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Dangers of charging devices via USB?
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| D-res |
I got an mp3 player today which charges through the USB port on my pc. When I got it, one of the sales associates suggested I also get a wall charger because charging devices through the USB port could damage my computer. Is there any accuracy to this? The wall charger doesn't work anyway but if that is true I'll need to get one that will.
Thoughts? |
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| darouge11 |
| dont listen he just wants to make a sale...its bull dont even worry about it.... |
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| Nostrum |
| quote: | Originally posted by D-res
I got an mp3 player today which charges through the USB port on my pc. When I got it, one of the sales associates suggested I also get a wall charger because charging devices through the USB port could damage my computer. Is there any accuracy to this? The wall charger doesn't work anyway but if that is true I'll need to get one that will.
Thoughts? |
Ya, I'm going with 'D' on this one. Besides, that is what USB ports were designed for. It's a universal port after all and has computer regulated power in it. If the device that you plug into it draws too much power it just won't function.( and it won't cause it draws the same as any normal flash drive basically) Don't you have to upload your tunes to it that way anyway?
:disbelief |
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| Nostrum |
| quote: | Originally posted by D-res
I got an mp3 player today which charges through the USB port on my pc. When I got it, one of the sales associates suggested I also get a wall charger because charging devices through the USB port could damage my computer. Is there any accuracy to this? The wall charger doesn't work anyway but if that is true I'll need to get one that will.
Thoughts? |
How much was it? Do you have alot of spare USB slots on your machine? |
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| D-res |
| quote: | Originally posted by Nostrum
How much was it? Do you have alot of spare USB slots on your machine? |
The charger was $40. :wtf:
Def returning it. It didn't even work right. Based on what you guys said I guess it was pointless anyway.
I have four slots with two always used and the other two used whenever. |
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| Fledz |
| No, definitely not. I believe that USB is actually safer than wall charging as your computer is regulating the amount of power that goes in. |
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| Nostrum |
| quote: | Originally posted by Fledz
No, definitely not. I believe that USB is actually safer than wall charging as your computer is regulating the amount of power that goes in. |
I have a new BlackBerry(R) Pearl(R) and a supplied direct usb cord with no voltage limiting transformer attached(like some usb device cords have those cylindrical nodes on them part way down the cord). It comes compatible w usb 1.1 which is ancient and that is to charge a whole very demanding LithIon Battery for a phone/handheld. Your fine.:disbelief |
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| LiquidNitrogen |
| stupid sale gimmick... i hate all such tech ppl who don't know anything about technology and are a bunch of crap. |
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| kid nyce |
Well not to justify the salesman's pitch but consider this
leaving your computer on to charge your device could prove detrimental to your psu and overall performance of your computer. Granted most of do it anyways....also if you have a device hooked up to your computer and say your computer restarts, you might return to your computer to find the reboot stuck at the bios load up only because external devices are checked when the bios loads, before the hard drive is scanned for an os. This will dump the bios into a 'no OS found'.
Other than those, I don't see how a USB charger can be detrimental to your computer. Either way, that has a lot to say about the device you purchased if it doesn't come with an wall charger. |
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| Nostrum |
| quote: | Originally posted by kid nyce
Well not to justify the salesman's pitch but consider this
leaving your computer on to charge your device could prove detrimental to your psu and overall performance of your computer. Granted most of do it anyways....also if you have a device hooked up to your computer and say your computer restarts, you might return to your computer to find the reboot stuck at the bios load up only because external devices are checked when the bios loads, before the hard drive is scanned for an os. This will dump the bios into a 'no OS found'.
Other than those, I don't see how a USB charger can be detrimental to your computer. Either way, that has a lot to say about the device you purchased if it doesn't come with an wall charger. |
I have no idea what you said but I completely disagree. This is a powered universal port. Not even a serial. Way after and certainly nowhere near the bios layer. Windows is well on it's way to opening by the time this regulated port has completely powered up. Just because a driver install gets triggered doesn't mean he's cooking toast off the thing. This is what it is designed to do. Plain and simple. Unless other wise directed by the device (again, that isn't even really a peripheral, is it?) and this smart, 2 way data exchange happens when the computer sees it and treats it like any other disk drive on the machine. As a lettered flash drive. That's all it is.
Besides, when do you ever think it's going to be left on? Look, he has to plug the damn thing in to down/upload tunes right?????? , by the time he's done that, the player is charged!!!!! Hello!!!??? And when is a computer ever going to look on a flash drive for an operating system??? He could have every version of windows installed and it would never look there. Why??? Cause it was never told to.
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Fledz No, definitely not. I believe that USB is actually safer than wall charging as your computer is regulating the amount of power that goes in. |
HAHAHAHA This is funny
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LiquidNitrogen stupid sale gimmick... i hate all such tech ppl who don't know anything about technology and are a bunch of crap. |
LA__LA__LA____ LA-LA-LA-LA-LA. Leave the poor boy alone now -~))))
| quote: | | could prove detrimental to your psu |
P S U!~~~~~A R E~~~~~Y O U~~~~~ON~~~~~G L U E ? ? ? |
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| kid nyce |
^^
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first off i think you dont understand what im trying to say or i didn't convey it properly. Anyways, what i meant was in reference to the sales pitch saying he should buy a wall charger and that the USB power source would damage his computer.
I'm not exactly sure what you're disagreeing with but ok, I just said maybe the salesman said the aboved because leaving your computer on just to power a device might strain the PSU. Granted we all leave our machines on anyways. Even then, that's a far stretch to justify the pitch of making another purchase for a wall charger.
Next, have you ever had a storage device hooked up to your computer when you restart it? If not, give it a try you might understand what I'm talking about. Now for whatever reason (windows update occurs at night), your computer may restart over night or when you're not around and if you have a device connected to the USB (mp3 player, jump drive, mass storage device) that is broadcasting a live USB connection (external link light on) and the machine reboots, the BIOS will often check the external device for a OS before it hits the HDs. Even if you set your boot order to check the HD first, there's a chance the connected usb device will be recognized by the bios thus the bios checking for an OS. Which will result the computer stopping at the BIOS load screen simply because there is no os detected. |
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| tubby |
| my iriver requires you to change a setting to charge over the USB, and it that's set on you cannot do anything else over USB (eg view or copy files). That really sucks if you want to charge it just enough to copy a file off, but have to wait whilst it charges enough. |
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