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Review of Anker 3.6A (18W) Dual USB Car Charger w/pics!

This is a review of Anker Bolt 3.6A (18W) Dual USB Car Charger: Anker Car Charger
From my own personal experience I use Note 2 every day as GPS to/from work. Everything is usually on (display, bluetooth), plus GPS/Google maps are up, and I take/make phone calls in a middle of all that. What does that mean? Battery is draining really fast, and even with car charger you need at least 2A output to be able to charge at faster rate than discharging with everything on. 2A charger is not hard to find, although question always come up if you can trust their actual rating. If you want to take it to the next level and charge another smart phone, you can probably find a dual charger with 2A and 1A, although reliability and current sharing during simultaneous use of ports might be in question. This new product from Anker took it to the next level where they are offering dual port output with 2.1A and 1.5A outputs and guarantee full current supply from each port at the same time. In terms of reliability, they are offering 18 months warranty which I think is a bold statement of confidence in their product.
3.6A, which is 18W, is a lot of power and to my surprise the charger was actually very small and lightweight. The dimensions of the end with dual ports is only 26 mm x 24 mm, and the whole charger is very lightweight and only 22g. This small size is very convenient for tight spaces like in your arm-rest compartment, and just in general is unobtrusive to use anywhere in the car. I know they advertise it as dual port with 2.1A for Apple (obviously iPad) and 1.5A for smart phones, but I confirmed that our Note 2 charges perfectly from Apple port. As a matter of fact that would be the best port to use for Note 2 fast charging. I took a picture in my car to demonstrate that both of the ports worked charging Note 2.
Overall it's a great little dual usb port car charger from a trusted company with a punch of 3.6A capacity split between 2.1A and 1.5A ports where both can be used simultaneously so you can do a fast charging of two devices at the same time. Plus, you can get it on Amazon for under $12 which is a bargain.
Here are a few pics:
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How fast does it charge though. Post pictures of charge progress over a 15-20 minutes period please

elite-fusion said:
How fast does it charge though. Post pictures of charge progress over a 15-20 minutes period please
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Don't know if I ever get around it. I'm testing my ZeroLemon 9300 mAh so I mostly discharging my battery rather than charging it up. Will take a while before I get to in car charging Beside for me timing charge in the car makes no sense because I use my N2 for GPS and calls all the time, so I'm discharging it at a heavy rate as it charges up. But for sure, it goes up 15%-20% with this charger during my 1hr commute, but only because I use GPS/BT/display fully on at max brightness. This car charger is true 2.1A/1.5A, so the charging time from 2.1A shouldn't be any different than our OEM wall charger.

vectron said:
Don't know if I ever get around it. I'm testing my ZeroLemon 9300 mAh so I mostly discharging my battery rather than charging it up. Will take a while before I get to in car charging Beside for me timing charge in the car makes no sense because I use my N2 for GPS and calls all the time, so I'm discharging it at a heavy rate as it charges up. But for sure, it goes up 15%-20% with this charger during my 1hr commute, but only because I use GPS/BT/display fully on at max brightness. This car charger is true 2.1A/1.5A, so the charging time from 2.1A shouldn't be any different than our OEM wall charger.
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You should be able to use the Galaxy Charge Current app (available on the play store) to see how much current it's supplying (although this may vary depending on the USB cable you use with it, a reason why I'm purchasing the variant with a built in micro-usb cable and a usb port) although I seem to remember you stating in another thread you had one of the US variants of the Note II and the app may not be compatible with those.

D3_ said:
You should be able to use the Galaxy Charge Current app (available on the play store) to see how much current it's supplying (although this may vary depending on the USB cable you use with it, a reason why I'm purchasing the variant with a built in micro-usb cable and a usb port) although I seem to remember you stating in another thread you had one of the US variants of the Note II and the app may not be compatible with those.
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That's right I'm on US version under Verizon. Those are the exact 2 variants that don't work with this app

D3_ said:
You should be able to use the Galaxy Charge Current app (available on the play store) to see how much current it's supplying (although this may vary depending on the USB cable you use with it, a reason why I'm purchasing the variant with a built in micro-usb cable and a usb port) although I seem to remember you stating in another thread you had one of the US variants of the Note II and the app may not be compatible with those.
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Click to collapse
Quick update on this:
Although the Galaxy Charge Current app only reports the charger giving 1.2a, over an approximately 15 minute period with the screen on, music playback, GPS lock and video recording @ 720p with DailyRoads Voyager, the charger was still able to charge my N7100 from 80% to 86%, which isn't bad considering the heavy load it was under.
The particular charger I bought is this one

D3_ said:
Quick update on this:
Although the Galaxy Charge Current app only reports the charger giving 1.2a, over an approximately 15 minute period with the screen on, music playback, GPS lock and video recording @ 720p with DailyRoads Voyager, the charger was still able to charge my N7100 from 80% to 86%, which isn't bad considering the heavy load it was under.
The particular charger I bought is this one
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Pretty good! But the one you bought is their old generation 15W charger (2.1A and 1A outputs), while this one is a revised new gen 18W with 2.1A and 1.5A outputs - this one

vectron said:
Pretty good! But the one you bought is their old generation 15W charger (2.1A and 1A outputs), while this one is a revised new gen 18W with 2.1A and 1.5A outputs - this one
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Ah, thanks for the info. Seems I'm only missing out on 300mA though (one reviewer says the android port on that is rated at 1.5A and I get 1.2A from mine) so I don't think I'll go for that one. this way I know I'm going to get a decent charge no matter what usb cable I use. I've only got one that's actually capable of charging at full speed and having to take it everywhere I go would be annoying, the fixed charger on this is perfect for me.
Only posted here to help others looking for a decent car charger, as you did. Every other thread I see on the topic seems to recommend usb chargers such as yours but never recommend cables capable of utilising them to their full potential.
Anyway, keep up the great reviews
Most of them make me want to spend money I know I shouldn't on things I don't necessarily need
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

D3_ said:
Ah, thanks for the info. Seems I'm only missing out on 300mA though (one reviewer says the android port on that is rated at 1.5A and I get 1.2A from mine) so I don't think I'll go for that one. this way I know I'm going to get a decent charge no matter what usb cable I use. I've only got one that's actually capable of charging at full speed and having to take it everywhere I go would be annoying, the fixed charger on this is perfect for me.
Only posted here to help others looking for a decent car charger, as you did. Every other thread I see on the topic seems to recommend usb chargers such as yours but never recommend cables capable of utilising them to their full potential.
Anyway, keep up the great reviews
Most of them make me want to spend money I know I shouldn't on things I don't necessarily need
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
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Do you have any recommendations for usb cables that can take advantage of that charge speed?

hurrpancakes said:
Do you have any recommendations for usb cables that can take advantage of that charge speed?
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Absolutely! I highly recommend to use Monoprice usb 28AWG/24AWG cables with Ferrite choker and gold-plated connectors. You need thicker cables to handle 2A current. Do not use thin computer cables designed for 500mA current.
Monoprice cables are very cheap too, 3ft for $1.08: http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10303&cs_id=1030307&p_id=8640&seq=1&format=2 or 6ft for $1.40: http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10303&cs_id=1030307&p_id=8641&seq=1&format=2

hurrpancakes said:
Do you have any recommendations for usb cables that can take advantage of that charge speed?
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I'd go with what Vectron suggested.
In the UK the only cable I've found that does is an old BlackBerry usb cable my cousin had. Swapped it for a spare cable I had that only did 1A because her phone only charges at 1A anyway.
Sent from my Galaxy Note II using xda premium

vectron said:
Absolutely! I highly recommend to use Monoprice usb 28AWG/24AWG cables with Ferrite choker and gold-plated connectors. You need thicker cables to handle 2A current. Do not use thin computer cables designed for 500mA current.
Monoprice cables are very cheap too, 3ft for $1.08: http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10303&cs_id=1030307&p_id=8640&seq=1&format=2 or 6ft for $1.40: http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10303&cs_id=1030307&p_id=8641&seq=1&format=2
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I assume their premium would also have the throughput and low resistance to work as well.

lovekeiiy said:
I assume their premium would also have the throughput and low resistance to work as well.
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Click to collapse
Absolutely, it's low voltage drop cable design. Plus it never failed me in the car either if it's 100deg C or down to single digits.

Just ordered one to see if it'll trigger my iBolt Dock's USB charging/audio feature. Hopefully it does...if it doesn't, well least I can charge two phones in the car at once now.

