Database Users

Better battery life when phone is charged ON and watching movies etc?

I've been experience that my battery life has improved ALOT when I charge it while it's on, also when I watch a movie or two and then charge it at the same time, when it reaches 100% I easly get more days out of it.
What's your experience?

This makes sense because the Wall charger has plenty of power to quickly charge the unit, while a USB connection is standard at 5 volts.
So the slower the charge, the longer it takes, the better it hold the charge longer.
In your situtation, you are watching movies while charging... which eats most of the power as it comes in, and supplies the battery with a slower charge; thus increasing the battery life until it drains again.
I do this with my Motorola cheap-o phone. If I power it via USB it'll last like 7 days... but if I charge it via a Wall Charger it'll be dead in 2.

Never really gave that any thought. You think the slower cycles going in, then the harder it is to go out? I'll keep mine playing movies while I'm sleeping then to get a better charge if that's true!

I thought that was very bad for the Batery, actually my laptop's batery is already dead (it drains full batery in less than 3 minutes) and I was using your method during all its live, around 1.5 years.
I noticed that if you use the Diamond during charge it warms up very much, compared to when not using it.
I must say that I noticed that some of the cicles where longer than others with similar or less use, I will test in the nexts days and post back.

player911 said:
This makes sense because the Wall charger has plenty of power to quickly charge the unit, while a USB connection is standard at 5 volts.
So the slower the charge, the longer it takes, the better it hold the charge longer.
In your situtation, you are watching movies while charging... which eats most of the power as it comes in, and supplies the battery with a slower charge; thus increasing the battery life until it drains again.
I do this with my Motorola cheap-o phone. If I power it via USB it'll last like 7 days... but if I charge it via a Wall Charger it'll be dead in 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ALL Devices like phones charge at a nominal 5v. It's the current that is different.
Wen you charge while the the phone is some way in use it works the battery to max efficiency and this results in a more efficient charge pattern.
Charge your phone whenever you can, never turn it off when charging and top up as often as possible. That will maximise battery life and max the potential capacity.
Don't discharge too low either.

Galaxy Tab Battery Charging Mystery

I am sure most of you have realized the fact that when you unplug the Tab from the charger, even it showed fully charged, the battery drop right down to 99% or 98%, which is not that normal with other android phone.
I took a deeper look here. I have a widget which can monitor the battery voltage. When the Tab is connected to the plug and fully charged, the voltage is showing at around 4150mv, which is the normal fully charged voltage for most of the android phones. The moment you unplugged the charger, the voltage drop to around 4070mv. I guess most of the phone judge the battery level by voltage. The differences of the voltage makes the battery level drop to 99% or 98%.
Another fact I found is that the voltage changes quite a lot when the Tab is on different loads. A simple example is that when I wake my Tab up from a sleep mode (black screen to desktop), I can see that the battery voltage widget showing a 100mv drop. (This can be easily reproduced, just put a battery widget which can show voltage on desktop, lock your screen for a few minutes, after that unlock your Tab and keep looking at your voltage for a few seconds, you will notice the difference).
I basic Physics tell me that this kind of voltage drop is cause by the running current and the internal impedance of the battery. But still I am not so sure about the 100mv drop is normal or not? It is bigger that is should be (causing by the not well made battery which have larger than normal internal impedance)?
Sorry for the English style, it is not my mother tongue. Thank you. More discussion is welcome.

I also notice the last 10 or so percent going in minutes

nothing either of you are describing is abnormal behavior for Lithium ion cells.
almost all of this has been discussed ad nauseum.

crazy talk said:
nothing either of you are describing is abnormal behavior for Lithium ion cells.
almost all of this has been discussed ad nauseum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, there you go

Theres another mystery to be resolved. How come a two amp/hour charger needs four hours to charge a four amp battery instead of the aprox two hours it should take?
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

Tiamath99 said:
Theres another mystery to be resolved. How come a two amp/hour charger needs four hours to charge a four amp battery instead of the aprox two hours it should take?
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The charging current is not constant. The maximum is 2 amp. But this is probably available when the batter level is very low. As the batter level goes up, the charge current goes down. Meanwhile, the charger would provide power for the device to operate if you were charging it with power on, which uses some of the amps.

The explanation does not satisfy me. It would certainly explain why it charges in a little bit more Time than expected with the 2 amp charger, the problem is that the charging time is about four hours, that's double the time needed for charging.
For example the Archos 70 internet tablet has a 3000 miliamp battery and a 2 amp charger. Time to full recharge? 90 minutes.
As it should be.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

Charging current is usually lowered for example when battery overheats while charging. Also, if you use the device while charging, then of course you are slowing down the charging as well.

