It’s only sold in a two-pack, though, and while it may be cheaper per unit, we don’t think you should spend the money on chargers you don’t need. Both chargers also provide full power to MagSafe wireless charging accessories, including the MagSafe Charger and MagSafe Duo Charger. I’ve been reviewing mobile accessories since 2011 and covering them for Wirecutter since 2015. I’m also the author of Wirecutter’s guides to Qi wireless chargers and car chargers, for which I’ve seen and tested pretty much every available charging variation. RAVPower’s 30W Dual Port Compact PD Charger (RP-PC132) is more powerful than the smaller Anker PowerPort III Nano and Aukey PA-Y18. Its USB-C port can charge at up to 18 watts, and it has a second port—in the form of the classic USB-A—that allows you to charge a second device at the same time at up to 12 watts.
For this charger, the upper line doesn’t get very far, showing that this charger doesn’t output much current. My suspicion is that it was only tested with 240 volts so it performs poorly with 120 volts, even though the label says it takes 100 to 240 volts. This counterfeit charger shows extremely poor regulation, as shown by the very wide yellow line. The amount of power supplied by this charger seems almost random. I’m puzzled by the steep voltage sag on both the iPhone and iPad charger. Since the designers of the Apple charger went to a great deal of effort to build a high quality charger, I conclude they must not consider voltage sag worth worrying about. Or, more interestingly, maybe they built this sag as a feature for some reason. For this charger, the voltage is approximately flat, except for a bump under no load which is probably a measurement artifact. The vertical yellow line shows the current stays nearly constant as the load increases.
The system detects the port type, enumerates, and sends appropriate commands to a charger. The charger handles the hardware and safety aspects of charging, and has built-in limits that will not allow the system to harm the battery . USB has become as much a standard for connecting power to portable devices as it has for serial communication. Recently the power aspects of USB have been extended to cover battery charging as well as AC adapters and other power sources. A tangible benefit of this wide-spread use is the emergence of interchangeable plugs and adapters for charging and powering portable devices. This, in turn, allows charging from a far wider variety of sources than in the past when each device required a unique adapter.
For long term durability and performance, the exact wattage rating is less important than the quality of the charger. USB-IF certification provides good assurance of compatibility, reliability, and safety so the article focuses on those. Popular non-certified devices are listed as well for comparison since some are also high quality. If your phone supports Qualcomm Quick Charge, this is the best option we tested. It’s more compact and less expensive than the Aukey, and it focuses on more common legacy USB ports instead of newer USB-C. While only one of the ports is Quick Charge-capable, this charger will work with any device on either port. This charger is notable primarily because it’s really three devices in one. Sure, it’ll plug in to your 12-volt outlet and top your phone off, but it also functions as a 2600 mAh battery pack for mobile top-ups and an LED flashlight with safety strobe function. That could be legitimately useful if you need to change a tire after dark, or need to alert rescuers to your position after a natural disaster. You will need to solder some resistors to the pins/wires to make your usb device recognize the solar usb charger as a charging device.
Most portable laptop and tablet battery packs deliver watts which means your premium laptop will take a long time to charge and may not deliver enough power to keep your machine running at full performance. Battery packs that deliver 60-watts or more are preferred. When evaluating the overall capacity of the battery pack to understand how long it will keep your device running on the road, compare the watt-hour rating of the laptop vs the battery pack. The high price may be due in part to using more expensive internals designed to support Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0, but other Quick Charge units we tested cost less. Regardless, performance was respectable but unremarkable, consistently charging our test phone in 130 minutes. With a “normal” (non-Quick Charge) phone, this unit’s charging time was merely on par with other chargers. Larger than the RAVPower but still acceptably trim, the Maxboost also feels as if it was carefully designed and built using long-lasting materials. There’s even a grippy pattern molded into the plastic around the edge of the unit’s “head” that makes it easier to yank out of your car’s DC socket.
The Apple 10W charger has been replaced by a 12W version in the same packaging. The quick summary is cheap cables have higher resistance which makes charging slower. Like a couple of others, I would also like a test of an HTC charger. Also the iPad supply is advertised as a 10W adapter and that’s exactly what it delivers. It seems perverse to mark it down for living up to its specification. The power supplied is a USB nominal 5V, which is allowed to be as low as 4.4V. One thing I’d be interested to see would be how this maps on to the European insistence that everything use a micro-usb cable, so that people can minimise the number of charges they own. Apple cables seem the most consistant and ebay specials can lose 1/2 the power going to my iPad. I was totally surprised that various cables I have around the house have totally different charge rates.
Fit is one of the important features of a car charger and it differentiates a good product from an average one. For instance, my OnePlus Warp Charger has a bigger footprint and often comes loose and thus disconnects from the power source. The voltage is configurable and ranges between 5 volts and 20 volts. The best thing is that the plugged-in device will only pull power based on its rating, so you can rule out any damages owing to overheating. So, in case you are searching for USB-C car chargers with Power Delivery, we have compiled a list of the best chargers available in the market. Did you get a chance to tear down the Orange UK charger and check if there were any concrete safety issues, especially in the case that too much power is drawn for some reason? I am concerned if my chargers are also counterfeit, if you find they are actually dangerous in the configuration I’m using and that I might be guiding people to use these at home. I am aware about the importance of proper specifications, and the safety aspects for chargers.
