Is it safe to use any charger that fits into your smartphone?

[M325i]

Now a days mostly all android smart phones have the same micro USB port to charge your phone, my question is, is it safe to use another charger on your phone other than the one provided? Say you take the wall charging unit from an apple device and plug in a android USB cable and charge your phone, will this damage your battery over time? Is it safe? What are the positives and negative about using any charger other than the one provided? Can this be done? If so what's the point of keeping your stock charger why not buy a more powerful unit? What about the chargers offered at most retail stores are they any good/safe?

Let me know what you guys think.

 

[KJohns]

voltage output should be nearly the same with most chargers. In the U.S standard wall outputs produce 120 volts. The allowable tolerance in the distribution system and low voltage connections outside the house is plus or minus 5 percent.

the only time you would run into issues using a different USB cord is when connecting to a computer. Some phones are finicky about which cords to use. (ive personally experienced this problem.)

so in a nutshell... yeah - id say its safe to use a different USB cord to charge a phone without worrying about damage. I do it all the time and have never had any issues.

 

[M325i]

You can use a different USB cord I get that but can you use a different wall unit that the USB is plugged into? Because I've noticed there is a difference in size. What is that all about, the volts perhaps. The concern I have is if I take my android USB cable and plug it into a apple USB wall charging unit would it damage my android phone battery overtime? Or it should be fine.

 

[KJohns]

well the point i was trying to make regarding voltage is that output should be identical therefor the chargers should be built to handle that current and transfer that appropriately to the phone. yeah the chargers might be of different sizes buts they are still designed to handle the same load.

using an LG charger on an HTC phone shouldnt do any harm (or any other brand for that matter.)

Most USB chargers are universal to some degree. The biggest difference is their output amperage. Even that really wont damage your phone or battery. If it is lower than needed it will either charge slow or not at all and drain down. If its higher than need be it will still pull the same amount as it would with the stock one. Almost all the chargers take/put out the same voltages and frequencies.

 

[pool_shark]

The only problem I've had with some chargers is the way the screen behaves.
I've noticed on my Droid X, Nexus, and Note 2 that when using the phone with some chargers, the screen presses either register in the wrong place or don't register at all.

After unplugging it, it goes back to normal, but it never caused any damage.

 

[M325i]

OK I understand the outlet voltage is the same but amount of voltage being pumped into the phone may vary.

 

[roadkill42]

the thing have to look for is millamps and voltage to the device a,little over is ok under is not cause drain faster and not run properly if under an over can cause batt to get very warm

 

[rich2626]

I have always just used one charger too charge my phones....no problems..

 

[EarlyMon]

The only problem I've had with some chargers is the way the screen behaves.
I've noticed on my Droid X, Nexus, and Note 2 that when using the phone with some chargers, the screen presses either register in the wrong place or don't register at all.

After unplugging it, it goes back to normal, but it never caused any damage.

That sounds like bad chargers.

OK I understand the outlet voltage is the same but amount of voltage being pumped into the phone may vary.

Not really.

Usb power voltage is 5 volts regardless of charger brand, type or even using a pc usb port.

Current (milliamps) varies from supply to supply but only voltage is pushed to the phone.

The phone draws the current it can take, no more.


Usb charging is therefore universal.

Any charger should be usable with any phone. Ones that supply more current may charge your phone faster.

 

[Harry2]

Just to add ...
Most phone producers follows the recommendation of USB standards for USB chargers ... they jump the data pins of their modified chargers for to bring the phone in 'AC charging' mode, means rapid charging with high amperage (instead of 'USB charging' with trickle charging).
Wikipedia: Jumpered data pins on USB chargers

Apple doesn't follow that recommendation!
They've another method of modification for rapid charging their iPhones/iPads.
As far as I know the modification is in the cable's propritary iPhone/iPad connector.
So there wouldn't be any danger to charge your Android phone even with a powerful charger of an iPad ... but you'd only get a trickle charge

Harry

 

[pool_shark]

That sounds like bad chargers.

More like incorrect power for certain devices. On other devices the chargers worked fine.

 

[nickdalzell]

i do it all the time, since most Android devices share the same voltage and mini-USB connector, but my current phone won't allow it. if i use any other charger it pops up a notification dialog saying 'unable to charge non-supported battery, see user's manual'. if i use the included Samsung charger, it works fine.

my previous ZTE Merit had a similar issue but not a notification. it required a very oddly higher voltage to charge its battery, making car chargers and others incapable of putting any juice into it, it would only slow down the rate of discharge or maintain the current level. Kindle Fire is pretty much the same as well. only charges with its own charger, any other won't do much other than maintain or slow the rate of discharge.

most of my devices work fine with any though.

 

[EarlyMon]

More like incorrect power for certain devices. On other devices the chargers worked fine.

According to Nick there are non 5 volt chargers and devices with microUSB connectors.

Incorrect voltage is not a good thing at all.

Power = volts * amps

With the right voltage, amperage isn't a concern.

 

[nickdalzell]

i should mention that some devices simply need more than the standard 5V. more higher end devices and those with higher capacity batteries require more power. others like my Samsung phone have built-in safeguards that prevent the use of third-party chargers (sucks as if i wanted to use my phone as a car GPS, it'd go dead before i'd get to my destination since i cannot use a car charger)

 

[DroidDroan]

I use different charger cords all the time and I haven't had a problem. I've also used different power bricks without a problem. However I have found that useing a brick from a phone for a tablet does not work. There is not enough power to make the device charge.

