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charge at 2000mA

S

suicidal acorn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 17, 2011
12
0
i bought a portable charger, and its great, but the usb port puts out 2000mA. most usb ports and most usb chargers only put out 1000mA so i was just wondering if it would damage my idevice to charge it at 2000mA instead of 1000mA.
thanks in advance to anyone who helps.
 
USB ports in most computers only put out 500mA, unless they are designed for more. It is fine to charge an iDevice with that, it will only take as much power as it needs and not anymore.
 
suicidal acorn said:
i bought a portable charger, and its great, but the usb port puts out 2000mA. most usb ports and most usb chargers only put out 1000mA so i was just wondering if it would damage my idevice to charge it at 2000mA instead of 1000mA.
thanks in advance to anyone who helps.
Click to expand...

I have several portable chargers and they are all 2.0-2.1A. Most recent iDevice chargers are 2A (2000mA) to allow the iPad to quick-charge.
 
well after your battery is broken inn well you can charger safe 2.+ amps but don't do it a lot..higher amps will decrease battery life over time..i charge with iPad charger when i need a quick charger...car chargers charge at a lower amp takes longer but the battery loves it..when am at home i trickle charge my iPhone over night..remember calibrate the battery once a while to keep it healthy..you'll notice a difference after..depends on your usage/settings..also dont keep it plug to the charger all the time battery dont like that.. i see lots of people with there laptos always plug to power and there battery craps out fast..

this is similar to what i do with my rc lipo batteries..:D
 
"well after your battery is broken inn well you can charger safe 2.+ amps but don't do it a lot..higher amps will decrease battery life over time..i charge with iPad charger when i need a quick charger...car chargers charge at a lower amp takes longer but the battery loves it..when am at home i trickle charge my iPhone over night..remember calibrate the battery once a while to keep it healthy..you'll notice a difference after..depends on your usage/settings..also dont keep it plug to the charger all the time battery dont like that.. i see lots of people with there laptos always plug to power and there battery craps out fast..

this is similar to what i do with my rc lipo batteries.. "

ok so thats what was thinking, provide too much power to the device and the battery will degrade faster. it was also stated that it will only pull as much as it needs, which would be nice, but i dont think it does. plugged into the new charger it does charge twice as fast, so it is pulling all 2A. thanks for replying so fast.
 
iPhones and iPods have smart batteries with controlled charging circuits. They will only pull as much as they need. The most they can pull is 1.5A. Not a bit more. The iPad can pull down 2000mA. You can give an iPhone 1,000,000 amps, pending that you don't fry the thing, it will still only use a maximum of 1.5A.
 
suicidal acorn said:
"well after your battery is broken inn well you can charger safe 2.+ amps but don't do it a lot..higher amps will decrease battery life over time..i charge with iPad charger when i need a quick charger...car chargers charge at a lower amp takes longer but the battery loves it..when am at home i trickle charge my iPhone over night..remember calibrate the battery once a while to keep it healthy..you'll notice a difference after..depends on your usage/settings..also dont keep it plug to the charger all the time battery dont like that.. i see lots of people with there laptos always plug to power and there battery craps out fast..

this is similar to what i do with my rc lipo batteries.. "

ok so thats what was thinking, provide too much power to the device and the battery will degrade faster. it was also stated that it will only pull as much as it needs, which would be nice, but i dont think it does. plugged into the new charger it does charge twice as fast, so it is pulling all 2A. thanks for replying so fast.
Click to expand...

The iPhone will only draw as much current as it can handle. If the iPhone internal charging circuitry is only designed to accept 1.5A then it won't draw more than 1.5A.

The 2.1A rating on the charger is just the MAXIMUM current that the charger can supply.
 
dk831 said:
The iPhone will only draw as much current as it can handle. If the iPhone internal charging circuitry is only designed to accept 1.5A then it won't draw more than 1.5A.

The 2.1A rating on the charger is just the MAXIMUM current that the charger can supply.
Click to expand...

ok. so does charging at 1.5A degrade the battery faster than just 1A or even 500mA?
 
