Fast charge vs. regular charge

Could you be more vague? There are MANY variables to consider. If you don't have an option, what does it matter?

I'll assume your unspecified digital "device" uses a Lithium Ion battery. It would be helpful if you disclosed the nature of this mystery "device". Hopefully, it's not a charger for a stolen cell phone as many aftermarket chargers are sold for this purpose.

A fast charger charges quickly. A regular charger charges slowly.

Both chargers have some method of determining EOC (end of charge) which is helpful for preventing the battery from burning down your house or melting your mystery "device". A regular charger just slowly charges to the EOC point, and quits. A fast charger usually is a 3 stage charger, with 3 stage charging.

Only if it screws up and overcharges the battery. I recently had an RF balance charger do exactly that to a quadcopter battery. Fortunately, all fast chargers use switching power supplies, which go to zero output when they screw up, thus saving your battery from a premature demise.

Leaving the battery at full charge, and running it hot (like inside your mystery "device") will kill a LiIon battery. Newer laptops have a setting where you can charge to about 50% should you need to leave the charger plugged in 24x7. However, cellphones, smartphones, and media players usually do not have this feature.

However, I wouldn't worry much about battery life in your device. The average lifetime of a common cell phone is about 18 months. 30 months for smartphones. About 4 years for laptops. Your "device" will be a candidate for eWaste long before the battery dies. That's one reason that Apple embalmed the battery inside their "devices" and made them almost impossible to replace.

I think that's an irresponsibly optimistic view, given that we have zero info on the device, battery technology and charger.

Apple didn't embalm anything. They had a Chinaman do it for 10 cents an hour.

I'll take full responsibility. Dunno about the optimism part.

You're correct about the zero info part. That's nothing unusual as I've noticed that those that can properly frame a question, usually can also figure out the answer themselves by Googling or just thinking. Those that can't, ask questions here, resulting in the all too common badly framed, one-line, non-specific, overly general, quite useless, and difficult to answer type questions. Unfortunately, without them, there would be no usenet. I endure, awaiting clarification.

It means the seller wants you to believe (it may or may not be true) that this charger charges faster than some other charger.

ld sell me was a FAST CHARGER. What is the difference between that and a re gular charger? Does a Fast charger shorten battery life? TIA.

Thanks for the answers so far. To clarify, It is a car charger supporting a motorola smartphone containing an OEM Motorola lithium ion battery. The original chargers provided are junk, which is why they break, which is why i had to buy a new one. In this case, I replaced a car charger with an Mo torola OEM MicroUSB quickcharger. Looking forward to reply.

ld sell me was a FAST CHARGER. What is the difference between that and a re gular charger? Does a Fast charger shorten battery life? TIA.

It is a car charger supporting a motorola smartphone containing an OEM Moto rola lithium ion battery. The phone is not stolen. The original chargers provided are junk, which is why they break, which is why i had to buy a ne w one. In this case, I replaced a car charger with an Motorola OEM MicroUS B quickcharger. BTW, do I understand that it's a bad idea to leave a laptop with a lithium ion battery plugged into a charger all the time? Shortens the battery life ?

Those also sound like average lifespans for Palestinian girls in the hands of the Israeli Army.

I'm currently using a Nokia cell phone that is nearly 15 years old. Miraculously the battery is still working OK, thought it may not be quite as old as the device itself is.