A long time has passed since traditional mobiles, those that were not yet intelligent (such as the mythical Nokia 3310), charged less than 5W. Less than since the original Monkey Island, we agree, but still decades have passed. Charging has been evolving ever since and now we have crazy speeds (or powers, however you want to refer to them). Fast loads of all colors.
Now it is common to find mobile phones with loads greater than 30W, some even circulating out there that exceeds a couple of hundred . And this has the effect that we can have chargers of different powers (or speeds) at home and “make mistakes” when connecting it to the phone that it does not touch. But is there a problem with this? What happens if you charge the mobile with a more powerful charger than it should? Let’s see.
The ‘peak output power’ concept of a charger
It is convenient to start by making it clear that one thing is what the manufacturers themselves say and another is what happens in reality. Virtually all of them specify that each phone must be charged with its own charger, which makes sense given that they are designed for them and tailored exactly to their needs. But that does not mean that any charger does not work for any mobile . We are not talking about cars and gasoline or diesel types . Here no engine is going to ‘seize’, nor is our phone going to ‘seize’.
Mobile phone chargers don’t work any differently than old chargers have worked , although it is true that they now incorporate new technologies to ensure their safety and to minimize the heat they give off. But they have always worked the same. A quantity of energy reaches them through the plug (mostly 220 volts) and they convert that alternating current into direct current and adapt the voltage to let the energy out with different powers.
How to choose a mobile charger: types, power, safety and everything you need to know
Some chargers convert 220V to 10W, some to 25W, some to 150W. But the operation is identical, and the output is not unique. It is not immovable. Chargers operate on the concept of maximum output power . A 150W charger doesn’t constantly send out 150W but instead adapts to what’s plugged into the other end. In our case, it fits the phone. So yes, the chargers have a variable power without us having to do anything for it.
Let’s say that if your mobile has a maximum power input of 30W, it will be 30W that it demands from the charger and it will deliver it if it can. If the charger is less powerful, it will work at full capacity and will give all that it can give. If the charger is more powerful, it will reduce its power to deliver to the phone what it asks of it, or the power closer to its requirements below the phone’s maximum input.
Cases and cases: plugging more or less power into your mobile phone
We are going to explain this last point, about not being able to be exact . Let’s imagine that our mobile has a maximum power input of 45W and that our charger is not capable of delivering 45W (7.5V x 6A) due to its internal configuration, but it is capable of delivering 37.5W (7.5W x 5A) . So what it will deliver will be 37.5W. This is partly why manufacturers recommend that each mobile work with its charger, since it arrives adapted exactly to what they are going to ask for.
Another extreme case is that we have a more powerful charger than the phone and that it is not capable of delivering as little energy as the one requested by the phone. For example, the phone asks for 5W and the charger can only go down to 10W. In this case, the charger will not work because it will not send any power through the cable. The phone will not receive a charge and the battery will not recharge . The operation is that simple.
How much electricity does your charger use when it is not charging the mobile: this is its phantom consumption
Knowing this, we can conclude that using a more powerful charger on a phone that requires less power is not a problem. Nothing is going to happen. Neither the phone is going to burn or anything like that. Simply, the charger will adapt to what the phone asks of it . They will talk to each other and come to an agreement. And if there is no consensus, the charger will not send power and we will have to find another solution.
But our phone will not be damaged, we can rest easy. Because beware, just as the charger does not send more energy than necessary, the phone would not accept it either. This is an agreement between two parties and both have to comply with what was agreed.
