Adaptive Charging Explained

[Smokeaire01]

Finally an explanation why Adaptive Charging doesn't work as you think it should thanks to Brandon Russell of XDA Developers.

https://www.xda-developers.com/google-pixel-adaptive-charging-details/
"Turns out, Adaptive Charging only works under certain parameters. According to a Google support document, via 9to5Google, you must have an active alarm set sometime between 5 – 10 a.m......" There's more.
Now I know why it won't work for me due to my early bedtime and early wakeup time (thanks to my black cat Slate "nature's alarm clock" )so I can stop trying to make it work on my Pixel 4a.

 

[eric002]

Yep yep, absolutely correct! Adaptive charging only works when you set an alarm on your phone, and between the hours of 5:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. I haven't used adaptive charging yet. Only because I never set an alarm on my phone even for work. If I did then I would use adaptive charging. Hahaha. It's an interesting concept though. Feel like Google should enable adaptive charging no matter what the situation no but I understand why you need an alarm set on your phone in order to activate adaptive charging nonetheless...

 

[Smokeaire01]

Yep yep, absolutely correct! Adaptive charging only works when you set an alarm on your phone, and between the hours of 5:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. I haven't used adaptive charging yet. Only because I never set an alarm on my phone even for work. If I did then I would use adaptive charging. Hahaha. It's an interesting concept though. Feel like Google should enable adaptive charging no matter what the situation no but I understand why you need an alarm set on your phone in order to activate adaptive charging nonetheless...

It makes a lot of sense to use the alarm as the end time for Adaptive Charging. What doesn't make sense is to limit the times in which it can be used.
Hopefully Google will remove that limitation.

 

[eric002]

It makes a lot of sense to use the alarm as the end time for Adaptive Charging. What doesn't make sense is to limit the times in which it can be used.
Hopefully Google will remove that limitation.

Yes, you're absolutely correct. I mean for me, even though I don't use an alarm on my phone for work during the week, it would still be better to not limit when adaptive charging can actually work. For me when I need to charge my phone, I charge it during a day and I keep tabs on it and when the Phone is fully charged, I unplug it from the charger pretty quickly. I make it a point to myself not to try and not overly charge my battery.

 

[Smokeaire01]

Yes, you're absolutely correct. I mean for me, even though I don't use an alarm on my phone for work during the week, it would still be better to not limit when adaptive charging can actually work. For me when I need to charge my phone, I charge it during a day and I keep tabs on it and when the Phone is fully charged, I unplug it from the charger pretty quickly. I make it a point to myself not to try and not overly charge my battery.

I work from home, and if Adaptive Charging really does increase battery longevity, then I would use it during the work day as well as on weekends, not just at bedtime.

 

[eric002]

I work from home, and if Adaptive Charging really does increase battery longevity, then I would use it during the work day as well as on weekends, not just at bedtime.

Hah yeah that's absolutely true.

 

[mustang7757]

I didn't realize it had to meet certain requirements

 

[Smokeaire01]

I didn't realize it had to meet certain requirements

One of Google's best kept secrets.

 

[mustang7757]

One of Google's best kept secrets.

 

[J Dubbs]

One of Google's best kept secrets.

One of Google's many dirty little secrets

 

[eric002]

One of Google's many dirty little secrets

Haha

 

[beantownsouth]

I didn't realize it had to meet certain requirements

I appears that not only what time you put it in the Pixel stand, but also what percentage of battery is left. I charged it last night with an alarm set for this morning at 8.:00 My Pixel 5 was at 85% and would only fast charge. Now that I think about it, I need to get out of the habit of charging this phone at every available chance. The battery will go the distance. So yeah, no need to have charged it last night at all.

 

[mustang7757]

I appears that not only what time you put it in the Pixel stand, but also what percentage of battery is left. I charged it last night with an alarm set for this morning at 8.:00 My Pixel 5 was at 85% and would only fast charge. Now that I think about it, I need to get out of the habit of charging this phone at every available chance. The battery will go the distance. So yeah, no need to have charged it last night at all.

Yeah , I have that setting on but thought it was working , didn't realize had be with alarm , but yeah the pixel 5 battery goes the distance. I like to see more tweaks to it then what it has currently , good start though.

 

[Smokeaire01]

I appears that not only what time you put it in the Pixel stand, but also what percentage of battery is left. I charged it last night with an alarm set for this morning at 8.:00 My Pixel 5 was at 85% and would only fast charge. Now that I think about it, I need to get out of the habit of charging this phone at every available chance. The battery will go the distance. So yeah, no need to have charged it last night at all.

Using the Pixel stand isn't a prerequisite. Just the standard charger and cord will work.

 

[beantownsouth]

Using the Pixel stand isn't a prerequisite. Just the standard charger and cord will work.

A wireless charger is a prerequisite in this house. Charging ports seem to kill phones faster in our home then a ten foot fall on concrete. Just joking around, I knew what ya meant, and I knew it wasn't a requirement. The question I have is, at what percentage of battery left, does it start using adaptive charging.

 

[Smokeaire01]

A wireless charger is a prerequisite in this house. Charging ports seem to kill phones faster in our home then a ten foot fall on concrete. Just joking around, I knew what ya meant, and I knew it wasn't a requirement. The question I have is, at what percentage of battery left, does it start using adaptive charging.

Battery percentage doesn't seem to be relevant as long it's below 80% since holds at 80. That's just an assumption.
It looks to be the time it goes on the charger and what time the alarm is set that is what triggers it.

 

[anon(40376)]

Rather than having to set an alarm, they need to just add a function to the DO NOT DISTURB function. Right now you can set a day/time for it to turn on automatically; however, another requirement could be added that if activated (such as "plugged in") it will also activate the adaptive charging.
However, not sure if this function is on all android phones or just pixels. Just an idea...I never use an alarm and most likely never will.

 

[Smokeaire01]

Rather than having to set an alarm, they need to just add a function to the DO NOT DISTURB function. Right now you can set a day/time for it to turn on automatically; however, another requirement could be added that if activated (such as "plugged in") it will also activate the adaptive charging.
However, not sure if this function is on all android phones or just pixels. Just an idea...I never use an alarm and most likely never will.

That would not work for me. I work from home and use my personal phone for work calls when I'm on the clock, 6am to 3pm M-F (I go to bed at 8pm and get up around 3:30am). When I'm not on the clock I have Do Not Disturb on, which includes all weekends. So there would be a high possibility that my phone would sit at 80% throughout the work days and even on weekends unless I constantly turn DND off and on, requiring too much attention or remembering to turn it off just to get a full charge.
If Google would just adjust the time then it could be a set it and forget it.

 

[Smokeaire01]

In regards to my post right above this one I'm going to try an experiment tonight. I'm going to set the alarm for 5:30 am and have my wife plug in the phone when she goes to bed usually around 11:30pm or later. This way when I get up my phone should still be at 80%.

 

[Mike Dee]

Amazing how a simple thing like charging a device becomes more complicated than it's worth by the manufacturer.