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I have a 8000 MAH rechargeable lantern with power bank, the max input is 1.5A.

Based on my recent research, this is what I am concluding, please confirm if my finding 1, 2 are correct. #3 is a question.

  1. Lantern can be charged with a SMART mains charger and it will charge at 1.5A safely at optimal speed.
  2. Lantern can be charged with 1A mains charger or via computer but both will charge slower because 1A charger is less than 1.5A.
  3. Can I charge this lantern or other device with less than 2A max input using a 2A mains charger without SMART feature? What would happen? Will it also damage the rechargeable battery inside the lantern?
A W M Chung
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2 Answers2

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I am going to assume that the lantern device is charged via USB.

Your #1 is correct.

Your #2 is correct.

Your #3, is yes. Since the lantern charges via USB it should support the standard USB charging specification and should not require the SMART feature. If there is such a device out there that cannot charge via the standard USB specification, then such device should make clear note of that in the item's description. But even if such a device were to exist, there should be no damage if it is plugged into any other USB charger because it is up to the device to choose whether or not it draws electricity from the charger.

A USB device does not draw more amperage from a charger than it's resistors allow. Therefore the lantern can be safely plugged into a 2A charger, or a 3A, or a 10A without foul play. The lantern specifications indicate that it will only draw UP TO 1.5A of electricity. This can be likened to a household AC plug at 120V. A household plug contains an enormous amount of electricity, enough to power a microwave, or vacuum. A small desktop lamp uses around 100 times less electricity than a microwave or vacuum, and even though it is plugged into the same household AC plug, it doesn't fry the lamp.

Let's also correct the answer provided by Alexandr Kovalchuk. The power bank or lantern battery would not lose capacity if plugged into a higher amperage charging host.

For almost all scenarios there is no harm in using a USB power adapter that did not come with the lantern. The USB standard is meant to remove the dependency that would require a device to use a specific brand of adapter. Not all devices have to obey this rule, such as certain tablets that give an onscreen error like "Charging is not supported with this accessory".

See these links for more information:

FlashDictionary
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1 and 2 are correct. About 3rd: it depends on the lantern's electric scheme. Most likely it's safe to charge it with 2A current, since modern devices have components to prevent such damage. From my expierence, even it doesn't has such protection, nothing critical would happen. Maybe your battery would lose capacity a bit faster compared to normal rate.

Alexandr Kovalchuk
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