What is the difference between a power adapter and a charger？

A charger usually refers to a device that converts alternating current into low-voltage direct current. The charger is a dedicated DC power supply for rechargeable batteries, and includes a control circuit that meets the charging characteristics such as current limit and voltage limit.

Chargers are widely used in various fields, especially in daily life, and are widely used in common electrical appliances such as electric vehicles and flashlights. It generally charges the battery directly without any intermediate equipment and devices.

The charger process is: constant current-constant voltage-trickle, three-level smart charging. The three-level charging theory in the charging process can greatly improve the charging efficiency, shorten the charging time, and effectively extend the battery life. The three-level charging first uses constant current charging, then constant voltage charging, and finally uses floating charging for maintenance charging.

Generally divided into three stages: fast charging, supplementary charging and trickle charging:

Fast charging stage: Use high current to charge the battery, quickly recover battery energy, and the charging rate can reach more than 1C. At this time, the charging voltage is low, but the charging current will be limited within a certain range of values.

Complementary charging phase: Compared with the fast charging phase, the complementary charging phase can also be called the slow charging phase. When the fast charging phase is terminated, the battery is not fully sufficient and a supplementary charging process is required. The supplementary charging rate generally does not exceed 0.3C because the battery voltage rises after the fast charging stage, and the charging voltage during the supplementary charging stage also rises and remains within a certain range.

Trickle charging stage: In the latter part of the complementary charging stage, when it is detected that the temperature rises above the limit value or the charging current drops to a certain value, charging is started with a smaller current until certain conditions are met.

The common power adapter in the power adapter market is a power converter that undergoes transformation, rectification, and stabilization. The output is DC, which can be understood as a low-voltage stabilized power supply when the power is satisfied.

Power adapters are widely used in routers, telephones, game consoles, language repeaters, walkmans, notebooks, mobile phones and other equipment. Most power adapters can automatically detect 100 ~ 240 V AC (50/60Hz).

The power adapter is a power conversion device for small portable electronic equipment and electronic appliances. It connects the power supply to the host from the outside through a line, which can reduce the size and weight of the host. Only a few devices and electrical appliances have power sources built into the host.

It is composed of a power transformer and a rectifier circuit. According to the output type, it can be divided into AC output type and DC output type; according to the connection mode, it can be divided into wall plug-in type and desktop type. There is a nameplate on the power adapter, indicating the power supply, input and output voltage and current, pay special attention to the range of the input voltage.