- PowerGen Dual Port 15W / 3.1A USB Wall Charger charges your iPad, iPhone, iPod, HTC, Blackberry, MP3 Players, Digital Cameras, PDAs, Mobile Phones.
- Use your existing USB charging cables to charge most USB powered devices / Easy-to-see LED confirms whether USB charger is properly connected
- Dual Port Design, one Apple Devices and one port for Non-Apple Mobile phones or other devices. With Dimming Blue LED indicator, not obnoxious at night.
- Input: AC 100-250V 150mA; Output:DC 5V 3.1A or 15W (Shared by two ports)
- Sophisticated circuit design with over-heated, over-current, over-charging protection. Charging will be automatically stop when battery is full.
I received PowerGen wall charger for testing from the manufacturer to write an honest and unbiased review and you will find both pluses and minuses of my experience in this review.
Note that some early versions of this plug had quality control issues. My plugs did not have any issues, but some of the early testers reported problems. PowerGen notified all testers and made the plugs unavailable until the problem has been resolved. I received a notification that the problem has been resolved, and the new stock does not have the issue. Symptoms of the problem: Due to a poor connection inside the plug, the status light goes on when the plug is plugged in, but then goes out a few seconds later.
I am attaching two collages with 8 photos (each collage has 4) labelled with numbers 1-1 through 1-4 and 2-1 through 2-4 under customer photos that I will be referencing in this review.
The first thing I noticed that the charger has re-tractable prongs which is very handy for travel. Photo #1-1 shows the black plug with prongs retracted, and the white plug with progs extended.
Photos #1-3 and #1-4 show this plug on a power strip. This is where the only negative thing I have to say about this plug comes in. The position of the prongs is such that this plug takes up two slots and a bit of third slot. As you see not only does each plug cover two outlets, I also could put two of these plugs next to each even on the short side. The prongs are not polarized as you can see on photo #1-1. The plug itself is very slim, if the prongs could have been oriented differently, the plug would only take 1 slot.
The plug has two ports labelled "A" and "NA" which stands for Apple and Non-Apple devices (see photo 1-2). I own all Android devices but I tested both ports to see their behavior with my devices. The charger comes without a USB cord, so tested it with the USB cords that came with my devices.
I used Battery App by Elvison to determine how each device recognized the charging source. 'AC' status means the charging is at full charging rate. 'USB' status indicates charging at a lower charging rate. 'Discharging' status means that the charging rate is below the power that the device is consuming so it slows down the discharge rate but does not re-charge.
The key findings:
(1) Excellent results on both ports for Nexus Phone and Nexus 7 Tablet
(2) Samsung Galaxy 7.7 can be charged on NA port
The table below summarizes my findings:
Nexus 7 Tablet (photo #2-2, note the port is labeled "A" is closer to the edge of the plug and the port labeled "NA" is the one that is further away from the edge of the plug)
(Shown in Photo 2-2)
--------------
A port -AC
NA port -AC
Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone
(Shown in Photo 2-1)
--------------------------
A port -AC
NA port -AC
Samsung Galaxy Tablet 7.7
(Shown in Photos 2-3 and 2-4)
--------------------------
A port -discharging when screen is on, charged slowly with screen off
NA port -AC
SanDisk Sansa Clip+ MP3 Player
------------------------------
A port -charged at AC rate
NA port -charged at AC rate
Charging times for Samsung Galaxy Tablet 7.7
-------------------------------------------------
NA: from 90% to 100% ---> 33 minutes
A: from 90% to 100% -> 1h 37 min charged when screen was off despite saying discharging (powering the screen was enough to turn from slow charge to discharge)
Samsung plug that came with the 7.7 Tablet: from 90% to 100% ---> 1 hour
Charging times for Nexus Tablet
-------------------------------------------------
NA: from 94% to 99% ---> 17 minutes
A: from 94% to99% ---> 19 minutes
The behavior of both Nexus 7 and Galaxy Nexus plugged in at the same time was the same as when they were plugged in individually. This means if you can charge them both together at the same time. If you need to charge Samsung Galaxy tablet and one of the Nexus devices you would need to put the Galaxy tab on the NA port.
The MP3 player worked in both ports. I was able to charge and listen to the MP3 player at the same time.
To summarize:
I liked:
---------
1. Excellent behavior on both ports even when you have two Android devices
2. Samsung tablet 7.7 charged twice as fast as with the plug that it came with
2. Solution for MP3 player with built-in battery
3. Can charge two Android devices at once at AC rate
I did not like:
--------------
1. Position of the prongs that makes the plug take 2+ slots on the strip
I compared this plug to PowerGen Dual Port USB 2.1A 10W AC. And before I upgraded my Nexus devices to JellyBean 4.21 this plug gave a better performance on A port. However, when I recently retested 10W plug with Android's Jelly Bean 4.21 the difference became less significant. Nexus 7 shows the same behavior on both plug (both ports charge at AC rate), Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone still does better with this plug on A port (AC rate vs USB rate).
Here is a link to my review of 10W plug if you are interested in seeing the details http://www.amazon.com/review/R1WWWT839MIV8E/ref=cm_srch_res_rtr_alt_8
Overall, This plug has given me the best performance of any dual plug I have tried. I recommend it.
