Pixel 3 not rapidly charging despite it saying so...

[Android Central Question]

I recently got a used but excellent condition Pixel 3. I didn't realize I needed PD charger and Usb C to C cable, so I ordered this PD charger and these cables. Phone says it's charging rapidly but you can't tell me 511mA and 23.4% charge per hour is rapid charging, is it?! Also bought this charger for my car with the same results. At first I thought maybe I got some bad cables, but if it was the cables why would the phone say that it's charging rapidly? I like the phone so far outside of the battery life and need to figure out how to get it fast charging so I don't have to get rid of it. From what I've been reading I should be getting a 25% charge in ~15 minutes with PD charging and that's definitely not happening.

 

[mustang7757]

511 ma is half a amp , the PD cables and chargers bought from a known brand? Have you tried cleaning the charging port and also monitor it safe mode .

'll leave a Link to register so you can communicate here as a guest account you can only post questions but can't reply.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=409154

 

[skeelol]

I recently got a used but excellent condition Pixel 3. I didn't realize I needed PD charger and Usb C to C cable, so I ordered an Aukey 18W PD charger and some Usb C cables. Phone says it's charging rapidly but you can't tell me 511mA and 23.4% charge per hour is rapid charging. Also bought an Aukey PD cig lighter port charger for my car with the same results. At first I thought maybe I got some bad cables, but if it was the cables why would the phone say that it's charging rapidly? I like the phone so far outside of the battery life and need to figure out how to get it fast charging so I don't have to get rid of it. From what I've been reading I should be getting a 25% charge in ~15 minutes with PD charging and that's definitely not happening. Would it be worth trying actual Google charger and cable or are there other issues here?

 

[mustang7757]

[Merged duplicates]

 

[Mooncatt]

Try again when your battery is below 60%. When charging, it's normal and proper for the battery charge rate to slow as it gets full. You will never see a full charge rate right up to 100%.

 

[mustang7757]

Try again when your battery is below 60%. When charging, it's normal and proper for the battery charge rate to slow as it gets full. You will never see a full charge rate right up to 100%.

Good point..

 

[skeelol]

Alright I drained it until about 50% or so and did get better charging rate. I saw the charge go as high as 2000mA and about 50% charge per hour. This is faster but still not as fast as I was expecting. Really kinda sucks that the charging slows down like that once it starts getting closer to 100%. If I'm in a jam I'd want it to get full charge as fast as possible. Can anybody else tell me what % per hour you get on your Pixel 3?

 

[Mooncatt]

Alright I drained it until about 50% or so and did get better charging rate. I saw the charge go as high as 2000mA and about 50% charge per hour. This is faster but still not as fast as I was expecting. Really kinda sucks that the charging slows down like that once it starts getting closer to 100%. If I'm in a jam I'd want it to get full charge as fast as possible. Can anybody else tell me what % per hour you get on your Pixel 3?

I don't know what that phone is capable of, but it's a safety issue when slowing the charge rate as it fills. If the rate doesn't slow, it will likely cause the battery to go boom. It's like filling a bucket with a high pressure hose. It'll fill quickly, but eventually start splashing water out. If you lower the pressure as you near the top, you'll be able to completely fill it without spilling over. If you want to geek out a bit, this article covers the different Li-ioncharging stages.

https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries

 

[Theot]

check the port, see if there's dirt, dust or lint in it. I've seen more than one phone have charging issues because there was crap in the port.

 

[skeelol]

I blasted out the port good with my air compressor. I just don't really see why the battery drains so fast. Took the phone off charger for 15 mins before going to work and it's already down 2% just being idle. My last phone Samsung J7 had 3300mah battery with larger screen and battery lasts 3 times as long as this.

 

[foxbat121]

The phone is designed to take maximum of 18w of charging, nothing more. IIRC, USB-C PD charging for the phone is using 9volt when rapid charging. So, 2Amp @ 9 Volt is 18w. It slows down automatically when above 90% to protect your battery life.

