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Costco KS 10 - can I use a different power supply with the provided cable?

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Hello,

I have the Costco KS 10 hearing aids. Can I substitute another power supply for the black Flypower plug that came with the hearing aids? I will be traveling and I want to reduce the number of device peripherals I must carry.

Can I also use a substitute (shorter) cable if the two connectors match what it now uses?

Thank you.

(I searched the forum but could not find this question)

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I’d say you’re safe as long as you stick with a 5 watt charger. Theoretically any charger should work, but I had an issue with a PartnerMic that might have been related to the charger I used.

It’s the output that matters. The charger box says 500mA in. The Flypower says 1A out. So that is already interesting. I don’t know how sophisticated the charger is for drawing only what it needs. But I wouldn’t use a wall wart that outputs more than 1A. So not your 15A cellphone fast charger.
As for cables, sure. I use little adapters for different cables. But then you get into trouble if you might need to charge different things at the same time and you’ll want those multiple cables.

I can’t remember having the charger base plugged into anything other than the adapter it came with. But I sometimes charge the KS10s with Marvel compact chargers, and I’ve had those plugged into multiple different adapters, directly into my PC, into a hub plugged into the PC, and into an adapter plugged into a vehicle 12V socket. My takeaway is that pretty much any USB source will do the job. The charger base appears to only pass through the adapter’s USB voltage, and aid’s BMS deals with the slight USB voltage variations and voltage reduction.

In reply to @z10user2

Isn’t the “standard” micro usb charger 5 volt/ 1amp or 5 watts? I agree one may have issues with using a fast charger. It was really easy to get sloppy with the PartnerMic as it used USB-C connector.

afaik usb is all 5V. Fast chargers are proprietary and have to do their own sensing. My Samsung fast charger offers 5V @ 2A for standard usb. Or when it detects the Samsung phone it will do 9V at 1.67A.
I have my KS10 charger connected to an 850mA wall wart. I’m fine with that. I still have the Flypower. I have other 1A and 850mA wall warts.

Basic electrics says you need to match the voltage and provide at least the amperage the charged device needs. The device will only draw what it needs - the wall wart can’t force too much current.

It gets weird when you include phone fast chargers. Look at the specs printed on the wall wart. I have a fast charger for my Samsung phone that can put out 9 V or 5 V. I suspect there’s some software handshaking going on between the two devices to decide which voltage, but I don’t know how that works. I wouldn’t use it for my KS10s.

If your wall wart / power converter is 5 V and 500 mA (.5 Amp) or above, you should be fine. You probably have an old phone charger kicking around that fits the bill.

@ctromley said:

I suspect there’s some software handshaking going on between the two devices to decide which voltage, but I don’t know how that works.

https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/introduction-to-usb-type-c-which-pins-power-delivery-data-transfer/3 The KS10 charger probably only has connections to the power pins. One can even buy USB cables that only have the power wires. Here’s an example https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000269694485.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.3.532f3dab0Q0T8a&algo_pvid=ef980a35-d527-4f07-9e1a-84ec2cf4ab4d&algo_exp_id=ef980a35-d527-4f07-9e1a-84ec2cf4ab4d-1&pdp_ext_f={“sku_id”%3A"10000001097334262"}&pdp_npi=3%40dis!CAD!6.03!4.28!!!!!%402122457116793422018572723d0713!10000001097334262!sea!CA!1621125999&curPageLogUid=1jipUpNIE4jk4

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