Can you damage a mobile's battery with a different charger

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lNomNoml

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#240731 22-Sep-2018 22:37

I have a Google Pixel 2 and a OPPO VOOC quick charger as once upon a time I read it was good, I am however wondering it using this is damaging the battery on the Pixel 2 by charging it either too quickly or too slowly?

I am unable to confirm what power the OPPO VOOC and original Google Pixel 2 chargers output at to compare the specs, all I know about the Pixel one is that it outputs at 18W and the OPPO VOOC 5V~4A

I was/am contemplating trying to aquire an original Google Pixel 2 charger but they are not easy to find, to say the least..

Any thoughts on this? :?

geocom

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#2095051 23-Sep-2018 00:03

It's fine.

The phone will only draw as much current as it can from the oppo charger for that voltage range which will be 5v 3a.

The pixel phones use usb pd to achieve 18w from memory it negotiates to 9v.

At the end of the day no matter what you feed the phone it will go through a power ic to regulate the power and make sure the battery is being correctly charged. you also wont do any damage to the lipo by providing less current if any thing it will likely be beneficial

Geoff E

sbiddle

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#2095058 23-Sep-2018 07:57

It won't harm it but you'll probably end up with it charging your phone very slowly (maybe even as slow as 500mA) vs well over 2A with a proper charger meaning it could take up to 4x longer to charge.

VOOC is a protocol specific to OPPO. The Pixel supports the industry standard Qualcomm QC3.0 and also 27W USB-C PD standards meaning a charger that supports these standards will deliver the best performance. Other vendors such as Samaung and Huawei have their own fast charging protocols (AFC and FCP) that also mean unless you have a charger that supports those protocols that you will find your device charging very slowly.

I recommend this Zero lemon charger (which is an OEM product sold by several other manufacturers as well) as one of the best chargers available right now and it's what I use. It delivers 60W PD which charges my laptop quickly and does QC3.0 for my phone https://www.amazon.com/Charger-ZeroLemon-4-Ports-Delivery-Nintendo/dp/B00WM93M9S

If you play to get something like a Samsung or Huawei going forward I've been told these chargers are very good as well. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BZV6GKL I haven't used one personally but I'll probably pick up in the US next month for testing.

Technofreak

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#2095062 23-Sep-2018 08:50

sbiddle:

If you play to get something like a Samsung or Huawei going forward I've been told these chargers are very good as well. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BZV6GKL I haven't used one personally but I'll probably pick up in the US next month for testing.

From your link.

The first impression to L874 shows to people is calm and real. the low-key black color showcases its extraordinary performance.The highlight part of the product lies in the CNC highlight chamfer, adding bright lines of silver-white in the cool black imbued vitality to it. From the perspective of the user's experience, it is not easy to produce visual fatigue.

A product that has both good interior and exterior does not rely on gorgeous appearance to attract a person's eye at all......

I hope you're not basing your reasoning these are any good based on the Amazon listing.

Sony Xperia XA2 running Sailfish OS. https://sailfishos.org The true independent open source mobile OS
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sbiddle

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#2095065 23-Sep-2018 09:16

Technofreak:

I hope you're not basing your reasoning these are any good based on the Amazon listing.

Why not?

I read comments about this charger on a site somewhere but with different branding. This is the very same product but with another brand on it (I couldn't find the other brand on Amazon).

Like so many Chinese products these days lots of companies just buy the OEM product and get their brand printed on it. The Zero Lemon charger is sold by about 4 different brands on Amazon but Zero Lemon is the cheapest.

I actually wrote a review of the Zero Lemon a few months ago https://traveltalk.nz/reviews-tips/travel-tech/zero-lemon-75w-desktop-usb-charger-review/

Understanding charging standards isn't easy - but if you don't understand some basics you'll very likely find your devices take a lot longer to charge than need be.

USB-C and the PD standard has made this even more confusing. There are so many reviews on Amazon from people who don't understand what just because a charger or powerbank supports PD doesn't mean that it will work with all USB-C devices, with the classic example being that most laptops need a minimum of 30W PD to charge yet there are plenty of USB-C and USB-C PD chargers and powerbanks that will only output 18W

It's unfortunate Apple didn't do the smart thing and finally move to USB-C for the new iPhones as it would have done a lot to finally move the world away from USB-A and towards USB-C as the standard.

Aredwood

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#2095098 23-Sep-2018 12:38

I just use an old Samsung charger that came with a candy bar phone ages ago. It takes almost 4 hours to charge my S8+, but who cares as it charges while I'm asleep. And it is always fully charged in the morning. I use this method to stop the battery from heating up unnecessarily.

The supplied fast charger only gets used when I need to give my phone a boost charge.

lNomNoml

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#2095100 23-Sep-2018 12:40

Thanks for the info guys, I don't know much about chargers and the such and this has been very informative. I find the OPPO VOOC takes a while to charge the pixel but at the end of the day it's fine to me as long as it isn't doing damage to the mobile I'm happy.

I'll look at getting a zero lemon charger at a later stage if I can afford it :-)