USB 2.0 Fast Charging Adapter – Review

 

USB 2.0 Fast Charging Adapter A to A – M/F- Review

We live in a world where most people have heard of the term “wall huggers”… those people trying to suck power from an outlet to make it to the next coffee shop or business meeting. Manufactures have taken notice of this and started putting fast charging and wireless charging into new flagship devices. 3rd party manufacturers have taken notice of this problem as well, making massive battery packs that you can keep in your handbag.

Not everyone can just upgrade to the latest flagship device to get fast charging. So companies like StarTech have made Fast Charging Adapters that can be used on any phone or tablet. When charging from your PC or Laptop you are only getting a trickle charge due to the data connection but what the adapter from StarTech does is toggle the data connection on or off so that when there is no data being transferred you can suck more power from the USB port.

When I got the adapter I thought it would be a placebo effect, “ooo it has a red light, that must mean it’s charging fast”. Well there is a way to test how much power our phones are using thanks to Ampere by Braintrapp. To test this I used a OnePlus One USB cable as the product quality is high, and plugged it into a USB 2.0 port on my EVGA Stinger Z97 motherboard. Because both of these parts are of a high quality it should return results from the Adapter rather than being altered by cheap cables and dodgy USB ports.

I started with a test to see the draw of my phone, the result was -380mA. Then I tested the USB cable directly from the port, giving me a positive charge of 80mA. From this I can clearly see how well the adapter would perform.

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The default setting for the adapter is data connection on, this is indicated by a bright blue light. The read out I got whilst the light was blue was 50mA so if you subtract the reading of the positive charge of 80mA from the 50mA we can work out that the adapter is using 30mA of the charge seemingly to power the blue LED. After pressing the button the light changes to red and the charge jumps to 230mA giving an extra 150mA of power. This is a massive increase just for pressing a button and will help to boost the speed of the charge to your phone when you need it the most.

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The adapter seems to be built really well and the button offers a nice tactile response and the blue and red lights will let you know when you have changed modes or which mode you are currently using. I don’t think it will win any design awards but as it’s designed to be plugged into your PC most of the time that doesn’t really matter.

So if you’re seeking faster charging for you device from your PC or Laptop then this little adapter is a must have accessory. If you’re considering buying one then you can purchase it from Insight for £8.39 using the below link.

 

 

 

 

Android Fan who loves tech Phone - OnePlus One Bamboo Tablet - Sony Z4 LTE

1 Comment

  1. Really? Paying $10 for being able to disconnect 2 pins from USB plug? Every serious Android device have kernel with such function 🙂

    Reply

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