What is the minimum power rating to consider a turbo charger?
In my opinion (I could be mistaken), from 15W!
On AliExpress, they say it’s turbo. A lot of Brazilians are saying the product is really good.
A “turbo” charger is useless. If a phone charges at 5V 2A by specification, it won’t charge any faster with a charger that provides 5V 10A than with one that already provides 5V 2A. (What happens is that people grab any charger and charge their phone without looking at the specs of either. In the past, many 5V 0.5A chargers came along, which will charge a phone that charges at 5V 2A, but it will charge 4-5 times slower.)
If you’re referring to Quick Charge technology, you’d need to check for a version equal to or higher than the device’s.
These names are just marketing.
There are plenty of fast charging standards (USB hardware - Wikipedia), and each one has its own specs.
For it to work, both sides — the source and receiver, or the wall adapter and the gadget you want to charge — need to be compatible with the same standard (e.g. Qualcomm Quick Charge X.0).
If both sides aren’t compatible with the same standard, charging falls back to the universal USB standard, which maxes out at 7.5W (5V and 1.5A).
Quick Charge 1.0, for example, has a maximum power output of 10W (5V and 2A), 2.0 goes up to 18W (9V, 2A), 3.0 goes up to 36W (12V and 3A), and so on.
Anker’s PowerIQ, version 1.0, hits 12W, while 2.0 hits 24W, and 3.0 theoretically goes up to 100W in some cases.
In short, calling it „turbo“ is just a way to get attention and has little real value.
Motorola’s Turbo Power is a commercial brand for Quick Charge, without specifying the version.
Before USB Type-C, yes. After USB Type-C, they started using USB Power Delivery, though some Motorola models are compatible with both standards…
In my view, turbo chargers are the ones that deliver voltage above 5V, usually 9V or 12V. The rest is just a charger with higher amperage. (P.S.: read as, with more amps)
For 9V and 12V, it needs to be compatible with Quick Charge, doesn’t it? So the correct term would be Quick Charge. If a charger forced 9V/12V, that would be amazing — all those exploding phones. hahaha
But the „turbo“ chargers people talk about are those 5V 2~5A ones…
The cool thing is that Multilaser has some 5V 2.1A chargers, colorful and quite honest for around 15-20 reais (in the version without a cable)… which makes it not really worth buying a „turbo“ charger online. (They’re not exactly the best available, but in terms of cost-benefit, they’re excellent)
Current. “Amperage” is an Anglicism, and while it is admitted in some dictionaries, it’s technically incorrect.
Similarly, the correct term is “voltage” instead of “tension.” (Not trying to be a pain, just spreading the knowledge. Since this is a tech blog, I thought it was worth mentioning.)
The correct term in English is current. Amperes is also wrong in English. hahaha
Right, my mistake — I think it’s “voltagem”, which is the Portuguese adaptation of the term “voltage”, or it came from the incorrect use of the unit as the name of the measurement. It would be like using “litragem” instead of volume.
Almost all fast charging standards use voltages above 5V, but the change only occurs after the charger has communicated with the device. If the charger does not receive a valid response (for example, the smartphone does not support fast charging or is not compatible with the charger’s fast charging standard), the voltage remains at 5V, with limited current…
I know, right. Like I said above, if it were forced, thrown together half-assed, it’d be fun to watch the damage. hahaha
In this case, Anker’s PowerIQ is a protocol that detects which device is connected to it and supplies power accordingly. For example, it detects that it’s a smartphone with a Snapdragon chip compatible with QuickCharge 3.0 and automatically scales the power accordingly. In this case, 22V (maximum) and 2.6A or 4.6A. https://www.qualcomm.com/products/quick-charge-30
Can I use this one with my laptop?
I meant that it’s not something specific to Quick Charge — almost all fast charging standards have this behavior…
I read some answers here that I found quite strange.
The voltage (volts) that the phone will draw is fixed at 5V. So yes, the higher the power (W), the higher the current (A) the adapter can provide. (P = V x I). Obviously, the phone drawing more current charges faster, and that’s the definition of „turbo“ or „quick charge“. Here’s the catch: low-quality or knockoff chargers cannot deliver the rated current stated on the packaging while maintaining a fixed voltage. Only a well-known brand charger will work within specifications thanks to better engineering and higher-quality components. Usually, chargers rated at 2.0A or more are „turbo“ if we’re talking about an original charger. The problem is that people buy knockoff turbo chargers and then go around saying it „doesn’t work“.
A ‚turbo‘ charger, from my point of view, is only ‚turbo‘ if it supports at least one fast charging standard; just delivering high current at 5V doesn’t count.
The maximum power you can safely deliver through a USB cable with a fixed voltage of 5V is about 15W (equivalent to 3A). Anything beyond that can cause issues with the charger or the cable itself. If you find a charger promising more than that, you can be sure it’s a fake.
That’s where fast charging standards come in. They have protocols to communicate with the device and „negotiate“ higher voltages and variable current rates in order to deliver powers of 20W, 30W, or even more. With a fixed voltage of 5V, this would not be possible…
I’d guess 2.5A or higher would be a problem, since I never see branded cables above 2.4A… But I’ve seen some power supplies for Raspberry PI with specs like 5V 5A.