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dag.odenhall
264
Jun 27, 2014
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500 mA isn't all that useful, possibly even harmful, for charging most devices on the market I know of, which leaves one phone dock and one USB port for charging. My understanding is that it's fine to charge a device from a port rated for a higher current (because the device will regulate it) but potentially detrimental to charge with a lower-than-recommended current. Thus the main reason to use chargers with anything lower than 2.1A is physical size: lower-ampere adapters can be made much slimmer.
But I could be completely wrong because I'm no electrical engineer and have no reputable sources to link; just going by something I read sometime, somewhere. 500 mA is supposed to be what normal computer USB ports supply, which should be fine for slow charging of any device, but maybe it's a difference of it being detected as AC or USB charging by the receiving device, and how it regulates the current based on that. That's just conjecture, though.
Jun 27, 2014
gadams
0
Jun 28, 2014
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dag.odenhallNo, 500 mA is not harmful for any device; as you point out, that's the most that a normal computer USB port will provide. On the other hand, it won't charge very fast, and many devices will actually slowly discharge if you're actively using them while providing only 500 mA of charging current.
(And I am an electrical engineer.)
So, just think of those other two ports as an extra two-port USB 2.0 hub, rather than charging ports.
Jun 28, 2014
dag.odenhall
264
Jun 28, 2014
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gadamsThat's good to hear. Doing a bit more research on this, it seems it can damage the *charger* if you plug in a device that wants a higher current than the charger can deliver (the charger can overheat, catch fire) but I imagine things made for *USB* charging will detect whether it's a sync or charge port and not try to draw more current than those 500 mA. Does that sound about right?
Jun 28, 2014
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