yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nexus 5 Accessories] Johnny11:
Q5 charger

I got the Q5 charger and I thought I'd share my experience in light of also having owned the Tiltled charger, Large Rectangle w/LEDs, and Google's Nexus Qi charger.

Pros

This is my favourite budget charger by far and was dirt cheap. It has the most forgiving placement zone of any Qi charger I've used, even better than the official Google one I bought with my Nexus 5 for $50. I expected my Large Rectangle charger to have the largest sweet spot, but it was actually the most finicky out of the group. The Q5 also had no trouble charging through my Ringke Slim case.

You can choose you colours, which is a nice bonus. I'm boring so I went with black on black. The grippy plastic does a decent job keeping the phone on the charger. So far I haven't heard any buzzing as mentioned by some other posters, it has been dead quiet. I also like that it has the FCC and CE conformity marks on the bottom of the charger, though I do wonder if they are legit considering the price.

Cons

The worst thing about this charger is the status LED. It is VERY bright. The LED easily lit up my bedroom making it difficult to sleep. Luckily if you buy a black version a bit of electrical tape will very discretely cover the LED. You can actually see the electrical tape toward the front of the charger in attached pictures.

A minor annoyance is that bottom of the charger isn't sticky enough to prevent the charger from moving around your desk, so a bit a double-sided tape on the bottom or a 3M cable clip is a good idea.

Conclusion and Comparison

The Q5 is without a doubt the best budget charger I've tried so far.

I actually prefer the Q5 to my Nexus charger. It obviously doesn't have the same build quality as my Nexus charger or a warranty, but considering it costs about 7% as much, I think that is a fair trade off. While the Nexus charger stays in place on a desk better and the magnets are a nice touch, I've found the Q5 to have a larger sweet spot: I have yet to wake up in the morning to find my phone dead because I didn't align it perfectly, something that wasn't an uncommon occurrence with my Nexus charger. Even though the Q5 moves around a bit too much, the Nexus charger has the opposite problem. I damaged my nightstand while (carefully) trying to remove it. The sticky bottom on the Nexus charger was also damaged in the process, but Google was kind enough to replace the charger for me per the warranty.

So right now the Q5 is my primary charger next to my bed and my Nexus is my secondary on my desk next to my computer.

Where to get it

I got it off eBay for about $3.50 USD (with free shipping) here.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] Samip430:
Had success with this one:

http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/6483873428.html?orderId=65716351887593

really cheap and ships to US.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] Joker87:
Bump
[Nexus 5 Accessories] Johnny11:
No, the battery must be in the phone to charge. My understanding is the charging coils which pick up the energy being emitted by the charger are built into the phone itself, usually the backplate.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] Joker87:
Mmm, may be if I put a thin iron sheet between the battery and the charging pad...
[Nexus 5 Accessories] Johnny11:
Unfortunately it isn't that simple. If you are determined to do this yourself, then this might be a good place to start as it will give you a better idea of what is involved (though this project has the battery in the phone).
[Nexus 5 Accessories] Joker87:
But you don't need a special battery for wireless charging, do you??
[Nexus 5 Accessories] Johnny11:
To the best of my knowledge you do not need a special battery (someone please correct me if they know better). Since this is getting kind of off-topic why don't you PM me if you have any more questions.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] B0000rt:
Any word of any chargers on the market that support the max 4cm spec yet?
[Nexus 5 Accessories] vunsb:
so I was reading all about these chargers and diy project on making them and my biggest question: is there any wireless charger that can keep phone from draining battery while using waze?
[Nexus 5 Accessories] DosNexus:
I would say don't use a wireless charger while using navigation. Wireless charging generates more heat than wired, add in the high heat generated from using navigation + having the screen on the whole time and you have a very very hot phone... I would recommend if you are going to use navigation, use a wired charger. It will be both cooler on the phone and charge fast enough for navigation + battery charging. Wireless charging tops out around ~700mAh or so. Using navigation will probably be around that amount in power draw, so your phone will most likely stay the same charge, slowly drain, or charge so little you wouldn't even notice, all while getting extremely hot.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] paradoxiumwind:
Are there any chargers (I don't care if it's more than $15, willing to pay like, I dunno, $75-$100) that have a larger 'charging area' so I don't have to piss about positioning my phone in the exact place to get it to charge? I just want to be able to drop it down without thinking and have it charge.

