While I agree GCC is a must have for the toolbox, take its data with a grain of salt. It tells you what the phone is limiting the charger current at. So you may have 1700 or 2000 ma showing but if your charging through some thin USB cable your probably charging at less than OEM AC rates which is around 8% per 10 minutes.
Battery monitor widget pro, or even Android Tuner which lumps bmwp in with some other apps, is another tool I use to track % vs time.

But, when first hooking up to a new charger, the first thing I look at is GCC, which will show the current you theoretically could charge with.

Originally Posted by farfromovin

While I agree GCC is a must have for the toolbox, take its data with a grain of salt. It tells you what the phone is limiting the charger current at. So you may have 1700 or 2000 ma showing but if your charging through some thin USB cable your probably charging at less than OEM AC rates which is around 8% per 10 minutes.
Battery monitor widget pro, or even Android Tuner which lumps bmwp in with some other apps, is another tool I use to track % vs time.

But, when first hooking up to a new charger, the first thing I look at is GCC, which will show the current you theoretically could charge with.

I have Battery Monitor Widget Pro. Is there a way to check charging current in there? I don't think I have seen it? I actually got it originally for the purpose of mAh estimate, but found that to be inaccurate especially when you switching between batteries. I remember even emailing the developers and not getting a clear answer about it.

With GCC, I haven't tried using thin cables, I always use either monoprice of stock samsung/nexus thick cables and I have verified Amp reading by estimating from capacity and time charging. 1.7A makes perfect sense because you can not get full 2A from a wall charger. That is for 5A output going to micro-usb port. It will be converted to 3.7V battery voltage and you will loose due to efficiency. So, 1.6-1.7A sounds reasonable to me.

Please, confirm which other app beside GCC can display charging current. Btw, I'm stock, not rooted.

... btw another thing with GCC - I get the same 1.7A reading using 2A samsung stock wall charger and 1A nexus wall charger?!?

Originally Posted by farfromovin

While I agree GCC is a must have for the toolbox, take its data with a grain of salt. It tells you what the phone is limiting the charger current at. So you may have 1700 or 2000 ma showing but if your charging through some thin USB cable your probably charging at less than OEM AC rates which is around 8% per 10 minutes.
Battery monitor widget pro, or even Android Tuner which lumps bmwp in with some other apps, is another tool I use to track % vs time.

But, when first hooking up to a new charger, the first thing I look at is GCC, which will show the current you theoretically could charge with.

Excellent and very true. My initial testing indicates that bumping up the limit in the Perseus kernel is just that, upping the restriction at the phone level. It does improve charging speed but you are still limited by your actual charging hardware (charger and cable) and the lithium-ion charging algorithm (which reduces charging when the battery is too hot, at the end of the cycle, etc.)

---------- Post added at 01:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:45 AM ----------

Originally Posted by vectron

I have Battery Monitor Widget Pro. Is there a way to check charging current in there?

Yes there is... "usage (mA)"... You can also read it from the history file.

Originally Posted by vectron

... btw another thing with GCC - I get the same 1.7A reading using 2A samsung stock wall charger and 1A nexus wall charger?!?

I just threw 1.7 out there because that is my max rate as I usually charge in a smart dock and cannot seem to raise that particular limit no matter what trickery is applied

What determines charging rates

---

Originally Posted by vectron

I have Battery Monitor Widget Pro. Is there a way to check charging current in there? I don't think I have seen it? I actually got it originally for the purpose of mAh estimate, but found that to be inaccurate especially when you switching between batteries. I remember even emailing the developers and not getting a clear answer about it.

According to the developer, Samsung phones do not have the capability to actually measure current. It must be estimated from battery voltage and capacity

Originally Posted by vectron

With GCC, I haven't tried using thin cables, I always use either monoprice of stock samsung/nexus thick cables and I have verified Amp reading by estimating from capacity and time charging. 1.7A makes perfect sense because you can not get full 2A from a wall charger. That is for 5A output going to micro-usb port. It will be converted to 3.7V battery voltage and you will loose due to efficiency. So, 1.6-1.7A sounds reasonable to me.

Indeed, actual charging rate depends on:
1) Actual Maximum Current a Charger can Supply: depends on charger quality. It is always less than charger specifications.
2) Charging Cable Resistance: depends on the gauge of the actual wires, cable length and quality of assembly at the connectors.
3) Battery Charging Controller: on-board hardware controlling the actual current going into the battery. Rate depends on condition of the battery, its state of charge, internal resistance, temperature, how fast it can accept a charge without overheating, etc.
4) Charging Power Quality: controlled by phone kernel. Designed to limit current based on charger behaviour to protect it from possible overload. The Perseus kernel allows this to be set by the user.

Originally Posted by vectron

Please, confirm which other app beside GCC can display charging current. Btw, I'm stock, not rooted.

... btw another thing with GCC - I get the same 1.7A reading using 2A samsung stock wall charger and 1A nexus wall charger?!?

These are the two best apps from my own testing. GCC simply reads the MAXIMUM current stored in the phone under /sys/class/power_supply/battery/current_max for quick verification of how high charging current can be, and Battery Monitor Widget allows one to monitor the battery and determine how it behaves during a charge or discharge.

The only way to figure charging rate accurately is to clock charging time given at start or a given charge level, between two middle levels, preferably under normal battery conditions (cool to the touch), after having rebooted the phone, with basically nothing going on that may interfere with the results (no background running apps, no GPS, Wifi, even the phone antenna can use huge amounts of power such as under low signal strength conditions), and with screen off.