Ordered these cables from monoprice, used with my original charger and couldn't get my ZL9300 charged over 72%. Kept it on charger for over 12 hours

VitaliyUvakin said:
Ordered these cables from monoprice, used with my original charger and couldn't get my ZL9300 charged over 72%. Kept it on charger for over 12 hours
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Can't be the cable. It's just a thick wire. If it would have been defective, you wouldn't be able to even charge it up to 72%, although you can never tell for sure. So you have used original Samsung 2A wall charger with it's original cable from the same AC wall outlet to charge up your Note 2 with Zerolemon before to 100% without any problem? I just want to baseline your working setup so you can troubleshoot from there. If it was working before in exactly the same setup and you only replaced the cable, can you go back to the original cable and see if it will charge it to 100% without a problem? If not, then it's something wrong with a cable. Make sure nothing funny is going on with your AC wall outlet plug. I discovered that in my house I have a few that not allowing me to do fast charging due to some electric wiring limitation. Also, make sure everything is connected all the way in. Depending on the case you are using, some of these micro-usb connectors are a bit too thick to go all the way in, and although it looks like you are charging - because connector is not mated all the way in, you have a bad contact and limiting charging current. I actually BET you that's exactly what is going on. I have so many usb-to-micro-usb cables around, can't keep track of it. But I remember at my work I had to slice a piece of micro-usb connector to make it thinner to work with my Zerolemon TPU, and I believe that was monoprice cable. Definitely check it out, cause that could be a problem in your case.

Everything was the same, same 2A charger, same outlet, same phone with ZL battery . Just replaced my Samy cable with 6ft one from monoprice. Will try again tomorrow with oem cable, will see how it goes

VitaliyUvakin said:
Everything was the same, same 2A charger, same outlet, same phone with ZL battery . Just replaced my Samy cable with 6ft one from monoprice. Will try again tomorrow with oem cable, will see how it goes
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Click to collapse
Trim micro usb connector. Gotta be it.

It seems to fit pretty tight, but I will definitely try it.

Ha! The Anker direct store in ebay is selling this for $55!! What is it made of gold now? LOL.

Review of Anker Astro E5 15000 mAh external battery w/pics!!!

This is a review of Anker Astro E5 15000 mAh external battery: http://www.ianker.com/product/79AN15K-WA
Being familiar with footprint of their E4 battery, when Anker announced a new E5 model with higher capacity I was expecting to see bigger and heavier model with a typical 30% efficiency loss. I know I bring it up in a lot of the reviews, but labeled capacity of ANY external battery is not what your phone battery going to see. Its a total capacity of cells inside of external battery which gets converted to 5V usb interface output and then back to your cell phone battery while charging - the efficiency loss during the conversion reduces the actual capacity by approximately 30%, with some batteries close to 40% and others maybe slightly better to 25%. On top of that, a lot of no name ebay HK sellers have batteries with super exaggerated capacity where you will be lucky to get even half of what they advertise on the label. That is why I only trust a few brands, Anker being one of them.
Once I received E5 unit for review to my surprise, the footprint stayed almost unchanged and difference in weight was negligible in comparison to previous E4 gen. But you actually get 2000 mAh more in capacity to bring it up to 15000 mAh. The battery cells are changing and improving, and I'm glad to see that Anker is keeping up with a new technology. E5 external battery is not exactly feather light, but at about 11.1 oz and 5"x3"x0.9" is manageable and actually the same as Note 2 with Zerolemon battery. The exterior is solid plastic, no flex, and comes in either white or black. For this review I chose a white unit and found it to be great to cover up any fingerprints. The top has a large power button with dual functionality to also turn on built-in led light. At full charged battery capacity, the light could last up to 700 hours if you only use it for that purpose. Next to power button you have 4-led capacity/charging indicator in 25% increments. Charging input to the battery is a standard micro-usb and has 1.5A charging speed for a fast charging of this battery. Output is a dual full usb port, rated at 2A and 1A both of which can be used simultaneously to deliver 3A of combined current. Each port current output is regulated where I confirmed charging Note 2 from one gave me max 2A and from the other one only up to 1A.
This extended battery comes with usb cable and interchangeable tips for micro-usb, mini-usb, and apple 30-pin connector. Also, it comes with a convenient storage pouch for a battery, cable, and attachment. It also comes with a detailed manual and 18-month warranty card. But there is also a big surprise. I have been reading other independent test reviews of this module and it turned out to have an actual capacity close to 11,800 mAh. We are talking about 21.5% efficiency loss which is very good considering typical batteries of such capacity have it at 30% or higher. This mean you can charge your Note 2 with a standard battery almost 4 times, or easily charge Zerolemon and have some juice still left - all this at a max 2A speed. Overall, I'm very impressed with this battery and its performance!
Here are the pictures.
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Awesome! Thanks for this! What are you using to measure the charge that is going in to the Note 2? I have an external battery rated at 12,000mah, that has both 1A and 2A ports, and would like to see what it's actually putting out, as well as check some wall adaptors that I have. Thanks for the review! Anker is also one of the few brands that I trust as well!
SwiftKey'ed from my White Sprint Note 2 using XDA Premium

stanglifemike said:
Awesome! Thanks for this! What are you using to measure the charge that is going in to the Note 2? I have an external battery rated at 12,000mah, that has both 1A and 2A ports, and would like to see what it's actually putting out, as well as check some wall adaptors that I have. Thanks for the review! Anker is also one of the few brands that I trust as well!
SwiftKey'ed from my White Sprint Note 2 using XDA Premium
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it says it in the last screenshot dude, really? LOL
Galaxy Charging Current

Galaxy Charging Current *Lite* (free version): https://play.google.com/store/apps/...hbnRpcy5nYWxheHljaGFyZ2luZ2N1cnJlbnQuZnJlZSJd
I actually found it to be relatively accurate by comparing charging time versus charging percentage. Ignore "Now" value. Just look for Max/Avg as your charging currents. This app comes very handy for those without root, like myself, to measure your charging current.

vectron said:
Galaxy Charging Current *Lite* (free version): https://play.google.com/store/apps/...hbnRpcy5nYWxheHljaGFyZ2luZ2N1cnJlbnQuZnJlZSJd
I actually found it to be relatively accurate by comparing charging time versus charging percentage. Ignore "Now" value. Just look for Max/Avg as your charging currents. This app comes very handy for those without root, like myself, to measure your charging current.
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Click to collapse
Thanks!! Just tested it out. Like you said, the Now value isn't what the charging rate actually is. Took me reading some reviews on the Play Store to figure that out. The Now value is what the device recommends, while the Average value is what rate you're actually charging at.
I'm not sure how accurate it is though. While using my HTC wall chargers that came with my both my black Evo LTE and white one, the values are Maximum 900, Now 1798, and Average 900. I'm getting the same numbers while using the Samsung wall charger that came with my Note 2. I assume that 900 is correct for the HTC chargers, as they're only 1Amp chargers so I'm getting .9Amp from them. The Samsung charger is 2Amp though, so it should be twice as high as the HTC chargers.
EDIT : Just tested my 12,000mah PowerBank. I got 500 out of the 1Amp port, and 1700 out of the 2Amp port! Very happy with those numbers!! Especially it considering that it appears to be charging at a higher rate than my OEM Samsung wall charger!!!
SwiftKey'ed from my White Sprint Note 2 using XDA Premium

:good:Solid review bro! Something that powerful could almost charge the ZL battery twice, haha.

stanglifemike said:
...
I'm not sure how accurate it is though. While using my HTC wall chargers that came with my both my black Evo LTE and white one, the values are Maximum 900, Now 1798, and Average 900. I'm getting the same numbers while using the Samsung wall charger that came with my Note 2. I assume that 900 is correct for the HTC chargers, as they're only 1Amp chargers so I'm getting .9Amp from them. The Samsung charger is 2Amp though, so it should be twice as high as the HTC chargers.
EDIT : Just tested my 12,000mah PowerBank. I got 500 out of the 1Amp port, and 1700 out of the 2Amp port! Very happy with those numbers!! Especially it considering that it appears to be charging at a higher rate than my OEM Samsung wall charger!!!
...
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Mike, which 12kmAh charger are you using? I know Anker stuff is universal for Apple/Android, while some other ones will drop your charging current to max 0.5A when connected to "apple" port. Another question, which usb cable are you using? Unless if its original Sammy cable that came with OEM charger or a cable like from monoprice with 24AWG/28AWG rating (thicker power wires to handle up to 3A of current), the cable itself its a bottleneck if its designed for a lower charging current. So for example, if you are using HTC charger/cable and then used their cable to connect to Samsung wall charger - you could be current limiting your phone (thinner wires, more resistance). And even if you are using OEM Samsung wall charger and cable - I noticed that in our house some outlets can't supply enough current depending on what other stuff is connected to the same shared power branch.

