Friday
May292009
Belkin Micro Auto 12v Car USB Charger Review (updated)
Friday, May 29, 2009 at 7:47PM
My Belkin Micro Auto Charger turned up today.
It is a car 12v to USB adaptor that takes up a lot less room than older devices. I bought this to make my car look neater and I'll be able to leave this permanently in place without it drawing any attention.
It certainly is neat - it sits just proud of the lip of the socket - which is ideal as it leaves just enough of its casing exposed so that it can be easily extracted - sitting flush might be even neater but would not be clever.
There's not much else to say from here because my device was DOA - dead as a dodo - no amount of wiggling would make the LED on the device light up. I've tried it in a couple of sockets without any luck - so I'm back to using my old £2 USB charger and this will be shipped back to the retailer - as soon as I can figure out their return procedures (oh what fun).
So I can't complete my review - I was going to let you know if it charges an iPhone 3G (my current one doesn't) - but you'll have to find this out from elsewhere.
Balls.
UPDATE - Lambda-Tek (where I purchased this) were very quick to refund my card. Now I need to find another supplier - This time I'll use a shop just in case it has to go back too. I now need two - one for the car and one for the scooter (yes it really has a lighter socket under the seat).
UPDATE 15th June - My new replacement Belkin Micro USB chargers arrived (I bought two from Kikatek). I'm glad to say that both of these work out of the box. I've put one in my Mini and one on the scooter. There is not much to add to my comments above - other than the green LED lights up all the time it's being supplied with power - but its not too bright to be distracting. Finally - yes it will charge my iPhone. That's it.
Recommended if you want to tidy up your car or if you find a full size adaptor a tight fit. I believe that in a few years this will be the normal size for these devices , and by then maybe all new cars come with USB charge sockets as standard.
It is a car 12v to USB adaptor that takes up a lot less room than older devices. I bought this to make my car look neater and I'll be able to leave this permanently in place without it drawing any attention.
It certainly is neat - it sits just proud of the lip of the socket - which is ideal as it leaves just enough of its casing exposed so that it can be easily extracted - sitting flush might be even neater but would not be clever.
There's not much else to say from here because my device was DOA - dead as a dodo - no amount of wiggling would make the LED on the device light up. I've tried it in a couple of sockets without any luck - so I'm back to using my old £2 USB charger and this will be shipped back to the retailer - as soon as I can figure out their return procedures (oh what fun).
So I can't complete my review - I was going to let you know if it charges an iPhone 3G (my current one doesn't) - but you'll have to find this out from elsewhere.
Balls.
UPDATE - Lambda-Tek (where I purchased this) were very quick to refund my card. Now I need to find another supplier - This time I'll use a shop just in case it has to go back too. I now need two - one for the car and one for the scooter (yes it really has a lighter socket under the seat).
UPDATE 15th June - My new replacement Belkin Micro USB chargers arrived (I bought two from Kikatek). I'm glad to say that both of these work out of the box. I've put one in my Mini and one on the scooter. There is not much to add to my comments above - other than the green LED lights up all the time it's being supplied with power - but its not too bright to be distracting. Finally - yes it will charge my iPhone. That's it.
Recommended if you want to tidy up your car or if you find a full size adaptor a tight fit. I believe that in a few years this will be the normal size for these devices , and by then maybe all new cars come with USB charge sockets as standard.
Reader Comments (19)
Where did you order this from?
it's from Lambda-tek.com - they only showed one in stock when I ordered so I though it might be an error - they once messed me about and let me order an out of stock camcorder.
I wish the Belkin had been out of stock now- would have saved a lot of hassle.
I've ordered a couple more - I'll update this when they arrive in a few days.
I see that it is not entirely flush. What is the length from the bottom of the rim to the end that is inserted (to bottom of plastic, not the protruding metal part at the bottom)? I would like for it to be completly flush in my socket. Thanks!
It's 3.5cm long excluding the metal. I've added a picture.
I'd imagine that all car sockets will be a standard depth though (possibly 2.5cm).
Thanks, Does the metal tip depress when inserted?
It does depress slightly. Approximately a quarter of the length of the prong retracts inside the plastic.
I got one from the Apple store and it was also dud, so I took it back and got another, which again also didn't work!! I guess they must have a faulty batch!
Really annoying when you want to use the new TomTom app
So the green light is always lighting up when you start your car or just turn your key so you have power in your car? Or does the light light up when you plug something in the belkin USB charer?
Thanks in advance!
It lights up whenever it's getting power from the socket. So in my car it lights up all the time my engine is on.
Plugging something into the USB socket doesn't change the status of the light at all.
Ah ok, thx for the quick reply! And you leave it all the time in the socket? And does it really drain the power from your car-battery? Asking because last night my car wouldn't start:p Thanks mate!
Well I leave it in mine because I know that if the engine is off then it's not draining any power. Some cars do still send power to the lighter socket when the engine is off though so I'd imagine that it would drain the power if this was the case with your car - but it'd probably take months for a single led to empty a car battery so I wouldn't worry too much.
Thanks for the reply's techmoan, will buy it and see if it's the case with my car! Still much nicer than another poweradapter! Nice review also
Off-topic: maybe a stupid question, but if I am playing iPod in my car (ipod is connected with AUX to my radio) and the ipod is playing, but my car is turned off.. Will this use some of my battery?
I suppose it comes down to whether your car powers the socket when it's switched off - most don't so I'd imagine that your iPod won't affect the battery. However if your iPod is still happily playing away days after you left it plugged in then it must be getting it's power from somewhere.
? stupid question
would the TG3 charge via usb?
On a mac it seems it does not charge at all
but I wonder if a usb charger would work.
I'm pretty sure that the TG3 doesn't charge through its USB port - it's just for data transfer only, sorry.
will it power my garmin gps, which has a connecting usb cable?
That's some great device you have there. I'm considering getting one myself.
Hi
Did you spot that this Belkin USB car charger is identical to the supplied charger with the Jumbo 808 Number 11 HD camera.
The Belkin charger costs £6.65 plus postage .Now that makes the Jumbo cam a fantastic deal.
http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?prodID=B220024
Regards
Alan