Battery voltage mA charging question?

searcher61 · #1 (**permalink**) 10-20-2009, 10:33 AM

I have a charger from a motorola bluetooth headset that has the same mini usb end. It uses the same voltage as the charger for my phone, but less mA's. If I remember correctly...less amps means it will just charge more slowly, so it should be fine to use. It should only be a problem if it has more mA and does not have the voltage reg. circuits, making it charge faster... getting hot correct? Does anyone know of a site that explains this?...

It's been a while since my H.S. electronics class.

EDIT****
I think I found my answer...
According to the site http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-12.htm, my motorola charger should work just fine....anyone else have any other info?

Bigsmith · #2 (**permalink**) 10-20-2009, 12:15 PM

Phones have current regulation circuitry, so (within reason) you don't have to worry about a mini usb charger hurting a phone by putting out too much current. The phone will draw what it needs and the internal regulation circuitry will only pass a safe current level to the battery and electronics. This is unlike (for example) charging a standalone battery, which contains no such circuitry and can be damaged by a "dumb" charger that outputs excessive current.

On the other hand, it IS possible for a charger to NOT output enough current to be able to charge a particular phone, even slowly. I know from personal experience that not every generic mini usb charger puts out enough current to charge the TP2. I have several such chargers that charged my Mogul just fine but won't charge the TP2. When I plug these chargers to the TP2 the device displays an alert message along the lines of "battery is not receiving enough current to charge" (I don't remember the exact wording). In other words, the TP2 requires a greater charging current than the Mogul. So your Motorola bluetooth charger may or may not work, just try it and see.