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Any difference using iPhone charger?

N

noname3151

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 9, 2012
32
0
I have plenty of chargers and cords around as is. So I was wondering would I get the same charging results using the small square charger that came with the iPhone 4s compared to the charger that came with the iPad?

Thanks for your time.
 
iPhone is 5 watts, iPads chargers at 10 watts. It'll take longer if you use the iPhone charger on your iPad.
 
Logic here:

New iPad charger - Huge | 10W | Comes with iPad
iPhone charger - Small | 5W | Doesn't come with iPad

Oh yeah, definitely use the iPhone charger.

/bradllez
 
noname3151 said:
Would using the ipad charger on the iPhone speed up that charging time?
Click to expand...

Actually yes, but that is not necessarily a good thing. Charging a battery too fast can shorten its life.

Use the charger intended for each device, and your devices will be happier and thank you for it.
 
ZBoater said:
Actually yes, but that is not necessarily a good thing. Charging a battery too fast can shorten its life.

Use the charger intended for each device, and your devices will be happier and thank you for it.
Click to expand...

You'd think that there would be some circuitry that regulates the incoming amps/voltages charging the battery so that damage wouldn't occur, right?

If you did think that, you'd be right.

In other words, use either charger.

Want proof for your unfounded FUD? http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4327
 
sammich said:
You'd think that there would be some circuitry that regulates the incoming amps/voltages charging the battery so that damage wouldn't occur, right?

If you did think that, you'd be right.

In other words, use either charger.

Want proof for your unfounded FUD? http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4327
Click to expand...

Fantastic. That article is awful short on details. And when I've charged my iPhone with my iPad charger I have NEVER been able to get a full days use out of it, like I normally do when I use the charger DESIGNED for it.

So why don't you FUD that? :rolleyes:
 
iPad charger is supported by apple to charge ur iPhone also.

This has been known for two years since iPad release.

You can charge iPhone charger to ur iPad also but it will take twice as long.

Just look on apple website charger accessories and they will show compatibility.
 
ZBoater said:
Fantastic. That article is awful short on details. And when I've charged my iPhone with my iPad charger I have NEVER been able to get a full days use out of it, like I normally do when I use the charger DESIGNED for it.

So why don't you FUD that? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

It's FUD when you're giving advice based on your own personal experience.
 
Lawyer said:
Probably not the most intelligent question ever asked but, what if I were to use the iPad charger with the iPhone would it charge the iPhone faster?
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People have said yes, it does charge faster.

I haven't tried it myself.
 
It's generally not a good idea to use the iPad charger for the iPhone, and the iPhone's for the iPad for a couple of reasons.

First, it could either over-supply the battery with power, or under-supply power. Both shortening the life of the battery. Second reason is, the battery is not the only component to worry about. All the circuitry within each device (like the capacitors, resistors, and everything else that make the device tick) are rated for a certain amount of power they need to receive. Too much or too little can shorten the component's life and/or cause them to not work properly.
 
The amount of guessing in this thread is dangerous.

The current rating on a charger indicates the absolute maximum amount of current it can supply. The iPhone charger is 5 watts, and the iPad charger is 10 watts. Both the iPad and iPhone charger output ~5 volts, just like USB (surprise!). Watts / Voltage = amperage (the current flow rate of those electrons). 1 amp for the iPhone charger and ~2 amp for the iPad charger.

The advantage to using the iPad charger for an iPhone is the device can be supplied with a high amperage. If the device accepts the higher amperage, it'll charge faster. The device may want more (I'm almost empty, help!) or less (I'm full, stop charging me!).

The disadvantage to using the iPhone charger for an iPad is the device will be supplied with a lower amperage and take longer to charge.

It won't "over supply the battery with power". The iPad circuitry converts the ~5v supplied to the necessary 3.7v the internal battery needs. If there is not enough power supplied (when the iPad is plugged into an older MBP, for instance), it'll display "Not Charging".

These devices are intelligent because they have to be. Most of their user's aren't.
 
I've had the iPad and iPhone chargers plugged in next to my bed for a year now. My iPad 2 holds a charge nearly as good as it did day 1, and it's been randomly charged overnight by either the iPhone or the iPad charger.
My iPhone has been on whatever the iPad isn't on (sometimes it's the "Proper" charger, sometimes the iPad charger), and it's battery works pretty damn fine also, almost 2 years later.

Use whatever charger you want on whatever device you want. Just realize that the iPhone charger does charge the iPad slower, but if you are charging up overnight it's still more then enough time no matter which one you use.

