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5V 1A or 2A charger?

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Th!erry Posted messages 770 Status Membre -  
 billi -

Hello,

Does anyone know for sure if I can charge my Sony smartphone with another charger, for example, the one from my TomTom GPS?

Normally, if the connectors are compatible, I think so, but I have serious doubts.

Let me explain:

With my Sony Xperia smartphone, I have this exact charger ==>> http://www.priceminister.com/image?action=slideshow&imagestype=PRODUCT&prdimageid=938469509&productid=200476518

If I take this connector ==>> https://www.google.fr/imgres?q=chargeur+tomtom+allume+cigare&hl=fr&biw=1242&bih=545&tbm=isch&tbnid=f7RpPHbqGbV41M%3A&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffr.shopping.com%2FAccessoires-GPS-TomTom-Tomtom-Chargeur-allume-cigare-pour-GPS-XL-ONE-GO-Start-series%2Fprix&docid=mzW0dv_3YTiwjM&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fdi1-1.shoppingshadow.com%2Fimages%2Fpi%2Fc4%2F14%2F9a%2F101410166-260x260-0-0_Accessoires%252BGPS%252BTomTom%252BTomtom%252BChargeur%252Ballume%252Bciga.jpg&w=260&h=259&ei=9QtXUb7GIcmN0wWn4YDgAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=123&vpy=223&dur=822&hovh=207&hovw=208&tx=124.27275085449219&ty=161.54547119140625&page=1&tbnh=146&tbnw=130&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t%3A429%2Cr%3A8%2Cs%3A0%2Ci%3A103&sfr=vfe and whether I can use my USB / mini USB cable to charge my Sony smartphone?

And I will foolishly end by asking you if in the end, can I not charge my Sony smartphone using any other charger from a different smartphone like Samsung, iPhone, etc.?

Since generally, the cable is a USB / mini USB type cable, so it should be compatible.... but when we look at the specifications, in terms of "intensity" (milliamperes), it's rarely the same, so can I or can't I charge my smartphone with a charger of a different type and brand?

Please feel free to enlighten me on this subject, because I feel like we are being made to buy cables and chargers (to stick to the same brand) to charge our mobiles, but I'm not convinced that it's necessary.

Thank you

7 answers

Answer 1 / 7
Gui69
 
Hello,

Charging a phone or any other electrical or electronic device is very simple.
Just two things to know:
  • You need to check the power required to charge your device, that is to say the voltage and the current. It is usually written on the device or on the device's battery; this is the voltage and current IN. Mobile phones generally require a voltage of 5 volts and a current of 1 Ampere.
  • You should also know that the Voltage must be STRICTLY identical. You can only charge a device that requires 5 volts with a 5-volt charger.
  • However, for the current expressed in Amperes or mA, there is just one rule to follow for proper charging: the charger's amperage must be greater than or equal to that of the device. If your device requires a charging current of 1 Ampere, you need a charger that delivers at least 1 Ampere to charge it properly; so yes, a charger that provides 2A, 3A, 4A, etc., is fine too, because in fact, the charger's current is the maximum current it can provide! Thus, if your phone only needs 1 Ampere and you have a charger that goes up to 2A, that’s great! The device being charged will only take what it needs in terms of charge. However, if your phone requires a charging current of 1A and your CHARGER can provide a maximum current of only 0.85A (or 850 mA), the device being charged will not charge properly and may even become unusable due to insufficient power in the battery! So even if you leave your device that requires 1 A of charging current to charge for a day or a year with a charger that can only deliver 0.850 A, the device will not charge properly even in 1000 years!!!


So let's summarize:
  • To properly charge a device, the voltage between the charger (voltage out) and the device being charged (voltage IN) must be exactly the same, which is to say 5Volts = 5Volts.
  • However, the current that the CHARGER can deliver must always be greater than the current required to charge your device's battery. So with a CHARGER of 2A or 3A, etc., you can easily recharge a battery that only requires 1A of charging current.
  • Conversely, if your device requires 1A of charging current, it cannot be properly recharged with a CHARGER that can provide a maximum of only 0.99 A.
910
Gui69 > Mmax59U
 
Hello,
Sorry for this late response.
@Mmax, if the current and voltage delivered by your charger do not match the power needed to properly charge your battery, yes, this can electronically damage your device.

@Hivibreur, the voltage of your device being charged and your charger must always match! As for the current, it's not the same, since it's always the device being charged that requests the current it needs from the charger; but once again, the voltage (often expressed in Volts) must be the same from the perspective of both the charger and the device being charged.
6
billi > LinconnuBienConnu
 

Hello LinconnuBienConnu

You write:

My phone is a Samsung.

My charger is a Huawei.

Is it going to charge or not?

Answer: If it’s compatible, yes.

Will you have fast charging? No, not necessarily the one promised by the phone.

Is it safe or risky? We can’t know just with a brand. A weak link can also burn out. A limiting link also limits. Just because a brand knows how to do it doesn’t mean that the components you have in your hands are 100% compatible.

If in the middle, an element like a socket or a cable, or a battery not suited to the supplied charge, doesn’t hold up, it can burn out or not charge completely or charge too slowly. If the charger doesn’t hold up or doesn’t have permission or for recent devices doesn’t receive the correct charging instructions for voltage current and the resistance it sees isn’t suited to its capabilities, it goes badly.

With lithium batteries, not only does it not work or work poorly, but the risks of fire or explosion are significant.

That’s why it’s preferable to also choose components from the same manufacturer, it’s not a matter of more expensive or less expensive, it’s that too often they each have different technologies and have adopted different practices, and compatibility isn’t 100% in reality, even standards have changed over the years and not everything is backward compatible with maximum performance.

As we don’t always have all the info either and the parts come from very different backgrounds in practice, even standards aren’t always the same sometimes and the risk of errors increases.

It’s more a question of origin, stop reopening conversations with 100 different questions, the answers are often no longer valid for the other questions.

Especially when the answer dates back to 2018 to a modified question in 2021 that no longer corresponds to the title, which may have been modified as well.

The 12v car battery charged to 14v is not lithium, and not all car batteries can handle 14v under any conditions, nor a significantly different alternator.

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