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[Q] Are all USB Charges the Same?

I have about 5 Micro USB wall charger laying around, so when I got my Captivate I was happy to see that it used a Micro USB.
My question is.... Is all of the Micro USB power supplies the same? the ones i have are from different Motorola phones.
Thanks,

Coldheat1906 said:
I have about 5 Micro USB wall charger laying around, so when I got my Captivate I was happy to see that it used a Micro USB.
My question is.... Is all of the Micro USB power supplies the same? the ones i have are from different Motorola phones.
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume you mean the wall charger. The charger and the cable are actually separate. You can plug any USB cable into this that has a female USB end. The other end could be mini, micro, ipod, or something else.
They are not all the same - the Moto charger delivers more Amps then the Captivate. Some charger deliver less. The phone will only draw what it is set to, so you can use just about all of them.

cool thanks

The short answer: It's probably fine
The long answer:
USB is a specification, so anything using usb should be designed to run at (for USB 2.0) 4.4-5.25 V. It *should* be fine for charging any microUSB device (the "U" is for "Universal") but I guess it's possible (though unlikely) that the company that made the charger did something funky/proprietary with the voltage/amperage, which would make it not USB even though it uses a USB port. See if the charger says the operating voltage/current on it. It should say around 5V and somewhere in the range of 150-900 mA. If it does, you're golden, if it doesn't say you're still probably fine.

The phone is actually quite picky about chargers. It can recognize a USB charger in either (1) AC wall charger or (2) USB charger. If your paritular charger can be recognized as AC charger, it can be charged in a faster rate if your wall charger can deliver. The Captivate comes with a 700ma wall charger. Some can deliver 1000ma or even higher but Captivate internally limits to 1000ma max from what I read. The higher the amprage, the faster it can charge the battery.
On the other hand, if your charger is recognized as USB charger, not only you will be prompted to select USB mode (if you configured to do so) as if you connect it to a PC, you will also be limited to maximum of 500ma of charging current per USB standard. It will be slower than the stock charger (which is slow already).

foxbat121 said:
The phone is actually quite picky about chargers. It can recognize a USB charger in either (1) AC wall charger or (2) USB charger. If your paritular charger can be recognized as AC charger, it can be charged in a faster rate if your wall charger can deliver. The Captivate comes with a 700ma wall charger. Some can deliver 1000ma or even higher but Captivate internally limits to 1000ma max from what I read. The higher the amprage, the faster it can charge the battery.
On the other hand, if your charger is recognized as USB charger, not only you will be prompted to select USB mode (if you configured to do so) as if you connect it to a PC, you will also be limited to maximum of 500ma of charging current per USB standard. It will be slower than the stock charger (which is slow already).
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It is not "picky" it follows the USB specifications. For instance I have a 4 port USB wall charger that is capable of supplying 5 volts at 2000 mA to one port or 5v @ 500 mA to 4 ports. Unfortunately the charger is not complex enough to know how many devices are plugged in at once and therefore always signals to all devices to only use a maximum of 500 mA. So if those devices follow the specs they will only draw 500 mA max since it is seen as a high current device (low current devices only should draw 100 mA max).
I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE OPEN UP ANY ELECTRICS EVER ESPECIALLY ONES WHEN CONNECTED TO THE AC LINES IN YOUR HOMES. IT IS A FIRE AND ELECTROCUTION RISK AND I NOR ANYONE ELSE TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN STUPIDITY.
However I hacked it by adding a resistor of proper value between the data pins so that the phone if it wanted to could use the full 2000 mA. Know whenever plugged into that USB port the phone goes into AC mode and from some rough testing during the bulk charging phase the phone charges at a rate of 40% per hour instead of the USB modes 20% per hour. With this hack it takes roughly 3 hours to fully charge since the final charging stage of lithium batteries requires the current to slowly be dialed back. Thats a lot better than the USB modes 5 hours.

