Does the Sony PRS-505 require a special charger?

[Hop-frog]

Searching on eBay, I saw some original power cables for the Sony PRS-505. These had a very small, round end, not a USB plug at the end. Will I need to buy one of these to charge a Sony PRS-505 or can I use a standard USB or MicroUSB wall charger?

[JSWolf]

The charger used for the 505 is the same as use for the Sony PSP.

[AnemicOak]

That's Sony PSP, not Nintendo.


@Hop-frog, you can charge it either with a dedicated charger (the same one the Sony PSP uses) or with a USB cable connected to a computer. Using a USB wall charger generally just drains the battery.

[JSWolf]

The USB wall charger has to be computer USB compliant and not Apple standard. Plus, the USB port is a mini-USB plug. It's just easier to get a Sony PSP charger and use that.

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-Adapter-...rs-505+charger

[Pajamaman]

I had a 650. I'm pretty sure I could charge it with my Android phone charger.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

I had a 650. I'm pretty sure I could charge it with my Android phone charger.

The 650 is a completely different device. The 650 uses USB to charge. It uses a microUSB cable. But, you do need to use a USB compliant charger and most phone chargers that charge a phone that has a microUSB port is standard.

[Hop-frog]

I have a microUSB cable that came with my Blackberry phone. It works fine with other phones that have a microUSB and it plugs directly into the wall. It also can be used to transfer data from a computer to various brands of mobile phones, just not Apple phones. Does anyone know if that would work or do I need to buy the special PSP or Sony PRS chargers?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hop-frog

I have a microUSB cable that came with my Blackberry phone. It works fine with other phones that have a microUSB and it plugs directly into the wall. It also can be used to transfer data from a computer to various brands of mobile phones, just not Apple phones. Does anyone know if that would work or do I need to buy the special PSP or Sony PRS chargers?

The 505 uses a miniUSB port. SO no, that cable will not work. You do need to buy a PSP charger in order to charge your 505.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Hop-frog

I have a microUSB cable that came with my Blackberry phone. It works fine with other phones that have a microUSB and it plugs directly into the wall. It also can be used to transfer data from a computer to various brands of mobile phones, just not Apple phones. Does anyone know if that would work or do I need to buy the special PSP or Sony PRS chargers?

Get a PSP charger or use a USB-mini cable (not micro) with your computer's USB port. People experimented with this when the 505 was a current generations device (you can search and find lots of posts from 2007-2008 discussing it) and found that using a USB wall charger with the 505 usually meant it would just drain the battery instead of charging it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Get a PSP charger or use a USB-mini cable (not micro) with your computer's USB port. People experimented with this when the 505 was a current generations device (you can search and find lots of posts from 2007-2008 discussing it) and found that using a USB wall charger with the 505 usually meant it would just drain the battery instead of charging it.

The problem is that you have no idea what the USB port is like in a USB charger. Sony was a stickler for standards. So if the USB charger isn't fully compliant, then it won't work and you won't really know until after you've bought it.

This is why the PSP charger is your best choice.

[Ghitulescu]

There are 3 standards for charging via USB AFAIK.
One supports 500mA, the second 1000mA and the third goes as up as 2100mA.
I believe what people try to say is that one needs the 1000mA version, although I could charge my T1 and T3 with a regular 500mA one (well, it takes some time).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Ghitulescu

There are 3 standards for charging via USB AFAIK.
One supports 500mA, the second 1000mA and the third goes as up as 2100mA.
I believe what people try to say is that one needs the 1000mA version, although I could charge my T1 and T3 with a regular 500mA one (well, it takes some time).

That's all WRONG. It's not about the amps. It's about the pin out. Sony Readers do not work on an Apple style USB charger. You can use an iPad charger as 2.1A or 2.4A or an iPhone charger as 1A and none of those will work. So no, amperage is irrelevant as far as comparability goes.

[Ghitulescu]

Why would be one so stupid to pay 50€ for an Apple charger when regular USB chargers are some 5€??? Even the white Apple cable seems to be more expensive than the whole original Sony charger....
Why would one even think of using an Apple charger with a Sony gear, when the logical idea would be to use a Sony one? "It's a Sony"

However, my wife has an iPhone 7 plus and I took the white cable from the charger and charged it in the car with an 1€ Chinese noname charger for 12V (that looks like a cork and sinks almost entirely in the 12V socket). I also see in shops universal chargers that have a tiny adaptor that changes from microUSB to Apple-small. Apparently the pinout modifications are "unidirectional"

As I have zillions of USB chargers at home, I never thought of using the Apple charger to charge my Androids and other appliances... I'll do it tonight...

[radius]

You don't NEED to have the PSP charger, but it's much more convenient.

For one, you don't have to care about the state of charge of the 505. IIRC, if the 505 goes completely dead, you can have trouble charging from USB.

Second, mini-USB cables are no longer as common as they used to be. And even if you have one, as JSWolf notes, it may not work. In the early days of charging via micro USB, many devices needed to be plugged into either a computer, or their proper charger in order to work, depending on implementation. Often generic cables and generic chargers didn't work (I think the Motorola RAZR phone was like this too, now that I think about it).

Third, every time you unmount and then unplug the USB from the computer, the 505 will re-scan it's library and or repage your book etc. and it takes a looooonnnnggggg uninterruptible time.

I was very happy that I bought the PSP charger.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Ghitulescu

Why would be one so stupid to pay 50€ for an Apple charger when regular USB chargers are some 5€??? Even the white Apple cable seems to be more expensive than the whole original Sony charger....
Why would one even think of using an Apple charger with a Sony gear, when the logical idea would be to use a Sony one? "It's a Sony"

However, my wife has an iPhone 7 plus and I took the white cable from the charger and charged it in the car with an 1€ Chinese noname charger for 12V (that looks like a cork and sinks almost entirely in the 12V socket). I also see in shops universal chargers that have a tiny adaptor that changes from microUSB to Apple-small. Apparently the pinout modifications are "unidirectional"

As I have zillions of USB chargers at home, I never thought of using the Apple charger to charge my Androids and other appliances... I'll do it tonight...

Do not use your Apple charger to charge your T1. It won't work.