How to use a USB Power Analyzer to Find out Your Efficiency and Safety

We use chargers a lot, for everything from a computer to a phone to a watch to work tools to  just about anything else. It’s easy to have a sneaking suspicion that the cheap charger you bought isn’t up for the task or that the USB port in your car console is seriously more underpowered than they told you. Are you worried that your USB charger is under performing or not working correctly? Do you think you’re not getting the real charge time out of that new power bank you bought? There’s no reason to guess about this. You can know for sure! You can actually test your USB devices with an USB power analyzer to see if they’re up to the task you need them for.

 

You can use an USB power meter to test for three different things:

 

#1 Power Consumption and Discharge

The first and most common use for this type of meter is to test the power consumption of devices as well as the discharge of a power bank. You will first need to understand what an mAh is. A milliampere hour (mAh) is 1000th of an ampere hour ( Ah ). Both measures are commonly used to describe the energy charge that a battery will hold and how long a device will run before the battery needs recharging. An analyzer will allow you to know how much power, in mAh, a product is using and how much power the charger and device together are pulling from the power outlet.

 

#2 USB Port Voltage

We have all heard horror stories about someone’s phone suddenly blowing up as it charges right beside their bed at night. Usually, even cheap USB cards and device chargers are not so out of spec as to be dangerous. Nonetheless, the voltage is something you can measure off a USB port that poses any potential danger to your devices or is heavily indicative of a faulty charging device. The USB meter allows you to easily check to ensure that a given port or charging device is not under-volted or over-volted. If you want to be extra safe, this is the way to do it.

 

#3 USB Port Amperage Output

Given that very few chargers are wildly out of spec in the voltage department, the amperage department is where most people find there is a problem. Low amperage output means long charging times at best and failure to charge or function at all when it comes to very power hungry devices that need good connection. If you need this charge for your company’s equipment, it means you aren’t performing as efficiently as you could be and should be.

 

It’s easy to find the right kind of device for the type of work online. By shopping online, you can find the tool necessary to learn everything you want to know about your energy consumption, voltage, and more.