to usb-c cable.
     
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  3. Rorick Edge

    Rorick Edge Active Member

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    As a result of Kevin's comment, I looked around and was able to get an Apple 29W USB-C Power Adapter for US$20 rather than $49. The difference between the 29W adapter and its 30W replacement is insignificant for my purposes.

    The trickier part was choosing a USB-C cable. I wanted to achieve four things:

    1. charge my Movi via a USB-C to USB-C cable;
    2. charge my iPhone 8 Plus and iPad Pro via a USB-C to Lightning cable;
    3. power a Sound Devices MixPre-3 audio recorder via its USB-C port; and
    4. acquire a cable that I can use with my next Mac (1) to charge/power these and other devices and (2) to exchange data at Thunderbolt 3, USB-C 3.1 and USB-C 3.0 rates and, with an adapter, earlier Thunderbolt and USB-A rates.

    Perhaps I'm the only person here who doesn't know this, but it turns out that USB-C is quite complicated, and it took me some time to figure out that there are a lot of flavours. Having gone through the exercise, I think that it helps to see USB-C as just a physical type of port and the capability of a USB-C port as another matter altogether. To take an example, Sound Devices tells me that its USB-C port on the MixPre recorders, when it comes to data transfer, is USB 2.0. That is not a problem, given that the speed of an SDHC or SDXC card in the recorder, from which the data is transferred, is itself a limiting factor. But it may be news to a lot of people that using a USB-C to USB-C cable does not necessarily mean that the cable can deliver USB-C 3.0 (5Gbit/s), let alone 3.1 (10Gbit/s), transfer speed.

    Looking to the future, I purchased Apple's Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) cable. At US$39, it's $20 more than Apple's USB-C Charge Cable, which as I understand it will transfer data, like my Sound Devices recorder, only at the USB-A 2.0 rate. The Thunderbolt 3 is one of the few cables on the market that meets all of the criteria in objective #4 above.

    Also, as the Thunderbolt 3 cable is only 0.8m long (the length is apparently directly related to transfer speed capacity and backwards compatibility), I decided to purchase a 1.8m Apple Power Adapter Extension Cord (yes, another $20).

    Finally, to fulfill objective #2, I purchased an Apple USB-C to Lightning charge cable for the iPhone and iPad.

    I'm relaying the above because there may be other people here for whom, like me, this is quite a bit more confusing than it perhaps should be.

    In any event, looking forward to much faster charging for my Movi :)
     
    #3 Rorick Edge, Oct 4, 2018
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2018
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  4. Rorick Edge

    Rorick Edge Active Member

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    This is working out great. Fast charging of the Movi, iPhone and iPad, plus this setup will provide wall/mains power to my MixPre-3 audio recorder. Plus, with the rapid adoption of USB-C, I think that it can stand in for a couple of other power adapters that I've acquired recently.

    Now, to justify the Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) cable over Apple's standard USB-C cable, waiting to see whether Apple, as rumoured, announces new iMacs later this month :)
     
    #4 Rorick Edge, Oct 9, 2018
    Last edited: Oct 11, 2018
  5. Siri Chand Khalsa

    Siri Chand Khalsa New Member

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    This is great idea. Could you answer how you might set up if I wanted to be able to use power cord for home filming. I cant seem to power up the system when the batteries are dead and it is plugged in. I though that i had read that you can use it continuously when plugged in. (ie workaround of needing the batteries). thanks!
     
  6. Mark Phelan

    Mark Phelan New Member

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    "It’s safe to use a quality USB-C charger rated for more than 29W if you need to, since the USB connection on the Movi will only take the power it needs, but it won’t charge any faster than using a 29W charger."

    Another option that seems to work well is my Macbook Pro charger, which is rated at 87W.
     
  7. Stephen Hart

    Stephen Hart Active Member

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    I've charged my Movi with my 2019 MacBook Pro charger and USB-C to USB-C cable. I have no idea how long it'd take to charge from dead to full, though.

    Rorick is correct that USB-C is a plug and socket standard, so different cables and sockets can support different functions. For that matter, that's true of Lightning too. I'm pretty sure the weakest link determines the transfer speed. For example, I have a dissecting microscope with a Sony 20 megapixel camera. The camera has a USB-A socket, my MacBook Pro has a USB-C socket. I tried two different cables 5Gbit/s and 10Gbit/s, and saw no difference in lag from object movement to camera to MacBook Pro.

    As to Siri Chand Khalsa's question, I think most battery-powered devices run on batteries, not the charger cable.
     
  8. Pavel Houda

    Pavel Houda Member

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    "You can also remove the included batteries from Movi or charge a spare set with an external charger. This is great to prep a couple sets of batteries for a trip or adventure where you won't have access or time to charge every day. We don't sell a charger for 18650 batteries, but they are available online!"

    I like battery swapping the best if speed and convenience is concerned. Otherwise Battery Bank would also work.
     
  9. Stephen Hart

    Stephen Hart Active Member

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  10. CJ Adams

    CJ Adams New Member

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    I can't seem to charge my movi.. tried both an apple laptop brick USB-c and a standard small usb charge brick overnight.. no luck my movie blinks 6 times red then flashes white for the first bar.. then never progresses to charging the 2nd bar.. Anyone else see this happen?
     
  11. Stephen Hart

    Stephen Hart Active Member

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    You could try an external charger as noted above. It would give you more information about the state of the batteries.
     
  12. CJ Adams

    CJ Adams New Member

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    Hmm you mean JUST for the batteries.. hmmm yeah.. maybe. but brand new.. just got this a few months back and its sat in its box since i didn't have time to really use it in quarantine..
     
  13. Stephen Hart

    Stephen Hart Active Member

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    The one I bought, linked above, is $12.99 and you can use it in a car.
     
  14. CJ Adams

    CJ Adams New Member

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    how long does it take to charge?
     
  15. Stephen Hart

    Stephen Hart Active Member

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