Impressive, it even delivers 1 amp and 2.4 amp power. Just a year ago you couldn’t buy that kind of charging at any price… it pretty much didn’t exist.
Now if only it functioned as a hub it would actually be perfect.
Looks pretty bulky for something you’d bring for a hotel stay. I’d prefer something that folds up into nothingness. A right-angle bend in the cord seems like an obvious improvement.
I have that, but now I can’t unfold it. I can’t even find it.
The problem is, the D+ and D- wires are used for communication between the device and the charger, negotiation of the power needed.
I am not 100% certain if high-speed charging with simultaneous USB communication is possible.
DIY version of something similar here:
Also, I’d suggest to equip the device with a standard IEC socket, so you can use it in any country with just a computer cable, instead of having to deal with so-often-flimsy adapters. (You can then also make yourself just a short stubby cable, and get rid of most of the volume a power cable of the necessary thickness takes. Great for traveling light.)
Only 2 of the USB ports are rated at 2 amps or better. The other 3 only put out 1 amp, which is next to useless. And the cord is not detachable, which makes it bulkier for storage.
One amp is pretty useful. My camera that I built a new charger in has a battery that can not take in more than an amp anyway. Many other devices I have can’t take more than an amp as well. And the hungry ones, when you have more than two, can still charge (albeit slower) on the 1-amp ports.
Only if the devices are not doing anything power-intensive. I use to have a 1 amp port in my car. While taking long trips, my phone is running Google Maps, running Glympse in the background to let the people I’m visiting know where I am and when I’ll get there, and playing podcasts via Bluetooth to my car speakers. That 1 amp charger just couldn’t keep up, even in powersave and screen-dim modes. I replaced it with a Samsung OEM 2amp converter, and the battery now stays at 100% the entire journey. I can even run Field Trip in the background, to alert me if I’m passing anything interesting, and a Tasker script to modulate the medial volume based on current driving speed.
I see. So in certain use-cases, the 1-amp power outlets are insufficient. (We knew this in advance.) And this is why the device comes with two 2-amp ports.
This however does not negate the usefulness of the 1-amp ports for the remaining use-cases.
Now the question is…
Do you usually have more than two such power-hungry devices running in power-guzzling mode at once?
Wouldn’t the product be better if all 5 ports could put out 2.4 amps?
And to answer your question, I sure could have use five 2 amp ports at my last family reunion.
Technically, yes. But then there are tradeoffs for device cost, size and thermal considerations. (More current requires thicker wires and bigger coils, also there are more losses on the switching transistors that heat up correspondingly and need a bigger heatsink - which has to be dimensioned for the worst case of all ports fully loaded.) Both bigger coils, bigger transistors, and bigger heatsinks cost more money, and eat more space that could be otherwise occupied by the batteries.
Shouldn’t they have their own juice packs? Then their problems will be solved even when you aren’t around.
Actually, the answer is just “yes”.
Do you realize that “better” is a rather difficult to specify measure? What is the primary limitation factor - output current, number of full-current ports, size, cost, overheating, reliability…? What are the weights of the parameters? Why is a compromise wrong?
…and you realize you can roll your own, perfectly to all the specs you want? Boost converters are easy and buck one with current-voltage limitation for the pack charging is trivial too. I did something exactly like that couple years ago, when pocket power bricks were uncommon; of course I misjudged the thermals and melted part of the box. (I used 3-cell batteries, external balancing charger, and buck converters with LM2576-5 chips. Maybe I still have photos somewhere.) You should be able to order entire ready-made modules from AliExpress or DealExtreme or BangGoods, just assemble. And that way you can even have output power modules with other than 5V voltages, for your other gear.
1 amp is fine for most modern phones. It’ll keep mine at full charge while running busily. I’m not sure why it wasn’t enough for yours, but that’s pretty unusual even under the load you described. I would hardly call it “useless.”
If you’re going to be like that, it would also be a more useful device if it could fly and shoot lasers. Demanding a thing have more features while refusing to consider the technical limitations isn’t constructive.
I have a similar thing from Orico - 2 power sockets, 4 USB ports (2 at 2.4A), plus it’s surge protected and it has a removable power cable, so perhaps easier to fit in a bag…
Works fine for me
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ORICO-OPC-2A4U-Protected-Extension-Protector/dp/B00NOPMP4W/
[quote=“shaddack, post:11, topic:58506”]
Shouldn’t they have their own juice packs? Then their problems will be solved even when you aren’t around.[/quote]
Believe it or not, teenagers and pre-teens are not the greatest planners in the world. And the idea that Aunt Jackie, who is 73 and still uses a flip-phone, wouldn’t have half a dozen USB chargers laying about her house never occurred to them.
And how else should they learn if they don’t get some inconvenience out of their forgetfulness? I’d say that being doomed to one-amp charging sockets is an adequate penalty.
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