Discussion
In this experiment, the authentic Apple lightning charger with the 12 watt adapter was found to be the fastest-charging of the eight chargers tested. This supports the hypothesis that the authentic iPhone lightning charger coupled with more amps flowing to the phone (10 watts), would result in the quickest charging. However, the Aftermarket (Amazon) charger with the same adapter wattage (10 watts), was a very close second. Only 9 minutes separated the authentic iPhone lightning charger from the aftermarket charger.
All 3 of the wireless charger tests (12 Watt Adapter, 5 Watt adapter and no adapter) had by far, the longest charging times. Nearly one hour separated the fastest wireless charger trial from the slowest authentic iPhone lightning charger and aftermarket chargers. This result is most likely due to the wireless charger having high watt/power consumption. The authentic iPhone lightning charger takes in about 14 watts per hour, but the wireless charger takes in 21 watts per hour. This means the wireless charger needs more power/energy than the wired charger. The phone must work harder to fill the battery with the wireless charger. With the authentic iPhone lightning charger and the aftermarket charger, the phone has to work nearly half the amount of the wireless, therefore making the charging time significantly lower (Ravenscraft, 2020).
In this experiment, the presence of an adapter made a large difference in charging speed. From the results, the charger with no adapter compared the charger with a 5 watt or 12 watt adapter had a difference of 30 to 40 minutes in charging speed for all the tested chargers. The chargers with the adapter were all faster. Therefore, it can be concluded that the adapters make a large difference in charging speed. Watt really matters!
The reason these watt-adding adapters made such a difference is because watts equals the overall speed and amount of energy traveling in the charger. Like the water pipe, the watts in the charger are like the overall speed of the water flow and how much water is in the pipe. The watts are split up into two parts: volts and amps. The amps are the amount of power in the charger or the amount of water in the pipe. The volts are how fast the energy or water is flowing. The more watts, the more energy in the cable and that energy is moving even faster to charge the phone.
Last, results in this experiment point to the conclusion that the adapter may make the largest difference in charging speed, not the actual charger. The authentic iPhone lightning charger with the 12 watt adapter and the aftermarket charger with the 12 watt adapter had only a 10 minute difference in charging speed. For both the authentic iPhone lightning charger and the aftermarket charger, the one with no adapter compared to the one with the 12 watt adapter had a whole 40 minute difference faster in charging speed. The adapter makes the most difference in charging speed because the watts that the adapter puts out gives the charger more energy. It makes that extra energy travel faster, making the overall charging speed faster. The only reason the authentic iPhone lightning charger charges slightly faster is because the authentic lightning charger already has a base watt value of 5 watts and the aftermarket charger only has a base watt value of 2.5 watts.
The wireless charger had the slowest time to charge. Some possible reasons are:
Not Direct Current to Battery: In a wireless charger, the power has to travel through a thin wall of aluminium and on some phones, glass. This means that the power doesn't go from the charger directly to the battery. Instead, it has to go from the charger, pass through a wall of glass or aluminum that's on the phone, before it gets to the battery (Wagner, 2020). By going through that wall, the power has to go an extra step, slowing it down. It also has to use magnetic fields to pick up the energy and bring it to the battery (Laukonen, 2020).
Wireless Charger “Fast Charging”: In every phone charger there is a built in mechanism called “fast charging.” In a wired “lightning-type” charger, when the battery just starts charging, it gets a blast of energy that quickly charges a phone to 50% to 70% within the first 10 to 30 minutes (Colby, 2020). In a wireless charger, this works differently. Instead of having a blast of energy, it speeds up the charging by only a very small amount, which is not nearly as fast as wired lightning chargers (Summerson, 2017).
This experiment was not without some problems:
Lack of Time to Get Multiple Trials: One problem was the lack of time to get multiple trials. If there had been more time, there would be more exact results. Having more trials means more exact results since you have multiple data/trials to work with and average out. More time would also result in multiple trials just in case a trial was flawed in some way, there would be time to redo it. For example, there may have been a phone notification or two that could have screwed some of the results in this experiment. If there had been multiple trials, an average for that charger could be found to try and compensate for those small errors.
Notifications/Phone Turning On: These notifications may have skewed the results because whenever a phone turns on, or get a notification, it uses energy/power. This means when the phone turns on during a notification, it uses energy and would make the phone charge at a slower rate.
Checking Phone Percentage: This problem is similar to the “notifications/phone turning on” (above). When doing this experiment, the phone must be charged from 0% to 100%. At some point, the percentage must be checked. When this is done, the phone must be turned on or “activated.” Therefore, since the phone is being turned “on,” the slower it will charge.
