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Not all charging methods created equal?

I am really frustrated with charging my phone.
From the wall, using the stock 700mA Samsung charger, I get 5% every 10 min.
From a USB cigarette lighter charger modified to source 750mA, I get 3% every 10 min.
From a USB cigarette lighter charger that can source 3A, I get hardly anything.
I assume from these findings that one or more of the following is true:
1. The phone knows when it is plugged into a stock charger.
2. The phone has a current limiter that prevents overcharging.
Does anyone have a charger, other than stock, that they recommend?
I'm half tempted to hook my stock charger up to a cigarette lighter inverter and power it that way.
(I'm also half-tempted to grab a current probe tomorrow and measure what the device is pulling.)

i havent really used my oem samsung wall charger much, but i know when i try to charge from my computers usb it takes 4EVER, thats why i jumped on this ebay deal

IBNobody said:
(I'm also half-tempted to grab a current probe tomorrow and measure what the device is pulling.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd probe the chargers and see how accurate their ratings are as well....

does anyone know if using a 1mA charger would be okay? i have one left over from my evo.

The phone won't draw more than 500mA from a charger unless the USB data pins are connected.
Be careful, though... 99.9% of the chargers from China that claim to be 700mA (the nominal value of Samsung's) or 1A will overheat and die (or worse) if you try to actually draw that much current for any sustained length of time. I'd almost go so far as to say that it's SO EASY for a manufacturer to support high-power mode, I'd be automatically suspicious of any allegedly high power charger that doesn't ship with the pins shorted together.
Manufacturers know that most consumers don't know the difference (hell, most users HERE don't know the difference, and XDA is the upper crust elite of the Android phone universe), so they omit the shorting bridge and ship a charger with quoted power capacity that it MIGHT be able to sustain for a couple of minutes if you operated it in a walk-in freezer, knowing that most phones will never draw more than 500mA and it'll work fine for them. It lets them sell the charger for 99 cents AND pretend to be better than the others on the rack because it has a bigger "max power" value.
It's "RMS-vs-Peak" all over again.

Yeah I'm one of those that don't know much about the charging. I did figure there was a different charge rate when plugged into the wall and when plugged into usb or a usb converter like powerjolt.
I also found that one of the usb to micro's that I bought for using with my car powerjolt coverter won't let me connect via debugging/adb shell. was a little surprised at this... is it just a bad cord?

bitbang3r said:
The phone won't draw more than 500mA from a charger unless the USB data pins are connected.
Be careful, though... 99.9% of the chargers from China that claim to be 700mA (the nominal value of Samsung's) or 1A will overheat and die (or worse) if you try to actually draw that much current for any sustained length of time. I'd almost go so far as to say that it's SO EASY for a manufacturer to support high-power mode, I'd be automatically suspicious of any allegedly high power charger that doesn't ship with the pins shorted together.
Manufacturers know that most consumers don't know the difference (hell, most users HERE don't know the difference, and XDA is the upper crust elite of the Android phone universe), so they omit the shorting bridge and ship a charger with quoted power capacity that it MIGHT be able to sustain for a couple of minutes if you operated it in a walk-in freezer, knowing that most phones will never draw more than 500mA and it'll work fine for them. It lets them sell the charger for 99 cents AND pretend to be better than the others on the rack because it has a bigger "max power" value.
It's "RMS-vs-Peak" all over again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
D+ to D- must be shorted to get the high power mode? Maybe that was why my 3A supply was not handling it.

The Epic pulls 380mA when charging from a USB port from a Dell T3400 workstation. The result was steady at 40% and 80%.
I'll try out my other charging methods later and find out everything.
Stay tuned!
EDIT 1:
380mA is the magic number. It draws 380mA from all USB sources, including my two car chargers.
It draws 600mA from the wall adapter.
The wall adapter does indeed have D+ and D- shorted. My other chargers did not.
Here is the pinout for a USB port: http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml
Here is the "beefy" USB charger I've been using:
http://www.wagan.com/index.php?page...ategory_id=22&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=98
This charger is rather nice because the step-down supply (AX3002) has a large heatsink soldered to the ground tab.
It currently pulls up/down the D+/- lines via resistors. Each port is pulled down separately.
What I plan on doing next is to remove the pull resistors from one of the ports and short D+/- together.

