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can someone please explain to my friend that.....

B

bdnh

Newbie
I am affraid that your observation of which charger will supply more power is impossible to substantiate from what you are saying and what the pics depict. The fact is that ANY charger whether a fixed cord type or a removable one is only going to put out the power it is rated for, regardless of whether the cord is removable or not.

To know what the actual power output is, look at the label on the adapter and you should see a power rating such as "Output 5.1V 850mA". This means the power supply produces 5.1 Volts of power and can supply up to 850 milliamps (850/1000 of an Amp) of power. This is the exact rating of the stock Motorola power supply WITH the removable power cord/USB data cable.

Anything other than the above ratings can result in a variety of problems. Those with lower power ratings will take longer to charge the battery and can result in a battery that never reaches a full charge. A charger that produces more than 850mA can result in too rapid of a charging which can cause the battery to overheat - risking major catastrophic failure.

Unfortunately just because it has a rating for power output doesn't mean it can provide that full output for any long duration. Some rate their supplies for Peak or Maximum power output, whereas others rate it for sustained power (average). Also, just because it says 5.1V 850mA doesn't mean it is CLEAN power. The job of the adapter is to take 110-120VAC and convert it into the 5.1VDC power required by the phone and battery. Part of this process is to take the 60Hz AC current and convert it into DC (essentially 0Hz). In this process a good supply will filter any remaining "noise" or remnants of the 60Hz line frequency and produce a pure DC voltage stream. Some companies cut corners in the production of these devices and the result is "dirty" power, i.e. power that has fluctuations in the voltages, as well as "noise" or other spikes of transient voltages which can damage extremely sensitive electronic circuitry.

Finally, ANY charger other than those supplied by Motorola and/or approved by them for the Droid can cause the Droid to suffer intermittent functionality problems, potentially cause permanent damage to either the battery or the phone, and also these unapproved chargers void your warranty.
 
ok i complately understand what your saying...
but i still dont agree basicaaly off of me using both chargers.
 
Please don't misunderstand...I am not saying that the charger in the second link is NOT capable of more power output than the one in the first link. What I AM saying is that the pictures and descriptions do not substantiate that claim. Again, compare the RATINGS for each charger to be sure which is the more powerful one. It could very well be that the fixed-cord charger shown is a 500mA charger, whereas the removable one is perhaps 800mA (or higher).

Still, BE CAREFUL when using other than the recommended chargers with these phones. You may think you are gaining a benefit by using a charger with a higher rating than the stock charger since it charges your battery faster...unfortunately it will reduce the battery's life expectancy and as stated before could possibly damage the battery and/or the phone.

Note: Upon closer examination of the pic for the removable cord charger, it is rated at MAX 1000mA. This means it is capable of producing 1 full Amp of current. Whether it produces that current constantly or only for short durations remains to be determined. However, it is 150mA HIGHER than the factory specifications for the Droid, and as such both voids your warranty and also can cause permanent damage to either the battery or the phone, as well as potentially causing the battery to overheat and even to explode.
 
also might i add i agree with you again..but i was just using those two chargers are example to what my friend uses and to what i use.
 
And again, with just those pictures, we cant tell you which one will charge faster. It depends on the output amperage. For example, the stock charger for my evo puts out 1000ma, while my car charger only puts out 700ma. Now, both of these chargers will completely charge the phone. Using the lesser one will just take a little longer, but it will still fill the battery just the same.
 
I assume your are just referring to the hard-wired plug versus a detachable one. There is no difference in charging ability between the two if all other factors are equal.

Note that the original post is contradictory. With the pictures you say the detachable one will charge better, but in the text below you state the hard-wired is better.
 
bdnh said:
now tell me if im wrong or something but i believe that the ones that break away into a reg. usb cord are not a strong as a straight charge one.
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Why in the world would you believe such a thing?

The current capacity of a charger has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with whether it has a detachable cord or not. I'm at a complete loss as to why you would even think such a thing.
 
I think what he is saying is that his wall charger makes the charge last longer than his usb charger does. I am not sure what/why people are noticing this (I have read about people that said that), but it shouldn't be the case. Once the battery is fully charged, it is fully charged. The cable used to get it there shouldn't matter at all.
 
Folks, I think it's a matter of perception (which we all know can be reality for some) and a lack of knowledge regarding basic electrical theory for the OP. The last 4 posts are quite spot on. There is potentially a nominal loss of current over longer cords (such as those which are fixed cords versus the relatively short USB data/charger cord), but over the typical runs of a wall adapter (normally between 3 and 6 feet), the loss would be so minor that it would not play a significant role in whether that charger were better than another.

RE410, I did notice what you pointed out, the contradiction in the OP, but decided to take the middle road and simply point out the facts.

Sitlet also makes a good point re; the stock charger versus the car adapter. Strangely, often the car chargers are "rapid chargers" which actually exceed by a significant margin the AC adapters and can charge in 1-2 hours, whereas the AC adapters are typically called "trickle chargers", meant to charge over night.

