Asklemmy

44156 readers

870 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

How bad is it for a mobile device to be "slow charging"? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by vortexal@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

32 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I bought a new tablet but I'm unable to use the charging cable it came with until I can get an adapter because I don't have anything that can except USB type C. I have multiple cables with a USB A connector but the tablet says that it's "slow charging" when I use them. I tried to look this up before posting but for some reason, a lot of websites refer to "normal changing" as slow charging now and I'm unable to find anything relevant to my issue. Would I be fine to use the other cables I have until I can get an adapter?

Edit: I no longer need help with this. I originally made this post because, for several years, I was told and had read that both slow and fast charging damaged batteries significantly more than normal charging. But, as multiple users have stated, it seems like I was being told and reading false information and slow charging is actually better for a battery than normal charging.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Lemme throw a wrench into everything. Sometimes faster charging can be better than slower charging.

Part of the USB power delivery spec is PPS or programmable power supply. PPS lets your device specify the exact voltage down to 0.02V or 20 mV. Heat is generated by inefficiency, and PPS' goal is to get the voltage just right so there's as little power loss as possible. My iphone charging at 5v 1amp "slow" charging gets hotter than the full 20 watts fast charging.

[–] deranger@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

The primary difference here is where the power supply duties are performed. With USB PPS it can "outsource" the power supply tasks to the charger. When using "classic" fast charging (e.g. 5v / 2A) the phone has to handle all the voltage conversion internally, which adds heat to the device.

[–] chaosCruiser@futurology.today 1 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Are you saying that when the charger handles the conversions, it will also produce waste heat in the process? If so, the total amount of energy lost due to conversions should stay the same, but the physical location where the heat is generated is different. That would be pretty nice for the battery longevity.

[–] deranger@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Correct.

[–] chaosCruiser@futurology.today 1 points 4 weeks ago

Nice. USB PPS sounds pretty sweet. I better look into that.