In a recent post, Cell Phone Charging Hack with Household Batteries, I described how you could use household batteries to charge your cell phone. It takes about 16 kJoules to charge an iPhone 6 cell phone. To get a full charge, you need to ensure you use enough battery energy to charge the iPhone. However, for iPhone and iPad, in addition to the energy source, there are secret impedances that need to be set up on the USB D+ (green wire) and D- (white wire) data pins to enable the fastest charging speed. Otherwise, your charging current will be just 80mA and will take days to complete.
The iPhone and iPad charging secrets described below are as follows:
- The maximum charging current occurs when the D- pin is at 1.8v and the D+ is at 2.6v with the correct pull-up resistors to 5v and pull-down resistors to ground. This is approximately 10% faster than the factory iPhone charger.
- The iPhone/iPad will charge at the 1amp rate when the D- pin is at 2.6v and the D+ is at 1.8v with the correct pull-up resistors to 5v and pull-down resistors to ground.
- The iPhone/iPad will also charge at the 1amp rate when the D- pins are shorted to the D+ pins
- The iPhone will drop charge current if the input voltage drops below 4.5volts and will latch at a lower rate at approximately 4.2v.
In order to analyze the current draw for the iPhone and iPad devices, I modified a USB cable so that I could monitor the current draw and the D+ and D- data lines. The smallest resistor in my lab was 0.68ohms, so I placed about 8 in parallel to achieve a 70mohm sense resistor for the current draw monitor network. Here is a picture of the setup.
Three different chargers were investigated. The factory iPhone and iPad chargers and a third party charger purchased from Amazon
Charging the iPhone 6 and Ipad at different rates
The schematics below show the correct resistor impedances to charge the iPhone and Ipad at the normal 1amp rate and at the fastest rates possible. The iPhone 6 will charge at approximately 10% faster than the factory charger rate when using the >1amps setting. You will also get this same 10% boost when charging from the 2.1amp iPad charger.
I measured currents of around 1.1-1.2amps when using this fast charge setting with the iPhone, while with the iPad, I measured currents up to 1.9amps.
The Third party charger had a simple impedance circuit where the D+ and D- pins were shorted (like the center schematic shown above), but they also added a 43k resistor from the D+/D- shorted net to ground. In my testing, this was not needed, but won’t hurt and may be safer for the phone.
From experimentations, there are several other resistor configurations that allowed for charging the iPhone 6 at the fastest current rate. However, this was not true when trying this with the iPhone 5. This table below was only verified with the iPhone 6, but failed on the iPhone 5. In this table, R7 was opened (not used) and R6 can be any value between 30k and 82k.
- R5 = 82k; R6 = 47k; R7 = Open ; R6 = 30k-82k
- R5 = 82k; R6 = 24k; R7 = Open ; R6 = 30k-82k
- R5 = 82k; R6 = 21k; R7 = Open ; R6 = 30k-82k
- R5 = 82k; R6 = 13k; R7 = Open ; R6 = 30k-82k
Less than 1 Amp charging
At startup, the iPhone will sense the Vcc voltage and adjust the charging current accordingly to keep the VCC voltage above a 4.2-4.5volt value. In this way, it can use chargers that limit the current to 500mA or below. To test this out, I first started the iPhone at 1amp charging rate (actually around 900mA) at Vcc equal to 5v. When the Vcc voltage to the iPhone was lowered below 4.5volts, the charging current starts to drop below the 1amp value. If this voltage drops below 4.2volts, the iPhone will drop into a 500mA rate even if the Vcc voltage returns to 5v. It will also drop to lower rates but will turn off somewhere below 4v.
How the iPhone and iPad determine the charging rate
The iPhone must provide handshaking through a reading of the D+ And D- signal line impedances with the charger device to determine what rate to charge at. It does this right after power up. While all the circuits above work as described, the exact handshaking is unknown. The image below shows the handshaking right after power up of the D+ and D- pins with R5=82k, R6= 49k, R7= open, and R6 = 38k.
Once power is applied, the D- line rises to 1.6volts because of the R5 and R6 resistors. The D+ line remains at zero voltage because R7 is open. After some time, the D- line is disturbed and the handshaking begins. My best guess is the following occurs:
- The D+ and D- lines are samples by the iPhone to determine the voltage. If they are within the normal iPhone and iPad charger values (2.8v and 1.8v ), then startup occurs. If they are not, then 2.
- The D+ and D- are placed into another state. the figure above shows that the D- line drops from 1.6v and the D+ line is pulled up. The iPhone then determines if the voltage and current draw are appropriate.
Here is handshaking that occurs when D+ and D- lines are shorted together
In this case, the D+ line is not pulled to 3v after the handshaking as was done in the previous case. Instead, the voltage returns to zero volts and the iPhone and iPad charge at the 1 Amp rate.
This post identified several iPhone and iPad charging configurations and how to set up the values to allow them to charge at their maximum rate. If the current is too much for a given charger and is current limited, the output voltage will drop, putting the iPhone into a lower charge rate.
Have fun and let me know if you have any comments and questions.
Hello, good day to you.
