Can use ipad charger to charge iphone?

Hello,

First of all I would like to apologise for the offtopic comment I am going to write, but I really think only people with the enough knowledge (and it's being seen that here there are a few) are going to be able to answer (and hopefully explain shortly) my two short questions.

1. Can counterfeit cables affect the charging rate of the device? I am asking this because I think they actually do, but haven't made my own 'strict' experiment since many factors can modify the result. If so, why this might happen? Does Apple 'put' something 'special' in their cables?

2. I also bought one 9 feet cable for using my phone while in bed (the power plug is far away from the head of the bed, and I use my phone as an alarm clock) and with this cable I have noticed that the charging process of my iPhone 4S is significantly slower than the 'original' cable. As a science (not Engineering tho) student I guessed that this might happen due to the length of the cable and its quality (probably way less conductive material than in the original, therefore thinner inner cable segment) which can affect the final voltage that 'arrives' to the charging device (for getting to this conclusion I just took the fact that high voltages are used to transport 'huge amounts' of electricity because it's more efficient, thus using 'just' 5v (and in combination with poor quality cable) for 9 feet could make a noticeable difference, am I correct?

Thank you very much for your attention and looking forward to see the answers of the expert people that had commented previously in this thread!

1. Cables that do not conform to the Apple spec probably won't work at all (and will display an error dialog on the phone - "Charging is not supported with this device", but I can't see any reason they should reduce the rate of charge. However, using the phone while charging will reduce the rate of charge. The amount of the hit depends on what you are doing with the phone at the time.

2. A longer cable will have higher internal resistance, but unless the individual wires in the cable are very thin it should not have a measurable affect on rate of charge. Try measuring the cable resistance with an ohm meter or multimeter. The current should be 1 amp, so the voltage drop will be essentially be the resistance of the cable (E = I*R, and I is 1). Note that the resistance will probably be way less than 1 ohm, so a sensitive meter is required. The thing is that a USB cable not intended for charging can get away with a a higher resistance, so if it hs that kind of a cable it could cause problems.

Ill take ridiculous over its my imagination, thank you for confirming. Tested again today its exactly that, twice as fast, not sure what all this fuss is about in this thread and all these Electronic Enginneers irate as its not something they have been taught or something not matching to what they have been taught. If they even are EE. Pathetic at best here.

What you heard is absolute BS. There has NEVER been a 10 v charger for any iPhone. From the 3G forward it has always been a 5V USB power source (NOT a charger, which is built into the source); the original iPhone would charge with either a 5V USB power source or a 12V Firewire power source. The 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S and 5 will not charge with a Firewire source, but won't be damaged by it either, because the 12V was on a different pin from the 5V USB source. If you try to use a Firewire charger (or an older iPod dock) you will get a dialog saying that charging is not supported with that accessory.

Ok good to know, thanks!

Now, will charging my Mini with the 5w adapter screw the battery as the sales assistant (the clerk) said ("Never charge an iPad with an iPhone charger") or I can go safe? I know apple provides it and I don't care if is good to charge with the 12w or not. I just want to know if it will compromise the Mini's battery to charge it with the 5w or you would recommend buying the 12w adapter.

Thanks a lot 🙂

Hi,

Theoretically and technically the ipad charger will charge iphones compatibly and scientifically sound (EE aspects). However, experimentally and hard evidences have shown that using ipad charger on iphones for some time have caused issues with the battery. My iphone's battery now only charged up to 95% max. So it might be related to several factors: heat caused by ipad charger, wear and tear of current regulator of my iphone or string theory or others... Try it on your iphone for some time and you will see...

I posted the real evidence from experiments I did a couple of months ago. I charged an iPhone with no apps running (did this by running the battery all the way down, which kills all processes) using a 12W power source and a 5 W power source. The charging time was the same (within about 15 minutes) and the temperature of the phone was the same for both (measured with a laser temperature gauge). This is what I expected, as I have used a 12 W power source with my 4S for as long as I've had it (18 months) with no negative side effects.

