Fast charging protocols

How to know if your power bank supports fast charging for your mobile phone, in this issue, let’s talk about various charging protocols.

There have 8 kinds of common mobile phone charger fast charging protocols

1. PD protocol

First of all, the first one is definitely the most used and most popular fast charging protocol, PD protocol. (Power Delivery). The PD protocol is a standard protocol that provides fast charging for various devices. It can transmit data and power through the USB-C interface. The PD protocol can be applied not only to mobile phones, but also to the charging of tablets, laptops and other electronic devices. And all other fast charging protocols must follow the PD protocol. The USB-PD fast charging protocol uses Type-C as the output interface, so if you want to have fast charging, you must use a USB Type-C cable. But it doesn’t mean that those with Type-C interface can definitely support PD fast charging. Especially after PD3.0, there is a supplementary protocol, PPS, which is the programmable power protocol. This protocol can be compatible with charging protocols from other manufacturers to a certain extent.

2. Qualcomm QC fast charging

Since Qualcomm is the leader in mobile phone chips, Qualcomm has long integrated fast charging protocols on its own chips. Qualcomm's QC protocol has also become one of the most widely used fast charging protocols on the market. It uses an intelligent control technology that can automatically adjust the voltage and current according to different charging equipment to achieve fast and safe charging.

It has gone through 5 generations, but the mainstream in the market is QC2.0/3.0/4.0.

Starting from QC2.0, the era of high-voltage charging has begun, with output voltage levels of 9V, 12V, and 20V, and a maximum charging power of 18W.

QC3.0 supports 3.6-20V fluctuating voltage, and the maximum charging power is still 18W.

In QC4.0, the voltage is subdivided into 0.2 levels, and the PD fast charging protocol is added. 5V can output a maximum of 5.6A, 9V can output a maximum of 3A, and the charging power is increased to 28W;

The maximum power at QC4.0+ is 100W, and it can charge laptops at the same time.

3. Huawei’s FCP and SCP protocols

Both of these are Huawei's own proprietary protocols. They are all developed to meet the charging needs of Huawei mobile phones.

The FCP protocol came out earlier, using a "high voltage and low current" solution similar to QC2.0, and the output specification is 9V2A 18W. It can provide faster charging without compromising battery life.

The SCP protocol was launched after 2016 and uses a "low voltage and high current" solution similar to OPPO. The output specification is 5V 4.5A or 10V 4A. Later, Huawei added charge pump technology based on the SCP protocol, increasing the current from 4A to 8A, achieving super fast charging with a charging power of 40W. Later, 65W super fast charging with dual battery charging also appeared.

However, the SCP fast charging protocol can only be used with the support of a charging cable, and it needs to be equipped with a charging cable that supports 5A high current. The SCP protocol can intelligently regulate based on factors such as battery status and ambient temperature to ensure the safety and stability of charging.

4. OPPO’s VOOC and SuperVOOC flash charging

I believe many people are familiar with OPPO's VOOC flash charge. At that time, the charging market was still dominated by 5V 2A. OPPO took a different approach and shouted the slogan "Charge in 5 minutes, talk for 2 hours". It took the lead in adopting a low-voltage and high-current solution and launched 5V 4.5A. VOOC flash charging with a charging power of 22.5W. Compared with the mainstream high-voltage fast charging at the time, low-voltage fast charging has better temperature control and higher efficiency.

After several updates, flash charging has now developed to the SuperVOOC2.0 version, which uses a dual-battery series solution and a new charge pump technology to halve the dual-cell voltage, taking into account both safety and efficiency, achieving 10V 6.5A , super flash charging with a charging power of 65W.

However, because the battery system, charger, and wires have all been customized, the conditions are relatively harsh. Like Huawei SCP fast charging, OPPO also needs to support high-current charging cables to enable VOOC flash charging.

?

5. MediaTek MTK PE protocol

MediaTek’s PE protocol is a brand new fast charging technology. It combines an efficient charging management chip and an optimized charging algorithm to achieve faster charging, and can automatically identify the characteristics of the charging device during the charging process, thereby providing a smarter and safer charging experience. Currently, the most commonly used mobile phones are Meizu phones, which are called mCharge.

Some other manufacturers have either upgraded or made magical changes to the above-mentioned protocols, turning them into their own unique charging methods.

6. VIVO and IQOO both use Flash Charge protocol. Using charge pump half-voltage charging technology

7. Xiaomi’s Mi Turbo Charge is basically a magic modification of PPS.

8. AFC

AFC (Adaptive Fast Charge) is Samsung’s proprietary fast charging protocol. After 2019, all flagship phones released by Samsung are compatible with PD3.0, support PPS fast charging, and abandoned its own AFC protocol.

Generally speaking, each major manufacturer will have its own charging protocol, and some require the use of original chargers and charging cables to achieve fast charging. If there were no major breakthroughs in battery technology, fast charging technology would still be popular in the next few years. After all, a phone with a bigger screen and bigger battery will definitely drive users crazy if the charging speed is too slow.

?

Make All Good Power Banks Design Available

All In Shenzhen Konda