Charger / Cable - Trying not to destroy my phone

[mikefour77]

Hi all,

So here is a question about using an old charger. I have the A to C cable that came with the phone and have a question.

I would like to bring a spare charger to work. I have my old USB A charger that came with my Galaxy S4 and I'm wondering if it would be safe to use this charger with the A to C cable. Would that potentially fry my phone?

I know very little about power and draw and such, so I am looking for some guidance.

Thanks!

 

[Almeuit]

I would like to bring a spare charger to work. I have my old USB A charger that came with my Galaxy S4 and I'm wondering if it would be safe to use this charger with the A to C cable. Would that potentially fry my phone?

It will be fine .

 

[mikefour77]

Thanks. All this new about phones and pixels blowing up made me nervous.

 

[Rukbat]

As long as the output of the charger is 5 Volts (nominally - some of them go up to 5.3 Volts) and the cable end is microUSB, it'll work on any phone (or A to C adapter). It's the worst connector they could have standardized on, but at least they chose a standard and stuck to it.

 

[ajayi onjawo]

pls, i downloaded gta on my phone. it starts the loading icon and as its about to finish loading, it goes back to the main menu screen of the phone. help me out tech guys

 

[hallux]

As long as the cable has been tested by Benson Leung (a Google engineer) and been given his blessing, you should be good. If you're using the A-C cable that came with the phone you're fine.

 

[hallux]

pls, i downloaded gta on my phone. it starts the loading icon and as its about to finish loading, it goes back to the main menu screen of the phone. help me out tech guys

I suggest you start your own topic, this one is about chargers. Also, you don't say what phone you're working with.

 

[mikefour77]

As long as the cable has been tested by Benson Leung (a Google engineer) and been given his blessing, you should be good. If you're using the A-C cable that came with the phone you're fine.

Yea, it is the cable that was included with the phone.

So really the only questionable part for me was whether it would be compatible with an older USB A charger (that came with my Galaxy S4).

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[bjrosen]

I have a number of cables, the non-compliant cables work better. Make sure you have a charger that's rated at 2.5A per port or better, then if you use a non-compliant cable the phone will fast charge at 2.5A, if you use a Benson approved cable it will only charge at 1.5A. There is a precaution that you should use, plug the cable into the charger first and then into the phone. If you want to be on the safe side stick with USB-C chargers and use a C to C cable.

 

[hallux]

I have a number of cables, the non-compliant cables work better. Make sure you have a charger that's rated at 2.5A per port or better, then if you use a non-compliant cable the phone will fast charge at 2.5A, if you use a Benson approved cable it will only charge at 1.5A. There is a precaution that you should use, plug the cable into the charger first and then into the phone. If you want to be on the safe side stick with USB-C chargers and use a C to C cable.

Go ahead and risk your devices all you want. The term "non-compliant" holds water with me. There are specifications for a reason, "fast charging" is a function of the Power Delivery portion of the USB-C spec, forcing hardware that is not USB-C to charge at USB-C PD rates is just going to burn that hardware out and risk damage to your device.

Remember, the phone is asking the charger for the amps it believes can be delivered based on the way the charger is identified through the cable, if the cable mis-identifies the charger (which a non-compliant cable will do), the phone will ask for full-speed charge rates. Sure, you can reduce the risk by finding a charger rated as high as possible (2.5A) but the phone will still want 20% more than the charger is rated for.