vectron said:
Mike, which 12kmAh charger are you using? I know Anker stuff is universal for Apple/Android, while some other ones will drop your charging current to max 0.5A when connected to "apple" port. Another question, which usb cable are you using? Unless if its original Sammy cable that came with OEM charger or a cable like from monoprice with 24AWG/28AWG rating (thicker power wires to handle up to 3A of current), the cable itself its a bottleneck if its designed for a lower charging current. So for example, if you are using HTC charger/cable and then used their cable to connect to Samsung wall charger - you could be current limiting your phone (thinner wires, more resistance). And even if you are using OEM Samsung wall charger and cable - I noticed that in our house some outlets can't supply enough current depending on what other stuff is connected to the same shared power branch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think PowerBank is the brand, and Long March is the model. There is a long thread in the Evo LTE Accessories subforum (my other phone), and that's how I heard about it. I normally wouldn't buy an off brand accessory, but with many XDA members giving great feedback, and some have had it close to a year, I decided to try it out. Very happy that I did!! I looks a lot like your Anker actually. It has 2 USB ports for charging other devices, a 1 Amp and a 2 Amp, and also has a little LED flashlight as well. It works great and this app you mentioned showed me that the 2 Amp port is charging at 1.7 Amp(while using my HTC micro USB cable, so it may charge at an even higher rate using the Samsung cable), so I'm happy with that.
For the Samsung wall charger, I'm using the Samsung wall charger and Samsung micro USB cable. I do have it plugged in to a power strip though, so I'll have to try it plugged directly in to a wall outlet with nothing else plugged in. Thanks for the info!
EDIT : Update - after trying the Samsung charger in a wall outlet instead of the power strip, I'm still getting 900(.9 Amp). Maybe my charger is just not putting out the Amperage it should anymore, and I should just buy another Samsung wall charger if I want to get the correct Amperage. I rarely use my wall charger though, as I just use my external battery charger to charge my extra Samsung battery. When I do plug in the phone, it's usually in to my PowerBank while I'm sitting outside playing on my phone and drinking/smoking (never smoke in my house!).
SwiftKey'ed from my White Sprint Note 2 using XDA Premium

stanglifemike said:
I think PowerBank is the brand, and Long March is the model. There is a long thread in the Evo LTE Accessories subforum (my other phone), and that's how I heard about it. I normally wouldn't buy an off brand accessory, but with many XDA members giving great feedback, and some have had it close to a year, I decided to try it out. Very happy that I did!! I looks a lot like your Anker actually. It has 2 USB ports for charging other devices, a 1 Amp and a 2 Amp, and also has a little LED flashlight as well. It works great and this app you mentioned showed me that the 2 Amp port is charging at 1.7 Amp(while using my HTC micro USB cable, so it may charge at an even higher rate using the Samsung cable), so I'm happy with that.
For the Samsung wall charger, I'm using the Samsung wall charger and Samsung micro USB cable. I do have it plugged in to a power strip though, so I'll have to try it plugged directly in to a wall outlet with nothing else plugged in. Thanks for the info!
EDIT : Update - after trying the Samsung charger in a wall outlet instead of the power strip, I'm still getting 900(.9 Amp). Maybe my charger is just not putting out the Amperage it should anymore, and I should just buy another Samsung wall charger if I want to get the correct Amperage. I rarely use my wall charger though, as I just use my external battery charger to charge my extra Samsung battery. When I do plug in the phone, it's usually in to my PowerBank while I'm sitting outside playing on my phone and drinking/smoking (never smoke in my house!).
SwiftKey'ed from my White Sprint Note 2 using XDA Premium
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What you refer to is Yoobao brand power bank model "Long March". Unfortunately, there is only one official reseller of Yoobao brand in US and its KeviKev (I reviewed Yoobao Thunder 13000 mAh from them before - http://kevikev.com/Samsung-Galaxy-NOTE-II-2-N7100-Cases-and-Accessories_c47.htm). Long March is 11,200 mAh model. Did you get it from Amazon or eBay? It's a Chinese knock off of Yoobao, but it doesn't matter since it works for you. They all use the same battery cells anyway, and original Yoobao stuff might be a bit more robust and have more durable plastic shell. But listen, if the one you have works - its all good and don't worry about it!!!
Strange about Samsung wall charger. Sounds like something is gone south. Btw, don't even bother buying anything labeled as "original OEM Samsung wall charger" from Amazon or eBay - it's all fake knock offs as well. For the fun I just look on Amazon reviews, and everybody complaining about Samsung OEM wall charger not even being able to supply 1A. That's a problem with Amazon, anybody can create a merchant account and list their product under original manufacturer listing. And the rest is history because you will never be able to find original Samsung part since everything else will be a fake copy But I assume you are using your original wall charger and cable which came from Samsung when you bought N2?

flynnchen said:
Yoobao brand is quite good. I had one before. Is anker battery stable now ? I just found out this post on xda
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1361749
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That explosion has nothing to do with Anker batteries. That was highly/almost 100% due to the black cheap/low amp charger. I had a random cheap black USB charger similar to that for charging low amp Emerson bluetooth headphones, which was 400 mAH output, and we charged my brother's IPAD 2 with it, and it started to smoke. Same issue happened when charging his S3 with that cheap charger. I think it was their mistake for providing such a terrible charger, which is why it seemed the white one was probably better. The lesson is: don't charge anything that has a higher capacity/requirement with something far below it's capacity - otherwise, you're just asking for a dangerous situation to occur. That's just my two cents and observation from what I have seen, read, and personally experienced

how to charge
Excellent and informative review! 2 questions (I am a novice...). How do I charge the charger...can I use either my iphone 5 plug (output 5V/1A) or ipad2 plug? And, when charging my devices, is it the 1A socket for iphone 5, and 2A socket for ipad 2? Thank you!
---------- Post added at 10:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:07 AM ----------
Excellent and informative review! 2 questions (I am a novice...). How do I charge the charger...can I use either my iphone 5 plug (output 5V/1A) or ipad2 plug? And, when charging my devices, is it the 1A socket for iphone 5, and 2A socket for ipad 2? Thank you!

maestrojohn said:
Excellent and informative review! 2 questions (I am a novice...). How do I charge the charger...can I use either my iphone 5 plug (output 5V/1A) or ipad2 plug? And, when charging my devices, is it the 1A socket for iphone 5, and 2A socket for ipad 2? Thank you!
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Click to collapse
To charge the charger you can use any wall charger with micro-usb output. Since this is Android forum and Note 2 section, I assume you have one of those. Otherwise as you aware the charging cable for iPhone 5 is not micro-usb. But to charge your device, you can do that with any phone or tablet since charging/data cables have usb on one side (that will go into a charger) and whatever connector you are using on your device on the other side of the cable. In theory you can use either outputs.

Hello! Great review, I purchased it for 50 bucks on amazon 5 minutes ago because of the review. I am a noob, sorry in advance, I made this account to ask these two questions: 1: I just wanna use it for my iPhone 5, do i plug it in on the 1A or 2A? If both is ok, which one is better for the battery in the phone? 2: I will need an adapter, which one is better? Micro Usb to Lightning or 30pin to Lightning? I dont like the size of the 30 pin to lighting, so is it ok to purchase a micro usb to lighting instead? Does this affect anything like charging time?
Thanks for answering, have a nice day

flotschi13 said:
Hello! Great review, I purchased it for 50 bucks on amazon 5 minutes ago because of the review. I am a noob, sorry in advance, I made this account to ask these two questions: 1: I just wanna use it for my iPhone 5, do i plug it in on the 1A or 2A? If both is ok, which one is better for the battery in the phone? 2: I will need an adapter, which one is better? Micro Usb to Lightning or 30pin to Lightning? I dont like the size of the 30 pin to lighting, so is it ok to purchase a micro usb to lighting instead? Does this affect anything like charging time?
Thanks for answering, have a nice day
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use either 1A or 2A outputs. Your phone has a fixed charging speed and will not draw more current that it's limited to. So for example if iPhone can charger at a speed of 1A per hour and you connect it to an output that can supply 2A per hour - it will only draw at 1A per hour speed. BUT, if you have Note 2 which takes advantage of 2A per hour charging and you plug it into 1A port, it will be charging at half the speed.
Regarding cable, try to minimize number of connecting adapters. For example, you get a cable with 30pin connector and you can add 30pin to Lighting adapter to it, but with every connection you add resistance which going to affect total amount of current and can slow down the charging, etc. You want to have point-to-point cable. So I would recommend using USB to Lighting connector cable. Not micro-usb, but usb because charing ports on this external power supply are full size usb. Only the port to charge this battery is micro-usb because of a common connection with other charging cables.

reply removed...

