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[sevenlayermuddle]

[g3uiss]

[dee.jay]

[Chunkers]

I have used wireless Qi charging for years now, my last 3 phones supported it (obviously not Apple), personally I think once you get used to it and place a few charging pads strategically you will never go back.

I like never having to fiddle around plugging in my phones and devices, my preferred devices are the little docks which are super cheap.  They are not particularly fast but since I have on on my desk and by my bed I never really notice.  When I come back into the office I just plop it on the dock or pad.
My wife is now a convert with her iPhone 8, I think once you get used to never plugging in you will enjoy it!

C

[sevenlayermuddle]

Thanks for feedback re Qi.   If I do buy the phone, I can imagine a Qi charger going on my letter to Santa later this year.

[gt94sss2]

[Ronski]

I've used Qi charging for years, I would never buy a phone without it now. First trying it with my S4 back in 2014, but that didn't work very well as I couldn't stop the phone illuminating every time it reached full charge, the illumination would wake me up. I then bought an Elephone P9000 in early 2016 which had Qi charging built in and that worked perfectly, simply place it on the pad when I go to bed, and it's fully charged in the morning - so long as I've got it lined up correctly on the pad. The P9000 came with a fast charger and was USB C, but it's so much nicer not to have to bother to plug in cables, and as I normally charge overnight it doesn't matter if it takes a while. I've also installed a phone holder in the car which has a built in Qi charger, which is great on long trips and tops the phone up a bit on shorter ones.

There is so much choice when it comes to Qi chargers there's got to be one that every one likes, mine is very basic looking thing, but it does what I need it to and it's on my bedside table so doesn't need to look anything special.

I don't like Apple, but it's great news that they've finally added Qi charging to recent models, as there are not many phones that support, so hopefully more will follow suit. This is one reason why I jumped at the chance to buy the Huawei Mate Pro 20 at a knock down price, it had everything that I want in a phone, but was previously too expensive. It even supports reverse Qi charging, something apparently the iPhone 11 does but Apple have chosen to disable it in software, mind you it's not a feature I can see being used very often.

[sevenlayermuddle]

[Ronski]

Simple answer is you can't, same goes for anything you buy, even from a decent manufacture but of course its less likely.

My Qi charger is USB powered (as I think most are), so you could buy a name brand you trust for the bit that handles 240v, that leaves just the 5v Qi charger (is 5v likely to catch fire???), so again buy a name you trust.

I used to use a smart plug to switch the power on over night for my Qi charger, but then I figured the smart plug probably used more power than the Qi charger left powered on all day, suppose I could use a mechanical timer, but I suspect the power is negligible. And of course the timer could always catch fire to.

[sevenlayermuddle]

[Chunkers]

I share your paranoia about fires, Qi chargers typically don't come with a charger / PSU and only operate 5-12V so pretty low risk, the charger is the big risk.

IMHO the best thing to do is only buy a charger, even a cheap one, from a UK branded supplier e.g. the Amazon or IKEA branded ones should meet the EU standards and are not that expensive.

Some of the cheap ebay - Chinese - street vendor devices are very unsafe, I am sure you have seen the Youtube videos. If you want to get fancy you could always buy a pirl charger - awesome but expensive

[Ronski]

Yes, I really should have thought about the lower voltage higher current as work with 12/24v systems.

Talking about stupid designs, I had to replace a metal power steering pipe the other week. It had a hole blown in it where the main battery cable to the starter had arced out as it was extremely close and had managed to touch, extremely lucky that it didn't catch fire. 24v with two huge 12v truck batteries it most have look like arc welding. Only option I had when refitting was to wrap the pipe and terminal with self amalgamating tape as neither could be moved far apart, just a very bad design.

[sevenlayermuddle]

[Ronski]

No need to describe, I'm well used to those body postures, but getting older I find them harder.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Still failing on this one.    I actually went into town last week and took a closer look.   I basically decided to buy one, and they had one in stock, but I decided to chew on it just a little longer, so came home without it.  Big mistake.   

They've not been in stock again at my nearest shop, ever since.  Then, this morning, I checked during morning tea, and whoopee.. in stock!  I finished my tea then stepped into the garden for a big deep breath of fresh air, and final chance to rethink.  My mind hadn't changed so I dusted off my bank card, and sat down to order.  You guessed, by that time, out of stock again!   

They are of course available for delivery, but delivery time is a couple of weeks and I'm not noted for my patience.