Also, I use a Spigen Armour case, and the last cheap Qi charger I had (the rounded one with the slant) had trouble charging through the case - obviously I don't want to be removing it from the case constantly etc, I'd rather just plug it in at that point, so along with having a larger charging area, I'm looking for one that is able to charge from a greater distance, can someone please just link me to one fitting that critera?

thanks in advance.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] ChazzMatt:
Yes. You need a triple coil charger, also called 3-coil charger.

Once I found those I don't buy anything else. Has three charging coils, placed throughout, not just one.

No matter how you place the phone, it will hit a charging coil.

Google them. Three coil Qi charger. Triple coil Qi charger. 3-coil Qi charger.

Plenty on Amazon. You can find them for $25-$30.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] paradoxiumwind:
Thanks man.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] Pranksta02:
Has anyone got any recommendations for a qi charger for in the car. Preferably magnetic, but main requirement is to work with both nexus 5 and galaxy s6 edge. Thanks in advance!
[Nexus 5 Accessories] kellybrf:
airdock
[Nexus 5 Accessories] bland.life:
So all Qi chargers are stuck at a 5V/1A output?

Even if they release a 5V/2A output model the current devices might not support it?
[Nexus 5 Accessories] bluefalcon13:
If it works on the nexus 5, then the S6 is compatible with it. The S6 supports Qi chargers.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] timolen:
Anyone with the Qi Charger - Large Rectangle w/LEDs that when plugged in it just stands with the both red and green leds on and does not charge?

It worked once, i do not know how, it had only the red light on and when the phone was placed the green was up too. But after i removed the charger for a night,

when plugged back, both leds were up without any phone on it, and wont charge if the phone placed.

Any ideas what's going on?
[Nexus 5 Accessories] excogitation:
Congratulations on your superb benchmark / writeup.

I have to admit that I didn't read all 51 pages of this thread (but searched with the appropriate keywords).

It seems to me that the limiting factor aren't your chargers, but the wireless qi antenna.

The reason I'm suspecting this is that I have two antenna's at hand - one of which is specified

for 700mA output and the other for 1A output.

I know that a lot of work went into this benchmark - but to really find out the capabilities of these

chargers you would need an antenna with higher output.

Since here we're only talking about the N5 and the time it takes to fully charge the N5 that's not really of concern.

Also - more than a year later - the Q5 style chargers have dropped to <3$. (Afaict there are at least three versions - with different

colored charge indicator leds and I even came across one with audible indicator).
[Nexus 5 Accessories] llapao:
Just wanted to share with you all that with this module [ http://www.ebay.ca/itm/141651333537 ] I was able to get 980ma while charging my S6 and the battery temperature was always under 32C.

Price:US $2.48

I don't know the form factor of the original external casing, this was used in a DIY QI charger ;)

Cheers
[Nexus 5 Accessories] billy662:
Whats the actual use of wireless charger?

I mean the wireless charger still need to be connected, which is also wired...

Being confused...:confused:
[Nexus 5 Accessories] peachpuff:
I took apart one of my chargers and it has that same module, but the n5 only gets 500mA from it.

But does the phone have a wire connected to it? No... hence wireless charging.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] ChazzMatt:
Exactly. No plugging, unplugging, plugging, unplugging...

The charger itself stays plugged in like your TV, refrigerator. But the phone never has to be plugged in to a cable to charge. Once you use one, especially the 45-degree tilt chargers, you will never go back. :)

Your phone sits there. You can pick up and put down at will.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] parag60288:
Hay guys,

Can anyone suggest a good Qi wireless power bank?
[Nexus 5 Accessories] iamichigo:
thanks , great report:good:
[Nexus 5 Accessories] toxicpaulution:
help! i need an updated link to a wireless charger(or the diy kit) that ships from the US as I don't want to wait 3 weeks for the delivery :/ anyone?
[Nexus 5 Accessories] peachpuff:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Qi-Wireless...DIY-Arduino-/201337845121?hash=item2ee0abb581
[Nexus 5 Accessories] PixPi:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Qi-W...ng-Galaxy-S3-S4-Note2-iPhone/32361897146.html
[Nexus 5 Accessories] buranit:
add

it might be useful to add a charger doctor between charger and cable to test V and A stability

with my 3usd qi ifound current very unstable 0-0.8A jumping rapidly up and down but very stalbe wired charging with same charger and cable!
[Nexus 5 Accessories] Here-to-learn:101:
Thank you for the great review!
[Nexus 5 Accessories] audit13:
I bought a used nexus charger and it worked with the seller's cracked n5. I got it home and it would not work with two N5 phones, and n4, and a nexus 7 tablet even though it worked immediately with the seller's phone.