Tiamath99 said:
The explanation does not satisfy me. It would certainly explain why it charges in a little bit more Time than expected with the 2 amp charger, the problem is that the charging time is about four hours, that's double the time needed for charging.
For example the Archos 70 internet tablet has a 3000 miliamp battery and a 2 amp charger. Time to full recharge? 90 minutes.
As it should be.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, the Archos is not telling the whole truth. It'll try to explain what I know. Lithium based batteries have a two stage (some people say three!!) charging process.
The first phase is the constant current phase, this pumps in as much current as possible (within the constraints of the charger, battery size, battery temperature etc). So with a 2 amp charger the full 2 amps will hit the battery, probably less if the device is switched on as the device will take some of the power from the charger.
The first phase continues until the battery voltage is about 4.1 or 4.2 volts then phase 2 starts. At this point the battery is probably about 70-80% charged. The 2nd phase is a constant voltage charge and will take the charge from 70-80% up to 100%.
The 2nd phase is what takes the time, as the voltage hitting the battery is now fixed at 4.1/4.2 volts the charging current steadily reduces as the battery becomes more charged. Therefore it may take 20 minutes to get from 80% to 90% charged but 40 minutes to get from 90% to 100%.
There is a small graph on the bottom of this web page-
http://shdesigns.org/lionchg.html
So why do some devices take longer to charge then others? Apart from different chargers & size of the battery the other main factor is the charging circuit in the device. Some devices do not do the slower phase 2 charge resulting in a battery that is only 70-80% charged, the device will of course tell you it is 100% charged but it is not, so for example out of the 3000mA/H battery in the Archos only ~2500mA/H will actually be availble. Other devices may push the charge voltage on the phase 2 charge to make it quicker - this is seroiusly bad for the battery though.
Make sense??

faugusztin said:
Charging current is usually lowered for example when battery overheats while charging. Also, if you use the device while charging, then of course you are slowing down the charging as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right but when you charge it with all apps closed and the screen off the power consumition is minimal so it shouldn't affect the charging time very much.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

m2te said:
Hmm, the Archos is not telling the whole truth. It'll try to explain what I know. Lithium based batteries have a two stage (some people say three!!) charging process.
The first phase is the constant current phase, this pumps in as much current as possible (within the constraints of the charger, battery size, battery temperature etc). So with a 2 amp charger the full 2 amps will hit the battery, probably less if the device is switched on as the device will take some of the power from the charger.
The first phase continues until the battery voltage is about 4.1 or 4.2 volts then phase 2 starts. At this point the battery is probably about 70-80% charged. The 2nd phase is a constant voltage charge and will take the charge from 70-80% up to 100%.
The 2nd phase is what takes the time, as the voltage hitting the battery is now fixed at 4.1/4.2 volts the charging current steadily reduces as the battery becomes more charged. Therefore it may take 20 minutes to get from 80% to 90% charged but 40 minutes to get from 90% to 100%.
There is a small graph on the bottom of this web page-
http://shdesigns.org/lionchg.html
So why do some devices take longer to charge then others? Apart from different chargers & size of the battery the other main factor is the charging circuit in the device. Some devices do not do the slower phase 2 charge resulting in a battery that is only 70-80% charged, the device will of course tell you it is 100% charged but it is not, so for example out of the 3000mA/H battery in the Archos only ~2500mA/H will actually be availble. Other devices may push the charge voltage on the phase 2 charge to make it quicker - this is seroiusly bad for the battery though.
Make sense??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wonderful explanation mate.
But still I just can't understand why it took one hour and 50 minutes to go from 10% to 60% . In theory it should be phase 1 charging at full 2 amps hour.
Since the 50% charged is about 2 amps , shouldn't it have charged that amount in an hour?
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

I've been wondering this too. I read in other reviews that it takes 3 hours for a full charge but It took me 3.5 hrs to go from 55% to 100%. sounds like samsung is very conservative with it's stages.

The first problem is something that those of us with Droid Incredible devices have had for a long time. Many people resort to bump charging (i.e., charging to 100%, unplugging for a little while, then plugging it in to let it finish charging). It's an annoying problem.