 

[Mooncatt]

I blasted out the port good with my air compressor. I just don't really see why the battery drains so fast. Took the phone off charger for 15 mins before going to work and it's already down 2% just being idle. My last phone Samsung J7 had 3300mah battery with larger screen and battery lasts 3 times as long as this.

Battery life is highly dependent on numerous factors. For one, the J7 is much lower spec'd all around. Lower screen resolution, less memory and storage, slower processor, and has a larger battery. Charging and usage habits also affect battery life. So it's not a fair comparison between those two phones.

 

[Rukbat]

Really kinda sucks that the charging slows down like that once it starts getting closer to 100%.

That's to keep turning the Pixel 3 into a Note 7. Charging causes the battery to heat - the closer to 100% you get, the hotter it gets - and if you keep charging it at a high rate when it's hot enough - what you have isn't a cellphone, it's an incidiary device (if you're lucky - a bomb if you're not).

Can anybody else tell me what % per hour you get on your Pixel 3?

That depends on where you started and where you currently are. The charging current changes as the state of charge changes. Until close to 30%, it's low (to keep from damaging the battery). After 70% it goes back to being low (for the above reason).

If you want to charge very quickly you don't want a lithium battery, you want a supercapacitor. Unfortunately, there's no supercapacitor that can hold enough charge to run a phone for more than a short time yet. Normal batteries can't be charged at more than 1C - in other words, a 3,500mAh battery can't safely be charged any faster than 3500 mA, or 3.5 A - and the manufacturers derate that close to 50% for safety. Since charging is less than 100% efficient (any energy conversion is less than 100% efficient), it takes a minimum of close to 90 minutes to charge a battery at 1C, and over 2 hours at half of that. (Fortunately, though, you shouldn't be letting the battery get down to less than 50% charge, so the recharge to 100% is fast.)

That's physics. There's nothing battery manufacturers or cellphone manufacturers can do to change the laws of physics. If you want to have a phone fully charged by a certain time, start charging it 2 hours before that. That's up to you - you can change the time you start charging. But doing a 5C charge, while it would be nice (it would take about 15 minutes to go from 0% to 100%) will result in pieces of the phone embedded in your walls - and your body.

 

[skeelol]

Ok so I drained battery all the way down to 6% and did see that it fast charged up until 70%, so I'm looking at about 65% charge per hour. I guess I'll just have to get used to eating up the batter on this thing. I'm the kinda person that freaks out when my battery is lower than 80%, ha. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Mooncatt]

I'm the kinda person that freaks out when my battery is lower than 80%, ha. Thanks for the help guys.

I use to be like that, keeping it plugged in almost constantly. That's when I killed a battery in 6 months. Li-ion batteries prefer a happy medium for the longest lifespan.

 

[Ry]

Alright I drained it until about 50% or so and did get better charging rate. I saw the charge go as high as 2000mA and about 50% charge per hour. This is faster but still not as fast as I was expecting. Really kinda sucks that the charging slows down like that once it starts getting closer to 100%. If I'm in a jam I'd want it to get full charge as fast as possible. Can anybody else tell me what % per hour you get on your Pixel 3?

I feel this is expected behavior.

 

[Rukbat]

Ok so I drained battery all the way down to 6% and did see that it fast charged up until 70%, so I'm looking at about 65% charge per hour. I guess I'll just have to get used to eating up the batter on this thing. I'm the kinda person that freaks out when my battery is lower than 80%, ha. Thanks for the help guys.

It's still going to take the same amount of time - discharging, then charging 94%, or charging 50%. (Don't worry about dropping it to 80% - it makes no difference at all if you drop it to 50%. After that, you're shortening the battery's life.)

 

[korab84]

Just stick to the Google charger that came with the phone or buy a new one from the Google Store (don't go for the OEM or cheap stuff on Amazon)

 

[Ry]

Just stick to the Google charger that came with the phone or buy a new one from the Google Store (don't go for the OEM or cheap stuff on Amazon)

The stuff from Amazon by Anker, Aukey, and RAVpower is good.

 

[mustang7757]

I agree with Ry