Can My Battery Charge By USB Cord

[cherylharrell1961]

It says in the instructions for my Polaroid tablet that you cannot use the supplied usb cord to charge it but must charge with the electric plug that comes with it. I have a usb cord that came with a Polaroid mp3 player and have been using it for transferring files from the computer to the tablet. It is showing up on the screen like the usb cord for the mp3 player maybe charging the battery. So I was wondering if the usb cord for the mp3 player is really charging the battery. Just curious.

[N4RPS]

It says in the instructions for my Polaroid tablet that you cannot use the supplied usb cord to charge it but must charge with the electric plug that comes with it. I have a usb cord that came with a Polaroid mp3 player and have been using it for transferring files from the computer to the tablet. It is showing up on the screen like the usb cord for the mp3 player maybe charging the battery. So I was wondering if the usb cord for the mp3 player is really charging the battery. Just curious.

Hello!

Those instructions were written for the older 'roids (non-701x) that had a separate power connector.

Since they have no separate charger jack on them, all the 701 series tablets charge through the USB port.

73 DE N4RPS
Rob

[cherylharrell1961]

Thanks so much for the info. Evidently they are set up where you can charge by usb cord on a puter or either charge with the electric plug for when you are not near a puter or don't want to charge it thru a puter. Good to know. I come from the old days where we used data punch cards so am learning this. It's a nice little tablet so far.

[N4RPS]

Thanks so much for the info. Evidently they are set up where you can charge by usb cord on a puter or either charge with the electric plug for when you are not near a puter or don't want to charge it thru a puter. Good to know. I come from the old days where we used data punch cards so am learning this. It's a nice little tablet so far.

Hello!

My, how things have changed since then. I, too, saw punch cards fade away. Don't miss 'em in the slightest. A hassle they were indeed.

I remember many a night I'd be awakened just to clean a card reader, all because someone didn't wash the natural oils off their hands before changing cards. Made me want to coat more than a few throats with some from MY hands!

Back in the days before John Walker's treasonous technology transfers made peacetime espionage punishable by death (and forced these devices into early retirement), punch cards configured dishwasher-sized devices that secured our military's email and phone networks.

I still have a key or two for their card readers around here somewhere. They were given to me as souvenirs.

In the here and now, you and I have something many, many times more powerful than those monstrosities as part of a Web browser program on a PC (or a tablet). The public has had that technology since shortly after the devices I maintained for the Air Force were decommissioned.

Of course, arrays of Crays at the 'Puzzle Palace' in the DC 'burbs can cut through SSL and RSA encryption like butter. If they couldn't, trust me - we would have never access to either method of encryption. At the time, the gov wasn't very happy about us getting 'em.

I know very little, if any, of this has anything to do with Polaroid tablets directly, but does shed some insight into a virtually unknown - yet vitally important - aspect of the earliest days of what eventually would become the Internet we know today. I hope the powers that be will bear with my history lesson.

73 DE N4RPS
Rob

[notpod]

Yes...

but slower than the wall wart. Most (but not all} computer USB ports are 550mA while the wall wart is 1A.

[cherylharrell1961]

Thanks for the info. It was interesting. We have come along way since then. I can remember the card hopper eating up cards and me having to re-punch them. Yikes!

[Lexridge]

but slower than the wall wart. Most (but not all} computer USB ports are 550mA while the wall wart is 1A.

Or charge through a USB hub with a hefty p/s. My Staples brand USB 7 port hub came with a 3A p/s WooHoo! Very fast charge!

[NutWrench]

The charger delivers 1 amp. I believe regular USB ports deliver 500ma (1/2 amp), so yes, you can charge through the USB plug but it will take longer.

[cherylharrell1961]

Thanks for the info ya'll. Very informative. I like using the wall charger most of the time.

[c,lei]

The charger delivers 1 amp. I believe regular USB ports deliver 500ma (1/2 amp), so yes, you can charge through the USB plug but it will take longer.

Do you think those 2.1 amp car/wall chargers are worth bothering with?

[NutWrench]

Do you think those 2.1 amp car/wall chargers are worth bothering with?

I wouldn't go above the 1 amp charger that comes with the tablet. If you charge the battery too quickly, it could overheat. Also, I have no idea what kind of power surge protection the tablet has (for 99 bucks, you can bet it's a cheap one). I've burned out a few old calculators because I used a higher-amp AC adapter than it was rated for, just killed them dead.

[cherylharrell1961]

Thanks so much for the info. I would not try to charge mine with anything other than the charger that came with it or the usb cord. I sure don't want to goof it up.