Help Flat Cable doesn't charge my Galaxy S4 well

[kennyjbkk]

I have tested the charging speed of regular cable vs the recently popular flat cable. I found that the flat cable charging speed was way too slow. Does anyone has the same experience? Why? Cable is very simple structure but what causes the speed of charging to be very very slow.

 

[lotus49]

I have never used flat cable but I've used some thin cables and had exactly the same experience.

If I remember my physics properly, the resistance of a wire is inversely proportional to the square of its diameter. So a wire half the diameter will have four times the resistance which in turn means a quarter of the current.

That's my theory anyway.

 

[RhysLlewellyn]

Have you checked the output of each power device? I.e. The plug that goes into the mains supply?

Some cheaper chargers deliver 500 mA, whereas a decent one will deliver 1 A which is twice as much current, hence it will charge faster. I suspect this is the case, not the shape of the cable.

 

[lotus49]

Isn't the OP comparing different cables with the same charger? That's how I read it anyway.

 

[RhysLlewellyn]

I personally haven't seen any of the flat style cables that aren't permanently fixed to the power supply. Actually now that I think about it I think the reason for this is because the flat style leads perhaps only have 2 cores.. Signal and ground I. E. Charging only, which is why they're always permanently attached and thinner than a micro usb lead which has additional wires inside to deliver data transfer aswell as charging. So I reckon that's still the reason yeah

 

[DanDroide]

I loaded a FREE app called "Galaxy Charging Current *Lite*" which shows you how much your S4 is charging with each charger.

A TAD OFF TOPIC FROM THE THREAD SUBJECT BUT STILL RELEVANT:

From all my research, the Samsung OEM wall charger (that came with my S4) puts out nearly 1900ma. My old Motorola charger that I used for my Bionic puts out about 650ma. The charging times are WAY different!

Same with my Motorola car charger which puts out about 500ma or so.

I ordered two extra Samsung chargers...a Wall Charger (2Amp) & Car Charger (2Amp) from the Samsung Official site. There are many FAKE Samsung chargers that don't put out the same Amperage. Just read the Amazon reviews before you buy them. $7 Fake Samsung chargers will get you about 600ma OR LOWER.

There's LOTS to read in the Amazon reviews about car chargers and how MOST don't get over 500ma (regardless of how many Amps they promise) because of wiring aimed toward iPhones. Some people have actually re-wired the chargers to get max power. I didn't want to fool with it so I ponied up and bought the expensive ones from Samsung directly.

Dan

 

[ANewDay]

I loaded a FREE app called "Galaxy Charging Current *Lite*" which shows you how much your S4 is charging with each charger.

A TAD OFF TOPIC FROM THE THREAD SUBJECT BUT STILL RELEVANT:

From all my research, the Samsung OEM wall charger (that came with my S4) puts out nearly 1900ma. My old Motorola charger that I used for my Bionic puts out about 650ma. The charging times are WAY different!

Dan

Hmmm, strange why they wouldn't include a 2 amp charger with the S4.

 

[lotus49]

Hmmm, strange why they wouldn't include a 2 amp charger with the S4.

They did.

 

[DanDroide]

Hmmm, strange why they wouldn't include a 2 amp charger with the S4.

Like Lotus49 said, the charger included with the S4 was a 2 Amp. :smokingsomb:

I just wanted extra (equally good) chargers at my office and in my car besides the great charger Samsung provided.

 

[Tware]

I use flat retractable cables all the time. It's important that you have all 4 usb wires/signals in your cable, as the resistance on the other two (data) will tell the phone what charge rate to use. If you only have power and no data in the cable, your phone will use the lowest and safer charge rate (so it doesnt try to pull 2A off a laptop port and cook it).

 

[dlphnfn]

Related but not exactly what the op is talking about... why don't any of my previous chargers work with the S4? I charged my HTC EVO LTE all the time on my car chargers and wall chargers. They don't work at all with the S4. The only charger in my house that works is the one that came in the box. Plug then in and nothing happens. Weird.