Dell Venue 8 Pro Charging Alternatives

Yeah it needs the pins shorted in order to charge, quite a few devices seem to be doing that these days.  

Mine charges using a 1A Sennheiser wall charger I have for my headphones but I haven't really noted the rate.  My 1A HTC charger for my phone lights the charging light but doesn't really seem to charge the tablet.  

You can find a bunch of different "fast charge adapters" on Amazon that will sit in between the charger (or PC) and will short the pins.  Here is one in particular, not sure if Dell will edit this or not since improper use could lead to damaging the device.  

http://www.amazon.com/Mediabridge-USB-Charging-Adapter-A-Female/dp/B009W34XMM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388803950&sr=8-1&keywords=Mediabridge+USB+Charging+Adapter+6+inches  

Anyone checked out the +Port by Mobile Design Labs?  It appears that it does that job desired with out

an issue.

Hello I am trying to find charging alternatives for this tablet.  The tablet charges fine (best if powered OFF) with the supplied 2A power supply only. Does not charge with any other wall power supply  (2A - 2.1) Does not charge at a slower rate with other small amp power supplies 0.5A or plugged in PC Does not charge with my Mophie Duo battery pack (2.1A, 5V, 6000mAh) Charges REALLY SLOWLY if the tablet is left on  (playing bluetooth music) overnight  (if at all) I travel extensively and like to plug phone/tablet/battery/speakers into the PC and let them charge up overnight.   I dont seem to be able to use my emergency Mophie battery backup either Here's what I am thinking.  I saw some guy on youtube make a usb splitter for the venue 8 pro so he could use a usb headset and charge at the same time.  It appears the venue requires shorted data ports on the USB circuit to charge.  That would explain why NOTHING besides the supplied dell power brick is working. It would be nice to buy/make a USB dongle that shorts ports 2 and 3.  Then would the tablet charge on other standard USB devices?  The folks at Mophie have not tested this unit and say it is unsupported.  The folks at blackbox where you can make some custom pinout cables did not want to help either. Anybody out there find any charging alternatives?

The nice things about the Playbook charger are, apart from the compatibility, it has foldaway plug blades (good for travel); has an attached, 6'4" cable (as vs. the DV8P's original 3' cable); and can be found for a great price at Amazon.com-- currently, around $4 shipped (!) (get an extra or 2 at that price, to keep one in a travel kit/backpack/briefcase and another in a home office).   :emotion-1:

You're right about the USB data pins needing to be shorted, at least to start the charging process. 

Has anyone found a battery backup that works?

Also, although I haven't tried them out, Amazon.com has some nice, smallish Motorola external USB batteries, at some nice prices.  You might look there, if interested.

Shouldn't any suitably powerful external USB battery work?  The EnerPlex Jumpr Slate 5K does and is thinner than the DV8P, to boot; a nice companion for it, but not inexpensive--look for it on sale (e.g. at Fry's.com).

Thanks for your suggestions. I found one that works on my Dell Venue 8 Pro, it is a MyCharge AmpMax that has an output of 2.4 amp at Best Buy.