Quick Charging only working upto 25% Battery Level

Razer phone supposedly has Quick Charge 4+. This is what Qualcomm say on their website:

"When Quick Charge 4 was announced, it promised to bring even faster charging than its predecessor, allowing a device to go from empty to 50 percent in just 15 minutes.

The current Quick Charge 4 technology, announced in November of last year, promises five hours of charge in five minutes, a 20 percent improvement in charging speed and 30 percent improvement in efficiency than the previous Quick Charge system.

The company announced even more improved specs today: the Quick Charge 4+ system, which the company promises is up to three degrees cooler, up to 15 percent faster and 30 percent more efficient than Quick Charge 4."

Can anyone confirm that your phone is actually charging at this rate ? I have an open thread on another forum and many people like me is only getting the phone to charge "Quick" up to 25%. Do not get confused, the phone will always say its "Rapid Charging" but it will just properly "Quick Charge/Rapid Charge upto 25% then drop back to normal slow charging after that.

I've tested and compared the charge speed using Ampere App and could not see a single difference between QC 3.0 and 4+ on this phone. I've used the original wall adapter + usb c cable combinations as well as using a standard QC 3.0 wall adapter and a usb 3.1/3.0 cable.

I also got a replacement Wall Adapter + Usb C cable from Razer. No difference so I can confirm 100% that its not a charger/cable fault.

The phone starts charging at around 3800mA upto 25% then reduces drastically to 1800mA and charges to full charge. Issue lies here because at 1800mA the phone is NOT quick charging. It charges quick upto 25%, very quick actually but after 25% it charges very slow.

I know the fact that due to heat the phone will not charge at 3800mA throughout so would need to drop but this drop should not be at 25%. My oneplus 3T used to charge at around 3000-4000mA 60-70% then used to drop towards 1500mA-2500mA mark and would complete the charge at this rate. It was very quick, 0-70% was like in 30 minutes.



Started Charge @ 14:53 / 15% / 3800mA

14:57 / 21% / 42 mins untill full
15:01 / 26% / 44 mins untill full

Charge current decreased from 3800mA to 1800mA

15:06 / 30% / 50 mins untill full
15:10 / 34% / 51 mins untill full
15:15 / 39% / 49 mins untill full
15:21 / 46% / 45 mins untill full
15:27 / 51% / 42 mins untill full
15:41 / 64% / 33 mins untill full
16:02 / 80% / 20 mins untill full
16:16 / 91% / 10 mins untill full
16:30 / 96% / 5 mins untill full
16:38 / 98% / 3 mins untill full
16:45 / 100% / Charged

Took 108 minutes for full charge from 15%. This cant be right for sure? Can anyone confirm.

Note: I've had no apps running or anything in the background. Also note at 14:57 it said 42 minutes for full charge, 30 minutes later it was still saying 42 minutes for full charge

 

Hey there, I think you misunderstand how QC QuickCharge actually works.

The current decrease from 3800mA to 1800mA is correct. Unlike USB-PD, which just simply increases the current going to the device whilst maintaining an exact 5v voltage, QC QuickCharge dynamically changes the current AND the voltage.

Even though the charging current is dropping down to 1800mA, it's charging at a higher voltage (12v instead of 5v) which in turns allows it to push more power overall down the cable.

Current alone =/= Charging Power

You need to take into account voltage as well as current, which apps like Ampere don't know. Rest assured however, it is charging using the QuickCharge technology, and it lowers the current, to increase the voltage, resulting in an overall higher power delivery (this is usually measured and marketted in watts). 0-70% on QuickCharge sounds normal, almost all phones will then trickle charge to top up to 100%, this is to ensure longevity to the battery.

You can see the voltages and currents on the underside of the Razer charger. Keep note these are the "max" currents for each voltage, and don't represent exactly what you will get, the phone will automatically adjust based on thermals and power usage. Having the screen on will keep the charging speed down big time.

 

Cannot say I agree on that to be honest. Ampere app does show the current and voltage. The voltage does not go past 4.100 even if the current is 3800 or 1800. It would be normal if it was like you say, 0-70% but it is only charging at 3800 upto 25%. If you look at the numbers i put above and the estimate charging time inaccuracy, I cannot agree that this is all normal behaviour. I had a oneplus phone with the dash charge technology it was charging at 4A/5V and with that 0-70% was quick. With this, I have yet to see it go past 4V and 75% of the time it is charging at 1920mA.

 

This is the battery voltage, not the charging voltage.

Again, this is normal. It charges at a lower voltage, but higher current until it hits 25%, then from 25%-70% it steps the voltage up (and in turn lowers the current) and this produces the 24w of charging power. Once it reaches the 70%, it does trickle charging to hit 100% battery, at a lower voltage rate, and again like I said, it does this for safety reasons but mostly to maintain battery health. Most phones does this for the last 20-30% of its charge. This image gives a good idea, it's for an Apple iPhone, but the same idea applies.

OnePlus use a very different fast charging solution, using something called VOOC, (Voltage Open Loop Multi-step Constant-Current Charging). Unlike Qualcomm, the DASH charger from OnePlus, uses a constant voltage, 5V, but because of the dedicated circuitry within the DASH charger for heat dissipation and power management, it is able to push a much higher current that what traditional phones can take, specifically 4 amps.

5V with a 4 amp current results in 20w of charging power.

QuickCharge 4+ uses a range of voltages and currents. The highest charging rate being:

12v with a 2 amp current (which is what you're seeing in Ampere) which results in a 24w of charging power.

And again, like I said, Ampere cannot tell you the voltage, which is why you are not seeing the current charging rate within your apps, the voltage readout it gives you, is the overall voltage of the battery, not the rate it's charging.

Another thing to note, is that you shouldn't compare the charging rate of your OnePlus phone, to that of the Razer. Whilst the Razer phone, I promise you, is charging at a rate faster than the OnePlus phone, you have to remember that the OnePlus phone does have a smaller battery, and will therefore reach higher capacity faster than the Razer phone, even if it's overall charging rate it slightly slower.

It's like taking 1 car going 100mph and asking it to travel 10 miles, and another car going 80mph and asking it to travel 5 miles. Even though the first car is faster, the 2nd car will reach 100% of it's journey in a shorter length of time.

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

 

I don't know about the exact specs of QC, so I'll tell something about batteries in general instead.
Long story short: Discharged batteries will take in more current from the same voltage source compared to slightly charged batteries.

 

There isn't supposed to be any current if the voltage no longer changes. Perhaps the said current is taken from the phone's power consumption?

 

The voltage does change in ampere. I believe the max voltage of the battery in the Razer Phone is 4.4v at 100% capacity, and it can drop anywhere down to 3v as the battery charge is used. This is how any battery really works in general, obviously with different numbers.

Ampere does calculate the phones consumption when it is discharging. This is seperate from the voltage indicator on the app though. It is 100% the battery voltage, not the charging voltage.

 

Im not an expert on batteries, im only going by the fact that i used Quick Charge 2.0/3.0 phones before and all of them used to charge fast upto 60-70%. Used galaxy note 3,4,5 and just previously had a oneplus 3t, all these were charging quick. I cant say the same thing about the Razer hence it having the latest QC Technology. It says 42 minutes to full charge, 30 mins later it still saying 42 mins for full charge. It dont feel fast, plus you got the numbers above, took 108 minutes to charge to full from 15%. Are you saying that these behaviours are all normal and the charge time is normal as well.

 

We should probably take into account the fact that the phone has a larger battery capacity and since it is a high-end phone, the power consumption is also larger.