Don’t buy cheap chargers for Apple Watch! This is a rare case when saving is dangerous

Just think, wireless charging. You can buy one today for several hundred rubles. And most will work tolerably, although not very quickly. So why overpay, right?

As with power supplies, many “toad strangling” require original or certified power supply. Especially for Apple Watch. They are so small and completely undemanding in terms of power. They certainly don’t need much for energetic happiness…

One weekend in January, I went to my hometown and took with me a couple of compact, inexpensive aftermarket Apple Watch chargers. It was trivial to take Apple’s branded “washers” out of the docking stations at home, and I wanted to test compact Chinese chargers. We once wrote about one of these here.

Well, translations, regretted it.

What’s wrong with cheap chargers for Apple Watch

In short: they are disgusting to use, and most importantly, unreliable.

It so happens that Apple uses its non-standard wireless chargers in the Apple Watch. She is regularly criticized for this, but on the whole she succeeds. Therefore, for recharging hours it is necessary to use a special type of “puck”, which until recently was not compatible.

Many people don’t want to buy such a fragile cable for several thousand rubles, so inexpensive and non-branded alternatives are thriving. It looks like any Chinese charger for Apple Watch and an original charger. Platform with a recess, magnet inside. You grab it, it’s charging. And everything seems to be fine.

But then the problems begin. And they are clearly the same for all such chargers.

1. Almost instant overheating. Non-original “washers” for Apple Watch heat up very quickly and transfer the missing heat directly to the watch. The watch is small, the area of ​​heat dissipation is small, so in such a situation the case heats up almost instantly and works. Built-in overheating protection turns off the watch completely and displays a “thermometer” image, signaling the impossibility of further use of the device until it cools down.

If you notice it in time, then fine. But most don’t pay attention to the little watch until it’s charging. And without the intervention of the owner, they will not cool, because they are constantly heated by the charger. As a result, the gadget lies hot for an unknown amount of time, which harms both its performance and the life cycle of the battery inside.

2. Risk of melting or even fire. There are photos of melted Apple Watch chargers on the Internet, and 99% of them show non-original pucks “floating.” The Chinese, as expected, save on medical protection, and inside such chargers there is technological fear and horror for three kopecks. It heats up until it wins, and if it fails, the device itself is accidentally damaged. If it simply fails at the same time, this is not the worst case. But if the melting of the body goes further…

Imagine all this happening while you are sleeping. Many people charge their watches at night. I think the consequences for everyone are the same and so clear.

3. Low charging speed and reliability. Even if a non-original “puck” is in no hurry to melt, it certainly will not be in a hurry to charge its watch. I’m not even talking about the fact that external devices cannot charge the latest generation Apple Watch at an accelerated pace. In fact, even by generally accepted standards, they often fail to charge.

Compared to the original, external models for AW can increase the required time for charging to 100% not just by two, but by three and even four times. At the same time, some people stop charging the watch somewhere after 75-80% for no apparent reason.

The list of sins of “left” charging for the Apple Watch goes on and on, but the picture is quite clear. Returning to my story with which I began the post – because of the Chinese chargers, I spent half of the trip with a half-discharged watch, and then completely discharged. And one of the two compact chargers completely died.

There are actually an endless number of such stories. If you look at reviews of inexpensive or compact Apple Watch pucks on marketplaces, they almost always show a relatively low rating and indicate that after some time (often just a few days or weeks) these devices become inoperable or torment owners with overheating. .

It got to the point that Apple itself recently publicly asked not to use inorganic chargers for the Apple Watch without passing MFi certification. This is 95% of the entire market of not a single device to which the company has prescribed a well-deserved “black mark”. And unlike some of Cupertino’s other fencing initiatives, I just can’t help but be filtered through a conservative lens.

Moral: seriously, people, do not buy cheap and uncertified chargers for the Apple Watch. You’ll ruin your watch ahead of time, or you’ll just get a sound nerve. Charging time also increases. It’s better to do it the old fashioned way, charge it with the included lanyard or buy one or two more. Take it with you and not worry that in the morning you can make a coal in front of you, if not worse.