icedfire101 said:
It is not "picky" it follows the USB specifications.
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Click to collapse
I say it is picky because without hacking it will only use USB mode for most wall chargers and car chargers out there. It probably won't be any problem for a slow wall charger. But for car charger, 500ma is simply not enough if you also run GPS navigation. The phone uses more than 500ma of juice in that mode. I've to hack my car charger (a 700ma USB charger designed for iPod etc) couple times to let it reliably recognize as AC charger.

foxbat121 said:
I say it is picky because without hacking it will only use USB mode for most wall chargers and car chargers out there. It probably won't be any problem for a slow wall charger. But for car charger, 500ma is simply not enough if you also run GPS navigation. The phone uses more than 500ma of juice in that mode. I've to hack my car charger (a 700ma USB charger designed for iPod etc) couple times to let it reliably recognize as AC charger.
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Click to collapse
Again that is not "picky" it is doing what it is suppose to. What we really need are companies that will follow the USB standards and make Dedicated Charging Ports on there chargers. Most companies cheap out and only make 500 mA and 700 mA products (which that is why charging is so slow). Then they sell it to consumers that don't know any better. Especially with the 700 mA chargers since consumers will think that it is better because of the bigger number but devices that properly follow the USB spec will still only draw 500 mA. (I don't know what specifications Apple follows with their device but since a lot of those that I see with 700 mA are geared toward apples device they may be able to make use of them.) I know of no open specification for a USB device to pull 700 mA.
As to why the Samsung stock charger that came with the phone is 700 mA, I m guessing it is because of cost again. I can tell you though that it doesn't short the data lines with the proper X ohm resister for a Dedicated Charging Port. So I m thinking they made their own proprietary standard there just so they could save a few bucks on each charger but still give the consumer something to feel good about for buying there overpriced stuff.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE OPENING UP ANY ELECTRONICS, EVER. ESPECIALLY ONES CONNECTED TO THE AC LINES IN YOUR HOMES. IT IS A FIRE AND ELECTROCUTION RISK AND I NOR ANYONE ELSE TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN STUPIDITY.
Dedicated Charging Ports are required to supply 1800 mA. That means if you try and hack a device that is only rated at 700 mA to be a Dedicated Charging Port the device will possibly overheat and die or cause a fire if any device actually tries to pull the 1800 mA.
As far as car chargers: It is very simple to make a Dedicated Charging Port for a car charger provided you have an old USB one you can mod. Just get a DC-to-DC converter that will convert 11-14 volts (your car battery's voltage range) to 5 volts and throw a X ohm resistor on the USB data pins. Put it all in the empty shell of the donor and your done.

1 Amp Apple wall charger

Are all of Apple's OEM iPhone wall chargers (the white little square looking one's) rated at 1 amp? They're cheap on eBay and I like their small form factor and want to pick one up for my Captivate. Thx

I use one and they work fine.

^If you have your charger on hand, would you mind checking to see if it outputs 1Amp?

On your phone, go to Settings->About Phone->Status->Battery Status. If it says "Charging (AC)", it is charging at the max amperage the charger can offer (up to 1A). If it says "Charging (USB)", it is only charging at 500mA, the max a PC USB can offer. I'm pretty sure for iPhone/iPod chargers, it will show later case on our phone because it is not wired according to Samsung's AC charging requirement. I knew this because I had a 3rd party Car charger that was designed for iPhone/iPod and it won't let my Captivate to charge in AC charger mode. I have to open the charger and make a few mod myself to let Captivate to recognize this is an AC charger, not PC USB.
On the other hand, my 1A charger from Kodak Zi8 flash cam works w/o problem with Captivate.

foxbat121 said:
On your phone, go to Settings->About Phone->Status->Battery Status. If it says "Charging (AC)", it is charging at the max amperage the charger can offer (up to 1A). If it says "Charging (USB)", it is only charging at 500mA, the max a PC USB can offer. I'm pretty sure for iPhone/iPod chargers, it will show later case on our phone because it is not wired according to Samsung's AC charging requirement.
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Click to collapse
ty for the reply. I modded a usb retractable cable by shorting the middle connectors and when I go into settings it shows it's "Charging AC". This is with a generic 700mA usb wall charger I got with a cheap connector kit for my old iPhone.
Anyway, I recently got my Captivate and I find myself constantly playing with it, but it kills my battery doing so. I just want to charge my phone as quickly as possible so I can continue playing with it some more (in a good way).
I like Apple's wall charger because it's small.