Need help here my xda fellows.
I am not sure if this is normal, but my tab drops from 70% to 58% overnight with flight mode on and no apps opened. (i use lanucher pro if that counts)
Another weird thing is when i turn off the tab and charge, that battery meter only shows about half full and no matter how long i charge it for it stays the same. But then when i fire it up, android system tells me its 98%. And when i try to turn it off and charge it, now the meter shows almost full and will eventually shows that 100% symbol.
It seems to me some ppl get excellent battery life but not in my case. Could there be any problem with the battery? (running jk1 fw non root).
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

Another issue is that once the charger hits 100%, it shuts off. While the tab is plugged in and on, it will drain the battery down some...maybe to 95%...before the charger turns back on. However the whole time it is plugged in it will show 100% after having reached max charge.this is by design on almost all new battery devices to prevent damage to the battery and simultaneously prevent people from complaining their battery is draining even though it is plugged in.
This also explains why some people see such a quick drop after unplugging. If they happen to unplug at the bottom of a trickle charge cycle.
Again, not a bug.
Sent from my SCH-I800 using XDA App

As I have noticed these issues with my Tab as well, these were all very well explained and knowledgable replies.
Just to put in my two cents, I have noticed that the Tab actually seems to charge noticably faster if I leave it on, rather than turning it off. I do, however, usually turn off everything on the power widget and put it into airplane mode as well, mind you. But, the speed in which it recharges while turned on as opposed to the recharge speeds when completely shut off are fairly noticeable.
Anyone else notice this with their Tab or any other device, and/or have some insight regarding why this occurs? Kudos for the previous informative explanations, btw.

Not a conspiracy: Fast vs 'Slow' Charging

Ever since I first got my Note 4, I've loved two things about it more than almost everything else: battery life and charging speed.
Two nights ago, I was bored and - I know, it's a strange thing to do when bored - decided to see how fast fast charging was compared to normal charging. It took my phone about 123 minutes to fully charge from 0 to 100% with fast charging disabled.
But that's not what I care about. What I care about is the fact that, before I disabled fast charging and fully charged my phone from 0, I would typically have about 10% left after a twelve hour cycle that included around 5 hours of screen-on time.
After my slower charge, I found that, after about 11 hours, I'd had my screen on for 4.5 hours, and my battery was still sitting at 55%. This improvement absolutely astounded me, and I want to encourage all of you to see how your mileage varies (or perhaps doesn't) by disabling fast charging.
I'd like to add that I've always been a huge proponent of fast charging, and I've always dismissed the common notion that it's bad for a phone's battery. But I can't ignore my own results.
EDIT: I should add that this was without power-saving mode or airplane mode enabled at any point in time. And the screen brightness was set to the same value I use generally, and not the minimum I'd use in total darkness.

I haven't used fast charge except for the first few days I had the phone. I just never needed my phone charged fast.
I can get about 6.5 hours of screen on time with around 20% battery left on power saving mode.

droidx2.3.3 said:
I haven't used fast charge except for the first few days I had the phone. I just never needed my phone charged fast.
I can get about 6.5 hours of screen on time with around 20% battery left on power saving mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd had fast charge enabled until two days ago because I never saw anything but advantages to it. I also should add that I don't use power saving features until I'm down to at least down to 15%. Glad to hear you're getting good performance

I only use fast charging. If I do a heavy use day, I get about 5-5.5 hours of SOT and run out. Not sure how long it lasts.
On average, I charge my phone every third day and get 4-4.5 SOT.
I think my battery life is pretty exceptional. I don't leave the phone on the charger overnight, it gets unplugged immediately and I usually put it on the charger around 15 percent.
Yes, I"m not a heavy user usually. Depends on my work load, sometimes it only lasts two days.

I remember hearing this back in the day. Users reported that trickle charging (ie. Usb to computer) would yield better battery life.
I was curious if this would be the case when I first heard about the fast charging when the note 4 was released, but I haven't tested it yet.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-z/help/trickle-charging-improve-battery-life-t2332947
I use a spare oem battery/cradle charger. Which does not have fast charging, so the battery would technically be charged slower than through the phone with fast charging. I haven't noticed any difference in battery life between the two.
Then again, my phone usage changes by the time I swap batteries.
Sent from my Note 4.

