4 ms·

FYI, this is from 2012, although I would be interested in a similar analysis done today. At a guess, name-brand third-party chargers (Anker, Belkin, etc) are p

by ink_13 4y ago

FYI, this is from 2012, although I would be interested in a similar analysis done today. At a guess, name-brand third-party chargers (Anker, Belkin, etc) are probably more than "good enough" at this point, but it would be neat to see that quantified.

mmebane 4y ago
AllThingsOnePlace on YouTube [1] has been doing a good job of reviewing performance characteristics of many different chargers, although he usually doesn't do teardowns. [1]: https://youtube.com/@AllThingsOnePlace https://youtube.com/@AllThingsOnePlace
- gruez 4y ago
  >AllThingsOnePlace on YouTube [1] has been doing a good job of reviewing performance characteristics of many different chargers I watched one of his reviews recently[1], and while it's true that he reviews performance characteristics, it's unclear whether it's something I should care about. For instance, he talks about how that particular charger has a low power factor. Sure, having a high power factor[2] is nice in theory, but is that something I should care about? Judging from the wikipedia article it's more of an issue for the grid itself, and I'm not personally billed for it. I care far more about how much noise/ripple is being outputted by the charge, or whether it's going to damage my electronics, but that's doesn't seem to be evaluated. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uasxk9HBAtE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uasxk9HBAtE [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_factor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_factor
  - porkbeer 4y ago
    Low power factor can make other devices nearby unstable by introducing noise or uneven ac cycles. Its overblown, sure, but tends to be a reliable indicator of overall quality as most engineers will only optimize for it with higher quality designs. Lower quality designs can often be dirtier and shorter lasting due to feedback, inefficiency and parts omission.
  - bradknowles 4y ago
    Depends on where you are, and who your power company is. Some places have started charging you more for apparent power draw due to poor power factor.
- runnerup 4y ago
  ChargerLAB[0] does a lot of tear downs but I can’t vouch for their value. 0: https://youtube.com/@ChargerLAB https://youtube.com/@ChargerLAB
latortuga 4y ago
I remember when this article came out originally because I was surprised to see a random charger I owned as the winner. I still have this HP touchpad charger and a decade later it still works great.
mrjin 4y ago
Named brands are not necessarily good. In mid-2022 I tried to consolidate my chargers (Lots came with phones/pads etc. one 4 ports, and one 6 ports in particular. Most of those came with devices support PD and are 18w at least. However, those two multi-ports ones can only do 5v/2.4a max. Brand names were hidden here just to avoid being taken as ads) into one single charge station. So, I expected to get one with 8 ports and could do 100w at least, USB-C/PD would be desired but not a must. I did not realize I just started a saga. I had very positive experience with some generic single port PD chargers, so I decided to start from generic ones first. Not quite a surprise, none of 3 met my expectations, mostly because of false marking. The worst one doubled the current it was delivering. Others had too much voltage drop, e.g. with 1700mA load, the voltage dropped to around 4.8 etc.. I thought I cheaped out, so decided to try big brands. So the only one I found was with 10 ports, 100w total, 2.4a max per port. It came with the charging station and a huge power brick. To be fair, the power brick was actually decent as when idle, the power consumption could not be registered by my power meter. But the charging station was a total disappointment. It chewed 5w when idle. When with around 1700ma load, the voltage dropped to below 4.6v. To my surprise, the single port generic ones I had could actually maintain the voltage to about 4.8v, one was even able to keep at about 5.1v. Eventually I gave up and returned all of them as I had exhausted all the available options but none of them were close to my expectations.

by ink_13 4y ago

mmebane 4y ago

AllThingsOnePlace on YouTube [1] has been doing a good job of reviewing performance characteristics of many different chargers, although he usually doesn't do teardowns. [1]: https://youtube.com/@AllThingsOnePlace https://youtube.com/@AllThingsOnePlace

gruez 4y ago
>AllThingsOnePlace on YouTube [1] has been doing a good job of reviewing performance characteristics of many different chargers I watched one of his reviews recently[1], and while it's true that he reviews performance characteristics, it's unclear whether it's something I should care about. For instance, he talks about how that particular charger has a low power factor. Sure, having a high power factor[2] is nice in theory, but is that something I should care about? Judging from the wikipedia article it's more of an issue for the grid itself, and I'm not personally billed for it. I care far more about how much noise/ripple is being outputted by the charge, or whether it's going to damage my electronics, but that's doesn't seem to be evaluated. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uasxk9HBAtE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uasxk9HBAtE [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_factor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_factor
- porkbeer 4y ago
  Low power factor can make other devices nearby unstable by introducing noise or uneven ac cycles. Its overblown, sure, but tends to be a reliable indicator of overall quality as most engineers will only optimize for it with higher quality designs. Lower quality designs can often be dirtier and shorter lasting due to feedback, inefficiency and parts omission.
- bradknowles 4y ago
  Depends on where you are, and who your power company is. Some places have started charging you more for apparent power draw due to poor power factor.
runnerup 4y ago
ChargerLAB[0] does a lot of tear downs but I can’t vouch for their value. 0: https://youtube.com/@ChargerLAB https://youtube.com/@ChargerLAB

latortuga 4y ago

I remember when this article came out originally because I was surprised to see a random charger I owned as the winner. I still have this HP touchpad charger and a decade later it still works great.

mrjin 4y ago

Named brands are not necessarily good. In mid-2022 I tried to consolidate my chargers (Lots came with phones/pads etc. one 4 ports, and one 6 ports in particular. Most of those came with devices support PD and are 18w at least. However, those two multi-ports ones can only do 5v/2.4a max. Brand names were hidden here just to avoid being taken as ads) into one single charge station. So, I expected to get one with 8 ports and could do 100w at least, USB-C/PD would be desired but not a must. I did not realize I just started a saga. I had very positive experience with some generic single port PD chargers, so I decided to start from generic ones first. Not quite a surprise, none of 3 met my expectations, mostly because of false marking. The worst one doubled the current it was delivering. Others had too much voltage drop, e.g. with 1700mA load, the voltage dropped to around 4.8 etc.. I thought I cheaped out, so decided to try big brands. So the only one I found was with 10 ports, 100w total, 2.4a max per port. It came with the charging station and a huge power brick. To be fair, the power brick was actually decent as when idle, the power consumption could not be registered by my power meter. But the charging station was a total disappointment. It chewed 5w when idle. When with around 1700ma load, the voltage dropped to below 4.6v. To my surprise, the single port generic ones I had could actually maintain the voltage to about 4.8v, one was even able to keep at about 5.1v. Eventually I gave up and returned all of them as I had exhausted all the available options but none of them were close to my expectations.