Budget Wireless Charger Showdown: 5 Qi Chargers all $11 - $15

[crayonhead]

You are correct. I received the Nexus charger...and it did the same thing - the battery temp climbed to over 104% F - and then I took it off the Nexus charger.

What was interesting...is that I could not charge my phone with the case on with the Nexus charger..but I could with the inexpensive "puck" charger!

BTW - the case is a Ballistic SG MAXX for the Nexus 5

Tried the puck charger again (BTW - cost me about $8)
Time Batt-Temp %-charged
18:49 90.9F 17% (on puck charger)
19:29 104.5F 40%
19:30 105.6F 40% (off puck charger)

I only have 3 recorded data points with the Nexus charger (remember - I had to remove the hard case to use the Nexus charger...but left the softer "gel" case on the phone)

Time Batt-Temp %-charged
18:50 89.4F 24% (started on Nexus charger)
19:29 103.5F 47%
19:43 104.7F 56% (took off Nexus charger)

So...deciding not to have to worry about ruining my battery (high temps make it degrade faster, from what I read) - I returned the Nexus charger back to google.

FYI - in case you were wondering...I also tried the Nexus charger without the case - just the plain phone on the charger and had the same high battery temp results - I just didn't record them.

If you didn't take the phone off the puck charger, would it still have charged? I'm looking at getting one, and I have the same case.

 

[Wooba99]

You mention replacing your USB cables with better quality ones. Do you have any specific ones you like?

 

[dspcap]

Got this one.Very happy with the purchase.

The seller is horrible. My item got stuck in US Customs and all of their responses are generic. They aren't really answering questions, they are just cutting and pasting responses. They are just pushing me out until I can't open a dispute any longer.

 

[B.Ken]

If you didn't take the phone off the puck charger, would it still have charged? I'm looking at getting one, and I have the same case.

Yes, the small puck charger I purchased charges the Nexus 5 thru the case fine - it (and the Nexus charger) raise the temp of the battery higher than I think it should (especially compared to my son's Galaxy S4 - using the same puck charger).

I actually bought 3 of the puck chargers (2 for at home, 1 for at work) - all 3 raise the battery temp higher (in the case or without).

But they all will charge thru the case!

 

[thor1k]

Are you sure? temperature of battery is about 43°C as I said i am a little bit nervous

Yes, I'm sure. Remember there are places on earth where the room temperature itself is 35-40*c on an average. 43*c is nothing. :good:

personally I don't like to see mine get past 40C, in fact in many cases I've been able to keep it down to 35-37C or so when charging.
It's all about finding the optimal charging location.
I have a widget now that I use to view the battery temperature when charging.
A difference of as few as 3 mm can make the difference between 5C I've found-- 45C vs 40C.

There isn't much education about this as it relates to Qi charging, which is a shame. Thermal cycling of 20C every day is not desirable for a packaged product where tolerances between anode/cathode and mixture are what determines series resistance and battery performance, efficiency, and capacity. There's a reason the Galaxy S5 thermally throttles itself when the battery hits 35C. 35C! That's because high temperatures can damage the battery.

when I get done determining the optimal charging location for mine on my Docooler chargers, I will begin posting photos.

 

[thor1k]

this is lame I typed a bunch a lost it--

cliffs: knockoffs to "Qi Charger - Large Rectangle w/LEDs" exist
Bought one made and sold by Docooler from Amazon, great
Excited, buy another
Knockoff-- has plastic, non rubber feet; less bright LEDs probably at 5mA not 10+mA like the Docooler
One on right in attached pics has the rubber, larger feet, doesn't slide on table. Cheap knockoff does.

MAIN PROBLEM WITH CHEAP KNOCKOFF-- have to unplug from wall and plug back in before detects phone, like the charging circuit has a software glitch in it. Makes it pointless to buy.

So, basically, watch out, be careful, don't buy this from Amazon seller Andoer.

 

[thor1k]

You are confusing the Amps. Using a 1.8A Wall charger the output from the Coil will be about 1A. If you used a 500mA Wall charger the output will be next to nothing. Using a 1A Wall charger will get you to about 450mA output. That might be your best bet. I have a 1.2A wall charger connected to a Metrans MWT02 at my desk and I get about 600mA output.

I tried this, and with a 1A charger, and not only did it charge ultra slow, I believe the inductive loop was weakened. After 10% of charging I picked up the phone and the battery was 48C! No no no!!! I had to RMA my device shortly after this.