I guess I'm different than most. It's nothing for me to kill a battery in a work day. When I'm 50% +/- I'll plug in because I never know when I'll need a full charge or where I will be an need it. When going out of town I typically will carry at least one of my two backup battery packs.
I will keep power saving mode on and my screen at full brightness. No WiFi enabled but I do use BT from time to time.
5.5 to 6 hours usage sounds about right for me. 24-48 hours on one charge and I say someone isn't using their phone enough.... LoL

Im running Pac Rom 5.1.1 on Note 4 DE and the charger definitely makes a difference.
A "normal" charger (pretty much anything under 2.1A) will charge much slower than a 2.1A charger.

mithusingh32 said:
Im running Pac Rom 5.1.1 on Note 4 DE and the charger definitely makes a difference.
A "normal" charger (pretty much anything under 2.1A) will charge much slower than a 2.1A charger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But have you noticed any difference in your battery life after a fast charge vs a slow charge?

Bicknasty said:
But have you noticed any difference in your battery life after a fast charge vs a slow charge?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You guy need to repeat this charging business in a scientific test manner.
For example.
1) Discharge to 50%-80% (choose a level.)
2) Slow charge to 100%.
3) Run a loop of a video at some preset brightness, not auto, until the battery is at 50%-80% again. Note the time.
4) Fast charge to 100%.
5) Repeat 3 in the exact same way.
Then compare the times of video playback for the two charging techniques.
My guess is that if you were to do it right, you would get identical results.

nabbed said:
You guy need to repeat this charging business in a scientific test manner.
For example.
1) Discharge to 50%-80% (choose a level.)
2) Slow charge to 100%.
3) Run a loop of a video at some preset brightness, not auto, until the battery is at 50%-80% again. Note the time.
4) Fast charge to 100%.
5) Repeat 3 in the exact same way.
Then compare the times of video playback for the two charging techniques.
My guess is that if you were to do it right, you would get identical results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'd also have to play a movie that is stored on phone and go on airplane mode, since signal strengths change power usage of radio.

Slow and steady wins the endurance race
Owners of electric rc cars/planes often charge lipo batteries to tailor their output for various track conditions. Faster higher voltage charges are more punchy and have increased output but suffer shorter run times. Slower lower voltage = milder output and longer run times.

Jugger naut said:
Owners of electric rc cars/planes often charge lipo batteries to tailor their output for various track conditions. Faster higher voltage charges are more punchy and have increased output but suffer shorter run times. Slower lower voltage = milder output and longer run times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Slower or faster discharge in an electrical motor depends on how much and how fast the motor can consume energy and how quickly a battery can dispense it - this relates directly to the performance of the motor like horsepower and torque. The charge used up is still the same. The amount of electricity stored depends only on the chemical composition of the battery, not on how you charge it. So faster or slower discharge still uses up the same amount of electricity - the energy stored/dispensed remains the same.
On the other hand, in a very demanding situation like RC, a faster charge can afford a faster peak discharge rate of battery. This is due to how the chemicals in LiPo batteries undergo transformations between homogeneous and heterogeneous states depending on the rate of charge. The faster the charge, the faster the maximum rate of discharge. A common misconception is that a slower rate of charge will amount to more charge stored. That is generally incorrect. Slower charging can only benefit the useful lifetime of the battery.
A display or a cpu of a smartphone are unlike an electrical motor in that they consume the same nominal amount of energy for a given task and at a very low rate. The rate of energy consumption for a smartphone is far lower than the possible rate of discharge of the battery is has.
For example, you can charge (and discharge) a battery in smartphone like S6 in about 80 minutes (and that is still FAR slower than you can possibly charge/discharge such a battery.) But the battery will last many many hours even under the heaviest load. So slower charging is pointless for smartphones.

BATTERY LIFE: Charging Speed

To power up, you consume Red Bull. But your phone just needs its adaptive fast charger. Rate this thread to express how quickly the Note5 can charge. A higher rating indicates that it charges extremely fast.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

Phone isint charging past 1000 mA on stock cable. However using one from PS4 is giving full 1800-2000 mA! Did I get a faulty cable by any chance ? N920C

This is the fastest charging phone ever! During the days where I use the phone heavily, it will drop to about 15-20% around 4 PM, my day starts at 5 AM. That's when I unplug my phone also. So great battery life for me. It will charge from 10% to 100% in about 1 hr or just slightly more. Can't complain about it, it a great feature.

lol just plug my phone in, went to starbucks come back at 80% from 39% in around 30-40 min

I got the phone down to 1% and it took 1 hour 36 mins to charge to 100%
Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk

Driving me crazy
i have to try at least 5-7 times to get it into fast charging mod
otherwise it will keep charge normaly

Mohammed-noor said:
i have to try at least 5-7 times to get it into fast charging mod
otherwise it will keep charge normaly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just switch the cable, had that problem.
The cable that i got with the phone is garbage, any other one will do the trick.

