top | item 29447882

Chargie. A USB device to control charging of phones

13 points| n1000 | 4 years ago |chargie.org

13 comments

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purjolok|4 years ago

There is an equivalent software solution for rooted Android phones:

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/mattecarra.accapp/

The Chargie will certainly be useful for the many people who don't want to/can't root their phones. But it's also sad that one needs an extra piece of hardware for something that the phone can technically already accomplish on its own.

n1000|4 years ago

I created a shortcut in iOS that will remind me to unplug.

SkyPuncher|4 years ago

I've adopted a different solution - use an old charger. I have a seemingly endless supply of them sitting around. They were never powerful enough to begin with, so they charge many times slower than modern chargers.

This is ideal for over night charging for me. From a nearly empty battery, it charger my phone to about 95% during a normal night. If I need to top off, I throw it on the quick charger while I get ready for the day.

smartbit|4 years ago

That was what I was doing too. From one of the articles referenced on chargie.io [0] I learned battery lifetime is mostly about

- heat, which indeed potentially is lower with the small chargers, see Table 2

- keep between 35-75% charge level, see Figure 3.

With the astonishing battery life of the iPhone 13 under most daily use, even the _mini_, I will never go outside 35-75%. IOW I'm planning to buy a few Chargies, also leaving 1 or 2 in the car. That way I can use the iPhone 13 for another 6 years, like I did with the iPhone 6.

[0] https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-808-how-to-prolong-...

Saris|4 years ago

Looks like a pretty decent solution for the average person, I like it.

My OnePlus 7 Pro has a feature that's supposed to limit charging based on your usage habits, but in reality it never works and always charges to 100%, and you can't configure it manually for some reason.

I ended up using a wifi plug with home assistant to turn off the charger when my phone hits 80%.

The biggest downside is android is not smart enough to realize this is a full charge, and the battery stats never reset until I do a charge to 100%.

petre|4 years ago

Nice, but mechanically it's far from an ideal design, a dongle in a dongle. I'd buy the USB-C version anyway. It would have been better if it was built insude a wall or 12V socket adapter. A safe way to use it is with an USB extender.

_zfxr|4 years ago

this type of thing is built into a newer Lenovo tablet I have.