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With the release of new technology Quick Charge a question has arisen that worries many users of mobile devices - is fast charging harmful for the phone? And in this article we will talk about exactly this and try to understand everything. Let's go...

The origin of the “myth” about the dangers of Quick Charge

Immediately after the release of this technology, there were many opponents, and in most cases, due to the possession of incorrect information.

Many people know that high currents harm the battery, but they do not know how high currents accelerate its wear and that this only applies to the final stage of the process.

Does fast charging kill your battery?

At the highest power, the battery is not fully charged, but only to 50-70% of the total capacity. Then the current decreases to a level similar to “slow” charging. Therefore, a smartphone equipped with the Quick Charge function can be charged halfway in just 30 minutes, but it needs to be fully charged in 1.5 - 2 hours or more, depending on the battery capacity.

With a normal charge, you will get 50% in 1 hour, and the phone can be fully charged in 2.5-3 hours. Following from the above, the purpose of Quick Charge is not to “fill” the battery 100% to the maximum short term, and more sharply reduce the currents.

The goal of the technology is to quickly place the maximum possible amount of charge into the battery without harming it. If the maximum is reached, the smartphone charges in normal mode.

The process seems to be explainable, but then where do so many opponents come from and why do they claim that after using it the device has become worse at holding a charge? The answer is not the technology itself, but its misapplication.

The main reason for battery wear is user inconsistency.

The normal mode taught us to charge the device overnight or once every two or three days (for example, like in some popular gadget like Xiaomi Redmi 4x). And with Quick Charge, most often users find that charging three times to 50% is faster than charging once to 100% (about an hour or two hours instead of three).

After all, you can recharge your phone halfway and work with it for another half a day. Therefore, users use the device more and charge it more often. Therefore, NOT FAST, but FREQUENT charging reduces the performance of the device. Let's take a closer look.

The average battery life is 400-500 charge cycles, then the capacity begins to decrease by 20-25%. If you charge your phone once a day, 500 cycles will expire in 1.5-2 years. But if you charge and discharge the device more often, this time will be reduced by six months to a year. This means that if the device is not fully charged, but by 70-75 percent, the number of cycles before the capacity decreases will increase.

Experts advise not to even bring the charge to 100%, but to remove it earlier.

How to extend battery life

To ensure that your Android device serves you for as long as possible, follow a few simple rules:

1. Don't charge your phone too often. To avoid reducing the number of battery charge cycles, try to avoid short-term “top-ups”. 30-40 minutes minimum.
2. Do not use the gadget while charging. Overheating harms the battery. That is why such flagships as Samsung Galaxy S8 and S7 automatically switch to normal “slow” mode while using the device while charging.
3. Do not cover a charging gadget. At best, the device will overheat and wear out, at worst, a fire may occur.
4. You should not discharge your smartphone to zero. When the battery voltage drops below 2.7 volts, it harms the battery. It’s better to charge the gadget with 10-15% of the remaining charge.

These tips apply not only to phones that support Quick Charge technology, but to all devices with a lithium battery.

"can be classified as a must-install application for Android devices." If you want to increase the life of your smartphone, increase the battery life on a single charge, you just need to install this program. In addition, the application actually increases the charging speed, reducing the waiting time by 30-40 percent.

Download it once and forget about its existence, the utility will automatically launch the moment you connect the charging cable.
The operating principle is based on the fact that when you put your phone on charge, the application will limit all background processes, minimize power consumption and thereby speed up the process of filling the battery. Tests have shown the efficiency of this method to be more than 20 percent, in contrast to the conventional charging method. Using the "" application is extremely simple.

Launch it and enable the fast charge feature. Then it will automatically speed up the process. The whole process is facilitated by a convenient and intuitive user interface. You will be able to clearly monitor the battery current filling scale directly in the program. After the battery is fully charged, the utility will automatically turn on all stopped services and the device will continue to operate as normal. When connected, not only heavy system processes stop, but also the operation of the 3G and Wi-Fi communication modules stops, as they significantly reduce the battery charge.

The utility works on almost any smartphone and tablet running Android OS older than 2.3, you need to have at least 512 MB random access memory and 15 megabytes for installation. Free download "" on android devices you can from our website using the link provided.