---------- Post added at 04:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:18 AM ----------

It turns out (quite surprising really), by my super scientific testing, that you can fit exactly 81 sheets of lined Hilroy loose leaf paper between the charger and the phone, and it will still charge! Haha! I figured that would be something you could replicate. Since you are probably going to tear it apart anyway, I did it on the cheapest one, which was the first charger on my list.

Squishing them together and roughly measuring it, gave about a 1/4 inch.

so, what, it stops charging at 82 sheets?

keep in mind it's not the distance or the number of sheets, it's the magnetic permeance

and while "disobedient" might not be the right word, the chinese are definitely notorious for dumping out anything that they think they can sell.
based on some of the Qi chargers I'm seeing, I can understand why having a licensed consortium makes sense.
keeps the goofballs out.

---------- Post added at 04:41 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:36 AM ----------

To the owners of the Rectangle w/ LEDs, are you experiencing the problem where when it reaches 100%, it stops charging, 2-30 seconds after it charges again then stops charging 2-30 seconds after and just keeps repeating? Is this bad for the battery? Thank you.

yes charge cycles are bad for the battery.
make sure you have a legitimate Rectangle w/ LEDs version with the rubber feet.

---------- Post added at 04:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:41 AM ----------

I meant chargers that are sold by real known companies For example official chargers from Google, Nokia etc.

I realize everything is made in China, but Google for example likely imposes some kind of quality control on this while random seller on eBay can make and sell whatever he wants.

I agree, that's true, it's why brands have value and is something America does great. In Europe you never know if the food you're buying is going to be any good-- there are so many mom and pop restaurants there's no brand identity. In America, you know what you're getting from Chipotle, from McD, from any number of chains.
Downside-- variety.

---------- Post added at 04:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:47 AM ----------

is there a technical reason as to why the charging points on all these chargers are so small? I have the slanted one, and it's such a pain positioning it exactly in the correct spot to stop constant charging drop-outs that I just unplugged it and put it away in lieu of the cable. Are there any +$15 chargers anyone can recommend that maybe have a much larger area of charging?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_induction
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/magnetic/magfie.html
a tighter winding makes it easier to create a stronger magnetic field, and thus push more flux. You can send the same flux through a wider area, via a lower magnitude magnetic field, you're going to lose more of your available field magnitude to the air/81 sheets of paper/plastic on top of the charging pad/plastic on back of phone dielectric.

These equations can be modeled like simple electrical circuits, just replace voltage with B (magnetic) field, current with flux, and resistor with dielectric.
I'm simplifying here, but we'll say the charging coil on the base station is the voltage source (battery). The flux that propagates is limited by the dielectric it has to travel through-- air, back of phone, top of charging station. Each of these we model as a resistor. This is why when you pick the phone up 1" off the pad, it won't charge-- too much 'resistance'-- dielectric-- air to travel through. On the inside of the phone is the mating coil that gets inductively coupled to the charging coil on the base Qi charging station. You want to maximize the magnetic field that is being spent keeping that coil energized, and minimize the magnetic field that is wasted pushing through the dielectric on the way to the phone's Qi coil.

 

[hammad99]

just ordered Q5.... lets hope for the best

 

[thor1k]

I tried this, and with a 1A charger, and not only did it charge ultra slow, I believe the inductive loop was weakened. After 10% of charging I picked up the phone and the battery was 48C! No no no!!! I had to RMA my device shortly after this.

---------- Post added at 04:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:18 AM ----------



so, what, it stops charging at 82 sheets?

keep in mind it's not the distance or the number of sheets, it's the magnetic permeance

and while "disobedient" might not be the right word, the chinese are definitely notorious for dumping out anything that they think they can sell.
based on some of the Qi chargers I'm seeing, I can understand why having a licensed consortium makes sense.
keeps the goofballs out.

---------- Post added at 04:41 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:36 AM ----------



yes charge cycles are bad for the battery.
make sure you have a legitimate Rectangle w/ LEDs version with the rubber feet.

---------- Post added at 04:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:41 AM ----------



I agree, that's true, it's why brands have value and is something America does great. In Europe you never know if the food you're buying is going to be any good-- there are so many mom and pop restaurants there's no brand identity. In America, you know what you're getting from Chipotle, from McD, from any number of chains.
Downside-- variety.

---------- Post added at 04:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:47 AM ----------



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_induction
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/magnetic/magfie.html
a tighter winding makes it easier to create a stronger magnetic field, and thus push more flux. You can send the same flux through a wider area, via a lower magnitude magnetic field, you're going to lose more of your available field magnitude to the air/81 sheets of paper/plastic on top of the charging pad/plastic on back of phone dielectric.

