micky, 2023-12-31 21:16:
I'm visiting my brother and there is no room to keep my laptop open, so
I've been using one of his family chargers lying around the apartment.
It seems to charge 4 times as fast as whe I charge from the USB port on
my laptop.
Is that true? Does this mean these things are fast chargers and not
just chargers?
Yes, this is true, because your laptop only provides 2.5 Watts (0.5A at
5V) or 4,5 Watts (0.9A at 5V) depending on how the smartphone negotiates
its power demand.
The charger, however, can provide up to 20V and more than 1A depending
on the standard the smartphone and charger use (for example USB PD or Quickcharge) and thus can charge with 20 Watts or more. With USB PD EPR
the voltage can be even higher - up to 48V - to deliver up to 240 Watts
at 5A.
Are their disadvangages from charging so fast? Like do I get spongy
In theory the battery may not last as long when charged with a higher
power. However smartphones with quick charging often have more than one
battery cell to be able to charge multiple cells in parallel, so the
individual cells do not suffer that much from high charging currents.
Also modern batteries are designed to cope with more charging power as well.
[...]
There is also usb port on the 110v 5-outlet strip that people use now as
an extension cord. My brother is sleeping so I can't see what's written
next to the port, 2.4 amp maybe. Will that be even faster? Is there a disadvantage to even faster?
The ampere rating does not help without knowning the supported standard.
If it is just USB without anything else, your phone will not charger
faster as on your laptop. Outlet strips often don't support USB-PD or
Quickarge and just provide a maximum output at 5V which will not help
you as modern phones need *more* than 5V for quick charging.
--
Arno Welzel
https://arnowelzel.de
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