From what I have read they are rated at 650 mv so fox is right that they will show as a usb connection. I have never really paid attention and am making a relatively uneducated, yet randomly tested, through my own purely subjective method of simply plugging my phone into anything that will allow my usb cord access, guess that anything with a female usb connection is fine.
Li-ion batteries are kinda dangerous so I am pretty sure there is some sort of idiot proofing built into the charging circuitry in the phone as well.

I'm pretty sure the Captivate will only draw the amps it needs so there should be no danger whether the wall charger is 1 or 2 Amps or more.

The difference is simply the charge time. The phone needs about 3 to 4 hours to get a full charge on the stock 700mA charger. When using generic USB chargers, it will be limited to 500mA max regardless what the charger is capable of and the full charge time will be proportionally longer. The bigger problem is that when your battery is really really low, 500mA may not be enough to even start the charging. That's why you need always keep the OEM charger handy for emergency.
BTW, for a car charger, 500mA won't keep your bettery from draining if you run navigation app that needs to power GPS chip, keep the screen on and download map from 3G connection at the same time. It requires 700mA or more. That is why it is very critical for a car charger be recognized by the phone as AC charger to draw more juice.

Ok, as I stated in my previous post I modded a USB cable by shorting the two middle data connectors, which tricks the Captivate into thinking it's charging with AC through my generic 700mA wall charger. It also says in settings it's "AC Charging" when I looked.
I just wanted to know if the iPhone's wall charger is rated at 1A or was it 650mA?? as newter55 stated.
thx for everyone's help.
Edit: My mistake, I thought I posted this in the Q&A section.

For some new PC motherboard with USB3.0,
they can output 900mA~1000mA(1A) in one single USB port.
You may check this out http://goo.gl/TUaef
If your PC is already 2 years old or older, the usb will only output 500mA in the max.
And, most Li-ion charger are smart enough.
In fact Li-ion charger circuit need to be well design in current control and over current/charge control.
The circuit will not pump full current to the battery in the beginning,
and it will not draw too much, so no need to worry about burn it up.
However if the current is too high let's say 10A.... it may possibly burn the circuit.
Maybe it is a bit difficult to measure current, you need to cut the wire and plug it to ampmeter....
Here is some reference.
500mA - full charge need over 3hrs
700mA - around 2hrs
1A - ~1.5 hr

johan8 said:
For some new PC motherboard with USB3.0,
they can output 900mA~1000mA(1A) in one single USB port.
You may check this out http://goo.gl/TUaef
If your PC is already 2 years old or older, the usb will only output 500mA in the max.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not about USB port side. The phone itself also detects and determines how much current it will draw. If it detects it is a PC USB, it will only draw 500mA max as Captivate is designed following USB 2.0 spec.

Ok, thanks for everyone's help. I was able to find out on my own after scouring the internet and talking to someone who has the Apple wall charger and it is indeed 1Amps. I believe all wall chargers that come with the iPhone 3g and all iPhone models after are 1Amps. Not sure about the original iPhone 2g.
Also, for curiosities sake, the iPad USB wall charger is 2Amps.

foxbat121 said:
It is not about USB port side. The phone itself also detects and determines how much current it will draw. If it detects it is a PC USB, it will only draw 500mA max as Captivate is designed following USB 2.0 spec.
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Click to collapse
Maybe.
I don't know the control circuit inside GalaxyS.
But USB2.0 doesn't means it is just 500mA.
iphone is just usb2.0, but it is the only thing can draw 1A from USB ?
http://goo.gl/GVqKl
(with designated m/b)

johan8 said:
Maybe.
I don't know the control circuit inside GalaxyS.
But USB2.0 doesn't means it is just 500mA.
iphone is just usb2.0, but it is the only thing can draw 1A from USB ?
http://goo.gl/GVqKl
(with designated m/b)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're missing the point. The charge port on the phone can draw more than 500mA but only if it detects it is connected to a AC charger. Like mentioned above, you have to short the data PINs on the USB port or cable to let the Captivate think it is connected to AC charger. For iPhone, the data pins need to be connected to certain specific voltages in order to let iPhone know it is connected to an Apple AC charger.
When the phone can not detect AC charger characteristics, it falls back to PC USB 2.0 spec which is 500mA max.

