Got my new Riva today + dumb question

[MsTick]

It didn't take me long. 4 weeks and I needed bigger batteries. My new Riva arrived today from Liberty Flights, and it's just so beautiful! The 8 hour initial charge is killing me!

So I'm told that the Riva charger should not be used for my old standard 510's. But the instructions with the kit call both the thing that plugs into a standard wall outlet and turns it into USB, and the thing that the battery screws on to and which plugs into that, the "charger". I'm using a wall outlet because the USB port on the front of my trusty old tower is not working, and I can't find my USB extension cord to bring USB from the back to where it's handy.

Anyway, I *think* that it's only the part that the battery screws into that I can't use for my old batteries, but can someone confirm that? See, the wall-plug part looks exactly the same as the one that came with my standard 510, while the other part (the screwing-on part) looks different and is easy not to mix up. I tried to read the input/output specs on the parts, but they're very, very tiny and hard to read. I'm wondering if I need to worry about using the wrong wall-plug adapter and killing my old batteries.

Does that make sense? It's a little hard to explain.

 

[jjloupe]

I'm no expert, but the Part that plugs into the wall just converts the outlet to a USB charger. The part that screws into the battery is made to plug into a USB, so the "wall part" should be fine with any charger that's meant to plug into a USB. I have several "wall parts" around here and I have interchanged them with cell phones, MP3 players, etc., and never had a compatibility problem.

What would the "wall part" be called anyway? lol

 

[ancient puffer]

*takes a deep breath* Um, IF I understand your question, its your concern about using the "wall part" that's a concern. I believe that both the 510 one and the Riva one simple convert "house" current into a suitable source for the piece that the battery connects to. So you should be able to use either "wall part" as long as you keep the "battery/usb" part with its proper counterpart.

I hope I understood your question, and, having the same situation here, I've interchanged the "wall part" with abandon and have had no problems.

P.S. when I posted my response, I saw Jjloupe's response and we're both saying the same thing. I'm just more wordy with it

 

[jazdale]

My ego charger had a caution to not use with standard 510 batteries because it will destroy the battery.
I'm thinking they wouldn't have taken the time to put that in the package if they didn't mean it.
Label the high-power charger with white/masking tape. Over time, you will forget which is which and why.

 

[dormouse]

The cable part that attaches to the battery should be the part only used with the Riva - label it.

Re the AC to USBs - check to see if the Riva one puts out more mA than 500mA aka .5 amp (most have a label on them). If it's 500mA output then I think it is probably pretty generic. My small battery AC to USB blocks are 500mA. if the Riva one is more mA I don't think that would hurt another battery. The charger cable should control how much of it is used. I use a 2mp max 4 port USB to AC for all of my charger cables.

 

[Nomoreash]

The wall plug is the charger the other part is just a simple usb cable with the battery threading on one end.

You don't want to use the Riva/Ego charger with a regular 510 because of the higher charging rate, it can damage a regular 510 battery.

You can use the cable with both if it'll fit, I haven't tried and you can use the regular 510 charger to charge a Ego/Riva battery but it will take much longer because it charges at a slower rate.

It's also a good idea to use the wall plug whenever possible. Some usb ports even though they work may not be optimal for charging. I've even seen some suppliers mentioning this now.

 

[Murasaki]

Hm, I'm not sure I understand your question and like a previous post, I'm not an expert BUT... the wall part which you plug on the wall and connect the usb should be fine to work with any usb/batt as long as the output is the same as the input on the usb/batt part. I know it because I use the wall-charger part to connect to my mini's usb charger.

My wall-charger says: Joye 510/306/PCC - and it came with my EGO. This wall plug part I use it for my mini 808 too What you cannot do is use the part that connects to the batt with different batteries (510 or whatever else) because they will have a different output which can damage your batts. So if your wall part says output 500mA, as long as the usb/batt part says input 5V, you're good to go.

Hope it helps...

 

[Murasaki]

Hm... I just saw Nomoreash's post and it does make sense... so you can reconsider my post since I can't/don't know how to delete it lol Again, I do know that my wall charger is fine for my other batt, but now I'm pretty much confused

Nevermind, so dormouse I'm not making mistakes when I plug my usb to the wall charger right?

 

[dormouse]

The part that battery screws into normally controls how much fast power can go to the battery.

 

[MsTick]

Oh my, I need new reading glasses. But I found my magnifying glass and the AC to USB adapter that came with the Riva puts out 500mA. If you've used the same, dormouse, then I feel comfortable that the adapter isn't a concern, and that was the part that wasn't visibly different for the Riva, so I don't need to worry about accidental mix-ups.

Thanks everyone, for your answers. And yes, puffer, you understood exactly what my convoluted question meant. I don't have a lot of electronic toys, and never used anything with a wall-current to USB power adapter before, so I didn't want to make a bad guess and fry my poor little batteries.

Uh-oh, new answers came while I was typing and now I'm confused again.

Back to the magnifying glass and I found that the 510's wall-adapter says output max 400mA, and the battery-screw charger part says input 300mA, the Riva's wall-adapter says output 500mA, and the Riva's cable charger part says input 500mA, so I think I'll just mark both Riva parts with white paint to avoid mix-ups.

 

[Katya]

You want Input: DC 5V--500mAh minimum on your wall wart. (the 1000 mAh is used for powering passthroughs). It will work with both your 510s and your Rivas.

The USB fast eGo (or Riva) charger can ONLY be used with the eGos/Rivas, and NOT with your stock 510 batteries. Too much output. It should read: Input: DC 5V--500 mAh; Output: DC 4.2V--420 mAh.

You can use the slow 510 USB charger with your fat batteries, however. It will just take longer.

Hope it helps. Get a magnifying glass, identify the chargers and then label them so you don't make a mistake. It's the USB charger that decides the output to your battery, not the wall wart.

 

[MsTick]

Thanks. The USB charger looks different from my standard 510's so there's no problem there.

 

[dzlady]

Maybe an outlet plug charger?