Well, this explains a lot. This was really getting frustrating. I bought a "high-curent" charger for my car and the phone blows through the battery when I'm driving around with Maps running.

Im always on the road and for me an inverter in cigarette lighter with stock wall charger works best.the slowest charge is using stock usb cable since theres a slot for it on the inverter.2nd was radio shack car lighter in inverter.the inverter was from radio shack as well
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

IBNobody said:
Here is the pinout for a USB port: http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is the official spec but there are actually not just four but six connectors on usb micro, which is how samsung can create a whole mess of pinut jumps for various amperage draws as well as data, entrainment dock and car dock.

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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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.

[HOW TO] - Charge your phone faster

Hello all. I found some information that some of you may find useful, so I wanted to share.
If you are running a custom kernel, go download Current Widget from the market
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.manor.currentwidget&hl=en
Install it, add the widget to your screen, and plug in your phone. You should be getting 350-380mA, this is AC charging mode. If you are getting in the low 200's you have a charger or cable that is not bypassing the data+ and data- wires in your phone, this is called USB charging.
If it is showing 0mA, then your kernal is not supported and it will not work. You can still do the steps below and get the same results, you will just not be able to see the data visually. I am running Gummy2.0 and the widget works great.
Some chargers are built .. badly.. and rely on a specific cable that will bypass the D+ and D-. the problem is, that cable will not work for anything USB related, such as flashing roms.
If you are anything like me, you have a dozen USB cables laying around and just use the closet one you can find when you need to charge up. However, if you use a data cable with a wall charger that does not disable D+ and D- you will charge at the USB charging rate, which is much slower than when AC charging is enabled, and can be irritating when your phone drains more power than its getting from the charger, resulting in power loss. This happens often while using your phone as a wifi hotspot. In USB charging mode, you can potentially drain the battery faster than the charger can charge. This can be prevented by being in AC charging mode.
You can either dig around for cables and test them out with your charger to see if you can get up to the 380mA range, or you can solder the D+ and D- points together in your charger. I do not recommend the 2nd option unless you are failure with soldering on small IC circuit boards.
But if you are adventurous, the 2 center pins on the USB cable are D+ and D-. If you open up your charger you will see the backside of the USB port and notice the 4 solder points that connect to the USB plug side. Place a bead of solder between this 2 to short them together. This will allow the charger to be in "AC" mode and charge at the higher rate.
This will also work for USB plug car chargers and will allow your phone to continue to have a positive charge even while navigating (which as most people know, Navigating can still drain your battery even when its plugged in).
Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any questions, I will do my best to answer them.
-EDIT-
Make sure to set the update interval in Current Widget to 1, for 1 second updates, this will help when monitoring the charge current.

Let me test this out... I'll report back in a lil bit. Calibrating battery, can't charge. Later...

I'm using a 10' cable from Monoprice. I'm getting 373mA. I'll post on what I get using my car charger... but I'm getting pretty good battery life that I rarely have to charge it in the ride

[Q] Sidekick 4g doesn't charge via wall, but very slow via usb to pc

Sidekick 4g will not charge via wall, but does charge very slow on usb. I tried different wall chargers except the "official" wall charger, even a samsung branded usb detachable wall charger, but it still keeps doing in and out with a beep sound and doesn't charge. Am I missing something??? Please help, this issue is extremely aggravating especially when you use your phone for business. X(
I am on the final smooth maximus rom btw.

Well in my experiance with samsung phones and even some htc modles you have to use an offically branded charger for your modle sometimes, it has to do with the pins and how they line up, now if you use the usb cored and a travle wall charger (I use this set up in my truck for work) you should see a faster charge time cause the voltage is higher and its the right pin set
Sent from my SGH-T839 using XDA App

The connector is an industry standard. There's no problem with the pins not lining up. There's also no difference in voltage between chargers. Being USB, it has to be 5v.
However, some chargers have higher capacity than others. The USB spec allows for 500mA from a PC's USB port, but chargers sometimes increase it to a full amp for faster charging. The phones will still charge from a PC's USB port, but they'll take longer.
Also, some companies (Like Motorola) require a special Motorola-branded charger. It's just because they want to sell more chargers. The only difference between a real Motorola one and a generic one is a resistor between two pins to identify it to the phone.
The Sidekick doesn't have this vendor lock-in crap. It'll charge from just about anything you can plug it into. If it's not charging I'd suspect a broken USB connector on the phone, a faulty battery, or a damaged charging circuit inside the phone.