The problem of batteries never reaching a full charge (which is discussed on many forums) has to do with several things, including the current draw of the phone while it's being charged. For higher end phones with faster processors and larger internal ram, and also phones which are running several background processes even while on charge, the phone can draw so much current that it can actually impede the charging of the battery such that the battery will reach a point of no-loss, no-gain. Typically this is at about 70% for many who have experienced this problem. I think it also has to do with the generic (aka Chinese imports) chargers which many times are rated at 500mA to conform to USB standards. Also, some phones are purported to have circuitry which determines if the charger is within a recommended range of current output and if not, the phone will reject the charger outright. This characteristic is notable with Droids as discussed in forums.

BDNH, it's safe to say that the charger that came with the phone is the best charger to use, whether faster or slower than others on the market, since the manufacturer has run countless "life of service" tests where they charge and discharge batteries at different rates to determine the optimum charging rate which gives the shortest charging time to obtain a complete charge while also extending the batteries' life and preventing overheating. Any experimentation with chargers other than those recommended by the manufacturer is at your own risk.
 
If all other factors are equal, i.e. both chargers have the same mA ratings, cable is the same length and same gauge of wire then removable or non removable cord makes no difference.
I prefer the removable cord, picked up a couple spare that maeched the OEM one from my droid and then have a couple 12v to USB car adapters that way I only need one USB cable in my bag that can work with the car, wall or computer.
 
Are some of the chargers that you plug a separate USB cable into wired to report to the phone that it's charging via USB instead of A/C power? I know that's the case with cigarette lighter adapters anyway. Even if two adapters have the same maximum charge capacity, if they're wired to be detected as USB charging the phone will only pull a slow charge...

In any case like it's been said, the pictures provided don't give enough information to say if one or the other of those specific chargers will be faster than the other. The factory fast charger for my myTouch Slide is the removable USB cable type and it does a fast charge. If I plug the phone into a hardwired micro USB charger, it will be the exact same speed. It's only if I plug the phone into a PC/Laptop or lighter adapter that the charge rate drops, even though the lighter adapter is rated at 1000 milliamps.
 
i think the OP.. has crossed his information...

it aint the cable
it aint the detachable or not.

I think i read somewhere... it is the USB connection technology...
I read that USB connections from Computers and Laptops only put out so much power / amp... which is low compared to others sources of power.

OP has miss took the limits of USB power standards for the hardware cable. So..plugging the usb cable to the computer... vs plugging the same usb cable to a wall charger / car charger. You might see (normally) that it will charge slower from the Computer usb.

That is what I remember... I might be mistaken too! :p
 
ahhhhh forget the picuture!!!!! think of it as if you had the detachable charger and a "non" detachable charger.... there has to be a difference in how much your phone will stay on.
 
sooo.... in this hypothetical experiment of yours..
all things are equal..
except that the cable is detachable. one is and one is not.

then there is a very very very small loss at the connection area. this loss would be considered an extremely small resistance that would produce heat that is very very small.

so if you had to put a number to it... yes there would be a small difference. Could you see the difference in charge time and power?
I would guess it be about a sec difference in charge time.

soo... yes.. you are very very correct that the connection will make a difference.

are you happy now?
 
bdnh said:
ahhhhh forget the picuture!!!!! think of it as if you had the detachable charger and a "non" detachable charger.... there has to be a difference in how much your phone will stay on.
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No. Short of a minuscule difference like dan330 mentioned, the mere difference of a detachable vs non-detachable cable has no effect on how quickly a phone will charge, how long the battery will last once charged, or anything else like that. The difference that the connection of the detachable cable makes will be smaller than the effect of room temperature or actual line voltage at the outlet will make.
 
blackandwhite said:
ive noticed an obvious difference with a standard wall charging compared to charging with the USB. USB is waaay longer
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A usb plugged into your computer or a usb plugged into your wall?

Your usb port in your computer is only 5 watts or something.. so its going to charge much slower than your wall...

A usb cord plugged into the wall charges faster than a usb cord plugged into you wall.

FWIW I think this is all moot seeing as without using the proper charger for a device you can damage battery life.

I hear "quick charge" devices are the absolute worst.
 
bottom line, charging time is dependent on the output power of the charger you're using
to answer the op's question, if you have a detachable usb charger and a fixed wired charger rated for the same output power, they will take the same time to charge. cable type will not matter...

and yes generally speaking charging from your computer will take longer than the wall\

*(i am an electrician)
 
Snow_Fox said:
...
FWIW I think this is all moot seeing as without using the proper charger for a device you can damage battery life.

I hear "quick charge" devices are the absolute worst.
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I remember somebody did some really in-depth research into this. I think it turned out that after a year of daily charging that the quick-charged battery had lost 10% more capacity than the trickle charged one. I'm not positive on the numbers, but I remember that it wasn't a big enough difference to make me care. Instead of buying a slow charger to replace the quick charger that came with my phone, I'll just buy a new battery in a year or at whatever time after that I notice battery life suffering...

Snow_Fox said:
...
A usb cord plugged into the wall charges faster than a usb cord plugged into your computer.

....
Click to expand...

Lol, FYP. :p
 
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