GaN chargers are the new darlings of the industry but what are GaN chargers and why do you need one?
A GaN charger is a charger that uses Gallium Nitride instead of silicon for it’s circuits.
Why use Gallium Nitride?
Gallium Nitride as a semiconductor has a lot of advantages over silicon, especially when used as transistors in a circuit. Gallium Nitride transistors are:
- Smaller
- Can carry more current
- Can carry more voltage
- Cooler
- Switch faster and
- More efficient
In fact, these chargers have an efficiency of 95%. Other silicon based chargers have an efficiency of around 85%.
In chargers
When gallium nitride is used in chargers, this means that chargers can charge devices faster and more efficiently. chargers with gallium nitride are also much more cooler, use less electricity and can support crazy fast charging speeds like 67W, 120W, 210W and even 300W.
Charging efficiency means how well a charger can transmit current from a source to the load. Some chargers are not very efficient because they waste electricity. These chargers lose current due to internal resistance from the charging circuit causing a lot of electricity to be lost as heat. This usually leads to wastage of current which may increase your electric bill.
Chargers with gallium nitride in their circuits will handle these high current and voltage levels better, leading to less heating and less wastage of electricity.
Power rating and connectors
GaN chargers are usually very small when compared to regular silicon chargers but they can deliver very high power wattages.
These chargers typically use a USB-C port. This may or may not be paired with a USB A port. The manufacturers of these chargers favour a USB-C port because they support USB power delivery. USB PD can support outputs of up to 240W, something that regular USB A chargers can only ever dream of. These USB-C ports can be used to charge laptops and/or power hungry devices.
So if you’re looking for a GaN charger, it’s important to note that the high power ratings are usually delivered by a USB-C port.
Compared to other chargers
- GaN chargers are smaller than regular chargers
- GaN chargers charge faster than regular chargers
- GaN chargers are more efficient
- GaN chargers charge safer because they are cooler
- GaN chargers support higher voltages and power ratings
- These chargers can be used to charge laptops and other high powered electronic gadgets.
Thank you for reading to the end. As always, ensure to check out our links for more information and…
- Subscribe to my YouTube channel
- Follow on Facebook
- Join our Telegram community
- Participate on Reddit
- Find us on Quora