Can I "break" my phone if I use a more powerful charger?

Jeremias Bermudez

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Sep 7, 2013
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Last night I went to visit a friend and I didn't take my charger with me; my phone was about 4% so I asked to my friend for his charger; he has an LG G3 (with the original charger), I left my phone charging and in less than 2 hours my phone was fully charged...today I tried again and I had the same result, a very fast charge in comparison with my Nexus 5 charger, it takes more than 2:40 - 3 hours!
Now I want buy the same charger but I'm not really sure if I could "break" my phone or screw up the battery (or maybe explode :P ) using that charger.
What I should do? buy the charger or not?, the difference is really noticeable and I like the idea of charge my phone way faster!
 
I'm by no means a battery expert but I believe you should be good. I use my iPad charger to charge my iPhone with no problems.
 
The phone will draw up to the amount it's designed to draw, so if the stock charger only supplies 75% of that much current, it'll take longer than it should to charge. If you use a charger with more current capability (and that's the key - it's only capability - it doesn't force that much current through your phone), the phone will charge at its full rated current, so it charges faster. You could use a 10,000 Amp charger - as long as it's 5 Volts and has a microUSB connector on it - and the phone will still draw the 1 Amp or so it's designed for. (Your house is a 200 Amp "charger", but a 100 Watt lightbulb still only draws about 1 Amp.)

I usually charge my phones from my 30 Amp bench supply. That's enough to charge about 25 phones at a time.

The only problem that can occur is if something in the phone breaks - then the battery will get overcharged no matter what size charger you have connected to it. Even a charger that takes 10 hours to charge the phone will eventually - if left plugged into a broken phone long enough - overcharge the battery.
 
I'm by no means a battery expert but I believe you should be good. I use my iPad charger to charge my iPhone with no problems.

Thanks buddy!, if your phone is still fine means that there is no problem with other chargers :)

The phone will draw up to the amount it's designed to draw, so if the stock charger only supplies 75% of that much current, it'll take longer than it should to charge. If you use a charger with more current capability (and that's the key - it's only capability - it doesn't force that much current through your phone), the phone will charge at its full rated current, so it charges faster. You could use a 10,000 Amp charger - as long as it's 5 Volts and has a microUSB connector on it - and the phone will still draw the 1 Amp or so it's designed for. (Your house is a 200 Amp "charger", but a 100 Watt lightbulb still only draws about 1 Amp.)

I usually charge my phones from my 30 Amp bench supply. That's enough to charge about 25 phones at a time.

The only problem that can occur is if something in the phone breaks - then the battery will get overcharged no matter what size charger you have connected to it. Even a charger that takes 10 hours to charge the phone will eventually - if left plugged into a broken phone long enough - overcharge the battery.

Thanks a lot for your answer!, something that surprised me a lot was that the phone never got hot meanwhile was charging, just the normal temperature that it always got when I use the original charger; the second time that I tried it with the LG G3 charger I was checking the temperature too and was normal as usual; so, with your super detailed answer I will buy one for sure and enjoy a faster charge!
Oh! something more, I think that the LG G3 wireless charger will be not a problem right?, I was testing it too and I really like it, at least for when I'm on my PC at home, that dock is really nice and looks fantastic close to my PC monitor, I dont know if the charge will be as fast as the wired but for when I'm not hurry it's a cool idea.
Again, thanks a lot!!!
 
Perfect answer by Rukbat. It is actually more dangerous to use a charger that is under rated because it puts a larger load on the charger than it is capable of. A device will "try" to charge at its rated current and if the charger is not rated high enough it can fail.
 
These new batteries love charging fast. The higher the amp charger, a little more juice to charge a little faster. Both the phone and charger much support going for the higher amps. These batteries actually degrade using slow charging, so no using the laptop/desktop USB (usually .5 amps) and no using your integrated USB port in your car (most are .5 amps, some are 1 amps) (unless very newer card have higher amps-I am poor, nothing new in my life). Today's batteries like getting charged. Charge up from 40% to 100%, it's okay. Not good to go below 5%,-or worse down to 0, and the phone shuts off.

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Using Fast chargers will make your battery hotter than "slow" chargers. That's not good for battery life.