I wonder if you could try something for me.
Could you find out if the Anker will supply a phone/device while it is itself being charged? Also, whether it will keep supplying the phone/device without interruption when its own charging supply is connected and disconnected?
I want to use it like a mini-UPS for my phone while charging it from my bicycle dynamo, but for this, it needs to cope with a charging supply which stops and starts, while continuing to supply any connected devices.

I think I tried it before, and it didn't work. These external battery devices are not intended to work in pass-through mode. I think there are some other ones (I'm 100% sure if that was NewTrent), but the vendor will not guarantee the device under warranty because of an additional overheating and cut of the efficiency. This will really complicate the controller of such ext battery where it has to keep balance between charging and discharging of the same battery at the same time. I'm pretty sure Anker stuff will not allow that because they have smart current monitoring functionality built-in in order not to overcharge or over-drain the device.
But it would be an interesting experiment where you connect ext battery to the outlet and to the phone. I wonder if it starts charging battery first until it's full, and then switch to charging the phone

vectron said:
I think I tried it before, and it didn't work. These external battery devices are not intended to work in pass-through mode. I think there are some other ones (I'm 100% sure if that was NewTrent), but the vendor will not guarantee the device under warranty because of an additional overheating and cut of the efficiency. This will really complicate the controller of such ext battery where it has to keep balance between charging and discharging of the same battery at the same time. I'm pretty sure Anker stuff will not allow that because they have smart current monitoring functionality built-in in order not to overcharge or over-drain the device.
But it would be an interesting experiment where you connect ext battery to the outlet and to the phone. I wonder if it starts charging battery first until it's full, and then switch to charging the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did just that yesterday, and it worked fine. Now, the anker would not actually increase its charge due to simpe physics: it charges with 1.5A from the wall, and my nexus 10 used 1.2A of those, and adding some inefficiencies on that it would likely mean that it would just hold a charge level in the anker battery, not increase it. But as soon as the tablet ramps its current draw down the anker would suck up any left over juice. This becomes even worse of course if you charge a phone at the same time.
One little note: The battery in this is not the most awesome (also the capacity measurement is a simple voltage-based instead of counting coulumbs). While charging with ~1A from the 1A port, when I added my nexus 10 to the 2A port the charge indicator actually went from 50% to 25%. When removing the tablet the LEDs indicated 50% charge again. This is due to voltage sag which is itself due to internal resistance of the batteries. Meaning: The faster you charge the more heat will be wasted in the batteries. So to really prolong the battery life you should actually charge slowly, at least as far as the Anker is concerned.

Thanks for the review, I will probably be getting one now.

[Q] Heavy Duty Charging Cable

Does anyone know of a charging cable that will deliver a solid 1, 1.5 or 2 Amps?
I ordered a few cables off of Ebay and when I started using them I noticed that my phone wouldn't charge at all (or would charge at a rate of 1% every 8 minutes) when I started using it. I then bought a USB in-line voltage tester to test my outlets and cords, since I couldn't really make contact with a multi-meter. I found that using the Ebay cables I wasn't getting any more than 300 mA! Using the official Samsung charger and cable I was able to get 715 mA and the highest that I got out of the 6 outlets I tested in my house was only 878 mA. The Samsung charger is rated for 2 Amps and I know the phone will only pull as much as it needs but I'd expect it at least pull 1 Amp. I also used an Asus 2 Amp charger,an HTC 1 Amp charger, and a 2 Amp USB wall outlet along with the charging cable that came with my Logitech Performance MX mouse.
Here are my results:
{
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"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
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I know people have asked this before and I saw someone recommend Monoprice, so I found these 28 gauge and 24/28 gauge , but does anyone know of a vendor that sells 18, 20, or 22 gauge charging cables?
Edit:
After some searching I found 18 gauge 5 Pin Micro USB cables from Alibaba...but I'd have to buy 1,000 of them :-/ The smallest I could find in small quantities is 22 AWG from NewEgg
18 gauge would be ideal because it could deliver a max of 2.3 Amps. 20 gauge would deliver a max of 1.5 Amps, and 22 gauge would deliver a max of 920 Miliamps. Here's a chart about wire sizes.

re: charging
brando56894 said:
Does anyone know of a charging cable that will deliver a solid 1, 1.5 or 2 Amps?
I ordered a few cables off of Ebay and when I started using them I noticed that my phone wouldn't charge at all (or would charge at a rate of 1% every 8 minutes) when I started using it. I then bought a USB in-line voltage tester to test my outlets and cords, since I couldn't really make contact with a multi-meter. I found that using the Ebay cables I wasn't getting any more than 300 mA! Using the official Samsung charger and cable I was able to get 715 mA and the highest that I got out of the 6 outlets I tested in my house was only 878 mA. The Samsung charger is rated for 2 Amps and I know the phone will only pull as much as it needs but I'd expect it at least pull 1 Amp. I also used an Asus 2 Amp charger,an HTC 1 Amp charger, and a 2 Amp USB wall outlet along with the charging cable that came with my Logitech Performance MX mouse.
Here are my results:
I know people have asked this before and I saw someone recommend Monoprice, so I found these 28 gauge and 24/28 gauge , but does anyone know of a vendor that sells 18, 20, or 22 gauge charging cables?
Edit:
After some searching I found 18 gauge 5 Pin Micro USB cables from Alibaba...but I'd have to buy 1,000 of them :-/ The smallest I could find in small quantities is 22 AWG from NewEgg
18 gauge would be ideal because it could deliver a max of 2.3 Amps. 20 gauge would deliver a max of 1.5 Amps, and 22 gauge would deliver a max of 920 Miliamps. Here's a chart about wire sizes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no such thing as a heavy duty charging cable for cell phones.
The charging rate has nothing to do with the cable itself but it has all
to do with the charger. Stock charger delivers about 2 amps & using
the computer as a charger only gives you approx 1 amps.
The gauge of the wire/cable does not make one bit of difference since
we are talking super low voltage (3.7 volts).
So at 2 amps at 3.7 volts it would make no difference if the wire
was 18,20,22 or 50 gauge at these very low voltages.
If the cell phone was charged at a higher rate than 2 amps like
3-4 amps it would degrade the battery since it would constantly
be over heating and thus would have a much shorter life span.
The battery could get so hot that it might even explode!
Good luck!

Well how do you explain the variances in Amps when using the cheap Ebay cables compared to the Samsung/Logitech cables?

Misterjunky said:
There is no such thing as a heavy duty charging cable for cell phones.
The charging rate has nothing to do with the cable itself but it has all
to do with the charger. Stock charger delivers about 2 amps & using
the computer as a charger only gives you approx 1 amps.
The gauge of the wire/cable does not make one bit of difference since
we are talking super low voltage (3.7 volts).
So at 2 amps at 3.7 volts it would make no difference if the wire
was 18,20,22 or 50 gauge at these very low voltages.
If the cell phone was charged at a higher rate than 2 amps like
3-4 amps it would degrade the battery since it would constantly
be over heating and thus would have a much shorter life span.
The battery could get so hot that it might even explode!
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can say the cable itself does effect charge rate. Some are charge and sync some charge only cable. Adapters are different thing. I have a oem samsung cable that charges pretty slow compare to a cable i got from gamestop .which charges somewhat 25% faster. And some ebay cables which drains while i play with my phone and charges 15 % per hour. Test both into wall socket and computer usb. The gamestop.white cable charges faster both ways. Same result when plug into my car usb port. Not the 12v plugin port
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

re: batteries.charging
brando56894 said:
Well how do you explain the variances in Amps when using the cheap Ebay cables compared to the Samsung/Logitech cables?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The amps/milliamps output will always vary depending on the battery condition
at the time it's being measured.
A battery which is close to being fully charged will charge at a rate much less
than if the battery had very little charge left in it.
That's how most any charger works, there are no chargers which will put out
2 continuous amps regardless of the condition of the battery.
When we are talking about milliamps output from our computers or from any of the cell phone
chargers the rating of 2.0 or 1.0 or .5 milliamps are only in the specs to let us know the maximum
milliamp rate that any chargers can charge. (up to 2mA and so on, depending on battery condition)
Good luck!
---------- Post added at 11:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:01 PM ----------
jason4962 said:
I can say the cable itself does effect charge rate. Some are charge and sync some charge only cable. Adapters are different thing. I have a oem samsung cable that charges pretty slow compare to a cable i got from gamestop .which charges somewhat 25% faster. And some ebay cables which drains while i play with my phone and charges 15 % per hour. Test both into wall socket and computer usb. The gamestop.white cable charges faster both ways. Same result when plug into my car usb port. Not the 12v plugin port
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right, there are two kinds of usb cables for cell phones, one only charges
and the other is for both charging and data/sync.
However the only difference in the two types of cables is that the the charging
only cable has one less wire connected to both ends of usb cable connectors.
The two wires which actually charge are the same in both kinds of cables.
(common ground and 3.7 volts)
It takes only 2 wires in the usb cable for charging while the data/sync and charging
cable needs 3, one for common ground, one for 3.7 volts and one for data/sync.
But as far as different brands of usb cables charging more or less that's just not true.
Just think, if what what you are saying is true then that would mean that if we plugged
a 50 watt lamp into a heavy duty extension cord it would make the 50 watt light bulb
brighter than if the extension cord was a 99 cent cheap import. LOL

I talked with my father, who has been an electrician for about 40 years, regarding this and he pretty much said the same thing. I remember seeing on the external Samsung battery charger that I have said it charges at a rate of 700mAH, so I guess the same goes for charging it in the phone within a slight tolerance.

