I am looking for a low-flow usb wall mount. The USB on my car and my laptop charge slowly and my batteries last A LOT longer compared to when I use my usb.

Most notably on my phone and virb.

Any low flowing wall usb chargers out there?

When you say "low flowing" USB charger I assume you mean low current. the rest I don't understand.

What are you attempting to charge? (Phone, laptop, bike light)

What do you want to use as power for your USB charger? (Wall socket, 12v automobile jack)

USB technically has charge rates from 0.5A - 1.5A @ 5V, there are notable exceptions such as some IPads, Nook, and Asus Transformer, among others. Smaller charge currents and subsequently longer charge cycles may extend the life of a battery. So maybe the OP is looking for a 120/240v charger with a max 500 mAh charge rate to slow charge the batteries.

My phone will recognize my laptop usb and car usb as a slow charge. Pretty much a wall charger (like a block with multiple usb outlets) that will give a slow charge.

Here's a cheap ($4.59) model that turned up on a search on Amazon. So far several reviewers give it one star because it charges slower than other wall adapters that offer more power. The older iPhone wall adapters also offer 0.5A and I expect many others do as well.

This one may be safer. I've switched to name brand chargers now that so many horror stories about no-name chargers have come out.

I use several of these models. Max current is 750 mA, so you can't charge an iPad with it.

When you say that the batteries last a lot longer do you mean in terms of charge or longevity?

If it's longevity, I guess it's not a big deal since replacing the batteries is not all that hard or expensive. I've done it myself on several iPhone 5's.

J.

How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries - Battery University

Actually, you *can* charge an iPad from a standard USB port.
You just can't charge it and *use* it at the same time. i.e. it doesn't charge while the display is lit.
I charge mine all the time from a standard USB hub, and it always complains it can't charge until I hit the button to turn off the display.

This is a really good article. Thank you!

Let me try that again and see if this is true for me. Thanks for the idea.

While OP's post isn't technically sensible, I will guess that the "slow" chargers are limiting to the original USB spec of 500mA max at 5volts, and his "usb" has a higher current limit that many newer devices such as iPads can use. Maybe the charge system on his devices isn't so accurate at higher charge rates, although it's hard to believe they are that different.

There's a good independent test of USB chargers, and warnings on counterfeits here:
Ken Shirriff's blog: A dozen USB chargers in the lab: Apple is very good, but not quite the best

That site also has other interesting entries on charger counterfeits and safety concerns.

I got several genuine Apple mini cubes at Other World Computing for something like $6 each, which are nice and likely safer. They'll charge anything that uses USB, at 5W max. For iPads, OWC had 10watt genuine Apple for something like $8, so I got a few of those. OWC seems to get used stock in various condition from time to time.

For those of us who are frequently more concerned about the effective number of charge cycles than about getting the maximum capacity per charge, it would be nice for the chargers to have a switch to choose between stopping the charging at the usual 4.2V vs. a more 'battery-friendly' 4.0V. Especially for devices that have sealed-in batteries I'd usually opt to sacrifice some charge capacity in exchange for keeping the battery healthy for more months/years.

That would be awfully nice, but I suspect demand isn't sufficient to justify making them.

Does anyone know of a source for good lightning cables? They don't last long and they cost too much. This is the type that goes into a new iphone or ipad.

Search result for lightning - Monoprice.com

They don't have many yet, but I have never gotten a bad cable from Monoprice and their prices are reasonable, just keep an eye on shipping and maximize the number of cables you buy in one order.

Thanks. I know monoprice, and it's my boss's favorite vendor, with good reason. I'm hoping to find cables for less than $12. I swear, I'm in the wrong business and wish I were in the computer cable business.

Yes I mean a wall usb that will have a slow charge. I am also talking about battery life from a single charge. My phone will charge up in 90 minutes or so from my current wall chargers but takes at least 2.5 hours from my car or laptop.

I have been trying to look up specs about my car and laptop but get nothing useful. All that pops up for my car ('12 civic) is "aux audio usb" or something along that line and for my laptop the closet I get is a "usb 3.0". I was going to give honda a call tomorrow and see if they can just tell me.

And if I am playing music from my phone (w/a aux jack) and charging it in my car, it will barely charge.


I have a few devices that only came with an usb cable they say no wall chargers. so a wall usb outlet that can mimic a laptop usb is what i am looking for.

In terms of hours per charge

Thanks!

No battery is "non-removable"


currently the virb, some bluetooth speakers and my phone. At least those are what I am using right now.

I would like to charge them from the wall. Turning on my laptop every time I need to charge something has been getting old

On several occasions, while traveling, I've forgotten my iPad charger. If I plug the iPad into the iPhone 1A charger, it will charge it even though it says it isn't charging. It just takes twice as along so overnight, it's fully charged. The new iPhone 6 will accept a 2A charger and charge even faster. So I just don't use the 1A charger anymore.

It's not worth worrying about. A new battery is about $20-25 for a built in battery and easy to install yourself if you have even moderate mechanical ability. Here are guides and tool sets for pretty much every phone:

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Phone

It's also become pretty much a cottage industry. Google it for your town and there is undoubtedly a guy who will drive out and do it for you while you wait at you business.

So it's not worth getting nuts about minimizing the charge cycles. After about two years you can do this replacement yourself and get another two years out of a brand new battery.

J.

Youtube is a great source for changing built in batteries.....you can also try the "drop device and split it open" technique as well, though results may vary

+1 on Youtube. My luck on the drop/split process has been decidedly mixed and far more expensive than I had planned. Works great if you get a good deal on a display/battery combo pack....

J.

I like the Amazon basic ones. They also make a 4" version in addition to the 1 meter

Amazon.com: AmazonBasics Apple Certified Lightning to USB Cable - 3 Feet (0.9 Meters) - Black: MP3 Players & Accessories

Yes, I've done that before and I'd rather not have to waste the time ordering the battery, spending the $25 and then tinkering with the thing for half an hour just because the charger maker couldn't be bothered to put a $.05 switch and selector on it so the battery wouldn't have died in the first place.

Monoprice seems low on stock.
OWC has their house brand, Newertech for $10/1m.
NewerTech CBLUSBLS1M
as well as real Apple surplus. I bought several Apple surplus when they were $12.50 (new, bulk bagged).

Apple controls this design carefully and the cables have chips in them. I think they have been counterfeited, though. I tend to trust OWC on such matters.

Thing is, with lith-ion you're unlikely to wear down the battery from cycles or uses. The battery ages, and ages more rapidly if exposed to heat, at a rate generally faster than you could use the battery from cycles.

My understanding is that it's definitely possible to get longer life out of nimh by never over or undercharging them, but lith-ion degrades over time to fast for cycles to make a huge difference. Biggest thing in extending lifespan is keeping them cool/cold. (Edit: I guess if you're charging them to store them it might make a difference, but that would be charging them to like 50%, not 90%).

I really, really recommend Anker for charging and cable solutions these days. They seem to be no-nonsense, well designed things. Their chargers are fantastic and their cables are robust and cheap. Their lighting cable on Amazon is $9.99. Reviews indicate it is equal to or perhaps slightly better than Apple's cable. Their chargers are cool - they automatically detect what kind of thing you plugged in and adjust the port to suit, so you get optimal charging whether it's an Apple device, Android, or a bicycle taillight.