Car charger in Europe for US bought iPod 3g

Question

I bought an iPod Touch 3g in the US. Then I moved to Germany. I bought a Belkin Micro USB Car Charger in Germany, but my US-bought iPod touch 3g does not charge from it, using the USB-dock cable that came with the iPod touch. When I returned the Belkin charger (to the chain electronics store) the salesman told me that NO charger bought in Europe will work with the US bought iPod 3g. Is this for real, or is he full of $%^&*? I can charge from my laptop USB connector, and from a Wii USB port. Why can I not charge from a USB car adapter? Can someone suggest a product I can buy in Europe for my car lighter socket? Thanks!

Answer 1

deric.apple wrote:
... the salesman told me that NO charger bought in Europe will work with the US bought iPod 3g.
That is not true. First of all, the iPod Touch requires the standard USB voltage to charge (that's approximately 5v), and at (I think) 500mA. mA is the current, or the speed that the electricity moves along the wire. That's the same, whether the iPod was purchased in the USA, the European Union, or Japan (in fact, anywhere)
the salesman told me that _NO charger_ bought in Europe ...
"A charger" could mean any one of several different types, so if that's what the saleman actually said, he was playing with words. He still wasn't correct though:
1. wall charger; transforms the "local" voltage into USB voltage. The "local" voltage in the USA is 120 volts, in Europe it's (mainly) 220 volts.
2. USB port on a computer; it will be 5 volts, but some USB ports (keyboard ones especially) do not provide a high enough current and therefore will not charge an iPod.
3. *"Car chargers for iPods";* a device that plugs into the car's "cigarette lighter" outlet (or now sometimes called the "12 volt out socket" or similar). Car battery voltage is 12 volts, so the "car charger" has to change that to 5 volts. But it also has to provide 500mA.
So what were you sold? The pictures and description of the three Belkin Micro USB Car Chargers that I've seen (on the Belkin website) look as though they should all do the job, but there is no technical information to confirm that for two of them. So what was the problem? I don't know, was the device you had in two parts, a "plug" that fitted into the car socket and a cable that plugged into the "plug"? If not, and it was a one piece device with the cable coming directly out of the device, perhaps it was a firewire charger. If so, that is the problem.
Older iPods charged through "firewire" or USB, but newer iPods do not (and cannot) use the firewire charging voltage. Firewire voltage is 12 volts and there have been plenty of "chargers" which were "designed" for iPods but used only the firewire output. So they work with older iPods, but not newer ones and definitely not with the Touch.
Wow! I realise that's a bit long-winded, but the fact is, you can buy a charger to charge your iPod Touch from the car socket. But it must be a USB one that provides 5 volts and at least 500mA. If it only provides 300mA, it will not work. Try another shop.
Phil