#Qualcomm_Quick_Charge #MediaTek_Pump_Express #ASUS_BoostMaster #Samsung_Adaptive_Fast_Charging #Motorola_TurboPower #mCharge #Dash_Charge

Quick Charge is a technology that increases standard USB specifications voltage and current at the output of the power supply to speed up charging of the phone or tablet battery. Fast charging modes vary depending on the technology. Support for fast charging is implemented in smartphones and tablets Samsung Galaxy, ASUS ZenFone, Google NEXUS and a certain number of other devices.

As you know, a standard USB 2.0 port supports powering devices up to 2.5 W (5 V and 0.5 A). In turn, the USB 3.0 port can provide power to devices with a power of 4.5 W (5 V and 0.9 A). At one time, Apple set the trend for charging from more powerful power supplies - the first generation iPad required, that is, 5 V and 2 A. When connected to a regular USB port on a computer, the iPad did not even show that charging had started. Charging, of course, was going on, but so slowly that it was impossible to charge the tablet even in a whole day.

Today, most smartphones can charge from 5-watt USB chargers, and tablets can use up to 2.1 A from a 5-volt charger. How many Amperes to take from the USB port of the charger is decided by the battery controller of the smartphone or tablet, so it is quite safe to connect the smartphone to a 5 V / 2 A charger - the controller uses as much current as is needed for charging.

So, in order to quickly charge modern gadgets, such as a smartphone or tablet, well-known mobile platform manufacturers have developed special technologies.
Qualcomm has already presented the fourth version of the technology Quick Charge 4, and MediaTek, in turn, presented two specifications Pump Express and Pump Express Plus.

The point of these technologies is to charge the battery of a smartphone or tablet as quickly, efficiently and safely as possible. To support each technology, the mobile device, including the battery controller, must be compatible with it. Of course, you need a certified charger that can “speak the same language” with the battery controller of your smartphone or tablet.

Each of these technologies uses the same techniques - either increasing the current, or increasing the voltage, or both. Qualcomm became a pioneer in fast charging - the technology was presented in February 2013 Quick Charge 1.0. Devices supporting this technology can be charged at 5 Volts and use 2 Amps. As you can imagine, tablets with Quick Charge support began to charge as quickly as the iPad, and smartphones - almost twice as fast as others.

Next generation Quick Charge 2.0 made it possible to use increased voltage for charging up to 12 volts. More precisely, for QC 2.0 you can choose from three fixed voltages: 5 V, 9 V and 12 V (optional, 20 V chargers are also available). At the same time, the maximum power of the power supply can reach 18 W.

Quick Charge 3.0 appeared in devices based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, 620, 618, 617, 430 and newer processors. Is different increased efficiency and intelligence. A compatible charger can dynamically change voltage from 3.2 V to 20 V in 200 millivolt increments. The current strength also changes dynamically. Moreover, changes in the power supply configuration continue during the charging process - the current decreases as the battery is charged in order to save its resource. In particular, because of this, the last 20-30% of charging occurs noticeably slower. The power of Quick Charge 3.0 power supplies remains the same - 18 W maximum, but charges gadgets a little faster due to better optimization of the process.

As you can see, the advantages of the technology are obvious - according to the manufacturer, in 30 minutes you can charge your smartphone by more than half. More precise figures are as follows: a 3300 mAh battery was charged to 60% in 30 minutes. Impressive result, isn't it? In addition, the manufacturer claims that Quick Charge 3.0 works twice as fast as the first generation Quick Charge, which is generally logical. We also note that all three generations of technology are backward compatible, that is, a power supply of any generation will be able to quickly charge a device of any generation. Of course, the first generation power supply will not be able to charge as quickly as a power supply that supports QC 3.0.

With the announcement of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, information also appeared about Quick Charge 4.0. 20% faster and 30% more efficient. Capable of giving 5 hours of work in 5 minutes of charging.

Note that the technology implemented in chargers is not at all demanding on the type of cable - you can use regular USB Type micro B, USB Type C cables or cables with a proprietary connector from the gadget manufacturer. It should also be noted that fast charging is only fast up to approximately 80% charge. And it will take a long time to charge the battery to 100%, to avoid damage to the battery.

Regarding fast charging technologies MediaTek Pump Express and Pump Express Plus- Little is known about her. More precisely, there are very few smartphones and tablets, as well as chargers themselves, that support this technology. The essence does not change from this. Pump Express allows you to charge devices using a voltage of 3.6 - 5 Volts and with a charging current of no more than 2 Amps. That is, this technology is designed to compete with Quick Charge 1.0. In turn, Pump Express Plus allows you to use various voltages of 5 - 7 Volts, 9 Volts and 12 Volts, and the output current can reach 3 Amperes. True, MediaTek says nothing about 5 Volts and 3 Amps. But there is a mention of 9 V and 1.67 A (15 W), as well as the most powerful power supply of 12 V and 2 A (24 W).

