PRS-T1 can I use generic microUSB wall charger?

[elcreative]

True about the hubs... I always power my hubs as it can get very expensive fixing a wrecked USB port on a computer - usually a new motherboard...

[bsquiggle]

I'm in Australia, and haven't bothered buying the Sony AC charger, having charged my T1 from laptop so far. However, i do have one of those 240 - to USB socket adapters (the kind where you plug the device's own USB lead into)which we use for charging everything except our (old) motorola phones and my (old) iPod shuffle - neither of those devices work on it, but then neither of them work with anything except a computer. When I plugged the T1 into it today, it tried to reset but froze at 'opening book'. Plugged it into laptop, no change. attempts to reset did nothing... well, it flickered but still locked at the 'opening book' screen (with empty status bar). left it sit plugged into laptop for a few hours, came back and still no change. no lights at base. removed the SD card as was just about to attempt the boot from SD recovery option, tried to reset, it reset fine. reinserted SD, reset fine again and has been running fine ever since.

My question is whether it is likely the wall charger at fault, or (possibly) the SD card - and if so, what is the likely interaction? I'd really like to be able to charge without leaving computer on, but have only had the T1 a week, so not keen to fry it

[Shopaholic]

Bsquiggle - the Sony readers don't charge like a lot of those devices you mentioned, the iPod for example. You can't connect the USB to an AC plug. It has to be full on AC plug. I don't know why but it does. It won't charge otherwise. You have to buy a generic micro USB AC adapter or just keep using your computer.

Do you by chance have a Blackberry or other smartphone that uses an AC micro USB plug to charge? If so, try that or look for one of those in stores.

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by Shopaholic

Bsquiggle - the Sony readers don't charge like a lot of those devices you mentioned, the iPod for example. You can't connect the USB to an AC plug. It has to be full on AC plug. I don't know why but it does. It won't charge otherwise. You have to buy a generic micro USB AC adapter or just keep using your computer.

Do you by chance have a Blackberry or other smartphone that uses an AC micro USB plug to charge? If so, try that or look for one of those in stores.

Not necessarily true... generic USB AC plug chargers work fine with correct cable that has right connections on data lines... I have cables that work with any generic charger and others that don't... difference being whether data lines shorted to earth or not...

[ApK]

Originally Posted by uboot

It is safe! As stated in many other threads here...

Background: Charge current regulation is done by the device, not by the charger. The charger is nothing but a power supply.

Not entirely true. At minimum, the power supply needs to be able to deliver enough current to properly charge the device. Some USB adapters can only output 500mA, which is about how much current a computer USB port should be able to deliver, but some device, like certain iPods, need far more current than that when using a charger rather than a computer port. Most likely, if the power supply can't provide enough current, the device will simply not charge, but it's also possible that the power supply could over-heat, or, I suspect in theory, the out-of-spec current could possibly damage a device by causing some circuit to operate in an unexpected way.

There's also situations like Motorola cell phones, which are annoyingly hobbled so they will only work with specially-wired chargers.

[bsquiggle]

Originally Posted by Shopaholic

Bsquiggle - the Sony readers don't charge like a lot of those devices you mentioned, the iPod for example. You can't connect the USB to an AC plug. It has to be full on AC plug. I don't know why but it does. It won't charge otherwise. You have to buy a generic micro USB AC adapter or just keep using your computer.

Do you by chance have a Blackberry or other smartphone that uses an AC micro USB plug to charge? If so, try that or look for one of those in stores.

in that case, can anyone recommend a car charger option?

[melmac]

bsquiggle I picked up one of these from Dick Smith http://dicksmith.com.au/product/E880...ger-suits-a551 and it charges my T1 with no problems.
I like it because it is small so it doesn't compete for plug space and it turns itself off once the reader is charged. They appear to have a similar car version

[cybmole]

[QUOTE=Shopaholic;1940913] You can't connect the USB to an AC plug. It has to be full on AC plug./QUOTE]

???
"ac plug" vs "full on ac plug"
???

please put that into english

[ApK]

[QUOTE=cybmole;1943028]

Originally Posted by Shopaholic

You can't connect the USB to an AC plug. It has to be full on AC plug./QUOTE]

???
"ac plug" vs "full on ac plug"
???

please put that into english

I interpreted it mean a usb data cord plugged into an AC/usb adapter, vs a purpose-built AC charger that happens to have a usb connector on it (which may have some custom doodads inside). That's the situation I was describing with my Motorola cell phones, anyway, so that's what I assumed he meant, too. Did I get it right?

[cybmole]

well I cant speak for T1 but have charged my 650 with a generic usb cable plugged into a generic AC/usb adaptor & it charges fast & well

[camperbc]

umm... I just have to ask... why isn't anyone simply using an actual Sony adapter? I don't understand. I just ordered one tonight from Sony Canada for $14, (including delivery) so they're not exactly expensive. It just seems odd that nobody even mentions the real thing; only other brands.

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by camperbc

umm... I just have to ask... why isn't anyone simply using an actual Sony adapter? .

maybe because many of us already have at least one "other brand" device already , originally bought for charging something else, & so want to use what is already to hand.

[giododa]

In Italy it costs 25€ that's about 33 US $

[melmac]

Originally Posted by camperbc

umm... I just have to ask... why isn't anyone simply using an actual Sony adapter? I don't understand. I just ordered one tonight from Sony Canada for $14, (including delivery) so they're not exactly expensive. It just seems odd that nobody even mentions the real thing; only other brands.

In Australia they are $39 plus delivery

[geoffwood]

Originally Posted by Shopaholic

You can't connect the USB to an AC plug. It has to be full on AC plug. I don't know why but it does.

Not the clearest statement, but I would interpret it as implying that the charger has to be "hardwired" to the the AC Plug, as opposed to using a "Wall wart" that has a USB port and plugging the cable into that. If that is what was meant, it's just not true. I have charged my T1 from a Kindle charger and a Nook charger and both connect to the charger via a full size USB port. There might be a few chargers out there that don't work, but I suspect the list of chargers that don't work is a lot shorter than the list of ones that do work.