One USB wall charger to charge them all

September 17, 2014 7:19 AM

I am looking for a wall charger to keep here at work to plug in my devices when they're low on juice. List of devices behind the fold.

• iPad (2nd Generation)
• Samsung Galaxy s5
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0

I know the best practice is to use the charger it came with - and that's what I do at home. I'm looking for a one-fits-all solution for work. I'm less concerned about the cables then I am the actual wall charger part. Third party is fine. I don't think I'll ever need to charge more then one of these devices at a time.

Extra points if you know of a decent one-fits-all solution for a car charger too!

posted by royalsong to Technology (13 answers total)

This one is fine.

I've never had any problems whatsoever with mixing and matching the chargers.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 7:25 AM on September 17, 2014

If you want to plug in all the cables and not fiddle afterwards, you want a multi-port USB charging station like this one (note I have not used that one specifically, but the specs are good). iPads can be a pain in the butt so you want something that specifically claims to work for them (merely being rated at 2.1A is sometimes not enough). A grand total of 4.2A or above is nice so you can charge both tablets at once.
posted by range at 7:28 AM on September 17, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I use this one to charge a similar group of devices all at once. It's rebranded a bunch of different ways if you look on Amazon -- the link is just one of them. The important thing is that it has different ports for different devices, and that does, in fact, matter. Some devices (notably older iPads) will not charge if the amperage is wrong.
posted by The Bellman at 7:29 AM on September 17, 2014 [1 favorite]

This one has the extra power you need, charges four devices at once, and comes with travel adapters to take it with you and use it all over the world. I have it and love it.

PortaPow
posted by Cosine at 7:35 AM on September 17, 2014

I have had my eye on this one but haven't yet tried it out personally.
posted by instead of three wishes at 7:37 AM on September 17, 2014

Best answer: For car charging you need to be a bit careful, your S5 is famously fussy, this adapter was tested by Wirecutter.com to work with the S5 and has 2 high power ports:

Anker
posted by Cosine at 7:38 AM on September 17, 2014

I bought this 4-port wall-charger for work for the same reason: two phones, a tablet, and often a fourth device. I bought some 10-foot cables from the same place, because Monoprice is the best place I've found for cables.

It has two 2.1A ports. Since all my cables look the same, I used sugru to make a collar around the ones I have plugged into the 2.1A connectors on one side.

Plug folds out of one of the larger faces, so the one problem I've had with this is that if it gets moved around, it can lever itself out of my power strip. If it was actually in the wall-socket, I probably wouldn't have that problem at all.
posted by Sunburnt at 7:39 AM on September 17, 2014

We use the charger thingy that came with the iPad to charge our Samsung smartphones with no problems. I don't think you need to buy anything you don't already have. Just plug your cables into the iPad charger as necessary.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 8:08 AM on September 17, 2014 [2 favorites]

It has two 2.1A ports. Since all my cables look the same, I used sugru to make a collar around the ones I have plugged into the 2.1A connectors on one side.

I have some of the Anker flavors and I used a silver sharpie to mark the 2.1a ports; you absolutely want to do this unless you have really good close-up vision.
posted by phearlez at 8:47 AM on September 17, 2014

I can't say enough good things about this charger. Bonus: also recommend this car charger.
posted by bearwife at 10:43 AM on September 17, 2014

nthing the people recommending the 4-in-1 charger from Monoprice. They're awesome, they're stuff is so cheap as to defy belief, and it works. Done and done.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:25 AM on September 17, 2014

You wrote: "a wall charger to keep here at work" - if the bolded part is right, then we can pull out the big guns. And when I say big guns, I mean Big Bertha kinda big gun :)

At home, I have this monster:

BESTK Wall charging station power strip usb surge protector w/ 6 AC outles+4 usb ports 2.1A 1A+nightlight+iphone charging dock MRJ1870

It'll charge everything and anything. It even has the legacy Apple connector before the lightening connector. And it won't take away any AC outlets by being plugged in, but rather add to them plus protect everything with a surge protector. List of features:

1)Full surge protection for AC outlets added!

2)Six AC outlets : Six 110V AC outlets, plug in a variety of traditional-plug devices. Feel free to power up your laptop, coffee cooker and more .

3)Four USB ports ( two with 2.1A, two with 1A): simultaneously charge four of your favorite techy goodies ( including iPads and smart phones)

4)The power of peace of mind: ABS anti-fire base material; built-in fuse; over-load / short circuit / surge protection. 12 month warranty

5)Integrated LED nightlight with two brightness levels; LED power indicators for USB and AC output. Conveniently and securely charge your iPod or iPhone via the charging dock with protective security shield

I have this in my kitchen and routinely charge a bunch of stuff simultaneously: the new iPod Touch, the old iPod Classic, my phone, my wife's Blackberry, and I've got the proverbial (literally!) coffeemaker plugged into one of the additional AC outlets and more outlets available should I wish to add something. Amazing.

Of course, mind you, this is strictly stationary. You remove the screw on the outlet cover and insert the longer BESTK screw so the unit goes over the outlet (but as mentioned, you don't lose an outlet, you actually GAIN outlets so you end up with 6 - count 'em - 6 total outlets.)

And that is all - the charger to end all chargers.
posted by VikingSword at 1:53 PM on September 17, 2014 [1 favorite]

I recently purchased and am SUPER impressed with this 40W 5-port charger from Anker. Perks include that it draws no power when nothing's hooked up to it, it balances current between devices with no apparent preference to any of the ports, and you don't have to fiddle in the dark to see which ports match which current draw - they're each set to automagically deliver the proper current in the right spots. Plus, it's really nicely made and looks nice on my desk (comes in either black or white).
posted by myrrh at 2:29 PM on September 17, 2014 [1 favorite]