I have always used a genuine car charger for my previous Nokia TDMA phone and my last Sony Ericsson. I remember reading here (on WA somewhere, maybe not this forum) that "OEM" chargers (in this case for the car) can hurt the battery. I found an OEM DC-4 "type" on Amazon for 1 cent but the genuine Nokia part for $2.08. Enquiring mind(s) need to know the TRUTH, please!
I've used a third-party charger once before and while it didn't hurt the battery, after about a dozen insertions/removals into the lighter socket it started coming apart at the seams and I had to constantly tighten up the nut holding the tip of the fuse in place. It was annoying, but in a non-destructive kind of way. Also, I have a couple of CA-44 adapter cables one is a third party and the other two are Nokia. The third party one has much looser contact with the charging socket on the phone. I'm not saying all third party stuff is bad, I have a knock-off DKU-5 data cable and that one I have no problems with, but on the charging end of things I had been less lucky.
Like you as well I have nothing but luck when it comes to this as well. Yeah due to the poor build quality they can fall apart easy.
I agree with the other guys. And as I posted in your Nokia post, OEM does not mean a generic part, but a geninue Nokia part. ie Original Equipment Manufactuer.
They are not always poor quality. I am still using the same charger I bought for my TDMA V60 years ago for my Moto V551's and A845. It has stood up so well that my brother in law actually made a point to look on Ebay for a used charger the same brand as mine, as the first charger he bought broke after 2 weeks. -Jay
What I found with Nokia is that they give a quick 30 min charge and then shut off. This is what I what in a car charger, since I don't spend much time in the auto. With an off brand, it slowly charged like my house charger, taking hours. That is not the sort of thing I'm looking for in the car. I also worry about the protective circuits in the chargers. A battery is an expensive item to lose because of a $3 cheap charger! BTW, The Nokia DC-4 is only $14.95 on line at Nokia - Overview - Car accessories - Car solutions - All accessories - Accessories - Find products
I should have titled this thread "Are Generic [aka Third Party] Car Chargers Bad"? Viewfly, while $14.95 for the DC-4 from Nokia is not a bad price (beats the $29.99 that the AWS Corp. store wanted) you can find 'em for as low as $1.38 on Amazon (search for DC-4). I also want to get the CA-42 Data Cable but I just cannot bear to part with $28.99 for the genuine Nokia cable when I can find an "equivalent" cable for $6.60 at Amazon. The cable will be used once or twice while the car charger will get a more through workout. Thanks to all for the advice and suggestions.
I have used both type of chargers for my Nokia's and haven't had a problem with either one of them,but like it was said before the OEM charger did shut off after a short period of time.