I use one to charge my Zune. Haven't had a problem.

foxbat121 said:
You're missing the point. The charge port on the phone can draw more than 500mA but only if it detects it is connected to a AC charger. Like mentioned above, you have to short the data PINs on the USB port or cable to let the Captivate think it is connected to AC charger. For iPhone, the data pins need to be connected to certain specific voltages in order to let iPhone know it is connected to an Apple AC charger.
When the phone can not detect AC charger characteristics, it falls back to PC USB 2.0 spec which is 500mA max.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I fully understand what you're saying.
In iphone3, it can only draw 700mA from USB,
IP4 can draw nearly 1A from "computer" USB.
While iphone are just USB2.0 !
GalaxyS can draw 1A in max.
But does it like iphone4 can draw 1A from PC USB ? I don't know.
Or just like IP3 can draw only 500~700mA ?
I don't have new m/b and ampmeter so can't testing on it.

Charging Cables

Do the TF200/Prime/Other cables word with the Infinity?
I'm thinking about just getting a couple of spare cables here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007GJR7GS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=A1HKVQTYI2W24Y but want to make sure that they fit and work.
Also, (perhaps a separate thread?) Can we use any AC to USB converter (and cable) to charge the Infinity? The adapter bundled with mine was a bit more robust than normal adapters so I'm inclined to think no, but wanted to confirm before I get a spare one.

My cable from my prime works with the infinity....I also tried a cigarette to USB plug in my Jeep and it would not charge the Infinity

if anyone finds out if other USB charging adapters work successfully, could you please post about it?
much thanks

JMH-ESH said:
if anyone finds out if other USB charging adapters work successfully, could you please post about it?
much thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
None of them will work. The charging cable for the TF700 doesn't use any the USB pins for charging. It has additional USB3-style pins hidden up inside the connector. Also, the stock charger outputs 15V which I doubt we'd find on any standard USB charger.

DefectiveRobot said:
None of them will work. The charging cable for the TF700 doesn't use any the USB pins for charging. It has additional USB3-style pins hidden up inside the connector. Also, the stock charger outputs 15V which I doubt we'd find on any standard USB charger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, correcting my previous post, it can charge via a USB 2.0 connection (as on a standard USB charger) but very very slowly. The current is not enough to charge it while the screen is on. The display will read, "Not Charging" but it actually does. See the following thread for more info:
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1788055

I want to extend the charging cable. Can I use any regular USB M to F cable or do I need something specific?

Aria807 said:
I want to extend the charging cable. Can I use any regular USB M to F cable or do I need something specific?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you need a usb 3.0 extension cord to extend the cable

wolfman87 said:
Do the TF200/Prime/Other cables word with the Infinity?
I'm thinking about just getting a couple of spare cables here: but want to make sure that they fit and work.
Also, (perhaps a separate thread?) Can we use any AC to USB converter (and cable) to charge the Infinity? The adapter bundled with mine was a bit more robust than normal adapters so I'm inclined to think no, but wanted to confirm before I get a spare one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got this one and it worked for me.
off of e- bay Item number: 180937129661

DefectiveRobot said:
None of them will work. The charging cable for the TF700 doesn't use any the USB pins for charging. It has additional USB3-style pins hidden up inside the connector. Also, the stock charger outputs 15V which I doubt we'd find on any standard USB charger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Umm... did you actually test that? I went through my charger pin by pin with a multi-meter and found 5 VDC between pins 1 and 4. Look closely at the charger, it says it can supply 5VDC @ 2A or 15VDC @ 1.2 A. The only reason for switching to 15VDC would be if they had some sort of feedback signal on pins 2 and 3 going to the plug-in adapter to signal that the battery was fully charged and tell it to switch to a higher voltage/lower current mode.

