Chargers' power output and a device's needed input

[ff22]

Any electrical engineers in the house? (g) (I know these issues turn up fairly regularly and I guess I fail to retain the pertinent info)

First, I apologize for a somewhat off-topic thread since I have a more specific question but I guess this could pertain to any of our Mavic devices or accessories, too, like battery chargers, charging strobe lights, charging tracking devices, etc. But I figured that this subforum gets more traffic than the new Action subforum or the new Pilots Action website.

I recently acquired the new DJI Osmo Action Camera. It does not come with a charger, only a cable. The manual has the following info:

"Charging time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes (using a USB adapter of 5V/2A)*"

The * "Charging time is for reference only."

The manual does not even state that you MUST meet those values.

But the appendix does state this:

"Voltage 3.85V
Charging Limit Voltage 4.4V
Energy 5.005Wh"

So, the question is:

Can an adapter that provides more amps and/or volts be used on a device that needs less of either of those values? For instance the Smart Controller charger puts out 5v/3A (and there are other values under that which makes it even more interesting)

Using an adapter that provides less would presumably take longer to charge??

Thanks in advance.

 

[brett8883]

Any electrical engineers in the house? (g) (I know these issues turn up fairly regularly and I guess I fail to retain the pertinent info)

First, I apologize for a somewhat off-topic thread since I have a more specific question but I guess this could pertain to any of our Mavic devices or accessories, too, like battery chargers, charging strobe lights, charging tracking devices, etc. But I figured that this subforum gets more traffic than the new Action subforum or the new Pilots Action website.

I recently acquired the new DJI Osmo Action Camera. It does not come with a charger, only a cable. The manual has the following info:

"Charging time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes (using a USB adapter of 5V/2A)*"

The * "Charging time is for reference only."

The manual does not even state that you MUST meet those values.

But the appendix does state this:

"Voltage 3.85V
Charging Limit Voltage 4.4V
Energy 5.005Wh"

So, the question is:

Can an adapter that provides more amps and/or volts be used on a device that needs less of either of those values? For instance the Smart Controller charger puts out 5v/3A (and there are other values under that which makes it even more interesting)

Using an adapter that provides less would presumably take longer to charge??

Thanks in advance.

It just depends on the charging circuit it uses, however, generally a device will only draw as much power as it can handle and not more so usually you can use a 3amp charger for a 2amp device yes but it will not charge faster than it can handle. There are exceptions, I have a Sumsung Tab A which will not take a charge from anything but a 1 amp charger. It’s infuriating. If it’s rated to 2 amps then it probably can’t make use of more amperage but sometimes they do under rate electronics.

If you use a 1amp charger it may or may not charge it at all but even if it does it will be so extremely slow that it’s not worth it. Typically it will take the charge though. A notable exception is my Tello drone which refuses to charge at all on 1amp charger but will take a 3amp charger even though it’s rated to 2amps.

The way they have it worded in the manual makes me believe it will take a 1amp charge which is typical.

 

[ff22]

It just depends on the charging circuit it uses, however, generally a device will only draw as much power as it can handle and not more so usually you can use a 3amp charger for a 2amp device yes but it will not charge faster than it can handle. There are exceptions, I have a Sumsung Tab A which will not take a charge from anything but a 1 amp charger. It’s infuriating. If it’s rated to 2 amps then it probably can’t make use of more amperage but sometimes they do under rate electronics.

If you use a 1amp charger it may or may not charge it at all but even if it does it will be so extremely slow that it’s not worth it. Typically it will take the charge though. A notable exception is my Tello drone which refuses to charge at all on 1amp charger but will take a 3amp charger even though it’s rated to 2amps.

The way they have it worded in the manual makes me believe it will take a 1amp charge which is typical.

Thanks for the reply.

I thought it would be okay and that the device would draw what it needed. But I gather that is a general rule. Can a charger be too powerful and blow the device or are most MODERN devices good at regulating what comes into them.

Here's the Smart Controller adapter output:

output

5v/3a
3.6-8v --- 3.0A/12v --- 2A
... ... (dots don't line up under the dashes)

Picture might be better

 

[brett8883]

Thanks for the reply.

I thought it would be okay and that the device would draw what it needed. But I gather that is a general rule. Can a charger be too powerful and blow the device or are most MODERN devices good at regulating what comes into them.

Here's the Smart Controller adapter output:

output

5v/3a
3.6-8v --- 3.0A/12v --- 2A
... ... (dots don't line up under the dashes)

Picture might be better

View attachment 74070

The devices well regulate it. Even my awful Samsung Tab simply won't take the power if it can't use it. Even take won't blow up and Samsungs like to go boom

 

[Thoraldus]

Here is some good info on charging

 

[sas8888]

The rated amps on a charger is what it's capable of outputting. It's like a circuit breaker in your home. It will show a 20 amp breaker but it is not forcing 20 amps down the line it is only rated of outputting up to that limit. The voltage is more important as that is what the charger is putting out. So yes as long as the voltage is the same on device and charger the amps need to be the same or more on the charger.

 

[Kilrah]

USB is standard, any charger you can plug the supplied cable in will be providing 5V as required.
USB chargers may be rated for different currents, the camera will charge the fastest if that rating is 2A or more but it will also work if it's lower, it will just take more time to charge.

 

[Thoraldus]

There is one issue not often mentioned. USB charge cables are not all created equal. In my collection I have one that will charge my Pixel 2 XL 4 times faster than my worst performing one. This is caused by the excessive voltage drop across the cheap cable. (High resistance due to wire guage used) Don't cheap out on your cables! In my case I get the best performance with Anker cables.

 

[Smokieflies]

It was a while ago, but I had a customer fry a Nikon Coolpix camera, charging via USB cord, by plugging it into her tablet power base instead of the one supplied by Nikon (which she lost.) Electronics today are probably better made and sense and regulate power better, but I would still err on the side of caution.

 

[ff22]

Thanks, all.