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The Surface came with a power adapter which is not very convenient for people like me that always on the road. Now that it is a propitiatory adapter, I can't share it with other devices, so there is one more bulky thing to carry. Is there a way I can charge the device via a USB based charger so I use it in a car?
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
This is correct. The Surface requires a 12 VDC feed to charge, a USB port is 5VDC. Although it may technically be able to build some sort of converter, it would require more current that a USB port could provide anyway.
MS currently also does not sell the charging cable as a separate piece, it is built into the transformer.
Either way, you'll never be able to charge the Surface off a PC.
You can however charge your phone, tablet, BT headset, or other devices using the Surface's USB port.
Greetings Kburgoyne,
You are correct, the new car charger adapter that was announced with the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2, will work with ALL V1 & V2 Surface devices.
(moderator edit)
Surface 3 and Surface Pro 3 have different power connectors
Greetings Cat2k1
Thank you for reaching out on us. Please continue to check Surface homepage, the Microsoft Store and your local retailer.
Thank you for posting and please let us know if you have anymore question, it would be our pleasure to assist you.
There is one available specifically for the Surface here: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Microsoft-Surface-Car-Charger-with-USB-Port/productID.291671000
Hope that helps.
Boz9
Try this ...
▶ Microsoft Surface Car Charger with USB port via Microsoft Store
I hope this helps!
David
Greetings all you frustrated Surface users who want a car charger. Go onto the main Microsoft web site and look at the accessories for the Surface Pro 2. There is a car charger listed. I have no doubt it'll work for the Surface Pro 1. Plus a car charger that works for the Pro should work just fine for the RT. It also has a separate USB connector for charging a separate device that uses USB charging -- like your cell phone.
Greetings Leslie,
Sorry, there is currently no USB or Car charger designed for Surface. Thank you for the feedback, I will pass the info to the appropriate team.
Please let us know if you have any other questions.
Thank you for posting.
Thanks for the response. I know this sounds dumb... but could i plug the USB from the wenger into the surface power charger and then connect it via the magnet to the surface? i know it will take forever...but there is not many options for using either smartphone or tablet--no electricity...
You cant... That wont work. You need to connect the 5V from the USB directly to the surface.
To do that, you have to know which of the 5 pins of the surface is + and -. Then you have to read the USB specifications to find out which pin is + and -. :) And so on and so fort...
Just ask someone that know a bit about electronics to make an Surface-RT-to-USB-Power-Adaptor for you :)
If you have a power inverter in your car, that works. I just tested it as I had a drive to do and plugged it into my inverter during the drive and it charged just fine.
Not sure how well one of the smaller inverters would do as I have had bad luck with those in the past charging electronics but my 400 watt one worked just fine.
As there are no alternative devices with the magnetic power connector needed the standard 110-240V AC adapter is the only option.
This in turn only leaves the option of a mains inverter in the car plugged into the lighter/accessory socket. At only 34w for the PSU the smallest inverter will do and as the PSU is a switched mode device a true sine wave inverter is not required.
No intelligent device with a USB "A" port such as in the Surface is able to be powered or charged by it. The devices you describe are fitted with USB "B" interfaces and are designed to take power from the port. The only exceptions are battery packs which frequently use the same port to be charged on as is then uses to power the USB device
You could plug something in to the Surface and it might charge it, not the other way round. What is actually lacking at the moment is an alternative to the supplied PSU which can connect to the magnetic power connector on the side of the Surface. As far as I know it is specific to the Surface and as such there would be copyright issues if a 3rd party charger was made and the use of one would probably invalidate the Warranty.
Ipads etc. can be charged via USB because the voltage requirements are defined by the USB standard, are not Host devices and the Surface is.
To put it simply, no.
In essence you are right it is a CYA statement. Poor quality inverters produce a distorted wave form more akin to what is almost a square wave which contains every odd harmonic of the basic frequency. So a true 50Hz Square wave has 50Hz, 150Hz, 450Hz, 900Hz, and so on in it in decreasing amounts. In practice they actually produce a "topped and tailed" wave which is missing the peaks and troughs.
There are two main types of power supply to produce low voltage from mains. Linear which feed the mains directly in to a transformer as AC, reduce by a ratio to near the required output then feed it through rectifiers and regulators to produce the feed. Because the transformer is directly connected to the mains noisy input makes for a noisy output. These are easy to identify because they have big transformers and so are heavy.
The alternative is a switched mode supply and these take the incoming mains and immediately rectify it to produce DC and smooth it with a relatively big capacitor, chop it up to reduce the voltage then also rectify and smooth it again. These use smaller transformers so are much lighter and are the type used in PCs, laptops and other electronic devices. For example if you made a PSU capable of delivering the power needed for a PC out of a linear design it would weigh several tens of kilos.
Thats the boring bit, more important is should it matter and in essence no. Switched mode power supplies are inherantly noisy electrically speaking so have the components and design to get rid of that noise. There is no difference between that noise and the noise made by the poor waveform of the inverter so it works for both. Spikes can be more of an issue and are prevalent with generators or starting the car with the inverter in use so a spike suppressor plug/socket might help although most have that circuitry built in. So in general pay for a good one just a little more powerful than you need instead of a cheap one far bigger than you want.
Some inverters are labelled as "pure sine wave" and these are therefore supposedly the same as the mains supply. They are a little more expensive but for peace of mind look for one of them. Lets face it, the mains is not that clean especially if you are in a rural location or next door to a factory, perhaps even working in one. I had an installation to do in a workshop that cut steel with a robot that had an electric arc cutter head and the noise that generated was huge.
