What is the difference between a charger and a power supply, can they be interchanged?

Question

Electronics

What is the difference between a charger and a power supply, can they be interchanged? Other things being equal: current, voltage.

Answer 1

The power supply (not laboratory) is a source of voltage. It may have a stabilizer, then it is a source of stabilized voltage.
Laboratory power supply - can work as a source of stabilized voltage, or as a source of stabilized current.
Charger - as a rule, implements a special (for a specific battery chemistry) algorithm for stabilizing current or voltage.
For example, for a lead-acid battery, a method of charging with a stable current equal to 1/10 of the capacity, expressed in ampere hours, is adopted. We draw conclusions about suitability:
- a simple brick without stabilization - not suitable
- charging from a laptop (a brick with voltage stabilization) - not suitable, a stable current is needed
- a laboratory worker - there is current stabilization, it is suitable.
and so on for all types of batteries. In order not to ruin high-energy batteries (for example, LiPol), they are used in conjunction with a special charge / discharge control circuit.

Answer 2

all cell phone chargers are just a power supply.
usually at 5 volts, but about fifteen years ago, before the introduction of the usb standard, other voltages also came across.
circuits that implement proper charging, such as cc / cv mode for lithium polymer batteries, are inside the phone