Charges as fast or faster than my S6 did, which is awesome since the battery is bigger. IF I use it heavily throughout the day and get it below 50% I'll throw it on the fast charger (wired) while doing dishes or something and I get almost 2%/min. 10 minutes will get me almost 20% more battery and I'm golden for the rest of the day with heavy use (CoC attacks all night lol)

vakenT said:
Just switch the cable, had that problem.
The cable that i got with the phone is garbage, any other one will do the trick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same thing,thanks any way

1h 10min or 1h 20mins fully charged everytime.

Wireless Fast Charger
Got 2 wireless chargers. 1 from Costco when i got the note 5 and the other when i activated samsung pay. Sold them both for 20 each and bought the fast charger. Less sensitive when looking for that "sweet spot" and seems to charge just as fast as factory cable. About an hour and twenty minutes to charge fully. Battery lasts pretty good on stock even before using package disabler pro.

A little over an hour here for me for a full charge.

charging speed is very fast. from 20% in just few minutes charged goes up to 50%. from drained battery to full charge takes about 1 hour and 20 mins. looking for suggestions for good power bank with wireless charging capability for this phone.

awesome speed

Deep sleep issue

1 hour 13 min

jhylez said:
charging speed is very fast. from 20% in just few minutes charged goes up to 50%. from drained battery to full charge takes about 1 hour and 20 mins. looking for suggestions for good power bank with wireless charging capability for this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Pleson wireless fast charge that I bought on Amazon for 18 dollars charges my phone in a little less than 75 minutes from 5% to 100%.. The phone does get a little hot though.

You guys talk about charging time while Fast Charge features enabled.
How about normal charge ?
I was disabled fast charge feature and tried to plug my phone to my charge. It took me more than 4 hours to fully charged from 15% of battery.

why waste time with regular charging when it takes 1hr 11 min to 100% from 15%....charging with phone off.
if you charge while on the phone is on & continually updating social media, email, stocks/bonds/financial, it'll take a long time, if you ever see 100%.

I don't fully deplete my battery anymore, since it's not replaceable. When I had the note 3 with another spare battery and usb 3.0 wire charger I got it down it like 10% than charge. Life is a little different on the note 5. I have to charge my phone while at work, at least once a day sometimes 2 times if I'm heavily using my phone. Just the combination of bad 3g service here at work and Really good 4G LTE service, in certain areas, brings my battery performance down. But no problem, I have fast wired charger, from 20% to 100% in about 1 hour and 10 mins while the phone is on and even faster with the phone off. At home, I have fast wireless charger which I use, right before I sleep when I don't need a fast charge. A little slower than the fast wired charger, but 20% to 100% in 1 hour and 30 mins. I also have a non fast wireless charger but it's sort of useless. It only works will with my brother's s6 and now his s7.

Charging Speed

i have had the V20 for about 12 hours in which time it charged from about 50% to about 75% ... my Note would accomplish the same in about 15 minutes ... and yet the V20 is supposed to run the same type of quick charger on the same size battery ... something about this doesn't rub me the right way
yes i did use the phone and unplug it a few times etc but it still should have been much faster ...
it was connected using its own cable and charger BUT through a USB extension cord ... so then i thought maybe that's the problem - maybe i need a longer type C cable and to get rid of extension cord ... but i need to have an answer to that BEFORE buying new cables ...
so i plugged it in directly ( no extension ) and tried to see if it charges in correct mode ...
and here is where i face plant into a wall of excruciating stupidity ... every single app out there measures charging current, whereas what i really want to know is whether the charger is running at 5V standard voltage or using the quick charge 9V voltage ... amazingly there doesn't seem to be an app to show this - or is there ?
my galaxy note would simply say " adaptive quick charger connected " when plugged into quick charger but the V20 doesn't say anything like that.
accubattery app says my screen on charging rate is 760 ma and screen off is 1760 ma ... and the charger of course states 1.8 A so that's consistent ... but is that at 5V or at 9V ? the charger supports both - which one is it ?
this is killing me - so much stupidity. it shouldn't be that hard to figure out whether the phone is charging correctly or not.
anybody have an idea how i could find out whether the charger is actually stepping up to 9V without physically cutting the USB cable and using my multimeter ?
EDIT: i realized i have a kill-a-watt ( actually two of them ) and i can measure power draw from 120V outlet ... so i did that. the draw fluctuated from about 6 to 13 watt. now if we assume 90% efficiency on the charger then full power would have to draw 18 watt from outlet - clearly it never got close. on the other hand at 5V it should have maxed out at around 10 watt power draw, and it went quite a bit over that so it would seem to be using the 9V mode ...
at this point however i'm up to 90% battery and can't expect it to charge at full rate any more as some battery charging algorithms taper off above 80% or so ...
i tried with and without extension cord and noticed no difference ... also if i remember correctly my Note also charged fine over this same extension cord ... but i'm not sure
EDIT: played with turning off 2nd screen as well as shutting down device completely - this phone is crazy. power draw is all the place - at one point it went to ZERO and stayed there until i unplugged it and plugged it back in, then it would fluctuate between zero and 14 watts ...
you know back in the day i had LG Nitro HD and it had worst battery performance of any phone ever ... and this V20 seems to be living up to that legacy. WTF.
anyway, it seems the charger and the cable and extension are not to blame - it seems there is some kind of software weirdness that is resulting in very sporadic power draw ...
slow charging is one of the reasons i switched from iPhone back to Android - i expected this V20 to perform similarly ( blazing fast charging ) to the Note 4 i had before the iPhone 6S Plus ... but it's charging performance so far is almost identical to the iPhone - slow as a snail.
i already spent $80 on case and screen protector and i'm supposed to spend a bunch more on extra cables and memory card as well as sell my iPhone and at the same time i'm thinking - maybe i should just return it ? going to have to observe it for a while longer before making any decisions either way ... terrible.

