How Hard Is The Data Cable Working in Order to Improve The Fast Charging Power? | ZONSAN

2023-03-09 How hard is the data cable working in order to improve the fast charging power?

Data cable is a digital product used to connect the charger, computer equipment, key accessories, data cable with the development of digital products and iterative upgrades, the previous MiniUSB, MicroUSB has become the tears of the times, USB-C because of support for positive and negative blind plug, high power, high rate, with a wide range of universal, become the best interface between the charger and digital products.

The fastest growing digital accessories fast charging performance is cell phones, charging power from 5W all the way to 120W, in the face of rising power, the data line is also facing unprecedented pressure, this issue of charging miscellany to discuss with you, the data line in order to cope with high-power power transmission, what efforts have been made.

E-Marker

USB PD fast charging protocol is currently developed to PD3.1, but the most commonly used on the market is still PD3.0. PD3.0 version is notable for its maximum 20V/5A, 100W power transfer capability, not only for low-power cell phones, tablets and other devices, but also widely used in high-power laptops, 100-watt mobile power and other devices.

And with the popularity of USB PD fast charging technology, the cable as the medium of power transmission between devices, the importance of gradually highlighted. Especially in the high-voltage, high-current operating conditions, not only the wire material, wire diameter requirements, but also the need to join the USB-IF Association certified E-Marker chip (with E-Marker chip cable can support up to 5A current, no E-Marker chip cable can only support up to 3A current).



A full-featured USB-C cable must be added to the E-Marker chip, because the E-Marker chip will pre-write a variety of cable specifications, current carrying capacity, data transfer capability and other parameters, electronic devices are also through this chip to obtain information about the cable to determine the power supply or data transfer mode to achieve the effect of protection. Users can not determine from the appearance of the data cable can support 100W power transmission, the use of USB testers can read E-Marker information.



As can be seen from the table, the maximum power transmission specifications of the data cable is divided into two main, 60W / 100W, according to the current division is 3A / 5A, in addition to the lightning data cable, the power transmission performance of other data cables and data transmission performance is not directly related. If you want to get higher than 60W fast charging performance, a 100W cable is necessary to read the product description when buying, buy the wrong power will be limited can not exceed 60W use.

Contact handling

Data cable connected to the device, the charger, relying on contact shrapnel mutual contact for power transmission, ordinary data cable contact shrapnel does not have the ability to transmit high current, it must be necessary to strengthen the contact shrapnel processing.



This is a macro image of a high-current data cable USB-C interface, you can see that the VBUS and GND shrapnel used to transmit power inside, the width is much larger than the contacts used to transmit data. Widening the contacts makes the contact area larger and reduces contact resistance so that it can better support high-current transmission, and manufacturers will even use a thicker gold plating process to further enhance electrical performance.



Huawei, Xiaomi, Black Shark, OPPO and other Android brand fast charging systems with USB-A high-current interface, ZONSAN took their data cables and put them side by side, you can see that the outermost edge of the contacts also use the widening process. These USB-A data cable for the transmission of power contacts even reached double the width, in addition to reducing the contact resistance, but also to improve the heat under high current, quickly take away the heat.



In addition to wider contacts, Xiaomi, Black Shark, OPPO, OnePlus and other manufacturers USB-A deep inside with a special shrapnel for the identification of the privatization protocol and the role of information sent and received, and even allows the USB-A cable also supports PD fast charging protocol.



Although the iPhone does not adopt the universal USB-C interface standard, Apple has also upgraded the process of the data cable contacts, Apple C94 data cable Lightning head is silver, not silver-plated, but the plating process from gold-plated to rhodium-ruthenium, gold finger appearance visual effect from the previous gold into silver. Rhodium ruthenium plating process compared to the effect of gold plating process, can more effectively prevent sweat, liquid and other corrosion contacts gold fingers, durable.

Cable workmanship



Some support for high current data cable will be directly marked in a conspicuous position 5A, 6A wording to facilitate user identification, the data cable used to transmit power relies on the internal one by one core, according to the laws of physics, current transmission performance and wire diameter is proportional to the same material under the same length, the thicker the wire resistance value is lower, but can not blindly use thicker wire, which will lead to a harder, thicker data cable, not good .



This is the ZONSAN cut a macro image of a high-current data line, you can see two red skin and two transparent skin of the cross-sectional area of the wire is much larger than the other three wires, they are used for power transmission thickened wire core.



In order to avoid the use of thick wire brought about by the stiffness of the problem, the core will be made of tinned copper, will also add cotton and powder to lubricate the treatment, the three white below the picture is the cotton wire. In addition to the durability of some of the main focus of the cable will be added to the tensile fiber, such as the yellow silk in the picture.

The sword goes off the edge



Once Huawei launched a 40W low-voltage direct charging using 5V8A super-current architecture, which poses a challenge to the data line. After the ZONSAN disassembly found that Huawei used a stacking process to make the cable, barely maintaining a less rigid experience in support of mega-current. In recent years, charge pump technology and series cores on cell phones are fully popular, high-power fast charging mostly use elevated voltage to transmit power, the extremely demanding requirements of the data line 5V8A super current technology into the history stage, also means that high-power fast charging stops at 5A current.

Breakthrough 100 watts

Apple brought the new MacBook Pro 2021 at the fall launch event held not long ago. All products are equipped with MagSafe3 magnetic interface charging, and the actual charging power of the 16-inch MacBook Pro was measured by ZONSAN to be up to 140W, which is also compatible with USB-C Thunderbolt interface charging.



As another indispensable accessory for the 16-inch MacBook Pro to achieve 140W fast charging, the USB-C to MagSafe3 cable included in the package is also worth talking about. It is also the industry's first cable (decoy cable) to support USB PD3.1 fast charging, and is now available separately on the Apple Store for a retail price of 340RMB.

It looks like a regular "PD to DC" charging cable, but in fact, the cable incorporates USB PD3.1 fast charging protocol recognition and communication functions inside the cable, and when connected to a 140W USB-C charger and a 16-inch MacBook Pro, it can output 28V to charge the computer. The cable can also select the correct charging voltage depending on the PD charger it is connected to.

USB PD3.1 allows the PD fast charging system, which has been limited to 20V5A 100W for years, to break through the 100-watt ceiling in one fell swoop, supporting up to 28V5A 140W and 48V5A 240W, making USB PD3.1 a necessary path for future ultra-high-power fast charging.

Summary

ZONSAN this time to introduce the data line in the face of high-power fast charging have done what countermeasures, E-Marker chip for the data line to provide a standardized standard, 100-watt fast charging must be equipped with 5A E-Marker chip. In the production, gold-plated, rhodium-plated ruthenium, wide contacts, thick wire core and other processes to provide a guarantee of power transmission, cotton core, tensile fiber, braided outer wire, etc. to provide a better feel and durability.

Power boost either through high current, or through high voltage, the current can not be blindly enhanced, limited by the ease of use of the cable, process difficulties, feel, cost and other issues, mainly to 5A current as the upper limit. The current mainstream USB PD3.0 standard, the power ceiling of 20V5A 100W, Apple's first USB PD3.1 will be fast charging power ceiling upward stretch, PD3.1 new standard support, fast charging power can support 28V5A 140W, 48V5A 240W two high-voltage high-power transmission, without changing the wire interface, cable thickness, on the basis of fast charging can Service more high-power devices, such as high-performance notebooks, workstations, and even later for power tools, battery-powered vehicles, home appliances, etc., so that the USB-C interface and cable through all the products of the beautiful vision becomes feasible.