Surface Pro 3 Third party power adapters from china/hong kong safe?

[kidpiglet]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with the third party power adapters from asia listed on ebay and amazon?

ex. http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00SGW6VOI/

Are these safe to use with the SP3? Is there anything in the power specs I need to be extra careful in observing so I don't risk damaging my unit?

Can someone please recommend some inexpensive ones that are safe and work?

 

[New2ToMe]

Not sure about that one, but I have two of the car and one of the wall units for my SP2. All working fine. Wall unit runs 24/7 plugged in now that I am using a ASUS Note 8 for walk around stuff.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CL6TKQ6/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CIXEUH6/

 

[daniielrp]

Pretty sure the whole SP3 was probably made in china anyway, so...

 

[compnovo]

Not sure about that one, but I have two of the car and one of the wall units for my SP2. All working fine. Wall unit runs 24/7 plugged in now that I am using a ASUS Note 8 for walk around stuff.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CL6TKQ6/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CIXEUH6/

I've been using an identical wall unit for over a month now with no ill effects. I keep it at home and travel with the original so that I don't have to carry around a separate charger for my phone.

 

[nipponham]

I picked this one up last month because it was cheap and light and was prepared to throw it out if it didn't work. Well, it works in that it charges the SP3, but the downside is that it depreciates the battery's maximum capacity every time you charge with it None of the reviews mentioned this so either no one else has noticed or encountered this problem, or I got a defective unit. I have two genuine MS chargers and they both work fine as they should. I always say you get what you pay for...

 

[Joe Torres]

I picked this one up last month because it was cheap and light and was prepared to throw it out if it didn't work. Well, it works in that it charges the SP3, but the downside is that it depreciates the battery's maximum capacity every time you charge with it None of the reviews mentioned this so either no one else has noticed or encountered this problem, or I got a defective unit. I have two genuine MS chargers and they both work fine as they should. I always say you get what you pay for...

So how do you know it depreciates your battery?

 

[nipponham]

I use BatteryBar Pro which shows maximum charge capacity in mAh.

 

[kundas1]

wasn't there someone on here who's charger melted from buying a Chinese charger? I remember reading it on here...

 

[kidpiglet]

Thanks for the reply guys! I think I was close to pulling the trigger on the Patec charger (btw has anyone heard of this brand?) from new2me and compnovo's reviews but I think I'm erring on the side of caution after seeing nipponham and kundas1's post since when I looked at the back of the 3rd party power adapter sticker, it didn't match up exactly to the sp3 adapter's specs

Btw nipponham, how long have you had your sp3? Do you think it's a possibility the battery decrease could be a result of just regular use?

 

[nipponham]

I bought my SP3 in early September of 2014 so it's about 6.5 months old. And no, the batter capacity is not diminishing because of usage because it increases when I use the MS charger. I haven't thrown away the cheap Chinese knock-off, but I'm not using it either. I'll just keep it as a back-up to a back-up

 

[New2ToMe]

Ahhh, so much misinformation from non-technical people.

ALL batteries deteriorate with charge and use cycles. If not then you could have bought a car battery for your first car and just swapped it into every car you own in your lifetime.

What's written on the charger is**mostly** not critical. Important it is 12dc voltage. Amps or Watts only state what is possible. The device will draw what it needs up to the limit for the device or the charger, whichever is reached first. It is all very well protected in both the charger and the device.

 

[NClens]

Isn't the stability of the voltage important? For instance a bad power supply rated at 12V may not output a stable 12V which could create problems in the power (watts) going into the device not precisely matching what the device actually wants. A cheap Chinese power supply that hasn't had quality control checks may not be very stable.