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Roam charging specifications - upper safe/useful wattage limit?

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I see that you recommend 10W for the Roam, but how much can it handle? Would a 60-75W be too much? If that is not too much would the Roam change alot faster with 75W or is there a point when more watts would not mean faster charging?

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Corry PAnswer

Sonos Staff

Hi @mikewashburn

Thanks for your post!

The Roam takes a maximum of 2 Amps at 5 Volts. If you supply it with a more powerful charger, it will make no difference - it will still pull 2 Amps, and charge in the same amount of time. Devices only draw the amount of current they need - otherwise everything would burn out immediately after drawing the full power available through the socket. The voltage supplied would make a difference, but only in that you would damage the Roam if you supplied it with more than 5 Volts.

So, you can use a 75W charger, as long as it does not provide more than 5 Volts, but doing so would not increase your charge time.

I hope this helps.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein

Corry PAnswer

Sonos Staff

Hi @mikewashburn

Thanks for your post!

The Roam takes a maximum of 2 Amps at 5 Volts. If you supply it with a more powerful charger, it will make no difference - it will still pull 2 Amps, and charge in the same amount of time. Devices only draw the amount of current they need - otherwise everything would burn out immediately after drawing the full power available through the socket. The voltage supplied would make a difference, but only in that you would damage the Roam if you supplied it with more than 5 Volts.

So, you can use a 75W charger, as long as it does not provide more than 5 Volts, but doing so would not increase your charge time.

I hope this helps.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein

M

mikewashburnAuthor

Avid Contributor I

Thanks for the response, but would it be possible to get some more info based more around how most chargers are marketed? Almost no one talks about amps, and only sometimes volts - all the marketing speaks to watts. Is there a way to convert amps/volts to watts to make sure the charger is safe for the Roam?

For example the Anker 324 40W changer says this: Output: 5V ⎓ 2.4A / 9V ⎓ 2.22A / 12V ⎓ 1.5A (20W Max Per Port)

To me this seems bad as I see 9V and 12V (which is more than the 5 volts you say is safe) - is that correct that this is bad?

Ken_Griffiths

I see 5v x 2.4A = 12W … so the Roam will draw its charge from that output.

K

Kumar

For example the Anker 324 40W changer says this: Output: 5V ⎓ 2.4A / 9V ⎓ 2.22A / 12V ⎓ 1.5A (20W Max Per Port)

To me this seems bad as I see 9V and 12V (which is more than the 5 volts you say is safe) - is that correct that this is bad?

Chargers seem to be all over the place and seem to lack any kind of standards; my approach now is to just make sure of the voltage number and make sure it matches the device. If the amps are more the device won’t pull them and if less, the device will take longer to charge.

I would assume that the said Anker will not damage a device that has a 5 volt spec; but you know what is said about “assume”, so wait for more guidance here on such a multi volt charger.

PS: the copy/paste below taken from the net seems correct, but I would want Sonos to confirm that the Roam can be a part of the conversation with the charger, referred in the quote below:

The USB-PD standard allows for multiple output voltages on USB-C devices, but every USB-C power supply must initially output 5V and communicate with the device on the other end. If the other device does not specifically ask the power supply to output more than 5V it will just continue to put out 5V and no more.

Assuming of course, that USB C is in use!

Corry P

Sonos Staff

Hi @mikewashburn

For example the Anker 324 40W changer says this: Output: 5V ⎓ 2.4A / 9V ⎓ 2.22A / 12V ⎓ 1.5A (20W Max Per Port)

To me this seems bad as I see 9V and 12V (which is more than the 5 volts you say is safe) - is that correct that this is bad?

As @Ken_Griffiths mentions, that charger quotes (in part) 5v x 2.4A = 12W. The Roam will receive 5v from that charger unless it were to ask for more (which it won’t do), as stated by @Kumar, so the charger should be fine to charge the Roam.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein

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