Xperia Z Charger Voltage

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velihukka

New member
Mar 18, 2014
4
2
Helsinki
Already, I thought the Xperia Z charger felt weird. It stated 1.5 amps as the maximum output amperage. Also, for that amperage the phone seems to charge quite slow, especially when compared with four other USB charges, of 1 and 2.1 amps.

So, tonight I decided to take a multimeter to the charger(with my USB breakout cable) and the voltage measured just 4.90 volts(measured using a high quality multimeter). I was just wondering if someone else on this forum could take their charger (EP880 or your regional variant) and check their voltages, as a voltage below 5v seems quite unusual on USB spec chargers, and it seems odd that Sony would design a charger that would raise the voltage under load.
 

Don MC

Senior Member
Dec 28, 2010
439
129
SW Coast
Tried many chargers to power my Raspberry Pi (notoriously picky with power units). Measured the voltage over the TP pins on the Pi. The voltages ranged from 5.00V (Nokia AC-50E) to 4.75V (Sony XZ charger). Only the Sony charger manages to power the Pi without reboots and crashes, despite the lower voltage.

Both the Nokia and the Sony are made in China by Salcomp. Both are rated 1.5A. I guess they are identical on the inside. I am now charging my XZ with the Nokia charger and running my Pi with the Sony charger.

E: The Sony charger never had any problems charging my phone.
 
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StationHead

New member
Jan 1, 2017
1
0
USB is strictly 5.0 Volts with a absolute maximum of 5.5 Volts if I'm not mistaken but it is not the voltage that applies charge to any device. It's the amperage.