Do car chargers damage the iPhone battery?

Question

Level 1

4 points

Do car chargers damage the iPhone battery?

Do car chargers like the Belkin ones for iPods damage batteries at all? I know that it fits the iphone so that's not my concern; I heard a while back that car chargers dose the batteries differently and can damage them. Anyone know if this is true?

P.S. Long live the semi-colon. Can you use two in one sentence?

Message was edited by: boudwah

powbookg4 12", two emacs, iPhone, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Nov 10, 2007 8:19 AM

Reply

Answer 1

JimUrban

Level 4

2,590 points

Nov 10, 2007 8:25 AM in response to boudwah

If the device is not specifically labeled "Works with iPhone",
it's possible the phone may be damaged.
Why risk it? Just buy the proper charger.

Reply

Answer 2

Geffen

Level 2

154 points

Nov 10, 2007 8:27 AM in response to boudwah

I agree with the previous post if you are going to use a car charger with the iphone make sure it works with the iphone and not some knock off car charger you may find on ebay that may fit the iphone however will damage your iphone later.

Reply

Answer 3

Nov 10, 2007 8:32 AM in response to boudwah

I have a car adapter that lets me play my music over the car stereo, and I have noticed that the iPods get hot after a while. Some have started to act funny, so I quit using it.

If not a designated device, you may want to be careful, it may damage battery, the charging system and who knows what else.

Reply

Answer 4

Goshia

Level 4

1,400 points

Nov 10, 2007 8:49 AM in response to EagerDragon

Be careful with some of these car chargers that are low cost, the reason they are so cheap is that they can't regulate any voltage spikes or transients that couple into the car's 12 aux. line. So let say during normal driving you turn off you head lights and the 12V aux then spikes up to 14.4 volts, which is you float voltage of your cars battery. Now with a cheap car adapter you might see the adapter go as high as 5-6 volts and you phone is not rated for such a high voltage for any period of time over a couple mS.

Reply

Answer 5

boudwah Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 11, 2007 7:16 AM in response to boudwah

got it. Not worth risking the loss of my battery. The voltage spike issue is exactly what I was worried about. I'll be sticking with apple approved devices.

Reply