USB to wall charger?

[embee214]

Hi all.
I recently got a Suorin Air and want to hook it up to a wall wart to charge, but it's been a long time since I've used anything with inbuilt batteries, and want to make sure I'm using the correct adapter.
Anyone know how to tell? Can I just use the wall wart I use for my phone? Is there a difference?
Just trying to be safe.

 

[Heartsdelight]

Hi all.
I recently got a Suorin Air and want to hook it up to a wall wart to charge, but it's been a long time since I've used anything with inbuilt batteries, and want to make sure I'm using the correct adapter.
Anyone know how to tell? Can I just use the wall wart I use for my phone? Is there a difference?
Just trying to be safe.

I don’t think you should use the one for your phone as it usually charges at a higher rate.

Look in your manual. I believe it requires either a 1A or 2A charge rate.

 

[stols001]

I hear so many different things on this that I don't really know what to tell you. I have heard computer is best, no it isn't, and that it's fine to use whatever wall-wart and the cord that comes with the mod will pull the correct amount of power, no it won't, etc. I only have a few USB mods and I charge them with the cord provided with my 4 year old cellphone wall-wart. I am clueless whether this is the correct thing to do, honestly, but nothing has blown up yet, that's about all I can say. Avoiding a super-speedy wall-wart MAY be wise, but at this point I have NO IDEA.

I'd love something that definitively answered the question myself

Anna

 

[embee214]

Thanks for the responses.
I wonder if I can dig up one of the old ones I used to charge egos way back when.
So confusing...all of this. I just wanted to try out a super stealthy device, and now I'm all full of questions again.

 

[stols001]

Dear lord I am clueless this morning, I meant to say my wall wart with the cord PROVIDED with each mod. Sigh. Oh well, nothing has blown up yet.

I'm really incoherent today, I guess.

Anna

 

[DaveP]

I hear so many different things on this that I don't really know what to tell you. I have heard computer is best, no it isn't, and that it's fine to use whatever wall-wart and the cord that comes with the mod will pull the correct amount of power, no it won't, etc. I only have a few USB mods and I charge them with the cord provided with my 4 year old cellphone wall-wart. I am clueless whether this is the correct thing to do, honestly, but nothing has blown up yet, that's about all I can say. Avoiding a super-speedy wall-wart MAY be wise, but at this point I have NO IDEA.

I'd love something that definitively answered the question myself

Anna

USB charging is much smarter than it used to be. Today's USB devices can handshake with a USB charger to let the charger know how much current it can handle. Generally, you can use a 10A charger on a device that only needs 1A charging rates. The USB wall charger will adjust to the device's needs through a process called handshaking. In USB 2.x that involves a current limiting resistor in the device you are charging. In USB 3.0 there's intelligent solid state circuitry that determines what kind of device you plugged in and delivers the right current level as it charges. USB 3.0 uses a new connector that is compatible with older Rev 2.0 devices, but new USB 3.x features probably won't work with the USB 2.x connection. Consider them charge only unless they are plugged into a USB 3.x port.

How USB Charging Works, or How to Avoid Blowing Up Your Smartphone - ExtremeTech

Can I blow up my USB device?

There is a huge variance, then, between normal USB ports rated at 500mA, and dedicated charging ports, which range all the way up to 3,000mA. This leads to an important question: If you take a phone which came with a 900mA wall charger, and plug it into a 2,100mA iPad charger, as an example, will it blow up?

In short, no: You can plug any USB device into any USB cable and into any USB port, and nothing will explode — and in fact, using a more powerful charger should speed up battery charging. We now do this all the time with our mobile devices here at ExtremeTech, and we’ve never had a problem.

The longer answer is that the age of your device plays an important role, dictating both how fast it can be charged, and whether it can be charged using a wall charger at all. Way back in 2007, the USB Implementers Forum released the Battery Charging Specification, which standardized faster ways of charging USB devices, either by pumping more amps through your PC’s USB ports, or by using a wall charger. Shortly thereafter, USB devices that implemented this spec started to arrive.

 

[Rossum]

I don’t think you should use the one for your phone as it usually charges at a higher rate.

Look in your manual. I believe it requires either a 1A or 2A charge rate.

USB ports and wall warts aren't "chargers", they are power supplies the produce 5V at up to a certain maximum current. A mod that charges via USB will have an in-built charge controller that uses this 5V as an input.

 

[embee214]

So, from what DaveP and Rossum are saying, I take it I can just plug in to the wall adapter that came with my 2 year old iPhone and be good?

I read through the article, and the gist is that if I'm using a "modern" device, it will be smart enough to do what it's supposed to do? Is a 2 year old adapter modern enough? I'm trying to read the lettering on the back of it and it's so tiny that even with a magnifying glass I'm not 100% sure what it says. 5v, 1 amp, I think.

Honestly, I've never been able to wrap my head around electronics...I just ask a lot of questions to make sure I'm being safe.

 

[r77r7r]

As long as your adapter isn't junk. Many are. Belkin and Anker are two premium producers of quality cables, and adapters. Personally, I use what's called a smart charger for my devices, plugged into a power strip, atty disengaged, never while sleeping or outside.

 

[DaveP]

So, from what DaveP and Rossum are saying, I take it I can just plug in to the wall adapter that came with my 2 year old iPhone and be good?

I read through the article, and the gist is that if I'm using a "modern" device, it will be smart enough to do what it's supposed to do? Is a 2 year old adapter modern enough? I'm trying to read the lettering on the back of it and it's so tiny that even with a magnifying glass I'm not 100% sure what it says. 5v, 1 amp, I think.

Honestly, I've never been able to wrap my head around electronics...I just ask a lot of questions to make sure I'm being safe.

I use my old Kindle 5 8A charger to charge everything USB while watching TV in the family room. In the Kitchen we have a couple of multiport wall chargers, an 8A 4 port and a 4A 3 port. Nothing gets hot because all USB 2.x spec devices have a current limiting resistor in the devices themselves. The resistor limits the current flow in the charging circuit to design current for the device.

Modern is USB 3.0. The plugs are compatible with USB 2.0 devices (which is what most USB devices are today). You won't get all the speed or features of USB 3.0, but your old devices will plug into any USB 3.0 port.

Is USB 3.0 backwards compatible?

It's backwards compatible. Your existing USB 2.0 gear will work on version 3.0 ports and vice versa. You'll be able to maximize your bandwidth when using a USB 3.0 cable with USB 3.0 devices and ports, otherwise plugging a 3.0 device into a 2.0 port or a 2.0 device into 3.0 a port will get you standard USB 2.0 data rates.

Since the new interface has been carefully planned from the start to peacefully co-exist with its predecessor, the connector itself remains mostly the same with the four USB 2.0 contacts in the exact same location as before. Extra pins for the new lanes dedicated to transmit and receive SuperSpeed data are located on the back and only come into contact when mated with a proper USB 3.0 port.