Can I charge a battery at a lower amperage?

[Helpful Tech Witch]

I have a Stanley battery, its ment to like jump cars, but it does have a USB port.
I can't find the charger, but it does have a standard barel plug size.
It's the same barel size as the one for gituar/base pedals.
It calls for either 12v 750ma, or 12v 2a acording to the back of the battery.
The cable I have is 12v 700ma.
 

Is it safe to charge it at 50ma less than the rated amperage on the back?

[Kilrah]

The battery won't care, but the charger might if the battery tries to pull 2A from it. 

[Helpful Tech Witch]

1 minute ago, Kilrah said:

The battery won't care, but the charger might if the battery tries to pull 2A from it. 

I don't think that it would try to pull that much if its rated for a 750ma or a 2a, the most it would try would be 750ma off a 700ma.
Plus I've got sooooo many 700ma chargers, every single giturar pedal seems to come with one

[sub68]

It will charge slower but I still think it will charge.

[akio123008]

2 hours ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

it does have a standard barel plug size

That barrel jack isn't directly hooked up to the battery. (just like the charging port on any other consumer device)

 

In there is probably a Li-ion or LiPo battery, which is charged by a built-in charging circuit. The barrel jack is just the power input to that charger.

 

So in reality whatever you hook up to that jack isn't the charger, the actual charger is built into the device.

 

Therefore as long as the voltage is right, you'll be good. If the power supply you use can't handle the power draw from the device, your supply will just shut down and stop working (until you unplug it, it'll be back when you plug it back in). So there's no risk in trying it out.

[artuc]

8 hours ago, akio123008 said:

Therefore as long as the voltage is right, you'll be good. If the power supply you use can't handle the power draw from the device, your supply will just shut down and stop working (until you unplug it, it'll be back when you plug it back in). So there's no risk in trying it out.

 

It's low risk just trying it...

 

If you're knowingly using a power supply that can supply lower current than the specifications I generally try to avoid that long term

 

Typically you're right and overcurrent protection should work, often it's borderline and will run hot and die prematurely and a device may draw significantly more on demand intermittently. The power supply could be slightly over specced for surge or intermittent high current draw or say for derating at higher temps.

 

Ultimately yes it can be fine, just need to look at all factors and come to a decision as to if it's worth a calculated risk.

 

Like if you look at what is specced, if you can circuit design, measure current in use, consider temperatures and so on.

 

I mean it's not always an issue, a supplier could say throw in a 1A plugpack with all their models as it's easier to only carry one line, better price breaks etc. and the base model gizmo may only need say 600mA and the most power hungry one may draw 800mA.

 

Easier in my mind to just match or slightly overspec what is supplied or specified to be safe and for reliable use in future.

 

Depends if @HelpfulTechWizard does need a 2A or 750mA, 50mA is an okay margin for sure, if it needs 2A though I wouldn't use a 700/750mA for anything but very brief or temporary use.

 

,

[Helpful Tech Witch]

9 hours ago, artuc said:

Depends if @HelpfulTechWizard does need a 2A or 750mA, 50mA is an okay margin for sure, if it needs 2A though I wouldn't use a 700/750mA for anything but very brief or temporary use.

I mean I knew it worked, but saf5y was the factor, I tested it when I checked the barel size. (Yeah Ik the voltage was right)

 

I ended up using the 700ma, it was fine, took a for while to charge tho