Smartphone manufacturer upstart, OnePlus, has released a YouTube video clip explaining how Dash Charge works featuring Emily Ratajkowski. Ms. Ratajkowski explains how the technology to recharge smartphones has evolved from the humble 5v and 1A chargers we saw for many years. Today, there are a number of different ways to accelerate how quickly we are able to top up smartphone batteries. She explains how some manufacturers increase the voltage that is applied to the smartphone battery, which essentially means that this increases the pressure of electrons entering the smartphone battery. Whilst increasing the voltage is undeniably effective at increasing the speed of charging, one unfortunate side effect is that for electronics, the higher the voltage, the higher the heat produced by such activity and the increase is proportional to the square of the additional voltage applied. This means that increasing the voltage from 5v to 9v causes a potentially significant increase in the amount of heat generated. Ms. Ratajkowski explains that when a smartphone battery gets hot, the speed at which is is able to be recharged slows down.
OnePlus’ Dash Charging, however, does not increase the voltage applied to the smartphone battery but instead increases the current. OnePlus’ video shows that the Dash Charging technology is able to apply 5v and 4A of charge, twice that of current high speed but conventional USB charging technology, at 2A. This is why the official OnePlus Dash Charger cable is three times thicker than a conventional cable; OnePlus’ Dash Charger has to apply much more current to the smartphone. Using a higher current increases the charge speed but with a much smaller increase in heat compared with higher voltage charging solutions. Furthermore, OnePlus’ Dash Charging removes the need for the smartphone charger circuits to reduce the incoming voltage to suit the battery, which in turn keeps the smartphone cool when recharging. This process is less than perfectly efficient and results in waste heat being generated – which causes the smartphone to warm up. This gives the OnePlus Dash Charging technology two important benefits: one is that it it keeps the device cool when charging, and so maximizes the charge speed. It means that customers can continue to use their OnePlus handset for anything they wish without the risk of the device getting hot and suffering from performance issues, such as gaming. Second, since high temperatures wear batteries, this is good news for the smartphone’s battery health in the medium to longer term. Ultimately, Ms. Ratajkowski’s explanation of how OnePlus’ Dash Charging technology works is a great way to let customers know the advantages of this particular flavor of fast charging technologies.