Can I plug a car charger into a 120v port?

RavenSword

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So I admit I don't know much about amps and volts and what's safe to charge a phone with, but I noticed in my car that I have a port that's like my cigarette lighter port, but it has a flap that says 24W/120V. Now, the car charger I have says 24W on it, but doesn't mention anything about volts. Is 120volts safe? It just seemed like a lot to me and I didn't want to ruin my battery.
 

anon(4698833)

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Yes, it will be fine. You can't really look at it as "higher" than 24 watts because the two measurements are totally different. 120 volt is a standard in car outlet power.

For clarity, a kind of rudimentary explanation is that a 'watt' measures how energy is transferred, 'voltage' is more about the pressure in which electricity is moving though a circuit. The two are related, but they are totally different "things".
 

HankAZ

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Electricity is measured in terms of amperage, voltage, and wattage.

  • Amperage (amps for short) is a measure of the AMOUNT of electricity used.
  • Voltage (volts) measures the pressure, or FORCE, of electricity.
  • The amps multiplied by the volts gives you the wattage (watts), a measure of the WORK that electricity does per second.
Think of it this way: Electricity flowing through a wire is like water flowing through a garden hose. The amount of water that can fit through the hose depends on the diameter of the hose (amps). The pressure of the water depends on how far open the faucet is (volts). The amount of work that can be done (watts) depends on both the amount and the pressure of the water (volts x amps = watts).

All of the genuine Apple charging devices are dual voltage, which means that the internal circuitry does all the necessary transformations of the power to match what's coming out of the socket to what the device needs. This prevents too much power being sent to the device and causing any harm or damage. Most of Apple's devices also have circuitry to charge wattage.
 

kch50428

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So I admit I don't know much about amps and volts and what's safe to charge a phone with, but I noticed in my car that I have a port that's like my cigarette lighter port, but it has a flap that says 24W/120V. Now, the car charger I have says 24W on it, but doesn't mention anything about volts. Is 120volts safe? It just seemed like a lot to me and I didn't want to ruin my battery.
Does it look like an outlet in your house? Then your car has a power inverter that is capable of running certain electrical devices that run on "household current"... can you use this with your device's block charger? Yes. But I would just get a car charger that plugs into my 12v/lighter jack...
 

RavenSword

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Does it look like an outlet in your house? Then your car has a power inverter that is capable of running certain electrical devices that run on "household current"... can you use this with your device's block charger? Yes. But I would just get a car charger that plugs into my 12v/lighter jack...

Actually it's a port like my lighter jack. It's just I'm using the lighter port for a fm transmitter so I was just wondering if I can use this second 120v port with my car charger.
 

RavenSword

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Also, I know this is a completely different question, but I didn't want to make an entire new thread. But are iPhones resistant to static electricity shocks. I'm inly asking because yesterday when I opened my car door I had my phone in my hand and the door gave it and maybe the device a shock. Ok sure it only hit my finger, but I'm just curious if the outside of the iPhone is resistant to that stuff?
 

anon(4698833)

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Actually it's a port like my lighter jack. It's just I'm using the lighter port for a fm transmitter so I was just wondering if I can use this second 120v port with my car charger.

It is totally fine...that is a standard outlet for use with chargers like the one for your iPhone.

Also, I know this is a completely different question, but I didn't want to make an entire new thread. But are iPhones resistant to static electricity shocks. I'm inly asking because yesterday when I opened my car door I had my phone in my hand and the door gave it and maybe the device a shock. Ok sure it only hit my finger, but I'm just curious if the outside of the iPhone is resistant to that stuff?

A static shock like you described will have no effect on your iPhone that you would notice at all...it'd take a lot more than that to actually damage it. There's a video somewhere where a guy takes a taser and applies about 10-15sec. worth of full power shock directly to the back of an iPhone, and even that wasn't instantly damaging (took a few seconds before it finally broke the device).

**Edit...here ya go...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffHyA6JX4-0
 

RavenSword

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It is totally fine...that is a standard outlet for use with chargers like the one for your iPhone.



A static shock like you described will have no effect on your iPhone that you would notice at all...it'd take a lot more than that to actually damage it. There's a video somewhere where a guy takes a taser and applies about 10-15sec. worth of full power shock directly to the back of an iPhone, and even that wasn't instantly damaging (took a few seconds before it finally broke the device).

**Edit...here ya go...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffHyA6JX4-0

Cool, thanks. It's was with a tpu case as well. And like I said I'm pretty sure the shock hit my finger anyway
 

anon(4698833)

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I know, ha ha. A lot of it could be that I just rely so much on my phone that if it got damaged I would be pretty upset.

I don't think there's a person on the planet that would be anything other than upset if their iPhone got damaged...regardless of how much they rely on it. I rely on mine for pretty much everything...and while I could easily replace it, I'd be pretty damn irritated if mine got damaged too.

That said, it's a pretty friggin' durable little thing...much more durable than you give it credit for.
 

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