Which travel chargers will work with my Nexus 4

[GopherDroid]

First, apologies for the noobish question. Second, not sure if this belongs here or in the accessories sub-forum. A mod should feel free to move the thread, if necessary. Finally, here is my question:

Which of my power adapters / travel chargers for my other devices will work with my Nexus 4? Which will work, but not be optimal? Which could cause the Nexus 4 battery or the adapter to overheat? Which could cause other problems? I assume the usb to micro-usb cord doesn't matter, or does it?

The specs on the Nexus 4 charger are:
input: 100-240 V, 50/60 Hz, 0.2 A
output: 5.0 V, 1.2 A,

The other chargers I have, and their specs, are:

Apple iPod Touch charger:
input: 100-240 V, 50/60 Hz, 0.15 A
output: 5 V, 1 A

Samsung Galaxy Nexus charger:
input: 100-240 V, 50/60 Hz, 0.15 A
output: 5.0 V, 1.0 A

Amazon Kindle charger:
input: 100-240 V, 50/60 Hz, 0.15 A
output: 4.9 V, 0.85 A

Thank you for your help.

To those still waiting for their Nexus: keep the faith; it's worth the wait!

 

[N4Newbie]

Any of these will work, but the lower the output amperage the slower the charge rate. Curiously, an online manual found at Google's Nexus 4 support site says that the N4 ships with a 2.0A charger. Like you however, mine shipped with a 1.2A unit.

 

[GopherDroid]

Thanks!

 

[Burhan Khalid]

All of those will work, except for the Kindle charger; that has a lower voltage output. I wouldn't trust that one; especially considering the battery is not replacable in the Nexus 4

 

[vietalogy]

I ordered a blackberry charger which the central store has with output of 1.8a.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Hubertsng]

Al works with a microusb but some are worse the nexus 4 charger is best for that product but u can use others

Sent from my Nexus 4

 

[munnymaker]

Hi just got my phone and it's great but a curse at the same time cuz I'm super paranoid when it comes to preserving the battery.

I was wondering why the models differ and if I use a charger that did NOT come with my phone (I used a charger that my friend got with their nexus 4 phone) will it damage it? I'm just worried cuz it took a while to reach 100% when I used my friend's charger. My model is mcs-01wd and my friend's is mcs-01wr. The specs are the same. The user guide says "only use the travel adapter that came with your phone or else a different one may damage it" can someone ease my worries? Lol. Thanks!

 

[spile1]

The only thing you will notice with a different spec charger is that the phone will take longer to charge. This is assuming that it is a micro SD charger of course!

 

[VSG28]

I ordered a blackberry charger which the central store has with output of 1.8a.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

Did you notice the charge times to be faster?

 

[Sam Duke]

sorry to dive in here so late, but i just wanted to clear up peoples worried about compatibility between chargers. the way the phone works is it takes the 5V input and uses it to provide a current to the battery. this current it regulated by the phone and so you do not need to worry about the charger damaging the phone's battery. you could buy a 5V 100A adapter and it would be fine. the "100A" part refers to the maximum charge that the adapter can deliver. the phone will still sit there and say "thanks for the 5V supply, I need to give 1.32362A to the battery, so ill do just that" and the adapter will sit there saying "pfft, this is easy, I'm well over-engineered for this job!"

as others have mentioned though, IF the adapters maximum supply is less than the phone wants, then the adapter will limit the charging and the phone will charge more slowly. if you like, the phone is saying "i want 1.1276A right now, but the charger only has 0.5A, so I'll have to go slower ". This is the case when your phone is plugged into your computers' USB ports (which can deliver a max of 500mA).

in fact, i would even say that the kindle 4.9A supply would be fine too. the switch mode circuits would probably handle it just fine. Although it is the current being controlled, this winds up giving a voltage across the battery of less than 5V anyway (more like 3.somthing volts)

 

[Shyuan]

sorry to dive in here so late, but i just wanted to clear up peoples worried about compatibility between chargers. the way the phone works is it takes the 5V input and uses it to provide a current to the battery. this current it regulated by the phone and so you do not need to worry about the charger damaging the phone's battery. you could buy a 5V 100A adapter and it would be fine. the "100A" part refers to the maximum charge that the adapter can deliver. the phone will still sit there and say "thanks for the 5V supply, I need to give 1.32362A to the battery, so ill do just that" and the adapter will sit there saying "pfft, this is easy, I'm well over-engineered for this job!"

as others have mentioned though, IF the adapters maximum supply is less than the phone wants, then the adapter will limit the charging and the phone will charge more slowly. if you like, the phone is saying "i want 1.1276A right now, but the charger only has 0.5A, so I'll have to go slower ". This is the case when your phone is plugged into your computers' USB ports (which can deliver a max of 500mA).

in fact, i would even say that the kindle 4.9A supply would be fine too. the switch mode circuits would probably handle it just fine. Although it is the current being controlled, this winds up giving a voltage across the battery of less than 5V anyway (more like 3.somthing volts)

Thanks for explaining. This means if I use my Nexus 7 Asus charger (output 5V 2.0A) to charge my Nexus 4 LG is totally fine and will be very much quicker to have its battery fully charged (since Nexus 4 original output is 5V 1.2A)?

Besides, I also wonder, does the brand really matters? E.g. Uses Asus branded charger to charge LG phone. Technically, does it matters?

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to learn new things.

 

[HooperD]

Thanks Sam Duke - I also learned something. As evidence that what Sam is saying is correct, some places sell universal chargers. Here's an example: New Universal Spare Battery Charger | Buy online at batteries4less.com

 

[acetrip]

I also have a nexus 4 so:
output: 5.0 V, 1.2 A,

and I just got an extra charger from motorola specs:
output: 5.1 V, 850ma

will this be safe for the battery to switch between them as the V is higher and ma lower?

 

[Bett15]

You could also check out with CHOE Qi Wireless Car Charger Dock for Nexus 4, Lumia 920 and Other Wireless Charging Phones from amazon fit for traveling.