Author Topic: smartphones that accept most third-party chargers?  (Read 4218 times)

scrubbyfish

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smartphones that accept most third-party chargers?
« on: February 06, 2015, 09:08:52 PM »
My phone is fine for now, but when I need to replace it, I'd like to be prepared and avoid the one issue I've been having.

I've had heaps of trouble with the charging aspect of the phone (Samsung Galaxy Ace).

Wall charger worked great the first couple of years but won't "stick" properly in the phone anymore. Several third-party car chargers haven't worked. Two third-party solar chargers haven't worked, which horrified me when I was camping in the boonies for my first five days apart from my son. It won't charge off my brand new Denon wireless speaker. My only charging option now is via USB off my PC, but that only works if the PC is open and on.

The exact same third-party chargers worked on other people's (different make) phones, older and newer, just not the SGA. Unfortunately, I paid no attention to what phones they were all using on our trips, etc. I've talked to the dealer, no results; talked to Samsung, they said they can sell me a replacement wall charger but offer no other charger option.

I've read a heap of others with the same phone having the same issue, and some of them get into their phone and change something -I think it's actually a physical tweak- but those guys don't recommend doing that unless we know what we're mucking with.

Next time I want to be sure to get a phone that's supported by a range of third-party chargers, not one that can't be charged on a camping trip or road trip, or by friends' chargers, or readily available third-party chargers. Dealer couldn't tell me what phone might be more flexible in that vein, just pretended mine was defective or "too old" despite this being the issue from the start, when it was the same age as friends' phones, and while heaps of others online were reporting the same Samsung trickery. Just tried to upsell me.

So, what smartphone are you using that will accept every type (car, solar, wall, speaker) charger you've tried?

johnny847

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Re: smartphones that accept most third-party chargers?
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2015, 09:11:56 PM »
Huh? Any phone that charges via micro USB (which is virtually every smartphone out there that's not made by Apple) can be charged with any micro USB cable and any USB AC adapter.

scrubbyfish

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Re: smartphones that accept most third-party chargers?
« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2015, 09:28:18 PM »
Huh? Any phone that charges via micro USB (which is virtually every smartphone out there that's not made by Apple) can be charged with any micro USB cable and any USB AC adapter.

Not mine :)     Six chargers tried so far! Here are samples of what other folks on the net are saying:

Quote
...my phone charges fine with the wall adapter. The car can charge my laptop, run dvd players and charge everyone's phone but the Samsung Galaxy Ace. My daughter's fiance also has one and it will not charge in the car either using the provided usb cable and various usb cigarette lighter adapters.

and

Quote
No problems with my Galaxy SII, no charging with my Galaxy Ace.

and

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Samsung Galaxy Ace only charges on some USB adaptors. Why? None of my USB chargers worked on it. So I bought new ones with higher output, but the Galaxy Ace only accepts charge from one - for a Archos 80 G9 Tablet.

There are dozens and dozens and dozens of these kinds of posts.

johnny847

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Re: smartphones that accept most third-party chargers?
« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2015, 09:53:42 PM »
Interesting. This is news to me.

sol

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Re: smartphones that accept most third-party chargers?
« Reply #4 on: February 06, 2015, 09:57:46 PM »
We have a kindle that has this problem.  We figure it's because the charging port was abused and the pins got bent.  Maybe she yanked the cord our, or dropped it while it was plugged in, but either way the plug never feels solidly attached and we only have once USB cable in the house that will work with it (out of like 15).

So my first guess is that any other phone will be fine.  I've never had this issue on any non-damaged device.  It's not like there's some kind of secret software handshake going on between the charger and the phone that isn't getting completed correctly.

Buy any other phone and don't worry about it.

chicagomeg

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Re: smartphones that accept most third-party chargers?
« Reply #5 on: February 06, 2015, 10:29:10 PM »
Sometimes with tablets you need a minimum amperage to charge it, although the wall adapter should control that (I think) not the cord. But in general, most phones should charge with any standard cord. I think it would be safe to assume this is an isolated issue.

scrubbyfish

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Re: smartphones that accept most third-party chargers?
« Reply #6 on: February 06, 2015, 10:34:12 PM »
Some of the many people with the same experience have implemented this trick to get third-party chargers working (even at all, never mind "faster") on their Aces: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1384253   That's the physical trick I've been reluctant to attempt.

JLee

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Re: smartphones that accept most third-party chargers?
« Reply #7 on: February 07, 2015, 12:10:09 PM »
My Nexus 5 has worked with every charger I've tried, including wireless Qi chargers.

scrubbyfish

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Re: smartphones that accept most third-party chargers?
« Reply #8 on: February 07, 2015, 03:07:28 PM »
Thanks very much, JLee! I'll look into that one :)

nanu

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Re: smartphones that accept most third-party chargers?
« Reply #9 on: February 07, 2015, 03:39:15 PM »
My Nexus 5 (as well as several others I played with, and the Nexus 4 as well) worked perfectly fine with any charger I tried in the past.
Do note that the Nexus 5 is about 1.5 years old and no longer being sold new (there might be new inventory at some point, but I wouldn't count on it).

In theory, any phone that has a micro usb is supposed to be able to charge with any cable/charger.
In practice, I've never had any issues with any phone I encountered, so I suspect it might be a physical problem with a specific device.