HI FRIENDS,
Wireless charging has been around for quite some time now. If you own a flagship smartphone, chances are that it supports wireless charging.
This feature is also present on some mid-range devices.
Wireless charging is also use to charge some wearable devices and a few true wireless earphones as well. You can even charge smaller devices wirelessly from your phone’s battery.
So let me explain what wireless charging is, how it works.
Let Get Start….
One has to simply place a compatible device on a wireless charging pad, and the device starts charging.
This can be extremely convenient, eliminating the need for cables. Whether you have an iPhone or an Android smartphone.
Before I explain how wireless charging works,
I would like to add that there were two charging standards when this concept took off.
- Qi (pronounced “chi”) was a standard by the WPC (Wireless Power Consortium),
- PMA was promote by the Power Matters Alliance.
Both are based on inductive charging, but Qi has been widely adopt by electronics manufacturers and is now the de facto standard so you don’t have to worry about compatibility.
How does wireless charging work.
It uses electromagnetic induction to wirelessly transmit power between a wireless charger and a device that can be wirelessly charged. There is one coil in the wireless charger and another in the receiver.
So here is what happens when you place a smartphone that is capable of wireless charging on wireless charging pad.
The wireless charger sends out a signal from its coil, which is pick up by the receiver coil in the smartphone. Once this happens, you’ll usually see an LED on the wireless charger light up or change colour to indicate charging.
A wireless charging pad have a coil that is usually made out of copper and is tightly wound. This is use as the medium to transfer the power out of this wireless charger.
When a current is pass through the coil, it generates an alternating magnetic field. A smartphone capable of charging wirelessly has a copper coil receiver.
This picks up alternating magnetic field and induces a current which is then pass on through a power rectifier on to battery of the phone to charge it.
Wireless charging requires two coils to aligned for power transmission, so the placement of device on charging pad is crucial.
Devices that can only be charge wirelessly :
- Apple Watch Series 5,
- Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 4G
- Realme Buds Air
The device and its wireless charger have magnets that align and secure the device for charging wirelessly.
Accessory manufacturers have started designing chargers with more than one coil for better coverage, and also to be able to charge more than one device wirelessly at a time.
These wireless chargers come in various shapes and sizes and have anti-slip materials. You get charging pads that lay flat on a table as well as stands that let the phone rest at an angle so that the display can be viewed.
Google & Samsung both have wireless chargers for their products, but thanks to the Qi standard,
They are compatible with a lot of other products as well.
Apple also announced its own AirPower wireless charger which was suppose to be able to work with multiple devices at the same time.
Wireless charging is convenient, but it is slow and not very efficient when you compare it to using a cable.
Another downside is that wireless charging generates some heat.
This has discouraged manufacturers from making fast wireless chargers that can compete with the plug-in chargers we currently use.
Oppo and OnePlus recently changed that by launching the
- AirVooC and the
- Warp Charge 30 Wireless Charger.
AirVooC was launch with the Oppo Ace 2 while OnePlus launched its charger with the OnePlus 8 Pro.
These chargers have internal fans to cool them, and they will only work at their peak speeds with the respective brands’ compatible devices.
What is Reverse Wireless Charging.
The concept is very similar to wireless charging, it is a smartphone that uses its own battery power to charge another device wirelessly.
The coil in the smartphone is use as a transmitter, to charge smaller devices such as wireless earphones or an activity tracker.
Very few smartphones support reverse wireless charging.
Some of the popular ones are :
- Samsung Galaxy S10,
- Samsung Galaxy S20,
- Samsung Galaxy Note 10 series
Reverse wireless charging also is also slow and relatively inefficient, and i recommend that you use it only when really needed.
That is how wireless charging works compare to traditional charging.
THANK YOU FOR READING.
