Ok, so my g/f just bought an 8130-pearl from verizon, and the sale's guy was trying to get her to buy the blackberry car charger. She previously had a motorola which she had a mini-usb car charger for. Apparently there is a difference between the chargers that could possibly ruin the blackberry's battery.

Is this true?? She has a lot of wall chargers also, that would be convenient to leave at different locations...If anyone knows this answer, they are definitely on this site!

Thanks!

The only thing you will ruin is the sales guys commission.

Here is a current thread about it:

Charger Compatibility

Wow. Thanks! The only thing that concerns me is that the voltage is the same but the currents (i think it's 750mA and mabye 800mA) are different. I don't know about that stuff to know what difference that would make...

..possibly over power the battery...?

No one has posted anything that I would call "authoritative" on this...

You could use another charger and the BB may appear to charge fine, but there's no way of knowing if anything bad is happening to your BB or battery in the long-term.

I'm not saying I know either way, I don't, but someone saying "Any charger works fine" isn't what I would call a sure thing that I'm comfy relying on.

If someone w/a professional background in this area can post why it's OK to use any charger w/a USB connector, that would make me more comfortable about using my mini-usb moto chargers w/my Pearl.

I did buy a Pearl car charger in the meantime...might end u p being a waste of $, but a few $ for no-worries was worth it to me at this point.

My salesman buddy just gave me a Verizon MotoQ charger for my pearl when he sold it to me. It works just fine.

The USB specification details the voltage and requirements for a USB port on an attached device. All USB equippped devices have the same voltage coming across the various pins. Ground is also specified. So........you will not fry a USB device using any charger that follows the USB specifications.

As to charging itself, there is a big difference between voltage and current (the MA rating on the charger). If the charger does not produce enough current for the needs of the attached device it will not charge satisfactorily. It won't hurt the device, it just won't charge it quickly (or at all).

The MA rating for the charger can be higher then what the device calls for (again, remember this is not voltage). The device will only draw the current it needs.

The most important point is to get a well regulated, well made USB charger. There is some real junk being sold out there.

See: Electric current - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bostonnerd, you've earned your screen name! (And I mean that as a compliment!)

Thanks very much for your post and the details...that is what I've been looking for.

Thanks!

Glad to clarify it for you. Let me know if you have any other questions on this. Between all of the BB devices I've had over the years and my wife's various Windows Mobile devices, we have dozens of wall and car USB chargers. They all work just fine, but again, make sure you get one of good quality.

I would not use any other charger that is not specifically made for a blackberry. I have had to replace TWO Pearls since I first started using blackberry in February because I made the mistake of using a motorola car charger and the usb cable to a camera to hook it up to the computer. there is a difference inside of the charger head that plugs into the port on the side of the blackberry and I had an issue with the other chargers bending the little prongs back, making it impossible to charge.

This happened to me. Not necessarily saying it will happen to you. Just wanted to warn you ahead of time.

See:
Universal Serial Bus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That explains alot. The USB cable to my digital camera is about....5 years old or so its its probably not very trustworthy. I figure I would rather stick with using just blackberry cables and chargers, that way if something does mess up, it wasn't because you were using a 3rd party cable. T-Mobile only replaces these devices if its handled that way. Otherwise, you have to buy a whole new phone (unless of course you have insurance)

Understood.....whatever makes folks comfortable. My only point was that there is no reason from an engineering design standpoint that someone HAS to get another USB charger (with my prior caveats noted).

Well i have had 0 issues with my pearl and other USB chargers. In my household there are 3 Motorola cell phones and my BB. i took the charger that came with my BB and put it in my room, and i took another Moto charger and took it to work, plus a Moto car charger and they all work perfectly. I have had my BB for 6 months now. And i even have pocket mac and when transferring contacts, it also charges thru the computer...

Rob

Well maybe I just had two really crappy Pearls before I got this one haha. The first Pearl lasted about a month and a half, and the second one only last a month. So far, this latest one has been good for about 6 months or more (knock on wood)

For the last two years, I have charged my BlackBerrys with everything except for the charger that came with it. In the Car I use a T-Mobile branded Double Talk Charger, On the computer I use a random USB cable for one of my many devices, at home a Motorola PEBL charger and on the road a USB Charger. It plugs into the wall and has a USB and Firewire port for universal charging of devices. Issues so far zero.

Ok so yeah I must have gotten two bad Pearls. I never handled them badly (I was paranoid about ruining a phone I spent 200 dollars on) but they both messed up. The prongs in the charging port got bent outta wack and they just quit charging altogether

I have seen a few posts about pin 5 getting bend or broken off

That was the one that always bent or broke on the ones I had. I was pissed because I thought the Pearl was a crappy phone because of it but my latest one is great