Asking about finding the right charger for my device

Question

If I was to ask about finding the right charger for my device, would that be off-topic?

The help center says:

The following topics are expressly off-topic here:
...
Questions asking the community to find or recommend something for you (a device, app, ROM, website, etc), including what to buy and where to buy it

Specifically, I want to make sure I use the right charger so that 1) my device charges fast enough, and 2) I don't ruin it by using the wrong charger.

It seems to me like this could be construed as a shopping question. On the other hand, it also feels like a "problem (with [my] Android device) [that I am] trying to solve" and the community here would probably be able to help with it. I'm also thinking it would probably not be so narrow that it would never help anyone else in the future, like shopping questions often are.

Would this question be off-topic? Thanks!

Answer 1

Afraid this would be considered off-topic by most users, as you already guessed. I'd suggest checking with our charging tag-wiki first (especially the "Chargers/Cables" section), and cross-check with questions using that tag.

If you weren't able to solve your issue that way, an acceptable approach would be asking for criteria (not chargers directly) – along the lines "What criteria I need to consider when buying a charger for my device". Though that might be seen "border-line" by some, it IMHO fits the site (and doesn't fall into the "shopping recommendation" category of "fast aging questions" – as the very same criteria should be still valid in a year or three).

Beside that: I've never spent much thought on that but rather charged my devices by the "nearest available charger". USB power has a specification (so no harm there) – and with wall chargers should be no harm either, as either they provide enough power for faster loading, or the device takes a bit longer: voltage again should meet the specifications, and if there are more Ampere available than requested by the device, the device would simply ignore that ;)