We charge quickly: Quick Charge, mCharge, Super Charge fast charging technologies. Qualcomm Quick Charge - what it is and how fast charging technology works Quick Charge 3.0

With the release of each new generation of smartphones, processors are getting faster, screen resolutions are getting higher, applications are getting more voracious, and batteries... Batteries are still the same. To somehow compensate for this shortcoming, manufacturers use fast charging technologies. But, in addition to the benefits, they can bring a lot of problems to the smartphone owner - from banal incompatibility and reduced battery life to burnt smartphones and power supplies.

Today, a wide range of charging protocols are available to us, developed and promoted by various companies and organizations. We'll try to stick to chronology as much as possible.

Regular USB

USB allows a current of no more than 500 mA at a voltage of 5 V. Only much later, with the release of the USB 3.0 specification, the maximum current was raised to 900 mA. Ordinary push-button phones, which began to come out not with their own charging connectors, but with mini-plugs, and then microUSB, had quite a bit of power.

Everything changed with the release of smartphones, the battery capacity of which was several times higher than the relatively small battery capacity of push-button phones. Even small by modern standards batteries with a capacity of 1500 mA ∙ h already wanted to be charged faster than in 4–4.5 hours (time, taking into account losses during charging and a natural slowdown in the charge rate after 80%). There was a need to somehow transfer a larger charge current through a standard cable, without accidentally burning the USB controller if the device is connected to a computer.

USB Battery Charging Revision 1.2 (BC1.2)

This standard was adopted back in 2011 and allowed early devices to be charged from USB connectors with a current of up to 1.5 A at a voltage of 5 V. The standard is adopted by USB-IF, so its use is free for manufacturers. By modern standards, it is very primitive: the type of charger is determined by the voltage on the D + and D- contacts.

One of the most urgent problems that every owner of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets faces, along with the increase in their battery life, is the decrease in the time we have to spend recharging their batteries.

Many owners of devices based on Qualcomm processors have heard about the support for their proprietary Quick Charge technology, which is designed specifically for these purposes. latest version Quick Charge 2.0, which will be discussed later, allows you to charge the battery of these tablets and smartphones 75% faster than conventional devices.

For example, with the Rapid Charge 2.0 charger, you can charge your device's battery to 60 percent in just 30 minutes.

How does it work? First of all, in order to understand how it is possible to achieve an acceleration in the process of charging the batteries of our tablets and smartphones, you need to know that they are charged using the current supplied to them from an external power source.

It is current, not voltage, that is the main factor that ensures the charge of the battery. Therefore, the higher the current supplied to the battery by the power source, the faster it will charge.

Increasing the charging current requires the use of more powerful power sources, as well as increased requirements for other components involved in this process.

This means that we cannot increase the power of the power source indefinitely: not only are there current limits that a smartphone or tablet battery can withstand without overheating, but there is also a limit that is determined by the amount of current that the same battery can pass through itself. Micro USB connector.

If the first problem is solved due to the fact that all our smartphones and tablets have a built-in current regulator, which is designed to limit it to a level that is safe for the battery, then the second can be solved by replacing conventional Micro USB 2.0 ports with more powerful ones, the Micro USB 3.0 standard.

Now back to Qualcomm's Quick Charge technology. The first version of Quick Charge 1.0 allowed to increase the charge current to the maximum value for the Micro USB connector, which is 2 amps, which allowed using up to 10 watts of power (with a 5 volt power supply: 5x2=10).

Quick Charge 2.0 technology allows you to increase the power delivered by the charger to the battery up to a maximum of 36 watts. Those who are familiar with electrics will say that this is not possible with a standard 5-volt charger, since this requires 7.2 amps of current to flow through the Micro USB connector. How can you get around this limitation?

The fact is that in this case, Qualcomm technology involves the use of power supplies with an output voltage of not only the standard 5 volts, but also 9, and even 12:

Thus, in addition to supporting Quick Charge 2.0 technology with your tablet and smartphone, in order to speed up the charging time of their batteries, you will also need a special power source (AC adapter) that comes with it.

At the same time, all chargers that support Quick Charge 2.0 are universal. For example, you can use Motorola Turbo Charger to charge HTC devices and HTC Rapid Charger 2.0 to charge Motorola smartphones.

• Chargers for USB devices
• Quick Charge

Fast charging of a smartphone (Quick Charge, Fast Charging) becomes a necessity for several reasons at once. Or the smartphone battery does not withstand the whole day of use and requires a quick recharge in the middle of the day. Or a high-capacity battery is installed in the smartphone, which, without fast charging, takes several hours to fully charge. Fast chargers allow you to recharge your smartphone in minutes and you do not have to "be tied to the outlet" for a long time.
There are several fast charging technologies used by USB chargers. It should be noted that both the smartphone and the charger must support the same fast charging technologies. However, the essence of the technologies is approximately the same - to increase the power of the USB charger with more current and / or more voltage. Most fast charging devices have higher output voltage and allow you to charge batteries faster. In the list below you will find fast chargers for Samsung smartphones (Adaptive Fast Charging), as well as for smartphones based on the Qualcomm platform (Quick Charge) and Mediatek (Pump Express). There are fast chargers with a voltage of 5V and 3 - 4 Amperes. They can also be found on the list. You'll also find fast-charging power banks and fast Qi wireless chargers here.

). Their testing together with the Xiaomi Mi5 smartphone showed that its combination with the complete model, which makes it possible to work with version 3.0, is noticeably more effective. Chargers supporting this generation are already quite widely represented on the market (to be more precise, in foreign online stores), so let's try to get to know them better. The BlitzWolf BW-S6 model was chosen for the acquisition. It cost 660 rubles, taking into account the regular discount from the manufacturer and a certain number of points from the store, delivery (paid, with tracking) took less than two weeks.