* - The list is for informational purposes only. There is no exact list of compatible devices, details may appear.

There are other USB fast charging technologies, for example. The technology allows you to charge devices under a voltage of 9 Volts with a current of 2 Amps. An 18-watt charger, in particular, is included in the delivery of some ASUS ZenFone 2 smartphones.
Samsung has named and released a special charger for the TOP smartphones Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note Edge, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S7, Galaxy S6 active, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S7 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note 5. It can produce a voltage of 5 or 9 Volts and a current of 2 or 1.67 Amps, respectively.

In general, given that the “normal” voltage for USB devices is 5 Volts, it seems quite logical that some smartphones that support USB fast charging technology are equipped with chargers with 5 Volt and 3 Ampere characteristics. For example, such chargers can be found bundled with and from LG.

Knowing that there are a huge number of and, some of which are capable of delivering up to 2.4 Amps per USB port, it is difficult to convince yourself of the need to purchase expensive certified chargers. After all, it is obvious that smartphones and tablets that support fast charging technologies will be taken from USB port All necessary and available charging current, accordingly, can be charged faster than from a standard charger with more modest characteristics. The conclusion, of course, is theoretical, and therefore does not claim to be the absolute truth.
We add that the specification of the new connector and cable assumes the ability to use a maximum current of 5 Amps per connector and 3 Amps per standard cable. In theory, at 20 Volts you can reach 100 W - excessive for the vast majority of smartphones and tablets. In practice, we will see the implementation of all kinds of fast charging functions (including those described above) using a standard USB Type C cable, as well as an expansion of the range of USB chargers with increased output current.

The biggest problem with modern mobile devices is their battery life. Sometimes the battery charge lasts for a maximum of 4 hours, after which you will have to look for a charger and a place where you can recharge. At such moments, you want to keep your smartphone on charge 24 hours a day. There are two ways to solve this problem: either use a larger capacity battery, or charge the battery faster.

Quick Charger(literally “fast charge”) is a technology that came from Qualcomm back in June 2012, which allows you to charge mobile devices several times faster. Other chip makers also boast similar fast charging technology. This is how MediaTek speeds up charging gadgets using technology Pump Express Plus, which works with the company's chipsets, including the flagship MT6595 and the more affordable MT6732. Motorola offers a charger Turbo Charger, which allows you to charge your gadget’s battery 75% faster compared to conventional chargers.

But still Quick Charge leads the fast memory market, possibly due to the fact that Intel and Samsung have a license for Qualcomm technology and do not offer their own developments.

How does fast charging work?

Many of you have long noticed that your smartphone charges faster when you connect the charger to a wall outlet than when charging from a computer’s USB port. This happens because the output power of the 220V outlet is higher than the output power of the USB 2.0 port (5 Volts and 1 or 2 Amps versus 5 Volts, 0.5 Amps). Using simple formulas from a school physics course, you can calculate that a wall outlet will charge your device 100% much faster than a USB port.

Additionally, every smartphone has a power management circuit built into its PCB. This circuit defines the limits of how much current the battery can accept (i.e. charge) without negatively impacting the battery. Smartphones without fast charging are limited to a maximum of 10 W (i.e. 5 Volts times 2 Amps).

Fast charging effectively raises this limit. If the power adapter can increase the power (for example, up to 15 Watts, i.e. 9 Volts times 1.67 Amps), and if the smartphone's power management scheme allows it to take on this additional power, then such a power adapter will charge the battery much faster.

Does my phone support fast charging?

To support fast charging technology on your smartphone or tablet, you need to have three things:

1. Quick Charge certified phone or tablet;
2. Charging adapter supporting Quick Charge;
3. High quality USB cable.

All these points are needed together. You won't be able to charge your smartphone or tablet if at least one of these points is not met. Therefore, if you have a Quick Charge charging adapter and an appropriate quality USB cable, you will not be able to use the fast charging function if the smartphone is not Quick Charge certified.

A list of devices that are guaranteed to support Quick Charge technology can be found on the Qualcomm website. There are not many devices currently released for MediaTek and its Pump Express Plus technology, a list of which can be viewed.

