Wireless charging woes

[CrisR82]

Got a bit of a weird situation on my hands and I've been trying to wrap my brain around it for a couple of days now, guess it's time to ask the community.

 

A bit of background - recently I got a Galaxy Watch Ultra, nice watch 'n all, but I hate the charger for not having a detachable cable...so I thought I should get another charger for when I travel - well, turns out the internet is full of completely wrong information (most of it stating it will refuse to work with anything other than the included charger).

After much digging, turns out people just had no idea what they were talking about and the Galaxy Watch Ultra does work with other chargers...if you remove the strap (as it would generally hold it up above the actual charger). Still kept getting mixed messages on compatibility, but after some more digging, I found several people confirming that Samsung's own wireless charging pads DO work, so I I was thinking if I should get the Samsung Wireless Charger Trio (labeled "9W Fast Wireless Charging"), or the Samsung Super Fast Wireless Charger Duo (labeled "Max 15W") and thought that since I won't ever charge more than 2 devices at a time and I happen to have a S25 Ultra which supports 15W wireless charging, I should get that one and so I did.

 

Today when I got it, the phone seems to be working fine with it (listing "Fast Charging" on the screen, which was concerning until I saw it as the same text in the battery settings menu so I guess it's ok?), but I noticed - the watch charges significantly slower than with the included charger:

- included charger (5V, 2A, so I guess 10W?): 1 hour and 35 minutes

- Super Fast Wireless Charger Duo (model EP-P5400): 2 hours and 35 minutes

In both cases, they were used with a Samsung 50W charger (model EP-T5020, tried both the 50W and 25W ports) and a Rivacase USB-C cable rated for 60W

 

I tried looking up the manual for the charger and in it, all it said was "Max 15W output power", what type of charger brick I should use (this one seems to match the criteria) and that a watch should go on the right spot specifically (magnetic)...so now I'm sitting here thinking if I'm doing something wrong, if there is an output power difference between the two spots on the charger (and nobody documented it) or that the fact that the spot for the watch is not in the same shape as the included charger is somehow messing up the charging capability (the included charger is not flat). Anyone has any suggestions?

 

P.S. not as big of a question but does anyone have any actual confirmed study/analysis of how wireless charging affects battery longevity? I keep finding conflicting information on this as well somehow - "it heats your phone more than a cable, but trust us, it's ok if you're in a ventilated room" seems to be a stance charger manufacturers are making.

[manikyath]

wireless charging is extremely dependant on proximity and coil positioning. 

 

as for battery longevity.. it's complicated.

- wireless charging is ineffcient, which means more heat, which in theory means some extra battery degradation.

- but if you're comparing to fast charging over a cable, the slower charging speed is probably more better for the battery, than the extra heat would be worse?

 

the ventilated room thing is also a complete BS thing, unless you're somehow using an open cell lead-acid battery in your smartwatch.

 

ps, the "fast charging" on your phone is likely a snake oil indicator. my phone says "fast charging" when it's on a wireless pad that cant do more than 5 watts, but when it's plugged into a 10 watt brick it'll say "charging slowly".