topic Chargers with Sony xperia Z1 in XPERIA archive

Chargers with Sony xperia Z1

blokey — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 00:10:38 GMT

Has anyone else had any issues with certain chargers and the Z1. I thought the idea of all phones having microUSB ports would be that you could use any available charger but I have found that the Z1 is much more picky about the charger being used. It works fine with the official charger and charges with a PC connection (but is a bit slower), but I have a couple of aftermarket chargers and the Z1 does not respond to it being plugged in. I have tested these chargers on a couple of other phones and they work perfectly. Has anyone else seen this?

Re: Chargers with Sony xperia Z1

Archanos — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 00:26:28 GMT

This is not just Sony's fantasy to use supplied charger. The problem is that cheap wall chargers are cheap because of some reason, not just cheap. They are built with very low quality materials and much less power efficient electronic components. This is why some of them don't work as expected.

Technically, you can charge your phone from the PC because USB 2.0 port is able to give up to 500mA of current at 5V voltage, that's total 2.5W of power. This is enough to start charging big/modern batteries (not just in this particular phone). Sony's wall charger is able to give 3 times that high current, up to 1500mA which gives you at least 7.5W of charging power. This is why your phone charges much faster with it.

But many of those cheap wall chargers can't give even those 500mA (even if the labels on them say that), I have seen already ones that got literally melted after getting not much more than 300mA from them (less than 1.5W !!), and this is not even enough to start the charging process.

Be careful - you can use high quality/power efficient charger made by Sony, Samsung, HTC, etc. But never ever use cheap ones as not only they cannot provide enough power to the phone, but also could damage it and you will loose your warranty by doing such a damage.

Re: Chargers with Sony xperia Z1

Archanos — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 00:35:20 GMT

And by the way, the Z1's battery is really big one. This not only can give much more power than other, lesser ones, but also need more power to charge efficiently. Therefore you also cannot expect even high quality charger made 2-3 years ago to be able to provide that much power as this provided with your phone, it is dedicated for big batteries and able to charge them really fast without even getting hot.

Re: Chargers with Sony xperia Z1

Danielseward408 — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 13:28:51 GMT

Sorry to jump on this thread but I was going to post a similar question. Can I use my iPad charger to charge my Z1? Just saves my taking two chargers around with me.

Thanks
Dan

Re: Chargers with Sony xperia Z1

Archanos — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 14:07:27 GMT

Check the label on that charger to make sure it can provide enough power to charge Z1 - 5V / 1A (or 1000mA) is enough.

But I think you can, sure.

iPad charger specs are 5.1V / 2A so I guess you can charge Z1 with it (this additional 0.1V shouldn't be a problem), but you may try the Sony charger on that iPad, since you can charge the iPad from the computer it should be safer anyway.

Re: Chargers with Sony xperia Z1

andyinv — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 08:16:04 GMT

I'm getting exactly the same thing - it's driving me mad! I've bought 3 USB car chargers, and found the cable from one works with the charger from another. Two cables won't work at all !

I took my Nexus 7 cable into work to leave there as it also seemed to work from the laptop. Today, it didn't. Other cables that I've tried don't work.

I can't believe it's that picky. I know it has a high current draw, the car chargers I had were all rated at 2A. The laptop seems to work on USB3, but I plugged it in to that port later and it wasn't working again. It's driving me nuts !

Starting to think the phone is perhaps faulty. Will go along to EE and see what they say. I was looking forward to being able to drop any USB cable into my phone to charge, instead of those expensive iPhone ones I've been used to. That idea has gone right out the window.

Re: Chargers with Sony xperia Z1

azzido — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 08:19:55 GMT

And what is the power of DK31?
Is it also 1500mAh?

Re: Chargers with Sony xperia Z1

Archanos — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 11:39:22 GMT

@AndyW - this looks like a malfunction, you should consult a service center immediately because if phone got damaged inside (could happen days before with some cheap/unstable charger), this is gonna get worse quickly and even make more damage to the laptop

@azzido - DK30/31 stations are not providing power by themselves, they get it from wall chargers (won't work with computers), so this depends on the charger itself, not on the station you use.

Re: Chargers with Sony xperia Z1

z_harris — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 14:26:21 GMT

DK 31 have only magnetic cable, and to use it you have to conect the cable to the original sony charger.

