Car Charger?

1776 · 03-02-2009, 12:26 AM

Is is it ok to use a non-Palm car charger with the Centro without problems? I saw a third-party charger that said it was for the Treo and it had the right plug. I could not see the specs to see if it is 5v 1amp. The Palm OEM charger also said it was for Treo - and that too had no specs on it. Of course, one was $10 and the other $30.

What charger are you using?

chris · 03-02-2009, 04:14 PM

Originally Posted by 1776

Is is it ok to use a non-Palm car charger with the Centro without problems? I saw a third-party charger that said it was for the Treo and it had the right plug. I could not see the specs to see if it is 5v 1amp. The Palm OEM charger also said it was for Treo - and that too had no specs on it. Of course, one was $10 and the other $30.

What charger are you using?

As long as it's compatible with the Treo, it'll work with your Centro.

1776 · 03-03-2009, 04:16 PM

My concern is the amp rating since Palm is so specific about the 1 amp. I have a feeling that the third party chargers just put the palm plug on a charger without regard to the amp rating. Is the 1 amp a maximum? Would a 500ma charger work?

James Chapman · 03-04-2009, 08:32 PM

The voltage rating is the critical spec. This is less of an issue these days because almost all new devices use a 5v charger. I once fried my old Zire 71 by I plugging it into my wife's cell phone charger by mistake.

The amp rating specifies the maximum current the charger is designed to draw. How much current is actually drawn is determined by the electrical
charactistics of the device. If the device draws more current than the charger is rated for, the charger might overheat and fail, but I don't it would damage the device if the voltage ratings matched.

buck_p · 03-13-2009, 09:14 PM

I saw that there are questions on using chargers that are not made by palm. I do not know, but I have had issues with the brand name one and my centro. I have had 3 phones, 3 batteries, and 3 sets of home and car chargers in about 9 months. The phone store has talked with me and replaced all of the items for free, but can not tell me what is causing this. I just want help, I do not blame the phone company or palm. I love the palm phones, all of them. It does seem that I have only had battery issues after using the car charger. The phone will not work, unless it is plugged into a charger. It shows that the battery is charging, but will never reach full charge. As soon as the charger is un-plugged, the phone turns off and will not come back until it is plugged back in. I also believe that at 2 of the failures, I recieved calls while the phone was plugged in to car charger. Any thoughts are welcome. Ask any questions of me to help with giving an answer. I have also not check car's voltage at plug or output amperage. Thanks