Complicated car charger

[Patricia]

My new car charger came in from SweetVapes yesterday but it is different then any I have had before. It has 2 places to charge things in. One says 2.1A Inout 12-24 VDC. The other says 1A Output 5 VDC - 2.1A. I have no idea what all that means. Which one do I charge my 1300 Spinner in and what is the other one used to charge?

[HelloMiakoda]

Is it usb? High current USB, the 2.1, is for bid gadgets like the Galaxy Tablet, iPad, and bigger cellphones like the Note 2.

[Bebop]

You want to check and verify the output voltage. That doesn't sound right, Patricia and I wouldn't charge it until you verify that it won't fry your battery

[highpass]

This is the charger?

Here are the instructions (little dubious about the "ego cable regulates themselves" whilst true you are losing the additional safety of the wall plug adapter right?):

2100mA Dual Car USB Adapter (2.1 amp)

Use to charge ego style batteries with the eGo USB Fast Charger, EVOD USB Charger, or Joyetech Logo USB Charger

The 2.1 Amp USB port can be used to power Variable Voltage, or 4.5, 5, 6 volt Passthrough's that require more power! Most require above 2 Amps (2000mA)

Can also be used to charge cell phones, iPads, etc.

USB Port #1 = 2100mA (2.1 amps) Use this port for 5volt passthrough, or ego USB charger
USB Port #2 = 1000mA (1 amp) Use this port for ego USB charger

Both USB ports can be used with ego USB chargers. The ego USB cable regulates power themselves, so as long as the power output on the wall/car adapter is equal or higher to what the USB charger requires.

Edited November 16, 2013 by highpass

[bcartervol98]

I absolutely refuse to charge a battery any other way than a wall outlet. Maybe it is not correct, and I am not an electrician, but I think it adds a layer of safety to the charging process. The way these things are mass produced, even the good ones, I think it is better. Every story I have read about a battery exploding have one thing in common; they were either being charged on a computer or in a vehicle. I rarely have to charge Ego batteries any more unless it is just topping them off. Its a lot easier to always have plenty charged rotating between 6 18650s lol. My wife however usually has 2-3 charging all the time at home since she uses mostly the 650mah designer Egos that are most likely knockoffs. Even when charging them in the wall we use a cooking pot to put them in just in case. Better safe than sorry!

[Compenstine]

Check the VDC output on your wall charger. I would bet it is 5vdc. The higher volt output is for Tablets mostly. plunging into the higher VDC could overheat the Battery. All compters USB run at 5 volts VDC.

2.1 A Is "Amperage" and that is the same on both hookups.so it won't matter on that.

Is it usb? High current USB, the 2.1, is for bid gadgets like the Galaxy Tablet, iPad, and bigger cellphones like the Note 2.

USB 2.1 refers to data transfer rate and a battery has no data to transfer.

[Tam]

Until there is some definitive proof that a car charger is completely safe I'll continue to only use a wall charger -- completely supervised while charging. I like my car the way it is and don't want to take the chance of a battery exploding inside. A couple of extra batteries is far cheaper than a new car or an expensive hospital bill.

[Bebop]

This is the charger?

Here are the instructions (little dubious about the "ego cable regulates themselves" whilst true you are losing the additional safety of the wall plug adapter right?):

Ah...ok that makes sense. It is true that the ego usb charging cable is what regulates the output. Therefore Patricia, you should be fine if you are using an ego charging cable from your car adapter to the battery.

That being said, in the best of all possible worlds, as long as your car voltage output is constant you should be fine.

I would be ok with charging it with that adapter except that I wouldnt plug it in until the car is running. Dont stop and start the car while it's plugged in. You should be fine in general. I think it would be smart not to leave it unattended.

[Patricia]

Well now that Jeff has filled me in on the fact that I do not have to use a battery until it is dead I won't really need to charge my battery in my car anymore. Being a traveling nurse I am in my car most of the day driving anywhere from 300 to 600 miles a week so I found my batteries dying on me while I was out on the road. I did have backups but I always wanted to get my dead battery on charge as soon as possible and figured since I almost live in my car why not do it there. But now that I know I can come home every night and charge up all my batteries whether they are dead or not I start my day off with all of my batteries fully charged and my 1300 always gets me home. I did not know all that stuff about batteries blowing up in cars. I guess I just bought that car charger for nothing. With all the cautions I have read in this post I will be too afraid to use it. They sure did not say all of that in the description when I bought it. I just saw that it was a good and strong enough to charge up my 1300 Spinner. So, is there any use I can get out of the charger?

[Bebop]

I would not be afraid to use it, Patricia. Just dont leave it unattended and make sure you're using a quality usb ego cord with circuit protection.

Did the car adapter come with an ego usb cord?

[dannyk]

I've used my Belkin in the car to charge my ego before now the circuitry in the battery charger will regulate it regardless of output power.

All USB outputs are 5vdc some will have a high amp normally labelled fast charge over here in the UK.

I've even used my Note 2 wall outlet USB to charge no problems and that's a 2A.

The charger will only pull what it needs abs when battery is full the circuitry should shut down ( green light or battery light will go out )

[Patricia]

I would not be afraid to use it, Patricia. Just dont leave it unattended and make sure you're using a quality usb ego cord with circuit protection.

Did the car adapter come with an ego usb cord?

No, no cord just the charger. But I have about 4 or 5 ego usb cords laying around the house.

[Bebop]

As long as your usb charging cord is not a cheap knock off, i wouldn't worry about.

[HelloMiakoda]

Standard USB is 5 volt, including your eGo wall adapter. However, the eGo USB cable is 500ma. You can safely use the 2.1 amp port, but it will still only be drawing 500ma. Use the lower current port for your battery, and the amp for your phone. Unless it's a pass through. You will want the higher current for a pass through.

Word of warning... there are really cheapy USB car chargers out there. Your phone, assuming it's recent, will safely reject an out of spec USB charger (iPhone, for example, will give you a huge obvious error). Your e-cig battery, on the other hand, isnt quite as advanced. If it charges your phone by USB cable without it giving you an error, it should safely charge your vape battery.

[HelloMiakoda]

I'm a computer tech, so almost all my gadgets are USB charged. I was thrilled to find out PVs use USB to charge.

Not a cars cut the power port when the car is off. My car has been modified to leave the port on with the car off. At a recent camping even that didn't have power on site, I used my car to charge people's e-cigs without any issues.

For those of you afraid to charge anywhere but an ac outlet...

USB is a standard. Anything following this standard will output at 5 volt. Amperage can range from 500ma to 2amp. A charger with more amperage than you need is fine, but a charger with too low an output amperage will be overloaded. Rule of thumb, I never use USB chargers below 1amp for anything.

[Rorence]

How to choose a good car charger is much difficult for me, since I can't make choice between many different brand products. The only way is to follow what friend has bought. Bestkek 1000W power inverter is the tool that he recommends to me. Maybe you can try this powerful tool to be your car charger. Wish this point is helpful to you. 

Edited May 4, 2017 by Tam
Removed spammy link.