Any of these fancy GaN chargers have USB-IF certification?
The next generation of wall chargers
41–50 of 203 posts
Re: The next generation of wall chargers
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
The UK plug design is generally regarded as the best of the standard ones https://www.fastcompany.com/3032807/why-england-has-the-best... From my experience with some amount of traveling, I would agree that its very nice to use in practice and definitely got a lot of things right.
Did I understand correctly that outlets contain a switch and are off by default and that the grounding pin switches them on when inserting the plug? That's great.
Not an electrical switch. The outlets contain a physical gate over live and neutral that is pushed open by the longer earth pin.
Re: The next generation of wall chargers
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
For your bedroom you'd really want an old 5W charger. Why turbo charge and put permanent strain on your battery when anything that takes 6+ hours will do.
Apparently (with iPhones at least) you shouldn’t have to worry about that anymore. https://www.zdnet.com/article/can-ios-13s-optimized-battery-...
Charging slower is always better for lion based batteries. Period
Re: The next generation of wall chargers
#44How do does gallium nitride stack up against silicon carbide? I heard the latter is responsible for the recent increase in efficiency of EVs.
Faster switching speed for the equivalent breakdown, at least from an RF amplifier perspective. SiC was an interim until GaN was developed, and is essentially obsoleted now. What’s interesting is how the DOD heavily invested in GaN technology in 90s and 00s, pushing the USA ahead of Japan in compound semiconductor. Weather that lead will stay; who knows. The Chinese have a GaN fab now. GaN is critical for RADAR and h…
> Faster switching speed for the equivalent breakdown, at least from an RF amplifier perspective. SiC was an interim until GaN was developed, and is essentially obsoleted now.
Wait wait wait... GaN and SiC have very, very different use profiles, and characteristics. SiC is by no means obsolete, and nor are purpose made silicon switches.
SiC is here to stay because of one very unique trait among all other semiconductors - a very pronounced negative temperature coefficient, and without extreme non-linearity.
Second to that is more or less linear threshold voltage temperature coefficient. GaN has positive threshold voltage temperature coefficient.
Third, SiC can simply operate at higher temperatures, and have known longer lifespan. GaN's current limits are WAY lower.
Fourth, transfer characteristic... Si, GaN, and SiC are all very different. This is one of few measures on which plain silicon beats contenders.
Re: The next generation of wall chargers
#45Re: The next generation of wall chargers
#46Re: The next generation of wall chargers
#47WOW... This is a horribly misleading article and discussion. The silicon of the switching circuit PALES in comparison to the real magic here. The wattage capability and size of these chargers is only possible because of US “power delivery”. These chargers are NOT hitting 30+ watts at 5V traditional USB voltage. Yes, there is another power and ground wire pair in the cable, but iirc they got smaller in diameter. These…
I believe the point was that GaN semiconductors make these chargers more compact, cooler, and lighter than their silicon competitors.
But that isn’t really the case. These chargers wouldn’t be pushing 30+W to device at this size if they weren’t also at 20V. One way before the other!
Lock it down to 5V and the size goes way up. The comparison to Apple’s 5V and 5W from like 2008 is at best misleading.
Are these smaller because of better silicon, yes, are they marginally smaller and the real difference is USB pd, also yes.
Re: The next generation of wall chargers
#48I know that "silicion" isn't just pure silicon given dopings but I can't help but ponder the environmental and toxicological differences between the two. Gallium nitride seems loke it might be more toxic and gives me a sneaking suspicion they will be a "compact floreacent tube" solution that is a flash in the pan decade standard that gets replaced by something far less toxic anyway (LEDs). However I know that I don't…
There's no need to ponder the toxicity of gallium nitride and worry about your "sneaking suspicion" that it's toxic. It's in the "may cause skin irritation" level of toxicity, so really not worth worrying about. https://www.ltschem.com/msds/GaN.pdf
That is good to hear. I remembered the mercury resemblance and recalled it as a "mercury lite" toxic. Turns out even pure gallium is pretty mild.
Re: The next generation of wall chargers
#49I know that "silicion" isn't just pure silicon given dopings but I can't help but ponder the environmental and toxicological differences between the two. Gallium nitride seems loke it might be more toxic and gives me a sneaking suspicion they will be a "compact floreacent tube" solution that is a flash in the pan decade standard that gets replaced by something far less toxic anyway (LEDs). However I know that I don't…
> Gallium nitride seems like it might be more toxic... Surely not more toxic than gallium arsenide . The amounts of material involved in a manufactured product are pretty tiny, so the semiconductor material is not hugely concerning.
Thanks for the correction.
Re: The next generation of wall chargers
#50This article reminded me of the mysterious murder of Shane Todd from a few years ago https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Shane_Todd