The V20 is QC 3.0
The Note 5 is QC 2.0
The V20 will negotiate with a 3.0 charger to tell the charger what power it requires at that moment so power will fluctuate during charging.
this will show you which devices are 3.0 and 2.0
https://www.qualcomm.com/documents/quick-charge-device-list
Quick charging explained
http://www.androidauthority.com/quick-charge-3-0-explained-643053/

nest75068 said:
The V20 is QC 3.0
The Note 5 is QC 2.0
The V20 will negotiate with a 3.0 charger to tell the charger what power it requires at that moment so power will fluctuate during charging.
this will show you which devices are 3.0 and 2.0
https://www.qualcomm.com/documents/quick-charge-device-list
Quick charging explained
http://www.androidauthority.com/quick-charge-3-0-explained-643053/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah it fluctuates a lot. i gave up on apps and just using Kill-a-watt now which is a physical power meter you insert into 120V outlet. it shows power draw from charger, not output, but we can assume about 90% efficiency from input to output of charger.
i let the V20 drain to 40% overnight and restarted the test today. with the extension cord it went up to 16 watt draw from outlet and stayed there - charge quickly went up to 55% then i tried without the extension cord and now its only at 11 watts. this is with both screens off. so far my conclusion is that using an extension cord makes no difference but the level of charge on the phone does impact the charging speed. you need to drain the phone to measure full charging speed.
i will continue with my testing but i am somewhat relieved. 16 watts is close to spec, in fact the spec is 16 watt but on the OUTPUT side of charger, not input, so i'm withing about 10% of spec.
i'm also a lot less nervous buying charging cables now that i verified 16 watt charging over many years old USB 2.0 extension cord ...
EDIT: wow it went from 55% to 68% while i was typing this message ! this is very different from what i saw yesterday ... it was running at 11 watts while i was typing. looks like the phone charges fast as long as it is: 1) drained and 2) left alone. if the phone is almost full and you keep playing with it the level of charge barely changes.
EDIT: at 89% charge it's now down to just 4 watts power draw from outlet ... 25% of what it was pulling at 40% charge. so far it looks like it tapers charging speed off gradually with charge level - starts early and tapers it off to almost nothing as it nears full charge ... and all the while it fluctuates with processor and screen use and probably other factors such as temperature. maybe the reason it went to 16 watts when i plugged it in the morning is that the phone was cold from not being used all night and perhaps it now warmed up so the power got tapered.
maybe i'll stop testing it - it seems to be working correctly, just not the way i originally expected it to.
overall i'm disappointed with this phone but the only phone i would trade it for is Pixel XL 128 GB Very Black which is unavailable ... so i guess i will keep it.
the phone i'm most impressed with right now is ZTE Axon 7 i got for my mother - it is shockingly good - if it wasn't for FM radio, IR Blaster, Removable Battery, Laser Autofocus, Dual Camera, Dual Screen and Nougat i would even say the ZTE Axon 7 is BETTER than V20. the main problem with ZTE is it's just not expensive enough for my ego - otherwise it is great. the screen is is super sharp, vivid and punchy, the front facing speakers are loud and crisp and then there's the 2 year warranty. i'm jealous ...
but i will stick with V20 to protect my dignity. because let's face it - if i'm out on a date i want to have the latest, most technologically advanced and most expensive phone - not the cheapest phone, even if it is just as good or better. really happy with my decision to get Axon 7 for my mom though. she loves it as well.