We will again test this charger with a small set of various smartphones and tablets available. Research on specialized stands and loads can be found on the Internet.

Delivery set and appearance

Like the model for a car from this manufacturer, the network charger comes in a regular cardboard box with a minimal design. The cardboard seemed not very strong, but in this case it is not essential from the point of view of the delivery process.

The appearance of the model is quite traditional. The edges are rounded, it is pleasant to hold the model in the hands. The non-separable case is made of strong-looking black plastic (there is also a white version). Its surface is glossy, but according to the impression and short operating experience, it is quite resistant to scratches, and the texture resembles piano lacquer. At the same time, fingerprints are not very noticeable. Probably with the white model the situation will be even better.

The dimensions of the main part are 54x53x28 mm. On one of the ends there is a protruding European standard plug with thin round contacts. Their plastic-hidden parts are quite thin and in some cases can bend. The small size allows the model to be used in "pilots" without occupying adjacent sockets. The weight of the charger is 85 g. On one of the side surfaces there are logos of the manufacturer and Quick Charge 3.0. On the other - the model and technical parameters.

The USB ports are on the opposite side of the case from the plug. They are quite far apart, so that the vast majority of connected devices will have enough space. Near the connectors there are signatures. In addition, the colors of the internal inserts also differ.

When connected to the mains, a not very bright blue LED turns on inside the charger case, so that the ports will be illuminated from the inside.

In terms of design and case format, the model does not stand out in any way. It is worth paying attention only to the fact that additional space from the wall is required to connect the cables.

Specifications

On the company's website and in the instructions, you can collect the following data about the device:

• Input voltage AC 100-240 V, 50/60 Hz, 1 A
• Maximum total output power 30W
• One Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 port, up to 18W
• One sPower port (Power3S) up to 5V/2.4A (12W)
• BC1.2 support

Like the previous model of this manufacturer, there is no information about the sPower / Power3S technology, including a list of devices compatible with it. Please note that sPower support is also announced on the port with Quick Charge, so the model (at least theoretically) may be of interest not only to those who have devices with Quick Charge. Version 3.0 of this technology claims "38% more efficient charging" than version 2.0. In addition, it is indicated that the technology can charge a "regular phone" from 0 to 80% in 35 minutes. Let me remind you that, unlike version 2.0, which has a fixed set of output voltages of 5/9/12 V, in the current version, not only the current is automatically adjusted, but also the voltage in the range from 3.6 to 12 V. And the maximum current is from 2.4 to 1.5 A.

Separately, the use of the NT6008 chip for this port is mentioned, as well as the presence of a certificate from Qualcomm. The latter could not be quickly found, and this model is not in the list of devices on the Quick Charge website.

Testing

The capabilities of the model were tested using a familiar USB tester and several smartphones and tablets. The following cables were used for testing: microUSB from the Tronsmart charger kit from the last test, Lighting from Belkin 2 meters long, USB Type C from Xiaomi Mi5 and unnamed Apple 30 pin. Additionally, a USB Type C version 3.0 cable purchased on the local market was tested. The test was carried out at a battery level of approximately 5% to 70%. The devices were in the on state with blanked screens. The figures were recorded one minute after the cables were connected, rounded to tenths. The second table shows the power consumption of the devices (W) for easier comparison.

First of all, it is worth noting that this memory model also copes well with Apple devices. However, given their well-defined and well-known requirements and schemes for determining the type of charger, this is not surprising.

The second observation - the statement that devices without the support of this technology can be connected to the QC3.0 port and they will be charged as efficiently as on the sPower port is not true. This is most clearly seen when connecting an Asus tablet.

Thirdly, the voltage at the QC3.0 port is clearly less (by about 0.1 V) than expected. As if control and adjustment were incorrectly implemented in the power supply circuits. On the other hand, a 2% loss is relatively small. Theoretically, this may be a feature of this instance, but still unpleasant.

Samsung's top solutions support Quick Charge, so they'll probably do just fine. But with the modern model of the middle segment, the charger managed only partially. Similar results (7-8 W) were obtained with OnePlus and Zopo smartphones when connected to the sPower port.

Support for QC version 3.0 had a positive effect on working with Xiaomi Mi5. The charge replenishment speed is almost the same as the standard charger. At the same time, it was possible not to “break” the work with Sony, which supports the QC 2.0 version, which is also good.

During operation, including with a heavy load by a couple of clients at once, the charger heats up weakly and does not make noise, which can be written as a plus.

Conclusion

BlitzWolf BW-S6 makes an ambiguous impression. On the one hand, you get a comfortable compact body, two ports, good work with Apple devices, and QC 3.0/2.0 support. On the other hand, the operation of the automatic configuration technology on the Power3S device is not ideal, the second port actually differs from the first one on “regular” smartphones and tablets, it works well only with Apple and QC, while the voltage on it is lower than stated.

For those who are trying to save money and use inexpensive Android devices, it is probably worth looking at simpler and more affordable devices, such as the BW-S2 from the same BlitzWolf.

So it is difficult to call this charger a truly universal solution. On models without iOS or QC, its performance will be unpredictable. Of course, you can always check the real state of affairs with your smartphone, but for this you need to first buy a charger and, in addition, have an appropriate USB tester. However, given the "zoo" of devices of different generations and the results shown in testing, the latter today is worth having for every active user if he cares about the power quality of mobile devices.

What?: Dual-port wall charger with Quick Charge 3.0 support
Where?: At the time of writing on Banggood