Re: Chargers with Sony xperia Z1

Archanos — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 16:00:53 GMT

Not necessarily original Sony one, but this socket need at least 850mA input. PC for example can provide at most 500mA do it is not enough. Original Z1 charger provides 1500mA so it is not only enough, but can charge much faster than any standard 500mA charger.
On the other hand, connecting too weak source to the phone that needs much juice can easily damage source device as good as the phone itself. Overloading of this kind is very dangerous for both sides of the cable.

Re: Chargers with Sony xperia Z1

tadworth506 — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 15:27:14 GMT

The USB cable (that plugs into either car charger, home charger or computer ) needs all 4 cores present to be able to be used on later Sony phones. Pins 1 and 4 (which go to pins 1 and 5 of the micro usb plug that goes into the phone) has the 5 volt supply that it uses to charge up the phone. All phones with the exception of Sony are happy with this and will charge.

Sony (just to be awkward and to make sure you use their branded accessories) utilise pins 2 and 3 as well as these and are just linked together. These cores are normally only used for data transfer (ie when connecting your phone to your pc) but Sony phones need these cores as well otherwise your phone won't charge.

I am very surprised that Sony couldn't be bothered to highlight this and it was left for someone like me to do their own investigations. I was determined to work out the reason as I knew it was nothing to do with lack of current availability as the Sony home charger (which charges OK) is rated at 850mA and the car charger which I was trying to use is rated at 1000mA.

So all I did was to solder a link between pins 2 and 3 on the USB socket in the car charger and made sure that the USB lead that I was using was a 4 core lead and not just a 2 core (which is quite common on cheapo ebay car chargers). Sorted!

Re: Chargers with Sony xperia Z1

Dibbo — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 12:05:30 GMT

If any problem for using 2A (output) chareger for Z1? But i've seen one thing when i use 2A the estimated battary time show around 1 day 10-15 hours(STAMINA mode on) but when use PC for charging it show around 2 days(STAMINA mode on)!!! why??please suggest me

Re: Chargers with Sony xperia Z1

rakib_nightmare — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 16:24:39 GMT

Hi I bought one charger which has an output of 2A for my xperia z1 and it seems very fast charging. I just wonder if it's good for my phone or damages it. Please help. And also if I keep playing clash of clans while charging would it be safe for phone?? Thnx in advance..

Re: Chargers with Sony xperia Z1

xavinux — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 03:26:02 GMT

Hi @rakib_nightmare

I would recommend not to use another charger rather than those manufacture by Sony for your Z1.

I hope can be useful and I'm at disposal for any question.

Best Regards,

Re: Chargers with Sony Xperia Z1 - random discharging of a Z1

AlbanThurstonLo — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 10:21:08 GMT

Hi, I'd appreciate a literate explanation from a Sony Z1 technical expert of some irregular, bizarre charging and discharging behaviour of a Z1 in my possession for only 3 months.

The reconditioned Z1 handset charges and discharges, randomly and with no intervention from me. The problem began suddenly within the past 24 hours. Even with all apps shut down, last night the Z1 was still visibly discharging, even while it was plugged into a Sony-supplied wall charger.

I left the handset plugged into the wall overnight. On first examination this morning, the battery was only 1% full. Repeating the wall charging this morning, the battery leapt up in around 10 minutes from 8% full to 14% full. An hour later, and still plugged into a wall socket, charge in the battery had fallen to 7%. Baffling, infuriating !

Virus protection on the Z1 is Avaast.

I've had this Z1 since June, I was compelled under my service deal to replace a different model of Xperia (- an S, I think -) , after that Sony Xperia decided to die unrepairably, less than 24 months after I'd paid for it. Supposedly an upgrade under my service contract, both Xperias - the earlier one, and this reluctantly acquired Z1 - have been underperforming lemons. (Don't get me started on Sony's inflexible, non-deletable Messaging app for texting; I really miss the freeware of MyPhoneExplorer, which intelligently integrates texting, contact and calendar functions, and synchs them easily with Outlook on my laptop. But Sony says I cannot delete Messaging, and it bullies aside better freeware such as MyPhoneExplorer.)

I still own Sony's **bleep** Z1, and don't want to discard it as dead plastic. Only 2 years after purchasing the first Xperia, why should I let Sony win?

Explanations welcome.

Sincerely, Alban Thurston, London