Battery Health/Loss of Battery Health: Another problem that could have happened in this experiment that could have skewed the results a lot is, possible chemical reactions and loss of battery health. This could have happened because when you make a phone go to 0% it can cause a chemical reaction, damaging the battery. Also, when making your phone go to 100% can also cause strain on the battery making the battery damaged (Nield, 2020). This could have possibly skewed results as well.
All 3 of the wireless charger tests (12 Watt Adapter, 5 Watt adapter and no adapter) had by far, the longest charging times. Nearly one hour separated the fastest wireless charger trial from the slowest authentic iPhone lightning charger and aftermarket chargers. This result is most likely due to the wireless charger having high watt/power consumption. The authentic iPhone lightning charger takes in about 14 watts per hour, but the wireless charger takes in 21 watts per hour. This means the wireless charger needs more power/energy than the wired charger. The phone must work harder to fill the battery with the wireless charger. With the authentic iPhone lightning charger and the aftermarket charger, the phone has to work nearly half the amount of the wireless, therefore making the charging time significantly lower (Ravenscraft, 2020).
In this experiment, the presence of an adapter made a large difference in charging speed. From the results, the charger with no adapter compared the charger with a 5 watt or 12 watt adapter had a difference of 30 to 40 minutes in charging speed for all the tested chargers. The chargers with the adapter were all faster. Therefore, it can be concluded that the adapters make a large difference in charging speed. Watt really matters!
The reason these watt-adding adapters made such a difference is because watts equals the overall speed and amount of energy traveling in the charger. Like the water pipe, the watts in the charger are like the overall speed of the water flow and how much water is in the pipe. The watts are split up into two parts: volts and amps. The amps are the amount of power in the charger or the amount of water in the pipe. The volts are how fast the energy or water is flowing. The more watts, the more energy in the cable and that energy is moving even faster to charge the phone.
Last, results in this experiment point to the conclusion that the adapter may make the largest difference in charging speed, not the actual charger. The authentic iPhone lightning charger with the 12 watt adapter and the aftermarket charger with the 12 watt adapter had only a 10 minute difference in charging speed. For both the authentic iPhone lightning charger and the aftermarket charger, the one with no adapter compared to the one with the 12 watt adapter had a whole 40 minute difference faster in charging speed. The adapter makes the most difference in charging speed because the watts that the adapter puts out gives the charger more energy. It makes that extra energy travel faster, making the overall charging speed faster. The only reason the authentic iPhone lightning charger charges slightly faster is because the authentic lightning charger already has a base watt value of 5 watts and the aftermarket charger only has a base watt value of 2.5 watts.
The wireless charger had the slowest time to charge. Some possible reasons are:
Not Direct Current to Battery: In a wireless charger, the power has to travel through a thin wall of aluminium and on some phones, glass. This means that the power doesn't go from the charger directly to the battery. Instead, it has to go from the charger, pass through a wall of glass or aluminum that's on the phone, before it gets to the battery (Wagner, 2020). By going through that wall, the power has to go an extra step, slowing it down. It also has to use magnetic fields to pick up the energy and bring it to the battery (Laukonen, 2020).
Wireless Charger “Fast Charging”: In every phone charger there is a built in mechanism called “fast charging.” In a wired “lightning-type” charger, when the battery just starts charging, it gets a blast of energy that quickly charges a phone to 50% to 70% within the first 10 to 30 minutes (Colby, 2020). In a wireless charger, this works differently. Instead of having a blast of energy, it speeds up the charging by only a very small amount, which is not nearly as fast as wired lightning chargers (Summerson, 2017).
This experiment was not without some problems:
Lack of Time to Get Multiple Trials: One problem was the lack of time to get multiple trials. If there had been more time, there would be more exact results. Having more trials means more exact results since you have multiple data/trials to work with and average out. More time would also result in multiple trials just in case a trial was flawed in some way, there would be time to redo it. For example, there may have been a phone notification or two that could have screwed some of the results in this experiment. If there had been multiple trials, an average for that charger could be found to try and compensate for those small errors.
Notifications/Phone Turning On: These notifications may have skewed the results because whenever a phone turns on, or get a notification, it uses energy/power. This means when the phone turns on during a notification, it uses energy and would make the phone charge at a slower rate.
Checking Phone Percentage: This problem is similar to the “notifications/phone turning on” (above). When doing this experiment, the phone must be charged from 0% to 100%. At some point, the percentage must be checked. When this is done, the phone must be turned on or “activated.” Therefore, since the phone is being turned “on,” the slower it will charge.
