USB Charger Not So Dodgy After All
I just tried plugging the USB phone charger that I bought off of eBay a little while ago into the powered USB Hub on my monitor at work, and it charges successfully!
Woohoo!
So, it seems that standard USB ports don't offer enough amperage. Strangely though, my wall charger is 800mA (USB is 500mA), but I have a 1000mA wall adaptor (that provides a USB port), and when I plugged in the USB charger, it didn't charge my phone. Mysterious.
But I'm happy, because now I have a charger at work without having to rummage under my desk to plug it in. Happy days.
But of course now that I've bought a mobile charger (big-ass battery), so it's not so urgent now. anyway.
I ramble.
4 comments:
Personally i wouldnt think the USB port would be able and nor the charger detect which current rating either had. If you had tried it in many USB ports i would assume something to do with excess voltage drop has caused something to shut down the port.. However knowing that you use dell as most companies do id say its more likely to be dodgy ports as technically i cant see a reason to limit a current supply to certain USB points.. its illoigical and would serve no saving in the design of the computer.
USB Spec requires 5v, 500mA, this power all comes from the motherboard - which is fed by a 12v connector.
The USB ports on the monitor are driven by the monitor's power supply directly. I think that's the difference - no restrictions from the motherboard.
So given this info, and your info, I think one possibility to explain what happened is that the PC detected that there was a device attached to one of its USB ports that was drawing too much current and shut the port down so as not to burn it out (your original explanation - I will check device manager to see if this happens).
And because the USB port on the monitor is powered directly by the Monitor's power supply, it can happily provide the current required by my phone (or will eventually burn out/catch fire because a much needed safety feature doesn't activate).
This is pure speculation, and I have no evidence, however. It also doesn't explain why the 1000mA USB AC adaptor I have can't charge the phone, while my 800mA standard charger can.
I also can't explain how Nokia can release a USB charger for my phone.
It should also probably be noted that I have tried the USB charger on Leanne's Mac and my laptop, too.
Details as they arise.
More details on Wikipedia.
A bit of interesting info here.
It says that the device is better to be powered on when charging, as the current required to power on the device is higher than normal. Is that why the USB AC Adaptor didn't work?
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