Where is the cutoff for overcharge protection in the iPhone 6? Is it in the charger or in the actual unit? I purchased a wireless charger adapter and pad for my phone and want to know if it is safe to leave overnight. once the electricity reaches the adapter it has no where to go.. if it were connected it would go back into the wire right? So is this wireless charging safe?
2 Answers
"back into the wire" is a very strange concept.
Let me explain...
Think of a parallel.
What happens when you flick the wall-switch off?
Where does the power go?
Back down the wire?
No. It simply goes nowhere, it stays where it is.
Once the charger stops drawing power [or reduces it to a trickle] the surplus power simply goes nowhere; it isn't drawn from the circuit.
Someone else gets to use it to boil a kettle, in another house, in another street.
I'm aware that this is very much an over-simplification
answered Nov 12, 2015 at 17:46
Your terminology is slightly off. The "charger" is actually a chip INSIDE the phone that manages everything about the way your phone is charged, including overcharge protection, thermal protections, and much more. The power adapters are just that: power adapters. They're used for providing DC power to the charger within the phone.
I'm honestly not sure how any kind of 3rd party wireless charging solution works.
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As you said, the charger is in the phone itself. It doesn't really matter how the DC current gets to the phone, so long as it's at the correct voltage. The phone takes care of the rest, wireless charging or wired. They all use the same lightning port, to actually deliver the current. Commented Nov 12, 2015 at 6:06
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@WilliamTFroggard But where would the current go when the charge is full? The phone stops accepting power after a certain amount. But the Wireless pad im assuming pulls from the power and the wireless receiver then powers the phone. But how does the phone send back or handle extra electricity, as the receiver is not connected to anything that it can send the electricity back to correct? Commented Nov 12, 2015 at 6:26
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It doesn't need to go anywhere. The phone just begins drawing less current. It doesn't start pumping it back into the grid, it just reduces its current draw. You can say an iPhone may draw up to 2A of power, well, once full, it may draw 500mA of power, or less, depending on its current operating needs. I pulled those numbers out of my ass (although they're approximately correct, based on my experience), but they illustrate a point. If the phone was turned off, it would draw near 0mA of power. Commented Nov 12, 2015 at 6:29
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@WilliamTFroggard But with the wireless part of it, can the receiver let the pad "know" that the iPhone stops drawing? sorry if these are stupid questions Commented Nov 12, 2015 at 6:37
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The wireless circuitry generates up to a maximum current. If the phone doesn't draw that much, it can't supply that much. Something has to be using the current for it to output it. Although, this is only the case because the current draw is being regulated by the iPhone's internal charger. You could burn out a circuit with too much current, it's just that the iPhone will not draw more than it needs. Commented Nov 12, 2015 at 6:44