Jax184 said:
The connector is an industry standard. There's no problem with the pins not lining up. There's also no difference in voltage between chargers. Being USB, it has to be 5v.
However, some chargers have higher capacity than others. The USB spec allows for 500mA from a PC's USB port, but chargers sometimes increase it to a full amp for faster charging. The phones will still charge from a PC's USB port, but they'll take longer.
Also, some companies (Like Motorola) require a special Motorola-branded charger. It's just because they want to sell more chargers. The only difference between a real Motorola one and a generic one is a resistor between two pins to identify it to the phone.
The Sidekick doesn't have this vendor lock-in crap. It'll charge from just about anything you can plug it into. If it's not charging I'd suspect a broken USB connector on the phone, a faulty battery, or a damaged charging circuit inside the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the response guys.. Yeah, this stuff is pretty weird.. it would blow if the port is messed up. The phone is brand new though, would they be manufactured faulty?? In that case samsung tech department sucks!

When you make a million of something, statistics say that a few mistakes will happen. If it's new I'd suggest taking it back. I charge my Sidekick off of my PC's USB port and am often surprised by how quickly it charges.

Jax184 said:
When you make a million of something, statistics say that a few mistakes will happen. If it's new I'd suggest taking it back. I charge my Sidekick off of my PC's USB port and am often surprised by how quickly it charges.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol. I see. See, the thing is now its charging fine after a certain %. My guess is the battery is faulty then...

[Resolved] Can i charge headphones with higher mA without issues?

I spent much time to research, ask sony support, google... but i dont have answer yet...
I have got: (Everything is 5.0VDC)
Xperia Tablet Z (It comes with 1500mA charger)
MDR1-RBT BT Headphones (It comes with no charger, charge only via USB PC port - 500mA?)
MW600 BT Headset (It comes with 350mA cherger)
Can i charge all with 1500mA charger without ANY issues?
Please help me i can't get answer for long...

Please help.

BUMP

It'll eventually damage it
Sent from my Karbonn A15 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Will damage the headphones
Sent from my GT-I9100G using xda app-developers app

arvin07143 said:
Will damage the headphones
Sent from my GT-I9100G using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So i can charge it only via USB to PC?
Sony supporter said i can charge it with adaptor with specs 1500mA...
I don't understand it at all...

BUMP!

This one is not quite so straightforward without knowing about the internal circuitry of those devices you have in regards to how they charge.
Now, in general, it is safe to say that you must always match the voltage and polarity of the device you are charging, often you can use a higher rated current charger or power supply.
Why?
A device typically only draws how many amps it needs in order to function.
Take your TV for example, it probably only needs 2-3 amps to run yet it is plugged straight into the mains which has the capability of supplying many hundred of amps yet your TV doesn't "fry", it simply draws what it needs.
When it comes to charging its a bit more complicated and depends on the device (does it have internal charging circuitry or is the the item you plug into the wall and actual charger and not simply an AC/DC converter).
Most small electronics which contain a battery and are simply supplied with an AC/DC converter, say, Input 120V 1A output 5V 100ma have their own current regulating charging circuitry inside. This means that the thing you plug into the wall isn't actually a charger, its an AC/DC converter.
In that case the converter can have a higher rated amp output than your device states it needs because your device will only draw what it wants.
If what you are plugging into the wall is an actual charger which has the job of regulating the current flow to the device that needs charging then you will want to get one as close to spec as the original so as not to damage your device.
All the devices you list seem to charge via 5V, most likely a USB type interface.
This means that they are not supplied with actual chargers, simply power supplies, the charging and current limiting mechanism is inside each device.
In theory therefore you should be able to 'charge' all your devices via the 1500mA AC/DC converter, the products you have will only draw what they need in order to charge, the 1500mA will not be pushed or forced upon each device.
Also, think of this, you have been smart and come to ask for advice, how many people simply use the USB 'charger' of their husband/wife/sister/brother to charge their phone or product when they can't find their own and those devices aren't damaged.
The only thing is if the current is too low then it will either not charge or take much longer.
I hope that helps.

