Charging an iPod on a boat

[David Schweizer]

Simple question really, and one to which i ought to know the answer, but I wouild welcome other people's experience/knowledge.

 

Some little while ago Jan bought herself an iPad which is charged from the mains through a 13amp plug transformer with a USB socket in it. The tiny writing on the trasnsformer suggests that the output is 5v DC 1amp. here is the question:-

 

Would it be possible to charge the iPad via a 12v USB adaptor which I use to charge my mobile phone, or would it be better to use the inverter and use the charger supplied? It isn't a real problem, but it just sems silly to convert 12v DC to 230v AC in order to convert it back to 5v DC. What do other people think?

 

 

Edited:- to correct iPod to iPad

Edited March 14, 2014 by David Schweizer

[Guest]

Simple question really, and one to which i ought to know the answer, but I wouild welcome other people's experience/knowledge.

 

Some little while ago Jan bought herself an iPod which is charged from the mains through a 13amp plug transformer with a USB socket in it. The tiny writing on the trasnsformer suggests that the output is 5v DC 1amp. here is the question:-

 

Would it be possible to charge the iPod via a 12v USB adaptor which I use to charge my mobile phone, or would it be better to use the inverter and use the charger supplied? It isn't a real problem, but it just sems silly to convert 12v DC to 230v AC in order to convert it back to 5v DC. What do other people think?

I charge my iPod via. A 12 v adaptor on the boat no problem (we charge our iPhones the same way too.)

[Keeping Up]

If you have an iPod to USB lead you can charge from a standard USB source, but on mine the connector in the 13A plug charger is not actually USB, it just looks similar.

 

If the inverter is already on, it will make very little difference whether you charge from a 12v/USB converter or from the 240v charger, but it would not make sense to switch the inverter on just for this one thing.

[john6767]

you should be able to use a normal 12v cigarette lighter socket USB adapter to do the charging. The cheap ones are 1amp, you can get 2/2.1amp ones as well (which will charge faster).

[Guest]

If you have an iPod to USB lead you can charge from a standard USB source, but on mine the connector in the 13A plug charger is not actually USB, it just looks similar.

 

If the inverter is already on, it will make very little difference whether you charge from a 12v/USB converter or from the 240v charger, but it would not make sense to switch the inverter on just for this one thing.

We just use a cheap third party 12v USB charger. The only issue we have had is with my iPhone 5s with ios7 and the lead. The phone flashes up a message the the lead is not genuine apple, so I bought a genuine one ( lead not charger).

 

Not an issue with my iPod though.

Edited March 14, 2014 by The Dog House

[john6767]

yep, they don't like non-genuine leads, but should be no issue with the charger.

[David Schweizer]

Oops!! Apparently it is called an iPad, not an iPod (apparently she has one of those as well). Just shows how technical i am. Anyway could I aske for people to re-visit my question (which has noe been corrected) and and advise.

 

Sorry about that. Why do these people use almost identical names for completely different devices? I know to confuse dinosaurs like me!

Edited March 14, 2014 by David Schweizer

[john6767]

Oops!! Apparently it is called an iPad, not an iPod (apparently she has one of those as well). Just shows how technical i am. Anyway could I aske for people to re-visit my question (which has noe been corrected) and and advise.

 

Sorry about that. Why do these people use almost identical names for completely different devices? I know to confuse dianasours like me!

for an iPad you really want a 2.1amp adapter, surprised that you are using a 1amp one on the mains. I have one like this that I got to charge my iPhone faster than the cheap ones.

[Guest]

Oops!! Apparently it is called an iPad, not an iPod (apparently she has one of those as well). Just shows how technical i am. Anyway could I aske for people to re-visit my question (which has noe been corrected) and and advise.

 

Sorry about that. Why do these people use almost identical names for completely different devices? I know to confuse dianasours like me!

I haven't tried to charge my iPad yet on the boat using 12v but I suspect the answer would be the same but I am expecting the iPad battery will take quite a bit longer to charge using 12v than 240v.

 

So I'm interested in answers to this too.

[sueb]

I always charged my iPhone using the lead connected to my laptop & browsed at the same time. I don't know if this would work with an iPad.

