yay or nay on wireless charging

[y_p_w]

How do you figure? I'm not sure what the conversion efficiency is, but I thought we had conversion rates up past 75% if not higher for mechanical to electrical energy conversion. Still means a fair amount of cooling of course, made harder by being under hood.

Now, going from chemical energy (gasoline) to mechanical energy (as created by ICE), yeah that bit is not particularly good, so the stack of losses from gas tank to battery is not exceptionally good.

It’s the chemical energy conversion I was thinking of.

 

[Torrid]

I use both. All for ease of use depending on where I'm at. I don't see the point in carrying a magsafe charger if I'm traveling when I still have to plug it into the wall each time anyway. My VW doesn't have a wireless charging pad and I usually plug it in to use CarPlay. I have a Belkin MagSafe charger I keep next to my recliner at home that has two charger spots so I can charge my iPhone and AirPods at the same time. It stays more organized and because I don't have extra charger cables laying around it's much less cluttered.

 

[nobb]

In addition to saving wear and tear on the charge port, I also love wireless charging since it makes it super easy to keep the battery within it's optimal range to extend it's lifespan. For example, most of my days are in the office so it's very easy to take the phone on/off the charger such that the battery level is kept between 45-55%. If I'm going out for a longer period of time, or out for a long hike then I'll top up the battery more...but on most days I'm not exceeding a 65% charge level nor do I dip below 40%.

I've been a bit OCD about doing this on most of my lithium ion powered devices where possible and I'm getting crazy long lifespans out of them. eg. My old 7 year old phone has been downgraded to beater gym duty and it's still on the original battery holding a charge perfectly.

 

[I<3oil]

Wireless

 

[proveitwithdata]

heat is the end all for batteries. Until wireless chargers and the phone battery have an active cooling management system, its wired all day. Of course in a pinch, whatever gets that phone running.

 

[hemioiler]

heat is the end all for batteries. Until wireless chargers and the phone battery have an active cooling management system, its wired all day. Of course in a pinch, whatever gets that phone running.

My phone heats up more with the wired connection than the wireless. It charges 2 times quicker too, but that means more heat.

Wireless is at 15 watts.
Wired is at 25 or 45 depending on the model.

 

[72C10]

A note about wireless chargers. I use a Pixel Stand 2.0. It's kind of pricey but I did get them on sale. It has a fan built into the charger and you can actually hear it running if it gets warm. I keep one in the office and one at home by my bed. I've been happy with it so far.

 

[y_p_w]

My phone heats up more with the wired connection than the wireless. It charges 2 times quicker too, but that means more heat.

Wireless is at 15 watts.
Wired is at 25 or 45 depending on the model.

That’s going to be dependent on the power source. There are still a lot of older 5W USB power adapters (especially the Apple “Cube”) out there. Even then I’m thinking 20W might be at the limit of what most mobile phones and tablets accept. The more powerful power sources are more for powering/charging computers.

If one really wanted to limit power intake, it would be easy to use a lower power source like a 5W adapter.

The Qi charging pad that I mostly use is an IKEA LIVBOJ which is rated for 5V/2A input but 5W output, although it’s not clear if the output is converted power for the device or just raw inductive power. But it’s clear there’s a loss. I haven’t tried using it with a power source with less than 2A, but it probably works only with reduced output.

 

[racer12306]

My phone heats up more with the wired connection than the wireless. It charges 2 times quicker too, but that means more heat.

Wireless is at 15 watts.
Wired is at 25 or 45 depending on the model.

That's a choice you're making. If you don't need it to charge fast, don't charge it fast. 5w, maybe 10w, is all most phones need when not in use and you don't need it fast.

 

[Speedy3861]

My 2023 Honda Civic Touring Sedan has a factory installed Qi wireless charger which was intermittent with my iPhone Xr and really made both phone and charger hot. My iPhone 14 Pro in an Otterbox commuter case, which is quite thin but has camera lenses that protrude enough to prevent it from laying flat enough to make good contact. So I switched it off the charger and reverted to my Weathertech Cupphone and a wired charger cord when needed. I use wireless AppleCarPlay so usually only charge at home overnight with a small Apple charger plugged in. Battery is always 100% in the morning using the managed charging. I could go 2-3 days without charging if I wanted to. The Honda Civic I love, the Qi charger, not so much.

 

[hemioiler]

That's a choice you're making. If you don't need it to charge fast, don't charge it fast. 5w, maybe 10w, is all most phones need when not in use and you don't need it fast.

It is charger dependent yes, but that's what my charger does and I believe it came with the phone. I keep it around for when I absolutely need a good charge "immediately". I'm not going to buy a less powerful charger to charge at the same speed as wireless.

The wireless is definitely much slower, less hot, and far more convenient. It's basically a stand for the phone on my desk and I just keep it there while I'm working.