Next day, tried it again and now it works with everything. Too bad there is no light to indicate that it is charging.

The cheap flat qi charger I got for 3 usd worked with everything out of the box.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] guvno:
Wow. Well this was a very interesting post. Many thanks bacon, I'm happy I stumbled over this. I have a little question for you or anyone here perhaps.

I have 2 phones supporting Qi charging. A Samy S7 and a Elephone P9000 and I love the fact that over night I can just put both phones on the Qi pad and leave them there for the whole night.

My only worry is this... I also picked up my Qi chargers very cheap. They are budged knock off Samsung Qi chargers and they were something like $5 each! See below:

Qi Charger Original EP-PG920I 5V 2A Wireless charger For Chargeur SAMSUNG GALAXY S6 S6 Edge S7 S7 Edge Note 5 Phone Charging Pad

http://s.aliexpress.com/VrQfI7bi

(from AliExpress Android)

I have 3 of them and here is my concern.... They are ment to shift to green colour (from blue when charging) when charging is finished. This did happen once or twice, but no more, they are constantly glowing blue when the phones are on them and I have used them for about 3weeks now. I know that the phone gets fully charged as the phone indicator is no longer showing "charging" but the phones are "hot" when I pick them up from the pad in the morning. So, my question is simply, am I damaging the batteries in some way by using one of these budged cheap knock off copy Qi pads, am I overcharging the battery in some way? Has anyone got a decent one who can tell me whether the pad does switch off after a full charge is acheived and is there a way I can check if my pad switches off?
[Nexus 5 Accessories] Suraj Padmasali:
This is very time-consuming research. Better than any third party review. And one important thing is, All chargers are very affordable.

Appreciate your effort!
[Nexus 5 Accessories] fooznugget:
I don't know about the others but the puck one that I have seems to. The light will stay blue even after the phone hits 100% and it will stay at 100% until I take it off. Other people in the Nexus 4 forums who have the same charger said that once it hits 100%, it stops charging until you take it off and put it back on so it might depend on the phone.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] nishantn:
Wow, I find the rectangular one with LEDs really awesome! How come nobody noticed they're selling at $5 now! I might pick one up for my Nexus 4! That is dirt cheap!
[Nexus 5 Accessories] evilspoons:
You're confusing the charger's power supply specs with the charger's coil output specs.

The power supply (the brick you plug in to the wall) takes in 100-240 VAC @ 0.3 A and transforms it to 12 VDC @ 0.75 A. The charger pad itself then takes 12 VDC @ 0.75 A and transforms it into 5 V @ X A. The "X" is the part that I cannot find a spec for.

If you look at any 5 V charger, like the one that came with your phone, you will notice it has an input of 100-240 VAC @ 0.2 A then outputs 5.0 VDC @ 1.2 A. This is the basic function of a transformer. The Nokia DT-900 simply uses the Qi charging coils as a secondary transformer.

If you have a perfectly efficient transformer (none actually are), power is constant, not voltage or current.

Assuming the DT-900 charging plate is receiving 12 V @ 750 mA (the maximum rated output of the power supply), this gives you 12 x 0.75 = 9.0 W. Qi chargers output 5 V. Assuming no losses in the transformation, power is therefore constant. (P= VI). P = 9.0 W, V is now defined as 5 V, therefore current (I) is ( 9.0 W / 5 V ) = 1.8 A.. Even if there is a (frankly absurd) 45% loss in the DC transformation from 12 V to 5 V in the charging coil, you still have enough energy to supply 5 V @ 1 A.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] dehsA:
You got me excited there. The $5.95 price tag is for the receiver.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] jpde:
Thanks for all those tests! I've been considering buying a QI charger for quite a while but have always been putting it off because it didn't want to spend 20+€ for a branded one but wasn't sure if these cheaper ones are worth it.

