[HN Gopher] A dozen USB chargers in the lab: Apple is good, but ...
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       A dozen USB chargers in the lab: Apple is good, but not quite the
       best (2012)
        
       Author : pwg
       Score  : 25 points
       Date   : 2023-01-23 21:12 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.righto.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.righto.com)
        
       | ysleepy wrote:
       | Other USB Charger review repositories:
       | 
       | https://lygte-info.dk/info/ChargerIndex%20UK.html
       | 
       | https://www.chargerlab.com/category/reviews/reviews-chargers...
       | 
       | Both are great. I especially love the Oscilloscope analysis of
       | the noise characteristics and safety review on lygte-info.dk
        
       | mwcremer wrote:
       | [2012]
        
       | scblock wrote:
       | Probably could use a (2012) label.
        
       | ink_13 wrote:
       | FYI, this is from 2012, although I would be interested in a
       | similar analysis done today. At a guess, name-brand third-party
       | chargers (Anker, Belkin, etc) are probably more than "good
       | enough" at this point, but it would be neat to see that
       | quantified.
        
         | mmebane wrote:
         | AllThingsOnePlace on YouTube [1] has been doing a good job of
         | reviewing performance characteristics of many different
         | chargers, although he usually doesn't do teardowns.
         | 
         | [1]: https://youtube.com/@AllThingsOnePlace
        
           | gruez wrote:
           | >AllThingsOnePlace on YouTube [1] has been doing a good job
           | of reviewing performance characteristics of many different
           | chargers
           | 
           | I watched one of his reviews recently[1], and while it's true
           | that he reviews performance characteristics, it's unclear
           | whether it's something I should care about. For instance, he
           | talks about how that particular charger has a low power
           | factor. Sure, having a high power factor[2] is nice in
           | theory, but is that something I should care about? Judging
           | from the wikipedia article it's more of an issue for the grid
           | itself, and I'm not personally billed for it. I care far more
           | about how much noise/ripple is being outputted by the charge,
           | or whether it's going to damage my electronics, but that's
           | doesn't seem to be evaluated.
           | 
           | [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uasxk9HBAtE
           | 
           | [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_factor
        
       | einpoklum wrote:
       | 1. This is from 2012.
       | 
       | 2. No less importantly, I see a bunch of phone-vendor chargers,
       | and am not seeing many of the most popular charger brands:
       | Blitzwolf, Baseus, Kuulaa, USLion, UGreen, etc.
        
         | sq_ wrote:
         | I'm curious about the brands you mention, as I haven't heard of
         | them too much. I usually just shell out for Anker stuff since
         | it's performed well for me.
         | 
         | Would you say they're all typically good quality? Or am I
         | reading you wrong and you'd like to see analysis of how bad
         | they might be despite being popular?
        
           | threeseed wrote:
           | I would recommend: http://reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware
           | 
           | Apart from top tier brands like Apple, Belkin etc which are
           | generally good all of the others tend to be more mixed. Some
           | products are amazing and best in class others a bit average.
        
         | valarauko wrote:
         | The article dates from before most (if not all) of those
         | companies were founded. For example, Baseus is from 2011, and
         | Blitzwolf is from 2015.
        
       | krabizzwainch wrote:
       | I actually kept my HP Touchpad charging bricks (cylinders?)
       | because they always seemed really solid. They are still useful
       | for all of my Pi stuff as well.
        
         | nolan879 wrote:
         | I'm still using mine to power a qi charger. Everything about
         | the HP Touchpad was overbuilt, I got mine during the firesale.
        
         | h4waii wrote:
         | Memories! I have 3 of those long cylinders from my old TouchPad
         | too, and a stubby one from the Veer. Solid 5V2A chargers, but
         | boy do they stick out.
        
       | xnx wrote:
       | Can't see how this could comparison from 2012 could still be
       | relevant with the advent of GaN chargers.
        
         | walrus01 wrote:
         | GaN has also had a big impact on the size and thermal wattage
         | budgets/waste heat of a whole bunch of types of microwave and
         | millimetre wave Tx power amplifiers, anywhere from 4 GHz to 120
         | GHz.
         | 
         | If you look at the current state of the art for a "money is no
         | object" manpack size VSAT/SNG terminal for geostationary use in
         | a random very hard to reach area, such as might be owned by CNN
         | or the BBC, the GaN Tx RF chain BUC/SSPA is remarkably small
         | now compared to ten, twelve, fourteen years ago.
        
       | realworldperson wrote:
       | [dead]
        
       | [deleted]
        
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       (page generated 2023-01-23 23:00 UTC)