As for USB cables, fast charging is supported as standard micro USB, USB Type A, and the new standard USB Type C. You can learn about all modern computer connectors and more in the article Types of computer ports: types of connectors and adapters.

So the simplest cable needed is 24 AWG (American Wire Gauge). The AWG marking is an American standard for measuring conductors, which states the following:

The thicker and shorter the cable, the lower its resistance should be, therefore, the lower the voltage drop, therefore, the less likely the USB device will be unstable.

The cable number indicates its size: a lower number indicates larger size. And it is usually written like this: USB 28/24 AWG. The first number (28) refers to the conductor size, the second number (24) refers to the power wire size. 24 AWG is most preferred for fast charging, but a 20 AWG USB cable may not be suitable.

In addition, the marking of the “correct” USB cable must contain:

• Shield - shielded cable
• P (Pair) - the cores are twisted into a pair. The presence of P in one of the numbers is very desirable.
• 2C - two conductors.

Charging time from 0 to 60%, charging time from 0 to 100%

There is one more important point to know about fast charging. The point is that fast charging technology speeds up the initial charging period, but it cannot speed up the overall charging period.

Those. fast charging maintains a high charging speed relative to the total charge time, but up to approximately 60%. Then the charging speed rapidly drops to the usual level and from 60% to 100% the phone charges in time, generally a little faster than normal charging.

The thing is that greater electricity output during charging produces more heat. Lithium batteries can be damaged if they overheat; That's why all fast chargers have a temperature sensor. And if it becomes too time-critical in the charging process, fast charging will strive to reduce power consumption to the usual levels of the USB 2.0 standard.

Qualcomm is trying to solve this problem with the new Quick Charge 3.0, but the technology is still in the development stage.

Please note that 60% is an approximate figure for reaching the maximum charge threshold for fast charging. Some phones and tablets can withstand higher rates, up to 75%.

Unification of chargers for Quick Charger

All devices that go beyond Lately and are Quick Charger certified, they do not allow the user to worry about which gadgets from which companies are worth buying and which are not in order to maintain the fast charging function.

If you have a Quick Charge certified charger from Motorola and want to connect it to your HTC One M8, fast charging will work as before.

From here it should be understood that you do not need to pay attention to brands. It doesn't matter whether you use a Nexus and an ASUS charger or one from a third party, the charging speed will be the same.

Recently, support for Quick Charge 3.0 has often been found in the characteristics of mobile devices - find out why this technology is useful.

IN modern conditions, When social media, Internet access and mobile devices in general are playing an increasingly important role in personal life and at work, it is difficult to do without a smartphone or tablet, even for a few hours. The desire of users to always stay connected and less dependent on a power outlet has prompted mobile manufacturers to use more powerful batteries and, therefore, fast charging functions to charge these batteries as quickly as possible.

How does fast charging work?

Fast charging is based on the use of higher voltage. However, both the current and voltage must be compatible with both the mobile device and the charger. Otherwise, the speed will remain the same, but there may be a risk of overheating. We discussed the issue of using non-native power supplies in more detail in.

What is Quick Charge 3.0?

Last fall, the American manufacturer Qualcomm presented Quick Charge 3.0 technology, which this moment supported by proprietary chipsets Snapdragon 821, 820, 620, 618, 617 and 430. Compared with the very first Quick Charge 1.0, charging speed has increased by 40%, which is four times faster than in normal mode. However, the difference in speed with its predecessor, Quick Charge 2.0, is not so great. So what is special about the third generation?

Advantages

An innovative step was the introduction of the INOV (Intelligent Negotiation for Optimum Voltage, or “Smart Determination of Optimum Voltage”) function. New technology allows you to determine and dynamically adjust the optimal output power directly to a given device and stage of the power process. Moreover, the choice of supported voltage indicators has increased - now it is available from 3.2 to 20 V with a minimum change step of 200 mV.

Due to this optimization, the coefficient of wasteful energy expenditure is reduced. This, in turn, not only makes charging more efficient, but also prevents the battery from overheating. This means that the battery is mobile gadget will last much longer. According to the manufacturer, Quick Charge 3.0 is 38% more energy efficient than the second version of this technology.

In addition, Quick Charge 3.0 includes support for fast charging via universal, which more and more smartphone manufacturers are switching to.

Conclusion

Thus, the main feature of Quick Charge 3.0 was not so much the charging speed, but the “ability” to save energy. Currently, all flagship smartphones based on the Snapdragon 820/821 processor, and some mid-price devices, are equipped with fast charging support.