The only concern on charging cable is the resistance. Chop some cheap eBay cables in half - you will be hard pressed to find the copper. If you lose two volts from one end of the cable to the other - you will not charge fast. Also some cables are not wired correctly for high speed charging.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
---------- Post added at 10:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:29 PM ----------
Yes you are right - the 50 watt light bulb would be dimmer if your power cord is too small a gauge. You might also start a fire.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

re: volts
rmm200 said:
The only concern on charging cable is the resistance. Chop some cheap eBay cables in half - you will be hard pressed to find the copper. If you lose two volts from one end of the cable to the other - you will not charge fast. Also some cables are not wired correctly for high speed charging.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You would need about a 500 feet of wire or cable to lose 2 volts out of 3.7 volts. LOL
All chargers only use and only has two wires, a volt+ and a volt-
There is no such thing as usb cables wired differently for charging.

Misterjunky said:
You would need about a 500 feet of wire or cable to lose 2 volts out of 3.7 volts. LOL
All chargers only use and only has two wires, a volt+ and a volt-
There is no such thing as usb cables wired differently for charging.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I realize there is a lot of ignorance in the world. We cope as we can. Just search xda for USB fast charge.

Misterjunky said:
You would need about a 500 feet of wire or cable to lose 2 volts out of 3.7 volts. LOL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps you missed the part of the statement which referred to "copper." Some imitations using other conductive materials have resistivity as much as 30 times that of copper.

I did cut one open and it looked like it was stands of tin wire, not copper.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

i think you are ???????????????????????
Misterjunky said:
You would need about a 500 feet of wire or cable to lose 2 volts out of 3.7 volts. LOL
All chargers only use and only has two wires, a volt+ and a volt-
There is no such thing as usb cables wired differently for charging.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes there is cables for charge only cable
you may please understand if the charger have 2 amp , phone is capable to take 1.5 amp but the cable .....
in this condition if the cable is not good one the phone will not get the correct amp but it will give the correct volt you can check your self
like this drain the phone to 10% put it in to off condition then charge it with a 2 amp charger with good cable (Samsung 2 amp charger cable or original charger cable of Htc ) switch on and check after 10 minute do this with cheep china made cable then you will get the result :silly:

jowelvjoy said:
yes there is cables for charge only cable
you may please understand if the charger have 2 amp , phone is capable to take 1.5 amp but the cable .....
in this condition if the cable is not good one the phone will not get the correct amp but it will give the correct volt you can check your self
like this drain the phone to 10% put it in to off condition then charge it with a 2 amp charger with good cable (Samsung 2 amp charger cable or original charger cable of Htc ) switch on and check after 10 minute do this with cheep china made cable then you will get the result :silly:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are responding to a 5 month old post.

Opinions are often spoken as facts on the Internet.
The quality of the cable has a drastic affect on the charge rate. I can prove it with Screenshots if any of you would like.
Verify the charge rate using this app - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.abmantis.galaxychargingcurrent.free
While travelling in the Philippines and Thailand I found very VERY many fake Samsung chargers and fake Samsung cables that could only output low MA during the charge cycle. Since then I've been searching for inexpensive cables and chargers that can run at the full 1900ma as indicated by the above mentioned app.

Very true. They can also trash a battery. Our OE charger has a chip (I think its really a resistor) that aids the phone in controlling the current. It provides a steady current to the phone, then the phone lowers it to something within the batteries specs. Then again, the battery itself has a resistor also. Its all meant to give a steady current at the right voltage/amps. What comes out of your electrical outlets and car charger ports isn't steady.
This is where a "good" charger comes in. A crap one will not level the current and it'll fluctuate constantly. This causes bad/dead cells, swelling, overheating, ruptures, or even fires and explosions.
Sometimes even using a charger meant for another phone will mess things up. It won't hurt the battery usually but it'll cause random reboots and the real vs assumed charge will be way off. There's a lot more that goes on when charging these phones than simple + and - terminals moving electrons between an anode and cathode.
Sent from inside the matrix

/thread and just recommend me a pretty cool cable to purchase for charging my phone!!!!!

Blackberry chargers. No lie.
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=171194805237&alt=web
Seeing a stupid comment on Google Play about an app you love and marking it as "spam". You've done it too.

TheLastSidekick said:
Blackberry chargers. No lie.
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=171194805237&alt=web
Seeing a stupid comment on Google Play about an app you love and marking it as "spam". You've done it too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will have to buy one and try it out.
Thanks
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app

First, the cable makes a HUGE difference. Get " current widget " from play store. I use "portapow" cables from amazon. From the same charger, I get 1.3 milliamps from portapow cables, and .75 milliamps from stock data/charging cables. You will never get the full 2 amps from stock charger. But I swear by these cables.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0088HTYUE?pc_redir=1404994591&robot_redir=1
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

usb cables

hi. I'm noticing big differences in the charge rate depending on the cable i'm using. some cables can't charge the phone even if they have absolutely no issues with other phones, so i was thinking about creating some sort of cables db to help each other if we need to buy spare cables. i'm still looking for a good app to post more accurate tests, but for the moment here's what i've found.
cables (tested with the stock n5 charger)
n5 stock
no problem, charging at more than 1000 mA​
amazon basics (1,8m)
not charging, discharge rate reduced of about 200 mA​
sgs2 stock
very slow charging, about 200 mA​
Premium USB to Micro USB Charge & Sync Cable 6ft- Black (link)
Charges at +1000ma with any of my 2a power supplies.​
all in one chargers:
sgs2 stock
very slow charging, about 300 mA​
i've tested other cables, but i can't remember where i got them, anyway none of them was charging the phone
i've tested the same cables with different chargers (all of them rated 1000mA) without major differences.
the tests were made using battery monitor widget.
if you have cables to test post the results here, i will update the op as soon as i can. please also test already tested cables to confirm what we've found.
i'm also looking for suggestion for better apps or better test methods.

Premium USB to Micro USB Charge & Sync Cable 6ft- Black
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030307&p_id=9762&seq=1&format=2
Charges at +1000ma with any of my 2a power supplies.

I used my Sprint Samsung GSII (E4GT) charging brick and cable last night and under battery stats it showed charging (AC) and it seemed to be charging the phone quickly.
Is there a place to see this on the stock rom or do I have to download an app to see the voltage?

Raistlin1 said:
I used my Sprint Samsung GSII (E4GT) charging brick and cable last night and under battery stats it showed charging (AC) and it seemed to be charging the phone quickly.
Is there a place to see this on the stock rom or do I have to download an app to see the voltage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i used the app because i don't know a better way.

KoRRo89 said:
i used the app because i don't know a better way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what app did you used?
i wanna do this tests too

escape21 said:
what app did you used?
i wanna do this tests too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i used battery monitor widget. play store link. the better option is to let it run and post an average of the graph or you can just post the instant value but it's not so accurate...

Ok, I've made a more accurate test and I've taken some screenshots, for the moment I'm going to upload them here, tomorrow I'll update the op.
OK, this is a charge using stock charger and cable, from around 50% to 100%.
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A bit slower than previous time, but nothing major. At the moment I was sleeping, so as usual for me it was in flight mode and with sleep as Android app running.
This is a partial charge (14% to 55%) with the stock charger and the Amazon basics cable.
much faster than previous test, but still not enough. Tested with very light use, and in flight mode for most of the time.
Inviato dal mio Nexus 5 utilizzando Tapatalk

I have several PortaPow 24AWG fast charge cables, best money I ever spent. My phone actually charges in the car now (and fast) while I'm using gps and streaming music over bluetooth, the cheap ebay cables I had before couldn't charge my devices while in use. When I use the Portapow cables they show up as AC charging in the battery settings instead of usb like the old ones.

green_comet said:
I have several PortaPow 24AWG fast charge cables, best money I ever spent. My phone actually charges in the car now (and fast) while I'm using gps and streaming music over bluetooth, the cheap ebay cables I had before couldn't charge my devices while in use. When I use the Portapow cables they show up as AC charging in the battery settings instead of usb like the old ones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just to clarify, all the cables i've tested are showing up as AC even if the charge is so slow.

