USB to outlet adapters... are they universal?

I have a phone which draws power for recharging through a USB cable. It came with a USB to outlet adapter so that I can charge it with a standard wall outlet. I was wondering if this adapter would also be compatible with my iPod's sync/charging USB cable as well.

Given that the same voltage and current are expeceted by the device since they are both designed to work with USB ports, I would think that it would be okay to use this with my iPod, but I would like someone to confirm this before I do anything that could potentially fry it...

Ive done it before.

And I assume that it worked without converting your iPod into an iPaperWeight(TM)?

No it burned it up.

I kid I kid.

I'm not saying it won't work, but USB power isn't as universal as you think.

I've got USB power cables that simply won't power my blackberry. Likewise, my blackberry cable will not power my external hard drive. I don't know enough about batteries to tell you what the risks are in terms of cell memory, overcharging, and burnout, but I would err on the side of caution.

I've got 2 different blackberry models, and use the same USB and wall chargers on each with no problem, but I wouldn't trust it to another device.

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Ive spliced the wall end and the phone end of two broken chargers for different phones to make a working charger before. Check the voltage rating on the battery, if they are the same, then you are G2G. The part that plugs into the wall is a converter that will put out the right amount of power. If the voltages are close, then you should be fine.

Yep, both my iPod and my cellphone use a 3.7 V battery. Thank you sirs.

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Originally Posted by sycld

Yep, both my iPod and my cellphone use a 3.7 V battery. Thank you sirs.

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You should probably check the output on the charger specifically, not the battery.

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Originally Posted by srsinternets

You should probably check the output on the charger specifically, not the battery.

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Originally Posted by srsinternets

You should probably check the output on the charger specifically, not the battery.

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They should be the same if the battery voltage is the same. But better safe than sorry.

Hold on, now:

Every USB port outputs the same voltage and current; otherwise, our devices wouldn't work with every single USB port. Therefore, any component that the USB cable plugs into should either work with every USB device or with no USB device.

The only way that these devices could differ from each other is in their tolerance -- that is, maybe my phone can tolerate a higher charging voltage, higher current, higher ripple (that is the divergence from DC), etc. than my iPod. However, a standard USB port's output must be sufficient for both of these devices.

I just noticed on the adapter that it's stated that the output is 5.17 V DC and 0.7 A. From a quick internetz search, it appears powered USB ports output 4.75-5.25 V and a maximum of 0.5 A current. I guess I need to see if my iPod can tolerate 0.7 A at 5.17 V, but that doesn't tell me if other aspects of the adapter (particularly the ripple) are tolerable by my iPod.

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Originally Posted by Atmosfear

I'm not saying it won't work, but USB power isn't as universal as you think.

I've got USB power cables that simply won't power my blackberry. Likewise, my blackberry cable will not power my external hard drive. I don't know enough about batteries to tell you what the risks are in terms of cell memory, overcharging, and burnout, but I would err on the side of caution.

I've got 2 different blackberry models, and use the same USB and wall chargers on each with no problem, but I wouldn't trust it to another device.

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My case is a little different. I'm actually using the cable that came with the phone as well as the cable that came with the iPod. However, on the male USB end of the iPod cable, I want to use an AC adapter that was originally intended for the phone.

As for your Blackberry's cable not working with your external HD, it's possible there are also electrical components in your cables that render them incompatible with other devices, but that seems unlikely...