Test/review of Belkin Micro Home Charger

Belkin Micro Home Charger







Official specifications:

  • Input Power: AC 100-240V 50-60Hz

  • Output Power: DC 5V-1A

  • 1 USB Port





I got it in a cardboard box, it is supposed to contain the charger and a Apple charge cable.






Measurements
  • Power consumption when idle is 0.04 watt

  • Usb outputs are coded as Apple 1A

  • Weight: 40.2g

  • Size: 65.4 x 50.2 x 35.4mm





The charger can deliver a bit over 1.2A, this is fine for a 1A charge.



It also works on 120VAC.



No problems running one hour at 1A.
The temperature photos below are taken between 30 minutes and 60 minutes into the one hour test.



M1: 41,1°C, HS1: 62,0°C



M1: 55,0°C, M2: 40,7°C, HS1: 60,0°C



HS1: 47,8°C



M1: 48,0°C, M2: 40,0°C, HS1: 61,6°C



At 0.5A the noise is 10mV rms and 204mVpp.



At 1A the noise is 12mV rms and 268mVpp.




Tear down



My vice and a mallet could open it.



There is a fusible resistor in series with the connection, looks like it was an afterthought.
It has two capacitors (C1 & C2) on the mains input with a inductor (L1) between, there is a mains switcher transistor (Q1)..
On the low volt side there is a rectifier diode and two capacitors with an inductor between.








On the first image the output inductor can be seen, on the second image the input inductor can be seen. There is also a bit of the fusible resistor visible.





There is some isolation paper on the this side to prevent the mains input connection touching the circuit board.



On this side is a bridge rectifier, the mains switcher IC and coding of the usb connector.






Safety distance looks good.

Testing with 2830 volt and 4242 volt between mains and low volt side, did not show any safety problems.



Conclusion

Charger works fine with fairly low noise and is safe, but the coding is a bit old and 1A is fairly low current by todays standard.


Notes

Charger was supplied by Pro backup (probackup.nl)

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Great Review as Always

I have a couple of the newer Metallic 2.4A version, I did a couple of simple test, unloaded the voltage at the usb connector was 5.12v and 5.09v when i use an 2.6A load, good regulation.

I always buy branded chargers and cables, I had two cheap usb adaptor blow in one week nearly frying my £600 phone.

John.

Love your teardowns, great to see the safety standards of the inside!