Chargers with Sony xperia Z1

[blokey]

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?

[Archanos]

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.

[Archanos]

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.

[Danielseward408]

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

[Archanos]

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.

[andyinv]

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.

[azzido]

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

[Archanos]

@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.

[z_harris]

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

[Archanos]

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.