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Thunderstorms become common in the summer months and lightning strikes can cause spikes in the mains power supply, which can damage any devices you have plugged in to charge, particularly sensitive equipment such as phones, tablets and laptops. Spikes in the mains power can also be caused by other equipment, so it's worth investing in a surge protector (bit.ly/surgeavailable from Maplin from around £5). These typically have four or six sockets to allow multiple devices such as laptops. monitors, USB drives, phone and tablet chargers all to be plugged in on the same protected power outlet. Some surge protectors, such as the Belkn SurgeCube (bit.ly/belkn), also include a pair of USB sockets, which are useful for charging phones and tablets directly. Check the output of the ports because they may provide more power than a standard USB charging plug, which means devices will charge more quickly.

The USB ports on a computer aren't always the best way to charge your mobile phone or tablet because they may not all deliver sufficient power. USB 2 sockets, which are the most common type found on PCs and laptops, only deliver 0.5A or 2.5W. Even if this is enough to charge your mobile device, it will take a lot longer than when it's plugged into its own charger.

USB 3 sockets provide 0.9A or 4.5W of power, which is nearly twice as much as USB 2. Your PC might have a mixture of the two. but they aren’t always easy to tell apart. The 'tongue' inside a USB 3 socket should be blue instead of black. but if you read the documentation that came with the computer, you may find a diagram labelling the sockets so you can see which are USB 3. If you want to charge your devices as quickly as possible. always use USB 3.

Some PCs and laptops have a designated USB charging port that provides more power than the others, which can be up to 1.5A or 7.5W. That isn't quite as much as some chargers, but it's still better than a standard USB port, so find out if your PC or laptop is equipped with one.

If you own more than one device from a company, don't presume that all its chargers are the same. The Apple iPhone charger delivers 1A/5W. So if you plug an iPhone into a standard USB 3 or lesser socket (O.9A/4.5W). it won’t charge as quickly, though it can charge faster in a PCS dedicated charging port (1.5A/7.5W). iPad chargers are rated at 2.4A/12W, which will get an iPhone to full power much more quickly than using its own charger.

If you are going on holiday and are taking your iPad and iPhone, you don't need to take both chargers. One will do and you‘re best off taking the iPad’s. The iPhone charger can be used with an iPad. but it is not recommended because it takes a long time and the charger gets hot.

A laptop, phone or tablet uses a lot more power for work, games and browsing the internet than when it’s idle with the screen turned off. Using a device while it's charging means it will take longer to power up the battery. which is worth knowing if you are late for work or are going out for the day and don’t have much time to charge a device that's run out of power. 

If you stop using your device, it will charge more quickly. Close the laptops lid and put it into sleep mode or, better still. charge it while it is switched off. A phone or tablet can be put into flight mode to speed up charging. This turns off Wi-Fi, 3G, data and so on, leaving more power to charge up the battery.

A device will charge faster when it's turned off, but turning it off and then turning it back on again requires more power than leaving a device idle. So if you only have 10 minutes to get the maximum charge into a device, put it in flight mode, turn off the screen and let it idle. If you have half an hour Or more, you can power it down. charge it, then power it up afterwards to get the maximum benefit.