Does anyone have a cheaper link for the Q8 one though? It's 15$ on aliexpress now and I wasn't able to find another seller that had offered the black version cheaper than that. A few white ones, but that's it. Also didn't have any luck on ebay.. and if I did find one I liked the seller wouldn't ship to Germany :(
[Nexus 5 Accessories] mmmmBACON:
You know, the easiest way for you to find out would be to put your phone on the charger, and install CurrentWidget and watch it charge.

Every other website states a 750mA output, and the DT910 states an output of 700mA. I don't have a dt900 to test, so I am only going by everything I read and from descriptions of other owners, which keeps pointing me in the direction of 750mA. You have one, you can test it, instead of trying to debate about what it is, find out what it actually provides to your phone.

If the current shows 750 - 800mA, then you'll know it's output is the standard 1A like the rest. If it's 500 - 650, then you'll know it's 750mA output.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] evilspoons:
I actually tried to, but CurrentWidget just reports N/A for all the fields on a Nexus 5. If anyone has any suggestions for alternatives (or knows how to get CurrentWidget working), I'll post the readings.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] dehsA:
Black one for $12.80.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Qi-W...LG-Nexus-4-HTC-Samsung-Galaxy/1508685947.html
[Nexus 5 Accessories] darkpower05:
It looks a lot thicker than the one in this post? it is the correct one?
[Nexus 5 Accessories] dehsA:
Yup, model number is listed as Q8.

Here's a feedback left by a buyer on page 4:
[Nexus 5 Accessories] mmmmBACON:
Yeah it's the same, don't worry about the pictures. If you scroll down, they're showing like 3 different chargers! haha.

The model #, under the item specifics is the important part. It says Q8.

There was no drop in current in terms of distance from the charger. It worked at full speed, then abruptly stopped working when it was too far away.

What was noticeable though, was horizontal movement. The farther away the phone was from the charger, the more it needed to be centred above the coils. The area of recognition wasn't as forgiving with distance.

Yes, I do use all of the chargers. They're spread all over the damn place! At my house and at work. Basically any room I go into (except bathrooms really) I can charge my phone. They're all pretty much used equally, depending on where I am. I guess the Q5 (puck) is used less just because of having to be careful with placing it better. I still use it, and it works well, just not as much I guess.

If performing measurements for temperature means putting my hand on the phone then yes! haha.

With all of the chargers, the phone only got slightly warmer. Nothing alarming, and definitely not as hot as if you were playing an intense game for 10 minutes. Nothing to worry about.

The only one I've heard about that causes super hot temperatures is the Tylt Vu. And that has to do with the multiple coils and the metal in the Nexus 5 not playing nice. They released information on a proper procedure on how to put your phone down "correctly" to avoid cooking your phone. Anyway, you don't have to worry about that with any of these chargers, just plop it down and you're good.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] SurlyDuff:
Yeah, I assumed that it would be too much of a time commitment, but I still think it would have lent more credence to the idea that they're all pretty much the same if the difference turned out to be not significant (or even more interesting if those 2 and 3 minute differences actually occurred during each replicate). Performing replicates of experimental tests isn't about trying to make the differences bigger; it's about making it clear that a single result wasn't a fluke (e.g., your rankings) or finding that the variance in the charging time is so large that there really isn't any significant difference at all. I do think you made that point well and clearly put a lot of work into your tests (not discounting that); the extra time would cement your argument, but I understand that it would be too time-consuming so I'll leave it at that.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] paradoxiumwind:
Can anyone recommend a good charger (price out of the $15 limit) with a charging distance greater than 5mm? I want to be able to charge through my spigen neo hybrid.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] evilspoons:
I have a Spigen Slim Armor (which is thicker than a Neo Hybrid) and both my LG WCP-300 and my Nokia DT-900 have no problems charging with it whatsoever.

The back of the case is barely over 1 mm thick on your Neo Hybrid... the 5 mm charging range should be just fine on all these cheap units.

(I couldn't find official dimensions or anything and I don't have a Neo Hybrid to measure, but the image below shows "1 mm" as about 24 pixels tall and the back of the case is only about 26 pixels tall... to further cement this, again, my Slim Armor works and the Slim Armor has the camera recessed about a mm, whereas the back of the Neo Hybrid is thin enough that the camera is almost flush.)
[Nexus 5 Accessories] mmmmBACON:
He could have also just read through the thread and saw the pictures I posted a couple pages back.

