Test/review of Xedain 3 usb QC3 charger XHF30W (XBX18)

Xedain 3 usb QC3 charger XHF30W (XBX18)







Official specifications:

  • Brand Name: XEDAIN

  • Model Number: XBX18  On the charger it says XHF30W

  • USB Ports: 3

  • Quality Certification: RoHS,CE,FCC

  • Input: 100-240V/0.6A

  • Output: 5V/4A

  • Support Quick Charge Technology: Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0

  • Output Interface: USB

  • Type: Travel

  • Power Source: A.C. Source

  • color: white

  • Output voltage current: 12V(1.5A)- 9V(2A)- 5V(3A) 5V(2.4A)

I got it from a Aliexpress dealer: XEDAIN Official Store







This charger did not include a box or instruction sheet.

























Measurements

  • Power consumption when idle is 0.81 watt

  • 2.4A USB outputs is auto coding with DCP, Samsung, Apple 2.4A

  • QC USB output is auto coding with QC3, DCP, Apple 2.4A, Huawei-FCP, Samsung-AFC

  • Minimum QC3 output is 3.7V

  • 2.4A outputs are in parallel.

  • QC and 2.4A outputs share minus connection.

  • There are some blue leds behind the usb connectors.

  • Weight: 73.8g

  • Size: 66.1 x 45.7 x 27.8mm with plug folded in.





The first 2.4A output can only deliver about 2.2A



Same with the second 2.4A output.



Even when in parallel the maximum current is 2.2A



The QC3 output can deliver a bit above 2.5A on 5V (Rating says 3A).



The current is about the same at 9V.



Even at 12V it can deliver 2.5A



Running all outputs I could draw 2.2A at 5V and 1.7A at 12V



And the same at 230VAC input.



For load test I did 2.1A on 5V and 1.5A on QC 12V for one hour.
The temperature photos below are taken between 30 minutes and 60 minutes into the one hour test.



M1: 66.9°C, M2: 44.5°C, HS1: 81.0°C
HS1 is the circuit board transferring heat to the enclosure, probably from the transformer.



M1: 56.1°C, HS1: 89.0°C
HS1 is the transformer.


M1: 58.0°C, HS1: 72.6°C



M1: 68.9°C, HS1: 96.9°C
HS1 is again the transformer and it is very hot. It might not be too hot for the transformer, but is rather hard on the capacitors next to it.



M1: 55.1°C, M2: 77.4°C, HS1: 88.9°C



Noise at 0.5A load is: 13mV rms and 159mVpp.



Noise at 1A load is: 29mV rms and 246mVpp.



Noise at 2.5A load is: 45mV rms and 255mVpp.



Noise at 0.5A QC load is: 13mV rms and 159mVpp.



Noise at 2.5A QC load is: 22mV rms and 175mVpp.



Noise at 12V 1.2A QC load is: 20mV rms and 142mVpp, generally the noise is fairly low.



Tear down



A squeeze with my vice and I could remove the bottom of the charger.



At the input is a fuse (F1) and transient protection (Blue MOV). The switcher is the switcher transistor (U1) and the switcher controller (U1) with opto feedback (Near U3). There is a safety capacitor (CY1) next to the opto coupler.
On the low volt side is a rectifier transistor (Q2) with a controller chip (U8) for synchronous rectification. This circuit gives 12.7V and uses a reference (U3: 431) for feedback).
Behind the usb connectors are two inductors (L2 & L?) with each a switcher controller below them (U? & U6), there is no rectifier diodes, i.e. it must be synchronous buck converters.
Between the usb connectors is the auto coding chip (U?: RZC7512) two usb connectors and the QC chip (U6: FT4).
There are two leds.









There is not much on this side, except the bridge rectifier.





With a slot in the circuit board the safety distance is supposed to be 4mm, here it is 2mm. Without a slot it is more like 6mm, but here it is only about 4mm. I.e. the charger do not live up to minimum safety distance for 230VAC (It has US plug, but is marked that it support 240VAC).

Testing with 2830 volt and 4242 volt between mains and low volt side, did not show any safety problems.



Conclusion

The charger do not have the rated power on any of the outputs and the safety distances are on the low side, it do also get very hot. The QC chip used supports a lot of formats.



Notes

Index of all tested USB power supplies/chargers
Read more about how I test USB power supplies/charger
How does a usb charger work?

Recently my XHF30W has started misbehaving - it overheats and keeps turning on and off.
I don’t feel it’s safe to use it and I got it for a little over a year.

I liked it because it was lightweight for what it offered but from the start I got a feeling that the low weight meant some compromises…

I feel tempted to disassemble it, see what’s inside and maybe spot a fixable issue. At the same time if it’s low quality it’s low quality and I would be probably better off with buying something better.

It sound like it need new capacitors.

I’m just curious, why do some power supplies become much hotter than others, when they’re providing roughly similar power? (eg. this one reaches temperatures as high as 80-90 degrees Celsius) while other good ones probably just reach around 50-60 degrees Celsius when fully loaded at similar loads?

Is it mainly due to less efficient circuitry?

I’ve bought a few cheap USB power adapters (1-slot with QC3.0 support) and using my USB meter (ZY1276), I notice it does support various protocols.
(sometimes some people like to borrow USB power adapters from me for a quick charging for a short time… and I don’t like to disconnect my bigger USB power adapters to lend them (Anker 63-watt 5-port adapter and Xtar EU4 4-port adapter)

Anyway, I tried the cheap 1-slot power adapter to charge a power bank that accepts QC2-12v/9v input (fast charge). The charging seems to go well, but after around 30 minutes to 1 hour, I notice (since I placed a USB meter in between the USB power adapter and the power bank, to check the charging speed) that USB voltage has dropped from the Quick Charge to regular 5volts. I notice this cheap USB power adapter becomes quite hot too (not sure but quite hot to touch). After resting a while, I checked that it still works.

So, it seems to me that the QuickCharge (QC2-9v @ ~2A, around 18 watts charging speed to my powerbank) will work but only for a limited time and then will drop when the power adapter gets hot. So right now I don’t suggest using it for Quick Charging for a long time (eg. big powerbank), however, phones with smaller capacity batteries will usualy just charge fine (not 18-watts charging speed like charging a power bank)…

Is it still ok to use this cheap USB power adapter for just short periods of time (eg. 1 hour temporarily loan to someone who’s borrowing a USB power adapter…)

Yes. Especially synchronous rectification improves efficiency.
It also matters how it spreads the heat on the enclosure, a metal plate inside to spread the heat over larger parts of the enclose will mean better cooling.
Temperature has a very significant impact on lifetime of the power supply (This is mostly about capacitors).

Thank you HKJ, I’ll try opening it. On your photos I see that it’s going to require some force…