iPhone charger plug only charges iPhone

[edyb]

Hey folks,

Just wondering if anyone else noticed the plug charger with the USB output that came with my iPhone will only charge up my iPhone. When I tried to plug in another USB cable to charge an Android or BlackBerry, nothing happened.

Normally I thought all of these plugs just basically output 5V on the standard USB pins, while the data pins are ignored. That's why plug chargers for other phones work interchangeably. I can plug it into any type of phone, as long as they all get 5V output and ignore the data pins. Any device that has USB can charge.

But the iPhone plug charger must detect what is on the other end, perhaps using the data pins over the lightning cable. If it does not detect an iPhone USB cable then it doesn't seem to push out any voltage, hence why my other phones did not get any juice.

Does anyone know more about this? Could it be an easy way to tell between a real and fake iPhone plug charger?

 

[spotja]

Well, my Sony Xperia V does charge. Maybe you have a faulty USB cable fir those other devices


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

 

[shanghaichica]

I can charge my kindle paper white with my iPhone charger. I haven't tried anything else.


Sent from my gold iPhone 5S

 

[eyecrispy]

I've charged a few other things with it as well. No issues.

 

[edyb]

Thanks for the replies. OK I'm going to have to investigate this further. I'm pretty sure I'm not going crazy so I may even show a video. This is happening with a brand new iPhone 5c charger and a working USB cable for BlackBerry that I used moments later on the computer to charge the phone successfully.

 

[kataran]

Thanks for the replies. OK I'm going to have to investigate this further. I'm pretty sure I'm not going crazy so I may even show a video. This is happening with a brand new iPhone 5c charger and a working USB cable for BlackBerry that I used moments later on the computer to charge the phone successfully.

Where not doubting you let us know what you find out

I use my iPhone charger brick to charge my wireless headset without a problem


Sent from my iPhone 5s Gold 64GB

 

[edyb]

I did some more research and knew I wasn't imagining things... Here is some feedback I received from an Electronics Engineering Blog Forum:

Apple iPhone 5c charger with BlackBerry USB cable can't charge - Page 1


Also, Lady Ada from Adafruit sums it up here with schematics showing why Apple chargers are a bit particular with what they charge:

iCharging | Minty Boost | Adafruit Learning System


Now at least I know, I will have to bring along several charging plugs and not just rely on a single one for all USB devices!