Kensington PowerBolt 4.2 Dual Fast Charge $19.99
Kensington AbsolutePower Dual USB Wall Charger $19.98 (Officeworks $33)
WARNING: do not use cheap usb chargers
http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-ap…
alternatives - http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/109486
$14.90 - http://www.bunnings.com.au/mortbay-dual-usb-charger_p4420199
$12 - http://www.gadgetsboutique.com.au/usb-ac-charger-for-iphone-…
$14 - http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/112564
The point is that when they fail, they tend to fail in a spectacular fashion. I don't know about car chargers, but a 220v USB wall charger that has short circuited will certainly give you some nice fireworks
I'm sure you've heard all about the counterfeit Apple charger fiasco that prompted Apple to start the USB adapter takeback program
The blog tonester linked to is a good counter to the presumption that the chargers are all basically made the same - that the big-brand ones come from the same factory as the cheapies and are little different apart from a bigger markup.
Also see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi-b9k-0KfE shows unsafe and how badly built how counterfeit chargers can be,
funny… thats because its Apple… I been using adaptors/chargers that are Kmart branded and from ebay on my HTC/LG/Asus devices. Nothing odd happened other than they tends to die off in a year. But for the price I am paying I can afford a few moreeee
Failure of the sort that destroys equipment, starts fires or causes electric shock is more a lottery than a dice roll, but the cheapies probably give you a few extra tickets :D
I got a cheap USB charger from HK a while ago and I use that to power a USB light as a bed side light, after used it for 45mins the charger exploded and crack itself opened, the fuse switch itself off, I am very lucky because it the power point is right next to me!
As for in car chargers, I am thinking I will give this one a go.
Reviews on Amazon give it a 3.8 star rating, not great but not bad either.
Aliexpress customers also give it good rating.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dual-USB-CAR-CHARGER-ADAPTER-for-…
The AC charger with dual 2.1A output seems good. Buying one for my folks to take on their European trip to save some space and be able to charge their Kindle and Ipad at the same time. $20 is reasonable, $40 not so much.
How do we know this is a quality charger though?
Kensington is a good brand and has been around a long time. It's also MFI certified.
does it come with aus adapter because not aus plug in pic.
It should if it's local stock.
I bought mine from Officeworks. It's Aussie plug, despite what the picture shows. It doesn't come with additional international changeable plugs though, only the Australian one.
review here http://voices.yahoo.com/the-kensington-absolutepower-dual-21… so if each usb charges at 2.1a is that going to damage device batteries that only charge at 1.0 a normally.
If it's like an iPhone, it will only draw as much current as it needs. ie this won't charge your iPhone in half the time.
I was thinking about buying it for my android phones and tablets but after some research, it probably won't provide full 2.1A to non apple devices.
There are two versions of this charger - one with iphone cable and the other with 2 USB converters (basically shorting the two data pins to allow full charging capacity for devices following USB charging standard). Unfortunately the version stocked at DSE and Officeworks are the one that comes with apple cable.
The other version. You could also buy a charge only usb cable instead of soldering.
http://bit.ly/1aXTZYV
Why can't you just use usb cable that came with your phone or tablet instead of 30-pin cables supplied by Kensington?
It's a great charger, and comes with a 30-pin iPod sync cable. The only thing I don't like about it is that it's a bit wide.
I've had a counterfeit charger blow up on me as I was about to plug my phone in. Not worth the risk. This charger was switched for a genuine one by some dodgy mofo while my mother in law was travelling overseas. I could spot it as fake straight away she had no idea. Needless to say a few weeks back and it blew up spectacularly.
For a car charger I bought a $4 one from red dot! Came with 2usb, 1A and 2.1A. Been very good. I think I'll buy more as backup.
I had the official HTC micro USB car charger stop working on me. The micro USB connector fell of the USB cable. It was only held on by two wires and being a short curly coiled cable it wasn't very long to start with. I kept using the USB car charger adapter with a different micro USB cable for a few months then one day it just stopped working.
I now need to get a replacement something of better build quality. Even though it was the official HTC cable I felt the build quality was not up to scratch for a brand name product.
Based on the tests reported on that Ken Shirriff's blog as linked by the OP, for the same money, you'd get the best rated charger in his tests, albeit a single slot, from eBay with free delivery but with all international adapters.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Genuine-HP-International-Power-Ad…
Good price with international plugs, but a tad big…
Thanks Flyerone. I pulled the trigger on this one instead, as the international plugs were something I really wanted. quarrymaster, it wasn't really all that big compared to other chargers. Certainly feels like a high end product - and the way the plugs attach on feels higher quality than I expected from the pics.
I'm still kind of tempted to pick up an official Apple charger though; as I think they can accept standard figure 8 cable, which I normally carry with a variety of international plugs while travelling to charge cameras etc.
All those links got me thinking… Anyone knows if those original vs fake issues are applicable to dc car chargers? There's a kensington single USB dc charger on sale as well and it comes with a spare lightning cable which is a bonus. The only thing is that it's only 1A (and $17) lol. I'm hesitating..
Sort of. Your car's power supply can still have a lot of nasty spikes, noise and ripple. To add to this the sort of voltage regulators used are going to add their own ripple aswell. The thing is that designing a voltage regulator circuit is stupidly easy, so chances are the underpaid electronics engineer in China knows how to make it correctly. The issue come up when there is a sale price of $2, he knows he should be adding an extra capacitor, but that's another 3c plus 30 seconds to solder in place. That 3c adds up when you're building 1M units.
But does it actually matter? Probably not, the integrated circuit with the voltage regulator on it should handle any voltage changes or spikes and the ripple isn't likely to cause any damage. But is it worth risking your $800 iPhone for a $12 charger that you will probably still have in 5 years time?
For the record I'm still using a combination of $1 ebay wall and car chargers and the original chargers which came with my last few phones. I really should swap out all the cheap crap ones though.
Edit: Comment below typed while gumbs was typing his. Still, as an extra 2 / 3 cents worth, worth leaving as is…
With dc to dc chargers, you don't have the ac ripple issue (most likely thing to disrupt performance or damage your devices) that cheap/poorly designed chargers often let through.
However, depending on overall circuit design and chips used, there are still noise components inherent in dropping the voltage down. Voltage regulation is one thing, but noise is another. At near to maximum current draw is where well designed chargers show good noise control, with others fairing poorly.
Just be aware that some of the more expensive lighter-socket chargers look suspiciously like rebadged cheapies - or are just generics being sold with huge mark-ups by 'reputable' sellers.
The Kensington socket charger from one of the links above at least looks different from the many generics I have seen, but I have no idea if it performs any better. Being ten times the price you can pay, it would be nice if it did…
I have a ciggy dual-charger in my car still going strong after 2 years of almost daily usage. Bought for about $2 from one of the deals here.