Charger Question

[mda]

I bought a Motorola Bluetooth headset to go with my Motorola Droid. The two chargers have the same plug ends however the outputs listed on the chargers are different: Droid- 5.1 V, 850mA; Headset- 5.0 V, 550mA.

It would be handy to use the chargers for either device. Can the chargers be used interchangeably with out problems? Can the lower output headset charger be used with the Droid but not vice-versa?

Thanks for the help.

[Finnstang]

I bought a Motorola Bluetooth headset to go with my Motorola Droid. The two chargers have the same plug ends however the outputs listed on the chargers are different: Droid- 5.1 V, 850mA; Headset- 5.0 V, 550mA.

It would be handy to use the chargers for either device. Can the chargers be used interchangeably with out problems? Can the lower output headset charger be used with the Droid but not vice-versa?

Thanks for the help.

The headset charger will not be able to supply enough current to charge the droid, but you can certainly use the Droid charger for the headset.

[mrschmitz]

I bought a Motorola Bluetooth headset to go with my Motorola Droid. The two chargers have the same plug ends however the outputs listed on the chargers are different: Droid- 5.1 V, 850mA; Headset- 5.0 V, 550mA.

It would be handy to use the chargers for either device. Can the chargers be used interchangeably with out problems? Can the lower output headset charger be used with the Droid but not vice-versa?

Thanks for the help.

The headset charger will not be able to supply enough current to charge the droid, but you can certainly use the Droid charger for the headset.

Actually, the headset charger should work for the phone, just won't charge the Droid as fast as the Droid charger. 550mA is closer to what you get from a USB port on your computer, which can be used to charge the Droid.

[mtnman64]

Along the same line of question regarding charging. I have the Eris. If I use the OEM charger, it charges rather quickly. If I use my other Motorola/generic USB mini chargers, seems like it takes significantly longer to charge. I looked at numbers and such on the various chargers, but frankly, it is all greek to me.

To get a good, fast charge, am I stuck buying more chargers (OEM)? I hate to do that, having so many of these other chargers, but definitely need the faster charging capability.

[MissEvoIXMR]

Along the charger note I had a generic type car charger for my bb storm which has the same plug set up as the Droid And I have tried using it with no luck it will maintain charge, but if my phones dead it wont charge at all..I'm unsure of the charging details for it.. maybe I should just get a Droid specific car charger..

[TheOldFart]

I bought a Motorola Bluetooth headset to go with my Motorola Droid. The two chargers have the same plug ends however the outputs listed on the chargers are different: Droid- 5.1 V, 850mA; Headset- 5.0 V, 550mA.

It would be handy to use the chargers for either device. Can the chargers be used interchangeably with out problems? Can the lower output headset charger be used with the Droid but not vice-versa?

Thanks for the help.

I have the same ones, plus the Verizon generic micro USB charger. I bought the Verizon one on 1/2 price sale before I decided to get the Motorola H715 headset. The Verizon one is 5.0 V, 800 ma and it works fine with the Droid. I haven't used the 550 ma headset one to charge the Droid, but it should work fine, just slower. I bought the second one initially because I have a travel trailer and I like to have chargers in there so that I don't forget one when I travel. All of the micro USB chargers should be interchangeable as long as they are at least 5.0 V, but probably not above 5.25 V. Too high could cause a problem, but I don't know what voltage that would be.

The USB port standard is 4.75 V to 5.25 V at 500 ma, so anything in that range should work, at least theoretically. Both devices are meant to be charged off of a USB port.

[Pele]

Here's an analogy of electricity that oughta help...
Think of electricity like water... It's got a flow to it.

You have voltage. This is the speed at which the water is moving... Low voltage is a slow, lazy river... High voltage is fastly moving rapids.

Then you have current. This is the amount that is moving. You can think of this as the depth and width of the river.


Now let's go play in the water. You can stand in the slow, lazy river and it won't do anything to you... But if you stand in the rapids, you're likely to get blown over.

Principle 1... Too much voltage is dangerous. Luckily, USB chargers are all around 5 volts. So we're covered there.


Now let's do some actual work with this water... Let's get out a little toy boat and try and float it.
You can stick the boat in the ocean and it'll float.
You can stick it in the bathtub and it'll float.
But if you stick the boat in a puddle on the sidewalk, it won't float. You don't have enough volume of water to float there.

Principle 2: Too much current won't hurt things. Too little current and it won't do anything though. Things only take as much current as they need, any excess is just left over.

This is akin to running the phone strictly off the charger.


Now... Let's try and fill up the bathtub with water. I'll give you a teacup (Small current), a bucket (Medium current), and a large barrel (Large current) Which will let you fill the tub faster?

Principle 3: Batteries will charge faster with a larger current supply.


That's the basics of what you should know. Some will say that heat will damage a battery. However, the Droid tracks the temperature of the battery and it should slow th rate of current going to the battery if it detects too high of a temperature.