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Charging Surface 3 through the regular (not micro) USB port

Anonymous
2017-05-26T01:22:57+00:00

I've been having real problems charging my Surface 3, which I chalked up to issues with the cable or micro port on the unit itself.  Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't, always it was extremely slow at best.  Rather than get a new charger, I stumbled on OEM docks deeply discounted on Amazon, and decided to give that a try.  Surprised to see that it charges not from the micro port, but from the regular USB.  Which gets me to thinking despite the common wisdom that one must use the micro port to charge, that we could instead go through the more robust regular USB port to charge, perhaps with better success.  I don't want to have to carry the dock around all the time, after all, and some days I'm out long enough that I can't rely on one charge to get me through the day.

Anyone know how it can be that MS designs a device to charge via the regular port, but we're all led to believe that we can't use that if we're coming from a charging block instead of the dock?

Surface | Surface Go | Power and battery

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-05-26T21:02:40+00:00

    I asked an internal contact about this, and here is what he said..

    "...

    while in the Surface 3 dock, power is delivered over the USB port.  But that is only time that works/supported.  There is special circuitry in the dock to allow for this.  Outside of the dock you must use the Micro-USB port

    If he is having issues with charging I would recommend that he use the exact cable and power adapter that came with the Surface 3.  While you can use other cables/adapters you can run into issues where it doesn’t charge or charges very slowly.  The cable and adapter we supply with Surface 3 is a very high quality cable and adapter.  I have seen issues with other cables

    ..."

    20+ people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2017-05-26T19:07:57+00:00

    I ordered one of these. I'm really curious to see how/if it charges my Surface 3 "through the regular USB port". Here is a graphical illustration of how I believe this works. So I'm not sure what you are plugging into what in the dock that charges via USB. But $24 is sure a great price.

    9 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2017-05-26T19:19:16+00:00

    Barb - your arrows illustrate my point.  When we plug in using the original charger, we plug into the micro usb port on the bottom right of the unit....where as you see there's no corresponding male on the dock.  On the dock, power comes in from the rear, and only has two possible ways to reach the unit...through the video connection (the top arrow, and not likely) or the USB (the one just below).  Can't get to a volt meter right now or I'd check with that to confirm that's where juice is flowing, but it's the only way I can conceive that this unit brings power into the Surface.  Which gets back to my original question, if we can charge via the "regular" USB port when using the dock, why can't we use that port (just using a different cable than the one originally supplied) to charge when out of the dock.  It's a far more robust connection, and less likely to have issues of problematic connection (which I presume is what's been giving me so much trouble lately) than the micro.  I've only had the dock for a day, but it charged me right up when I dropped my (out of juice) surface in on arrival.

    7 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2017-05-26T18:05:18+00:00

    Way to jack my thread!  What I bought, as I said, was the OEM Surface 3 docking station.  

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VGJI1RS/ref=od\_aui\_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    <$25 now, was originally priced at $199.  Sweet deal.

    7 people found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2017-05-26T10:27:22+00:00

    what product did you buy (link please) that charges the Surface 3 through the regular USB port? also, it would be nice to see a picture of your setup showing this device and your Surface 3.

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