No. If it did, Apple would have set the maximum power to a lower interval. The iPhone has two charging speeds, rapid and trickle. It rapidly charges up to 80% in about two hours. It then trickles up to 100% in the remaining hour. It's within the last 20% the lithium batteries are the most susceptible to a higher amperage, that's why the iPhone trickle charges the battery when it reaches 80%.
 
thanks. i just wanted to make sure i was not damaging my battery by using my new charger. so there is no advantage to charging it at a lower amperage while the charge is less that 80%? thanks for your help! also, this applies to the ipod touch also, right?
 
the iPhone charges at a maximum of 1 Amp, which is what the included wall charger provides.

Charging from most USB ports charges at a rate of 500mA. MacBooks have a feature where if you plug in an iPhone/iPod into one of the usb ports it will charge it at 1 Amp like the wall charger. iMac and Mac Pro computers probably do this as well.

If you plug in an iPhone into a charger that delivers over 1 Amp the iPhone will simply limit the current to 1 Amp and charge as normal.

Interestingly, plugging in an iPhone into my firewire wall charger from my original iPod does not work, my iPhone simply says "accessory not supported" and it does not charge.
 
melterx12 said:
Interestingly, plugging in an iPhone into my firewire wall charger from my original iPod does not work, my iPhone simply says "accessory not supported" and it does not charge.
Click to expand...

That's because Apple removed the ability to charge with the FireWire power pins from all iDevices starting with the iPhone 3G.
 
Rocko1 said:
Huh? So no matter what you set a variable rate charger to, the changer will only send what the battery needs? This is 100% false.
Click to expand...

No, it just means that when the charger provides a higher current, the phone can and only takes what it needs. If the charger can't provide what the phone needs, the phone will only use as much as the charger provides as long as it's enough, otherwise it won't charge at all.
 
Last edited:
Rocko1 said:
Huh? So no matter what you set a variable rate charger to, the changer will only send what the battery needs? This is 100% false.
Click to expand...

No, the charger sends whatever current it is designed for. the iPhone itself limits the current to a maximum of 1 Amp.
 
melterx12 said:
No, the charger sends whatever current it is designed for. the iPhone itself limits the current to a maximum of 1 Amp.
Click to expand...

Not trying to sound rude, just understand. How do you know what the phones charging circuit is allowing the battery to draw? My phone charges much quicker on my iPad charger-2.1amps that it does on my 1amp standard iPhone charger. If the charging circuit(or circuit that regulates power to the battery) on the phone limits the charge to 1amp, then my phone should charge at the same speed whether I use the 1amp or 2.1amp charger, but it doesn't.
 
Rocko1 said:
Not trying to sound rude, just understand. How do you know what the phones charging circuit is allowing the battery to draw? My phone charges much quicker on my iPad charger-2.1amps that it does on my 1amp standard iPhone charger. If the charging circuit(or circuit that regulates power to the battery) on the phone limits the charge to 1amp, then my phone should charge at the same speed whether I use the 1amp or 2.1amp charger, but it doesn't.
Click to expand...

exactly. when i use the portable charger to charge my ipod, it does charge faster than my apple charger.
 
Rocko1 said:
Huh? So no matter what you set a variable rate charger to, the changer will only send what the battery needs? This is 100% false.
Click to expand...

When you change the variable charger you are changing the voltage not the current. Even though there is a different amount of current between the two devices they use the same voltage so they are interchangeable.

USB ports, the iPhone charger, and the iPad charger are all 5V.
 
Fry-man22 said:
When you change the variable charger you are changing the voltage not the current. Even though there is a different amount of current between the two devices they use the same voltage so they are interchangeable.

USB ports, the iPhone charger, and the iPad charger are all 5V.
Click to expand...

What I meant was there is something regulating the amount of current the battery is charged at.

For example, in the RC world, you can change the amperage on your charger. Voltage stays the same. The lower the amperage the slower the battery charges. What part regulates this on the iphone?
 
Rocko1 said:
For example, in the RC world, you can change the amperage on your charger. Voltage stays the same. The lower the amperage the slower the battery charges. What part regulates this on the iphone?
Click to expand...

The internal charging circuit. Having tried this with a multimeter, I've only ever gotten the iPhone to charge at a maximum of 1.5A. Even when using the iPad's 2A charger, only 1.5A goes through the wires into the iPhone's dock.
 
The chargers will put out their maximum rated output, but the devices will only draw what they need. If you're using an iPad charger on an iPhone it won't blow up...at least mine hasn't the few times I've gotten cables crossed.

Personally, I wouldn't make a habit of it, but that's just me.
 
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