Can I use a Kindle charger on my Blackberry?
October 16, 2010 4:48 AM Subscribe
Can I use my Kindle charger for my Blackberry Bold?
I have a Kindle charger which is much lighter and easier to pack and carry. The output specs are: 5V (then a solid black line with a dotted line underneath) and 0.85A. The Blackberry charger output specs are: 5V (same solid/dotted line cofiguration as the Kindle charger) and 700 mA (which, I would assume, is 0.70 output, right?).
As the Kindle charger is easier to carry and can be detached and plugged in to a USB port, would I be able to charge my Blackberry with it, or would the slight difference in output fry the battery either quickly or over time?
I'm thinking "Oh, it's just microamps, so it can't hurt, can it?" but given the cost of the Blackberry, I want to be doubly sure.
I have a Kindle charger which is much lighter and easier to pack and carry. The output specs are: 5V (then a solid black line with a dotted line underneath) and 0.85A. The Blackberry charger output specs are: 5V (same solid/dotted line cofiguration as the Kindle charger) and 700 mA (which, I would assume, is 0.70 output, right?).
As the Kindle charger is easier to carry and can be detached and plugged in to a USB port, would I be able to charge my Blackberry with it, or would the slight difference in output fry the battery either quickly or over time?
I'm thinking "Oh, it's just microamps, so it can't hurt, can it?" but given the cost of the Blackberry, I want to be doubly sure.
Best answer: That should work.
To understand this: The current rating on the power supply is NOT the amount that it outputs. That value is the maximum amount that the attached device should draw from it.
Since the Blackberry charger is rated at 700 mA, the Blackberry must be drawing 700 mA or less while charging. The Kindle charger can supply more than that, so it should work just fine.
posted by xil at 5:04 AM on October 16, 2010 [4 favorites]
To understand this: The current rating on the power supply is NOT the amount that it outputs. That value is the maximum amount that the attached device should draw from it.
Since the Blackberry charger is rated at 700 mA, the Blackberry must be drawing 700 mA or less while charging. The Kindle charger can supply more than that, so it should work just fine.
posted by xil at 5:04 AM on October 16, 2010 [4 favorites]
I use only Kindle chargers and cords.
When I was in the AT&T store buying the Torch, the guy asked if I wanted a charger. I pulled out my Kindle and said "Is it this shape?" And he reluctantly said that my Kindle charger would work (reluctantly: he got in trouble because I didn't need to load up on accessories).
Not all chargers that shape will work, though. The car and house chargers for my bluetooth headset shot an error message onto the screen that it couldn't charge.
Another AT&T employee at anorther time told me that everybody's moving toward using the same shape for their devices.
posted by thebazilist at 10:51 AM on October 16, 2010
When I was in the AT&T store buying the Torch, the guy asked if I wanted a charger. I pulled out my Kindle and said "Is it this shape?" And he reluctantly said that my Kindle charger would work (reluctantly: he got in trouble because I didn't need to load up on accessories).
Not all chargers that shape will work, though. The car and house chargers for my bluetooth headset shot an error message onto the screen that it couldn't charge.
Another AT&T employee at anorther time told me that everybody's moving toward using the same shape for their devices.
posted by thebazilist at 10:51 AM on October 16, 2010
Even though it shouldn't be harmful to connect your Blackberry to a Kindle charger, it may charge slower.
(USB devices have to ask permission before they can draw more than 125mA, and there is no standard way to ask for more than 500mA; to ask for more than that, both the device and charger have to understand some proprietary protocol, and the Blackberry may speak a different protocol than the Kindle. And some standalone chargers do not understand the standard 500mA protocol, so you may be stuck at 125mA--I believe this is the case with iPod chargers, but I am not sure about Kindle chargers.)
posted by reventlov at 12:22 PM on October 17, 2010
(USB devices have to ask permission before they can draw more than 125mA, and there is no standard way to ask for more than 500mA; to ask for more than that, both the device and charger have to understand some proprietary protocol, and the Blackberry may speak a different protocol than the Kindle. And some standalone chargers do not understand the standard 500mA protocol, so you may be stuck at 125mA--I believe this is the case with iPod chargers, but I am not sure about Kindle chargers.)
posted by reventlov at 12:22 PM on October 17, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Dunno about your Blackberry, but it works for me.
posted by GilloD at 4:53 AM on October 16, 2010