Can any power supply and cable be used for S3?

[MrMrMr]

Yep looks good, and the MS charger has a std Type A USB port (read that, the most common variety) cable and charger do separate.

Sorry you blokes in the UK have such bulky power connectors

Great cheers. We do but at least they stay in the socket when I've been to US before they hang out of the socket!

What are the exact specs on the MS charger then please? Voltage, Watt, current etc

Is there a minimum that it needs to charge, just thinking of also my external battery pack
[Upgraded Quality] Anker Astro E5 16000mAh Compact Portable Charger (2nd Generation, Premium Panasonic Battery Cells Inside, External Battery Power Bank) with PowerIQ Technology () Anker Astro E5 16000mAh Compact Portable Charger with: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

 

[GreyFox7]

Is there a minimum... read thru that thread linked at the top... it depends... 5 Volts, 12W, 2.4A is reliable anything else is unpredictable they only way to know for sure is testing it OR Nuking it from Space (odd reference to the Aliens movie ).

 

[MrMrMr]

Ok I've got the batterybar app, great little app in taskbar. so what sort of charge rate should i be looking at? its on 30% and fluctuates between say 6000mW and 3500mW. is this correct?

Is there not a historical graph history showing you?

That impressed I've bought the pro version, even if don't need the extra (haven't found out what they are yet!), functions to support the developer

 

[MrMrMr]

I also got the cable suggested above and tried it with my Apple iPad charger and seemed to charge fine.

Didn't seem to take long to charge either really from 28% to full in about 1hr 15m I think, seems very fast?

So I presume that this combo is ok, ie Apple iPad charger and Anker USB cable?

 

[MrMrMr]

Well I bought the Anker charger and Anker USB cable as recommended above and the battery app, and it seems to charge fine.

A few more questions, is this ok wrt to different voltages and amps?

The original charger says output 5.2V 2.5A.

The Anker is output 5V 2.4A.

I'm also so wondering if I could get away with one charger for me and my son's 2in1 hp X2. His uses a micro USB, the same as my surface. His charger says this

Output 5V 3A.

So could I use sons for my surface 3 or is 3A too much? Or could I use the Anker for both? This way as the Anker has 2 USB ports at 2.4A each, I'd just need another micro USB cable.

Thanks

 

[GreyFox7]

In my testing I didn't see any difference in charge rate with either the Anker or Microsoft chargers. The MS charger is rated at 13W, the Anker 12W, my conclusion is that the Surface 3 doesn't draw any more power than 12W and the extra watt of power in the MS charger is unused.

I'd expect the same with the 5V 3A charger ... the Surface would only draw 12W and wouldn't charge faster... based on empirical evidence. Id monitor it if I tried it to be sure.

Assuming the HP uses the extra power supplied by it's charger it would charge slower with the Anker charger.

Using a higher voltage would not be recommended and could cause damage however the difference between 5 & 5.2 shouldn't matter in this case. Lower wont hurt anything but if it's too low it wont work.

The charger that can supply up to 3A will only provide what is drawn so that shouldn't matter.

If you try to draw more than the charger will supply it will either limit to it's max capacity or shutdown unless it's poorly designed in which case it might overheat and possibly fail.

 

[GreyFox7]

Ok I've got the batterybar app, great little app in taskbar. so what sort of charge rate should i be looking at? its on 30% and fluctuates between say 6000mW and 3500mW. is this correct?

Is there not a historical graph history showing you?

That impressed I've bought the pro version, even if don't need the extra (haven't found out what they are yet!), functions to support the developer

I believe the pro version will create a log file possibly with extra details which you could them import into Excel or something like that. I don't recall any thing else OTTOMH.

 

[MrMrMr]

I've bought the pro version, but haven't used it just to monitor the actual charge and recharge rate tbh.

I've posted on the hp forum and they say wouldn't recommend using a 5.2V on the hp as it's charger is 5V.

They also say that as the hp one is 3A that they wouldn't recommend using the Anker to charge and use the hp at the same time, but probably ok to just charge.

Wish there was a standard! So do you think it's safe to use the Anker for the surface and the hp (only charging), or should I take the Anker and the hp one?

 

[leeshor]

Standardized charging ports and volatages, not likely. It's a moving target. Some are now moving to USB-C charging ports.

 

[GreyFox7]

I've posted on the hp forum and they say Wii opting recommend using a 5.2V on the hp as it's charger is 5V.

I have no clue what "Wii opting" means but I assume they are saying not to use a 5.2V charger... I have no problem with that... they made it, follow their recommendation.

They also say that as the hp one is 3A that they wouldn't recommend using the Anker to charge and use the hp at the same time, but probably ok to just charge.

Again they could very well be right that 2.4A is not enough to charge while it's being used. This would be similar to using a lower power charger on the Surface... you end up discharging a little instead of charging depending on the utilization level but it would discharge slower than without it.

"So do you think it's safe to use the Anker for the surface and the hp (only charging)," Probably

"should I take the Anker and the hp one?" Why not? Unless the HP is the straw that breaks the camels back.

"Or even endings!!" again no clue what this means.

 

[MrMrMr]

Sorry some auto corrects, was using iPhone!

Corrected on original post now, "Wii opting" meant to say "wouldn't" no idea, Swype keyboard sorry... Unsure on other one. Those comments were just from users, not an official from hp btw, it's just a user forum also.

So looks like the Anker charger and cable is ok for the S3, as someone recommended this, and the hp I'll have to take its own charger then..