These equations can be modeled like simple electrical circuits, just replace voltage with B (magnetic) field, current with flux, and resistor with dielectric.
I'm simplifying here, but we'll say the charging coil on the base station is the voltage source (battery). The flux that propagates is limited by the dielectric it has to travel through-- air, back of phone, top of charging station. Each of these we model as a resistor. This is why when you pick the phone up 1" off the pad, it won't charge-- too much 'resistance'-- dielectric-- air to travel through. On the inside of the phone is the mating coil that gets inductively coupled to the charging coil on the base Qi charging station. You want to maximize the magnetic field that is being spent keeping that coil energized, and minimize the magnetic field that is wasted pushing through the dielectric on the way to the phone's Qi coil.

edit: nevermind

 

[fedecape]

In case you guys are interested,
I bought this one http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=201138304773&alt=web
It's just $7 and it's been great so far. Temperature around 30-33C. I'm using a 2A wall charger

 

[earendilSK]

Qi Charger - Large Rectangle w/LEDs: keeps reconnecting when fully charged

Hi,

So I bought the charger described as "Qi Charger - Large Rectangle w/LEDs:"
It was already mentioned in previous posts, this charger keeps disconnecting and reconnecting the phone when fully charged.
Used with 2.1A charger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjmJdK0BZXw
However mine does not have rubber feet, maybe different model shipped?

 

[vin4yak]

Hmm.. Ok.. So what do you want us to do about it??

 

[earendilSK]

Hmm.. Ok.. So what do you want us to do about it??

I wanted to check and let the others know, maybe the model from that seller is different now.

Do you have by any chance link for the proper rubber feet charger on ebay? thor1k mentioned Docooler from Amazon but that one does not ship to Slovakia.

 

[vin4yak]

I wanted to check and let the others know, maybe the model from that seller is different now.

Do you have by any chance link for the proper rubber feet charger on ebay? thor1k mentioned Docooler from Amazon but that one does not ship to Slovakia.

May be like the "Qi Charger – Q8" one, yours also got revised or just went out of stock. I had ordered the Rectangle Qi charger as well but it went out of stock and I got my refund few days ago.

 

[Royal King]

I ordered the Qi tilted charger and it's charging my phone at a very slow rate (500-600mAh) is that it?

I'm using Samsung 2A charger with ECOMOTO cable without any phone cover.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[thor1k]

Hi,

So I bought the charger described as "Qi Charger - Large Rectangle w/LEDs:"
It was already mentioned in previous posts, this charger keeps disconnecting and reconnecting the phone when fully charged.
Used with 2.1A charger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjmJdK0BZXw
However mine does not have rubber feet, maybe different model shipped?

this one is a crappy knockoff of (an) official Docooler one with rubber feet.

---------- Post added at 08:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:37 AM ----------

I ordered the Qi tilted charger and it's charging my phone at a very slow rate (500-600mAh) is that it?

I'm using Samsung 2A charger with ECOMOTO cable without any phone cover.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

position it better. get a current sensing app that updates every second to find optimal position.
Mine gets about 750mA with screen on
they really didn't think this Qi thing through very well.


---------- Post added at 08:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:40 AM ----------

I wanted to check and let the others know, maybe the model from that seller is different now.

Do you have by any chance link for the proper rubber feet charger on ebay? thor1k mentioned Docooler from Amazon but that one does not ship to Slovakia.

Hm, sorry.

 

[Royal King]

this one is a crappy knockoff of (an) official Docooler one with rubber feet.

---------- Post added at 08:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:37 AM ----------



position it better. get a current sensing app that updates every second to find optimal position.
Mine gets about 750mA with screen on
they really didn't think this Qi thing through very well.


---------- Post added at 08:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:40 AM ----------



Hm, sorry.

Tired all the positions! (no pun intended )

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[vin4yak]

Tired all the positions! (no pun intended )

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Lmao! [emoji23][emoji23][emoji48]

- Sent from an IceCold Hammerhead!

 

[pandaman21]

I just ordered the qi charger tilted and it taking 20 days for it to be delivered. Is that normal? Just a little impatient for them :/

 

[tkurkowski]

get a current sensing app that updates every second to find optimal position.

Do you have a recommendation for such an app? I looked in playstore and it wan't clear that there was a good one that works on a Samsung S5. (Yes I know this is a Nexus thread.)

TIA