When I next get time I will sacrifice a USB cable and measure the current going into the phone with each power source.

But the iPhone does not withdraw 2.1 Amps from the iPad charger either, it'd draw 1 Amp. Web it will may charge faster if its we are using the iPhone, because it will be draining the battery, but thanks to the extra amps from the iPad charger it will keep charging at 1 Amp rate.

Just an FYI about assuming a company's lawyers have reviewed everything on a company's website; while it would be wonderful if clients did have their lawyers review everything that could get them in trouble, they don't. The lawyers probably drafted their liability disclaimers, anything contractual....but I seriously doubt they review the product pages much at all.

No offence to anyone. But, I keep getting all these notifications from this forum. Could we PLEASE STOP THE DISCUSSION!!!!

Isn't the issue been resolved? You should be either dumb or ******** to post below this comment.

Again, I am sorry if I am hurting any feelings here but, c'mon lets end this.

Thank you and Regards,

Ajay

You don't seem to know what you need. First you want it is done and you don't want to be notified, then you want it to continue. Make up your mind.

Then you seem to indicate you don't care what the findings of Apple's engineers, with the approval of Apple's lawyers (they work for Apple, just like the engineers) say, you would rather trust some unknown person out there to make up your mind.

OK, here goes. I've interchanged my iPods, iPhones, iPads charging since I first got the iPad 1 with the 10w charger. It has not harmed any of the devices and I haven't found anything weird.

Just like the engineers and lawyers said 😉

Hello, I was given a "Power Bank for iPad/iPhone" .

Capacity: 5000mAh

Input: 5V, 1A

Output1: 5V, 1A

Output2: 5V, 500mA

By your post of May2 @ 10:15 it would appear that the output port I should use for iPhone5 is Output 1, but to charge my iPad I would need 2.1Amps. My assumption is that I would also use Output1 for iPad, but it will take longer to charge than if I had a 2.1A Output port. Is that correct?

What device is Output2 port good for at 500mA?

Thank you

Output 1 is for the iPhone and will also charge your iPad, but take twice as long. The second USB port can be used for charging lower powered devices, such as BlueTooth headsets. That specific device can charge 2 accessories simultaneously, which is why it has 2 ports.

Simple answer as to why iPhone gets hotter while using iPad's power supply to charge it:

Imagine you have to move a bunch of wood from pont a to point b and you can only carry so much wood per trip. you can either do that by:

1. Walking from point a to point b while carrying the wood.

2. Running from point a to point b whle carrying the wood

With option 2 you will take the wood from point a to point b faster than with option 1. But also due to the elevated physical effort you will get hotter, which will make you sweat, which in turn will make you feel tired faster. You carry the same amount of wood in both options and the same amount of wood per trip. It's not the added capacity in the iPad's charger that kills the iPhone battery but the extra heat generated by doing the same job faster.

Sorry I tried to explain it this way but I have no tech background whatsoever but this is how I understand it.

Well, you understand wrong Rob. As has been stated several times in this thread - charging your iPhone or iPod with a 10W iPad charger will not overheat the battery, cause it to charge faster, or do anything any differently than charging it with a 5W iPhone/iPod charger.

I have been charging my iPhones (first my iPhone 1, then my iPhone4) on my origina iPad charger since I got my iPad in 2010 when they were first introduced. It makes absolutely no difference if I charge it using my iPad charger or my iPhone charger. They work identically in terms of charging the iPhone.

Your illustration does not accurately demonstrate the concept. Think of pulling a rope straight up through a tube. If the tube is the correct size for pulling the rope up at maximum speed, you would not be able to pull it up any faster if the tube was larger than the size you needed to pull it up that speed. i.e., 10W tube with 10W pull vs. 10W tube with 5W pull. The rope isn't affected, your ability to pull isn't affected, the amount of energy you expend pulling isn't affected. End result: exactly the same....

There is absolutey no difference, no negative affects, no reason not to use the chargers interchangeably on an iPhone or iPad.

Cheers,

GB