Lava STS Series User manual

LAVA STS-** Quick Start
November 22, 2015
Revision A01
Overview
This document describes how to setup a LAVA STS-E, STS-PE, STS-2UE, STS-P2UE, or STS-3U.
The LAVA STS-xx products are used to charge a Samsung Tablet with simultaneous operation of USB
accessories such as a keyboard, a mouse, an external hard drive, or card readers. The range of USB
accessories supported, are inherent in the tablet being used.
The LAVA products are shipped with a custom 3.3 foot (1 meter) micro USB to micro USB cable.
Initial Setup
Locate the charger and charge cable, which was provided with your Samsung Tablet. Start with the tablet
turned on. In the Tablet Battery menu, enable the “Display battery percentage” option.
Plug one end of the 3.3 foot cable into the tablet. Either end of the cable can be used. Note the connector
orientation is correct, as it is has angled edges to ensure it only fits one way.
Plug the other end of the 3.3 foot cable into the “To Tablet” receptacle of the LAVA device. Note the
connector orientation is correct, as it is has angled edges to ensure it fits only one way.
Plug the charge cable into the “5V Power Input” of the LAVA device. The PoE capable unit labels this
input “Aux. 5V Input”.
Locate and observe the current state of the battery charge icon on the tablet status line.
Plug the Tablet charger into an active AC outlet.
The STS-** green LED by the Blue Button on the Lava device will flash for about 2 seconds, then turns
off. After the 2 seconds. The adjacent yellow LED goes active.
The tablet battery charge icon now has a lightning bolt across it to indicate that the tablet is being charged.
Depending on the tablet, you may also have a brief status message such as “USB connector connected”.
If the LAVA device has 1 or more USB A receptacles, you may now plug in a device for further testing.
If you are using a LAVA device that provides wired Ethernet support, you may connect the LAVA device
to a network via the RJ45 receptacle. The RJ45 receptacle has a yellow status LED for USB activity, and a
green status LED for network activity.
The STS-PE and STS-P2UE are PoE devices. Using the “Aux. 5V’ Input allows the LAVA device to be
verified out of the box. Once verified, simply unplug the charge cable from the ‘Aux. 5V Input’ and plug
the RJ45 receptacle into a PoE capable switch or PoE power injector. Do not use the ‘Aux.5V Input”
when connected to a PoE enabled switch or PoE Power Injector.
When using wired Ethernet, the Connections->More networks->Ethernet settings may need to be setup
prior to accessing a network. The tablet provides options for dynamic and static network address
assignment. If there is no Ethernet menu, the tablet does not support wired Ethernet.

LAVA STS-** Quick Start – November 22, 2015
2 Vulcan St. Toronto, ON Tel: [phone] www .lavalink.com 2 of 3
Canada, M9W 1L2 Fax: [phone] Toll Free (US & Canada): 800.241.LAVA
STS-** SimulCharge Product Family – Charge Modes
The LAVA STS-** SimulCharge products supports two charging modes.
The SimulCharge mode allows to tablet to be charged and operated as a USB Master. As a USB Master the
tablet controls external USB accessories. In SimulCharge mode the tablet never provides power to the
external USB accessories.
The Charge-Only mode allows the tablet to be charged at the highest rate supported by the tablet. In
Charge-Only mode no USB accessories can be interacted with. Charge-Only mode is the same as being
plugged directly into the original charger provided with the tablet.
The product status lights report which mode is active. A yellow indicator reports SimulCharge mode is
active. A green indicator reports Charge-Only mode is active.
The power on default state is always SimulCharge.
STS-** SimulCharge Product Family – Changing Charge Modes
The LAVA STS-** SimulCharge products have a Mode button which is used to alternate between
SimulCharge and Charge-Only mode. The power on default state is always SimulCharge.
The Mode button has two different behaviors depending on when the device was built. Devices
manufactured after November 20, 2015 use method 1, while earlier devices use method 2.
Changing Modes – Method #1
Pressing the Charge Mode button for 5 seconds or more, places the tablet into Charge-Only Mode. The
tablet remains in Charge-Only mode for 7 minutes before automatically changing back to SimulCharge
mode, even if the Charge Mode button remains held down.
The 7-minute Charge-Only window can be cancelled by double clicking the Charge Mode button. To click
the button press for 1 second, release for 1 second and then repeat once more
The power on default is always SimulCharge.
The green LED by the Blue Button indicates Charge-Only mode is active. On power up this LED
flashes for about 2 seconds, then turns off. The pattern seen on this LED on startup is a distinctive flash-
flash-pause, which is occurs 4 times.
Changing Modes – Method #2
When pressing the Mode Select button for at least ¼second then releasing it, the Mode is toggled between
SimulCharge Mode and Charge-Only Mode. If the button is pressed for more than 4 seconds, the button is
ignored until released then pressed again.
The power on default is always SimulCharge.
The green LED by the Blue Button normally indicates Charge-Only mode is active. On power up this LED
will flash for about 2 seconds, then turns off. The pattern seen on this LED is a continuous on-off pattern
for the 2 second duration.

LAVA STS-** Quick Start – November 22, 2015
2 Vulcan St. Toronto, ON Tel: [phone] www .lavalink.com 3 of 3
Canada, M9W 1L2 Fax: [phone] Toll Free (US & Canada): 800.241.LAVA
When is Charge-Only Mode required?
Many Samsung Tablets will not power on in SimulCharge mode if the battery has been allowed to
discharge to 0. Placing the tablet in Charge-Only mode allows the tablet to be turned on and provide a
faster charge to the battery prior to switching to SimulCharge mode.
In Simulcharge Mode, many Samsung tablets to not allow the battery to be charged at the full rate. If a
tablet with a discharged battery is turned on prior to a minimum charging, the power demands on startup
result in the tablet turning immediately back off. The tablet power demands depend on the tablet model, the
applications running, and the screen brightness.
The Samsung Tab 4 Tablets running KitKat are a special case. When these tablets are turned off, they will
not charge in SimulCharge mode. When these tablets are turned off, they cannot be powered up in
SimulCharge mode, no matter what the battery level. The STS-** button is an important recovery
mechanism for these devices.
The Samsung Tab 4 Tablets running Lollipop are another special. When turned off, some of these units will
charge in SimulCharge mode and even allow the tablet to be turned on. In some cases the tablet powers up
and is not in a charging state. Briefly changing to Charge-Only mode and back to SimulCharge corrects the
issue. The safe way to start up a Tab 4 Lollipop tablet is to enter Charge-Only mode, turn on the tablet, then
change to Simulcharge mode. The problems with the Lollipop firmware appear to have been partially
addressed in the update.
Product Type Jumper (new units only)
The units manufactured after November 20, 2015 support an internal TYPE jumper pad. This jumper pad
determines the algorithm used to switch between SimulCharge and Charge-Only mode. The earlier units
never have this jumper populated.
With no jumper installed a new switching algorithm is used, which is the manufacturing default. With the
jumper installed, the switching algorithm used by the old units is used.
The new algorithm is critical for the Samsung Tab S2 tablets. Using the old timing, results in the Tab S2
not charging poorly or not at all. Using the old algorithm results in the battery icon reporting a charging
lightning bolt, creating the illusion that a proper charge is taking place.
This jumper must be applied to allow the STS-** device to work with the Samsung Tab 4 Tablet running
Lollipop. The Samsung Tab 4 Tablet running KitKat can be run with either setting.
Figure 1: TYPE Jumper on STS-** Board
The “TYPE” jumper is a 2-pin jumper block located on the STS-** board.
A jumper is placed across the pins to enable the alternate timing.