Ahh ok, I found my cheap/slow cables would show usb under battery settings. I'm finding the Portapow cables very good though, I've tested them on my cars usb input, a Ventev r2200 4.2A charger, and a Kensington Powerbolt 4.2 and have performed flawlessly so far. I'll have to do a few more test and post the results up here. :good:

I have read reports of some users complaining that their micro usb cables don't fit in certain nexus 5 cases. Does anyone know of any cables (preferably that charge well lol) that are slim around the connector?

unvaluablespace said:
I have read reports of some users complaining that their micro usb cables don't fit in certain nexus 5 cases. Does anyone know of any cables (preferably that charge well lol) that are slim around the connector?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the cable suggested by @gtj0 seems to be slim enough, but better wait for him.

KoRRo89 said:
hi. I'm noticing big differences in the charge rate depending on the cable i'm using. some cables can't charge the phone even if they have absolutely no issues with other phones, so i was thinking about creating some sort of cables db to help each other if we need to buy spare cables.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've noticed the same. Some chargers/cables seem to charge quickly, other slowly, if at all, even though the phone indicates AC charge status. This is a great idea for a thread and DB. Do you think it's more the cable vs the charger?

SykesAT said:
I've noticed the same. Some chargers/cables seem to charge quickly, other slowly, if at all, even though the phone indicates AC charge status. This is a great idea for a thread and DB. Do you think it's more the cable vs the charger?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, from what I've noticed it's more the cable. I only tested the original charger, another LG charger (1000 ma, from my old p990), a choiix (cooler master) 1000 ma charger, and my choiix external power bank. All the 3 1000 ma chargers are charging at almost the she speed, independently from the cable, che stock 1200 ma charger is definitely faster with the stock cable, no major differences with other cables, so I think the problem is definitely the cable.
Inviato dal mio Nexus 5 utilizzando Tapatalk

OK, so I've gone round all of my chargers and cables. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to which option works best. Some cables hardly charge with some chargers, whereas charge much better with other chargers and vice versa. That being said the only comb that I've found that comes close to 1000mA is the LG charger and LG cable which came with the phone. All other combos max out at around 600mA and some combos hardly break 200mA.
Unfortunately I can't say what cables I've tried nor the chargers used. I just don't remember where they I bought them all or what device they came with.

Ok, this is the graph of tonight recharge using my power bank (1a out) and the stock cable WHILE PLAYNG INGRESS!
I can definitely say that (at least for me) the charger is absolutely not a problem
Inviato dal mio Nexus 5 utilizzando Tapatalk

so whats the difference here anyone want to guess? is this a matter of length of cable vs 22 awg vs 27awg type of thing?
did a fast test, my worst cables were the shortest ones oddly.

Ashcunak said:
so whats the difference here anyone want to guess? is this a matter of length of cable vs 22 awg vs 27awg type of thing?
did a fast test, my worst cables were the shortest ones oddly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it's a matter of length. For my cables it's true, the longest are the worst, but the sgs2 cable is just 2 or 3 cm longer than the n5 one and is far worst, just a bit better than the Amazon basics cable that is almost twice the length. Also one of the first replies was about a 1.8m cable that doesn't have any problem.
Regarding the awg I'm not totally sure because I don't know much about it. From what I know it's a measure system for the wires and it works the opposite than the metric system, so with the smallest numbers the cable gets bigger. The only cable with an awg number on it it's the Amazon one and it's a 28 awg. Seems strange that the n5 cable could be a 22 as hinted in your post since the Amazon cable seems to have almost a double external diameter compared to the stock one...
Also, according to a table I've found, a 28awg cable should be able to carry from 0.8 to 1.4 amps, far more than what I get using it.
Inviato dal mio Nexus 5 utilizzando Tapatalk

Charger observations: Nexus 5 vs. Galaxy S4

I have been on the hunt for good charging solutions for my Nexus 5 (and other devices). During this process I have made some observations that many of you probably already know but I wanted to post them here for others and hopefully gather more information as well.
It started off with me looking for dual port chargers that could fast charge my devices. Much to my dismay, I found that all the dual chargers I found had one Apple port and one non-Apple port which meant decreased charging rates for devices that weren't meant for its port. With that I decided to do a little non-scientific study. This was not meant for getting exact performance numbers, just to get an idea of what kind of performance I could get with different phone/cable/charger combinations.
Phones used:
Nexus 5 running 4.4.4
Samsung Galaxy S4 (SGH-I337) running 4.4.2
Method of measuring charge amperage:
Current Widget. Set to update every (1) second and I put 2 instances of each type of widget on the screen (total of 4 widgets): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.manor.currentwidget
Although I did the measurements with the phones connected to WiFi and not in airplane mode, the differences with the phones in airplane mode were insignificant for the purposes of this observation. The bigger factor was the difference between screen on and screen off (the rates you see immediately after turning the screen back on). I only used screen on rates. The readings I used below were when the phones batteries were below 90%.
Chargers that I have tried so far:
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From left to right, starting at the top left: Nexus 7 (2012) stock charger, Galaxy S4 stock charger, Nexus 5 stock charger, PowerGen dual port charger, GT Max 2 port car charger, LectronicSmart by Conair 2 port car charger.
Charger ratings:
Nexus 7: 2A
Galaxy S4: 2A
Nexus 5: 1.2A
PowerGen: 2.4 total divided between an Apple port and a Non-Apple port (NA)
GTMax: 2.1A and 1A
LectronicSmart: 2.1A each
Cords I used: Motorola SKN6378A, stock Nexus 5 cable, stock Galaxy S4 cable. All these cables had the same performance.
Nexus 5 results:
N5, N7 and PowerGen (NA port) all peaked in the 900mA range but the readings were constantly fluctuating between the peak and the 600mA range except for the PowerGen NA port had lows in the 300's. The PowerGen Apple port could barely peak in the 300's with lows in the single digits. The Samsung S4 charger had peaks in the 1500mA range and lows in the 1400 range.
Both car chargers were miserable, with peaks in the 300's and lows in the single digits.
Samsung Galaxy S4 results:
The Samsung values didn't fluctuate like the Nexus did. In spite of it being set to update every second, it just showed a constant charge value. I'm not smart enough to divine what might be the cause but I am assuming it may be due to the widget compatibility or how the S4 reports charging amperage, I cant imagine that it doesn't fluctuate.
On all chargers it showed 1200mA charging rate, even on the Apple port of the PowerGen charger. It is interesting that the N5 pulls a better charging rate off of the Samsung charger than its own phone does.
I also decided to try out some 3rd party cables to see how they might perform. On the S4 power adapter with a generic eBay/Amazon cable the N5 pulled around 400mA and the S4 pulled 600mA. With a generic cable from Fry's the N5 pulled into the 900's while the S4 pulled 1200mA.
I have a couple more chargers on order and will update this along with links if anyone is interested.
I am still on the hunt for a good dual port charger (both car and wall) that can fast charge a Nexus 5 and another Android device (Nexus 7, Galaxy S4, etc) so if anyone has any good leads, it would be appreciated.
Here is a screenshot of the N5 with the 4 widgets to illustrate the wide fluctuations:

Ok, It turns out that not all cables that report "Charging (AC)" are created equal, more on that below.
I got more chargers in the mail:
From left to right: Anker dual port car charger with PowerIQ, CHOETECH, Pwr+ single charger, Pwr+ dual charger.
The Anker dual port car charger with PowerIQ is great. I can get 1A+ on either port on the Nexus 5.
Both the Pwr+ chargers gave 1A+ charging. They have fixed cables. The power supply for the dual charger is a bit big but its still better than carrying two single chargers.
The CHOETECH also worked great, giving 1A+ charging with the included cable. Here is where the interesting part with the different USB cables come in. The included cable showed Charging (AC), as expected. However, when I plugged the stock Samsung or the Motorola SKN6378A from A4C they only reported USB which is odd because they report Charging (AC) on other chargers. They could also only pull around 400mA from the CHOETECH. The CHOETECH's included cable showed Charging (AC) and pulled 1A+ on the other chargers. It was even able to pull 1A+ on both ports of the PowerGen charger when the other "good" cables could only pull good amps off of the NA side.
So it seems that it can be important to be able to pair the right USB cable with the right charger.
Here are the Amazon links to the chargers listed above:
Anker car charger: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D82O68Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
CHOETECH: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IG05402/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Pwr+ single charger: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009STIJWA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Pwr+ dual charger: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JKSMXLC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Reserved again.. cuz the first one was so much fun!