zasy99 said:
This one is not quite so straightforward without knowing about the internal circuitry of those devices you have in regards to how they charge.
Now, in general, it is safe to say that you must always match the voltage and polarity of the device you are charging, often you can use a higher rated current charger or power supply.
Why?
A device typically only draws how many amps it needs in order to function.
Take your TV for example, it probably only needs 2-3 amps to run yet it is plugged straight into the mains which has the capability of supplying many hundred of amps yet your TV doesn't "fry", it simply draws what it needs.
When it comes to charging its a bit more complicated and depends on the device (does it have internal charging circuitry or is the the item you plug into the wall and actual charger and not simply an AC/DC converter).
Most small electronics which contain a battery and are simply supplied with an AC/DC converter, say, Input 120V 1A output 5V 100ma have their own current regulating charging circuitry inside. This means that the thing you plug into the wall isn't actually a charger, its an AC/DC converter.
In that case the converter can have a higher rated amp output than your device states it needs because your device will only draw what it wants.
If what you are plugging into the wall is an actual charger which has the job of regulating the current flow to the device that needs charging then you will want to get one as close to spec as the original so as not to damage your device.
All the devices you list seem to charge via 5V, most likely a USB type interface.
This means that they are not supplied with actual chargers, simply power supplies, the charging and current limiting mechanism is inside each device.
In theory therefore you should be able to 'charge' all your devices via the 1500mA AC/DC converter, the products you have will only draw what they need in order to charge, the 1500mA will not be pushed or forced upon each device.
Also, think of this, you have been smart and come to ask for advice, how many people simply use the USB 'charger' of their husband/wife/sister/brother to charge their phone or product when they can't find their own and those devices aren't damaged.
The only thing is if the current is too low then it will either not charge or take much longer.
I hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that Xperia tablets and phones won't take more mA than it needs but does MDR1-RBT has the same thing? I did a lot of research but i still can't find the 100% answer. I don't want to try unless 100% sure. (Its expensive headphones)
EDIT:
Few sony supporters said: You can charge it only via USB cabble to Personal computer
Few sony supporters said: You can charge it only via USB cabble to PC or Adaptor (Linked me to USB/AC Adaptor with THE SAME specs like XTZ charger - 1500 mA)
Is Adaptor same as XTZ?
I found this on OFFICIAL Sony eSupport
http://docs.esupport.sony.com/portable/MDR1RBT_guide/en/contents/01/03/01/01.html?search=charg
OFFICIAL TIPS:
Tips
If the micro-USB cable is connected to a computer while the headset is turned on, the headset will be turned off automatically.
To charge the headset from an AC outlet, use USB Charging AC Power Adaptor* (sold separately). For details, refer to the manuals supplied with the USB Charging AC Power Adaptor.
The headset cannot be turned on while charging the battery.
* Refer to the Reference Guide on the recommended adapter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

BUMP

Zas99 answer is spot on.once the voltage matches to your device your ok.most phone chargers you can pull out the usb charging cable. u could use that or buy a another usb charger at 1500ma to 2000ma.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using xda premium

