Is charging at 100W safe for the battery?

Okay, so we all know the drill: fully charging and emptying your battery is bad as well as heat.
We know as well that the original Framework power adapter supplys 60w but that the laptop can handle up to 100w.
Maybe I am just stupid and charging at 100w automatically equals to more heat but having seen MKBHD’s video on fast charging it appears to me, that maybe the charger can handle the surplus of heat etc.

The whole reason why I am asking is, that I consider buying the Volta GIGA GaN charger ( GIGA: The Ultimate Universal GaN Charger | Indiegogo ), that can output 200w. Well, I am still struggling whether to back their campaign…

IIRC the battery will charge at most 60W even if you use a >60W charger. So no difference in battery degradation.

3 Likes

@feesh Do not know where they stated this?
In the post about USB C charging they just said “yes we support USB-C Charging from most chargers up to 100W.”
So unsure, what that means…

@feesh has it right as usual. The battery will charge at 60W maximum.

If you use a 100W charger the rest of the laptop can use the extra power but the battery will still be charging at 60W (20V @ 3A) no matter what. It will allow the CPU/iGPU to boost while the battery is charging though.

5 Likes

Thanks a lot @Fraoch !
So if I understand you correctly with a 100W charger I might get an extra boost in performance and still charge the battery at the max 60W, while charging my phone through my laptop, but I won’t damage the battery or charge any faster than using a 60W charger?

1 Like

Yes the battery charge rate is limited by the laptop to a maximum, as are all laptops, phones etc.

Having more power available is good for the charger as it isn’t pushed to the limit, if just charging, but as mentioned you can draw extra to run whilst charging.

And you are right about heat. It is far more damaging that fully charging slowly. To that end charging at full rate and loading the CPU etc will produce more heat and that will do the battery no good.

1 Like

Yes, but charging your phone through the laptop is a new one. It might end up siphoning off any additional power. You would be much better off using a multi-port charger and charging each device individually.

We are talking about USB PD here. A USB PD device will negotiate with a USB PD source like @amoun mentioned in your other thread. The Framework laptop requests 20V from the charger - a 60W USB-PD charger will supply 20V at up to 3A (=60W) while a 100W USB-PD charger will supply 20V at up to 5A (=100W). Keep in mind devices only use as much current as they need - hence the “up to” wording. The power isn’t pumped into the laptop whether it needs it or not, a voltage source is presented and the laptop draws as much current as it needs. It can draw up to 5A in the case of a 100W charger, but the battery can never draw more than 3A due to the charging circuit design in order to prevent battery damage.

So that 200W charger you’re looking at will supply 100W at most to the Framework laptop. That’s 50% capacity. It will not be strained and it should run fairly cool.

2 Likes

Absolutely, operating a power supply right at its upper limit maximizes the heat it generates and increases the chances of failure.

Better to be at 50-60% capacity than right at 100% continuously!

“Safety margin”. :wink:

2 Likes

Hey, so I am a little late to this thread but am looking at chargers for when I get my Framework laptop. Should I get a 20V 5A charger at 100W? Or will this type of charger lessen the lifespan of the battery? If that is the case, should I play it safe with a 20V 3A charger at 60W? If so would this Anker 60W be the safest option for the laptop?

Additionally, I’ve noticed the charger sold by Framework has a power brick. Is this necessary or could I plug the Anker 60W charging cable into this Anker 737 Charger GaNPrime 120W It’s a bit pricy but with the Anker 737 could I charge the Framework laptop, a Phone, and smartwatch or wireless earbuds all at the same time?

Sorry for asking questions I seem to already know the answers to. This community seems like a reliable place to make sure things play nice with each other. :slight_smile:

The best thing about USB power delivery is that it’s intelligent.
The charger and the device can negotiate a rate to charge.

If the device wants a lower power, the charger can supply that.

So, for charging the battery, it may not use 100 watts.

I’ve used 15,20, 25, 30, 45, and 60 watt chargers with my framework.

The 60 watt I purchased with it is usually used to charge a tablet, a phone, or even a MacBook Air.

Anker has a good reputation, so their 100 watt capable chargers should be worth a try.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I am looking at chargers for when I get my Framework laptop. Should I get a 20V 5A charger at 100W? Or will this type of charger lessen the lifespan of the battery due to excess heat when charging that laptop while in use? If that is the case, should I play it safe with a 20V 3A charger at 60W and sacrifice charging speed while the laptop is in use? If so would this Anker 60W be the safest option for the laptop?

Additionally, I’ve noticed the charger sold by Framework has a power brick. Is this necessary or could I plug the Anker 60W charging cable into this Anker 737 Charger GaNPrime 120W, and then straight into the laptop? It’s a bit pricy, but with the Anker 737 could I charge the Framework laptop; a Phone; smartwatch, or wireless earbuds all at the same time?

Sorry for asking questions I seem to already know the answers to. This community seems like a reliable place to make sure things play nice with each other. :slight_smile:

That’s a matter of personal preference.

The Framework laptop only allows the battery to charge at no more than 60W. Having a power adapter that can go beyond 60W means that the laptop can now have additional power to power the rest of the laptop while still charging the battery at 60w. Meaning, your battery will find itself charging at 60w more frequently, than if you only had a 60w power adapter. e.g. Imagine the rest of your laptop requires 15w to function. In this case, if you have a 60w adapter, it means only 45w can be allocated to charging the battery. Whereas if you had 100w adapter, 60w would go to the battery. This, in turn, over the long run, means your battery could wear out sooner (in theory).

Ideally, a well engineered laptop would allow the user to decide if they want fast, ultra fast or normal charging. Just like what you see on some phones. Personally, due to the fact that the battery can be easily replaced (if it’s ever available from the marketplace)…I wouldn’t worry too much.

Any USB-PD power adapter will do the trick.

That’s an Anker product question.

The main degradation of a battery comes from the heat it experiences from fast charging, using a 60W or 100W that is PD communicative is likely to stress the battery when it is charging from a low state say below 60%, especially when not being used at the same time.

If the battery is kept fairly well charged then the input is reduced.

You can also set the maximum charge the battery can take via the bios.

100% charge can take the battery to 17.5%, I use 78% max which limits the max voltage to 16.5%, so reducing the strain at the top end and hence heat.

So I wouldn’t worry about the 60 W or 100W charger, the state of charge is more critical to battery health.

If you frequently run the battery down to 20% or less and then charge whilst not in use the battery may take 60W from a 60W or 100W charger.
The benefit of the 100W charger is that it will not suffer the stress of working at it’s max.

Charging whilst under use, as mentioned will drop the available power by some 20% to 30% depending upon use.

So with the 60W you can limit the charge rate, by charging whilst being used, which is what I do as I use it plugged in most of the time.