If you have a NOOK Color or Tablet, you probably know what I am talking about. The charger consists of a wall adapter and a micro USB cable. However, if you look at the USB cable more carefully, you will find it is not a regular micro USB cable, though a regular micro USB cable can be plugged in perfectly and can charge NOOK as well. The metal connector is longer than the regular one, and it can transmit more electric current to the NOOK, so it can charge the NOOK more quickly than using the regular micro USB cable. The problem, however, is that the long metal connector is weak and wobbles when plugged in, as a result, it can break easily and have loose connection. It seems a lot of NOOK users have the same problem, but I don’t understand why Barnes & Noble hasn’t done anything to improve this design.

The following picture is highlighted to show the weak part of the charger.

If the connector of your cable is broken and your NOOK is still under warranty, you can get a replacement for free from Barnes & Noble. But if you are not under warranty any more and you don’t want to spend $20 to buy a new power kit, you can just replace the cable itself with a regular micro USB cable, and still use the adapter. It will still work, but just a lot slower than using the original cable.

If somehow your adapter is broken or missing, you can use some generic USB adapter, but make sure the output current of the adapter is high. The original NOOK adapter’s output current is 1.8A to 1.9A, so if your generic adapter cannot output this high current, then your NOOK either will not charge or will charge very slowly.