Can a battery charger also test a battery?

Products based on this approach include chargers for cellular phones and portable digital audio players. They may be fully compliant USB peripheral devices adhering to USB power discipline, or uncontrolled in the manner of USB decorations. Solar chargers convert light energy into DC current.

They are generally portable, but can also be fixed mount. Fixed mount solar chargers are also known as solar panels. Solar panels are often connected to the electrical grid, whereas portable solar chargers are used off-the-grid (i.e.

Cars, boats, or RVs). Although portable solar chargers obtain energy from the sun only, they still can (depending on the technology) be used in low light (i.e. Portable solar chargers are typically used for trickle charging, although some solar chargers (depending on the wattage), can completely recharge batteries.

Other devices may exist, which combine this with other sources of energy for added recharging efficacy. Several companies have begun making devices that charge batteries based on regular human motion. One example, made by Tremont Electric, consists of a magnet held between two springs that can charge a battery as the device is moved up and down, such as when walking.

Such products have not yet achieved significant commercial success. Since a battery charger is intended to be connected to a battery, it may not have voltage regulation or filtering of the DC voltage output. Battery chargers equipped with both voltage regulation and filtering may be identified as battery eliminators.

Most mobile phone chargers are not really chargers, only power adapters that provide a power source for the charging circuitry which is almost always contained within the mobile phone. 15 They are notoriously diverse, having a wide variety of DC connector-styles and voltages, most of which are not compatible with other manufacturers' phones or even different models of phones from a single manufacturer. Users of publicly accessible charging kiosks must be able to cross-reference connectors with device brands/models and individual charge parameters and thus ensure delivery of the correct charge for their mobile device.