Surface 3 under powered charger?

[dakranii]

Is anyone finding the charger with the S3 underpowered? I had mine plugged in while working on it all afternoon and I'm not sure it gained any battery charge? I didn't note what percentage of battery I had before and after but I plan to tomorrow.

It reminds me of some of the wireless car chargers not able to keep up with navigation / streaming music demands on some of the Lumias.

 

[jdfry15]

I just picked up my surface 3 two days ago and last night I plugged it in with the supplied charger and when I woke up it said it was plugged it but not charging. Only had about 75% charge when I woke up. Will have to monitor it a few more days to see what is going on with it.

 

[Tsang Fai]

So far the original charger works well in terms of speed. But the charging speed is obviously lower than SP3.

The Surface 3 original charger has an output current of 2.5A, which is even greater than most USB chargers for tablets. I tried using 2.1A charger and found the charging speed terribly slow. If you keep using the device while it is being charged, the charging rate just cannot meet the consumption rate (with a <2.5A charger).

So there would be a problem if you work on the Surface 3 for a very long period of time even if you keep it plugged in to the charger. I think a 2.5A charger is a must for satisfactory charging speed.

My advice is, whenever you have a chance, charge it.

Sometimes I have the strange problem of "plugged in not charging" - I have no idea what's happening and it seems that it is a general problem of Windows (it happens in other laptops/tablets).

 

[onkel_axel]

I just picked up my surface 3 two days ago and last night I plugged it in with the supplied charger and when I woke up it said it was plugged it but not charging. Only had about 75% charge when I woke up. Will have to monitor it a few more days to see what is going on with it.

did u set any engergy saving options to not charge above 75%?

 

[seremify]

Is the optional charger any faster than the one included in the box?

I realised I have a few 3.1A USB chargers lying around my place so in theory they should be faster right?

 

[OldDogSparky]

I've haven't done extensive testing, but I would at least through out my own experience so far. On my S3, charging goes much quicker when the device is turned off (instead of just asleep). I know that doesn't work for everyone, but I've gotten a full charge from about 30% in 5 hours. It could have been less since I wasn't watching it. The time that it seemed like it was taking forever, it also downloaded some updates. I think the storage activity really draws the power. Anyone have the docking station to see how it does?

 

[Lonestar6]

I just picked up my surface 3 two days ago and last night I plugged it in with the supplied charger and when I woke up it said it was plugged it but not charging. Only had about 75% charge when I woke up. Will have to monitor it a few more days to see what is going on with it.

Same thing happened to me last night. I completely drained the battery and so the system was shutdown, and when I woke up in the morning the charge was only at 70%. Charging seems very glitchy on this device.

 

[9001020]

Mine charges slowly with the included charger, and like an ant with a phone charger.

 

[OberstDanjeje]

Mine charges slowly with the included charger, and like an ant &#55357;&#56348; with a phone charger.

It could be that your battery need some charges to be on shape, try some full charge, full discharge, it could help

 

[enixon]

I returned one unit because of how slow it charged, it would take over 10 hours to charge while off.

My new unit charges much faster when off (5-6 hours), but charges like 1% per hour while doing anything (just having the screen on). So they need to issue a firmware update to allow the Micro-USB to charge faster or have higher amp input. My portable battery pack charges it faster than the wall charger that came with it.

 

[jschu22]

Unless I'm wrong it would seem any convenience of having a micro USB charging port is lost by the rather particular requirements of the S3. I suppose MS chose micro USB over a proprietary port for cost reasons but I was looking forward to the potential flexibility of already owning several micro USB cables.

 

[philxor]

Mine seemed to be charging just fine and rather fast but I updated to Windows 10 today and I'm also seeing an issue with it not charging past 75%. Once it hits 75% I see the icon as "plugged in, not charging." The charging speed seems okay, but it won't charge past 75% now...

 

[MikeInTexas]

A few days ago Microsoft put out a notice about S3 and Win 10. They said S3 is not ready for the Win 10 DP because Intel had not released the drivers. Has that issue been resolved?

 

[philxor]

Yes they released pre-release Intel drivers through Windows update so it could be run on the S3.

 

[9001020]

Today I discovered that when I plug in the phone charger the Surface now correctly says, "plugged in, charging". Yeah!

 

[9001020]

Shucks. On a different phone charger it still says plugged in not charging. Maybe I misread the other one.

 

[9001020]

Shucks. On a different phone charger it still says plugged in not charging. Maybe I misread the other one.

Interesting. I plugged the Surface 3 into my phone charger by the kitchen sink. The battery icon initially read, "plugged in, not charging." After I washed the dishes, I checked the battery icon, and it was briefly animated, showing a filling animation, then read, "plugged in, charging." Perhaps you have to wash the dishes in order to fix the issue?

 

[9001020]

Interesting. I plugged the Surface 3 into my phone charger by the kitchen sink. The battery icon initially read, "plugged in, not charging." After I washed the dishes, I checked the battery icon, and it was briefly animated, showing a filling animation, then read, "plugged in, charging." Perhaps you have to wash the dishes in order to fix the issue?

You are not going to believe this. I just checked again, and it says not charging. I give up. I'm too scared to uninstall the battery.

 

[9001020]

Actually now after several updates the battery charges much faster even with the phone charger!

 

[seremify]

how powerful was your phone charger?