phoenyx said:
N5, N7 and PowerGen (NA port) all peaked in the 900mA range but the readings were constantly fluctuating between the peak and the 600mA range except for the PowerGen NA port had lows in the 300's. The PowerGen Apple port could barely peak in the 300's with lows in the single digits. The Samsung S4 charger had peaks in the 1500mA range and lows in the 1400 range.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's very odd. I have a 2012 N7 charger and I am able to get an average of 1.6A with my Nexus 5. I do my measurements differently (I take the charge time between two known percentages and use that to calculate the average current) but it shouldn't cause that significant a difference. The issue with the current meter widgets is that they're measuring the total current flowing into the battery. That means that anything that is using power on the device (screen, CPU, etc...) causes a fluctuation in the current reading. The charger itself is providing a fairly flat current, your phone's usage is changing rapidly over time.
The reason you see low charging rates on the car chargers/apple chargers with the Nexus 5 is probably due to the charging method being used. Apple chargers put a voltage across the data pins to tell the phone the charging rate of the adapter. Android chargers short the two data pins to tell the device that it's a charger and not a USB port. When you plug the Nexus 5 into a charger designed for an Apple device, the Nexus 5 thinks it is a computer and won't pull more than 500mA off of the charger. If you check the battery menu during that time you will likely see that it says "Charging (USB)" instead of "Charging (AC)." Some of the cables I have cause this issue as well. Monoprice's Premium USB cables are super cheap, guaranteed for life and charge every phone I have tested properly assuming the charger itself isn't an issue.
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030307&p_id=9762&seq=1&format=2
As far as a charger recommendation, I love Anker products. Their "PowerIQ" chargers will charge any device at its maximum rate.
http://www.amazon.com/Anker®-Dual-P...MK/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1405347957&sr=8-14
Two Nexus 5s will charge at 1.6A each on this charger. The only issue is that they don't have a good wall charger with PowerIQ. The only option is this "desktop" charger.
http://www.amazon.com/Family-Sized-...ETFG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405348099&sr=8-1
I followed up with them and they said that more PowerIQ chargers were coming over the summer, but I haven't seen anything yet.
You can also use a "charge only" cable to get the maximum from any charger.
http://www.amazon.com/PortaPow-Micr...TYUE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405348221&sr=8-1
That should allow you to get a better charge out of the "Apple" port on the "A/NA" charger you have.

raptir said:
That's very odd. I have a 2012 N7 charger and I am able to get an average of 1.6A with my Nexus 5. I do my measurements differently (I take the charge time between two known percentages and use that to calculate the average current) but it shouldn't cause that significant a difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. Admittedly, it wasn't a very scientific approach and I could have been more accurate but my goal was to just show that two Android phones using the same chargers and cables were getting different vastly different results. Especially that the Galaxy S4 could get 1200mA on the Apple port while the Nexus 5 couldn't even get half that.. and they are using the same charger, same cable and both widgets are showing AC charging (FWIW I tested all the cables on each charger, each showed AC and all had the same results across setups).
raptir said:
The issue with the current meter widgets is that they're measuring the total current flowing into the battery. That means that anything that is using power on the device (screen, CPU, etc...) causes a fluctuation in the current reading. The charger itself is providing a fairly flat current, your phone's usage is changing rapidly over time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I am aware of that and I guess I should have explained it better. I had two points about this. The first was that the Galaxy S4 didn't fluctuate while the N5 did, but I suspect that has to do with the way the app is interacting with the phone.
The second was that on the Nexus 5 with 4 instances of the widget from the same app, all set to update 1 second apart were showing 4 very different amperage readings when they were supposed to be getting the sample at the same time. I just found it curious is all.
raptir said:
The reason you see low charging rates on the car chargers/apple chargers with the Nexus 5 is probably due to the charging method being used. Apple chargers put a voltage across the data pins to tell the phone the charging rate of the adapter. Android chargers short the two data pins to tell the device that it's a charger and not a USB port. When you plug the Nexus 5 into a charger designed for an Apple device, the Nexus 5 thinks it is a computer and won't pull more than 500mA off of the charger. If you check the battery menu during that time you will likely see that it says "Charging (USB)" instead of "Charging (AC)." Some of the cables I have cause this issue as well. Monoprice's Premium USB cables are super cheap, guaranteed for life and charge every phone I have tested properly assuming the charger itself isn't an issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That it what I understood as well. Which is why I am mystified why one Android phone (S4) can pull 1200mA off an Apple port but a different Android phone (N5) can't, using the exact same cable and showing AC Charging on the widget. I would be interested to hear if you have any ideas on why that would be.
raptir said:
As far as a charger recommendation, I love Anker products. Their "PowerIQ" chargers will charge any device at its maximum rate.
http://www.amazon.com/Anker®-Dual-P...MK/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1405347957&sr=8-14
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ordered that when I was having issues with the Nexus 5 on my current car charger, it should be here any day now. It was one of the ones I mentioned in the original post that is on order. Their description of PowerIQ made me hopeful, but then I read a product description of one of their other products with PowerIQ on their website and it talked about Apple and non-Apple ports so now I'm just hoping that it will work the way I originally thought/hoped it would.
It was the car charger that alerted me to the possibility of a difference in charging performance between the Galaxy S4 and N5. I noticed that when I drove around with navigation on the Galaxy S4 could charge up decently while the Nexus 5 wouldn't charge much if at all using the same cable and charger.
raptir said:
Two Nexus 5s will charge at 1.6A each on this charger. The only issue is that they don't have a good wall charger with PowerIQ. The only option is this "desktop" charger.
http://www.amazon.com/Family-Sized-...ETFG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405348099&sr=8-1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I almost ordered that last week until I ready that other product description. I decided to wait to see how the car charger above works.
raptir said:
I followed up with them and they said that more PowerIQ chargers were coming over the summer, but I haven't seen anything yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is great news! If this PowerIQ works like I hope it works, I'll be happy. Thanks for that info!
raptir said:
You can also use a "charge only" cable to get the maximum from any charger.
http://www.amazon.com/PortaPow-Micr...TYUE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405348221&sr=8-1
That should allow you to get a better charge out of the "Apple" port on the "A/NA" charger you have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is also one of the cables I mentioned in the OP that are on order. Unfortunately since my other cables here are showing AC Charging, I am assuming they have the data pins shorted and so I'm not expecting anything from this. This still doesn't really answer the question of why the Samsung can pull a better charge out of an Apple port than the Nexus 5. Any ideas? Same cables and all.
Thanks again.

