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Just bought a Coolpix S9900 which has a EL-EL12 battery installed. When travelling I like to take a single charger. I have an Anker 60W 6 port USB charger which I use to charge my iPad, iPhone, GoPro, GoPro remote etc. and it all works well.

I'd like to use the Anker for the new camera too but there are dire warnings in the instructions about using a non-Nikon charger (although it does say I can charge it from a PC's USB port).

I went on to Nikon support's on-line chat this morning and all I got was a warning that no third party chargers have been tested but using anything other than a Nikon branded charger could cause a fire!

Can't really believe that but would be interested to know whether anyone else has used a third party charger on a similar camera before I have a go (the wife would get very annoyed if I burned the house down).

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This is often a case of confusion. The amp rating on chargers is the maximum amount they can deliver.

The device you connect to a charger only draws as many amps as it requires (if possible). You could connect a 13amp charger to a 100milliamp device and it'd be fine.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ It's when the device wants more current than the charger/input source can provide is when there's sometimes trouble.. most stuff will prevent this happening. When something is trying to draw too much current such as a broken appliance it will tend to blow a fuse. A charger probably has protection against this using circuitry and just limits the current to it's max rating. \$\endgroup\$
    – John Hunt
    Commented Nov 27, 2015 at 10:13
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I went onto the Anker support area and was advised that all would be OK. It was. It charged and appeared to behave in exactly the same as as if it were plugged into the charger that came with the camera.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Well, they would say that! \$\endgroup\$
    – Philip Kendall ♦
    Commented Apr 7, 2015 at 18:13
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The maximum power specified in USB 1 & 2 is 500 mA, and in USB 3 it's 900 mA. The Anker 60W can deliver up to 2400 mA, so that is way more than the specification.

The Anker is supposed (according to the manufacturer) to detect what it is that you are charging, and only deliver the power that the unit can handle. If that is true also for your camera, then it would be safe to charge it, if not you could very well fry some circuits or overheat the batteries.

If the charger only was capable of delivering the power specified for USB, then it would be safe to use, as that would be equivalent to plugging it into a PC. As it's able to deliver more power, it's a question of whether it's able to correctly recognise the camera and deliver the correct amount of power (or only deliver USB specified power for unrecognised units).

Naturally Nikon can't guarantee that it would be safe for the camera, it would be up to Anker to make that guarantee (and back it up with replacing any hardware if the charger would destroy it).

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Not very insightful. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohm%27s_law - if device consumes 2,4A it's the problem of device. The charger does not detect anything. \$\endgroup\$
    – Euri Pinhollow
    Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 9:17
  • \$\begingroup\$ @PinhollowEuri: Well, Anker claims otherwise... "PowerIQ™ technology dynamically detects and adapts to your device's unique charging protocol" anker.com/poweriq \$\endgroup\$
    – Guffa
    Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 12:49
  • \$\begingroup\$ this smells like blatant marketing. There is also a TV show on the description page instead of technical information - wattahell. It's just nobody sued them to the time. There is no "charging protocol" for USB, it is completely made up. There is no need in specific technology to make a device charge faster (and there can't be any as well). You cannot make a device charge faster than with a charger which just outputs maximum current which device is able to consume. \$\endgroup\$
    – Euri Pinhollow
    Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 13:09

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