[ot] phone chargers

I have successfully used a Nokia charger to charge a Samsung phone.

It should work, maybe not as fast as a 'proper' Samsung charger but still should charge the phone and tablet.

Have you checked the cable? Have you checked if anything else can be charged from the wall-wart?

A 'generic' wall-wart USB should provide the minimum 500mA that is specified for USB 2.0. That *might* not be enough to actually charge your phone and/or tablet when they are turned on but it should be just about enough for them to run without discharging. Have you tried turning phone/tablet off and then charging it? If this works then the charger isn't powerful enough to charge them when turned on.

IME USB charging is a minefield ... it's as standard as RS-232 (C).

Does the charger supply enough current ? I had a (car) charger which simply could not keep my phone charged (let alone top it up) when the satnav was running.

IIRC isn't there a fallback for dumb devices ?

Chargers don't usually have any inbuilt smarts. If it doesn't work get a refund. Some unbranded chargers are unsafe.

NT

I have a couple of Samsung devices and both charge just fine from a non Samsung PS. Indeed I bought a mains socket with built in USB charger outlets (to make things neater than wall warts) and that charges everything I have that uses this system.

Are you sure your new charger produces enough current?

I think that's the point. With my wife's Nokia phone, if you plug it into a low current charger, a mesage appears on the screen to that effect.

Well, I've never heard of smart chargers that seem to be just usb chargers. The thing is will the phone charge from a pc usb port? I suspect not. Luckily, my old banger of a phone, an owasys, seems to charge from my Eye Glasses usb charger, so no sophistication there Brian

Mine too, but if the message is ignored, it charges anyway though rather slowly.

The cable works perfectly when sued with the Samsung charger. I do not have any other devices to try, so I do not know if the charger is working,. That said, I bought two chargers and neither work, so it seems unlikely they are both broken.

But that's why I bought these new chargers; they are supposed to be rated to 2.1A, which is more than the Samsung one is. They were supposed to be an improvement. I was hoping that it might charger faster.

I was hoping that coming from CPC meant it might be more respectable than coming from an auction or market stall.

Think all the charge control is done inside the phone. The PS merely supplies the required volts and current. Obviously, if it can't supply enough current the phone will either charge slower, or not at all.

But it's rather unlikely Samsung would supply a unit which restricted the charge time.

If I plug my Samsung Galaxy phone into the computer via USB - say to transfer something - it shows it is on charge. Don't know how slow that would be, though.

I had access to an early generation USA import Kindle. It would charge directly from the USB port on the PC but not from a USB hub connected to said port. Investigation showed that the hub would only provide 0.4A and it seems that this prevented the charging circuit in the Kindle coming to life.

They also need to 'tell' the Samsung that they are 2.1A capable, this may well be what's not working.

If I plug my ipad air 2 into an old iphone charger (iphone4) the ipad comes on then switches off in a one second cycle something I wouldn't have expected as on another old charger it just doesn't charge (battery indicator doesn't go green). There have been sonme instances of the lead causing charguing problems but I haven't come uop against that one yet.

Might help if you were more specific about the model.

Very recent ones may be more picky.

Haven't had any problems with Galaxy S3/4/5 phones.

Sony Xperia Z tablet will warn if the charge current is not enough to charge when the device is turned on.

Cheers

Dave R

I believe Samsung chargers used a voltage which exceeded the USB standard and Samsung devices only charge properly with this over voltage. Something like 5.2 volts instead of 5 (I made that up just to give you an idea)

With my really old Samsung tab it was the case that it would charge with other USB chargers but was really slow.

However recently I have bought a couple of chargers and it charges fine with them, one a plug socket I bought only last week. I can give you specific devices if you are interested but maybe you should try all the chargers you have available.

A guy here give a different explanation. But the implication is the same only some USB chargers charge my Tab quickly.

See Florian F's answer.