Keyboard Not Charging PPP

[thismarty]

My keyboard doesn't seem to be able to charge my phone.

Here are some data points:

1.  I've pressed the button - quickly, held it for 20 seconds to shut it down, pressed quickly again, and various other combinations. 

2.  I see the charging bolt in the battery icon in the GUI (in both Manjaro and Mobian).

3.  The Power panel in the OS Settings indicates that the second battery is there (but at 0%).

4.  The phone discharges its battery at the same rate with or without the keyboard attached.

5.  I tried the shim trick.

6.  I've tried several properly-rated chargers directly in the keyboard USB-C port.

7.  I've not made the mistake of plugging a charger into the phone whilst it is seated in the keyboard case.


It would appear that the root problem is that the keyboard simply won't charge.  It seems to be present electronically and recognized by the OS, but just empty - despite my having 'charged' it.

Any suggestions?

[brb78]

not sure, but the "extra" battery may have always been displayed at 0%, even when the PPP had only one battery installed.

After kb install Arch also shows a "kb151" battery status for me

[thismarty]

not sure, but the "extra" battery may have always been displayed at 0%, even when the PPP had only one battery installed.

After kb install Arch also shows a "kb151" battery status for me

Hmmm ....

Apparently, that 'extra' battery is now present even when the keyboard is detached, so maybe it's not the keyboard after all.

In which case there is essentially no indication that my keyboard case's battery is present.

[thismarty]

Apparently the "Extra" battery listed in the Settings - Power panel is a red herring. It is not the keyboard case battery.

However, after the latest Mobian firmware update, I can now see "kb151" listed as a battery in the Settings - Power panel!

Now, if only the keyboard case would charge ...

[Fragggy]

Have you tried to increase the Power the Keyboard can provide in OS level?

echo 1500000 > /sys/class/power_supply/rk818-usb/input_current_limit

Default is 500mA and often not enough to charge a running phone.

[thismarty]

My keyboard case itself won't charge.

[ragreenburg]

My keyboard case itself won't charge.

Clone the utilities package, install php and run `make`. It should hopefully build the package. From there go into the `build` directory and run

Code:

sudo ./ppkb-i2c-charger-ctl info

That will give you the battery level of the keyboard case itself. Whatever is reported by gnome-control-center is almost certainly wrong. The FAQ will help as well. My case wasn't charging my Pro but I was still able to type with it and read the battery level with the method described above.

---

Have you tried to increase the Power the Keyboard can provide in OS level?

echo 1500000 > /sys/class/power_supply/rk818-usb/input_current_limit

Default is 500mA and often not enough to charge a running phone.

I've seen this posted a few places, including the FAQ, but every time I try that it doesn't work. I have to use nano to change the values.

[thismarty]

I talked with Pine64 support and they told me that a new PPP firmware was due to drop in a few weeks that might/should fix the charging issue.

I sure hope it does - the keyboard case keyboard is awesome enough, but having that extra battery power will make it sooooo much better!