E7ite: You should be fine, the fact that it charges via USB means that it must have its own internal charging circuitry.
I bet your Xperia tablet also charges via a USB type cable right, on a USB port?
All my USB 'chargers' have different mA rating yet they charge my products just fine as long as the mA rating is at LEAST what the device needs, not less, and hey, if its a little less it also works, just takes longer.
Look at it this way, the USB specs are always changing as is their current handling capability, now we are at USB 3.1, just recently we were at USB 3.0 which bumped up maximum device current usage during data transmission to 900mA or for dedicated charging 1.5A.
For USB 1.x - 2.0 it was 100mA before negotiation, up to 500mA thereafter, also with a dedicated charging capacity of 1.5A if the D- & D+ pins are shorted.
I bet Sony doesn't tell you that you can only charge via a USB 1.x - 2.0 port do they? Nope, that means if your computer has a USB 3 port that its has the potential to deliver more, remember, that's the key, it CAN deliver more if needed but it won't, it will only give the device what it draws.
The cable they supply with your headphone is most likely not a data cable but rather a so called charging cable so therefore is rated up to 1.5A or 1500mA but your headphones will only draw what they need to charge.
Everyone uses the term charger which is so wrong, when you put your AA or AAA batteries into the little black box and plug it into a wall, that is a charger, when you connect your car battery via the +/- terminals and clamps to the charger, that is also a real charger, they are directly responsible for charging the batteries.
All these other things we use to 'charge' our little electronic devices do nothing other than take the 120V A/C and convert it into for example 5V DC. The current rating they indicate next to the 5V is simply the max current handling capability, nothing more, it not what is pushed to the device, its what the device can request up to to be delivered. The actual charging goes on inside the device.
By the way, as the batteries charge the device reduces the current and sometimes also the voltage, batteries typically charge faster when they are low and able to absorb more current then as they fill up and can absorb less the charger adjusts to a more or less trickle such as 100mA or less in order to maintain but not overcharge the battery.
By the way, this is what I found on Amazon in about 2 minutes, a review from someone else who bought the headphones.
"For the price, sony should have included a wall charger. Instead they included a USB cable. The headphones will charge on any computer, but using a generic USB wall charger will show a blinking amber error light--but the headphones still charge."
Also, the link you indicated to the sony manual about charging gives absolutely no information at all.
You are over thinking it, just try it
If you are really worried why not get a regular cell phone USB charger and use that, one that states like 500mA on it and has a female USB plug on it. That way you can use your headphone USB cable and plug it into the 5V 500mA phone 'charger'.
One last thing, just don't use Apple product 'chargers' to charge non Apple products, why you ask, because Apple does strange things with the pins on their 'chargers' in order to indicate the supply current. This can sometimes lead to adverse effects for non Apple devices.
Good luck.

zasy99 said:
E7ite: You should be fine, the fact that it charges via USB means that it must have its own internal charging circuitry.
I bet your Xperia tablet also charges via a USB type cable right, on a USB port?
All my USB 'chargers' have different mA rating yet they charge my products just fine as long as the mA rating is at LEAST what the device needs, not less, and hey, if its a little less it also works, just takes longer.
Look at it this way, the USB specs are always changing as is their current handling capability, now we are at USB 3.1, just recently we were at USB 3.0 which bumped up maximum device current usage during data transmission to 900mA or for dedicated charging 1.5A.
For USB 1.x - 2.0 it was 100mA before negotiation, up to 500mA thereafter, also with a dedicated charging capacity of 1.5A if the D- & D+ pins are shorted.
I bet Sony doesn't tell you that you can only charge via a USB 1.x - 2.0 port do they? Nope, that means if your computer has a USB 3 port that its has the potential to deliver more, remember, that's the key, it CAN deliver more if needed but it won't, it will only give the device what it draws.
The cable they supply with your headphone is most likely not a data cable but rather a so called charging cable so therefore is rated up to 1.5A or 1500mA but your headphones will only draw what they need to charge.
Everyone uses the term charger which is so wrong, when you put your AA or AAA batteries into the little black box and plug it into a wall, that is a charger, when you connect your car battery via the +/- terminals and clamps to the charger, that is also a real charger, they are directly responsible for charging the batteries.
All these other things we use to 'charge' our little electronic devices do nothing other than take the 120V A/C and convert it into for example 5V DC. The current rating they indicate next to the 5V is simply the max current handling capability, nothing more, it not what is pushed to the device, its what the device can request up to to be delivered. The actual charging goes on inside the device.
By the way, as the batteries charge the device reduces the current and sometimes also the voltage, batteries typically charge faster when they are low and able to absorb more current then as they fill up and can absorb less the charger adjusts to a more or less trickle such as 100mA or less in order to maintain but not overcharge the battery.
By the way, this is what I found on Amazon in about 2 minutes, a review from someone else who bought the headphones.
"For the price, sony should have included a wall charger. Instead they included a USB cable. The headphones will charge on any computer, but using a generic USB wall charger will show a blinking amber error light--but the headphones still charge."
Also, the link you indicated to the sony manual about charging gives absolutely no information at all.
You are over thinking it, just try it
If you are really worried why not get a regular cell phone USB charger and use that, one that states like 500mA on it and has a female USB plug on it. That way you can use your headphone USB cable and plug it into the 5V 500mA phone 'charger'.
One last thing, just don't use Apple product 'chargers' to charge non Apple products, why you ask, because Apple does strange things with the pins on their 'chargers' in order to indicate the supply current. This can sometimes lead to adverse effects for non Apple devices.
Good luck.
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Thank you for reply.