It said in the FP2 instructions that it must be charged at 1amp or damage may result. Why? I’m wanting to buy a car-socket 'phone charger for my 'phone, I’ve just read everything I can find on this subject in the forum. Have we still not got a definitive answer to this question?
I am charging my FP2 in the car when I am using it for navigation via OSMAnd. I have no idea of the current the plug provides, but I doubt it is 1A, I have a very old car. Even with navigation, I can fully charge the phone - during a long drive. The chargers are one low-cost from an electronics discounter and a gift from a show, so nothing high end.
I also cannot imagine why charging at a lower current should damage the phone…
As long as it’s 5V (which USB is per definition) it doesn’t matter too much if it charges at 500mA or 1A at least in terms of damage to the phone. 500mA might not be enough for everything (screen, GPS, data connection, navigation) on and charging, 1A definitely is.
If you don’t have a USB socket in the car you can use an adaptor for the cigarette lighter. I got one as a business gift and found that it emitted quite some electromagnetic interferences to the car radio making it impossible to listen to it. The solution was to buy a better one, Cabstone products were recommended in some forums and indeed, it didn’t disappoint me yet. The dual USB version with 2.1A maximum current happily charges my FP2 and my wife’s FP1 at the same time.
I have a 2.1A adaptor! I bought it for Bluetooth but it came with the USB as an extra, and like you I found it chucks out electromagnetic interference so most of the time it’s not plugged in, but part of the reason for this post was to find out if it was safe to use this adaptor. There are dozens of really cheap purportedly 1A adaptors, but when you check the spec they’re actually 500 - 700A so they’d be safe enough, but they too would probably cause interference so if necessary I’ll spend more, thanks for the Cabstone recommendation.
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