Any time I purchase an item this inexpensive, I'm always apprehensive about connecting it to a considerably more expensive device and risk damaging the connected device.
Therefore I decided to evaluate this charger with a dummy-load. I measured the charging current draw of my old Sansa MP3 player, which was nominally 180ma. For USB, the charger should maintain nominal output voltage of 5VDC, under various loads. Here are the results of the evaluation.
Open-circuit (no load) output voltage: 5.15VDC
Output voltage with 10 ohm (10 watt) resistor: 4.83VDC (ripple less then 200mv, sawtooth waveform, 30KHz, nominal current draw 480ma).
I burned-in the device under continuous load for 24 hours; the re-measured output voltage showed no substantial change. Also, after the burn-in period, the 2.4 watt load draw did not result in a significant temperature rise felt in the charger itself.
Disclaimer: These results are for the single unit I evaluated, I make no claims that all, or any other chargers of this type will produce the same results. It's clear that I did not stress to unit to it's maximum stated capacity of 1000ma. Users should not assume that their USB devices will not exceed the current draw rating of the device, particularly when charging more then one device. I have done this evaluation for my own purposes; I have no connection with any of the sellers, or the manufacturer of this device.
UPDATE: I used the charger to successfully recharge the Sansa MP3 player without issue. Of course, at this point I can not speak to reliability over time, as I just started using the device. As a side point, the power pins of the unit I have appear to be very firmly attached; again this is the only unit I have at this point (three more on order), so I can not speak to quality-control as regards this USB charge in general. Reminder, care should be taken not to exceed the current ratings of the device, as this could result in over-heating the charger, which could in turn result in loosening of the power pins. Black 2-Port USB Home Travel Charger for Apple iPhone 1st, 2nd 3G, 3rd 3Gs, Ipod Touch 1st, Touch 2G, Ipod Nano
I spent a considerable amount of time reading various reviews on the lowest priced USB wall chargers and other plugin chargers for the Apple iPod Touch.
The majority of them had a very large amount of poor reviews that included problems such as breaking, not working, malfunctioning and cause problems with devices used with, etc... So, consequently I was afraid I may be wasting my money on a product that might not even work cause the price is just so super cheap.. 15 cents for a USB charger + $2.97 shipping... I thought, yeah, right.. it can't possibly be that good for this price, particularly when Apple sells their made in china OEM for $30 and UP, but hey, for this price I figured I'd take a chance since it worked well for the other 4 whom left reviews, and I am glad I did.
It works and charges well. If you need a battery charger for your ipod or iphone for when you're not home or at a computer, this is a must have item. You don't need to spend $30 for an Apple one just because it's Apple when both the Apple one and this one are made in China, but this one works perfect and is a price you just can't beat.
This item failed on first use. When I opened it up (I'm an electrical engineer... I had to open it, didn't I?) I found a decent circuit board, average components and the worst soldering job ever. What failed? The wires that were soldered to the back of the steel plug blades were cold soldered and came apart. Plus the blades were held in place with a friction fit which also failed, leaving exposed metal in the socket when the plug came apart. Construction is so bad that I estimate that the electrical integrity is likely just as bad and may actually harm delicate electronics like cell phones. Be careful and avoid this one!!!!
I used this charger on a trip I took recently. Any time I landed in an airport, when sitting around waiting for a connecting flight I would plug this into the wall and then plug my ipod touch into one of the two open usb ports. I have a second generation ipod touch 16gig memory and this charger worked great with it.
I have been using it a lot at home as well to charge up my ipod touch because sometimes I don't feel like getting my computer out just to charge the device. So I leave this plug connected to a wall socket and just plug my ipod touch into it - works like a charm.
Purchased this travel charger almost a year ago. Worked fine for awhile (as long as I had it plugged into the wall outlet and didn't "travel" with it. A few weeks ago I took it out of it's usual position and carried it into another room to charge iPod. When retrieving it to take it back to its normal position, one of the metal prongs just came out! I was blessed that I wasn't electrocuted.
I believe I paid about 10 cents plus $3 shipping.
Moral of the story: "You usually get what you pay for."
Advise: Don't do it!
Bought this based on the relatively good reviews. Charged my iPhone 3GS once with it. Tried again two days later and this thing was dead.
I've tried a number of cheap chargers. Most were a complete bust like this one. Only cheap one that's lasted for me is the one called "Premium Rapid Home Travel Wall Charger ". It's the one with the blue LED light on it.
My problem was that in the desired kitchen counter area where everyone wanted to charge their ipods and phones, there were too many chargers for only 2 plugs. One of those plugs ended up being dedicated to an ipod dock. That meant one plug to charge an additional ipod, one of 3 cell phone cable types or a digital camera. Fortunately all used USB charging, and it was very rare that someone wanted to charge more than 2 at a time.
After reading about tons of problems people were having with inexpensive (cheap?) chargers, I tried this one based on the positive reviews. All is well in the house charging wise, but there was an unexpected result.
The kids started complaining about a noise in the kitchen that was bothering their ears. We (the parents) couldn't hear it. It turns out that this device (at least my single device) puts out a high pitch screech that grates on the kids ears and we're old enough to have lost that part of our hearing range.
In the end, I removed it from the kitchen and they got individual chargers, but I still use it to charge multiple USB devices.
The very low price sure didn't hurt! - Ipod Touch Charger - Ipod Charger - Power Adapter - Usb Power Adapter'
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