 

[Blueshound]

I've never really used wireless charging. The couple of times I tried, it seemed very slow and the phone got much hotter than wired charging. Pixel 7 pro.

It's easy enough to plug it in for an hour or so per day to charge, I don't necessarily see any advantage to wireless. USB-C is pretty robust and I'm careful plugging and unplugging. Also I don't use my phone in dirty environments so I'm not worried about the charging port.

I guess if it ever breaks I'll need to get a wireless charger.

 

[GemStater]

Because I trade-in my phone every year, paying little out-of-pocket for the newest model. I use the quickest, easiest charger available at the time. That's probably 50/50, wireless/wired charging.

Now if my long-term plan entailed keeping my phone like it's a family heirloom, I'd probably be obsessing about extended battery life strategies.

 

[proveitwithdata]

My phone heats up more with the wired connection than the wireless. It charges 2 times quicker too, but that means more heat.

Wireless is at 15 watts.
Wired is at 25 or 45 depending on the model.

mine doesnt. my ios devices run the good ole factory slow charge plug.
on my android devices, i turn off fast charging during initial setup.
Most other devices whether windows, some flavor of linux, or mac os, same deal through bios.

Not a fan of heating a battery.

 

[Chris142]

None of ours have that option. Is it an I phone thing?

 

[supton]

None of ours have that option. Is it an I phone thing?

I think most have it now? it's all the rage. It's pretty nice, I don't have to clean pocket fuzz out of the phone connector anymore.

 

[Thermo1223]

I've never really used wireless charging. The couple of times I tried, it seemed very slow and the phone got much hotter than wired charging. Pixel 7 pro.

It's easy enough to plug it in for an hour or so per day to charge, I don't necessarily see any advantage to wireless. USB-C is pretty robust and I'm careful plugging and unplugging. Also I don't use my phone in dirty environments so I'm not worried about the charging port.

I guess if it ever breaks I'll need to get a wireless charger.

Having the same phone it depends entirely on the pad. Some claim compatibility but aren't 100%.

 

[hemioiler]

mine doesnt. my ios devices run the good ole factory slow charge plug.
on my android devices, i turn off fast charging during initial setup.
Most other devices whether windows, some flavor of linux, or mac os, same deal through bios.

Not a fan of heating a battery.

One of the attractions for me of the Samsung Galaxy is the fast charge. I'm not turning that off. There are days when I do really depend on that.

The worries on the battery health are quite overblown. I have a Samsung ultrabook that I bought in 2012 and its been plugged in literally its entire life. Most of the time these days it sits on my desk in standby mode sleeping, plugged in and "ready to go", for days on end, some days I get a call and need to use it or when I'm travelling it comes with me. I use it a few weeks straight it every summer. When I bought it 10 years ago I used it all day every day. I've run it empty at least 30 to 40 times, and I literally cannot tell that it has lost any capacity though I'm sure it has a bit.

For a smartphone that is swapped out every 5 years (which you should be doing if you want to stay on top of security updates), it's a complete non issue.

 

[nobb]

The worries on the battery health are quite overblown. I have a Samsung ultrabook that I bought in 2012 and its been plugged in literally its entire life. Most of the time these days it sits on my desk in standby mode sleeping, plugged in and "ready to go", for days on end, some days I get a call and need to use it or when I'm travelling it comes with me. I use it a few weeks straight it every summer. When I bought it 10 years ago I used it all day every day. I've run it empty at least 30 to 40 times, and I literally cannot tell that it has lost any capacity though I'm sure it has a bit.

It's probably because it's a low enough duty application that you're not noticing or care about the capacity loss. If it's been kept at 100% charge for a decade it's pretty much guaranteed that battery is no more than 50-60% of the original capacity. Alot of laptops also have notoriously bad/weird capacity reporting such that unless you're actually doing a full cycle test...that you can't trust the estimated run time shown.

 

[proveitwithdata]

One of the attractions for me of the Samsung Galaxy is the fast charge. I'm not turning that off. There are days when I do really depend on that.

The worries on the battery health are quite overblown. I have a Samsung ultrabook that I bought in 2012 and its been plugged in literally its entire life. Most of the time these days it sits on my desk in standby mode sleeping, plugged in and "ready to go", for days on end, some days I get a call and need to use it or when I'm travelling it comes with me. I use it a few weeks straight it every summer. When I bought it 10 years ago I used it all day every day. I've run it empty at least 30 to 40 times, and I literally cannot tell that it has lost any capacity though I'm sure it has a bit.

For a smartphone that is swapped out every 5 years (which you should be doing if you want to stay on top of security updates), it's a complete non issue.

Thats a really great ultrabook if you have had it for a over a decade and saw no battery life lost.

Whats cpuid have it pegged at as current battery capacity vs designed capacity?