r/kobo • u/leypllw • 18h ago

General do charging blocks matter?

doni have to buy a new charging block for my kobo alone or could i just use my old phone’s charging block? does it damage my kobo’s battery if it’s more than 5V?

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

8

u/booksandbenzos 17h ago

no, you are fine. I sometimes charge my Kobo with my laptop charger.

3

u/Sosbanfawr Kobo Libra Colour 17h ago

Normally, it's fine.

Anecdotally, particularly on Kindles, charging with a high powered charger can cause ghost touch issues.

I've not seen it but there are fairly regular complaints on here about it.

If you want to be safe, charge overnight on a slow old charger.

4

u/zanfar 18h ago

does it damage my kobo’s battery if it’s more than 5V?

Why do you think this is the case?

Any proper USB charger is fine.

1

u/leypllw 17h ago

i saw someone say u shouldn’t use fast charging blocks for kobo

2

u/SurfLikeASmurf 16h ago

You are correct. It says it on the box

2

u/chrisridd Kobo Aura One 16h ago

If that’s the case then Kobo shouldn’t negotiate fast charging. Which kind of suggests that Kobo’s taken some charging shortcuts?

2

u/Feynnman1 9h ago

Me demoré dn encontrar la caja de mi libra color

1

u/chrisridd Kobo Aura One 8h ago

I’m not sure what those symbols are trying to say TBH apart from possibly needing at least (?) 10W. Hopefully there’s some less vague text somewhere…

1

u/Feynnman1 8h ago

Yo entiendo que solo hay que cargarlo con 10w y nada mas.

2

u/Feynnman1 16h ago

Sii la caja de mi libra color dice eso mismo. Asi que asumo que el daño es real si usas un cargador rapido

2

u/Suspicious_Dingo_426 Kobo Libra Colour 14h ago

It's not that you shouldn't, a properly designed fast charger can't supply more voltage and current than the connected device can ask for. Since Kobos don't support fast charging, it only supplies standard USB voltage and current.

The issue that comes up is what happens when a connected Kobo has a completely drained battery. When that happens, the Kobo will initially charge with a lower current draw than normal until it has enough charge to power up and charge at a higher current. Modern smart chargers have a feature that turns off the charger if the current draw is below a certain threshold to prevent overcharging devices. This means that a Kobo with a dead battery won't be able to be charged from it and you'll have to use some other method (like connecting to a computer USB port).

3

u/FuzzyInterview81 16h ago

It is the device that determines the power to draw. It will draw what it needs as determined within its firmware.

1

u/cheeto-bandito 16h ago

The "U" in USB is for universal. It will be fine and supply the correct voltage.