Qi charging... Is finnacy.

[Sarra]

So, I'm trying to determine if this is a problem with my phone, my other phone, my OTHER phone, or the charger.

 

Charger is a fast charging capable Mophie (yeah, from Worst Buy, but it's all I had available that was local). It's smallish, but it fits on my desk.

 

My Nexus 6 more or less refuses to work with it. It'll start charging, then stop after a minute. If I pick up the phone, then set it back, it will start charging again, then stop. If I keep doing this, eventually, it will start fast charging, and charge until full.

 

My (now damaged) Razer Phone 2 would do similar; set it down, it'll start fast charging, then stop. Pick up, set down, and it will start fast charging, then drop down to slow charging, then eventually charge.

 

My new S10 plus will start charging, then stop. The only way I can reasonably even get it to charge at all is to use a charge monitor app, set it down on the charger, then move it around until I get 1400 mA going, and after 3-5 seconds, it might stop, or it might just keep going.

 

Should I ditch this charger and get something else, or is this just an issue with Qi chargers in general?

 

Edit: Temperature isn't the issue, I've checked, both by feeling, and the charge rate app actually shows temp.

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, Sarra said:

So, I'm trying to determine if this is a problem with my phone, my other phone, my OTHER phone, or the charger.

 

Charger is a fast charging capable Mophie (yeah, from Worst Buy, but it's all I had available that was local). It's smallish, but it fits on my desk.

 

My Nexus 6 more or less refuses to work with it. It'll start charging, then stop after a minute. If I pick up the phone, then set it back, it will start charging again, then stop. If I keep doing this, eventually, it will start fast charging, and charge until full.

 

My (now damaged) Razer Phone 2 would do similar; set it down, it'll start fast charging, then stop. Pick up, set down, and it will start fast charging, then drop down to slow charging, then eventually charge.

 

My new S10 plus will start charging, then stop. The only way I can reasonably even get it to charge at all is to use a charge monitor app, set it down on the charger, then move it around until I get 1400 mA going, and after 3-5 seconds, it might stop, or it might just keep going.

 

Should I ditch this charger and get something else, or is this just an issue with Qi chargers in general?

 

Edit: Temperature isn't the issue, I've checked, both by feeling, and the charge rate app actually shows temp.

Have you tried with any other charger?  I’ve used mophie Qi stuff for my phone since before USBC, mostly because MicroUSB2 really was the worst, and mophie had the best magnet system by a long shot.  It was the car charger that did it.  Kind of toss it at the charger plate, it catches and squares itself.  Stuff is totally overpriced though.  I could get non fast charging Qi pucks  for $8 as long as they were no name.  I’ve never experienced anything like what you describe, but I don’t do fast charging at all. 

[Sarra]

3 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

Have you tried with any other charger?  I’ve used mophie Qi stuff for my phone since before USBC, mostly because MicroUSB2 really was the worst, and mophie had the best magnet system by a long shot.  It was the car charger that did it.  Kind of toss it at the charger plate, it catches and squares itself.  Stuff is totally overpriced though.  I could get non fast charging Qi pucks  for $8 as long as they were no name.  I’ve never experienced anything like what you describe, but I don’t do fast charging at all. 

No, I've only got the one. I got a compact one, mostly because it's sitting on my desk, but it seems consistent between all 3 phones to start, ramp up a little, then just stop.

 

I don't worry too much about the fast charging, since I have a fan that blows on the charging phone from below, and my battery temps don't go too high.

[Bombastinator]

2 hours ago, Sarra said:

No, I've only got the one. I got a compact one, mostly because it's sitting on my desk, but it seems consistent between all 3 phones to start, ramp up a little, then just stop.

 

I don't worry too much about the fast charging, since I have a fan that blows on the charging phone from below, and my battery temps don't go too high.

It sounds like more of a setting thing in the charger, but it doesn’t matter much if it’s not externally controllable.  Trying a new charger of a different model seems like a next step.  I ordered mine online.

