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The next generation of wall chargers

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Re: The next generation of wall chargers

#121

Post by baybal2 »

madengr wrote: post #116
baybal2 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 semiconducto…

I was thinking in terms of RF amps. Cree was making SiC FETs several years ago, but I think it’s all GaN on SiC now. There was a SiC fab in CA making RF parts, but I think they went belly-up. All the SiC FETs topped out a 2.5 GHz. How does the negative temp coefficient help; stability for very high temps? I know the positive temp coefficient was an issue in RF BJT, requiring ballast resistors for stabilization, but t…

> How does the negative temp coefficient help; stability for very high temps?

You can put multiple switches in parallel, and have them self balance without resorting to active temperature compensation which is completely out of question for any consumer grade device.

For power electronics, GaN is nowhere near as big of a bang as SiC, with its current handling being the primary showstopper. SiC can switch 100A loads at one kilovolt and above with ease, and at very high frequencies. There are simply no equivalent GaN part for this comparison.

Second to that, GaN needs a tricky gate driver, and is normally an n-channel depletion mode device. SiC can still be driven driverless at lo

Second to that, SiC JFETs still have niche uses in audio amps exactly because of their "bad" shallow IV curve.

Re: The next generation of wall chargers

#122

Post by thebean11 »

BurningFrog wrote: post #69

Uninformed basic question: Would these charge my phone faster than the standard ones?

If your device accepts wattage (current? not totally sure about the terminology) higher than your current charger can provide, then yes. Basically, devices will charge at minimum(phone_rate, charger_rate).

Re: The next generation of wall chargers

#123

Post by mastax »

BurningFrog wrote: post #69

Uninformed basic question: Would these charge my phone faster than the standard ones?

Unfortunately, it depends. There are various standards that devices use to negotiate how much power to send over the USB cable. These chargers tend to support all the popular standards so they'll charge your phone at the fastest possible speed (unless you have a OnePlus or OPPO phone). If you have a midrange or higher Android phone, the included charger likely charges at max speed. If you have an iPhone with the 5W adapter, any of these adapters will charge faster than that.

Re: The next generation of wall chargers

#124

Post by velominati »

grecy wrote: post #118
hinkley wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US plug prongs can usually survive being bent and re-bent a number of times. It's quite quite common for people to manage to bend the prongs on their vacuum cleaner dozens of times. Those pull more amps than almost anything else you plug in regularly, and they do just fine. Just go slow.

I've been known to twist them with a pair of pliers into the shape required to plug into Australian sockets (like this: \ / ), then twist them back again. Works fine if there is no earth pin.

I saw someone do this with the plug to a laser printer once. The toner literally exploded in his face when he plugged it in.

Re: The next generation of wall chargers

#125

Post by ImminentFate »

velominati wrote: post #124
grecy wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been known to twist them with a pair of pliers into the shape required to plug into Australian sockets (like this: \ / ), then twist them back again. Works fine if there is no earth pin.

I saw someone do this with the plug to a laser printer once. The toner literally exploded in his face when he plugged it in.

That’s why you check that the printer can even support 240V before you do this

Re: The next generation of wall chargers

#126

Post by sjwright »

driverdan wrote: post #32
stefan_ wrote: post #4

Ironically, the best USB-C charger for something like a phone (laptops come with chargers, anyway) I've found is simply the Raspberry Pi 4 USB-C charger - very cheap ($10), small, plenty power (15W), fixed cable and no fucking blue Anker LED that can illuminate your bedroom.

I bought a roll of cheap 5% window tint and put it over all device LEDs. It makes it dim enough to not impact sleep but still visible. If you don't want to see the LED you can cover it with electrical tape.

I used to run a Dell UltraSharp 3008WFP. A great monitor for the time, but the power LED was so damn bright that black electrical tape didn't fully extinguish it.

Re: The next generation of wall chargers

#127

Post by Tagbert »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #66
javagram wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple’s recommended charger for a 13inch MBP is a 61W adapter, for the 15 inch is an 87W and for the 16 inch is a 96W. Although you can use an under-specced adapter it probably won’t be enough to power and charge the system while fully using the CPU, GPU, and screen.

Basically you just repeated what I just said... I am actually considering buying 30W one for it's portability. But then again I am not a YouTube influencer that occasionally games and cuts videos (you know, the person that Apple designs it's computers nowadays for).

This RAV power 61w charger is smaller than the one in the referenced article. I have one and travel with it a lot. https://www.ravpower.com/products/rp-pc112-gan-tech-61w-wall...

Re: The next generation of wall chargers

#128

Post by dfox »

technofiend wrote: post #78
_Microft wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's odd. Could you describe it better since there is basically no way one would be under risk of getting a shock on a Schuko or Europlug without inserting a needle or something similar into the holes of the outlet.

We're just talking about two copper-lined holes next to each other for each power connection. There were two of those spaced closely together in a recess in the wall. They were close enough I could have touched the metal of one outlet while grabbing onto the power plug inserted into the other outlet. Since my power plug adapter is two copper-plated pins that mated with the holes and had no electrical break like you s…

I have the feeling that you are talking about european style socket with shallower than normal recess, ie. CEE 7/1. These sockets are sometimes used in Benelux countries for RCD protected circuits without PE, and should only be used for Class II devices which usually have CEE 7/16 “EuroPlug” with isolation sleeves and thus there is nothing to touch. On the other hand nothing prevents you from plugging essentially any other european plug in there which then becomes safety issue both because of the exposed live pins when (un)plugging and missing grounding. Similar sockets were (are?) also used in Russia.

This is probably the only case when CEE-style socket is not designed such that it is safe to use with any CEE-style plug that mechanically fits. In general I view the system as better design than BS 1363, because it solves the relevant safety issuess without overengineering and with reasonable degree of backward compatibility.

Re: The next generation of wall chargers

#130

Post by Camillo »

sagichmal wrote: post #96
dpeck wrote: post #21

Earlier 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.

??? The UK plug is gargantuan and unwieldy, and the inbuilt fuse a pointless anachronism grandfathered in via historical momentum. The Euro plug is better in every way.

I don't get why this person is being downvoted. He's right. There is such a thing as overengineering, and the UK plug is the poster child.
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