Mini USB plugs - charging

[anonymous-user]

Hi just got a Garmin sat nav via Amazon. It came with a in car charger with the normal little mini USB style plug to connect to the sat nav.

Does anyone know if those mini-USB to USB cables, and mini-USB mains chargers are to a fixed standard. As I have some for my PDA phone and wondered if I could use them for charging the sat nav at home or updating it via my PC.
Don't want to have to buy more cables needlessly

Thanks

Guy

[nickwilcock]

I doubt very much whether mains chargers would be to a common standard - my Garmin, for example, requires a 5 volt input whether from the car's 12-to-5 volt Garmin TMC / fag plug or from the Garmin mains charger. I wouldn't advise using anything except Garmin power supplies. I once destroyed a mobile phone by inadvertantly plugging in the wrong charger - it didn't like the laptop's charger one little bit!

I've used various USB-to-mini USB cables to connect the GPS to my PC and that doesn't seem to be an issue.

[anonymous-user]

Thanks Nick.

My phone charger is a 5v charger, so may well be usable. But manufacturers of different brands products etc do like to be smart arses and wire stuff to their own internal standards just to confound us

[Dogwatch]

Yes, generally speaking if the unit has a mini USB for charging you should be able to mix 'n match any charger with a matching plug.

I have found that one or two chargers, despite having the common connection, refuse to charge anything other than the unit they came with but this is the exception. I used to use my daughter's Motorola Razr charger for practically everything - sat nav, MP3, camera etc. until she complained about it never being available.

Note that just because a unit has a USB port doesn't necessarily mean you can use that to charge it up. Some are wired for data only.


ETA. Thanks for the reminder. TomTom is nearly out of juice.

Edited by Dogwatch on Wednesday 31st December 10:09

[K4TRV]

There was a topic on www.gpspassion.com/forum in the Nuvi folders that found if a Nuvi battery was run down, the only way to recharge was via the mini USB and the USB port on a computer.

The mains charger unit from Garmin would not charge a flattened Nuvi - the response was via Garmin Tech people!!

Trev

[GC8]

As the pin pattern is to a set standard, Id expect the only issue to be the output of the charger. Remember that the output available over all USB connections on a PC is limited, so many devices wont receive sufficient amperage to either charge, or to charge completely...