Possibly less drop, than the production tolerance in individual chargers.
First rule of measuring stuff, everything matters. I would make a test rig, a dummy load on one end of a USB connection and voltage test points on both ends and do some testing.
With a 1A different I suspect you are correct and its not switching to high current mode. Stock I think USB is only good for 500 ma. but some do more.
Agree, cute device, not much of a measurement tool.
I think you might be expecting a little too much, given the price.
Works fine for me.
Same here. For the about $3, it tells me what I need.
I tested 2 iPhone 5 lightning cables. One got 500ma no matter what charger I plugged it into. The second got 750ma in all the chargers. My Galaxy S4 got 1A. Both phones were around 95% charged, so that may have lowered the current a little too.
That was testing chargers, both cigarette plug and AC. All capable of 1A or better. On a PC, I get 300ma on my S4, which is reasonable, but takes forever to charge.
Mine arrived a few days ago and I finally got around to testing it with some solar panels
2 Brunton explorer solar panels rated at 1000ma, first one gave out around 700ma and the second one around 500ma
Cottonpickers solar panel rated at 330ma gave out around 100ma
As others said it’s hard to see the display under the sun
I have opened the Case to investigate why the shunt resistor is hanging around a bit angled and it seems to be something small red underneath, maybe to give some distance to the PCB or so? Over the display there was a protection foil which I removed, not sure if this make reflections worse?
I will play with that next week as I want to add a switch to shortcut the data lines for high current charging of phone and tablet with any USB source…
estore999 did well. Ordered mine on 9/10, delivered today, 9/23.
many products made in china are not so good because the prices have to be cheaper and cheaper.
Thanks! I ordered one to get their Fast-Charge 3-in-1 Cable.
Yipes, $19 for 5 bar led, vs $3 for digital readout.
I played around with my doctor and it seems that my phone and my ipad go into high current mode if the datalines are shorted…so I soldered a big blob of solder on the 4 data pins to make them one big pin.
It has worked perfectly.
Shorted data lines is the standard usb way to signal a high current charger, but not everybody is following it.
I have a ihustler stick which is designed for apple products and this has a bunch of resistors in it so I thought apple devices would need a special thing.
That was the reason for adding a switch, but the housing is so small even with grinding the switch didn’t fit perfectly and the tests with open housing showed me that the shorted wires are always better for my devices.
Shorted wires have a second benefit you don’t need to mind where you charge your device, I always have a bad feeling on public chargers…
Apple is using another ways to signal current on their own chargers, but they must also have added support for the usb standard in some product.
Are you concerned about security or something else?
Yes, however that price includes one of their Fast-Charge 3-in-1 Cables that enable faster charging of devices, including Apple devices plugged into non Apple USB ports.
I also appreciate them developing a legitimate business selling a well designed/made product versus a cheap and flimsy clone. FWIW, I did buy one of the cheap devices to get the current/voltage readings. Fine for initial testing of chargers and USB ports at home. Once I know their characteristics, I can use the Fast-Charge 3-in-1 Cable to take full advantage of them, at least that is my plan.
Does the cable work, does it enable faster charging?
I can’t say until I receive the cable.
What I read here convinced me to buy the cable: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/david-toledo/the-practical-meter-know-your-power
This is a link for the cable itself: Situs Judi Bola Resmi, taruhan Mix parlay terpercaya - INDOBET365
I hope this helps.
Works very good as a measuring tool that it is. I used it to weed out cables used on the same charger that gave me very long charge times and now I can see why. Same charger different cables gave me from 400mA up to 1,700mA so I sorted out my cables using this Tool and my charger works faster now; I got my measurement tools from DX, can’t be beat for the price.