[Sarra]

9 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

It sounds like more of a setting thing in the charger, but it doesn’t matter much if it’s not externally controllable.  Trying a new charger of a different model seems like a next step.  I ordered mine online.

Yeah, I might check online for a new one. Right now, it seems to be working pretty well. I ended up unplugging the charger, then plugging it back in, and now it's working much better. Guess I should read my own forum sig... :D

[Sarra]

Mkay, after fighting with this some more, I finally downloaded an app that can measure the charging rate of my phone. I drop my phone on the charger, watch it run up to 1400ish mA, then it slowly starts dropping, until after a minute, it just stops.

 

This repeats if I use my old Nexus 6.

 

It also repeats if I drop my Razer Phone 2 on it, as well.

 

So, it's a problem with the charge pad, not my phone, so I'm going to get a new charger.

 

Any suggestions for a good charger? I only really need one that fits my S10 Plus, the Nexus can be charged easily enough using USB, and the Razer Phone 2 is going to get put up on ebay or CL soon as a 'for parts' phone.

[Bombastinator]

7 hours ago, Sarra said:

Mkay, after fighting with this some more, I finally downloaded an app that can measure the charging rate of my phone. I drop my phone on the charger, watch it run up to 1400ish mA, then it slowly starts dropping, until after a minute, it just stops.

 

This repeats if I use my old Nexus 6.

 

It also repeats if I drop my Razer Phone 2 on it, as well.

 

So, it's a problem with the charge pad, not my phone, so I'm going to get a new charger.

 

Any suggestions for a good charger? I only really need one that fits my S10 Plus, the Nexus can be charged easily enough using USB, and the Razer Phone 2 is going to get put up on ebay or CL soon as a 'for parts' phone.

Standard non fast-charging Qi is standard non fast-charging Qi, generally.  I read something about a totally pointless exception for iPhones that I haven’t personally confirmed, but in general if no fast charging is involved any ol’ Qi charger will do. If fast charging IS involved it all changes and I’ve got no data.  Things can get proprietary and weird and a phone can just go “nope. Sure it could work, but my creators didn’t WANT it do so I refuse” which is apparently what Apple may have done with regular Qi or something. 

[Sarra]

2 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

Standard non fast-charging Qi is standard non fast-charging Qi, generally.  I read something about a totally pointless exception for iPhones that I haven’t personally confirmed, but in general if no fast charging is involved any ol’ Qi charger will do. If fast charging IS involved it all changes and I’ve got no data.  Things can get proprietary and weird and a phone can just go “nope. Sure it could work, but my creators didn’t WANT it do so I refuse” which is apparently what Apple may have done with regular Qi or something. 

It is fast charging.

 

It's not the phone, it's the charge pad. It LOOKS like the charger has an internal fault. Since it does the exact same thing on 3 different phones, then it has to be the charger. It's acting like it's not getting enough power to keep the charger going, which is ridiculous, since it's plugged into a wall outlet.

[Bombastinator]

10 minutes ago, Sarra said:

It is fast charging.

 

It's not the phone, it's the charge pad. It LOOKS like the charger has an internal fault. Since it does the exact same thing on 3 different phones, then it has to be the charger. It's acting like it's not getting enough power to keep the charger going, which is ridiculous, since it's plugged into a wall outlet.

I agree it is the charger, I’m just saying it’s also possibly a model problem. Non fast charging is Qi which is a standard of sorts, but even that can get messed with.  Fast charging is even less of one than that.

Edited November 10, 2020 by Bombastinator

[Sarra]

10 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

I agree it is the charger, I’m just saying it’s also possibly a model problem. Non fast charging is Qi which is a standard of sorts, but even that can get messed with.  Fast charging is even less of one than that.

Oh, gotcha.

 

Either way, I'm still looking for a good charger for my S10 plus now... I think I'll avoid Best Buy, this time. Not really impressed with them, right now... To newegg, it is!