The way QC works is that it will charge fastest from low power until around 70-80% and then slow down A LOT to help preserve the battery. That is why you saw a high wattage and then when you got into the 80's you saw a very low wattage.
QC is mainly for you to get 40-50% of battery power in a relative short amount of time when your battery is low.

I bought a little device that measures the voltage and current of the charge. And I'm using my own Quick Charge 3.0 wall charger.
When the screen is off or powered down, it charges at 9V/1.8A max. Resulting in about 16W of power. Which is pretty much what the supplied LG charger delivers.
When the screen is on, it charges at 5V/0.5A
My QC3.0 charger is capable of up to 9V/2A and 12V/1.5A, 18W of power. The V20 doesn't seem to draw that much power. And now I'm starting to doubt the V20 is truly a QC3.0 device.

BozQ said:
I bought a little device that measures the voltage and current of the charge. And I'm using my own Quick Charge 3.0 wall charger.
When the screen is off or powered down, it charges at 9V/1.8A max. Resulting in about 16W of power. Which is pretty much what the supplied LG charger delivers.
When the screen is on, it charges at 5V/0.5A
My QC3.0 charger is capable of up to 9V/2A and 12V/1.5A, 18W of power. The V20 doesn't seem to draw that much power. And now I'm starting to doubt the V20 is truly a QC3.0 device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll grab voltage/amp reader that I have at home and test my 3 QC 3.0 chargers I have (I'll drain phone to around 20% and then test them and see how it goes) - I'm going to test with the phone off so it pulls the max and see what it ends up with
I have this at work
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018RR30TK
I have this at home
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FCZACFA
And this in the car
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CCBGR1U

g1981c said:
yeah it fluctuates a lot. i gave up on apps and just using Kill-a-watt now which is a physical power meter you insert into 120V outlet. it shows power draw from charger, not output, but we can assume about 90% efficiency from input to output of charger.
i let the V20 drain to 40% overnight and restarted the test today. with the extension cord it went up to 16 watt draw from outlet and stayed there - charge quickly went up to 55% then i tried without the extension cord and now its only at 11 watts. this is with both screens off. so far my conclusion is that using an extension cord makes no difference but the level of charge on the phone does impact the charging speed. you need to drain the phone to measure full charging speed.
i will continue with my testing but i am somewhat relieved. 16 watts is close to spec, in fact the spec is 16 watt but on the OUTPUT side of charger, not input, so i'm withing about 10% of spec.
i'm also a lot less nervous buying charging cables now that i verified 16 watt charging over many years old USB 2.0 extension cord ...
EDIT: wow it went from 55% to 68% while i was typing this message ! this is very different from what i saw yesterday ... it was running at 11 watts while i was typing. looks like the phone charges fast as long as it is: 1) drained and 2) left alone. if the phone is almost full and you keep playing with it the level of charge barely changes.
EDIT: at 89% charge it's now down to just 4 watts power draw from outlet ... 25% of what it was pulling at 40% charge. so far it looks like it tapers charging speed off gradually with charge level - starts early and tapers it off to almost nothing as it nears full charge ... and all the while it fluctuates with processor and screen use and probably other factors such as temperature. maybe the reason it went to 16 watts when i plugged it in the morning is that the phone was cold from not being used all night and perhaps it now warmed up so the power got tapered.
maybe i'll stop testing it - it seems to be working correctly, just not the way i originally expected it to.
overall i'm disappointed with this phone but the only phone i would trade it for is Pixel XL 128 GB Very Black which is unavailable ... so i guess i will keep it.
the phone i'm most impressed with right now is ZTE Axon 7 i got for my mother - it is shockingly good - if it wasn't for FM radio, IR Blaster, Removable Battery, Laser Autofocus, Dual Camera, Dual Screen and Nougat i would even say the ZTE Axon 7 is BETTER than V20. the main problem with ZTE is it's just not expensive enough for my ego - otherwise it is great. the screen is is super sharp, vivid and punchy, the front facing speakers are loud and crisp and then there's the 2 year warranty. i'm jealous ...
but i will stick with V20 to protect my dignity. because let's face it - if i'm out on a date i want to have the latest, most technologically advanced and most expensive phone - not the cheapest phone, even if it is just as good or better. really happy with my decision to get Axon 7 for my mom though. she loves it as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just smh at this whole post. I want my 5 minutes back.

