News - StoreDot demonstrates its 30 second smartphone charger

[HEXUS]

Nearly dead to 100 per cent charged Samsung Galaxy S4, in just half a minute.

Read more.

[DemonHighwayman]

Sounds good, I'll be avoiding it though because of it's Israeli links.

[kingpotnoodle]

Nice, but it all looks a bit lab/experiment quality - 2016 seems quite ambitious and as said no mention of stamina, recharge cycles, power requirements etc.

Just thinking about the average smartphone battery taking maybe 2 hours to recharge off a 1.5A 5V charger - so about 7.5W, to do that in 1/240th of the time (30s) is going to need hefty incoming power, something like 1800W, surely that's going to need rather beefier connectors and cables than the current micro USB can handle...

[keithwalton]

I highly doubt the battery has anywhere near the capacity of the original. As some quick numbers the S4 has a 2.6Ah battery. Which at 3.7v is 9.62Wh

so 75% of this charge is ~7.2Wh

To charge this amount in 30 seconds would require a ... 865Wh power supply assuming 100% efficiency!

Got to wonder what voltage they were charging at / to but at the standard 5v that would be 173A
Even at 12v it would be 72A

What's more likely is that it's a higher voltage but low capacity battery and the samsung kernal has standard battery calibration so the voltage change required for the phone to report it's charged is nothing for the battery.

[crossy]

I'm probably showing ignorance, but surely ramming that much charge into a battery isn't going to do it's longevity any good at all? Plus given the relative difference in heating between a "slow" and "fast" phone charger I would have thought that the phone itself would get nice and toasty.

Sounds good, I'll be avoiding it though because of it's Israeli links.

Political stance, or worried that it'll be bugged?

[DemonHighwayman]

I'm probably showing ignorance, but surely ramming that much charge into a battery isn't going to do it's longevity any good at all? Plus given the relative difference in heating between a "slow" and "fast" phone charger I would have thought that the phone itself would get nice and toasty.

Political stance, or worried that it'll be bugged?

Both! but mostly political.
I have to agree about pushing that much power so fast to the battery, it must have some kind of damaging effect to the cells.

[kingpotnoodle]

Political stance, or worried that it'll be bugged?

It'll steal your passport and assassinate someone.

*ducks*

[herulach]

The main thing the article doesn't really point out is that this isn't a standard battery, I can't see any ratings, but a quick google says its about half the capacity for what looks like 5 or 6 times the physical size. So you're only charging by about 4.5/5 Wh in that time, which equates to what a 700W charger? Kind of high powered, but not completely unrealistic, and well within the realms of a laptop brick sized supply.

Bearing in mind this is prototype tech, but when its working properly I'd much rather have to use a laptop powerbrick sized device for 60s a day than a current MicroUSB charger for 3 hours. Or even better, have the option of both (if it performs like a supercap there shouldn't be anything stopping you charging it slower).

Its interesting tech, but it seems like it has a long way to go, not least on the physical safety front. 100A at 5V is a big kick.

[kingpotnoodle]

Bearing in mind this is prototype tech, but when its working properly I'd much rather have to use a laptop powerbrick sized device for 60s a day than a current MicroUSB charger for 3 hours. Or even better, have the option of both (if it performs like a supercap there shouldn't be anything stopping you charging it slower).

It'd have to be both, nobody is going to carry a portable charger capable of supplying that much power so quickly. I'm happy to plug mine in at night to charge while I'm asleep, it's got 7-8 hours to do it so no rush...

Even worse wouldn't the kind of DC current they are apparently requiring actually be quite dangerous?

[moeburn]

I'm probably showing ignorance, but surely ramming that much charge into a battery isn't going to do it's longevity any good at all? Plus given the relative difference in heating between a "slow" and "fast" phone charger I would have thought that the phone itself would get nice and toasty.

You would *think* that charging a battery faster would hurt it, but with both NiMH and L-Ion batteries, the faster/harder you charge them, the longer they last. Also it doesn't matter how hot you get them, just how hot they are when you *discharge* them (IE you can get them up to 60*C and it wont hurt the battery, as long as you wait for it to cool before using it). But it doesn't matter how much current is flowing into the battery, only the amount of time it spends in a state of receiving current, and the shorter that time is, the longer the battery will last.

[RT-XD]

Sounds good, I'll be avoiding it though because of it's Israeli links.

What's wrong with Israeli linked products exactly?

[keithwalton]

Sounds good, I'll be avoiding it though because of it's Israeli links.

What's wrong with Israeli linked products exactly?

He should also avoid all intel centrino / core onwards cpu's as well if he's going to boycott israeli designs

[miniyazz]

You would *think* that charging a battery faster would hurt it, but with both NiMH and L-Ion batteries, the faster/harder you charge them, the longer they last. Also it doesn't matter how hot you get them, just how hot they are when you *discharge* them (IE you can get them up to 60*C and it wont hurt the battery, as long as you wait for it to cool before using it). But it doesn't matter how much current is flowing into the battery, only the amount of time it spends in a state of receiving current, and the shorter that time is, the longer the battery will last.

Got any sources? This goes against conventional wisdom (for Li-Ion at least) where manufacturers seem to vary but recommend not charging faster than 0.3C or 0.7C depending on manufacturer, and much data indicating that faster charged Li-Ion batteries do not hold as much usable charge as more slowly charged Li-Ion batteries. In fact at the moment I am charging some 3400mAh 18650 Li-Ion batteries at 0.5A even though I could charge them at 1 or 2A, simply because I believe it to both maximise charge and improve battery longevity.

[crossy]

Both! but mostly political.
I have to agree about pushing that much power so fast to the battery, it must have some kind of damaging effect to the cells.

It'll steal your passport and assassinate someone. *ducks*

I'd be more worried about
How do gadgets and phones explode? also.

Unintentional Google humour - I did a search for "exploding mobile phone battery" and the ad at the top was for iPhone5s - is this Google's subtle way of dissing the competition?

[crossy]

What's wrong with Israeli linked products exactly?

Maybe DH finds the current Natanyahu governments stance wrt their Palestinian "neighbours" objectionable - I know I certainly do. Then there's the various ultra-right wing groups that seem to be wanting a "final solution" to the "Palestinian Problem". And yes, I realise that every country seems to have a surplus of "whack jobs" and psychopaths. More's the pity ...

Apologies for the off-topic

[McEwin]

How fast does it discharge then?

No doubt there is tech that charges quicker/last longer and has more charge cycles. But it's not in any phone now or immediate future - that's quite a bit of real estate that battery owns...