A2 car chargers? [Archive] - iAudiophile.net Forums

seb_A2

07-23-2007, 08:21

What voltage does the A2 charge off of?

Basically I'm wondering whether I'm better off with a cheap do-it-all car-charger-to-USB converter and using the USB cable to power the A2 when in car, or if I need to splash more cash out for a proper A2-dedicated charger to plug into the DC jack?

cheers

PS A2 should arrive tomorrow, just ordered my invisibleShield, very exciting :)

doniago

07-23-2007, 12:51

As far as the voltage goes, search is your friend-

http://iaudiophile.net/forums/showthread.php?t=11758&highlight=voltage

Considering the A2 battery lasts a good length of time, I'm guessing you have some long car trips in mind...

seb_A2

07-24-2007, 00:55

Well, I dont think the length of the trip is an issue, even if you only normally do a 20minute commute every day, at some point it's going to be useful to have a charger at hand. (But for what it's worth I'm driving 2000 miles across Europe in a month :))

However, what I'm trying to get at, is when I'm in the car I'd like to not use the battery if possible. Why put extra wear and tear into a component that is unnecessary. I'm sure the unit is intelligent enough to take power from the DC adapter instead of the battery if plugged in. Question is if plugged in to the USB will it power itself from that as well, or does it need to be the DC adapter port?

doniago

07-24-2007, 05:21

I'm pretty sure that keeping the player hooked up to a charger as much as possible is actually _not_ good for the battery life. For myself, I only charge the A2 when the battery's half or more drained.

You might want to check out batteryuniversity.com (I think that's the URL), which discusses this sort of thing in depth.

The A2 will charge off USB, but (and check the manual on this one) I'm not sure that it can play music while USB charging. I just charge off AC myself.

seb_A2

07-24-2007, 05:29

Yep, now I have an A2 in my possession I realise that you can't do anything once it's plugged into the USB (though I appreciate that might not be the case if only the power lines of the USB as in in a car situation were used).

I'll get a proper power supply for it I think.

If the player has been designed half-intelligently then the unit will power itself off of the DC adapter when present, not the battery. And there /shouldn't/ be any concerns with the battery overcharging, if so then it's very sloppy on Cowon's part!

doniago

07-24-2007, 12:30

I'm pretty sure that if the battery is fully charged and the A2 is plugged in then yes, it will just use the AC connection.

The thing is that if the A2 _isn't_ fully charged then the battery will be charged at the same time, and frequent rechargings are what degrades the battery life.

Just given how slow USB charging is I'd suggest a power adapter. :)

seb_A2

07-25-2007, 03:58

Cheers DonIago, now I just have to find one that doesn't cost £20+!

doniago

07-25-2007, 05:17

Pfft. If you really loved your A2 you'd splurge on it. :)

slvrnkl

09-26-2007, 10:19

If you are looking for more battery life, go to the Gomadic website. They offer a AA battery extender and a car charger. The hardware is the same no matter what product you have, you just change the tip for the specific product. You can actually use the same car charger for your phone and Cowon. Take a look.

http://www.gomadic.com/brand-cowon-accessories-cowon-iaudio-a2-portable-media-player-accessories.html