Can the 10 watt iPad charger also be used with an iPhone (or iPod touch)?

Felix01 wrote:
Well, those aren't Apple links, Admin, so I don't know how much faith to put in them.

Alexroet wrote:
I just went on a trip and didn't want to take two chargers, so I just took my ipad charger, figuring it could do both- and I found it doesn't charge my 3G. I left it plugged in all night, and it made the chirp noise, and showed the big green battery 'charging' screen. But in the morning, the battery indicator was exactly the same as when I'd plugged it in. BUT- the little battery icon in the upper right corner had changed from a lightning bolt (charging) to a plug (charged). So I'm not sure if it didn't charge, or if it DID charge, but the indicator just didn't change.

Can someone with better, than is mine, understanding of electricity, tell me is this got to do anything with cord/s itself also instead of chargers alone? That voltage power stuff...

Maybe we also got to be careful not to mix up USB cords for charging iDevices? I do have regular 10W iPad charger, but cable I got with it is too large and heavy "Belkin" which I don' t like...so...is it O.K. to use my iPhone cord than?

And the other thing; in speaking of harming batteries - do we risk anything while connecting iPad through only, any type of USB cable, and let' s say for example "iMac keyboard/USB" where getting "not charging" message? It is enough for sync and file transfer obviously but can it do any harm?

The cables are identical. It's the charging block that you plug into the wall that's different. And, as has been pointed out by a number of people in this thread, yes, you can use the iPad charger for the iPod. And no, connecting an iOS device to a USB port that doesn't provide enough power to charge it will do no harm. It just won't charge it. This is, in fact, quite a common situation with iPads as many USB ports don't provide enough power to charge them.

I was in the Apple store in London at the weekend and they specifically asked if I had used an iPad charger with my iPhone because it would damage the battery and would INVALIDATE THE WARRANTY. I was really surprised.

I believe you were given bad information. On Apple's own website, the charger listed for the iPad, the 10W charger, is listed as compatible with the iPhone:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC359LL/A?fnode=MTc0MjU4NjA#overview

To clarify, the iPhone charger CAN charge the iPad; however, the iPad will only charge if the screen is off. Because the iPhone charger is weaker, turning off the iPad display will lower the power requirement for that device and allow the battery to charge. If you'd rather, you can always run your iPad on wall power (with the screen on and not charging) using the iPhone charger.

In reverse, the iPad charger can be used to charge an iPhone. Like others have said, the iPad charger is capable of larger power distribution; however, it doesn't necessarily throw the excessive power into the device. It may heat up a bit, but it won't damage the device.

That was fantastic help :D thanks so much! Time to get rid of the old chargers I think! I smell an eBay binge coming!

Nailed it that is correct !