I'll quote myself. I'm pretty sure any Qi charger will charge through his case, considering it clearly isn't as thick or dense as the stack I did.

I'm guessing he is misjudging what 5mm thickness actually is.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] CCyanescens:
Thank you!

Nice, thorough comparison.

I am also very interested to see how the performance of more expensive (especially brand-name) chargers compare.

I can try to do my own test matching your method with a Nokia DT-900. It seems to have some disadvantages out of the box, like a proprietary charging connector, and a lower current rating.

Having a wireless charger that uses the near-ubiquitous/almost-standard microUSB connector is a big plus, and I am looking at getting one of the "Q8" ones for my N5 and N7.

What I'd really be interested in seeing, though, is a comparison/review of chargers/charging docks with magnets to snap into position (or hold) the N5 and N7. I don't think I've actually seen any besides the Google Play one.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] nishantn:
Hahah yeah I realised that! Sorry for that! It still looks great though..
[Nexus 5 Accessories] paradoxiumwind:
Actually, I have no idea why I said neo hybrid. I have the Slim Armour too.

I still can't charge my phone with this charger + Slim Armour.

If I am VERY lucky, I can get it in a position where I angle the phone and it manages to stay on charging, otherwise, it just goes charging..discharging..charging...discharging over and over. And before anyone asks, yes I removed the plastic film from the charger spot as soon as I got it.

I've even tried removing the grey sticky rubber material so the phone can get closer to the charger, but it doesn't help at all. I also removed that plastic silver ring from around the outside of the charger to try and get the phone closer to the center spot.

This is using this charger, + this 30cm charging cable from amazon, connected to the AC plug that comes with the N5 itself.

So since we have the same case and you have no trouble charging with it, presumably my charger is bunk and I should contact the ebay seller?

Edit: It's the cable. I tried the white cable that comes with the charger. Works fine. Tried the nexus 5 data cable, works fine. Why doesn't this seemingly good quality charge-only (no data) cable not work? Is it putting out too much power or something?
[Nexus 5 Accessories] MordyT:
If you want, here is supposedly the rate my phone got from the dt900. I use a seido dilex with kickstand case.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] porzino:
What happens when the phone hits 100%? Will it stay at 100% until I take it off?
[Nexus 5 Accessories] mmmmBACON:
Yeah that's one thing I didn't quite understand. Why they had to use their own proprietary power connector, when microUSB is basically the standard for everything. If it breaks, you're pretty much scouring the net/shops for a specific adapter, while if it's microUSB you just swap a cable, or buy a new generic AC adapter.

If you wanted to do the test with your dt900, go for it. That would be a good comparison to add. I can add another section with the dt900 and your data to the overall comparison if you wanted. No pressure of course, it's no biggie either way.

Other than the official Google wireless charger, I don't believe there are any other Qi chargers out there with magnets, unless it's someone who has modded their own. Also, I'm pretty sure other than Nexus devices, no others have magnets in the phone/tablet to accommodate it anyway.

Hmmm, even that seems a bit low for 750mA output. Would you mind trying with CurrentWidget and setting the update interval to 1 second? Then just watch it for a bit until you see a relatively consistent number keep popping up.

Yes, all of the chargers will trickle charge the Nexus 5 to keep it topped up.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] martjeuh:
Thanks for the comparison, helped me a lot! Bought the tiled one :D
[Nexus 5 Accessories] dehsA:
Just tested it and mine seems to hover around 650-760 mA. Most of the time it's above 700 though.

I have a Neo Hybrid case on but that shouldn't really matter.

I just went back to stare at the widget for like two minutes and the highest it reached was 758 mA.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] porzino:
Thanks a lot for the answer and the info.
[Nexus 5 Accessories] MordyT:
I watched it for about 2 mins and it never got above 550 (50 second intervals)
[Nexus 5 Accessories] paradoxiumwind:
So does anyone have any idea why the charge-only cable simply doesn't work with the wireless charger? Having perfect results using the supplied cable, my old samsung galacy ace data cable, and the stock nexus 5 cable.