*******In regards to that last statement, that applied to my iPad 2. Even when nearly dead the iPad2 would charge up to 100% overnight on the iPhone charger. (8-10 hours). I haven't tested this on the new iPad, which has a much larger battery.********
 
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macman7002 said:
It's generally not a good idea to use the iPad charger for the iPhone, and the iPhone's for the iPad for a couple of reasons.

First, it could either over-supply the battery with power, or under-supply power. Both shortening the life of the battery. Second reason is, the battery is not the only component to worry about. All the circuitry within each device (like the capacitors, resistors, and everything else that make the device tick) are rated for a certain amount of power they need to receive. Too much or too little can shorten the component's life and/or cause them to not work properly.
Click to expand...

Doesn't really work that way. Watts is more like "capacity". Both charges have the same voltage. You can have a 1000watt charger and as long as the voltage is the same you aren't going to hurt anything. Whatever device you plug into it will draw the power it needs. If it only needs 5 watts, it will draw 5 watts even if it has 1000 watt charger. Using a weaker charger will result in slower charge times, not reduced battery life.
 
Mansu944 said:
It will charge faster, but it gets warm. Charging too fast is bad for the battery.
Click to expand...

Not true. Lithium polymer batteries can be safely charged at 1C all day long without decreases in life span. What's 1C? That's the time to fully charge the battery's full capacity in a hour. It's not the iPads battery that's taking too long to charge, it's the current limit of our iPads dock connector. If apple made an accessory charge connector or re-designed the dock connector for more amperage (but that would irritate everybody as a bunch of peripherals would've become obsolete) our iPads could be safely charged in a hour. Also, you can't 'hurt' a iPhone but using the iPad power adapter for it. These aren't 'dumb' chargers in our iOS devices, the iPhones charging circuitry will only use the maximum allowed through it's charging circuitry which is 1 amp at 5 volts or otherwise 5 watts.
 
magbarn said:
Not true. Lithium polymer batteries can be safely charged at 1C all day long without decreases in life span. What's 1C? That's the time to fully charge the battery's full capacity in a hour. It's not the iPads battery that's taking too long to charge, it's the current limit of our iPads dock connector. If apple made an accessory charge connector or re-designed the dock connector for more amperage (but that would irritate everybody as a bunch of peripherals would've become obsolete) our iPads could be safely charged in a hour. Also, you can't 'hurt' a iPhone but using the iPad power adapter for it. These aren't 'dumb' chargers in our iOS devices, the iPhones charging circuitry will only use the maximum allowed through it's charging circuitry which is 1 amp at 5 volts or otherwise 5 watts.
Click to expand...

Yup, in fact lipo technology has come a long way. I can charge my RC heli/car batteries at 5C and these are cheap ones from China. I'm sure the ones used in I devices are higher quality. Not really sure if a different dock connector would be required for higher rates. iPad and iPhone use the same connector but its 10 watts vs 5
 
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2IS said:
Doesn't really work that way. Watts is more like "capacity". Both charges have the same voltage. You can have a 1000watt charger and as long as the voltage is the same you aren't going to hurt anything. Whatever device you plug into it will draw the power it needs. If it only needs 5 watts, it will draw 5 watts even if it has 1000 watt charger. Using a weaker charger will result in slower charge times, not reduced battery life.
Click to expand...

Exactly.
 
2IS said:
Yup, intact lipo technology has come a long way. I can charge my RC heli/car batteries at 5C and these are cheap ones from China. I'm sure the ones used in I devices are higher quality. Not really sure if a different dock connector would be required for higher rates. iPad and iPhone use the same connector but its 10 watts vs 5
Click to expand...

Going OT, but I fly 700 class electrics which use a 12 cell setup and I charge them in about 15 minutes at 5c with my 1344watt charger lol. Back to the topic. Look at the pins in your dock connector. Even if you utilized several to carry the charge current (IMHO still dangerous as lint and other crap would eventually block pins causing the remaining ones to overheat), I'm pretty sure they couldn't handle the 8-10 amps required at 5 volts (this is required for USB compatibility) to charge this battery in 1 hour.

It's ironic, but the old skool FireWire interface on the old iPods would be much better t charging this iPad as they run at 12 volts which would decrease the amperage to less than half.
 
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2IS said:
Doesn't really work that way. Watts is more like "capacity". Both charges have the same voltage. You can have a 1000watt charger and as long as the voltage is the same you aren't going to hurt anything. Whatever device you plug into it will draw the power it needs. If it only needs 5 watts, it will draw 5 watts even if it has 1000 watt charger. Using a weaker charger will result in slower charge times, not reduced battery life.
Click to expand...

To my understanding, I thought that if not supplied with proper wattage, voltage, and amperage, electrical components could be strained. Or is my understanding completely off?
 
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