Battery Health/Loss of Battery Health: Another problem that could have happened in this experiment that could have skewed the results a lot is, possible chemical reactions and loss of battery health. This could have happened because when you make a phone go to 0% it can cause a chemical reaction, damaging the battery. Also, when making your phone go to 100% can also cause strain on the battery making the battery damaged (Nield, 2020). This could have possibly skewed results as well.
Conclusion
The purpose of this experiment was to determine which type of iPhone charger resulted in the quickest charging time. 96% of Americans have a mobile phone (Pew Research Center, 2020). More and more, people rely on these phones for work, school and social contact. People have become dependent on their phones for simple tasks such as directions, sending emails, taking pictures or keeping a grocery list. Therefore, having a quick charging phone is essential in today’s world. However, based on recent articles, “fast” phone charging technology has become so complex and confusing for the average person (Boxall, 2021). This experiment attempted to break down some of the most popular ways of phone charging to see which one produces the fastest results.
The hypothesis stated that the authentic iPhone lightning charger with the 12 watt adapter would charge the fastest and the wireless charger with no adapter would charge the slowest. This hypothesis was formed because the authentic iPhone lightning charger was made for this specific iPhone. In addition, adding 10 extra watts of power would make the amount of power and speed of the charging increase greatly.
The reason the hypothesis stated the wireless charger with no adapter was going to take the longest is because of research shown in the article: “Is Wireless Charging Slower Than Wired Charging?” (Summerson, 2017). This article stated that wireless charging is slower than normal wired charging. The reason wired charging is faster is because of the “fast-charging” capabilities they have. “Fast- charging” comes in two phases. The first phase applies a large amount of voltage to the almost “dead” phone. This gives you that super fast charge to 50% to 70% in the first 10 to 30 minutes” (Colby, 2020). During the second phase of charging, (after the phone is about 70-80% charged) the phone must charge at a slower rate to manage the charging speed. Otherwise, the battery could be damaged.
The charger that charged the fastest was the lightning charger with the 12 watt adapter. The lightning charger with the 12 watt adapter outclassed all of the chargers by an average of 1:19:16 hours less than the other chargers and took 2:46:32 hours to go from 0% to 100%. The wireless charger with no adapter came out at the slowest with a 5:04:34, which is almost double the lightning charger with a 12 watt adapter.
There are some things that could have been done differently in this experiment. First, not having any phone notifications or having to turn the phone on at all. This could change the results because anytime the phone turns on, it tells the battery to use energy to show the display, which could affect the speed because of that small energy loss. Also, the experiment could have been expanded by using more chargers, different phone models (Samsung, possibly!), taking notes on the amount of use the phone gets (notifications, etc), and looking at whether charger types affect battery life over time. This could reveal if there are more efficient chargers aside from the ones being tested in this experiment.
The hypothesis stated that the authentic iPhone lightning charger with the 12 watt adapter would charge the fastest and the wireless charger with no adapter would charge the slowest. This hypothesis was formed because the authentic iPhone lightning charger was made for this specific iPhone. In addition, adding 10 extra watts of power would make the amount of power and speed of the charging increase greatly.
The reason the hypothesis stated the wireless charger with no adapter was going to take the longest is because of research shown in the article: “Is Wireless Charging Slower Than Wired Charging?” (Summerson, 2017). This article stated that wireless charging is slower than normal wired charging. The reason wired charging is faster is because of the “fast-charging” capabilities they have. “Fast- charging” comes in two phases. The first phase applies a large amount of voltage to the almost “dead” phone. This gives you that super fast charge to 50% to 70% in the first 10 to 30 minutes” (Colby, 2020). During the second phase of charging, (after the phone is about 70-80% charged) the phone must charge at a slower rate to manage the charging speed. Otherwise, the battery could be damaged.
The charger that charged the fastest was the lightning charger with the 12 watt adapter. The lightning charger with the 12 watt adapter outclassed all of the chargers by an average of 1:19:16 hours less than the other chargers and took 2:46:32 hours to go from 0% to 100%. The wireless charger with no adapter came out at the slowest with a 5:04:34, which is almost double the lightning charger with a 12 watt adapter.
There are some things that could have been done differently in this experiment. First, not having any phone notifications or having to turn the phone on at all. This could change the results because anytime the phone turns on, it tells the battery to use energy to show the display, which could affect the speed because of that small energy loss. Also, the experiment could have been expanded by using more chargers, different phone models (Samsung, possibly!), taking notes on the amount of use the phone gets (notifications, etc), and looking at whether charger types affect battery life over time. This could reveal if there are more efficient chargers aside from the ones being tested in this experiment.