Is a car charger a car charger?

[sailorgirl]

This is an accessory I'll definitely be needing. I have a cheapo one I got on ebay for my ipod that should work, but what I don't want to do is take any chances that I'm going to fry my iphone or fizzle the battery. Are some better than others? Is there a particular car charger people recommend?

[JFSikora]

Would I buy one off of ebay for $.50? No way... would I spend $30 at the Apple store...? No chance. But these would be fine: iPhone 3G Car Chargers - Phone different Store

[pyroguysf]

Yeah its kinda hard to go wrong with something like a car charger. A $1 one on ebay might be iffy like Bad Ash said, but generally the $5-10 ones in that store or any other store that's real looking products with actual brand names you can look up online should do the job. There's always FM transmitters and probably bluetooth kits that'll charge the phone, and do more if that's more your style.

[jmeiners]

One thing I saw at a bigbox retailer to watch out for is lead warnings on the case. the warning read something like this "keep away from children as exposed metal contains lead and may pose a health risk." This was a 5.00 charger for the iPod video, but it would not be a suprise if the same manufacturer produced car chargers for the iPhone.

[RicMac]

Most of the cheaper car chargers used the "firewire" method to charge your iPhone and worked with the first iPhone. The new 3G does not support this. The above mentioned firewire method used all 12 volts off of the car battery to charge the iPhone, the new iPhone only uses 5 volts. Apple does not let the older chargers work in the new iPhone thus not frying it.
Griffin has a nice one that works for $20 - available in the store on this site.
I have one on order.

[whmurray]

Originally Posted by sailorgirl

This is an accessory I'll definitely be needing. I have a cheapo one I got on ebay for my ipod that should work, but what I don't want to do is take any chances that I'm going to fry my iphone or fizzle the battery. Are some better than others? Is there a particular car charger people recommend?

A car charger is not a car charger. I did not buy one when I went to the AT&T store because I had three. The Iphone burped on one but charged on all three. The iPhone3G also burped on one but would not charge on any. Had to go back to the store.

[Dieter Bohn]

+1 to what RicMac said. I plugged a firewire car charger in and a message popped up saying it was incompatible and wouldn't charge -- which it didn't. Thank the lord that's all that happened!

[cjvitek]

That's what happened to me. I bought one here (which I believe was originally listed as compatible with the iPhone 3G) and got the same message. It is now lised as not compatible.

Chris

[bergman]

I've done well with inexpensive chargers and cables on eBay. Look at ebay seller: accstation. I've purchased several items from them and keep going back with no disappointments so far. I must have bought from them 4 times so far.

[whmurray]

Originally Posted by whmurray

A car charger is not a car charger. I did not buy one when I went to the AT&T store because I had three. The Iphone burped on one but charged on all three. The iPhone3G also burped on one but would not charge on any. Had to go back to the store.

Where I bought the Griffin.