 

[nickdalzell]

that is the same issue i had with my Fire and my ZTE Merit. only the Merit was a phone, but required an insanely higher-than-normal voltage to charge it, which only the charger which came with it could put out. my Fire's charger also worked albeit charged very slowly. so it must have had a similar requirement. it also depends on the mAH capacity of the battery. some take higher power to charge. if you use a third-party battery with a higher capacity than the one which came out of box with your device it may need higher voltage to charge it. see the manual if not sure.

i read more into the 'unable to charge non-supported battery' issue that comes up randomly when charging my Samsung phone, even though i'm using the stock battery. the charger itself reads the battery 'chip' and makes a determination whether it's approved or not. so the charger has some sort of 'smart' electronics inside it. i'll check later to see if i can make it charge with a different charger but i've been unsuccessful in the past. it will charge off USB though.

 

[EarlyMon]

Non-standard voltages are uncommon.

Current requirements are all over the map.

Monoprice.com has high amperage 5 volt car chargers for tablets.

 

[Harry2]

... i read more into the 'unable to charge non-supported battery' issue that comes up randomly when charging my Samsung phone, even though i'm using the stock battery. the charger itself reads the battery 'chip' and makes a determination whether it's approved or not. so the charger has some sort of 'smart' electronics inside it...

It might be more simple ...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=845844&page=9

Harry

 

[Demache]

that is the same issue i had with my Fire and my ZTE Merit. only the Merit was a phone, but required an insanely higher-than-normal voltage to charge it, which only the charger which came with it could put out. my Fire's charger also worked albeit charged very slowly. so it must have had a similar requirement. it also depends on the mAH capacity of the battery. some take higher power to charge. if you use a third-party battery with a higher capacity than the one which came out of box with your device it may need higher voltage to charge it. see the manual if not sure.

i read more into the 'unable to charge non-supported battery' issue that comes up randomly when charging my Samsung phone, even though i'm using the stock battery. the charger itself reads the battery 'chip' and makes a determination whether it's approved or not. so the charger has some sort of 'smart' electronics inside it. i'll check later to see if i can make it charge with a different charger but i've been unsuccessful in the past. it will charge off USB though.

Pretty sure the Merit uses the industry standard 5V. According to ZTE documentation I found on the FCC's website, it has a standard 3.7 V battery and a 5V charger. Battery doesn't seem that big either, being only 1500 mAh. I don't know why it would require a specific charger, considering its pretty typical for a cell phone.

 

[BDP3300]

I know with Samsung devices you'll also void the manufacturer warranty.

But who cares about that?

 

[EarlyMon]

I know with Samsung devices you'll also void the manufacturer warranty.

But who cares about that?

Doing what?

 

[BDP3300]

Doing what?

Voiding the manufacturer's warranty by using third party chargers.

 

[EarlyMon]

Voiding the manufacturer's warranty by using third party chargers.

That's not in the manual for the last Samsung I owned.

Not sure how they'd set a warranty term that they couldn't possibly check.

Or provide a pc data cable in the box knowing that charging is automatically on with every pc connection.

 

[BDP3300]

That's not in the manual for the last Samsung I owned.

Not sure how they'd set a warranty term that they couldn't possibly check.

Or provide a pc data cable in the box knowing that charging is automatically on with every pc connection.

"This Limited Warranty covers batteries only if battery capacity falls below 80% of rated capacity or the battery leaks, and this Limited Warranty does not cover any battery if (i) the battery has been charged by a battery charger not specified or approved by SAMSUNG for charging the battery; (ii) any of the seals on the battery are broken or show evidence of tampering; or (iii) the battery has been used in equipment other than the SAMSUNG Tablet for which it is specified."

That was for Galaxy Tab, though.

I suppose the closest you'll get for smartphones is the following:

"14. Warranty does not cover defects or alleged defects caused by the fact that the product was used with, or connected to, a product, accessories, software and/or service not manufactured, supplied or authorised by SAMSUNG or was used otherwise than for its intended use, Defects can be caused by viruses from your or from third party

 

[mikedt]

i read more into the 'unable to charge non-supported battery' issue that comes up randomly when charging my Samsung phone, even though i'm using the stock battery. the charger itself reads the battery 'chip' and makes a determination whether it's approved or not. so the charger has some sort of 'smart' electronics inside it. i'll check later to see if i can make it charge with a different charger but i've been unsuccessful in the past. it will charge off USB though.

I came across that years ago with a Sony-Ericsson T68 phone that had chipped approved batteries. It wouldn't fast charge third party batteries, it would trickle charge them very slowly. It would even indicate on the screen, that it was a non-SE battery and that it was slow charging it.

Never had it with Samsung Android phones though. A Galaxy S and a Galaxy Win Duos(which is my current phone), which I'm actually using now with a third party Chinese battery, and I'm not using the Samsung charger or I'm using the laptop to charge it. I need two batteries, because I might not be near a power outlet for a couple of days, sometimes. The third-party battery I bought in Shenzhen is actually better than the official Samsung one that came with the phone. 2.4Ah as opposed to 2Ah, and it does indeed last longer.