What car USB chargers are safe/appropriate? ...

[cmeisenzahl]

Getting ready to buy a USB charger for the 12 volt outlet in my car. We have a few iPhone 5Ss in the house.

I see some advertised as 2.4 amps and 12 watts, and some as 4.2 amps and 20 watts.

I assume the latter will charge the phone faster? Any reason to be concerned with either? Will either be bad for the phones?

Thanks very much in advance,
Chris

 

[ucfgrad93]

I have a dual charger like the one I linked to. For me, it is nice to be able to charge up 2 devices at once.

http://store.griffintechnology.com/iphone-5/powerduo-universal-micro

 

[cmeisenzahl]

I have a dual charger like the one I linked to. For me, it is nice to be able to charge up 2 devices at once.

http://store.griffintechnology.com/iphone-5/powerduo-universal-micro

Thanks very much.

 

[ucfgrad93]

Thanks very much.

Glad to help.

 

[blarivee]

iPhone charging is limited to 1A. The controller in the iPhones will limit the charging current. The higher power is useful for iPads especially if charging two iPads simultaneously (hence 20W). If all you are charging are iPhones, a dual port 12 Watts is enough. A higher power adapter will not speed up iPhone charging times.

 

[mpantone]

I'd stick to the more reputable brands that Apple features in their own online store: Griffin, Kensington, Belkin, etc.

Here's the dual-USB car charger from Kensington I bought at Amazon a couple of years ago.

One of the ports is rated at 2.1 amps, which means it can charge an iPad. Note that there's a newer, cheaper version of this accessory that has two 2.1A ports (for a total of 4.2A).

You really don't want a one-port charger, and at least one port should be 2.1A for someone using an iPad (you or a passenger).

2.4 amps is a weird combination since it won't charge both a smartphone (typically requires 1A) and an iPad (requires 2.1A). I would definitely stay away from that. It makes no sense, which probably reflects how much thought the engineering team of that device put into it.

 

[869639]

I use Rocketfish brand and Belkin, they both work just fine.

Rocketfish one cost me around $40 back in march 2013 when I had my iPhone 5, and belkin $30.

Rocketfish one has a coiled spring like Lightning connector cable and an additional USB port on the side. Belkin one is just a single USB port that I attach my own iPhone 5S cable to.

 

[anne5louise]

Avantek is the charger I use. It works great. What I found is that this charger charges at about the same rate as the supplied AC charger. Plus, it never get hot. You can't go wrong with this charger!