I’m afraid, I don’t know your name to address you by name. Nevertheless, I want to thank you for the report on charging circuits of different currents for iPhones 6 and iPads.
I am wee bit confused at the 3 circuit images and I do not know, as to which circuit I might implement into my own charging bank, that is made up of Li-Ion batteries.
The power bank that I assembled has the net OP of 4.2V @2600mA. A power Boos module was introduced in between the Batteries and the female USB connector and trimmed to obtain 5.10V @2600mA.
From here onwards I am confused at the D- /D+ configuration. Please let me know, what would be the best circuit to obtain >1A Charge to the iOS devices.
For example 47K+82K parallel to 47K+38K to positive rail and the center tap to D- and D+ respectively.
A response is highly solicited.
Thanks and best regards.
Sincerely,
KJ Kumar
kjkumarsfo@yahoo.com
Hi Kumar, Thanks. It looks like in your comment you want to charge an external battery pack. To do this, you will need and external charger and then the D+/D- pins will be defined by the external charger specifications. What external charger are you using?
Hi Kumar,
Sorry, I think I understand your question better. For > 1 amp charging you can use the resistors in the schematic or for an iPhone 6, You can use the resistor values in the table. The reference designators in the table correspond to the reference designator in the schematic. Your example values look good, except follow the schematic to ensure which is attached to 5v and to ground. Let me know if there is anything else. Good luck . Mark
Hello Mark, thanks for the response.
Please confirm, which circuit is suitable i.e the third one on the right?
The external charger is made by myself using Li-Ion batteries harvested from Laptop Battery pack. My output voltage is
5.01v @2.6mA.
That is correct, the Third one on the right.
Thanks for the recommendation.
After I finish the system and test it, then I will
send you a report.
Sincerly,
KJ Kumar
Hi Mark,
Thank you for your information.
I have two questions:
1. How accurate should be the output voltage of the voltage divider on the D+ and D- pins?
for example, if I use a 100 kOhm and a 90.9 kOhm resisters (what I have in my closet for now), the output will be 2.666 Volts. Is it acceptable by iPhone and iPad?
2. What range of resistor is more efficient for this circuit? ohm, kOhm or mOhm?
thank you
best regards
Ehsan
Hi Ehsan,
Thanks for the questions. The resistors you have chosen most likely will not work and need to be smaller. Both the voltage (which you have correct) and the resistor values need to be satisfied to make the system charge at the fast rate. I have listed the key concepts again here:
1. The iPhone/iPad will charge at the 1amp rate when the D- pin is at 2.6v and the D+ is at 1.8v with the CORRECT pull-up RESISTORS to 5v and pull-down RESISTORS to ground.
2. The iPhone/iPad will also charge at the 1amp rate when the D- pins are shorted to the D+ pin
For simplicity, just try number 2 above and you don’t need any resistors. However on the blog, I show other resistor values that will also work. Let me know if this is more clear.
Thanks,
Mark
but according to your schematic for 1A charging, your chosen resistors will hold D- at 2.765 V and D+ at 1.822. Why did you pick those resistor values?
Hi! I have some questions about the circuits. I tried that one with connected D-/D+ but Iphone 6 does not charge. It starts for a second and then stops charging. If I try this again, the same thing happens. The Acc is 5.20V. Where is the problem?
Thanks for the answers!
This is a strange one? The fact that the iPhone starts to charge is a good sign. The focus should be on why it stops. One idea is that the after a second the iPhone will try to pull a lot of currents which causes the power supply to droop. Have you looked for a sudden drop in the power supply with an Oscilloscope? If you don’t have one, try to put a 100uF capacitor on the output of the 5.2v supply to see if this cures the problem. Let me know how it goes. Thanks,
Hi Mark,
Thank you for a fantastic article, both fascinating and informative. I’m going to use your schematic (example 3) in my own project 🙂
Do these same principals still apply in the iPhones of today? IPhone 7/8/X for example.
can you make a new tutorial going over the 15V fast charger the iPhone 7/8/10 and ipad pro 10.5 and 12.9 can now do?
Hi Mark, great article. I’m making a charging circuit to charge 2 devices from 1 input (basically a Y Cable). I want to maximize my charge and make this as fast as possible w/ any charger. My issue is we can say our customers use the original 12W OEM apple but realistically they may use a charging hub or 2.1/2.4 or 3 A and 5V.
Hi there,
1) first of all thanks for the article .. its pretty good
2)I have an ipad and I have misplaced its charger .. now the thing is I am able to charge my ipad using a third party charger but its charging very slowly (i think its getting charged at 5v 1 amps @ 5 amps).. i want to charge it fast .. if i get it to charge at 10 watts my problem will be solved .. i am having a charger which is 5v 2 amps..
3) I have a question regarding resistors .. you havent specified the resistor wattage .. i have all quarter watt resistors .. in the pic your resistors are looking big(most likely they are of high wattage) .. could you please help me with this info .. what all resistors do i need(please specify wattage) ..
Regards
Rahul
The resistors added to the signal lines are not transferring any power. Quarter watt or even 1/8th watt resistors are just fine. Good luck.
Thanks. Now I know why some chargers work and others do not.