Ali Julia reviewI received two of these chargers from the company to test and review. Of them one worked perfectly, but the other unit was finicky and had to be jiggled to maintain power, which was a little disconcerting.
The charger that worked did a great job charging an iPhone 4, an iPhone 4S, an iPhone 5, and a Sony CyberShot TX10 digital camera. One of the two USB ports, one is supposed to be tailored to Apple devices and offer a faster charge time, but I didn't notice a difference. While charging the unit emits a slight humming noise.
The charger is decently constructed and finished in a rubberized texture. The power prongs fold up into the charger for portability, and seem well made. There is a blue LED power indicator light on the front of the unit.
All in all...if you get one that works well, you'll be very pleased.
01/03/2013 Update: I let my co-worker charge her Blackberry Torch on this charger from time to time and she says it takes longer than the Blackberry charger, and the battery seems to drain more quickly as well.I was tired of having multiple USB wall charges for my many mobile devices. I want one charger that can charge them all and so far this items is doing just that. It works on my new Google Nexus 10 tablet, my old Samsung Alas 2 phone, and Plantronics Voyager BT Headset.
I love the hard rubbery feels of this black version as it feels very sturdy and rugged compared to the white one where it's smooth and glossy.
I will updated this review later on if I encounter any other problems.
*****Update 11/20/2012*****
I noticed something odd in the design of this charger. The metal prongs that plug into the wall outlet is a separate piece that can be disconnect from the body. I'm assuming it's designed like this is because they also sell international plugs for this charger. It takes very little effort to disconnect the plug from the body as all you do is push upward and it slides right out. With the way it's designed one would plug it into a wall outlet in the upward position however, that would force it's own weight downward along with gravity so there might be a chance for the plug to separate from the body. I have yet to have it separate on me while using it, but I just find it rather oddly designed.
*****Update 12/02/2012*****
The Apple product USB slot can charge my Samsung Alias 2 phone and also my Voyager headset, but it does charge at a slower rated compared to the non Apple product slot. I have yet to try my other non Apple products on the Apple USB slot. This is really nice as I can possibly charge multiple things at once even though its slower.
*****Update 02/02/2013*****
Well I accident broke my charger when I accidentally stepped on it when I dropped it. Oops! I found the weakest link on the charger and it's the detachable wall outlet plug as the entire casing cracked cleanly off the plug itself. The whole thing was just hanging on to each other by the two power wires, but luckily since it was a very clean crack of the casing I was able to use some super glue to put it back together without much scaring to the casings finished look. It still works after 2 days when I glued it back together.With all of the various family portable electronic devices (2 Kindle Fires, 2 iPhones, 2 iTouch, Crackberrys, iPods, iPad 4, etc) I needed to have a charger that could handle all the power requirements. This charger did it! ALL the devices are charged from this charger including the iPad 4s. Then when I bought a battery pack EasyAcc 4 x USB Output Port 12000mAh External battery pack (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008YRG5JQ/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) it charged it perfectly. Best price and best charger to replace all those OEM chargers at a fraction of the price and more power so they charger faster. Without a doubt this is the one of the top five accessories I have purchased for electronics. You cannot go wrong! I now have 3 of them. All work as promised.
Save 50% Off
I just bought a Kindle HD and found out it did not come with a charger and worse, it would not charge worth beans if plugged into a computer port! Remember when devices came with a charger that was sized to work with the unit? Oh well, no sense dwelling on the past. So, I needed a power source that would provide at least 1.8Amps (that is the rating on the charger that Amazon sells for the Kindle HD). While I was at it, it would be nice to have one unit that would also charge my phone, my extended battery packs, my IPod, and my IPAD. If you have ever tried using a charger that was not designed for an Apple product, you have probably seen the dreaded "this product is not compatible with your power source" message.So, when I received this unit I was more than happy to check it out and see how it handled all of my devices. Having two charging ports (one for Apple products and one for everything else) made it possible now to charge multiple items at the same time! This is a really nice feature if you spend a lot of time traveling and you are lucky if you remember to charge one item each night. Being able to connect two at a time is a great feature. You just have to keep in mind that the maximum current that the charger can support is 3.5 Amps TOTAL! So, you get one port at 2.5 and one port at 1.0 or any other combination as long as it does not exceed 3.5Amps.
Many chargers are designed with prongs that do not retract and are long and/or bulky. The design on this charger is such that the prongs retract making for a much easier time packing this item. It is still a bit bulky, but not by much. The only design flaw (to me) is the fact that the labeling for which port is Apple and which port is Non-Apple is VERY difficult to read due to small print.
I used this charger for several days charging up my battery packs, my IPOD, my IPAD, my Kindle HD, and my phone and I have not had a single issue. The unit performs well, stays cool, and packs up easily. It also looks kind of cool with the dark blue band (actually, that is the point where the swivel prongs separate from the charger and it has a blue led light that indicates that the unit is receiving power (nice when you are under a desk in a hotel trying to find the plug that is not switched). It would appear that the unit can support International connections, but there is nothing that I can find about that on Amazon. I will have to write to the company to see if they sell just the prongs or if it is a feature for them to make it easier to produce for multiple countries.
Bottom line, this is a well made product that does what it is supposed to do and looks cool at the same time. In case Black is not your color, they also sell the same unit in White.
No comments:
Post a Comment