Is it Safe to Use any Micro USB Charger for your Smartphone?

Your micro USB charger is the most important device for your Smartphone. It charges the battery of your Smartphone so that you can use it for all day long or may be more. Today’s Smartphone have become better in both hardware and software but one downside is that they have become more battery hungrier. It is a fact that Smartphones consumes more battery than an average basic mobile phone. It is because of the power needed for running their high end hardware and the amount of processing they perform.

Current generation of Smartphones drains battery very fast and the battery of some of them don’t even last for a day on a full recharge. You must have experienced that many times your friends and relatives plug in their Smartphone in your charger when they visit your home. Some people don’t this because they might wonder if this is safe or not to plug in any charger to their Smartphone and what will be the consequences in doing so. So here in this post I will discuss this same issue and clear all of your doubts about using other charger for charging your Smartphone.

Two Main Things to consider in a Smartphone Charger

A Smartphone Micro USB Charger or any device charger has two most important things that you should be aware of, which is Voltage and Current. If you see your phone charger then you will notice that the Voltage and Current ratings must be printed on it. Here I am talking specifically about the output Voltage and output Current Rating as the input ratings will same for all the chargers, which is generally 100 – 240V in India.

The main thing that is of utmost importance in a charger is the Output Voltage and Output Current Rating. Here also the Output Voltage Rating for almost all the Micro USB Smartphone Chargers is fixed at 5V or 5.1V (Volt), so now you are left with only the output current rating which is measured in Ampere (A) or miliampere (mA).

1 A = 1000 mA

The Ampere rating of micro USB Smartphone charger varies phone to phone and also according to its battery. Some Smartphone chargers have ampere rating of 0.85A, 1A and so on. So here the question is what happens when you plug in your Smartphone in a charger having different Ampere rating. The answer to this question can be found out by studying these two possible cases.

Case I: When Charger has More Ampere (A) Rating

Here is the situation when the other charger has more current or ampere rating as opposed to the one that is specified for your Smartphone i.e. if your phone charger has 0.85A and you are charging it with 1A charger. In this case your phone will get charge faster and this will also result in excess heating of your battery. Also the life of your phone battery life will get shorten if your charge it with the charger having more Amps or current.

Case II: When Charger has Lower Ampere (A) Rating

In this case your Smartphone battery will take more time to charge when you are using a charger having less current. Slow charging will occur in this situation but your battery life will remain safe.

Charging from your Computer USB Port

You must have known that you can also charge your Smartphone through your computer USB port by using your phone micro USB data cable. Now all the modern day computers and laptops have USB 2.0 ports and some even have USB 3.0 ports. Your phone charging through your USB 2.0 computer port will be very slow because the maximum current supplied by the USB 2.0 port is only 0.5A or 500mA, but for USB 3.0 port the charging is faster because USB 3.0 provides maximum current of 0.9A or 900mA. Here the main thing you should know that you will need USB 3.0 micro USB cable for getting the maximum current output from USB 3.0 port. Some computers or laptops have special charging USB ports that can provide current to up to 1.5A or 1500mA.

Smartphone Charger Buying Tip

Always buy a branded Micro USB charger for your Smartphone. Do not buy the local made cheap chargers as they can cause serious damage your Smartphone and your phone’s battery.

Is it Safe to use other Charger for your Smartphone?

Well if the other phone charger is branded and the current ratings are nearby then you can use that charger for your phone i.e. you can use 1A or .7A charger for a Smartphone whose original charger is rated at 0.85A. Here please do not go to extreme levels i.e. do not use a 2A charger on a 0.85A rated phone, otherwise it can cause damage your phone, battery or the charger itself.

In the end I would say that using another phone charger is generally not recommended as it voids warranty and also it may shorten your phone’s battery life. But in emergencies you can use other micro USB charger to charge the battery of your Smartphone but the good practice is to use only the original charger or a branded charger having similar ratings (voltage and current) for your Smartphone.

Read More:

• Best Micro USB Chargers for Smartphones