[KJT]

We charge all our low voltage devices including the new iPad (which requires a 'genuine' Apple tip) from our 12v cigarette lighter type sockets. Everything from mobile phones to 17" computers. You can get suitable chargers from the likes of Maplins.

 

It saves running the invertor.

 

Ken

[David Schweizer]

for an iPad you really want a 2.1amp adapter, surprised that you are using a 1amp one on the mains. I have one like this that I got to charge my iPhone faster than the cheap ones.

 

Got it wrong again, apparently it is a mini iPad, and it definitely says 5v DC 1 amp output on the Apple charger which was supplied with it.

[john6767]

 

Got it wrong again, apparently it is a mini iPad, and it definitely says 5v DC 1 amp output on the Apple charger which was supplied with it.

So perhaps an iPad mini is more akin to an iPod/iPhone is this respect and it would use 1amp normally, you can still charge it faster it you want.

[Guest]

So perhaps an iPad mini is more akin to an iPod/iPhone is this respect and it would use 1amp normally, you can still charge it faster it you want.

Do you not risk damage putting more amps. in than a std. Apple charger would?

[Keeping Up]

The principle still also applies, that switching on the inverter just for charging will waste some power, but that if it is already running (or if the engine is running) it will make no difference to the power taken from the batteries

Do you not risk damage putting more amps. in than a std. Apple charger would?

 

No, the device will only take as much current as it wants, because the voltage is still 5V

Edited March 14, 2014 by Keeping Up

[Guest]

Ok Allan thanks.

 

 

 

 

Ed coz I misspelt Allan.

Edited March 14, 2014 by The Dog House

[john6767]

Do you not risk damage putting more amps. in than a std. Apple charger would?

The device is only going to take what it wants to. As I said I use a 2.1amp one on my iPhone as I found that when it was working hard as a WiFi router the 1amp charger was only just keeping up with the battery charge. If you look at the one I linked to as a example, the high output socket has the connection in it that fools Apple devices into charging faster, and it is listed for iPhone, iPad mini etc etc

[David Schweizer]

I have found the charger supplied with the iPad on the Apple site, it is this one:-

 

 

 

The descrioption on the back of the charger is the same as this. The Apple site says that the charger works with all iPhone models and iPad mini (1st generation) :-

Edited March 14, 2014 by David Schweizer

[john6767]

I have found the g=charger supplied with the iPad on the Apple site, it is thius one:-

 

Well that is the same one as you get with an iPhone (boy is that text small!).

 

If you look on the apple web site they supply the same charger for iPod/iPhone/IPad mini, so it is as I said that this is more akin to an iPhone with respect to charging. So a cheap 1amp one will do the job fine. Apple describe the 2 chargers as 5w (iPod/iPhone/iPad mini) and 12W (iPad). On the details for the 12W ipad one it states "It also charges iPhone and all iPod models.", and it shows all the devices on the compatible list. For the 5W one it just lists iPhones and the iPad mini.

 

So basically any will work, but a 2.1amp one will probably charge faster if that is important.

Edited March 14, 2014 by john6767

[Guest]

Although the 5w one is not listed as compatible on Apple's web site I do know it will charge my iPad 2 which is supplied with that 12w version.

 

What I hadn't tried was charging my iPhone 5s with the 12w charger so that is useful to know.

[bottle]

14 companies agreed in 2010 to standardise chargers and today the EU is backing it.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24726077

[john6767]

14 companies agreed in 2010 to standardise chargers and today the EU is backing it.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24726077

That would be nice!

[Guest]

That would be nice!

Apple won't think so I reckon.

 

It potentially could see an end to their trying to force you to only use their leads.

[Joelsanders]

yep, they don't like non-genuine leads, but should be no issue with the charger.

My experience too. If you stick with a proper lead it should charge fine . Non branded equivalents often won't do the job. Anyone know if that's specifically a boat issue ?

[Guest]

My experience too. If you stick with a proper lead it should charge fine . Non branded equivalents often won't do the job. Anyone know if that's specifically a boat issue ?

Genuine Apple leads have a chip in them that the device detects

 

None genuine leads seem to work fine but some devices (like my iPhone 5s) will flash a warning the lead may not be compatible, you can just dismiss the message and ignore it.

 

Some iPhone users report dismissing the message stops the phone charging some report it does not.

 

It's not a boat specific issue AFAIK.