The stainless-steel look keeps your kit safe from the worst case of clumsiness, while the 1200mAh battery lasts all day long. The power aspects of the spec are similar to USB 2.0 except that a “unit load” is raised from 100mA to 150mA and a high-power port has to supply six, rather than five, unit loads. This means that a low-power USB 3.0 port can supply 150mA, and a high-power USB 3.0 port can supply 900mA. Even though it seems that Li+ cells have taken over the portable world, NiMH cells have not been standing still. Surprisingly, NiMH energy per volume is only about 15% lower than Li+, although energy per weight is still quite a bit less. The biggest weakness of NiMH is its high self-discharge, which has largely been solved by hybrid NiMH cells, such as the SANYO® Eneloop® cell, that retain as much as 85% of their charge after one year. The attractions of NiMH cells are cost, safety, and easy user replacement, at least when standard cells are employed. Direct-connect switch-mode charger with ±22V overvoltage and reverse-polarity protection.
This change was made so that the connector on the less expensive cable would bear the most wear. The different A and B plugs prevent accidentally connecting two power sources. See the USB On-The-Go connectors section below for a more detailed summary description. The connectors the USB committee specifies support a number of USB’s underlying goals, and reflect lessons learned from the many connectors the computer industry has used. The female connector mounted on the host or device is called the receptacle, and the male connector attached to the cable is called the plug. The official USB specification documents also periodically define the term male to represent the plug, and female to represent the receptacle. Charges up to four tablets, phones or other mobile devices.
The point is that USB chargers are not interchangeable, and devices may not work if the charger type doesn’t match what the device expects. The table below shows the type of charger, the current that the label claims the charger provides, the current it actually provides, and the charger type it indicates to the device. A device being charged can detect what type of charger is being used through specific voltages on the USB data pins.Because of this, some devices only work with their own special chargers. A USB charger that follows the standard is known as a “dedicated USB charger”. However, some manufacturers don’t follow the USB standard but implement their own proprietary charger types. Apple has separate charger types for 1 amp and 2 amp chargers. The chargers are rated from 1 to 5 energy bolts, with 5 bolts the best. The overall rating below is the average of the ratings in nine different categories, based on my measurements of efficiency, power stability, power quality, and power output. The quick summary is that phone manufacturers provide pretty good chargers, the aftermarket chargers are worse, and $2 counterfeit chargers are pretty much junk.
USB 1.0 is old enough that you’ll virtually never see it, so USB2 – USB 3.2 covers the spectrum for most people. Separately from that, there’s USB-C, which is a physical connection standard that devices can use. In almost every case, your PC is the host, and your smartphone, tablet, or camera is the device. Power always flows from the host to the device, although data can flow in both directions, such as when you copy files back and forth between your computer and your phone. The descriptions below apply to all versions of USB currently in-use, including USB 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, and their various substandards (1×2, 2×2, etc). Wattage Find out the wattage needed for the device you own before purchasing a charger. While most USB-C chargers will be able to accommodate smartphones and tablets, those looking to charge compatible USB-C laptops will need to ensure that their charger has enough juice for the job.
USB Type-A fixed current limit switches are commonly used in various applications worldwide. With more than 100 devices in our portfolio, you can feel confident we have a device for your application. Then check out this completely different multi-port charger from Portronics. This charger has 6 ports consisting of pure white color and having smart UFO shape. Awaiting to know more, then check out the features of this unique multi-port charger. The eighth position among multi-port chargers is taken by the TP-Link company. This model of charger is circular and fits easily in the palm. The remaining 3 ports provide you the fastest possible charge. They are providing you 10 port-charger with a plastic finish.
Micro-USB connectors, which were announced by the USB-IF on 4 January 2007, have a similar width to Mini-USB, but approximately half the thickness, enabling their integration into thinner portable devices. Mini-USB connectors were introduced together with USB 2.0 in April 2000, for use with smaller devices such as digital cameras, smartphones, and tablet computers. The Mini-A connector and the Mini-AB receptacle connector have been deprecated since May 2007. Mini-B connectors are still supported, but are not On-The-Go-compliant; the Mini-B USB connector was standard for transferring data to and from the early smartphones and PDAs. Both Mini-A and Mini-B plugs are approximately 3 by 7 mm (0.12 by 0.28 in). To accomplish this, a locking device was added and the leaf-spring was moved from the jack to the plug, so that the most-stressed part is on the cable side of the connection.
This means that you can connect a Smartphone which came with a 900mA charger into a 2100mA as well as the device won’t blow up. The way your device negotiates with the charger greatly determines the way your device charges. When you plug your device for the wall charger or charging socket, the USB controller within your device communicates with all the USB controller linked to the charger. Keep your mobile devices charged and protected when you’re on the road with the Belkin SurgePlus 3-Outlet Mini Surge Protector. Plug this USB travel charger into any wall outlet and power up to three AC devices at once without extra cords. The 360-degree swivel feature makes it easy to fit this SurgePlus in small spaces.