ASUS standard charging cable has 5 pins instead of 4. I'm betting the feedback you're looking for actually occurs on the 5th pin.

Charger and cable specifics

Even after cruising through some searches, I'm still trying to nail down the specifics of the cable and charger. The charger says it runs at 2A at 5v or 1.2A at 15v. Does anyone know why it has two listed and which mode it actually uses when plugged in?
Also, I'm interested in 'extending' the 5 foot charging cable and have seen it suggested to use a USB 3.0 extension cable. Can anyone confirm that this will work okay?
Lastly, I'm looking at the Antec UA4-25 charger to sorta consolidate my charging needs. Anyone have any feedback on this and whether it will work okay with the TF700 and/or a USB 3.0 extension like I mentioned above?
Thanks for any feedback!!

doncaruana said:
Even after cruising through some searches, I'm still trying to nail down the specifics of the cable and charger. The charger says it runs at 2A at 5v or 1.2A at 15v. Does anyone know why it has two listed and which mode it actually uses when plugged in?
Also, I'm interested in 'extending' the 5 foot charging cable and have seen it suggested to use a USB 3.0 extension cable. Can anyone confirm that this will work okay?
Lastly, I'm looking at the Antec UA4-25 charger to sorta consolidate my charging needs. Anyone have any feedback on this and whether it will work okay with the TF700 and/or a USB 3.0 extension like I mentioned above?
Thanks for any feedback!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The charger can actually output both voltages. The 5V is used to charge regular USB devices. When you plug a Transformer, one of the USB3 cable pins is used for identification of the tablet. The charger then switches to 15V voltage. See this and this threads.
Any USB3 extension cable should be OK to use. I haven't tried that myself, but I'm sure it would work.

Official charger and USB Type A connection

I just got an additional official charger (twin port), when for the https://store.google.com/product/usb_c_dual_port_charger and was wondering if I get a Type C - A adapter can I also plug in an micro USB to type A cable and let it charge a micro USB device? Just want to make sure having a high amp output won't fry a phone or tablet that is not expect such a high output.
Thinking about it logically the USB Type A to micro should in theory deliver a lower level of voltage? I just want to make sure that my travel kit as a means to charge any device I may have.
Also want to see if any one things charging two devices of this with different connections would be an issue?

moe2046 said:
I just got an additional official charger (twin port), when for the https://store.google.com/product/usb_c_dual_port_charger and was wondering if I get a Type C - A adapter can I also plug in an micro USB to type A cable and let it charge a micro USB device? Just want to make sure having a high amp output won't fry a phone or tablet that is not expect such a high output.
Thinking about it logically the USB Type A to micro should in theory deliver a lower level of voltage? I just want to make sure that my travel kit as a means to charge any device I may have.
Also want to see if any one things charging two devices of this with different connections would be an issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, assuming it is designed to spec. The device should control the draw and the charger should supply it intelligently.

moe2046 said:
I just got an additional official charger (twin port), when for the https://store.google.com/product/usb_c_dual_port_charger and was wondering if I get a Type C - A adapter can I also plug in an micro USB to type A cable and let it charge a micro USB device? Just want to make sure having a high amp output won't fry a phone or tablet that is not expect such a high output.
Thinking about it logically the USB Type A to micro should in theory deliver a lower level of voltage? I just want to make sure that my travel kit as a means to charge any device I may have.
Also want to see if any one things charging two devices of this with different connections would be an issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dwswager said:
Yes, assuming it is designed to spec. The device should control the draw and the charger should supply it intelligently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can, but I'm not sure why Type-A is being considered here? Type-C to MicroUSB cable such as http://amzn.com/B00UUBRX0Y.
Yes, the adapter will charge it safely. Using both ports at the same time should be fine.

I am considering Type A and whatever is on the other end of the cable which would make it more flexible, say if it is a iPhone or ipad etc.
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