Can a chargingbrick be damaged by using a weak cable?

[lonewolf543210]

Hello everyone,

 

I got a question about the usb-c charging standard, more specific for my anker 323 charger. I bought one a few days ago and it broke the day after i got it. It stopped charging fast for my tablet (which is 33W fastcharging compatible) but still charged my phone fast (galaxy s9) with the no matter what cable. So i got it replaced, but now i got the new one i desided to check the charging status on my tablet and it says "charging fast" which is not what i expected since 33W should trigger the status "charging at the fastest speed". Then i changed the cable and it was doing the latter one. So i looked up the specs of my first cable and it says 5V/3A. Now my question is of the cable damaged the first charger or if its harmless to use a cable that is rated for slightely less then the charger can give? Or was it just a bad charger?

 

ps: this is the cable that gives the lower charging speed: "LAMA 7-Pin Magnetic Charging Cable with Ring Light [Pack of 2] Magnetic Charging Cable Data Cable with 3 Micro USB Adapters " you can find it on amazon of you need this info. My tablet is a redmi pad pro.

 

ps:ps: the lama cable never gave me a problem before on normal usb charging(not fast) so i dont think the cable is damaged

 

Thanks for taking a look!

[OddOod]

Here is your problem

Your USB-C is only charging at 20W. Your phone can only take 15W so the charger is easily able to hit that. Your tablet is probably sucking back the full 20W (or maybe only the 15W that your cable is rated for, usb-c pd is weird and the cable can actually chime in on the power delivery negotiation) and is thus saying "yes, this is fast charge(TM) but not the fastest I can go" 
To confirm this I would grab the Ampere app for both devices and see what it says about the charging. Also, I can't find a pic of the wall side of the 323, can you get a pic of that including the power output ratings? It should have spec for both the USB A and C ports

Nothing should be damaged at this point, and it's probably fine to keep using this charger given that charging slower is better for your batteries. 

[lonewolf543210]

17 minutes ago, OddOod said:

To confirm this I would grab the Ampere app for both devices and see what it says about the charging. Also, I can't find a pic of the wall side of the 323, can you get a pic of that including the power output ratings? It should have spec for both the USB A and C ports

The anker 323 box and charging brick themselfs have following specs on them:

 - USB-C: 5V 3A, 9V 3A, 11V 3A, 15V 2.2A, 20V 1.65A (33W Max)

 - USB-A: 4.5V 5A, 5V 4.5A, 5V 3A, 9V 3A, 11V 3A, 12V 2.5A, 20V 1.5A (33W Max)

 

And to add context, the Lama cable is usb A on the charger side (which should be full capable for 33W with one one device charging) and so is the second cable i used(the original of the tablet itself) and the pic you send is for 2 devices at once, i just used one, my tablet. but it didnt work anymore so i tested with my phone (also just one device charging).

22 minutes ago, OddOod said:

Nothing should be damaged at this point, and it's probably fine to keep using this charger given that charging slower is better for your batteries. 

So if i understand correctly it didnt break my first charger just because of the cable and it was just a bad one? This is the first time i bought an anker charger cause i heard they were good, so not a great first experience ngl.

[OddOod]

6 minutes ago, lonewolf543210 said:

anker 323 box and charging brick themselfs

Okay, yes, this does mean that it can output the full 33W on either port, so I'd guess that the 15W (5V/3A) cable is what's holding you back. Not even necessarily a bad cable, just one living up to its spec.
Also, thanks for informing me that there are non-VOLTA mag tipped cables. 

[lonewolf543210]

9 minutes ago, OddOod said:

Also, thanks for informing me that there are non-VOLTA mag tipped cables. 

No problem, never heard of volta tho.

 

I just thought about something, its a magnetic cable, so it disconnects quite alot if you use the device while charging. Could that maybe have damaged the first charger meaning the frequent disconnections and reconnections?

[OddOod]

21 hours ago, lonewolf543210 said:

Could that maybe have damaged the first charger meaning the frequent disconnections and reconnections

It would DEEEEEEEPLY surprise me. 
15W is extremely unlikely to arc and cause damage. Even 150W would be hard pressed to do that. You really need wild voltages or 1000W to cause damaging arcing.

[lonewolf543210]

22 hours ago, OddOod said:

It would DEEEEEEEPLY surprise me. 
15W is extremely unlikely to arc and cause damage. Even 150W would be hard pressed to do that. You really need wild voltages or 1000W to cause damaging arcing.

I see, then i'll just keep using it and see if it happens again. Thanks for all the information you gave me!