Reverse charging

Reverse charging seems to be limited to the standard USB 500mA (at least my Samsung phone refused to pull more and complained about the slow charging) and the Messenger doesn't seem to support USB-PD or any of the other quick charge protocols. Please update this thread if you see different results.

On a modern large 5Ah phone, that's about 10hrs of charging (glossing over the details of efficiency and voltage conversion), or 3.3% for the 20min the function is limited to (obviously, one can charge the phone multiple times). On many phones, you need > 5% battery to really operate, so it may take a bit of effort and time.

(recent iPhones have anywhere between 3 to 4.5Ah batteries - so modulate the above accordingly).

For reference, according to DCRainMaker, the battery in the Messenger is a respectable 1.8Ah, about double that of the Mini/2.

  • I prefer to take a 10.000mAH power bank with me, if I am outdoors for some days. So I can load my wearables, my flash/headlamp, phone…Of course, if you just went out and your phone runs unexpected out of battery…but you have to think about to have the cable with you…I like the idea, but as you see, you seems run into trouble with some devices while you try to charge it.

  • Or solar charger. The whole reverse charging thing strikes me as a marketing tactic, not a solution to a real-world problem. Just my $.02.

  • I feel also that discharging your last emergency call option when all fails, is strange idea.

    If I had to choose what to charge first, this would definitely not be power hungry smartphone, but the messenger

  • No one is forced to use it.Wink It will charge your device for 20 minutes and then stop automatically (if it will work, see first post*). If the puck battery is at 25% or below (battery is 1,800mAh/according to dcr) it will stop or not start a charge.

    *There should be some more clarification from Garmin in the manual, under what technical conditions does reverse charging work/not work - so that the user, who may not have tested it beforehand, then only finds out outside that it is not working for his phone/etc. Btw: if you will charge your phone indoors via the messenger, the messenger will perhaps lost much more battery for the charge, because it will try to get/is searching for gps/satellite connection/check for messages.

  • It seems to be a regular old 500mA charger, so most devices that charge when you plug them into a regular port should work.

    I know my phone complained, but still charged. My PC, which expects USB-PD didn't.

    For your point on losing charge fast indoor, a) If it's connected to a phone with Internet access and Messenger installed, it won't connect to satellites and b) 20 mins of unsuccessfully searching for satellites shouldn't be a huge % drain.

  • I probably misinterpreted your post about slow loading. We will see if more messenger users report here.

  • No one is forced to use it.

    yes right

    it just reminds me of a situation in one of our training courses.

    I explained, that the SOS function of a tracker is for real emergencies only.

    One of the trainees mentioned however:

    Yes sir, but this you have to specify more in detail. Teenager with only 5% of battery in his smartphone is in a real, life threatening situation from his point of view....