Surface 3 Charger

[vaderag]

Has anyone found a 3rd party charger for the Surface 3 that matches the wattage on the official one?

I want a second charger, but am not going to pay over ?30 for what is essentially a USB cable with a wall wort!!

I've found listings on ebay amazon that mention the Surface 3, but reading the description it seems that they are actually standard USB chargers...

Thanks!

 

[michail71]

I'd like to know too. When it comes to phones I often regret skimping on the chargers but some nice ones can be found on the phone side. You'd think proper power delivery should be rather easy but for some reason it's not.

People are always trying to steal my Nokia charger. Even the Samsung users in my house like it since the USB cable doesn't fall out like Samsung ones do. For whatever reason they never seem to lock in place.

 

[Dewg]

Any charger that puts out 2.1A will work just fine.

 

[Narse77]

Any charger that puts out 2.1A will work just fine.

You say that but in my experience that's not the case. I have two generic ones that say they do 2.1 but the Surface will start off saying Charging for a few minutes and then go to plugged in and not charging and still loses battery over the course of a day. I also have a 10000mah battery that has two 2.1 ports and it does the same thing.

 

[Dewg]

What kind of cord are you using? Make sure it's 24AWG. Most cell cords are 26 or 28 and can't handle the amps.

 

[vaderag]

I think this is highlighting my point - any charger will not work well. I want something that outputs the 13W our whatever the official one is touted at!

 

[Dewg]

The Surface 3 charger outputs 12V and 2.5A. As long as you get a charger that can output around there, and a USB cord that is 24AWG, you're good. If you get a 12V 2.5A charger, but use a 28AWG cord, you're only going to get around 1.5A, and the Surface will charge slowly. Same thing the other way - a 24AWG cord with a 1.5A charger...

 

[Narse77]

What kind of cord are you using? Make sure it's 24AWG. Most cell cords are 26 or 28 and can't handle the amps.

I used normal micro usb cables as well as the one that came with the Surface.

 

[Narse77]

The Surface 3 charger outputs 12V and 2.5A. As long as you get a charger that can output around there, and a USB cord that is 24AWG, you're good. If you get a 12V 2.5A charger, but use a 28AWG cord, you're only going to get around 1.5A, and the Surface will charge slowly. Same thing the other way - a 24AWG cord with a 1.5A charger...

Ok here you say 2.5A. That makes more sense. None of my other chargers do 2.5A they do 2.1A

 

[WillysJeepMan]

Has anyone found a 3rd party charger for the Surface 3 that matches the wattage on the official one?

I want a second charger, but am not going to pay over ?30 for what is essentially a USB cable with a wall wort!!

I've found listings on ebay amazon that mention the Surface 3, but reading the description it seems that they are actually standard USB chargers...

Thanks!

I've had similar difficulties buying a 2nd AC adapter for my Surface 2. I bought a cheap one that was so weak it would only charge it if it was turned off and not used. And even with that it took a while. I broken down and bought a few used original ones (for the Surface Pro) on eBay.

I don't recommend skimping out by purchasing 3rd party adapters.

 

[ratsttam]

I picked up a RavPower 2 port 24w/2.5a charger a while back to charge my kids kindles. Actually charges the S3 slightly faster than the stock charger. Picked up another one to carry with the S3 since it's two ports, and quick charges my cell phone at the same time.

Any 12w/2.1+ charger should work. A lower quality (ie: cheap knock off types) may not put out what they say they do, and therefore won't charge the surface. The cable itself shouldn't make much difference, but again, cheap cables may not work properly for any number of different reasons.

 

[vaderag]

That sounds perfect - any chance you can post a link of the exact model? They seem to do quite a few!