phoenyx said:
Thanks for the reply. Admittedly, it wasn't a very scientific approach and I could have been more accurate but my goal was to just show that two Android phones using the same chargers and cables were getting different vastly different results. Especially that the Galaxy S4 could get 1200mA on the Apple port while the Nexus 5 couldn't even get half that.. and they are using the same charger, same cable and both widgets are showing AC charging (FWIW I tested all the cables on each charger, each showed AC and all had the same results across setups).
That it what I understood as well. Which is why I am mystified why one Android phone (S4) can pull 1200mA off an Apple port but a different Android phone (N5) can't, using the exact same cable and showing AC Charging on the widget. I would be interested to hear if you have any ideas on why that would be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, what I posted mainly applies to the Nexus phones. I think Samsung has put some more intelligent circuitry in the Galaxy S4/S5 that allow it to charge on Apple ports as well. It's not a hard and fast rule, it's just the "standard." The S4 is hard-capped at 1200mA though, so the Nexus 5 will charge faster on an appropriate charger.
phoenyx said:
Yes, I am aware of that and I guess I should have explained it better. I had two points about this. The first was that the Galaxy S4 didn't fluctuate while the N5 did, but I suspect that has to do with the way the app is interacting with the phone.
The second was that on the Nexus 5 with 4 instances of the widget from the same app, all set to update 1 second apart were showing 4 very different amperage readings when they were supposed to be getting the sample at the same time. I just found it curious is all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. My guess would be that even though they're supposed to poll at the same time, they're really pulling the data in quick succession. As in they end up in the service's queue and receive the data at slightly different timepoints as a result.
phoenyx said:
I ordered that when I was having issues with the Nexus 5 on my current car charger, it should be here any day now. It was one of the ones I mentioned in the original post that is on order. Their description of PowerIQ made me hopeful, but then I read a product description of one of their other products with PowerIQ on their website and it talked about Apple and non-Apple ports so now I'm just hoping that it will work the way I originally thought/hoped it would.
It was the car charger that alerted me to the possibility of a difference in charging performance between the Galaxy S4 and N5. I noticed that when I drove around with navigation on the Galaxy S4 could charge up decently while the Nexus 5 wouldn't charge much if at all using the same cable and charger.
I almost ordered that last week until I ready that other product description. I decided to wait to see how the car charger above works.
That is great news! If this PowerIQ works like I hope it works, I'll be happy. Thanks for that info!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I don't have a Galaxy device but I do know that the PowerIQ chargers work great for the Nexus 5. I get the full 1.6A current that the Nexus 5 can accept. It charges it from dead in under an hour and a half. It's great for recharging on my way home from work.
I did see on their website that they have a two-port wall charger on their PowerIQ page, but when you click through to Amazon it shows as the old A/NA charger.
http://www.ianker.com/poweriq/poweriq.html
Hopefully they actually update it soon.
phoenyx said:
That is also one of the cables I mentioned in the OP that are on order. Unfortunately since my other cables here are showing AC Charging, I am assuming they have the data pins shorted and so I'm not expecting anything from this. This still doesn't really answer the question of why the Samsung can pull a better charge out of an Apple port than the Nexus 5. Any ideas? Same cables and all.
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as Samsung vs Nexus, see above. I've personally never experienced a slow charge out of a charger that showed "Charging (AC)." Very odd. If you're getting the Anker chargers, I would pair them with the Monoprice Premium cables.
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030307&p_id=9762&seq=1&format=2
I can attest that the Anker charger or my Nexus 7 2012 charger plus a Monoprice cable will charge all the devices I've tried at full speed (Nexus 7 2012, Nexus 5, Nexus 4, Kindle Fire HDX, and my friend's Razr M). Their "non-premium" cables work well also, but I find that they wear out. They do replace them for free though.

raptir said:
Well, what I posted mainly applies to the Nexus phones. I think Samsung has put some more intelligent circuitry in the Galaxy S4/S5 that allow it to charge on Apple ports as well. It's not a hard and fast rule, it's just the "standard." The S4 is hard-capped at 1200mA though, so the Nexus 5 will charge faster on an appropriate charger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see. I was assuming it was the standard that all Android phones used to determine charge rates... lol. Silly me. What you say makes sense and is what I was afraid of. I was hoping I was "doing it wrong" or there was some other trick to getting more charge out of the PowerGen wall chargers that I have. I will give it another shot with the cables I have on order when they come in. I will see how it goes and maybe I'll order that Monoprice to try out as well.
raptir said:
Interesting. My guess would be that even though they're supposed to poll at the same time, they're really pulling the data in quick succession. As in they end up in the service's queue and receive the data at slightly different timepoints as a result.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's kind of what I was thinking too but then again, the widgets are only reporting information the main app is seeing. You would think that when the app takes a sample at a given time, it is that info that is transmitted to all the app instances so the info should be the same. Apparently not. It's not a big deal, I just notice and am curious about strange things sometimes.
raptir said:
Well, I don't have a Galaxy device but I do know that the PowerIQ chargers work great for the Nexus 5. I get the full 1.6A current that the Nexus 5 can accept. It charges it from dead in under an hour and a half. It's great for recharging on my way home from work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is great news! I'm looking forward to getting mine in the mail soon. I'll post what I find with that charger along with the other ones I have coming.
raptir said:
I did see on their website that they have a two-port wall charger on their PowerIQ page, but when you click through to Amazon it shows as the old A/NA charger.
http://www.ianker.com/poweriq/poweriq.html
Hopefully they actually update it soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too. I'll be keeping an eye out for that. Which PowerIQ chargers do you have? Just the car charger or do you have this 2 port wall charger too?
raptir said:
As far as Samsung vs Nexus, see above. I've personally never experienced a slow charge out of a charger that showed "Charging (AC)." Very odd. If you're getting the Anker chargers, I would pair them with the Monoprice Premium cables.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the Nexus 5 only really got a slow charge with Charging (AC) showing out of the Apple port on the PowerGen and car chargers. When the same cable is plugged into the non-Apple, it works fine. Kind of disappointed that I cant get the same performance on the Apple port like the Galaxy does. I bought a bunch of these when I was using the Galaxy. Makes me apprehensive about buying more chargers that may not work that well.
I'll play around a bit more with the new cables and see what I can find. Thanks again for the info and the recommendations.

phoenyx said:
Me too. I'll be keeping an eye out for that. Which PowerIQ chargers do you have? Just the car charger or do you have this 2 port wall charger too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the two-port car charger and an external battery (second-gen Astro2). I really want a 2-port wall charger (to use with my Kindle Fire and Nexus 5 at home) but I haven't been able to find one.

raptir said:
I have the two-port car charger and an external battery (second-gen Astro2). I really want a 2-port wall charger (to use with my Kindle Fire and Nexus 5 at home) but I haven't been able to find one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check out this cable: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JKSMXLC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I just got it in the mail and it works good with the N5. Rated at 4A.
I put the new chargers in the 2nd post above and also noted that cables that report Charging (AC) on some adapters will only report USB (and lower charging rates) on other adapters.

phoenyx said:
Check out this cable: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JKSMXLC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I just got it in the mail and it works good with the N5. Rated at 4A.
I put the new chargers in the 2nd post above and also noted that cables that report Charging (AC) on some adapters will only report USB (and lower charging rates) on other adapters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only issue is a really want something with detachable cables. So I can change length/connect my wireless charger to it.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=52142798

fyi samsung galaxy phones aren't really compatible with current widgets.
use an external meter for accurate measurements

Akoolive said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=52142798
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I've seen that post.. It's a good one but like another poster here I'm after chargers with USB cables that are detachable and dual chargers. I created this mainly to cite some observations that all chargers may not perform equally on different phones.
Nevertheless, thank you for your reply and for posting the link.
sucsss said:
fyi samsung galaxy phones aren't really compatible with current widgets.
use an external meter for accurate measurements
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I kinda figured it must be a compatibility issue. However, an external would only show how much the charger could put out, which is not the same as how much the phone will take.. Unless you measure it inline. Other than that you'd have to take a sample over time and do the math.
I got the Anker dual car charger and it has been great. So I orders ordered a couple more. the PowerIQ seems to be the key for their chargers.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

phoenyx said:
Thanks. I kinda figured it must be a compatibility issue. However, an external would only show how much the charger could put out, which is not the same as how much the phone will take.. Unless you measure it inline. Other than that you'd have to take a sample over time and do the math.
I got the Anker dual car charger and it has been great. So I orders ordered a couple more. the PowerIQ seems to be the key for their chargers.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want to sound condescending but that's exactly how it would work. A good charger can only output up to the max designed. It's completely dependent on what the phone wants.
To measure amps the meter is in serial circuit and to measure voltage it's in parallel. The prebuilt usb meters are only a few bucks on ebay. I use a multimeter to check that the usb meter is correct.
And most phones will attempt to do their max charge rate when below 80-90% battery. (if temperatures allow). So you don't need a fancy graph. Just plug in the phone with low battery and not overheating and it'll try to charge at the max rate it can.

sucsss said:
I don't want to sound condescending but that's exactly how it would work. A good charger can only output up to the max designed. It's completely dependent on what the phone wants.
To measure amps the meter is in serial circuit and to measure voltage it's in parallel. The prebuilt usb meters are only a few bucks on ebay. I use a multimeter to check that the usb meter is correct.
And most phones will attempt to do their max charge rate when below 80-90% battery. (if temperatures allow). So you don't need a fancy graph. Just plug in the phone with low battery and not overheating and it'll try to charge at the max rate it can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL.. You sound more confused about what I've said than condescending. I've never implied a charger will charge more than its rated for. If I did, please show me where I said that so i can correct it because that was not my intention.
I know it was probably a little bit of a confusing post since i kind of mashed several thoughts together (and this one is probably no better... I've been up way too long and sorely jet lagged.. LOL) but if you read the thread I stated that I observed different USB/phone combos will charge at varying rates... Even between "good" USB cables on the same charger.. even when they are showing AC charging. It was my impression that two "good" USB cables that report AC charging would perform similarly on the same charger or one would have similar performance across similar chargers. That is apparently not the case.
Also as I originally posted it's just observations... Not trying to geek out on it and be pedantic over it. However the USB meter you mentioned sounds interesting, maybe I'll pick one up. Thanks for the suggestion.
Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the Anker chargers so I think I'll stick with them.
Thanks for your input..
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk