One of the more finer aspects of my testing has been charging the Vita. Since the battery isn’t super great and I travel quite a bit (hence my importing early too), I’ve decided to attempt to figure out how I can charge my Vita while a) on a plane or in a car b) at a hotel and c) at home. I also wanted to know how many chargers I’d need to travel with as I need to bring a ton of electronic gadgets with me but tend to bring only the bare minimum of charging devices to get by. I use a lot of 3rd party USB cables, like ones for my PSP slim and 3DS instead their bulky first party chargers.

I’ve come across some interesting results and would love to hear from other importers what they’ve discovered as well.

Vita Charger PCH-ZAC1:

Using the standard out of the box Vita charging “brick” (PCH-ZAC1), this little unit requires a power cable (same one used by the PSPgo brick) and a Vita specific USB cable to charge. Using this setup one can charge their Vita while it is either OFF or ON and have a nice long cable(s) to move around and still play. Works get for home.

USB “brick” chargers:

These little bricks are the same type you’d get with an iPhone or iPad purchase. I’ve even gotten them with my Nook Color or Nook Touch. You can also buy these off the shelf from various vendors like Belkin or Griffin. I tend to take an iPhone USB brick charger with me every time I travel. They are very compact and have always charger whatever I’d need to charger except my Nooks. Well, I’ve found another thing that won’t charge with them and it’s the Vita. Vita will not accept a charge from an iPhone charger nor the larger, more powerful iPad charger.

I then tested my Nook chargers. Both work with the Vita. The Vita charged while either ON or OFF, currently the Vita is charging while I play Uncharted using the Nook Touch charger.

Clearly I’m confused as to why the iPhone and iPad bricks do not work yet the Nook bricks do. Weird. Useful for traveling though as I have a trip scheduled soon and will certainly be bringing along a Nook charger instead of just an iPhone charger for the hotel.

USB charging via PC:

Vita will charge via PC when the Vita is OFF. I believe this is the same standard as mentioned in the manual. Handy I guess when all you got is a laptop to charge it with but it most be OFF to accept the charge.

USB charging via external battery:

So because I wanted to charge my Vita and other devices on a plane, I purchased a Mophie Powerstation to do just that. Everything I’ve tested it with it will charge except the Vita. The Vita will not charge either OFF or ON. Very saddening as 3 hours of battery life won’t even last a cross country flight. Sony is releasing their own external battery pack but I’m not clear on it’s release date and it surely won’t be “soon”.

USB charging in a car:

I haven’t yet tested charging in a car using a USB cig lighter adapter (something I use for iPhone/iPad) but will soon. I do believe an official Sony car adapter is forth coming as well.

So, that’s what I’ve tested. Please let me know if you find something else, perhaps I’ve missed something in my testing. And for the record, yes, USB Power Supply setting is checked to ON.

Fat Princess is a great strategy game with good artwork and excellent humor. Not to be missed on the PS3 and coming soon to the PSP from Supervillain Studios.