Thats weird, Im using my Note 7 charger on the V20 and it charge the phone completely in less that 2 hours. In my case I always drain my phone to 3% and leave it charging up to 100%. I will check again tonight to be sure.

TempezT said:
Thats weird, Im using my Note 7 charger on the V20 and it charge the phone completely in less that 2 hours. In my case I always drain my phone to 3% and leave it charging up to 100%. I will check again tonight to be sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't drain it that low all the time unless you plan on stocking up on batteries or don't mind depleting longevity of battery quicker than usual.

@rbiter said:
I wouldn't drain it that low all the time unless you plan on stocking up on batteries or don't mind depleting longevity of battery quicker than usual.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tmobile Jump on Demand ftw - I only have devices for 5-6 months tops and then get a new phone

Tested this one one when I got home.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FCZACFA
I was getting 9.2v @ 1.67A = 15w of power. This is the max that my USB multimeter can do so it would seem that this charger is good for QC 3.0 as it did fluctuate voltage as needed.

nest75068 said:
Tmobile Jump on Demand ftw - I only have devices for 5-6 months tops and then get a new phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is still wasteful use on a battery and giving the next guy a raw deal. But to each his own. I try and make everything last and more efficient so the next person feels like they are truly getting an almost lightly used phone. If I sell my note4, they're going to get a lightly used battery on top of the 3 extras, with fixed GPS and better reception and cleaned out USB port with no oxidization. Same with my HTC m8 though that was only used as daily driver for two weeks and then a DAP for trips and occasional home use. Definitely selling the m8. They are basically getting a lightly used phone and the battery should still have some good life coming out of it. And personally I think jump is overpriced leasing but I guess you can drive it like you stole it. I prefer handing down the best experience I can to the next person.

@rbiter said:
That is still wasteful use on a battery and giving the next guy a raw deal. But to each his own. I try and make everything last and more efficient so the next person feels like they are truly getting an almost lightly used phone. If I sell my note4, they're going to get a lightly used battery on top of the 3 extras, with fixed GPS and better reception and cleaned out USB port with no oxidization. Same with my HTC m8 though that was only used as daily driver for two weeks and then a DAP for trips and occasional home use. Definitely selling the m8. They are basically getting a lightly used phone and the battery should still have some good life coming out of it. And personally I think jump is overpriced leasing but I guess you can drive it like you stole it. I prefer handing down the best experience I can to the next person.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My devices go back to tmobile which then go back for refurbishment. With the V20 it's easy for them to just replace the battery.

And you really think they do?

@rbiter said:
And you really think they do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who knows but tbh it's not my issue at that point.

nest75068 said:
I have this at work
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018RR30TK
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just tested this one at work. Phone was at 28% and I had been streaming Youtube for a good 2 hours before doing the test.
Ended up pulling 9.17v @ 1.68A = 15.40 watts (again maximum that my tester can do).
I'll be ordering a new tester that can handle up to 25A and testing again to see if I can pull the max 18watts of power that the QC 3.0 chargers says it can deliver

nest75068 said:
Just tested this one at work. Phone was at 28% and I had been streaming Youtube for a good 2 hours before doing the test.
Ended up pulling 9.17v @ 1.68A = 15.40 watts (again maximum that my tester can do).
I'll be ordering a new tester that can handle up to 25A and testing again to see if I can pull the max 18watts of power that the QC 3.0 chargers says it can deliver
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean 25W charger?
Which charger is that? Do share, please.

BozQ said:
You mean 25W charger?
Which charger is that? Do share, please.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it's a USB Mutlimeter
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J7236K2
It will support up to 30V testing and 5A (but there is no charger that I know of that can do that much lol)

nest75068 said:
No it's a USB Mutlimeter
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J7236K2
It will support up to 30V testing and 5A (but there is no charger that I know of that can do that much lol)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see.
This looks like a good device.

There are time on my v10 where I'll plug it in and it will charge at a reduced rate so I have to unplug it and plug it back it and it changes to fast charge, that's just been my experience. This is using factory plug and adapter too.
So you might want to make sure the phone says "fast charging" and not "charging".
Sent from my LG-H901 using XDA-Developers mobile app