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Actual time to charge Surface pro with RT charger?

TagsxA

TagsxA

Member
Hi, I'm new to this forum and I'll be getting a surface pro (128GB) in the next week or two. In doing so, I'll want to pick up an additional charger for it, but I want to stick with an OEM charger of some sort. I've done fairly extensive searching on both the internets as well as this forum and haven't found an approximate answer to this questions:

How long does it take to fully charge a surface pro, with a surface rt charger?

The only answer I've found is the standard "It takes longer to charge the sp with the rt charger". Any/all responses are greatly appreciated : )

On a related note, this forum has been a HUGE help in finding out which accessories to purchase, along with my surface pro. I'm really looking forward to contributing as much as I can, to this forum!
 
I don't know for sure since I don't have an RT charger but perhaps this will help. According to BatteryBar Pro (program not in Store) the SP charges at 20W until it is almost fully charged. Thus my educated guess is that the RT charger would charge just as fast *as long as the RT is not wake*. If it is awake I would imagine that charge rate will fall, perhaps quite a bit under heavy use

I actually went to purchase the RT charger for my SP earlier today but the MS Store shows it as being sold out :-(
 
Thanks for the quick reply! I may end up just getting a surface RT charger when I get my pro and just use that as the overnight charger, while I use the surface pro charger while I'm on the go.
 
TagsxA said:
I may end up just getting a surface RT charger when I get my pro and just use that as the overnight charger, while I use the surface pro charger while I'm on the go.
Click to expand...

TagsxA --

That is a good combination. I bought an extra RT charger with my Ladyfriend's Pro, just for her to keep at the office. I was curious to know if it would maintain charge on a busy machine, so I used it while I was doing all the setup work on her Pro. That's a lot of reads, writes, downloads, etc., and the charge level never dropped below 100%. That's all I really wanted to know -- if she could use it all day at the office and not run into a low battery situation.

I think the answer to your question is around here somewhere, but I don't remember where. I think J5150P did the math and posted it in an earlier thread. I'm not sure how to find it, but if he runs across your post, he may point you in that direction.

Remember that the Pro charger will also charge your cell phone, so that may save having to carry one device.

Regards,
Russ
 
Russ said:
...I was curious to know if it would maintain charge on a busy machine, so I used it while I was doing all the setup work on her Pro. That's a lot of reads, writes, downloads, etc., and the charge level never dropped below 100%. That's all I really wanted to know -- if she could use it all day at the office and not run into a low battery situation...
Click to expand...

Wow... This, right here, is just awesome!!! This is almost BETTER than being able to recharge the surface pro. This response almost makes me think I'll take the smaller rt charger with me on the go. Thanks for the reply, much appreciated :)
 
TagsxA said:
This response almost makes me think I'll take the smaller rt charger with me on the go.
Click to expand...

TagsxA --

My Ladyfriend just left for a six-week China trip, and she was debating which charger to take. It's long trip, and she is a certified small-person, so is very attentive to how much she packs. She had kept some notes on rundown and recharge times, but, unfortunately, I didn't preserve them. It was almost a toss-up for her, but she finally decided to take the Pro charger because she could leave behind the little AC block that she would normally need for her iPhone. She was measuring them here on my coffee table, and decided that the space requirements were about equal, but she got the advantage of a faster recharge if she needed it.

That is unscientific and for whatever it's worth.

Take care,
Russ
 
Russ,
Yeah, bringing the pro charger on a trip, to eliminate an extra charger for her phone, really makes alot of sense. Again, thanks so much for your responses!
 
Rvacha said:
I don't know for sure since I don't have an RT charger but perhaps this will help. According to BatteryBar Pro (program not in Store) the SP charges at 20W until it is almost fully charged. Thus my educated guess is that the RT charger would charge just as fast *as long as the RT is not wake*. If it is awake I would imagine that charge rate will fall, perhaps quite a bit under heavy use

I actually went to purchase the RT charger for my SP earlier today but the MS Store shows it as being sold out :-(
Click to expand...

Pretty much this plus what Russ said. If your Surface is off (off or hibernate not sleep or idle) it should charge just as fast with the RT charger. If it is on, charge time will be longer than the Pro charger depending ultimately on how heavy the use is.

As to what Russ said once charged the RT charger should maintain the charge.

Welcome to the forum :)

JP
 
I have one Pro charger at work and one at home. I carry an RT charger in my bag - just smaller enough, wraps up nicely.
 
I've just finished a week long trip with my surface pro and the RT charger...and the RT charger worked perfectly. I was able to charge the pro just as fast and frankly was able to attach my Samsung s3 to the built in usb plug on the surface (not the charger) to keep topping up and it charged it up fairly quickly. I did do some stress test on the RT charger at home with the CPU running at over 60% and with the rt charger it would lose a percent or 2 but as soon as the cpu slowed down it recharged quickly. I have zero doubt that using the rt charger while traveling will not be any issue at all. Frankly the usb plug on the surface is more convenient than the one on the charger. At half the weight (and cost) the rt charger is my mobile plug of choice now.
 
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