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The iPhone charger will not charge iPad - another urban myth

wilsonlaidlaw

wilsonlaidlaw

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 29, 2008
443
74
I had read on a review of the iPad and in another forum, that the iPhone charger would not charge the iPad, as it had insufficient power and although the iPad charger looks identical, Apple have bumped the power up to 10W for the new iPad one. Well Apple may have done this but last night, I plugged my iPad in error, into one of my iPhone chargers and it charged up from about 60% to 100% just as if I had plugged it in to its own 10W charger. So it would seem that it is pretty much irrelevant which charger you use. It may be that the charge is a little faster with the new 10W charger.

Wilson
 
Gav2k

Gav2k

macrumors G3
Jul 24, 2009
9,216
1,608
If you had have searched before you posted you would have seen that iPhone chargers do work just fine. Your just charging your battery alot slower than normal.
 
gr8tfly

gr8tfly

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2006
5,333
99
~119W 34N
Not sure it has any sort of "urban legend" status. It's known that the iPhone charger is lower wattage, but still enough to charge - albeit more slowly. Some more recent MB/MBP models also provide enough current to charge the iPad (my Early 2009 UB MBP is one such machine).

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4060

per this KB article:

Charging Tips
The fastest way to charge your iPad is with the included 10W USB Power Adapter. iPad will also charge, although more slowly, when attached to a computer with a high-power USB port (many recent Mac computers) or with an iPhone Power Adapter. ​

edit: just FYI - the MBP can provide up 1A (5W) to the iPad
 
D

Dorkington

macrumors 6502a
Apr 5, 2010
685
22
FWIW, I had an iPhone charger overheat and stop working on me when charging an iPad. YMMV.
 
wilsonlaidlaw

wilsonlaidlaw

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 29, 2008
443
74
Charging when connected to USB port

It is pretty slow on a USB port. I had a look yesterday when the iPad was connected to my late 2009 MBP, which in turn was on its charger. The charge was going up about 2 to 3% every half hour. I have a powered USB hub on my iMac and that is about the same.

I am surprised that the iPhone charger would overheat. Apple is usually quite good on overheating safety devices/cut outs/current limiters. I suspect that it may have been a faulty charger about to die, iPad or iPhone. Over the last 7 years as a Mac user, I have had two faulty chargers, one on a G4 iBook and one on my first black Macbook.

Wilson
 
eTip

eTip

macrumors 6502
Mar 12, 2009
443
26
Dorkington said:
FWIW, I had an iPhone charger overheat and stop working on me when charging an iPad. YMMV.
Click to expand...

Interesting. That may be what happened to mine as well. It's dead as can be and quit working around the time I began to occasionally charge the iPad with it.
 
wilsonlaidlaw

wilsonlaidlaw

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 29, 2008
443
74
What about the reverse -charging an iPhone with an iPad charger

What do folks think - will using an iPad charger risk damaging the battery on my iPhones? I know the iPad charger is designed to output up to 2.1 amps but there may a current or voltage regulator inside the iPhone to limit the current it charges at, to a lower value - or maybe not - gulp.

If it is the case that it is dangerous to charge to charge an iPhone with the iPad charger and it kills an iPhone charger to use it on an iPad, it is IMHO, more than a tad irresponsible of Apple to make them identical in appearance, apart from a barely legible sticker in pale grey print saying 10W.

If a lot of iPhone batteries are killed off and/or a lot of iPhone chargers killed, some bunch of ambulance chasers are bound to start a class action suit against Apple. All Apple needed to do, was to change the colour of the plastic they mould the outer casing of the iPad charger from white to perhaps black or silver.

Wilson
 
G

gigaguy

macrumors 65816
Apr 19, 2010
1,380
124
USA
I wonder if the overheatingones were Apple brand or other.
ipad charges everywhere I put it, my Mac Mini, and iphone chargers, just slower. the cheap car iphone charger does get warm but it charges. I have a good 10w car charger coming Griffin? but back ordered forever.
 
Natesac

Natesac

macrumors 6502a
May 29, 2008
816
47
Dallas,Tx
There are all sorts of chargers that an iPhone 3GS will reject. You would think that if the iPad charger was going to hurt iPhones they(apple) would have tested that and made the iPad charger trip that warning on the iPhone.

It is kinda silly that I have so many of these 30 pin dock cables in my room. I think I'm up to 3 or 4 that I use every day.
 
eTip

eTip

macrumors 6502
Mar 12, 2009
443
26
danpass said:
Identical?

My ipad and iPhone chargers are clearly different.
Click to expand...

Depends on which iPhone. The one that came with my g2 (original) iPhone is identical to the one that came with my iPad - with the exception of the 10 watt rating of course.
 
wilsonlaidlaw

wilsonlaidlaw

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 29, 2008
443
74
eTip said:
Depends on which iPhone. The one that came with my g2 (original) iPhone is identical to the one that came with my iPad - with the exception of the 10 watt rating of course.
Click to expand...

The two chargers which came with my UK and French 8GB 3G iPhones are externally identical to the iPad charger as well.

Wilson
 
F

flipshot

macrumors 6502a
Jul 30, 2007
590
35
Hertfordshire, UK
The UK iPhone 3GS iPhone charger is different to the iPad Charger. The iPhone charger looks just like a standard 3 pin plug but has a USB socket in the bottom. The iPad charger has a block that the 3pin plug clips into and the USB socket in the the block.
 
zorinlynx

zorinlynx

macrumors G3
May 31, 2007
8,168
17,685
Florida, USA
Neous said:
that really sucks because i have chargers for the ipod iphone and ipad and i use them indiscriminately.
Click to expand...

Are you sure it was a genuine iPhone charger? There are a LOT of fakes on the market. The fakes look almost identical; sometimes you can't even tell. My friend has some fakes where the word "Designed" in "Designed by Apple" is spelled wrong.

The fakes might not be regulated, and may be trying to pump a full 10W into the iPad when they're only rated for 5W iPhone charging, hence the failure.

Be wary using fake iPhone chargers as they've been known to kill the devices you charge with them.
 
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