Quick Charge

[Yagiza]

I received my Gemini PGA about 2 weeks ago.

I found an interesting fact about its charging. A have 4 differrent wall chargers, which support Qualcomm Quick Charge.
One of them is native charger for YotaPhone 2. It supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 only, because YP2 supports it (it has Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset onboard).

Other three are chinese QQC 3.0 chargers from AliExpress^

• Ordinary QQC 3.0 charger, I purchased first.
• Another one, I purchased later, 'cause it says it have more power  (1.6A max @12V vs 1.5A normal chargers do).
• The one from VINSIC I purchased last together with powerbank. I purchased it because it has charge LED indicator.

Gemini PDA has Cortex (not Qualcomm) CPU, so it should not support QQC. Indeed, the one for YP2 and first two from AliExpress charge Gemini with normal 5V. Also there is no Quck Charge LED indicator on the one for YP2 is not lit.

But the last one (from VINSIC) have charge LED indicator burning bright (which means Quick Charge is active) gives 9.3 - 9.5 volts output (measured with special USB Type C cable with built-in digital voltmeter and amperemeter)!  

So, I wonder, if Gemini PDA officially supports Quick Charging? Of so, which type? And why it works with only one of my QQC chargers?

[iusethis]

Gemini supports a Mediatek fast-charge technology called Pump Express. The original Gemini box contains a special  mains charger that allows recharging your Gemini in a very short time. You might be able to charge your Gemini using other chargers, but please bear in mind that only a Pump Express compatible charger will allow fast charging a Gemini.

You must also use a compatible USB cable.

[Yagiza]

Gemini supports a Mediatek fast-charge technology called Pump Express. The original Gemini box contains a special  mains charger that allows recharging your Gemini in a very short time. You might be able to charge your Gemini using other chargers, but please bear in mind that only a Pump Express compatible charger will allow fast charging a Gemini.

You must also use a compatible USB cable.

Thank you! I tried original Gemini charger with my ampere and volt meter cable again and found that it's also gives 9V. Too strange, I din't noticed that when tried first time. Also, I noticed that unlike QQC, Mediatek fast-charge is not activated when batter of the device is almost fully charged. That's too strange, 'cause the more charged the battery, the more voltage you need to charge it.

Anyway, it seems the charger from VINSIC supports both QQC 3.0 and Mediatek fast-charge. Too strange it's specs on AliExpress never mention it. Also, this fact not mentioned on the charger itself.

[ehasbrouck]

Gemini supports a Mediatek fast-charge technology called Pump Express. The original Gemini box contains a special  mains charger that allows recharging your Gemini in a very short time. You might be able to charge your Gemini using other chargers, but please bear in mind that only a Pump Express compatible charger will allow fast charging a Gemini.

You must also use a compatible USB cable.

In a comment on the review of the Gemini in my blog, reader Wolfgang von Jan reported that LG fast charger model MCS-H06ER charges his Gemini almost as fast as the fast charger supplied by Planetcom, without getting the Gemini as hot. LG model MCS-H06ER has a European plug with two round pins. Based on this tip, I bought an LG model MCS-H06WD, which appears to be the same or similar except with a US/Japan plug with two flat blades (non-polarized). Using the USB-A to USB-C charging cable that was supplied with my Gemini, the MCS-H06WD charges my Gemini fully in about two hours. That's a little slower than the 90 minutes needed for a full charge with the Planetcom fast charger, but much faster than the almost 8 hours needed for a full charge with any other charger I have tried. And the Gemini doesn't get hot to the touch while charging with the LG charger. The LG charger is slightly, but only slightly, larger than the Planetcom charger. I'm not sure what what fast charging protocol(s) the MCS-H06ER or MCS-H06WD use, or whether they would fast charge the Gemini with any other cables. (My LG MCS-H06WD charger came without a cable. It should use the same cable as the MCS-H06ER.) For now these LG chargers seem to be inexpensively available from multiple online sellers. Many thanks to Herr von Jan for his tip!